My experience with Chanting began with my first Teacher when I was 13; it was in the form of Morning and Evening Ritual Hommage practice of the Japanese Buddhist Religion I still follow to this day. As time went on more liturgies and empowerment and practice came into play. A serious practice of Zen Meditation was always present, in which I was required to study the history and the many components of it. The Heart Sutra is one of many popular ones that many learn (image above).
When I was a teenager I had many health issues and could hardly breathe, focus and function. Which cause myself many personal problems. I found this practice of chanting to be very beneficial to my health and works on many levels. Different sounds vibrate different spiritual centers, invigorating the body and releasing trapped energy. Repeated chanting promotes our physical, mental and spiritual activities, providing positive adaptability to any environment and to deal with the stresses of life.
Scientific research in East Asia and the West has showed evidence that these type of breath control practice are not only a textbook perfect form of healing meditation, but also reverse oxygen deficiency (hypoxia), increase blood saturation and bio electric components of the overall body. In the future the "big buzz" will be how transformation exercises reverse hypoxia and in controlling effects of Cancer. This is my opinion although.
As the years have ticked on and with many mentors have learned many practices in this area. I still practice many sound resonation practice's and traditional liturgies to this day. These East Asian liturgies have been used for thousands of years because the effects of repeated chanting are very beneficial. You don't have to be a Buddhist, Taoist or a Hindu to benefit from chanting. If you practice it seriously one will find that it helps to develop breathing control, focuses the mind and makes everything better. Just do it for a week or more and see if you feel better!
Pearls of Wisdom Notes: Ling Yan ( 言霊) rough English meaning "Spiritual Words/Phrases of Empowerment" is a common belief in the traditional schools of practice. Mantras and Healing Sounds Systems are ubiquitous and a melting pot of village practice, culture, belief and imported dialects by neighboring country's. The tangible mystical powers reside within the sacred liturgy itself and come alive when invoked and dutifully followed. In the last 70 years hybrid "Qigong" has adopted it into it's culture and really is a endless list. The Ling Yan Concept "Spiritual Words of Empowerment", use Mudra (hand symbolism), Mantra (vocalization) and internal image (creative visualization) focusing as well.
The Ling Yan common teaching is that these sacred scripts have a tangible and intrinsic power capable of affecting Body, Mind and Spirit's. Through activation practice one develops various levels of empowerment and stages of awareness. The different levels of power are revealed through health, moving meditation and even while doing everyday life. The mentor teachers responsibility is to introduce the teaching and the rest lies on unshakable faith of the devotee to the path. This can be universal as well in other spirtual systems that use Chanting or sounds systems to empower themselves for connection to the source or a higher level of awareness. ~G. W. Abersold
GWA
