Warming Heart, Melting Mind
"I've had many musical careers during my life, but through them all it seems that my official job has been to warm the heart through singing. People often come to see me with the idea that they want a singing lesson, but I've realized over the years that what they really want is permission to open their heart and to have their heart's expression be heard.
"The mere vibration created when we sing can break up old patterns of tension, fear, and limiting beliefs. The tension often shows in the throat. There is an understanding in Traditional Chinese Medicine that when the throat center is out of balance, it is considered the stopper, the cork in the bottle between the head and the heart. The conscious use of vibration or singing shakes it loose, freeing the passage of emotions. What your heart wants to say can be sung and come out into the world.
"Nicole Becker, owner of the Ojas Yoga and Wellness Center in El Cerrito, California, describes why she uses chanting to open and close every yoga class:
" 'In yoga, we practice unifying the heart with the mind. Imagine the mind is a beehive filled with honey, and the heart is a gentle flame underneath. When the throat center is open, the flame in the heart can reach the mind. The fire in the heart softens the mind, melting the wax of the beehive so the nectar of enlightenment can trickle down from the crown into the heart. The light of love goes up from the heart, and the sweetness of compassion trickles back down. We get to live from our heart.'
"Devotional chanting takes us directly to this place. . . . Experiencing this quality softens our mind and transmutes emotional energy, thereby awakening us to our innate joy and self-perfected condition. In the practices, we incorporate subtle motions of the hands and arms to entrain with the movement between the heart and the mind. We spontaneously connect the voice — which loves to go up and down — with the heart that longs to be open, to give, and to receive.
"Singing changes us on a physiological and psycho-spiritual level, and it touches our humanity both individually and collectively. Not to mention the fact that singing is the most ancient healing art — it literally puts creativity at the tip of your tongue."
