Om. The Symbol, The Sound; Explained

Om is more than a sound that you hear in yoga class. It is more than a mantra or a beautiful symbol. It has biological effects and can actually improve your health.

The Sound of hOMe is Om.
Om Sweet hOMe

What is Om?
Om is the primordial sound of creation. It is omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotent. It is the first expression of life. It is before the first cell of creation. Om is an experience, it is a word, a song, an expression. Om is explained as the sound of creation or the word or sound that connects all time and space. It is the cosmic sound vibration which includes all other sounds and vibrations. The basic Mantra. The primordial sound. Om is a fundamental practice of all yogas. The ancient Vedic Yogis taught Nada Brahma or yoga of the highest sounds as a way to understand this concept.

Why is Om important and its biological benefits
Om is important because it is the connection. It doesn't matter if you are chanting the mantra or simply listening to the sound it will connect everything (including your pineal gland) to the field of unlimited potentiality. Chanting the word om can bring the brain to an alpha state. Alpha brain wave states bring the brain a sense of calm and can reduce stress and anxiety as well as can bring waves of creativity and make the brain more able to receive information.
Chanting Om can increase nitric oxide by nearly 1,400%, which helps enhance blood flow, oxygen delivery, and nutrient absorption throughout the body. This increase supports cardiovascular health, reduces inflammation, and promotes relaxation. Additionally, chanting Om has been shown to stimulate the vagus nerve, which can lower stress and improve overall well-being. Regular practice can also increase gray matter in brain regions linked to attention, emotion regulation, and memory, leading to greater mental clarity, emotional stability, and cognitive function

Om explained

Om
is the word.

Omkara
Omkara is the symbol of Om. It is said to have been visualized by the rishis in a deep trance state. The symbol is the script of the first ever syllables based on the shape of the different manifestations of the sound. There are many meanings behind the Vedic syllable. It is the representation of the cosmic energy field, it transcends all time

Pranava
The practice of singing the mantra Aum is called Pranava. Pranava is the store house or the body (vapu) of the energy of Om. Pranava is considered the best prayer or meditation.

Ishvara
Isvara is a concept. It is the abstract idea of “Pure Consciousness”“ HIgher Power” “Consciousness” “ Spirit” “ God “ “ Creation” “ The creator itself”

Akasha
Is the field of pure consciousness pure potentiality that is tapped into when the word Om is used. The Akashic records are where all of history past, present and future are stored and there are people on the planet today like Mattias Stephan that can tap into these records

Aum
is the experience (and the way you pronounce it)
Aum Has 4 parts.

1. A = Brahma --the creator --awake
Brahma opens his eyes and creates the world. Senses turned outward, aware of the external world

2. U = Vishnu --the preserver ---the dream
senses turned inwards

3. M = Shiva --destroyer --deep sleep
death, consciousness with no mind, no dreams, and no desires, the source and end of all

4. Silence---- Experience ----the space between the Space.
super consciousness, beyond the senses and the intellect

Pronouncing the Parts
Aaaaaaa-feel the sound in the physical structure, imagine it originating in the bottom of the spine or bottom of the head and flowing up

Uuuuuuuu-feel the sound blowing out like a trumpet moving to the top of the head and forehead and through the soft palate

Mmmmmmm the sound is contained within itself ending at the sinus’ and top and front of the lips.

Silence--allow the moment to complete itself

All people make the sound “auh” All people from birth make this sound. It represents everything. We make this sound when we feel good and when we don't. This sound brings all people together no matter who we are or where we are from.

The Yoga Sutras on Om
In the classical Yoga Sutras the yogi and sage Maharishi Patajali defines Om as follows:
Sutra book 1.27
“The sacred word expressive of Isvara is the mystic sound, called pranava””
TASYA VACAKAH PRANAVAH
TASYA=of isvara
VACAKAH =word expressed, indicator, term,
PRANAVAH =mystic sound, the mantra

In the following verse Pantanjai continues with advice to combine Mantra and Gyan and mudra, Om should be repeated over and over again whilst reflecting on the deeper meaning, and concentrating on feeling the vibration as an experience not just repeating the sound. This will bring the practitioner to meditation and from that comes the realization of self and the removal of all obstacles.

Iyengar and Om
In the ‘Light on Yoga’ BKS Iyengar (page 50-51) explains that Om is the “realization of man's divinity within himself” We are all, everything.
Mother, Father, Guru
Speech, Mind, Life
Absence of Desire, Fear, Anger
Waking, Dreaming, Dreamless
Length, Breadth, Depth
Past, Present, Future

Tat Twam Asi = That Thou Art= I am That
Creator, Preserver, Destroyer

May you find hOMe in your heart. 

From Mine

Stella Luna Yoga