The Practice of Nada Yoga: Meditation on the Inner Sacred Sound by Baird Hersey

Author:Baird Hersey [Hersey, Baird]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spirituality/Yoga
ISBN: 9781620551820
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2013-12-16T23:00:00+00:00

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

The first sounds you hear may be loud. As your practice grows and your ability to focus increases, you will begin to hear the subtler aspects of sound.

The sound may take many forms: a low rumble; a high, sustained tone; a shimmering vibration; a resonant ringing; or buzzing. The lower sounds are those usually heard first and are sometimes felt in the body as well as heard in the head. Then comes the midrange sounds that are more resonant. The higher sounds have a sparkling, modulating, luminescent quality.

You may also feel a tingling above the soft palate. Gorakshanath describes this location, the root of the palate, as the talu chakra. He says it is the tenth door that leads upward to the divine.

Initially it is best not to get attached to one particular sound. The sounds you hear may change from day to day, from meditation to meditation. It is the concentration on these internal sounds that is most important, rather than which sound we hear on any given day. Ultimately, after regular steady practice, your concentration will settle on the highest, most luminous sound.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika lists external sounds that are similar to those that may be experienced internally: “. . . the ocean, thunder, a large waterfall, low drums, large bell, conch shell, horn, flute, tinkling chimes, bees or crickets.”

In contemporary terms the instrument most like the nada’s high sustained sound is a single note of guitar feedback. As it rises through the harmonics bringing out different shimmering subtleties, it is strikingly similar to the nada. There is also a similarity to overtone singing. Much like the nada, there is a subtlety to each of the individual pitches that make up the harmonic series of overtone singing.

We must learn to discriminate between the sounds of our own body: our breath, blood pumping, or the electrical energy of the nerves and the other deeper sounds behind the audible sound, the nada. This is true even in the case of tinnitus.

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