Word explanations

Pranayama

There are a lot of breathing techniques in the different yoga styles, Pranayama refers to the combination of body and mind through breathing exercises. I will go into certain techniques in a later article, for today's mantra it is enough to know that it means breathing exercises.

Mantra

Mantra means sacred word or syllable, they are sounding bodies with spiritual power. I already have several articles about different mantras on my blog.

So-Ham Breath Mantra

Introduction

We breathe in and out about 21,000 times a day. Normally one breath takes about 3 seconds. With this mantra, we enter into the realm of conscious breathing, that is, we leave the natural unconscious breathing and worry about our breath. An effect occurs after only a few breaths, in ancient writings there is talk of 3 conscious breaths on the day that can already lead to a change of consciousness. From my post of Shaman Knowledge - Drugs you know that it means the production of the body's own drugs.

Of course, it is a matter of depth, knowledge and awareness of a technique that determines the effects on the body. In my shamanic work one conscious breath is enough to enter into a trance, which required years of practice of various techniques. And part of it is certainly intuitive knowledge. With my articles I want to pass on this knowledge and thus give everyone the opportunity to gain first experiences in this area of conscious breathing and to benefit directly from it.

The So-Ham Breath Mantra is easy and immediately applicable!

It can be explained in a few sentences and executed by anyone.

The So'ham Mantra has the literal meaning of "He is I" or "I am He".

This mantra is used in the Nada Yoga as an inner mantra, meaning it has no audible sound, no tone, then we speak of an imagined inner sound.

Technique

Imagine inhaling the syllable SO, and exhale the syllable HAM. (A like in afternoon)
That's the whole technical description of the mantra. Simple or?

To experience the full benefit, however, it requires some attention, which I now want to explain. The idea of the two syllables should be an experience, not a purely spiritual matter. This means that you not only imagine the two syllables, but almost act as if you want to speak them, but without speaking, we do not want to create a sound. So you see the syllables in front of you and in you as they flow in and out. After a few minutes of practice you will understand what I mean.

Effects

When this mantras is performed at every breath of the day and night, both main nadi energy channels are activated and energized in the spinal cord. As the process progresses, each cell of the entire body begins to emit a sound, that sound can be heard and described as Soham or Om. This stage is one of the most advanced techniques that requires years of practice. You've probably heard about retreat days for monks at the convent and that they are not talking for days, this technique is one of the many exercises that can be done during that time.

When you make this mantra for a few minutes, the effects described above begin in a very subtle way. However, an increase in life energy is clearly noticeable after just a few minutes.

If you feel weakness, loss of appetite or something similar, try this mantra for at least 5-10 minutes. Negative effects of this practice are not known.

Your questions please in the comments, more exercises will follow.

A post with links to all previous articles will follow.

All Images CC0 Public Domain

See you next time!

Thank you for your attention!

Original content by @schamangerbert 05/2017 in German
Schamanenwissen - Atemmantra So-Ham

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Schaman Gerbert

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