Nice vibe man!

I’m enjoying Yesica Pineda’s articles lately. Her latest one is all about vibration;

“Everything in the Universe is vibration))))))))))))) and resonance (((((((((((((including YOU.”

Music and yoga seem to go quite well together. Because everything is vibration, everything is also music and our yoga practice helps us vibrate and write our own personal song.

Chanting has always been special to me, even before I started a yogasana practice. Overtone chanting, especially. I can sit for hours humming away, making my own melodies in my head.

What is overtone chanting, you say?

It’s a little difficult to explain, so here are some great, awe-inspiring videos that, I have to say, make me cry like a hungry baby!

That’s the wonderful Natascha Nikeprelevic.

She’s creating the high whistling note by altering the vibration of the note she’s humming, using her throat and her teeth and in some cases, her chest.

Here’s some more of her;

She’s as mad as a box of frogs, though:

Let’s get back to Overtone chanting.

Where does it originate? Mongolia has its “throat singers” who’re just masters at it, but the Tibetan overtone chanting is probably the most popular—with Lama Tashi being a bit of a legend;

This guy’s not bad, either;

But that’s more undertone chanting than overtone. I’m not sure why, but Germany seems to have more than its fair share of overtone singers.

This guy’s taking the whole thing off on another tangent, but it’s still lovely to hear;

How can we do it?

Well, the best way I can describe it is to hum while relaxing the back of your throat and then while making that kinda nasal note, make the vowel shapes with your mouth. It kinda comes with practice and Natascha’s Tao of overtone singing video above gives a few nice tips, I reckon.

The thing is, though, that you don’t really have to make amazing whistling sounds or speak great mantras to benefit. Just humming a single note is a form of Pranayama (bee breath) and you can have lots of really nice side-effects!