June 2, 2023
Toning and yoga, an easy and beneficial practice.
«Toning develops the willingness to be heard, the ability to carry forward that we are in the outside world, and also self-acceptance. «
One night 19 years ago, I and other students stayed after class. We sat in a circle and with each exhalation we made a sound, the sound of OM. When we finished, I discovered that an hour had passed, although it seemed to me to have been only five minutes. Through sound, I had entered a world of timelessness, harmony and peace that has called out to me ever since.
What I didn't know then was that we were practicing an aspect of Nada Yoga – the use of self-generated sound vibrations to call our consciousness inward in order to experience the deeper layers of itself.
I have found that the addition of toning with the practice of yoga has many benefits. On a physiological level, Toning in specific areas with tension induces relaxation, energy, and promotes deep breathing with prolonged exhalations. With energy, it balances the body and the subtle energies powerfully call the deep awareness within. When we tone it out loud, we increase our level of introversion and, at the same time, offer ourselves to the outside through the sounds we generate. This ability to move the entrances and exits at the same time favors the integration of those of us with the way they are externally. Toning develops the willingness to be heard, the empowerment to carry on that we are in the outside world, and self-acceptance. In groups that sing together there is a natural union that occurs as their sounds come together in a group of experience.
Toning is easy to learn.
I use seven vowel sounds, each corresponding to a chakra. Each sound is vocalized in one long exhalation at whatever pitch (high or low) is comfortable.
Chanting can be combined with Yoga in many ways. Sound linked to movement can be included in warm-ups to energize and oxygenate the body; to integrate breath, mind and body; to connect with the HARA, and to relax a group into themselves and receive each other. Toning can be used as a sitting meditation practice or a moving meditation practice, and is extremely useful for special groups of yoga students who may find movement difficult.
During the performance of a posture, when you tone towards the end, the introversion deepens. The deep vibration in the physical body becomes a focus as you chant out loud. When the external sound dies down, the vibration continues, and the awareness of this subtle sensation continues pointing to the practice of meditation in the stillness of the ASANAS supporting the flow in spontaneous movement.
Try this: Next time you do a MUDRA, do the vocal tone ee for 10 breaths. I notice from experience that where there is sensation during intonation and the quality of stillness follows. The self-generated intonation sounds are a natural breathing exercise. To make a long sound, you must fully breathe in and out in a steady, slow stream. It becomes natural for students to remember how to breathe when they are making a vowel. I like to start with this simple exercise: standing in TADASANA, arms at your sides. Inhale, raise arms above head. Exhale, lowering the arms as you intone ah. Find the shade you feel best with.
Do this five times, then in stillness and in effect.
Chanting is an excellent practice for sitting meditation as well. In this practice a vowel is sung for 10-20 minutes. This is followed by silence with a focus on internal listening. Especially effective when done in a group, chanting takes some practitioners to places of deep inner awareness.
Rosa Puerto is a psychotherapist of the expressive arts, painter / sculptor, sound therapist and trainer of sound therapists, teacher of psychodrama, group dynamics, in arts and crafts.
She has also been a Montessori teacher and teacher trainer for 10 years in England. International speaker and educator both in Europe and Mexico.
Creator of the creativity courses: "Interior Landscapes", "Drawing by contact: the expression of an inner process" "Re-finding your creative self and your own symbolic language" or sound "Yholdia - in search of your ancestral voice" "Sound and vibration as an expression in creativity", "The voice as a healing instrument"
She has recorded several CDs "The crystalline music of the quartz bowls" 2004, "The journey of the Soul" 2012, "Universal Mother" 2013 and is the author of the book "Sound Therapy" September-2010- The World of Therapies.
Founder and director of the Aggelosiris center and since 2014 the Rosaleah center in Barcelona. For more information on this technique www.rosaleah.com
