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I get a lot of beginners in my classes and I find myself explaining the basics a lot. Here’s the info on the mantras that are used in Kundalini Yoga Practice.

Feel free to DOWNLOAD A COPY of them and send them to students or anyone who needs them.

BASICS OF KUNDALINI YOGA MANTRAS

These are the most frequently used mantras in the practice. People new to the practice quickly learn that chanting mantra is not singing, it’s vibrating sound to create a quantum effect.

Sound is a form of energy and used specifically can change one’s state. In Kundalini Yoga we use mantra (man=mind, tra(ng)=projection) to project the mind into focus. Think of it as dialing a security code… you punch in a code and the door opens. That’s the use of mantra.

HOW TO CHANT: Begin with a full breath and focusing on creating the sound at the navel (just below the belly-button,) Let the sound radiate from there, up and out. Play with the sound, experiment until it feels like the sound puts you in a groove– you’ll know it when you get it, then it’s like riding a bike.

THE MANTRAS

ONG NAMO GURU DEV NAMO Known as The Adi Mantra, it’s the mantra we use to tune in at the beginning of class. (at least three repititions)

ONG= Creativity of the universe coming into form
NAMO= to bow (infinitely – to the formless consciousness)
GURU DEV= The subtle force of the teacher within (gu=darkness, ru=light; Guru is that force that brings you out of the dark into the light)
NAMO= to bow (to the finite– to the form, yourself and the other)

The mantra vibrates the mind and tunes the whole system in to the wisdom that’s brought about by meditation.

AAD GURAY NAMEH

The optional, second chant after the Adi Mantra above, is a protective mantra known as “A Mangala Charan Mantra.” Its sound current creates a buffer of light around the person chanting it. The idea is that while you can’t control time, you can affect the space you occupy within time and thus chanting this mantra gives you space to avoid danger– by up to 9 seconds coming and going.

AAD GURAY NAMEH = I bow to the primal wisdom

JUGAD GURAY NAMEH = I bow to the all emcompassing power and energy

SAT GURAY NAMEH = I bow to that through which God creates

SIRI GURU DEV EH NAMEH = I bow to the creative power of the kundalini, the divine mother power.

LONG TIME SUNSHINE
To End we sing The Long Time Sunshine Song which is an old Irish folk song that Yogi Bhajan made a part of kundalini yoga to end all classes.

May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide your way on

SAT NAM

Sat Nam basically dials the person chanting it in to the highest truth for them.

SAT= Truth (universal)
NAM= Identity (the applied identity– individual and universal, from infinite to finite and back)

photo courtesy of Herr Mac C. on flickr