Chanting in a spiritual context is the repetition of a mantra, sound, word, phrase, verse or entire song.  Chanting is a practice that many of the worlds spiritual and religious traditions uphold.

A chanting practice can hold many purposes.  The nature of the purpose tends to related to the particular tradition or practice itself.

A commonality amongst all the chanting traditions  is that chanting facilitates the development of concentration.

Chanting a particular phrase, mantra or verse repeatedly helps you to develop your powers of concentration.   

On the chanting of that mantra, all of your attention is focused.  Directed into that mantra is all your energy and your emotions.  Your sound is directed to that mantra.  If your mind naturally does wander as you start your chanting practice, it has to wander back in order to do the chanting itself.

This facilitates the development of concentration.  In the yoga traditions they refer to this as “one pointed concentration”.

But what exactly is the purpose of developing concentration?

Having the ability to concentrate the mind provides numerous benefits.  There are the obvious benefits that can be applied to everyday life.

A capacity to stay focused.  A capacity to remain with the task at hand and finish it.  The ability to develop your memory and not forget. 

When you practice chanting this actually creates new neural connections in the brain.  This is laying down new neural pathways of concentration.

In modern times there is the rise of ADD and all attention related disorders.  Unfortunately the human mind is becoming something of a mess.  The ability to concentrate, focus, remember and retain information is becoming a lost art.

All of this is not helped with the media we surround ourselves with such as the TV, DVDs, film, telephones etc etc and the information overload we consume as our diet.

The brain is helped and concentration is developed with a chanting practice.  Once this concentration is developed, it is naturally and can be consciously integrated into your life to assist you in performing all the tasks you need to do that require focus and concentration.   All this from a chanting practice!

If you are interested in chanting as a type of spiritual practice or a form of meditation, the yoga ashram is a wonderful place to learn and discover more if you have yogic or spiritual inclinations.

What is the ashram?  The ashram is a location where people live and study the spiritual path of yoga and typically an ashram is open to guests staying for breaks or courses.

All the various aspects of yoga are studied at the ashram.  You will find much more than simply asana practice such as yoga philosophy, karma yoga, meditation as well as mantra chanting.

At the yoga ashram you can find many different types of chanting practices.  So if you are looking to learn about the different types of chanting practices, the ashram is a great place to learn.

On the ashram the day usually starts pretty early at around 6.00am with group meditation.  Often this group meditation which is called a satsang involves mantra chanting.  There is usually the longer forms of vedic mantras that are chanted to start the day and there may be Om chanting meditation also.

There may also be time for you to focus on your own mantra chanting practice within specified times.  This is where you have a particular mantra used for your chanting practice.  For a mantra chanting practice you may or may not be initiated into the particular mantra tradition.

During ritual moments mantras are also chanted.  Some of these rituals you can join in with the chanting.

During the day there are specific moments which are accompanied with the chanting of mantras. 

At the start and ending of asana and meditation sessions the chanting of particular mantras takes place.  There can even be the chanting of mantras before eating.

So the yoga ashram is an ideal place to learn about the many types of chanting practices within the yogic tradition.  If the tradition of yoga resonates with you, find an ashram that you feel drawn and attracted to.  This can be the start of a wonderful discovery into the world of chanting.

A form of meditation is the spiritual practice of chanting.  A very powerful form of meditation that utilizes the voice as a instrument is chanting.

Chanting has many purposes including being a tool for the classic one pointedness (concentration), healing, change and transformation, release and healing.

When you chant a mantra repeatedly certain types of transformations can occur in the brain.  A mantra can be a word, phrase, verse or entire song and it can be with or without meaning.  It can be repeated for a certain number of mantras or time or not.  This depends on the chanting tradition.

This very act of the repetition of chanting the mantra creates changes.  Scientists have recently discovered with MRI technology what happens inside the brain when certain meditation activities are practiced.

The scientists found that there is particular firing of the neural patterns that take place when meditation is practiced.  This is different to the regular firing patterns of the brain.  It is these different patterns of the brain that are attributed to an increase in well being and feelings of positive emotions.

The famous yogi’s frequently said that chanting and meditation is a way to create “new grooves” in ones mind. 

The latest scientific findings seem to show now that this is the case. 

When one practices a meditation and chanting is a meditation, if practiced in a particular way with method, that indeed the brain can be changed and “remolded” to use neuro science lingo.  These firing patterns that occur with meditation practices are associated more with the positive emotions and sensations.

Perhaps the ancient yogi’s indeed had it correct when they said aeons ago that chanting creates new grooves in the mind.  So if your are looking to change your mind and brain, why not try chanting?

From the belief system of Islam is the origins of Sufism.  Sufism is often said to be the mystical branch of Islam. 

Realizing a mystical connection with the divine or experiencing unity with God or mystical love is one of the aims of Sufism.

In Sufism the practice of chanting songs, or texts and poetry is practiced to reach this objective.  Qawwali is the name given to this type of music. 

Qawwali music is a devotional form of vocal music.  The function of this music is a spiritual function in facilitating the divine connection.  This is the central purpose of this devotional form of music of Qawwali.

Qawwali music has particular musical characteristics and fits into the category of North Indian Classical music.

A particular chanting practice is used in order to arouse the emotional and spiritual connection with God.  This chanting practice is the recitation of God’s name.  The name of this chanting practice is called “zikr”.  While “sama” is the name given to the listening practice of this devotional music.

Zikr and sama set the context in order to experience the emotional connection to God within Sufism.  The poetry or text is the vehicle through which the mystical love is communicated and experienced.  This poetry or text is given a musical setting.

The performers aim is to bring about an intensification of the text for the listeners experience.  The singer will shape via improvisation the structure of the music in such a way that this can be done.  The singer uses repetition of phrases, clapping and changes in tempo to intensify the emotions of the listeners.

Intensification has two functions and operates to reinforce and also generate increased spiritual arousal.

The performer is acutely aware of the impact of his performance on the listeners.  As long as the song is effecting the audience, it is continued.  Once the effect of a song has stopped it will be stopped and another song will commence.

Thus the practice of chanting within the tradition of Sufism is used to experience a unity with God or a feeling of mystical love and connection.

Today the technique of mantra meditation is becoming more popular.  Mantra meditation involves the use of particular mantras that can be found in many traditions from yogic traditions, Buddhist traditions through to Sufism.

A mantra is a word, syllable or phrase that is repeated for a particular purpose.  A mantra can be used as a tool for healing, or it can be used as a tool to concentrate the mind for a particular objective.

To work upon the chakra system mantras can also be used for this.  Particular chakras are said to correspond to a particular sound. 

Here the bija mantras can be utilized to act upon the chakras. One syllable mantras like “Vam” and “Lam” are referred to as “bija” mantras.  In the Vedic tradition, certain sounds are said to resonate the body in particular areas. The bija mantra that is choosen is the one that corresponds to the area or chakra of the body that you wish to have a particular effect upon.

Phrases which use a number of words to make a phrase such as “Hari Om” and “Om Namah Sivaya” are also mantras.  This phrase is repeated over and over.There is a certain effect on the body physically, energetically, emotionally and spiritually that each phrase has.

Often a mantra is repeated for a particular number of times such as 108 times.  The number of times a mantra is repeated is said to be important.Or a particular time frame may be used for the mantra meditation practice.

Mantra meditation is said to be a very effective form of meditation due to the vibrational effect.The voice creates vibrations from the sound that is emitted through the mouth.   This has an effect on the body, mind, soul complex and has the ability to effect the entire energetic complex. 

Vibration acts on the body mind soul complex through certain principles such as resonance and entrainment.Some of the factors that influence the effectiveness of mantra meditation are these vibrational processes.