Contemplative Practice: Sacred Chanting
Through our chanting we merge our personal consciousness momentarily with the infinite consciousness that is our origin and our destiny. It is the drop of water finding its way back into the ocean from which it came. Victor Shamas
Gregg’s Reflection
I started my Executive MBA the same year our son started college, leaving us an empty nest. I knew I would be spending 30 hours a week studying while still working full time. I told Genie, “You need to find something to keep you occupied.” She began volunteering at Zoo Atlanta, and started singing with the contemporary worship group at our church.
When I finished my studies, I wanted to spend more time doing together what she had been doing alone. So, I joined the worship group. What I soon discovered was that singing sacred music was another form of prayer. I now enjoy listening to Gregorian Chant during times of prayer and spiritual reading. It is playing in the background as I write this.
In the Living School, Cynthia Bourgeault introduced us to both sacred chanting, and sacred humming. Humming as a bodily practice, creates a resonance that awakens the body in ways it doesn’t usually do. Here is an example:
Sacred Chanting: 7 minutes of Gregorian Chant: https://youtu.be/j8B_BLtpxQM
The Taize community in France has brought chanting to a new generation. Every summer for decades, thousands have flocked to be part of this community.When I began to look I found many references to singing in both the Old and New Testament. Rediscover what the ancients knew about chanting.
In what ways does music touch your soul? How might experiencing music in a different setting take you to a deeper place?
Blessings, Gregg
Scripture
The Song of Moses and Miriam. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”
Exodus 15:1
Be exalted in your strength, Lord; we will sing and praise your might.
Psalm 21:13
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
Psalm 33:3
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
Psalm 96. An ancient document found at Qumran in Palestine claims that David wrote over 4000 songs. Tradition attributes 73 of the 150 poems of the biblical book Psalms to him as well. Timeline
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
1 Chronicles 16:9
And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Isaiah 30:29
Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel.
Isaiah 44:23
Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
1 Samual 16:23.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Colossians 3:16
Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Ephesians 5:18
Ancient Writings
Music, that is the science or the sense of proper modulation, is likewise given by God’s generosity to mortals having rational souls in order to lead them to higher things.
Saint Augustine, Epis. 161.
I feel that our souls are moved to the ardor of piety by the sacred words more piously and powerfully when these words are sung than when they are not sung, and that all the affections of our soul in their variety have modes of their own in song and chant by which they are stirred up by an indescribable and secret sympathy.
Saint Augustine, Confessions, Book X, chap. 33
Those voices you hear are like the voice of a multitude, which lifts its sound on high; for jubilant praises, offered in simple harmony and charity, lead the faithful to that consonance in which is no discord, and make those who still live on earth sing with heart and voice for the heavenly reward.
Listen to a rendition of one of Hildegards compositions:
I am a string in the concert of God’s joy.
Jacob Boehme, The Confessions of Jacob Boehme, Evelyn Underhill, p. 164
Modern Writings
The effects of chanting on our well-being are deep. There are numerous benefits to chanting, but here are five of my favorites.
Chanting slows down the thinking mind. Every time I chant, I feel like I’m being given an opportunity to get out of my mind. When we chant, our incessant thinking, or “monkey mind,” gets a rest, similar to the experience of meditation. Chanting is sometimes referred to as “ecstatic meditation.” The legendary kirtan artist Vaiyasaki Das explains, “The Sanskrit word ‘mantra’ can be broken etymologically into two root words—‘mana,’ which means the mind, and ‘tra,’ which means to deliver. Thus, a mantra has the power to deliver the mind from material consciousness, or perception, to spiritual consciousness, or enlightenment.”
Chanting facilitates going more deeply into Presence. While chanting, people often report feeling a heightened awareness and a greater ability to rest in the moment and experience. There can be a distinct feeling of being “at home,” with no need to be anywhere else, or for things to be different. Accessing this deepening presence while chanting can remind us that it’s possible to feel this way at all times.
It feels good to sing. There is a primal need that humans have to create sound together. This, combined with the power of mantra, is a sweet recipe for increased happiness, healing, and abundance. People share that their moods are often elevated when chanting, with the effects lasting long afterwards.
Chanting affects our breathing. When we chant, our breathing slows down and deepens. Slower breathing improves heart and lung function. As the Chinese proverb says, “Life is in the breath. One who half breathes, half lives.”
Chanting promotes a feeling of connection to yourself and others. Chanting is a practice that deepens connection with source and with those around us. A powerful sense of oneness occurs during the process of singing together, a feeling that has been lost in our ever-increasingly separate and busy lives.Chanting has the ability to purify and open the heart, which explains why it’s increasing in popularity throughout the world. The friendships and connections that form within a chanting community are beautiful to experience and witness.
Five Ways Chanting Heals Us, Brenda McMorrow
Chanting is at the heart of all sacred traditions worldwide, and for very good reason: it is fundamentally a deep-immersion experience in the creative power of the universe itself. Perhaps no community has done more to reclaim the sacred Christian practice of chanting than Taizé, the small ecumenical community in France founded in the late 1940s. They remind us that “through [the songs], little by little, our being finds an inner unity in God. They can continue in the silence of our hearts when we are at work, speaking with others or resting. In this way prayer and daily life are united. They allow us to keep on praying even when we are unaware of it, in the silence of our hearts. (Taize newsletter).
Cynthia Bourgeault, CAC Morning Devotion, 7/13/21
Sacred chanting raises the mind and heart to God. It separates us from one kind of world and introduces us to another: the one that probes the soul rather than the mind. The one that settles us into the direction of our lives. The one that shapes our souls and trains the ears of our hearts to hear the spirit of life within us. The one that turns our feet from the path of the popular to the path of human purpose.
All the great traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Native American cultures, Judaism, the Islamic reading of the Koran and the mystical Sufi experience, among others, all use chant to express the deepest understanding of their spiritual ideals. Chant is not where anyone goes to argue theology or contest the existence of miracles. Chant is where we go to be. To simply be that other part of ourselves that tugs at our feet on the ground and raises us up somewhere above them. Chant deepens the very nature of prayer. Monastics chant over and over again from day to day: “O God, come to my assistance, O God, make haste to help me.” This is the antiphon that opens the chanting of the 150 psalms, which will be recited over and over again every day of our lives.
Then, eventually, it becomes the beat of the heart, the hope of the seeker. It is the etching of the presence of God on the mind that goes on forever and can never, ever, be forgotten. It is the daily memory and promise of God’s presence that clasps two souls to one another: I to God, God to me. It is the sound of the presence of God that never goes away. In the end, chanting quiets the mind. It opens the heart to contemplation. It takes you down the deep stairs to the cave of the heart and leaves you there to realize the great things God is doing, has done, and will continue to do forever. Chanting moves you into a sense of oneness with the universe, where no thinking or problem-solving is the price of your admission, only awareness of the presence of God, eternal yet new every day of your life.
Joan Chittister, The Monastic Heart: 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life
Just as it was in the beginning, the Word of God speaks peace into his creatures, enlivening them with the Holy Spirit.
In this form of chanting, we embody the Word of Peace, allowing it to resonate through our being, harmonising the wisdom of our animal nature. Speak the single word peace with a deep resonate drone, like a foghorn calling out across the mist covered sea. It is the vowel in the middle of the word which carries the chant, the consonants at the beginning and end are mostly there to lead you in and bring you back from the depths of the vowel, such as, ‘ppeeeeeeaaaaaaacce.’
Hold the chant in a steady hum for as long as you can without straining yourself, exhaling all of the air in your lungs. Allow the physical vibrations of your voice to reverberate through your chest and head, eventually enveloping your whole body. Other words can be substituted based on the needs of the individual. One or two syllable words are best, simply let the vowels carry the chant. Love, joy, wisdom, God, and Jesus are all possible words to use.
The following steps walk you through the whole process, inviting you to make the sign of the cross and take a full breath between each chant. These three elements (saying peace, breathing, and making the sign of the cross) follow the same pattern as Jesus’ resurrection appearance to the disciples. Breathing is the presence of the Holy Spirit, peace is the gift it bestows upon us. The sign of the cross is for the wounds in Christ’s hands and side, the Paschal Mystery at the heart of all things. If you are able, visualise the scene with your inner senses as you chant, enacting the story from the perspective of Christ, embodying his peace.
Gentle full breath into the belly
Sign of the cross, alternating hands with each repetition
Slow full breath out through the mouth
Gentle full breath into the belly
Peace
Repeat
Justin Coutts, Search for a New Eden, 4/28/24
Through our chanting we merge our personal consciousness momentarily with the infinite consciousness that is our origin and our destiny. It is the drop of water finding its way back into the ocean from which it came.
Victor Shamas, The Chanter's Guide: Sacred Chanting As a Shamanic Practice
Even before the Greeks and Romans, ancient men and women knew that chanting and drumming were powerful ways to deal with physical and emotional issues. They also knew that the sounds of nature, such as bird songs, waves lapping the shore, and wind through the trees were soothing and comforting. Many ethnomusicologists and anthropologists believe that the earliest human attempts at making music were actually attempts to re-create the music of nature. Many and varied instruments were created from reeds, hollowed out tree trunks and other materials available. Not too long ago an ancient flute was discovered in the ruins of what was Sumeria. It was fashioned from the bone of a bird!
Even through the Middle Ages, and into the Renaissance and Classical Era, music was accepted as a viable and logical method of healing, along with more traditional medicinal remedies. When the Industrial Revolution started in about 1740, everything focused on technology. As the world became more mechanized, people began to be more and more skeptical of natural healing modalities and music fell into the realm of “superstition” and “old wives’tales.” Music as a healing modality faded more and more into the past until about 1950. At that time, soldiers were returning from World War II and being treated in the Veteran’s Hospitals. When the “Big Band” groups would come and play for the men and woman, staff observed that for some of the patients, that was the only time during the day that the patients would “light up” and respond to their environment, because of the music.
Music for Healing: An Ancient Art and Science by Dr. Alice Cash