LAM VAM RAM YUM HUM OM SO-HUM
Background
The “Seven-Petalled Lotus Mantra” activates and helps bring awareness to the major nerve centres/areas of consciousness in the body. It can help warm up the voice before singing or speaking, and is a useful check-in for what is happening in your body today. It can be deeply restful and calming as you move slowly through it, and if you pick up the pace gradually, it can become more energizing.
Note: The basis for this practice are the 7 seed sounds listed above. I learned to combine these sounds with mudra & movement as described below, with the help of my teacher Chloe Goochild of The Naked Voice, and a member of her core team, Masashi Minegawa.
Practice
-Find a home note that is comfortable and sing the entire piece all on that single tone, rising slightly (only a tone) on the “So” of So-Hum. But don’t worry about the tune! Focus on the seed sounds themselves, how they taste and feel in your mouth, how they resonate in your body. Give the vowels roundness and some forward movement in your mouth, let your lips close to resonate on the “m’s” at the end of each sound. Start slowly, luxuriating in each sound.
-Sound one seed syllable for each chakra or area of awareness. Lam-Root (in front of pubic bone); Vam-Second/Sacral (between pubic bone and belly button); Ram-Solar Plexus (above belly button); Yum-Heart; Hum-Throat; Om-3rd Eye (between eyebrows); So-Hum-Crown (swirls of hair at top of your head)
-Add Movement: Begin with one hand behind the other, at the pubic bone. As you sound, leave one hand in front of the pubic bone to keep you grounded, and bring the other up to each area of awareness (chakra) in a smooth, gliding, travelling motion, until you get to the Crown sound, the So-Hum. Don’t bounce from spot to spot with your hand, just draw a steady line of energy, and notice your awareness travelling up through the chakras as you sound.
-At the So-Hum, extend your arm all the way up with palm facing the sky, then silently bring the hand back down the body through the entire line of energy to close the cycle, and start again. Note: only sing the 7 seed sounds on the way up through the chakras, then close the cycle down with a simple movement of the hand back down the body, and silence.
-Rest for a moment. After you silently close the cycle, both hands are now lightly held, one behind the other, in front of the pubic bone. Rest, then start again.
Extras
-You can do this seated or standing, on it’s own or before/after another movement or energy or vocal practice.
-As you move through the areas of awareness in the practice, the goal is not to change or fix or otherwise alter what is there, simply to bring awareness in conjunction with your sounding.
-As with many of these practices, it is helpful to have a drone track playing in the background to create a more comfortable container for sound. Chloe Goodchild’s “Eternal A” is a good one, from the store at www.thenakedvoice.com. You can also simply search “tanpura drones” on youtube, in various musical keys.
***The entire exercise is also on Chloe Goodchild’s instructional CD’s. See www.thenakedvoice.com***
