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I'll bet the opposite of yoga is true with chanting - in yoga, proper alignment and breathing are essential before you can progress "deeper" into a pose and have it be beneficial to you, but in chanting, I would think that putting your heart into it far supercedes having the textbook pronunciation down pat!

I've only done the tiniest bit of chanting myself - once in an all-day intensive at the studio I go to, and again at the Yoga Journal Conference in Boston last weekend, only about 10 minutes each time. I commend you for being able to do it at home alone, I think I might be horrified by the sound of my own voice! Do you have any favorites?

Thanks for the advice Nicole. Yeah, that makes sense - for awhile at my studio they couldn't have any Bikram's classes, even though the instructor herself was certified, the studio itself was not. They would say it was "hot power" but tip everyone off that the instructor was a Bikram's instructor so you might get alittle of that mixed in. Now, they offer a few actual Bikram's classes, so they must've got the legality stuff all squared away! It IS confusing! Looks like I'm on the right track so far - I go to all different classes and love to read about yoga (bought 4 books just at the conference!), we'll see where this takes me!

Yes, pick it up, a good summer reading book, I think! Funny, though, I think most would find it way too deep to be a good summer book, but I'm pretty beginner, so some of it might actually read alittle slow for you - very interesting perspectives about eastern philosophy vs. western psychology...

Kripalu seems like an incredible place according to this book, it's making me think of trying to get there, too! There's always winter vacations, right?

Well said!



Mmm. I think it was a bit awkward in the beginning, but now I've got used to it, I actually like chanting. In Ashtanga Yoga we have an Opening Mantra and a Closing Mantra that we chant at the beginning and the end of every practice. Read them here.

Other than that, I love Gayatri Mantra and Om Asatoma Mantra. In addition to singing them myself, I enjoy listening to Deva Premal's versions, included in her album "The Essence".


Btw, which books did you buy in the conference?

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Om Shanti
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Thanks for those links, those sound really nice, she's got a lovely set of pipes! That's the sort of thing I would need to start out, I think - I'd have to hear it AND read it!

I bought that "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self" by Stephen Cope, which I'm reading right now and have been glued to ever since I picked it up. It's just a smart book that flows like a story but is just full of huge insights, I can see myself re-reading it (maybe as soon as I finish!). Another is "Yoga Body, Buddha Mind" by Cyndi Lee. She actually taught the Intro to Vinyasa class that I took at the conference, so I bought her book because I liked her demeanor, you know? She just had this smart, everyday gal thing about her, a great sense of humor, just the kind of person you could relate to, I'm hoping her book is like that, too. Then I got Iyengar's "Light on Life" and "The Yoga of Breath, A Step by Step Guide to Pranayama" by Richard Rosen. Very excited to have so much good stuff to read!

That album is fantastic. A fellow ashtangi and I are fond of saying it's haunting. The CD comes with a fantastic booklet with the words and translations and a quick background on the mantras.




I had not heard about the first and the last one before, but both "Light On Life" and "Yoga Body, Buddha Mind" seem to be wonderful books, according to some reviews I've read. Unfortunately, I let the chance to buy Iyengar's one last September when I was in London and now I'll have to buy it online grrr

I'm currently reading "Light on Patanjali's Yoga Sutra", Iyengar's comment on this text about yoga philosophy, which is my favourite of all of the ancient text. It's quite complex but very deep. It's amazing how those thoughts that are hundreds of years old are still true nowadays.

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Om Shanti
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Hey there ashtangi!

I still haven't finished "Light on Life" - to be honest, all those sanskrit terms overwhelm me sometimes, I wound up putting the book down for awhile. Iyengar references Patanjali so much that it makes me want to read his interpretation of the Yoga Sutra's as well. You're right - as a race, we're all still trying to learn the same lessons. It's truly amazing.