Chanting is a simple practice of reciting mantras of your choice in rhythmic style. It is a commonly used spiritual practice and also used in religious rituals. While chanting certain mantras one needs to put slight pressure on tongue, vocal chords, lips, palate and other connecting points in the body. The vibration produced from the mantra stimulates the body gland called hypothalamus which is responsible for the regulating many body functions including immunity and some happy hormones. Happiness increases immunity of your body. Chanting calms emotions and helps meditate better. If you practice chanting sincerely and consistently it works like tranquilizer for mind. You get sound sleep in night and feel fresher and energetic.

In chanting meditation, one needs to combine sound, breath and rhythm. After some time the body channels the flow of energy from mind to the entire body because chanting regulates the chronic stress and tension. In today’s hyper and hectic life, our endocrine system is working under repression. Chanting normalizes hormone production, which balances our moods and overall sense of well-being.

It soothes the practitioner at the cellular level. It gives immense pleasure that surpasses the senses; it takes you beyond the bounds of time and space. Chanting clears fear, depression and anxiety. We begin to identify with our ageless soul. As a result the mantra practice boosts immunity of body. Breath helps to adjust all the rhythms of our body; not only the familiar circadian rhythms, but the lesser known ultradian rhythms (ultradian rhythm is a recurrent period or cycle repeated throughout a 24-hour day) which monitors the smaller and bigger energy cycles that occur throughout the day. Because our nervous systems are often overtaxed, these rhythms are thrown out of balance. But through the technology of sound, it begins repairs.  In chanting, breath is set to sound.

Om is considered the monarch of all mantras Aum represents the fundamental energy of vibration behind all of creation, inside and around every aspect of this universe. Chanting Aum sends vibrations through the whole structure of the thoracic cage and skull area, reaching into the deepest parts of the heart, lungs and head. The act of chanting slows the exhalation rate down, helping to calm the nervous system. This can be very useful in stressed situations. It is very effective at bringing our minds to rest, as our consciousness is occupied by the sounding of Aum and we cease that constant chatter within ourselves.

You don’t need to hum or sound like an expert while chanting mantra; it’s not about singing in tune.  We’re not memorizing complex lyrics, layering harmonies, and we’re not certainly busting out thrust solos. It works whether it’s done alone, or in a group, as in a powerful kirtan. It works whether it’s done softly or in full voice, as long it is from the heart and with the belly. Although for enhanced effect, we can add eye-focus and a gentle hand mudra, these are simple to include and can be incorporated gradually.

Our thoughts reflect and affect our mood, our attitude and our general tenor. Our thoughts are silent sounds. And sounds are electromagnetic vibrations. The more refined our thoughts, the more elevated our vibration. The closer we get to the highest vibration we reach nearer to our own divine nature. The entire universe is built on sound, which is nothing but vibration. By vibrating a certain combination of sounds, we are able to tune into various levels of intelligence and consciousness. Thus, chanting mantras is watchful method of controlling our moods, and in turn, our frequency and resultant all-around radiance.

It’s a long-held spiritual belief that it takes 40 days for a sadhak (seeker) to get used to a transformation with practicing either a mantra or tantra. The philosophy behind it is that it takes 20 days to break old habits and 20 days to form new ones. We carry some demoting habits which exhaust us because they make us anxious and insecure. And, we carry some promoting habits which make us healthy and vital. Life is all about transformation. If we discard our demoting habits, we feel more energised and happier and that is what ‘’Sadhana’’ is all about.  It takes 40 days to break away from a demoting habit or pattern and to replace it with a good habit/pattern.

Kundalini Yoga is known as the yoga of awareness because it uses physical movement, breathing and sound to invoke shakti and to become self-aware. Kundalini affects ones consciousness, it develops intuition and sets free the unlimited creative potential that exists within every human being. One needs to practice the Kundalini yoga for 40 consecutive days to make or break the bad habits. As a believer of science, I think rhe biggest fact in physiology is that our skin cells on average take 40 days to renew, our red blood cells start dying from 40 days onwards and sperm count can be increased in 40 days!  This is how 40 days has relevance in our life.

Also, 40 days has a mystical relevance in most of the religions across the world.  In Judaism, there’s a mystical practice that says one who seeks an answer to their prayers should pray the same prayer request for 40 consecutive days. Forty days also has significance for Christians who fast for 40 days during Lent. The number 40 has lot of relevance in Islam. Number forty repeats even in Sikkhism. They believe in doing their sacred book Gurugrantha Sahib Path for 40 consecutive days. So, forty days holds both a mystical and practical significance to transformation in many areas of our lives and cultures.

Practicing anything for at least 40 days allows you to incorporate it into your being. 40 days of any mantra chanting can turn you on; it can transform you inside and outside. For many, 40 days is a long time, and therefore they avoid exercising 40 days tantra or mantra practice. But, if you patiently give your precious forty days (not the entire day), but specific time of a day, you will reap miraculous results.

I am a firm believer of mantra chanting. The properly pronounced mantra gives rise to an electromagnetic strength in which the promoting habits become dominant in your daily routine. You feel energised, your mind fills with positive thoughts, and hence your mind and body get intelligently charged. Positivity of mind attracts abundance of health, wealth and success. If you ill, the illness goes away. I suggest chose a smaller mantra. Chose a mantra of the deity you have faith in. Listen to the mantra on YouTube for getting the right pronunciation, recite it for few times with You Tube.

Following are the few results you will get for sure:

The process charges you: It’s not only about the mantra chanting, but it is the actual process. It is always advisable each day to sit in a one same place, at the same time for chanting the mantra. You clean the place, wash your face, hands, and legs, and sit in erect posture to chant the mantra. Mantras are repetitive sounds used to penetrate the depths of the unconscious mind and adjust the vibration of all aspects of your being. Mantras are vibrated through chanting aloud, mental practice, or by listening to them. The experience of how sound vibrations effect your being is called Naad yoga. The actual process of committing to something for over a month, even if it means just finding ten minutes of quiet time in your day, actually affects your life in some remarkable ways.

Your self-esteem improves: The mantra chanting gives you the boost, the vibrations and the sound gives you a lot of peace of mind. The stress and anxiety levels slowly start reducing. You start to feel special and finer because you’re doing this spiritual practice. You automatically start thinking finer. The spiritual practice gets the best in you because the spiritual journey takes you nearer to the Universal Energy whom we call God who is divine and has unconditional and unlimited pure energy. You slowly become aware of GOD within you.

Become Consistent: Mantra chanting is about a consistent return to the breath and the mantra. Even if your thoughts wander for some time, the continuous chanting brings you back to the mantra. It is habit forming. You do something for 40 days, and it will seem more normal to do it than not doing it. Your brain adapts the habit, so even when you are engrossed in something, the mind ticks to the ‘newly formed habit’. You will begin to fall in line and embrace the mantra, which in few days makes more enjoyable experience. It helps you choosing consciousness rather than unconsciousness, self-acceptance than self-disowning, assertiveness than suppression. You also become consistent.

Feel freer: You start feeling freer. Your inhibitions just go away. The restrictions, limits and boundaries drawn by subconscious mind disappear.  Your relationships with people around you improve. You start becoming honest. You slowly realize that life is a gift to be lived in full. Make it colourful, happier by attracting abundance. Do not limit your life in your mind’s dark closet. The biggest fact of life is that spirituality and and low self-esteem cannot co-exist. They are completely opposed.

I cannot say this categorically whether it because of the mantra, but I have started experiencing good things in my life. I have already started a 40-day meditation of mantra chanting for abundance. Just by raising my vibration by chanting mantra I have cleared more room for progress in my life! Please try it; there is no harm in it.