By Rev. Maggie Batt
“You can look at disease as a form of disharmony. And there’s no organ system in the body that’s not affected by sound and music and vibration.”
— Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., Sounds of Healing
There is healing energy in the breath! Moreover, our voice has power as a direct result of its connection with the breath. When our breath stops, our spirits move on. With breath, we are infused with the energy of the cosmos and all that is around us.
Have you ever noticed how practicing yogis have glowing skin? This is in part because of their deep and complete breathing practice that infuses the body with energy and assists in maintaining yoga asanas (poses).
Our words become one with the breath. They help us to express our needs and desires. Once we are heard, we can more fully listen to the words of others. Air is sacred to many cultures and is referred to as “the breath of the Divine.” This is why positive affirmations work.
Our words truly have an incredible amount of power to heal if harnessed and directed for positive outcomes.
Mantra Practice
Hindus, Buddhists and even Native Americans have practiced healing chants for thousands of years. Repetitive chanting of the same line or verse is called a mantra. This repetition allows us to access the Divine and shift our current, mundane reality. We merge with the Divine, which allows access to healing energy. We become one with the God/Goddess energy. This practice is said to remove our taste for worldly experience.
We can chant mantras out loud or to ourselves. The characteristics of the mantra will reflect the deity honored by those words. In Hinduism, one might chant Ganesha’s mantra to remove obstacles in life or Lakshmi’s praise to open to abundance. Mantras are different than prayer because we are taking an active part to shift out of mundane existence and into non-ordinary reality. By chanting continually, we access a higher vibration. By connecting to this vibration more and more, our own vibration also will shift upward through entrainment. The dense energetic sludge no longer sticks to our bodies; it now slides off.
Karuna Reiki® and Chanting
Here’s an example of how it works using Karuna Reiki®. Karuna translates to compassionate action. In this practice, not only are we driven to be compassionate, but we also ACT upon the compassion that swells in our heart. The Mahakaruna (great compassionate one) is Avalokiteshvara, whose other embodiments are Kuan Yin and Chenrenzei. Avalokiteshvara means “the sound that illumines the world.” I can attest to the amazing heart opening that occurs during the Karuna Reiki® training. After the schooling, practitioners no longer love conditionally, but literally become love itself as the divine joy flows through them. (For more on Reiki, see the article “Energy Healing 101: Understanding the Art of Reiki” in this issue.)
In Karuna Reiki® we are taught to use our voices for healing. We chant and tone healing symbols over a recipient’s body to balance and raise his or her vibration. The healing sounds lift out negative energetic residues and fill the person up with sound and light. Indeed, very deep healing can occur through the use of sound. Just think of how our bodies resonate to a drum’s beat, a bird’s song or the waves crashing to shore.
In Karuna Reiki® we first empower our voices with healing energy, then chant the healing symbols guided by our intuition. The energy of the sound that then flows is guided by very high vibrational beings of white light from another realm. A practitioner’s own vibration must be able to hold the angelic vibrations in order to channel it for the recipient.*
We are born with one of the best tools for improving the well-being of ourselves and others right in our own bodies—the voice. Recognizing the healing power of the words we speak is an empowering and liberating experience, and by harnessing mantras and other forms of sound healing, such as Karuna Reiki®, we can open the door to new levels of health and higher vibrations that can expand our consciousness.
As Hazrat Inayat Khan says in Mysticism of Sound, “A person does not hear sound only through the ears; he hears sound through every pore of his body. … Sound becomes visible in the form of radiance. This shows that the same energy which goes into the form of sound before being visible is absorbed by the physical body. In that way the physical body recuperates and becomes charged with new magnetism.”
*It is recommended that one be a Reiki Master for six months before taking Karuna Reiki®. Visit www.wheelsoflight.org/karunareiki to learn more.
Reverend Maggie Batt is a spiritual and holistic health consultant, certified TriYoga® teacher, herbalist, Certified Advanced Kahuna ARCH® practitioner, Usui/Tibetan Reiki Master, and a Certified Karuna Reiki® Master Teacher from the International Center for Reiki Training. In 2003, she was cast in “Health Cops: New Orleans” for the Discovery Health Channel. She also appears as an alternative practitioner helping to change someone’s life in 12 weeks on the FitTV channel. For more information, email info@wheelsoflight.org or visit www.wheelsoflight.org.