We were challenged to complete seven days of celebration through chanting by @eco-Alex. During the meditation challenge, I did a couple days of chanting with my meditation. It provided a sense of calm, but I didn't really notice anything else, so I thought going a full seven days would be a good practice. I have done a bit of chanting in the past, but it's never been anything close to a regular practice.
Below are my notes from each day. Then I'll gather together the overall picture and talk a bit about what I think ritual in general can do for our lives.
Daily Notes
Day 1
Once again, it is a deeper experience than I imagined. It is calming and incredibly helpful at shutting down monkey mind. It is a feeling of being soothed. The effect on my meditation is also more calm, deeper and more relaxed breaths. Monkey mind still going but talking slower I guess? Less anxious.
Day 3
I made the unfortunate decision to check a text before doing my meditation. It was not a happy text. The chanting helped lighten and ease the stress. Sort of separated me from it and allowed me to see it with less judgement and more ease. It helped me see other solutions including (gasp) I don’t have to be the one to take care of everything.
Day 4
The sing songy chants don’t do as much for me, but I still feel lighter and easier. More joyful. More flowy. More able to cope with the normal chaos.
Day 5
Regular chants are better for me. Some kind of background music is fine, but some of them go into full song mode, and it just doesn't have the same effect. I think it's something to do with the rhythm? Or maybe the music becomes a distraction at a point.
Day 6
Today’s chant was sort of sweet and melodic, not traditional but not cheesy either. It cut off abruptly which was really shocking to my system. The repetition is very soothing and feels like it soothes me into an easier space. Still able to stay calmer in the face of challenges. Wears off by the afternoon though.
Day 7
A really nice chant today. Again the soothing feeling. Still monkey mind, but it’s happier and mellower at least. I am also experiencing a shift in my life that I think is connected to the Gayatri mantra. It’s slow, and there’s still a lot of back and forth, and I think there are other forces also at play, but there is an energy to this mantra that is slowly changing what my outer and inner worlds look like.
Pulling it all Together
The theme of soft, soothing, calming, and mellowing is consistent through the days. For me that is the main effect of the chanting. It slows me down, which is good because I can be wound pretty tight sometimes.
The surprising bit was the changes in my outer world. Now I have already talked about the Tibetan and Chinese New Years, so I think that has also had some effect. But I think the chanting has too. I have been feeling quite stuck for a while now, unable to express my truth and trapped in old patterns. We've been living in pretty intense poverty as well. Something has shifted. I believe we have found a better place to live which is bigger than I can tell you. We are getting a little bit of financial flow and are digging out of debt. And I'm starting to be able to share my truth with people.
My birthday present from my sweet son. It's a compass.
These are all really significant changes for me. And I'm grateful for all of them. One of the things I like the most is that the changes have all been really soft and gentle. For example yesterday I took my older daughter for a mommy/daughter day. We went to a different village, and everything went really super smooth. Our car has had some issues, but yesterday it was fine. We got a really clear and easy message to move to this other community without any kind of major challenges. I can tell you that is a serious improvement for me.
Soft, gentle, mellow, positive changes. Hooray!
The Power of Ritual
I believe ritual is so important for humans. I believe we really crave it deep in our bones. I believe we need it to evolve into different phases of our life. Daily rituals, as well as periodic rituals to celebrate rites of passage, spiritual changes and challenges, prayers of gratitude, and important moments in our lives. So I encourage you to find the rituals that work for you. Maybe chanting isn't your jam. Prayer, meditation, writing, dancing, playing music, or drawing may work better for you. I encourage you to find time each day for these things.
And make plans for bigger celebrations as well. Sweat Lodge is probably my favorite ritual, but it's one you should only do with someone who really knows, respects, and honors the tradition. We are regularly offered all kinds of opportunities to celebrate our lives - change of seasons, birth, death, children reaching rites of passage, committing our hearts to another, croning, and more. Pay attention and you will find reasons. These rituals connect us to each other and to the earth and to God. Much love, y'all.