Greetings, everyone. How are you doing? Holding steady-ish in unusual times?
Thanks to those of you who re-opted in to this newsletter by clicking on the OM link I provided last time. If you didn’t catch the link, you will find it posted again below.
Over the next few months I’ll continue to include an opt-in link with what I send out. I am trying to get a sense of who reads and continues to be interested in what I teach and write about. By summer’s end I will focus on communicating with those who have agreed to continue to hear from me.
My email list may shrink, but at least I won’t be littering inboxes or speaking to bots. Knowing who is on the receiving end will help me immensely.
Since I used 
I’d really like to say a few things about it…
As we all know, the symbol and sound of OM have become ubiquitous over the last four decades or so in the West. Elsewhere of course, in India and other parts of Asia, it’s been chanted for thousands of years, ever since early Vedic times.
While OM can’t be translated like other words, its significance as mantra, as a seed syllable, as benediction, could fill volumes.
But, to begin with, OM is understood to be an auspicious way to begin!
OM energetically nourishes what follows it (whether that be an invocation, another mantra, an asana practice, etc.).
Recited with clear intention, OM indicates an assent, your agreement, your “yes” to whatever comes after.
You have probably heard OM chanted, or recited it yourself, in different ways.
OM can sound like those two letters, O+M, put together. Or, it might sound like OHHMM, or AUM, or even ONGH. It might even sound like something else entirely, impossible to spell out, something that can only be heard or experienced for oneself.
OM is known as a pranava mantra. It’s not the only pranava, but it is the most well-known one. Pranava is a general term for something that projects the prana or the vital breath into the fullness/emptiness of subtler spheres, into pure consciousness, or more simply put: upwards. Chanted in a particular way, with resonance, it’s experienced energetically as a rising, an ascent, as it were, of our voice/breath/awareness.
So, OM as assent is an affirmation that energetically nourishes what follows.
OM as ascent is a vehicle for upliftment, an energetic rising from the mundane towards something higher or subtler.
It’s really quite an extraordinary syllable, very potent.
Next time you hear or recite OM, you might want to consider its significance, and feel its effect by paying close attention.
Thanks for reading. I hope to see you soon. My upcoming events are listed below.
Peace to All.
Robin
