Music Therapy

The Power of OM

All over the world many people have either heard or chanted “Om.” Sometimes Om is chanted with great reverence and meaning by spiritual mystics; other times one will hear Om being chanted in jest, as a popular mocking of metaphysics. And perhaps most often it is chanted by rote in a yoga class, for instance, without much thought or knowledge behind the sound. However the Om vibration is one of the oldest and most sacred sounds in the world, meant to move energy and create dynamic change within the person chanting and the environment at large. Let us take a look at this sound vibration and all its fascinating implications.

Aum or Om is considered to be the planet’s oldest and most important Sanskrit mantra–one that forms a basis for all other prayers and chants of worship in the Hindu tradition. “Om” is actually more aptly spelled “Aum,” for the vibration actually contains three distinct sounds. The three sounds within Om are delineated by the “A” meaning the beginning of all; the “U” representing the middle of all; and the “M” representing the end. Om represents the ultimate of all things and of all sounds. The “A’ is produced with the mouth open; the “U” with the mouth slightly closed; and the “M” with the mouth complete closed. Thus, A, U, M also represent a trinity energy, an image we find throughout Hindu teachings, representing the energies of creating, sustenance and destruction. All things, projects, people, and animals go through a beginning, a middle and an end stage. A flower is born, it is sustained for some time, and then it dies out. The day is new in the morning, awake by midday, and then sleeping by evening. In ayurvedic medicine it is recommended, in fact, that we honor this cycle, by waking early, doing our main activities by day, and then winding down as the sun sets. In essence we are, therefore, all following the pattern of the AUM all the time, whether we know it or not. And our grandest journey with Om involves our birth, life and death cycles, energies we must all pass through.