r Inner Strength and Resilience through Mantras

with Nitya Mohan

This experiential workshop series will explore the transformative power of sound and mantras in yoga as tools for cultivating inner strength and emotional resilience. This program offers a space to strengthen not just our inner and outer voice, but also our will.

Introduction:

Inner strength and resilience refer to our capacity to remain steady, compassionate and courageous irrespective of our circumstances. In today’s world, this capacity is continually tested. While many external challenges are beyond our control, our inner responses of how we perceive, process, and respond, are in our hands.

Yet regulating our inner world is not always easy. Sometimes it is the patterns of our own thoughts that create conflict, resistance and weakness.

Ancient literature spanning Yoga (Yogasutras, Hathayogapradipika), Mantras (Upanishads, Naradiya Siksha) and Music (Sangita Ratnakaram, Brhaddesi) speak of multiple, integrated pathways of using Sound as a tool for inner strength and wellbeing.

What this workshop offers:

●     Mind work – Cognitive & psychological aspects of mantras that regulate emotional balance

●     Breath work – Physiological and somatic aspects of sound that rebalance inner body functions

●     Body work – Physical & behavioral aspects of sound that anchor strength and stability in the body

You will learn powerful and practical yogic methods – using asana, pranayama, mudras, nyasas, mantras, music and bhavanas – to achieve inner strength, clarity and resilience. The program is open to practitioners of all ages and backgrounds. No prior mantra or music experience required.

Program Contents

Topics Covered:

We will explore three integrated pathways to build inner strength and resilience with mantras.

Physical & Behavioral:

Regulation of the body is key to feeling well. When we feel stable and grounded in the body, it becomes much easier for us to work on inner resilience and strength. This pathway requires that we build skills bottom up – starting from movements in vinyasas integrated with mantras, introducing bhavanas with the breath and creating sustainable routines of body work, to let that filter into the higher level responses of our nervous system. We will work with the traditional aspects of Asanas, Prana, Prana bhavanas, Yajna, Vedic Suktams and Nyasas.

Asana practices as Yajna

⁃        Dravyam, devata, uddesam in asana

⁃        Prana mantras for practice

 Purification of body and Mind

⁃        Aghamarshana Suktam

⁃        Vedic passage to establish inner cleansing

Nyasas

⁃        3 important Nyasas with Mantras

⁃        Placement of awareness with mantras in different points in the body

Prana Bhavanas in Asana

⁃        Mantra for Prana Karta Bhavana

⁃        How to relate to the breath with Prana as karta

Physiological & Somatic:

The physiological impact of sound comes from the connection of mantras to breath and pranayama. Sound forms the subtler link between breath and mind which is why traditionally Pranayama is defined with a mantra and is the path to interoception – to sense inner body sensations. Sound also has deeper impacts on our physiology in terms of vibrational and bio-regulatory aspects. We will work with deepening Pranayama techniques, Mantras, Svaram, Agni, pitches and regions of the body.

 Mantras in Pranayama

⁃        The 3 stepped pathway of uchaih, upamsu and manasikam

⁃        Lengthening breath in Pranayama with a mantra

Seats of Agni and regions of pitches

⁃        Connections between agni and sound

⁃        Mandram, Madhyam, Taram

Deepening Dharana in Pranayama

⁃        Dirgha and Sukshma with a mantra

⁃        Easing effort with the breath

Maitri Pranayama and Klesa hinam

⁃        Bhavanas for kindness

⁃        Reducing the klesas

Psychological & Cognitive:

All thoughts are inner sounds, the world is one of sound – Sabda prapancam. This is the world view of a set of fascinating ancient texts on Sound. Some of these explore the semantic and phonetic aspects of intonation for attention regulation – what Yoga calls Pratyaveksha – mindfulness. Other psychological aspects of mantras include different affirmations and bhavanas that have powerful impacts on our emotional wellbeing. We will work with Music, tones, mantras, Sanskrit verses and inspirational examples.

Citta Nadi bhavana

⁃        River of the mind and related mantra bhavanas

⁃        Connecting to rivers and the element of water

Aditya Hrdayam

⁃        Ramayana the ancient epic and connection to samskaras

⁃        Creating inner power with the Sun

Pratyaveksha

⁃        Mindfulness in speech

⁃        Proper enunciation of Sanskrit syllables

Ragas for Sattva

⁃        Musical tones for inner strength

⁃        Emotional responses with rhythm and pitch

About the Teacher

Nitya Mohan, daughter of A. G. Mohan and Indra Mohan, is trained in yoga from a very young age. She has been the director of Svastha Yoga & Ayurveda teacher training programs in Singapore for the past 25 years and has trained hundreds of teachers. Trained in Yoga, Chanting, Classical Indian music and Sanskrit, her unique areas of expertise combine traditional Raja yoga and Hatha yoga, along with knowledge of Sanskrit and Vedic chanting, with a graduate degree in Classical Indian music and ancient musical texts.

She conducts seminars, workshops and yoga trainings internationally. She is a skilled, experienced and compassionate teacher and an exceptional singer hailed for her purity of voice.