Harmonizing Our Homes With Yoga - Part 2

Yogic Practices

The following yogic practices, when used with intention, will do much to restore balance and harmony to any home, making it a peaceful sanctuary where Heaven and Earth unite:

Clear the Mind: One of the first steps in any yogic regimen is to clear and still the mind. This begins to align us with the Source of our Being. Similarly when we clear our homes of the external clutter, we allow the vibrations of a natural order to permeate our surroundings.

Breath: Perhaps one of the most powerful tools in yoga is the use of the breath to bring our consciousness back in tune with the Divine Cosmic Breath. This Cosmic Breath is the rhythm of Life itself. The cycles of the seasons represent the inhale and exhale of Life itself. In the winter, when the force of Life is receding, it is not a good time to start new activities, but to dissolve old attachments and connections, to go within and recede as well. In the spring, when Life is bursting forth with abundance, it is a time for new projects and activities as we are aligned with the flow of Life at that time. By synchronizing our home activities with the timings and cycles of Nature, we align ourselves with that Cosmic Breath, or pulsation of Life.

Balance: Achieving balance of mind, body and spirit is a core aim of any yogic practice. In our homes, this is achieved by paying attention to the five elements: earth (body), water (emotions), air (mind), fire (spirit), ether (prana or sound). Become mindful that your home has a balanced representation of each of the elements. A home that is predominantly governed by one of these elements over the others will bring its inhabitants out of balance due to the undue influence of that element.

Movement: In yoga, certain movements of the body can stimulate the production of certain hormones, and restore the flow of Ch’i in the body. Likewise, homes that incorporate aspects of sacred movement will rejuvenate the environment. For instance, in properties containing labyrinths, there is a curious absence of negative earth energy currents on those properties. Similarly, rituals such as sacred dance, like the twirling of the Sufi dances, when done with awareness and intention, can transform negative vibrational energies on a property.

Sound: Nada Yoga means "union through sound." It is the ancient spiritual art and science of inner transformation through sound and tone. Russill Paul, author of The Yoga of Sound, states, “Through Nada Yoga, we can fine-tune our bodies and our minds to resonate with the harmony in all of creation, from atoms and cells to flowers and planets.”

The healing uses of sound date back to ancient Greece, when the playing of the flute was used to relieve the pain of sciatica; and in Biblical times when David treated King Saul's depression with the playing of the harp. Today, there is a growing recognition that certain sounds influence health, mental states, emotions and consciousness giving birth to new fields of healing through the use of vibration and sound.

Pythagoras declared that there existed a "music of the spheres," a harmonic order of the cosmos. When we align with those harmonic sounds of the cosmos, we create a vibrational link to those higher dimensional levels through sound. Throughout the world, temples have employed sound to vibrate heaven into the sacred meridians of the earth.

The Vedas state that mantras chanted continually have the power to purify and rejuvenated the environment. When we offer sound as vibrational medicine for our homes, the result is a harmonizing of our environment with that "music of the spheres."