{"id":109540,"date":"2018-01-19T13:07:08","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T07:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=109540"},"modified":"2018-01-19T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T07:37:08","slug":"sound-impacts-yoga-hindu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=109540","title":{"rendered":"How sound impacts Yoga | The Hindu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soft early evening light streams through the glass ceiling of the Rutland Gate Yoga studio in Nungambakkam in\u00a0Chennai,\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>where musician and yogi Yotam Agam is leading a class. I step inside, expecting the usual Om-punctuated resonance of deep breathing.<\/p>\n

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Instead, a complex melange of sounds fill the room, lending an added dimension to the breath and movement, a perfect foil to the gentle\u00a0vinyasa<\/em>class in progress. The class, titled Soundspace Moving Meditation, \u201cis built on cosmic frequencies,\u201d smiles Agam. And though it sounds hippy and esoteric, it isn\u2019t really so, he adds. \u201cThere is a real science to it. The movement of the solar system creates sounds that can have a significant influence on our bodies,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Creating something that explores the relationship between asana and sound comes from years of intense research, says Agam. \u201cI have been a sound designer and recordist for years and have been learning yoga for a while too,\u201d he says. So he began using sound for the purpose of connecting environment, it brought another dimension into the room and cut out the noise, he says. \u201cMusic is not there to be heard but to support your practice: the physical gate is essential but the gate through listening is essential too,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Any sort of sound can form part of this complex soundspace: dripping water, pattering rain, clustering ants, drones, waves, heartbeats and more come together to create a listening experience that fosters awareness and healing. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to have harmony. It is just there to help one concentrate on breath,\u201d he says. These tones give the practice a sense of stability, \u201cPeople start to feel secure when they hear this sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sound of silence<\/p>\n

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Interestingly, Agam\u2019s intense passion for music stemmed from quietness. He spent his early years, sequestered in Egypt\u2019s Sinai desert, where his family was part of a hippie community. \u201cThe experience of growing up in the desert in the 70\u2019s had a great influence on my listening,\u201d he says. There was no television, phone or Internet back then and often very little electricity. \u201cI remember my parents telling me to listen carefully when I was outside at night. Since you cannot see very well without light, you have to develop your ability to listen,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At 14, they left the community and relocated to Israel. That was when the clamour of everyday existence hit him. \u201cWhen I moved out, everything became too noisy for me. I couldn\u2019t handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He never finished high school, choosing instead to pursue a career as a sound engineer. \u201cI love technical challenges and as an audio engineer, I could explore the technical side of music,\u201d he says. And it was this work that brought him to Chennai in India in 2004. He knew very little about the country back then, he laughs. \u201cJust the usual clich\u00e9s:\u00a0tabla<\/em>,\u00a0sitar<\/em>, elephant, spicy food\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, both his passions \u2014 music and yoga began here.<\/p>\n

A catalytic practice<\/p>\n

It was in a dingy room that echoed, remembers Agam, talking about the first yoga class he attended in Chennai. \u201cI would cycle there everyday to practice,\u201d he says. The time spent on the mat proved to be catalytic. \u201cIt helped me peel off my cynicism and I began opening up to creativity,\u201d says Agam.<\/p>\n

There were two parallel worlds unfurling at the time, he says: The world of spiritual growth with yoga and the world of music. \u201cI began composing, without having any formal knowledge of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to finish his Teacher\u2019s Training Certification in Israel and then began bringing both these worlds together. \u201cI conduct yoga retreats in the desert, now,\u201d he grins, flipping open his laptop to show aerial shots of tawny sand peppered by brightly-dressed yogis meditating on equally bright mats. \u00cft is a very strong experience,\u201d says the co-founder of DoGood Yoga, a company that was, according to their website, \u201cborn to bring people together, share experiences and connect through Culture, Art, Music, well-being products and events.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is currently based out of Israel. \u201cHome is where my daughters\u2019 are and they are there now,\u201d he says. But he travels consistently producing festivals, films and music projects. \u201cTill today, the only driving force I\u2019ve had was to like what I do: I have to live a life filled with passion,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to take it to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soft early evening light streams through the glass ceiling of the Rutland Gate Yoga studio in Nungambakkam in\u00a0Chennai,\u00a0where musician and yogi Yotam Agam is leading a class. I step inside, expecting the usual Om-punctuated resonance of deep breathing. Instead, a complex melange of sounds fill the room, lending an added dimension to the breath and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109540\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}