It’s just another humdrum weekday morning. You drag yourself out of bed, shuffle through a series of mundane tasks, and before you know it, you’re right back where you started – staring down the barrel of another day in the rat race.
But it’s not just you! Even our poor kids aren’t immune to the soul-sucking routine, spending hours on screens and chowing down on junk. The endless cycle of school, screens, and couches has taken over. Day in and day out, they are slaves to the grind, the unrelenting pace of modern life, wiping out any chance for meaningful connections. But it’s time to shake things up and give them a sense of purpose.
In a world dominated by social media and shallow validation, nurturing a child’s spirit and cultivating a positive sense of self-identity, purpose, and meaning is crucial.
Chat on the Mat With Dr Manasa Rao
In this Chat on the Mat, prepare to be enlightened by the esteemed Dr. Manasa Rao as she delves into the undeniable benefits of teaching children mantras or chanting. Discover how this ancient practice can enhance your child’s emotional, physical, and mental well-being.
Dr Manasa Rao has been practicing yoga since the year 1995. She worked as a media professional till 2011 when she realized that her calling was Yoga.
She has completed her MSc and Ph.D. in Yoga with the University of Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA), Bangalore. She has been teaching Yoga for the past 11 years.
hellomyyoga: A value-based education is increasingly crucial for the upbringing of children in today’s world. But why is teaching chanting a crucial element to impart to our children?
Dr.Manasa Rao: Before we understand the importance of chanting for children, we need to understand the science behind chanting.
So, mantras are energy encased in a sound structure. Every mantra contains within its vibration a certain power. Each mantra is constructed from a combination of sounds derived from the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet.
These combinations of alphabets are structured in such a way that they create a definite and predictable effect on the human psyche. Just as gravity was discovered but not invented by Newton, Mantras were revealed to the ancient masters. Masters have codified these in scriptures and handed down from Guru to disciple.
Mantras are hence a powerhouse that have magical effects on our overall well-being.
Teaching chanting to children means you are securing their mental health for life. It’s an easy way to calm their mind and help them relax in this noisy world.
hellomyyoga: As parents, we all want to provide our children with opportunities to explore and connect with themselves on a deeper level. Do you think chanting can help with that?
Dr. Manasa Rao: The power of sound is tremendous. By merely hearing the words the mind can undergo pain or pleasure. Mind follows matter. As you create different vibrational frequencies in your body, you also affect your mind. In this technology-driven world, the mind always looks outward to gain pleasure that’s transitory. The only way to find that everlasting joy is when we find that joy within.
When children incorporate chanting into their routine they tend to regulate their breath in a rhythmical manner that in turn calms the mind and the nervous system. Thereby helping them to get clarity of thought and also keeping them centered and grounded. It also improves their focus and attention span bringing in a discipline.
hellomyyoga: Chanting mantras together has been shown to foster a closer connection between parent and child, even if you’re both adults. Is it true?
Dr. Manasa Rao: Everything in the Universe vibrates on specific wavelengths. These wavelengths can be manipulated. When we chant in a group or with someone we are in fact promoting a connection by shared awareness of a particular frequency. Also, it is good to have a practice that we share and connect with our children that is beyond the routine humdrum. This connection, through chanting is for life that they will thank you for even when you are not around.
hellomyyoga: Can you suggest some simple ways for a parent to incorporate chanting into their child’s routine?
Dr. Manasa Rao: I would say, that children imbibe our actions more than our words. The best way to introduce them to chanting is by having a consistent chanting practice ourselves as parents. Along with that one can also play mantras at home to cleanse the energy and create a blissful vibration. Simply listening to mantras as an ambient companion sound will offer benefits from the vibration sound frequencies.
By doing so, they will surely be drawn towards mantras and chanting themselves.
hellomyyoga: Regardless of their faith, can any child learn chanting?
Dr. Manasa Rao: Absolutely. There are different types of mantras that can be chanted. Saguna and Nirguna. Saguna mantras have form, Nirguna mantras are without form. In the Nirguna mantra, there are no deities or personalized aspects of god to be invoked. These can be chanted by all. Also, all mantras are hidden in AUM, which is the highest mantra of the cosmos.
AUM can be chanted by all and also by those who are unable to find a guru. One can have a Sankalpa (resolution) of honoring the earth, praying for peace, freedom, and healing for all beings, and chanting AUM.
