Blessings,

Carolyn Herold

Listen, listen wait in silence listening, for the One from whom all mercy flows.            Psalm 130

As I ready myself to sit on my prayer stool, I quietly chant words that slow my body and mind down and ready me for the silence I am about to enter. I feel my breath go deeper, to where the vibration of the chant is centred.

This is the form of chanting I am familiar with and will write about in this article, though there are many others including Gregorian chant and Taize.

It is interesting that this practice of chanting prior to meditation came to me naturally out of attending contemplative worship services. But with a smile I now read Cynthia Bourgeault's words regarding group chanting what are referred to as "Songs of the Presence":   "As the group begins to center its energy in the heart, an attunement emerges that expresses itself both outwardly in the beauty of the music and inwardly in the suppleness of the spirit. In this state, both prayer and meditation flow far more easily." Such chants "point the way toward those silent depths that lie beneath the surface structure of the mind". Susan Cooper of Fire and Grace Contemplative Groups writes that this chanting is not meant to stir the emotions or the intellect, but to quiet them. It is then possible to let go of the task of singing and let the sound itself "carry us" deeper into stillness.

While staying at a Buddhist Temple in Hawaii I met a woman, Shanti Shivani, who provided another reason why chanting provides a natural entry point into stillness. She studied and performed Hindustani chanting and also calls it Nada yoga - sound yoga. She talked to me about how in this form of chanting you go deeply into your body's centre. Interestingly, in her book Cynthia suggests that chanting is "a kind of yoga, producing definite changes in the subtle energetic structure of the being". The yoga of Christian spiritual practices!

I want to quickly write about another form of chanting that has recently re-entered my life. I am attending St Andrew's, Kelowna where each Sunday the congregation chants the full psalm. Cynthia writes that including untrained singers fully allows them to experience "the transformational alchemy of psalmody which occurs when the words and images are actually 'ingested' through the act of singing". I have found it a wonderful spiritual experience. I am embracing it wholeheartedly, and supporting it by immersing myself in Chanting the Psalms and using the CD provided with the book. (This book with CD is available in St Laurence's library, and I invite you to read/chant it.)

And finally, there is nothing like chanting as I drive through God's mountains in their magnificence and strength on my way back home.