Jon Hamm as Don Drapper finds peace with "Om"
However, from Om on a hillside to mass consumption of a soft drink, there is a lot between sip and lip. Since this is a yoga blog, let’s just focus on the meaning of “Om” and how to bring it into your life.
As on this episode of Mad Men, Om is often used as a chant repeated multiple times. This repetition will help bring your brain a meditation state — a state of the mindless mind — so it can relax. I use it to begin my daily meditation practice, chanting Om 3 times. (Oddly enough it’s also come to signal to my dog Tess that’s it’s time for us both to be still.)
For me Om represents the sound of all sounds. Wind in your hair, sizzling sun on the sidewalk, waves crashing to shore — your own breath — all are to be found in a single Om. While Don, new at all this, sounds Om as one flat note, in fact, Om consists of 4 separate sounds:
Ahhhh
Ooooo
Mmmmm
And… silence
The “Ah” should resonant below your jaw into the high neck.
“Oh” you can feel in your cheeks.
“Um” can be felt a little higher across the nose.
Silence allows room for you to inhale and appreciate the sound of nothingness in your third eye, the forehead.
Play with this on your own, or it you’d like check it out live with me at the HeavyWeight Yoga YouTube channel. Lots of other fun yoga suggestions can be found there as well.