Bija Seeds for the Chakras

I came across a wise message from Dr. Indu Arora in her book Yoga – Ancient Heritage Tomorrow’s Vision. She states, “The teacher always has in mind that teaching is equal to the sowing of seeds. When the time is ripe, the seeds will sprout…”

For me, this means that sometimes as teachers, the knowledge, the information we share may not take root today or even tomorrow, but what we share could impact understanding and yogic progression at an unknown future time. Furthermore, we must not hold back our learning from our students just because it’s not in “popular” form or in line with today’s Yoga hype.

Just the other day, I offered up the Bija (or seed) sounds to a Gentle Yoga class. All were skeptical in the beginning….”You want us to WHAT?!” Yes, chant. We chanted aloud the seed sounds that relate to the chakras to center in and then followed with bija chanting, mentally, during our asana practice. The initial resistance was met with all positive feedback. In the end, the class liked it and everyone practically floated out the class at the end. As with most things, you can never know if you like something until you have tried it.
What’s great about Bija chanting is that these sounds or vibrations are accessible to all without fear of offending personal beliefs. It’s a doorway, or as they are defined, a seed to plant to sprout a love of bhakti practice in mantra.

Here is a brief guide to the Bija Mantras and Chakras:

LAM – Mooladhara Chakra (Earth, Root, Grounding) 

VAM – Swadhisthan Chakra (Water, Sexuality) 

RAM – Maipur Chakra (Fire, Core, Self Esteem) 

YAM – Anahata Chakra (Air, Heart, Love) 

HAM – Vishuddha Chakra (Ether/Space, Communication, Creativity) 

OM – Anja Chakra (Third Eye, Mental Activity) 

SILENCE – Sahasrara Chakra (Crown, Cosmic Connection, Oneness)

There are several artists with wonderful music incorporating the Bija sounds of the Chakras. Ben Leinbach & Jai Uttal created a beautiful, relaxing composition called Bija Mantras Watering the Seeds on the Loveland album, perfect for mediation or Savasana.

My favorite way to discover music is to simply type my interest into the search bar at YogiTunes – try typing Bija into the search bar and see what you discover! Share your favorite bija tunes with YogiTunes in the comments.