Mantra chanting

What is mantra chanting & why do we do it?

To me chanting a mantra in Saṃskṛtam (Sanskrit) is an intimate practice. We offer the mantra our prāṇa (subtle life energy), our awareness, our attention. We breathe life into this centuries old, living tradition.

In turn, the mantra offers us the prāṇa of all those who have chanted before us, all those who are chanting with us and those who are to come after us.

We engage in a sacred exchange of prāṇa across time and space.

Over time, the hope is that, we build a relationship with the mantra. And we incorporate chanting in our regular routine.

The beauty of Saṃskṛtam (Sanskrit)

Saṃskṛtam, (the language veda mantras are in), is considered to be a “refined” or “perfected” language. It stands as one of humanity’s most exquisite linguistic achievements. It’s phonetic architecture is crystalline — every syllable is designed to flow with inherent rhythm and resonance. The very alphabet (varṇamālā) is arranged according to the scientific principles of articulation, from the throat (kaṇṭhya) to the lips (oṣṭhya), creating a symphony when spoken.

Poets and philosophers have long marveled at its capacity to convey both the most concrete and the most transcendent ideas with equal grace.

The vibrations of mantras

In the tradition of mantra recitation (japa), Saṃskṛtam is not merely a vehicle for meaning — it is a technology of vibration. Each akṣara (sacred syllable) is considered a living sound-form that resonates with specific layers of consciousness and prāṇa.

When a mantra is chanted correctly, its vibrations are believed to:

  • Realign the nāḍīs (energy channels) in the subtle body

  • Harmonise the mind’s fluctuations (citta-vṛtti)

  • Create resonance with cosmic frequencies described in the vedas

Regular chanting of mantras creates measurable effects: a calming of the autonomic nervous system, increased coherence in brainwave patterns, and a profound sense of inner luminosity. The sounds themselves act as keys that unlock deeper states of awareness.

In essence, Saṃskṛtam mantras are acoustic yoga — a sacred science of sound that seeks to bring the individual vibration (jīvātman) into harmony with the universal vibration (paramātman).

The language does not merely describe the Divine. When properly vibrated ie chanted with precision, it becomes the Divine..

Mantra Chanting

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6 month immersive mantra sādhanā course

Join me for a 6-month journey of learning five different mantras. This course is perfect for absolute beginners as well as those with some experience of veda mantras.

Each month, we will learn a complex 4-verse chant. We will understand the meaning and significance of the mantra. We will explore its wisdom and traditions. I will share with you the stories that bring these mantras to life.

We will learn the pronunciation and how to chant using a japa mala (chanting beads / necklace). Together we will end each session chanting that mantra. At the end of the course, we will have a celebratory pūjā bringing all of the five chants together.

Course overview

  • We will meet once a month, for a 2.5 hour in-person workshop.

  • For the next 4 weeks, we will meet online on Monday for a 30 min practice session. If you can’t make it live, the recording will be available to you shortly after.

  • Each month you will have the opportunity to submit an audio recording of you chanting the mantra. And receive individualised feedback on your submission.

Benefits of mantra recitation:

  • Chanting trains the mind to stay focused on one thing. (Particularly difficult in today’s day and age.)

  • Quiets mental chatter and trains the mind through sound and repetition.

  • It gently guides the mind to stop wandering and focus on the present.

  • The rhythmic repetitive quality of chanting helps regulate our autonomic nervous system.

  • It brings in a sense of calm and presence in the moment.

  • It fine tunes our mind with the energetic resonance of the vibrations of the chants

  • We learn new words, requiring our tongue and vocal cords to move in patterns we are not used to.

  • Learning a new skill at any age, improves memory, concentration and focus.

Course content:

We will learn 5 chants in the course. Chanting with precise tones, correct pronunciations and inviting in the essence of the being we are chanting to.

Gaṇeśa mantra - vakratuṇḍa mahākāya (a beautiful chant to the one with a twisted trunk, a large belly, guardian of thresholds.)

Sarasvatī mantra - sarasvatī namastubhyam, varde kāmarupiṇi (salutations to Mā Sarasvatī, who we invite into our midst before beginning any study.)

Śivā mantra - triyambakaṃ yajāmahe (a chant so close to my heart - salutations to the three eyed Śiva, who grants all of us health and wellbeing)

Devī mantra - sarva-maṅgala-māṅgalye (a chant to the all auspicious, all preserving divine feminine energy present in every aspect of this universe.)

Śāntĩ mantra - pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ (a beautiful chant to close all practices, reminding us of our completeness.)

CELEBRATORY PŪJĀ - we bring together all that we have learnt over these 6 months, in a joyous celebration going through the practice of performing pūjā. Delving deeper in to the different forms of pūjā that nourishes our soul.

In addition we will also practice invocations (chants) to the guru, the masters / wisdom keepers who have shared these transmissions with us over millennia, and end with offering all our practice efforts to the divine light within us.

Note: You maybe aware of some these chants, but now is the time for refinement, to add the different tones in, to notice the nuance in chanting with the principles of veda mantra chanting. Depending on how we progress through the months one of the other goddess might compel me to offer her chant as a bonus teaching,

Essential information

When:

September 2026 – February 2027

Where:

In-person

Abbotswood Community Centre, 14 Abbotswood common road, Romsey, SO51 0BX.

Online

Zoom with recordings available for life.

Structure and hours:

6 x Sundays (10:00 – 12:30) in-person

Each month 4 x Mondays (12:00 – 12:30) online practice sessions with recording available.

Homework:

Audio recording of chant to be sent to me once a month for personalised feedback.

Course dates 2026 – 2027 (in-person)

Sunday 6th September (10:00 – 12:30) in-person Gaṇeśa mantra

Sunday 4th October (10:00 – 12:30) in-person Sarasvatī mantra

Sunday 22nd November (10:00 – 12:30) in-person Śivā mantra

Sunday 13th December (10:00 – 12:30) in-person Devī mantra

Sunday 10th January (10:00 – 12:30) in-person Śāntĩ mantra

Sunday 7th February (10:00 – 12:30) in-person CELEBRATORY PŪJĀ

Online

Mondays mid-day 12:00 – 12:30 on zoom. Exact dates TBC – 4 each month.

Investment

£450

Payment plan to pay in three instalments is also available.

Non-refundable deposit £103.50 to secure your place to be paid by 30/06/2026. (After this date only full payment option available.)

2 further payments of 173.25 will be charged end of July and end of August.

(Special discount for online chanting community of £50. Will be applied at checkout.

If you are not already signed upto online chanting sessions, you still have time to join our community to get this special discount.)

What’s included?

Tuition

15 in person contact hours

10 online contact hours.

Audio recording with personalised feedback for each mantra.

Course manual

Beautifully curated mantra book with all the chants we will learn, in English (IAST) Saṃskṛtam (Devanāgiri) and a brief explanation included. With personal reflection and practice space.

Online community discount

If you are already a part of my online chanting subscription, then your price will be discounted by £50. 

Free parking

There is free onsite parking at the venue

Herbal tea

Herbal tea provided for in-person session.

£450.00
Regular online chanting sessions

What is a mantra?

In Sanskrit the word mantra literally means a “tool of the mind”. It is derived from the root words manas meaning mind and tra meaning tool. So mantras can be described as tools to help us focus our thoughts and bring about deep meditation. However I like to describe mantras as sacred sounds / verses / syllables/ phrases in Sanskrit. They are from ancient texts that have been shared over millennia through oral traditions.

Why do we chant a mantra?

  • Chanting a mantra regularly trains the mind to stay focused on one thing, which is particularly difficult in today’s day and age.

  • It helps quiet mental chatter and trains the mind through sound and repetition.

  • It gently guides the mind to stop wandering and focus on the present.

  • The rhythmic repetitive quality of chanting helps regulate our nervous system.

  • It brings in a sense of calm and presence in the moment.

  • It fine tunes our mind with the energetic resonance of the vibrations of the chants

  • When learning how to chant, we learn new words, in a new language. This challenges our brain and it requires our tongue and vocal cords to move in patterns that we are not familiar with. Thus helping us learn a new skill in adult life.

  • Chanting regularly can improve our ability to concentrate particularly at a difficult task.

Join our growing community of veda chanting members. We meet twice a week on a Sunday evening at 5pm and on a Thursday morning at 8 am.

In each session, after a brief introduction to the mantra of the session, we move onto practice and chanting.

These sessions are a way to build our regular meditation practice to quieten the busy mind.

We anchor our focus on the mantra, we slowly repeat it, our thoughts wander, but the sound energy of the mantra draws it back to the present; to the repetition.

£30.00

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