The first meditation we practiced at White Tantra in London last weekend was 31 minutes of chanting the Adi Mantra – Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo – sitting in easy pose with eyes closed and hands in prayer mudra. It was an extended version of how we open the space for our everyday kundalini yoga practice, and it was GLORIOUS!

The Adi Mantra is such a special gem. ‘Adi’ means ‘primal’ or ‘first’, and this mantra tunes us in to the wisdom of all those who have practised before us; our teachers, our teachers’ teachers and the consciousness that holds them all. It connects us with the realm of Buddha/ Christ/ Guru Nanak consciousness. It links the finite ‘me’ with infinity.

By chanting ‘Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo’ at the start of our kundalini yoga practice, we invite our ego, our ‘lower mind’ to acquiesce, allowing our higher self, our intuition, our neutral mind and innate wisdom to take the wheel and guide us through our yoga and meditation. In other words, it opens us. It brings us into a receptive state of consciousness, tuning us in to the intuitive messages from our body and mind.

So imagine what chanting this mantra every day, just three times, can do! Day by day, accumulatively, it opens our receptivity, it nourishes our intuition, it offers us a moment’s respite from the endless dialogue of the lower minds. It allows us to relax into our infinite self. What a beautiful thing!

Here’s what the Gurmukhi words mean:
Ong: The creative energy of the cosmos
Namo: To bow to
Guru: Wisdom, teacher or source of knowledge
Dev: Subtle, etheric, divine
Namo: To bow to

Sat nam x