**FIND A CHANT AND MAKE IT YOUR OWN. CENTER YOURSELF WITH POWER?
Once upon a time I lived at a yoga retreat in the mountains of central Portugal. My yoga teacher (Peter) was a Liverpudlian man with blonde dreadlocks and he had the most awesome deep soothing yoga-teacher voice in history.
One day we were sitting up in the yoga studio (the wooden loft of the old farm house) and he taught me the Gayatri Mantra. He started chanting and I listened; bit by bit I started to pick it up and sing along. Once I had it memorized it was in my bones. I sang it while I watered the vegetables, picked cherries, and stirred whatever delicious Indian dish I was preparing for dinner {my fav cookbook from our kitchen in Portugal}.
Nowadays, I sing to my own yoga students when they're in savasana (laying down at the end of class). I've got a bunch of different chants I sing but the Gayatri Mantra is still my favorite; partly for the memories and largely because it's so gorgeous.
This week I took a couple sneaky videos of myself singing during savasana so I could share it here. Enjoy!! xoxo Chamonix
THE GAYATRI MANTRA
ॐ भूर्भुवः॒ स्वः ।
तत्स॑वि॒तुर्वरेण्यं॒
भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि ।
धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् ॥
om bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tát savitúr váreṇ(i)yaṃ
bhárgo devása dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ prachodayat
Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine vivifying Sun,
May he enlighten our understandings.
— Translated by Monier Monier-Williams
The Yoga Retreat in Portugal Where I Spent the Summer of 2010
Yoga Evolution Health, Healing & Wellbeing Retreat Center Portugal
Peter & Sue are the wonderful people and this retreat is seriously special. I daydream about this place almost everyday and I'm saving up pennies for my next visit. I became close friends with Peter & Sue and I miss them so much. If you're ever searching for a yoga retreat or an amazing vacation idea in Europe, this is THE PLACE to go.