Yoga means 'yoke' or join and Nada means sound. This is a process of joining our waking consciousness to its source through the element of sound. It uses a self-generated vibration to draw our awareness inward to experience the deeper layers of the self. Nada Yoga believes that sound may be ahat or struck - sounds made by at least two elements striking together: drum and stick, waves against rocks, two vocal cords. Or it could be anahat or unstruck - the humming of an electrical transformer or the unheard humming of atoms and molecules.

The audible unstruck sounds that Nada Yoga is interested in are the syllables - A (as in 'far' - it resonates in the center of the mouth), U (as in 'who' - it transfers the vibration to the back of the mouth) & M (as in 'mmm' - a hum with the mouth closed, it resonates forward in the mouth and moves throughout the head). They are a gathering of seven vowel sounds that correspond to the charkas - uh, oo, oh, ah, eh, ee and mm.

All speech is made up of consonants and vowels. The vowel sounds are more dynamic than the consonants and they make the consonants to be sounded. Each vowel is believed to open a particular chakra. This is attained by deep visualisation of this part of the body while the vowel is toned internally. While inhaling, the vowel is sounded silently and while exhaling the vowel is vibrated audibly. The breath takes the energy of the chakra and combines it with the tone - opening out regions of the body or consciousness. The vowels associated with the area of the body are -
U - Lower body | O - Solar plexus to groin | A - Heart | E - Throat and head