What is Meditation?

8.7.11 Sunday 7pm - Meditation based on Patanali's Yoga Sutras

Saraswati Andrea Lee and Chitra Jessica Sunshine Klein

Starseed Yoga and Wellness of Montclair, NJ

Sponsered by The Yoga Life Society

Hari OM call and response opening chant.  Introductions.

Theory

According to the sage Patanjali, Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. If we then look at the definition of meditation -- a clear, peaceful, one pointed focus on an uplifting object -- we begin to see how similar these practices are. The objective of both is to quiet the mind by re-directing our flow of attention. By nature the mind grasps on to different stimuli that it's introduced to by the senses. We hear something and our attention is drawn in that direction; perhaps it's a beautiful song and we are moved by its rhythm, or we hear an actor scream in a movie and we jump in shock. In both cases we react to external sensations and then develop thoughts and feelings about what we've experienced. As we practice meditation our minds go through the same process except that we train the mind to focus for sustained periods of time on a particular object. Instead of allowing the mind to flit about at will, we focus and re-focus it on something pleasing and uplifting. By doing so the mind loses identification with what is external and draws within.

Often our first introduction to yoga is through the postures and while this is an important aspect, it is only one part. In fact, the postures were originally practiced as a way to strengthen the body in preparation for extended periods of seated meditation. The idea goes, the less restless the body, the less restless the mind. With a steady and comfortable seat the mind need not be preoccupied with little aches and pains from a body unaccustomed to stillness.

Definition

What is meditation?  Anything that brings the mind to a state that is peaceful, clear, and one-pointed, is meditation.  The mind is like an untrained monkey jumping from one thought to another.  Or think of the tazmanian devil from Looney Tunes.  Do you remember how he would spin?  Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.2 :Yoga chitta vritti nirodha.  Vritti can be translated as spin or twirl. The mind is like that, constantly being pulled from one thought to another, as the senses pick up stimuli and perceptions are made in the brain.  Meditation is the stilling of this chatter.  It is developing the ability to focus on one task or idea at a time.  It is the art of being completely present with unwavering awareness.  It is a realization of unity and a deepened vision blending the individual with the Divine or cosmic energy.     Meditation can be brought into daily life, into all of our daily activities.  It helps us slow down and focus on one thing at a time.  It is also a feeling of innocence, like a child seeing things for the first time, all the time.  It is being fully present to actively participate in your life with joy and gratitude. 

Techniques and Hints

The four main techniques for meditation are:  1) breath, 2) mantra, 3) visualization, and 4) introspection.  You may wish to use one or a combination of a few to help keep your concentration.  Once you find a style you like, stick to it so you may dive deeper into your meditations.  

Once you are ready to sit down, there are a couple of helpful hints to consider and use as a checklist:

1. Sit in a comfortable crossed legged position (Vajadrasana, Virasana, Sukhasana, Baddha Konasana, Padmasana, etc).  The seat should be high enough to take pressure off your hips and knees, so hips are slightly higher or in line with the knees.

2. Sit with the spine erect.  Feel the side body grow long as you add space in between each rib.  Lift and spread the chest, relax the shoulders onto the back.  Let the head float on top of the spine with the chin level with the ground.

3. Begin with breath awareness.  Take five slow and even breaths through the nose.  Breathe into your abdomen and fill the lungs like a balloon.  As the breath slows down, the mind calms down as well. 

4. Opening chant - 3 OM's and any additional chant you may be working on or using in your practice.

5. Pranayama practice - Deergha Swaasam -Three part breath for three minutes. 

6. Meditation technique of your choice. 

7. Moment to watch the mind, feel the effects of the meditation with a nonjudgemental attitude.

8. Ending peace chants

Once you prepare well, you are ready to still the mind of the changing fluctuations.  And remember, preparations for meditation is meditation, so prepare well. 

Distracting Thoughts

During your meditation practice you will undoubtably come across distracting thoughts -- any thoughts that take you away from your object of meditation. They are a natural part of the experience and shouldn't be looked upon with judgement. They can be anything from organizing your grocery list or bank account to acknowledging a nearby scent or sound. There are two primary ways to relieve distracting thoughts: to ignore them or to analyze them. When we ignore these thoughts, which is the method used most frequently, we experience them like clouds passing in the sky. When a distracting thought enters, allow it to pass by without paying it much attention. You can even label it "thought" and then return your attention to your breath, image, or mantra.

One analogy our teacher uses is to imagine sitting in a movie theater in back of someone with a large hair-do. At first it may prove to be a large distraction but you find one spot where you can look through and see the screen clearly. You eventually become so engaged in the film that the person in front of you essentially disappears. If the distraction returns for a moment and you lose your focus, you know exactly where to turn back to. This is what you do with distracting thoughts. It's the same as if someone were trying to get a rise out of you and you choose to ignore them. Eventually they give up when the see they cannot grab your full attention. This will happen to your distracting thoughts the more you work to ignore them.

On the other hand you may have a thought that won't let up. It's as if you were sitting in your office and a voice outside keeps calling your name. You try to ignore it but it becomes even louder. At this point you can use the second method which is to briefly analyze the distracting thought. Ask it plainly what it wants from you and promise to give it your full attention AFTER your meditation. Sometimes your mind just needs to be assured that you'll deal with a particularly pressing issue when you're finished with your meditation.

 

Nadi Suddhi Pranayama - Alternate Nostril Breathing

Prana is the life force.  Prana comes from the sun, positive thinking, wholesome organic food, and nourishing breath.  Watching the breath is the most direct way to watch the prana flow in and out of the body.  The breath is the link between the body and the mind.  Pranayama awakens and soothes the mind which allows us to be present.  Where the mind goes, prana follows. 

Alternate nostril breathing balances the nadis or energy channels.  Specifically the ida and pingala nadis will be accessed.  Ida, left nostril, lunar energy; pingala, right nostril, solar energy.  These nadis helix their way around the sushumna or central spinal column. These nadis intersect at large energy spheres (chakras) along the spinal column (sushumna).  This pranayama technique balances these energy channels, soothes the mind and prepares one for deeper states of meditation. 

 

Mantra Meditation

Today's meditation will be a mantra meditation. The word mantra is a Sanskrit term that means "a thought that protects." A mantra can be used during meditation or throughout your day while you're completing other tasks. Some mantras have specific meanings and all of them have vibrational tones that effect the subtle energies of the body. The mantra we will be using today is OM Shanti  (the word shanti means peace in Sanskrit). While this mantra does have two basic musical notes to follow, you don't need to have a great singing voice because the emphasis is all on the vibration of the mantra and not on its tune.

We will begin by chanting the mantra out loud in unison like we do in the beginning of class. After a while we will chant silently with lip movements -- as if you were in silent movie, lips moving without sound coming out. Finally we will chant the mantra internally without lip movements going at your own pacing. I will signal this switch by saying "silently with lip movements" and "internally". If you at any point lose the mantra just tune into your in and out breaths.

 

Ending Peace Chants

OM Asaato Maa Sad Gamaya

Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya

Mrityor Maa Amritam Gamaya

Lead us from unreal to Real.

Lead us from darkness to the Light.

Lead us from the fear of death, to the knowledge of Immorality.

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Lokaah Samastaah Sukhino Bhavantu

May the entire universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light.

Namaste

Life is a Series of Choices

5.20.11  Meditation based upon Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

Taught by sisters Saraswati Andrea Lee and Chitra Jessica Sunshine Klein

Starseed Yoga and Wellness of Montclair, NJ

Sponsered by The Yoga Life Society

------------------Saraswati------------------

Today I would like to talk a little bit about choice. In spiritual life we can think of choice as both a verb and a noun. As a verb, choice is about the decisions we make to strengthen our spiritual path and the decisions we make that may take us off course or that may not be in our best interest. You all made a choice to wake up on a Friday morning and come to a meditation class. We make choices every second of the day whether it be socially or emotionally, in our work lives or in our personal lives. Earlier this week I made the choice to take on a more vegan diet...and yesterday I made the choice to have a butter croissant! It’s neither right nor wrong, but I think it’s helpful to acknowledge the choices we make and the control that we have over certain aspects of our lives. There is a lot we cannot control, but it is important to take note of that which we can.

Choice can also be understood as a noun. We have many different options, methods and techniques to employ that will bring us closer to a life without suffering. We have meditation, Hatha Yoga, following a yogic diet, prayers and affirmations and a range of other methods that encourage our liberation.

In Book One of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali writes something especially encouraging for all of us as we sift through the variety of choices we have. In Sutra 1.39 he writes that one can meditate on “anything one chooses that is elevating.” Sri Guruji’s commentary is that,

“Sri Patanjali knows human nature. There will always be someone who will find a reason not to take his suggestions. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he assures us. ‘As long as you find it spiritually inspiring, go ahead. It will work.’ The teachings of Raja Yoga are useful for everyone, regardless of background, era, or faith tradition. If the chosen object captures our interest, inspires and points us in the right direction of the Self, it has Sri Patanjali’s seal of approval.”

We have few excuses for why we cannot practice when we are given so many choices. However when we do feel ourselves pulling away from our practice is precisely when we draw upon our discipline of decision making and make the choice to practice anyway because we know its benefits.

In our meditation classes we will explore the various objects of meditation one can use. Today’s method uses the breath as the object of meditation. We breath every moment of the day yet we rarely pay attention to the breath unless we are nervous, excited or particularly tired. Some of the benefits of using breath as your object of meditation is that it’s highly portable, it can be done without the use of props and it’s discreet.

------------------Chitra------------------

Pranayama is the mastery of prana, the universal life force, through the breath.  According to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the light within is covered by a veil of mental darkness.  The benefit of pranayama is that it removes this veil of mental darkness and then the mind becomes clear and fit for concentration.  The main benefit of pranayama is the control of the fluctuations of the mind.  When we gain mastery over the prana, we have mastery over the inner nature.  We receive prana from food, sun and our breath.  We can maximize our intake of prana by eating the freshest fruits, vegetables and sprouted grains.   Adversely, we loose prana by over-eating, over-talking, smoking, using drugs, and drinking caffeine/alcohol.  Pranayama and meditation are food for the soul.

"You can live for many weeks without food, days without water, minutes without air, but not even for a fraction of a second without prana." - H.H. Sri Swami Satchidananda

Nadi Suddhi Pranayama - Alternate nostril breathing - Today we will be working with extending the length of the exhalation.  Begin by bringing awareness to the breath.  Inhale smoothly and evenly 4 counts in, exhale 4 counts out.  Continue this method of even breathing for five rounds.  Next, begin to extend the length of the exhalation to 8.  Inhale 4, exhale 8.  Continue for five rounds.  Form the Vishnu mudra with your left hand (peace sign to touch the third eye, thumb touches right nostil, ring and pinky finger join to touch left nostril) and the cin mudra in the right hand (join thumb and pointer finger and rest palm up or down on your lap).  Continue with the extended exhalation breathing and begin the alternate nostril breathing by closing off the right side, exhale left.  A full cycle of breath is an exhalation and an inhalation.  So, exhale left, inhale left, switch.  Now exhale right, inhale right, switch.  Continue with this pattern for several minutes.  One OM to complete exercise.  Sit quietly and feel the effects of the pranayama.

------------------Saraswati------------------

Breath Meditation - It can also be combined with several of the other practices we’ve spoken about. Your breath meditation can be combined with a mantra, for instance inhaling and exhaling to the manta OM Shanti. Breath also goes along well with visualization, or envisioning the prana as light as it enters and exits the body, rising from the abdomen to the chest and collar bone and out through the nose.

One simple way of following the breath is to count your inhalations and exhalations up until a count of 10. I like this method because I can typically tell when I’ve gotten off course when I no longer remember which number I am on. If you have distracting thought, which we all do, we can first try to ignore the thoughts and let them pass by like wispy clouds. We can label them “thoughts” and not give them any attention beyond that. If a particular thought keeps making its way through you can "bookmark" it, so to speak, and reassure the mind that you will analyze and come back to it when your meditation is finished.

Choose any breath method you would like and I will signal the end of this meditation with one OM.

------------------Chitra------------------

Played the throat chakra crystal singing bowl after the breath meditation. 

A Poem from Ashtavakra Gita by an unknown Hindu master 

The Soul of the World edited by Phil Cousineau

I am the boundless ocean.

This way and that,

That wind, blowing where it will

Drives the ship of the world.

But I am not shaken.

I am the unbounded deep

In whom the waves of all the worlds

Naturally rise and fall.

But I do not rise or fall.

I am the infinte deep

In whom all the worlds

Appear to rise.

Beyond all form

Forever still.

Even so am I.

Closing Peace Chants

OM Aasto Maa Sad Gamaya Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya Mrityor Maa Amritam Gamaya

Lead us from unreal to Real.  Lead us from darkness to the Light.  Lead us from the fear of death, to the knowledge of Immortality.

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Lokaah Samastaah Sukhino Bhavantu

May the entire universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light.

Meditation with Chitra and Saraswati

Friday 4.29.11 - Meditation based on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Taught by Sisters Saraswati Andrea Lee and Chitra Jessica Sunshine Klein

Fridays 8-9am - Starseed Yoga and Wellness in Montclair, NJ

Sponsered by The Yoga Life Society

------------------Chitra------------------

Welcome to Meditation!  Let us begin by first tuning into our breath.  Feel the breath.  Follow the flow.  Let the inhalations and exhalations be smooth.  Let us begin by joining our voices and hearts in unison by chanting 3 OM's together, followed by a call and response chant of OM Shanti.

OM Shanti, OM Shanti, OM Shanti OM

Sit silently and feel the vibrations from the opening chant.  Watch the mind.  Bring your hands in front of your heart in Anjali mudra (Anjali = offering), palms pressing against one another evenly.  Gently bow you head to your heat to acknowledge the Divinity within.

My name is Chitra Jessica Sunshine, please tell me your name and what you like about yoga.  Today I will introduce you to the people in the pictures on the alter.  The traditional Yoga Life Society alter contains the Integral Yoga Yantra in the middle, with a picture of Sri Guruji Reverend Jaganath Carrera on the left and a picture of Sri Swami Satchidananda on the right. 

A yantra is a sacred diagram made up of geometric figures in various colors.  It is an expression of the Divine that holds energy and helps retain our connection to the Cosmic consciousness.  A yantra is a visual form of a mantra.  The Integral Yoga yantra represents all faiths and all of creation.  Each part of the yantra symbolizes a different part of the cosmos.  The most note worthy part is the bindhu, the central dot.  It is the beginning of creation.  Concentrating on the bindhu can be a tool for focusing the mind during a visualization meditation.  [Note:  check back next week for this meditation!]

The guru is a spiritual master/teacher who is the remover of darkness.  Saraswati and I are disciples to Sri Guruji, who is a direct disciple to H.H. Sri Swami Satchidananda.  Spending time with our guru is a blessing as it is a direct transmission of wisom from one human to another.  The guru walks beside the disciple guiding and supporting to Self realization. 

Sri Guruji Reverend Jaganath Carrera is the founder and spiritual head of the Yoga Life Society.  For a complete bio please see Guruji's bio.  He is a direct disciple to world renowned Sri Swami Satchidananda, the founder and spiritual guide of the Integral Yoga Institutes and Satchidananda Ashrams worldwide.  Integral Yoga fuses all of the six major branches of yoga together: 

1) Hatha  2) Karma  3) Jnana  4)  Bhakti  5) Japa  6) Raja

Goals of The Yoga Life Society

1. Lead a life of harmony, service, peace, and joy through the study and practice of the six major branches of Yoga.

2. Create an environment within and without - in which spiritual ignorance evaporates leading to the experience of Self realization.

3. Bring loving kindness and compassion to all.

4. Realize there is one universal Truth or reality, and that all faith traditions are valid and complete ways to know that Truth.

Last week review:  Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind.  Meditation brings the mind to  a place that is peaceful, clear, and one-pointed.



Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.14  Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and with enthusiasm. 

Any effort to still the mind is practice.  Firmly grounded practice occurs daily without strain or grudging particpiation.  It is a practice that is meaningful, inspired, and focused.  Practice becomes a joyful habit when it is no longer confined to outside of us.  Success requires persistence, patience, joy and dedication.  Regularity is the key.  A little bit everyday goes a long way.

"Yoga is a science.  If you practice diligently you'll get the results.  There is no doubt about it.  We develop into better people seeking within ourselves to find a place where devotion lives, where consistency is the natural state and the roots of love are hidden.  We could replace long time, without break, and with enthusiasm with devotion, consistency, and love." 

- Guruji Reverend Jaganath Carrera, Inside the Yoga Sutras, p. 42

At this point, Saraswati and I switched roles for Pranayama.

------------------Saraswati------------------

Before we engage in our meditation for today I’d like to do some exercises that will help to balance the breath and create an ideal mental and physiological environment for meditation. Controlling the breath, called pranayama in Sanskrit, is the practice of bringing your awareness to your breath and modifying it in ways that either balance, energize or calm the mind and body. In Sanskrit the word prana means life energy and while it is not solely found in the breath, following the breath is one of the most tangible ways to get in touch with it.

Today we will be trying a pranayama technique that you may have heard of as Nadi Suddhi or Nadi Shodona. You may also know it as alternate nostril breathing and it is an effective way of balancing the many energy channels we have in the body. You may notice when you wake up in the morning that one nostril is usually more constricted than the other. When you rise your left nostril may be dominant but in two hours your right could be. This is a back and forth pattern that happens throughout the day, typically unbeknownst to us. Alternate nostril breathing balances and provides cleansing for both nostrils, and their corresponding energy channels in the body, regardless of which is dominant. In doing so it helps to calm and still the mind.

Make your right hand into a fist and lift your fingers into a “peace” sign. Place the index and middle fingers on the third eye, the place in between your eyebrows. Place your thumb gently on the crease of the right nostril and the ring and pinky fingers on the crease of the left nostril. Inhale and exhale deeply through both nostrils at your own pace. When you feel ready gently close off the nasal passageway of your right nostril and inhale only through the left. Now close off the left nasal passage and exhale through the right nostril. Inhale deeply through the right. Return to the left side as you exhale. Keep this exercise going for a few minutes. If you forget where you are just pick up inhaling the breath on the right side and exhaling on the left.

------------------Break for Tea------------------

After the break, I lead the students in a Breath meditation for 15 minutes.  First tune in by observing the breath.  Let the cycle be smooth and round out the edges.  Feel that the inhalation is cool and the exhalation is warm.  Today's meditation with focus on counting the breath.  One cycle of breath is an exhalation and an inahalation.  So, counting will be inhale 1, exhale 1, inhale 2, exhale 2...all the way to 10 and then back to zero.  If you get lost, you can certainly start again at one.  Let go of any distracting thoughts and bring your focus back to the breath.  The breathing is a reflection of our state of mind.  Slow and even breathing = calm and focused mind.  Completing the meditation we sat for a golden moment, bringing the non-judgemental witnessing attitude to our thoughts.  Just watch the mind.  Feel the effects of the meditation.

A passage from the writing of Swami Kripalu:
"To read uplifting books or listen to spiritual discourses is good. But to practice even a little is of the utmost importance. The profound meaning of yoga is understood only by those who study it systematically through personal practice. The day you start to practice, your true progress will begin. Accepting the truth proclaimed by scriptures does not produce knowledge. Real knowledge is only obtained through direct experience. For experience, practice is indispensable. Knowledge without experience is false knowledge. Through various yoga experiences, a seeker goes on intensifying his faith, courage, knowledge, zeal, and devotion. In this way he progresses on the path of yoga, gaining the knowledge of yoga through the practice of yoga."

Ending Peace Chants led by Saraswati

Asaato Maa Sad Gamaya Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya Mrityor Maa Amritaam Gamaya

Lead us from unreal to Real. Lead us from darkness to the Light. Lead us from the fear of death to the knowledge of Immortality.

OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti!

Lokaah Samastaah Sukhino Bhavantu

May the entire universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light!

Meditation with Sister Sunshine - Fourth & Jackson Art Space

1-18-11 Second class of workshop, first experience running the meditation series.  So far teaching has been such a postive blessing in my life.  The students are inspired to practice and I had to fight a smile during  the first Om, as the volume and confidence have doubled and intensified in only a week.

 Six weeks of Meditation with Sunshine #2

Six week workshop designed for the introduction and integration of meditation.

Learn chanting, breathing techniques, and meditation practices.

Come one - Come all. Love all - Serve all.

ॐ नमः शिवय गुरवे
OM Namah Sivaya Gurave
OM The Guru is Auspiciousness.

सचिदनन्द मुतयै
Satchidananda Moorthaye
Embodiment of Truth, Knowledge, Bliss.

निसपपचय शनतय
Nishprapanchaaya Shaantaaya
Salutations to the One who is beyond the worlds.

निरलमबय तेजसे
Niraalambaya Tejase
Peaceful, Independent, and Radiant.


What is Yoga?
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras - A sacred and ancient yoga text written in Sanskrit sharing the essential teachings for attaining liberation. The Yoga Sutras are commonly known as Raja Yoga, the Royal Yoga, because they present spirituality as a holistic science, universally applicable to people of all faith traditions. These are teachings that are alive, that resonate at the level of our inner spirit, awakening memories of our True Identity. Many translations are available.

1.2: Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha -Yoga calms the mind-stuff. Yoga - goal of union or to yoke; Chitta - individual mind; Vritti - whirlpool of changing thoughts and labels we create for all things; Nirodha - restraint or changing direction of the mind.

1.12 Abhyasa Vaiagyabhyam Tat Nirodha -Through regular practice and non-attachment we gain power over the mind, the endless track of our mind - vritti - slows down and becomes restrained.

1.14 Sah Tu Dirgha Kala Nairantarya Satkara Asevitah Dridhabhumih - Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break, and with enthusiasm. Theory without practice will not completely satisfy and the benefits of yoga are experienced through regular practice. Regularity is the key!! A little bit everyday goes a long way.

Yoga is based on 8 limbs
1. Yama = abstinence                    5. Pratyahara = sensory withdrawal
2. Niyama = observance                6. Dharana = concentration
3. Asana = posture                        7. Dhyana = meditation
4. Pranayama = breath control       8. Samadhi = Self-realization

What is meditation?
Meditation is the art of staying in this present moment. Through concentration we bring the mind to a state that is peaceful, clear, one-pointed. Concentration becomes meditation after unwavering attention towards an object of meditation lasts for at least two minutes. The techniques prepare for stillness in meditation.

Techniques
1. Sound 2. Breath 3. Visualization 4. Introspection.
Choose any object for concentration as long as it is uplifting and you like it.

Distracting Thoughts
Ahimsa = non-violence, harmlessness. Ahimsa is the King of all Yamas - the touchstone and supreme of all virtues. It applies to word, thought and deed - intention and action, all human beings, animals, and inanimate objects. Be kind in thought, word and deed.

“Over time compassion gives birth to a love and understanding so pure that it lifts the mind to a place of peace beyond any tranquility we had imagined.” -Guruji

Pranayama
Nadi Suddhi - alternate nostril breathing - Begin with five deep breaths through the nose. Inhale four counts, exhale four counts. Form Yoni mudra (right hand - thumb and index join) and Vishnu mudra (left hand - peace sign touches third eye with thumb on right nostril and ring and pinky fingers on left nostril). Breathe normally through both nostrils and begin with an exhalation on the left. Inhale left, switch and close off left nostril, exhale right. Inhale right, switch, exhale left. Continue several rounds and end with normal breathing. Observe. Mind is calm.

Meditation
Sound - Mantra - continuous Om. Om is the primordial cosmic vibration from which sprang the entire cosmos and all of creation. A + U = O in Sanskrit. AUM = OM. A represents creation, u represents evolution and m represents dissolution. The waking, dreaming and dreamless deep sleep states. When you open your mouth to make a sound, it is "ah" a prolonged sigh. All audible sounds start with this action. Begin with “ah” in the throat. The “u” is formed when the sound rolls forward toward the lips with the help of the tongue and cheeks, making an “o” sound. The “m” is formed as the sound comes towards the lips and brings the sound to vibrate the skull and crown of the head. Meditate on all three parts to the chanting of Om, listen to your neighbors and feel the vibrations join together as one. We are one.
Second practice included nine rounds of OM Namah Shivaya Gurave (review of beginning chant) and by the end of the meditation our voices sounded together as one.  OM Shanti!