Page 7 - Hmmm M the Humdinger Flipbook for HARP Sept 27 2020

vibrations bouncing around in your head. When you feel the most

vibrations in your face, your tongue and jaw are in the right

position. If you are humming to recover from a sore throat or cold,

you will want to feel the most vibrations in your forehead.

Close your mouth and let the front part of the tongue rest in its

natural place in the roof of the mouth, behind the front teeth.

Breathe out saying “Hmmmm …” That is, push together your

vocal cords to squeeze the air through the nose so that a humming

sound occurs.

If you have a yoga meditation practice that includes the “om”

chant, you already have a humming practice. Humming—or

Brahmaree Pranayama—is a breath work technique in yoga and

Ayurveda. Brahmari means “the bee.” Simply take a few slow,

deep breaths through the nose with tightly sealed lips. Each time

you breathe out, make a humming sound like a buzzing bee or

wasp. Notice how the inner walls of your nostrils and voice box

vibrate with the noise. See if the muscles in your face, jaws and

shoulders are relaxing while you hum.

Why hum? In some of the happiest countries in the world, like

Myanmar and Mexico, as determined by the Global Happiness

Index, there is far more human noise than there is in North

America and Europe—talking, shouting, singing, laughing and

iv