CHENNAI: Meditation is often associated with silence. But in the cacophony of noises that surround us every minute today, meditation means listening to the sounds from within ourselves, according to Yotam Agam. The producer, yoga teacher and the co-founder of DoGood Yoga has been exploring the humble relationships between yoga practice and sounds through his extensive travels. “I found that meditation is about silence, but not necessarily silence in the physical space. Living in this noisy world, you actually find silence within you, which is what we all want, more than anything else really,” Yotam explains.
The founder of Covelong Point Music and Surf festival is just at home in Chennai as he is surfing waves in the ocean. Smeditattaying in Chennai for the past 16 years, Yotam is known to have one foot in India, and the other all over the world. Passionate about life and culture, he pursues music, yoga, surfing, engineering, persistently searching for new creative spheres to indulge in. So it is no surprise that he works in blending his various passions, resulting in, among other things, a unique meditation workshop that involves sounds and rhythms — Soundscape moving meditation. “It started with developing a deep listening awareness as part of yoga practice,” he says.
He describes the human being’s hearing sense as ‘developed and active all the time’. We constantly use the data to process information consciously and subconsciously, which has a huge impact on our well-being. “Through sounds, we perceive space and time. Through voices and music we experience life, communicate, dream and get emotional, But none of us hardly listen anymore,” Yotam opines, and today, we have become passive to some of the sounds around us. Through this workshop, he aims to give everyone tools to listen.
The 90-minute workshop will have drone sounds and gentle rhythms based on planetary frequencies that have healing processes. The participant will be taken on a journey of listening, meditating and moving. “Repetitive songs, rhythms, and sounds related to the cosmic worlds we live in will give everyone the opportunity to listen, be present and add another dimension to spiritual practice,” he explains.
Yotam has toured the workshop across the world over the past two years, and he finds every person experiences a different epiphany at the end. “Some people cry, some laugh, some are embarrassed! But everyone loves it and are happy,” he laughs. “We will focus more on the ‘listening’ aspect with some yoga practice too,” he explains, sharing his excitement to be coming to his ‘home’ for the workshop today.
“When I think of Chennai, it warms my heart,” he says, adding he will be taking the workshop to Paris and Los Angeles next. “You don’t need to know how to practice yoga or have previous experience,” he laughs, urging anyone interested to just come, listen, and have fun!
Experience Yotam’s Soundscape moving meditation today at Rutland Gate Yoga Studio from 4.30-6 pm. Fee is `740. For details, call 46281818