Humming Meditation
Any sound is an acoustic manifestation of vibrations in the air that stimulate the sensory process of hearing. But there’s more to these vibrations. The healing benefits of sound have been used throughout qigong and yoga practices for thousands of years. In fact, there is a complete qigong practice called the Healing Sounds that uses specific vocalizations to resonate with specific organs. The act of humming when you exhale produce vibrations that have a very positive effect on your lungs. The vibrations produced by humming produce Nitric Oxide (NO) in the paranasal sinuses.
The functions of these sinus cavities are to lighten the weight of the head, humidify and warm inhaled air, increase the resonance of speech, and serve as a crumple zone to protect vital structures in the event of facial trauma. However, it is the production of Nitric Oxide (NO) that has wonderful effects:
NO is known to be broadly antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial.
NO is a bronchodilator that opens nasal passages, bronchi and bronchioles in the lungs.
NO is also a vasodilator playing an important role in the dilation of blood vessels so that oxygen can be properly distributed throughout the body.
Nitric Oxide is getting a lot of attention because it may be very helpful to protect, and
treat if necessary, the lungs of people with COVID 19 and other types of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ACRD). Numerous studies have shown that NO can reduce respiratory tract infection by inactivating viruses and inhibiting their replication in epithelial cells; inhalation of NO significantly improved oxygenation; NO inhibited the replication of SARSCoV in a dose dependent manner, meaning that higher levels had a greater inhibitory effect on the replication of the virus.
These studies where done with sick patients given supplemental NO to inhale in a hospital setting. But, we can produce our own NO with simple techniques of breathing. Even though it will be a lower amount that that used in hospitals it will induce more NO into the lungs and may augment our natural defense systems. The key to this procedure is to use the pleasant act of humming!
How to practice Humming Meditation:
• Sit comfortably erect on a chair or meditation cushion.
• Close your mouth and place your tongue gently behind the upper teeth.
• Inhale through your nose slowly, comfortably, completely.
• Exhale through your nose and make the “mmmmmm” sound. You may feel mild
vibrations in the sinuses, and perhaps in the throat or upper chest. End the
exhalation with a slight contraction in the belly. Then linger at the pause.
• Inhale slowly through your nose only and mindfully take that breath all the way
to the bottom of the lungs. Let your ribs expand laterally, don’t raise your
shoulders. Relax. Don’t force it. This breath is taking nitric oxide into the lungs.
Think of inhaling gently. There’s a slight pause at the end of inhalation.
• Exhale through the nose only as you make the humming sound. Let it be
completely natural. Feel the mild oscillations of the nasal passages.
• Do this five times.
• Then take another inhalation through the nose and exhale through the mouth
with a gentle squeeze of the belly at the end. Do this Cleansing Breath two times.
The practice routine is to do five repetitions of Humming and then two repetitions of
Cleansing Breath. Repeat this cycle for about 5 minutes.
The handbook for Autumn Qigong has detailed information about the science and method of humming meditation. There are also full color illustrations of the paranasal sinuses and the entire respiratory system.