The one that got my attention was chanting Om, or Aum for the phonetically phussy. A certain Dr Hansa Yogendra from a certain yoga institute explained that the vibrational frequencies generated in the neck, throat and body by chanting Aum effectively shattered the virus, or at least laid it low. Everyone, including Sadhguru, nodded their heads and added their two bits.

I sat with my spine ramrod straight, as instructed, and tried out Aum. It starts deep in your chest and throat, a reassuring bass rumble as your mouth widens into the ‘A’. When you round your lips to reach the ‘O’, the sound migrates, now coming from your oral cavity, and you feel it thrumming your upper palate and cheeks. Then as you close your lips to get to the ‘M’, the sound, now a high hum, moves upward, buzzing your nose, skull, eyes and sinuses.

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But does chanting do anything to the COVID virus? And if Aum does something, would the Gayatri Mantra or the Sri Venkateshwara Suprabhatam do even more? Would we need vaccines if we could just vocalise the virus away?

When my brother and I were too young to protest or understand, my mother taught us a set of Vedic incantations, starting with Shivam Shivakaram Shantam Shivatmanam Shivottamam. I still have no clue what the words mean, but by gum I could spew out 10 minutes of this mumbo jumbo every evening. I was a champion, my friend.

Confession—for mental well-being, I added my own prayer in English, usually mumbled when prostrating before the gods at the end of the prayers, and my mother couldn’t see my lips. “Dear God, make me good, kind, humble, just, loyal, honest, cheerful, courageous, cool.” 

You can see how that worked out for me.

The sound Aum, it seems, resonates at 432 hertz. You can find YouTube videos with Aum intoned at other frequencies such as 528 hertz and 629 hertz, each claiming occult benefits for mind and body, but 432 hertz stands out. It is so pervasive in nature that you might suspect either magic or a conspiracy.

Most music you hear today is tuned to the 440 hertz standard, but for millennia, 432 hertz was gold. Mozart’s music was tuned to 432 hertz, as were the instruments unearthed in the pyramids. Music at 432 hertz sounded more, well, divine. It felt richer, more meaningful. The priceless Stradivarius violins of the 17th Century, all aligned to 432 hertz, were said to almost mimic human voices. The singing bowls of Tibetan monks were tuned to 432 hertz.

Ok, Aum vibes at 432 hertz. So?

Enter the vagus, or wandering, nerve. The vagus is a meandering network of nerves that connects your brain to your heart, your gut, your immune system and several organs. It controls calmness and peace of mind, empathy and trust; it’s the one that makes you enjoy hugs, but it’s also the one that tells you to run for your life from danger. Meditation and pranayama breathing exercises directly increase vagal activity, creating a heightened state of peace and well-being. The vagus nerve affects attention and mood. It’s why your appetite is affected by your mood and why your heart beats faster when you’re in love.

And yes, saying Aum at 432 hertz is like caressing your vagus nerve. Your whole body purrs. Especially your immune system.

So what?

Enter nitric oxide, or NO, known to dentists as laughing gas. Odourless and colourless, this gas kick-starts your body’s immune system, giving it muscles against bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections, reduces inflammation (and amazingly, does things to your sex life too). During the coronavirus epidemic of 2004, nitric oxide was shown to dramatically improve lung function, increase blood oxygen uptake, shorten ICU stays and ventilator support, and improve survival rates.
Oh, did I mention that meditation, nose breathing and chanting Aum at 432 hertz all boost nitric oxide production by 30 to 100 times? Ask any Tibetan monk.
If it all sounds terribly complicated and you don’t like sitting with your spine so straight, here’s a cheap alternative. 

Just hum when you breathe. Scientifically proven to boost your nitric oxide right away by 15-fold.

Here, viewed from there. C Y Gopinath, in Bangkok, throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai, the city that raised him. You can reach him at cygopi@gmail.com

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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper