A SIDE EFFECT OF CHANTING OM by Bob Romero

Chanting OM, pronounced AUM, provides spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical benefits. Spiritually, it raises your vibration. My metaphysical teacher said if you chant OM for an hour out loud for three months, then softly for an hour for three months, and finally to yourself for three months, you will become enlightened. You become very aware and focused mentally. Emotionally you will find great inner peace. And now science has shown many physical benefits like reducing stress and anxiety, reducing your blood pressure and heart rate, and stimulating the Vagus Nerve to name a few.

Chanting OM is also a form of meditation in that you are focusing on the sound and vibration and nothing else. You can chant it for a certain amount of time or for a specific number of times like using a Mala. I like to chant it for a few minutes and then followed by silent meditation. That way I get the benefits of both.

However, there can be a side effect of chanting OM. Most people aren’t aware of this or know about it. My teacher once told us that it may affect other people around us. As you raise your vibration and cause positive energy by chanting OM, you are impacting the environment around you. Even though you’re not heard, it will feel good to those who have the same spiritual values, but for those who are not in alignment, they may feel uncomfortable and will cause them to move away. He said a tenant in a building that he used to be in, moved out after he and his students chanted OM.

I mentioned this to my wife and she said, “Yeah right” and dismissed it. A few months later, she said that she wouldn’t doubt me again as a neighbor across from our backyard moved away. He was a proud gun owner and had a big brown Boxer named Thunder that would bark forcefully at anyone who walked by in the greenbelt between us. Next to him another neighbor and his family moved in and although we never saw them, sometimes he would have a visitor who would sit with him on their back patio late at night and would drink and talk loudly without any regard to the other neighbors. They just sold their house and are moving out. A third neighbor up the street was a renter and didn’t take care of the yard and had an old beat-up pickup truck that was always parked outside. My wife asked me if I could do something about that. I said that I’m not chanting OM to get rid of people that we don’t agree with. I do it for my own spiritual purpose. Then they just moved away. Thankfully we have wonderful neighbors on each side of us who are nice and kind and always willing to help whenever they can. Chanting OM not only raises your vibration, but it also raises the vibration of the surrounding area and attracts those with the same energy.