Chant & Chill
Chanting can be as relaxing as meditation and breathwork, new research shows
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If you’re seeking a pathway to relaxation, then be sure to add some chanting to your yoga repertoire.
A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, led by Dr Valentina Canessa-Pollard, senior lecturer in psychology at the School of Law, Business and Psychology, University of Chichester, reveals that chants from around the world share certain universal acoustic features that promote relaxation.
The findings highlight chanting as a simple, accessible practice that may mirror the calming effects of meditation and slow breathing, requiring no specialist training or equipment.
The research team analysed 242 chants from seven traditions and found they consistently feature slow tempo, slow changing intonation, relatively low pitch, and vowel sounds produced with a relaxed vocal tract.Playback experiments with 255 participants revealed these traits reliably enhanced relaxation compared to speech or song.
Despite chanting being practiced for over 5,000 years across many Western and Eastern traditions, there is very little empirical research into how it may positively impact listeners’ wellbeing — but it seems the ancients were intuitively aware to its benefits.
“Chanting seems to have culturally evolved as a natural tool for regulating the nervous system and supporting wellbeing,” said Dr Canessa Pollard.
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