How to Blow a Shankha

One has to practice a specific way of holding the mouth, called Embouchure. This is key to blowing a Conch, or “Sankha”. It’s not just how you purse the lips, but how you hold them stiffly together and against the teeth. This braces the buzz you need to create for Sankha, and also reinforces the air from the lungs. Think of it like the sound comes from your heart or the diaphragm, not from the Instrument. In one long stream, as if you are singing a loud sustained note, blow from the diaphragm, not from higher up in the chest or throat like when you speak.

The note and tone are expressed and modulated by the shape of your lips and how they vibrate together. Changing their shape, thus their vibration, will change the note. You can practice without the Conch, hold your lips tight in one place but not so tight you can’t blow through them and make them buzz, hold your chin flat, and hold your cheeks in – do not let them puff out. You should be able to feel the corners of your mouth. Take a deep breath and let your lips buzz together.

Change the shape of your embouchure by pulling back the corners of your lips to make them more of a straight line, or pursing to make less of one, and the tone of the buzz you make gets higher or lower respectively.

Step by Step method of blowing a shankha:

Due to blowing of shankha, the frequencies consisting raja–tama particles are destroyed and at the same time the saviour and destroyer principle of a deity is awakened. Now let us see the correct method of blowing the shankha.

First slightly raise your neck and bend it little backwards and keep the mind focused. Take a deep breath and start to blow with increasing intensity. One should keep in mind that blowing of shankha should be completed in one single breath. When the shankha is blown in this way Sushumna channel of the individual gets activated and it helps in keeping a correct balance of raja and sattva particles related to Tej (space) and Vayu (air) elements. This awakens the saviour and destroyer principle according to the need. 

Steps:

1. The person blowing shankha should stand and raise his neck upwards and fully concentrate on the task at hand. When blowing shankha, the eyes should be closed and a spiritual emotion should be nurtured that one is beckoning the subtler frequencies of the unmanifest, destroyer form of God’. This posture activates the “Sushumna nadi” (Central Channel) in the body of the conch-blower. It also helps in maintaining a perfect balance between the raja-tamaparticles in the frequencies related to the absolute air and absolute fire elements that emanate from the mouth. Thus, as per the requirement – the saviour and destroyer principles get activated.
2. When blowing shankha, close the eyes and cultivate a feeling (bhav) that the marak (destroyer) frequencies of the unmanifest form are being received.
3. Blowing of the shankhain a single breath: As far as possible, take a deep breath and fill the lungs with air, and then blow the conch in a single breath. The air should be blown from the navel rather than the throat to get the health benefit from blowing a shankha. This way the resonance of the vibrations (the resonance of subtle sound in the environment) lasts for a longer period. Due to the strength of the sound vibrations in the resonance, it becomes possible to tear apart the black covering surrounding the aerial body of the negative energies in the vicinity in a short time.
4. The sound of the shankhashould go from a low to a high pitch: When blowing shankha, the sound should start from a low and go to a high pitch which should be maintained till the conch-blower stops. The air used to blow the shankha should come from the stomach/navel.

Manifestation of negative energies due to the sound of the shankha: Due to the sound energy generated by blowing shankha, subtler frequencies flowing down from the universe get activated. They cause disintegration of raja-tama particles in the atmosphere within a short time. Due to the momentum of frequencies of sound energy emanating from the shankha, there is friction between raja–tama particles, resulting in subtle flames. As a result the sheath around the aerial bodies of negative energies starts to burn. That is why negative energies are unable to tolerate the sound of a shankha. They are compelled to manifest because of this sound