Om Mani Padme Hum, the Avalokitesvara Mantra, recorded live at Casa Saraswati as part of the November 2011 Sacred Clowning retreat. Led by Didier Danthois, the group explored Indian raga singing, mantra and singing improvisation in conjunction with the clown.

Om Mani Padme Hum is an six-syllable mantra associated with Avalokitesvara (Chenrezig in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion. Essentially it invokes the power of Avalokitesvara to open our hearts and minds to become more compassionate towards ourselves and other beings, although it has many different interpretations.

A transliteration of the Sanskrit words:

Om mani padme hum

Or sometimes written as:

Om mani peme hung.

In the words of Kalu Rinpoche, "Through mantra, we no longer cling to the reality of the speech and sound encountered in life, but experience it as essentially empty. Then confusion of the speech aspect of our being is transformed into enlightened awareness."

Didier Danthois is a spiritual teacher with many years of experience in teaching mime-clown and raga singing. His work seeks to bring together the arts and healing.

For more information visit www.sacred-clown-as-healer.co.uk or www.teatro-del-corazon.org or simply google 'sacred clown'.