Welcome!
My name is Joanna Janke and I am a Chopra certified Primordial Sound Meditation teacher.
At Return to Om, I guide individuals through this fascinating and effective ancient meditation technique to cultivate inner peace and self-awareness.
You might know me as a Berlin-based musician's photographer, but I've always been deeply interested in the nature of existence, human behavior, and the inner landscape of our lives. My path naturally expanded into meditation and healing - not as a departure from my creative work, but as a continuation of it. Both photography and meditation are about presence, seeing clearly, and capturing what lies beneath the surface.
Why Primordial Sound
Meditation?
What drew me to Primordial Sound Meditation was a combination of personal struggle and curiosity. At some point in my life, I didn't even remember what joy felt like. I tried different healing tools and I tried to meditate, but I was still experiencing intense ups and downs which were difficult to handle.
When I discovered Primordial Sound Meditation, I was surprised by how different it was from other meditation techniques. The personalized mantra and the depth of the practice offer something uniquely profound - a quality I hadn't experienced in my previous meditation practice.
My Approach
My approach to teaching Primordial Sound Meditation goes beyond the Chopra Certification alone. I use the elements of mindfulness, somatic practices, yoga, psychology, and my own lived experience to help you cultivate the kind of softness that allows meditation to become truly effortless.
In meditation, the last thing you want is to force your mind to be empty or to wait for specific results. Quite the opposite. The practice is about letting go of expectations and allowing things to unfold as they are - within a gentle framework I like to call effortless effort. I guide you to listen lightly to your inner guidance, until even that guidance gradually dissolves and you’re left with the essence of being.
For many of us, traditional meditation advice can feel unrealistic - especially when we feel disconnected from our bodies or carry tension and resistance. Without a few essential foundations, meditation can easily turn into a struggle. I know this from personal experience. While not all of life’s challenges magically disappear, regular meditation strengthens your capacity to meet whatever arises with more clarity, steadiness, and grace.
About Primordial Sound
Meditation
Primordial Sound Meditation is an ancient Vedic practice revived and popularised in the 1990s by Deepak Chopra, who brought his experience from Transcendental Meditation, and Dr. David Simon, who together made this personalized, mantra-based practice accessible to the modern world.
It's a powerful meditation technique that uses a personal mantra to transcend thoughts and enter a deeper state of being - the gap between thoughts, the source of everything. This deep state of Samadhi is characterized by a profound silence and stillness, where the usual mental chatter and sensory inputs are minimized. It does not represent a decrease in awareness but instead a movement toward a more subtle, all-encompassing awareness.
The Mantra
When you learn this practice with me, you'll receive your personal mantra - a sacred sound calculated from the exact time, date, and place of your birth. This mantra represents the vibrational sound the universe was making at the moment you entered the world. Your mantra becomes a vehicle - a bridge that carries you from the activity of daily life into the silence within. It's not just a technique; it's a pathway home to yourself.
The mantra in Primordial Sound Meditation is not meant to evoke memories of the specific circumstances of your birth but it aligns you with the underlying harmony and wisdom of the universe. It is a sound that resonates with your spirit, beyond any individual life event.
How PSM Changes Your Life
Imagine Primordial Sound Meditation as a quiet lake. On the surface, there might be ripples and waves caused by the winds of daily life: your thoughts, emotions, and external circumstances. As you begin to meditate, it’s like moving beneath the surface, where the water becomes calm, clear, and undisturbed.
In this deeper space, you find clarity and ease that are unaffected by the surface movement. With regular practice, the stillness and insights you encounter at this level begin to rise upward, influencing the surface of the lake. The more you meditate, the more the surface starts to reflect the calm and clarity from below.
The
Benefits
Enhanced Clarity and Focus
Meditation helps to quiet the mental chatter, allowing for greater clarity and improved concentration in daily tasks.
Emotional Resilience
By regularly touching the stillness within, you can develop a more balanced response to stress and emotional challenges.
Increased Compassion and Empathy
Connecting with your true self often enhances your empathy and compassion for others, as you recognize the shared essence in everyone.
Heightened Self-Awareness
Meditation deepens your understanding of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, promoting personal growth and self-discovery.
Peace and Contentment
As you access the deeper layers of awareness, a sense of inner peace and contentment arises, independent of external circumstances.
Improved Well-being
Regular meditation is associated with numerous health benefits, including reduced stress, better sleep, and improved overall well-being.
Course Overview
The course consists of four 60-90 minute classes where you'll learn the complete practice.
01
I'll introduce you to meditation fundamentals - how meditation releases stress, the role of mantras, and how to move beyond old patterns and conditioning. We'll explore the idea that we're multidimensional beings through Adi Shankara's model of the layers of life, discover the origins of Primordial Sound Meditation, and understand how these sacred mantras are chosen.
02
It is a truly special moment in your journey. In a private ceremony, just the two of us, I'll share your personal Primordial Sound Meditation mantra - selected specifically for you using ancient Vedic mathematics - and guide you through your first meditation with it.
03
We'll dive into the practical side of your practice: when and where to meditate, how to time your sessions, what different experiences might mean, and how to navigate any questions that arise. We'll also meditate together.
04
...brings us full circle as we explore higher states of consciousness and the beautiful transformations that unfold as you continue your regular practice.
Have questions about meditation or a session? Fill out the contact form or reach me via Instagram.
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