Shivoham शिवोऽहम्: The Next Step After So Hum
So Hum, Shivoham, Shantih — three sounds, three ways of turning inward. This is one part of a small series that reflects on each one in turn.
Reading Time: ~11 minutes
Before You Read On, Try This
Sit for a moment, the way you might have with So Hum. This time, instead of following the breath, just notice whatever is present — a thought, a feeling, a slight tension somewhere in the body, the sound of the room.
Pick whatever’s loudest right now. Whatever’s demanding your attention. And silently say to yourself, “I am aware of this but I am not this.” Not as a rejection. Not as a fight either. Just a quiet fact-check, nothing more dramatic than that. The thought is there. Fine. But so is awareness noticing the thought. Two different things, sitting right next to each other. And it’s easy to miss that they’re not actually the same thing at all.
Do this two or three times with whatever shows up — a stray worry, an itch, a sound outside. Each time, notice that whatever you named came and went, while the noticing itself didn't come or go with it. It was just there, quietly, the whole time.
That steady, unmoving noticing — the part of you that doesn't change no matter what passes through it — is what the word "Shivoham" is pointing to.
What Is Shivoham?
Shivoham - sometimes written Shivohum or Śivo'ham - is a Sanskrit phrase. It means “I am Shiva.” It comes from one of the most well-known compositions in Indian philosophy - the Nirvana Shatakam, written roughly 1,200 years ago by philosopher Adi Shankaracharya. The story behind it matters almost as much as the phrase itself. As a young man, Shankaracharya was asked a simple question that turned out to be enormous - Who are you? And his answer wasn't a name. It wasn't a role. It wasn't even a belief.
It was six short verses, each one peeling away another layer of what he wasn't. Every single verse ending on the same refrain: Chidananda rupah shivoham shivoham. “I am the nature of consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva. I am Shiva.”
Here's the part that matters most if you're coming to this unfamiliar with the tradition: Shiva, in this context, isn't primarily a deity waiting to be worshipped. In philosophical school this hymn comes from - Advaita Vedanta, a non-dual tradition - Shiva is simply a name for the same thing other traditions have called pure awareness. The ground of being. Consciousness itself before it gets dressed up as personality, body, life story with a name attached to it.
Saying “I am Shiva” here is a lot closer to saying “I am consciousness” or “I am the awareness in which all experience happens” than it is to claiming any religious identity. You don't need to adopt deity, ritual, or belief system to explore what this phrase is actually pointing at.
How Shankaracharya Got There: The Method of Negation
What makes Nirvana Shatakam so distinctive isn't what it says. It's how it gets there. Instead of describing what true self is, each verse describes what it isn't - a technique called neti neti. Meaning, not this, not this. Shankaracharya works through nearly everything a person might use to define themselves. Not the mind. Not the intellect. Not the ego. Not the senses, not body, not emotions like pride or jealousy. Not even your life roles, your achievements, things you'd list on a resume of who you are.
After each round of negation, the same line comes back around: I am the nature of consciousness and bliss. I am Shiva. There's a similar move at the heart of Shakti- the divine feminine -as a concept too, actually. Not negation exactly but the same refusal to let the self be reduced to any single, fixed thing.
Logic is simple - once you actually sit with it for a moment. Everything you can observe - thought, mood, sensation, memory - is an object of awareness. Something being seen. The one thing that's never an object, the one thing that's always doing seeing, is awareness itself. Strip away enough of what you're not and what's left is what Shankaracharya called Shiva. Not something you arrive at. Something that was already there, waiting to be recognized!
From So Hum to Shivoham: A Natural Progression
If you've spent time with So Hum, this will feel familiar rather than foreign — because it's building on exactly the same territory, just one step further in.
So Hum works through the breath. Each inhale and exhale gives you a physical, repeatable anchor, and the practice of returning to "So... Hum" every time the mind wanders is itself a quiet rehearsal of Sakshi Bhava, the witness attitude — noticing a thought without becoming it, the way you'd notice a cloud passing through a still sky. Early on, that witnessing is subtle. You catch yourself thinking, and you come back to the breath. That's the whole practice, and it's enough on its own.
Shivoham picks up right where that leaves off. Once the witness attitude has had some time to settle — once "noticing a thought without chasing it" feels less like an effort and more like a familiar move — Shivoham asks a more direct question: if you keep stepping back from thought, feeling, sensation, and role, again and again, what's actually left doing the stepping back? So Hum quietly points toward the witness. Shivoham names it, examines it, and asks you to rest as it, rather than just briefly visiting it between thoughts.
Put simply: So Hum trains the witness. Shivoham asks who the witness actually is. That's why it tends to land better as a second stage rather than a starting point — it assumes you've already had some direct, felt experience of noticing a thought from a slight distance, which is exactly what breath-based witness practice like So Hum builds. If you haven't spent time with So Hum yet, it's worth starting there first — our full guide walks through it from scratch.
And if you're curious how this whole architecture fits together - where breath ends and something subtler begins - we've mapped that progression out in more depth elsewhere too.
Why This Crosses Over Well for the Contemporary Audience
The core insight in Shivoham — that you are the awareness in which experience happens, not the passing content of that experience — isn't unique to Sanskrit philosophy. Versions of same idea show up across very different traditions. In contemplative Christian mystics who wrote about the soul's ground… In Stoic writing about observing the mind… And in a wave of contemporary non-dual teachers who talk about pure awareness or presence without any reference to Hindu philosophy at all.
We've actually traced this exact crossover before, in a different direction - why real yoga begins at breath. How much of today's “mindfulness” language is quietly borrowing from a much older source most people never get pointed back to.
What Shivoham offers is a very old, very tested language for experience many people arrive at independently. Via therapy, mindfulness training, or simply paying close attention to their own mind under stress.
Because of that overlap, it's entirely possible to explore Shivoham as a psychological and contemplative practice (a different way of relating to thought and emotion) without ever adopting it as a religious identity.
Plenty of practitioners outside India engage with it exactly this way. Not “I now worship Shiva” but something closer to “I am practicing recognizing awareness as separate from its contents” using a precise, time-tested phrase to actually do it. The phrase carries all the depth of the tradition without demanding you take on its theology to use it.
How to Practice Shivoham Meditation
Start with a few minutes of So Hum, if that's already part of your practice. Let the breath settle and the witness attitude come online. This makes the transition into Shivoham smoother.
Bring the mantra in gently. As you settle in, silently repeat “Shivoham.” Not tightly synced to your inhale and exhale the way So Hum is - just at whatever unhurried pace feels natural to you; roughly once per breath or once every few breaths, whatever settles. Use it alongside noticing, not as a replacement for it.
When a thought, feeling, or sensation shows up, mentally note it - thinking, tension, sound - and then return to “Shivoham” as a way of resting back into awareness that noticed it in the first place. The word isn't there to drown out the thought. It's there to point at what's actually watching it.
Don't strain for an experience. This isn't a practice with a dramatic finish line. Some sessions it will feel like nothing happened. Others, there's a brief, quiet sense of settling back into something steadier than the passing thought. Both are normal; the practice is the returning, not the destination.
Ten to fifteen minutes is a reasonable session length for most people once So Hum feels familiar. As with any contemplative practice, consistency over weeks matters far more than any single sitting ever will. And because Shivoham works a layer deeper than a stress-relief technique - it sits closer to self-inquiry than to relaxation - we'd recommend beginners approach it (at least at first) with the guidance of an experienced teacher rather than through self-study alone.
Self-inquiry practices are easy to misread when you're doing them by yourself. A teacher can tell the difference between genuine settling and simply going quiet. They can actually meet questions that tend to surface once identity itself becomes the object of your practice.
When Shivoham Is Useful
Because it works one layer deeper than a stress-relief technique, Shivoham tends to be most useful in different moments than So Hum:
When you're over-identified with a role or outcome — a job title, a relationship label, a mistake you keep replaying — and want a way to step back from it rather than argue with it.
During periods of change or uncertainty, when familiar identities (a job, a relationship, a stage of life) are shifting and it helps to touch something steadier underneath the change.
In the middle of self-critical thinking, as a way of noticing "I am having a harsh thought about myself" rather than fully becoming the thought.
As a closing practice after So Hum, using a few minutes of breath-based settling to arrive, then a few minutes of Shivoham to rest in what's left once the settling is done.
So Hum vs. Shivoham: A Quick Comparison
| So Hum | Shivoham | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | "I am That" | "I am Shiva" (pure consciousness) |
| Anchor | The breath — synced to inhale and exhale | Awareness itself — not tied to a fixed rhythm |
| What it does | Trains you to notice thought without following it (builds the witness) | Asks who or what the witness actually is (rests as it) |
| Best used | As a starting point, or any time you need a quick reset | Once witnessing already feels familiar, or when working through identity, change, or self-criticism |
| Feel of the practice | Rhythmic, physical, easy to drop into anywhere | Slower, more reflective, closer to self-inquiry |
| Typical session length | 5–20 minutes | 10–15 minutes, often following a few minutes of So Hum |
| Background needed | None — works for complete beginners | None required, but easier after some experience with witness-based practice like So Hum |
| How to think of it | Watching the clouds without chasing them | Asking what the sky itself is |
Frequently Asked Questions
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Not necessarily. It originates in Advaita Vedanta and traditionally references Shiva, sure. But in this context, Shiva points to pure awareness. Not a deity to be worshipped. You can practice it as a contemplative or psychological exercise without adopting any religious belief at all.
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It isn't strictly required, but it helps. So Hum builds the witness attitude - the felt sense of noticing a thought without being pulled into it - which Shivoham then builds on. Coming to Shivoham cold is possible but most people find it lands more easily after some experience with a witness-based practice like So Hum.
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Neti neti is Sanskrit for “not this, not this.” It's the method of negation Nirvana Shatakam uses. Each verse rules out another layer of false identity (body, mind, ego, emotions, roles) to point toward whatever remains once all of that's been set aside.
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Ten to fifteen minutes is a reasonable session once So Hum starts to feel familiar to you. Like most contemplative practices, steady practice over weeks matters a lot more than how long any single session runs.
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No. This is a contemplative and philosophical practice, not a mental health treatment. If you're working through grief, trauma, or identity-related distress, it's best explored alongside a qualified teacher or therapist — not as a stand-alone substitute for either.
A Practice, Not a Belief
Shivoham doesn't ask for faith. It asks for a look — a direct, repeatable check on what's actually true when you strip away the thought of the moment: is there something here that stays put while everything else moves? For readers who've already spent time with So Hum, that question won't feel abstract. It'll feel like the next honest step in a practice you've already started.
Listen: Shivoham in the Voice of Manohar Ji
Ready to Take This Further?
Self-inquiry practices like Shivoham tend to go deeper — and land more clearly — with guided instruction. Our Mantra Sadhna Retreats Hub offers structured programs, including online options, for readers who want to move beyond self-practice.
If you're newer to breathwork and meditation altogether, our Pranayama Programs Hub is a good place to build the breath foundation that So Hum and Shivoham both build on.
🌿 This article is for educational purposes and describes a contemplative and philosophical practice, not a religious prescription. It is not a substitute for professional mental health support. If you are working through grief, trauma, or identity-related distress, consider practicing alongside a qualified teacher or therapist.
