10% of proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. Use this link donate to The Trailblaze Challenge. We will be walking 24.1 miles across the Western North Carolina mountains to help make wishes come true for children with life threatening illnesses!
Blissful Body Yoga is located deep in the beauty and magick of the Appalachian mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina.
This week the mothers of two of my dear friends have left their physical bodies to rejoin with the Great Spirit. This is my offering to them and in celebration of the lives of their Beloved. May they, and their families find peace in their time of sorrow and feel the love of all who surround them, in this realm and others.
Om Shanti, Hari Om.
Shiva Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
The Mahamrityunjay is known as the "great death conquering mantra," because it connects us to our deepest Inner Self and removes the illusion that we are separate from God/Universe/High Power. It restores us to our full realization of our true state of Oneness and helps us release our attachment to our physical body and existence, as well as those belonging to the ones we most love. You can learn more about this mantra, here.
This is a Shiva mantra and Shiva is the energy of creative destruction. The Universal principal witnessed in each moment of our lives as one things dies so that another thing can rise from it's ashes into Being.
Mahamrityunjay Mantra
Om Tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pushhtivardhanam Urvarukamiva bandhanan mrityor mukshiya maamritath.
You can learn to chant this mantra with this wonderful video...
This Monday my offering is a Kundalini yoga mantra:
Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wah Hey Guru
This is an absolute favorite of mine because of its powerful meaning and effect, and because it rolls out of my body in such an easy and joyful way. There is a beautiful cadence and rhythm to it, so much so that I tend to use it not only in seated meditations, but when I am out for a run or working in the garden. Try it out and let your heart light shine!!!
This is an Adishakti mantra (primal power mantra), designed to awaken the shakti energy coiled at the base of the spine, allowing it to vault upwards opening the higher consciousness chakras leading to deep wisdom and bliss states. It acts as a method of communication between your individual soul and the Universal soul.
To practice with this mantra, take a comfortable seat either cross legged on the floor or in a chair. Make sure your spine is straight (to allow the energy to flow freely) and that your breathing is relaxed and deep. As you say the mantra you may also focus on each of the corresponding chakras listed below. A mala, or prayer beads, is a nice way to keep track. Traditionally, a mantra is repeated 108 times in a seated meditation, but start where you are and let the energy guide you on YOUR journey today.
Ek= One, the essence of all; Oneness. (1st Chakra) Ong= The primal vibration from which creativity flows “I bow to the Creator.” (2nd Chakra) Kar= All of Creation. (3rd Chakra) Sat= Truth. (4th Chakra) Nam= Name/Identity. (5th Chakra) Siri= Greatness. (6th Chakra) Wahe Guru=The indescribable joy of going from darkness to light. (7th Chakra)
All together this mantra may be translated as, "There is one Creator whose name is Truth. Great is the ecstasy of that Supreme Wisdom""...or something like that. Remember that mantras are written in an energetic language base on primal sounds and vibrations –the very building blocks of all Creation– and so don't translate exactly into other languages.
The great sage, Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini yoga to the West says,
“Before sunrise, when the channels of energy are most clear, if this mantra is sung in sweet harmony, you will be one with the Lord. This will open your solar plexus, charging the solar center, connecting it with cosmic energy. You will be liberated from the cycles of karma that bind you to the earth. No tongue can tell how bright the light of cosmic energy is, but when you recite this mantra daily, you will have this light within you.” --Yogi Bhajan.
Here is a beautiful rendition by Snatam Kaur. You can also chant it in an upbeat tempo. Enjoy, and happy chanting!
This gorgeous Mala is available from North Carolina mala crafters Japa Mala Beads.
One of my goals for this year was to start a formal mantra practice. I love chanting mantra and have been doing so since I was given my first mantra in Transcendental Meditation at age 5, but I have never done a formal 40 day practice. Over Thanksgiving I was in Tulsa, OK visiting family and went to one of my very favorite bookstores on the planet, Peace of Mind Bookstore. I have been going to POM since I was 15 and it is an amazing incense-filled, garden of treasure. Every time I go there I stumble upon some incredible books that end up changing my life. This time I found several including Healing Mantras and Mantra Meditation by Thomas Ashley-Farrand.
I think these books are absolute musts for anyone looking to develop a mantra practice. Mantra Meditation comes with a CD and this is what I used to make sure I learned Gayatri Mantra with correct pronunciation. Why is this important? And why a Sanskrit mantra rather than something in my native tongue?
Sanskrit is a very ancient language based on an alphabet with very particular energetic qualities. These mantras are extremely pure and energetically focused on enlightening and tuning the mind to higher frequencies. It is critical that whatever is used as a mantra is absolutely pure because it will be repeated so many times and have a profound effect on the mind. Thomas Ashley-Farrand explains it this way in his book Mantra Meditation:
"Ultimately, when practiced repeatedly, the mantra will result in a subtle change of the state in the organism, where the organism vibrates at a rate in tune with the energy and spiritual state represented by and contained within the mantra."
He goes on to say that:
"For thousands of years, the use of genuine Sanskrit mantras and spiritual formulas has been practiced in order to work in very specific ways to reduce karma and to attune our minds, bodies and spirits to the various invisible energies that exist in the universe. Systematic work with mantras also deepens our breath and automatically increase our ability to concentrate. As the mind becomes clearer, new kinds of perceptual information appear to us as our outer awareness expands. Inner awareness also grows as our karmic struggles are burned away through the repetition of these ancient sacred formulas. We begin to see in new ways, hear in new ways and understand in new ways."
So, you can see there are amazing benefits to beginning a mantra practice. It is not only one of the most powerful and transformational forms of meditation, but it is also one of the most accessible for most people. Repeating the mantra silently or aloud while keep count on a Mala (a string of 108 beads...check out these beauties from Japa Mala Beads made just up the road in Asheville, North Carolina) occupies the mind so much that it can be an "easier" way to start meditating when compared to other techniques such as following the breath.
I started my forty day practice with Gayatri Mantra on January 10, 2010 and it has been a really wonderful new dimension of my yoga sadhana (practice). I have not been very strict about always chanting at the same time of day; sometimes I do my 108 repetitions in the morning, sometimes in the evening and occasionally (though this is not traditional) I do them while I am crocheting or needle felting hats. Sounds strange I know, but I can do one repetition per stitch and it is incredibly peaceful and I love that all the good energy from my practice is going into the hats I make for people.
When I practice my mind usually at first runs around like a monkey going through a catalog of all my thoughts of the day or things that have been occupying my mind. As the practice progresses this changes often into images, flashes of insight, words "written on a wall" (of my mind) and a general slowing of my thought process. My breathing becomes slower and deeper and sometimes sensations or colors in my third eye point begin to appear. Often the answer to some question I have been pondering will just "pop" into my mind. Sometimes I will have a sudden insight or "knowing" about something connected to another person or some event in my life, past or present. These are all just some examples of things one can expect to experience during a mantra practice. Everyone's practice will be different and each time we practice things will be different.
The long form of Gayatri Mantra is a longer mantra and it is not necessary to practice with something that long. You can start simply by repeating "Om" or Om Mani Padme Hum (the Jewel is in the Lotus...or "all that we need is inside us." Just start with a simple mantra and be consistent. Do a 40 day practice, or simply repeated it aloud and silently as many times as you can during the day.
Please post comments and questions (or email me). I would love to hear about your mantra practice!
For a little inspiration below is a short clip of me chanting the long form of Gayatri Mantra.
This is a day late, but hey, what's a day in the great expanse of consciousness....
I've talked a little about Mantra, now here is my very favorite. I chant it every day and it brings great peace to my life. Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva, can be translated: I Bow to That Which Sustains Me. I find it is a beautiful way to bring mindfulness into my life. To stop, and think about what sustains me in my life, and to bow in honor of all those blessings.
Come into a moment of mindfulness, take a deep breath, and try it for yourself...
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva
Here is a video of my favorite chanting of this precious mantra, by the lovely Deva Premal.
In my last two posts I likened the ever fluctuating nature of Mind to the ever changing movements of ocean waves. "Monkey Mind" is another widely used metaphor for the frantic, sometimes seemingly haphazard trajectories of our thoughts. I like this one because, well, my mind at times really does feel like there is a wild monkey loose in it, and because I get a really awesome mental picture of a wild-eyed, bright orange monkey swinging from limb to limb inside the limitless spaces of my mind, and that in turn makes me laugh, and usually lighten up a bit. Lightening up, I think, is always a great thing.
So, if you imagine this wild little monkey, what would you do to quiet her down, to give her a bit of focus? One answer the sadhus (ancient yogis) discovered, was to give the "monkey" something to play with. Give it something to keep it focused and occupied, so that other states of awareness are allowed to unfold. If we give a real monkey a pile of blocks to put back in a basket she will stay quiet, and focused on the task. If we give Monkey Mind a singular and repetitive task, it too will settle down and create some space for our awareness to expand into.
One of the most effective techniques for doing this is repeating a mantra. A mantra is a word, sound, or phrase that is repeated over and over. The most well known of these is the Hindu syllable Om (sometimes spelled Aum, and also used widely in Buddhism). This syllable is said to be one of the great sounds of the Universe, echoing throughout all eternity. It is easy to remember, to say, and produces a deeply resonant feeling in the body.
Give the Mantra Om a Try... Lie down on your back, or come to a comfortable seated position with the hands palms up, on top of your knees. Inhale, close your eyes, and begin repeating the sound of Om on each exhale. Begin the sound with your mouth wide in the shape of an "O", feel the sound filling your belly and your chest, then close in around the sound, finally completing it by pressing your lips together and allowing the final "Mmmm" sound to resonate in your sinus cavities. Start by repeating this mantra at least 7 times, and gradually increase until you can sit and chant mantra for many minutes. Let each breath and repetition be as long as possible. Let the mantra linger and savor the delicious vibrations.
Don't worry if you feel silly a first. You may even laugh out loud. Don't resist this! Have fun with it! Laughing is mightily good for your soul.
Om shanti, shanti, shanti (Om, peace, peace, peace),
