Ground Yourself with Mantra

A powerfully effective practice that is simple, enjoyable, and accessible to everyone.

If you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I love life-hacks that help me navigate life’s complexity by bringing me quickly into a state of calm presence - my natural state, the essence of me. I’ve shared many of these practices, such as barefoot walking, lying on the earth, taking a slow conscious breath, eating a mono-fruit meal in nature, eye-gazing with another person, listening to beautiful music, meditation and chanting. Today, I am going to share my love of mantra as a tool for relaxing the mind and cultivating divine connection. Similar to chanting, mantra is a powerful sound or vibration that you can focus your attention on, to facilitate entering an aware state of presence or mindfulness.

I am passionate about making all of these kinds of grounding or connection practices feel simple and accessible to everyone. Though the use of mantras has a long history in spiritual traditions of the east and the west, you don’t need to be anywhere special, or have access to any special spiritual practitioners or temples, to benefit from the simple, timeless natural human tool of mantra. Mantras are often ‘given’ by spiritual teachers to their students, however there is no rule against simply intuiting one for yourself.

A mantra can be a sound vibration with no express meaning, such as a continuous “Om” (so the mind won’t think about it), or, taken in a more liberal sense, it can be a word or phrase chosen to nourish an intention. It can be repeated silently in the mind and heart, or it can also be spoken or chanted aloud. Either way, it acts as a vehicle to focus and still the mind, and helps you enter a higher awareness and a higher vibration. Breaking down the word mantra: “man” is inclusive of man, woman, human, and mind, and “tra” means transport or vehicle, so mantra is an instrument of the mind, used to transport it to a deeper state.

“Like a seed planted with the intention of blossoming into a beautiful perennial, a mantra can be thought of as a seed for energizing an intention. Much in the same way you plant a flower seed, you plant mantras in the fertile soil of practice. You nurture them and over time they bear the fruit of your intention……It’s been said that in yoga, asanas are postures of the body and mantras are postures of the mind.” - Tris Thorp

I hope those of you who are familiar with orthodox spiritual traditions will forgive my liberal or casual use of the term mantra. I have a rebellious habit of bending the ‘rules’ in most facets of life. My intentions are pure - I wish to free myself and others of all blockages to our trust in our direct personal access to the divine wisdom we are all equally immersed in. A spiritual teacher, mentor, guide or guru can help to facilitate or direct this process, and sometimes hasten it, but we are each already bathed in the divine. We need simply to allow space to know our connection to this infinite source of love, peace, and wisdom.

While I understand that mantra is a seriously powerful and sacred tool, I have discovered that using it playfully is very inviting and also effective. Playfulness often engages our bodies, which can help connect us to our hearts, and bring together mind, body, heart and spirit in a healthy way. Most of us spend most of our time ‘in our heads,’ constantly paying attention to our endless thoughts, and we need invitations to fully inhabit our bodies and hearts. One day, while repeating a mantra on my usual walk around the neighborhood, I spontaneously began to add movements to express the mantra with my body. This was not only fun, it helped me fully FEEL the vibration of the mantra. Many of my clients have loved this practice, too.

Here are some examples of the kinds of mantras I have invented for myself. Imagine how you could embody one of them - what repeatable choreography of very simple movements might you make to express its essence? It could be an intentional step, a smile, a hand or arm gesture, a straightening of the spine. I might have looked a little silly doing my ‘moving mantra’ on my walk, but you can find a private place to do this practice.

My heart softens, and opens to love.

I breathe in love, I breathe out peace.

I gather courage, and step into my strength.

I am a woman of the Earth.

I am loved.

I am love.

My love overflows with ease.

My heart smiles.

I turn my face to the sun.

I don’t think hard to come up with my personal mantras. I simply get still and quiet, close my eyes, take some slow breaths with my hands on my heart, become aware of any sensations in my body, and then listen for a mantra to be given to me. I trust what comes, and repeat it a few times to ‘set’ it. I have found it helpful to play with a mantra for the duration of a walk, or for a day, a week, a month, or longer. Whatever feels right. I let the mantra help me come into a simpler place, where I can rest from the complexity of the world and my busy thoughts, and focus on what inspires me, empowers me and makes me happy. I choose mantras that invite me into a positive vibration, a softening of my heart, and a present state of mind.

Used in this way, a mantra can be thought of like an affirmation. Most importantly, the mantra is repeated over time. And I invite you to embody your mantra with simple gestures and movements, and even bring some lighthearted fun to this practice.