What's in a Mantra?
More specifically, what's in YOUR mantra?!
Bet you didn't know you have a mantra...
but you do!
And you probably have more than one!
Here’s a hint…How do you talk to yourself throughout the day? What’s your internal dialogue with yourself?
Picture each scenario, just for a moment, before you answer each “I am” prompt.
How do you complete the following sentences…
…when I am under a great deal of stress or overwhelm… I am…
…when I am tired, sick, sad, depleted… I am…
…when I wake up in the morning… I am…
…when I lay down in bed to go to to sleep each night… I am…
What is a Mantra?
In my yoga teacher trainings and private Ayurveda wellness visits, I learned that a mantra is a mind tool, a word or words that can be used to keep your mind occupied while, at the same time, you are quieting the mind during meditation.
You may have heard of or think of mantras as personalized slogans, ancient, non-applicable sayings, or new-age gibberish.
According to Sanskrit Scholar Nicolai Bachman, in his book The Yoga Sutras Desk Reference:
A mantra is a “Sound causing a specific effect.”
Sound is a vibration, an energy.
When we were little, we learned all about how the ear receives sound - as a vibration. Can’t you see the image of the itty-bitty components of the ear vibrating with sound?!
If you were to close your eyes and picture a vibration right now, you’d very likely see or sense a sort of energy being created from and around that vibration. Maybe you see lines or waves or color.
Now consider…
Our words, whether said out loud or in our minds, cause a vibration, an energy to pulse through us, around us, and out of us.
Switching Gears…to Intention
In my work, I consider a mantra to also be an intention…what you are intending in thought, word, or deed.
I believe an intention holds an energy within and around it, allowing an action (energy) to come forward. That action may be conscious or unconscious, intentional or unintentional. It all depends on the individual holding the intention.
Let’s take one of the “I am” examples from above — When you’re under a great deal of stress or overwhelm, what do you say to yourself? Perhaps your inner dialogue includes words like:
I am overwhelmed.
I am over-worked.
I am way too busy.
I am exhausted.
I am worried x, y, z will happen if…
I am worthless.
I can’t…
I’ll never…
If you read this list carefully…
Can you see that these tiny little sentences are mantras, intentions that create vibrations, energy, actions?
They are what you are intending to occur the moment the thought is born in your mind, and they carry themselves forward to become manifest in your life.
The more you repeat the mantra “I am overwhelmed,” the more you create that experience, that vibration, that energy, those actions in your life.
Then, consider what you’re doing when you pair this “I am overwhelmed” mantra with times you really are overwhelmed, as well as in times you are trying to be still and quiet, like falling to sleep at night.
As much as you may want it to happen, it’s pretty difficult to switch to a mantra of “I am grateful” when you lay down to go to sleep each night, when you’ve been repeating the mantras “I am overwhelmed. I am anxious. I am worthless,” all day long, without a great deal of practice and intense repetition.
A little more about “I am” & intention
Where have you heard the words “I am” before?
In the Old Testament, God speaks to Moses, saying, “I am...” In John, Jesus speaks, “I am…”
“God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’” Exodus 3:14
“Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’” John 8:12
“Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.’” John 8:581
Wayne Dyer and Neville Goddard are two of my favorite authors who speak in great detail about intention and how powerful the words “I am” are.
In At Your Command from The Neville Collections: All 10 Books By A Modern Master, Neville Goddard writes:
“‘I AM’ is an open door for all that I am to enter.” (pg. 19)
“‘I AM’, the awareness within you, destroys nothing but ever fills full the molds or conception one has of one’s self.” (pg.27)
At the very beginning of his book, The Power of Intention, Wayne Dyer explains of intention, vibration, energy:
“Every aspect of nature, without exception, has intention built into it…We, too, are intended from the energy of this field.” (pg. 6-7)
”The Source, which is intention, is pure, unbounded energy vibrating so fast that it defies measurement and observation. It’s invisible, without form or boundaries. So, at our Source, we are formless energy, and in that formless vibrating spiritual field of energy, intention resides.” (pg. 7)
Self-Guided Workshop: Your Mantra, Your Intention…
Tools Needed (some or all):
journal, blank paper
pens, pencils, pastels, paints
a quiet space for contemplation and working
Feel free to pause this 13 minute audio when directed, or whenever it feels right, so you can make notes in your journal.
Breathe gently, normally…take note of your inhale and exhale.
Do you notice tension anywhere in your body? Where do you notice this sensation?
Do you notice a sensation of expansiveness, freedom, openness anywhere in your body? Where?
Without thinking deeply, what words or themes have been on repeat for you today? Overwhelm, worry? Peace, solitude?
If you could choose any feeling or emotion you’d like to feel and completely embody that today, what would that be?
Let’s call this your intention.
You may like to pause here and write down your repeated feeling, sensation, emotion patterns as well as the feeling or emotion you are choosing to embody now.
When you feel ready…
Take a slow, full breath in…repeating in your mind the words… I am…
And then breathe out, slow and full…stating the word of your intention…
Repeat this paired breathing with your mantra, your intention, for as long as you like…as long as it feels comfortable and natural to you.
If you don’t feel ready to stop, but your mind keeps wandering, that’s ok…just return back to your breath paired with your intention…
Inhale…I am
Exhale…your intention
Journaling Prompts
What self-talk themes or patterns of thought did you bring to this practice? Were they primarily negative in nature or positive?
What was the word of your intention?
Did you notice a shift in your energy during the practice of breathing with your intention? What did you notice? Where in your body did you notice or feel something different, something new?
Was there a time during the exercise you felt tight or tense, which then shifted to feelings of lightness, openness, something else?
Did you notice…you just practiced a meditation? Quieting the mind. Breathing with focus. Allowing a mantra, your intention, to bring you back…again, and again, and again. Pretty wonderful, right?!
When you lay down to go to sleep tonight, can you bring this breathing with intention practice with you? Will you?!
Final thoughts…
So, what’s in your mantra?
What are the words, vibrations, energies that fill your mantra…and in turn, fill you?
If you choose to make a conscious effort in selecting new words for your self-talk, your mantra…what will you intend into your world each morning, noon, and night?
What energy do you ultimately want to create for yourself and share with your outer world, your family members, your friends…?
What sound, what thought, what mantra would make …freedom, joy, peace… ring in your ears?!
I love mantras, intentions so much! They bring me such peace, contentment, ease, and lightness!
I hope you fall in love with them, too!
If you’d like to book a free 30-minute consult to discuss a new mantra for yourself, click here! If you don’t see a time that works for you, send me an email and we will pick a time together!
Read more about your internal self-talk and listen to another self guided exercise here.
xoxo Michelle
