Meditation is a private and personal act. As such, the way you choose to practice is as individual to you as your reasons for meditating.
Some people find inner peace by taking time out on their daily commute with a pair of noise-canceling headphones or noise isolating headphones. Others prefer to recite a mantra prayer, often in combination with mala beads.
Mantras or saying a smudging prayer can make a powerful addition to your meditation routine and help many people to quieten their mind and achieve greater focus. Read on to find out more about mantras and how they can help you.
What is a Mantra?
A mantra is a word or phrase sung or chanted during meditation.
While repetition is an essential part of a mantra’s power, saying any words over and over is not a mantra. To be a mantra, the words must resonate with the practitioner in a way to provide physical, mental, and spiritual healing.
Likewise, saying an inspirational quote does not mean it is a mantra. It’s the energy created while chanting the phrase that makes it a mantra.
How Mantras Help Meditation
Mantras are an excellent way to center a wandering mind. As such, they can be especially helpful for meditation beginners.
The beat and flow of repetition through chanting makes it easier to focus. The mantra can help bring you back if unrelated thoughts start to pull you from your meditative state.
The Benefits of Mantras
Whether you know the meaning of the mantra or not, chanting it creates a vibration that provides neuro-linguistic effects and a sense of calm.
If you understand the meaning of the mantra, it becomes even more effective. This is because it also provides psycho-linguistic effects that can help with motivation and achieving goals.
Beyond these benefits, chanting also helps to regulate your heart rate, lower blood pressure, increase immune functions, ease fear, and quieten negative thoughts. As such, they are an effective and easy way to achieve greater physical and mental well being through meditation.
Starting a Mantra Practice
In order to harness the power of mantra practice, you need to select a mantra and stick to it for several months.
Repeating the mantra with focused attention is more important than the mantra itself. But, whether it’s the sound of the syllables or the meaning of the words, you should find a mantra that resonates with you in some way.
To cultivate a higher sense of presence and peace, combine your mantra with the use of mala prayer beads. As you repeat your mantra, moving a string of Buddhist mala beads through your fingers provides a steady beat for your mind and body.
Reciting mantras for mala beads and then wearing them throughout the day also reminds you to be present in the moment. And, there’s a different mala bead meaning for every color, so you should choose the color most relevant to you.
Using a Mantra Prayer During Meditation
Whether you’re new to meditation or you’ve yet to incorporate a mantra into your practice, reciting a mantra prayer is definitely something you should try.
As well as improving focus for beginners, mantras help to consolidate the peace and presence felt during meditation, providing a wider range of benefits than meditation alone.
For more spiritual inspiration and advice, be sure to check out our other blog posts!
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