Mantra Meditation

Once you’ve got a mantra in mind, it’s time to start using it.

Steps To follow :

  • Get comfortable. Find a quiet place where you can meditate without disruptions. Find a position you can hold for the length of your meditation, whether that’s sitting on the floor, in a chair, lying down, or even walking. Mudras, or hand positions, help some people enter a meditative frame of mind, but they’re not necessary.
  • Set a timer. Decide how long you want to meditate (anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes) and set a timer. Consider using a quiet, relaxing sound, such as ocean waves or birdsong, so the alarm doesn’t jar you from a peaceful meditative state.
  • Start with a few deep breaths. Pay attention to your breathing without doing anything to try and modify it. Just focus on the sensation of it entering your lungs and filling your body.
  • Use your mantra. Continue breathing slowly and steadily through your nose as you begin to chant your mantra. You can say it out loud (this might help more with mantras intended to produce vibrations) or repeat it silently. It often helps to match the mantra to your breathing.
  • Let your breath guide you. As you settle into the meditation, your mantra and breathing will eventually settle into a rhythm. Unless you’re attempting to use a specific breathing technique, following this flow may help your meditation feel more natural.
  • Remember to gently redirect wandering thoughts. As you meditate, you’ll probably notice your attention begin to wander. When this happens, don’t try and force those unwanted thoughts away. Instead, just acknowledge them, let them go, and then pick the mantra back up.
  • Close the meditation. When your timer goes off, don’t jump up right away. Instead, take a few moments to sit with your (hopefully) quiet mind. Check in with yourself. Do you feel more relaxed? More optimistic? This closing exercise lets you check in with yourself and track your progress.

Tips and tricks

It’s pretty common to find meditation challenging, a little boring, or even unpleasant, especially at first. It often takes time to see significant results, but most people who stick with the practice find it well worth it.

These tips can help you successfully make meditation a regular habit.

Try mala beads

Mala beads, or a japa mala, can help promote mindfulness in meditation and yoga practices. They’re intended to help you with mantra repetition — “japa” means “mutter” in Sanskrit.

A mala, or string of 108 beads, can help you maintain a steady breathing rhythm during meditation. You can also use a mala to focus on your mantra by using each bead to mark one repetition.

Focus on intentions

When you meditate with a specific goal in mind, such as reducing anxiety or unwanted emotions, it might seem natural to focus on the things you don’t want to feel.

But you may see better results when you meditate on positives, or the mindset you want:

  • “I am calm.”
  • “I am present.”

This generally proves more helpful than meditating on negatives, or the mindset you have right now, such as:

  • “I’m not anxious.”
  • “I’m not angry.”

You are anxious or angry. That’s why you’re meditating. It’s easy to get hung up on your existing frame of mind, but this can detract from meditation’s benefits. Meditating with your desired outcome in mind, on the other hand, can help you visualize your success and transform this image into reality.

Feel free to change your mantra

If you don’t have much success with the first mantra, it may help to find one that resonates more with your current frame of mind and meditation goals. There’s no harm in changing it as necessary.

You don’t need to use the same mantra every time you meditate, either.

Perhaps in the morning, you want to focus on strength and compassion for the day ahead, and in the evening, you’d like to achieve a sense of restful internal peace.

The key to mantra meditation is finding one that works for you.