The Power of the Sacred Mantras

A mantra is a sound, a word or a verse, or in essence is a mystical energy that resonates as sound.  The meaning of Mantra – Man coming from the Sanskrit manas meaning mind and Tra meaning to free, by using mantra and concentrating on the mantra we can free our minds from all the confusions and wrong ways of thinking, our problems that we seem to create can disappear into love and true happiness which brings calmness and a magical sense of being at peace.    The benefits of repeating a mantra either silently in the mind or out loud are huge, its energy can take form and manifest by opening the heart, filling the mind with purity and generating harmony and divine love. 

Mediation on mantras bring relief from the hustle and bustle of the mind and give us the space, energy and power to find clarity.  They inspire us at times when we need support and bring courage to those who seek to move forward in a positive direction. 

Light beautiful divine light is there within the mantra and is available to all who seek it, all we have to do so to speak is plug ourselves into the current and let it flow through us to infinite possibilities. 

I have found a great refuge in the Mantra OM.  When I have been confused, overwhelmed, unwell or sad, by sitting with a straight spine in a comfortable pose, bringing the awareness to the breath and then mentally repeating OM in time with my breathing with closed eyes, I have found great strength.   Even a few moments for busy people is incredibly beneficial.

When I have been in a difficult situation or seen somebody struggling badly I have also used this mantra to send this beautiful healing energy to that place or that person to offer support from this universal energy, if done with the right feeling and intention the results can be amazingly strong. 

When I have pain in my knee from a torn meniscus I chant OM into it and it is like sending soothing water into the joint. 

There are hundreds and thousands of mantras, each as important and as powerful as the next, but I guess OM may be the easiest for all of us to connect to without having to remember complicated Sanskrit or get the sound vibration completely correct.

Each morning and each evening chant OM, chant Om into your body, chant Om into your energies, chant OM into your mind, chant Om into your heart, chant OM into the world.  Chant OM for our own selves, chant OM for all living entities, chant Om for Mother Earth.  Take the vow of Ahimsa, that of non-violence by chanting either silently or out loud – OM for the protection of the sacred heart of love, compassion and peace.

The vibrations that are produced through the repetition of mantra will strengthen the memory of your true nature and as a result your vulnerabilities either physical, emotional, or mental or all will dissolve.  In the Upanishads it is stated that meditation reveals the mind, so chant Om repeatedly and allow the mind to pause and rest in its own self.

Let us make peace peace perfect peace.

Have beautiful days and enjoy the power of OM.

Mangala / Nicky

We see the world through our own mind.

If we look at the world through coloured glasses we see the world in that colour.  If we are peaceful, we see the world peacefully, if we are confused, we see the world in a confused way, if we are angry, we see the world as a violent place.  Ten different people will see the world in ten different ways.  We see the world through our own mind, it is a reflection of how we are feeling and thinking.  When we go into deep sleep, there is no mind so there is no world.  So how do we become happy to see the world as a happy and amazing place to be?  Well we don’t need to become happy because happiness is in essence our true nature; it is what we essentially are.  But our mind is full of thoughts, about 10 per second and this is what can keep us confused or deluded.  Becoming focused reduces the number of thoughts we have, practicing various yogic practices can reduce the thought waves and bring us to a state of joy, where peace can then be found.  If you are more active and find it hard to sit still, Surya Namaskar; the sun salutations are a wonderful way to bring yourself into a more focused state.  If you are the other way then sit for meditation and the thoughts over time and practice will become less.  Thoughts are like mental clouds; allow the practice to blow the clouds away.  Why are we happier when we are more focused, because the inner consciousness reflects better. 

Be happy in your given situation, see your blessings, find the concentration over time and gradually by focusing the mind it will become transparent to the inner light.

OM Lokha Somastha Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings find harmony, balance and peace.

Beautiful days

Mangala / NIcky

Image taken in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.

Are we the right way up or upside down?

Shirshasan is one of my favorite postures, although at the beginning it can be daunting the thought of turning ourselves up the other way, but ironically it can be the very act of doing that which actually puts us back the right way up when things are confused, troubled and painful and everything feels like it is upside down when we are standing on our feet. 

The process of healing from any situation is an organic one that comes from the higher intelligence that is within us.  Not from our minds but from a higher more conscious place that is within.  Recently I have come to the realization that I haven’t been honest with my own self.  Although in yoga we follow Satya, which is that of honesty, looking at oneself in truth is not easy.  Honoring our position our character and our qualities both positive and negative can be painful and not so pretty.  I am trying to climb down from my ego and the pedestal that I created; thinking that I was perfectly ok and able to help all those that surrounded me without effort, as I know myself and have dealt with myself.  In reality, I am small, self-conscious, sometimes terrified, and fighting an inner battle and am actually not the strongest person on the earth that I have been pretending to be!  I have made a million mistakes and am now trying to accept them, now I have to start looking after myself instead of avoiding myself.  Only then will it be possible to help others.  Yoga, my husband, mother earth and my family have brought me to a time to reveal honesty.  ‘Sometimes it is hard to be a brave animal when you are only very small.’  Said Piglet to Pooh, ‘It’s ok.’  Said Pooh, ‘ I will hold your hand.’

The headstand is really helping me at this point to soothe my system, calm and ground myself.  It soothes the emotional seat of the brain and that part of us that when we are sensitive really feels the ups and downs of life.  It is helping me to find the right way up!  I have always loved the moon from a little girl and headstand is a way to tune to that lunar side, cooling and nurturing, this is rest and repair.  With practice it really isn’t difficult, if you believe you can do it, then you can do it, and then the healing process can take place in its time, in its place without the mind trying to control everything, enabling us to pause.

In the Bhagavad Gita it is explained that Yoga is being able to be completely contented in any given situation, I can now admit freely that I am not there yet, and that is perfectly ok.

Wishing you all love and light and an open heart

OM shanti shanti shanti

Mangala / Nicky.

Please practice under the guidance of a suitable teacher