How mantra can create a clear mental path for you

includes a tutorial using an 8-sounds mantra

Mantra is what you repeat over and over again. What you repeat becomes your reality and your comfort zone.

Even if you haven’t practiced formal mantra, in a way, you’ve been using it all your life. You use (negative) mantra when you say, I’m not good enough, I don’t think I can do that, that’s not me, I’m like this because my Dad did this to me, I don’t have enough money, I’m fat, I’m stupid.

You learned language by the adults and community who raised you. How they spoke to you, the words they used, and the beliefs they shared through language instilled in you a sense of self: whether you looked at yourself as capable, wealthy or poor, and the world as inherently good or bad. And then, of course, you responded accordingly.

To change this is to consciously change your thoughts, words, and feelings about things - the way you know “reality” to be; to step off the familiar path and onto a more foreign one, to you anyway. It helps to find new friends, mentors, and surroundings that live the beliefs you wish to hold. They will help affirm the reality you wish to live.

Your reality is based on what’s going on inside you, not around you.

Beliefs matter because they determine what you see, how you experience life, and how you respond to it. Your beliefs are encoded in the words you use, including the silent ones. For instance, it’s difficult to live optimistically or move through obstacles when you use the word but, I’ll try, or I can’t all the time. You can feel the halt and pain in your body when you say them. Compare with: yes, and…, I’ll do it, and what do I need to make this happen?

Your feelings, thoughts, words, and actions align more than you think, and not always with your deepest desires. To align with those, you’ll want to change your tune.  

It feels uncomfortable. It’s a new path after all, and there seems to be only a semblance of one. You may see others using it but you have trouble accessing it, or staying on it, because it’s unfamiliar and uncomfortable. You might even judge it. It’s difficult to stay on a road you judge. And we judge, mostly because it’s unfamiliar, or we’ve adopted misinformation.

Remember when you first learned to drive?

There were so many things to think about, and it was scary to get on the road in the beginning.

Remember when you first merged onto a highway? Holy shit.

Look at you now, you barely think about it. In fact, the scary thing now is that you don’t even remember how you drove from point A to point B, you did it on auto-pilot.

The DMV recommends that you practice driving for so many hours before taking the test. Each year, driving becomes a part of you that goes on autopilot like so many other things you’ve commanded over the years, like the work you do, and the industry you’ve served for decades. 

Similarly, clearing the mental path is a daily practice. 

Daily practice turns a semblance of a road to a giant highway with quick and clear access to so many destinations. To create this super highway is much easier than you think: through daily mantra practice. It codes over the negative self talk and opens up new pathways for you; ones that support your purpose and deepest values.

First, observe the words you use, the thoughts you have, and connect with how they make you feel.  

I’ll try versus I’m doin’ it resonates quite differently in your body and mind. It reflects on your current beliefs around your capabilities and sense of worth. It impacts how you plan, communicate, and take action. Understand that you will feel much more comfortable to keep using the words you’re used to using. When you decide to change them is when construction begins on the superhighway that can take you where you really want to go.

Second, meditate on (yoga) mantra.

What is mantra meditation?

It’s when you repeat words with high resonance and repeat them over and over again. It’s supposed to get boring, though arguably not as boring as the same stories we tell ourselves, right? You repeat until you’re saying it in your sleep, or you catch yourself saying it unintentionally (like a song you can’t get out of your head). With continued practice, you develop more command and grit. You upgrade yourself like software lest you start to feel antiquated and irrelevant instead of more deeply in line with your purpose.

You can use any words with high resonance. 

But they’re just words, right?

Do you remember that playground verse:

sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? 

So untrue! When someone says something hurtful, we feel it in our core and it can be hard to shake off. Some of us have experienced it so much growing up that we’ve shut ourselves off emotionally to protect us from hurt. Unfortunately, many of us have learned to do it to ourselves, and we keep the injury alive.

Why yoga mantra? Why a different language?

Words carry with them meaning brought forth from our personal experiences. For instance, some embrace the word God while others cringe from it. I remember the first time I learned affirmations. The suggestion was to look at myself in the mirror and say I’m beautiful. The problem at the time was, when I said it, a second voice inside me said, bullshit. That bullshit is also a mantra, which cancels out the first. 

There was too much baggage for me to use the English language.

So it was helpful to use words in a different language, one that carried no meaning to me, yet it was encoded with such high resonance. Every thought, word, feeling, and action is mantra. Every mantra is a seed that grows inside of us, projects out into the world, and manifests into our reality. We want to choose words, thoughts, and sounds that seed what we want to experience.  

Mantra practice will code over the negative self talk, expand your sense of self, give you courage where there is fear, sense of connection where there is isolation, and tap you into a deep well of wisdom you inherently have. 

Don’t know any?

Here’s an ashtang mantra. Ashtang means 8 limbs. This mantra has 8 sounds and is called the Long Ek Ong Kar. It balances each chakra (energy centers) and initiates what’s called the kundalini, which is the relationship between your soul and the Universal Soul. What this means is, you’ll feel more whole, connected, and joyous.

The mantra is:

Ek Ong Kar
Sat Nam Siri
Wahe Guru

Each sound corresponds with an energy center also known as chakra. While it’s not necessary to do so, you can focus your attention on those corresponding areas, as well as visualize the colors, as you say them.

• Ek: around your root, your pelvic floor. It governs your sense of security. The color associate with it is red. 

• Ong: around your reproductive organs. It governs creativity and healthy boundaries. The color is orange.

• Kar: around your navel center. It governs your personal power and will. The color is yellow.

• Sat: around the heart center. It is your life force and governs your truth. The color is green.

• Nam: around the throat. It governs your ability to communicate and express yourself. The color is blue.

• Siri: around the third eye point. It governs your ability to see beyond the surface. The color is purple.

• Wahe: around the crown center. It governs your sense of connection with others. The color is indigo.

• Guru: surrounds your entire body. It governs your sense of infinite possibility and connection to unconditional love. The color is white. 

This mantra uses a 3-½ breath cycle: 

• Take a deep inhale, and then on the exhale, chant the first line: Ek Ong Kar. Take 1 count for the first word (Ek). 8 counts for the 2nd (Ong) and 3rd word (Kar).

• Take a 2nd deep inhale and on the exhale, chant the second line: Sat Nam Siri. One count for the first word (Sat), 16 counts for the second word (Nam). One cound for the 3rd word (Siri). 

• Take ½ a breath and chant the third line: Wahe Guru. 4 counts for each word. 

Continue for up to 11 minutes with your eyes closed and spine tall. Feel the vibration it creates as you chant this. 

This mantra seeds higher resonance in your body and psyche and connects you to the parts of yourself that you’d prefer to take command in the world.

I recorded this demo 11 years ago! Feel free to play and practice this mantra meditation along with me.

Love, Savitree