What is your Mantra?

We all have them!  Often though, they aren't positive! and that is sad.

Mantra's are like the power of suggestion, if repeated enough times it will simply become a manifestation, a way of being.

In yoga we use mantra's constantly, even OM is a mantra.  But what does OM mean. Well simply, nothing.  But it is also everything.  We don't need to understand what a mantra means for its positive effects to take hold.  It is the vibration that the mantras create, the vibration within your own body as well the vibrations that you send out into the world as you chant.

The simplest Mantra that I know for anyone to start chanting is one that you can do silently and with your eyes closed.

Sit in Easy Pose with your palms facing down resting on your knees. Looking inwardly, begin focusing on your breath noticing each inhale and exhale. Once you feel yourself settling into your natural breath, on the following inhale silently chant SAT and on the exhale, NAM.

SAT NAM, translates to Truth is my identity, or as I prefer, I AM - THAT. I love this meditation when I need grounding and to reestablish my personal mantras. Some of my mantras are:  I am: a teacher, I am: a wife, I am: a friend, I am: honest, I am: beautiful, and so on.

To me each inhale, as I chant SAT or I AM, I am grounding myself and going inside to my core and discovering what I am, and then as I exhale and I chant NAM or THAT, I am telling the world what I found.

I don't always finish my mantra, I more often leave it open since I am so very much and it leaves room for so many possibilities.

Now I ask again, What is your Mantra?

जीवन - Jiivana

Jiivana is the sanskrit word for Life or even more Giving Life.  In our western culture I have come across it as being applied to prenatal yoga. But for me I translate it into more. It is my life, the energy around me and  that which fills our cups when we wake up in the morning.  It is the life I try to nurture in my plants and more often than not forget about. It is the past, the present, and the future.


Life is a complicated topic. But remember one thing, life is in all of us. Life will always come in the future and lost in our past.  


Jiivana is within us all and surrounds us. So use it.  Be strong.


जीवन


Lots of love.

Love - "Prema"

I spotted a woman's tattoo on her foot today, it looked like this...

...Beautiful!

Truth - "Sat" (in Sanskirt)

What is Truth?

Well according to the Dictionary truth is: 

“3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like

  4. the state or character of being true.

  5. actuality or actual existence.

  7. honesty; Integrity; truthfulness

10. accuracy, as of position or adjustment.”

The last few classes I have attended the instructors have presented “Truth” as the moto for the class.  

Tonights class had me thinking about it a little more.  For truth to come, honesty needs to be walking along side. This honesty needs to be to both yourself and towards others.  With truth and honest, freedom will arrive.

Have you ever noticed when you have been keeping a secret or a thought to yourself or even away from yourself, a denial, you feel heavy inside?  But when you finally admit to it and allow the truth to come forward, there is always relief?  That is the freedom being provided.

If we could always be honest and truthful, think how light we all would feel!  It would feel maybe as though we were floating through our lives with ease.

Its funny thinking about this. I always think of excuses as to why I might not be completely honest. Although I strive to always be truthful, sometimes I catch myself not always being so to myself and I know it doesn’t give me freedom, but I can’t always be ready to let everything go. I don’t always feel strong enough.

The other part of being true and honest is through your actions and with your life.  To be true to yourself you need to treat your body as though it was a sanctuary. Keep yourself healthy, keep your mind happy and strong, keep your eyes open and your heart warm.  By doing this you will also feel the best you can be, and by this you will hold the strength to be honest in your life and follow your heart so that you can keep truth in your life.

Is there one thing that you can let go of and allow truth and honesty in?