Mantra – recruiting the mind in deep rest practices

Did you know it is estimated that the mind thinks over 60,000 thoughts per day? Although we might assume that those thoughts are varied and different, probably a lot are repeated thoughts that we muse over and hold on to. In fact, it might be that certain thoughts are ones we repeat daily and ever more increasingly at certain points in our lives.I have written elsewhere about the Chatter which can occupy our minds. In that review of Ethan Cross’ book, I briefly discuss some of the things that can help mitigate negative internal chatter. This article is about understanding what a mantra is, and how it can be helpful in the process of quietening the mind of unwanted thoughts.

Mantra and the process of meditating.

If you’ve ever tried meditation you might have noticed the experience as, simply, thinking with your eyes closed. Like the heart beats as its function, so the mind thinks. Hence when we practice meditation it can seem like we are literally thinking with our eyes closed.

(Seated) Meditation is the process of quieting the mind. If the mind has nothing to focus on it can become distracted and that difficulty hinders the process of meditation.Sitting quietly whilst the mind thinks thoughts and wanders a mental landscape with abandon is not quite what meditation entails, though it can be the main experience many people have trying to meditate.

How mantras help – how it’s useful to meditation practice.

Meaning mind-projection, a mantra provides you with a backbone or sound wave which you can fall back onto when you catch that you have drifted off on a wave of thoughts and forgotten your meditation practice.Indeed, it is very common to be carried away with a sequence of thoughts as you meditate. However, once you catch yourself and become aware of your thoughts again, you can gently release those thoughts, come back to your mantra and start the process of being back in the present and the meditative state.Emily Fletcher, author of Stress Less Accomplish More, describes a mantra as like your special guest that you have invited to a party. Even if the party is busy, and you go off with other people, once you remember yourself you come back to your honoured guest; the mantra.This way you always have something to fall back on when you catch yourself having drifted away on a wave of thoughts. It can be challenging just being in the moment and sensing with your body, often times thoughts and feelings might distract us while we meditate – having a mantra and allowing those other thoughts to disperse is the practice of letting go – releasing. Witnessing, acknowledging, and releasing.A mantra can be any word that brings up feelings of calm, awe, and centering for yourself. It could be an English word like “love’ or “one”, whatever word brings a special awareness to yourself. It is what that word means to you and how the sound of it makes you feel. It can be personal to you, the key criteria are that it brings up a feeling of reverence, calm, peace, or wisdom which promotes sensations of kindness, awe, love, or surrender within the self.

Why use a mantra?

The purpose of a special mantra is to overhaul the naturally occurring thoughts which we might use in everyday life. It could be considered that choosing a specific mantra to meditate on can act as a counterweight to potentially other regular thoughts and sayings such as “I’m not good enough”, “why does this keep happening to me”, or any regular negative thoughts that we habitually express to ourselves.We all have mind projections that we regularly use at different events in our day or week, the idea behind picking a special one for meditation practice is to release the less useful ones and pick one which resonates higher and has a purpose of reducing those other, less positive, mantras.When thinking, we are frequently thinking thoughts about something that happened in the past – and reliving how we felt about it, or projecting into the future – planning something in the future or experiencing something negative about a future problem that’s not occurred yet (anxiety can be described as a negative mention of something in the future).

Meditation in a nutshell.

When meditating we are focussing on being present and experiencing what it feels like to just be in the moment – not shifting into the past and the future but sitting with the self inthe moment, experiencing the space we occupy, and grasping what it means to not be the rest of the space around us.With the help of a mantra, it is possible, when aware, when one is thinking about the past or future and gently bring the mind back to the present through using the mantra – coming back to your special guest as you wander your ‘thought’ party!It becomes a focal point for staying present and being in the moment. As such, it becomes a tool to enable the mind to relax and release, which forms the practice of becoming present and unlocking the mind to unhook from its habitual wanderings.So don’t assume that you don’t already have a mantra – it can be “I’m not good enough”, “I hate it when…”. Or, “why am I always…”.This process enables the mind to learn a new skill, with all the corresponding beneficial effects that the creation of the discipline entails. That skill is allowing thoughts and feelings to pass without attachment.Choosing a new one for meditation practice enables the mind an opportunity to recalibrate and release some of the less useful ones.And it enables us to be present with ourselves and learn to let go, relax and be in the moment.For an excellent exposition on mantra and it’s benefits see this BBC short video here