The word mantra is a combination of two Sanskrit words – manas (mind) and tra (tool). Mantras literally mean a tool for the mind and it helps access one’s state of bliss, higher power and one’s true peaceful nature. Mantras when silently recited, chanted or whispered is a powerful meditation and therapy tool.
Scientific research has also shown to support the benefits achieved from this ancient practice.
Neuroscientists, equipped with advanced brain imaging tools are beginning to quantify and confirm some of the health benefits of this ancient eastern practice. They have found that reciting mantras has the ability to free your mind of background chatter and calm your nervous system. In one study in Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, researchers in Sweden, measured activity in a region of the brain called the default mode network – that’s the area that’s active during self-reflection and mind wandering – to determine how practicing mantra meditation affects the brain. From a mental health perspective, an overactive default mode network can mean that the brain is distracted – not calmed or centered.
When we are distracted by our wandering mind, we can easily be led down the path to negative headspace – further away from our true, relaxed nature. A more recent 2015 study conducted by researchers in Israel suggests it doesn’t matter whether we recite an ancient Sanskrit mantra such as Om Shanti Shanti, or the Lord’s prayer, or any sound or phrase, as long as you repeat something with focused attention you can see results.
The word Om (Aum) is considered to contain every vibration of sound that has ever existed. It serves as a root for some longer mantras in sanskrit. Simply the word Om is interpreted to represent different trinities, for example – the past, present and future; and heaven, earth and underworld. Mantras have deep roots in every religion and are practiced for the same magnificent benefits of calming and healing the mind, body and spirit.
The mantras give our mind something else to focus on, something besides your own thought and that can give you a sense of calmness and relief. The sound vibration created from reciting mantras taps deeper each time into our thoughts, feelings and emotions. Overtime, it can connect with our inner energy, called Shakti in Sanskrit, a subtle but powerful force inside all of us.
I am thankful to my yoga community, who have introduced me to the power of mantras. I have been practicing them for a little while and regardless of the Sanskrit phrase we use that day, the practice has nearly the same effects: relaxation and the ability to better cope with life’s unexpected stressors.
With the practice of mantras, consistency is key. The more one chants the mantras, the more it has the ability to resonate with one’s inner self and eventually open the energy of the mantra, where it stops being just words and becomes a living energy that you will feel shifting your inner self.
We all have the power deep inside of us to overcome what seems like the insurmountable obstacles, we have the power to grow and to heal and to manifest our fullest potential. When we anchor our true nature of calm and positive emotion, the whole world rises up to support us.
If you have never tried chanting mantras, I ask you to be open to healing. Try something new and let yourself be surprised.