I am a meditator and I meditate at least twice daily . I would highly recommend you do the same. Even after years of doing this, I love my meditation session and my meditation practice continues to be the best gift I’ve ever given myself. Even if you are not meditating for long hours as I do, sitting still with your eyes closed, even if it’s just for a few minutes in the morning and evening, can make a huge impact on lowering your daily stress levels. You will find meditation to be critical for your overall happiness in life, especially if you’re challenged by stress, depression, or anxiety.
The idea of meditation seems daunting because many people have the initial impression that meditation takes lot of time and it is boring. I promise it doesn’t. Many think that meditation is only for yogis and not for them.
Close your eyes and do some deep breathing for five minutes in the morning before you start your day and five minutes in the evening, either right after coming home from work or right before you go to bed at night, and you won’t believe how much more relaxed you’ll feel.
The other misconception about meditation that stops a lot of my clients is the idea that in order to meditate you need to have a completely silent mind. Nothing could be further from the truth. Your mind thinks. That’s what it does, and you cannot get your mind to stop thinking. That is not possible.
What you can do is give your mind something productive to think about.
That’s where mantras come in. One of the easiest ways to meditate is to use a mantra, or a simple word or phrase, repeated over and over in your mind so that you give your mind something to think about.
Let’s say you want to affirm that you are happy, so you could use that as your mantra by sitting with your eyes closed and repeating:
I am happy and relaxed, I am happy and relaxed, I am happy and relaxed.
Turning any of your affirmations into reaffirming mantras is a great thing to do, especially if you’ve taken time to come up with some good affirmations using words and concepts that you love. While phrases can make awesome mantras, most mantras are one word. A great one-word mantra you could recite is the word OM, which you can say to yourself or aloud while breathing and closing your eyes. Repetition is the key to effectively using mantras, because when you allow your mind to focus on a word you love, the mind will be steered away from the unhelpful thoughts causing you stress and anxiety.
Another easy and very effective mantra I’ve recommended to many of my clients is to repeat their own name either aloud or to themselves, over and over again. Your subconscious loves to hear your name.
While you’re repeating your mantra, whatever you’ve chosen, your conscious mind will slowly begin to let go of negativity and you will start to feel your whole body relax.
You can also use the numbers as a sort of mantra. Let’s say you want to inhale to a count of eight simply say: one, two, three … and so on while concentrating on your breathing. Then you exhale while saying one, two, three and so on until you exhale to the desired number. You can meditate anywhere and just on anything.
Try any of these ideas or repeat any other pleasant words you like such as joy, peace, love—anything that resonates with you. Allow your mind to relax. While you breathe, repeat your chosen word and you will feel greater relaxation and inner peace. Using mantras does not need to take a lot of your time.
