MANTRA

~ ~ a mantra is a word or phrase repeated to aid meditation concentraton ~
the following are a few of my preferred mantras ~ ~



"Ra Ma Da Sa, Sa Say So Hung"
Sun, Moon, Earth, Infinity...I am Thou

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

"Om Mani Padme Hung"
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness, which is virtue.
May all have whatever they need, want, and aspire to.
May all be peaceful - in harmony and at ease.
May all beings remain unseparated from the sacred joy and hapiness that is totally free from sorrow.
May all beings remain free from suffering and the causes of suffering, which are nonvirtue and delusion.
May all be healed and whole again.
May all be protected from harm, fear, and danger.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

"Soham"
I am that I am, signifying that the Divine has no limits.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

"Aham Prema"
I am Divine Love.

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

"Hung Vajra Peh"
By the power of will, through the spoken word, I invoke the thunderbolt of my mind.

Toning the Chakras

Unlock the sacred power of sound by reaching within yourself during silent meditation.

Step 1 — first chakra:

Focus your attention on the first chakra, the root chakra, located at the base of the spine. The vowel sound for this chakra is “UH” (as in the word huh).

Begin to tone an “UH” sound. It should be soft and gentle, as should all the sounds you will be making during this exercise. Continue to focus your attention on the first chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound resonating at the base of your spine. Feel it vibrating here, and as it does, become aware that the energy center associated with this area is resonating, becoming balanced and aligned. Make this “UH” sound seven times.

Step 2 — second chakra:

Next, focus your attention on the second chakra, the sacral chakra, located about 3 inches below the navel. The vowel sound for this chakra is “OOO” (as in the word you).

Begin to tone a soft and gentle “OOO” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the second chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel it resonate here, experience this energy center balancing and aligning with sacred sound. Make this “OOO” sound seven times.

Step 3 — third chakra:

Focus your attention on the third chakra, the solar-plexus chakra, located at the navel area and several inches above. The sound for this chakra is “OH” (as in the word go).

Begin to tone a soft and gentle “OH” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the third chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel the vowel sound resonate here, experience this energy center being balanced and aligned through sacred sound. Make this “OH” sound seven times.

Taken with permission from The Divine Name

Step 4 — fourth chakra:

Focus your attention on the fourth chakra, the heart chakra, located in the center of the chest. The vowel sound for this chakra is “AH” (as in the word ma).

“AH” is often a sound we make when we’re in love, and indeed, the heart chakra is the center associated with love. Begin to tone a soft and gentle “AH” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the fourth chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel the vowel sound resonate here, experience this energy center becoming balanced and aligned through sacred sound. Make this “AH” sound seven times.

Step 5 — fifth chakra:

Focus your attention on the fifth chakra, the throat chakra. The vowel sound for this chakra is “EYE” (as in the word my).

Begin to tone a soft and gentle “EYE” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the fifth chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel the vowel sound resonate here, experience this energy center becoming balanced and aligned through sacred sound. Make this “EYE” sound seven times.

Step 6 — sixth chakra:

Focus your attention on the sixth chakra, the third-eye chakra, located in the forehead between the eyes and slightly above them. The vowel sound for this chakra is “AYE” (as in the word may).

Begin to tone a soft and gentle “AYE” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the sixth chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel the vowel sound resonate here, experience this energy center becoming balanced and aligned through sacred sound. Make this “AYE” sound seven times.

Step 7 — seventh chakra:

Focus your attention on the seventh chakra, the crown chakra, located at the top of the head. The vowel sound for this chakra is “EEE” (as in the word me).

Begin to tone a soft and gentle “EEE” sound. Continue to focus your attention on the seventh chakra and project your intention so that you visualize the sound vibrating this area. As you feel the vowel sound resonate here, experience this energy center becoming balanced and aligned through sacred sound. Make this “EEE” sound seven times.

Step 8 — silent meditation:

At the completion of this exercise, you may feel very light-headed. You’ve been sounding, resonating and balancing your chakras as the energy moves up your spine into your head and above. Allow yourself a good 10 to 15 minutes for meditation, bringing your awareness fully back to everyday consciousness. At the close, be sure to ground yourself.

During workshops, I tell participants to take this opportunity to sit in silence and have the experience that will be of highest benefit at this point in their spiritual development. I suggest that this is a very nice place to be, so they should sit in a state of meditation and enjoy the experience.

To ground yourself

After you’ve completed the meditation, it’s sometimes helpful to draw the energy slowly back down into your lower chakras and your body in order to ground yourself. To do this, begin to tone a midrange “AH” sound three times, bringing the energy first to the heart chakra. Then, after three slow breaths, tone three of the deepest “UH” sounds, bringing the energy back into the first chakra to completely ground yourself.

The importance of silence and meditation

This entire exercise can take approximately a half hour — sometimes an hour if you’re having a particularly good meditation. It’s extremely transformational, both during the toning, when you’re resonating your chakras, and especially afterward while you’re in silence. Many people have related that they’ve experienced their most profound inner journeys and meditations from this exercise. In workshops, participants are often in states of bliss during the meditation and frequently following it as well. This exercise truly allows you to experience an introduction to the transformational power of sound.

The power and safety of sound

Sound can act like a psychoactive substance, altering and enhancing consciousness. The extraordinary thing about it is that not only is it entirely natural, but it’s totally controllable and totally safe. The experiences that people have are benevolent, blissful and beautiful. This is the wonder of self-created sacred sound — you’re responsible for the creation of it, and wherever you go or whatever you do, it’s completely natural and well within your control. If you need to stop the experience, all you have to do is open your eyes and take a few breaths and you’re back. I can honestly report that out of the tens of thousands of people I’ve worked with using sacred sound, there have never been any adverse effects. During workshops, the only complaint I’ve received from people is that they’ve been brought back and been grounded too soon after the experience — they were having too much fun! I assure them that they can always return to wherever they were simply by continuing to practice this exercise.

Here are a few reminders when you do this exercise (especially the first time):

• Allow yourself enough time to really enjoy the benefits that accompany this toning practice.

• Only do this in a safe environment where you won’t be disturbed, sitting in a comfortable chair or perhaps on the floor. (Never do this exercise in a car or standing up.)

• Allow yourself time after the meditation to relax and fully integrate the experience once you’ve grounded yourself. Don’t come back from the meditation at the end, open your eyes, and immediately rush to pick up the kids at school or go into that business meeting. Honor this exercise, the power of sound, and the experience you’ve just had.

Practice and integration

Once again, be sure to give yourself plenty of time. If you’ve had any difficulty feeling the resonance of the vowel sounds in your body and your chakras, know that the more you practice this exercise, the more you’ll understand how powerful it is, and how to incorporate it into your life. The more you work with sound in this manner, the easier it will be to experience the power of your own self-created sounds. Like any other sort of exercise, it may take some time to become comfortable with it and to fully integrate it into your physical and subtle bodies. The more you do it, the more effective it will ultimately become.

an exerpt from 'The Divine Name' by Jonathan Goldman
article found on GAIAM website

The Sound of Om

Om--the ancient sacred syllable--may be the only mantra you'll ever need.

By Richard Rosen

Mantras, sacred chants, come in all shapes and sizes. They can be composed of sentences, single words, or even single syllables; they can be perfectly intelligible or completely mystifying (at least to the uninitiated).

Single-syllable mantras, known as bija (seed) mantras, are the easiest to remember and recite; they're also the most powerful. It's believed that, just as a tiny seed contains a majestic tree, each bija contains vast amounts of spiritual wisdom and creative force. One of the oldest and most widely known of these seeds is om.

Om is frequently called the pranava, literally "humming," a word that derives from pranu, "to reverberate," and ultimately from the root nu, "to praise or command" but also "to sound or shout." It is the audible expression of the transcendental, attributeless ground of reality.

Om is the "primordial seed" of the universe--this whole world, says one ancient text, "is nothing but om." It is also considered to be the root mantra from which all other mantras emerge and to encapsulate the essence of the many thousands of verses of Hinduism's holiest texts, the Vedas. According to the Katha Upanishad (2.15), om is the "word which all the Vedas rehearse."

As such, om is the meditative seed par excellence. Patanjali--who wrote the Yoga Sutra and is considered to be the father of classical yoga--taught that when we chant this sacred syllable and simultaneously contemplate the meaning of it, our consciousness becomes "one-pointed: and prepared for meditation. In a commentary on the Yoga Sutra, the ancient sage Vyasa noted that through chanting om, "the supreme soul is revealed." In a similar vein, Tibetan scholar Lama Govinda wrote that om expresses and leads to the "experience of the infinite within us." Thus, chanting om may be the easiest way to touch the Divine within your very self.

Yogis often meditate on the four "measures," or parts, of om. Though commonly spelled om, the mantra actually consists of three letters, a, u, and m. (In Sanskrit, whenever an initial a is followed by a u, they coalesce into a long o sound.) Each of these three parts has numerous metaphysical associations, which themselves serve as meditative seeds. For example, a (pronounced "ah") represents our waking state, which is also the subjective consciousness of the outer world; u (pronounced "ooh") is the dreaming state, or the consciousness of our inner world of thoughts, dreams, memories, and so on; and m is the dreamless state of deep sleep and the experience of ultimate unity.

By contemplating the meaning of each of these letters as we chant them, we are led through the three states of our ordinary consciousness to the mantra's fourth part, the anusvara (after-sound): om. The vibration slowly dissolves into silence, symbolic of the transcendent state of consciousness, equated with Brahman (the Absolute). This silence is the crown of the mantra; it is described in the Maitri Upanishad as "tranquil, soundless, fearless, sorrowless, blissful, satisfied, steadfast, immovable, immortal, unshaken, enduring."

Richard Rosen teaches in Oakland and Berkeley, California

Sun Salutations

Surya Namaskara = salute to the sun



This sequence of movements and poses can be practiced on many different levels.



1. Mountain Pose or Prayer Pose (Tadasana) exhale

2. raised arms pose (Urdhva Hastasana) with back bend inhale

3. Standing Forward Bend (Utanasana) to Flat Back exhale

4. Lunge (aekpaadprasarnaasana) inhale

5. Plank pose exhale

6. Salute to the Eight Limbs pose (Ashtanga Namaskara or Chaturanga Dandasana) or stick

7. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) or Upward Facing Dog (Urdhva Muhka Svanasana) inhale

8. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) exhale

9. Lunge inhale

10. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) exhale

11. raised arms pose with back bend inhale

12. Mountain or Prayer Pose exhale

There are several variations of the sun salutations. Depending on when you are doing it, and how advanced you are, and how much time you want to spend.
The idea is to flow from pose to pose in a continuous motion, using your breath for each change of pose.

You can add or subtract various poses into the salutation, as you like. You can also chant mantras while performing these asanas, if you choose. You can affiliate them with the chakras as you focus on each pose.

Meditation is simple

Just sit.
Don't pick up the phone. Don't answer the door. Don't turn on the TV. Don't do those dishes. Don't fold that laundry.
Just sit.
Close your eyes.
Be quiet.
Open your ears and listen to the sounds of life.
Discover the new layers of sound that you never knew existed.
Tune out the surface distractions.
Notice.
Pay attention to the present moment.
Become aware of this moment.
Feel your body.
Feel your breath.
Notice how your body sits.
Notice how your breath moves throughout your body.
Follow your breath.
ZEN.
Use a mantra.
Repeat is silently to yourself, or out loud to your surroundings.
Use it's rhythm to soothe your mind.
Pay attention to your breath to block out distractions.
Focus.

10 minutes