Once you have a chosen a mantra that has meaning to you or ‘feels right’ use the following steps for between 12 and 18 minutes daily.
Sit in a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed, either sit on the floor or a chair making sure you have a straight spine. Rest your hands on your knees and you are ready to start.
Using a Mantra can be broken down into the following steps
- 1. Start by repeating the mantra audibly in your normal voice, listen to the sounds you are making, and be aware of the way your tongue feels as it taps the roof of your mouth. Start by doing this for two minutes.
- 2. Next continue repeating the mantra for the next two minutes whispering the sounds to yourself
- 3. For the following four minutes, continue moving your mouth and tongue but without any external audible noise as if humming a song in your head, continue to hear ever part of the sound.
- 4. After the four minutes reverse the order two minutes repeating the mantra in a whisper and the final two minutes in your normal voice.
Once you have finished sit in silence for a moment feeling the mantra resonate throughout your whole body.
Why vary the volume when using a mantra
Changing the volume of the mantra is to represent the different strings of your awareness ‘hearing’. The audible mantra represents your physical voice of action, the whisper represents the voice that is used to talk directly to the mind and the silent repetition is the voice to speak to your Divine Spirit.
What are the benefits of using a mantra
The short-term effects of a mantra include feeling grounded and centered, physically repeating a mantra lowers the levels of oxygen consumed by the body, reduces blood pressure and pulse rate. Simultaneously, the mantra decreases mental tension, anger and stress.
The long-term effects include improved pain management, reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression and easing of insomnia.
Clinical trials have also previously found that the use of a mantra in meditation helps maintain focus improve recovery after major surgery and illness and increase self-esteem.
This technique is immediate, inexpensive, portable and unlike drug-based therapy, it’s non-toxic.
Try to practice Symran at the same time of the day, ideally either first thing in the morning or last thing at night when there is the least chance of interruption. As you progress by lengthening the amount of time you spend doing the Mantra meditation, keep the proportions of normal voice, whisper, silent the same 1:1:2:1:1.
Additionally, once you have mastered maintaining awareness on the sounds of the mantra, try reciting the mantra in synchronisation with the breath for example:
- If you were using the mantra VaheGuru
- On the in breath recite the sound Vahe
- And on the out breath recite the sound Guru
- This is easiest to do when practicing silent Symran.