A reflection on Mantra, Truth, Love, and the Practice of Returning Inward.
As I sit down to inspire another blog post, I ask myself: what words are filling my thoughts?
My mind hears the language of harsh words, fear, distraction, and mental confusion. I notice how quickly the noise of the outer world can take me away from my balanced state of mind.
So I return to what I know.
I return to my practice.
I begin with sound, which precedes form. I begin with the sound of my own whisper breath. Thoughts arise, and my inner dialogue must be carefully chosen if I want to feed the deeper consciousness of my practice.
I set a small intention to make time and space. I want to invite sound and vibration as a pathway toward self-love. My mind wants to rush. It wants to turn practice into another item on the daily checklist.
But I know the respect of practice is not to demand what I want. It is to offer the opportunity for space to be revealed.
I do not know what that will look like.
I am only going to practice.
Sound, Form, and the Energy Body
The yogic teachings remind us that sound precedes form.
What we see as material form can also be understood through vibration, energy, and possibility. The physical body I live in is not only solid matter. It is also an energy body filled with vibrational potential.
Sound gives birth to form.
“In the beginning, there was the word.”
The sound.
My practice is mantra-focused. Mantras are sacred sounds that hold vibrational power and the potency to shift the limited reality that has been stuck in memory.
So often, our perception of the world is seeing only in material matter. We believe only what we can see. But mantra offers another way.
Mantra is protection for the mind.
“Man” means mind.
“Tra” means to cross over, or to protect.
Mantra helps us cross over the restless mind and begin to sense that maybe, just maybe, there is another way to see.
Mantra as a Pathway to Clarity
Our thoughts create the forms of our reality. If we feel bound or limited by that reality, practice can begin to shift our perception. Clarity can be revealed.
This is not an easy concept. It asks for a willingness to practice with an open mind and an open heart. It asks for a deeper commitment to the subtle tools of yoga.
I am always humbled to be a student, and I only offer the teachings that I have personally experienced. To teach is to meet the student where they are.
And so we begin with the grace of “not knowing.”
My entire commitment is to connect with the deepest part of myself that feels anything is possible. Reflecting on my life, I know I can shift the rudder ever so gently in another direction.
I must not strive to get there.
I must be willing to be here.
The effort is the commitment.
A slight shift from what I see in the outer landscape can open an inner place of possibility. What is the word for that feeling?
My mantra invites protection. It helps me cross over. I drop the language of fear and invite support. I ask to feel stable, steady, and held.
From Gross to Subtle
The tools of yoga move from gross to subtle, from the outer layers of the body toward the inner landscape of breath, mind, heart, and spirit.
The outer orientation of asana is the mastery of the physical structure, beginning with the spine. It includes alignment, stability, strength, and range of motion.
The inner orientation of asana is to make the body a spacious container for the breath. This prepares us for the tool of pranayama.
The outer orientation of pranayama is mastery of the physiology through the autonomic nervous system. Breath influences digestion, respiration, cardiovascular rhythms, immune function, and hormonal balance.
The inner orientation of pranayama is to make the breath a safe place for the mind. This prepares us for meditation.
Meditation begins with the wandering mind and the field of attention. We learn to notice distraction. We learn to focus more deeply. We learn to stay with what is actually here, rather than becoming lost in every thought or feeling.
This is where mantra becomes so helpful.
I begin by repeating it as a chant. I feel it and hear it. I offer it as a way to focus. Then, silently, I allow the mantra to become second nature as it links my mind inward.
The inner orientation of meditation is to make the mind a stable place for the heart. This prepares us for deeper prayer.
Mantra is the sound of prayer without the attachment to ego-driven desires to get, to fix, to control, or to do.
Mantra is the sound of prayer without the need to fix, control, or do.
Prayer, the Heart, and the Kleshas
Outer prayer arises from a desire to let go of resistance.
Thoughts simply move through.
There is a longing to let go of personality and patterned habits of attachment, aversion, and fear. In the teachings, these are called the kleshas — those habits of inner language rooted in learned behavior.
They are the familiar thoughts of resentment, insecurity, jealousy, greed, envy, and pride.
They are the ways we keep ourselves comfortable in our discomfort.
The inner orientation of prayer is to make the heart a soft, open vessel for the Divine. It prepares us for sound. It allows the vibrational gifts of our nature to reveal themselves as loving, compassionate, courageous qualities of inner wisdom.
Words no longer hold us hostage to old beliefs.
Sound opens a space of pure potential.
The deeper place of this knowing rests in an orientation of silence as pure light. The intellect will never fully comprehend the immense space of this light, because words cannot fully wrap around the experience.
This experience is also constantly changing.
The effect is a peaceful, calming reality of feeling fully alive. There is a profound sweetness in being held by this experience.
The mind resting in that presence will meet each of us where we are. No human being is the same. We are not programmed for the fixed identity that the outer layers of society may try to dictate.
The Divine arises through each of us as our own unique experience. It is expressed as clarity — a way to respond in our own special way, in our own words.
The ability to extend kindness can become more effortless.
Practice in Turbulent Times
Humanity is asking us to pay attention and shift.
Our physical bodies are the vehicles through which the essence of love can be expressed throughout our life journey. Regardless of the challenges we are facing as we witness a changing world, commitment to practice becomes an assertion of human freedom.
Practice releases the energy we possess and allows us to take creative leaps together. The field of possibility opens. The beauty of living can be fulfilled with inner contentment.
We are here to illuminate and shine, and to allow resistance to be removed.
Now the practice is to stay open as we navigate turbulent times of change. We must feel rooted in the words that feed the loving heart.
Let us share the words that arise from our thoughts. May they inspire right action. May they extend from our true nature, filled with language that inspires healing.
Satyagraha: The Force of Truth and Love
I wanted to share the mantra that inspired this post: Satyagraha.
Satyagraha was Gandhi’s call for a movement rooted in truth, love, and nonviolence. He inspired India to embrace the movement's calling, as expressed in the mantra, which means “The force which is born of Truth and love and nonviolence.”
The immense vibration of this word reminds me, with a smile, of the sword of light in the Star Wars saga and the phrase, “May the force be with you.”
But the true force is not domination.
The true force is love.
It is the sword of light that cuts through the darkness of our thoughts.
As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, may we return to the words that feed truth. May we practice the language of healing. May we listen for the sound that leads us home.
What word, prayer, or phrase helps you return to the steadier place within yourself?
Blessings,
Laura Jane
Continue your practice
If this reflection speaks to you, we invite you to explore our weekly classes and upcoming workshops at Yoga Among Friends.