Mantras
Today was a great class. I was inspired by a question someone posed to Ram Dass when I was studying with him. Someone asked him what his sadhana (his spiritual practice) was, and he replied that he meditates, focusing on the heart center while repeating the phrase, "I am loving awareness." I loved that response and in fact have been practicing using that mantra myself, finding it very useful in reminding myself of the deeper truth of who I am; of who we all are.
Mantra literally means, "tool for the mind." My Sanskrit dictionary defines mantra as: "a sacred word or phrase of spiritual significance and power; hymns; that which saves the one who reflects." So a mantra focuses the mind, and in doing so, frees us from our thoughts. Our thoughts, let's face it, for the most part tend to be about worry, about repeating a conversation, or obsessing about something that happened or hasn't happened.
To quote the poet John Milton:
"The mind is its own place,
and in itself, can make
heaven of Hell and a Hell of heaven."
A mantra uses that same mind which can give us so much trouble to help us find freedom within.
Theme:
Mantras.
And the heart quality was "expansion."
Highlights:
*The main principle that we focused on was Organic Energy.
*"Engage your body with focus, as if you were repeating a mantra and extend out of the focal point with freedom."
*Was inspired by a lovely sequence that my friend and teacher Ross Rayburn wrote on the newest Yoga Journal, which included a lot of grounding poses.
*But then we ventured into wilder territory including:
Headstand #2,
Scorpion,
Urdhva,
Dwi pada viparita dandasana
and
(drumroll please)
Headstand drop overs.
Those who did the Headstand drop overs (about 6 people) did them for the first time! Wow! So much fun.
*I also loved how we did about 4 urdhvas and we had a minute break between each and I asked them to experiment with repeating in silence, different mantras including:
"I am loving awareness."
"May all beings be happy."
"May I be at peace."
and
"Om nama sivaya."
I noticed the energy in the room felt very grounded, soft and expansive.
Lovely
Something to think about:
Don't be afraid to explore as a teacher.
I've never been to a mantra inspired class. A part of me was a little hesitant whenever I try something out of the box. But it was lovely and very relevant. Mantras are so powerful! They at first seem foreign and weird, just like a foreign movie with subtitles. But then we realize that we all say mantras to ourselves all day long: "I am so fat. I am broke. I am late. I can't do this. I'm not a good person..."
So, why not try to switch it around and practice saying something more positive?
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