Mantra Meditation to Promote Mind-Body Healing
Support your body's natural healing abilities with this simple, non-religious mantra meditation
In a nutshell, mantra is a sound, a word or a phrase that is repeated many times, aloud or silently, to bring about a desired change.
In many traditions and religions, mantras are almost like charms or spells that are believed to carry special transformational powers.
But the mantras we’ll be using here are less mysterious. They are simple, clear phrases in plain language used to relax the mind, focus intention and energy, as well as to promote healing. No belief or faith is required. So if you prefer a secular and less mystic mantra meditation, you may find this practice appealing.
But is it really possible to bring about physical healing just by repeating a line or two? Let me explain.
How Does Healing Mantra Meditation Work
The mind and body are not two separate, independent entities. Instead, they are closely interconnected and mutually influencing one another regardless of whether you’re aware of their interactions.
Negative states of mind, for instance, can cause unhealthy physiological responses such as shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, indigestion and even chest pain in susceptible individuals.
These reactions can usually be measured. If you’ve a biofeedback device or a blood pressure monitor, you’d see that your heart rate or blood pressure tends to be higher when you are stressed out or anxious. Study has also shown that when under chronic psychological stress, our body produces more pro-inflammatory compounds that could lead to conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Obviously, these reactions are not helpful when you’re down with an illness.
Conversely, positive emotions are also capable of inducing a corresponding, and often opposite, set of reactions that are generally deemed as beneficial to healing and personal well-being.
The link between the mind and body forms the basis from which this mantra meditation works on.
By relaxing the mind and bringing it in alignment with the body through mantra meditation, we bring a focused, unwavering attention to the part of the body where we want healing to take place.
This helps to reduce any negative emotions that are blocking healing, cut their undesirable effects, and clear the path for your immune system to better fight off disease.
Mantras, in this case, are the tools we use to relax the mind and body, and gather the attention we need to support the body’s natural abilities to heal itself.
So are you ready to give it a try? If you are, let us begin.
How to Practice Mantra Meditation
This meditation is meant to support, not replace, any medical treatment. If you’re currently under any medical care, talk with your health care provider before using this meditation.
Healing Mantra Meditation
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Settle down in a safe and quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. You can assume a standard sitting meditation pose with your legs crossed, or sit on a chair with your back supported with your hands resting on the lap. If sitting is uncomfortable due to limited physical function, you can also choose any of these alternative meditation positions.
The key is to find a pose that allows you to sit comfortably for about 15 to 20 minutes, but not so comfy that you fall asleep half way through. Personally, I like to assume the corpse pose for this meditation.
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Now turn your attention to your breathing. Breathe in through your nose and breathe out with your mouth. If it helps you to concentrate better, you may close your eyes.
Breathe normally and realize how the air fills your lungs and how it leaves your body. Are your breaths hurried and rush? If they are, breathe with the intention to dedicate this time for total relaxation, healing and nothing else. Mentally tell yourself that everything else can wait until you’ve finished this meditation.
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Every time you exhale, repeat the following mantra slowly to yourself, silently or aloud:
“I am deeply relaxed.”
Initially, this may come across as forced if you’re feeling anything but relaxed. Don’t let that stop you. You’re using the power of words in the mantra to relinquish any tension or stress you may be holding on to. The mantra also helps you to clear mental noise and still the mind by providing a focus point for your mind to concentrate on.
Continue working with this mantra until you’re feeling totally relaxed and ready to move on.
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Place one or both of your hands on the part of the body that needs healing. Adjust your posture if necessary, but make sure you remain stable and comfortable. If this proves to be impossible, it’s okay to skip this step.
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Now we’ll use another mantra to channel our intention and energy to activate our body’s own healing process. The mantra is:
“My __________ is whole and complete.”
Fill in the blank with the body part which you’d like to be healed.
Recite this mantra silently or aloud at every out breath with a clear, unwavering attention.
Chant this mantra for at least 10 minutes or longer.
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To end this meditation, stay where you are and rest in the state of deep relaxation in silent for a minute or two. Then, open your eyes and get up slowly. Get yourself a full glass of lukewarm filtered water to help your body purge any accumulated waste.
How to Make This Meditation Better
To get the most out of this meditation, you should preferably practice this meditation at least once a day for the next thirty days or until you’ve seen the desired results.
The beauty of this meditation is, the mantras used are in simple and clear language that you can understand. This opens up the possibility for you to come up with your own personal mantras.
For example, if you’re a herbalist at heart, you can formulate a mantra that centers around your favorite healing herb or medicinal mushroom. Likewise, you can also summon the religious icon, hero or heroine that you admire to create your own special ‘spell’.
Don’t hold back. Reach into your consciousness and invite what you believed to be the most potent healing power with this mantra meditation today.
I hope you’ll have a speedy recovery and deep abiding peace!
I was actually never into doing things like mantras but this article persuaded me to try it. I’ll go for it and give it a try. Thanks!
Petr