Mantra: Quelling the Fire

Posted by Elise Mitchell on June 14, 2014

If the word mantra draws up an image of bald Hare Krishna chanting men in orange robes asking for money in airports… you’re not alone. That said, we’ve come a long way, baby!

In David Wolf’s dissertation on the effect of mantra practice on depression and anxiety, he relates the use of chanting mantra to other behavioral therapies:

In cognitive behavioral therapy a common process is thought stopping, wherein a person interrupts disturbing thoughts by uttering the word “Stop!” After disrupting the distressing thought, the client is recommended to think about something that competes with the disturbing thought. However, it is often difficult for a person not to think about something (Spiegler and Guevremont, 1993). Chanting mantra can be an effective positive replacement thought in the thought-stopping process, which is similar to aversion-relief therapy because it simultaneously reduces an undesirable target behavior and increases an alternative target behavior. (Wolf, 1999)

Mantra comes from the Sanskrit roots manas meaning “mind” or “thinking” and tra meaning “tool” or “instrument” so, literally, tool of the mind. In Buddhism mantra means “mind protection” so that which can help protect the mind from those obsessive, racing, or self-deprecating thoughts. I started teaching the concept of mantras while working with women in a residential treatment center for addiction. Like so many of us, they mentioned how their thoughts of the past or future engendered feelings of shame resentment, fear, anxiety. They would turn to their drug of choice just to escape their thoughts. Mantras were a healthy alternative and…they LOVED IT! Teaching mantra practice at the Oasis has generated a similar response.

You don’t need a Zafu cushion, mala beads, candles, nor a guru to invite this practice into your life. No, you don’t even need to know Sanskrit! Try the following practice for five or ten minutes a day as a way of training the mind to slow down, stay present, and concentrate on a positive thought/intention.

The Practice

1. Find a quiet place. Have a back rest available (preferred but not essential). Consider one word or short phrase that means something important, powerful, uplifting, or sacred to you. Examples: love, peace, health, abundance, joy, God, I am, thanks and praise, etc.
2. Begin to focus on the breath. Notice the pace and quality of the breath. Now deepen the breath and allow it to flow through the stomach and the chest.
3. While focusing on the breath, consider the mantra you have picked out. What does it means to you and how does it feel to contemplate it now.
4. Begin to say the mantra out loud with every exhalation.
5. After a couple minutes of repeating the mantra out loud, make it a quieter utterance until it is silent.
6. Take a few minutes to repeat the mantra in your head — once on the inhale and once on the exhale.
7. Finish by allowing yourself a minute of pure silence. Note any differences in your breath, mood, mind.

For more information on David Wolf’s research or the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra studied in his 1999 article, please click on the links provided.

Elise Mitchell is the Health and Wellness Coordinator for Second Nature Entrada. To learn more about Second Nature for Adults, contact one of our admissions counselors.