Hello Friends!
I want to bring into your awareness some information about mantras. Do you use a mantra when you meditate? Do you use a mantra throughout the day to help self-soothe? When the Sanskrit word mantra is translated, it means tool for the mind. Let’s look at the neuroscience behind why using a mantra or the tool for the mind will help us.
Looking at the brain we have several structures; the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and the inferior parietal lobe. Research with brain imaging shows these structures plus a few others make up the “default-mode network” of the brain (neuroscientificallychallenged.com, 2020). That default-mode network is active during self-reflection and mind-wandering activities. An overactive default-mode network may reflect that the brain is not centered, or it is distracted.
What can we use to bring that over-active default-mode network down or bring us back to center? Mantras are a good place to start. Research has shown that using a mantra can calm and bring us back to center through our meditation practices and focused attention. You can create your own mantra or use one from your preferred spiritual background. Remember, a mantra is tool for the mind.
Moran (2018) wrote mantras where designed to help individuals to access their higher power and true nature. So if a mantra is a tool for the mind, then how do you effectively use it to calm or bring it back to center. Can you think of a mantra that you have used in the past that has brought you back to center or made you feel connected to your higher power or the universe? I have used the mantra Om to end my yoga practice and in meditations. I focus my attention and breathe into the word or words and imagine sending them into my heart and into the world.
If you would like to read a little bit of the research, I am adding the article citation for your easy reading pleasure.
Namaste
Live Long and Prosper
#littlebuddhakitty
Moran, S. (2018). The magic of MANTRA. Yoga Journal, 300, 32–38.
