How And When To Use Mantras
This is where the fun begins. How you use your mantras is up to your imagination. You can use it when you really need to power through a difficult task or even when you need to relax your mind. I like to use mantras while I’m looking in the mirror. I will repeat the same phrase over and over again until I begin to embody the words of my mantra.
It’s exactly the same thing as an athlete staring at themselves in the mirror at the gym while they’re lifting weights and saying something powerful to themselves under their breath. You can do this! You can do this! You can do this!
Borrowing from yoga traditions, I will often say a mantra when I am trying to calm myself. Maybe I’ve hit a stressful moment in my day and my anxiety is starting to get the best of me. I will simply close my eyes, focus on my breath, and speak my mantra. It may take a few seconds or it may take 20 minutes, but saying my mantra allows that negative story that’s been on repeat in m head to be replaced by something more affirming.
Make your mantra practice your own. You can go as deep as you want to here or keep it light. There are times that I’ve written my mantra on a sticky note and stuck it to my laptop or the wall above my desk. When I look up, it reminds me to stay on task and keep believing in myself.
Maybe creating a special self-care area in your home is more your speed. Get your altar in order with candles, an oil diffuser, or white sage so that the aromatherapy helps you lock into that zen state.
You can also incorporate your mantra into your more luxurious self-care rituals. When you’re relaxing in the tub reclining against your bath pillow, say your mantra. After a long day when you’re massaging your feet with a sugar scrub, you can repeat that mantra in your head. Yes, you do deserve this relaxation and abundance.
The key to mantras is genuinely believing the underlying truth behind your words. Perhaps at first, you are uncertain, but deep down inside you can be honest with yourself. You can affirm yourself with words. Allow this practice of creating and saying mantras to become part of your everyday self-care rituals.
Repeat after me:
You are worthy and you are loved. You are worthy and you are loved. You are worthy and you are loved.
Mantra-related self-care extras:
Starwest Botanicals, Flower Waters, Rose
Aura Cacia, Pure Essential Oil, Sweet Orange
Physicians Formula, 24-karat Gold Collagen Eye Cream
Mount Lai, Rose Quartz Eye Massage Tool
European Soaps, Urbana, Spa Prive, Microfiber Bath Pillow
Sage Spirit, Native American Incense, White Sage
Mount Lai, The Jade Gua Sha Tool
Mantras and how to create them
Part of what makes a mantra so magical is that a mantra is your truth, and you can speak that truth into existence. Hello, manifestation. Helping you get to the core of what you want to say to yourself means tapping into the energy of your seven chakras: crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root. Each chakra represents a different state of being.
CHakra Cheat Sheet
Root Chakra: trust
I am/ have
Sacral Chakra: sexuality, creativity
I feel
Solar Plexus Chakra: wisdom, power
I do/ can
Heart Chakra: love, healing
I love /feel
Throat Chakra: communication
I speak
Third Eye Chakra: Awareness
I see
Crown Chakra: spirituality
I know
If there’s a particular obstacle that I am dealing with in life and I need reassurance, this is when mantras come into play.
I tune into my body and notice what my body is feeling. I breathe into that space and listen to what it’s saying. When there is doubt, I note what that doubt is. Then I turn it into a positive.
“I don’t have the confidence to complete this task”
becomes
“I can do whatever I put my mind to.”
That’s the affirmation. Now repeat it.
I can do whatever I put my mind to. I can do whatever I put my mind to. I can do whatever I put my mind to.
There’s your mantra!
When you are repeating this mantra, you feel it in the part of your body that needs the love. Saying I can go right to my gut, my solar plexus where my wisdom and power lie. The energy is swirling at my core and I feel the shift.
Other examples of mantras:
I am enough. I am enough. I am enough. I am enough. I am enough.
I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I believe I can get there. And I believe I can get there. And I believe I can get there.
You are worthy of love. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of love.
It’s okay to take a break when you need it. It’s okay to take a break when you need it. It’s okay to take a break when you need it.
Notice that in every mantra you are assuring yourself of something. Forming that mantra can take the shape of addressing yourself as you or I. What you want to avoid is including any negative like no, none, not or including a comparison like better than. While there are exceptions to this rule, try to start off your mantra practice by embracing the positive.