When Life is Whipping By

A calming technique

Mantra

Ideally, my body is moving fast and my mind is moving slow.  I’ll also happily take both mind and body moving slowly (especially if a beach is involved).  Today was not ideal or happy.  I literally tripped going up the stairs because my mind was racing faster than my body.  Yikes.  

Anyone else finding life whipping by a million-miles-an-hour this week? A filled life is fun, but after too many days in a row my mind starts racing at the speed of my calendar. Not good.  

Thankfully, the mental-health aspect of yoga has an effective, calming technique that can be done in just a few minutes.  Mantra meditation is when you choose a word or a phrase, and you repeat half of it as you inhale and the other half as you exhale.  Sometimes I like a traditional yoga mantra (like “so ham” which means “I’m here”), and other times I choose a prayer-phrase or a single word that comes to my mind. 

If I’m sitting in my car, I might close my eyes and place hands on legs with palms up/receiving.  If I’m at the coffee shop, I might simply relax my gaze (like when you daydream).   If I actually have a room to myself for a bit, I might slowly stretch as I do the mantra meditation. Sometimes it works to say the mantra in my head, but sometimes I need to say it to feel it. Other times, I wish to hear it, so I find the mantra on Spotify.  (So-ham is always easy to find.)

This calming technique is exactly what I need to slow and cool my mind when life is going at break-neck speeds.  A filled week can be fulfilling and fun, but not at the expense of our health.  

Until next time,

Laura