Do You Do Yoga?

Mantra Japa is a practice where one recites a mantra repeatedly as a tool to help focus the mind. I have been using it lately in my meditation practice, and have found that it’s a useful way to keep the mind from wandering.

This past week, I have been having sleeping problems. I sleep lightly, and I am having a lot of vivid dreams. When a dream wakes me, my mind also wakes up and starts thinking a bit too much and keeps me up! I am a bit Vata deranged, to say the least!

I decided to start incorporating the mantra japa practice into my crazy nights. When I woke up, for the past few days, I would start to silently recite the mantra over and over again. At some point, the mantra would get all mixed up, and shortly there after, I would be asleep again. It worked really well! I was pretty happy that I found an application for my mantra that took care of an immediate need. Studying yoga can be so cool that way - it’s so practical!

Yesterday, I went back to my seated meditation practice after some asana and pranayama. I prepared to start mentally reciting the mantra as I always had, but this time, something changed! (this sound odd, even to me, but it is what it is). It felt as though the mantra entered me rather than me consciously calling the mantra to mind. Previously, I recited it as I would if it were being spoken. This time, the pace of the mantra was much faster. It moved with my breath, with my heart beat! I had a hard time to stay focused because my mind desperately wanted to analyze this new experience. I just kept trying to come back to the mantra even though it was a totally different way of experiencing he phrase I have so often recited. My analytical mind is sometimes my nemesis when it comes to meditation - once it gets turned on, it is hard to turn off. A bit too much science training in my life, perhaps.

The meditation was a positive experience and interesting. My teachers have always encouraged me to experience sensations that arise in mediation and then return to the practice. So I don’t plan on expecting this same experience to happen again - I couldn’t make it occur if I tried. It was something beyond my conscious effort. I wonder if the half-conscious, sleepless nights of mantra japa stimulated the experience. I will patiently await what happens in future meditation - and try really hard to have no expectations!