Think of a mantra – a word or phrase you repeat during meditation – as a tool to help release your mind. Since it helps you stay focused, it could lead to improved results from meditation. You can meditate in many ways, and there’s no single “correct” approach.
Increased focus
A mantra can make meditation easier by reducing wandering thoughts
- If you’re repeating a mantra, in your head or out loud, that mantra occupies your awareness and helps prevents it from drifting off in other directions
- This can be especially helpful if your mind tends to wander a lot when you try to meditate.
Keep trying
Meditation doesn’t always yield immediate results. To see optimal benefits, you’ll want to maintain a consistent practice
- Make a habit of doing it every day
- Choose a mantra that reflects your goals
- This can strengthen your commitment to the practice and maximize the benefits of meditation
Reinforcement of meditation goals
Choose a word or phrase that emphasizes your reasons for meditation.
- For example, the Sanskrit word “shanti” means “peace.”
- Meditation can feel frustrating when you don’t see results, but regularly repeating a mantra that reflects your vision for yourself can increase the likelihood of it becoming reality.
Try Mala beads
These are intended to help with mantra repetition.
Changes in the brain
According to 2017 research, chanting certain mantras may stimulate these changes, since chanting can help synchronize the left and right sides of the brain and promote relaxing (alpha) brain waves.
- This synchronization may help improve brain function over time and possibly slow cognitive decline.
Feel free to change your mantra
If you don’t have much success with the first mantra, it may help to find one that resonates more with your current frame of mind and meditation goals.
- You don’t need to use the same mantra every time you meditate.
Better control over breath
Repeating a mantra while meditating can also help you find a natural breathing rhythm
- Pay attention to your breathing without doing anything to try and modify it
- Use your mantra if there’s a specific goal or intention behind your meditation practice
- Set a timer and set a position you can hold for the length of your meditation
- Close the meditation
Focus on intentions
You may see better results when you meditate on positives, or the mindset you want: “I am calm.””I am present.”
- This generally proves more helpful than meditating on negatives
- It’s easy to get hung up on your existing frame of mind, but this can detract from meditation’s benefits
