Are you curious about mantras? Mantras are sounds, syllables, words, or phrases chanted for spiritual purposes. Millions of people meditate and chant mantras every day to achieve higher states of consciousness. Mantra chanting helps release and balance accumulated stress, quiet the chaos of your thoughts, connect you to a higher self, help you be more productive, achieve specific goals, and strengthen your mental clarity. To start tapping into the power of mantras, take a look at the list of mantras and their benefits below.
What Are Mantras?
Mantras are powerful tools for achieving higher levels of consciousness, healing, and spiritual growth. Just like your thoughts, mantras are vibrations. When you repeat a mantra repeatedly, it creates a vibration that resonates with all levels of your being — physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
According to Healthline, the vibrations generated through chanting certain syllables can facilitate a deeper meditative state, helping to release blocked energy and achieve greater well-being. The term, taken from the ancient language of Sanskrit, translates roughly as “man,” meaning “mind,” and “tra,” indicating “release.”
Whether you borrow your mantras from a sacred text or make them up yourself, you can use mantras for anything from healing to manifesting your dreams into reality or simply lifting the vibration of your day-to-day life. There’s no wrong way to go about it when it comes to finding a mantra. They’re versatile, making them an excellent tool for anyone who wants to explore their connection with their inner self and raise their energetic vibration.
Single-Word or Single-Phrase Mantras
The most basic mantra is a single word or phrase repeated repeatedly. The most well-known expression of this nature is “Om,” which represents universal life force energy. You might chant this phrase at the beginning or end of meditations or repeat it throughout a meditation to focus your energies on this single word.
You can also repeat many other words to achieve a higher state. These include:
- “So, Hum.” This contemplation meditation means “I am that,” reminding you that everything is connected and there is no separation between yourself and anything else in the world around you.
- Repeated words to achieve a specific mental state. For example, if your goal is to feel happier, repeating the word “happy” may help boost your mood by allowing you to focus on positive thoughts instead of negative ones.
- “Hamsa.” “Ha” is the sound we make upon exhaling, and “sa” is the sound of inhaling. You can also reverse this mantra to say “So’ham” to focus on the inhale first. While “Hamsa” may be more energizing, “So’ham” may be more relaxing — so you can decide which mantra best suits your needs in different situations.
- “Sat Nam.” Common in Kundalini yoga, “Sat Nam” translates as “I am truth” and encourages a journey to individual expressions of your true identity.
Mantras as Affirmations
You don’t need to know how to speak Sanskrit or any other language to use a mantra. Some people choose their words or short phrases to represent everything they want from life, such as peace, happiness, success, or health. Remember, the purpose of using a mantra is to focus your mind on something positive so that it can influence every aspect of your life — not just your emotions but also your physical well-being, relationships, and career goals.
Toward this end, you can also use mantras as affirmations — statements about yourself or what you want in life. This is a powerful way to use mantras because it harnesses the law of attraction to bring your desires into reality. You can also use mantras in meditation or repeat them to yourself as a way of calming your mind and helping you relax. Examples of affirmation mantras include:
- I am calm.
- I am happy.
- I am healthy.
- I am wealthy.
- I am loved.
- I am safe.
- I am free.
The best part about these mantras is that you can use them anytime you want to refocus your thoughts in a positive direction. If your mind starts to drift into negativity, you can call on a mantra to shift your thinking instantly — before breakfast, during your lunch break, at work, while making dinner, and before sleep.
Deity Mantras
Another type of mantra is called a deity mantra, which invokes the names of deities associated with certain qualities, such as peace and love. In many cultures and religions, deities are believed to have unique powers and characteristics, and thus their mantras are unique. By chanting these mantras, you can invoke the deity’s power they represent.
The most common way to use a deity mantra is to chant it while meditating. Chanting these mantras helps you connect with the deity and experience its powers within yourself. You can also chant them when you need extra help or guidance from the gods. Examples of common deities for whom you can find mantras include:
- Brahma, God of Creation, invoked to honor the creator and great teacher
- Vishnu, God of Preservation and Sustaining, invoked for patience, liberation, compassion, prosperity, and peace
- Shiva, God of Death and Destruction, is invoked to let go of old habits and attachments and destroy negative patterns or emotions such as greed and anger.
- Saraswati, Goddess of language, knowledge, wisdom, and the arts is invoked to help with the creative flow, expression, and communication.
- Lakshmi, Goddess of Abundance and Grace, is invoked to support success and prosperity.
With so many different gods and goddesses, the possibilities are endless for deity mantras. Each deity has its characteristics and qualities that you can use in conjunction with the mantra to bring about the desired result or outcome.
Healing Mantras
If you’re looking for healing of a specific part of your body, healing mantras can be beneficial. Because mantras create a vibration through sound, you can repeat specific mantras to send healing energy to different areas of your body. Here are some examples of healing mantras:
- Mmmm for sinuses
- Nnnnnnn for ears
- Eeemmm for eyes
- Gaa Gha for the throat
- Yaa Yu Yai for the jaw
You can use these healing mantras as part of your meditation practice or on their own when you need extra energy or clarity in your life. For example, try using them before bedtime to help you feel more relaxed and encourage your body to rest, repair, and have more restful sleep overall.
Tips for Using Mantras
With so many different types of mantras and goals for using them, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with mantra practices. Here are some tips to make the process simple and enjoyable:
- Choose a mantra that resonates with you. A good mantra appeals to you on an emotional level. It should feel right for you like it’s speaking to something inside of you that needs to be heard.
- Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for about 20 minutes, then sit in silence and focus on your breathing for a few minutes before starting the mantra practice. This will help clear your mind so that there won’t be any distractions when you start repeating the mantra.
- When repeating the mantra, try to do so slowly and deliberately — this helps keep your mind focused on the present task.
Don’t worry about getting it right at first; keep trying until you find the ones that work best for you. And remember, there’s no way to get it wrong as long as you go into a mantra practice with mindfulness and an open mind and heart.
