Mantra, Malas, Meditation

When I make a decision, especially whenever I set an intention for a habit I want to lose or cultivate, the turning point of actually making the choice is similar to waking up fully refreshed on a crisp, sunny day. Where I am and where I’m heading are crystal clear. Arriving at this new dawn might be the culmination of a gradual sneaking suspicion that something just wasn’t right, or the sum product of several significant experiences added together over time. Or it may come like a clap of thunder in an instant revelation – literally waking me up to a new day with a whole new perspective. Read more »

Welcome to part 3 of Celebrate Your Dreams: Releasing Negative Thoughts. How do we get rid of all those awful thoughts? Here are some techniques that work. Do them and be free! Your beautiful self is waiting for you.

Each video has an accompanying worksheet to deepen your experience. To receive the worksheets simply add your name to our email list and check the “Celebrate Your Dreams” interest box in the confirmation/profile settings email you receive. The worksheets will be automatically sent to you within 24 hours of confirmation. Email us or comment below with questions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

Ease away stress and anxiety with simple mediation for the soul

Mantra Meditation is a very simple method of meditation practice involving focusing of the mind and senses on sacred sounds that bring the mind and body into harmony. A mantra is not an ordinary material sound. It is a sacred sound vibration.

Benefits of Mantra Meditation

• Your mind is drawn away from material stresses and anxieties. No material sound or activity can effectively accomplish this.

• The mind becomes rested, peaceful and satisfied. Mantras have a purifying effect on the mind and heart.

• Gradually, your mind and heart becomes cleansed of anger, envy, & arrogance. In time, you will develop more tolerance, patience, concern, & love for others.

• Confusion and illusion become cleansed from your mind and heart, and you will experience your true identity.

Gauranga Breathing (pronounced Gaur-Ra-Ang-Gah)

1. Sit comfortably.
2. Let your breathing become slow and deep.
3. Relax your body with each exhalation.
4. When your breathing is more relaxed, begin the meditation by saying “Gauranga”- in your mind as you inhale.
5. When you exhale, say “Gauranga” out loud. Stretch out the sound so that it takes up the whole exhalation.
6. Allow yourself to feel the vibrations of the Gaur-Ra-Ang-Gah sound.
7. Continue repeating the Gauranga sound for 5-10 minutes to relieve your mind and body of stress and tension.
8. When practiced daily, this simple meditation can relieve anxiety, stress, depression and can also be used as an effective coping skill during stressful moments throughout the day.

Lindy with her mala

Since we launched our 10,000 Names Project in March people from near and far have added their name to the scroll in support of the Nangchen Nuns of Tibet. We are so deeply grateful for the shower of love and support!

For every 10,000 names we will donate $1,000 to the Nuns whose lives are dedicated to prayer for the blessing of all beings. As a token of our love we will also present the Nuns with a scroll of the names.

For every 50 names added, 10-year-old Samantha, who loves the Nuns, will randomly choose a new name from the list and that person will receive a handmade empowerment mala of their choice.

Our first winner is Lindy! She happened to be one of the first people to add her name to the scroll. On March 26th she left us this beautiful comment:

om tara!
Sacred hearts of this blessed dream of being
Thank you for the illuminated jewels of your essence
of simplicity and gentle nature
I see me in you
as we are one

Each day we are moved to tears of joy and gratitude because we connect with individuals like Lindy, and you dear reader whoever you are.  Thank you!

About the Nangchen Nuns

For centuries these Tibetan Buddhist nuns have dedicated their lives to the practice of constant prayer, sending their love and compassion out all beings. Right now they are praying for each and everyone of us to be liberated from suffering! These devoted women live without electricity, heat, running water or adequate medicine and our dedication to them is supported by our non-profit, Tara Malas and by this community of sacred living. Visit our Tibet page for more about the nuns and our non-profit work in Tibet.

If you haven’t yet, simply post your name in a comment on our 10,0000 Names page to add your name to the scroll and be automatically entered to win an empowerment mala. By adding your name to the scroll you affirm that you share our vision of intentional living and participate fully and courageously in the sacred journey we all share.

Namaste

In Her Hands by Julia Weaver

This morning I found myself thinking about a day I spent with my 4-year-old niece. We walked to a park near my house and she ran from tree to tree bestowing hugs and proclaiming her love quietly to the rough bark. She was determined to master the play structure and I helped her climb. Whenever she reached a point that felt too high, too unsteady, I felt her small body tense up, the vibration from her tightening grip moved through her slender limbs to my own body and I could feel her confidence falling like dominoes.

During those shaky moments I held her firmly and said that I had her safe, I wouldn’t let her fall. Sometimes this reassurance was enough for her to rebalance, find a foothold and climb higher still. Sometimes though she found she really had gone too high and she would fall back grateful and laughing into my arms.

Can’t we all relate to joy of a pair of strong arms to fall safely into?

In Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living Pema Chödrön shares with us why she practices Buddhism:

“We can discover the process of letting go and relaxing during our lifetime. In fact, that’s the way to live: stop struggling against the fact that things are slipping through our fingers. Stop struggling against the fact that nothing’s solid to begin with and things don’t last. Knowing that can give us a lot of space and a lot of room if we can relax with it instead of screaming and struggling against it.”

As my mind chewed on this revolutionary approach to life I began to see glimpses of what it would feel like to let go like this. It was both liberating and deeply comforting. I think one of the biggest ways that we resist letting go is by chasing perfection or in another way never reaching to climb higher because we fear failure. Read more »

Would you let ants hang out in your kitchen?

Assuming your answer is “no”, then why do we let negative thoughts roam around in our precious brains?! And the damage is SO much more detrimental:

• feeling bad about ourselves
• imagining all kinds of unfriendly thoughts from people
• feeling hopeless, helpless, guilty, powerless etc etc etc
• spending lots of potential fun time on worry, worry and more worry
• generally missing out on life – how can we be present to enjoy it when we are all lost in our little ant piles?

And it’s a choice! Granted, it doesn’t feel like a choice at this time, but indeed, it is a choice. It is a choice based on awareness, intention and action, all of which comes beautifully to light through the practice of meditation. Read more »

I hate to think of who I would be without my spiritual practice. It’s actually really scary.

I remember probably 28 years ago working in a hospital, just having graduated from nursing school (a profession that I was not well equipped for). There was a wonderful, loving nurse that seemed as though she was pure love. No pretense, no trying, just open and present. Someday, I said to myself, I will be like that – open, loving and present. Read more »

It happens to all of us sometimes – waking up on the wrong side of the bed, a transient case of the blues, or a sudden flare of impatience that grips you with a blinding insistence.

With the pace of life moving faster and faster, many of us find it overwhelming to try to give adequate attention to all aspects of our busy lives. Our days are filled with email, telephone calls, doctors appointments, tennis lessons, meetings with clients, paying bills, grocery shopping, parent-teacher conferences, board meetings, cocktail parties whew – amid all of that it’s no wonder our souls resort to such drastic measures to get our attention.  Read more »

About prayer wheels

Prayer wheels are traditionally used in Tibetan Buddhist practice to gather wisdom and good karma, to increase and dedicate compassion, and to transform negativity and enter a peaceful, meditative state. Regardless of your own spiritual tradition, prayer wheels are a beautiful addition to your environment as both sacred art, and an opportunity for daily practice.

Wound around an axel within the container of the wheels are long strips of thin paper that have been imprinted over and over with a mantra or prayer. The outside of the wheels are usually decorated with a carved or painted rendition of the mantra as well. The wheels are spun clockwise and with each revolution, the mantra written within accumulates power and is offered to the universe as prayer.

Om Mani Padme Hum is the mantra most commonly inscribed in and on prayer wheels. Tibetan Buddhist tradition tells us this mantra came from Chenrezig, a deity known as the embodiment of compassion. Chanting and/or spinning this mantra in a prayer wheel is said to invoke this archetypal power and harmonize human beings with the vibration of pure compassion, while calming, opening and evolving the mind.

From Tibet with love

While in Tibet, Celedra worked with local artisans to design these beautiful desktop prayer wheels. Each wheel is inlaid with turquoise and pearl and bears the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum in Tibetan script. Each desktop prayer wheel comes with an extra long strip of paper handmade at a Tibetan monastery. The paper is blank for you to write your own mantra or prayers to spin out to the universe!

5% of profits benefit the Nangchen Nuns of Tibet. To order, or for more information email info@celedra.com or call (866) 409-6252.

Kim Loudin is Director of Production and Distribution for Celedra, LLC and an expert mala maker. Kim works from her home in Sistersville, West Virginia and has been with us since January, 2007. Of her mala making Kim says:

Being a mom of two children, ages 10 and 5, there is a lot of stress, tension and anxiety, and when I’m making these malas, somehow I’m released from that everyday stress, tension and anxiety.

I wish those whom I’m making the malas for release themselves into a peaceful, happy and fulfilled life.  I know I have become more fulfilled in my life since Celedra has entered into it.

I believe there was a reason I was meant to make these malas.  In the past I have been a very nervous and anxious person… but so many things have changed since I began making malas for others and also wearing malas.  I feel very blessed.

Kim makes each mala by hand using semi-precious gemstones and sterling silver fittings. Malas and mantra have been used for thousands of years for spiritual practice. Each mala comes with a unique mantra that is based off of the inherent energetic/healing properties found in the gemstones of each mala. Visit Kim’s page in our Sacred Art Gallery to see more.