Mantras-Meaningful Mindlessness? Or Meaningless Mindfulness?

You might be confused by my title...let me explain. Mindlessness is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it is meaningful. Then again, mindfulness can be meaningless. It's all in why you're doing it.

Above you'll see a picture of a stone in a carefully sculpted zen garden. Why are they called that? Zen garden...hmmm. From my memory of gardening with a black thumb, it certainly wasn't zen! In fact, I remember much grumbling and tossing and internally cursing! Zen gardens are different in the fact that raking the sand in circles is meditative. Intentionally placing the stones is like intentionally placing a thought. I no longer have a zen garden, so I have learned to cultivate one in my mind. This is where the mantras come in.

What is a mantra?

A mantra is a repeated word or phrase meant to hone your focus. It could be as simple as "Ohm", focusing on the sound and vibration and tone (which can be quite healing in itself!). Or it could be as lengthy as "I am deserving of wealth, health, and happiness. I align to my highest self and experience all that I need, want, and desire."

Did you realize we all have a mantra for pain? How many times have you stubbed your toe and say "Ow! Ow! Ow!"...or worse? LOL! Why is this? Because the pain is so intense, your focus is solely on it. The pain fades, and do you keep saying "ow"? No, because your focus is off of it. But try to maintain focus, and you will notice the pain a lot more.

I actually have done this experiment many times. I have tinnitus from a car accident at 15. There is nothing physically wrong with my ears, other than a slightly higher range of hearing than average. There are times it demands my attention, and I have to shift focus through auditory stimulation: music, frequencies, audio books, anything that I can listen to with little "dead air". When I do not shift focus, and just try to sleep, the tinnitus worsens until I have no choice but to audibly react..."Ah!" probably being my most used. At that point, my own voice is becoming the auditory stimulation, the mantra if you will, to shift focus.

Focus and energy flow

There's a theory that has floated around in my head about this shifting of focus via mantras: the connection of the chakras. From root to crown and beyond, all the chakras are connected. Within the body there are 7, the heart being the central with 3 below and 3 above.  The root chakra is the first, at the base of our spine. It is a place of safety, of your true needs being met. This does not only include shelter, heat, food, and water, but includes acceptance, love, money, companionship. Next is the sacral, our creativity and passion...what we desire to do when we feel safe. Third is the solar plexus, where we feel confident because we are doing what we are aligned to do. Then comes the heart, where all this is filtered into love and taking our confidence, can project out into the world. At first, it's a self-centered mess, which for our own self-preservation is necessary, and upon entering the heart, we see how we can help others with our gifts. As this energy moves up to the throat chakra, we listen to others and speak our truth, further untangling our directive in the process. The 6th chakra, our third eye, invites intuition to join and adjust the delivery of our energy to others. Then comes the crown chakra, our full connectivity with the Universe and everything and everyone around us. This is where the energy we put out is what we receive, and we become self-reflective upon that energy. This then translates back to the heart, in which it decides if this is a safe energy and the lower chakras are still aligned.

Think of the throat chakra, speaking your truth. What you say, what your mantra is, is what your heart believes and feels, that belief rising up to your brain to bring it to realization. In this way, what you most commonly say to others and yourself is what your subconscious focus is and what you call into your life.

Meaningful Mindlessness

This is where Meaningful Mindlessness comes in. Be meaningful in your mindlessness. Mindlessness is where you just feel and exist. You are existing in the present. You are in touch with your breath, with the way your body responds, with the energy flows around you.

If you live a life where what you say and do is in alignment with the way you want to live (rich, happy, full of love, adventurous, calm), you will find your mantras coordinate and amplify that energy. On the other hand, if what you do and say is in direct opposition to your desires, you will find your mantras reflect that..."I need money", "I'm so unhappy", "I'm bored", "I'm anxious". Let the mindlessness be meaningful in a good way. It is the living in the energy of what you want in the present that brings that vibration to you.

Meaningless Mindfulness

Now, what about the other part of my question? Are mantras meaningless mindfulness? Yes, if what you're focusing on is the mantra, and not energy flowing the feeling around you. If your present-mindedness is so present-minded that you are spinning your energetic wheels, staying in the same spiritual place, you will not change anything. You are only perpetuating the same, and burning your own energy for it.

Change is Hard

Yes, change is hard. It really is. I will never say it isn't. Change is "Danger!" to the ego. It wants what it knows, even if what it knows is not the best for it. Change of any sort involves restructuring. Changing mindset is without a doubt one of the hardest changes, especially if you have been living in the same mindset for a long time. Patience is key.  Persistence is key. Forgiveness of yourself is key. You need to prove to your ego the change you want is good. Saying it isn't enough, but it is part of the process.

Here is how energy works...it flows. In and Out, Up and Down, Left and Right, Around and Through. It needs to flow. It needs to move. Below your root chakra is your earth star chakra. This is not within the body, but below it. It grounds you to the earth. Above your crown chakra is the soul star chakra, a funnel to your other chakras opening up to universal energy. There are more than what I list, but these are what I'm going to focus on for practice. During these practices, feel free to use a mantra that you feel you need at the moment. 

Grounding..."I accept earth energy to flow and heal"

Ground yourself via your favorite method...walking barefoot in the grass, digging your toes in the sand, standing on a rock, whatever you feel connects you to the earth best. Open yourself up to feeling whatever comes your way. Focus on the area just below your feet...feel it open and receive energy from the earth. Feel it course through your body. You are a conduit. How does it flow? Up one leg, down the other? Up both? Many believe the left side of the body is the receptor, but some people are built different and experience the opposite side or both. No way is right or wrong, it just is. Either way, allow it to flow through you. Where does it want to come out? This is your outlet. If the energy wants to come out your foot, let it. Hand? Place it down and allow it flow. Mouth? Sing, scream, vocalize, blow. Sometimes the energy wants to come through the eyes in the form of tears. Allow it. This may be a cleansing.

After familiarizing yourself with this practice, try to direct the energy. Have it enter through one leg, up the side and arm, to the heart, the head, back down again to the heart and the other arm, side, and down through the leg back into the ground. This allows for any excess energy or "dirty" energy from cleansing yourself this way to transmute within the earth.

Universal Energy..."I am connected with my higher self"

Now, the process for Universal Energy is similar, but comes from the soul star chakra above your head. I suggest grounding yourself first. Then open up your soul star chakra to the universe, accepting the energy it wants to give. Allow it to come through your crown and head and travel down through your body, heart, arms, legs. Again allow it to go into the ground to transmute and get rid of excess.

Combining the Two..."I heal all traumas and align myself to my greatest good"

After familiarizing yourself with both energy flows. Try combining them. Open your earth star chakra and ground yourself. Allow it to flow upwards. While keeping that open, open your soul star chakra and allow the universal energy to flow downwards. You may find the flow patterns may merge or they may differ. They may even clash to begin with. Work with it. I find the earth star chakra flows upward through my body while my soul star flows down through my chakras spreading itself out that way, exiting through my earth star chakra and feet/tailbone. This is a way to cleanse yourself, a way to temporarily recover energy when tired, a way to heal both physical and emotional issues, and a way to connect to everything around and beyond.

Alignment..."I live a life of love and joy"

After doing these exercises for some time you may find yourself standing taller, more focused, and aligning to a life you love living. This is the state in which you can just be. The peacefulness of knowing you are a part of everything, that everything is a part of you. The joy of living truthfully to yourself and enjoying the journey. Finding the balance of your self and soul and mind is a carefully constructed dedication to your persistence of a better you.

These are the moments in which memory merges with dreams, in which the present becomes the gift that it is, and past and future become insignificant in comparison.

Let your mantras for life embolden you to living in the present and encourage multiplying joys. And you mantras can grow and change as you do.

You are you, worthy of love and respect.

—Michell