Mantra Monday :: Śāntipāta Mantra

 

At the studio that I practice at we use mantra.  Espeically in Bhakti Flow.  The studio delves into a weekly/monthly mantra that I personally love.  They also have a class on Sunday evenings called Sacred Sound that I need to get to!  But until then, here is a beautiful mantra that once you read the translation from sanskrit to english you will recognize it and its connection to you <3

The Śāntipāta Mantra is used to close and seal the benefits of your practice. It gives you the opportunity to give the benefits of your practice to all beings. 

See yourself in the center of the great mandala that you have invoked during the practice. While chanting this mantra see blessings pouring out to all beings in the universe. You may use the mudras that accompany this mantra to empower it.

The first lines of this chant are a call (to your guru, to your essence) for help: lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness of ignorance to the light of pure wisdom, from mortality to immortality transcending both death and birth/re-birth.

With the next section of the chant, we bless all beings: may all beings everywhere experience welfare, peace, fullness without opposite, and continuous auspiciousness.

The mantra continues with the Mahamrtyunjaya mantra – the chant of the great victory over death. 

The chant ends with om Shanti Shanti Shanti – may there be peace in the three realms (celestial, atmospheric and terrestrial), and may the activity of my body, speech, and mind demonstrate enlightenment and be always for the benefit of all beings.

Śāntipāta Mantra
Oṁ asato mā sadgamaya
tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya
sarveṣam svasti bhavatu
sarveṣam śāntir bhavatu
sarveṣam pūrṇam bhavatu
sarveṣam maṇgalam bhavatu
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
oṁ tryambakam yajāmahe
sugandhim puṣṭivardhanam/
urvārukamiva bandhanāt
mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt//
oṁ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Translation:
From the unreal lead me to the real,
From darkness lead me to light,
From death lead me to immortality,
May all beings dwell in good circumstances,
May all beings dwell in peace,
May all beings attain fullness of Being,
May all beings attain auspiciousness,
May there be happiness in all the worlds.
We meditate on three-eyed Lord Śiva
Who is fragrant and nourishes all beings.
Like a cucumber severed from the vine
May he liberate us from death to immortality.
Oṁ peace, peace, peace!




ॐ ॐ ॐ



via Studio Santosha Yoga Facebook
via Dharma Inc

137. Morning Blessing

Before leaving the house or beginning your daily yoga practice, open yourself up to what this can bring you by repeating the following Sanskrit blessing for peace: Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu - "May happiness be unto the world."

 

 

Little crow

During bhakti flow this morning MSK made us WORK. Hello shoulders!!  After several chatarungas and flows through a and b we had an opportunity before stepping back to plank to take bakasana.  For the first time I nailed it.

YESSSS.

:D

108. Eye and Mirror

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature". - HDT

107. Sacral Chakra Mantra

The biji mantra, or seed sound, of the sacral chakra is VAM, pronounced "vum". Sitting with your spine straight, gently sing this sound to yourself to increase your ability to go with the flow when life gets a little crazy

106. Mantra for Flow

Pantha rei, the Greek aphorism meaning "everything flows, changes, or is in flux" can make a useful mantra.

Fear

105. Your Sacral Chakra

Explore the flowing energy of the sacral chakra and of water, its associated element, when you get a chance to sit or lie in relaxation.  Close your eyes and visualize a stream flowing into a deep lake in your pelvis.  Feel the fluidity of this energy giving you the flexibility to respond creatively to situations and to see potential in others.

104. The Power of Water

"Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water.  Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it.  So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful." - Lao Tzu

103. Reveal Your Inner Vibrancy

"By cutting away sorrow, the brilliant light of the Self dawns." 

-Patanjali's Yoga Sutras

102. Start the Day SHINING

Cultivate Tejas, Sanskrit for "lustre" or "majesty", with Ujjayi, Sanskrit for Victorious Breath

101. Energy of the Day

Yoga teaches that there are three Gunas, or energy forces, that inhabit all matter.  Rajas is the active energy of the early part of the day, of spring and of youth.  This makes up a cycle with sattwa, balance, and tamas, inertia.  Think how you can benefit from the active force rajas today -- to pitch a new idea, for example, or simply to adopt a can-do attitude.

100. Golden Visualization

Lie on your back, breathe deeply and focus on your spine.  Bring your attention to the left side of your body and try to tune into how it's feeling.  Then do the same on the right side.  Does one side feel more depleted of energy than the other?  If so, visualize that side being bathed in glowing, gold energy for a few minutes, then open your eyes.

99. Chair Pose Vinyasa

For a quick boost before you begin working at a desk, crouch in Chair Pose, without the yoga block, and practice the following flowing movements.  Exhaling, reach your arms forward until you fold into a forward bend.  Inhaling sweep your arms up and sit back in Chair Pose.  Repeat 5 times flowing with your breath.

98. Utkatasana :: Chair Pose

Utkatasana This posture strengthens and enlivens the lower body so is useful in the morning if you have to spend much of the day sitting at a desk.  Place your feet hip-width apart and parallel, gripping a yoga block or thick book between your thighs to enliven the inner "seams" of your legs.  Bend your knees as if skiing, with your knees directly over your toes with the block still in place.  Swing your arms skyward and take 5-10 deep breaths, focusing your gaze on a fixed point in front of you, then relax into the asana/pose while being mindful of the neck.

97. Play Your Instrument

Yehudi Menuhin said of yoga, "Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony."  When you do asanas, think of your body as a harp and each movement as a note being played.  Let energy flow through your tuned strings.

96. Self-Knowledge Mudra

Jnana Mudra To start the day feeling engaged with the tasks ahead, sit with your spine straight and your hands on your knees, palms upward to receive.  Outstretch your fingers, like starfish.  Now curl the index fingers in to touch the tips of your thumbs.  Your index finger signifies your ego - the self that separates you from the universe - and your thumb the cosmic Self.  Imagine the small self melting into the greater Self, absorbing its wise energy.

95. Opposite Energies

When dressing, consider the yogic belief that the left side of your body signifies your intuitive, feminine energy and your right side logical, masculine qualities.  The Hindu god Prajapati embodied both polarities. 

Can you recognize both masculine and feminine qualities within yourself?

94. Inner Energy

"Yoga is not attained through the lotus posture and not by gazing at the tip of the nose.  Yoga ... is the identity of the psyche with the transcendental Self." - kula arnava tantra

75. Drop Anchor

As you stroll down the street/isle at Target/your hallway, picture your body as a ship drawing an anchor into port.  This brings your pelvis into a safe "neutral" position, neither tilted too far forward or arched too far back

74. Attach Skyhooks

Each time you step outside today, imagine a hook at your breast-bone lifts your heart within your rib-cage, and another at the crown of your head connects you to the sky.

73. Dual Focus

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads" - hdt

72. Taking Root to Fly

As well as grounding yourself at the start of the day, it's important to embody ground's opposing force, ascension.  To do this, stand with your feet hip-width apart and try to gain a sense of drawing up your thigh muscles and knee caps, while your pelvis (your center of gravity) stays firmly on top of your legs, like Stonehenge.  Relax your spine and lift your rib-cage up and out of your pelvis.  Feel how the experience of grounding and ascending simultaneously brings a sense of renewed energy.

71. Energy Visualization

The Sanskrit word kundala refers to the coil of a rope, and the term kundalini describes a coiled female serpent, a symbol of divine energy.  Sitting comfortably, close your eyes and visualize her lying coiled at the base of your spine, near mooladhara chakra, the ground energy center.  The aim of yoga practice is eventually (with a teacher's guidance) to rouse this symbolic sleep serpent so she rises up the spine, vitalizing the chakras.

70. Supportive Energy Lock

Bandha is Sanskrit for "gate" or "lock".  Moola Bandha, at the site of Mooladhara Chakra, around your pelvic floor, is the first of the three main energetic locks.  Applying this helps to set your inner foundations at the start of the day, stabilizing your body and providing a sense of unshake-ability on which to build your day's activities.  To do this, lift your pelvic floor without contracting your abdominal muscles, and hold as you inhale.  Exhale and release.  Repeat several times.

69. Alternate Nostril Breathing

Anuloma Viloma This calming technique stabilizes your energy levels at the start of the day by regulating the flow of energy through your body's main subtle energy channels.  Sit with your spine straight, resting your hands on your thighs, palms facing upward.  Take a few deep breaths to center yourself.  Inhale through both nostrils, then raise your left thumb to depress your left nostril.  Exhale slowly through your right nostril.  Relax your left hand and inhale though both nostrils.  Raise your right thumb and close your right nostril.  Exhale slowly through your left nostril, then relax your right hand and inhale through both nostrils.  Repeat up to 12 breaths (6 on each side), aiming to lengthen each exhalation until it becomes twice the length of the inhalation

68. Sink Into a Pure Heart

An Indian swami told the tale of a man who asked a yoga disciple, "where can I find a place to discipline myself to understand my spirit?"  The disciple replied, "That place lies in the pure and honest spirit where there is no false vanity."  Try to connect with this sense of honesty and integrity within yourself each morning to infuse your day with a sense of purity.

67. The Importance of Trust

"Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon, and to let hime know that you trust him." - btw

66. Partner Squat

Doing a trust exercise with your partner in the morning sets you up well encounters with other people later in the day.  Stand facing each other at arm's distance, then grasp each others wrists.  Take a deep breath in.  As you exhale, descend into a squat together, keeping your backs straight.  To return to standing, inhale in unison, then push up through your feet.

65. Solid Grounding

"The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground." - the buddha

64. Squatting

Stand with your feet hip-width apart, exhale and descend into a squat, dropping your pelvis between your heels as far as possible. This is a natural sitting position for many yogis and helps the feet to connect with the ground.

63. Earth Wisdom

"...speak in the earth, and it shall teach thee."

 -the book of jacob

 

62. Absorb Earth Energy

In a morning asana practice, imagine that your hands are suction cups in poses such as Cat Pose and Downward Dog Pose, drawing energy from the earth.

Look at these guys!  Up and down dog while soaking up the glorious sun with strong suction cup paws!

Happy 2013

Happy New Years Daily Mantra'ers!

May the universe fill your cup full of love, happiness, positivity, laughter, and a beautiful year ahead.

♥ Shanti

61. Hand Energy

Like your feet, your hands are the site of a minor chakra that gathers in and distributes energy - in this case, the energy that equips you to reach out to others. Activate it before leaving home by stretching your digits, playing an imaginary piano and circling your wrist first in one direction, then the other.