Improving your Wellness with Mantram- by Ed Miller

As we age we develop and reinforce many unhealthy ways of thinking that inhibit our mental, emotional, social and spiritual health (e.g. worry, sadness, judgementalism and despair).  Choosing to alter these bad habits may be our most important task in life if we want holistic wellness.  It won’t work to just banish bad mental habits; they will continue to arise in your mind.  But when they do, you can choose to silently repeat a positive phrase with each breathing cycle.  This is called mantram (as opposed to mantra, which refers to the meditative practice of actually saying or chanting a phrase out loud).  The easiest mantram to start with is just repeating the numbers, “one, two, three, * four, five, six, seven.”  (The asterick designates where to start each exhalation.  Because the natural tendency during relaxed deep breathing is to spend a bit less time inhaling than exhaling, it’s recommended to have an extra syllable or two during each exhalation.)  The effect is similar to that from self-hypnosis; the more you tend to think a positive thought, while you’re in a  relaxed state, with slow, deep breathing, the more that post-hypnotic thought will tend to manifest itself.  It’s also analogous to ‘the power of positive thinking.’ 

For relaxation:  Minds are usually way too busy.  They multitask and flit from subject to subject.  To give your mind much-deserved mini vacations whenever you feel stressed out, try repeating your favorite mantram phrase 8 or 10 times (the more the better, of course).  Intense thinking too-often escalates to intense emotions like anger, anxiety and fear.  This not only wreaks havoc with your body’s physiology, it hurts your ability to see things clearly, and usually doesn’t actually help the problem. Try repeating the phrase, “I will chill * when I’m upset.”  If you’re a worrier or pessimistic, try, “I’ll have faith * things will be OK.”  If you tend to be impatient, try, “I will wait * with peace of mind.”  

For Social Wellness: Judgementalism, criticisms and self-centeredness . . .and stinginess with kind words and gestures are the big killers of our relationships.  The best solutions are more acceptance, appreciation and love of others—caring about their happiness, suffering, and health as much as your own.   For most relationships, especially intimate relationships, the master virtue is kindness.  When you catch yourself being judgmental of your spouse, try choosing to repeat the mantram, “I’ll be kind * to my dear wife/husband.”  If you are often not a good listener or want to improve your empathy, try “I’ll have peace * while hearing others.”

 For insomnia:  Do your reading, conversing and thinking about the past and future before you get into bed.  Then get into bed and choose to quiet your thoughts and replace them with imagining yourself in a safe, peaceful place.  If your mind tends to stay busy in bed, and you sometimes have insomnia, try using the mantram, “I will slow * my thoughts in bed.” 

For spiritual wellness:  Too often we lose our faith that the universe is evolving as it should, and we desperately want things to be different than they are.  Some keys to spiritual wellness are to choose to have more equanimity, acceptance, thankfulness and appreciation for the mysterious grace that keeps us all alive.  Because acceptance and gratefulness are key spiritual virtues in all religious traditions, a wonderful mantram to improve anyone’s spiritual wellness is, “I have much* to be grateful for.”  Mantram has been used in every religious tradition for centuries.  Buddhists, Hindus and mystics of all faiths might appreciate the phrase, “I am one * with all that is.”  Jews often repeat the phrase “Barukh attah * Adonai.”  A key moral principle for Muslims is “I will do * the will of God.”  Christians sometimes silently repeat the phrase, “Jesus loves me * this I know.”

For sexual wellness:  For many people, affectionate or erotic touching and making love are no longer as fantastic as they used to be.  And, sadly, many women lose their former ability to enjoy the ecstatic emotion of orgasm.  Even if the relationship isn’t perfect (are any?) sex can still be quite pleasurable, and is certainly one of the important factors in the health and wellness of most intimate relationships.  The key for most people is to quiet down the verbal thinking that tends to junk up our minds and keep us from focusing on the pleasurable sensations that are actually happening ‘in the now.’  During the affectionate touching that is foreplay, practice focusing on the sensations, instead of allowing a hectic verbal train of thought to distract you.  A mantram phrase that will help a lot, is “while having sex * I’ll stay in the now.”  This won’t always work, but, hey, every little bit helps!

 To lose weight:  The embarrassing epidemic of obesity is the now the number one preventable cause of death.  Part of the problem is we sit too much these days; we don’t burn enough calories.  But physical exercise is fun and good for you in many ways.  To help yourself motivate to get away from the couch and the computer chair, try “I will enjoy * exercise most days.”  The other part of the problem is eating too much food.  Instead of the recommended 3 small meals daily, we tend to nibble too often through the day, and eat a few more bites than we really need at each meal.  Instead of enjoying meals sitting down with friends and family, too often we eat when we’re in the car, or while standing, or when our minds are distracted with many problems.  One effective and enjoyable way to lose weight is to eat 3 small meals daily, and only while sitting down, and NO SECOND HELPINGS.  Before each meal, close your eyes and say a mantram 6 or 8 times, and then try to be present, in the now, as much as possible while you’re slowly savoring each bite of food.  This is called mindful eating.  Two phrases that will help: “I’ll feel full * with a small plate,” and “I’ll slowly enjoy * every bite of food.”

To tolerate labor:  Focusing on how bad your “pains” are makes your experience much worse.  Choosing to keep your mind on other things helps a lot.  Try focusing on your breathing, or the all-purpose mantram phrase, “1, 2, 3 * 4, 5, 6, 7”, or on a positive affirmation, “good, strong surges (or contractions) * bring us our boy/girl.”

To tolerate hot flashes:  To starve them of the negative energy that makes them bothersome, try, “I will accept * my skin getting hot.”

To improve athletic performance:  After learning the basics of a sport, a huge contributor to performance is one’s attitude.  You’re much more likely to succeed if you stay positive and keep your mind focused in the present, instead of distracted by thoughts about losing, or about the past and the future.  Try many repetitions daily of “I will play * my best each point.”  For each sport, you can make up your own mantram phrase, depending on the strategy you need to emphasize.  For instance, young tennis players too often try to hit the ball really hard, but need more consistency.  They will be helped by repeating “I will keep * the ball in play.”

 Unhealthy mental habits are hard to break, but it’s well worth the effort.  Think of yourself as a choreographer creating your own, beautiful mental dance.  We certainly can’t change the past.  And, when you think about it, choosing to wisely guide where our thoughts go next is about all we can do to change the future.  Instead of drifting powerlessly through life, try taking up the oars and choosing the direction you want to travel.  There are many different kinds of mind/body meditation and relaxation techniques that can all help your wellness.  Those that take a lot of time are well worth the effort (e.g. learning Tai Chi or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction).  But mantram happens to be a quick and easy technique that is readily available for everyone.  It can be used, instead of fretting, when in an elevator, while stopped at a red light, or while waiting in line or for your computer screen to refresh.  As the old Chinese maxim suggests, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.”  Perhaps you’ll try mantram right now?