Japa Meditation - a short guide

Transcript

namaste everybody Adam here I wanted to do a short video today about japa meditation which is the recitation or repetition of mantra mantra repetition has been used in many different traditions for thousands of years from Hinduism to giantism Sikhism you even find it in practices like Christianity through the Rosary in in the yoga practice we generally use the mala beads which looks very much like a rosary actually it's consists of 108 beads and I won't go into the significance of the number 108 which you see very often coming up in yoga especially but it's very interesting if you want to look that up you can google that and in most mullahs you have one special bead which is called the MOT the the Guru bead the Guru bead has a tassel on it here and this represents one's teacher once one's guru you don't have to have a guru to do Java meditation it's simply to remind us of all the teachers that have been in our lives so in practicing mantra repetition we are creating an energy field through the recitation of these sacred words these this repetition gives the mind a point of focus so it helps us to get rid of all of the extraneous thoughts that are coming through the mind and 80% of our thoughts are pretty useless during the day so by giving the mind something to focus on we help to bring focus in general in the rest of our lives when we're repeating mantra that is in Sanskrit then it's a very powerful practice because the Sanskrit language itself has a particular vibration and frequency to it so by repeating the the sacred language we're creating a change within us at a very very deep level and there are millions of mantras probably there's a mantra for just about everything that can occur in life and this is what makes it so special to is anything that's going on in your life if you need a little support if you need a little help there is a mantra for that so perhaps you're having some really difficult times in life you're trying to break through some old patterns it feels like you're just not getting ahead and like your way is really blocked well the good mantra for that is Ganesha mantra for example om gam ganapataye namaha if you are looking for transformation if you're trying to step out of the old and into the new then the the Shiva om namashivaya is a good mantra so just find something that resonates with you what feels good for you and it doesn't have to be Sanskrit you can even say mantra with with English or German or whatever language you happen to speak but traditionally it's done in Sanskrit so when we use the mala beads there's a particular way that we do this generally we'll hold it in the right hand this is the counting hand and when you hold the mala beads when you start we're going to hold it between the forefinger are the between the middle finger and the thumb on the bead that is directly behind the Guru bead so we don't want to start with the Guru bead we start with the one of the beads that is behind the guru guru bead we hold it between the thumb and the middle finger and as we count we're supporting with the left hand and we're simply sliding it through the fingers so each bead represents one recitation recitation of the mantra so if I were saying own the moshav ayah for example I'd say on the mushy daya omen damashii paya on the mushy bio what's important is that the intention is there as well so set an intention prior to your practice before you sit down now once you've gone all the way around the the mala you've come all the way back to the beginning and you run into that groove that guru bead then you never cross over the Guru bead to continue once you get here you simply turn the mala around and you go back the other way so you never cross over the Guru bead the Guru is the teacher he is the one who's helping to support us so we don't want to cross him so in essence we're going back and forth like this along the mala now you can say one round of malas you can say as many as you want I've had sessions sometimes where I will do three four rounds and the energy that gets developed and created is very very powerful model repetition also helps us in in transformation now that these these this this energy that gets created and the change that happens on a very deep energetic level will help us in our path towards self-realization self transformation coming out of fear and getting into trust and love so I hope this helped you in your understanding a little bit of the month of the mala beads they're not just yogic jewelry they actually have a purpose as a matter of fact they should be treated with honor and with care and with respect so you should never put a mala on a place that you're sitting traditionally and you should not put them on the floor keep them in a bag at home or keep them I have a statue of a Ganesha and I keep it on the statue of Ganesha and just say a little prayer over your over your models before you start to just bless them before you start going so I hope this helped if you'd like to do some japa meditation with me then you can join me for one of my livestream classes you can find the link to those classes in my profile or my bio wherever you happen to be watching this so I wish you all the best until the next time be well be safe and stay in love namaste