Mantras and Blessings to Heal Your Mind
Mantras and blessings or prayers are great way to feed our minds healing, rejuvenative and inspiring energy. This is not the same as positive affirmations which can feel fake or invoke resistance if you don’t carry a belief that the statement is true. Mantras are statements that carry a vibration. You can perhaps even feel them when you say them. They may calm you, they may touch your heart, or allow you to feel strong. You can make them up or you can recite mantras and prayers that are passed down from spiritual or religious traditions. I like to recite them with my meditation practice daily. Mantras can be a great way to start and end the day. You can also use them when your mind feels troubled or stressed or when you feel emotional disturbances. I have found this to be a helpful practice too. So, when I notice myself anxious or if my mind seems to be in repetitive loops, I can pause and state a mantra to my mind or to a part of my body for a minute or so as I breathe deeply. You can even state a mantra over a part of your body that is experiencing pain. Think of mantras as healing touch in energetic form that can feed your mind and body with supportive energies!
Here are some of my favorite mantras:
“I am loving awareness” Ram Dass
“All is well”
“Lokah Somastah Sukino Bhavatu” May all beings be happy and free and may my words, thoughts and actions contribute to the happiness and freedom of myself and all other beings.
“May I be free from inner and outer harm and danger. May I be safe and protected. May I be free of mental suffering or distress. May I be happy. May I be free of physical pain and suffering. May I be healthy and strong. May I be able to live in this world happily, peacefully, joyfully, with ease.”
Here are some blessings for your day:
The Serenity Prayer
Walking in Beauty: Closing Prayer from the Navajo Way Blessing Ceremony
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body. I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me. I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me. I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk. Through the returning seasons, may I walk. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk. With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk. With beauty behind me may I walk. With beauty below me may I walk. With beauty above me may I walk. With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk. In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk. My words will be beautiful…
Four Directions Prayer
Creator, it is I. Thank you for today’s sunrise, for the breath and life within me, and for all of your creations. Creator, hear my prayer, and honor my prayer.
As the day begins with the rising sun, I ask, Spirit keeper of the East, Brother Eagle, Be with me. Fly high as you carry my prayers to the Creator. May I have eyes as sharp as yours, so I am able to see truth and hope on the path I have chosen. Guide my step and give me courage to walk the circle of my life with honesty and dignity.
Spirit keeper of the South, Wolf, Be with me. Help me to remember to love and feel compassion for all mankind. Help me to walk my path with joy and love for myself, for others, for the four legged, the winged ones, the plants and all creation upon Mother Earth. Show me it is right for me to make decisions with my heart, even if at times, my heart becomes hurt. Help me to grow and nurture my self worth in all ways.
Spirit Keeper of the West, Brown Bear, Be with me. Bring healing to the people I love and to myself. Bring into balance the physical, mental and spiritual, so I am able to know my place on this earth, in life and in death. Heal my body, heal my mind and bring light, joy and awareness to my spirit.
Spirit Keeper of the North, White Buffalo, Be with me. As each day passes, help me to surrender, with grace, the things of my youth. Help me to listen to the quiet, and find serenity and comfort in the silences as they become longer. Give me wisdom so I am able to make wise choices in all things which are put in front of me, And when time for my change of worlds has come, Let me go peacefully, without regrets, for the things I neglected to do as I walked along my path.
Mother Earth, Thank you for your beauty, And for all you have given me. Remind me never to take from you more then I need, and remind me to always give back more than I take.
- Vera Dery, 2002