Mantra

During a private yoga class yesterday, I was teaching a student the Maha Mrityunjaya -- a chant to Shiva -- and was surprised at how much I love working with Mantras! I know it sounds funny to be surprised at remembering activities I enjoy, but I often forget things that I like to do.

Perhaps my mind is so filled with activities that need to be done, like errands, taxes, work, obligations, and so on, that it "crowds" out the fun. Or it could be my ego flavor (I occasionally "do 9" for those of you familiar with the Enneagram). Regardless of the reason for my forgetfulness, I was happily caught in a joyful activity yesterday. What a great feeling to accidentally slip into one of my favorite pass-times!!

There are numerous translations of the word Mantra. A common practice in Tantra (a spiritual tradition that sees true divine nature in everything and everyone), the Sanskrit word mantra comes from man-, from manas or mind, and tra-, to transcend or protect. So, the translation I prefer is that a mantra helps to protect us from our minds, or helps us to transcend the mind. As should be clear from the fact that my mind often forgets enjoyable activities, I definitely need protection from it!

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Speaking from the heart

Sat Nam is a Gurmukhi mantra used frequently in Kundalini Yoga (one of two styles of yoga that participants in this May's Earth, Water, Fire Yoga Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii will enjoy). It means "my identity is the truth" or "I am the truth." The mantra is traditionally repeated internally with each breath during Kundalini classes, and often chanted aloud with certain exercises or meditations. As a student in a Kundalini Yoga teacher training -- part of my 500-hour yoga teacher credential -- it seems as though I have chanted Sat Nam hundreds of thousands of times in the past three weeks.

So, I was reminded of Mansur al-Hallaj, the Persian Sufi mystic and poet, who was martyred in 922 CE for saying "Ana al-Haqq": which also means "I am the truth" or "I am God." He was killed for saying something that my entire teacher training group, and millions of Kundalini Yoga students worldwide chant daily. Yet, we all have certain beautiful expressions in our hearts that we stop ourselves from saying, for such small insignificant reasons. The next time I feel myself holding back something true and filled with love, I hope to remember al-Hallaj and that the worst thing that could happen to me from speaking truth is a bruised ego.

Compared to martyrdom, a bit of embarrassment doesn't seem so bad! Besides, my ego could always use more humility.

Sat Nam.

Love and the Heart Center

In sanskrit, the heart center is called 'Anahata' which means unstruck -- according to Swami Satyananda Saraswati (whose Kundalini Tantra is one of the textbooks for the Kundalini Teacher Training I'm currently attending in Sedona):

"This centre is known as such because of its relationship with the heart, which throbs, beats or vibrates to a constant unbroken rhythm. It is said in many of the scriptures that there is a sound which is non-physical and non-empirical, which is transcendental in nature, and this sound is endless and unbroken in the same way that the heart beats faithfully and continuously from before birth up until death."

One of my teachers, Shraddhasagar, often describes this "unstruck" vibration as being the only sound not made by two objects striking. Because it is born of true love, there is no need for friction to create this sound.

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