5 Calming Meditation-Mantras for Anxious Times
I am not good at mantras.
I don’t know what it is about those simple one or two-word meditations. It seems so easy: Breathe in, say a word. Breathe out, say another word. What could be simpler than that? I guess my brain balks at the simplicity because between the breaths, my mind still flits like a moth against a floodlight.
Here is what I have found works.
Instead of a one or two-word mantra, here are some short poems that I’ve committed to memory. I use these as my mantras, and since they are not technically mantras, I call them meditation-mantras.
Imam Jamal Rahman recently shared this explanation for why mantras work: If you are ever in the marketplace with an elephant, you will find that the elephant’s trunk explores every nook and cranny, grabbing at the first or shiniest thing it sees. However, if you put a stick into the elephant’s trunk, the trunk will curl around the stick and sway calmly as the elephant walks. The elephant will look less for curiosities in other places. A mantra functions the same way, in that it keeps the mind — which usually grasps at anything in its way — busy with the stick of very simple words or phrases. The top layer of the mind calms down, leaving the deeper layers of consciousness open and available for restoration and focus.
That is what meditating on these short poems does for me as I say them over and over, letting them wash over me; I sink into them in my mind and body, sinking into a calming peace. I do find that the very simple memorization helps me stay focused, as the act of recalling memorized phrases functions the same way as the stick in the elephant’s trunk.
Here are some meditation-mantras I wrote that help calm and soothe me — not just my mind, but also my body and spirit. I have long had a very close body/mind/spirit connection, and a long history of body pain and anxiety. For me, when anxiety kicks in, my body responds — whether it be inflammation, unexplained body pain, indigestion, clenched teeth, and the like. So these meditation-mantras are designed to incorporate and calm the body.
Ready? Here we go:
For this one, I love to say this one slowly, sinking into the imagery, exhaling at the end of every line:
Return to words that calm
over and over, quiet waves upon the shore
endless
soothing
For obvious reasons, sleep can be really difficult for many of us these days. Here is my middle-of-the-night meditation. I almost always caress myself as I say it, especially over tight areas of the body in the most loving way that I can. I imagine either me saying this to my inner self or a divine essence saying it to me:
Calm, calm, gentle I appear
softly I stroke your body now
lengthening muscles, breath slowing down
I am for you, yes
The following poem really slows me down when my mind is racing. One way I like to say it: To start, I take one mindful breath at the end of each line. When I feel myself deepening into the poem, I take two mindful breaths at the end of each line. If I feel it appropriate, I shift into three mindful breaths. I also focus on the feeling of the breath going into my throat, lungs, and body. It brings me back to myself. If I want to caress the throat, lungs, and body, I do.
Breathe
Breath caresses the throat
Breath caresses the lungs
Breath caresses the body
Breathe
Here is a meditation for loss, on what to do with that empty, burning hollowness. Again, I like to add a breath at the end of each line, possibly even more than one, experiencing what it feels like to have empty lungs, and then to have them fill again.
Befriend your loss
just as you befriend your empty lungs:
welcoming
calm
certain
Obviously, there is a lot to grieve these days, and to grieve deeply. This poem has helped me feel that the sadness has a place to go, a safe destination place, a place of caring and love. When I say this meditation, I imagine a divine essence saying it to me, me saying it to my inner self, or a loved one saying it as they hold me.
Come in your sadness, come to me
and I will caress you in your tears
I will run my fingers over your grief
I will press you into the curve of my heart
for you I will appear
there is nowhere I won’t be
If you like this type of memorization, feel free to expand your repertoire to include other short poems, haiku’s, quotations, anything that you like and that is doable. If you like these poems and meditations, my spiritual haiku website has more. Whatever you choose, the emphasis is on using the mind’s power of simple recall to keep the outer layers of the mind focused, the “elephant’s trunk” stilled.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep memorizing little poems and meditations, reciting them like mantras. I find that they slip into the little pockets of my heart, which I can whip out as I need. These practices might even be a stepping stone to a one-word mantra.
Maybe one day.
