If you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed and not sure how to cope, incorporating mantras or affirmations into your routine can be a helpful practice. Mantras are short phrases, words, or affirmations that someone repeats to themselves in the practice of mindfulness or meditation. Mantra meditations have been used for thousands of years, tracing back to Buddist and Hinduist traditions. While most traditional mantras may be in Sanskrit, the modern practice can be adapted to repeating a phrase, prayer, or affirmation to help with anxiety, depression, or other feelings. It’s important to choose something that fits with your own belief system, so that you can make the practice fit for you.
Mantras are short phrases, words, or affirmations that someone repeats to themselves in the practice of mindfulness or meditation.
Take for example a time when you felt anxious, overwhelmed, or angry about something and tried to tell yourself: “There’s nothing to worry about, you’re fine! Get over it, you’re going to be okay!”. However, trying to use logic to calm yourself down may actually have the opposite effect because the feeling part of our brain/body is what is feeling activated and needs help regulating, rather than the thinking brain. Rather than validating your feelings, using statements like these can be dismissive.
Instead, it can be helpful to try using a mantra to encourage yourself, such as “It’s okay to feel worried”, “Right now I feel overwhelmed, but this won’t last forever”, or “This is temporary”. Try repeating one of these phrases to yourself while you take some slow, deep breaths. This practice can make you feel validated and grounded, rather than dismissed.
By taking the time to validate our fears and concerns rather than dismiss them, we provide comfort to our nervous system that allows us to feel grounded and begin to calm down. Connecting to the feeling can also help us feel less alone or threatened, and the repetitive process of breathing and using a mantra can calm your body and mind.
Thank you for taking the time to read this summer mindfulness tip.
Sarah Watts, MS, LPC-Associate
Supervised by Mark E. Hundley, MEd, LPC-S
