Namaste everybody and welcome to In The Flow with Lori Albert.
So how many of you out there have anxiety about one thing or another?
Do you guys like ever get anxious?
So that's kind of where I have been the last day or so.
Okay um you know I always say I try I will try to bring my life to try to bring my life to this this gathering right.
So here we go.
I am anxious about something that's happening and you know we're all human.
You know the old adage Wayne Dyer used to say this all the time.
We are in Ram Dass.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
So okay so that kind of gets you off the hook right for feeling anxiety in a sense.
It kind of gets you off the hook because okay if we're having a human experience then anxiety is part of that right.
However here's the deal.
We need to find a way to overcome that because whenever we say we're having a human experience we want to have the best human experience that we can possibly have right.
So overcoming anxiety how do we do that?
What is the what is the the trick?
So obviously you know what I'm gonna say.
The first trick so to speak would be to meditate okay um but here's the thing it's more than I mean there is a lot of stuff that we can do to overcome anxiety right.
Once we recognize that we are anxious and because sometimes you're like you get into that rabbit hole and you start going down that that road you know and you don't realize that you're you're even anxious at all and then all of a sudden you're like oh my gosh I am so stressed and so anxious.
So obviously my go-to would be meditation to sort of combat that okay.
So number one you recognize that you were in the midst of an anxious and anxiety inducing situation right.
Once you recognize that that sort of takes off a layer of the of the stress to me it does anyway.
Once I realize oh I'm acting like this because I'm a little anxious you know kind of takes off one little it takes off one layer of that right.
So then the next thing obviously for me is meditation and you know I don't just meditate just to have just to oh it feels good right.
When I meditate and this is what I hope to convey to all of you guys is that it's about building new muscles basically new ways of dealing with things new ways of of being you know.
So when I say I'm anxious and then I decide I'm gonna go meditate it's not just okay I'm gonna sit quietly and you know there are like ways that that through meditation that we can use to combat that anxiety and get back to that place of power in our lives.
Because what does anxiety do?
It takes away your power don't you think or at least it does to me.
It takes away my power you know.
Anxiety is worrying about the future.
That's not living in the present like at all.
So we're gonna meditate on this today but I want to talk about the mantra that I'm going to that we're gonna use today okay.
And it's one that we've talked about and used before it's Om Mani Padme Hum.
Now this is a Tibetan Buddhist mantra that has been used forever right.
And it's soul I wouldn't say soul goal is to you know it one of the goals of using this is to bring ourselves down and to calm ourselves and to realize that we are all that we are just part of a larger thing right.
The Dalai Lama breaks this down in the most beautiful way and I want to read to you part of sort of a description that the Dalai Lama says about Om Mani Padme Hum okay.
So this is what the Dalai Lama says about this basically before I say that I should tell you that the meaning which you may or may not remember is behold the jewel in the Lotus or praise to the jewel in the Lotus okay.
Why the Lotus?
The Lotus flower and you know I love this is the Lotus flower grows out of the muck the mud right.
So it comes up and it goes to the top of the water in the mud and then it blooms and it's this amazingly beautiful beautiful flower and that's what we do we rise above the muck and we bloom into beautiful flowers and that's why this particular mantra is so great for like anxiety because the anxiety would be the muck right and we can rise above that right okay so anyway this is what the Dalai Lama one of the quotes that he has said about Om Mani Padme Hum.
Thus the six syllables Om Mani Padme Hum mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom you can transform your impure body speech and mind into the pure exalted body speech and mind of a Buddha.
So basically what he's saying there is that we start out down at the bottom we start out in the muck right and with a path using the practice of this path of meditation you can rise above that and transform yourself into the body the speech the mind of a Buddha.
Now obviously we are not specifically Buddhas right there's you know it takes quite a bit of enlightenment for that right but the reality is for us in our everyday world in our everyday life we can take this beautiful analogy meditate on it and know as we're meditating and as we're chanting on as we're chanting on Om Mani Padme Hum we know that we are rising above rising above the muck into that beautiful place of transformation.
Isn't that great?
I love that this is available to us right so let's get ourselves comfy because we are going to use this as our mantra today so get yourself comfortable and get your blanket or your pillow whatever you choose.
Gently allow your your eyes to float closed.
Let's take a nice deep breath in and release it already releasing some of that anxiety and stress that you're feeling if that's what it is today.
So again our mantra for today is Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
If you can say it with me out loud.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Very good.
That is our mantra for today.
So let's relax our bodies.
Let's do a quick scan starting at the top of our heads.
Relaxing our heads,
Our necks,
Our shoulders,
Our chest,
Arms.
Go all the way down your body just placing just a little bit of attention on every inch of your body just to relax it.
Your abdomen,
Your pelvis,
Your hips,
And all the way down your legs feeling that amazingly relaxing body,
Every muscle.
So again our mantra as we get as we sit in the stillness is Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
If you as you go on if you lose the mantra that's okay just come back to your breath.
Concentrate on your breathing going in and out.
I will keep the time and let's begin.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
Let's start bringing our awareness back to our body and the chair we're sitting in,
The room where we are.
Let's take a nice deep breath in as we say Om Mani Padme Hum one more time.
Om Mani Padme Hum.
And release.
Beautiful.
When you feel comfortable you can open your eyes.
Very good.
You guys did great.
So as you go out through your day or as you go through life and you find yourself feeling a little bit of anxiety or stress you can always come back to this and know that we are individuals we are humans rising out of the muck into our power into the beauty of the Lotus.
So thank you so much for joining today.
From my heart to yours,
Namaste everybody.
Thanks for joining.
