So Hum - Mantra Meditation For Calm And Focus

Mantra-based meditation, sometimes called Vedic or Deep Meditation, can be a really useful technique for allowing the mind to work with an almost tangible anchor. "So Hum", meaning "I am That", is an ancient Sanskrit phrase that can be paired with the breath (or not) to create a harmonious object for our attention to rest upon and return to each time it wanders. You can of course pause the meditation mid-way to make it a little longer, should you want to spend a little more time working with this technique.

Transcript

Welcome to your meditation practice. We'll take a couple more moments just as we land here together to make sure that we're finding ourselves in a comfortable seat. That could be using the support of a chair, Maybe leaning against a wall if you're seated on the ground. You might be lying back in bed, Or maybe you're taking this meditation on a commute to work. Wherever you find yourself, It can be helpful to have the eyes closed to diminish the input from the sense of sight from that visual stimulus. If you prefer to keep the eyes open, That helps you feel centered, Calm, Relaxed. And maybe just softening the gaze a little, Allowing the eyes to shift from kind of a narrow focus to something more peripheral. We'll begin just by taking a couple of grounding breaths, Finding an inhalation all the way up, Filling the lungs and pausing at the very top there. And topping up just a little bit, Sipping in a little bit more air, And then letting it all out, Maybe through the mouth, Through the nose, But completely emptying the lungs. And we'll go again, Just inhaling, Filling up, Pausing at the top, Taking that little extra top up, And then again, Emptying out completely, Allowing the body just to find its own natural rhythm for the breath. And the technique we'll work with today is a mantra known as Soul Hump, Where I can pair wonderfully with the breath, But if for any reason you prefer to leave it untethered, Then know that you don't have to follow the breath. So you try to begin with, And then let it drop away as you see fit. And with the next inhalation, Just silently reciting to yourself the sound SO. And with the exhalation, The sound HUM. And find that we've lost the mantra, And that moment of noticing just gently returning, Coming back to SO on the breath in. And as many times as the mind wanders, Many times as we fall away from the practice, That many times we simply begin again, Returning as often as needed to a gentle layering of the phrase over the breath. And you might choose to keep working with the mantra tethered to the breath, Or maybe slowly you let it gently separate. And just repeating it at any rhythm, Any pace that feels right for you. And you might choose for these last couple of minutes to either continue working with the mantra tethered or untethered to the breath, Or maybe you let the mantra itself drop away, And simply rest back into being. Gradually from wherever the mind might have drifted, Just gathering your attention back into the body. And you might focus again on the breath, Maybe you find some little movements through fingers and toes. And gradually drawing the meditation to a close. And have a beautiful rest of your day.