International Day Of Yoga - 108 Mantra Practice

Guided mantra practice of So Ham mantra repeated 108 times as part of International Day of Yoga 2021. Significance of the power number 108. Visualising white light across the brain and mind into expansiveness. Connect into Divine Oneness.

Transcript

This is Living Lightly with Jenny Light. Yogic philosophy, Guided meditations and pranayamas. Please subscribe for all future podcasts. Welcome to today's session. Enjoy. Hello, I'm Jenny Light and welcome to your International Day of Yoga Celebration. This is the seventh annual celebration of yoga and I think this year in particular we celebrate yoga and how yoga has brought peace in a world that has seemed to become an alien place at times during the crisis of the pandemic. So we come into a celebration of that practice of yoga and today we are cementing that path of yoga as we move deeper in consciousness. So today's 108 challenge is a mantra challenge. We are using the mantra to help us to rise above the trials and difficulties of this world, To reconnect to our divine nature, To the great spirit that abides in eternity and to use that mantra to rise above the earthly consciousness and yoga scriptures tell us that we are untouched, That is your essential soul nature is untouched by anything that this world can present to it, To you. So we are learning today to move beyond into that great spirit by using the Soham mantra. The Soham mantra is a mantra which helps us to connect with that great spirit. So it means he I am. Soham he I am. So it's affirming that which you are as essentially spirit and ignoring that which you're not, That you are not the body, That you're not anything that is changeable. The breath comes, The breath goes, So you're not the breath. You're not the personality. Personality is what you are operating through for this incarnation and it's based on habits of many lifetimes. But as pure spirit you are nothing that is changeable. Moods come, Moods go, Therefore they are not you. And in this Soham mantra you are reconnecting with that which you are, He I am. I am spirit, He I am. The great Swami Adi Shankara had said that just by using the Soham mantra alone one can attain enlightenment. So that is how powerful it is and it reconnects us beyond the drama of this world stage. So today we're doing a 108 challenge. You might ask why 108? Well 108 is a great mystical and powerful number. In numerology it means spiritual completion. It means that the things that you needed to learn to become realized of your whole soul nature have been realized, Spiritual completion. And the ancient yogis believed that we can attune ourselves to the rhythms of creation by repeating sequences of postures or mantras, Repeating 108 times. For instance the sun salutation could be repeated 9 times of the 12 different postures for the sun salutation. Repeated 9 times would give you 108. 108 is, And this is where we bring maths into it, 108 is also the angles on a regular pentagon, The internal angles of a regular pentagon are 108 degrees. Fibonacci, The Italian mathematician, He noted that the ratio of 108 comes into nature for instance in the nautilus shell or in the relation of the earth to the moon. The distance between the earth and the moon is a ratio of 108. The distance between the earth and the sun is 108. The diameter of the earth is 108 times the diameter of the moon and so on. And if we come into yoga itself, Then in the yoga text it tells us that there are 72, 000 nadis or energy pathways in the astral body and these converge into chakras. There are slightly more than 108 chakras but the 108 chakras within the body that we need to concentrate on to work on, There's far more than just the main 7 chakras or rather 6 because the sahasra right above the head is not strictly speaking a chakra at all but to connect into awakening each one of these chakras, That is the role of yoga so that prana runs freely into the main channel in the spine in sushumna and thereby up into the great halo of light, The lotus of light above the head. And then if we think of the heart itself, The heart chakra is commonly seen to have 12 petals but there are 108 nadis, Energy pathways, Much like the nerves of the physical body, The astral body has these nadi pathways and they converge on the heart with only one exiting and moving upwards into the crown. So 108 is important in the whole of creation, It repeats and repeats and repeats that ratio and within the body, In the astral body, We also find that ratio. So this being a very sacred number, We are moving into our mantra practice where we use that powerful Soham mantra 108 times. I'm going to lead you in a meditative mantra practice and this is going to be where you repeat the mantra mentally, It's not something that is said to be said, It's using the number 108, Commonly malabeads are 108 beads so you could use that if you were counting this at home or you could use your fingers. So I mean there are different patterns that you can do to count 108. You think of the phalanges of the fingers, We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. 12 on one hand and then repeat that 9 times would give you 108. We're going to make a start on our mantra practice by taking a deep breath in, Allow the breath to enter into the body and then exiting, Allow the breath to exit, A big long exhalation, Letting all of the tension of the day flow out, Another deep breath in, Hold briefly and then letting the tension of the day flow away from the body, Imagine it's like water or mist and it's just flowing away from the body. One more time, Taking a deep breath in, Hold, Take the attention up onto the spiritual eye, The ajna chakra and then breathing out, Expelling the air and letting go of mental tension. Visualise that you have cleared a space in the centre of the brain or on the brow that you have created a space that is static free, You've pushed it all to the outside, It's no longer front and central in the brain. Like once more, Last time, Taking a deep breath in, Visualise white on the brow and breathing out that white ripples across the whole of the brain, All of the convolutions of the surface of the brain, Bringing calm. And then we're going to start our mantra practice. So I'm using the Malabeads to help to keep the count. If you're using your Malabeads, You're starting with the first beat and then moving onto the second one. So starting with the first one, Taking a deep breath in and your mental mantra is SOW, Saying it mentally and with your exhale, The mental mantra is HAM. That is one repetition. Next breath in, Mental mantra SOW, Exhale, Mental mantra HAM. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. I'd like you to keep visualising that white across the surface of the brain. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. This is repeated mentally. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. SOW on the inhale, White across the brain. Hold briefly, Breathing out HAM. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. Breathing in SOW, Breathing out HAM. Visualise or feel calmness across the brain or the front of the brow, Breathing in SOW is the mental mantra. Hold that calmness and breathing out mental mantra HAM. SOW on the inhale, HAM on the exhale. SOW, Hold, HAM. SOW on the inhale, Calmness, HAM on the exhale. Inhale, SOW as whiteness or calmness. Calmness across the brain or the brow, HAM on the exhale. SOW as you inhale, HAM as you exhale. SOW on the inhale, Hold briefly, Visualise whiteness, Calmness, Expansiveness, HAM on the exhale. SOW on the inhale, Expansiveness, HAM. SOW allow the mental reservations across the brain, The mind. Hold the quiet, HAM on the exhale. SOW, Hold, Exhale, HAM. SOW, Hold, SOW on the inhale, Allow the mental mantra to fill your consciousness, HAM on the exhale. SOW as you breathe in, HAM as you breathe out. Feel that your consciousness is expanding to the left, To the right, Behind the head, Not just in front. SOW on the inhale, HAM on the exhale. SOW on the inhale, HAM. SOW, Expansiveness, Moving and rippling waves in all directions, HAM on the exhale. SOW, HAM. SOW, Awareness, Awareness, Awareness, Awareness, SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Pull your mind into the mantra, SOW, Aligning with the inhale, Hold briefly in the quiet, HAM aligning with the exhale, Meaning he I am. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. I am not this little body, I am not this limited mind, I am he. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW with the inhale, Pause, Ride the wave of calm, HAM with the exhale, Expansiveness in all directions. SOW with the inhale, Riding the white wave of calm, HAM colouring white in all directions, Whiteness. SOW with the inhale, HAM with the exhale, SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Expansiveness in all directions. SOW as you breathe in, Hold briefly, Feel the expansiveness above and breathing out, HAM. Breathing in with the SOW mantra, Filling your consciousness, Feeling into the expansiveness behind. Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Filling into the expansiveness to the left of the body, Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Filling into the expansiveness on the right of the body, Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Filling into the expansiveness beneath the body, Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Filling into the expansiveness in front of the body, Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Filling into the expansiveness within the body, Breathing out, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Expansiveness in all directions, HAM. Breathing in, SOW, Dissolving the little body into expansiveness, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, Holding onto the quiet, Holding onto the quiet, Feeling into the quiet, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, SOW, Feeling into the quiet, SOW, HAM. Expanding with SOW, Feeling into that expansiveness with the HAM mantra. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. I am not the limited self, I am expansive spirit. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Using the mantra to rise above anything of earthly distraction. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, Feeling into the calm, HAM. SOW, Feeling into whiteness, Bellowing whiteness of calm, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Use the mantra to raise your consciousness above the earthly waves into that expansive ocean of spirit. SOW with the inhale, HAM with the exhale. Let the mantra be soothing on the nerves. Physical, Astral, Let that mantra rise your consciousness above the earthly waves to reconnect with the oceanic spirit. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Feeling into any modicum of calmness, Peacefulness, Any balm on the consciousness, Use the mantra to amplify that. SOW on the inhale, HAM with the exhale. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. I am oceanic spirit. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Feeling into the calmness. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. I am expansiveness. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Mentally filling your consciousness with the SOW mantra as the inhale rises and the HAM mantra as the exhale leaves the body. Feeling into the expansiveness. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Using the mantra to elevate your consciousness to become more calm, More peaceful, More expanded, To connect with your eternal self. Last few mantras. SOW on the inhale, HAM with the exhale. Amplify that connectedness with the mantra. He, I am. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Feeling into the expandedness of mind, Of awareness. SOW with the inhale, HAM with the exhale. SOW, HAM. SOW, HAM. Inhale, SOW. Hold the expanded calmness. HAM on the exhale. SOW as the inhale rises. Feeling to expandedness in all directions. HAM on the exhale. Inhale, SOW feeling into the expandedness within and without. HAM on the exhale. SOW as the body breathes in expandedness within and without, Without and within. HAM as the body breathes out. SOW, HAM. Last one. SOW, HAM. Feeling into the expandedness and how the ripples of the mantra are still rippling through your consciousness, Through eternity. The ripples of your mental mantras are still expanding. And after your 108 mantras, Your possibility is to just sit in that expanded space, To feel that connectedness, That great spirit is present in all directions within and without, Without and within. And to sit within the peace of that. HE I AM. And if you like, You can take this 108 challenge and make it your practice for the next 108 days. This peacefulness that you have garnered from this practice will only amplify. Blessings on your spiritual practice and on your spiritual elevation. Namaste.