What is a mantra?
The word ‘mantra’ bares profound meaning in a Hindu and Buddhist spiritual sense, but when used for meditation it is used as a tool to replace incessant thinking. It is essentially words or sounds that are repeated to help focus the mind in meditation.
A study conducted by the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2015 tried to study the effects of a repetitively reciting a mantra on brain activity. The results of this study showed that silently repeating a mantra did quiet the part of our brain associated with intrinsic, self-related processes. The researchers explained that this could explain the calming nature of a mantra.
Mantras for more than meditation
A mantra can also serve you beyond your meditation. In Hinduism and Buddhism, a mantra is believed to aid in spiritual transcendence and induce an altered state of consciousness. They can also be used for psychic or spiritual purposes such as protecting one’s self from evil.
In the same way, you can use a mantra to help you find your focus or remember your purpose when you get overwhelmed with a negative experience or thought. This can be especially helpful with positive self-talk.
Self-talk like a best friend
Despite our best efforts to stay body positive, we will all have that inner-negative voice that pops up every once in a while.
How do we beat her?
By being our own best friend. And with a good mantra.
When you find yourself in a one-way conversation with your inner-negative voice, talk back like you would for your bestie. But for yourself!
Don’t allow yourself to say anything that you wouldn’t let your best friend say to herself. And whip out your self-love mantra!
Find a self-love mantra quote
This self-care Sunday, we’re urging you to find strong, beautiful words that feel true and will help you in a negative self-talk emergency.Put your bestie hat on and find a quote that will act as your mantra when you start to feel a little down on yourself.
It should be positive and simple, but most importantly you need to believe it. We’ve picked a few of our favourites to help you in your search.
Once you’ve found your self-love mantra, print it out, write it on your mirror, make it your wallpaper. Repeat, repeat, repeat until you believe the words are true!
What is Self-Care Sunday? It’s your weekly reminder to treat yourself, slow down and make sure you’re taking extra special care of number one. Because the first step to long-lasting weight loss is self-love!
Â
