How Mantra Changed My Life

The slow and steady impact of mantra allowed me to tap into the practice deeply when I needed it the most.

I wish I could tell you I was somebody else before mantra came into my life. The truth is, I was lucky to grow up around it. It’s a part of my culture, and I’ve been listening to mantra since I was a little girl, when my mother introduced my brother and I to it.

Back then, I didn’t know its meaning or how powerful it was — it was just a part of our lives.

A Deepening Relationship

As I grew older, my relationship with mantra changed. It wasn’t just something that happened to me anymore; I was curious about mantra, and I wanted to understand it better. I studied the Sanskrit language and mantra in school. I became more and more intrigued by the impact of this crossroads of experience and knowledge on me.

It continued to weave in and out of my life more and more, so I started paying more and more attention to it.

The change that I’ve experienced because of mantra may not be dramatic. Still, it’s extremely impactful — the kind of impact that you only recognize once you look back rather than notice in some extreme aha moment.

I think that’s one of the remarkable things about mantra — it does deep work on you, but not in a flashy way. It’s slow, steady, and consistent.

Throughout my life, mantra was just the soundtrack, playing in the background, doing its steady vibrational work without me even realizing it. I may not have been chanting every day, but simply listening to mantra while driving or taking a shower created a steady shift in how I respond to the world and how I feel.

No Longer in the Background

While singing in Sanskrit was my passion, chanting mantra became a serious part of my life in 2020. When the pandemic began, I started to experience so many ups and downs. I needed something to anchor me, and it was then that I turned to my old ambient companion: mantra.

This practice I had taken for granted and experienced so casually suddenly became my lifeline to stability and serenity. Mantra was no longer in the background.

Many of my culture’s practices have supported me throughout the intense pandemic. Pranayama and meditation have helped reduce my anxiety. The thing about anxiety is that it will be there, especially when life is uncertain. We are human, after all. It’s how you choose to deal with it that matters.

When you can take a practice like meditation or mantra, and make it a consistent part of your life — a daily practice — you find that you have more resources and resilience within you than you could have imagined.

These days, all it takes is five minutes of chanting to create a deep sense of calm within me. I don’t ever let it become a chore; I always want mantra to be something that I cherish and choose to do because I love how it makes me feel.

Often, I practice two or three times a week, choosing mantras that reflect where I’m at in my life. They never cease to support me just the way I need them to.

Easy Does It

If you’re experiencing stress or are seeking a sense of stability in your life, mantra is an easy and gentle way to give your body, mind, and spirit a source of support. Sanskrit mantra is ancient — it’s one of the oldest languages in the world, and the vibrations it creates within and around you are real and impactful.

The amazing thing about mantra is the lack of pressure.

Try listening to mantra when you feel overwhelmed, or this course, The Power of Mantra Meditation by meditation teacher Sowmya Raoh to learn how to chant some of the most powerful mantras in existence.

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