After a month at Kripalu to assist in the yoga teacher training, I went to visit a good friend living on Plum Island, MA. Went for a walk on the beach and ended up sitting on a rock watching the rolling waves.
I thought about samskaras, which are conditioned mental habits. Samskaras are the conditioned ways we think, speak, and act. They determine our reactions.
I thought about how some samskaras are like patterns in the sand on the beach, easily washed away. But others are more hard-wired, like grooves in stone. The ocean, powerful symbol of the unconscious, can either increase these grooves or wash them away.
A resolve, or sankalpa, planted in the unconscious through practices like yoga nidra and mantra japa, can help remove these grooves so we can live more free of the reaction cycle.
I started chanting, first the Gayatri Mantra, a mantra for enlightenment, but after a pause switched to the Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, a mantra of healing and eradication of the fear of death. I recorded it for you. Feel free to use it in your yoga classes or for yourself.
I’ll post the recording shortly.