Daytime Meditations for Multitasking Mystics, Part 1 – Breath & Mantra
Oh the struggles of life in the modern age and all of its busy-ness. Seldom is there enough time to do the spiritual practices! In the ancient texts, there are great promises made about their benefits, but the benchmark is high…
Established on the highest Yoga she also stood upon one leg for eleven thousand years….I, therefore, grant thee the boon of immortality. — Mahabharata, Section LXXXIII
Gosh, immortality sounds cool, but what do we do if we can barely find 20 minutes a day to set aside for meditation? Answer: We can multitask! We can use the time while we’re going about our daily chores, to do spiritual practices.
This might sound suspicious — like a neurotic spiritual bypass — part of the “strive to be the best at everything” culture. But in truth, it is a very good step to learn to take our meditative awareness practice into our daily lives. It takes otherwise mundane time and makes it richer. It brings mindfulness to our thoughts and to what they normally do with us when we aren’t paying attention. It can powerfully transform our state of mind and body and create possibility and wonder where irritation and melancholy previously were looming.
Doing meditative work in your waking, working state brings about some additional considerations. You probably can’t close your eyes all day. It’s probably a bit rude to chant aloud while listening to your work colleague’s presentation. And extreme breath work while in the loo might attract undesired attention as well. So we need a few techniques, preferably ones that are bit more stealth.
In fact, some of them are techniques that only work in the context of going about daily life. They harness the stimulation of the outer world to invoke meditative and altered states of perception.
I’ve been quietly collecting and practicing these kind of things for years. It’s seems that I’ve collected so many that they won’t even fit into one reasonable-sized blog post! So I’ll break them down into 3 categories and do a post for each: Breath & Mantra, Body & Subtle Body Focus, and Reality Hacking Contemplations.
Don’t get overwhelmed. Just read through them and likely one or two will “jump” out at you. Then run with them. If you are like me, you’ll forget about them eventually, but then they’ll come back to you later, and you’ll have another go. It’s all good — all progress on the Great Work, whatever that might mean for you :)
1. Count your the number of breaths you take in a day
In the Tibetan text The Nirvanic Path: The Yoga of the Great Symbol, it describes a preliminary exercise called Dorje Recitation as follow:
While maintaining bodily and mental tranquillity, concentrate the mind upon each inhalation and exhalation of breath to the exclusion of all else. Count [inaudibly] from one and two up to twenty-one thousand six hundred breath-
ings. — Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrine, p125, translated by WY Evans-Wentz
That number 21,600, is supposed to be the number of breaths you naturally take in a day. It’s based on 15 per minute, 1 breath every 4 seconds. So the goal here is not to affect the breath but just watch it enough to count. Having done this one quite a bit, I’ll share with you a few tips…
First, we’re adapting this for non-monastery life, so don’t worry about the “to the exclusion of all else” part (though that’s a worthy technique to add to your sit-meditation practice).
Also, I advise not getting caught up in the final goal, but rather let the process be the goal. Allow yourself just enough results-oriented gamification to keep your mind interested. You probably aren’t going to get to 21,600 while working your day job or answering emails. No worries. When you get distracted and forget where you were, just reset and start the count again…or pick up from the last number you remember.
While it’s fairly easy to get to 100 or more while relaxing in a bath, it is exceedingly difficult to count your breath while engaging in conversation with people, working on the computer etc. In the modern world we are conditioned to have fractured consciousness, always flitting from one thing to the next. Such an intense reclaiming of focus is going to be harder work for you than for any monk before. Be kind to yourself…and proud. In the post-smartphone era, regrouping focus to a continual stream of awareness is nothing short of a revolutionary act.
2. Tuning Your Mind to a Seed Mantra
A seed mantra (or “beej” mantra if you want to flirt with your yoga teacher) is a simple, typically 1–3 syllable mantra that is designed to be “planted” into your mind, and maybe also linked to the breath. Some schools of meditation such as TM make a whole expensive palaver out of getting your own special, “unique,” seed mantra. I contend to you that the effectiveness of this approach is mostly in its attempt to convince you (by way of parting with $1k) of the value of those few syllables so you go away and work with it. So why don’t we save some money and micro-brainwashing and just get on board with the process itself?
This process is based on the fact that your mind does not know idle. It’s an engine always running, and the subtle background thoughts it spews out are likely not doing you any favours. The mind tends repeatedly to churn over our unresolved tensions and traumas. At the very least it consists of dispersed, “noise” thoughts, random interjections much like dialling the radio through different stations. In deeper states of meditation you can hear it, and it’s shocking how much meaningless dribble is in the subtle layers of the mind.
The point of a seed mantra is to hack that process, to consciously override it in order to tune it to something more specific, more focussed and more self-promoting.
There are as many seed/bij mantras as their are clever sounds that you can make (or hear with your inner voice). If a particular syllable or few you come across really catches your fancy then that is likely a good one to run with it. If you are stuck…
Ham-Sa (source: tantric tradition) — Inhale and hear haaaaam (rhymes with “bum”). Exhale hear saaaaaa (rhymes with “duh”).
Hari Om (Tat Sat) (source: vedas)
Or throw sacrilegious caution to the wind and just pluck out a few of these syllables. Your preference is your inner compass…
Lam, Vam, Ham, Ram, Yam, Ham, Aum
Kleem, Kreem, Hreem, Dham…
3. Breathe less than 8 breaths per minute, continuously
A teacher once told me that, in a pack of animals, the leader is the one with the slowest breath. I’m not sure whether this checks out with actual zoology but the image has stuck with me.
There’s no doubt however that the rate of our breathing is intimately linked to our psychological state. As mentioned above, average “autopilot” breathing is around 15 breaths per minute. That’s a 4 second breath, round trip. If we are excited, nervous, tense, or otherwise stimulated, this count per minute increases. If we are very calm, such as after meditation or relaxing after intense exercise, it will naturally be slower.
But this connection works both ways. We can alter the rate of our breath to affect our inner state of body-mind. And the lower we get, the more profound the impact. Certain esoteric traditions talk of a “minute breath” — as in 1 breath per minute. It’s doable but takes some work…
A good initial target for using throughout your day is 8 breaths per minute. This is fairly achievable: If you do 4 seconds inhale, 4 seconds exhale, it will give you 8 breaths in 64 seconds, which is just under 8 breaths per minute. Try a few rounds now…
A number of fine things happen when you reach this target. First, the very act of trying will most likely cause you to deepen your breath — more oxygen, more life force in the body. This translates to calm energy — a great combination to have!
Even more, when we stabalise ourselves at this rate for a few minutes, we pull ourselves out of the current of our emotional tides. We cease to be overcome by whatever feelings were governing our thoughts prior. Thus we can gain some important clarity and a sense of space, especially in times of stress. Try it now…I’ll wait…
4. Segmented Breathing
Ok. Moving on…As hinted at above, the breath is essentially an indirect access point for the normally uncontrollable processes of body and mind (known as the autonomic nervous system). We can’t tell our pulse to slow (unless you are this guy) but we can regulate our breath*.
And there are many ways in which we can regulate the breath in order to achieve certain effects. For instance, try this:
Exhale completely. Then inhale fully in 4 equal segments or “sniffs” about 1–2 sniffs per second. So after the first sniff, your lungs will be ¼ full; after the second sniff, ½ full; and so on. Exhale completely for a count of 4 but smoothly this time, no segments. Continue…
You can do this as you walk around, in sync with your foot steps (and optionally adding hand mudras). There is a whole practice that has been developed around this and that book is worth a skim, but really I think it needn’t be complicated. Here are some variations on the above…
Do the 4-segment sniffs on the exhale rather than the inhale. How does it feel different?
Do the 4-segments on both the inhale and exhale
Try those two variations but with 8 segments / count
Try 8 segments inhale, 4 count smooth exhale (energising)
Try 4 segments inhale, 8 count smooth exhale (calming, especially after a crisis)
Tips:
Before you delve too deeply into this, it is important that you establish diaphragmatic breathing*. If you feel light-headed at any point go back to long deep breathing. If you are pregnant, best avoid the sniffs. Long deep breathing for the future-mama.
Make the sniffs short and staccato with a distinct pause between them
The segments, initially, should be in a rhythm of 1 about every ½–1 second. But feel free to experiment with the length and the number of segments
When doing this while walking, you can implement with hand mudras as well (e.g. pressing the thumb into each fingertip in succession)
What’s the deal with those sniffs? From a Western anatomical perspective you are creating a rhythmic undulation of the blood pressure (through navel contraction) and the air in the nasal passage which stimulate the glands of the brain. From an Eastern perspective you are stimulating the Ida/Pingala subtle nerve channel pair that has endings in the tip of the nose as well as influencing the vayus (subtle air) of the navel, all with an aim of opening the Shushmuna (centre subtle channel) and raising the Kundalini. Enjoy!
*It’s important with any intense breathwork that you first establish diaphragmatic breathing: As you inhale, pull the breath down low into the abdomen, belly expanding, As you exhale, pull the belly in. Shoulders stay relaxed and down the whole time. If you are new to this, it may seem very contrary to how you used to breathing. Try it lying down with your hands on your belly. If in doubt, consult your meditation or yoga instructor for hands-on guidance.
5. Mantra Marathon
“Japa” means “to repeat” in Sanskrit. The practice of japa refers to repeating a mantra over and over, sometimes aiming for a certain number of repetitions over a given time frame — like 108,000 in 108 days! Regardless of your ambitions, doing a short intense japa session for 10–15 minutes while you walk from A to B or while you do the dishes can having a delightfully surprising consciousness-altering intensity.
Some say this is due to physiological effects such as the stimulation of the tongue on the nerves/meridians in the mouth and vibration of the brain glands. Others suggest a mystical reason why they work. Regardless, it’s worth a try and enforces a more focussed awareness. But don’t take my word for it…
A little internet search should help you find a mantra that resonates with you (don’t overthink it) but here are a few suggestions:
Om Gaum Ganapatiye Namaha
The classic Ganesh mantra is said to remove obstacles. Ganapati (Ganesh’s other name) literally means lord (pati) of the Gana who are fairy-like spirits who normally can cause mischief. Getting Ganesh on side means he keeps them straight for you :) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjwGhNVKkF4)
Om Namo Shivaya
The classic call of devotion to the God of Consciousness.
Om Kleem Kalika-Yei Namaha
…for those more inclined towards the fierce, ego-destroying, feminine demon-goddess archetype. I love that kleem sound.
Wah-Hey Guru
Simple and effective. It’s the ecstasy mantra 0wn3d by the Sikhs. Do it in 3 beats, with an optional 4th beat as a pause. Put a little breath pressure behind into the “hey”. “Guru” is one syllable: think “G’roo”. Be sure to trill the “r” slightly. The tongue flick does a lot of the work.
Hari Krishna Mantra
This is from the Upanishads. I’ve always found it particular tasty. So did George Harrison (see link above).
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
— Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad
That “Krsna” is “Krishna” but the “r” is what’s called a “semi-vowel” in sanskrit. Let it come from the back of your mouth, like your are taking a big bite of something crunchy. “Hare” is “Ha-RAY”, again a slight trill on the “r”
Om Hreem Kidkantaya Swaha
This one claims to give you the power to understand cats! Thank you internets!
Aoth, Abraoth, Basum Isak, Sabaoth, EEEE AAAH OOOH
If you want something with more of European / Gandalf esoteric flavour why not jailbreak this one from the opening line of the Headless Rite in the Greek Magical Papyri?
“Can we do that man??” There’s one way to find out! To be honest, I’ve was told by a yogi once that none of this Eastern stuff (yoga, pranayama, mantra) belongs outside of Vedic ritual. We’re pioneers despite what anyone tells you about lineage and timeless teachings.
English mantra?
And there is no need to ignore our own language…How about this snippet from Timothy Leary’s psychedelic prayers by Timothy Leary… (alt).
The law of Gravity…..Falling Free
Falling Free…..the root of lightness
Tips:
You can do them aloud (the voice of humans), as a whisper (the voice of lovers) or silently, in your head (the voice of the gods).
Try synchronising it with your walking.
Game-ify it. See if you can chalk up 108 reps while you complete some micro-task. Just remembering to count consistently is a mindfulness meditation in itself.
Don’t worry: You aren’t selling your soul. You aren’t abusing someone’s culture. You aren’t invoking evil spirits which will then possess you and destroy the universe. Well…even if you are, anything is better than a boring life isn’t it?
Bonus! Gym Meditations
The mantra/breath combo below is great when you are running, stair-climbing, hiking up a mountain, or any repetative rhythmic exercise.
As you inhale, mentally chant in 3 staccato beats…
Har, H’ray, H’ree
As you exhale, mentally or aloud chant…
Wah, Hay, G’roo
Try this breath. Each line corresponds to one line of the mantra (said silently, in your head, when inhaling — whispered or aloud or in your head when exhaling):
Inhale nose,
Exhale mouth (O-shaped),
Inhale mouth (O-shaped),
Exhale nose
Or this longer form:
Inhale/exhale nose
Inhale nose, exhale mouth
Inhale/exhale mouth
Inhale mouth, exhale nose
Remember to breath into your lower abdomen. Belly expands on inhale…
The focus and breath regulation will supercharge your exercise and turn it into a potent meditation. Be the master of your nervous system!
Stay Tuned…
Next time we’ll look at Body & Subtle Body Meditations. These involve sharpening sense awareness, visceralising energy flow in the body, and tracking the current state and balance of subtle energy centres…for fun and profit :) See you then…