What are Mantras and Affirmations?

Both of the terms mantra and affirmation are used to describe the use of a particular phrase or sentence that a person will repeat to themselves in order to bring the truthfulness of the phrase into fruition.

The word mantra can also be used to refer to the chanting of a Sanskrit sound that is used to aid the person chanting the sound in meditation.  The purpose, however, is the same.  The phrase being chanted will have a specific meaning that is important to the person using it.

So, how does it work?

If you don’t know anything about mantras and affirmations, you may be wondering what on earth the point is of repeating these phrases to yourself.  Many people believe that the repetition of these phrases speaks to your subconscious and this, in turn, makes you behave differently, thereby turning a phrase that was once a desire into fact.

As an example as to how this might work, let us take a typical scenario of a woman who is unhappy with her appearance.  We will call her Jane.

Jane feels overweight and unattractive.  She decides that her affirmation will be ‘I am thin and I am beautiful’.  She wakes up in the morning and it is the first thing she says to herself and she repeats it to herself several times a day.  

As this statement pounds into her subconscious, she finds herself becoming more confident as a result of feeling more beautiful.  This confidence affects how she behaves around people and as a result makes her more attractive to them.  Also, given that over-eating is very rarely down to hunger, Jane also finds herself needing to eat less for comfort as she is happier and so she can also see that she is losing weight.

The affirmation entering her subconscious has actually created a more attractive and slimmer version of Jane.

Is that all there is to it?

Well, possibly not.  For years we have had hippies, spiritualists and mystics talking about energy and how we’re all one and everything is just energy.  Now, it seems, science is beginning to agree.  People are now beginning to believe that there may be more to these words than previously thought.

Quantum science now shows us that all of physical reality is actually made up of vibrations of energy, and even physical atoms are nothing more than vortices of this spinning and vibrating energy.  So, everything is energy… Got that?

So, the theory is that as everything is energy, our thoughts and words are also energy, and that every time we say or think anything at all, on some level, it affects the physical world around us.  This, with practice allows us to manifest, not our desires as some might lead you to believe, but our beliefs, into reality.

That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?

Well, initially, to anyone with a healthy amount of skepticism, it’s not only extreme, it’s ridiculous.  On the other hand, the more research you might do, the more possible it seems, and once you begin to practice what you have learnt for yourself the benefits become apparent.

So, how exactly does it work?

Imagine this; the universe is a genie, but it doesn’t grant wishes, it grants truth.  The universe provides in your life whatever you know to be true, and that’s why affirmations and mantras are so perfect.

An affirmation, or a mantra, are not questions or requests, they are statements of truth.  When you make that statement you are telling the universe how things are.  Inevitably, the universe will find itself agreeing, because the universe can be pretty cool like that.

It may be that right now you are entirely doubting my sanity, but there has been numerous studies conducted regarding the power of words and thought that are pretty darn convincing.  One such study is Dr. Masaru Emoto’s study of the effect words have on water crystals. 

This guy photographed the microscopic water crystals of water after having different words spoken to them, written on the bottles and having different types of music played to them.  The results were mind blowing.

That’s not the only study that indicates words and thought have power either.  In 1993 in Washington a group of 4,000 people practised transcendental meditation with the intention of reducing crime in the city over a period of six weeks.  The result of this, at most, was a 23.3% drop in crime.  That’s a pretty hefty result, so much so that it led to researchers determining that if this practice continued it would lead to a long term drop in violent crime in the city.

So, whether you’re battling with your subconscious, or altering the universe with your thoughts, here are ten amazing mantras and affirmations that will help you to take control of your life.

1. I love and approve of myself.
   
2. Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu – Translated, this means ‘may all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom.’
   
3. I am the architect of my life.  I build its foundations and choose its contents.
   
4. My day begins and ends with gratitude and joy.
   
5. I radiate beauty, charm and grace.
   
6. Om – The sound of the universe, and when chanting it we are connecting ourselves to that frequency, and therefore making ourselves at one with the universe.  There are three syllables in this mantra, A-U-M, and it would be chanted as Awe – Oo – Mmm.
   
7. Today, I abandon my old habits, and take up new and more positive ones.
   
8. I am a creative being and an endless stream of new ideas.
   
9. I am self-reliant, creative and persistent in whatever I do.
   
10.  I love and accept myself for who I am.