Jameela's Blog

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Mantra (Chanting) meditation

The fourth and last type of meditation that I chose for my project was Mantra meditation. This does connect to Chakra meditation, the only difference is that Mantra Meditation is chanting a word out loud multiple times. It took me a while to find a video that I liked. I eventually picked a video, but it was 3 hours long, so I just did the beginning of the video for 5 minutes. Mantra meditation was my least favorite meditation. The whole time I was tense, and it was probably because I never did Mantra meditation before. I chose to chant OM because I heard the word many times on TV and in movies. 

I started by sitting on a yoga mat with a pillow and crossed my legs. My palms were on my knees and I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and tried to relax my body. I felt really tense before I even started. After I relaxed a little bit, I started the video and repeated OM with the instructor in the video while the music played.

During the whole 5 minutes I never felt completely relaxed. I was concentrating on the person saying OM in the video while also trying to breathe evenly. I did feel vibrations in my body and a little tension being released from my head. After I was done, I felt tired and wanted to take a nap. Overall, I did not feel relaxed compared to when I did the breathing, movement, and chakra meditations. This was probably because it was my first time chanting while meditating. Also, I was focused on saying OM at the same time as the instructor in the video. I think with more practice I could be more comfortable with Mantra mediation and benefit from it. I did research the meaning behind Mantra mediation and how it connects to concepts we learned in class.

I found that Chanting meditation is a part of daily rituals or during special events (Compton 118). Chants can last a long or short time and could be in an unknown language (118). Chanting mantra is also a part of the Hinduism and Buddhism cultures (verywellfit.com). Mantra is a phrase that is repeated over and over again and the goal is to achieve deep meditation (118). The phrase most people know for Mantra meditation is OM and in Hinduism it means the whole universe from beginning to end (119). See the image below for the symbol of OM.

Some other mantras are people repeating peace, love, names of Hindu Gods, and Buddhist bodhisattvas (East Psych 119). Bodhisattvas means a person that seeks an awakening (Britannica). A common Buddhism mantra is saying:

May I be filled with loving kindness.

May I be well.

May I be peaceful and at ease.

May I be happy.

This mantra is called a Loving-kindness mantra meant to give yourself love and kindness (119). People can also chant it to other people such as enemies to wish them happiness (119). This can lead to forgiveness of the past (119). 

In connection to class, Mantra meditation can be used for discipline and connecting to the overall universe (East chap 4 ppt.). Mantra meditation connects to Concentration meditation which is used to screen all other stimuli through mental discipline (ppt.). Chanting OM is like focusing on a candle during Concentration meditation. 

Concentration meditation can take training and people can fail at it because it can become boring (ppt.). This is what happened to me. I became bored and mentally could not focus on saying OM at the same time as in the video. 

With time and training I can learn to successfully do Mantra meditation.

Overall, Mantra meditation was the fourth and final type of meditation in my project in Cross-cultural Psychology. I did enjoy and learn many concepts that I never thought of before. Western culture is more focused on independence and  Eastern culture is more focused on interdependence. In the East, meditation is about taking care of yourself, but also for others. This is important to live a happy and fulfilling life. In connection to Hinduism and Buddhism, meditation can help to in achieving enlightenment and see the ultimate reality (East psych chap 2 ppt.). I do feel more relaxed when I meditate, and I hope to continue in the future. Life is suffering (Duhkha) and worrying about things does not help. By remaining calm and relaxed I can overcome challenges I will face in the future. My goal for this project was to achieve self-transcendence and I think by trying new meditation techniques I am on my way to achieve the ultimate reality and breaking free from the self.

I recommend everyone to try something new and connect with people from different cultures. By everyone uniting we can become stronger as a whole!

Compton, William C. Eastern Psychology: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. CreateSpace, 2012.

Dr. Muñoz Eastern Psychology Chapter 2 Wellbeing in Eastern Psychology PowerPoint slides 3/29/20

Dr. Muñoz Eastern Psychology Chapter 4 Meditation and Spiritual Practices in Eastern Psychology PowerPoint slides 4/13/20

https://youtu.be/SBiwLibZqfw

https://meditativemind.org/om-chanting-meditation-how-to-do-it/

https://www.verywellfit.com/the-meaning-of-om-3566806

https://www.britannica.com/topic/bodhisattva

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Chakra Meditation

The third type of meditation I chose for my project is Chakra meditation. I picked a 10-minute video on YouTube called “Chakra Balance Guided Meditation for Positive Energy. I found Chakra meditation to be strange in the beginning, but afterwards I felt relaxed. The purpose of Chakra meditation is to connect the mind and the soul through seven Chakras or energy centers which are a part of the Hindu culture (digital welt.com) (see gif below).

I sat down cross legged and closed my eyes. Then, I started to focus all my energy to the base of my spine which is called the Root Chakra. While focusing my energy, I breathed in and out and envisioned a red light. I repeated the same thing for the other six Chakras and envisioned different colors of energy to each area such as yellow and blue. For the Crown Chakra, I envisioned an indigo/purple light emitting energy from my head out into the universe (see gif below).

After I focused my energy to my Crown Chakra, I noticed that my mind was clear and open. This Chakra is the center of consciousness. The last thing I did was hug myself and then released my arms after a couple seconds. When I opened my eyes, I instantly felt more aware of my surroundings and relaxed. After I finished meditating, I found it to be connected to Eastern Psychology through states of consciousness and the ultimate reality.

When I was doing the Chakra meditation, I noticed that my thoughts were going in waves of consciousness and unconsciousness. For example, in the beginning, I noticed the sounds of cars outside and birds chirping, but later I did not hear anything from the environment and was focused on myself. Further into the meditation, I notice that I was unconsciously breathing in and out, but consciously focusing on my own thoughts. From a Western perspective, I constantly think of consciousness as being aware of my own thoughts and feelings (Chapter 1 ppt.). In the East, consciousness is broader and not as limited. I tried to think of other states of consciousness that I might not be able to experience through thoughts, feeling, and touch (ppt). When my eyes were closed, I felt like I was dreaming because I had to imagine different colors of energy radiating through my body. The energy felt powerful and peaceful (see gif below).

As I brought energy in, I could feel myself sending energy out into the universe. From the Eastern Psychology chapter 3, at this level of consciousness I should experience Samadhi which means I should become one with the universe (Compton 73). I did experience the interdependent relationship of myself and the universe working together as one, but if I repeat Chakra meditation over time, I should experience a Kundalini awakening (73). The Kundalini awakening is experienced when the energy from the Chakras are awakened and the physical body is transformed into a “diamond body” (73) (see gif below). This transformation means to recognize the illusion of ultimate reality. (indigointernational.org).

This ultimate reality is called Brahman (Chapter 2 ppt.). Brahman is a worldview of Hinduism that as you live your life, the goal is to unite with ultimate reality and become one with the universe and achieve enlightenment (ppt. lect). I also connected this to Avidya which means a type of ignorance which is connected to Maya that everyday reality is an illusion (ppt.). Bringing all these concepts together I must recognize that even though my goal with meditation is to reduce stress and anxiety, that I can end up in Maya and Avidya. By just doing meditation it will not lead to happiness. Meditation is not meant to control things. If it is it can create a fake reality and ignorance.This can stop me achieving my goal of self-transcendence in the long term. Meditation must come from within myself and how it connects to the universe. Through practice it is possible.

Overall, I liked Chakra meditation because it has to do with energy of the self and how it is related to the universe. Chakra meditation connects with Cross-Cultural Psychology because it uses the holistic perspective of Eastern wisdom. Eastern wisdom combines many components that make us human beings and our connection with the universe. With everything going on with the coronavirus, meditation proved to be helpful with the uncertain future. To add, I believe that the energy that we give off is reflected in the universe. By having a positive attitude, regardless of the circumstances, the universe can give positive energy back to us and we can achieve anything.  

Compton, William C. Eastern Psychology: Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism. CreateSpace, 2012.

Dr. Muñoz Eastern Psychology Chapter 1 Introduction to Eastern Psychology Cultures PowerPoint slides 3/26/20

Dr. Muñoz Eastern Psychology Chapter 2 Wellbeing in Eastern Psychology PowerPoint slides 3/29/20

10 Minute Chakra Balance Guided Meditation for Positive Energy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeGT1VXwfx4

https://indigointernational.org/the-diamond-body-and-the-secret-of-the-golden-flower/

https://www.digitalwelt.org/en/lifestyle/mind-body/what-is-chakra-meditation

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Movement Meditation

The second type of meditation I picked was movement meditation. I used a video on YouTube called Movement Medicine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enz98dDXQfY). The video was for fifteen minutes, and I did it in the evening. I did the movement meditation on the day I came back from spring break. It was a good idea to do it because it was Daylights Savings Time and I felt tired from losing an hour of sleep. Also, I had a 3-hour drive back to campus, so my whole body needed stretching. After I did the fifteen-minute movement mediation, I did feel more relaxed. What I found interesting was my thoughts during the meditation.

Compared to the breathing meditation I did a couple weeks ago, I noticed that instead of connecting my environment to my body, that I connected my body to my mind. For example, by doing the Cat pose (head down, back up) and Cow pose (head up, back down) it took me back to a time where I had to do physical therapy on my hips (see gif below). 

I had to do these stretches among others because my growth plates in my hips were growing in middle school which caused me discomfort. When I did these stretches, I was thinking of my fourteen-year-old self that just wanted to run and thought life was not fair. Eventually, I did get better and was able to go back to track in high school. By doing these stretches in the past and present it gave me relief from my back and hips. Another pose in the video I connected with was the child’s pose as shown below. 

I liked this pose as well because I was doing something with my body while trying to inhale and exhale deeply. It was difficult to do that especially while raising my head up and resting my chin on the mat. I felt my mind and body relax while doing this. During the meditation, I thought of how important the mind is to how the body reacts. 

How I saw movement mediation connecting to class is by self-efficacy. We defined self-efficacy as one’s own belief in one’s ability to produce a desired outcome (ppt. 2/23/20). The four things that can influence self-efficacy are previous success, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal. In particular, physiological arousal means how your body is affecting your belief in yourself. Even though this is less influential compared to the other three factors, it is important to pay attention to your body. The mind controls the body and if the mind is tired then the body is tired. I see the mind as being independent and the body as interdependent. To be able to have self-efficacy in anything that I do, I need to take care of both.

Yoga with Adriene Movement Medicine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enz98dDXQfY

Dr. Muñoz Clash! Chapter 6 States of Mind: U.S. Regional Cultures Powerpoint slides 2/23/20

Child’s pose https://www.prevention.com/fitness/a20506161/5-stretches-to-ease-your-lower-back-pain/

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Breathing Meditation

For my project I decided to practice different types of meditations throughout the semester. I picked meditation specifically because last semester I started doing yoga before going to bed. It has made me a more relaxed person, but I was interested in trying other types of meditation. The first type of meditation I tried for the semester was breathing meditation. I only did it for five minutes every other day, but I noticed that I felt different compared to doing yoga.

During the five minutes before going to bed, I got my yoga mat out, I sat or laid down and just focused on my breathing. I cleared all thoughts out of my mind, laid my hands on my stomach, and focused only on inhaling and exhaling. By doing this for two weeks, I did feel more relaxed but noticed differences between what I was feeling before, during, and after meditating.

Towards the end of the day, I’m usually stressed about all the things I have to do tomorrow. Around 9:50pm I stop working and plan to get up at 6am to finish anything I have to do. So, I sat or laid down and inhaled and exhaled. I tried my best to clear any thoughts about how my day was or any anticipation of tomorrow. When I did this, I noticed that I was more aware of how my surroundings impacted me.

To explain, the cross-cultural insight that I gained is seeing myself impacted by my environment. Chapter 1 of Clash! discusses the Taoism culture’s perspective of the self being interdependent with its surroundings (29). So, when I was clearing my mind of all my thoughts, I started to visualize my breathing as a wave crashing to the shore and going back to the ocean. In my mind I was a part of the ocean. I love swimming, so it made sense to picture my body in this way.

Some things I found interesting was that after breathing in and out for five minutes that I felt lighter and ready for sleep. My mind and body felt more relaxed. Also, the heater and refrigerator in my apartment sounded louder even though I know it did not change. I completely forgot about my stress and was more focused on the sounds in my apartment. Meditating felt like a mind and body connection to the outside world.    

My goal for this project is to not only be more aware of my thoughts but to also strive for self-transcendence. From class we talked about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and that the highest thing a human can reach is self-transcendence which means focusing more on your connection to others (Muñoz ppt. 1/27/2020). I would say I am a more independent person compared to an interdependent person, but I would like to achieve both. Being able to do things yourself but also have meaningful relationships with people and the environment is key for good mental health. Overall, I liked doing breathing meditation and I am excited to try other types in the near future!

Markus, Hazel Rose., and Alana Conner. Clash!: How to Thrive in a Multicultural World. Plume, 2014.

Dr. Muñoz Clash! Introduction and Chapter 1 powerpoint slides 1/27/2020