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When you have a mantra you can always calm down and concentrate

Mantras have been around for a long time and exist in many different cultures. The mantra definition is a sound or utterance that helps you focus, especially during meditation. But you can use the sounds or words as you would in prayers.

Have you ever heard anyone say Om? Ooommm, or something like it. The benefits of meditation are many, but you probably have experienced something like it in your own religion when you use prayers. You don’t have to be a buddhist to have a mantra and meditate. Meditation has its own aura but it’s not really so mysterious.

Even monks and nuns need their mantras

It may seem scary and unattainable to sit still even for a few minutes and concentrate on…nothing. Two ways that concentration is achieved is through breathing exercises and having a sacred utterance. Believe it or not, all prayers are a form of meditation. And they are sacred utterances. Your prayers focus your thinking and help you concentrate. Just like what you can get from this source. Your mantra can be anything. I like to say Sut Nam, which is Sanskrit for “truth is my essence.” But I also use regular prayers.

The wordย mantraย can be broken down into two parts: โ€œman,โ€ which means mind, and โ€œtra,โ€ which means transport or vehicle.

Chopra.com

Buddhism, Stoicism, and Taoism all teach adherents to repeatย particular chants or mantras to steady the mind. Only recently, though, have researchers begun to look into the power of this practice. A 2015 studyย publishedย in the journalย Brain Behaviorย described research in which participants were asked toย lie down, first with no instruction, and then, after a few minutes, with the instruction toย silently repeat a simple mantra to themselves. Throughoutย the test, their brain activity was observedย with a functional MRI machine.

While they were repeating the mantras, participants had a marked decrease in brain activity, in what neuroscientists call the default mode networkโ€”the part of the brain that is involved in planning and self-focused thinking. When they werenโ€™t repeating the mantra, however, participantsโ€™ default mode networkย had normal levels of activity. In laypersonโ€™s terms: repeating a mantra occupies the brain enough so that it doesnโ€™t get caught up in obsessing, planning, and wandering. This, the researchers write, accounts for a significant โ€œcalming effect.โ€

Here are some mantras of outdoor enthusiasts and sports people from Outside Outline:

โ€œCommit and Figure It Outโ€

โ€œThis was first said to me by Rick Ridgeway, and I believe Doug Tompkinsย said it to him at some point. It applies to everything.โ€ย โ€”Jimmy Chin, mountaineer and photographerย 

โ€œBe Goodโ€

โ€œThose are the words my dad wrote in his letters home from Vietnam.ย He died over there when I was three, so these words are really the only words I have from him as a father, but theyโ€™ve served me well. These words have guided me throughout my life.โ€ โ€”, mountain-bike and adventure racer

โ€œFocus, Focus, Focusโ€

โ€œI donโ€™t set out with a mantra in mind,ย they tend to come to me in the moment when I need them most. Last year [in Colorado], at Leadville, when my knee was feeling weak and unstableโ€”it was only about 80 percent recovered from surgeryโ€”it was as simple as repeating this,ย knowing every step could be my last if I let myself daydream.โ€ โ€”Rob Krar, ultramarathon runner

โ€œYouย Getย to Do Thisโ€

โ€œI come back to this mantra when Iโ€™m dealing with stress, especially prior to or following races.โ€ โ€”Amelia Boone, Spartan Raceย champion

โ€œMood Follows Actionโ€

โ€œApplicable in sport and life. Rather than waiting to โ€˜feel likeโ€™ย doing something, the surest way to shift out of your discomfort or resistance is to lean into action. Itโ€™s in the doing that we alter our perspective and emotional stateโ€”not the other way around.โ€ โ€”Rich Roll, ultra-endurance athlete and podcast host

โ€œYou Are Strong, You Are Capable, You Are Strong, You Are Capableโ€

โ€œI was struggling very badly at the beginning of myย 2018 Antarctica expedition,ย so I started to say this to myself first thing every morning as my alarm went off and I needed to face another long, icy day pulling my sled.ย Sometimes, with how much struggle I was going through, it was hard to believe my own words, but it got me out of bed and moving every morning.โ€ โ€”Colin Oโ€™Brady, adventure athlete and explorer

โ€œThis Too Shall Passโ€

โ€œI use it both in sport and in life when Iโ€™m hurting, as a reminder that the pain is temporary. Whether itโ€™s during a period of intentional overreaching in my training, an episode of depression, or feelings of anxiety when Iโ€™m in a crowded, confined space, itโ€™s a reminder that the uncomfortable feelings will fade away with time.โ€ โ€”Sarah True,ย Olympian and professional triathlete

โ€œDonโ€™t Wish It Awayโ€ย 

โ€œItโ€™s particularly powerful because some of my races can be 8-plusย hours, so you can just be wishing for it to be over from pure discomfort or, if youโ€™reย out front, from just wanting to win. But this is a bad headspace to be in. Youโ€™ve got beย inย the race, not in thoughts about wanting it to be over.โ€ โ€”Sonya Looney, mountain-bike racer

โ€œIt Means No Worries for the Rest of Your Days. Itโ€™s a Problem-Free Philosophy.โ€

โ€œIโ€™ve never had a real mantra, but occasionally I get snippets of songs stuck in my head on repeat. I can specifically remember having the refrain from โ€˜Hakuna Matataโ€™ย stuck in my head on a scary aid pitch once upon a time.โ€ โ€”Alex Honnold,ย climber


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