Guided Meditation · Free Resources

Mantra Meditation

A sound to come back to, ten thousand times.

Some days the breath is too quiet to hold your attention. A mantra is louder. You repeat one sound, aloud and then silently, and the repetition wears a groove deep enough that the mind stops wandering off every few seconds.

Sit with Aparna

Audio Session

A guided mantra practice, spoken and then silent.

Aparna is recording this one. Until it arrives, the written practice below will carry you.

Recording coming soon

What it's for

A mantra is not a magic word, and you do not need to believe anything about it. It is a piece of sound repeated on purpose. The repetition occupies the part of the mind that generates commentary, which is the part that makes sitting hard.

Traditions have their own syllables and some people find those meaningful. A phrase in your own language works too, as long as it is short and you can say it without arguing with it. What matters is that you return to it every time you notice you have left.

How to practice

Ten to twenty minutes · seated

One sound, on repeat

Pick your sound before you sit down. Changing it halfway through becomes its own distraction.

  1. Choose something short: a traditional syllable, a single word, or a phrase of three or four words.
  2. Sit upright with your eyes closed. Take a few breaths without doing anything to them.
  3. Begin saying the mantra aloud, slowly, for the first minute or two.
  4. Let it drop to a whisper, then to silence, until you are only saying it inwardly.
  5. Match it loosely to the breath if that helps, but do not force the two to line up.
  6. When you notice the mantra has stopped and you are somewhere else, begin it again. That noticing is the practice.
  7. Stop deliberately. Sit in the quiet the repetition leaves behind for a full minute.

If this is more than a hard day

Lemon Dojo teaches meditation. It is not therapy, medical care, or a crisis service, and a practice is not the right tool for an emergency. If you are struggling to keep yourself safe, please reach a person today rather than a page.

Where to go next

I want to go deeper Back to the remedy Sound Meditation Listening as an anchor All free resources Every practice in one place