19: Meditation Practice with a Sacred Mantra

Transcript

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You didn't come here to simply survive. You came here to thrive. To reconnect and to remember who you truly are. Welcome to the Return to Her podcast, where we uncover the knowledge that empowers us and discover the wisdom that's always been inside! Here, we blend spiritual insights modern psychology, and embodied wellness practices to help us realign all aspects of our being, body, mind, and soul. This is where science meets spirituality and true wellness becomes our way of life. I'm Cassie Dalton, yoga teacher, energy worker, holistic coach, and intuitive guide. While I'm still walking my own wellness and spiritual path, my mission now is to walk beside you as you return home to your most authentic and empowered self. Now is the time to return to her. The content shared in this podcast is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult a qualified professional for any personal health or wellness concerns. Now let's dive in to today's episode. Hello again, everyone. Welcome back in to the Return to Her podcast. I am so excited to talk to you guys this week. Actually, I'm gonna take that back. Um, so the word excited doesn't. Doesn't really fit, if I'm being honest. Today's been one of those really low energy days that it's, it's been really hard for me to get motivated to do anything, and I feel like all day today, uh, it's, it's. Mid-afternoon at this point. But all day today I've just been thinking, ah, I've gotta get some work done. I need to work on my blog. I need to work on my website. Oh my gosh, I've gotta record an episode because I need to get it out for tomorrow. And the more I think about all the things that I need to do, the less energy that I had, the less drive that I had to do anything. And I think it's just because I'm in one of those places. I don't know, maybe energetically, uh, I've been putting a lot out there. That's just I need to give myself time to balance, and I need to give myself time to rest and be away from people and be away from things that need doing, and instead just allow myself to be, I. So I've done that pretty much all day today. And finally this, at this point, it's 4:21 PM Saturday afternoon when I like to have my, my podcast published every Sunday at 12:00 AM Uh, at this point I finally was able to get out to my building and turn the computer on and, and get started. so I am. Grateful that I have the opportunity to sit with you guys this week to share from my heart what feels like needs to be shared. Last week, I was inspired to talk about the things that we can do to help cultivate a deeper relationship with our soul, with our ourself, with our source. Our divine source, and the first thing that I wrote down on my list was meditation. And since a few of you have told me that you want more information on meditation because you realize how important it is, but you don't really quite know how to practice it for yourself, I wanted to go through some of my experience with meditation and give you a taste of how I practice it. Some ways that maybe you can make meditation part of your own journey. But you don't have to do it the same way I do. I am speaking from my own experience, but as a way of giving you a starting point, not as, um, a formula that you necessarily have to do. I'm also gonna give you, give you one of the most powerful mantras that I know. There are several that I know that, that are super, super powerful actually, because I do practice, um, Shakti channels, but. The simplest and the one that doesn't require any initiation. Uh, I'll give you one of those and lead you through a meditation with it at the end of this episode. But first, I really loved. Last week, and I've done this another time, I really love drawing Oracle cards for myself. They give me a little bit of insight and guidance into what I might wanna focus on that day, or just to kind of see where I'm at and to see in a card. Those beautiful things being reflected back to me. Uh, and I love it. I love any opportunity actually to delve into the magical, mystical, whatever you wanna call it. I've experienced firsthand actually that there are layers of creation that we can't see with our physical eyes. We can't comprehend with our human mind. And like many of you know, when you heard my origin story in episode two. I for a very long time, did believe in God. I believed in the divine, but after my first energy healing experience, my first Reiki session, I had some things happen in that session that let me know for sure 100% without any doubt in my mind ever again for the rest of my life, that God is absolutely real. That Angels are real, divine. Souls are real, and miracles are happening around us, to us, through us all the time. We just don't always recognize it until we do, which is why energy work, to me, Reiki and other types of energy work is so, so important to, I think, for people who wanna feel more connected to the divine, to their souls because it cuts through the illusion in a way that. In a way that we need, honestly, it, it parts the veil, so to say. Um, and, and lets us delve into that. Unseen aspect of creation. But anyway, I digress. The point that I was trying to make before I started daydreaming about all the magic of reiki and energy healing is that I have always known that I was deeply empath, empathic. Yeah, that's the right word. Um, intuitive also. But over the past few years, I know I've seen, I've watched, and almost it feels like day by day, my gifts have gotten so much stronger and. I love these Oracle card decks that I, that I have, that I use, that I use with my clients sometimes because I believe that spirit is always communicating with us. And these fun little card decks are one way that I've found that spirit can speak when we allow it to, and at least to me in my experience, and even if it's just wishful thinking or my imagination, I'm okay with that because anything that I can do or use to help me tap more into my intuitive side, to help me part that veil temporarily to help me feel more connected to magic to. To, to God, why wouldn't I do that and chances are if you are still with me on this podcast journey that I started by saying that we were gonna talk about modern wellness and, and there are a lot of episodes to come that are gonna be really related to, wellness as well as the spirituality. But I feel like these last few episodes have really been a deep dive for me, into more of my spiritual. Side that I was expecting to share. if you're still listening to this podcast with me though, chances are I'm really just speaking to the choir here, because you feel. That way too. You like to experience those little moments of magic just like I do because they remind you that everything is connected, everything is God. So I wanted to start today with another pool from one of my new card decks. This one is one that I got maybe a couple of months ago, and I've only used it a couple of times, but I absolutely love it. It's so beautiful. The messages have for me been spot on and this one is called the Star Seed, Oracle. Let me see who it's by. Uh, Rebecca Campbell is the name of the, the person who created these, if you wanted to look that up. So the star seeded Oracle deck. By Rebecca Campbell and I just get these on Amazon. Um, but of course bookstores and. I don't know, metaphysical shops, wherever, whatever you like, whatever you're into. but gimme just a moment to draw a card and then I'll read what the message is and just see if the message resonates for. Any of us that are listening, myself included. When I'm pulling these cards, don't have any pressure or expectation on the outcome, just invite joy in, be open to receive whatever's meant for you. And, and maybe it's something that is just like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I needed to hear today. Maybe it's something that. Is planting a seed for something that's gonna come up later. Maybe it doesn't apply to you at all, but it's still just fun to, to tell the universe that we are willing to listen to the messages that it has for us. So gimme just a moment. All right. I think I have, I think I have our card and I'm looking at the picture right now. Um, I. Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. The colors are like this pink and rose gold. It's very cosmic. Uh, stars. Roses. A beautiful woman with her eyes closed. It looks like she might be in meditation. It's funny since we're gonna be talking about meditation today. All right, so this one is called The Cosmic Heart and the little subtitle below it. Devotion, potency, make Your Life a Moving Prayer. So with this beautiful card deck, actually, it comes with a little book to give you a little bit more about the particular card that you drew. So give me a moment to get that open. Okay. The cosmic heart devotion, potency, make your life a moving prayer. When you surrender to a state of devotion, you find yourself flowing with all of life. You're being called to refocus your attention deep within to the intelligence of your own heart, to bow with deep reverence to your inner temple, to live your life in devotion to this place, to make your life one big moving prayer. Perhaps you felt a bit off kilter lately, sensing that the potency of why you're doing things has gotten a little watered down or weak. Perhaps you've forgotten what made you start doing them in the first place. If so, this is your call to take a moment and reconnect with the truth at the very center of your heart to get back to the essence of what you're about, to devote your life to what you care most about. To turn your gaze deep, deep, deep. There are seasons for harvesting and seasons for sewing. Right now you are being called to plant your soul's seeds and sing to them with deep devotion to feed them with the sweet waters of your own soul to lose yourself. And the potency of what is that most expands your heart to live your life according to what makes you come alive rather than what everyone else thinks to make your life one big moving prayer. So how can you make your life a moving prayer? And I really love that, honestly, because I feel like in my own life it has become a moving prayer. Every time that I teach yoga, for example, I ask the Divine to move through me, to speak through me, to let this be in service of others. And by doing that, it is like a prayer in its own way. Um, this podcast perhaps could be a moving prayer. So think about how that might apply to your own life. If. If, if that inspires or if it resonates. All right. So now that we did that, that was really fun. I really enjoy that. So thank you guys for, for coming along on that ride with me. getting back to the episode, what we were going to talk about is meditation and I wasn't always a meditator. I've been in the yoga world for quite a while now, and meditation is part of the, the eight limbs of yoga. But it really wasn't what I focused on. I'd taken a lot of workshops also during my yoga teacher training. They included mindfulness, mudras, meditations. I learned a whole lot. I practiced a whole lot of different types, but I never did it consistently. I never had my own consistent practice until 2020. And this was before the COVID shutdowns. This was right before. The pandemic swept through and changed everyone's life. But when I went to India in January of 2020 and I met my now teacher, Rama Krishna, and remember I wasn't searching for a teacher, it just, it happened that way. And, I learned through him, there were a lot of teachings from his gurus, s Kali or Swami we sometimes refer to, and I say his guru only because I feel like that word, I don't know the word guru, um, has become a little, I don't know how to say this, maybe bastardized or tainted. Um, there's a lot of faults like gurus and it's very, um, used. With a cult mentality. And if I'm being honest with you all, I do feel that Sri Kali or Swami is also my guru. Uh, he's the main branch of the knowledge that I study, and he is a divine soul who I feel strongly connected to and always has my back. And I didn't learn about him, who he is, who he was, except through Rama Krishna, my actual. And the flesh teacher. So Swami Kawa is no longer in the world as a human being. He's now a soul. but I still feel very strongly connected with him. Just like many of you feel very strongly connected to Jesus, her mother Mary. As do I actually. I didn't wanna be dishonest though when I said that Rama Christian is guru. Um, he's also my guru, so. There's that. And speaking of word choice, I also just wanted to address the use of the word teacher. that's what guru actually means. there's a, a guru, there's sod guru, different, different distinctions. I think that I will do an episode about that because I think it's fascinating. But teacher is the main point here. And, I've mentioned a lot of teachers in previous episodes. You might not have realized that though, because I say my teacher this, or my teacher said that, actually I have so many teachers that I don't normally say their names in the episodes, but they span all different branches, so, you know, I have a reiki master who I consider my teacher, and she was my first yoga teacher as well. I have my current yoga teacher who I went through yoga teacher training with and still am inspired by and do workshops with. I have my Ayurvedic teacher, that I spent a year with, working through different principles of Ayurveda and applying it through the four Seasons. so we've got a lot of teachers. And hopefully that doesn't get confusing when I say my teacher, this and that. I'm not just talking about one person necessarily every time, but through my teacher, Rama Krishna, the one that I met in India and the one that connected me with Swami Kaliua, I learned how to meditate, like I said last week, using mantra repetition. We call that Joppa. And I learned dozens of Sanskrit and tego mantras that Cherri Kali taught from ancient palm leaf and Vedic knowledge. Some are very long, some are very short, all very powerful and with different intentions behind them. And working with Rama Krishna privately and in group settings, I finally became a consistent meditator. And I think since the beginning of 2020, I can count on only one hand the number of days that I've gone without meditating. There are so many parts of my journey that have led me to where I am right now. So many parts that are integral but daily meditation that has been the container. For my growth, my journey, my, my evolution, my intuitive and spiritual gifts opening up more and more every day. The magic that I see and feel in life. The healing energy that, comes through me when I'm working with, clients, even as I'm doing these podcasts, I know this energy is coming through for those that are listening. So. Meditation is kind of a big deal in my life. And there are so many ways to meditate. And honestly, I do practice several different styles of meditation. So Joppa or mantra, repetition. It isn't the only type of medication, medication, meditation, but that is what has worked for me the most powerfully, the most co consistently, because the mantras that I use are bijas or seed syllables. As well as powerful high vibration words and names that connect with different aspects of divine consciousness. And the thing that I love most about this type of meditation is that you can use these mantras. Regardless of your religious beliefs, because they are vibrational formulas and codes, you don't have to be a Hindu or Buddhist to draw divine energy from them. I think of it like our bodies are radios. Or antenna basically. And divine energy is all around us all the time, but we can't necessarily perceive it because we are not tuned into it. Just like you can't physically hear all the sound waves of the radio stations that are broadcasting in your geographical area. But the moment you turn your radio on and it's tuned into one of those stations, tuned into one of those frequencies, then you can hear it. But that doesn't mean that the music isn't all around you already, just because you haven't turned the radio on yet. It's always there. So these mantras, especially these Sanskrit mantras that are ancient, are basically the different songs, the different channels that are playing. Through the radio when we, the radio tunes to them. Whichever it is that we're focusing on whatever particular formula or, or mantra, by chanting and repeating that mantra over and over and over again, you become more tuned into that divine energy that's coded into the mantra and you get just, in my opinion, a little bit more connected to the divine. I hope that this is making some, some sort of sense to you guys. if you've never done this style of, of meditation I just wanted to, to tell you that because that's why, at least in my experience, the meditation that we're gonna do today can be really powerful. And like I said, it's not the only way. you can sit in silence and not repeat a single mantra. And eventually you're still going to tap into cosmic divine energy because the mind has started to settle down and cosmic energy is all around us. It's within us, we are that. So the more we quiet that thinking mind down, the more we're able to feel that. But for me, it's just this mantra. Repetition gets you there a little bit faster. So that's all I was saying with that. And because there are so many mantras to choose from, if you wanted to try this style of meditation after this episode is over, I encourage you to explore, to research or you can even book a session with me. I can teach what I know in a deeper, in a more individualized way than I can do for a general audience. But today. We'll just focus on right now. I wanted to give you all this powerful mantra to start with. I'm gonna go over the mantra, why it's powerful, and then we'll do a little meditation practice with it. Alright, so the mantra is Om shiva. Now, if you've ever heard this mantra and thought, oh, that sounds really beautiful, but I have no idea what it means, or you might have a little familiarity with Hinduism, and you know that Shiva is a form of the deity, uh, it's a deity. What am I trying to say? That Shiva is considered a God in Hindu mythology. Uh, and that might feel a little like, eh, especially if you practice another religion then this might feel like not a good mantra for you, however, let me just explain it this way. This is a mantra that has been whispered, chanted, meditated on for thousands and thousands of years since written history. But its depth is not about. A specific religion. It's not about dogma, it is about energy, pure and simple. Um, it is alignment with cosmic source energy in the form of what we refer to as Shiva consciousness silence. So let's break it down. Om nama Shiva. It is called a pen Shari mantra, which just means it has five syllables. And those syllables are na ma. She. VA. Yeah. And typically with every mantra that you repeat in the style of meditation that I'm talking about, you would start it with om. It's just a way of saying like, Hey, God, I'm here om. And then you go into the mantra. So the mantra itself is Nama Shiva each one is a bija or a seed sound. And each seed activates one of the five elements of nature. So the way that my teacher taught it, and this is actually different than. The way that the Vedas will teach it because remember my teacher, Sri Kawa, in this, in this instance, uh, he was studying the ancient Palm leaf knowledge, and that's a little bit different than the Vedas. Uh, a lot of his teachings also refer to Vedic. Teachings that predated Hinduism. So there's a lot of overlap, I just wanted to say, you might encounter it with different meanings for each of these little seed sounds. So I just wanted to say this is how my teacher taught it. So that's what I'm teaching. So to go back to it, nama shiva, so the, the syllable na. That connects you to Earth. So not is the earth element. Your roots, your grounding, your physical being, right, and then ma, that is fire. So this is your willpower, your transformation, your inner light, your inner power. She that is referring to Sky or other people refer to this as Ether Space or Ether, but my teacher referred to it. As sky. So this is that vast field of pure potentiality of spirit. So it's not like you look out at the clouds in that sky. I mean it is, but we're referring to a deeper level there. So space or ether. Then the next syllable VA that is referring to water. So your flow, your emotions, your adaptability, the cleansing, purifying power of water. And then finally the last syllable ya that is referring to air. So you might think of it, not just the air that flows through, but your breath, your movement, the sense of freedom. So this powerful mantra is meant to help you purify and tune to all the five elements that are in the natural world, and that comprise you as well. So you're getting those purified, you're getting them, getting them cleansed, and that's helping your soul energy rise up. When you repeat these syllables either out loud or silently, you're not just saying these really pretty words in a nice melodic way. You are literally, at least the way that my teacher teaches it. You're realigning yourself with those five elements, the very fabric of our physical existence in this creation. You are harmonizing your energy. With the natural world, and in doing that, you create this kind of sacred resonance in your system. So Shri Kwe taught that by repeating this mantra, it's one of the most direct ways to strengthen your soul energy and to connect with that pure consciousness that is often referred to as Shiva, what we might think of as this formless intelligence. Or cosmic stillness, the divine silence behind everything. When you chant, oh, nama, Shiva, you are not calling to something outside yourself. You're actually waking up to the presence within you. You're coming back to your source from. Within not looking outside to find that it's like clearing the fog from a mirror so that your soul can see itself clearly. Again, and that's why we use Joppa, the repetition of mantra as a meditation practice because it anchors the mind. It protects your energy over time. It quiets the inner noise so that you can feel that stillness not just around you, but actually recognizing it as you to do it just a couple of times. Can be powerful, but it's not nearly as powerful as repeating it 108 times, or sometimes 1,008 times, or sometimes 10,008 times, depending on what practice you're doing. So today I'm gonna guide you through a meditation using this particular mantra. You don't have to use it to get the benefits of this meditation if it bothers you. Feel free to just skip it. If you just resonate with the sound Ohm, you can repeat Ohm to yourself over and over again. Or perhaps you have a prayer that feels really good to you that you would rather use instead of this one. So feel free to skip this one. I just wanted to teach it since that's what my teacher taught me. Uh, you also don't have to know Sanskrit. You don't have to believe anything that I believe in order to. Reap the benefits of, doing this meditation. So just show up with your breath, your curiosity, your willingness to reconnect with the silence within you. That cosmic silence that is ripe with all sorts of potentiality. And we'll get ready to begin. So I will say if you're walking or if you're driving, you can listen to the cues of the guided meditation that I'm gonna go through, but it will definitely serve you best if you, when you get back home, if you can find a space that's kind of quiet, you might just make a little mental note to come back to this and do the meditation then, so it will really serve you best. Okay, so we're gonna get started. I'm assuming that, that whatever it was you were doing, you are now putting that down for just a moment, maybe about 10 minutes. Oh, I'll go ahead and say this, actually, instead of ending the podcast like I normally do with my little outro that's got the music and, you know, asking you to share the episode, I'm gonna go ahead and say this now. If you really enjoyed this episode or if you enjoy the meditation that's coming up, please share this with someone who might benefit from it. if you would like to support this show, I don't know if you guys realize this. But every little platform that I am on in order to be able to do this podcast, uh, I use three different things together so that I can put these episodes out into the world. It actually does cost me money. if you feel. The desire to contribute to help offset the time and the energy and form of money that I put into producing this show. It'd be really awesome if you could just go to the show notes. There's a link there that says Support the show and you could give a small monthly donation just to help me offset that time and energy, um, so that I can continue to do this. And continue to be uplifted by it just as much as I hope that it is uplifting all of you. So I'm not gonna do that little outro. What I'll do as I finish with the guided meditation, I'll probably stay on. And just focus on the mantra myself, but eventually I will just stop the recording and that will be the end of the podcast episode. I'll try to give you guys at least a few minutes of quiet before I do that because you're, your settings on your podcast player might be that they just immediately go to the next thing that is queued up, and I don't want it to jar you all. So let's just take a moment. No matter what time of day it is, we're just gonna let ourself start to settle into the energy of the time of day. That might sound strange, but just allow yourself to sit and feel into the energy around you, feel into the space around you, the vibrations that are coming to you. From the furniture, the walls, maybe the noises that you hear. It doesn't have to be completely silent in your space. In fact, it won't be. So we are making the commitment to ourselves right now that no matter what is going on in the space around us, we don't need to get pulled into that. We don't need to get distracted or disturbed by it. We're just gonna allow it to all be as we feel into that energy. We're allowing everything to be as it is right now, and notice how you are being supported. If you're sitting on a chair, a piece of furniture, or maybe on the floor, just notice how that is rising up to meet, to support, to hold your body. You might notice your posture. It might help to lift the heart just a little bit more and allow the shoulders to soften down. Gently gliding the base of the skull back as though you are leaning against an imaginary wall and softening the muscles around the eyes, and then the jaw. Just letting yourself breathe here for a moment. Noticing how it feels to breathe, to sit, to be supported. In the space that's holding you. So let's take a few deep breaths in through the nose, noticing as that breath comes down into the lungs, filling them up, noticing the exhale, how it sounds, how it feels, how your body moves with each breath in each breath out. Just becoming aware of these things and then feeling your body getting a little heavier and a little bit more grounded. Starting to send awareness to the mind space, the head space, not in a way where we're trying to fix or change, just. Observing the mind for a moment. Sometimes our mind feels like a snow globe that has been shaken up. And the longer we sit still letting the body soften, observing the mind, without attaching to anything that it has to say, The snow globe starts to settle. So just allowing that to settle without trying to force it. Even taking a moment here to think your mind, but to let it know that it can take a little break. It doesn't have to be vigilant right now. Doesn't have to try to keep you awake or alert. It can simply take a little rest. Noticing, perhaps your breath getting a little bit more steady now your body feeling a little heavier, the mind settling just a bit more. You're going to start to put the mantra to the mind, to give it something to do, while also generating that vibration of God, consciousness of cosmic awareness of. That potent silence within and around us. So remember, you can say these words out loud a few times. I'll say them a few times to help you get into the rhythm. You can say them quietly to yourself, just thinking them. You don't have to say them at all if they don't feel good to you today. Oh, Shiva. Shiva. Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Shiva. Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Nama, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Oh, Shiva. Um,