The purpose of meditation is to be able to quiet the mind, not by making our mental chatter stop, but by allowing us to contemplate our every day thoughts as a spectator rather than engaging with each and every one of them as we normally do.

By getting some distance from our thoughts, we gain objectivity and a new sense of balance. In due course, our creativity increases: as our mind stops being focused all the time on the same subjects, there is an opening in our thoughts, a space for something new to be born.

Meditation opens the door that connects us to our intuition, inner guidance and creative self.

A lot of people are closed to the idea of meditation because stress makes them restless and so they feel they won’t be able to sit still for any given period of time. However, meditation doesn’t always require stillness. And when our mind is particularly restless, a movement meditation might be even more useful for us.

So, what is a moving meditation or movement meditation? It is no more than what its name suggests: meditation that involves movement. One of the most common ones is walking meditation; an exercise that involves pacing with your mind focused on your movements, your breathing and the way your body feels. It’s an easy way to disengage from the mind’s chatter by focusing on the body.

The meditation in this post involves a series of movements and the singing or chanting of a mantra. Mantra is a Sanskrit word which means “Sacred utterance”, it is a sound, word or group of words that are used to aid concentration during meditation.

Which are the benefits of this type of meditation?

1.- If your mind is scattered, having to focus on the movement and the mantra will force it to forget about everything else: there is no way you’ll be able to concentrate on singing and moving and also have space to think about any worries you might have. As soon as your mind wanders off you’ll lose track of the song or the movement, and therefore will be able to bring yourself back to the meditation. During traditional meditation if you get caught up in your thoughts, it might take you a while before you notice it, in this one, you’ll be aware as soon as it happens.

2.- It is a great way to start your morning, as the gentle movements will wake your whole body up and get you ready to start the day.

3.- Mantras have different meanings, some of them are about gratefulness, some about asking for peace and balance, by repeating them, we are also getting connected to this energy of balance and gratefulness.

4.- This meditation has also all the benefits of traditional meditation.

In the video below, you’ll be first taught the movements at a slow pace, while the mantra is sang on the background so you get familiar with both. Afterwards, you move on to the full meditation. The whole video lasts about 6 minutes, so you can hardly call it time consuming 🙂

The mantra sang is:

Ad Guray Nameh (Mangala Charan Mantra)

Ad Gure Name, Llugad Gure Name, Sat Gure Name, Siri Guru De-Ve Name

It’s a mantra that dispels doubts and opens us up to receive guidance and protection.

You can find many more of their videos on Youtube, with different mantras and movements.

Hope you enjoy it!

Namaste,

Paula