More on mantrams

The more I use my mantram, the more I see how versatile a tool it can be. They are always available and are very time friendly. My only problems are that sometimes I feel mantrams are not enough--they are good for quick calming down and in-the-moment relaxation but they fail to provide a lasting calm. I feel that exercise is much better at providing a long-lasting relaxed state and in this reguard is superior to both yoga and mantrams. However, I do have an appreciation for mantrams.

In other news, taking weekly tests about my stress levels is becoming very very hard to remember. I stopped using the Daily Stress Inventory a long time ago but it's hard to use the other inventories even. I feel that they are useful, but it is difficult to self-monitor and motivate to take tests as opposed to the relative ease of remembering to record my stress levels before and after an intervention.

Mistakes

Midway through my project, I have encountered the first main stumbling block: my own mistakes in scheduling my interventions. I initially set up my project to be an experiment. My independent variable is intervention type with the dependent variable my stress scores as measured by various tests. While this might not have been the best idea, it was an idea that came naturally (having come from a natural science background) and made this project a little more interesting to me. However, I did not set up my project as well as I would have liked.

When I reviewed my plan of action yesterday, I realized that I missed the date for switching from my yoga intervention to my mantram intervention by about 3 weeks (this is probably due to finals and break proving to be excellent distractions). This was very upsetting and made me feel like I failed at this project. Also, it was sad for me because I was really getting into the yoga and didn't want to switch to something else. But I had to follow my plan... After some rescheduling and revision to my proposal, I am newly back on track with my project.

That said, I started my mantram intervention. This is based on an article I read (and included in my portfolio) that looked at nurses who repeated mantrams (mini-prayers/words) during stressful situations to calm down. I wanted to include something very mental in the stress-reduction techniques, as opposed to the physical activities like exercise and yoga. This intervention differs from the others in that I will not be using my intervention on a regular basis (unlike exercise and yoga) but rather when I feel the need or are stressed and can use mantram repetition for immediate calming-down.

My tentative mantrams are included below. I would probably use part of one as opposed to the entire phrase. I did not have an occasion to use one today, so maybe tomorrow?

In beauty we are united, / through beauty we pray, / with beauty we conquer. (Nicholas Roerich)

…I am the aim of wisdom. / I am gained by wisdom. / In the heart am I set firm. (Bhagaved Gita 13: 34)

For it is in giving that we receive… (Part of the Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi)

In joy I walk. In joy I cool down…In joy my head becomes serene. (Part of a prayer by Torkom Saraydarian)

Grant me, O Lord, the mastery of self! (Agni Yoga Society, Leaves of Morya’s Garden, Vol. I, para. 35)

From the book:

Prayers, Mantrams, and Invocations. Selections from Torkom Saraydarian and other sources. TSG Publishing Foundataion, Inc. Cave Creek, USA. 2001.

I think my favorite is the "in joy I walk" mantram because it includes phrases that specify cooling down from stress and being serene--just the words one needs when stressed out!

Doing the yoga

The paucity of updates about stress relief by practicing yoga has been due to the added stress of having laptop problems. Now that the laptop is functioning again, I can write about my thoughts on yoga.

I think my biggest problem with yoga is that I am doing yoga to relieve stress on command rather than just doing it when I feel like relaxing. I got to the point where I was ready for bed and remembered that I had to do yoga to help my mental health status. So I would rush through some sun salutes and stretches then brush teeth and go to bed. At the point when I failed to keep my balance during a pyramid pose, I had to stop and think for a bit. I was realizing my problem with this yoga stress relief intervention. This was something that I actually had to work at to incorporate into my daily life, as opposed to exercise for stress relief. I am used to running on a semi-daily basis as is, which I continue to do to stay in shape even though I’ve switched interventions. But yoga is something that is new to my life and incorporating it has been a struggle. This is the goal of this project. I’m finally getting at the meat of this project and struggling with what I’m supposed to have been struggling with since the start of this project.

I am also finding it frustrating to feel like I’m being forced to do something for an extrinsic reason rather than an intrinsic reason. This mostly happens when I remember to do yoga before bed and rush through it. It’s also frustrating when my form is bad and I lose balance while doing yoga. I realize it’s because yoga is meant to be slow and focused on form and breath and when I rush through it so I can check off that I did yoga for the day I’m not actually succeeding at my intervention.

In retrospect I wish I had designed my project so that I would consistently use exercise as a means of stress relief because that would have fit better within my existing lifestyle. But that is not the point of this project. This project was meant to challenge me and force me to adopt a lifestyle change. Doing yoga has definitely been a change. It’s not the first thing my mind leaps to when I think of ways to calm down. But it makes sense that I’m trying new things in my life, which is the entire point of this project.