Sound is vibration. What you may not be aware of is that each of your chakras has a specific vibration as well – and you can use mantras that are known to be in vibrational harmony with each chakra, with the purposes of opening and harmonizing the system. Using chakra mantras during meditation can have a very powerful effect. Imagine a chakra as an instrument, and the mantra as a tuning fork – strike the tuning fork, and the instrument will come into vibrational resonance with it, clearing out any energies that do not share the same resonance.
Seed Mantras
Chakra mantras use sound to unblock energy
Let’s begin with basic mantras called bija mantras, or seed mantras, that have been universally used in meditative practice to harmonize one’s energy.
OM: The most well known and universal of the bija mantras it is the sound of creation and causes energy to gather and flow upward and outward. OM is the mantra of acceptance and assent. It helps you to accept your higher self and allow energy to flow openly and freely through you. It also serves as a gathering mantra, gathering your inward energy and preparing your energy for movement.
KRIM (pronunciation “kreem”): Chanting this mantra stimulates your lower chakras to awaken and begin purifying your body.
SHRIM (pronunciation “shreem”): Its associations lie with the head and third eye. It promotes bodily and spiritual health but can also be used to bring beauty and happiness to one’s senses.
HRIM (pronunciation “hreem”): This holds powers of healing and creativity. Chanting this mantra awakens compassion and purifies the heart.
HUM (pronunciation “hoom”): This evokes the breakdown of negative feelings and spreads positivity and vitality through the body.
Read the list and choose the mantra(s) that you intuitively feel you need. Don’t worry about using all of them – you may be very ‘energetically healthy’ in some respects and not so much in others. Just pick the one(s) that resonate with your needs (you can ask yourself, “is this sound beneficial to me?”) and use it to begin your meditation. This literally ‘sets the tone’ for your meditation; then, you can incorporate the healing energies of the cleansing mantras below. Each of the cleansing mantras correspond to one of the
7 chakras in your body.
Cleansing Mantras
The cleansing mantra
LAM is chanted for your
Root Chakra, which keeps us grounded and linked to the earth. Chanting this mantra will cleanse impurities that can collect in the root chakra – literally opening you up to feelings of security, prosperity and belonging – and clearing any blocked energy that is being prevented from moving through to the other six main energy centers. Chant “LAM” if your energy is low, you struggle financially, you suffer from low self-esteem and you suffer from adrenal fatigue and other stress-related ailments.
VAM is the cleansing mantra for your Sacral Chakra, which is associated with sexuality, pleasure and creativity. Opening this chakra will open you up to others, give you the courage to express yourself and to embrace change. Chant “VAM” is you have poor self-image, find it hard to open up in relationships, feel unsatisfied sexually and suffer from low libido.
RAM opens your Solar Plexus Chakra, the seat of your personal power. Chanting “RAM” will increase your ability to stand up for yourself, control negative impulses, and exercise greater self-control. Your self-esteem will increase as you chant “RAM” and you will become more confident and self-assured – and your frequent stomach anxiety and pains will subside!
The cleansing mantra to chant for your
Heart Chakra is
YAM. You give and receive love through the energy center that is your heart chakra. If you’re not feeling loving, lovable, compassionate or experience relationship difficulties, you could use some YAM! Chant “YAM” to heal both the physical heart and the spiritual (emotional) heart center and open yourself up to unconditional love and compassion.
Use the mantra HAM to unblock your Throat Chakra. This is your physical and spiritual voice, your means of communicating who you are and what you need and want from yourself and the universe. The throat chakra governs your ability to express yourself – if it’s closed, you will find yourself frequently frustrated as you cannot voice your needs and desires (closing yourself off to opportunities and having your needs met); and a closed throat chakra makes honesty and integrity difficult traits to embody. The vibrations from “RAM” will open your throat chakra so that your communication energy can flow strongly.
AUM (or OM) opens your Third Eye Chakra. This is the center of your forehead and is directly in line with the center of your brain. While OM is one of the most common mantras and can be used for a wide variety of mantra meditations, it is particularly important to the cleansing and healing of your third eye chakra. The third eye chakra (or brow chakra) is the seat of intuition and life purpose. Chanting “OM” will break loose the constraints that you have imposed upon yourself by not allowing yourself to listen to your inner wisdom and using that wisdom to chart the best course for a life of purpose and passion.
Finally, OM or AH are the mantras for your Crown Chakra, the connection to the divine. A closed crown chakra brings about feelings of insignificance and pointlessness, leading to a disconnect from spirit and an overly strong attachment to possessions, relationships and the physical world. Some find that silence is a more effective practice for opening the crown chakra but OM may be used to open it as well. Chanting AH represents a release. Think about taking a deep breath, then letting it go. AH is the sound of releasing and letting go.
Chakra mantras help you to clear your energy pathways so you can thrive, not just survive; this allows you to make the most of your physical life experience, creating positive physical, emotional, mental and spiritual change.
