Do you own a set of mala beads? I have several sets, but my favorites are made from the traditional material of sandalwood. Historically, malas were made from organic wood, seeds, or animal bones. Now they are made from many more materials. Mala is a sanskrit name meaning “meditation garland”. There are several modern day reasons to apply the ancient use of mala beads: to help overcome anxiety and worry, where you focus only on the moment of now... to increase feelings of being worthy, compassion and love... To find value in being better and better. So areas of confidence and success... to increase creativity and passion flowing with the universe... for grounding and centering, becoming confident and wholly connected with Mother Earth... to regulate breathwork and balance, promoting harmony and peace...to feel supported in life's journey to feel protection. So mala beads are not just a trendy fashion accessory, but also a useful emotional and mental vibrationary health tool. Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism and various other religions around the world use these beads for spiritual connection or prayer. The traditional mala strand has 108 beads, and one head or a guru marker bead to indicate the beginning and the end. There are several interpretations of why the number 108 is sacred. Many of them have to do with wholeness, and the connection of sun, moon and Earth, which is 108 times their diameter. The tassel is a symbol of spiritual connection, and it can also be used to diffuse essential oils. In some patterns, there is a counter bead every 27th bead. And if a detailed mantra needs to be repeated, again and again that 27th bead becomes a marker, or a reminder that you're on a new set. A newly purchased set of beads can be cleansed by setting them in the sunshine for a few hours and then activating them by fingering each bead at least once and setting the intention that the beads work for your greatest good and focus. A more traditional activation would be to light a candle and when touching each bead, breathe in through the nose and then tone “OM” the outbreath om being the sound of creation and the circle of life being the chain of beads. Let the strand rest gently in your palm and use your thumb and forefinger or your thumb,forefinger and middle finger to finger each bead and then pull the thread towards your body as you finish each cycle of all pulling the beads towards you, represents pulling in the focused good karma, pulling in the good energy in the process. So pull it in. There are several ways to use mala beads, but here are some of the most common ones: First, as a gratitude practice focusing on the emotion of thankfulness. As you finger each bead, you think of something that you are grateful for, and then pull the strand towards you pulling in thankfulness, pulling in gratefulness. Another one is called Japa meditation which is often paired with the practice of yoga in which you chant a specific sanskrit mantra. A quick example of this would be our activation illustration where we used “OM”. Another common chant is “So Hum”. So on the inhale breath and hum on the exhale. Kind of a loose translation of that is I am that or the divine I am presence or I am a spark of the Divine. So,hum... next bead, So, hum...next bead so on and so forth. A third type of use is for breath work, where you focus on your breath and the feel of each bead, one bead per breath similar to the both the OM and the Sohum... but for these you do not need to sound you can just use your breathing in and breathing out next bead, breathing in and breathing out... next bead nice rhythmic clearing of the mind as you're feeling each breath and feeling each bead. A fourth use is when healing energy is a clearly set intention, during the mantra and the vibration of healing is held in the strand or in the beads themselves. The final use that we'll discuss today is fashion and wearing the beads wearing the beads as a necklace or bracelet. The beads become a reminder of whatever intention you had set. So as we previously mentioned, if your intention is to overcome anxiety, or to increase compassion or creativity or if your intention is for grounding or balance and harmony, then that would be the intention that is within your healing as well as fashion malas. Quite often the fashion malas are made of gemstones. And for that purpose. You might pick something like a rose quartz if it's love, compassion and emotional healing you’re after or perhaps Citrine for positivity and clarity. You might consider Amethyst for balance, intuition and higher wisdom or Red Jasper for strength, honesty and stability. Tiger's Eye is also an option for willpower and self motivation. Clear quartz is for awareness and clarity and the nice thing about clear quartz is that you can lay it near your other stones and your other malas, and it also can help clean them. So clear quartz is a generating crystal. Lapis lazuli is for psychic vision, and nobility. And something like Adventuring for prosperity, well being and good luck might be something that you would wear. Black Tourmaline is used for protection and security. There are many more examples. There's as many examples in this category as there are gemstones. So I'd like to encourage you to explore mala beads for their power, the calling in of clarity, to help call focus into your life, to call in enhanced meditation. So call in mala beads! “Call IT in with Dar!”
Transcribed by https://otter.ai