According to mystics down through the ages, the best way to find mental health, happiness, and spiritual integrity during this short lifetime on Earth is to practice a simple technique that goes by many names:

• Making conscious contact with God,
• Finding the source within,
• Being one with all,
• Achieving nirvana,
• Going to the soul….

These are all ways of saying the same thing:

At the center of everything is a timeless source of light and life that manifests everything. That infinite source is not just at the center of the vast omniverse, but also at the center of you and me and every other individual thing within the omnniverse. It’s like we each have a spark of the eternal source within us. The best thing we can do is to hook up with that inner spark from our conscious mind.

Over the years I’ve tried various ways to foster that connection, and by far the easiest techniques (for me) are mantras—short statements repeated, silently in the mind, over and over.  The only way I can make them work is to synchronize them with my breathing… and I’ll explain that in a moment in the 2 short videos below. But first, my 2 favorite mantras:

1. Focus from the heart. Gratitude for the lifetime. God’s will be done.
2. Dear God, our oneness is the cornerstone of my life.

The underlined words get the emphasis and come on the outbreaths, as you’ll see in the videos.

More about these mantras:

#1 is my favorite so far, since it a) moves my awareness from the head to the heart, b) fills me with gratitude, and c) turns all of my concerns over to a higher power. These might be the three most important aspects of spiritual growth and attunement. They are for me, anyhow.

#2 helps me feel an intimate connection with the source, and, again, it works best when I move my awareness to the heart during this exercise.

And this is how I synchronize the mantras to my breathing so that they become completely integrated with my carnal body-mind. Bear in mind that the simple video and my voice might make the mantras sound a little… well… simple. But once you get the hang of doing them silently in moments of quiet and serenity, then maybe they’ll have the same positive effect on you that they have on me. I hope so.

Breathe

I like to lie down and close my eyes while doing the mantras. Some people might prefer sitting. Either way, the intent is to synchronize each mantra to my breathing. The short videos below can help you get the hang of it. The first one has a short intro to help explain the process. (Again, you don’t speak the mantras aloud as I do in the videos; just recite them silently in your mind as you breathe.)

#1 – Focus from the heart…

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#2 – Our oneness…

 (breathing video adapted from John Pierce [CC0] on Wikimedia Commons)

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So, these are a couple of mantras I’ve created. They’re fashioned from basic principles embraced by modern mystics like the Dalai Lama, Richard Rohr, and Joel Goldsmith.

A good mantra that helps us to connect consciously to the source can transform our self from a carnal creature with noble-savage impulses into a spiritual being with mostly noble motivations. It can help to move us from a life of conflict and chaos and grief to one of peace and order and happiness… and the more often we use a good mantra, the more effective it is.