The point of all this really is not a lesson in spirituality. Mantras are powerful tools for improving both physical and mental health. If recited fifteen to twenty minutes twice a day, a mantra will: lower blood pressure (over l0 mm), help with insomnia, decrease stress and stress-related illness (ulcers, ulcerative colitis, some skin diseases), treat certain heart-beat irregularities. Mantras frequently alleviate symptoms of asthma as well as headache and other pain syndromes.
How does all this work for you in a practical way? For anxious people, a mantra is
the most vital tool for helping to calm down. Anxious people have non-stop "worry"
thoughts. Depressed people have non-stop negative thoughts. "I'm no good." "I don't
deserve to be happy." A mantra helps depressed people turn off all the negativity. Many
insomniacs benefit from a mantra, because the mantra is great for relaxing and because it
turns the mind off--and many people suffer from insomnia because they can't find a way to
turn their mind off. In a high-stress work environment mantras can be a powerful source of relaxation and centering. If you recite your mantra for fifteen seconds every hour, that alone will go a long way toward helping you let go stress. Think of your mind as a fan whirling round and round. The mantra is a switch that stops or slows down the fan. So if you take even a few moments throughout the day and use your mantra, that mental fan will slow down . . . each time you throw the switch.
