Welcome to the True For You podcast. I'm your host Renee Cupples. Today is day 9 of 40, a 40-day series that I'm doing on Sadhana. Sadhana is a 40-day practice in yoga that I learned when I became a yoga teacher, and it has helped me so much, and so it's a practice that I help to teach others. And I'm just coming on for 40 days, practicing like a real Sadhana to give you some tidbits and things that I've learned through the process of learning Sadhana and why it might be a practice that you might wanna lean into. And if you're listening along and following along and practicing your own Sadhana, maybe these tidbits might help you dive a little bit deeper. 

In week one, we went over the basics of Sadhana, and now we're in week two, And today's focus is gonna be on mantra. So mantra is another aspect in Sadhana that I learned, and in yoga, mantra it translates to a thinking tool. So I think maybe in today's day and age, mantra, maybe it's been a little bit glamorized, right? Affirmations, mantra. Mantra is a pretty ancient tradition. To chant something repeatedly or repeat a phrase over and over and over and over can allow you to quiet your mind. So that thinking tool piece, allowing your mind to quiet, allowing you to sit in meditation, to practice, to calm your nervous system, beautiful, powerful tool. 

And there's lots of different mantras, right? One of my favorite mantras is the Gayatri mantra. I did the Gayatri for 40 days and it, really worked on me and it became such a beautiful sacred practice. One of the reasons why, I absolutely love mantra. And another mantra you could say to yourself is just, "I'm listening," right? And sometimes you have an aha moment. You are listening to what's going on for you emotionally. You're, getting messages, right? So it can be something as simple as that. 

And I wanna shout out Christina Alexa, my yoga teacher, who trained me, is doing a 28-day series on mantra. Ironically, it starts, on Wednesday, August 12th, and it ends around the same time our 40 days are gonna be ending together. So hers is gonna be a four-week, 28-day series. It's called Mantra Medicine. I'm gonna post the info in, the show description. So if you're looking to get a deeper dive on mantra, you have that available to you. 

And it's a tool that really helped me when I learned Sadhana, and maybe it's something that can help you, especially if you struggle a little bit with quieting the mind and meditation. You can get mala beads. There's 108 beads on a strand. 108 is a sacred number in yoga, just like 40. And you can say the mantra and count each of the beads. It actually gives your body something physically to do. When your body has something physical to do, that can also help distract your mind. And it kind of becomes ... so automatic, right? It's hard to explain. But if mantras ever helped you, I would love to hear, your stories on mantra, how it's helped you, what mantras you love, and, just get curious, right? What parts of a personal practice could be something that speak to you and that can help you dive a little bit deeper. So that's our day nine, and I'll be back tomorrow with day 10. Take care.