13 Aug Japa Mala Beads
Last month, we enjoyed an evening of creating, meditating and chanting at the Japa Mala Beads and Meditation Workshop.
Japa Mala Beads are an ancient prayer bead originating from India.
Japa meaning Garland and Mala meaning Recitation and consist of 27, 54 or 108 beads.
We use these as a guide for repetition where you may chant a mantra, guide your breath or you can simply count the beads as you go. It is a great tool to use as a beginner to meditation as it may be easier to focus your mind and you are also using your hand so it can prevent the feeling of agitation to move during meditation.
At the workshop it was so lovely to see people come together, join in a circle and share with us why they have come along and enjoy the space together. Creating laughing and relaxing.
I love to use Japa Mala Bead as a little reminder to stop, breath and take a moment for myself. I am not sure why we forget to do that so often. We do forget to consciously breath and take time out for us!
We put everyone else first, we would put a meeting with someone we may not like the energy of for work before us! We do need a reminder once every now and then to love ourselves and to out ourselves first, and this is my little reminder I use.
If you like wearing your Japa Mala beads as a best practice have two, one that you can wear and one that you have for meditation to really ensure you have a great energy around the beads you use for a deep meditation. It is still ok to mediate with them if you wear them all the time as while you are out and about wearing your Japa Mala Beads this is what gives you a beautiful and gentle reminder to breath, to stop and step back from the busy lives we live, maybe it is when you are in-between places could be from work to home, if you have yours with you why not just before you get out of the car do a little mediation with them and bring yourself back to being grounded just before you step inside a new space, this allows you to bring such a great energy with you because you have allowed your self that time to quiet the mind.
Japa Mala Beads have been a great tool in my life and I would love to here any stories or experiences other people have had with them.
To get your hands on the DIY Japa Mala Bead kits we used for our workshop, please send me your interest at holly@deepbreathyoga.com.au.
Love and Light
Namaste