The past week I was facilitating the online 1-week mantra meditation challenge for creativity and intuition, and there were four of us in the group including me.
Just like giving birth to a child, the initial process of setting this up, promoting it, sharing about it, and preparing for it took a lot of time and effort.
But after finishing the one-week challenge, I felt like all the effort and time and energy that was put into it was completely worth it. And here’s why: there were so many mini-miracles and synchronicities happening in the past week and I knew that they were all reconfirmation that I was on the right path, and that the Universe truly was there around me, holding me and supporting me.
Here’s what happened during the 1-week mantra meditation challenge:
Day 1
The first day after recording the first online workshop, as I was uploading the videos at night, I saw a firefly landed on my window just right by my desk. I had never seen a firefly that closeup before. It was blinking its tail with its green light, and after I said thank you (and tried to capture the moment on video), it flew away. I knew right away that it was a sign from the Universe, encouraging me to keep going. The same day I also had a podcast interview with The Inquisitive Wren hosted by Sha that went very well. I knew it was the energy of Saraswati’s mantra that helped me with communication and the flow of words.
Day 3
On day 3, it quickly got very real when I had an episode with my son that turned out to be a learning opportunity for me. It gave me a lot of insights, and inspired me to write my soulful reflections blog called “The many gifts of meditation and escaping life is not one of them”. I realize that it is because I have my regular meditation practice to lean on that I can feel safe to express my emotions. I shared my personal story to the group as an invitation to notice the power of our words.
Day 4
On day 4, I was feeling proud of myself for getting some work done that involved creativity this week. I finished creating a couple flyers, which one of them I wanted to do since December but hadn’t got the time and motivation to do it. For the first time in almost three years, I used stock videos in one of my videos. In the past I felt that it was too time-consuming so I usually just avoided it, but this time I followed my intuition and my creative vision without compromising. It also inspired me to share this to the group as an invitation next day to close open loops, as a way to give a more focused direction when we talked about going with the flow.
Day 5
On day 5, I realized there were emotions arising in my dreams the past few nights. Even though the emotions were related to the stories in my dreams, but I could also see why I would have these emotions in my daily life but maybe I just didn’t acknowledge them properly. So I was grateful that my dreams helped me process the emotions that wanted to be released. It also relates to Saraswati’s energy as her mantra is connected with the sacral chakra and throat chakra, and the sacral chakra (the energy center by our lower abdominal and pelvic area) is where we store emotions.
My dreams inspired me to share this as a daily invitation to the group to notice their dreams. The same day I received an email from another guest who stayed at Museflower a few weeks ago about having a nightmare about her old workplace and how she felt that a lot of emotions were released from her dream. What a synchronicity! To me, it’s another sign from the Universe reconfirming to me that I was right to follow my intuition to talk about dreams.
The same day I also followed my intuition and resent an email with our gmail account to an outside guest who inquired about the Thailand Bhakti Yoga Study Group soul retreat program in case my first email reply went to her junk mailbox. She immediately replied to my second email and was eager to start her 3-day Bhakti Yoga Study Group program with me tomorrow!
Day 6
On day 6 it was such a special day for me to have the opportunity to share the practice of Bhakti Yoga in two places (online and physically at Museflower). During our first day of workshop here at Museflower, I met Daria, and I was very inspired and touched by her intention which was to embrace and to love her own voice more. It planted a seed in my mind too – how can we all love our voice more? Again, it’s very much related to the qualities of Saraswati’s mantra this week, as Saraswati is the goddess of language, sound, wisdom, and insight.
Today’s soul work was also to do one thing different. In the afternoon when my son came home from school, he took a guitar out and wanted to play “band” and to film it. The seed that was planted in my mind that morning sprouted. It gave me an idea for tomorrow’s final challenge for the group.
Day 7
On day 7 my son fell sick and he had to stay home. Luckily with the support of my family, I could still continue teaching. In the second day of our workshop here at Museflower, my conversation with Daria got me thinking a lot about seeing our voice as a performance versus as an offering.
As we share our voice through our writing, speech, or any other forms, we may get too focused on how other people react to what we say, and how others will judge us just like it’s a performance. Especially in the social media world today, even me I admit that sometimes I get too focused on followers count, engagement and reach, that I can get discouraged if I feel that no one is “liking” the content that I’m putting out.
But what if we can see our voice as an offering instead? It takes the focus back to our intention and the why in why-I’m-doing-this-at-the-first-place. One of Saraswati’s qualities is forgiveness, especially when it comes to the arts. She wants us to play, experiment and explore, because it is through mistakes that we can learn and grow.
So I presented the final challenge to the group and Daria – it was to create a 30-second “silly song” video of them singing and to post it in our private Facebook group. They could sing any song they like, invite anyone to join them in the video, and play any musical instrument they want while they’re singing.
I know this challenge would require our group to step outside of their comfort zone. A lot of times when we watch our own video talking or singing, we cringe and our inner critic will just start picking out all the flaws. In our minds, it will be an absolute horror to let other people see such videos.
But look at children and see how much they enjoy watching their own videos of talking, singing and doing silly things. They just laugh and think it’s funny.
If we remember the power of our self-talk, and to truly see our voice as an offering, can we then embrace and love our voice better? Just like when we look at ourselves in the mirror and decide to tell ourselves that we look beautiful instead of picking out the flaws, can we listen to our own voice without judgment and criticism, hold space for our voice to express the way it wants, and just play, enjoy and have fun with our voice?
Day 8 & Beyond
Day 8 was the final day for both the online 1-week mantra meditation challenge and the last day of Bhakti Yoga Study Group here at Museflower, and it was full moon! My son and I wrote down a couple things to let go and to release in the fire. I was so grateful to have the opportunity to share the practice of mantra and mudra meditation with others.
But the healing journey didn’t just stop there. On day 9 I was inspired to learn and practice a new mantra (learning is also one of Saraswati’s qualities), and on day 10 I had a lot of tears and sadness that got released.
On day 11 I felt better again, new ideas were coming to me, and I decided to sit down and to write this blog to document my miracles the past week.
Day 1 & 8: 2 x 90-mins workshop videos
Mantra is a Sanskrit word that means “tool of the mind and a sacred formula”. Every sound of a mantra can elicit a certain vibration and invoke divine qualities that are within us. As we repeat the same sound over and over, we can harmonize our energy with the same frequency to re-awaken and remember our divine nature.
Chanting mantras is a very powerful form of meditation with sound. Every mantra invites us to remember and reconnect with the divine qualities that are already within us. As we chant and sing these mantras, we open our minds to pay attention to our heart’s wisdom.
In this one-week mantra meditation challenge, we will learn the mantra to get into the flow of creativity, embodied by the energy of the Goddess Saraswati – the Goddess of creativity, speech, music, arts, studies, intuition, and wisdom.
The first day and last day of the challenge (Day 1 and Day 8) are recordings from two online workshops where we will learn the mantra and the story of the Goddess Saraswati, practice meditation and sing kirtan together.
From Day 2 to Day 7, we will be practicing japa (repetition of the mantra) and mudra (hand gesture) as our daily meditation practice. Every day there is also a daily invitation and a simple exercise to allow you delve deeper into the qualities related to the mantra, such as journaling and setting intention.
If you want to experience the magic of mantra meditation in your daily life, this one-week challenge is for you.
