Rah-Rah-Ah-Ah-Ah
By Corey Ann | November 16, 2009
Roma-rom-ma-ma!
So Lady Gaga’s song, Bad Romance, is hilarious to me. Probably because of the yelling and stomping. And the fun repeats. Today on the way home from work the song played on the radio, and after it ended I kept singing the Rah-Rah-Ah-Ah-Ah and then transitioned into a sanskrit chant.
WHOA!
The chant I sang was one we learned this weekend. Here it is:
Asato Ma Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Ma Joytir Gamaya
Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya
Om Shanthi Shanthi Shanthi
It means:
Lead me from the unreal to the real
Lead me from darkness to light
Lead me from mortality to immortality
Om peace peace peace
We learned it on Saturday, and then on Sunday my friend Abigail and I both had it in our heads all during class. It was so wonderful to have it going through my head as the backdrop to class. And at certain points I’d hear Abigail humming it softly and it grounded me in that moment.
We talked about why people have mantras or chants, how they are used to literally protect the mind. The more you repeat it the more your mind strengthens. I think this mantra is incredibly powerful for me. “Lead me from the unreal to the real.” I understand this as - lead me from my assumptions to what is actually known; from my worries to the present situation; from what I hope is not true to what I know is true. Today at work I felt more calm, and when I think of the work I have to do tomorrow in preparation for rehab, I am less anxious, less irritated, and more accepting of what I am going to do.
I also think that repetition of negative, degrading, or hurtful statements affect the mind - almost like a mold growing around it. I remember one time my Dad pulled out an apple that had mold on one side, and he just cut the mold off and ate the rest of the apple. The whole apple wasn’t affected, but he had to get through the mold to reach the good part. If all we do is hear negative things about ourselves, that mold develops. If all we do is consistently think negative things about ourselves, it grows faster. “I can’t” “I am not” “I don’t know”
I did an activity with my kids last week where we talked about babies developing, and how when a child is born they have certain attributes - cute, messy, noisy, fun, helpless, adorable, innocent. But as a child grows older they experience attacks. They can be verbal, physical, mental, etc. (”You’re a mistake” “You’re just like your whore of a mother” “Trailer trash” etc.) We brainstormed all the attacks. The kids listed a lot. I took them through different scenarios - what if the child is disabled? what if they’re not white? what if they’re poor? what if their parent is an addict? what if they’re really smart? what if they’ve got blonde hair and blue eyes? We drafted all the attacks and talked about the fact that when we experience these attacks, we put up shields around our heart to help us defend ourselves.
What I didn’t talk about, and what I’m now thinking about, is the fact that these messages have power because at some point, somewhere, we believe some part of them. This starts the mold growth. If we could just put up shields and the messages would bounce off, we would have no problem. But something affects our mind so that we don’t hear an attack and move on. We let it fester and grow. Some of us have very moldy minds. I am wondering what the effect of a mantra is not only to protect my mind, but to clean it up as well.
Maybe doing handstands AND mantras will shake that mold loose? Hahah!
RAH RAH AH AH AH!
Topics: Uncategorized |
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
You are awesome (the usual Corey). I like the idea of chanting, mantras, the things we tell ourselves to inspire our bodies, mind, to help us keep going. This applies to my body image, I gots to talk to you about this soon.
I also loved what you did with the kids.
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
The Beatles - Dear Prudence!!!