How Long Should I Chant A Mantra?
Chanting a mantra is a foundational part of a well rounded spiritual practice. Actually understanding how to mantra and how long you should mantra is important for your practice. The duration that you choose to mantra is entirely up to personal preference. However, some gurus suggest repeating a mantra 108 times or roughly 10-20 minutes at a time. What is a mantra? A mantra is a phrase, word, or sound that you repeat out loud or in your head. The purpose of a mantra is to aid in concentration in meditation and raise your consciousness. Lots of different types of meditations use a mantra as a concentration aid such as transcendental meditation, however mantras may also be used simply by themselves as spiritual practice. How long should I chant a mantra? There are several ways of you can choose for counting the duration of your mantra. Here are some ways that you may want to try for yourself. Counting by number of rounds You can choose a specified number of times that you want to repeat a mantra before you begin your practice. A common number of rounds used for chanting is 108. There are several types of mantras that follow this format. For example, the Hare Krishna mantra is said 108 times and is counted using a set of 108 mala beads. Other mantras like the Navakshari mantra are required to be repeated 9,000,000 times over several sessions. Different mantras may call for different numbers of repetition. You can choose whatever number is best for you, or try the commonly used 108 times. Counting by time Another way to mantra is by setting a timer for a specific amount of time. Yoga Journal recommends chanting a mantra for 5-20 minutes. I personally find that it takes at least 5 minutes to get into a meditative state with your mantra. The longer you mantra the deeper into the practice you will get. One way isn’t necessarily better than any other way. Whether you want to mantra for a specified amount of time or number of times, either should do the trick. How long do mantras take to work? There is no set amount of time that it takes a mantra to get you to your end goal. The important factors with chanting a mantra are the quality of the sessions and your consistency of practice. Quality over quantity Mantraing extra fast just to get through it quickly does absolutely no good. Take your time and get deep into your mantra work. There’s no rush when chanting a mantra. Your results with chanting a mantra will mimic the quality and depth of your mantra practice, not necessarily how fast you complete it. For this reason, you should focus on deeply understanding your mantra and learning quality chanting over quantity. The importance of consistency You may not see spiritual or mental results from your mantra right away. This is why it’s important to consistently practice chanting your mantra every day. As you mantra every day you will deepen your practice and get more and more spiritual value from it. If you don’t feel particularly good about one day of chanting, just try again the next day.
