Easy 5-minute Mantra Meditation for Disasters, Non-Religious Prayer
Why Prayer Helps During Disasters (Even if You're NOT Religious!)
- In the sense that prayer keeps a situation close to our heart and in our thoughts, it's very useful.
- Listening in, in a state of prayer, can help us feel connected to those affected.
- It can inspire us to use our resources to help, in ways we hadn't thought of before we spent that time in prayer.
- It can give us a sense of agency that we're at least doing something, when we otherwise feel helpless.
Here's a very simple 5-minute mantras for peace chanting meditation we recorded on Kaua'i a few years ago.
If you'd like to take 5 minutes to tune in, it might help you to connect to yourself, listen to your heart, and use the power of mantra to:
- build your mental resilience
- relieve anxiety
- soothe stress.
- (So you can get to work helping, next!)
The Sanskrit mantra is Lokāḥ Samastāḥ Sukhino Bhavantu, which can be translated as "May All the Beings in All the Worlds Be Happy." You can think of those affected, as well as the elements of fire, wind, water, and earth... the prayer can be directed as "may they all be happy and at peace."
However, "PRAYING FOR MAUI" (or wherever the climate disaster is today) is not enough.
We all want to back that up with ACTION. Immediate, helpful actions as well as long-term, visionary change that will make the situation better for the next time disaster strikes.
Because today it's Māui and Hawai'i island, tomorrow it may be your neighborhood.
Instead of relying solely on prayers, let's channel our compassion into effective actions that make a tangible impact. The Prep Outshines Prayer blog post suggests 15 proactive steps to aid those affected by climate disasters in Hawaii and contribute to lasting change.
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I'm re-packing my "GO BAG" and "STAY BIN" and fueling up my truck, just in case. Hurricane season is far from over!
Please take care, stay safe, and know that you're loved.
Our next free global chant event is a mantra sound bath August 27th 10AM Hawai'i time, and I'm planning to theme it around sound yoga therapy trauma recovery for those affected by climate-related natural disasters. We'll do some special peace mantras for the earth elements that I've never done publicly before, and several other sound-based yoga techniques designed for nervous system care and resilience.
Thank you for your support and encouragement, as we adapt our tools to serve a changing world!
