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Prayer, Mantra, and Meditation

 

     The Beauty Way, a Navaho prayer, can be spoken or sung while walking the labyrinth.*  I find that singing the prayer increases the experience of resonance in my body.  I also use hand gestures to convey the meaning of the words.  For example, I place my hands (palm up) before me while singing “With Beauty before me may I walk.”  This prayer helps me remember the beauty that exists in our world, the beauty I can create and share each day, and the legacy of beauty that I can pass on to others.

 

     With beauty before me, may I walk

     With beauty behind me, may I walk

     With beauty all around me, may I walk this Earth

     Wandering on a trail of Beauty, lively I walk

     Wandering on a trail of Beauty, lively I walk

 

     With beauty below me, may I walk

     With beauty above me, may I walk

     With beauty all around me, may I walk this Earth

     Wandering on a trail of Beauty, lively I walk

     Wandering on a trail of Beauty, lively I walk

 

*A sung version of this prayer may be found on Sharing Nature: Audio Resources with Joseph Cornell

2008, Sharing Nature Foundation, www.sharingnature.com

 

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     In Tibetan Buddhism, there are sacred sounds that carry in their resonance aspects of cosmic reality.*  The mantra, OM MANI PADME HUM, is a tool for creating an image of this reality, not only in the brain (or mind), but in the entire body.  I enjoy singing this mantra while walking the labyrinth, as well as using movements and gestures to convey meaning.  Like a dream, there are many layers of interpretation and nuance to this mantra.  Below are some possibilities.

 

     OM           we open ourselves to oneness

     MANI       we recognize all beings as expressions of the whole

     PADME   we experience the journey of spiritual unfolding

     HUM        we experience, express, and embody compassion

 

*More information about Tibetan Buddhism may be found in Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism by Lama Anagarika Govinda

 2012, Martino Publishing, Mansfield Centre, CT

 

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     As part of my doctoral research, I developed a concept I call intensified awareness.*  While searching for a model that would best illustrate the nature of intensified awareness, I used a holarchy, a 3-D spiral, and a cross section of a nautilus shell as possible ways to represent my ideas.  None of them were satisfactory, each of them conveying attributes that didn’t align with my growing sense of intensified awareness. 

     A leap of intuition led me to consider the 7-circuit labyrinth as a model.  Chalk in hand, I rushed outside and added words—the eight types of intensified awareness—to my 7-circuit labyrinth.  I then walked the labyrinth, embodying a different type of intensified awareness corresponding to each circuit of the labyrinth.  The winding journey illustrates the non-linear, non-hierarchical, and non-developmental nature of the spectrum of intensified awareness. 

     Since this revelation, I have used the model as a meditation while walking the labyrinth.  In so doing, I connect with different aspects of Nature and Cosmos in my own backyard.  I invite you to experience it for yourself, using words, movements, or gestures to embody meaning and connection.