A Guide & Resource To Practicing Yoga In The Winter Time

4 MANTRAS TO EMPOWER NEW YEAR’S INTENTIONS

While you can set a sankalpa (intention, goal, resolve) at anytime, the New Year is one of the most apt and powerful times to do so. An effective sankalpa is a short, positive, and precise statement about what you wish to attain for yourself and/or for the benefit of all. Pairing and using a Sanskrit mantra with your sankalpa can create a powerful and synergetic force to propel you towards your intention with greater speed, efficiency, and ease.

You could use hundreds of sacred power words with a sankalpa, but I’ve discovered four mantras that are especially potent and relevant to use for a New Year’s intention. These four mantras are broad enough in their energetic effects to apply to just about any sankalpa while still being potent and effective. Chanting your chosen mantra as you focus on and work towards your intentions is a powerful practice in itself—but understanding the lesson behind the mantra will accelerate the fulfillment of your goals.

Om Gum Ganapataye Namaha

Translation: Om and salutations to Ganesha, the remover of all obstacles. May I be blessed with good luck, success, knowledge, and wisdom.
Lesson: Obstacles arrive on our path for us to learn, grow, and become better humans. This mantra encourages us to see the lessons behind the obstacles in our lives and promotes the luck, success, knowledge, and wisdom required to overcome them.

Om Sri Maha Lakshmyai Namah

Translation: Om and salutations to Lakshmi, the great goddess of generosity and abundance, the bestower of supreme blessings, and the embodiment of pure beauty.
Lesson: To receive abundance one must learn to be generous first. This mantra requires us to broaden our perception to see and receive abundance and generosity beyond the material and physical realms.

Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundayai Vichche

Translation: Om and salutations to the goddess in all of her forms. May you bless me with your courage and strength and allow for the speedy fulfillment of my aspirations and desires.
Lesson: When the heart is empty and the mind is busy we feel separation and suffering. This mantra strengthens the mind and heart to realize the key to the fulfillment of our aspirations and desires is gratitude and contentment.

Om Tare Tuttare Ture Swaha

Translation: Om and salutations to the goddess Tara. May you protect me from fear, danger, suffering, and illness. May you purify all the impurities of my body, speech, and mind.
Lesson: Tara embodies the spirit of Bodhisattva—the selfless and compassionate work towards PAGE !5 removing fear and suffering from the world. When your thoughts, words, and actions align with the spirit of a Tibetan goddess, you remove fear, danger, suffering, and illness from your life as well as the lives of others.

Mantras are powerful tools— remember to use them with care, caution, and respect. While it is easy to want instantaneous results from the use of mantras and sankalpas, they work best as a process employing humility, insight, and patience.