Mother Yourself with the Mantra Ma

Around the Summer Solstice, when the earth is at her most fertile, many traditions celebrate and honour motherhood and the mother aspects of the Goddess. At times of crisis self-care is so important, and now is a great time to practice the skill of parenting yourself. Learning how to “mother” ourselves well is an essential part of our spiritual practice. Of course, we must also remember that nurturing, nourishing, and caring skills are not exclusive to one gender. If we are to be good enough parents, to our children and our grown-up children, then it's essential that we learn to model good self-care to them. 

In this post I'll show you how you can use the mantra Ma to nurture and nourish yourself. I will also show you a simple way to incorporate it into your yoga practice. Ma is the basic mother syllable of Indo-European languages. In the Far East Ma represents the “spark of life” and was often defined as intelligence. ​Chanting the mantra Ma is a wonderful way to induce a sense of peaceful contentment. 

Many of you are quarantined at home at present, balancing working from home with home schooling your kids. Respect! You have got a lot on your plate! The beauty of the mantra Ma is that it takes only a few moments to do, it's exhilarating, freeing, a great stress-buster...and...your kids will have great fun joining in!

Mantra Ma Practice 

The sequences below are from the Summer Solstice chapter of the Yoga Through the Year book.

1. ​Mantra Ma and Arm Movements. Find a comfortable seated position. Rest your hands on your belly. Inhale and take your arms out to the side. Exhale and bring your hands back to the belly, chanting the mantra Ma. Stay for one breath, with the hands resting on the belly. Repeat 6 times. If you are short of time end your practice here.

2. Ma-Om Kneeling Sequence. Chanting Ma come into Child’s Pose from tall kneeling. Chanting Om sit back into Child’s Pose from all fours. Repeat × 4–6 times.

You'll find more nurturing, nourishing summer yoga practices in the Summer Solstice chapter of the Yoga Through the Year book.