intention setting & meditation with mala beads
Find and comfortable seat. You can sit however feels comfortable in your body, maybe on your heels or with your legs crossed. If you're sitting with your legs crossed sit on the edge of a folded blanket or pillow to raise your hips above or in line with your knees.
The first step in meditating with your mala is to set an intention for it. There are many different ways to come up with an intention. One option is to create a mantra specific to your mala based on the healing properties of the beads. You can also come up with something unrelated to the beads. Regardless of which option you choose, there are two main questions you must ask yourself when setting your intention:
What am I looking to cultivate in my life right now?
How do I want to feel?
Take few minutes and write down the answers to these questions. You can have multiple answers.
Go through your notes and come up with an I AM intention sentence addressing those two questions. Write down your sentence and it’s to activate your mala!
Once you have your intention, it's time to activate your mala and infuse it with your intention.
Holding your mala in both hands, bring your hands to prayer position in front of your heart.
Take a few deep grounding breaths.
When you're ready, either out loud or silently recite your intention a number of times. Each time projecting the intention into your mala.
Do this as many times as you feel it's needed.
When finished, take your hands to your third eye. One last time, send your intention into your mala.
To meditate with your mala, hold your mala in your right hand. Starting with the bead to the right of the guru bead, hold the mala between your peace fingers. Thumb resting on top of the mala.
Close your eyes and find your breath. Feel your breath move in and out of your body. When it feels right, start to deepen your breath, allowing your breath to move from your hips all the way up your spine. Breathe like this for a few breaths. When you're ready, recite your intention, out loud or in your head, then use your thumb to pull the mala towards you, counter clockwise. You'll recite your intention for each bead then move onto the next. You may do this as many times as you'd like. If you go all the way around the mala and wish to continue, reverse your mala and go back around the way you came. Take care to not cross over the guru bead.
When you've completed as may cycles as you'd like, come back to a natural breath. Mala resting gently in your hands, eyes softly closed, take in the feeling in the room, the feeling in your body. Hold that space for as long as you'd like. When you're ready to end your meditation, send some gratitude to your mala for assisting you in your meditation. Softly open your eyes moving slowly as you return return to your day.