When I finished a 40-day practice of chanting ‘Om tryambakam yajamahe’ – the Mahamrityunjaya mantra (or death conquering mantra) – I felt it hadn’t quite finished with me. And so I continued for a further 50 days.

I love this mantra, and my respect for it continues to grow. One of the main intentions behind the Mahamrityunjaya mantra is to let go (hence the death conquering bit). And implicit in this intention is a healthy dollop of trust in life to be able to let go, and to keep on letting go until there’s nothing – or everything! – left.

Lotus goals
As in the first 40 days, I’ve continued to hold my arms up over my head for self-blessing, but inspired by Malcolm‘s and Patwant‘s bound lotus story (thank you both!), I’ve been working my way into sitting in lotus (bound lotus with my forehead on the floor is a way off yet!). I’ve been spending the first 10 minutes of the meditation with one foot resting on top of the opposite thigh in half lotus, then I change sides for the next 10 minutes, and I spend the final 11 minutes in full lotus (albeit a bit of a wonky lotus). I sit with an alternate leg on top each day. And I have found that with persistent practice, my hips are opening and it’s growing gradually more comfortable. Is comfortable the right word? Hmmm, maybe ‘easier’ will suffice.

What’s been interesting to me during this process is observing the amazingly subtle sattvic quality that sitting in lotus brings to my meditation. It must be something about turning the soles of my feet up to the sky, but it takes my chanting of the Mahamrityunjaya mantra to a whole new level. Just beautiful.

So I’m a convert to meditating in lotus. And I feel that the Mahamrityunjaya mantra still hasn’t finished quite with me (will it ever, I wonder?!). So I’ll continue on with it for a little longer. Watch this space.

Sat nam x