Choose a Mantra and Use It Regularly, Researcher Says

By Miranda Hitti

March 3, 2006 -- Mantras can help with stress reduction, new research shows.

Mantras, or mantrams, are a word or phrase with spiritual meaning, write Jill Bormann, PhD, RN, and colleagues in the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

The researchers studied 30 veterans and 36 hospital workers at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, where Bormann is a research nurse scientist. In a five-week class, participants chose a mantra and learned to use it to manage stress.

The study shows that the majority of participants used their mantras to help them cope with a wide range of problems, including anxiety, stress from traffic and work, insomnia, and unwanted thoughts.

Researcher's Comments

"We found this to be a very valuable tool for people that they can use. It's like a pause button for the mind."

Bormann stresses that while the technique "is actually a very ancient tradition that's been used in every spiritual practice," it's not just for religious people. "It's nonsectarian," Bormann says.

"It's personal, portable, and invisible. It's immediately available, inexpensive, nonpharmacological, and nontoxic," she continues. Using mantras can be a "stress-reduction technique for our modern day and age, when people say they don't have time for stress-management techniques," Bormann says.

Choosing a Mantra

Bormann's team gave participants a list of suggested mantras that included major faith traditions. Participants were also free to choose a mantra without religious underpinnings.

Here are some of the mantras that were on the list:

• Buddhism: Om mani padme hum
• Hinduism: Rama rama (Mahatma Gandhi's mantra, Bormann says)
• Judaism: Shalom (peace)
• Islam: Allah
• Native American tradition: O waken tanka (o great spirit)
• Christianity: "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me," or "Hail Mary," or "maranatha" (a word from the ancient Aramaic language meaning "Lord of the heart")

"Sweet harmony" and "take it easy" were examples of mantras not tied to any particular tradition.

Spiritual Element

A few participants wanted to use mantras that didn't quite fit the goal.

"We had one guy who said he wanted to know why he couldn't choose 'cheeseburger,'" Bormann says. "When he eats cheeseburgers, it makes him happy. So he thought that if he walked around and said cheeseburger all day that would make him happy."

Another man wanted to use the golf terms "greens and fairways" for similar reasons.

A word like cheeseburger keeps people on the surface level of consciousness, while a mantra has the potential to go deeper and tap inner spiritual resources, Bormann explains, adding that the cheeseburger fan switched to a different mantra.