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After 50 years of worse living through chemistry, patients are clamoring for more alternative and complementary medical choices. This book is about a powerful alternative to prescription drugs for treating anxiety and depression. That alternative is Mantra Meditation.
Mantra Meditation comes to us from Ayurveda, "The Science of Life," the system of holistic medicine from India. Mantra means an "instrument of the mind," a powerful sound tool that can be used to reach a deep state of meditation -- an important tool for healing. Mantra therapy is Ayurveda's treatment of choice for both anxiety and depression. In fact, mantras are "the most important part of the spiritual and mental therapy of Ayurveda," according to Dr. David Frawley, leading author and Sanskrit scholar.
The book begins by tackling "The Problem with Happy Pills," a brief history of the disappointing pill-based model of psychiatry. The Western model has let us down for three major reasons:
1. Prescription antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs treat symptoms more than they cure disease.
2. Synthetic pills that alter brain chemistry are fraught with side effects, like sedation, weight gain, apathy and altered libido.
3. Antidepressants often work no better than sugar pills.
In Chapter 2, you will discover Ayurveda's holistic psychology, which treats the mind and spirit without the use of Western pharmaceuticals.
The real cause of today's epidemic of depression is not low levels of serotonin, or lack of any other neurotransmitter. The root cause is a lack of love and connection in life. Holistic Ayurveda uses three main tools for regaining that feeling of love and connection and returning to joy:
1. Mantra Meditation
2. Pranayama (Breath Meditation)
3. Self-Inquiry (Who am I?)
These techniques, which are common to both Yoga and Ayurveda, can be amazingly effective in calming the mind and enlightening the intellect. The ultimate goal of Ayurvedic psychology is a higher awareness, a higher consciousness, to help us understand our place in the universe beyond time and space.
As a physician who has cross-trained in Eastern and Western medicine, I can tell you that Mantra Meditation is the fastest path to this awareness, this feeling of connection with the cosmos and with each other.
In Chapter 3, meditation and mantra are explained in plain English. Of all the different types of meditation, chanting Sanskrit mantras is the easiest way to meditate. Sanskrit mantra is the core practice of Deepak Chopra's Primordial Sound Healing. It is the best way to calm the mind, especially for beginners. No experience is necessary. Side effects may include peacefulness and calm.
The last chapter presents the reader with seven mantras for soothing anxiety and breaking through depression, seven mantras for healing the mind and connecting with Spirit:
AUM (OM)
OM Shanti Shanti Shan-ti-hi
Asato Ma Satgamaya
Lokah Samastha
Sat Nam
The Gayatri
The Triambakam (Mahamrityunjaya)
The importance of each mantra is explained, along with its English translation and proper use. Proper pronunciation is essential for achieving the desired results, the fruit of the mantra. To experience each mantra, a YouTube playlist is provided at the end of the book.
I offer these mantras to you as a form of complementary medicine -- a sound healing alternative to prescription drugs for the treatment of mild to moderate anxiety and depression.
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