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3000 years ago mantras began being composed in Vedic Sanskrit in India.

Mantras now exist in many various schools of teaching. These include Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, and Sikhism.

A mantra (Sanskrit: मन्त्र, translator. mantra, English pronunciation /ˈmæntrə, ˈmɑːn-, ˈmʌn-/)[2] is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and/or spiritual powers.[3][4] A mantra may or may not have a syntactic structure or literal meaning.[3][5]

Sitting in lotus pose preparing for his first mantra — Sitting in lotus pose preparing for their first mantra

In it’s most basic form, the word or sound ॐ (Aum, Om) serves as a mantra. There are then melodic and mathematically structured sections of vocalized sounds. The more advanced mantras have melodic phases that contain spiritual practices, interpretations, and principles. These spiritual principles of truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge, and positive action are chanted in a method of bringing this to the individual or group. Although some mantras are just meant to be uplifting with no meaning behind them

RAJESHWARI GRETCHEN CARMEL of the Yoga Space visited Live Free Structured Sober Living in Keene to teach the men at the facility the benefits of mantras and how they apply to their lives. Spending a wonderful hour of training with friends they were able to gain important enlightenment into the world of mantras.

Gretchen holds a vision of compassion, healing, and peace for our planet. She brings to her teaching a high level of commitment, love for her students and infuses her classes, workshops, and retreats with the joy of mantra.

At Live Free Structured Sober Living we feel it is important for our clients to immerse themselves and be exposed to as many life-saving practices as possible in their journey of recovery. With yoga, mantra training, sound bath meditations, hiking, camping, and much more. Live Free Structured Sober Living provides a wide variety of experiential modalities that open the mind as well as the spirit. This, in turn, gives the guest at Live Free Structured Sober Living the best chances of achieving long-lasting sobriety and a joy-filled life of peace.

In addition to Gretchen’s teachings at The Yoga Space, she shares her wisdom with workshops and retreats annually at Bethel Farm Yoga & Living Arts Center, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. as well as other yoga studios/festivals/retreat centers. She is the founder/director/senior facilitator of the 200-Hour, Yoga Alliance Certified, Mantra Teacher Training & Study Immersion offered in Keene, NH, and Blue Spirit Costa Rica.