A short meditation and mantra to honor the transformative power of Shiva.

Opening Meditation 

Come to a tall seat and close your eyes. Take a couple of deep breaths to arrive in the here and now. This practice asks that you connect to your Agni, your spiritual and digestive fire. The fire lives in the solar plexus, above the belly button, and below the ribcage at Manipura, the third chakra.

Fire transforms everything it touches; nothing is the same once it’s been touched by fire. Fire is mutable, and its energy presents itself in many forms. The embers at the base of the fire, the flames at the center feeding on the wood, and the heat we feel in the space surrounding the flame.

Change is inevitable; transformation is a choice. Change is always happening; transformation is what we do with the change and how we interact with change. Transformation is a conscious choice.

Visualize a ball of light, your inner flame, around the solar plexus. Each time you breathe, imagine stoking the fire with whatever it is you’d like to change and transform in your life. Stay present for your breath, feel each inhale and exhale, and breathe into the light inside.

Opening Mantra to Shiva 

Three sounds of Aum together.

Take the following mantra as call and response and then several times together with Clara.

Shiva Shiva Shiva Shambo, Shiva Shiva Shiva Shambo.

Mahadeva Shambo, Mahadeva Shambo.

Shiva: Lord of Transformation, Lord of the cosmic dance of Destruction.

Shambho: Another name for Shiva is the simple or aesthetic one.

Mahadeva: Great Lord, Great One, another name for Shiva.

This mantra invokes Shiva as the great one, the auspicious one. Shiva is part of the Trimurti with Brahma, Lord of Creation, and Vishnu, Lord of Preservation.