OM and U Got This: Reminders
I’m not a big jewelry person, but I do have two bracelets that I wear every day. Well, I’ve only had one for about a week, but they are two reminders I plan to always carry with me.
The first one is a bracelet from my mom. It is an adjustable black string bracelet with a message in Morse code: u got this. My mom got it for me shortly after I told her that my spouse and I were moving to New York City. We had an emotional conversation where we talked about the excitement and anxiety over this change, and how we both wanted to foster creative pursuits that we had long neglected. In my mom’s case, it was drawing; she drew throughout high school and has done it on and off in adulthood. In my case, it was writing: something I also did throughout high school and into college and the years afterward. I’ve talked in another post about the difficult relationship I’ve had with writing, especially when I was in journalism. We’re both still imperfect in our artistic endeavors and in doing them with regularity, but we do try and I think that’s what remains most important.
The second, new bracelet is a rose gold chain with the Sanskrit OM symbol on it. It was a birthday gift from my spouse this year, which was earlier this month. I am two months through a 3.5 month yoga teacher training program, and we’ve talked about the sacred importance of OM. It is a sound, syllable, mantra, and invocation contained in two letters, three little sounds, a-u-m. At least one of the sounds contained in this mantra are in every word, and encompasses all the ways sound can be made by the mouth. Every time it’s been incorporated in a class I’ve attended, it has been powerful and beautiful; you can really feel the resonance within your own body and within the space around you. Especially significant is the ending m sound results in a hum, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system and helps you calm down.
These bracelets are special to me for lots of reasons. Adjusting them throughout the day grounds me. Doing this or just looking at them on my wrist gives me a reminder to breathe and that whatever problems I’m dealing with, I can succeed. This is a helpful reminder as I advance in yoga teacher training; I’ve taught my sister over Zoom and am about to start teaching friends who live across the country, but teaching my fellow cohort members is anxiety-inducing in a different way. We are experiencing this together and all get along well, though we’ve still only known each other for two months. Remembering to breathe, ground, and move forward helps me with the challenges of this program. They’re good reminders (and will continue to be good reminders) as I go through transition at the end of summer and beginning of fall, undergoing a new program of study and the changes that will bring to my personal life. While I have worries about what’s going to come up for me, I’m mostly excited by what is to come. And while they aren’t cures or catch-all treatments, having these tangible messages from my loved ones helps ground me more than I would have thought possible. Remembering that you’ve got this and that sometimes you just need to stop and breathe can help us all, throughout the day, whatever we’re dealing with.