Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
This month — in our theme of lovingkindness — we’ve been practicing a simple, but powerful mantra:
🧘♂️ Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu 🧘♀️
This mantra has resonated across our community — with many of you asking for pictures of my notes after class in order to betater take it with you to your off-the-mat lives.
The mantra means:
“May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute towards that happiness and freedom for all.”
By chanting this mantra, we move from our personal self and radiate a prayer of love for the world around us. It releases us from our ego and our limited worldview and emits from us wellbeing for all, everywhere — those we know and love, those we know and don’t love, those we don’t know yet and those we won’t ever know. It is a reminder of our universal spirit.
The mantra is not a traditional Vedic mantra — it is known as a śloka, or chief verse form of the Sanskrit epics and has been used for centuries to invoke greater states of compassion and peace. It’s often said at the beginning or end of a yoga practice (sometimes both this month!) and for me, is a beautiful reminder of the first Yāmā — ahiṃsā — to first, always do no harm.
✨ May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute towards that happiness and freedom for all. ✨