Mala - Azurite w/Black Obsidian Guru

Wanderlust Mala - Azurite w/Black Obsidian Guru

What is a Mala?

A Mala represents something different to each person. It can be a tool for meditation, a reminder of an intention, a piece that inspires you, or a beautiful manifestation of a feeling. 

​Whether you’re just starting a meditation practice, or you're an advanced practitioner, Mala beads are a great tool to help focus your attention. 

​Mala beads have been used by yogis and spiritual seekers for thousands of years to help keep their minds focused during meditation and prayer. Malas were first created in India 3000 years ago, with roots in Hinduism & Buddhism, and were used for a special style of meditation called Japa, which means, “to recite”. The term mala is a Sanskrit word for “garland.”

During meditation, practitioners pass the beads through their fingers while silently or out loud, repeating a mantra. 100 counted for self, 8 for mistakes and for those who have not the opportunity to meditate in mantra. The act of repeating a prayer or mantra while holding and passing the beads through our fingers helps anchor our thoughts and still the mind so that we can reside in the present, sacred moment, to reawaken our essential and primordial nature.

The significance of 108, the Guru bead and the tassel 

​The number 108 has a range of significance across many different cultures and disciplines. For example, this number informs the architecture of sacred texts that are central to yoga and eastern philosophy. As a devoted scholar of yoga and tantra, Shiva Rea explains in Tending the Heart Fire, “there are 108 chapters of the Rig Veda, 108 Upanishads and 108 primary Tantras.” And these texts are written in Sanskrit, a language comprising 54 letters, each with a masculine (Shiva) and feminine (Shakti) form, 54 x 2 = 108. Listed below are just a few of the many interpretation of the significance of the number 108.

​The Guru bead is the 109th bead and usually larger than the others. It is not counted as part of the 108 beads. The Guru bead is your teacher, it said to hold your prayers and intentions. Guru translates as Gu - Dark and Ru - Light. The Guru bead represents any person, place or experience that takes us from being unaware into awareness.

When using a Mala for meditation, you would start by holding your guru bead and setting your intention for your practice. Use the mala for your meditation as you breathe or count a mantra over each bead. When you finish your meditation or breathwork, you can “seal” your practice as you rest holding your guru bead and holding space for your intention.

Malas are commonly finished with a tassel. The tassel symbolizes the thousand-petal lotus flower. The lotus flower grows from the bottom of ponds or muddy streams up through the water to bloom beautifully. It closes and sinks below the water every night, then resurfaces and fully blooms brightly again. This is a powerful reminder that if we are grounded in our practice, we are able to beautifully bloom and shine in any given situation, no matter how murky, over and over again.