One of my favorite meditations practices to do in the Winter season is a meditation incorporating the Gayatri Mantra, one of the oldest mantras of the Vedas.

Gayatri means “she who protects”. It is a reference to the Divine Mother, who offers her guidance and protection to all of us as her “children”. The Gayatri Mantra is a chant and an invocation of light and illumination. It is to be a request to align our own intelligence with this luminous, inspired presence . The mantra is said to vitalize our life force in its fullest expression in body and mind. It can support vibrancy, confidence, inner and outer strength, creativity and deep devotion. The Gayatri Mantra can help us transition from darkness to light.

Mantras are used for many reasons. They are used for healing, for protecting, for inspiration and for both calling in a particular energy or for clearing energy. My own experience with the Gayatri Mantra is so positive that I have shared it often with many yoga students throughout the years as an important aspect of their ongoing yoga path.

“Om I meditate on the radiant and most venerable light of the Divine from which issues forth the triple world – the bhu, bhuvah, and svah – earth, ether and Cosmos (heaven). May the Divine light illuminate and guide my intelligence.”

There are many beautiful translations of the above. Here are a couple of my favorite ones:

The eternal, earth, air, heaven
That glory, that resplendence of the sun
May we contemplate the brilliance of that light
May the sun inspire our minds.
-Translated by Douglas Brooks

Everything on the earth
In between, and above
Is arising from one effulgent source.
If my thoughts, words and deeds
Reflected this complete understanding of unity,
I would be the peace I am seeking in this moment.
-Translated by Donna Farhi

Instructions for meditation:

• Chant the Gayatri Mantra 3 times; out loud is preferable.
• As the sound fades…. tune in to your breath….and begin to visualize a golden
  orb…like the sun… way above you….shining its radiant light downward …. feeling that golden light flow into the crown of your head.
•  As you continue to breathe in this light, see it flow down the center and into your third eye ….seeing it’s radiant essence there…. and then allowing this light to travel slowly down to the center of the chest into the Heart region.
• There, feel the golden rays of the sun spreading out through your whole body and mind…as a Blessing of Vitality, Joy and Peace. Breathe that light into every part of your body, your being. Imagine its radiance even spreading outward into your Aura.
• Give a moment of thanks to all of the ancient ones who have given us these
  sacred teachings.
• Then, at the center of this golden orb, which rests at the Anahata chakra (heart
  center), begin to mentally repeat the gayatri mantra. Recite it as if the sound is
  emanating from your heart which has merged with that luminous light. Sense the mantra, the light and your heart center as one. From there, let the sounds of the syllables resound in your entire being.
• You can mentally (inwardly) chant the mantra with this heart center focus a few
  times…then be quiet and just focus on breath and being. Then repeat if you feel
  moved to. Going back and forth from saying the chant and sitting quietly and
  absorbing the effects.
• Then release the chanting and just rest in the awareness of your breath and the
  stillness.