03/18/2026
I first meditated with prayer beads at the ashram where I spent a month learning how to teach yoga in 1998. We spent four hours a day learning asana (yoga positions) and about the same amount of time studying philosophy, chanting, and meditation techniques. I left the training with a sandalwood mala and a mantra, a simple phrase to repeat to focus the mind and cultivate devotion.
A couple years later, my housemateās dog chewed that mala (a good opportunity for forbearance and compassion), but over the years Iāve been gifted others. A mala is 108 (or some smaller multiple, like 27 or 54) beads strung together. The one I favor now was given to me by my sister-in-law, large amber beads that are easy to feel in the fingers as I push them along one by one.
My daily hike is most often a loop, and it reminds me of moving around the mala, one step at a time. When I walk, I let the thoughts float through - itās a time for allowing creative impulses to present themselves, rather than disciplining the mind or solving problems. My writing dried up for three weeks in February. During those same three weeks, because of weather, illness, and travel, I frequently missed my usual solo time in the woods. That lull, during which my energy and mood were generally low, underscored the importance of the time spent moving through space and letting my mind receive inspiration.
This spring, Iām trying a new twist on my meditation practice. Instead of mentally repeating the mantra, I simply listen to my natural breath 108 times, using the mala to mark them. Observing the breath is a time-honored meditation technique, but Iāve never done it with the beads before. Itās a softer, more spacious way of doing japa meditation, and creates a receptive, quiet mental landscape, in much the same way as one step after the other on the trail does.
