How to Use Mala Beads for Creative Well-Being
The creative process is full of challenges and potential anxiety. Learn how to use mala beads for creative well-being and stress relief.
The world is a stressful place full of distractions. Based on a study before the pandemic, 55% of Americans experience stress on a daily basis with the global average being 35% (1). With this unfortunate data that’s only grown worse with the pandemic rocking the world, what’s changed is attention and the importance of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is an incredibly important experience. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the leading expert on the psychology of creativity and flow state, has pointed out that we miss so much in every moment, and yet control of consciousness determines the quality of life. There’s plenty of ways to improve mindfulness, but one tool, in particular, has been used for thousands of years to bring focus to the moment, mala beads.
What Are Mala Beads?
A Mala or Japamala, meaning garland, is a string of 108 beads used as a spiritual practice for meditation and prayer. Mala beads have been around for thousands of years and across many cultures like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Christianity, Shintō, and Islam.
How to Use Mala Beads for Creativity
Meditation
Mala beads have been used for centuries to assist with meditation as a method of focusing on the moment.
Methods
- Use mala beads to keep and bring back focus to the breath by linking each bead to a breath.
- Use the mala beads to help count how many times you say an affirmation or mantra.
Mindful Breath Control
As mentioned in the meditation section, a great way of using mala beads is counting breaths. This can be useful when anxiety or stress is rising, and there’s a need to bring the focus back to the moment.
Methods
- Pair each breath with a bead on the bracelet.
- Count seconds during breath-holding meditation exercises.
Gratitude Counting
Gratitude is powerful. Countless studies have found immediate and long-lasting effects that gratitude can improve well-being, enthusiasm, energy, attention, strengthen social relationships, and reduce stress and depression. (2)
Methods
- Similar to counting affirmations or mantras, you can use mala beads to count what you’re grateful for. A common practice is to count gratitude in the morning, but it can also be beneficial whenever negative thoughts arise.
Centering / Grounding
When the mind starts getting out of control, use mala beads to bring your thoughts back to the moment. You can feel them throughout your hands or just focus on the pressure of the beads pressing into the skin and the pressure points.
Methods
- Bring focus to the beads and away from negative thoughts or distractions.
- Say affirmations for creative blocks with each bead.
Pressure Point For Mindfulness
The inner frontier gate point or neiguan pressure point can be found on your inner arm about three finger widths below your wrist. Pressing on this point may reduce anxiety, relieve nausea, and pain. Several studies have found acupressure seemed to help relieve anxiety before/after a medical procedure, cancer treatment, fertility treatments, and menstrual cycles (3,4,5). More research is needed, but the studies done so far haven’t found any negative effects.
Methods
- With hand: Move your thumb in a circle. You should feel two tendons. Be firm, but don’t press so hard that it hurts.
- With mala beads: When mala beads aren’t being used for meditation or mindful exercises, you can keep them on your wrist. The beads can be used to press on this pressure point area as a point of mindfulness to capture awareness and relieve anxiety.
How to Choose Mala Beads for Creativity
What type of mala beads do you want?
- Traditional 108 beads with a guru bead.
- Smaller bracelet with fewer beads.
Test the feel of different types of beads.
- What comforts you?
Express your creativity and find colors that are calming.
- Red – Associated with good fortune, power, passion, energy, and love.
- White – Associated with light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity.
- Yellow – Associated with clarity, happiness, joy, intellect, and energy.
- Orange – Associated with joy, sunshine, warmth, and excitement.
- Purple – Associated with royalty, wealth, wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.
- Blue – Associated with peaceful, trust, strength, dependable
- Green – Associated with nature, health, growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility.
- Pink – Associated with sincerity, feminine, tenderness, vulnerability, and youth
- Black – Associated with sophistication, power, elegance, formality, grief
- Brown – Associated with dependability, reliability, and resilience.
- Gray – Associated with balance, neutrality, compromise, calm
- JULIE RAY. (2019, April 25). Americans’ stress, worry and anger intensified in 2018. Gallup.com. https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-anger-intensified-2018.aspx
- Alex Korb Ph.D. (2012, November 20). The Grateful Brain. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/prefrontal-nudity/201211/the-grateful-brain
- Au, D. W., Tsang, H. W., Ling, P. P., Leung, C. H., Ip, P. K., & Cheung, W. M. (2015). Effects of acupressure on anxiety: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Acupuncture in Medicine, 33(5), 353-359. https://doi.org/10.1136/acupmed-2014-010720
- Beikmoradi, A., Najafi, F., Roshanaei, G. A., Pour Esmaeil, Z., Khatibian, M., & Ahmadi, A. (2015). Acupressure and anxiety in cancer patients. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 17(3). https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.25919
- Kafaei Atrian, M., Abbaszadeh, F., Sarvieh, M., Sarafraz, N., & Asghari Jafarabadi, M. (2013). Investigating the effect of pressure on third liver point on primary dysmenorrhea: A randomized controlled clinical trial. Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 15(9). https://doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.12719
- Khadivzadeh, T., Hassanzadeh-Bashtian, M., Badiee-Aval, S., & Esmaily, H. (2018). The perception and experience of infertile women who received acupressure in relation to anxiety: A qualitative study. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research, 23(5), 376. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijnmr.ijnmr_30_18
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
