Anxiety is all too common these days. Between work stresses, health concerns, world issues, financial problems, relationship challenges, and self-doubt, it seems like there’s often something to worry or fret over, especially if you tend to struggle with anxiety.
Of course, no one likes to feel anxious. Your heart races, you might have trouble breathing, it’s hard to focus on what you actually should be doing, you often feel hungry or nauseous, and you might even have trouble sleeping.
However, anxiety is a state of mind, and you actually have the power and control to calm your anxious thoughts, quiet the mental chatter in your head, and help your body return to baseline by changing your thoughts and quelling your stress, worry, and fear.
Although there are a variety of self-care or mental health tools you can use to reduce anxiety, such as meditation, walking, progressive muscle relaxation, and journaling, mantras can be an effective way to decrease anxiety, maintain a calm mind, and turn anxious thoughts into positive thoughts and feelings.
In this guide, we will discuss the benefits of mantras for anxiety and then share over 100 mantras for anxiety to help you find reassuring words to hold on to and recite when the storms and stressors of life have you feeling unsafe, unsure, concerned, or alone.
We will cover:
- What Is a Mantra for Anxiety?
- How Mantras Help Reduce Anxiety, Worry, and Stress
- How Can I Use Mantras to Reduce Anxiety?
- 118 Mantras for Anxiety
Ready?
Let’s jump in!
What Is a Mantra for Anxiety?
A mantra is a word, phrase, or statement you can repeat in your mind or aloud to disrupt your thinking patterns so that you can shift your thoughts in a more positive direction.
It is important to note that the term “mantra” refers specifically to sacred utterances in Sanskrit that were believed to have therapeutic power. However, the term is used more loosely now to encompass other chants and positive affirmations with similar perceived positive benefits.
Mantras for anxiety help quiet worries and spiraling thoughts, and may be positive affirmations, reassuring words or phrases, or grounding sentences that help you reduce the mental and physical ramifications of anxiety.How Mantras Help Reduce Anxiety, Worry, and Stress
Affirmations and mantras for anxiety help give your brain something positive to focus on. Anxiety and anxious thoughts can become a habit, but consistently repeating a mantra can help shift your mind off of distorted thoughts and away from the habit of feeling worried.
Using positive affirmations and mantras to reduce anxiety might sound somewhat woo woo, but there’s science behind the power of reciting mantras.
Research suggests that the brain believes what we say to it, so in response to a positive mantra for anxiety, your brain produces the same feelings that you would expect to experience if the mantra you are reciting were true.
In other words, you can convince your brain and body to feel; calm, capable, happy, and safe just as your anxious thoughts can have you feeling inadequate, scared, and alone.
In terms of what actually happens in the brain, evidence suggests that self-affirmations, such as mantras for anxiety, activate the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex and valuation (ventral striatum + ventral medial prefrontal cortex) systems when reflecting on future-oriented core values (compared with everyday activities).
Moreover, research also suggests that repeating mantras aloud can quiet the area of the brain involved in self-evaluation and distracting and wandering thoughts, effectively deactivating the mental spirals responsible for anxious thoughts.
How Can I Use Mantras to Reduce Anxiety?
An affirmation or mantra for anxiety is most effective when it’s repeated frequently, both in times of need and when you already feel you have a calm mind. Repetition helps rewire your brain, due to neuroplasticity.
Pick a mantra for anxiety that speaks to you. Repeat it silently, or preferably out loud, for at least 10 days. Try to believe and feel the words as true. Do this numerous times throughout the day.
118 Mantras for Anxiety
Om.
All is well.
Things always work out.
I am prepared.
Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu (May All Beings Be Happy and Free).
This is temporary.
Every day, in every way, I get better and better.
I am in charge of how I feel, and today I am choosing happiness.
This is just a feeling. It does not control me.
I have the power to create change in my life.
Om Mani Padme Hum (Praise to the Jewel of the Lotus).
I live in the present moment.
I slow my breath with every inhale.
I face anxiety with courage.
Be here now.
Today, I choose happiness.
All is well in my world. I am calm, happy and content.
I release all negativity and stress from my mind and body.
I am worthy of good things.
I choose calm.
I release anxiety and embrace peace and confidence.
I release stressful thoughts and choose peace and calm.
I am calm, capable, and confident.
With every breath, I free myself from worry and fill my lungs with gratitude and joy.
I can easily handle this.
Everything is okay.
I am not my anxiety.
I am in control.
I am doing my best.
I’ve got this.
I choose positive.
I am loved and blessed.
This is just a moment in my life, not my life itself.
I choose to love myself.
I am confident in everything that I do.
I choose positive and nurturing thoughts.
I choose ease and calm here and now.
I trust the timing of my life.
There’s a blessing in this experience.
I choose optimism.
I choose to be happy.
It’s only a thought, and a thought can be changed.
Feel the fear but do it anyway.
I am competent; I am capable.
I believe in myself.
Life is good to me.
I release fear.
This too shall pass.
I am safe.
I’ve got this.
I release the past.
Inhale, exhale.
Peace fills my heart, mind, and soul.
I release anxiety now.
I am stronger than my fear.
I am not in danger; I am just uncomfortable; this too will pass.
I trust the process.
The universe has my back.
I surrender to my higher self.
I have control over my feelings and I choose peace.
The wisdom I need resides within me.
I have everything I need to do what I want to do.
I get to choose how I feel.
Anxiety is a state of mind, not a reality.
My higher self knows the way; I trust it now and always.
I am the captain of my own ship. I have the strength to move beyond my anxiety.
As I relax and slow my breathing, my anxiety flows out.
I welcome calmness into my life.
As I breathe, all my muscles relax.
I am stronger than my anxiety.
I release all negativity from my body.
I allow my emotions to flow through me.
My breath is here to support me.
I will get through this.
There’s a lesson here for me to learn; I’m open to receiving it now.
Wonderful opportunities arrive in my life every day.
Anxiety is a habit; I now choose peace instead.
I find the opportunity here.
I inhale calm and exhale tension.
I am more calm with each passing breath.
I am not alone.
I am calming down.
I am not alone in this. I am cared for, loved, and supported.
I breathe lots of love in and lots of love out.
I can only control myself.
I am grounded.
Even scary things can be conquered.
I am more than my anxiety.
My inner wisdom always knows the way.
One thing at a time.
This moment shall pass.
Breathe.
I can do hard things.
At this moment, I have everything I need.
I am in the driver’s seat in my own life.
I know all is well, even if I don’t see that yet.
I am calm.
I am enough.
My fear does not define me.
With every breath, I ground myself.
With every breath, I find calm and balance.
I am safe and secure.
I am right where I need to be.
I focus my energy on my values, not my anxiety.
I am proud of myself for trying.
Today, I choose peace.
I am capable of tolerating discomfort.
This feeling is temporary.
I do not have to prove myself to anyone.
Today, I will treat myself with kindness and compassion.
I release the need to be perfect.
I can be anxious and still complete this task.
It’s okay to take time to breathe.
I grow from challenges.
I am loved, and I am at peace.
I experience calmness wherever I go.
I have the power to let these thoughts go.
My mind is calming down with every passing breath.
A mantra for anxiety can become a portable friend in times of worry. Use the power of your mind, the power of words, and the power of belief by using mantras to take control of your anxiety.
De-stress with mindful movement
Maybe try repeating some of those mantras to yourself as you move through a stress-relieving yoga routine.
Learn more about the benefits of mindful movement here:
