The unbeatable technique for staying calm during midterm season

“You should listen to the gayatri mantra every morning.” My mother suggested. Having exhausted all other techniques to remain sane during midterm week, I decided to consider her advise.

Having lost track of time, I caught myself at the library door at 10:00 am on a Sunday morning. It has slipped out of my mind that the library opens at 11:00 am on Sundays. Having some time to myself, I decided to play the gayatri mantra on my phone.

Sitting in the stacks on the 7th floor of Woodruff Library, I decided to take a break and learn a bit more about the science behind the Gayatri Mantra. Much to my surprise, I found out that this religious mantra, not only calls to Gods and Goddesses, but every word and sound made by chanting this mantra create vibrations inside the body that invoking the righteous wisdom within us.

“That is ridiculous!” I thought to myself. I had heard the Gayatri Mantra that morning and it had no effect on me.

However, I decided to chant it for 5 days in order to prove these articles online wrong.

Day 1

I woke up, took a shower and played the gayatri mantra on Youtube. The mantra kept playing in my room while I prepared oatmeal and coffee. By playing it loudly,I thought I was spreading the positive vibrations in my room. I let it play while having my breakfast and tried to concentrate on the mantra.

As you might expect, I did not feel a peaceful energy that aroused any sort of feeling in my soul.

Day 2

I told my mother how I had begun this experiment and what all I had read about it online. She shared a very important piece of information with me: I needed to stay still and focus on the mantra instead of doing my daily chores while listening to it.

I woke up 10 minutes prior to my regular time and sat down on the floor and heard the Gayatri Mantra. I had a lot of trouble focusing on it and kept yawning. I tried to keep my eyes open so that I would not fall off to sleep and focused all my energy on a point on the wall.

Not to my surprise, I still didn’t experience any sort of internal peace.

Day 3

I began to realise that I was trying to prove the online sources wrong instead of conducting this experiment in a non-bias fashion. I woke up, took a shower and focused all of my energy on now, reciting the gayatri mantra and invoking the positive vibrations in the universe. After chanting the mantra three times, I wave of energy swept my feet.

I opened my eyes and instead of feeling tired and sleepy, I was feeling fresh. I was all ready to ace the exam I had been preparing for.

That day, I decided to ditch the double expresso and had green tea instead.

Day 4

I woke up excited to conduct this experiment. After chanting the mantra, I felt this rush in my body. I was excited to get out of my room and meet people. My friends even asked me if I had some good news to share because I had been so happy and cheerful that day.

The stress of midterms had been crushed by this positive vibe in me. I had been surprised that the Gayatri Mantra had actually begun having positive impacts on my life.

Day 5

Imagine standing on the edge of a plane and looking down right before skydiving? That inexplicable joy of jumping off a plane for the first time brought a smile to my face. After chanting the Gayatri Mantra, I was immediately reminded of the thrilling and joyful experiences of my life that involved me taking risks and accepting challenges.

Chanting “Om Bhuur-Bhuvah Svah Tat-Savitur-Varennyam Bhargo Devasya Dhiimahi Dhiyo Yo Nah Pracodayaat” had brought about a change in my outlook of life; chanting these words had reminded me happier times. I was now exuding positive energy. I was experiences a sense of calmness within myself and enthusiasm to take on different challenges that life was about to throw at me.

Chanting the Gayatri Mantra has stimulated certain power centers in my body that give me the courage to take on challenges that would further stimulate my brain and my body. I treated the midterms are minor challenges in my life, that would only help me improve my learning abilities.

Chanting the Gayatri mantra had brought inner peace to me that the stress of midterms could not destroy.