Most people imagine tantric meditation as something elaborate — a ceremony, a specific lineage, a teacher present. For serious practitioners working within a tradition, that’s often true. But the principles behind tantric meditation — breath as anchor, sound as focus tool, awareness of the body as sacred, witnessing rather than suppressing what arises — can be applied in a short, accessible practice that requires nothing but ten quiet minutes and somewhere to sit.
Here’s a complete practice. Read through it once before you try it.
What You’ll Need
- A quiet space where you won’t be interrupted
- Something comfortable to sit on (floor cushion, folded blanket, or a chair — all fine)
- A timer set to 10 minutes
- Nothing else
Step 1: Settle Your Body (1 minute)
Sit comfortably with your spine reasonably upright — not rigid, just tall enough that your chest is open and your breath can move freely. Rest your hands palms-down on your thighs. Close your eyes.
Spend the first minute doing nothing except feeling the weight of your body making contact with whatever you’re sitting on. Notice the pressure of your seat, the soles of your feet on the floor, the weight of your hands on your legs. You’re not trying to relax — you’re just making contact with the physical reality of where you actually are.
Step 2: Three-Part Breath to Arrive (2 minutes)
Without forcing anything, begin to deepen your breath slightly — filling belly, then ribs, then chest on the inhale; releasing chest, then ribs, then belly on the exhale. Keep it slow and continuous, no pauses or holds.
Do this for roughly 2 minutes. The goal isn’t to achieve a particular state — it’s to shift your nervous system’s attention from whatever it was processing before you sat down to the present moment and this body.
Step 3: Add the Mantra (5 minutes)
Let your breath return to its natural rhythm — don’t control it anymore. Now add a silent mental repetition: on each inhale, hear the sound so in your mind; on each exhale, hear hum. (Together: so-hum, traditionally meaning “I am that” — a reference to the recognition that individual awareness and universal consciousness are not separate.)
Don’t force the sound to match your breath perfectly. Let it float alongside the breath rather than driving it. When your mind wanders — and it will, many times — simply notice that it has, and return to the so-hum without frustration. The wandering and returning is the practice, not a failure of it.
Stay with this for 5 minutes.
Step 4: Rest in Open Awareness (1 minute)
In the final minute, let go of the mantra. Stop directing attention anywhere in particular. Simply sit and notice whatever is present — sounds in the room, sensations in the body, the quality of your own awareness — without labeling or engaging with any of it. You’re not trying to achieve emptiness; you’re just sitting with what’s here, openly, without agenda.
Step 5: Close with Intention (1 minute)
Before you open your eyes, take one slow breath and set a brief intention for the next few hours — not a goal or a task, but a quality you want to carry forward. Presence. Patience. Openness. Whatever feels honest. Then take another breath, open your eyes slowly, and give yourself 30 seconds before reaching for your phone or moving into the next thing.
What to Expect
The first few times you try this, the five minutes of mantra will probably feel longer than five minutes. Your mind will wander constantly. That’s normal and not a sign the practice isn’t working — a mind that wanders and returns is doing exactly what meditation is for. Over time, the settling happens faster and goes deeper. Ten minutes done consistently beats an occasional hour done sporadically, every time.
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