Crystal Life’s Gemstone Prayer Beads bring together the power of prayer, the power of tradition, and the power of gemstones! Sometimes also called Gemstone Malas – which means a garland of flowers (prayers) in Sanskrit – we recommend you follow the ancient yogic practice of placing your intent into your prayer beads – then wearing your “garland” around your neck or wrist. This enables your prayerful intent, and the universe’s supportive response, to be present with you throughout your day. Prayer beads are the original “Jewelry with Purpose!”
Working with prayer beads brings you to a place of inner power – and peace. Through focus on your japa (chanting) practice, you move into a place where negativity, stress and needless mind chatter are not present – only peace. Prayer beads have universal appeal, for they cross cultural boundaries and religions.
Click these to see the many different gemstone prayer beads and gemstone malas available from GemstonePrayerBeads.com and GemstoneMalas.com . Our shopping cart is hosted by our parent company, Crystal-Life.com
The High Quality of Our Gemstone Prayer Beads
These gemstone prayer beads are part of the energy-focused products, tools, and jewelry you expect to find at Crystal Life Technology, Inc. Known in various traditions as yoga prayer beads, malas, rosaries, tasbih and misbaha, these gemstone prayer beads have been crafted to resonate with the user’s personal intentions and so are called Resonance® – Jewelry with Purpose®.
Crystal Life has been handcrafting gemstone prayer beads since 1996. Working with top quality gemstones and crystals, and 100% silk cord, our USA artisans peacefully handknot between each bead, for suppleness during use. These prayer beads fold gracefully into the palm during use, and feel full of flowing grace while worn.
Crystal Life believes strongly in the power of intent and the power of form. Therefore all our crafters are energy workers who, understanding that consciousness affects all, do their work in a peaceful state of mind, with the intent of the highest good for the mala’s final owner. These prayer beads arrive at your door clear in spirit and ready for you to provide them with your specific prayer or intent.
Your Gemstone Prayer Bead Choices
We want you to have the best possible tools to work with, when you devote your time and energy to doing japa, mantra or prayer. For that reason, you can select from over 30 different gemstone prayer beads, each of which enhances your practice with its own type of energy. Our most popular gemstone prayer beads are amethyst (wisdom), rose quartz (love), aventurine (new growth), bloodstone (courage & leadership) , chakra, and black onyx (self-mastery).
You can choose a medium size 6 mm bead (about the size of a medium green pea) and a large size 8 mm bead (about the size of a regular chick pea).
Our classic prayer beads are strung on silk cord, handknotted between each bead, with a larger guide bead (also known as a meru, guru or focal bead) from which hangs a luxuriously thick tassel fashioned by us from the same silk cord.
To many, the tassel symbolizes the root of the lotus, from which the stem of the flower of enlightenment grows. To others, it serves as a path by which anything unnecessary to your prayer is removed by the guru, or guide, and passes harmlessly into the universe. The focal bead is important because it is the protective energy keeping the power of your prayer in place
You can also choose to work with our Sacred Space Prayer Beads. This is our own original design, to meet the needs of those who wish to wrap their prayer beads around their neck or wrist. We call these our yoga prayer beads because a lot of hatha yoga practitioners like to wear their beads in this fashion.
Other Gemstone Prayer Bead Styles
For convenience, some people want a stretch prayer bracelet that they can wear and use throughout the day. Crystal Life provides you with the popular contemporary version of this. Known as the Power Bracelet, it is handcrafted on clear stretch cord and in many of the same 8 mm gemstones as our full length malas. The one difference here is that the count is not a classic quarter count; it varies according to the size of the individual beads. This is so that it fits properly on the wrist.
As a service, we provide at cost black plastic unknotted prayer beads for those incarcerated. This style prayer bead is Duns certified, and we work with many chaplains across the country to provide these to their prisons.
Number is important – it connects to universal will. Therefore, we offer you the option to work with a sacred number that is significant in your particular discipline. For no extra cost, you can request of us a specially crafted mala with a specific count. Our standard prayers beads use a 108 bead count; this is called the classic count and it is used in the majority of traditions, including Buddhist, Hindu, Yogic and Christian. We also offer the Islamic 99 count prayer beads (also know as misbaha and tasbih) in a knotted style. Other counts we have had requests for are the Kabbalistic 72 count and the Pagan 80 count. Some Christians prefer the 100 count, and we provide that as well. To meet the needs of vegans, we can also handcraft our prayer beads on 100% cotton cord.
We offer restringing of prayer beads we have handcrafted, for that time when, after long and intense use, you need to recondition your devotional pieces. This work is done with great respect for all you have imparted to the prayer beads since you began your work. We cannot restring prayer beads made by others, as often these beads have small, uneven holes our cord will not pass through. Some yogis are very tough on their beads, and in this case we may suggest your having us integrate a thin piece of fishline into the silk cord – this is a special order, but no extra cost to you.
How to Utilize Prayer Beads in Your Practice
Prayer beads help you focus on the meaning of your prayer, or mantra, rather than having to keep track of the number of repetitions. You can use prayer beads to chant an affirmation, prayer or mantra. Chants include love, wisdom, joy, peace and the names of God.
You may chant your intent out loud and fast to ground it in your physical body, or silently and slowly to inwardly enter this energy. Eventually, you will be able to sit in silence and enter directly into the energy of your intent.
When working with a mala, it is usual to rotate the beads between two fingers. Most usually the thumb rotates the bead as it is perched between the index and middle fingers. Every time a mantra is completed, the thumb moves the bead clockwise, until you arrive at the large focal bead. This bead, also known as the guru, meru or guide bead, is the large bead that holds the garland together. It signifies the guiding energy of your discipline, or of your current prayer. Out of respect for this energy, you do not continue by moving over the guide bead, but reverse the garland in your hand and continue on.
When you wear or carry the prayer beads, it resonates your intent inside its circle. When worn around the neck or on the wrist, this includes the main energy flows of your body. Some like to keep the prayer beads in a small bag, on a shrine, or by the bed.
One exercise is to chant your intent six rounds, increase one round a day until you reach eleven rounds, then decrease back to six rounds. If you are sincere in your chanting, by the end of this period you will have made significant progress entering into the world of your intent.
When you wish to change your chant, mentally clear your beads or pass them through the smoke from incense.
It is useful to set a positive intent when you are going to work with a mala for prayer or meditation. This helps you to constructively center your mind and your spirit. The mantra, prayer or affirmation you select is an individual choice. The most universal mantra is “OM” or “AUM” – the core vibration of the universe. Repeating and intoning this sound aligns you to the vibration of the infinite, helps transformation within and helps raise you to a higher, clear state of consciousness. It has been proven that this sound not only has a positive vibration, but a white color as well, as explained by expert in sound, Dr. Jonathan Goldman.
The most powerful mantras stimulate meridians in the mouth and the head. This helps open inner vision through the eye and the Crown Chakra.
There are many types of mantras, “Om Mani Pad Me Hum” being a very powerful and popular mantra. It means the “Jewel is in the lotus.” The lotus is the Far Eastern symbol of enlightenment. The Tibetan symbols for the”Om Mani Pad Me Hum” are seen carved and painted in stones, wall plaques and paintings as well as inscribed in jewelry.
There are also many versions of songs and music that have been recorded by various artists based on this mantra, and some people like to meditate to or do japa to such music.
The following is a description of this mantra, as offered by the Tibetan Buddhist Masters Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Patrul Rinpoche:
OM: It is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity.
MA: Helps perfect the practice of pure ethics
NI: helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience.
PAD: helps achieve perfection of perseverance.
ME: helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration.
HUM: helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom.
These are the meanings of the six powerful syllables, also known as the Six True Words. The mantra helps you to be in a state of grace with traits from generosity to wisdom. What is known as the “Jewel” part of the lotus are acts of kindness. Practicing any of these traits means being on a path of wisdom and transformation. When practicing the mantras, you are in union with the mind, body and spirit of the high universe.
When you work with a mala to recite this or any other mantra, prayer or affirmation, it helps you enter into a state of gratitude, thankfulness and appreciation. It is an acknowledgement of a benefit that you have received or will receive.
Gemstone Prayer Beads as a Means for Centering
Here are some techniques for centering. This is very valuable to do when you are under stress and just for everyday living!
This is a merkaba technique – a spiritual science technique that integrates well with all spiritual/ religious/ philosophical viewpoints.
Sit quietly, both feet on the floor, hands resting in lap or on knees. You can open/close/half close your eyes. Back is straight. Now see a line of light extending from far above your head to far below your feet. It goes through the top of your head in the center of your body, exiting through the base of your seat, and is from a dime to a quarter to larger in diameter. This is called different names in different traditions, such as the central channel, the sushumna and the haric line. Picture the line anchored above your head in the father power way far out in the universe, and below your feet in the mother power at the core of the earth. Sit quietly and let the white energy cycle in a downward to upward to downward etc. flow.
Next, in the middle of your chest, between the breasts and in the center of this column of light, see or imagine a bright point of light. This is actually the source of the merkaba, which looks like a Star of David, and of the energy inside your own existence: it connects to the source of all, the place of ultimate peace, love, knowledge and compassion. Once you locate this point, focus on it, count to three and give a slight puff of air, seeing the point of light suddenly expand to surround your body, creating a ball of light that has its own stable shape. You have just sent the energy of your own soul source to fill the subtle level of your own personal aura. Now sit quietly and feel the peace this source carries with it.
When you are finished, bring the ball of light back into your heart center, the line of central channel light also back into that same point, and stop there.
You have just experienced expanding your energy to universal proportions and then returning it and containing it in your own body for use in your everyday life.
Mandalas express mathematics in a visual form, and the symbol for the evolution of form from spirit is the Sri Yantra. If you wish to use a neutral focal point to visually orient yourself to, while practicing japa (counting your prayers), we recommend you work with this form.
Another powerful mandala is the Creation mandala: the manifestation of spirit in matter. These images, and more explanation about their use, can be found in Crystal Life President Atala Toy’s book We Are Not Alone: A Guidebook for Interdimensional Cooperation.
More Information on Prayer Beads
Prayer Beads are the oldest known energy tools in existence. They are found throughout history and signify humanity’s intent to strength their prayers and spiritual practice in a powerful and organized way.
Since time immemorial, people have been harnessing the power of prayer with the power of stones. Shamans would wrap jagged crystals with rope, twine or vine to keep precious stones on their person, or keep pouches with stones in their pockets or around their necks.
Stones have always been known to carry very specific frequencies of great value to all life on earth. Some protect us, others calm and soothe us; some are valuable for childbirth while others keep our memory and eyesight sharp. Shaping and drilling stones was a great evolutionary step forward, for this process when done by hand is extremely difficult and time-consuming. Before machines, such prayer bead sets were very costly and even wealthy people could afford only one or two sets of such powerful working tools throughout their entire lives.
How fortunate we are today, to have access to a wider collection of stone helpers than ever before in the history of earth. When you combine specific stones with very specific prayers, in your own personal private prayer and practice, you can enhance your intent to a very large degree. And these powerful tools are remarkably affordable.
The meaning of the classic count
The classic prayer bead count is 108 beads plus a guru bead. The significance of this classic number has been explained in many ways. Here are some of them:
1 stands for God or higher truth, 0 stands for emptiness or completeness in spiritual practice and 8 stands for infinity or eternity. Astrologically, 108 signifies the 12 houses times the 9 planets.
In the human body, there are 108 nadis or lines of subtle energy that converge to form the heart chakra. There are 108 marma points (concentrated centers of energy) in the human body. There are 108 human feelings, with 36 related to the past, 36 related to the present, and 36 related to the future. The average number of breaths per day is 21,600 with 10,800 being solar energy and 10,800 lunar energy (108 x 100 = 10,800). And there are 108 Sanskrit names for different aspects of God’s existence.
In the mathematical connection of ourselves to the universe, working with a 108 count signifies, in Vedic mathematics, a harshad (“great joy”) number, which is an integer divisible by the sum of its digits. We also know today that the diameter of the Sun is 108 times the diameter of the Earth. The distance from the Sun to the Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Sun. The average distance of the Moon from Earth is 108 times the diameter of the Moon.