may we be healthy + free from suffering
We’re fascinated by the words – but where we meet is in the silence behind them.
Ram Dass
This is undoubtedly an intense time on so many levels [dare I say: all the levels]. It is exhausting to keep up with our health and personal lives in general while – as many of you are currently doing – caring for others, let alone carry the weight of the world when so many are suffering.
We can choose whether to get swept up in our thinking mind and fearful expectations, or do the best we can to work on witnessing our thoughts without judgement in order to cultivate a sense of equanimity and centeredness.
By returning to a state of calm, steady alertness versus stressing about the thoughts that run amuck in our monkey minds, we literally train ourselves to not identify with anxious future projections or past experiences.
And to boot, we learn how to breathe with versus resist uncomfortable circumstances as they exist in the present moment.
Neuroscience studies show that meditation practices help to sharpen the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that enables concentration, decision making, and cognitive behavior. It thickens the gray matter in our brain, which leads to a greater chance of emotional stability.
Mindfulness practices have also proven to soften the sympathetic nervous system – our fight or flight response – and kickstart the parasympathetic nervous system – which keeps us calm while in a state of alertness.
More effective than reading the scientific studies and factoids is to experience it for yourself; to see what it feels like in your unique body and mind.
Before we can cultivate something new, sometimes it is helpful to recognize the opposite. For example: witnessing how the thoughts bounce around and giving them free will to do so – not trying so hard to force equanimity, but allowing it to arrive, recognizing that it is in fact our natural state.
I invite you to consider where you are at today – how you’re feeling, if your thoughts are causing you to be anxious and flighty or sluggish and down – and what thoughts or actions make you feel centered.
Listen to your thoughts:
- What are they trying to tell you?
- How are they affecting your experience?
- Where are they coming from?
- Do other people perhaps share these same thoughts themselves?
- Are they true, or are they just your fears talking?
Then consider:
- What does feeling centered feel like in your unique mind and body?
- Where do you feel it in your body?
- How does this concept of equanimity affect what your thoughts are, the stream of thoughts; your breath, mood, and overall experience?
There is a place within all of us that is steady, strong, flexible, and at ease – just like a mountain, regardless of the weather.
Noticing what it feels like to be out of balance and unsteady without resistance or judgment – and instead investigating or observing our thoughts with curiosity – can help us discover that state of peace that I would argue we all seek.
Worth a shot, no?
Read the newsletter for Zoom yoga classes, delicious veggie bowl inspo, classes on My Mission 360, a new guided meditation, an expansive chat with actress-author and baker-food activist Jennifer Esposito, and good vibes.
Onward.
Photo: Grant Henry Media / Brooklyn, NY.
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