meditate

Taming the mind – practicing the art of mindfulness

Juanita Pienaar — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 08:40:47 +0000

It sounds so simple and easy, to be mindful, to focus completely on the here and now. On the task at hand and all the sensations that you experience in your body, all the emotions that you are feeling in that instant. Just that instant. And then the next. And then the next…

I mean, surely this is a natural state of being. In fact, it is a natural state of being. It is the default position that our bodies, minds and souls want to get back to. It is a moment or more where every bit of you can just relax and be. With no judgement, no second-guessing, no ‘what if’s’. It is fully just present and paying deep attention to what is happening in that one particular fraction of time.

Moments of mindfulness offer us a space to just breathe. Away from the race of life, away from thoughts speeding through our minds at light-year speed. While this is a moment of rest, it is not a moment of inaction (although it could also be that). Studies on mindfulness have shown that being focussed and present makes you more efficient – multi tasking actually gets less done.

Being mindful means you pay full attention. You take in everything that is present in that moment. You really notice the details that sometimes get lost in the madness of a moment. Like the colour of the eyes of the person that you are talking to. Or the feeling of the wind on the back of your neck. It not only helps you to do things more thoroughly, it also creates a space where you get to soak up the essence of life. Moment by moment.

Being mindful and staying present is something that needs to be practiced. It is something that you need to remind yourself to come back to again and again. A good way to start practicing mindfulness is to invite small moments into your everyday life. Become fully present whenever you remember. Here are some tips to help you do that:

Pay attention to your breathing.

Your breathing tells you a lot about what is going on around you and within you. Long, deep breaths tell you that you are comfortable and relaxed. Short, quick, shallow breaths usually mean that there is something you need to pay closer attention. In these moments ask yourself what is going on, check in with your thoughts, feelings and emotions to identify exactly what is happening inside. Once you have identified this, then you can look at your surroundings and the situation to see what could have triggered this response. You might find that there is some healing work that needs to be done, or you might find that you are just really unfit and out of breath from climbing that hill! Either way, congratulations, you just spend a few moments being fully present.

Make a habit of bringing mindfulness to everyday tasks.

Start to develop the habit of being mindful during specific everyday tasks like taking a shower or doing the dishes. Pay attention to each and every spoon, knife, fork and plate. Notice the tiny scratches or dents. See the bubbles that the soap makes and notice the texture of the sponge in your hand. Fully immerse yourself in washing the dishes. As this becomes a habit you will naturally start to become present and notice more and more moments of being mindful during your day. The wonderful thing about practicing mindfulness is that the more you do it, the more spontaneously you will slip into those moments of peace.

Do yoga.

Yoga is a great tool to help you achieve mindfulness. Yoga means ‘yoke’ and aims at binding or connecting your mind, body and soul. Through practicing yoga, you aim to get all three of these elements in synchronisation. During practice you focus on your body and breath, lose your focus and your poses become less stable and you tend to be unable to go as deep as you might when you are focusing and breathing. By focusing completely, you are giving your mind the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be fully present, to focus on only the asana that you are in, with no distractions from outside, or from your own scattered thoughts. Yoga is the ultimate tool that leads you to be able to experience deep meditation and mindfulness.

Meditation.

A powerful way to crate mindfulness is through meditation. It helps you to cultivate that deep stillness where your mind and soul can rest. Meditation aims at quieting your mind and creating a space where you can just be. As you are, in that moment.

Like all forms of mindfulness, meditation is a continual practice and some days the quiet will come easier than others… and that is ok. As time goes by you will experience more moments of quiet and those moments will get deeper and deeper until you get to the space where you enter a semi-dreamlike state. Where time does not exist, and you feel like you are floating in a universal soup of energy. That…that beautiful moment is what meditation is about, or at least for me. I have created a few guided meditations here, they are great for beginners and more experienced meditators.

The ultimate goal of practicing mindfulness is to become fully present in each moment. It is to create a space where your mind is quiet and focused, and you are free to absorb everything that the moment brings you. Every moment of ecstasy and every moment of sorrow. Every ordinary moment… until you realise that there are no ordinary moments, only extraordinary moments waiting to be witnessed.

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Things we do to self-medicate

Katherine Wilson — Mon, 06 May 2019 07:20:18 +0000

What is medication? “A drug to diagnose, cure, or treat, or prevent a disease.” So says Wikipedia. Merriam-Webster says more nebulously, “the act or process of medicating;” or, “a medicinal substance.” The OED defines it as, “drug or other form of medicine that is used to prevent disease.”

As society becomes more and more connected, and humans continue to live longer, the definition keeps subtly shifting. Technology is being integrated not only into our daily lives via lap-tops, but also via changing treatments such as stem cell research, and the growth of new tissue. It’s an exciting time to be alive, and a disconcerting time as well. The borders between, “technology,” and, “human,” are melting away. This is certainly becoming readily apparent in popular movies such as, “Alita, Battle Angel.”

All creatures are born with the drive to survive. If that is not consistently fulfilled, it becomes injured. There are so many creatures out there now, with a simple need to feel grounded by real earth or have home and food needs met. It is no wonder that it pervades the common spiritual need, and it is a greater psychic need.

Where do people turn to to fill simple, small needs that one might not consider injuries, but are in fact expressions of psychic needs? Common expressions are over-using caffeine, sugar, and alcohol. Co-dependencies of any kind, such as food, sex, validation, smoking, prescription or non-prescription drugs are all an expression of a wound.

Unfortunately, simple anxieties are triggered very easily in modern society. Living close together in cities, long workdays, loneliness, and dissociation are all quite common.

These anxieties are often relatively easily alleviated with simple, repeated treatment, but often the anxiety gets so bad that self-medication has simply gotten out of control. People with pre-existing trauma have an extra-hard time with this. Those who are destined to be wounded healers have first the task of trekking through their own issues before they aid others.

How can people in the spiritual community take note, and aid others to fulfill, instead of overfill? Begin with the self. It always behooves one to look inwards. Equally important, examining how one’s anxieties are affecting one’s simple interactions in the world. Healing with the elements, relaxing, breathing, and allowing oneself to feel the literal or figurative ground beneath allows the entire group to feel more relaxed and at ease. It’s that simple.

Breathing and allowing the energy to flow through you can be called being a channel, and it’s easy to be a channel for the wrong feelings. Being a talented channel for the positive and soothing feelings of a single person or a group and or a vessel takes practice and dedication. Sometimes there are those who call themselves mirrors or sponges. There are many people with these traits. It can be a bit dangerous for those who discover it, and find that suddenly people start to avoid them for some unknown reason. Seeing one’s true self in the mirror is addictive, at first. Then it gets embarrassing, seeing all those little flaws. Sound familiar?

Anxiety is a noted awakening of kundalini. Learning how to control this energy is a natural process. Whether it is or not anxiety is associated with kundalini, it is recognised that meditation helps anxiety in many cases.

In order to help others in the community that are not as awake, being a stabilising channel is a good course of action. It is good to note that a new person on the path may cling if one is the only person around with clean energy. Setting firm boundaries and modeling good behaviour is absolutely necessary. Suggesting but not dictating a correct path is also good. The path of excellence is always a choice for others, and it is their interpretations and life to choose.

Medicating oneself or being medication for others is not appropriate. This is different from giving aid out of compassion or being loving to oneself. Generosity should be delineated from prescription.

Integrity of the body, mind, and spirit should always be kept as the goal, but it doesn’t work when one has surgery or a chronic illness requiring medication. So where do these ideas meet? In the alembic of personal belief systems.

We medicate ourselves – over and under our personal boundaries. Aiding one another to the path we are each meant to follow, we raise the other higher.

How do you self-medicate? How do you help others? Tell us in the comments below.

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