Last week I wrote about a soothing experience from over 30 years ago watching a stranger tenderly wrap a gift. It felt uplifting to recall that simple source of peace. Then, this weekend arrived bearing not a gift, but Yet. Another. Mass. Shooting – a verified racially-based hate crime to boot.
So now, I'm tapping in to the residue of that earlier memory to revisit a perennial question: can we still find joy in a world so plagued by suffering and violence? When the news is relentlessly bad, short of doing the pose of the buried-head ostrich, can yoga, meditation, or quiet contemplation even stand a chance to help?
Emphatically yes.
Integrated mind-body practices are uniquely suited to help us reckon with the injustices we see, the indignities we experience, and the incredulousness we feel. Here are four demonstrable ways:
1. Priming the pump of the breath
With practice, taking a long, slow, steady breath can become second nature as the first response to difficult emotion. This reminds our nervous system that – at least in the immediate moment – we are safe. In so doing, we build those moments into small stretches of time that make space for on-the-spot healing.
2. Putting things into perspective
Movement practice enhances proprioception, our ability to know how and where we're moving in space. Add attention training to the movement, and we enhance interoception, our sense of what's happening inside our body. Then we know both _where_ we are and _how_ we are, and get better equipped to gauge where and how things are _around us_. If something is small and fleeting, we can leave it be. If something is big and impactful, we're appropriately alert and responsive.
3. Clarifying the field
Attuned awareness is a universally useful skill, especially when it comes to knowing who we are and how to be in the world. While I don't know a ton about football, I do know this: the kicker doesn't step on the field to throw for touchdowns or tackle the running back, but he comes in hot when a field goal is in range. We each have our positions and their associated realms of influence. Mindful practice helps us be who and where we need to be, and helps us know when and how to be there.
Connecting with other humans
The connection might happen while sharing physical space in a group class, where the synchrony of breath and movement is a proven mood enhancer. Or it might happen as we practice in our own spaces, privately undoing the layers of stress and fear and isolation, revealing our humble, vulnerable interconnectedness. We may emerge from a session feeling more human, more capacitated, more a part of something bigger than our small selves.
So, in case you feared that resourcing this potential for insistent joy was impossible? On the contrary. It's imperative, for our personal survival and our collective sustenance.
~ Annie Moyer