Stillness: Practice makes perfect!
Did you ever achieve success at anything without practice and commitment?
If you want to reap the benefits resulting from meditation, like anything else in life, it requires practice. In order to train the busy mind and body to slow down into stillness, where inner healing begins, the body and mind needs repetition and PRACTICE.
It is difficult at first to experience a quiet mind.
Of course! We have become very good at feeling the weight of stress, anxiety over deadlines, regrets of past actions, judgment of ourselves and others. These become daily fearsome burdens.
Mornings are full of rituals of comfort.
Sitting with a warm cup of coffee, stretching to wake the body, a cleansing shower and brushing your teeth, watching the sunrise. Mornings are also a great time to sit for just 15 minutes of stillness, to start the day with a calmed body, a light heart, and tranquil thoughts.
It is also the best time to capture stillness before the day of deadlines and distractions begin. Brilliant things happen in a quiet mind.
Dr. Joe Dispenza, author, consultant, and researcher of epigenetics (the study of how daily life affects how our bodies write and translate DNA into cellular function), and neuroscience. Dr. Dispenza conducted an experiment with 117 people, guiding them through quieting the mind, and feeling into their daily distracting thoughts and reactive emotions. They were asked to sit for just 10-15 minutes, 3 times a day in gratitude.
The findings were that the immune system strengthened by 50%, their antibodies became more robust, strengthening their natural defenses against bacteria and viruses, relieving pain and inflammation, and stimulating immune function. In his words, “... all the way from cancer, to food allergies and everything in between, so we found out that your thoughts can actually make you well.”
Repetition is key to finding stillness and self-awareness. It takes time to learn how to quiet the mind. For this reason, what more incentive is there to put down our phones, tablets and other distractions for just 10-15 minutes? Maybe set a reminder for 2 or 3 times a day for a few moments of gratitude? Like riding a bike, each time you ‘hop on’, your balance becomes more and more steady. Imagine the positive changes for children in the classroom with 2 or 3 short pauses for gratitude!
“This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before.”
-Maya Angelou
Wonderful lectures on the powers of gratitude can be found on Youtube, one outstanding example you can find is “A Brilliant Introduction to QiGong with Lee Holden”
Another great article on the Science of Gratitude can be read on the link; https://www.mindful.org/the-science-of-gratitude/
Thank you for joining me in the effort to bring mindfulness to our children, community and beyond!
WORKING TOGETHER, LEARNING TOGETHER!
