How I Come Home to Myself: Meditation and Mindfulness

in , , ,
Photo Credit: April N. Baskin, Dakar Senegal

Photo Credit: April N. Baskin, Dakar Senegal

Deep breath in...hold (if comfortable)...and release.

Meditation is so simple, yet one of the most profound and powerful ways to come home to ourselves.

Which is something I need to regularly remind myself to do when my ambition, passion, vision, and drive has my head in the clouds, alternate realms of possibility, and dreamland. Which are great and wonderful places to be, but as a resident of Planet Earth who requires sleep and other earthly needs met, eventually, I need to bring my consciousness and energy back into my body. I need to come home. (Case in point: I’m still up at 3:57am writing this post… Oy vey! Go to bed, chile!)

Embodiment practices such as meditation, mindfulness, and yoga (especially yin/restorative yoga) are therefore lifelines for me. They are central fixtures in my robust self-care toolkit, along with writing, emotional discharge practices, anti-oppression education, intention setting, Feng Shui, and so much more.

Four of my favorite mantras that can be said to the rhythm of the in and out breaths:

  • "I breathe in love and flow with life" ~Louise Hay

  • "Breathing, I know I'm breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out." ~Thich Nhat Hanh

  • "Breathing in, I am a flower. Breathing out, I am a mountain." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

  • And simply, “In… out…. in… out….”

Another strategy, which was my very first introduction to meditation, was quite powerful the first time I tried it:

  • Set a timer for 5 minutes.

  • During that five minutes, endeavor relax and slow down your breathing as much as possible

  • I counted during each of the 3-4 phases - in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10….or however long was comfortable to hold), hold (1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), out (1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), hold(1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), repeat, OR a shorter cycle of in (1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), hold (1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), out (1, 2, 3, 4, 5….), repeat.

I was instructed to do this in a meditation group on my college campus my friend Jay dragged me to. He insisted we go after I'd shared my perspective on what God is one night, and he happily exclaimed, "I'm taking an Eastern religions course and your perspective of God is completely aligned with Buddhism! We should visit a Buddhist or meditation group together sometime!" This coming from Jay, my friend from Hillel.

“I’m taking an Eastern religions course and your undertanding of God is completely aligned with Buddhism! We should visit a Buddhist or meditation group together sometime!”

"I dunno, maybe." Seriously, I thought, I'm already a multiracial Jew with learning differences. Do I really need yet another thing to have to explain to people? Nah, I'm good. Thanks. (Fast forward to now: I no longer feel like I have to explain myself to anyone. I do when I want to, and that's it! ;) )

But Jay wasn't havin' it.

He literally dragged my behind to the group. And thank goodness he did! I was afraid and reluctant to go, but it was a perfectly pleasant experience, that I noticed immediately made a difference.

I felt so peaceful and grounded afterward, and the effects of those 5 minutes lasted a week.

I remember 4 days later, another student ran into me in the quad and just kept on walking.

BOOM!

I remember him plowing into me, and as my body was pushed backward from the impact, it was an unexpected surreal experience for me.

It was like the moment was happening in. slow. motion. in. my. mind.

I remember thinking, "This is when I would normally feel very angry…but I'm not…. more accurately, I feel like I have a choice about whether or not I will choose to feel angry or not… ?!?!?! ...Whoa... This is amazing!”

After that, I was hooked. During the rest of my college experience, I regular visited sanghas and other meditation groups, took a wonderful mindfulness course, and practiced and adopted a number of mindfulness habits that I look forward to sharing in due time. In the meantime, may peace and—deep breath—be with you.