Being At-Ease During Intense Times
Learning How to Rest Into Yourself is Key
Lately, I have been stressed out. Experiencing a deep feeling of “unsettledness” inside. Lots of worry in the chatterbox of my thoughts.
Maybe it’s the ramp-up of seasonal change from autumn to winter and the associated holidays. Maybe it’s the intensity of national and world events.
I can spend a lot of time thinking about, “why?” Why the stress. What is causing it. Yes, reflection can help uncover the things that trigger the stress.
The thinking also can be a loop of examination that keeps us in our head and takes us away from connecting with our whole body. Takes us away from connecting with the resilience and ease that is available in our whole body.
It may seem counterintuitive: One of the best ways to support yourself during intense times is to practice resting into yourself by doing combinations of movement, breath and sound.
These combinations (like Zapchen Yawning, Jiggling or Sighing) support us to relax into our bodies, to help us settle into spaces inside that are at-ease.
Being able to relax into our bodily selves is incredibly good for us, and very healing.
Physiological Benefits of Flow
One big benefit is supporting a flow state. Our body physiology requires flow in order to have balance. Flow supports optimal organ functioning. Flow supports all the systems of the body to coordinate and work together with just the right amount of effort needed.
When we don’t have flow on the inside, systems start to over-work or under-work, and that causes imbalance. Then, body systems have to exert even more effort to create a balance inside the imbalance.
So, when we have flow, we have balance. Balance of organs and body systems, as well as balance of emotions, and the stories we tell ourselves about what is happening.
Recalibrating Towards Ease & Connection
Another really big benefit is recalibration of our neuronal system.
My teacher, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, talks about the importance of resting underneath the activity. How the dendrite neurons receive the information and then transmit to the axon part of the nerve to take action. Receptivity before action is how the neuronal system is designed to work: being in our ground and then taking action.
We often have the habit of doing the opposite—of coming up and out, coming forward to act. This can show up as over-working, over doing, a constant wheel of striving. My teacher, Lama Lena Yeshe Kaytup calls it “the malaise of striving.”
Over time, this habit can wear us out. Can cause an underlying state of fatigue. Can disrupt rhythms of sleep or digestion. Can erode our sense of ground, our ability to come back to center.
We can unwind the habit by doing the practices that rest us into our bodily selves. So we are resting underneath our action. So our action arises from a state of presence, of openness, of space. So our actions are more effective, are kinder, are more connected to and inclusive of self and of other.
That seems like a good thing at any time.
From my heart, to yours…
