Meditation Course in January

I hope this message finds you well. It’s Sunday morning and Maribel and I are getting ready to take some food for one of our kids who came down with COVID. Thankfully they are doing well and the worst of their symptoms have subsided. I mention this because as we look at the upcoming months, we are looking at continued vigilance in regards to the virus. Two years in and we look at ourselves and around and realize that we are tired and everyone around is too. 

This larger sense of fatigue is important. It makes us more susceptible to react to people and each other in ways that are not skillful, sometimes hurtful, and at times sometimes dangerous. The word that best describes this kind of mental state is reactivity. 

When we are in a low grade or in the midst of a  full on fight/flight/flee response, our amygdala complex, a key part of our neural circuitry in charge of emotion goes into a heightened state of reactivity, often clouding our capacity to process information, situations, and even memory and more often than not, limiting our ability to respond with care and compassion to others. Living in this state leads to actual changes within the brain that leaves us less capable of skillfully addressing the challenges bound to happen with daily living. 

This may all sound very theoretical, but all of us have had our buttons pressed. (All of us are exposed to daily doses of rage social media, meant to get a reaction, often perpetuating  a sense of Us vs. Them mentality.) At that moment, we could either fly off in a state of anger and rage or we can step back and notice the emotions arising and with awareness decide what we want to do in the situation. 

To step back does not happen by chance. It is a trained response, one that develops with conscious effort and determined training. There are a few things that can help us here. Meditation is one such tool. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to lessen the amygdala’s reactivity response. This happens over time and with practice. 

This simple and time-tested and highly researched practice can help us remain present to ourselves and in doing so be a healing presence to others. If you’re interested in learning about the practice and actually taking it up, join us this January for a six-week program that will get you started. This may be the most important self-care practice you take up this year.