The Healing that is Mindfulness
by Holly Madden
photo credit: Peter Pryharski on Unsplash
I was a teenager when I drove my mom’s forest green Subaru Outback up to the Colorado Mountain foothills and hiked one of my favorite trails solo on a whim of an afternoon. I vividly remember getting out my car with my mind racing. I’ve lived with anxiety as my companion for as long as I can remember. At times, it’s presence has felt debilitating, at other times, it’s merely been annoying. As I hiked, I felt my heart beating quicker, my lungs opening up to receive more and more oxygen, my muscles contracting and relaxing in a dance of movement that I had to think so little about. As usual, I wore shoes that had little to no support so I felt every rock and shift in the earth below me. I have always rather been barefoot than trapped in shoes. Still, my thoughts raced around the many anxieties that were haunting me. At the point of the ascent my muscles burned and my body craved oxygen, I suddenly heard the birds, or rather, became aware of them for they had been singing all along. A nearby tree came alive with song. I stopped and stared in wonder. I felt the wind against my sweat covered skin, I smelled the ponderosa pine that I found myself leaning against to catch my breath. I peered further and saw an extraordinary view of forest and beyond that, the rise and fall of mountains. A smile creeped across my face. In that moment, nothing else mattered, just me and the wild. It is the first time I vividly remember naming the way this connection to earth relieved my anxiety. But in reality, it’s a coping skill I have always been naturally drawn to. Anytime my emotions grew heavy as a child, I would escape to the comfort of my backyard trees. I looked forward to weekends spent in Rocky Mountain National Park or in the more discreet trails we would scout out in our nature books. And when school felt overwhelming, I would lay my head on the my desk and stare out the windows at the trees, sky and birds. I see this same natural skill in my own children now. They are naturally drawn to the outdoors, to art, to music, and to things that regulate their nervous systems. They live in the present moment. I am constantly aware of how much anxiety can be learned and modeled, and how much they are reminders of a mindful way of existing.
For centuries, mindfulness has been an essential part of Eastern Cultures. Embedded in beautiful practices like yoga, mindfulness is essentially the ability to be present with your immediate experience, engaging the senses, and being in control of thoughts and emotions. Mindfulness regulates the nervous system, helping the body to move from a space of fight or flight when the sympathetic nervous system is dominate into a space of homeostasis and balance with the parasympathetic nervous system (graphic below).
created by Holly Madden
In the Western world, we often design resources around mindfulness that come with high cost and consistent commitment- workout programs, spas, hobbies, etc. While they can be profoundly impactful, we’ve also made mindfulness a consumed product without empowering individuals how to retain what is so innate and accessible.
Mindfulness is also term that many in religious communities have been wary of, but this practice is not rooted in any religion. It is deeply spiritual and anything that is spiritual has capacity to be related to the individual belief systems and meaning. Mindfulness is merely a way that we regulate our nervous system and reconnect to ourselves and the world around us. This can also be a way we connect to God. I would argue that prayer is a mindful practice as it orients us to what is immediate- our stress our emotions around people we love, the world we live in, or our own experiences. It aligns us to something that is so much bigger than we are, taking us momentarily out of the stress or weariness to release and receive.
The reason for this resource is that this world is hurting. And this world is deeply in need of compassion, sensitivity, empathy, and more leaders, parents, and individuals who are connected to their own emotions, committed to trauma-informed care, and committed to perspectives that exist outside of the lens of power.
Mindfulness invites us to check in with our bodies and minds in a way that call out our reasons, our reactions and our triggers. It invite us to check in with those around us. As a parent, I often find that mindful moments remove my own tainted lens from the perspective when I am responding to my child who is dysregulated and reactive, often because of an unmet need and a struggle to communicate that. Mindfulness moves our empathy into focus so we see others through the lens of humanity and trauma, and outside of the jaded language that is raining down from most powerful places. In some ways, mindfulness is a super power that freezes time to consider am I okay? is this person in front of me okay? is our earth okay? and then moves us into a space of what can I do that helps and not harms. The foundational teachings of yoga practice is rooted in what is called the 8 limbs of yoga, the first being the sanskrit word, ahimsa which means non harm. All that we say and do should be done with this foundation, to not cause harm. As believers in Jesus, we call this word love. All we do should be rooted in our love for God and others. How simple. And yet our world is anything but loving.
And thats why this world needs you.
Ways to bring Mindfulness into everything you do:
Take a deep breath before you speak or act.
If you are being asked to make a big decision, ask for time, even if it’s 5 minutes to step outside in sunlight, put your feet on earth’s surface and breathe.
Take a drink of water before you respond or act.
Pause to pray (and deconstruct the motivations in your prayer- is your prayer centered in love?)
Check in with your body regularly. If something activates your nervous system, notice the sensations in your body- the way your heart beats, the way your muscles tense, the way your mind feels foggy, the way your body craves oxygen. Making conscious choices to regulate our nervous system with breath, earthing, grounding, prayer/meditation, water, taking a break, sunlight, etc. can change the way we respond dramatically. You may have only seconds, but mindfulness can be be practiced in seconds.
When a moment become dysregulated, one powerful meditative practice is rooted in Zen tradition to visualize thoughts are emotions as waves. Visualize watching these thoughts or emotions rolling in. At times they seem large and overwhelming. At times we can name them, at times we cannot. As they hit, visualize being present with them the way waves roll over our toes, sometimes pushing with force against our shins. And then with time, the thoughts and emotions, like waves will roll back out. This practices honors the emotions and thoughts with presence, while centering what is needed.
Make space to process experiences and emotions. You can do this through therapy, through regular accountability with trusted friends or mentors, or in your own personal writing or journaling.
If you lose sight of the value of a person in front of you, visualize yourself as a tree. Visualize that your feet are connected to roots that reach deep under the soil. Your roots reach to the person in front of you, interconnected with fungi. These roots are designed to connect, to nourish, to communicate. There is value in every tree in the forest. Consider how your words or actions are nourishing this person (which may look like boundaries), but do so with love and ahimsa.
Model and teach these practices. One of the most powerful things a leader can share is to communicate their process of emotion, regulation, and connection to themself and to others.
Ways to bring Mindfulness into faith spaces.
Carve out space for intentional, collective deep breaths. Model pauses.
Name the connections we share with nature and with others. If you struggle with this connection to earth, spend intentional time outside daily to connect to the land, the trees, the air, and the many living things you share space with.
Talk about emotions! Emotions are a part of the human experience and the goal should never be happiness, but rather being present with each emotion as they come and using those emotions to fuel our actions and words towards love.
Be intentional to use language that promotes awareness to nervous system regulation. Many in faith spaces have been taught disembodiment because anything of the body is sinful. One of the most powerful spiritual practices is learning to connect to what our body needs and how it communicates. This skill increase the capacity for compassion, empathy, and decreases behaviors that harm others that are triggered by burnout, overstimulation and compassion fatigue.
Be open-minded to mindfulness practices others may bring to you. Churches can be a powerful location to host free yoga, meditation, or qigong classes.
Deconstruct spiritual practices like prayer.
Talk about mental health and trauma. Mindfulness is most powerful when we are honest about our own experiences. Normalizing conversations around mental health and trauma to normalize not only these experiences the way our emotions, thoughts, capacities, relationships, and faith are all intertwined with our experiences.
Rev. Dr. Christie Love writes powerful, grounded Calls to Worship for her church service weekly. She shares these as weekly resources in our Resource Library. Read these to get a glimpse on how to incorporate grounding and mindfulness in even more traditional spaces.
Connect mindfulness with justice. Mindfulness moves our compassion and advocacy as it roots us to love or ahimsa. Mindfulness can help direct our words and intentional steps.
And in all things, be gentle with yourself.
love and light,
Holly