Hot, Sweaty, Late and Lost — How Mindfulness Can Support Us in Our Most Hectic Moments

Danit Kaya, MPH
Sep 4, 2018 · 4 min read
Photo by Alexandre Boucher on Unsplash

Two young college-aged women pulled up to a parking spot just outside Topanga State Park. Their tiny rental car was loaded with bags and they had just arrived from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX to locals). They were hot, sweaty, late and had been lost for nearly an hour and they were about to be my guests on an outdoor mindfulness experience. Let’s say this wasn’t an ideal way to start a 3-hour mindfulness experience…flustered, lost, and irritated.

As I walked up to them, I realized what an opportunity this was. In our daily lives, we are constantly shuttling from one place to the next or one responsibility to the next, often behind schedule or sneaking in just as an event begins. If we’re in a new environment getting disoriented is par for the course. During our busiest moments, we are often hot, sweaty, late, and a bit lost (even if only lost in racing thoughts). As a host, I had the opportunity to see if guiding mindfulness would noticeably shift the emotional states of these two friends and if so, how long it would take to do so.

Since we were short on time, we headed right into an outdoor amphitheater and began a guided meditation practice. I took care to provide guidance on posture, practice, and distractions during our short practice together. And after about 5 minutes, I closed the session. At best, I was hoping that my guests would feel a renewed sense of ease from the chaos of their morning travels. To my surprise, one of the women shared with me that not only did she feel more at ease in comparison to 5 minutes prior. She shared that it was the most relaxed she had felt in months! “Months,” I asked? “Months”, she reassured me. I was stunned. How could it be that only 5 minutes of practice could help a person release months of stress and tension?

Photo by Duffy Brook on Unsplash

While there are many elements of the practice that support this phenomenon, the one that so many people face on a daily basis is the overstimulation of their sympathetic nervous system and the under-stimulation of their parasympathetic nervous system. Back when our ancestors were living outdoors and physical elements posed a real threat to survival, the sympathetic nervous system would activate whenever a threat was identified. It could have been an animal predator (think tiger), a rival group (think arrows), or an ominous weather pattern (think lighting). No matter the threat, our bodies were developed to fight back or run away. Then, assuming the ancestor survived past the threat, there was a distinct period of time where the parasympathetic system activated, allowing the ancestor time to rest and recover from the stress. A type of chemical reset button.

These days, if we don’t live in rugged or conflict-torn areas, we don’t often face threats from animal predators or rival groups. But somehow we experience chronic stress on a level that our ancestors could have never imagined. Ones of the culprits?

Photo by Rob Bye on Unsplash

In our contemporary culture, we are expected to be connected and available at a moment’s notice. The constant pings of our computers, vibrations for our phones, and incessant emails, along with our overloaded schedules, act as an ever-present tiger lying in grasslands, waiting to pounce. We no longer have dedicated spaces or time where we can rest, where we can allow our bodies to recover and our minds to repair. We don’t give ourselves permission to simply be fully in the present moment. We rarely exercise our chemical reset button, even though it is still there for us. As a result, we experience elevated levels of anxiety, stress, depression and lower levels of wellbeing.

So what was happening with my two hot, sweaty, late and lost guests? They were shifted into an environment where their phones were off, bags were placed from away from them, and they were held in an environment that not only allowed them to rest, but actively guided their parasympathetic (rest and digest) system to activate. In only a few minutes, weeks of stress floated away.

While there is a plethora of scientific benefits connected to the regular practice of mindfulness, I find the applications for stress reduction to be critical for the times we live in. Imagine what it would be like if even 50% of our communities had an active and healthy method of alleviating stress. What would our work life be like? Our family life? What would our relationship with ourselves look like? What would waiting at the supermarket or in traffic look like? I believe that finding a healthy and sustainable mindfulness practice (or other forms of stress relief, such as dance and art therapy), has the power to dramatically change the landscape of our inner lives and the external communities we live in. It allows us cultivate our own capacity to press the reset button whenever we need it.

For more information on my mindfulness facilitation or to book an outdoor mindfulness experience, visit https://bit.ly/2waCK8z.

Written by

California native. Wellness, health and mindfulness educator. UCLA and Headspace affiliated. Mindfulness retreat and workshop facilitator: www.danitkaya.com

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