On Mindfulness
Mindfulness has been a buzz term across the past few years… what does it mean exactly? Per Wikipedia:
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing one’s attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment.
Across the past year, I’ve adopted the practice of mindfulness as a means to calm my mental state and slow my thoughts down. For seven out of eight years of my working life, my mind was constantly on the go — “what’s next?” I always asked myself. I rarely slowed down to enjoy the present moment.
Albeit somewhat difficult to adopt mindfulness at first, daily practice has led to proficiency. In terms of avenues to cultivate mindfulness, I’ve luckily had the privilege to practice yoga, attend meditation workshops, enjoy beautiful nature walks in the Bay Area, get involved with the Consciousness Hacking SF community, and surround myself with like-minded mindful and supportive peers.
Most recently, I did my first float sensory deprivation session at Reboot Float Spa, and I wanted to share my experience in aims to hold myself accountable to practice mindfulness in every moment.
For those who are not familiar with floating, you hop into a pod filled with water and over 1,000 lbs of Epsom salt. The intent of these pods is to deprive your senses: you’re free from the sensations of gravity and external stimuli such as touch, sight, and sound. Because of this, floating enables you to expend more energy on looking inward. In general, floating has significant mental and physical benefits and leads to enhanced recovery and rejuvenation.
Setting an Intention
In addition to cultivating mindfulness, I strive to fully cultivate a mind like water: a state of mind that emulates the capacities of water to be flowing, reflective, and adaptive. Therefore, I went into the float with the intention of being like water.
Being Vulnerable and Letting Go
As I closed the pod listening to calming music, the blue fluorescent light shimmered on the water. It took several minutes to adjust to the nature and environment of floating, because I kept bumping my head, arms, and legs into the wall. The best position for me to remain still and comfortable was in the mummy position. The music turned off after 10 minutes, and because I felt like I was in a place to trust this environment, I turned off the blue light.
I found myself in sheer darkness — the darkest and most isolated place I’ve ever been. I immediately had an overwhelming sense of fear and loneliness. My body’s reaction was to cry — a cathartic reaction and release to what I was feeling.
Once I let it out and let go of the fear, I was able to calm my mind.
Listening & Feeling Inward
I closed my eyes. Depriving myself of sight enabled me to look and feel inward.
I took deep audible breaths to connect back to my breath. I focused and listened in on my breath. I was still in the mummy position, so my hands were on my heart and subsequently focused my attention there. I felt and heard my heart pulsing through every fiber of my body, from head to toe. It sounded like a plethora of percussive beats; there was so much abundance!
Cultivating Compassion
I moved my left hand from my heart to my belly, and I simultaneously felt my heartbeat and the breath expanding my belly as I inhaled and exhaled. This position for the past year has symbolized my intention to hold true to loving myself, strengthening my core, and tapping into who I am authentically.
In this moment, my relationship to my breath, heart, core, and mind became simplified yet amplified at the same time. I felt so alive feeling and hearing this symphony of baseline functions intertwined together in harmony.
Because I strive to align my mind and body for each and every waking moment, I realized that I need to channel this level of presentness and compassion for myself whenever I get overwhelmed by external stimuli (travel, work, social activities, Facebook, Snapchat stories, content overload, etc.).
Adapting
After mind-body alignment, I opened up my eyes and moved my arms into cactus pose. I noticed even the slightest movements caused the water to ripple and wave. Any subsequent movements caused even more waves, and the water took longer to return to baseline stillness.
To me, this paralleled to the pertinence of taking a step back when there’s changing tides in life. It’d be more effective to observe the situation, take breaths to understand how I feel and adjust accordingly rather than interjecting and creating more chaos. Simply, just to let it be and adapt.
Ironically enough at the end of the hour (which flew by), it felt like my head had been permeated into and integrated with the water — ha! Cheers to literally meeting my intention of being like water.
Rejuvenating Mind and Body
Getting out of the pod felt like a rebirth, emerging into the light with salt infused in my skin. My pruned right foot slowly touched the ground and pruned left foot subsequently followed. Stretching out my arms and legs felt incredibly energizing. Wow — I had never felt more grateful for my healthy mind and body, and that I had the capacity to be so present.
A Call To Action: Be Mindful Moment by Moment
I created a framework for my mindfulness practice; hopefully this serves as a practical resource for you as you get started with or enhance your practice.
- Set an Intention: Before yoga or meditation practice, before a work meeting, or before trips/events, go in with an articulated intention.
- Be Vulnerable & Let Go: Allow myself to feel, take a step back, and observe my feelings. Let go of stresses and negative energy.
- Listen & Feel Inward: Close my eyes, and focus on breath to cultivate stillness in my mind. Turn attention to how my body feels.
- Cultivate Compassion: Nurture my heart and strengthen my core. Accept my authentic self. Be patient with myself.
- Adapt: Let situations and people be; adjust accordingly.
- Cultivate Relationships with Like-Minded Individuals: Spend time with other mindfulness practitioners to share best practices and to get inspired to get better and better.
A Commitment to Continuous Growth
I am a 180 from where I was a year ago in terms of my capacity to be in the moment. Mindfulness has significantly increased the quality of my life and enables me to grow into my best forms of self. I look forward to honing my mindfulness practice and invite you to join me on this journey.
