Has Your High Gone Awry?
How Mindfulness Can Help
As walkers of the green path, I’m sure you’ve been there. Perhaps you took a few hits too many and paranoia started to kick in. Or maybe you’ve had a Sativa-induced brain spiral with no sign of slowing down. Either way, it can kill your buzz.
Fortunately, there’s an empowering yet easy way to ride this out — it’s called mindfulness. I’m sure you’ve heard the term before, but what is mindfulness exactly? In the simplest of terms, it means awareness. Whether we are dealing with thoughts, physical sensations, or surroundings, mindfulness enables us to be in the moment without judgment.
My first exposure to mindfulness occurred many years before it became trendy. It was the result of a panic attack that got me referred to a biofeedback practitioner. On the first visit, she taught me about diaphragmatic breathing, which happens to be a common practice in mindfulness meditation. Each session involved me sitting in a chair with sensors attached to my head and the top of my hands, measuring my heart rate and body temperature. The simple act of adjusting my breathing enabled me to decrease my heart rate and control my body temperature.
Since then, this skill has been an integral part of my inner toolkit for years. As I continued using it and learning about mindfulness, I discovered the benefits apply to just…
