The purpose of mindbody arts during elections

Breath that connects

Elections are stressful. The reminder is to breathe, but also to cultivate your best awareness to recognize patterns and stay present. Photo of the word “breathe” spelled out in the sand by M.W.

During this important year of elections throughout the world (there were 50 countries having elections this year), I have found myself leaning heavily on mindbody arts personally to get through the stress of the elections. Anytime you notice your breath and notice your mind, you are practicing mindbody arts. Elections are nerve wracking, and I recommended to everyone that they breathe deeply so that they can control and minimize their stress and be calm and present. This got me thinking a lot about the value of mindbody practice during such times: the deep breathing exercises of mindbody practice have a calming effect that can soothe the nervous system that is stressed out by the elections. It is clear that being calm during elections and after elections is useful, and mindbody practice is great for cultivating calmness and managing stress.

But there is more to this, because mindbody practice is not just a pacifying practice. It is an awareness practice, and therefore it is a very practical tool for navigating the world. In many ways, as an awareness practice, mindbody practice is good for getting through challenging times, because it certainly helps to be aware of what you are dealing with and thinking through how to respond to a crisis and to ordinary events. Trying times can push us and pull us. This is the time to be aware. I believe that mindbody practice is not about becoming well-adjusted to unjust and insane circumstances that press on us. No. I believe mindbody practice is very practical in helping you stay connected with yourself and others in order to cultivate an inner sense of stability that can inform the way you advocate for yourself and others. You can build trust and relationships with others (individuals and institutions), which requires time and work.

It takes time and practice to form and understand relationships. Sometimes that means getting through difficulties and heartbreak and uncertainty. Sometimes there is joy. In mindbody practice, you practice cultivating awareness of the energies around you and running through you. You start small and get to know and recognize patterns inside of you and also patterns outside of you in the bigger world you are part of. This gives you clarity about yourself and clarity about what you observe. Knowing yourself, you can find the wherewithal to play your part in society and connect with others.

This world can be shared with others, and it takes willingness and cooperation to share resources and goals. This willingness to understand others and help others (be for others) is what the elections are all about on a big scale and all over the world: elections are like measures of our willingness to cooperate with one another as a nation. Our chances of survival as a species increase with greater and greater cooperation. It takes practice, and sometimes, yes, patterns may very well repeat (e.g., people get re-elected). These are learning opportunities that can lead to progress and growth. This is evolution.

Humans are resilient.

The willingness to understand yourself and cooperate with others leads to the recognition that all minds are connected and that each life counts. Minds affect other minds. Lives affect other lives. Understanding this is part of being human.

Human beings have a long history of coming together and helping one another survive through the millennia, which means humans have overcome adversities such as pandemics, famines and power struggles and wars. In many ways, we are pack animals, and we are hardwired for connection and the potential to share understanding. The sense of the strength of the collective is a superpower. However, this great superpower also gives way to the potential for shared misunderstanding, group think and tribalism, which can lead to polarization, power struggles and war. So that superpower needs to be used with skill. I feel humans are developing this skill, and honing the skill is a matter of trial and error and repetition and practice over millennia.

As a single individual it helps to remember this. Being so connected to others like this also means that whatever you, as an individual, feel, do, and think matters within the collective. The collective can learn from you and benefit because of what you do, what you say, what you think in your ordinary life. The consequences of what you do ripple through time and space and through the lives of the people and beings whose lives you touch. The collective learns and evolves because of you and through you and others like you.

Each of us bears witness to what is happening at any given moment, not just as individuals, but also as a species, as peoples in nations, as humans beings together on this planet Earth.

Each of us is part of what emerges next.

We are in this together.