Mindfulness Practice 23,
Interconnectedness.
Please find a comfortable seated position if that works on your body.
Feel the weight of yourself in your seat.
If your feet are touching the floor,
Ground yourself down into the floor by paying attention to how your feet feel and the stability of the ground beneath your feet.
Feel how your back touches the back of your chair.
If it is available to you,
See if you can lengthen your spine just a little by lifting the crown of your head toward the ceiling.
And breathe deeply.
Feel free to close your eyes or gaze down as you pay special attention to the inhales and exhales of your body.
On the inhale,
Notice as your body fills up with air,
Focusing on any area that feels strained or tense.
And on the exhale,
See if you can release any stress or tension in your body.
Let it go.
Take a few rounds of breath at your own inhale-exhale pace.
Keep in mind that your breath is always a constant in your life.
It will be with you every moment you are alive.
Focusing on it at any time has a way of centering or grounding us in the present moment and in what is.
Our breath can also provide insight into how we are managing the world around us.
Is your breath smooth?
Jagged?
Fast?
Slow?
Just noticing the quality of our breath can broaden our perspective and can calm our parasympathetic system.
It is difficult,
If not impossible,
To breathe deeply and be stressed at the same time.
Notice too your connection to the earth.
Whether it is your feet that are touching the earth or the legs of your chair or the wheels of your wheelchair,
Feel the energy from the earth grounding you.
Although we are sitting on the surface of the earth and although the earth is moving,
When we connect to it,
We are of it.
It feels solid beneath us.
Know that it is also a constant in our lives.
Consider again the earth on which we sit.
Whose land are we on?
Before it was colonized,
Which people lived on it?
What might their communities have looked like?
Can you imagine their faces?
What might their lives have been like?
How might our world and our ways of knowing be different without our history of colonization?
Take another deep breath in,
Connecting your breath with those people whose faces you imagined.
We are all interconnected.
When you are ready,
If your eyes are closed,
Flutter them open.
Find an item in the room to gaze at.
Remember that the eyes are closed.
If you are not,
Then you are not alone.
When you are ready,
If your eyes are closed,
Flutter them open.
Find an item in the room to gaze at.
It can be anything,
A chair,
A picture,
A glass of water,
A light switch,
Anything.
Focus on this item.
Consider its shape,
Size,
And color.
Is it smooth or bumpy?
Round or square?
Hard or soft?
Now consider that at its basic core,
It was made from some element that originated in the earth.
Focus on where it might have come from,
Where its life began.
Breathe into its essence.
Consider the way these eyes are connected.
Consider the way the element was mined.
Think about the metal machines that dug into or under the surface of the earth for the sole purpose of creating this item or other items like it.
Think about the exhaust that comes from those machines and the potential impact on human breath and on the earth's ozone layer and the resulting greenhouse effects.
Consider this item's journey.
How did it become what it is?
How likely is it that this item was made in this country?
Where in the world did the item come from?
Whose hands have touched this item along the way,
Not only to manufacture it,
But also to transport it here into this room?
How likely is it that those hands were brown-skinned?
Think about the person those hands belong to.
Is the person working in a factory?
Had they been given a safety mask to protect them from toxic chemicals?
Has health insurance been provided to them in case of injuries such as asthma,
Heart conditions,
Or accidents such as the loss of a limb?
Were they paid a fair wage for their labor?
And was their paycheck enough to provide food for their family?
Focus once again on your own breath.
Imagine now connecting your breath with the breath of the people who have manufactured,
Transported,
Touched this item in some way.
Breathe,
Taking all of that in.
We are interconnected.
Slowly focus your attention back to your own body.
Contemplate all the millions of items we come across,
Consume,
And throw away every day.
How would our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
Our health,
How would our health,
Our relationships,
And our world be different if we practiced this short mindfulness technique when we came in contact with these items throughout our day?
Would it make a difference in terms of what we chose to purchase or consume?
When you are ready,
Take another deep breath.
Stretch your body and take a moment to transition your focus back into the room.
Welcome back.
Feel free to journal now about your experience or about any ideas or insights that arose for you.
