meditation

How a spiderweb helped me understand how meditation works for emotions

Today I want to share some realization after meditating for awhile and also learning more and more about meditation practices.

So, before I knew about mindfulness and meditation things, I assumed that all these meditation teachers, you know the gurus and stuff, they're like all Zen out, is blissed all the time, don't feel any anger they’re just like super Zen.

And that might not be the case, turns out!

One meditation teacher I started to listen to a bit more is Dr. Tara Brach. She's a Buddhist meditation teacher, and also a clinical psychologist.

She told a story where she was doing her morning walk. And she's all like, “Oh this river is so beautiful, and it’s so serene, the scene was so nice. The weather was perfect. The birds are chirping.” And she’s having this, you know, gorgeous time.

And, suddenly, she walks into a spiderweb. 🕸

You would think this Zen...she's very like this Zen, grandmotherly, motherly, super chill when you listen to her voice, it just makes everything feel nicer. So you think she'd be super calm.

But no!

Basically she walked into this spiderweb, and, I’m pretty sure she swore, but she was super pissed at a stupid web!

So there’s a huge contrast between how Zen she was and how she was explaining how pissed off she was at this spiderweb that kind of ruined her morning, her perfect morning.

A Super Powerful Type of Connection

Can you lose weight just by thinking about it?

Can you make better decisions by holding your pee?

The answer is, maybe!

Pylin, what are you talking about?

These statements are in the realm of possibility due to a super powerful type of connection.

The mind-body connection.

“I think, therefore I am./Je pense, donc je suis.”

This Descartes quote has always represented the long-held paradigm of separating the mind and the body. For example, psychiatrists would use to only prescribe pharmaceuticals to help treat depression “in the brain” of those who suffer from it.

But turns out, the new paradigm is that the mind and body are so connected they are pretty much ONE. What you do to your body can impact your mind, and what’s going on in your mind can impact your body. In fact, psychiatrists are now prescribing aerobic exercises to help treat depression, anxiety, ADHD, and even addiction.

As someone with a deep interest in psychology, I thought I’d share with you how intertwined our bodies and minds are by sharing some interesting studies as evidence of this connection.