So, I’m reading this book, A Calm Brain, by neurologist Dr Gayatri Devi.

In it, she says, “A calm body is a calm mind. Not the other way around. By coaxing your body into a state of calm, you quiet your rational brain’s internal mental chatter and allow the parasympathetic nervous system and core brain to do what they do best: calm you down.”

In short: managing stress and anxiety isn’t a matter of willpower, a mind over matter thing. It’s really about allowing your body to settle… and from that settled, relaxed, unagitated state, the brain can then settle too.

You might think that meditation – “stilling the mind” – is a total headgame. But I’ve come to experience it as a body practice. In finding a comfortable place to sit, it’s really about remembering that I am not just a walking/running to-do list, I am not just a buzzing brain, I am a body.

As the line from the Mary Oliver poem goes:

You do not have to be good.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Mary Oliver

On Wednesday, from 7pm to 7:45 pm, sit that creature on a cushion and join a free meditation class, from the comfort of your own room.

You don’t need anything special – no special props, no special experience, no special skills.

Just bring your body. As it is.

It’s nice to have the opportunity to check in. Hey body. How’s it going? Hanging in there?

It’s carrying you around, charging through your days. It’s kind of polite to at least ask. 🙂

RSVP to jbruce@whistlerlibrary.ca to get the Zoom access code.

Free meditation class is on Wednesday 14 October.