Quieting the Monkey Mind

In the last five months, outdoors has ceased to become a safe place. Out there, who knows what infectious viruses you can catch in the air, in the surfaces you touch, and from the people you come in contact with.

And so we hole ourselves up at home with our loved ones and risk going out only for the essentials. But even during quarantine, disquiet follows. The media blares about alarming developments and figures from all over the world. And there’s the unsettling boredom; the limited freedom to do what we’ve been used to; the fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. There is so much ‘noise’ even inside the home.

It’s not surprising, therefore, that many have turned to meditation to calm down the monkey mind or that part of the brain that gets easily distracted. Meditation allows one to retreat into that inner sanctuary that is the quiet mind. If you need one more intervention to reduce stress, please click here to find out why you should include meditation in your must-do list.

In my own private sphere, I try to practice Shen Zhen meditation as often as I can,  particularly the form called Awakening the Soul, a simple sitting meditation practice that aims to still the mind and drive doubts and worries away. It combines movements and beautiful contemplations as shown in the following demonstration.

Sometime soon, I hope to be able to do a separate post on the poetry behind each of the movements of this beautiful meditation form.

I have also come upon YOQI, which combines yoga and qigong. Like qigong, it involves almost effortless movements. Like yoga, it harnesses energy as a source of vitality and healing. It also incorporates tapping into different body meridian points to activate and balance the flow of qi or vital life force.

It helps that teacher Marissa does a great job of explaining the hows and whys of each movement as you will see in the following video.

Hope you find these videos worth watching and use these mindfulness practices today and even beyond the pandemic period. Use them to kiss that locked-down feeling goodbye and tap into that inner power to still the mind and keep the balance within.

You’ll thank yourself for it.