Mindful Aging
Today I thought we could explore what it means to age mindfully. Many people are familiar with mindful breathing, mindful eating, even mindful working. But what does it truly mean to age mindfully? As we begin exploring this together, I would like to ask that you start by sitting in a comfortable position, either in a chair or on a cushion on the floor, with a straight but relaxed back. When you’re ready, and only if you wish, gently close your eyes. Allow your shoulders and head to rest easily, bring a soft smile to your lips, and feel the weight of your body centered and grounded. Now take a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling, to transition you from wherever you were a few moments ago to where you are now…..
Take a few moments to inhale deeply and exhale slowly, filling the lungs up with air and then simply letting go…
Now relax your breath so it is natural and easy. Simply follow your natural breath, inhaling and exhaling, noticing that each breath has two parts; it rises and it passes away…..The breath is always appearing and disappearing. Take the time to notice the rising and the passing of each breath……
For the remainder of this practice, please take several moments to focus your attention on just the exhale, or the passing of the breath….Each time an inhale shifts to an exhale, follow the breath all the way to its completion. Hold your attention there. With mindful awareness let go of each breath as it moves through you……
Now gently rest your attention and bring your awareness back to your full, natural breath. Focus on the inhale and exhale. When you are ready, gently open your eyes and bring your attention back to the room.
Through mindfulness practice, we learn that we can breath, eat and work mindfully. As I hope the above exercise will make clear, we can also age mindfully. Getting older is not easy…memory fades, the body slows down and the world responds differently, and not always gently. But we cannot trivialize or try to ignore these challenges, as they are real and can be frightening. But if these changes are minimized or resisted, it is sure to foster suffering. Instead, remind yourself of impermanence….thoughts come and go, feelings rise and pass away, breath begins and ends. Everything changes both in and outside of you. No one can stop change, but can only change how we respond to change! In this sense, impermanence can be a teacher, changing how we react to reality. Instead of resisting aging, we can embrace it with openness. We can flow from one year to the next, from one phase of life to the next, much as you just did with your breath. In this way we are open to the wonderful things that come with age, including wisdom from the life lived, patience that comes through experience and adversity, and the wonderful decline in caring what others think of us!
and i said to my body. softly. ‘i want to be your friend.’ it took a long breath. and replied ‘i have been waiting my whole life for this.’
— .. (@nayyirahwaheed), December 5, 2018
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