Being present in your life has been said to be a key to navigating, because it is where we have the power to act. Being present means seeing this moment for what it is, without the baggage of the past or the ideas of the future, and so we are free to act unhindered in the now. To help us understand how we can use the power of grounding ourselves in the present, 99FM’s MYD Heart spoke to Liezl Hoving, a yoga instructor the owner and founder of the Bodhi Room in Windhoek and the co-founder of the Rise Namibia movement.
Building a beautiful 2017 by Liezl Hoving
If 2016 taught us anything it was expect the unexpected! All our finely curated ideas sometimes mean nothing in the face of changes all around us. So what are we to do in a world filled with uncertainty? How do we go about creating our realities and pursuing our goals?
It all comes down to our ability to ground ourselves and to accept the flow of change. These actions can be conscious decisions. When the world seems to be running in the opposite direction of what we hoped for, it can leave us with a wealth of reactions, from hopelessness, disappointment and frustration to downright anger. And sometimes we get stuck there.
Grounding yourself is the simple act of acknowledging what you are really experiencing. Often when we get very emotional, it starts a stream of thoughts in our mind. We explain the situation to ourselves, we fight with the other people in involved, we try to prove our innocence to ourselves and victimise our roles in the story and get into all kinds of conversations to make ourselves feel better.
Grounding is different. To ground means to strip away all the mental clutter and open the door to the simple truth that we are experiencing something uncomfortable, being either fear, sadness, anger or even all of the above. It requires us to observe and just experience these emotions quietly. And wait for the emotion to pass. That is the key. Grounding does not change the events around us, but it creates a space for us to choose how we will react.
When we learn to quiet our minds and stop writing grand stories about why things happen to us, we are able to view a situation more clearly. Being able to see things in perspective, allows us to make more informed decisions and use any bumps along the road as inspiration and practice to get closer to our goals.
So how do we ground ourselves? There many different ways, for some people being active or using their hands may work best. The most important aspect of the grounding process though is the awareness you create of your thoughts and feelings. If this is new to you try to learn some meditation or breathing techniques. There are many options online and there are more and more teachers offering these services in Namibia.
Here is a link for breathing practice that helps to focus your mind: http://www.bodhiroom.com.na/yoga_resources/practice
May you have a wonderful and steady-minded 2017!
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For more information about the Rise Namibia Movement, click here
For the Bodhi Room’s website click here
For the 99FM’s MYD Show with Liezl Hoving, click here