Last week, I (Nikki) had an interesting (and somewhat embarrassing) experience, which served as quite a tangible demonstration of one of the things eight years of meditation has given me…
I found a parking spot outside our apartment block, right between two driveways. I wasn’t entirely sure whether my car would fit, so I popped myself in the middle and got out to check if I was in. As I was standing outside taking a look, I suddenly noticed the car rolling backwards!!! Without panic, I just knew exactly what needed to be done: I quickly opened the car door, jumped in the drivers seat and put my foot on the break. Turns out I had forgot to put the car in ‘park’ (and the hand break clearly wasn’t enough) – whoops!!! After a huge sigh of relief, I witnessed something very interesting. My heart rate was up and my hands and legs were shaking, but my mind was perfectly calm. It’s like my body just knew what to do in order to save the day (activate a full blown fight-or-flight response), without need for any excess fear/panic/drama. Once my nervous system de-excited, I got on with my day as if nothing had happened.
I’ve heard the research countless times that meditation has been shown to shrink the Amygdala (stress centre of the brain), but it was really cool to witness it first-hand! In fact, one of the tips we give during our Intro to Meditation workshops (complimentary to anyone who has a regular studio pass) is to actually track your progress (outside of the sessions themselves of course). This means looking at what results you are witnessing in your daily life, comparing how you think/feel/act now with how you used to (pre-meditation), and discussing it with one of us. It’s such a great feeling to realise the changes you were out to experience and observe first-hand the difference meditation is making in your life. We’d absolutely LOVE to hear about it, so please reply and let us know 🙂
