I met Usha Welaratna through my work. It is an extremely stressful job and i was suffering all of the side affects of that stress, from sleeplessness to headaches to occasional chest pains, along with a lot of anger and frustration. Usha's calm demeanor and air of serenity immediately struck me. As we got to know each other, she revealed that she teaches mindfulness meditation and that it has been shown to help people with symptoms like mine.
Under normal circumstances, I might have nodded politely and moved on to another subject, but Usha is a poster child for the person I want to be, so I signed up. I have now completed the 8 week "beginner's" course. I cannot claim to be as diligent as Usha in finding a set time to meditate every day, and I cannot claim to have been a model student. However, I DID find more peace than I thought possible.
As obvious a truth as it should have been before, I finally accepted that I do not have to let toxicity into my mind and into my life. I CAN control my response to stressful situations and now I do...at least a lot of the time (there is room for improvement). I practice a full meditation when I can, but I have the mindfulness words forever running in the back of my mind and I practice the various meditations where and when I can, if only for abbreviated sessions. I cannot claim to have no stress in my life now, but I definitely have less.
In addition to the actual meditation, I enjoyed learning more about Usha's background and beliefs, but I must stress that this is not a religious class and that Usha discussed her Buddhist beliefs in response to my direct questions.
I recommend mindfulness meditation for everyone!
“I recommend mindfulness meditation for everyone!”