Shake Ya (Meditating) Booty!

Meditation has an important place. For me, so important that I do it daily.

However, one of the most important lessons I have learned in the last years is: there are also times when meditation is not the answer. The times when frustration, anger or fear are too present to sit down. There is nothing to ‘meditate away’. The energies in the body can be so strong that the act of forcing our body to sit still whilst everything in us is in turmoil is almost an act of violence.

Sometimes something else is needed. For me, a much loved remedy in moments like this is dancing. There are of course many ways to meet this kind of energy, like painting, running, writing…

I like to turn up the music and dance to the favourite band of my teenage years: Fettes Brot. Their humour, skillfully packed into intelligent rhymes and accompanied by danceable beats and various instruments has brightened up many dark days. When everything gets too much, I dance and I rap. This,too, is a way to calm the mind.

Practising Mindfulness does not always mean sitting still and observing sensations. Practising mindfulness means so much more.

Mindfulness is a wonderful tool to help us handle the challenges life throws at us better. I think it’s time to move away from the cliches. Yes, meditators still have difficult emotions at times. And no, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Mindfulness helps us getting closer to knowing what we need to do when things become too much, so that we can act more often in ways which are good for us, rather than being driven by old habbits which don’t serve us. And this can mean knowing when it’s time to get up and dance. On good as well as on bad days.

Sometimes the booty needs to leave the cushion and move to its favourite music. Then it will enjoy sitting back down on the cushion a lot more afterwards again.