It’s a powerful statement, like a command or mantra to ease your mind and body into stillness. How does this feel to you? Does it automatically allow you to enter that peaceful space? Does it turn your attention to things in your life that are causing you to be the opposite of calm? Is being calm maybe having a sense of control?

These are some of the questions I’ve been asking myself this past week. I’ve been observing how I react to the world around me and what exactly is happening when I’m not in a state of calm. I see the word in advertising on supplements, drinks, vacations, and experiences
promising to bring you back to peace. It makes me wonder, is this something that is brought to us externally? Or can we create calmness inside ourselves and actually BE the calm.

Let’s talk about what’s happening when we’re not calm. Our thoughts and emotions are in a state of reactiveness to other people, what’s going on at your job, in your relationships, and the world. We go for days in this state on autopilot without realizing, playing situations over in our minds, and looking for the next threat that could be coming our way. This starts to become a normal way of being because your brain is actually “wired” to seek out problems in life and fixate on them. This is called survival mode, our organs, body, brain, and even the way we think are designed to keep us alive. When we see our bill payments, deadlines, boss, waking up early,
etc. as a threat, our brain and body release chemicals because it thinks these things/situations will potentially harm us.

So, now that we have a little perspective on how “reactive” we are innately designed to be. The key is knowing that us humans have a special power of self-observation and can actually intentionally change how we want to feel, react, live, and Just Be!

It’s all about perspective and setting the intention. The perspective that life sometimes isn’t as serious as we think it to be and the intention to change how we approach it. Below are some tools on how you can start implementing calmness in your life.
There may be times when we actually feel our lives are threatened or we’re so overwhelmed that we become frozen and unable to think clearly. Military Tactical Breathing is used to calm the nervous system in order to make sound decisions in those situations:

4444: Breath in for a count of 4, Hold breath for a count of 4, Breath out for a count of 4, Hold Breath for a count of 4 and repeat.

Wheel Meditation:

The wheel is a representation of life, the cycles we go through, time, and all things changing. If we stay on the outside, it can feel chaotic and out of balance. But if we go to the centre, we become stable and watchful. Unaffected by the ever-changing circumstances in our lives.

Find a place you enjoy being, sit down, and close your eyes. If you’d like you can do the tactical breathing to help stop your mind from racing. Then, keeping the focus on your breath imagine you’re sitting inside of a wheel and It’s turning around you. On the outside of the wheel is your life and what is happening that may be causing you stress. Realize that it’s not a part of you, it is outside of you. Watch it move around you, now focus on your heart centre. This is your safe place you can go to at any time. Breath into this space and know that you can approach life within this state. Peaceful. Controlled. Powerful. Keep your focus on the heart centre as you feel the wheel disappear and it’s just you, at one with yourself. Remain in this state for as long as you wish, then open your eyes… “I Am Calm”.

-Kyla Gorman