Showing Up For Racial Justice: How Mindfulness Can Help.

I was reminded this week of the phrase in the airplane security announcement, you must put on your own oxygen mask before you put on someone else’s. This phrase is used outside of the world of air travel to symbolize how we need to take care of and show up for ourselves before we can take care of and show up for others.

HAVE YOU PUT YOUR OXYGEN MASK ON TODAY?

I have always tended towards trying and put on other peoples (metaphorical) oxygen masks before my own. And sometimes just offering them mine from the start. And for me, that habit leads to massive anxiety, depression, burn out, emotional exhaustion, etc. So I have had to learn, and am still learning, what it means to deeply take care of myself first. And I have seen how much this helps me show up to support others. It felt counter-intuitive to me at first, but I now have the lived experience of that truth.

So what does this have to do with mindfulness? Well, mindfulness and my meditation practice are one of the primary ways I have learned to put on my oxygen mask first. And in these times, they have become more important in my life than ever before.

HOW CAN MINDFULNESS SUPPORT YOUR RACIAL JUSTICE WORK?

I have immersed myself in these past few weeks in learning how mindfulness can support the work of racial justice. Mindfulness isn’t a cure-all or a magic potion, and it isn’t going to do the work for us, but it does have an important role to play in how we show up to the work.

I recently shared via social media two of the books I am finding so helpful in this space: "Mindful of Race" by Ruth King and "The Inner Work of Racial Justice" by Rhonda V Magee. These two inspiring women have been showing up for years to help guide others through the work of racial justice first in ourselves and then as a community.

SHOW UP, REST, REPEAT

Mindfulness helps me tolerate, walkthrough, and MAYBE even become curious about big feelings, hard conversations, and the discomfort of challenging truths. But it also helps me learn how to rest, recharge, and then take action from this grounded place.

In “Mindful of Race”, King shares:

“SITTING MEDITATION PRACTICE SUPPORTS US IN KNOWING, FROM THE INSIDE OUT, THAT WE CAN REST IN THE BODY AND USE THE BREATH AS A CALMING INNER RESOURCE, DESPITE EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL PRACTICE FOR ESTABLISHING THE AWARENESS AND STABILITY WE NEED TO INVESTIGATE OUR HABITS OF HARM.”

I have lived this experience recently, relying on the inner resources I have, including my breath, to rest, recharge, and then fully and healthfully show up to do the work of investigating my habits of harm. And in this week's Instagram Live meditation, I shared a practice for finding this refuge in our bodies so we can show up for the work at hand.

I hope you can take a few minutes to put on your oxygen mask today, whatever that may look like for you!