The USA has Inflammation (Maybe the whole world!)

The USA has Inflammation

(Maybe the whole world!)

It is inarguable that tempers are rising across the country and have been for quite a while. In a physical body, inflammation is a protective response to infection, illness or injury. According to the ancient health system of Ayurveda, from which our current practice of yoga comes from, inflammation is the result of an accumulation of too much Pitta, or fire in the system. This may be from a combination of lifestyle habits: unbalanced diet, aggravating thoughts, stress, toxins, too much heated activity, frustrations or other impediments to a soothing and calm experience. If it continues over a long period of time without recognizing and changing the harmful patterns in one's life, inflammatory disease could result, such as heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and premature aging among them.

Of course, the country, as a society, has the qualities of consciousness, just as a person does. It can be called group consciousness or mass consciousness. Therefore, the consciousness we are experiencing as a group affects our life experience on all levels: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Only if you were a hermit in the woods, never interacting with others or hearing the news, would you be unaffected. All that goes on about us and around us is affecting us. The outrage, the violence, political standoffs, verbal abuses, increasingly violent entertainment, obsessive use of electronics streaming unsavory images, people caught behaving in awful ways, and on and on, all seeps into our lives. It's nearly impossible to avoid. We may become inflamed over and over during a typical day. This energy is added to the mass consciousness.

Something has to give.

And so, the country. The vulnerable, the susceptible, will out-picture the inflammation emanating from the masses. The weakest links will move to release the pressure from the cooker. And we have the outbreaks of cynicism, frustration, rage, and violence.

Before and after the world wars we had long periods of a calmer, more peaceful society. The wars blew out the built-up inflammation. Now we have some small international skirmishes that are barely on our radar. There is no big safety valve to release this build up, not that a war is an acceptable release.

We must evolve to find healthy ways to bring our society to wellbeing. We must enable the release of the anger and inflammation safely, and at the same time learn skills and practices that allow each of us to find peace within.

·        Practice Conscious Communication from the work of psychologist Marshall Rosenberg.

·        Meditate. A practice of meditation allows you to become aware of your knee jerk reactions and emotions so you understand you have a choice how to respond.

·        Limit your exposure to media and information that upsets you. Read about the topic instead of watching images, etc.

·       Take up spiritual/religious studies that cause you to see a greater perspective of life. How we are all inextricably connected, and what affects one affects all.
·       Learn to release your anger in a healthy way such as telling loved ones using 'I' messages, when anger arises stop and drop your attention to your bodily sensations and observe them, get plenty of fresh air and exercise, go for a walk etc. And take care of each other.

By doing the things that create peace within ourselves, we can eventually see it change society as a whole. It doesn't take a majority to do this, just a small but significant percentage can shift everything. Take care of yourself and teach others, spread peace.