Cultivating natural ease

Image by Hans from Pixabay

In one of my offsite workshops, I observed something interesting. The food was abundant, and people just kept on eating and eating. I kept wondering, do we need so much food to nourish ourselves? Why do we eat so much?

When talking about stress and its impact, I mentioned that do we realize how much we eat when stressed out? We do that to bring our body and mind to some ease. So often, even after a good meal, we keep munching onto something to soothe ourselves.

If we can't bring our mind and body to their natural ease in a healthy way, then we would have to depend on these quick fixes, which do more damage. If our mind and body are in a state of ease, then we need less sensual pleasures and indulgence.

Practices like mindfulness are also about settling the mind and body so that they come to natural ease and we can let go of stress. We nourish and reinvigorate ourselves, making us less dependent on indulgence and consumption.