Can Meditation Fuel Social Action?
With all the pain, anger, and frustration we’re all experiencing right now, one thing is clear: no one can sit by and be silent. This is a time for action. At the same time, it can be hard to know how to take helpful action. Do you join the protestors in the streets, or contribute to one of the many Black Lives Matter organizations? Do you buy from Black-owned businesses, or send an email to your mayor demanding defunding of the police? We asked WITHIN Meditation Cofounder Hannah Knapp to talk about the role of meditation and mindfulness in social action.
Q: As a white woman who is a meditation teacher, how are you responding to this moment of social crisis?
A: In this moment, it's my meditation practice that is sustaining me, that's enabling me to ride the waves of emotion, to take in the stories and information that are coming to light, and at the same time to show up for the people in my life who need me. Nothing could be more essential to not just getting through this, but allowing what's happening to change me and, through me, the world around me.
In classes, I’m holding space for the strong emotions and trauma that we’re collectively going through. That means that my fellow teachers and I are all being real with people in our classes about the emotions we’re feeling ourselves, inviting them to express and feel theirs, and, as we guide meditation, offering ways to lean into those uncomfortable emotions.
In each class I've taught over the last week, I've found myself saying some version of, "We need to face what's uncomfortable, unflinchingly, with love.” Mindfulness and meditation can help us do that.
Q: How is WITHIN Meditation responding the current crisis?
A: We stand in solidarity with the Black community. My teachers and I adamantly oppose all forms of individual, cultural, and systemic racial injustice and discrimination. As individuals, and as an organization, we recognize the importance of reflecting on our own role in perpetuating these issues through inaction. We’re using all of the tools I’ve described to examine ourselves, and face what needs to be faced - and to help our students do the same.
Almost since our inception, we’ve held classes in person at Satori Yoga Studio in downtown San Francisco - a beautiful studio owned by a phenomenal Black woman, Andrea Stern. While we’ve always been grateful for the collaboration between our two businesses, this crisis has made it even clearer that we need to vocally and visibly support Andrea and what she has built, and help Satori thrive.
All of our classes are currently online, due to COVID-19. In those classes, we’re committed to holding space for processing deep emotions, developing compassion, and sharing resources to educate ourselves and one another. My hope is that this helps all of us to fuel the social action of this moment with wisdom and compassion.
Q: When it’s so clear action is needed, why should I sit still and meditate? Isn’t that just hiding?
A: I really hear you on that. When there’s so much strong emotion in the people we see in the media, in our own communities, and in ourselves, the impulse is to act. And constructive action is absolutely needed! I wouldn’t advocate anything that would get in the way of the momentum of this moment of social change.
Meditation can be seen as an escape - a way to deny the reality of what’s happening, to bliss out. And there are certainly types of meditation that offer that very escape. Mindfulness meditation is not one of them.
When you practice mindfulness, you’re paying attention to what’s actually happening right now, without judgment. You’re looking at what’s in front of you, facing it - whether that’s an emotion in yourself, an act of violence caught on camera, or the words a person has just spoken.
That’s not easy to do! Meditation is a training ground for being able to face life in this way.
Now more than ever, we need action that is grounded in thoughtfulness and compassion. Even if anger is what motivates us to want action, the action itself needs to come from a place of wisdom in order to make lasting change - and we can’t access wisdom when our minds and bodies are flooded with strong emotion. We need to pause, feel the emotions deeply, allow what needs to shift in ourselves to shift, and let clarity emerge. Then, we can take wise action.
This doesn’t have to take a long time - pausing even for just a few moments can make a world of difference. But that pause is essential to process what we’re feeling and access our deeper wisdom.
I would also say that pausing like this is a way of replenishing ourselves - and, as a white person, I’m learning this is especially crucial in this moment for anyone who is Black. From listening to many in the Black community, I’m hearing that it’s completely exhausting for Black people to be doing so much emotional labor for white people, and at the same time to be feeling so much pain and anger and grief. As much as I personally find I need meditation for self-care, right now it’s important to a Black person in a way that's fundamentally different than for me.
Q: Can meditating for even a few minutes allow me to access that deeper wisdom?
A: Yes and no. As much as I sometimes wish it were, meditation isn’t a magic pill. You don’t start meditating one moment, and the next become the best version of yourself, ready to take wise action. That said, when you practice meditation over time - even just a few minutes a day - you strengthen your ability to face the present moment without flinching. You get more comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Instead of running away from strong emotions or difficult situations, you get better at recognizing that you’re uncomfortable and being with it. That, in turn, helps you be less overwhelmed by the discomfort. The less overwhelmed you are, the easier it is to think clearly and act wisely.
As a student of meditation myself, I’m sustained and inspired by the way each person’s practice evolves over time. There are teachers at WITHIN who have been practicing meditation for 5, 15, 30 years. Each time they sit to meditate, they’re practicing being with what is, just like the student meditating for the very first time. The difference is that, with practice, it becomes easier to notice when you’re not facing the present moment, and choose to be here, now.
Q: Can that same practice help me develop compassion? Or is that another kind of meditation?
A: In mindfulness meditation - and the traditions it’s drawn from, Zen Buddhism and Vipassana - wisdom and compassion go hand in hand. There’s no point in spending your life facing the present moment, if you don’t couple that with being helpful to others.
There are several practices specifically aimed at developing compassion, which are often paired with paying attention to the present moment without judgment. The one I’m most familiar with is metta, or loving-kindness meditation. In it, you begin by bringing to mind someone you find it very easy to love, and wish them well; then you extend that same feeling inward, towards yourself; and then gradually expand it outward to others, ultimately wishing all beings well. It may sound a little “woo-woo” compared to the very straightforward present moment awareness that mindfulness is known for - but this practice can be incredibly transformative.