Residents seek calm amid life’s distractions
A violent cicada song boomed around the circular meeting area near Sabine Street where 20 Houstonians arrived with one goal in mind: stillness in the midst of perceived chaos.
“Can you hear me?” asked Heather Sullivan, who led the inaugural Mindful Morning at Buffalo Bayou Park. The cicadas are never so loud at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, she said before donning a small headset and microphone. Sullivan owns mindfulgreen, a Houstonbased company that offers meditation classes.
Mismatched teacups filled with home-brewed yaupon holly tea sat to her right; the tea was made with berries from Sullivan’s backyard.
Teatime would come later, though.
“Mindful meditation is necessary when real life gets in the way of your ability to remain present. It teaches you that when life hits you with something hard, you can breathe through it,” Sullivan said. “I wonder why someone didn’t teach me this as a kid; I was so worried all the time, so stuck in my head. This changed my life.”
Modern American life is not mindful. Most industries have made it nearly impossible for workers to be still or present in the moment. Entertainment often intersects with breaking news, so it’s difficult to detach at any point.
According to the American Psy
chological Association, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a mental health crisis among Americans, citing long-term stress as the main problem. Nearly 8 in 10 adults last year said the pandemic was a significant source of stress in their lives, while 67 percent said they have experienced increased stress since early 2020.
Sullivan said humans suffer from “monkey mind”: always scanning the world for danger even when it’s not there. Meditation is a practice in retraining the brain to be aware, not scared.
Mindful Morning is meant to be a one-hour meditative reprieve from the weight of the world. On Saturday, the practice was grounding to the earth through the trees. Sullivan referenced forest bathing, a prescription for burnt-out people in Japan and parts of Korea.
“Most of us never learned to be still in nature, but going outside is a cure,” she said.
Sullivan asked everyone to sit up straight, close their eyes and breathe in as deep as possible. Imagine roots coming out of your feet and infiltrating the soil below, she continued.
Collectively, the group stilled into statues, not one person opening an eye for 10 minutes even with bicycle bells, screeching skateboard riffs and cicadas in earshot. Sullivan’s low guiding voice was a focal point as participants worked to muddle through their clogged thoughts and feelings after a difficult week.
Sarah Ibrahim, 35, has an established meditation practice of her own to cope with feelings of anxiety and depression. But she’s never tried grounding herself in nature or practicing mindfulness in a group.
“It was hard for me to close my eyes in nature, and just being around people was a little more difficult compared to being safely in your home or at a studio,” Ibrahim said. “I think we spend a lot of time worried about our physical health, but we don’t worry enough about our mental health, especially before a crisis or before chaos.”
After the guided meditation, Sullivan encouraged the calmed group to go for a mindful walk around the park for 10 minutes. Even if they came with a friend, she wanted them to take that time to be alone and quiet so they could listen to the sounds of the park while seeing the things they normally miss.
Dana Garza, a 30-year-old customer service representative, kicked off what she hopes will be a relaxing Labor Day weekend at the meditation practice. Because she cares for customers’ needs for eight hours a day, she rarely has time to care for her own.
“It’s three days — three days,” Garza said excitedly while sipping yaupon holly tea with friend William Garcia. “I thought this would be a good start. The meditating came in the last couple of minutes before she ended because of that tension in the mind. But she said that’s OK.”
Mindful Mornings at Buffalo Bayou Park will be once a month in the fall. The next will be Oct. 9, “Outside in Nature, Inside your Body.” Classes are $5.