Inner peace is something we all strive for, but seldom, if ever, experience for more than a fleeting moment or, if we are lucky, a day or two.
What is inner peace and how can we obtain it?
When I was on retreat with Father Eli in the Arkansas mountains during the summers of 1973 and 1974, I learned that there could be no inner peace without relaxation. He taught that adrenaline stays in the bloodstream for 30 minutes to an hour after being angry, tense or worried. He called this, “emotional carryover.” This can even happen when we think about things that cause tenseness or generate the “fight or flight” response in our system.
To achieve inner peace, we have to remove things from our lives which cause the “fight or flight” response and promote things that generate the “relaxation response,” as researched by Harvard Professor, Dr. Herbert Benson. The Buddha called this “appropriate attention” to what is beneficial to our awakening.
Father Eli further said that all positive emotions come from a relaxed state. Relaxation becomes the shield to allow you to become peaceful. You can test this right now if you think of someone in your life who you truly love – your spouse, child, parent or friend. This builds up the desire to approach peace in your self and peace in the world. Being grateful for what you have can also help, but more about this in a later article.
Father Eli trained me to teach you how to achieve inner peace by inducing a state of deep relaxation in a process that I am now calling a Mindfulness Break™. Sign up now while you can still get the introductory price.
