Using Mindfulness to Combat Racism

It was June 1st 2020. I went to bed at 11 pm, fell straight asleep, and woke up just after midnight with a strange feeling in my chest. I had never experienced this sensation before. At first, I thought it might be something I’d eaten, and then I thought it was perhaps a panic attack. 

I turned to my Mindfulness practice and scanned through my Rolodex of emotions—It didn’t feel like dread, fear, anger or sadness, I could not place the feeling. I tried sitting up, lying on my back, curling into a ball, putting on a podcast in the background, walking around my room, watching youtube.

Nothing would shift it. It reminded me of a bout of food poisoning I once had where no matter what position I put myself in, I couldn’t get more than a few seconds of relief.

The sensation in my chest was not pain, it was a feeling of heaviness. I’m not sure how to explain it, but at that moment, I would have preferred pain. I’d been looking after myself, I’d been eating well, and I had gone to bed tired, so it made no sense. There were a few unsettling things in my life, but nothing too out of the ordinary. 

After some meditation and reflection, I realised what this intense, uneasy feeling in my chest was. 

It was a deep-felt connection to the racial trauma that I had observed during that week. 

The following article will share a few ways that I used Mindfulness to manage my emotions so I could combat racism from the inside out. At the time of writing this article, many passionate individuals are fighting for external change which I am truly thankful for. That being the case, I am going to focus my article on how to affect internal change. 

External or Internal Change?

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new" - Socrates

Whether you believe racism is systemic and deeply embedded, or you think only a tiny percentage of society is racist, my recommendations are the same:

1) Create External change - Reform organisations and society at large through protests, changes to the law, changes in organisational culture, and so on.

2) Create Internal change - Cultivate awareness and understanding on all sides. This will result in more compassion, connection and positive behavioural change.

My hope is that the techniques I share in this article don’t stop people fighting for justice or trying to effect change. My hope is that people gain new understanding about what they are fighting for so that they try and do what’s ‘right’ as opposed to merely destroying what’s ‘wrong’.

Furthermore, I want to share how to manage your stress responses so that you can affect change sustainably and effectively without burning yourself out.

Burn the House Down 

Let’s take cancer as an example. One way of treating the disease is to use chemotherapy to destroy it. Still, we do so knowing that we are going to be compromising the body and destroying healthy cells along with the cancerous cells. Another way to tackle cancer is to open our possibilities to other, more holistic, less aggressive methods. 

The more imminent or life-threatening the prognosis, the more prepared we should be to treat the disease aggressively. We can risk damaging the body to eliminate the threat to the body if it’s a matter of life-or-death. 

If the cancer is in remission, we might be more inclined to seek alternative, gentler methods. Alternative treatments might take longer to heal the body; however, healing may occur with less collateral damage. 

The Big Picture

Whether you think racism is a life-threatening condition or a disease in remission depends on a complex of factors—your environment, location, peer-group, life experiences, and so on.

All I can say for sure is that when I am calm and relaxed, I’m more nuanced, I’m more creative, I quickly see the bigger picture and I rarely if ever behave in ways I regret.

When I am in fight-or-flight, stressed, scared, ashamed or overwhelmed, I see things as black-or-white, right or wrong, and I often behave in ways I regret.

This is only my opinion, but I believe that no one is 100% evil or 100% good. We are a product of our experience, and almost everyone is doing the best they can with the information they have.

I’m here to help the racists, the anti-racists and everyone in between. The more perspectives that are heard and the safer everybody feels, the better life will be for you, me, and the world at large.

Mindfulness Meditation

"Lean into the discomfort" - Brene Brown

We may feel uncomfortable when we become aware of racism, especially when we realise that the way we think, speak and act might be part of the problem. Mindfulness Meditation is a way to practice sitting with our uncomfortable feelings.

How do you think you would react if someone points out something you said or did was racist?

Would you become angry about the accusation? Would you want to run away from the conversation? Might you perhaps get stuck for words and freeze? Maybe you would get on your knees and accept all the blame? Or you might look for someone else to confirm that what you did wasn’t in fact racist?

What I have just listed are examples of the five threat responses of the nervous system (fight, flight, freeze, submit, attach). Without mindful awareness, we will simply react according to our programming. We feel shame when we are judged negatively by others. When we feel negative emotions, our nervous system kicks into action with one of the five responses.

Ironically, it is our fear of being racist that prevents us from exploring our own prejudices. We might find that we are shaming others to make ourselves feel better about our opinions. For a more detailed explanation, see my article “Understanding… Racism” where I discuss ego.

However, the research is unequivocal - shame does not lead to positive behavioural change. Shame results in us digging into our existing beliefs so that we become even less open-minded.

Mindfulness helps create a space that allows heartache, grief, anger, confusion and shame to express themselves, without us reacting to them. Once we have calmed down our threat response using Mindfulness, we are better able to take on board the perspective of others, and that is where change begins.

Hold space for those that are hurting.

If my daughter is angry because she is hurting or injured, I don’t react by shutting down her anger. I support her, hear her and hold space for her. I allow her to express herself without criticising her for her reactions.

The black community and its allies were angry and tired of waiting patiently for change. The anger was valid, and if we react to the anger and not the injustice of George Floyd’s murder, we add to the hurt.

Practice nuanced rather than black-and-white thinking

"Tyranny is the deliberate removal of nuance" - Albert Maysles

Mindfulness helps us to hold complex ideas in our minds. Our brain prefers simplicity—it takes minimal effort to confirm existing beliefs, and it requires far more brain-power to learn new perspectives. This is true, especially when we are emotionally triggered (see “Understanding… Racism” article). 

When the fight-or-flight wing of our nervous system is activated, the body feels threatened. It then switches off the slow, rational, measured pre-frontal cortex, turning on the amygdala, the quick-thinking part of the brain. 

With the pre-frontal cortex offline, information is processed in terms of good or bad, right or wrong, black or white. There isn’t any time for nuanced or measured thinking with danger in the environment.

When we practice Mindfulness, we are switching off the fight-or-flight stress response, and we are switching on our relaxation response to allow balanced thinking.

(You can learn more about the nervous system here)

Speak up if you witness racism

It can be challenging to address the topic of racism, it’s such a complex and sensitive subject. It takes courage to challenge an opposing point of view, especially with those close to you. It also takes courage to confront your own racism.

We should note that while it might be hard to speak up in front of friends, family or work colleagues, it’s even more challenging to be on the receiving end of racism. 

When you speak up, make sure you speak from a place of calm. Maintain awareness of the emotional state of both you and the other person.

The more emotional you are, the greater tendency you will have to shame, preach, and dig into your existing belief system. The more relaxed you both are, the more collaborative you will become, and the more likelihood of shifting the other person’s perspective. 

Check-in with your black friends.

"In the face of adversity, hope often comes in the form of a friend who reaches out to us" - Christopher Reeve

Reach out to black or indigenous friends and colleagues if you’re worried about their mental health, wellbeing or safety.

This can be a tricky one if you’re not black, so proceed with sensitivity. Begin by checking in with yourself to make sure that your motivation isn’t to make yourself feel better. It’s about the other person, not you.

Also, be careful that you are not adding fuel to their hurt or anger. If systemic racism does exist, and you incite your black friends towards aggression, they will likely suffer harsher penalties compared to you.

Look after yourself

We’re no use to anyone unless we are in a stable place ourselves. The more relaxed, healthy and calm we can become, the more connection we feel towards others, and the more good we can do.

As we hear at the start of every flight, put the oxygen mask on yourself first before you assist others.

If there is immediate danger in your environment, the fight-or-flight response will help you to protect yourself. However, if there is no imminent threat, you must put on your oxygen mask, breathe, reset, open your mind and open your heart. From a place of love, connection and calm, you can then make meaningful change.

Chibs Okereke is a Meditation, Resilience & Burnout Specialist, and Accredited Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher. If you would like to learn more about meditation, sign up for the Free 7-Day Challenge at www.chibs.co/challenge.