I think a vital yet commonly deficient practice would be the internalizing of ones awareness. Our culture constantly bombards our existence with archetypes, products and expectations that seldom do we just retract our awareness internally and revel at the majesty of self. Immediately prior to writing this, I submerged myself in an Epsom salt bath with only my mouth and nose above water to procure air, with the lights off, for about an hour.
Water is perhaps the most fascinating property of the universe, a transparent swath of chemicals that moulds around solid forms. With your entire head and body submerged, with the exception of the mouth and nose, all you can sensually detect is the sound of your heart persistently sustaining your system. You begin to feel the multitude that is self, with billions of individual yet integrated cells and organs constantly active. Simultaneously, however, you feel the self dissolve, it's a truly peculiar thing, to be so intimately aware of the self yet intimately aware of dissolution.
Once you have transcended the incessant sensual input we've been conditioned to expect, the brain becomes increasingly calm. As though a previously expended energy has now returned, capable of formidably addressing any deeply-imbedded question you may have. Questions regarding the nature of the individual self, your goals and desires, your ritualistic behaviour. You essentially acquire the focus that was previously spent on processing the incessant bombardment of sensual input and can now freely allocate it. Much like the moments before sleep, only in conscious meditative practices you can intentionally end the experience and translate what you thought. How much of your brilliant internal inquiry have you forgotten because you slept on it?
Every single moment, since our birth, we have been subject to the temporal condition of day and night. We intuitively measure the passage of existence through the circadian rhythm of life on earth, determined by the length of daylight to darkness. To what extent are we most fundamentally tethered to this cycle?
I have identified a correlation to distress and confusion that I think, combined with hydration, movement and nourishment, constitutes a cause. It seems that those who regularly practice alignment with the Earths circadian rhythm and joyously practice healthy eating, movement and hydration practices have a higher propensity towards kindness, serenity, tolerance and open-mindedness. It just seems to foster an ethically prosperous demeanour that encourages good characteristics.
The reason for this isn't solely identified in those practices, but in the type of behaviour and outlook those practices engender in the individual. Responding to and managing the fundamental conditions of existence creates the source from which you proceed into everything. Each problem that arises is consequently managed with clarity and focus, every interaction is managed with virtue (given the reciprocal conditions of your exchange,) and your daily thought patterns are generated from a vital and healthy source.
Primarily, I think this is where our inadequate educational system commits its biggest deficiency. When do they properly foster the correct appreciation and attitude towards holistic excellence? When do they remind you that your body is an integrated system? When do they remind you that glucose, which is most abundantly derived from carbohydrates, is the necessary biological currency you require to function exceptionally? These are the most fundamental conditions of existence: how to manage and know yourself.
I don't necessarily want to accuse or blame anything for this, but if you're going to practically rob the first portion of my existence and impose pre-requisites upon me, you should be responsible for instilling the fundamental lessons necessary for life. Allow me to explicitly clarify now: I understand you have the potential of studying these things in college and/or university. That's completely aside from the argument, however, because these are lessons necessary at a young age. Not when you're navigating the minefield of university, practically structured to extract as much money from you as possible.
Neither are these practices that necessarily require quantification, with each student being measured against each other. These are just fundamental practices that influence who you are on the most intrinsic levels. They produce better people, encourage fulfillment and excellence. They need not be converted into competitive strides to bolster ones pride.
