Dizziness

When we sit to quieten the body and the mind, it's not at all uncommon to feel dizzy at some stage. In fact, probably 10, maybe even 20% of people will experience some kind of dizziness at some stage. It might happen when you're just learning how to get some head space, or later on. But in terms of when in the session it's most likely to occur, it's probably towards the end, maybe even just as you're opening your eyes. So I'm going to give you a few tips on what you can do to ensure that you get up from your seat no longer feeling dizzy. But, why does it arise in the first place? Well, if you consider what we're doing, we're really sort of rebalancing both the body and the mind when we sit in this way. So there's a sense of adjustment taking place. For some people, the body can feel very heavy, very solid. For others, it feels very light. And in the same way, for some people, the mind, it kind of feels much more grounded. And for others, it feels very spacious, to the extent that it can almost feel dizzy. It's not that we've done anything wrong at all. In fact, it's just a natural byproduct. More often than not, it will pass quite quickly. For some people, it does continue for a little while. But as I said, the important thing is how you relate to that. In the same way that we approach every other thing that arises during these exercises, it's how we relate to it and how we relate, in this case, to that feeling of dizziness. So rather than trying to push it away, or rather than thinking too much about it, as you open your eyes, make sure that you bring your attention fully into the body. So the key thing is to focus on the soles of the feet on the floor and the body against the seat or the floor beneath you. So we're looking to encourage that feeling of being grounded. If you like, just to sort of enhance that feeling, you can even imagine that your, it's almost as though there's a weight either on the bottom of your feet or sort of coming from your seat. It's almost sort of pulling you sort of down towards the ground. And if you just visualize that, even for just a few seconds, it can help with that feeling of being more grounded. But, also, if it's something that happens to you often, then make sure you have a glass of water by the side of you before you begin the exercise. And when you finish, you open your eyes, take a moment, take at least 60 seconds before standing up. Have a glass of water, take several sips. And again, somehow by engaging with the body in that way, it helps the mind feel more grounded. And more often than not, the...