Developing a Witness Mindset
No matter where you sit politically or ideologically, you have likely felt the frenzied energy of action that our country has been experiencing since January 20th. So many people I have talked to are feeling overwhelmed. That’s not surprising. A new administration is wiping away the actions, resolutions, and protections that previous administrations have felt were required to run our democratic republic. In the last three weeks, this has been happening at a pace that no nervous system (no matter how evolved) could hold all the pieces together. This is a perfect time for a witnessing mindset to interrupt the dysregulation.
What is a witness mindset?
Witness mindset (sometimes called “witness conscious") is a term used in psychology and spirituality. It refers to a real-time neutral noticing of oneself. Ram Dass (a prominent Harvard psychologist turned spiritual teacher) explained that “the witness place inside you is simple awareness, the part of you that is aware of everything — just noticing, watching, not judging, just being present, being here now.” When doing a Ground & Fill Exploration at the beginning of a session with me, we ask the brain to take a back seat. In this way, we ask the conscious self that tries to make sense of everything and create a narrative about it to step back and create space for curiosity. Curiosity opens the door for the witness mindset.
Image by John Hain from Pixabay
How do we cultivate a witness mindset?
There are many ways of cultivating a witnessing mindset – meditation, yoga, prayer, etc. My favorite is the Ground & Fill Exploration taught to me by Suzanne Scurlock (a Upledger craniosacral instructor and founder of Healing from the Core.)
Ground & Fill Exploration
In this exploration, we start by turning on all the lights in your system – bringing your awareness to your breath and the surfaces you are in contact with. Next, we connect to the earth using a metaphor like roots, light beams, or rivers of awareness – anchoring to something neutral, larger than us, and always available. Then, we invite the earth's energy to fill our body from our feet to the crown of our heads – meeting each cell with the nurturing, safe energy that it needs at this moment.
While grounded to the earth, we use our internal navigation systems to notice sensations like temperature, vibration, color, sound, texture, etc. These sensations are simply information. Imagine you stepped outside on a sunny day. You may notice the blueness of the sky, the clarity of the objects around you, the contraction of the muscles around your eyes, or the elevation in your mood as the barometric pressure rises. These are all basic sensations that can be sparked by the presence of the sun.
When filling your inner landscape with the earth's nourishing energy during a Ground & Fill, you go section by section through your body with curiosity and an open mind to discover the sensations that arise. The very action of noticing sensation cultivates the witnessing mindset.
You approach this process with unconditional awareness. Leaving behind the need to create a story or make an opinion about what you notice. When your brain comes in (as it will) to try and disrupt the process with a thought or critique, you pause to notice that, too. Then, remind your brain that you are listening to and filling your tissue with precisely what it needs at the moment.
Image by John from Pixabay
What are the benefits of a witness mindset?
Let's explore the positive impact it can have on your life.
Increased inner peace as you take time to be with parts of yourself that may not get attention as often.
Increased resiliency by returning over & over again to the witnessing mindset in the face of a distracting though
Greater connection between your brain & your body as they learn to navigate together in your awareness
Greater connection to the earth as a steady, unconditional force
Increased commitment as you make this practice part of your daily routine
All of these can lead to a greater sense of self-awareness and a deeper understanding of your own needs.