Letter from the President May 2022

“The Sacred Pause”

Dear Reader,

When Hurricane Harvey flooded our region in 2017, we trained 120 people in Mind-Body skills.

Among the skills was a technique for breathing deeply from the abdomen to a count of five,

pausing for three before breathing out. That brief pause became a “sacred pause” in Dr.

Manizeh Mirza-Gruber’s recent series on mindfulness held at our Institute.

The second class in the series addressed our emotions. Dr. Mirza-Gruber said that rather than

immediately reacting with our emotions, the great gurus taught that we should instead pause for

a moment. Yes, “pause.” In other words, we are to hold our emotions so we can respond instead

of reacting abruptly with anger or laughter.

Undoubtedly anxious, I raised my hand and asked, “Can you please tell us how to pause?” I went

on to explain that I often find myself expressing my emotions abruptly. “So, how do we pause?”

Manizeh paused and mindfully said she would answer my question later.

When appropriate, our teacher gave the example of deep abdominal breathing, where we take a

deep breath in and pause before breathing out. In the same way, we can pause when feeling an

emotion rise within us, which becomes for us a “sacred pause.”

My emotions often come unbidden and I didn’t like that reality. But, mindfulness teaches us to be

non-judgmental and Dr. Mirza-Gruber taught how to accept even my unbidden emotions with a

technique called R.A.I.N.: Recognize (R), Allow (A), Investigate (I), and Nurture (N).

Recognize, encouraged me to recognize all my feelings, including my guilt over having emotions

that come automatically from my unconscious. Allow, invited me to accept even my unbidden

emotions. Investigate, challenged why I felt guilty, after all I am human. Nurture, provided a

blessing of heartfelt and warm acceptance, all is well.

Emotions are a blessing, even if unbidden. What would life be without our emotions? Seen this

way -- like Mirza-Gruber’s pause -- our emotions are a sacred gift.

Blessings,

John K. Graham,

John K. Graham, M.D., D.Min., President and CEO