MIND, BODY & SOUL

“Doing for having, without enjoying being, is the sole cause of all our misery.”

-Ramana Maharshi

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

-Gandhi

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.”

-Gandhi

Introduction

Pilar, 46, mindfulness and movement mentor

Come in, friends, come into our Dojo, I will explain what it is. The Dojo is a very important place for Bridgedale360, although it took us a while to realize that to change our society, economy and politics we need more than a change in our system - we need a change in ourselves. When we understood how significant the body practices and mindfulness are for our well-being and how big of a role they play for change to happen, we built the Dojo. Now we come here to revitalize the dialogue with ourselves and others. Nothing external is produced in this place, instead, we turn our gaze inwards, towards our inner being, our health.

Traditionally, in the Japanese culture, “Dojo” meant a place for practicing inner work, ranging from martial arts to zen meditation which are the combination of physical, mental and emotional sides of us. But in our Dojo, we use a lot of other methods developed throughout the millennia, for instance, yoga and tai chi or dancing, singing and even running! Everything that brings our attention to our body, mind and soul, making us feel present, can be used for cultivating inner space. New techniques are coming up all the time, such as 5rhythms or Biodanza.

Bodily practices are the basis for our physical and mental well-being, our “inner resilience” and “inner sustainability”, allowing us to handle failures and develop ourselves in changing conditions. Cultivating our inner space makes us less vulnerable, which is vital for being able to stand steady in a world where many things seem to be out of our control.

For centuries and centuries, humanity has been separating the mind, body and soul, forgetting that they are three inseparable sides of the one. Now we try to bring them back together and understand how they influence each other. Accepting and working with our emotions and feelings, with our thoughts and bodies, we make them beneficial for our actions instead of seeing them as constraints. Learning about ourselves, we understand the world around and we see what we can do to make it better.

Just remember, we’re not talking about religion here. People believe in all sorts of things and that’s fine! Different belief systems don’t necessarily divide us. Here in the Dojo we can meet people of different cultures and worldviews and understand that there is something uniting us all. It is interesting to see differences and analogies between cultures. Look at all the great religions, they all draw on similar ethics and in many cases similar theology. It’s up to us whether we choose to focus on our division or on our unity. With more self-awareness we’ll be less eager to judge others. The world is so diverse and we all have a lot to learn from each other.

You know, I used to be a very ordinary person, I had a well-paid job as a manager in a big company, I lived in the center of the city and used to spend my weekends in shopping malls. But when I came to Bridgedale360 I realised that I had been living my life unconsciously: I was working with what I had been taught to do, without understanding the bigger picture. I was a little element in a constant mechanical machine where people earn money to spend money only to earn more money. It was like some enlightenment for me when I entered the Dojo, it dawned upon me that all my life I was doing things automatically without thinking of other possibilities, without understanding what kind of a world I was creating. I was not living mindfully. This is why I think it is important that we have the Dojo in Bridgedale360, so people can come and reflect on their own life and choices.

As you see, the Dojo is the place of mindfulness and reflection. Mindfulness means being conscious about our thoughts and actions. Why we think the way we think, why we live the way we live, what are the consequences of our actions? How often are we driven by fears determining our choices?  We need to be mindful in our lives and in our work instead of doing things habitually, repeating the same patterns because they were taught to us or because we are afraid of something. Then we start to see what and how we need to change to have a better world. To understand these things and the whole complexity of the world we need reflection which takes time, stillness and focus. And they can be found here, in the Dojo.

Learning Outcomes

• To become more aware of our thoughts and beliefs, where they come from and how they impact ourselves and the surrounding world

• To understand the interdependence between physical, emotional and mental well-being and our actions

• To get to know the body’s potential and to practice activities improving our physical health

• To realize our emotions, to learn how to balance them and to see them as advantage rather than constraints

• To discover the diverse ways to look at the world, to realize that there is no one answer for all