There are times in your life where fear may take over, it may be on your next test or assignment, or something, not school related. In the Leadership Speaker Series presented by Parvati Shallow, she gave an example of a breathing exercise that can take you out of the fear for a moment. This exercise gives you the ability to separate yourself from the emotions and see yourself outside of the fear. Pavarti’s instructions were to
slow down, step back, and try to get a different perspective.
She instructed the audience to meditate by placing the left hand on the heart and the right hand on the belly. Then focus on breathing, feeling the belly as it rises and slowly drops.
After you have been able to do this, your breathing is controlled and you start to feel a sense of calm. At this point, Pavarti pointed out to the audience that it may be possible to see yourself outside of yourself. She called it “The Watcher,” the one that is in the present unchanged; the one that is unchanged by the emotions, by the overwhelming fear, by the surrounding environment. Seeing yourself outside of the fear allows you to better understand your situation and make a better decision on how to handle your emotions towards it. Parvati gave an amazing example that not many in the audience were aware of. When there is a storm coming, cows run away from it. By the time the storm hits, they are scared, wet, and exhausted, though they still run. The cows are in the storm the entire time. While the buffalo charges at the storm and cuts their time in the storm in half. The presenter asked an important question, in the storm do you want to be the buffalo or the cow? Will you run towards the storm or away from it? These thoughts and meditation practices have helped Parvati Shallow achieve her successes in life; three-time participant on Survivor, winning one of them, runner-up, and sixth in the other two Survivor opportunities; host of Survivor Live; and host of CBS’ Around the World for Free.
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