MINDFULNESS has become the watchword of this decade, simply because, we are going through an extreme phase of depression and anxiety, possibly fuelled by lifestyle and work balance. While managers and executives only take a look at the spreadsheet, the rest of us are looking into each others eyes and seeing confusion, burnout and frustration.
While in school, our next generation are still being taught as if they were heading to the factory, keeping their heads down and only speaking when they are spoken to. In modern terms, go and sit in an office for 8 hours a day at least, don't turn away from the screen and watch those arteries clog up!
There are answers, and one of them is mindfulness.
I am currently studying to become a Mindfulness Coach, and in the last module I learnt how beneficial it is to your mental and physical health to meditate. When I say meditate, I don't mean crossing your legs and sitting in a corner with your thumb and forefinger lightly touching, humming away and rocking back and forth. I mean real mind cleansing, and the best thing to do is just to:
FOCUS ON YOUR BREATHING, AND NOT ANYTHING ELSE.
The trouble I have found is when you work in a busy environment finding somewhere to do this is very difficult, but then I learnt something else: meditation takes on many forms, it can be gardening, sitting and watching, listening to music, reading.
So that got me wondering if movies can be used as a way to ease anxiety and make you feel good about yourself, give yourself a break, remove that cloud that hovers over your head. The answer to that in my course was that television and the like are stimulating and therefore, not relaxing. SO...that got me thinking again, and I wondered if you could watch a movie that was as silly as much as exciting, that did not have violent images, did not challenge the brain too much, that you could just kick back and enjoy for 90 minutes, would that count?
And if so, the only decade you could find such a collection of movies would be......
The 1980's
Which is great because I bloody love the movies from the 1980's and am pretty sure that Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Back to the Future, Return of the Jedi, Weird Science and others would not in any way force any unwanted stimulation but simply allow me to breathe and be happy.
So now I am in development for a talk/workshop where I use the medium of film, circa 1980's, to help guide our brains through times of anxiety and stress. Think of it like this, you can stick on Back to the Future, which has a running time of short of 2 hours, and allow yourself a break from the trials and tribulations of modern life. I would recommend not watching this on a phone, and I would recommend not watching it on a PC where you can be interrupted by emails and things; just sit back, have a cup of something, get a treat for yourself like Maltesers, and enjoy.
The very act of removing yourself from the stressful situation, calming your breathing and allowing your brain an break, can be enough to see you through those times. What better movie than Back to the Future as a starting point. The film is funny, it has drama, it has romance and it has music.
Please stick with me as I explore alternative ways to ease the pressure, I am convinced that many answers to our trials are there in the world of arts, of which cinema is one. For years we have been using it as an aid, yet it is never considered as a serious form by politicians and academics. Why? I don't know, it brings billions to the economy and offers loads of jobs. The arts is far more valuable to our society than the banks...in my opinion.
Zac Thraves is a writer and performer from the UK. His latest book, Once the Lights Go Out is now available as Amazon.
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