Equanimity is quiet inner strength that allows us to meet life as it is, neither grasping at joy, nor resisting sorrow, instead resting in steadiness that is unswayed by circumstance. This is not indifference, but the deep and abiding presence within us—a spaciousness of heart that welcomes each moment without being carried away by it.
In our humanness and tendencies, this isn’t always easy to maintain an even keel. We need the help of practices and support to return to this ground of evenness, especially as life’s ups and downs—and our tendency to react—pull at us again and again.
Simple, intentional acts of pausing, breathing, and expanding can shift us into the perspective of the witness—where we move beyond the grasping mind that seeks to fix, judge, or control. From this place of deeper awareness, we learn to trust something steadier than fleeting emotions, to hold our experiences with clarity and kindness, and to remember that we are not the waves—we are the vast ocean beneath them.
Cultivating Equanimity Practices
1. Find Center: Simply remembering that your center IS always calm, peaceful and equanimous helps bring you back to ease. Trust in yourself.
2. Equanimity as your Golden Rule: Keep the concept of equanimity in the front of your mind and intention, especially when emotions, feelings, or thoughts start to spiral. Your mind and focus can be rewired to bring you back to the wisdom of this truthe “I am always calm in my center”.
3. Imagination of Peace: Try using your imagination as a tool for calm by bringing to mind a peaceful place—perhaps the vastness of the ocean, a scene from a postcard, or a natural object like a flower or a leaf. Let the essence of this place or object fill you completely. Breathe it in, allowing its presence to settle into your belly, heart, mind, and every cell of your being. As you do, let everything else fall away, creating a gentle ‘mind sweep’ that makes space for peace.
4. Get Moving! Whether it’s yoga, swimming, walking, running, dancing, weight training, or even pogo-sticking, find ways to move your body that bring you joy—and make it a daily activity. Movement is a powerful way to release built-up cortisol, boost endorphins, and can help process emotions and experiences held in the body-mind. Engaging in physical activity strengthens our connection to ourselves and others, fostering both vitality and balance from the inside out.
5. Breathe Out: Your exhalation is one of the most effective and the simplest relaxation strategies, and can effectively calm stress in body, nervous system, and mind. All you do is make your exhalation longer than your inhalation for a minute or two, or longer if you wish. You can blow out through the mouth, or the nose, or even ‘sigh’ it out. Exhaling longer than inhaling is proven to shift you into the parasympathetic ‘rest-digest’ healing mode.
6. Daily Yoga Nidra or Meditation: Science confirms that regular practice rewires the brain and calms the nervous system, yet the greatest challenge is simply making it a habit. Choose a time that works for you—upon waking, before bed, before a meal, or after work—and commit to it daily. Yoga Nidra, with its guided structure, offers an accessible and welcoming way to enter deep relaxation and presence.
Reflection: What helps you return to your center? What restores your sense of balance? Whatever practice you choose, let it be a gentle refuge, something you turn to not out of obligation, but out of care for yourself. You are worthy of that balance, of that peace. And no matter how often you stray from it, you can always come home to yourself.
