Visibility tools for election week and other stressful times

Politics and elections, being so intimately connected to all aspects of human existence, are fraught with visibility landmines.

Particularly when the political discussions you end up having are with people who already trigger you, say your family, for example.

So this week you might find it useful to have a few tools up your sleeve.

Here are a few of our favourites at the School of Visibility:

1. Nadi shodhana

An old yogic favourite that you can use if/when the votes aren't going your way, when a person in your vicinity starts sprouting a political opinion that you wildly disagree with or find deeply offensive, or when you're being called upon to express an opinion and just need a minute to centre yourself and collect your thoughts. It's a simple process;

• Find a comfortable seated position. 
• Close your left nostril with your thumb and inhale through the right nostril. 
• Close the right nostril with your ring finger and exhale through the left nostril. 
• Inhale through the left nostril, then close it and exhale through the right nostril. 
• Continue alternating nostrils for several rounds. 
• Breathe slowly and evenly throughout the practice. 

2. Yoga nidra

Another old yogic favourite. So many years in recent memory have been exhausting for a variety of reasons. Any year that includes an election on top of that, is tipping the balance into overwhelming. And in times such as these that are fraught with controversial candidates and wild swings toward extremism, you might feel like you need to lie down for a bit.

Perfectly understandable.

When you do, rather than tossing and turning and practising very convincing political debate in your head, I recommend using the time to release any resistance you're storing in your body. I've attached a yoga nidra practice to this post to support you with that. Check it out above.

3. Listening and witnessing

When in a potentially fraught conversation, here's a useful phrase to remember; I hear you. Listening is a highly underutilised skill in this world and is desperately needed at this time in human history.

So before jumping into a highly charged conversation about why some people are right and others wrong, remember that the act of deep listening will reveal more, and offer more - to both speaker and listener - than almost any other form of communication.

Plus, you know what the ego does when it realises it has been heard? It stops fighting. It takes a breath. And most importantly of all, it opens itself up to listening. Which means there's a potential for some middle ground to be uncovered. And in that middle ground lies connection, the potential for creative expression, and the capacity to create new worlds.

Politics is about the way we choose to live with one another. When we take the time to develop our capacity to engage thoughtfully and purposefully, basing our conversations in deep listening and a willingness to find points of connection, who knows what might unfold from there.

I'd love to find out.