There's a stillness that's growing in me and the more that I cultivate it, the more I feel a familiar flow. I'm pretty sure it's the body's natural flow of oxytocin. I've written about this before, a couple of years ago, but it seems to be something that's easy to forget.
This week I'm still meditating on lovingkindness. This involves first tapping into the natural feelings of love and tenderness that we feel towards others. I feel it most naturally for my son, Ben, so he comes up often in my practices.
Eventually as I merge this lovingkidness practice and the flow of vitality I get from standing, I start to feel a very concrete and palpable feeling of wellbeing. As immutable as though I took some kind of drug that's going to keep it flowing until it wears off. I know this feeling from breastfeeding. It's oxytocin, and it comes from the pituitary gland.
So let's say that standing meditation combined with loving kindness increases the steady flow of oxytocin. This raises two questions. First, can it be cultivated in such a way that oxytocin grows more steady and habitual until a daily flow of it is becomes standard. And second, would this have the same negative effects that taking a drug would have?
Guess I'm going to find out.
