Meditation for Mental Health

"To reach Nibbana, I have to do meditation practice . . . But now, I am not practicing for that religious belief. These days, meditation is for my mental health. I need to do it to reduce my trauma and my suffering. I’m overwhelmed."

The guest speaking these words was never identified by name, given the sensitive and courageous work she was doing supporting CDM workers. Even still, she could not stay safe, as soon after this interview a 505 Arrest Warrant was issued in her name, and she had to go deep into hiding as the military came to her work and home and she was just barely able to evade them. Unable to leave the country and being actively hunted by soldiers, she has not relented in her mission, and she still continues to collect and disperse donation funds to those civil servants still refusing to work, even while she continues to be the target of a manhunt.

The toll is takes on her personally is devastating, and at the end of her interview she admitted as much, describing how her meditation practice is no longer being done to provide any hope of liberation, but merely for sanity of getting through the day.