“There are some things worse than ghosts” Max Mayfield told Eddie Munson in season 4 of Stranger Things. Max was trying to describe the horrors of the Upside Down to the newest member of the party before a showdown with Vecna, the “big bad” of the series. While this was a fictional conversation happening between two fictional characters, the underlying wisdom is real. Mankind has used allegory and legends to strike fear into the heart of man for Millenia. Tales of ghosts, monsters and fiends have given rise to our heartbeats and set our nervous systems on edge for as long as we can remember.
Unfortunately, in today’s modern world, such stories aren’t needed to get our adrenaline pumping and our “fight or flight” system activated. There’s a seemingly endless number of real life threats to cause us anxiety and apprehension. Even our heroes of the silver screen aren’t immune. Just ask Millie Bobby Brown, aka “eleven” from Stranger Things. Who fought a three month long battle against anxiety caused by a twenty minute chase from a crazed fan. She was eventually saved from the potentially endless panic attack, not by a group of ragtag teens on bikes, but a group of robe-clad Buddhist Monks.
Why Did Millie Bobby Brown Seek the Help of Buddhist Monks?
On an episode of Jay Shetty’s podcast “On Purpose” Millie Bobby Brown revealed she found herself trapped in a cycle of anxiety and panic attacks following a traumatic incident where she and her security team where chased by an unidentified individual for twenty minutes. The actress refrained from naming the person or location, but noted that the experience was the catalyst for a vicious mental health spiral.
She described the three month period as all encompassing, and the culmination of a lifetime of living in the public eye. She also noted that the toxic nature of the modern social media landscape. Which she said also contributed to the building sense of apprehension and general malaise. The experience made her realize she needed help from an external source. She first turned to modern medicine. Visiting hospitals and seeking help from doctors and mental health professionals. When traditional medicine failed to rectify the situation, she took another tried and true method to relieve stress. She decided to go on vacation. Brown didn’t travel to Japan with grandiose ideas of spiritual liberation or enlightenment. Her experience with the Buddhist Monks was a serendipitous byproduct of a simple getaway.
How did Buddhist Monks Help Millie Bobby Brown?
Brown encountered the Buddhist monks that changed her life by chance. During a trip to Kyoto, Brown and her husband, Jake Bongiovi, participated in a group meditation at a Zen garden. The group of 50 people participated in a brief silent meditation. Followed by a tour of a samurai’s home. And finally, the experience culminated in a one hour session of observing and listening to singing bowls.
Prior to this experience Brown states she had never found success in meditating, due to her natural mental state making it difficult to sit silently and observe her thoughts. Yet when she left, both she and her husband felt that she was “radiating light”. Brown isn’t a Buddhist, but says that the entire experience felt like divine intervention from God. She views it as a sign from a higher power that she needed to take a break. She needed to sit in silence. Meditation healed her in many ways. Both spiritually, and physically from the somatic manifestation of her anxiety. Despite having the full support of the best modern medicine at her fingertips, the solution was taking a step back and observing her breath.
What’s next for Millie Bobby Brown’s Buddhist Journey?
Brown isn’t a Buddhist and doesn’t have plans to become one. But she does plan to return to the Zen Garden and Buddhist monks that helped her with her daughter at some point in the near future. In the meantime, Brown is taking some steps towards a more mindful life by leveraging Buddhist and Buddhist-adjacent techniques.
She plans to lean on her sangha for support. Talking with her husband and mother when she needs a break from the hectic demands of modern life. She engages in grounding, the process of walking barefoot and making contact with the earth’s surface. Brown practices tapping, an alternative stress-relief practice that blends modern psychology with ancient acupressure. The singing bowls introduced to her in Kyoto have become a regular fixture in her home and in her self-care routine. She’s also decided to make a conscious effort to spend less time on her phone for a more mindful life. Finally, she’s engaging in her own form of chanting by literally singing away the blues after realizing she unconsciously started humming or singing whenever she’s nervous because it engages her vagus nerve.
Listen to the full Interview with Jay Shetty on Spotify here and on Apple podcasts here.