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“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”

Maya Angelou 

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Reflections from our Co-Founder Khin Thet San (2025) 

 

Stillness as Resistance, Rooted in Light: A Personal Path Toward Collective Healing

 

When I left Myanmar six years ago, I never imagined that a pandemic and a military coup would keep me from returning home. Living in the UK during these years has been a journey of unexpected isolation, grief, and growth. As the world shut down during COVID and my country descended into crisis, I turned inward toward meditation as a way to steady myself in so much uncertainty. At first, my daily practice was simply about survival: finding a few moments of peace in the noise of the world. But over time, meditation became something more—it became a way to stay connected to my people, my culture, my homeland, and a deeper sense of purpose. Through this practice, I began to understand healing not just as an individual pursuit but as something shared, something collective. That realization deepened when I became part of Many Lights Myanmar, a group composed of people from the international community that uses the power of yoga to raise support and solidarity for the people of Myanmar. In those shared breaths and movements, I found not just calm but kinship, resistance, and hope.

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Meditation became a quiet ritual that grounded me when everything else felt unstable. Each morning, I would sit with my breath, sometimes in stillness, sometimes in sorrow. I carried the weight of watching my country suffer from afar—the protests, the violence, the fear that settled in like a fog. There were moments I felt helpless, ashamed even, for being safe while others were in danger. But instead of turning away from that pain, meditation taught me to sit with it, to witness it without being overwhelmed. It became a space where I could honour the grief and remember my people's resilience. Through this daily practice, I began to understand how healing is not always about feeling better, but about staying present, with courage, even in the face of what hurts.

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Becoming part of Many Lights Myanmar transformed my sense of isolation into a sense of purpose. What began as a small group of volunteers has grown into a global community rooted in compassion and solidarity. Through yoga classes and collective movement, we created spaces where we could support one another, breathe together, and share our experiences across time zones, united by care. These gatherings allowed us to process our grief and support each other, even from different borders. Each breath and posture became a gesture of care, not just for our own well-being but also for the people of Myanmar, who continue to resist with grace and strength. In these shared moments, I began to experience what collective care truly means: showing up for each other in ways that restore, sustain, and affirm our humanity. Many Lights reminded me that healing is not something we do alone. It’s something we cultivate together—with attention, presence, and love.

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The recent earthquake in Myanmar brought another wave of grief. Seeing the destruction and knowing I couldn’t be there to help was deeply painful. Meditation helped me hold the weight of that helplessness and channel it into intention. Many Lights responded quickly by mobilizing, raising funds, and supporting affected communities. Even from afar, we were able to act with compassion. That moment reminded me that collective healing can reach across borders. It starts in the heart, but it moves through us—into action, solidarity, care.

 

Over time, I’ve seen that meditation and activism are not separate paths—they are deeply intertwined. The quiet strength I cultivate in stillness prepares me to face the ongoing challenges of advocacy and to hold space for the pain of others without collapsing under its weight. In a world that often demands constant urgency, choosing to pause, breathe, and care—both for myself and others—is a radical act. Through this lens, I understand collective healing not as something abstract but as something alive in our daily actions: the way we listen, the way we organize, the way we care. At Many Lights, each gathering, each donation, and each shared breath becomes part of a larger healing process—one that reaches beyond physical borders and into the hearts of our communities. Together, we are not just coping—we are creating a culture of resilience, where the care we offer one another becomes a form of resistance, remembrance, and hope.

Reflecting on this journey, I see how far I've come from quiet mornings alone with my breath to standing alongside a global community working for healing and justice. Meditation taught me how to be with pain, but also how to move through it with awareness and compassion. It became the doorway to something larger: a life shaped by collective care, where healing is not a destination but an ongoing, shared practice. Through the work of Many Lights Myanmar, I’ve learned that even in exile, we can remain rooted in purpose. We can carry the light of our communities forward, not by turning away from suffering, but by turning toward one another—with breath, courage, and love.​

 

 

 

Reflections from our Co-Founder Khin Thet San (2023) 

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The practice of yoga breathing and regular meditation practice has saved my life and helped me to overcome and face all the difficulties and hardships of this past year. This practice has given me the strength to fully turn my negative emotions into positive energy. 

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As a Burmese student, already stranded in the UK due to Covid-19, Myanmar’s military coup has put an indefinite hold on my chance of returning home.  After completing my Master’s Degree in Human Rights last year at the University of Essex, I had been waiting for a seat on one of the few repatriation flights arranged by the Myanmar embassy.  In the early morning of February 1st, all hopes of returning home were lost when military leaders overthrew the democratically elected government. 

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I used to practise meditation before I came to the UK.  However, the combination of covid and the military coup elevated my mental instability and anxiety. Being away from home and worried about my family members worsened my situation.  Seeing and reading the news of the atrocities, brutal killing, and torture committed by the military intensified my anger and I could not focus on any work or take care of myself.

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Most days and weeks were too grey for me to see the positivity and light of the world. I was too negative. I felt so guilty that I was safe living in the UK, while my fellow country and family members suffered from Covid and the brutality of the Military regime. I blamed myself and felt guilty everyday. During these days I felt so dark. The fear of uncertainty, and other feelings of hatred, grief and anger towards the situation happening to my family and in my country undermined my meditation practice for a while.

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Then, one part of me was reminded to stand up and resume the meditation practice.  I started to join several online meditation workshops including yoga and  breathing exercises and meditation which surprisingly energised me again.  Yoga helped me to concentrate on the alignment of the body, sensations, and emotions.  Samadi meditation supported me to realise how thoughts and emotions work together. Loving awareness made me notice my feelings and thoughts and circumstances.  During the meditation process, I can witness the river of thoughts and emotions that will flow naturally. Whenever I practise walking meditation in the park, I can connect with nature easily. The spaciousness of the vast sky became like my mind.  This practice helped me reduce my feelings of  anger, hatred and grief. I realised that if I cannot cultivate loving awareness towards those intense feelings, my mind will be full of wounds. These need to be healed.  I realised that if my body and mind is full of negative feelings, how can I have space to connect with the solutions to solve the problem? The increased stability of mind moved my attention away from negativity and anger to see the situation better. 

It is crucial to cultivate the light within which cannot be destroyed by the external factors. It is natural to experience the ups and downs in life. If our inner resilience is not built, it is difficult to appreciate and embrace the curve balls and tricks of the ever-changing world. Meditation has been helping to lessen my self-hatred and disturbed thoughts rooted in my head and mind. I have studied different kinds of meditation practices including loving awareness, compassion meditation and forgiveness. Loving awareness and compassion meditation are very powerful, strengthening self-love and love to other human beings.   

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When we acknowledge the openness of the atmosphere, vast sky, and the whole entity around us and within us, the door of freedom opens. Worries and conflicts fall into perspective, emotions are accepted calmly , and we face the troubles of the word with peace and dignity. 

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Breath, Relax, live in a moment.