Intro to Meditation: The Practice of Presence

Our minds are constantly running, all, day, long. 

jumping focus from place to place

with a million things to think about.

How often are you thinking about something from the Past? something embarrassing, mad about how someone treated you, or maybe just reminiscing on the "good ole days".

likewise, how often does the Future hold your attention? worried about an upcoming event, or riddled with anxiety waiting for a response to something.​

If the Past, Present, and Future were competing for your attention,

The Present would be rocks in the wind compared to Olympians.

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Meditation is not the ability to have "no thoughts",

but the ability to change the ones you have,

which is incredibly more powerful,

and easier to attain.

Attention is like a spotlight,

creating our experience wherever it lands.​​​​

With practice we can strengthen our ability to shift and refocus our attention,

allowing us some extra comforts in how we experience the world.

Working out your mind is similar to the body;

you can visualize one “rep” as each time you realign your attention with the present moment. 

Immediately you begin to increase the distance between the world you see, and your need to respond to it. 

this added room acts as a cushion to otherwise ordinary outbursts. ​​​

you can notice the feelings arise,

feel that you want to take certain actions,

but instead of commit to our default reaction, 

we can stay in our minds and redirect attention or address trauma.

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Meditation can be done any place that is Here,

and any time that is Now.

from personal bias I'll explain the practice with the breath as the focal point, but you can choose ANYTHING as a focal center.

The breath is a wonderful anchor to the present moment as it's the driving force in our life, constantly revolving, and up to date.

When you are ready to be present,

focus on all aspects of your inhalation.

The goal is to secure your attention as far into the present moment as possible, however you do that is fine. but I...

Feel the air being drawn into my nose, and a pressure start right above my eyebrows in the middle of my forehead.

(right outside your Prefrontal Cortex)

As you do this, a thought will certainly arise,

and you will likely entertain it for a time.

but our practice is presence so, once you remember the goal,

come back and repeat.

 Return your attention to the breath as it comes up, and down, in, and out.

Thoughts will continuously pop up,

but the goal is to become aware that you are “auto scrolling” your thoughts and return, HERE NOW!

It doesn't matter how much you do; anything is better than before. But you WILL get better with practice, that much is guaranteed.