Living in the Present Moment
March 19, 2020
A physician friend of mine sent me an article with this quote; “Harvard Medical School, a leading medical school in the United States has recommended yoga, meditation and controlled breathing to address anxiety issues related to the Novel Coronavirus…”
It’s wonderful if you have the time and the means to practice yoga or meditation with a teacher. However, many people are still working, aren’t set up to do something on-line or maybe don’t know enough about it to feel comfortable. The good news is that you have an opportunity in every minute to do both without a teacher ! That’s because yoga is meditation and meditation is yoga and they both are about being connected to the present moment. It is said that anxiety and fear come from worrying about the future and depression comes from obsessing about the past. When you are truly and fully in the present moment your thoughts cannot be in the past or the future.
It sounds so simple and yet our VERY active mind (especially in times of stress) does everything it can to keep us out of the present moment. The answer? Bring the attention back into the body...into the activity...into the movement that you are doing RIGHT NOW. Here’s what I JUST did. I sat down to write this and realized that my mind was all over the place and I could feel that butterfly feeling in my belly that I get when I am “wound up.” I knew that I would not be able to write this “Calm” with the love and intuitive guidance that it deserved if I stayed in that state. So...I laid on the floor, put a block and a light weight on my belly (these are calming) and laid there and breathed slowly and calmly for 5 minutes. I honestly felt completely different when I got up to sit down and write this “Calm.”
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Today’s Suggested Practice
Choose a short activity to practice being in the present moment. This can be stopping and doing some breathing (like the above example or any of the other breath suggestions from Day 2), it can be when you are driving, it can be when you are cutting a vegetable for your dinner, it can be when you are talking to someone on the phone, it can be when you are taking a walk, it can be….you get the idea !
Now...begin and give your full, undivided, undistracted, focused attention on this task. Use your senses to help you stay in your body instead of in your head. Let’s cut an orange for our snack. Notice the color of the orange. Feel the way the knife feels in your hand when you cut it. Notice any scent that wafts up. Feel any wetness or stickiness that lands on your hand. What sound does the knife make as it cuts through the skin? And now taste ...really taste a piece of the orange. Chew it slowly and do nothing else but taste and feel that orange in your mouth. Then feel it slide down your throat when you swallow.
Congratulations !! You have just meditated. You have taken only a couple of minutes out of your day and given your mind and worries a rest. Notice how many times during the day you have the opportunity to do this and pat yourself on the back every time you do. Your soul will thank you :)
