Practicing Presence: Exercises to Bring You Back to the Here and Now
Exercise 1. Observation.
Observe yourself: are you really present where you are physically?
When you drink tea, are you really drinking tea (feeling its aroma, taste, warmth) or are you mentally somewhere else? Are you probably thinking about yesterday or have you been transported to tomorrow's meeting? When you're driving in your car, are you really driving in your car or are you mentally on vacation and water skiing?
For at least a few days, observe how often you are absent from where you are physically. Most likely you will find that most of the time you are away from your body. What to do? Come back!
When you drink tea, are you really drinking tea (feeling its aroma, taste, warmth) or are you mentally somewhere else? Are you probably thinking about yesterday or have you been transported to tomorrow's meeting? When you're driving in your car, are you really driving in your car or are you mentally on vacation and water skiing?
For at least a few days, observe how often you are absent from where you are physically. Most likely you will find that most of the time you are away from your body. What to do? Come back!
Exercise 2. Return.
The next step in observing yourself is to return “in the moment,” to the “here and now.” To do this, simply make up a call and call out to yourself as soon as you find that you are not there. For example: “Return to the moment!” Or any phrase that will be perceived by you as a command.
Here you are brushing your teeth in the morning, and mentally you are already talking to the client, whom you intended to call as soon as you get to the office. In your hands instead of a toothbrush you feel a telephone receiver, and instead of a mirror in front of you monitor screen. Finding this bifurcation, you command, “Get back in the moment!” Immediately you feel the taste of toothpaste in your mouth, the coziness of a soft robe, and your washing from a mechanical action turns into a fully conscious morning ritual. Repeat this exercise several times a day for at least a week.
Here you are brushing your teeth in the morning, and mentally you are already talking to the client, whom you intended to call as soon as you get to the office. In your hands instead of a toothbrush you feel a telephone receiver, and instead of a mirror in front of you monitor screen. Finding this bifurcation, you command, “Get back in the moment!” Immediately you feel the taste of toothpaste in your mouth, the coziness of a soft robe, and your washing from a mechanical action turns into a fully conscious morning ritual. Repeat this exercise several times a day for at least a week.
Exercise 3. Pure conscious observation.
So here you have had your first experience of observing yourself. You have observed your absence and presence. Now it is time to extend the observation to the thoughts and emotions you experience.
At every moment of time you are experiencing some emotion, you are thinking about something, you are doing some action or remaining in inaction, such as lying down. Now you observe (realize) everything that happens to you without evaluating what you see. You just look at it. Or you look at it in parallel to everything else.
For example, in an hour you have an important meeting or a public speech. But already at this moment you see your interest in the upcoming event, you see how because of the desire not to fail, to present yourself in a favorable light, anxiety and fear rise in you that something unforeseen may happen. That you might be late or forget to say something important. Your mind backs you up by telling you the right words in advance; you rehearse an upcoming speech or dialog. At this time, you notice that the tension is transferred to your body, that it presses on your temples. At the same time, you do not give any evaluation to what you observe in yourself. The observation expands: you see your experiences, you see your thoughts caused by these experiences, you see your body tense from the experiences, you observe your actions: how you fidget with folding papers, how the timbre of your voice changes, you get to know yourself, you comprehend yourself. For the first time, you are aware of your anxiety. You accept it. And that is the most important thing.
If you notice in your observation that you want to evaluate yourself, that there is an attitude towards the reality of the moment, then you become aware of this impulse and classify the evaluation as an evaluation, thereby disidentifying with it.
At every moment of time you are experiencing some emotion, you are thinking about something, you are doing some action or remaining in inaction, such as lying down. Now you observe (realize) everything that happens to you without evaluating what you see. You just look at it. Or you look at it in parallel to everything else.
For example, in an hour you have an important meeting or a public speech. But already at this moment you see your interest in the upcoming event, you see how because of the desire not to fail, to present yourself in a favorable light, anxiety and fear rise in you that something unforeseen may happen. That you might be late or forget to say something important. Your mind backs you up by telling you the right words in advance; you rehearse an upcoming speech or dialog. At this time, you notice that the tension is transferred to your body, that it presses on your temples. At the same time, you do not give any evaluation to what you observe in yourself. The observation expands: you see your experiences, you see your thoughts caused by these experiences, you see your body tense from the experiences, you observe your actions: how you fidget with folding papers, how the timbre of your voice changes, you get to know yourself, you comprehend yourself. For the first time, you are aware of your anxiety. You accept it. And that is the most important thing.
If you notice in your observation that you want to evaluate yourself, that there is an attitude towards the reality of the moment, then you become aware of this impulse and classify the evaluation as an evaluation, thereby disidentifying with it.
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Follow Ahamkara on:
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