Awareness of what is happening in the present – in the now – is a key practice, a key approach in many meditation and body-mind practices. It’s key to the work that we do. We can call it a key tool, but that doesn’t capture just how incredibly important this is. It’s not just a tool. Awareness is in some significant way, a part of our nature.
Right now… what is going on with you? How does your body feel? Are you sitting, lying down, standing? Tune into the any spaces of tension, looseness, numbness, agitation in your body. Let your awareness sweep through your entire body. Are you aware of energy, fatigue?
Don’t try to change anything or make it different. Be with the sensations/experiences as they are now.
As you allow your awareness to take in your body right now, become aware too of any experience of comfort, discomfort, pleasure, pain, irritation, sadness, loss, happiness, and so on. Do you feel light, heavy, or something else? Be with whatever it is.
Do you feel any urge? Does your body-mind want to move, let down, change position, sleep, stand, stretch, twist, reach? Any urge or urges?
If you haven’t already done so, notice your breathing. Is it shallow, or deep? Is there tension, or a sense of ease? Does your chest rise but not your stomach, or vice versa, or something else? Be with and notice what is actually happening, right now.
Take your time in this experience…. and read on when you feel the urge.
This kind of present-focused awareness can in and of itself be a practice that supports, helps and heals us. It returns us to ourselves, to what is happening in and around us and thus gives us space to deal with what is actually happening (rather than what we wish were happening, or imagine is happening). It is also part of “working with” long-standing – often unconscious – blocks to growing and living happily. How can we deal with our struggles if we don’t know, for example, that we have a conflict between desiring something and the belief that it’s wrong to have that desire? How can be discover our true power, or capacity to love, if we unconsciously lock up our aggression in our bodies, or won’t let ourselves reach out for help – or to hold – for fear others will see us as “not strong” if we do?
We’ll talk quite a bit more about the present moment and how awareness is a key to healing and wholeness.