Presence with the body and breath

Presence with the Body and Breath

It is easy to be present. You can simply be present now. Feel your feet on the floor. Feel the breath moving through the body. 

The problem is that we generally forget to be present because we become distracted. In other words we get caught up in the busyness of life constantly thinking about what has happened, what is happening now and what might happen in the future. But whenever we remember we can be present once more, feeling the feet on the floor and feeling the breath moving through the body. 

A key allies in being present are the body and breath. We can use the body and breath sensations as an anchor to help us be present and as a reference point to come back to whenever we forget to be present. 

Take a look at your hands, wiggle your fingers and notice how that feels. Now close your eyes, continue to wiggle your fingers and notice sensations in the fingers from the inside. Spend some time doing this with the eyes open and then with the eyes closed. Be curious about any differences you notice in your experience with the eyes open and closed. 

Now notice what words the mind is using to describe the experience of wiggling the fingers. Explore directly the patterns of sensations which the mind describes with that word. For example, if the mind described the experience of wiggling the fingers as ‘fluttering’ explore directly the patterns of sensation that the mind labels as fluttering. 

When feeling the body and the breath, we are not thinking about the body or the breath. Instead we are directly feeling the sensations of the body and breath from the inside of the body. 

Sensations may be strong, they may be weak, there may be no physical sensations. Sensations may be perceived as pleasant or they may be perceived as unpleasant. There is no right or wrong way for the sensations to feel. We simply notice and allow the sensations to be as they are. No problem. 

As we practice being present, we will repeatedly lose presence. Many times we get caught up in thinking. This is not a problem. It is an important part of meditation. It is an opportunity to learn more about the wandering habits of the mind by noticing what it was we were thinking about. Then we can come back to being present, giving attention to either body sensations or the sensations of breathing. 

Meditation is a process moving between mind wandering and presence, with patience and curiosity. If the mind feels full of lots of thoughts, then notice that and come back to feel the body sensations or sensations of breathing. No problem. 

To put what you have learned in this blog into practice you can visit our home page and scroll down to follow the guided breath awareness practice or you might like to join our community of practice.