A simple process you can use to stay calm and present throughout the day

Do you notice yourself feeling tense shoulders? A cleansed jaw? Perhaps you’re holding your breath in some ways and you don’t even know it? Maybe you feel a clenched tummy from time to time and have tricky digestion. You might notice yourself rushing through life, tasks, wanting to get to the next activity. You may not be paying full attention to your life and everything feels like autopilot. If this is the case, you’re not alone. Much of this comes down to our nervous systems becoming disregulated as a result of modern life.

This is a very common state of being for most people in highly developed countries who are living the “average everyday life.” You wake up, go to your job, work all day, come home and then either veg out or spend time with family and go to sleep. This is the “modern life” that we have accepted as “a good life” and yet almost every aspect of it presents a challenge to our health and wellbeing. But, at this time, money is required to live our lives, and so we need to play within this system in some way or another as we actively transform it.

The good news is, you have ultimate freedom within yourself to perceive your reality as you wish to perceive it. When we are unconscious, or allowing our programmed states of being to run our lives, we typically move through life on autopilot, moving from one habit to another. However, when we begin to gain presence, and pull ourselves out of all these unconscious habits, we begin to gain some freedom back. This builds over time.

What blocks us from presence is the accumulation of stress in our bodies from the experiences we have in life. This amounts to tension in our muscles, structure and emotions. At a physiological level, our nervous system can get ‘stuck’ in modes of fight or flight when we’re pursuing to relax, or it may freeze or shut down when we’re aiming to work. Without getting into the longer details about this, note that this is a common state we experience, and the way out is simple intentional exercises each day.

Before we get to the exercise, we need to add that for those that pay a lot of attention to the news and media side using these practices to gain more presence and self-awareness in their life will play deeply into being able to make sense of our world better and creating more social impact. Skipping the personal transformation end of our journeys often holds us in our current state of being and understanding.

A simple process

One powerful activity you can do to begin seeing the subtleties in life, noticing the magic and amazing beauty around you and within you at all times is going back to the breath. This is a form of self-regulation, where we intentional impact our nervous system and physiology to begin working with us again, instead of against us.

Combine that with a few processes in releasing tension and getting into your heart, and you’ll truly begin waking up to who you truly are on a daily basis. The best part is, this muscle grows with time: the more you practice, the more regulated you become – which means the more present you become. This also leads to your monkey mind moving into the passenger seat, instead of the driver seat.

Approx. time needed: 5 mins.

1. There are two ways to initiate the exercise, either you do it when you notice yourself tense or not present, or you set an alarm that goes off about 7 times per day. If you choose the first method, you want to know that your awareness already catches yourself about 7 times a day so you can make sure you are doing this enough.
2. When the alarm goes off, or when you notice yourself, stop what you are doing and take a couple of deep breaths. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Do this slowly and controlled. Nothing too fast and nothing too out of control.
3. After about 2 to 5 breaths, allow yourself to breathe normally, making sure it is still through the nose. Begin to say within yourself. “I am releasing all tension in my head, my neck, my shoulders, my jaw, my stomach, my fists, and my legs.” This is like a force idea if you will, but don’t take it too seriously in that it has to be said any particular way. You’re simply noticing and instructing the body to relax.
4. After you have gone through the releasing of stress, you notice your body is more relaxed and your breathing has brought you back to the moment. Sense yourself in your chair or where you stand. Feel the air around you, notice any breezes on your skin or any scents that you smell. Notice all the various sounds around you, not focusing on anyone or feeling any as a distraction, but noticing them and allowing them to be. This is presence, while in this state. Noticing.

If you occur to have any rampant thoughts or feelings of stress arise during this at any point, simply notice it and say within yourself “Well, stress or task I have to complete, I see you, I will take care of you momentarily” and allow it to pass.

5. Once in presence, turn your attention to the area of your sternum, the heart center. You may put your hand or fingers on this area, and simply focus your attention on this space. See your awareness moving into this space as if you yourself are moving from your common mind to your heart. However that looks or feels to you is all right. It doesn’t have to be anything mystical. This is a common mistake of overcomplicating simple methods.
6. Finally, allow yourself to be in that space for as long as you like. 1 min, 10 mins, whatever works. Usually this exercise is meant to be done as a check-in for about 5 mins.
7. Repeat this exercise each time your alarm goes off or when you notice yourself tense. Through this, you are gaining more awareness of self-more regularly. You are also beginning to realize you have a lot more control over your state of being than once thought. This is a key step to emotional freedom. In this space, your common mind does not run you, nor do your emotions.

Bonus: As an extended tip, once you gain a sense of what that short meditation felt like. Even if you notice yourself for a moment 20 or 30 minutes later being tense, just take one deep breath and recall the energy and feeling of your meditation.

The takeaway

When will aspects and events transform in our world? When we develop more capacity to accept and move through the transformations that can occur. When people focus deeply enough on personal transformation, our ability to solve challenges increases and our resilience to bounce back from tough news grows as well. Creating a world that’s more grounded, connected and centered in love and true freedom is as much an inside job as it is an outside one.

yogaesoteric
May 5, 2022