As a stress reduction tool, mindfulness teaches us many skills. One of these skills is the ability to stay present for the challenges of our lives as they arise, rather than getting lost in them. Of course, we will still get lost —in our desires, fears, plans, memories, in our anger and grief and anxiety — we’ll get lost in these things again and again. It’s only human to do so. But if we can re-connect to the presence that knows these things are arising — but isn’t lost or identified with them — we ensure the ability to snap out of the dull dream of self-identity that we get lost in, and align ourselves with the awakened presence of knowing which is our true nature.
But how do we reconnect to this presence? We do it by reconnecting to our embodiment — the physical fact of being in a body, and the movement of breath in that body. Body and breath are the two most basic components of our embodiment. The body is here and now, not in the future or the past. So is the breath. When we are in union with the body and the breathing, when we are at one with our embodiment, the presence of the knowing mind starts to be revealed. When the knowing mind becomes our vantage point, we gain instant perspective on all the joys and sorrows, desires and disappointments, of our lives. Instead of identifying with these things, and getting lost in the mental reverberations that ensue, we can be present for their arising, receptive to the lessons they teach us, and grateful for the deepening understanding of life they give us.
Another aspect of reconnecting to the body and breath is that the moment we do so, we are inhabiting the actuality of the present moment rather than the illusion of past or future. When we truly inhabit the present, we’ve let go of regret and hope and our stress eases.
Staying embodied and awake to our experience in a non-identified way is not that complicated — but it does take real effort. In terms of meditation, it’s a pretty simple practice. When you are lost in thought, bobbing on the waves of discursive thinking, dragged through the flotsam of ego’s dreams, simply return to your experience of body. Notice the touch points of the body, the places of pressure and contact, the hardness of the body, its heat and coolness and fluid, the muscles and bones and pulses. And notice the breath moving through this physical frame. The in-breath, the out-breath, the rise and fall of the belly and chest.
Come back to the body and breath again and again whenever you get lost during meditation — and come back to them whenever you get lost during the routines of your day. Even if you have to come back a thousand times in a day, do it. Remember: whenever you realize you haven’t been present, you are being present. And that’s the beauty of mindfulness.
Coming back to the body and breath, and to that presence that knows all things but is not composed of anything — the presence that allows us to be with the stresses of life without getting lost in them — is something we can practice 24/7. This simple re-alignment with our own embodiment is the key to staying present and awake for our life as it unfolds before us.
Bill Scheinman
