In previous blogs, I have mentioned that if I have a cluster of images or signs show up, I tend to pay attention to them. Over the past several days, I kept coming to the image of a wheel, or a circle with a dot in the center of it. I felt that the center point, or what would be the axis of a wheel, is symbolic for “the now moment” and that the space that moves away from it contained within the circle, is the actions and thoughts of our lives. The center is in stillness, yet what is surrounding it is in motion. When we realize that we are no longer present and have been pulled toward the periphery, our practices of yoga, contemplation, slow living, and meditation are ways to move back to the center.
Often times it is anxiety, stress, fear, uncertainty, depression, or grief that pulls us away from the still point. Those emotional states can rapidly yank us out of the center point with so many of us spending vast slabs of time swimming around in it. They have a powerful pull and, like most people, I wasn’t taught how to come back to a calm place so I would stay paddling around in swinging emotional states. Think of those people who seem to always have some drama going on in their lives. If people are a “hot mess” it might simply be because they’ve never been shown a way to come to the present moment. They know no other way of being.
My approach to yoga over the years has evolved from being one of a physical practice where heading to a class three times each week was “doing yoga” to realizing this is a way of being in life. The path never ends with the practices changing as we change. We are quite fortunate to have living masters of the “now”. When I think of people who live in the center of the moment, Pema Chodron, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama come to mind. They have been in such deep and dedicated practices over their lifetime that the center is where they spend the majority of their time. They may get pulled out toward the periphery, but are masterful at returning to the present moment. I’m grateful that I have stayed with my practice over the past several years, and so often, I feel like a neophyte finding my way. But what I’ve gotten so much better at is noticing when I’ve been pulled out to the periphery and now have ways to return to my center.
This past week in classes, we have been using the five senses to come back into the present moment. You can try this and see if it resonates with you. Sit or lay on your back and begin by exploring the sense of touch. Notice what your body is touching, how your clothes touch your body, how the air in the room passes over your skin and how the breath brushes the nostrils as you breathe in. Next, notice the sense of smell. What aromas are wafting past? Do they come from your own self-care products, a nearby stick of incense, or onions being sautéed? Move onto the sense of taste, noticing any residual flavors in the mouth. With the sense of sight, if your eyes are closed what do you see behind the lids? An array of colors like the Northern Lights or a dark night sky? And finally, listen to any sounds in your environment…stomach gurgling, swallowing, breathing. How about background noise in the space you’re in? How far away can you detect sound?
Once you’ve spent a short time scanning the senses, is there one which you can easily sense? If yes, let that be your practice for the next week. Use this sense as a conduit back to the center of the present moment. The sense of sound is an easy one for me as I notice all sound arising and falling away. If I need to center myself, chanting 108 mantras or humming a song brings me back.
The challenge for all of us is to recognize the moment when we’re doing laps around the outer edges of the present moment, rather than being in it. In that magical moment of awakening, we can use our senses to move back to the center. Everything that you sense in your body is happening in the now.
Try it out and let me know how it goes! Ommmmmmmmm!
