A Meditation on Presence

Original Date: Feb 22, 2016

I have been enjoying a book on Cranial Sacral Therapy written by Hugh Milne, “The Heart of Listening.”  The book is a deep look into presence of being, a quality I am always hoping to cultivate in my practice and teaching. Here is a meditation inspired by his writing, a few words from the book that I have shared in my yoga classes recently.

Meditation on Presence

Sit very peacefully. Take a few deep breaths as you let the inner dust settle. Allow calmness to settle on you. Enter the state of alpha waves, the brain rhythm associated with wakeful relaxation.

Focus your awareness in your feet and legs. Then let awareness travel into your hips and sit bones, and all the lower limbs that make contact with the floor and deep into the earth. Notice and feel the left and right sides. Are they even? Where is sensation?

Now turn your head left. Notice from the inside how your weight distribution changes at your base. Follow that sensation as you return your head to center. Notice the change.

Now turn your head to the right. Notice from the inside how your weight distribution changes at your base. Follow that sensation as your return your head to center. Notice the change. Pause. Feel. Breathe.

Feel deeply into the connection of energy throughout your body and how one movement, one shift, affects the entire line of awareness and presence.

Presence is much more important than technique. Beginners want to learn more and more technique. When you practice with diligence, and build experience and then mastery, only one technique is needed: the art of presence.