Recently I have been encouraged to revisit the topic(s) of centering, grounding, mindfulness, and presence in a new article.
In particular, I want to answer the following questions often posed to me: * How do I actually do it? * How do I get centered and become grounded, more mindful and present in life’s difficult moments? * As Dan Harris puts it in his book, 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works -how do I know when I’ve achieved it? Today I offer a review and a few quotations from Dan’s book, which I received from a friend a few weeks ago and could not put down.
One of the questions I’m most often asked is: How do you center yourself, especially in a difficult moment? I found Doug’s core body practice on centering thoughtful, practical, and easy to understand.
Core Body Practice: Centering* We can learn centering by organizing ourselves in relation to the three dimensions possessed by all physical objects: * Length.
Centering is an internal state rather than a specific body position, and you will soon find that you can center yourself sitting, walking, or brushing your teeth.
With practice, centering yourself will feel like a quick and effortless “Coming home” and be almost an instantaneous shift in awareness.
The centering practice is adapted from Richard Strozzi-Heckler.
As a colleague once said to me, “Something about intentionally taking a deep breath slows everything down. It brings perspective, quietness and calmness to a crazy situation.” * How do you get centered, become grounded, mindful and present in life’s difficult moments? * How do you know when you’re centered? * What makes you lose it? * How can you catch yourself and re-center sooner? What Makes You Lose It? When emotions are high, it’s like being in a car that’s out of control.
As Daniel Goleman writes in Emotional Intelligence , something triggers our emotions and the brain’s limbic system starts driving us into perilous emotional territory: At those moments, evidence suggests, a center in the limbic brain proclaims an emergency, recruiting the rest of the brain to its urgent agenda.
Regaining Control Centering lets you regain control by engaging your thinking brain.
Paraphrase of W.H. Auden Additionally, centering allows us to listen to ourselves.
Focus on your core, an internal point in the center of your body just below the navel.
Say: “Please let me try that again.” Or, as I did with my husband, “How about a do-over?” It’s never too late to center and put yourself back in the driver’s seat.
Decide to center yourself 5 times today, whether you need to or not.
Aristotle Will centering ever become automatic? asks the hopeful workshop participant.
Centering Is a Process If you practice consistently, you know that center isn’t a lasting state of being.
You’re already probably pretty centered most of the time.
These previous Ki Moments posts are about making centering automatic: * Making Centering Automatic – practices for choosing the centered state with awareness and consistency.
A personal story about how I turned “Waiting” into a centering practice.
Enjoy the Process It’s important to have fun with centering and mindfulness practices, and to know that you may not see a difference today or even tomorrow.
Find Aikido in your local area
