Meditation Tip # 1: Focus on Your Body

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Focus on Your Body.

Our body is a wonderful anchor to the present moment.  Whilst our minds tend to wander, in to the past and in to the future, the body stays present.  We notice this is we get a sock to our body.  We may be fantasising about a past or future event and if we suddenly bang our shin, we become instantly present. It pulls us immediately back to the here and now.

This makes sense.  It is impossible for our bodies to exist in the past or in the future, they exist right here, right now. This makes bodies very useful for our meditation practice, where our intention is to be present.  By deliberate and intenti0nally focusing on our body, we have an immediate way to become present.

Focussing on the body means that we are aware of the bodily sensations as they are occurring. It is useful to ask questions to focus the attention in this way.  This may be ain a general sense, for example you may ask:

  • How does your body feel as whole?
  • Do you feel comfortable, uncomfortable?
  • What is the temperature of your body?
  • What sensations do you notice?

Or it may be in a specific sense.

  •  How does my hand feel right now?
  • How does my leg feel right now?

By anchoring our awareness in physical sensation it necessarily means we are present, and if we are present we are available to Reality as it truly is, rather than in our imagination.

It is important to realise that even with focusing on the body, our minds will still get distracted and that this is complete OK.  Meditation is an awareness process nothing needs to be fixed or changed. If you get distracted, be OK with it and notice when you ‘wake up’ and realise you have been distracted.  Gently bring your focus back to the body, the physical sensations.

In this way you start to train your mind to be more present.  This tends to feel good and over time you will find your mind automatically focuses on the body and becomes present.

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