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Practicing
Staying Present to the Now
By: Dr. Harry Henshaw
Transformational
Counseling is about assisting others to transform their life. Transformational
Counseling is a process of assisting others to learn how to let go of the past
and live fully in the present. To live fully in the present is to become awaken
to what is truly real and to our own natural power. Much of our life is spent
living in the past, and in the process, attempting to fix it, to make it
something that it is or was not. It is from living in the past that we also
attempt to create our future, the result always being a living of life as it was
in the past. Transformation takes place when we learn to exist in and be present
to the Now.
The practice of staying present to our natural power and to that which is real
is becoming conscious to what is so, to the Now, to the present. What is so, the
Now, has no meaning and exists outside of thought and language. As human beings
we tend to give meaning to everything, including other people, ourselves and
even life itself. It is in our meaning making that we leave the present and
create our life from the past, a life that can be filled with a great deal of
anxiety, fear and stress. What is so merely exists and it is in the experience
of the Now that we begin to live a life of power and freedom, a life and way of
being free from our past.
A specific technique that is very powerful for practicing staying present to the
Now is meditation. It is in meditation that one creates the space to experience
a very deep state of relaxation, a state that is very healing to both the mind
and body. As we know, in meditation ones metabolism slows down, including heart
rate and blood pressure. The consistent practice of meditation will reduce
anxiety and stress. For some the practice of meditation allows them to access
true Being. For others it is way of reconnecting to the Spirit within us. It is
in the consistent practice of meditation that the subject and object distinction
inherent in language, thought and meaning making collapses thereby resulting in
our access to the present, to the Now.
The meditative process can be enhanced by the use of therapeutic relaxation
music. Music has always been a very powerful modality for promoting a very deep
state of relaxation and even healings. I have found that musical compositions
that are harmonically slow, repetitious, with sustained voices, which are
rhythmically, random in tempo assists an individual in experiencing a very deep
state of relaxation. A second important component of the use of therapeutic
relaxation music is the use of binaural audio tones that have been interwoven
into the music. The binaural tones, through a process referred to as entrainment
or frequency following, gently guides or directs the mind/body to generate more
of the targeted frequency of brain wave activity for an even more profound state
of relaxation.
The meditative process of practicing staying present to the Now is as follows:
1. Take a comfortable position in an upright sitting position.
2. Allow your legs and arms to be open.
3. Allow your eyes to focus upon a chosen object. The chosen object could be a
candle light in a darkened room or any point that you choose.
4. As you focus on the chosen object, allow your muscles to slowly relax from
the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
5. Take three slow deep breathes in through your nose as you inhale. Hold each
breath to the mental count of four. Slowly exhale each breath out through your
mouth. Continue to breath at a slow pace after the three breaths.
6. Continue to focus on the chosen object. When your mind wanders to some
thought or thoughts slowly and gently bring it back to your focused
concentration upon the chosen object. Simply let go of the thoughts that arise.
The thoughts are from the past. Stay focused to what is so.
7. Continue the practice for a prescribed period of time and then go about your
daily activities. Each day that you practice you may even choose to lengthen the
time you spend with this technique.
The ability to stay in the present, to access the Now, can be enhanced with the
consistent practice of meditation. What this will necessitate is one making the
practice of meditation apart of his or her daily schedule. With the consistent
practice of meditation one will also create the ability to stay even more
present to what is so even when not actively engaged in the meditative process.
It is through a commitment to the practice of meditation on a daily basis that
one will begin to live more fully in the Now.
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