Catching up to the present moment
Sometimes when I get a moment to pause and take a breather, I have time to reflect on something that happened in the recent past. How hard it can be to ‘be present’ in the moment, as the advice goes. The idea is that if we’re just present moment we’ll be able to change our old habits and patterns.
There are times, though, when I tend to look back after the chaos of a certain event or situation has fizzled out, and think about why things went the way they did. That’s one way we can use yoga: it can be a safe, calm harbor where we rest and absorb what happened on our journey through the turbulent sea, so to speak. When we settle onto the meditation cushion or position ourselves on the yoga mat, it becomes that safe harbor.
But if the idea of a restful harbor doesn’t click with you, we can also approach formal yoga practice as a laboratory where we test out different ways to regulate our bodies, emotions, and minds. When I say formal yoga practice, I’m referring to those times when we do poses and breathing practices on our yoga mats, or sit in meditation; this can be a sort of lab where we practice for the tensions and difficulties in our lives. This type of formal practice, or what ‘doing yoga’ is in the popular mindset, gives us the chance to practice breathing and relaxing in the moment, sometimes without even stopping what we’re doing.
And then, when we feel ready to incorporate spontaneous yoga moments into our days, we take those skills we practice on the mat or meditation cushion and practice them in small doses. It helps to have a reminder in our environment to keep us inspired; without reminders, days can go by before we realized we haven’t been practicing.
The senses and reminders
Yoga off the mat — yoga practiced spontaneously throughout your day — depends so much on remembering. I write a lot about finding, or creating, yoga moments throughout the day: little mini practices where you pause to take some deep breaths, or do 5-10 minutes of yoga postures, or insert micro-meditations into your schedule. But…I’ve noticed that it’s easy for me to give this advice and then fall out of that simple practice myself!
Finding a few minutes isn’t super hard, if you can remember to do it. How you remember is up to you: a calendar reminder on your phone, an accountability buddy, or a post-it on the wall might work for you. Or maybe you make a commitment to reminding yourself right when you wake up to find those few minutes during the whirlwind of your busy schedule.
I tried the post-it version of this. Sometimes instead of a post-it, I’d print an inspirational quote or image and hang it on the wall in my office or by the light switch in the bathroom. Then I realized that after a while, I stopped seeing these visual reminders; they just became part of the background, in a sense. It occurred to me that I could try to tap into one of my other senses to remind myself about my yoga micro practices throughout the day, so I came up with the idea of what I call a touchstone.
A touchstone, in the sense that I’m using the word here, is just a tactile reminder to pause and step into a more yogic mindset; you can call it mindfulness, Witness Consciousness, or just being more present and paying attention. But whatever you call it, let it be a moment of both getting grounded and lifting yourself up above the mundane details of life.
For example: the simple act of breath awareness can be grounding with each exhale as you bring attention down through your feet and whatever they are touching. Then the inhale can bring a feeling of expansion that fills you with energy and helps bring you back into your body rather than just experiencing your day through your thoughts.
I love touchstones because I connect very strongly with my sense of touch. But what about you? You might connect more to your other senses. Maybe that post-it on the wall does the trick. Or perhaps listening to the sounds around you or humming a special tune to connect with the vibration of your voice. If you respond strongly to smells, maybe you could find a scent that you use in your home. You get the point — reflect on what hooks your attention and get creative in making your own reminder.
Tactile reminders
“There will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how you use them.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
I love this age of information, with the overabundant internet and the convenience of smartphones. But I also miss the tangibility of doing things by hand, which is why I love reading hard copies of books, writing with pen and paper, and cooking from scratch.
Sometimes it is those moments when I pick up the pen or chop vegetables that I remember my posture and breath — these are such easy and down-to-earth ways to practice in-the-moment yoga. Now and then, I like to bring in touchstone to bring me back into the present. Sometimes it’s an actual stone that I hold in my hand, other times it might be something softer like a scarf I’m wearing or a bracelet that I will notice throughout the day.
What are some things you can hold in your hand or touch to bring you back to the moment, your body, breath, and mind? Maybe it is something as simple as bringing your hands flat to the tops of your thighs to get grounded and remind you to relax your breath. Or it could be a hand mudra that you enjoy using (more on this in a future post!).
This was meant to be a new moon post (3 days ago:). I love the new and full moon as markers of the natural rhythms, but sometimes my own timing is a few steps ahead or behind. Really, every part of the cycle is important; here’s a little post on that idea of every moment as significant and appropriate for yoga practice.
So happy waxing moon, ha! May you find many yoga moments, both planned and spontaneous in the coming days.
Yes! I use my bracelet as a touchstone. As another method, I've learned to connect these micro-practices (great term!) to other things I'm doing - my morning stretch before I get out of bed, neck circles when I sit in the car, mountain pose while waiting for water to boil.