How do we Start a Practice to become More Present? – Part One

Where do I start to become more Present?

Defining what it means to be present is not an easy task, as you may have read in a previous post. Being and more importantly staying in the present moment, can be a challenge. Learning to be present takes mental and physical effort. Developing a practice to become present daily is the first step to meet the challenge. Practice is the key word, because you must continually work to be in the present moment. You will have to repeat the steps every day to develop the skill of living in the moment.

What are the steps to build a practice of being present?

Step One – Quiet the Mind

A busy mind causes us to lose touch with the present moment. We must learn to get out of the habit of letting our minds automatically keep us in repetitive mental loops. These constant thoughts are usually based on fear and manifest as worry. Most of the time, we are not aware of what we are thinking and feeling. Daily repetitive thoughts and feelings become mental habits. Habits are designed to just happen unconsciously. If we are stuck in this habitual mental loop, it is almost impossible to quiet the mind.

The good news is that the next step is designed to calm and quiet the mind. No thinking required.

Step Two – Become Aware of your Body with Breath and Touch

When the mind is busy with constant negative thinking and it shows up as emotions that make us feel stressed and our body thinks we are in survival mode. The body will respond by releasing hormones to prepare you to get to safety. Your breath will become shallower to trigger your heart to pump more blood to the parts of your body that need to act. This also raises your blood pressure. To clear our mind and get in a present state we must first tell our bodies that we are not in danger. The way to bring peace to our mind and body is to use our breath in a focused way.

Taking deep breaths tells the body that the danger is over, and we are returning to a calm, peaceful and safe state. What kind of breaths do we need to take? To bring calm to the mind and body, we start by taking slow, deep breaths. In my book, Lose the Weight on your Mind Body & Spirit, I detail why taking deep controlled breaths not only calms you but has several other heath benefits.

We can also quiet the mind by touching the body. While we are breathing deeply and slowly, we can start to touch difference parts of the body (heart, stomach, head, etc.). When you touch these parts, focus on relaxing them with the slow exhalation of your breath. In time you can sense what part of your body is tense or in pain and focus to calm and bring peace to that area of the body.

Learning to sit quietly while doing some type of breathing exercise mixed with body relaxation will bring your mind into a state where you can start to quiet all the repetitive thoughts. When you get into this state of calm and peace, you are ready for the next step.

Next Month I will talk about other ways to start a practice to live in the moment each day.

Peace and BEE Present!

Checkout the BEE Present Podcast for more information: