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Practicing Staying Present To The Now
Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC
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.
Dr. Harry Henshaw is in private practice in North
Miami Beach, Florida. Enhanced Healing Through Music, www.enhancedhealing.com.
Article Source: http://ezinecrow.com
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