“All your troubles can be dealt with, when you know how to be fully present.”
We all have our baggage that we carry with us. Stuff of the past, worries about the future! And even though this isn’t a bad thing, because it’s part of our journey, I believe it’s vital that we need to practice creating a little distance between Self and that baggage.
My yoga classes all start with creating a safe place for my students to become fully present. It’s in that place you’re able to connect with your authenticity. And when you make authentic decisions you suffer less stress and experience more joy.
So the advantages of being fully present are:
- Less suffering of stress
- Experiencing more joy
It’s that simple and I like that. I like to keep it simple.
I’ve come to terms that fear likes to rattle things up with doubt, excuses and reasons to confuse me. Looking through the eyes of fear is not good for my stress level. I need clarity. They first thing you need to do when you’re troubled is to find clarity. So remember to keep it simple!
3 Steps on How to practice being fully present?
Step 1. Letting go of the past
The past is our experience and we should acknowledge that. But fact is, that everything of the past has happened. And if you don’t own a time machine you need to accept the fact that you can’t change your past. Holding on to resentment, grudges, guilt, shame or anything else, keeps you from moving forward. And I know this for sure: You’re spirit wants to move forward! It wants YOU to move forward. Practicing being fully present will help you to untangle from the strings that keep you connected to parts of the past. A spiritual practice will help you to let go and to release your burdens.
Here’s a guided meditation that will help you…
Step 2. Stop worrying about the future
Like the past, anything that’s in the future hasn’t happened yet. Fear always likes to show the worst-case scenarios, so what do we do? We are preparing for those negative scenarios or fear manipulates us even to say NO to something that we really want. This is what I say in my classes: Only in the present moment you can create a better future. So instead of worrying about your future, you’d better spend your time practicing being in the present moment.
“I meditate every morning as a constant reminder to be present.”
Step 3. Accept who you are in this moment
How many times I looked in the mirror and wished I looked different. During my spiritual practice I became aware I didn’t want to do that no more. Not being satisfied by something you’re not able to change isn’t beneficial to being fully present at all. When you practice embracing who you are, you will loose the weight or create the muscles you so desire. And by fully accepting my life I created space to ‘fix the faults’ I was so obsessed about. I assure you, looking at things differently will open new gates. Embrace who you are: Right here, right now! Click here to a blog post that will help you how to accept YOU!
Check the video where I’ll explain the Yoga Pose: Warrior 2 / Virabhadrasana 2 that’s about confidence & self-belief but it will also help you create acceptance.
Here are some tips on how to activate the power of NOW:
- Start
You want something. It’s not realistic believing you’re going to get anything without willing to put some effort in. Telling yourself: “I’ll start tomorrow,” isn’t going to cut it anymore. Start acting today!
- Start slowly (one thing at a time)
There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t start slowly. Our fear doesn’t like change, so it’ll be very nasty trying to sabotage you from doing your practice. It’ll give you extreme thoughts and when you’re not capable of doing all that, it’ll give you a reason to throw in the towel. Or because of overwhelm you give up before even starting. My advice, start slowly! Start a practice of a couple of minutes a day. Read further and you’ll find a short meditation that I used when I started my practice.
- Keep it up!
Keep this in mind: Willingness is one part of the deal. Consistency is the other! Your body and your mind are used to a certain routine. Adding something new, like a couple of minutes of meditation will lead to much resistance. When I started meditating, I was experiencing hell-on-earth in my mind, but I knew that I had to practice each day. The light at the end of the tunnel became brighter. Slowly I started to make progress and I become happier in my skin and I became more present.
Willingness is
one part of the deal.
Consistency is
the other!
I am such an ambassador for living in the moment. My life has become less stressful, because I have the ability to look past my fear. A practice gives clarity to life. And when you’ve got that knowledge, you don’t want to waist your time on negative thoughts and emotions. You want to enjoy life and be adventurous.
This is a meditation I commonly open my yoga classes with. You’ll hear that the audio is from a live session. I use this meditation in the beginning of the class because it gives people the time and space to come back to this moment! And when you’re really present, you’ve got a pure connection to create any future you desire. Have fun with this meditation!
Let me know how this plays out in your life! Leave comments below. I hope it serves you
Namasté JJ
Ps. As English is not my first language there can be grammar mistakes. Hopefully you can read around this and focus on the essence of the text. Thank you!
