Today I'll be talking about how to create an anchor in your meditation practice.
So oftentimes throughout our daily lives we engage with the world,
Looking at the externals,
And we only have a chance to tune inwards during our practice.
So during meditation we'll focus on the breath,
Which is a form of an anchor,
And we'll sit for that duration and then go about our days.
So oftentimes our practice feels a little bit fragmented and we lose that inner awareness that we have built during meditation.
So finding an anchor that works well with you can be a method of bringing your attention back inwards.
And this is actually the basis of the mindfulness-based stress reduction program,
So you might have heard of that.
And all it is really is,
For an anchor,
Is that you're focusing your attention from the outside and bringing it inwards.
So there's a couple of different tools and techniques that you can use to bring your attention inwards.
So like I mentioned,
The breath is one.
So anytime you find yourself getting distracted by things going around you,
Or you're too focused on the external reality of things,
What you can do is stop and take a conscious breath.
So that's pretty common,
And something we also do in our meditation practice,
But we forget to apply it outside the practice.
So taking some time to peel away from the outside environment and take few conscious breaths can allow you to bring your attention inwards.
Another method taught by Eckhart Tolle is the inner body awareness.
So one example that he uses specifically is to focus on your hands.
And from personal experience,
I find that focusing on your hands or your feet can be a great way to focus inwards.
And those areas specifically are very easy to feel just because we use our hands a lot to write,
Type,
Drive,
All that as well.
So accessing these areas can be quite easy.
Same with your feet because you're usually walking around all day and using your feet a lot.
So those two points can be a great way to bring your attention inwards.
Now if you have a hard time accessing your hands,
One thing you can ask yourself is if you're not looking at your hands right now in this present moment,
And I want you to actually do it,
Don't look at your hands,
How would you actually know that you have hands?
So you might notice that you feel a certain sensation in your hands.
So this could be a tingling sensation or warmth,
Kind of a glowing feeling in your hands.
And this is actually the gateway point into inner awareness.
So you can use your hands or your feet as an anchor,
And you can actually do this throughout your daily life.
So you can do this while you're talking to people,
You're walking,
Doing errands,
Grocery shopping,
Whatever the case is.
You would still focus on everything around you,
But at the same time you would draw your attention to your hands and you'd feel the warmth,
The tingling sensations,
Or whatever you feel in this present moment.
So this is a great practice to do.
And if you are more of a kinesthetic learner,
This can actually be great because for some people they prefer meditations where they listen to sounds or visualize things,
But for others,
Focusing on your hands or sensations in your body can be a great way to tune inwards and that really works for some people,
But not others.
So it can be a great method to do.
Also focusing on your breath,
Your hands,
And then another could be also a visualization as well.
So during your day you can pause to imagine and actually visualize,
Imagine yourself from an outside perspective looking at yourself in this present moment.
So from a third party perspective,
And this can allow you to detach from the outside being caught in the rush of external reality and can allow you to give you that pause.
So another anchor you can do comes from the new Advaita tradition,
And this is basically just questioning who you are as a person.
And what this technique does is it creates a space between your ego and your thoughts and provides just a space where you can look inwards.
So the way to do this is to just simply ask,
Who am I?
Now this isn't supposed to be a logical question,
Something where you have an answer,
But you rather ask yourself,
Who's this voice that I hear in my head?
Where is this voice actually located in my mind?
So if you pause to listen,
And you scan your mind,
You'll find that you actually can't hear or see this voice when you actually bring your attention inwards to it.
So what this does is it creates that space where you don't really have any answers.
So these are a couple techniques you can use to help you bring your attention from external reality to the inside.
So obviously some are more appropriate than others.
Obviously if you're swimming,
You can't really be focusing on your breath,
Right?
But you could be focusing your hands,
So that could work in that situation.
Or if you just have time off and you're just sitting around,
Doing the practice of the new Advaita tradition of questioning who am I can be a great way to drop into the inner awareness.
So these are some great tools.
If you have any questions,
Feel free to reach out to me,
And I'll be creating content like this in the future.
