"Now" Practice

What is this Right Now experience really like? The true answer is always new, cannot be predicted, is continual surprise, and carries immense healing power, if we can be open to it. But this newness can be challenging to see and feel due to our reliance on words and concepts to describe and structure our human experience. Explore with me the question of "What is Now... really?" and find a brand new answer.

Transcript

What is now?

What is it really?

Now is a word,

But what does it mean?

What does the word now mean to you in this moment?

How do you get a sense of now?

The tricky thing with answering this question is that the answer must always be new.

It must always be different.

To answer in a way that is familiar or based on something from the past is not the true answer.

So no matter how many times you've answered this,

The answer is always new.

The true answer is always new.

So again,

What is now really like for you?

Allow yourself to respond to this question through your senses.

What do you see,

Eyes closed or eyes open?

What do you feel?

What do you hear?

What do you smell?

What do you taste?

What do you sense?

Allow this to provide an answer to the question,

What is now?

And see if you can stop yourself from turning these sense experiences into words or into concepts based on the past.

Allow your senses right now to give you the new lived answer to what is now.

See now.

Hear the words that I'm speaking to you right now simply as sound.

Let go of the interpretation or the translation of these words into concepts and simply hear the sound of my voice.

Feel the sensation of hearing and of sound.

Letting go of the meaning of whatever it is that I'm saying.

Just feel my voice right now.

Feel how my voice is no different from when I.

.

.

You might call that a clap,

But that's also just a word.

What is this experience like?

Feel sound,

Whatever sound comes to you.

And I'll practice with you for a few minutes here in silence.

Keep noticing your interpretation of what's happening right now.

Notice your tendencies to turn this experience into a noun and then open back up through the senses to this alive,

Only right now experience and keep responding to the question,

What is now?

What is now?

What is now?

What is now?

What is now?

What is now?

Notice wherever your thinking mind is and open back up with me to just this.

You don't have to try or do anything.

It's all right here happening,

Ready for you to feel it.

So just feel it now.

What is now?

What is now?

What is now?

Well,

Thank you for opening yourself to this practice and to me.

And you might continue to ask this question whenever you can remember throughout your day and whatever you're engaging with,

With another person,

With food,

With whatever,

Whatever is happening right now for you.

How is it totally brand new in reality?

If you're interested in exploring this question further with me,

I have a podcast with a fellow explorer,

Saka Brizvi,

And it's called What Is Now?

With a question mark.

And you can find it in a variety of places.

You just search what is now.

I hope you have a great rest of your day or evening and maybe we'll be back together soon.

Thanks for being you.

Reviews

Thank you again for this Charles. I found the nature of the question “what is now “varies upon the emphasis of either “is“ or “now“. For me, the latter is in many ways a one dimensional point in time and space and yet transcends that time and space. It was the meditation on “is“ that for me was the most profound. That for me embodied everything including that which is beyond perception and understanding which brought me back to that one dimensional point in time and space where I am. I hope this wasn’t too esoteric.

Excellent ! Thank you 🙏

Thanks, Charles. I found this very powerful.

Always enjoy and benefit from your teachings Charles ,thanks 🙏namaste

Charles’ Meditations snd classes are always excellent!!!

Amazing,, thank you 🙏🏾

A very profound ten minutes. Remarkable insights from feeling sound and experiencing 'now' through the sense of feeling. Thanks for being you, Charles!

Excellent meditation to stay in the moment. Many thanks! 🙏🏼😎🌞

Everything is new 🙌🏼

Samadi
I AM
AM that, i AM.

We tend to live always thinking of the future, but this is a great grounding meditation to get back into our body in the present moment.

Thanks for Being you 🙏🏽

Wonderful. I hope to listen to the podcast you mentioned.

This was wonderful. And thank you for what felt like a very genuine voice and presence. 🙏

Interesting approach.

Thank you- amazing how hard it can be to stay present... but so spacious and healing when we can. Blessings.🙏

Charles is always so insightful and approaches his meditations in a novel way. Another great one here.

Interesting that when I take away words and concepts around “now”, I have glimpses of oneness. Kind of like taking fences down between myself and what I perceive. There is less “I” and more just being with whatever comes up.

Thanks for a great reminder to be aware of all my senses and experience what is now...

Very interesting meditation! Thank you 🙏😊