Presence Anchor

This is a simple way to establish a grounded presence — a safe, easeful, or neutral place that you can return to again and again. Start by finding the easiest part of your experience, whether that is internally in your body or an external object. Explore soaking in the goodness of this moment, and return to this over and over.

Transcript

Alright so in this practice we're going to establish and set what's called a presence anchor.

So presence anchor is just finding a point in your body that feels relaxed at ease maybe maybe safe or neutral and the reason to do that is well just to get grounded first of all and second of all it's to anchor a point in your experience in your body where you can come back to if you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed and so it can be really nice to just find that point before going into a meditation or maybe going into a stressful meeting or or even just any conversation just like finding finding a little bit of presence and grounding and most powerfully when you are in the middle of it whatever it is in your life can you go back can you go back to the presence anchor can you reestablish presence so this is this is the this is the practice and the presence anchor doesn't have to be the same every time in fact as we start this you'll notice that maybe there's more than one place that feels anchor to relax and you can just you can choose one and maybe next time there's a different place you can choose just whatever whatever feels right in the moment oftentimes people go to their feet or their their hands or maybe their belly that softens but it could really be anything so let's let's explore this together and see how it feels like for you alright so inviting you to just get in a comfortable position alert calm if you are in a chair then making sure your feet are flat against the floor and maybe rolling your shoulders back a couple of times just to open up your chest folding your hands in your lap or resting them on your knees gently whatever is comfortable for you and for this first part I want to invite you to keep your eyes open and just turning your head all the way to one side and starting to really slowly scan your environment wherever you're at it doesn't matter if you're you've been here many times or you're in your room or somewhere familiar just kind of seeing this with fresh eyes noticing as you slowly move your head as you slowly turn noticing the colors and the textures breathing naturally noticing the different objects space following your curiosity here until you make it all the way to the other side seeing what you notice and starting to tune into your body as well noticing if there's been any many shift already in your body as you observe and coming back to center and if it feels okay for you gently closing the eyes or even keeping them slightly open that's better and allowing yourself a couple of nice deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth feeling yourself start to settle in you might just do a little scan of your body from head to toe noticing contact points with ground or the chair brush of clothes against your skin maybe you feel your breath heartbeat now letting your curiosity just take you and moving to a place in your body that feels either soft or relaxed easeful grounded melting for me right now that's relaxing in my shoulders release in my lower back yeah I think my stomach now is actually feeling a little more relaxed maybe for you it's somewhere else maybe it's your hands or feet maybe your chest is sort of softening or your face is releasing some tension it could be really subtle subtle release in the eyes eyes are a place where we hold a lot of tension so could be anywhere if you can't find that place then I just find a place that feels okay or neutral doesn't have to feel super relaxed or anything what if you just took a couple of nice deep breaths as you focus and gently keep your attention in this place this anchor or you've shifted into some softness and some presence and noticing what is what is this actually feel like what sensations are there is it a sort of smoothness or softness expansion contraction melting is there a sort of tingling or vibrating maybe maybe there's a sort of like image around this maybe you feel like you're kind of floating or maybe there's a even like an image of an actual anchor on a ship or a sky or a bird or a still pond or lake I was noticing what feeling is behind this and staying connected to that part of your body that feels this eased easeful relaxation and so this is your presence anchor this is your presence anchor you can return to this whenever you want and as an experiment just in the next hour can you make an intention to just return to this anchor whatever you're doing you're working you're talking you're walking you're working out whatever it is they're gonna do for the next hour can you just take a moment 30 seconds one minute close your eyes and just come back to this presence anchor and then you can return to whatever it is you were doing just see how that might shift your experience what effect it might have on your body and mind all right when you're ready go ahead and gently open your eyes if they're closed hard to wiggle your fingers and toes maybe rolling the shoulders and neck and thanking yourself for taking a moment to just shift into presence all right have a wonderful day thank you