891st Week: Settling into Presence

ByNancy Napier

One of the themes that has woven itself into and through my work for many years now is the importance, and power, of orienting our awareness to the place in us that reveals our core presence. This is a place I’ve written about a number of times. It’s where we discover the ever-present steadiness in us, the place in our wholeness that cannot be disturbed no matter what happens. It’s a reliable and accessible steadiness and is part of our core presence.

The other thing we discover when we settle into our core presence is what I refer to as the “unique energy signature” each and every one of us radiates throughout our body-mind being and out into the world in every moment. It is the “signature” of the presence we bring into the world, and it can be quite helpful to invite ourselves to orient to this aspect of our being. Becoming aware of it offers a way to deepen a sense of grounding and embodied presence, which is a state that stabilizes and supports us no matter what may be happening with, to, or around us.

For this week’s practice in conscious living, I offer the following guided meditation. Please remember that these meditations are offered as a possibility of how you might want to work with this. It’s important that you change whatever doesn’t resonate with you, as we are all “unique energy signatures”, unique expressions of life, and we want to honor our particular way of being in, and moving through, the world.

  • To begin, take a moment to settle even a bit more onto or into the surface supporting you. Notice how your body receives this support.
  • Now, follow the next out-breath down into your natural internal landing place, your internal home base. Let this be a gentle process of arriving.
  • Chances are that you’ve arrived in your place of core presence. Take a moment to notice, or to imagine if you aren’t aware of it, the ever-present steadiness that’s always here in your internal home base.
  • Notice or imagine what that steadiness would be like if you were able to sense or experience it.
  • Now, bring to mind the fact that the frequency, the energy quality of your core presence represents your unique energy signature. This is the energy you radiate throughout your entire body-mind being and also the energy that you automatically radiate into the world around you as well as into our human collective consciousness.
  • Spend a bit of time, now, simply being aware of the fact of your unique energy signature even if you aren’t experiencing it directly. If you are aware of the frequency and quality of your energy signature, spend some time experiencing it, acknowledging, and sensing it.
  • Also take some time now to imagine yourself moving through your regular daily activities with the awareness that your unique energy signature touches everything you encounter along the way. It’s important to remember that this energy signature isn’t affected by the ever-shifting qualities in your physical, emotional, and mental life. Instead, it’s what arises from your core presence, from the being you are no matter what occurs.
  • Now, come back to an awareness of the steadiness that is always present in your core and allow that quality, that frequency, to radiate throughout your body-mind being, bringing the steadiness to all aspects of your being.
  • Next, open your eyes and look around your environment. If you are unable to see, bring your awareness to your felt-sense of the environment around you. Notice your connection with it, that you are part of the energy reality and expression of the environment that surrounds you.
  • Recognize that you are connected with the world around you in every moment, no matter what. There is a tradition in which the following is said: “We are part of Indra’s net, out of which we cannot fall.” Notice that you are part of an energy reality out of which you cannot step. We are always connected.
  • When you’re ready, bring yourself all the way back by wiggling your fingers and toes, listening to the sounds around you, focusing on particular aspects of your surrounding environment, moving your head as you look around…coming all the way back now.

As with all these practices, please remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion and to pat gently on the head any judgments that may arise. Do the same thing with any mixed feelings you may have. They are part of your wholeness, and you can allow them to arise and move through without having to jump in and do anything with or about them.

*****
Here’s an audio version of the written information above, if you prefer to listen to it.
As you listen, please press pause when you need additional time to do take in the practice.
And, please remember never to listen to recorded meditations when driving or using machinery.

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888th Week: Drawing on Nature’s Presence

888th Week: Drawing on Nature’s Presence

ByNancy Napier

Note: At the bottom of this written practice there is a recording of it, if you would prefer to listen. In the practices that contain a guided meditation, please remember never to listen to these recorded meditations when driving or working with dangerous machinery.

As I sit in Central Park, one of the great gifts of this time is that I can soak in the steady and quiet presence of the large trees that surround me. Above and beyond the beneficial chemicals that the trees naturally emit, and above and beyond the oxygen they offer in the process of their own respiration, there is also the radiating quality of their steady stature and strength. Even though I’m sure that I project onto and into them qualities I imagine or need, I sense that the presence and qualities they exude are not all from my imagination. What I feel in my body is a deep response to the gifts offered by the trees, which include the physical and emotional nourishment I receive from the time spent with them.

This got me to thinking about all the different aspects of nature that we encounter all the time if we are lucky enough to either live in the country or to be able to spend time outdoors in parks, near lakes, the ocean, and more if we live in an urban setting. Because I live in New York City, Central Park has been an important resource for me, a place I can go and soak in the gifts of nature’s qualities. There are other parks, as well, and all of them offer gifts of healthy nourishment and well-being to those of us who are urban dwellers.

For this week’s practice, I invite you to become even more aware of the aspects of nature that support your sense of steadiness, grounding, upliftment, well-being, contentment, and more. For example, there may be boulders or other stone people in your immediate environment, perhaps in your backyard if you have a yard with your home. As you lean on them, or look at them, notice their steady presence, notice what it’s like soak in their solidity, their strength. Or, there may be birds and you find that you can imagine being one of them, flying over the landscape. Notice what you experience in your body as you do this. There may be bodies of water where you can find inspiration and where you may even be able to swim, kayak, or in other ways engage the water directly. You can even connect with clouds or with the wind currents that flow around the planet, imagining that you have that freedom of movement and then noticing what happens in your body.

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669th Week: Accessing Options

ByNancy Napier

I just listened to an interview with Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant on the NPR show,  On Being, with Krista Tippett.  The interview centered around Sheryl’s and Adam’s new book about Sheryl’s husband’s death and Adam’s work with resilience.  At the end of the interview, Sheryl said that it is really about “post traumatic growth”, Read More “669th Week: Accessing Options”

768th Week: More Reasons Why Tracking Your Self-Talk is So Important

768th Week: More Reasons Why Tracking Your Self-Talk is So Important

ByNancy Napier

In a recent article entitled, “Your Brain Has a Delete Button—Here’s How to Use It”, the authors, Judah Pollack and Olivia Fox Cabane, talk about research that’s been done on the presence and function of the brain’s “microglial” cells that are the “gardeners of the brain”.  These cells prune and remove synapses while we sleep.  Most importantly, they remove those synapses we don’t use very much.  In fact, the brain marks the unused synapses with a protein that signals the microglial cells to go ahead and prune them.

Because all self-talk is self-hypnosis, and because where we focus our thinking activates the synapses related to these thoughts, it behooves us to be mindful about where we’re spending our internal self-talk time.  One example in the article is this:  

“If you’re in a fight with someone at work and devote your time to thinking about how to get even with them, and not about that big project, you’re going to wind up a synaptic superstar at revenge plots but a poor innovator.”

They go on to say:

“To take advantage of your brain’s natural gardening system, simply think about the things that are important to you. Your gardeners will strengthen those connections and prune the ones that you care about less. It’s how you help the garden of your brain flower.”

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August 2011 Audio Meditation

ByNancy Napier

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