The only thing I can add is a little trick that I use to stay focused in the present, or Mindful as its called around where I live, that works great for me.
When I find my mind wandering, I put down my foot just a tiny bit harder on the ground and focus on my feet. Gives me a wonderful feeling of being “rooted in the present”.
The more Yoga I do, the easier I find it to remain Mindful. Pranayama and Meditation in the morning sets me up for a very mindful day.
[QUOTE=lotusgirl;38912]Hi CityMonk,
I think the vast majority of people are not in the “here and now”. They are busy, busy, busy running the kids to practice, to appointments, out to dinner, then rushing back to do something else. The working mom and/or dad trying to juggle work, family, friends, social activities, meetings, grocery shopping, keeping up with Jones’s, Doctor appointments and the such.
Does this help with examples?[/QUOTE]
not quite… busy running still can be performed withing fully awareness of here and now. is it? Planning the next day is still happening in here and now. right?
[QUOTE=Yulaw;38910]What if… insert fantasy here[/QUOTE]
that is that I think… not sure if i’m correct… my spouse always “fantasying”: what if we move to california in 5 year, what we gonna do with our big couch? should we take if with us or should we sell it on garage sale? if we take it with us can we put it in the right conner of the living room? would it fit :)) it gets so funny sometimes:) and he gets mad at me because I usually do not listen to his prospection:)
This is my favorite practice for staying connected to the here and now. It is actually a method of pratyahara, but I find that the same principle can be used during daily activities to keep the mind focused on the task at hand.
[QUOTE=Asuri;39416]This is my favorite practice for staying connected to the here and now. It is actually a method of pratyahara, but I find that the same principle can be used during daily activities to keep the mind focused on the task at hand.[/QUOTE]
Your are right, but are there anything but meditation that can keep us in the present moment? Can one be driving, eating or something else in the present moment with the eyers open and without sense withdrawal?
[QUOTE=CityMonk;39451]Your are right, but are there anything but meditation that can keep us in the present moment? Can one be driving, eating or something else in the present moment with the eyers open and without sense withdrawal?[/QUOTE]
Sure, it’s just mindfulness.
Mindfulness keeping us in the present appears to be a perfect statement and in itself a really substantial achievement. But it is slightly less than perfect. The mind, in this mode, is still receiving and processing sense data. As long as we continue to be engaged with the objects, mind is processing their sensed images; and while doing it, taking help from the past accumulated memory. Besides, image-processing dwells on past connection with the immediate reality because of the fraction of a moment it takes. Unknowingly, some form of past creeps in and when cognition is not easy we do engage in some form of fancy just to make sense.
The real instant contact with reality can only happen when the mindfulness reaches a point where it retires as an active player and becomes a catalyst. That is true pratyahara and true here and now. Afterall, ‘here’ is an absence of spatial context and ‘now’ is an absence of measured time.
However, just as a concept, while doing daily activities mindfulness appears safer than true pratyahara. But we have to remember that this way the perfect mindfulness is consciously crossed and not accidentally lost. It is quite safe and joyful when mastered.
[QUOTE=Asuri;39464]Sure, it’s just mindfulness.[/QUOTE]
Ok:) lets continue…
can one be mindful and hence mindful of present moment and hence in the present moment?
Being in the present moment is standing in the rain. Present moment in mindfulness is like taking a shower. Mind processes.