Anchor yourself by attending to here-and-now physical reality

I wanted to share a great image from a guided meditation I listened to this morning via my Insight Timer app. I clicked on a Ten Minute Pause by Judson Brewer called "Anchoring in The Present Moment."

(Looks like you can listen to it for free by clicking on the above link.)

Brewer's image was of an anchor in the ocean or in a flowing stream. That anchor can be any part of our body that we choose. Traditionally it is the breath, but it can be anything -- hands, feet, whatever works for you.

The idea, which is simple, is that the current of our thoughts can carry us away to places that we really don't want to go, but sometimes are powerless to resist.

Anxiety. Fear. Worry. Tension. Anger. Sadness. And so on.

It isn't that we should consider those sorts of thoughts and emotions as things to be fought against. That produces an unproductive conflict within ourself. And why should we fight against our own self?

But an anchor can keep us from moving too far downstream, so to speak. Remembering the sensation of breathing, to feeling air entering and leaving our nostrils, can anchor us in the present moment rather than some imagined nasty place in our past or future.

Yes, this isn't exactly groundbreaking meditation news. I just found it to be a useful way of visualizing what a focus on the breath or some other physical sensation can do for us. 

I've also heard a meditation teacher speak of this as our Home Base, a place to return to when we feel pulled away by unwelcome thoughts or emotions.

Comments

[Spence Tepper]

What we are attached to are our anchors. We are a ship held in place on a turbulent sea by lines that go very deep, several anchors, a web, a net thrown over our boat with lines on all sides that sink below the sea, buried into the mud and sand at the bottom by weights of iron forged through millenia of evolution. We think we have no attachments at all, no lines that actually are connected to our boat. But we are trapped by a much larger inverted net of heavy ropes whose ends sink into the sea and are sunk into the bottom as if bolted to concrete, immovable, all around our boat. They run far deeper than we can imagine. We are locked into this reality by forces and elements so powerful we can't even begin to understand our total imprisonment. It is so complete we think we are free, that what binds us can be eliminated watching a pleasant movie or listening to a pleasant meditation. We reach out to cling to any place we can just make out on the shore. That feels good. But it isn't real. We look through the openings of the net all around us, above us, thinking we are free. We are so used to the net we learn not to see it. But the lines are there and sink into the water. So deep and dark we can't see them under the water, even if we tried, even seeing the net momentarily and trying to follow where the ropes lead, but they sink into the sea, and we have no idea what they look like, even if we know, intuitively, they must be there. Because we are held in place in this turbulent and stormy part of this ocean, unable to move, except to toss and turn. We are forced to endure shocking bolts of lightening drawn to the crow's nest; cold, rust, rain and heat. We try to forget, deny and distract ourselves. This ship is falling apart. We did nothing wrong. We are prisoners and victims. Time is passing and this boat won't v stay afloat much longer. We can dream of better places, but we are anchored here. We can imagine it isn't so. On sunnier days we can imagine we are moving nicely. But it isn't so.

[Spence Tepper]

Is adding one more anchor the answer?

[777]

@Spence
It took U 3 minutes to ask that

I find your writing a Wonderfull description
Makes us cry
As was Brian's main article. >>>. Anxiety. Fear. Worry. Tension. Anger. Sadness. And so on.

Again I think the truth is in the middle
the foot or breath trick
and the extra anchors on good places ( Shabd works best )
777

[Sonia]

Interesting. One of the first things mental health therapists tell their patients is to become “aware of time”. Things like a routine and doing specific things at the same time every day are keys to keeping the patient in the here in now. When we live “outside of time” of defy time’s boundaries for an extended period of time, we soon become mentally ill.

[Sonia]

I just read this and it looks promising. Buddhism embraces being in the moment and mindfulness. So, this article kinda makes sense.

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/October-2016/How-Buddhism-Benefits-Mental-Health

[zenjen]

Thanks Sonia, for posting this article "How Buddhism Benefits Mental Health", really liked this about the possibility of changing one's karma...

Being in Charge of Our Actions
Karma is an often-misunderstood Buddhist ideal. While most people see it as “what goes around comes around,” karma in Buddhism actually encompasses the idea that a person has the ability to change any circumstances they face in life. It is meant to be a doctrine of responsibility and empowerment. For a Buddhist, hope is a decision.
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” - Buddha

[Jesse]

This reminds me that I gotta go to the zen place by my house again soon. I'm always getting caught up in trying to figure something out in my mind and over analyzing day to day experiences, and it seems like practicing a breathing technique like this in a group would be a good way to start doing it in my normal day to day life too.