Where Is Your Center?

Where is the center of your being? Is it in your body? In your thoughts? Is it in your own life or someone else’s? Is it in the past or the future? Is it on what we like and what we don’t like? A fundamental teaching in the Eastern wisdom traditions is that mind and prana are paired—where our attention goes, our energy goes. Practicing good energy hygiene means to have an awareness of this dynamic and to direct our energy in ways that are beneficial for ourselves and for others. Here is a short meditation to call you back home—

Find a comfortable position, sitting or lying down, eyes open or closed.

Notice the part of you that knows you are noticing.

Begin by noticing the space around you..look around if your eyes are open, see things around you as if seeing them for the first time. If eyes are closed simply get a sense of the space and sound. Maybe you can feel the air touching your skin, or notice the sounds of the city or the wind or the birds.

Then turning your attention inward, rest your awareness on your breath—inhale from the lower belly up to the collarbone, exhale and follow the breath back down to the belly. Take several of these breaths, with the intention of being paired with each movement of your breath, centering your awareness on the breath.

Inhale, Gap, Exhale, Gap—get to know these four parts of the breath.

You may find that in the gaps between inhale and exhale there is a space—a wide open empty space—where the mind is still. Be curious about this. This no-thought space is a glimpse of freedom.

Find a rhythm that is a balance between effort and ease—listen to your own body. No strain is required, but you may find that if there isn’t enough effort you will lose the intention. When this happens come back to your own being, come back home.

Every moment is a new opportunity to be free—