A very helpful practice to stay present in my life is establishing Touch Points in the body.
I have chosen three places in my body where I can strongly focus my attention: my neck & shoulders, my heart, and my lower abdomen. Several times during the day I stop and gently breathe into these Touch Points, relaxing them and feeling them fully. It has become a nice habit to pause and connect with my body in this way.
The good thing about establishing Touch Points when life flows on normally, is that when I find myself in stressful situations I (hopefully!) remember them. Then I connect with my body, calm down and come a little bit closer to being in peace again...
PS: The source of this practice is the inspiring "Radical Acceptance" by Tara Brach
I was just reading this post, but I don't quite understand about 'Touch Points'. Are you saying that if you get stressed out, you just stop and touch a particular part of your body and it relieves the stress? Can you explain a little more to me please? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDear RPD What actually relieves the stress is getting "grounded" again, coming back to being fully present. If I can concentrate on breathing into, or the feeling in a certain part of my body in a stressful situation, that means I can make a small pause. Such a pause often allows me to relax a bit, and put what happens into a better perspective. Does this make things clearer...? If not, let me know! :-)
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