Is presence a goal?

To be present is to be in a place before we sense, feel, and comment on what's happening. We are just our natural embodied selves. Life feels spacious and open, even magical—not contracted, narrow, and confined. It's a great place to be.

But it's not a goal. Why?

Because we cannot really create, do, or act in this place. To take advantage of our presence, we need to integrate it into action so that our actions become more skillful, which will make our lives flow more easily.

To embrace presence, we need to establish a firm foundation - to ground ourselves, which allows us to fully engage with life as it is. Grounding enables us to act in ways that create harmony rather than conflict in our surroundings.

Ground, open, take action

If we act from an ungrounded place, what follows will be unstable, and we will soon find ourselves living in a whirlpool of events and drama.

So how do we ground ourselves?

We need several components to become grounded:

1: Focus on physical weight and downward contact in your body

• Feel your feet on the ground/floor often every day

• While you firmly press your feet (all four corners, and especially the heels) into the ground, take a long, slow, soft breath in

• Ground down through the pelvis, not the chest, when seated

• Let your shoulders drop with gravity, no effort

If you are only in your head or out in space, you are not grounded!

2: Let your breath take you down

• Let your exhale be slightly longer than your inhale (repeat often)

• Let your breath fill up the lower ribs and belly first

• If you feel stressed, don’t deepen your breath — lower it! Think of it like a bottle that you fill up with water; it fills up from the bottom first!

• The above signals rest and digest to your nervous system

3: Do real things

Daily grounding activities:

• walking (especially out in nature)

• cooking, chopping, cleaning, gardening, caring for your horse, dog, pet

• strength-based movement (not just stretching)

• direct conversations (no spiritual softening)

If your life is mostly internal and in your mind, grounding will be difficult

4. Grounding for a better function

When going gets tough, do not space out!

1. Feel your feet/seat

2. Exhale

3. Do not think - instead sink in your body

4. Then allow openness

Do you think this is interesting? I reflect on things like the above because I encounter them in my daily yoga practice. Presence is very profound in yoga. Where lots of healing and release can happen.

The view from the cupping room at the Teastudio, Nilgiri Hills, India!

So what do I have in my cup when I write and reflect on this? Right now, a lovely tea called Nilgiri Wulong from the iconic Teastudio in the Nilgiri Hills, India. This micro-producer crafts the teas when you order them to ensure maximum freshness. This time, I think this complex and round Nilgiri Wulong came out with an extra twist, a strong sense of toffee! The studio is led by Muskan Khanna. Read more about her and her all-woman team here!

Nilgiri Wulong, a complex, fullbodied oolongtea with a sweet, toffee like finish!

If you would like to purchase teas from the Teastudio, please contact me!

Want to organize a tea tasting? Or a yoga and tea event? Welcome to contact me!