“…Zen is feeling life instead of feeling something about life.”
Alan Watts
The biggest obstacle to meditation is thinking. How to stop the incessant flow of thoughts? Pay attention to your breath as it is occurring! Breath is the most natural access to meditation.
Centering The Storm is a simple breath-centered practice that strengthens focus on the actual lived experience of breathing, one half-breath at a time.
This technique comes from Erich Schiffman’s book, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness. Erich calls it, simply, Counting Backwards. The counting focuses your attention. Keeping up with the count forces you to pay attention, to not wander off. It gives your mind just enough of a challenge to keep it occupied. In meditation circles, this is known as “throwing the dog a bone.”
It was profound for me. Not only during it, but afterwards. I just sat there for another 10 minutes.
Yolanda H, commenting on first experience practicing Centering The Storm
Benefits include
- The countdown gently concentrates your total awareness on the present moment, providing a way to de-stress simply by shifting your attention away from thoughts, worries, anxieties, and concerns.
- Cultivates mindfulness
- Strengthens concentration, the ability to shift from multi-tasking to uni-tasking at will
- Relief from anxiet; Insomnia; overwhelm; attention deficit; difficulty concentrating
