We tend to spend time reliving the past or worrying about the future.
Being at centre is experiencing the present moment fully - what it is like to be human. Our brain is hardwired to take you anywhere except to centre.
Being centred centres you in the Observer of:
- Body: being aware of the sensations in your body, breathing into the dantian (2 inches below your belly button)
- Emotions: acceptance is the centre of all emotion
- Language: silence is the centre of language
Centre is where you can make choices from. You don’t live in it. It also helps with communicating more fully and Listening.
Keep it simple and don’t worry about “doing it right”. Centering could happen as quickly as a few seconds - rub your hands together. If you noticed the sensation of warmth in your hands, the feel of fabric moving across your skin, you’re centred. If you are angry and notice yourself being angry, you’re present and have started to centre. Awareness of being off-centre in and of itself is curative.
Centering Practice
That said, here’s a longer centering practice that will take 2-3 minutes:
- Move forward so that your back is not resting against the back of your chair and you’re sitting up straight.
- Plant your feet firmly on the ground.
- Close your eyes.
- Put one hand on your belly. You should feel your belly rise on the inhale and fall on the exhale.
- Slowly inhale into your belly.
- Slowly exhale
- Focus on each inhalation and exhalation. Become aware of the air going through your nose, down your throat, filling your lungs. Feel yourself relax as you exhale. Notice the temperature of the air coming in and going out.
- Feel each beat of your heart as it pumps blood through you.
- Tune into the sensations in your body. The feel of cloth against your skin, the floor against your feet, the chair beneath you.
- While continuing to breathe slowly, mentally let go of any cares or concerns that you may have accumulated throughout the day. Allow yourself to be fully present, and for this moment, accept that whatever will be, will be. Whatever comes, will come.
- Notice any thoughts that may occur to you. Acknowledge them, but set them aside for now. Silence the internal conversation happening inside you.
- Bring your awareness back. Open your eyes, reach upwards and stretch your arms.
Burnout
When new information comes in, the hippocampus (part of the brain) is constantly making decisions about whether its unimportant (and can be discarded), or is important (and should go into short or long-term memory).
Burnout occurs when the hippocampus malfunctions.
In burnout, the hippocampus is backed up when too much information is coming in. Centering frees it to process the backlog of data.