5-4-3-2-1

Jon Kabat Zinn defines mindfulness as the act of purposefully paying attention to the present moment in the service of self discovery. But for many of us, this is harder than it sounds. What does it mean to be aware of the present moment?

For most of us, clearing our mind in order to focus on the present moment is hard. If the mind is momentarily quiet, it almost immediately pulls in worries, to do lists, regrets and plans. Thoughts of the future and the past crowd each other out; there is no room for the present moment. 

Many guided mindfulness scripts focus on the breath as a focus point and this can be tremendously helpful. There are so many things to notice about the act of breathing; it can be a very rich experience to approach breathing with curiosity. There is also something lovely and metaphorical about the breath as our spirit, as our connection to the world outside of ourselves. However, I do find that for many people (including me), there are times when the breath is too ethereal to really anchor upon.

An alternative is focusing on the other aspects of our nervous system that connect us to the outside world - namely our senses. Our highly evolved brains interpret data coming in from our eyes, our ears, etc… without us noticing, filtering out what is deemed unimportant, holding on to the important. But our senses are still our own and can serve us as our anchor to the present.

I often think of this and teach it as the 5-4-3-2-1 method. Notice five things you can see with your eyes. Become aware of four things you can hear. Attend to three bodily sensation - maybe your clothes against your skin, the floor beneath your feet, the cool breeze against your skin. If possible, see if there are two different odors or tastes that you can sense. And finally, I possible, try to beware of your whole self as one whole being connected with the world.

This is not necessarily easy, but sometimes replacing the thoughts of the future and the past with a new task is easier than simply trying to set those thoughts aside. When this new task is one that centers you, that asks you to focus, for a moment, on the present, this can be a path towards practicing mindfulness.