Being Present

An anchor serves as a home for us during our meditations and acts as a steadying mindful home as we move through our days.

Just as we seek out the same comfy chair each evening for relaxing and decompressing, we also seek a comfortable place to cultivate our attention and concentration during meditation. Cultivating an anchor/home during our formal meditation also gives us a place to return to for grounding and steadying when facing the challenges that arise in our day.

It is the place we go to be present, quiet, and still.

Breath is often used as an anchor in many meditation classes and practices. It is used because it is something that is always with us and is always going on, we are never without it. We can always access the breath and the sensations of breathing, no matter where we are or what we are doing. We can place all or part of our attention on our breath and feel the steadying reassurance of the breath moving in and out of the body.

Some people find it difficult to use the breath as an anchor for varying reasons such as respiratory illness or traumatic experiences. Finding another anchor is recommended if that is true for you. Many sensations in the body can be used as an anchor. Some include the sensations in our hands or feet or the sensations in our ears or at the tip of our nose. Some use an external object as an anchor such as a favorite stone or pebble. Holding the stone and focusing on the sensations such as smoothness, roughness, temperature, contours, etc. can be grounding. Some people also use a mantra in this way, cultivating it as a comfortable, stable home.

Meditation is like being in a snow globe or a glass of muddy water. We look for a place to rest while the snow or the silt first swirls and then settles around us. Our anchor is our place of rest. By turning to our anchor we cultivate an awareness of the chaos that moves in and around us without getting caught up in it and swirling, too. As chaos shifts and changes we simply watch from our place of rest.

Returning to our anchor as we meet the challenges of life can be refreshing and stabilizing. Returning to our anchor allows us to rest in the midst of whatever is going on until we can act skillfully and in line with our values and intentions. For instance, if our breath is our anchor, then when we face the brusque call from the boss to come to her office, we can steady our anxiety by taking a moment or two to focus on our breath sensations. We will notice our anxiety lessening, our fight or flight quieting, and our rational thoughts coming back on board.

It is taking a moment in the familiar easy chair.

While we may use all kinds of objects in our meditation, our anchor is the one we turn to time and again as our meditation home. Over time the anchor will become associated with feeling calm and at ease. Then when we are in our lives and our arousal and tension go up we can use the anchor to remind us there is a place we can access where calm and ease rest.