Bring Yourself into the Present Time Mantra

If you ever find yourself "lost" in the past, try this mantra to bring yourself into the present time. While it is useful to know about past lives and learn from past events, it is not helpful to dwell in them for long periods of time.

A useful visualization for this is to think of your life (or lifetimes) as a gauge where the pointer can move through different times, years, or ages. This mantra will help you keep your pointer in the present time by bringing you back from where ever you are to the present time.

First, speak this prayer aloud:

• Help keep my pointer in the present time.

Next, speak this mantra aloud while visualizing the statements. Fill in the brackets with the current year and date and information about your location.

• It is [year]. It is [month and day]. It is [season]. I am in [continent]. I am in [country]. I am in [state]. I am in [city]. I am at [street address]. I am sitting in [location] on [piece of furniture], which is on the floor, which is on the Earth.
  

Body-Mind Awareness

Yoga is excellent for establishing or re-tuning into the body-mind connection -- that balance between listening to your head and listening to your body. If you find yourself getting caught in the loop of reaction (whether it is an emotional reaction to a thought or a series of negative thoughts triggered by an emotion) these practices will help you break the cycle and prepare you to do other practices that will restore your balance.

Body-mind awareness helps to anchor you in the present moment and strengthens the immune system.

Feeling the Inner Body
Eckhart Tolle explains this practice on pages 52-53 of his book, A New Earth. We will paraphrase the practice here.

• Focus your awareness on your hands (your eyes may be open or closed).
• Feel the inner aliveness inside them. The energy may feel like a slight tingling at first.
• Hold your attention there for awhile. The feeling may strengthen.
• Now focus your awareness on your feet and feel the inner aliveness there.
• When you feel ready, feel the aliveness in your hands and feet at the same time.
• Then move your awareness to other parts or your body until you feel the aliveness in your whole body.

Eckhart Tolle calls this the "inner body" -- "life energy, the bridge between form and formlessness."

Thank Your Body
Another way to tune into and listen to your body is to say thank you to each part of your body. This is particularly helpful if you find yourself caught up in your thoughts or have been experiencing chronic illness or pain for so long that you have become somewhat numb to how your body is really feeling.

• For this practice, first relax and tune into your body. Then focus on each part of your body (including your organs) one at a time. Thank each part for its service to you, naming specific things that you are grateful for.
  

You can also use this practice to reconnect to your body wisdom. If you listen, the body will give you clues that tell you what is going on. For example, your right shoulder hurts every time you think about a specific person or situation, or your tooth hurts every time you eat brownies. Your body is trying to tell you how to take care of yourself.

• To reconnect to your body wisdom, after thanking each part of your body, tell your body that you will listen to its clues and that you will respond by taking better care of yourself. Finally, thank your body for talking to you.