One of the guided meditations I use with any group I engage is a process of settling into a sense of our own presence.  Our presence comprises the qualities we radiate into our environment simply by virtue of the fact of who we are and that we are there.  We carry these qualities with us into every encounter, every situation, every moment of our physical lives.  It can be both nurturing and centering to drop into the place inside our body that is home base, that is the place where we can sense our own radiating presence.

Then, in every group I engage, I also ask people to become aware of the presence of all of us together – the quality that we generate as one energy organism.  This is a level of support that we draw on, and contribute to, whether we’re aware of it or not.  Then, expanding even more, I invite people to experience the global healing presence of people all over the planet who engage in healing practices of every kind.  I use this particular focus, as I’m generally with groups of therapists and other health professionals, but you can attune to any quality of human activity or endeavor that you wish to experience more deeply.  Each of these levels of presence offers support, and becoming consciously aware of them can offer a sense of haven and ease, a sense of connection and of not being alone.

For this weeks’ experiment, I invite you to explore presence personally and in the world around you.  For example, I experience the abiding presence of Central Park every time I enter it in the morning on my way to my office.  For me, the overall park has its own presence that I enter when I enter that physical space.  I am entering an energy space as well as a physical space.  Think of the times you may have entered a room or a building and suddenly felt enfolded in a particular quality that is tangible even if you can’t explain it or locate it.  For me, that’s the spirit or presence of the place and it can be deeply supportive to take a moment to give yourself the experience of noticing that kind of presence.  Also, you may have had the experience of walking into a room and sensing the calming or powerful presence of a particular individual, or the noticeable qualities or presence of a particular group of people.

As you sense into your own presence and the presence around you, notice your physical responses, your emotions, your thoughts, and any other experience that may unfold for you.  An underlying theme here is that we can reach out to the presence of others for support and nourishment, and we can also discover when we are in the presence of energies and qualities that are not good for us.  When we are able to notice that, we open up the option to move away from these particular qualities, even as we offer ourselves the opportunity to move toward those that feel good to us.

Remember to bring along curiosity as your companion on this journey, and to notice what it’s like to settle into your own presence and just be with yourself for a while.  In this part of the experiment, it’s important to leave judgment behind – pat it on the head and allow it to move on through – because touching into your own presence can be a sacred and deep experience.  It’s a way to allow yourself to touch into what is most true about you, into your spiritual being – however you understand that, your most fundamental self.