Practicing Presence: Your Key To Health

Written by Michelle Shelton

June 28, 2024

The Wellness industry in the US is valued at $1.8 trillion. Wow. That is a lot of money. What does that mean, exactly? In simple terms, it means Americans spend A LOT of money to feel better and be well. In fact, we rank #1 in spending in this category. We spend more than double the #2 ranking country. Clearly, we are looking for relief from our frazzled, stressed out world. 

With this in mind, this blog post will be a welcome relief to your pocket book if you, like so many others, are looking for that thing that will finally be the thing that brings you back to your inherent wholeness, that place of health and wellbeing. That thing that I want to offer you today is totally accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time. And it’s totally free. That thing is Presence. 

Presence is being open to your current experience of direct sensation WITHOUT JUDGMENT or bias. (Yes, the “without judgment” part is important!) Let’s unpack that statement...

What is direct sensation? It’s tuning into your 5 senses, and your 6th sense of interoception. It’s noticing the contour, the location, the intensity, the frequency, and the form of what you are sensing. It is stepping out of thinking and stepping into feeling.

What is “without judgment”? This is withholding any interpretation or narration of what is happening, any evaluation of good or bad.

Why is presence helpful? Presence is a scientifically proven, powerful tool to cultivate wellbeing and self-trust. 

That sounds really cool, right? But…

How exactly does it promote self-trust? Being present to your current experience opens you up to feedback that then allows you to adapt and adjust the next time. That feedback and refinement loop allows you to learn and adapt based on how your body responds - is it pleasant or unpleasant? As we tune into this, we learn how to care for our bodies, cultivating self-trust and inner wisdom. 

How does it cultivate wellbeing? Neuroscientist Dr. Dan Seigel has described the brain as an anticipation machine. It’s anticipating what might happen, often preparing for potential danger or harm that hasn’t happened, and may not ever happen. This can send us into an anxiety loop of worry and fear of the future. Practicing presence brings us back into the now and away from this focus on future harm. In addition, focusing on sensation activates different parts of our brain, inhibiting areas of our brain responsible for these anxiety spirals. 

Why is withholding judgment so important? Getting lost in judgment disconnects us from sensation. We may even resist what actually is because the shame or judgment around it feels too painful. And so we ignore, deny, or even numb the things that we feel. Releasing judgment allows us to feel the sensation in its purest form, without the extra pain of shame or self criticism. 

In addition, self-judgment brings us back into the brain region where anticipation of the future and the anxiety loop occur, again disconnecting us from direct sensation. Here, we are left solving for the future instead of what is actually right in front of us. And because we can’t actually do anything with the future, we are limited in our options. We are trying to control something we can’t control. You’ve lost your seat of power and of wisdom. Coming back to presence, to pure sensation, brings you back to the things you can actually respond to.  

OK - by now you’re sold, right? How do I get this free solution to feeling better, you ask? I’ve got you - here are 3 simple things you can do today to practice presence:

1. Start a simple breath practice. Find a quiet place where you can be comfortable and relaxed…but not so relaxed you fall asleep ;). Focus on the sensation of your breathing for 5 minutes. Notice what it feels like in different areas of your body, as the air travels through your nasal passage, past your throat, and into your lungs. Practice not thinking, just feeling.

2. Practice tuning into your 6 senses. Taste, touch, sound, sight, smell, and interoception. Take 5 minutes to fully be with each sense, one by one. Notice the contours, location, intensity, frequency, and form. Then move to your sixth sense, the interoceptive sense of sensations in your body. You can try a body scan, slowly moving from head to toe as you notice what is happening inside.

3. Practice kind intention. You know by now the importance of withholding judgment. Cultivating kind intention can be a powerful way to relax the more judgmental parts of us as we invite more loving kindness and compassion into our heart and mind. 

If you really want to get good at this, you can stitch all of these practices together into one single meditation practice. Seeking out guided meditations like the Wheel of Awareness, by Dr. Dan Seigel, can be really helpful to strengthen and nourish this muscle. 

The next time you see that influencer trying to sell you on the latest craze, remember this. You have all that you need inside of you. Your birthright is wholeness. As you practice presence, you practice coming back to that place of center, that place of wisdom, that place of empowerment, that place of wellbeing.