On Presence and Meditation

Fragments from imaginary dialogue

“What is the relationship between Meditation and Presence?”

“In my model, the Meditation practice is the fundamental unit of the Presence practice.”

“What do you mean?”

“The essence of Meditation is focusing your attention on a single point. (Focus-Point, or Anchor)

Viewed as a practice, and thinking of it in terms of rep(etition)s, like in physical training, what counts as one rep?

One rep is noticing when your attention inevitably wanders, nonjudgmentally, and gently bringing it back to your Focus-Point. (Attentional-Rep)

We can metaphorically think of it as a balancing act. Whenever your attention is wandering, you’re off balance. Every attentional-rep is the act of regaining balance.

I like to think of Meditation as the Micro-Practice.

Presence is the Macro-Practice.

Every Meditation session is one rep of the Macro-Practice. (Meditation-Rep)

The Presence Macro-Practice

You can get some great benefits from Meditating just once a day in the morning. However the more you do it, the greater the benefits.

There’s two approaches:
– going deep: few long Meditation sessions (Macro-Meditations)
– going wide: many short Meditation sessions (Micro-Meditations)”

“Which is your approach?”

“The ultimate goal of the Presence Macro-Practice is being Present all day every day.

To that end, my (experimental) approach is to go wide, to do numerous Micro-Meditation-Reps throughout the day.”