The Importance of Presence in Healing
We can’t talk about healing or transformational change without talking about Presence. Trauma has a way of putting us back in the past (and i’ll explain this more as we move through the videos). Anxiety often orients us to the future. Healing happens in the now.
This may sound a little cheesy - at a neurobiological level our brains/bodies need to be grounded to the present moment to integrate important information that leads to change and healing.
Simply put, Mindful Presence is the practice of guiding our attention to our present moment internal and external experiences - preferable without judgment. Mindfulness, therefore, is a skill that we can learn to support the process of healing, bring us to the present, and it’s a tool that helps regulate us in the now.
Because this is such an important concept, I’ve tied it into each section of the course. It is also how we will make this interactive. … Or at least as interactive as we can be in a prerecorded video.
Downside to Presence:
Before we begin, I also want to mention that there can be an uncomfortable consequence to practicing mindful presence. So many of us are chronically busy, rushed, and stressed. This can lead to a sense of disconnection to our internal experiences or our external environment. As we start to slow down, and become more attuned to our internal and external lives - we might get hit with some unfinished business or even just new sensations that may feel overwhelming. This can show up in different ways and can be quite uncomfortable.
The tools that we’re talking about can support us in those uncomfortable moments and are an alternative to chronic avoidance or distraction. Yes, We need to numb out sometime, avoidance is common for a reason and may serve a purpose. But to create lasting change, we often have to tune in.