THE POWER OF PRESENCE

by Nicholas de Castella

PRESENCE
by Mikala Hately

I have become real.
My hand is my face and voice in the world.
The experience of the past has
created lines of care and work
Scars of joy and pain.
I am real. I trust.
I am my true self.
I have been lost,
I was violated,
Now I am healing.
The presence of peace
Spiritual, certainty that
I am meant to be here as I am.
Hope of healing, spark of life
Creating growth, change, love
A star of hope and strength.
Gifts of courage are mine for today.
Reaching out, reaching in,
Quiet strength.
I feel the presence of a healing tear
Not weeping but understanding
and cleansing, joyous, nurturing.
The rose I have been given is
My beauty inside and out.
I do not need to be afraid of beauty.
Like the rose I am strong, delicate, fragrant
All shades of red to pure white.

In an experiment by John Kabat-Zinn PhD at the University Hospital in Massachusetts a patients suffering from psoriasis where split into two groups. The treatment involved time in an Ultra violet chamber. This treatment can cause skin cancer.

One of the groups was simply given the treatment without any instructions. The other group was taught to practices Presencing. A type of meditation that involves keeping your awareness in the present moment.

The group that practised Presencing got better four times faster than the other group, which meant that they needed 1/4 of the exposure to the potentially carcinogenic ultra violet light.


Presencing is for me both the vehicle and the goal of heart Centred Living. It is the vehicle because we heal and transform towards wholeness and connection when we practice being fully present with what is. It is the goal because the ultimate goal of personal growth involves becoming fully present with the ultimate nature of who I am. Wisdom then is the attitude that arises from this deep state of connection to ultimate truth.

What is Presence?
The experience of being fully alive, free and living each moment in the here and now is what we call presence. When you are in tune with your body, aware of your thoughts, in touch with your feelings and living from your essence you have ‘presence’.

How do we practice presencing?
The two aspects of presencing are: firstly Mindfulness - bringing your attention into the present moment, and secondly bringing your attention into your body. Here are some pointers:

1. Stop and be
2. Drop the stories that are running in your mind
3. Turn your attention from what you are thinking about to what you are feeling
4. Come into the present moment by looking around you at what you can see, hear touch, smell and finally feel in your body
5. Consciously breathe into your body and notice what you can feel
6. Just allow whatever is here to be here
7. Listen to your heart about how you feel like responding

Why Is Presence Important?
The quality of your presence is possibly the single most important factor determining your level of happiness, health and success in life. Only by being present can we connect with our heart and through it experience what is actually real.

How does Presence Feel?
Learning to be more present opens a gateway to the experience of your true nature. The experience of our true nature or ‘essence’ is often described as peaceful, spacious, loving or contented, though in reality it is an experience beyond words.

When we live with presence we have lots of energy and mental clarity. We perform at our peak, feel freer, more in control and move forward in life with ease. Our relationships become more fulfilling. We feel more gratitude and increasingly experience life as a rich and wonderful blessing. Presence is also a powerful force for the healing of ourselves and others.

As we live more in the present we discover energy that was previously expended in playing out old dramas. We can then channel this energy into having fun and towards achieving what we want in life.


If not present then where am I?
Most of us spend the majority of our time absent from our bodies. Our minds dwell on the past, rehashing our mistakes and failures, or clinging onto the times when things were ‘good’. OR we leap into a fantasy future, projecting forward into pleasant and scary scenarios.

We tend to just check in briefly to present moment to make sure everything is Ok and then we are off again.

Have You lost Presence?
Signs of a loss of presence include: low energy, unhappiness, pessimism, feeling detached, numb, flat, anxious, stressed, depressed, confused, lonely, isolated, having relationship difficulties, poor concentration and ill health.

The absence of presence causes...
Mistakes - Contrary to popular opinion, the most common cause of mistakes is not being stupid - it is not being present. Most car accidents happen because the person driving the car is not present in the car. They are off thinking about something that happened or worrying about something that could happen in the future.

Scattered thinking - unanchored to the present moment the mind runs amuck with fantasies about the future and the past.

Fear - All fear occurs because we are projecting our minds into a future negative scenario.

Relationship breakdowns. Last week I counselled a man who’s wife left him for another man. He could not understand what his part in it was, apart from maybe being too accommodating. During the course of our conversation it became clear that he had left the relationship before his wife. He had little by little tuned out to his wife - because he disliked her irrationality (the bits of her he did not understand). He was busy in the world earning a living for his family. Though his body was present from 5.00pm each day and on weekends his mind and heart was not. Of course the whole thing took him by great surprise.

How do we lose Presence?
As we grow up we learn to suppress our feelings. We split off into the past and future when we begin to feel feelings that are uncomfortable or scary. This is one of the most common ways that we avoid feeling our feelings. Every time we suppress a feeling we disconnect from ourselves.

Also, we live in a culture that teaches the idea ‘we will be happy when we get something’. This encourages us to look outside of ourselves for satisfaction. However, the more we focus on external circumstances the more we lose touch with our true inner nature - which contains the happiness and contentment we yearn for.


The long term effects of presencing
I have been practising presencing for over fifteen years now, some of the benefits that I have experienced are: More at ease in myself, more in touch with people and events around me, more able to respond appropriately and effectively to life’s challenges, rapid healing of illness’, greater sense of flow in my day, I concentrate better, remember things better, think more clearly, am more productive and less tired, my reflexes are quicker, I make less mistakes, am more kind and gentle with myself when I do make a mistake, I have a greater sense of gratitude for being alive, feel more peace and love in my heart and more joy and laughter in my life.

Sounds like it’s worth practising hey?

I sure think so.