Hi Friends,
There's no doubt about it-- these are some unprecedented times. At the time we are publishing this episode, the UK and much of Europe are on lockdown-- we don't know how long it's going to go on and how much our world is going to change by the time we get through the health crisis caused by Covid-19.
If you're like us, you may be finding yourself particularly isolated and anxious these days. We created a three-part series to help you stay present and find some ease in these crazy times. This episode is the first part, and will take you through a practice called 'Orientation', which is essentially connecting to the environment you're in through your five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste-- so that you can connect to the neutral reality of the here and now, and maybe even what's pleasant about the here and now.
This practice is especially useful if you find that your thoughts and feelings are consistently spiraling towards fear/worry/anxiety about the future, or even if your focus in the present moment is consistently getting drawn towards 'what's wrong' with the present moment. Orientation can help you come back to other aspects of the reality of here and now-- from what's okay to even what's pleasant-- so that it's easier for you to access the full range of your experience. This helps ensure that, as and when you need to communicate, you can communicate from a place of connection and ease. Orientation is a useful practice for any time in life, but particularly right now.
Orientation is something we do naturally, but the wording of this practice is inspired by a body of work called Organic Intelligence(r). To learn more about Organic Intelligence, you can listen to our previous podcast episode, 'How to Become More Present: Conversation with Craig Deuchar' and/or at www.organicintelligence.org.
Please let us know how you get on with this practice, what questions it brings up for you, and if you have other ideas around how we can support you at this time. Please also share this episode with anyone you feel could use this support.
Take good care,
Christine & Lindsay