Be In The Moment

Imagine a moment in your life where you felt like you had the most control. You felt as if nothing could touch you. Your mind and body completely focused at what you were doing.

Now picture this: you’re at work, practice, or school doing your daily routine. How often do you find your mind wandering elsewhere aside from what you’re doing at that present moment.

There will be plenty of days that pass us by while our minds are elsewhere.

If your mind is elsewhere, then your heart really isn’t in it either.

It’s like the shoe on your foot. It won’t serve it’s purpose if it’s all the way across the room.

Being in the moment ,also known as mindfulness, is something that I’m sure plenty of us have experienced before, but more likely in smaller tastes. I’m sure as dancers we’ve all experienced that rush and moment of performing on stage. Your mind is no where else but at what you’re doing at that moment; the feeling of your heart racing as you dance, the cheers from the crowd as the music plays, you soak in every sensation you can.

The concept of being in the moment from performing to the daily is pretty challenging. Not everyone can live in the moment all the time, but with practice, you can learn how to be in the moment much longer than others. Of course there will be occassions where you’ll find yourself stressing about a project or a something of the past. But you can always bounce back.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a meditation. It’s simply focusing less on what’s going on in your mind and focusing more on what’s going on around you.

Here are a few quick tips on how to be more mindful.
1. Just Do It.

“You can’t think and hit at the same time.” - Yogi Berra

Focusing on the now forces you to stop over thinking. One of the more common ways that stop us from taking action is our own thoughts. Getting caught inside the chambers of your own head will not move you forward.

Stop thinking and just take action. But in order to stop yourself from thinking, it won’t happen just like that. You must become more aware of what’s going around you and what you are doing. Thinking and trying too hard in what you’re doing will make you perform worst. But that doesn’t mean zone out, just focus fully on what you are doing in that present moment.

2. Focus on the now

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the ‘present.’” - Kung Fu Panda

More often than not we find ourselves worrying about the future or the past instead of the present moment. We may find ourselves saying, “I didn’t perform as good as I did last time,” or “I hope I don’t mess up on the next performance.” Instead of getting so caught up with past and future, allow yourself to dive into the now. Most people who have learned to live in the now find themselves happier. Most negative thoughts are related to the past or the future. Now is all you really have control over. Now is the forever passing moment that will continue to pass you by if you get caught up with the past and/or the future.

3. Lose track of time

It’s that moment you are so focused in what you’re doing, you lose track of everything else around you. This state of mind is not something you can easily will yourself into, all you can do is set the stage for it to happen.

To get started on this process, make sure you’ve set a goal that matches your ability level. I don’t suggest making it so difficult that you become stressed, nor do I suggest making it so easy that you become bored.

Then make sure you’ve set the stage where you can get instant feedback. When you’re practicing a move on your own you’ll immediately know when it’s wrong or not. And the more you dive into the process the more the clutter in your head just stops. You feel a sense of self accomplishment even though the task may have been quite difficult.

4. Know that you don’t know

“All I know is that I know nothing” -Socrates

Sometimes we become so engulfed in the chatter inside our head we completely forget what we experienced. This is the opposite of mindfulness, it’s called mindlessness.

We can become mindless if once we take the position of being an expert; and simply because we already “know” it, we stop paying attention to it completely. It’s that moment in our routine that we’re doing it to just do it because we’ve done it so many times. But if you take in what you’re doing with a beginner’s mind, you will notice that something is different every time. It’s like wearing a fresh pair of eyes each time.

As dancers and performers we do our routine more than once at performances and even more during rehearsals. We face the challenge of not growing bored of the routine so we find subtle new ways to make the performance more enjoyable. Finding excitement in something after doing it a million times can be harder compared to when you were doing it the first time. Being in the moment and not focusing on how many times you may have done it before helps give you the beginner’s mind you need to be successful.

Keep in mind that mindfulness is not a goal, because goals are about the future. It is a simple state of mind. As you finish reading this post you notice that the squiggles you are reading on your computer screen and the weight of gravity pull you down. Wake up. Become aware of being alive and breathe. As you take in your next breath, take notice of your stomach rising as you breathe in, and the warm breath you release as you exhale. If you notice that feeling as you read this, you’re living in the moment. It’s not a destination. It’s not a state of mind. This is it. You’re already here.

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