One of my teachers often says “coming home to the breath” when we are using the breath as an anchor in meditation. Once I really integrated this, and it took a surprisingly long time for me to really “get it”, my practice blossomed. There can be something robotic and rigid about a basic breath awareness practice when you engage with it just in your “mind”. Breath in, breath out. In, out. In, out… When people say they get bored during a basic practice, I suspect this might be a contributing factor. When we feel the return of awareness to the breath as a coming home, an arriving in the aliveness of presence, each return becomes a gift.

That is not to say that every practice will feel amazing. Sometimes what we come home to is an angry self who hasn’t been listened to, tended to. If we can bring compassion into these times, that is where the real power and growth will emerge.

While we are always looking for the lived experience in practice, the “anchor”, the structure, is also quite powerful. Holding awareness in one place, steadies the mind which has a way of quieting the heart. I sometimes use the image of a snow globe. In our daily life, things swirl around us, clouding our view. There is constant stimulation. When we stop, when we find an anchor, all that has been swirling around us slows and falls away. In that space we can begin to really see what is happening in ourselves and the world around us. In the quiet, the reality is revealed.