Being "Present" by Dan Houston

I'm getting more and more present to the notion that it's impossible to be present. YES, you heard correctly! It's impossible to be completely, 100%, unequivocally present. 

OK, take a moment and try something. Speak - and consider - the sentence again: I'm getting more and more present to the notion that it's impossible to be present. 

This revelation grew out of a conversation with a prison inmate with whom I share the practice of yoga. During our conversation I noticed that David's dialogue continued to slide into stories, words, and experiences from his past. I also noticed that he was operating primarily from a context of guilt and fear.

Yoga has empowered me to create a life of abundance from a context of possibility - a forward and upward trajectory in life. So, as David began to slide into his past, and resign himself to a heavy, energetic reaction, I committed to sharing a question that has empowered me to live in the realm of creation.

Question: Based on where you are right now...what's possible for you as you move forward? 

Initially, David became excited and shared, "What's possible is that I be a man of honor."

Without realizing it, I had launched into coaching mode. My next question burst forward led by sheer intuition and genuine interest. I asked, "What, specifically, does that look like for you?" It became immediately clear that the question shook David slightly, and he openly expressed a feeling of uncertainty and fear around going back to the "free world".

I asked him to draw in a single, full breath and take on the idea that he and I get to create our futures by "being present." That the best time for our future is right NOW. I sensed that the idea landed well as I watch a shining smile grow on David's face.

At that moment, stirred by the energy of David's expression, an entirely novel thought crashed into my consciousness. It hit me that we have two essential ways of living: We're either living in the a passive past...OR we're constantly actioning our future.

Aside from my own intuition, my only evidence here is my scant knowledge of the anatomical systems of the body. My understanding is that human sensory systems function on a perpetual delay. By the time your brain fully absorbs the words you're reading in this sentence, the "present" moment is already in the past.

We're constantly chasing a train of conscious presence; yet, we never quite reach the caboose to hop aboard.

I'm learning that the collective joy, mystery, and beauty of life resides in the chase itself. My conversation with David opened me up to the experience that yoga is really about becoming "more and more 'present'" - a continuous and unattainable practice of moving toward a positive, empowering future.