Conscious relaxing

- [Instructor] On your first day of practice, you started the process of what we call arriving in presence. You explored pausing and feeling the sensations of your body and becoming aware of your states of mind. Now, you might have noticed that this mindful presence is not our habitual way of being. And why is that? Well, if you ask yourself in this moment, "What's between me and feeling at ease?" Just sense what comes up. For many of us, this question points us directly to the stress and tension we're carrying. You know, our days are busy with meetings, emails, projects, phone calls, report writing and more and these persistent demands lead to anxiety and physical tension. Thomas Merton puts it this way, "The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands,…