Presence -  by Laura Tropea

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Presence.  The state of acting or occurring as present in a time or place. To get present.

When I first started practicing yoga I would hear teachers say “be present,” “be here;” in fact, one of my own teacher’s favorite quotes is, “now here or nowhere;” and it wasn’t until recently I began to really experience the act of getting present on my mat, in my meditation practice and ultimately in my life.  You see, I couldn’t access the present moment, because I was a paper chaser; no, not the kind who sought out dollar bills, as M.I.A. rallies on in Paper Planes, but rather the paper chaser who sought degrees, accolades and paper to distinguish, determine, validate who I was in the world.  All this paper was clouding my perception and in turn my ability to get present.

It wasn’t until I heard a yoga teacher instruct a student who was struggling during a question...