12 Incantations for a Centered Life

In this post, I’d like to present you with twelve incantations (breathing-and-thought bundles) that will serve you. Each one is an independent centering charm that you can use according to the situation you find yourself in, the problem you face, or your particular experience of uncenteredness.

I’ll introduce the incantations in this post and explain them in detail in subsequent posts. I suspect that you’ll intuitively understand the meaning and purpose of each one as soon as you encounter it. Whether or not you do, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about them as we proceed.

I’ll use parentheses to indicate how I believe each incantation naturally divides. Please note that Incantation 3 functions differently from the other eleven. It’s a “name your work” incantation. You think something different each time you employ it, depending on the work you intend to accomplish. For instance, if your work is an imminent performance, your phrase might be (I am ready) (to sing) or (this audition) (will be excellent). I’m using (I am) (doing my work) as a place-marker to stand for the idea that you name specific work each time you use this incantation.

Here are the twelve incantations:

(I am completely) (stopping)
(I expect) (nothing)
(I am) (doing my work)
(I trust) (my resources)
(I feel) (supported)
(I embrace) (this moment)
(I am free) (of the past)
(I make) (my meaning)
(I am open) (to joy)
(I am equal) (to this challenge)
(I am) (taking action)
(I return) (with strength)

Try these incantations out right now. Go through the list slowly, incorporating each phrase into its own long, deep breath. Begin with some preparatory centering breaths, breathe-and-think the first thought “(I am completely) (stopping),” and pause for reflection before moving on to the next incantation. Take your time and begin to experience the power of these twelve phrases.

Let me give you a brief overview of the twelve incantations by describing how one client used them, focusing for brevity sake on the first four incantations. Jane, a singer, songwriter, and actress who specialized in musical theater, hoped to work on a variety of issues when she came to see in my capacity as creativity coach. She had severe performance anxiety issues, had been raised in a critical and rejecting household, felt anxious about the quality of her voice and her inability to assert herself, and especially wanted help centering herself before auditions. We worked together in a variety of ways, one of which was my teaching her ten-second centering and her employing the twelve incantations in real life situations as they arose. Here’s how she put the first four of them into use.

1. “(I am completely) (stopping)”

Jane was aware that she kept herself in a rush, always piling activity upon activity, and that by keeping herself in a rush she rarely got around to practicing her audition pieces, either her songs or her monologues. She decided to use “I am completely stopping” once a day, about an hour after she got home from her work, after she’d made dinner and unwound a little, to check in with herself to see if she was ready to rehearse and practice. Most evenings she wasn’t; but about twice a week she found that by completely stopping, an opening occurred that allowed her to face her fears and rehearse. After about six weeks she felt her confidence build to the point that she could return to auditioning. Jane also used Incantation 1 as a way to “completely stop” her racing, out-of-control thoughts right before auditions and performances.

2. “I expect) (nothing)”

Jane realized that she was in the habit of putting extra pressure on herself by caring so much about landing the roles for which she auditioned. Caring so much caused her to get ungrounded and uncentered and raised her anxiety level tremendously, which invariably led to a weak audition. To interrupt this vicious cycle, she began using Incantation 2 to remind herself that her best bet was to audition “without expectations.” She found that the instant she closed her eyes, practiced her deep breathing, and inserted Incantation 2 into a long, deep breath, she became calmer and more present. She also found it useful to use Incantation 2 before seeing her parents, as it inoculated her against the disappointment and pain she inevitably felt after having interacted with them.

3. “(I am) (doing my work)”

Jane realized that forthrightly announcing that she had performing work to do and framing that work in a positive light helped strengthen and calm her. She created personalized incantations like “(I am ready) (to sing)”, “(This audition) (will be excellent)”, and “(I am excited) (to be acting)” and used them throughout the day, even while at her day job. These versions of Incantation 3 helped keep her in a positive mood and counteracted the negative thoughts that were always ready to infiltrate her system. If she heard about an actor’s success and felt envy well up or if she lost out on an audition, she would breathe-and-think, “(My work) (is to continue),” a version of Incantation 3 that she found herself using increasingly often.

4. “(I trust) (my resources)”

Jane knew that even when she was adequately prepared to perform, she nevertheless rarely felt adequately prepared. She began to use Incantation 4 to remind herself (and to convince herself) that once she was adequately prepared it was time to trust her skills, her training, and her being and proceed with confidence. She also used Incantation 4 to counteract the feeling that the odds against her succeeding were too long, that the industry was too whimsical and too cruel, and that she was not one of the lucky ones or the connected ones. She recognized that such thoughts, even if true, only sapped her energy and killed her motivation and therefore needed blocking and replacing.

Try out the 12 incantations and see if they might serve you, too.

Over the course of several weeks I’ll be providing a series of posts that will help you stay calm and centered in 2022. These posts are based on two of my books, Redesign Your Mind and Ten Zen Seconds. To learn more about the techniques I’ll be describing, please take a look at those two books.