Clematis
Not presentDaydreaming, living in imagination
Step 1 · State (recognise)
You are often somewhere other than here, thoughts drifting into imagination, memory, or a future that hasn't arrived.
Step 2 · Allow (the core)
I allow myself to come back to this moment, without needing to escape into the distance.
Step 3 · Back to the body
Notice your feet or your lower legs. The body is touching, the body is breathing.
If you'd like the body to hold this state more easily, this is a good place to start.
Returning
When you're drifting and can't get back to now
Houxi SI-3 · Outer edge of the little finger
Supports a slow return to the present
In depth
【Emotional signature】
Clematis shows up when the inner world is rich but the distance from the present has grown. You may be used to living in imagination, plans or memory, letting your thoughts leave the life that is actually happening. This isn't indifference. It's a way of stepping temporarily out of reality to avoid pressure, uncertainty, or feelings that weigh too much.
【Through the lens of neuroception】
What this card reflects: faced with the present, the body moves attention elsewhere — somewhere safer, somewhere that asks less of it.
In this state, the body may show:
* Footsteps that don't feel quite solid, as if you weren't fully standing on the ground
* The body present while the mind has drifted off
* A sense of distance from what is happening right in front of you
This is not a problem. The body is using distance to lighten the load — it just means missing the life that's going on.
【How this essence supports you】
The support of Clematis is in gently keeping you company on the way back to this moment. It doesn't ask you to give up imagination or dreaming; it lets the body slowly feel that being here is, in fact, safe. When groundedness returns, a real sense of presence surfaces on its own.
【Today's practice】
Find a quiet moment; standing or sitting both work. Let your attention rest lightly on your feet or lower legs. There's no need to change your breathing — just know that the body is breathing. Let yourself stand here, right now, without having to do anything.
【Working with MUNI Scent】
Press a small amount of MUNI Scent into your palm, or open the bottle near your nose and take three easy breaths of it. Then rest a hand on your feet, calves or thighs, and let scent and touch keep you company, without expecting anything to change.
Smell is the only sense that skips rational analysis and reaches the centres of emotion and memory directly —
let the scent become a road home, while the body settles back into now.
How to work with this
Body awareness here is not about hunting for what hurts,
and not about making the body become something.
It's about choosing a part of the body that is relatively easy to feel,
so attention has somewhere to rest.
This is not for the sake of pulling yourself back,
nor a demand for focus or alertness.
It is simply keeping company with the experience that is happening.
No intervening, no correcting — letting awareness unfold on its own, once it's allowed to.
For practitioners
If you are using this card with a practitioner:
* Keep your voice warm and steady; avoid saying "come back to the present"
* Watch for a stronger sense of standing, steadier footing, the gaze returning to the room
* You might say: "You don't have to leave, and you don't have to stay. Just let the body be here."
When you use MUNI Scent together:
In a shared scent environment, the body finds it easier to reconnect with the ground,
so presence isn't pulled back — it returns on its own.
When you might reach for it
This essence comes up in the guides below.
Other essences in “Not present”
You're here, but not really here — drifting off, living in the past, or too tired to feel anything. If this one doesn't quite match where you are, the others in the same group are worth a look.
