WEBVTT 00:00.531 --> 00:03.453 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Morning Ritual podcast. 00:04.114 --> 00:09.778 [SPEAKER_00]: Here we uncover how small daily practices hold the key to a more aligned life. 00:10.999 --> 00:13.941 [SPEAKER_00]: Rituals help us turn the mundane into the meaningful. 00:14.401 --> 00:19.745 [SPEAKER_00]: They help us remember our values and visions and realign us with who we really are. 00:20.642 --> 00:23.103 [SPEAKER_00]: This is not about overnight transformation. 00:23.543 --> 00:28.625 [SPEAKER_00]: It's about intentional living, having presence over production. 00:29.205 --> 00:36.608 [SPEAKER_00]: Each week, we hear from teachers, artists, healers and creators about the rituals that keep them grounded, clear, and aligned. 00:37.168 --> 00:42.350 [SPEAKER_00]: Their stories remind us that living intentionally isn't just possible, it's transformative. 00:43.211 --> 00:45.872 [SPEAKER_00]: So take a breath and settle in. 00:48.758 --> 00:51.280 [SPEAKER_01]: Hey guys and welcome back. 00:52.041 --> 00:59.586 [SPEAKER_01]: Today we're gonna get super nuanced and we're gonna bring light to something that a lot of meditation teachers don't talk about. 01:00.387 --> 01:01.428 [SPEAKER_01]: Me included. 01:02.157 --> 01:11.925 [SPEAKER_01]: So in all my years of sharing practices and conversations with you, I actually have never done an episode solely on this topic. 01:12.906 --> 01:13.506 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's time. 01:14.287 --> 01:20.411 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have a super honest conversation and talk about why meditation doesn't always work. 01:21.292 --> 01:24.755 [SPEAKER_01]: and the times when meditation is actually not that helpful. 01:25.816 --> 01:30.519 [SPEAKER_01]: For a really long time, I would force myself to meditate because I thought I should. 01:30.540 --> 01:36.704 [SPEAKER_01]: I was training to become a meditation teacher, so I put a lot of pressure on the practice. 01:36.805 --> 01:49.314 [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to be really disciplined, but to be honest, there was a good chunk of time where it just didn't feel very helpful and it didn't feel very supportive. 01:50.055 --> 01:51.416 [SPEAKER_01]: I would sit in silence. 01:51.536 --> 01:52.917 [SPEAKER_01]: I would set a little timer. 01:52.937 --> 01:58.542 [SPEAKER_01]: I would try to watch my thoughts, and I would just be bending around in my brain. 01:58.562 --> 02:05.327 [SPEAKER_01]: I would oftentimes stop my timer after three minutes instead of doing the full 10 or 15. 02:06.048 --> 02:09.791 [SPEAKER_01]: And if I did that, I would totally like beat myself up. 02:10.211 --> 02:13.774 [SPEAKER_01]: If I skipped a day, I would feel like 02:16.816 --> 02:27.141 [SPEAKER_01]: And what I didn't realize back then, this was like in my early to mid-20s, was that my nervous system was in total overdrive. 02:27.541 --> 02:34.665 [SPEAKER_01]: And I was asking myself to leap straight into stillness without tending to that underlying activation. 02:35.745 --> 02:48.997 [SPEAKER_01]: So I really hadn't, I mean, I knew it conceptually, but I didn't really understand it fully, that meditation isn't about forcing focus. 02:50.018 --> 02:58.085 [SPEAKER_01]: It's really a much kinder, much more compassionate practice around meeting yourself exactly where you are. 02:59.543 --> 03:09.087 [SPEAKER_01]: So, if you take one tidbit from this episode, it would be that your practice should add and flow. 03:09.988 --> 03:19.792 [SPEAKER_01]: There will be seasons when discipline and daily practice feel expansive, feel lined, feel like so right. 03:21.126 --> 03:36.340 [SPEAKER_01]: And there will be seasons where the gentleness and other modalities are what's needed, and the truth is meditation is just one tool, and it is not the right tool for every situation. 03:38.406 --> 03:39.106 [SPEAKER_01]: Not gonna lie. 03:39.166 --> 03:46.548 [SPEAKER_01]: I am not the best cook in the world, but I'm imagining having to cook every meal with just one utensil. 03:47.488 --> 03:50.709 [SPEAKER_01]: Like that would not get you very far. 03:51.809 --> 04:02.372 [SPEAKER_01]: So I found, like as I've gone along this spiritual journey, that a big part of maturing on this path is learning to sermon, 04:07.509 --> 04:11.111 [SPEAKER_01]: So today we're gonna look at why meditation isn't always helpful. 04:12.032 --> 04:16.714 [SPEAKER_01]: The role of the nervous system in making stillness possible. 04:18.275 --> 04:26.420 [SPEAKER_01]: The background of yoga and how the yoga posture, the asana were created in the first place. 04:27.380 --> 04:31.363 [SPEAKER_01]: Spoiler alert, the asanas were created so that we could sit still. 04:32.003 --> 04:34.224 [SPEAKER_01]: So all the yoga posture is our design 04:36.382 --> 04:37.488 [SPEAKER_01]: You could sit and stillness. 04:39.298 --> 04:43.581 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about what you can do instead when sitting feels impossible. 04:44.601 --> 04:47.103 [SPEAKER_01]: And finally, how to reframe meditation. 04:47.403 --> 04:52.507 [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a source of compassion, not that pressure that I was feeling for years. 04:53.707 --> 04:56.809 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's take mindfulness meditation, as an example. 04:57.790 --> 05:06.375 [SPEAKER_01]: In its classic form, mindfulness is about sitting still, turning your attention inward, and observing what arises. 05:07.276 --> 05:17.942 [SPEAKER_01]: We've got thoughts in there, we've got sensations, we've got feelings and the ideas that you just watch all these passing sensations without judgment. 05:18.963 --> 05:20.584 [SPEAKER_01]: I adore this practice. 05:21.424 --> 05:27.368 [SPEAKER_01]: It cultivates more space inside, more curiosity, more presence, 05:28.590 --> 05:29.451 [SPEAKER_01]: But there's a catch. 05:30.051 --> 05:50.128 [SPEAKER_01]: If we turn inward when we're in the middle of a storm, like if we are feeling our nervous system is activated, whether it's that fight, or flight, or fauna, or freeze response, if we're feeling unsafe, unsettle, dysregulated inside, which is gonna happen because we're human beings. 05:50.688 --> 05:53.070 [SPEAKER_01]: Then instead of soothing us, 05:53.931 --> 06:00.456 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation could, I'm not saying it always will, but it could actually make things worse. 06:01.577 --> 06:07.842 [SPEAKER_01]: It could keep you stuck in your head, rumenating and amplifying what's already overwhelming. 06:08.792 --> 06:14.360 [SPEAKER_01]: And we really, in those moments, we really want to create a sense of safety in the body. 06:15.361 --> 06:18.245 [SPEAKER_01]: So to really understand this, we need to look at the nervous system. 06:19.347 --> 06:23.653 [SPEAKER_01]: And we see the world through the lens of our nervous system. 06:24.634 --> 06:35.201 [SPEAKER_01]: So when it's over-activated, when we are fried, when we're exhausted, when we're in fight or fly, like all those modes I just mentioned, we're more easily triggered. 06:36.101 --> 06:40.324 [SPEAKER_01]: We're more easily aggravated, our fuse is just a little shorter. 06:42.926 --> 06:52.516 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're in that fight or flight, your heart is racing, your thoughts are speeding, stillness, totally feels impossible. 06:53.237 --> 07:00.104 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're in the free state, you might feel kind of numb, disconnected, checked out. 07:01.145 --> 07:05.809 [SPEAKER_01]: And I've been in this num state where I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm so good at meditating. 07:05.889 --> 07:09.992 [SPEAKER_01]: I could just sit here and I could sit and stillness really easily. 07:10.893 --> 07:13.875 [SPEAKER_01]: But that is not meditation. 07:13.915 --> 07:15.356 [SPEAKER_01]: That is just zoning out. 07:15.416 --> 07:17.618 [SPEAKER_01]: That is not presence. 07:17.938 --> 07:20.400 [SPEAKER_01]: That is is numbing out. 07:20.460 --> 07:21.240 [SPEAKER_01]: That's the free. 07:21.340 --> 07:24.403 [SPEAKER_01]: So, so meditating is not really going to support. 07:25.678 --> 07:30.501 [SPEAKER_01]: And then the fun is like, when you fall into those people pleasing behavior. 07:30.601 --> 07:37.905 [SPEAKER_01]: So I've certainly been like, that was a little bit of what I was doing when I was training to become a meditation teacher. 07:37.945 --> 07:41.488 [SPEAKER_01]: What I was talking about before is I just wanted to be so good at the practice. 07:41.528 --> 07:42.648 [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to get it right. 07:42.688 --> 07:44.469 [SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to meet an expectation. 07:45.390 --> 07:46.671 [SPEAKER_01]: Wanted to be a good student. 07:48.233 --> 07:54.059 [SPEAKER_01]: And that really wasn't the purest form of practice, because there was that people pleasing element. 07:55.040 --> 08:03.569 [SPEAKER_01]: So when our system, when we perceive danger, even if it's just like subtle everyday stress, 08:04.570 --> 08:07.631 [SPEAKER_01]: stillness can actually feel kind of unsafe. 08:08.371 --> 08:20.695 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you ever sat down to meditate and you feel restless, anxious, potentially even more in your head than you were before, it does not mean you are failing. 08:21.836 --> 08:25.297 [SPEAKER_01]: It means that your body is asking for a different entry point. 08:26.577 --> 08:55.244 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I want to talk about finishing the stress cycle, so it's important to note that when our bodies in a stress response, like that bite flight freeze bond, it needs to complete the cycle, so that would mean moving your body, shaking, dancing, maybe you need a big cry, take deep breaths, just go outside for a walk and then once that cycle completes your nervous system can settle. 08:56.124 --> 09:06.709 [SPEAKER_01]: I think of like, when I was a little girl and, you know, as kids do, we have like tantrums and we cry and we're having a huge cry and then just being able to nap so deeply after. 09:06.729 --> 09:13.152 [SPEAKER_01]: It was like finishing the stress cycle so I could rest and kids, kids naturally do it. 09:15.596 --> 09:26.705 [SPEAKER_01]: From there, once we've completed the stress cycle, meditation can become really supportive rather than kind of unsettling. 09:27.745 --> 09:37.173 [SPEAKER_01]: And like I mentioned before, that's why in the yoga practice, the awesomeness, the postures of physical movements were created in the first place. 09:37.873 --> 09:48.804 [SPEAKER_01]: movement, breath work, mudras, munchas all were designed to prepare the body and the nervous system so that we could finally sit still and observe the mind. 09:49.805 --> 09:55.650 [SPEAKER_01]: So stillness, meditation is actually like the most advanced layer of practice. 09:55.710 --> 09:58.313 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not the best starting point. 09:59.221 --> 10:03.504 [SPEAKER_01]: And when I work with clients, we always, always, always start with the body. 10:04.145 --> 10:14.172 [SPEAKER_01]: We start with movement, we start with breath, touch, talking, and it's the last 15 or 20 minutes that we integrate with stillness, and we deepen with meditation. 10:15.590 --> 10:20.012 [SPEAKER_01]: And the earliest records of meditation make this very clear. 10:20.912 --> 10:23.193 [SPEAKER_01]: Stillness was never meant to be the starting point. 10:24.053 --> 10:32.636 [SPEAKER_01]: So in Patanjali's yoga sutras meditation, known as diana, is the seventh limb of the eight-limbed path. 10:33.696 --> 10:37.458 [SPEAKER_01]: So this is the eight limbs of yoga. 10:38.578 --> 10:58.290 [SPEAKER_01]: And it comes only after you've tended to the foundations, like ethics, the yamas, the niamas, the daily disciplines, the awesanas, the breath, the withdrawal of the senses, and meditation comes from that when that foundation is already laid. 10:58.930 --> 11:01.612 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not something you've forced before the conditions are ready. 11:02.893 --> 11:05.514 [SPEAKER_01]: But this is not a black and white situation. 11:05.574 --> 11:08.414 [SPEAKER_01]: Our nervous system is not black and white. 11:08.474 --> 11:10.135 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not just on or off. 11:10.215 --> 11:13.495 [SPEAKER_01]: It's we're constantly dancing between these states. 11:14.336 --> 11:21.337 [SPEAKER_01]: So what I find really, really helpful is using a one to 10 scale. 11:22.318 --> 11:23.318 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's say one is, 11:25.028 --> 11:29.131 [SPEAKER_01]: totally fried, stressed out, survival mode. 11:29.211 --> 11:32.573 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's just call it disregulated. 11:32.593 --> 11:39.177 [SPEAKER_01]: 10 is very grounded at ease, at peace, like totally blissed out. 11:41.202 --> 11:52.408 [SPEAKER_01]: My rule of thumb is that if you are sitting at a one, two, or three on that scale, diving straight into meditation often won't be helpful. 11:53.348 --> 11:56.890 [SPEAKER_01]: There's not enough internal safety to sit with yourself. 11:57.731 --> 12:00.352 [SPEAKER_01]: So instead, the first step is regulation. 12:00.972 --> 12:03.674 [SPEAKER_01]: Can we move from a two or a three 12:10.579 --> 12:13.420 [SPEAKER_01]: not leaping straight from like a one to an eight. 12:14.420 --> 12:17.101 [SPEAKER_01]: And most of us live somewhere in the middle. 12:17.521 --> 12:18.281 [SPEAKER_01]: And that's okay. 12:18.361 --> 12:20.241 [SPEAKER_01]: The point isn't to always be at a 10. 12:20.301 --> 12:22.082 [SPEAKER_01]: That is not realistic. 12:22.642 --> 12:28.363 [SPEAKER_01]: But to know where you're at on the scale and choose what supports you. 12:28.763 --> 12:31.424 [SPEAKER_01]: So in a break, these numbers down a little bit more. 12:31.484 --> 12:34.105 [SPEAKER_01]: And the thing is you find them for yourself. 12:34.125 --> 12:35.745 [SPEAKER_01]: So you know what your one looks like. 12:35.785 --> 12:37.085 [SPEAKER_01]: You know what your two looks like. 12:37.125 --> 12:38.506 [SPEAKER_01]: You know what your five looks like. 12:40.846 --> 12:49.728 [SPEAKER_01]: But one to three is often like depressed, anxious, fight, flight, freeze response is activated. 12:50.168 --> 12:57.630 [SPEAKER_01]: Potentially, there's just been a traumatic experience, or you've had some significant unresolved traumas in the past. 12:58.650 --> 13:04.492 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're in this one to three pretty regularly, I would find a professional to work with. 13:10.853 --> 13:23.321 [SPEAKER_01]: In this, before just sitting with yourself and observing your mind, skip the meditation, there are different tools for different times and these times call for call for something else. 13:24.610 --> 13:32.115 [SPEAKER_01]: So, I would say, don't meditate when life is calling for your attention when you need to take action. 13:32.135 --> 13:36.798 [SPEAKER_01]: Because meditation is not about denying or ignoring reality. 13:37.558 --> 13:40.000 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not about hiding or avoiding life. 13:40.860 --> 13:44.442 [SPEAKER_01]: The purpose of meditation is the exact opposite. 13:44.603 --> 13:46.724 [SPEAKER_01]: It's to open ourselves up to life. 13:47.765 --> 13:49.245 [SPEAKER_01]: To meet all of reality. 13:54.786 --> 14:00.590 [SPEAKER_01]: And I like to think that we're in a co-creation and we got to meet the universe halfway. 14:01.171 --> 14:07.615 [SPEAKER_01]: We can't just meditate our way to wealth and peace and purpose, et cetera. 14:10.217 --> 14:18.963 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, life is calling for your attention, take action and oftentimes taking action creates clarity. 14:20.064 --> 14:22.146 [SPEAKER_01]: So let's talk about these four to six stages. 14:22.206 --> 14:25.048 [SPEAKER_01]: This is a super average, just where many people are. 14:25.128 --> 14:27.049 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like normal stress levels. 14:27.730 --> 14:30.872 [SPEAKER_01]: And meditation is great here. 14:31.693 --> 14:37.517 [SPEAKER_01]: I do recommend a more active meditation or a guided meditation in this stage. 14:37.957 --> 14:46.765 [SPEAKER_01]: So that could include breath work, pranayama, mudra's, mantras, this is where yoga really shines. 14:47.426 --> 14:50.929 [SPEAKER_01]: And once again, if you're at a five, don't try to jump to a 10. 14:51.610 --> 14:54.572 [SPEAKER_01]: Just see what would get me from a five to a six. 14:55.553 --> 15:00.678 [SPEAKER_01]: And it's really important to note that if we're not grounded, so if we're not feeling, 15:01.218 --> 15:02.799 [SPEAKER_01]: study, save, secure. 15:03.500 --> 15:10.025 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation can take us two in our heads or two in the clouds and I see it left and right. 15:10.646 --> 15:17.451 [SPEAKER_01]: People who are deeply spiritual, deeply connected to some higher realm, but not rooted in reality. 15:18.532 --> 15:22.034 [SPEAKER_01]: And when it happens, it's easy to bypass the human experience. 15:22.815 --> 15:32.101 [SPEAKER_01]: The reality is, Bill's still need to get paid, taxes still need to get done, garbage still needs to get put out, relationships still need tending to, our body still need care. 15:32.201 --> 15:37.724 [SPEAKER_01]: So without that grounding, spirituality can become an escape instead of a source of strength. 15:38.465 --> 15:41.126 [SPEAKER_01]: So true practice isn't about floating away. 15:41.607 --> 15:45.069 [SPEAKER_01]: It's about being able to hold both the material and the spiritual, 15:49.037 --> 15:55.422 [SPEAKER_01]: So the more firmly we root in the body, the more fully we can rise into that spiritual depth and expansion. 15:55.883 --> 15:59.025 [SPEAKER_01]: But the rooting, the grounding, comes first. 15:59.946 --> 16:07.612 [SPEAKER_01]: So I would say, keep the meditation really grounded if you're in that four to six stage. 16:08.653 --> 16:10.695 [SPEAKER_01]: And then we have seven, eight, nine, ten. 16:10.715 --> 16:13.297 [SPEAKER_01]: This is when you're already feeling quite grounded. 16:14.470 --> 16:16.672 [SPEAKER_01]: relaxed, little stress. 16:17.432 --> 16:22.416 [SPEAKER_01]: If you're here and you have the time, increase the duration of your practice. 16:23.117 --> 16:28.201 [SPEAKER_01]: Work more subtly with the energetic body, more advanced breath practices. 16:28.922 --> 16:33.465 [SPEAKER_01]: When I'm here, the practice feels really devotional. 16:34.186 --> 16:40.651 [SPEAKER_01]: And it helps me connect to something larger than myself and it helps me dedicate the practice outwards. 16:41.732 --> 16:52.042 [SPEAKER_01]: And so to get a little more specific, like I move from a 1 to a 3 one day, a 4 to a 6 the next, a 10, then go back to a 4. 16:52.122 --> 16:55.385 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we're constantly writing this scale. 16:55.445 --> 16:57.607 [SPEAKER_01]: It's never like we're in one place. 16:57.647 --> 17:05.715 [SPEAKER_01]: So if I'm in that 1 to 3 range, I will take a hop-up, I'll go to a Yen yoga practice, 17:06.215 --> 17:07.980 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll call one of my good girlfriends. 17:08.180 --> 17:09.042 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll journal. 17:09.303 --> 17:10.867 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see my acupuncturist. 17:10.907 --> 17:12.190 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll talk to my therapist. 17:12.772 --> 17:13.654 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll get a massage. 17:13.694 --> 17:14.977 [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, there's so many. 17:16.891 --> 17:24.799 [SPEAKER_01]: tools in my toolbox beyond meditation that I reach to when I'm in this like one, two, three and pretty stressed out level. 17:25.680 --> 17:32.847 [SPEAKER_01]: For to six those regular stress levels, I try to commit to my practice and I keep it all about grounding and studying the mind. 17:33.327 --> 17:35.830 [SPEAKER_01]: I keep it really nourishing and realistic. 17:35.990 --> 17:37.732 [SPEAKER_01]: I might practice for 10 minutes. 17:38.899 --> 17:57.993 [SPEAKER_01]: In that 7 to 10, the mind is pretty steady, I can go deeper, I can connect to deeper layers of consciousness, I can start to expand my energy a bit more, but I'm not always there, so this model just takes the pressure off, I don't need to be a 10 every day. 17:58.453 --> 18:00.835 [SPEAKER_01]: I actually couldn't, I would love to be at 10 every day. 18:00.855 --> 18:02.936 [SPEAKER_01]: I just, it's, I'm human, so I can't. 18:04.437 --> 18:09.120 [SPEAKER_01]: And the primary principle here is incremental care. 18:10.001 --> 18:12.202 [SPEAKER_01]: So don't try to leap from a three to any. 18:12.823 --> 18:15.725 [SPEAKER_01]: Just ask what would bring me from a three to a four right now. 18:16.745 --> 18:19.267 [SPEAKER_01]: When you're out of four, what would bring you from a four to a five? 18:21.137 --> 18:26.003 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, I've been out of five, what would bring me to a six incremental care step by step. 18:27.105 --> 18:31.791 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, so I want to get more specific about what to do instead of forcing meditation. 18:32.532 --> 18:36.617 [SPEAKER_01]: So I like to think of these practices as falling into three categories. 18:37.478 --> 18:41.102 [SPEAKER_01]: That way you're not working with like a baby's first toolbox toolkit. 18:41.122 --> 18:48.951 [SPEAKER_01]: You're working with like a well stocked toolbox with drawers and shelves and compartments the whole deal. 18:49.612 --> 18:51.094 [SPEAKER_01]: I always use this term toolbox. 18:51.154 --> 18:53.236 [SPEAKER_01]: I think it just, it makes so much sense. 18:53.817 --> 18:57.201 [SPEAKER_01]: So remember there's different tools for different moments. 18:58.729 --> 19:08.831 [SPEAKER_01]: And the first category, the first shelf, if you want to picture it that way, is somatic tools, so-mo meaning body, so body-based practices. 19:09.492 --> 19:16.693 [SPEAKER_01]: These are all about using movement, breath, touch, senses to regulate the body. 19:17.313 --> 19:19.674 [SPEAKER_01]: Think of it as grounding from the outside in. 19:19.814 --> 19:25.535 [SPEAKER_01]: So some examples would be moving, so that could be going for a walk, going for a run, 19:28.656 --> 19:38.585 [SPEAKER_01]: We all have different ways that our body likes to move, so you find what works for you, maybe it's going out and dancing, but getting back in touch with the body. 19:39.225 --> 19:55.720 [SPEAKER_01]: Breath practices, so like proneyama is great here, orienting through the senses, so there's that naming five things you see, or things you feel, three things you hear, two things you smell, one thing you taste. 19:56.967 --> 20:01.048 [SPEAKER_01]: So somatic tools are like nervous system recepants. 20:02.149 --> 20:09.971 [SPEAKER_01]: They work when sitting feels like too much because they meet the body first instead of just demanding the mind to quiet down. 20:10.911 --> 20:15.873 [SPEAKER_01]: And then there is evidence backed mind-based scientific tools. 20:15.953 --> 20:17.373 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're moving away from the body. 20:17.393 --> 20:18.614 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to the mind. 20:18.634 --> 20:21.534 [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking psychology and neuroscience. 20:22.075 --> 20:25.055 [SPEAKER_01]: These bring clarity, structure, understanding 20:26.876 --> 20:44.267 [SPEAKER_01]: So my favorite scientific tools are journaling to just literal brain dump racing thoughts on the paper, just taking stream of consciousness thoughts and writing them down, naming emotions as they arise. 20:44.367 --> 20:50.111 [SPEAKER_01]: So neuroscience has showed us that labeling our feelings reduces their intensity. 20:50.171 --> 20:52.812 [SPEAKER_01]: So calling out feelings as they arise. 20:53.913 --> 21:00.975 [SPEAKER_01]: Another thing is working with your routine, so creating consistent routines to give the nervous system productivity and safety. 21:01.035 --> 21:13.458 [SPEAKER_01]: So waking up at the same time, going to sleep at the same time, eating at the same time, showing up to your practice at the same time, creating these little rituals to create consistency in your life. 21:14.038 --> 21:28.064 [SPEAKER_01]: And then there's that education piece, like the more that you learn about the nervous system, the more that you learn different tools, you're just building out your toolbox with knowledge, knowledge is power. 21:28.844 --> 21:33.466 [SPEAKER_01]: Scientific tools, they give your mind something to hold on to. 21:33.506 --> 21:37.028 [SPEAKER_01]: They help you process their way to make sense of what's happening. 21:37.981 --> 21:46.825 [SPEAKER_01]: So you have the body-based tools, you have the scientific or mind-based tools, and then we have some spiritual tools, and these are really personal. 21:47.105 --> 21:50.747 [SPEAKER_01]: They're dependent on your beliefs, so it might be prayer. 21:50.847 --> 21:54.548 [SPEAKER_01]: It's something that connects you to something larger than yourself. 21:54.829 --> 21:56.849 [SPEAKER_01]: So for me, that is meditation. 21:57.950 --> 22:03.012 [SPEAKER_01]: For some people, that might be a gratitude practice, where you're just recognizing, 22:05.193 --> 22:15.317 [SPEAKER_01]: What you're thankful for, other rituals like journaling as a dialogue with your higher self or your innate wisdom. 22:16.578 --> 22:29.503 [SPEAKER_01]: Visualization can be really powerful and maybe you work with an energy worker or some other spiritual teacher that helps you stay connected to something larger than yourself. 22:30.283 --> 22:40.970 [SPEAKER_01]: Connecting with nature might be a big part of your spiritual practice but spiritual tools are anything that help you remember that you're not alone. 22:42.051 --> 22:50.797 [SPEAKER_01]: That life is larger than this one moment and that presents itself could be sacred. 22:51.742 --> 23:00.666 [SPEAKER_01]: So each of these drawers, so to speak, in the toolbox, the somatic, the scientific, the spiritual, serve a different purpose. 23:01.686 --> 23:07.088 [SPEAKER_01]: But they're all ways to meet yourself where you're at when meditation is in cutting it. 23:07.849 --> 23:10.950 [SPEAKER_01]: So sometimes the body needs the attention first. 23:12.030 --> 23:17.975 [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes your mind just needs some structure, and sometimes your spirit needs some connection. 23:18.975 --> 23:30.104 [SPEAKER_01]: So the true wisdom, like real maturity, is knowing which drawer to open, trusting that you've got options. 23:31.249 --> 23:36.819 [SPEAKER_01]: Remember that you are not a failure if meditation feels impossible. 23:37.821 --> 23:39.243 [SPEAKER_01]: It's just feedback. 23:40.185 --> 23:44.533 [SPEAKER_01]: Your body, your system is asking for something else first. 23:46.015 --> 24:01.538 [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to just end on a more positive note and because I don't want to get off meditation and I just want to talk about like when meditation is really suitable and why we would use it in the first place. 24:02.218 --> 24:13.020 [SPEAKER_01]: So once again, if you're at not at a one two or three, so if you're in that four to ten range, where okay, normal stress levels could use a bit of grounding 24:16.080 --> 24:25.622 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation is a wonderful tool to change our relationship to our thoughts, to our emotions, to our human experience. 24:26.662 --> 24:38.344 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're changing the relationship for more curiosity, more openness, more compassion, more kindness, and softness to ourselves. 24:39.364 --> 24:41.844 [SPEAKER_01]: And when we have that compassion, 24:45.723 --> 24:52.985 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation for me is a way that I can connect to my, I say capital S self. 24:53.165 --> 24:58.306 [SPEAKER_01]: It's like my true self, the most authentic self, the unchanging self. 24:58.966 --> 25:02.047 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation helps us connect to a deeper consciousness. 25:02.087 --> 25:08.829 [SPEAKER_01]: So maybe even subconscious thoughts can rise to the surface when we sit stillness and just listen. 25:09.829 --> 25:13.110 [SPEAKER_01]: We connect to an inner piece that is always there. 25:13.190 --> 25:14.390 [SPEAKER_01]: We just need to be reminded. 25:15.630 --> 25:25.859 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation is is wonderful for creating more presence and over time the present moment becomes enough. 25:27.707 --> 25:47.851 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation is a wonderful way to reduce stress in I say two primary ways so I've heard of this bath tub example which I really like so when we're meditating we're doing one of two things so picture bath tub filling up with water and that's like 25:48.772 --> 25:58.507 [SPEAKER_01]: Our stress levels rising, we could slow down the pace of the water so that it's slowly trickling in. 26:00.537 --> 26:08.244 [SPEAKER_01]: Or we can drain the water so we could just take the bath plug out and drain the water. 26:08.484 --> 26:20.875 [SPEAKER_01]: So if water was like stress and stress levels are rising, meditation can help slow that rising stress or it could drain the water or release the stress. 26:22.156 --> 26:26.939 [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, listen, I hope that this was helpful for you. 26:27.079 --> 26:35.866 [SPEAKER_01]: So there's different ways of thinking about the practice, getting a little more nuanced, a little more specific. 26:36.726 --> 26:44.772 [SPEAKER_01]: And that is everybody's individual sort of responsibility to have sovereignty over your practice. 26:45.592 --> 26:50.016 [SPEAKER_01]: And to recognize that not every day has to look exactly the same. 26:50.836 --> 26:54.017 [SPEAKER_01]: So to sum it all up, I'll leave you with this meditation. 26:54.037 --> 26:56.118 [SPEAKER_01]: I love it. 26:56.758 --> 27:00.719 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a wonderful tool, but it's not always the tool. 27:01.460 --> 27:05.901 [SPEAKER_01]: First you got to look after the body and create that safety instability within. 27:06.941 --> 27:12.983 [SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise meditation can just take you up into your head and to deep into your 27:18.005 --> 27:31.091 [SPEAKER_01]: If it's helping you live more fully, more kindly, more alive in this world, or if it's shutting you out and creating more distance from you in your life, that's the real test. 27:31.571 --> 27:33.492 [SPEAKER_01]: It should be opening you up to life. 27:34.392 --> 27:34.852 [SPEAKER_01]: Okay. 27:35.332 --> 27:43.275 [SPEAKER_01]: So if you are craving more guidance, more community, I would love to invite you into my substack. 27:43.355 --> 27:45.255 [SPEAKER_01]: So it is totally free. 27:46.196 --> 27:50.757 [SPEAKER_01]: However, we do have monthly gatherings on substack where we 27:51.677 --> 28:12.482 [SPEAKER_01]: my paid subscribers who I believe pay like five dollars a month if you are a paid subscriber you get access to these monthly gatherings which are super intimate their supportive spaces where we get to practice together we get to share experiences and explore these nuances in real time. 28:13.202 --> 28:17.803 [SPEAKER_01]: I am there to answer any questions you might have and to help you process what you 28:21.444 --> 28:26.106 [SPEAKER_01]: Our next gathering is Wednesday, October 15th at 12 p.m. 28:26.266 --> 28:27.266 [SPEAKER_01]: Eastern Standard Time. 28:27.306 --> 28:28.646 [SPEAKER_01]: That is 5 p.m. 28:28.766 --> 28:29.807 [SPEAKER_01]: over here in London. 28:29.827 --> 28:30.887 [SPEAKER_01]: 9 a.m. 28:31.467 --> 28:32.688 [SPEAKER_01]: over there on the west coast. 28:33.688 --> 28:36.909 [SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I'll include the link to that in the show notes below. 28:37.109 --> 28:41.751 [SPEAKER_01]: And let's end this episode the way that we always do with a full breath in. 28:41.771 --> 28:48.813 [SPEAKER_01]: A complete breath out and have a lovely day.