Stress Therapy Classic ~ with davidji!
This is a classic Stress Therapy Episode when the show was called, Meditation WTF? Ha! In a rare occurrence of actually having a guest on the show, we have the most AMAZING guest ever, davidji! Yes! An actual superstar on today! davidji is an internationally recognized stressed expert, corporate trainer, Meditation master, a recording artist and an award-winning author of The Secrets of Meditation, Destressifying (my favorite one) and Sacred Powers.He’s learned these profound secrets of awakening his own sacred powers and now he travels the world sharing this time honored practice and also founded a meditation academy and I was I was blessed and honored to be a student of his…he’s just one of my all time favorite people!
In this episode we will:
~Learn practical ways to make meditation habitual
~Meditate with davidji!
Quotes:
“If you see meditation as a gift, you will do it, if you see it as a chore, you won’t” -davidji
“Rise. Pee Meditate.” -davidji
Meditation Music by Sonic Yogi
Deep Sleep With Singing Bowls
Pythagorean Dream
Listen to Sonic Yogi on: Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Watch Sonic Yogi’s Ted Talk
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TRANSCRIPT: [00:00]
[00:00]
[00:00] Hey, beautiful people, what’s up? I’m still working on getting this little podcast on ethereal tv. Yes, it’s going to be released here on Roku and Amazon prime and Apple TV and all the beautiful things in about a week. But for now, I’m going to leave you with a classic stress therapy podcast episode from a while back with none other than David G. Yes, David G is going to talk about how to make meditation habitual. This was back when the podcast was called Meditation WTF. So this is an oldie but definitely a goodie. So we’ll take a quick break and be right back with David G. So relax and settle in and listen up because your stress therapy special edition session is about to begin right after this. Hey, beautiful people, guess what? Today we have David G. On the show, the David G. Last week he was just named in USA Today as one of the top five meditation teachers to follow. And we have him as a guest today. He’s going to give us his personal experience and of course his professional experience on how to make meditation habitual. Because it’s week twelve of my twelve week series, the big finale, making meditation habitual, how to build a daily practice that lasts a lifetime. Let’s explore it together with David G. Meditation Wtf?
[01:34] Welcome to Meditation WTF, a podcast about meditation for people living in the real world. And now your host, the stress therapist, Sherry Augustine Flake.
[01:53] Hey, beautiful people. Today is an extra special day because we have a superstar on today. And if you’re listening to a meditation podcast, this guy does not need an introduction, but I’m going to do one anyway because he’s so cool. His name is David G. And he is an internationally recognized stressed expert, a corporate trainer. He’s also, of course, a meditation master, even a recording artist and award winning author of Secrets of Meditation where he lays it all down for you, de stressifying my favorite one. And the Sacred Powers book where he has been working for 20 years and studying and teaching these ancient wisdom traditions and he’s learned these profound secrets of awakening his own sacred powers. And now he travels the world when everybody was traveling world, remember traveling the world and sharing these timeless teachings to all these people and even teaching teachers how to teach what he teaches. He has a meditation academy and I was, I was blessed and honored to be a student of his and he is here today. I’m so excited.
[02:59] So welcome, David G. Oh my, what an intro. I’m so grateful to be here with you, stress therapist. Truly. Not only, you know, did you study with me, but you’re got certified with me. You’re certified masters of wisdom and meditation teacher. And what a joy to be with you and to be in your glow. And, yeah, I remember traveling the world one day. That’ll happen again.
[03:32] Maybe it’ll happen again.
[03:34] Yeah.
[03:35] Well, I’m a huge fan of yours, as I think you already know. I mean, I just love you to pieces. I met you at the Chopra center back. I think it was like 2007 or 2008. And my big takeaway from that was RPM. Can you explain to our listeners what that is and why it’s so important and why it helps with making a daily meditation practice?
[04:01] Sure. And thanks for asking. And I think this is really one of the key elements of really establishing a meditation practice. Most of us think, oh, I’ll just remember tomorrow and I’ll meditate and then I’ll remember the next day. Or maybe I’ve got some really strong willpower and I’m going to wake up and launch out of bed and do my thing, just like I head over to the gym every day and just like, I always go to yoga class and just like, I don’t eat that thing on my plate. That’s non nourishing. And the reality is that none of that stuff really works out very well unless you ritualize it. And so one of the beauties of meditation is if we ritualize it, create a daily ritual, since we have a whole bunch of different rituals. You know, we wake up, we pee, we ****, we wash, we shower, we groom, we eat a liquid, we eat a, eat a meal. We take care of the people in our home. Maybe we feed them, we dress them, we walk our dogs, we feed our animals. You know, we do all that stuff, and we pretty much do it in the same order every single day. And we’ve been doing that probably for as long as we’ve had these rituals in our lives. So I’m an adherent to the philosophy of RPM rise, pee, meditate. And why is that? Because if you can essentially wake up and then pee and then the next thing you do is meditate, then every single thing you touch and everywhere you go and every conversation and every interaction carries with it just a little bit of stillness and silence. And the beauty of RPM is that we don’t have to come up with a time to meditate, just like we don’t have a time that we brush our teeth. Typically all of our morning ablution rituals. We wake up, we do one thing followed by another thing, followed by another thing, and there’s no time we just do that thing. And so if we can push meditation to the very, very front of our morning ablution ritual train, then we will have that stillness and silence in us all day long to follow us throughout the day. And maybe we’ll be a little calmer. Maybe we’ll be a little more patient. Maybe we’ll be a little kinder. And maybe we can be a little more intentional as we walk through the day.
[06:30] I love that. I love that to pieces. And also, I’ve kind of made it my own. I mean, you mentioned brushing your teeth. I can’t rise pee, meditate. I have to rise pee, brush. My chumps, meditate. Because then the entire time, I’ll think about my teeth. So I think it’s okay to make it your own, right?
[06:49] Well, my philosophy is, whatever works. If you’re gonna. If you’re gonna. If you’re gonna rise, pee, brush, meditate, and do that every day, then I say, rock on, do that thing, brush those choppers. But, you know, a lot of times we make excuses. Well, I want to rise. I want to. I want to pee. I do want to make my coffee. I do need to feed the cat. I do need to walk the dog. I do need to dress the kids. I do need to get online. I do need to look at my emails, and suddenly, you know, it’s 4 hours later, and you’re like, oh, yeah, that meditation thing didn’t actually happen. So I would recommend that not to insert too many things between, you know, rising and meditating. The only reason I say that is because with every moment, once we open our eyes, there’s just a little more activity going on inside of us. And, you know, all of those special hormones and chemicals that have been allowing us to sleep all night, they get suppressed. And all the, you know, chemicals and hormones that are infused into us in the morning when the sun comes up, they’re designed to, like, wake us up. So with every moment that we wait. So I would say if you have a tooth fetish, like sherry, then, yes, rise, pee, brush, meditate. But if you don’t happen to have that particular tooth fetish. I don’t actually. I used to just. My motto used to just be rise, meditate. But then I realized during my meditation, I was. I had to pee. And so that’s why I inserted pee in there. But if you need to insert brush. If you need to insert, at least put on the coffee maker while you sit. Don’t drink caffeine before you go into stillness and silence. But I think, yeah, whatever works. We want to make this a fun and joyous process, and we know that if we can see it as a gift, we’ll show up and do it. And if we see it as a chore, we’re not gonna.
[09:00] That is an excellent point. So, that kind of brings me to my next question, is, why do you think. I mean, it seems like when people try meditation, well, they either go on and on and on about why they can’t do it, or they just. They love it. They just. They can’t understand why they’re not doing it daily. So, why do you think people have such a tough time with meditation in particular? In creating a healthy habit? With meditation in particular? Like, maybe running was easier or practicing Chinese or the clarinet is easier than meditating every day.
[09:36] You know, that’s. That’s so brilliant. And it’s because all those other things that you just mentioned, whether that’s, you know, you know, eliminating chips from your diet for a week, you know, all those things, you know, learning a language, learning an instrument, getting on the scale, they all have very, very tangible, in your face results. You know, if I try to learn Chinese and I practice for a week, and suddenly I’m able to. To say, you know, or something along those lines, I’m like, hey, this thing works. I got it. And that positive reinforcement really propels us to continue our practice. Just like when we’re dieting or trying to replace carbs with celery or something like that, we just hop on the scale and we see those tangible results. And the results that we experience from meditation are so much more subtle, and we. We have very high opinions of ourselves. So, suddenly, when we’re more patient, a more patient listener to someone, we don’t attribute that to our meditation practice. We just say, hey, I’m amazing. I’m so patient. And when we don’t scorch the village, when we’re angry, we suddenly say, huh, I guess I’m really learning to control myself. And so we can’t. So much in our life gets impacted with a meditation practice, and yet it’s so subtle. And, yes, we’re so, you know, so proud, thinking we’ve done it all separately, that we don’t draw that connection. And we don’t think, oh, that’s really because of my meditation practice. I sleep better at night because of my meditation practice. I’m a better friend because of my meditation practice. I’m a little kinder to myself and others because my meditation. We don’t think that. We just think ****, I’m awesome. I’m amazing.
[11:26] That is so cool, because I have to tell you, I was around, you know, I work in mental health, and I was around when Prozac came out. It was like the same phenomenon I was. People would say, oh, my gosh, my mood is so much better. But it’s not because of the Prozac. That was always like, it’s the same thing. You know, I communed yesterday with a ladybug, but it’s not because of my meditation practice.
[11:47] Right, exactly. It’s like. It’s because I’m just amazing.
[11:53] So we do hear a lot about the benefits of meditation. And there, you know, I always say to people, it’s about as good for you as water. So, you know, you might as well give it a chance. Or I tell my kids, maybe social services will come and get me. But I say, you know, you could skip a meal, but don’t skip the meditation. So we hear about all these benefits of meditation, but what benefit has surprised you in your personal practice? Like, what benefit? Have you been like, oh, my gosh, I think this is because I’m meditating more or even a story you’ve heard from a student.
[12:23] Yeah, well, you know. You know that when you said, oh, I think this is because I’m meditating more. You know, if we’re really engaged in our practice and paying attention to it, we realize the direct correlation. But even water, right? We all need water. And some people just exist on coffee. That’s it. You know, coffee and soda. And they go, well, I’m getting my water. You know, it’s in the form of coffee and soda. You know, even. Even if we’re drinking juice, you know, we’re getting. You know, we’re. We’re getting water. So when we don’t even recognize the powerful cleansing and rejuvenative and restorative aspects of water. So hard to attribute it to meditation as well. But I have drawn some. Some really clear, direct correlations in. In my own life. I’m from New York. My basic nature is to be a little fiery. And as we came out of the womb, everybody who grew up in New York, as you came out of the womb, someone whispered in your ear. The doctor, probably, or someone said, okay, welcome to planet Earth. Here’s how it works. Effort and focus. You want to make something happen. Effort and focus. It’s not working. More effort. Still not working. More focus. Still not working. More effort. Push harder. And we know that, obviously, after years of being here on planet Earth, it’s like that doesn’t always work. Perhaps being more efficient with our energy, perhaps being a little more patient, perhaps being a little smarter, perhaps it’s not all about how hard can I bring it sometimes it’s about how wise can I be in the moment. And so, meditation, some of the really direct correlations for me have been, I sleep better, you know, because I’m pretty fiery. It’s easy for me to, like, lie in bed at night and ruminate about how I’m going to save the planet and all the things I’m going to do and all the conversations I’ve ever had in my entire life and all my wounds and all my trauma and all the things I need to do next and all my, you know, choices that I have in the material world. And I’m also, you know, I’m from New York, so when someone starts to talk, within, like, 2 seconds, I already know what they’re going to say. So they don’t really have to say it. I can just cut them off, you know, just run right over them and interrupt and go, yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew what you’re going to say before you even said it. And here’s my answer to what you’re going to say. And, like, that’s not really emotionally intelligent, and it’s really, you know, so I could, like, sit on my hands and put duct tape over my lips, or I could just meditate and say, hey, let me listen to what this person says. Maybe I don’t know everything that’s about to unfold. I’m not, you know, clairvoyant in every single moment. And I think that, you know, for me being a better listener, for me being a little more patient, for me being a little more compassionate, someone tells me a story or gives me an excuse, and my basic nature is to go, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. And guess what? You know, I’ve got a lot of excuses as well, so maybe I could be a little more compassionate, you know, with other people’s reasons for why they were late or why this didn’t get done or why, you know, something else in life, really having a consistent daily meditation practice has allowed the world to come at me in slower motion. So I’m not overwhelmed as much. And I don’t know, is that like 30% as much or 50%? I’d say it’s probably like 200% because I can actually sit in a conversation and allow those words from the other person to unfold slowly land on me, allow myself to really digest them, and then allow me to be just a little more thoughtful, a little more reflective, a little calmer, a little kinder. And that’s like a big shift for an east coaster like me. And I believe that’s really a big shift for everyone. I believe emotional intelligence is so underrated in our world. And I think it’s really the source of all of our connection. Sometimes people have nonverbal communication with us. Sometimes they really need to say the final word in the conversation so that we can really get the point. And meditation has lowered my blood pressure. It’s lowered my pulse. It’s allowed me to be a little more concentrated. It’s increased my focus. It’s enhanced my memory. And so for those of you who, like, I think I’m losing my memory a little bit as I get older. Well, that’s actually part of the process of the brain. You know, the, the gray matter in our brain gets thinner as we age and you can actually offset it and stop it or slow it by meditating. So, you know, everyone’s, you know, buying prevagen and all these like, memory enhancement tools. And really if you just sat for ten minutes a day and meditated, you probably have a much more profound and evidence based result from that.
[17:40] Wow, that’s super cool. So, you know, you kind of covered what the keys to a successful practice are. You know, having the motivation because you know what the benefits are and making sure RPM is in there and all that. But like, do you want to add a couple of your keys to a successful daily practice?
[18:00] Yes, I would. So there’s a, there’s a study in a book, the book’s called Broadcasting Happiness. And the author is Michelle Gielan. She is a happiness guru. And the book broadcasting happiness is great. And it has a particular study in there where she’s a former news anchor from El Paso, Texas, and spent a lot of time on tv, paying attention to tv and the news and all that stuff. And so she did this study exposing 5000 people to violent images, the news that might be the newspaper, that might be within the first 30 minutes of them waking up. And then 12 hours later she simply said, so how was your day? And these people, even if they got a new job, got a new car or started a new relationship, you know, suddenly fell in love, they were still 40% more likely when they were asked 12 hours later. So how was your day? They were 40% more likely to go. It was okay having nothing to do. What actually happened in the day. Then these same people were exposed to positive imagery in the first 30 minutes of when they awoke, such as spending time in nature, meditating, watching puppy videos. And then 12 hours later, they were asked, so how was your day? And even if they got fired, crashed their car, or got dumped in the relationship, they were still 20% more likely to say, you know, it was a pretty good day. So this study, and there are many more studies like this, it pretty much says whatever happens in the first 30 minutes of your day actually determines how you will assess your day at the end of it, no matter what happens during the day. And so imagine if we are assessing our day, know, negatively because we didn’t meditate, and then we, you know, assess the last four days of the week as negative. We’d say, well, that was a crappy week. And the last three weeks or two and a half weeks was a crappy month. And the last seven months, well, that was a crappy year. And suddenly we realized, you know, that was a crappy decade. And all we needed to do was actually introduce just a little bit of stillness and silence into the first 30 minutes of our day. And that could really create a powerful shift. So I do want to jump on and reinforce the importance of starting your day with just a little bit of stillness and silence, just a little bit of connection to that quietness inside of you, because there’s a whole bunch of noise. If we have 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day, that’s a thought every 1.2 seconds, they’re pouring in. And so imagine if we can just introduce small breaks in the action over the course of the day, because everything else is activity, and there’s only one stillness, and we should celebrate it. And it’s part of who we are. That’s who we are at our core. We’re not all the activity, we’re not our thoughts. We’re not all those things that are pouring onto us. We’re the stillness that rests inside all of that. And so we can start treating each moment with just a little bit of that quietude, that calm, and that changes everything in our lives.
[21:26] It’s like putting a little bit of the piggy bank each day. Yeah, just a little bit. Speaking of just a little bit, you know, your famous. Oh, pardon me. Go ahead.
[21:36] Well, I was going to say it’s like that. Just a spoonful of sugar medicine. So, you know, just a. Just a spoonful of stillness and silence. Just a little teaspoon makes everything just a little better.
[21:51] That’s perfect. Well, speaking of little by little, you know, you’re famous for this. 16 seconds to bliss, which I admittedly did before I called you. Can you tell our listeners what 16 seconds to bliss is and why it’s important?
[22:10] Yeah. You know, as I mentioned, every moment is activity. You know, think about it. You know, we wake up and then we’re in motion, and the world is in motion, and stuff’s happening, stuff’s coming into us. We’re seeing things, we’re hearing things or reading things, we’re thinking about things or touching things. We’re feeling things. Like, it’s relentless. It’s relentless. And so if we think about it, we rarely, you know, they do it in sports all the time, but we don’t do it in our lives. And that would be calling a timeout. We’re calling a time in, you know, whatever sport you’ve ever watched, they’re suddenly like, oh, things are getting too intense. We need to calm things down or slow things down. Let’s call it time out. And so I like to think of us taking a time in. If we can just introduce a break in the action, if we can just give our brain just a few moments to breathe, then the next moment will unfold without so much conditioning, and it’ll be just a little less reflexive and a little more reflective. And so a technique that I began initially teaching to marines at Camp Pendleton, which is right up the road from where I am, which is on Southern California, on the west coast, this was a way to introduce even the most resistant person I felt to just a pretty cool, easy to do, very accessible practice. So whether you, like, roll your eyes at meditation, whether you have people in your life who roll their eyes at the concept, you know, of meditation or find it too kooky or woo woo or anything along those lines, the reality is we’re all experiencing stress. We’re all experiencing moments where our needs are not being met. So right now, all of you listeners out there to the stress therapist, see if you can think about something that’s been sort of kind of bothering you for the last couple of days. Don’t go too deep. This isn’t therapy, but maybe, you know, someone said they were going to do something they didn’t, or something was supposed to unfold a certain way, but it didn’t unfold that way. And, you know, maybe it irritated you or bothered you or just felt problematic in some way. Get clear on that. And now close your eyes and through your nose, take a long, slow, deep breath in and watch that breath. And when it gets to your belly, just hold it there. Keep watching it and hold it there. Keep witnessing it and hold it there. And now release that breath and observe it as it moves up your chest, through your throat, out through your nose or mouth. Keep exhaling. Keep witnessing. Keep watching it. Keep observing it. Allow it to dissipate into the ether. And now feel free to breathe normally and open your eyes when it feels comfortable. And that was a mere 16 seconds. And in those 16 seconds, if you were playing along, because I’m sure some of you are not playing along, but you get to do it again, you know? But if you were playing along.
[25:13] Yeah, I did it.
[25:14] Nice. Yes, I can tell. Energetically, I could tell. And if you were, if you were playing along, we really accomplished a few things. Number one, we weren’t thinking about that thing that I just asked you to think about. And I didn’t say, now, stop thinking about the thing. I said, think about the thing.
[25:33] Truth.
[25:34] And then close your eyes and watch your breath. And so suddenly, we became fully present. And in those 16 seconds, we were not in the past, we were not in the future, we were fully present. And if you do that four times, it’s a minute. If you do it 20 times, that’s five minutes. And suddenly we have a tool now in our back pocket forever to bring us into the present moment, when we start worrying about the future or when we start ruminating in the past. And we also learned that we can direct our thoughts to anywhere we want at any time we want. So if you’re suddenly sitting with too much sadness and you don’t want to be sitting with it, then you can direct to something else if you want to. You know, if you’re harping on a grievance or a judgment, you get to adjust your attention to something else. And so this is a beautiful tool just to remind us that, you know, we have total power over where our attention goes in any moment. And the beauty of this practice is we also. This is like the foundational element of meditation. What we did was we drifted our attention to this object of our attention, which was just watching our breath, and that could be the foundation for meditation practice. And so with very, very little effort and very, very, you know, we have to get. We didn’t have to get in full lotus position or make our hands in special position. We didn’t have to, you know, get our little Buddha in front of us. You know, we could be in the car, we could be at a meeting, we could be at the table, we could be on the phone. And if we can just access those 16 seconds to bliss, to clarity, to ease to calm. Then suddenly everything in our life can change. So that’s a tool that I would suggest that all of us practice once in a while. You know, it’s only 16 seconds, and if you’re sitting, staring at someone and you’re feeling a little awkward, I’m not going to close my eyes while I’m actually having a conversation. Do it with your eyes open. It’s okay. No one’s ever going to say to you, wait a second, are you doing that 16 2nd thing on me? That would be really unlikely unless you were hanging out with sherry or me. Then we would know. But otherwise, it’s a powerful tool and it can really help us live our lives with just a little less stress, with a little more ease and just a little more calm.
[28:01] David G. I gotta tell you, that was amazing. And let me tell you why. Because I knew exactly what 16 seconds to bliss was. It was on all my tests. It was on all of my. It was there all the time and it still worked. Do you know what I mean? I still didn’t think about the thing even though I kept coming.
[28:20] Right. It doesn’t have to be a surprise. This thing works even if you know the punchline.
[28:24] I know. That was the cool thing. I always say to my clients, like, your brain is so easy to trick that we can talk about tricking it, trick it, you know? Okay, that was awesome. Um. Okay, so let’s talk about your books just for a second. The first one, amazing, lays it all down. All the money goes to charity, which is beautiful and wonderful. And I mean, that is so cool. The second one, my favorite one, de stressifying loved. It has all these little nuggets in it, like soda and squeeze and all these little, like, things that you can actually practically do, like, in order to, you know, understand and sort of battle the stress response and understand it so you can win those private battles in your head, and then you come out with sacred powers where you’re like, really being demanding of your reader now. Now they have to face change head on. You’re asking them to not only ask themselves these questions, but, like, write them down in the book. You know what I’m saying? It is like super cool. So what is there to gain? Like, do you want to bring up a sacred question and like, to sort of tell us what there is to gain from asking yourself these questions?
[29:36] Yeah, I think, you know, again, in ritualizing our meditation practice, you know, some of the things that we can do on a consistent basis are asking ourselves questions. Deep, deep, deep questions. So instead of us, yeah. You know, asking the question, like, oh, what should I do with my emails? And what should I do with my kids right now? And what should I do? And do I have to go shopping? And how many limes do I have in their fridge? And, like, all those kind of things. Instead, we get to ask deeper questions like, what am I grateful for? And what does my heart truly long for? And suddenly, that cuts through everything. You know, when you ask those questions, and there’s scientific evidence now that even having a gratitude practice just focusing on one thing you’re grateful for for 20 seconds a day actually etches itself into your brain. And a lot of times, we’re just like, we’re too busy. It’s like, has the battery on my phone? Do I have enough gas in my car? Do I have to respond to that email now? Is anyone following me on Instagram? You know, we can go on and on with, like, all that stuff, and then suddenly you ask, like, what am I grateful for? Who are the people? What are the things? And, you know, they’re deeper, deeper questions. And so the reason that I wrote sacred powers is because some people, once they’ve started, I see. I believe there’s a. There’s a process. I believe that there’s, like, a three pronged process. And, you know, it’s, first, let’s find balance in our lives. And then once we start to really find center and we can balance ourselves a little bit, then we can really start healing ourselves. We can heal our wounds of the past. We can. We can heal, you know, the things we haven’t forgiven ourselves and others for. We can heal our traumas. We can at least begin that work. And once we begun that work, then we can really start to transform. We can start to shift our lives from where we are to where we’d like to be. And so I think that process of balance, heal, transform, really lays at the center of so many ancient wisdom teachings for thousands of years, in so many civilizations and so many cultures, so in sacred powers, really what I did was I tried to identify what are all these overlapping things that people for thousands of years in indigenous places and different continents and in different settings all over the world, what have they been doing? What have the masters or the oracles or the wisest people of those civilizations been practicing and been teaching? And I believe that they were teaching things that really are inherently resting inside of us. They weren’t teaching us to go out and find certain things. They were teaching us to awaken those things that are already inside of us. And so I believe that we have sacred powers resting deep within. And if we are willing to go to that place, get still, ask deep questions, we will hear the whispers of our hearts. And why wouldn’t we try that? Yeah, wouldn’t we? Because a lot of times we’re so caught up in our head, so much intellectual stuff going on in our head, that we think that that’s the answer to everything. And as you said, we can trigger our brain, you know, really, really easily. But the heart never lies. The heart just never lies. And so if we can just put a little more attention on quieting the fluctuations of our mind, we will hear the whispers of our heart. We will get that divine guidance. We will get answers to questions we have struggled with perhaps our whole lives, and we will make better decisions.
[33:22] Honestly, it totally works. You know, I was one of your students, and I will be really honest with you. I was very resistant to this. You know, I’m a therapist, okay? I already did all the work. I already know all this, okay? And I was, like, resistant to it. And, you know, what we resist is what we often need, you know? And, I mean, I think you. I think it’s really, really, really cool. Very insightful of you to notice it and bring it about and share it with all of us. I’m very grateful.
[33:56] Well, thank you for ultimately surrendering and transcending your resistance, because you are such an important voice in this world. And, you know, people are listening to you. And so hopefully everyone’s listening to sherry and actually saying, oh, yeah, well, if she knows everything and she’s still paying attention, maybe I’ll give it a shot as well.
[34:21] So I have. My last question is the very most important one. How is your beautiful little peaches?
[34:28] She’s curled up right next to me right now. Peaches.
[34:31] I just love this dog. She’s so.
[34:33] Just the Buddha princess. She’s. She is so tiny. She is so tiny and so soft. And so, you know, she really exemplifies these, these teachings. Her footprint is very, very soft. She doesn’t make a lot of noise. She enters a situation, drinks it all in. And she is also one of my greatest teachers of resist nothing and you will receive unconditional love. And so she’s doing great. And she is a rescue. She’s an la rescue. She’s a mindful, Morky, Maltese Yorkie combo. We think, who knows? And she’s 13, and she meditates with me every single morning. And I would recommend to all of you out there, if you’ve got little kids. If you’ve got other sentient beings, whether it’s a lizard, a bird, a cat, or a dog or a spouse, feel free to invite them to meditate with you, just to sit down with you, and everybody close their eyes and just. And just breathe. And if that turns into giggling, even better. If that turns into people falling asleep, how magnificent that you finally gave yourself permission to relax that much and so.
[35:48] Much better with them there, right? I have sight, my dog, and I have lollipop, my little kitty.
[35:55] Yeah. Yeah. So meditation, you know, doesn’t have to be, you know, a solo, you know, thing. It can be a team sport as well. Right?
[36:02] Then it’s accountability. Partner built in. Peaches is right. Yeah.
[36:06] Yes. Well, thank you for asking me about peaches.
[36:09] I just love that little thing.
[36:11] I mean, I.
[36:11] You’ll love this. I use pictures. I like to use, like, remember photographs? Actual photographs. I use the bookmarks. And peaches is in all your books. True. Of Peaches is in all my books as a bookmark. Okay. I mean, all my books of yours. Okay. So, David G. Would you bring us into a meditation?
[36:33] Sure. Let’s do that.
[36:35] Let’s do it.
[36:36] So, one of the most important things about meditation is to remember that comfort is queen. So we don’t have to suddenly go off onto some hard mat or do something or get in a certain position. Comfort. Comfort. Comfort. Always keep moving towards comfort. So wherever you are right now, see if you can just sort of, like, nestle in, gently feather your nest and get as comfortable as possible. And together. Let’s take a long, slow, deep breath in. And ever so gently let that go. If you hear my other dog in the background, that, of course, is not peaches. But again, another long, slow, deep breath in and release. And when your eyes are closed, just allow your upper lid and your lower lid to be touching so softly, so easily and just begin watching your breath. Simply begin observing your breath. Watch it as it flows into you. Watch it as it flows back out. And notice that you’re settling in just a bit. Notice that your body is relaxing with, with each exhale. Notice that your mind is calming with each exhale. There’s Nowhere else to be. There’s nothing else to do except to be right here, right now, in this sacred, precious moment. Notice that the swirl inside and outside of you is slowing down just a bit. And as you breathe, notice that there is just a little flicker of space between the inhale and the exhale. There’s just a flicker of space. You breathe in there’s this flicker of space. It’s just a millisecond, and then you flow into the exhale and simply observe that. Miss that, watch that. And at the top of your next inhale, see if you can lengthen that space just a beat. Just one beat before you flow into the exhale, you breathe in. There’s that flicker of space. You lengthen that space just to beat. And then you flow into the exhale. No need to force or concentrate. Just allow and just become aware of that space between. That’s who you are, the space between, space between your breaths, the space between your thoughts, the space between the beats of your heart. And now let’s ask ourselves, what are these sacred questions? Let’s ask, what am I grateful for? What am I grateful for? And just allow all the people in your life, all the situations, all the dark clouds, all the silver linings for which you’re truly grateful, allow them to just unfold before you on your long gratitude list. And now drifts, one thing you’d like to carry around with you that you’re going grateful for all day long, just one thing. There’s so many. But just drift your attention to one thing that you’re so grateful for that perhaps you’ve been taking for granted, or perhaps you just haven’t put enough attention on. But now you’re there. And see if you can invite that one thing that you’re grateful for into your heart right now. Invite that gratitude and that particular thing into your sweet, tender heart. And with each breath, allow to grow and expand. Now even see if you can create an affirmation for the day that perhaps starts with I’m grateful for. And now take a long, slow, deep breath in. And ever so gently let that go. When it feels comfortable, you can begin to wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes, take another long, slow, deep breath in and let that go. And when it feels comfortable, you can slowly open your eyes and welcome back. Now you’ve got this little mantra, this little affirmation in your head. So as you walk throughout the world, if you stub your toe, if you’re feeling less than, if there’s anything that’s not really leveling up, just remember, I’m so grateful for you. And you have that gratitude embedded inside of you for that thing, whatever that is.
[44:05] I love it in your pocket all day. David Jean, thank you so much for being here. You’re one of my all time favorite people, and I’m so grateful that you were here today.
[44:22] My God, thank you so much for inviting me. Thank you for accommodating my schedule. I know you got so many things that you’re spinning out there, and so thanks for making this so special for me.
[44:34] Well, you have a lovely, lovely day, and maybe we’ll have you back again soon.
[44:40] I would love that if I could just leave all of your listeners with this one thing. Remember that we transform the world by transforming ourselves. And it happens sort of like one breath at a time, one meditation at a time, one heartbeat at a time. So let’s keep that going for sure.
[44:58] You’re the best. Thank you so much. You have a lovely, lovely day.
[45:03] You, too.
