WEBVTT - Find meditation boring? Learn to make it work for you 🧘 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:07.120 Kid, Everyone, Sam here, Welcome to another episode of the 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:07.680 wood Life. 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:11.000 I feel like I've had the I don't know. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:12.840 I shouldn't be stereo tip, but I think I've had 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.880 the most early week of my life. I had Charlie's 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.720 little four year old birthday party. Charlie, what would you 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.120 like for your birthday Partty? I want to pink, sparkle 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:23.840 unicorn party. 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.400 So that's what we had. 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:32.560 Pink balloons, pink unicorns, sparkly dresses, rainbow cake. 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:34.080 It was the works. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:39.400 And then the very next day I surprise the girls 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.280 by getting a basketball court put in at home, little 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:44.160 basketball key. 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:45.760 It is Barbie pink. 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.839 It is the I'll put a picture of it up 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:54.320 on my Instagram. It is the brightest pinkest basketball court 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.680 you have ever said in your life. I've had pink, rainbow, 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:02.040 sparkle birthday parties. I've had bright pink Barbie basketball courts. 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.280 I feel like I need to, I don't know, balance 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.840 it out in some way, shape or form. Speaking of 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.759 balancing it out, we have a wonderful guest today who 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:15.720 explains meditation perhaps the best I've ever heard it explained 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.280 for those of us that struggle to find stillness or calmness. 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.480 And then I'm going to answer the question about how 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:29.200 we increase our exercise exertion, or better still, how we 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.440 measure our own exercise exertion without fancy heart rate monitors 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.559 or machinery, because I think knowing how hard you're pushing 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:40.319 yourself and really dialing in on that is a very 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:44.120 powerful tool when it comes to the consistency and the 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.720 quality of our workouts, and we can all benefit from that. 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:49.360 They're both coming up in the wood Life. But first 0:01:49.440 --> 0:02:15.800 of all, the wonderful Caitlin Katie. So I feel I 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.520 feel even just looking across at our guests that we 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:21.200 have this morning, I'm already more relaxed than I was. 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:22.880 Thirty seconds ago. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:27.920 We're very lucky to have Caitlin Katie, a meditation teacher, 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:31.400 author of and I love the name of your two books, 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:35.839 Heavily Meditated and The Hope Dealer. We'll get into both 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.320 those names a little bit later. Caitlyn, welcome to the 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.200 WOODLFE and thanks so much for joining us. 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.040 Thanks for having me. Sam glad to be here. 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.600 So to our listeners, you'll hear Caitlyn's accent and you 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.320 probably won't think we're finding her in Byron Bay, but 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:51.400 that's where we're finding her, and there's this beautiful little 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.480 outlook of her garden in the background, and that's what 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.600 I mean about being instantly relaxed. And I just thought, 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.120 let's there, let's start with your journey. How did you 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.760 end up in Byron Bay and how did you You know, 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.160 is that a metaphor for what you've sort of been 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:13.359 through in your life, from going from a stressed life 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.640 to now one where not only a you in a 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.040 much more relaxed place, but you teach it and help 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:19.320 others achieve the same thing. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:20.760 Yeah. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.480 Yeah, I would say that the move to Byron was 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:28.000 not sort of an intentional move for my mental health, 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.880 but it really definitely dovetailed and aligned with a shift 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:34.760 that came for me around. 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:35.560 That time in my life. 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:36.880 So sure, I'm. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:41.440 American and moved originally to New Zealand to be with 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.960 my husband. We always had sort of a long term 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.400 goal to live in Byron and as it turned out, 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.440 that sort of came to be a lot sooner. We 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:55.840 started a business here together, but I was also still 0:03:56.000 --> 0:04:00.400 working in basically a sales job doing medical recruitment. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:03.200 Pretty fast paced tostress job from. 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:07.560 Everything that he Yeah, and I'm a natural competitor, so 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.760 it was taking a toll on my health. And sort 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.600 of the background behind that was that I had had 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.479 Lyme disease, which is a bloodborne disease from a tick, 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:20.800 and I'd had it since I was twenty one, and 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.120 it had really wrecked havoc on my well being. And 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:28.440 I'd done all the things, you know, made dietary changes 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:33.000 and sort of a lot of lifestyle changes and you know, 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.240 Chinese medicine and neutropathy and IV injections, like I did 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.880 it all, and I think really I was confronted with 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.400 the reality of needing to make a mental shift and 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:49.200 it wasn't just a physical issue, and that there wasn't 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:54.760 a separation between my body and my mental state my mind. 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.480 And so with a great deal of resistance and skepticism, 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:03.680 I set out to learn how to meditate. And as 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.160 anybody who has tried that, like as a DIY project 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.039 can tell you that it's not at least at that time, 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.400 it wasn't that easy to figure it out, right, Like 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.400 you had to kind of filter through a lot of 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.599 nonsense or things that just didn't resonate. So I managed 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:26.720 to figure it out and started meditating every day, and 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:31.080 within a relatively short period of time I had created 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.000 a really positive shift. 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:34.560 And what I think. 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.840 Happened is that because I was able to slow down 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:43.640 and really be and focus on my breath and unknowingly, 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.359 I was shaping the breath, which was then impacting the 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.200 nervous system. And I think that that shift from being 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:53.719 in sympathetic dominance so that you know, fight or flight 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.599 that we all hear about, to being in parasympathetic dominance, 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.400 which is the rest, digest, hair reproduce, which are the 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.000 two sort of categories that we don't always hear about, 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.440 but those I think those categories are super important for 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:10.880 people to be aware of in terms of like what 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.880 functions happen optimally. 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.239 In the parasympathetic nervous system. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.640 And so I think that shift really allowed my body 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.480 to reset and heal. And so I have been free 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.760 of lime disease for over a decade. 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:29.200 Now, what an incredible story? Can I just ask Caitlen? How? Yeah, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:30.440 how long did it take? 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:35.200 Because I've actually, if I'm being honest, I've tried a 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.880 number of times and never never cracked the nut. How 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:45.159 long did it take for you? To feel the benefits, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.640 and how long did it take for you to, I 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:53.800 don't know, start doing it almost autonomously rather than rather 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:55.800 being this forced feeling. 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.279 Well, I think there's a couple of interesting sort of 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.240 threads I'd love to pull, Like the first one is 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:04.440 just to answer your question directly, how long did it take? 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:07.520 I mean, the thing about meditation is that we have 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.640 to look at it like in a broader picture, right, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:13.960 So you might sit down and do the practice and 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:18.280 like not feel better at that moment, right, especially in 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.640 the beginning, because it's there's a huge amount of resistance 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:23.920 that you're going to encounter if you're someone who has 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:28.000 been conditioned like all of us have to be producing 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.960 and achieving at all times. And I think that's a 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.040 really important thing for people to notice, because this is 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.920 not a you problem. This is a cultural systemic problem. 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:42.040 It's not your fault that you find it hard to 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.440 sit still. And I just want to name that because 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.400 I didn't realize that, and that was one of the 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:52.840 sort of insights that I garnered through sort of working 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.040 through the resistance to why it was so hard for 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:57.239 me to get still. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:07:59.679 So I think that's really natural. 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.480 But you know, it doesn't necessarily happen on the first day, 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.480 but I think if you meditate regularly, I always say, 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.280 the benefits show up if you do so, I would 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:11.600 say if you meditated regularly for seven days and you 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:17.600 actually sort of included time for reflection in that, and 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:20.640 what I mean by that is maybe journaling and maybe 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.080 letting people in your life know, hey, I'm going to 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.880 try this, and I would love to just have you 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.680 give me feedback on any shifts that you might notice, 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.320 because people can be people that are close to you 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.160 can be a really powerful mirror for things, subtle changes 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.480 you might not see straight away. 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:39.280 So it could. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.720 Be seven days, right, but then you're going to notice 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.080 more and more and more shifts. It's almost like the 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.800 broader and the deeper that your practice becomes, the broader 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.920 and the deeper the effects on your life. So for me, 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:55.880 I mean maybe within a couple of months, yeah, like 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.760 really started to feel a shift within myself, but you know, 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:01.920 a year for it to be like, oh, this is 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.560 who I am now, And at that point the practice 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.000 becomes sort of self perpetuating, Like I don't have to 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.920 convince myself to meditate every day, I just do it. 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:12.960 It makes complete sense to me. 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.080 And yeah, I didn't want to, you know, like there's 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.720 a magic number or a magic time, but I get that. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.319 I totally get it's going to be very different for everybody. 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.760 And yeah, you hear it so much now from people 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.520 that you respect. They say similar things to you. This 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.880 is who I am now. I absolutely don't feel like 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.240 I've got less time. I feel like I've got more time. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:36.360 You know, my clarity of thought, my organization, the way 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.559 I prioritize that was so powerful. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:40.559 What you said about what. 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:45.400 Happens in the parasympathetic nervous system, which what did you say? 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.960 Repair, restore, rest digest, repair, reproduced. 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:54.480 I mean, so important are those four things. And I 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:59.920 know myself included. I'm not spending anywhere near enough. 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:00.760 Time in that state. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:06.640 It's because I gauge it on productivity only. And it's 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.000 a really and it's really interesting to hear that that 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:13.400 was you and that is probably naturally who you are, 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:15.400 because I tell myself that too. 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.520 I justify it by going, this is just who I. 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:21.880 Am, And it doesn't necessarily mean it's good for me. 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:24.560 But it's a weird. It's a weird sort. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:25.280 Of that's true. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.440 Well, yeah, okay, yeah, probably, but it's a weird justification 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.160 or it's a weird thing that I tell myself, and 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.679 I'm sure there's a lot of our listeners that can 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:35.440 relate to that. 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:37.000 Yeah, totally. 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.800 And that's why I wanted to sort of mention that 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.760 earlier when you because I think that people think it's 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:47.480 some kind of personal failing or like or something on 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.760 the other side, something that congratulate themselves on. I certainly 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.320 fell into that category of like, oh, this is what 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:59.880 makes me special. It's like I just smashed things out. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.680 I'm so efficient, I'm so productive, you know, I'm prolific. 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.840 I was so identified with that thought that the idea 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:14.760 of laying that aside was terrifying to me. So in 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:16.720 some ways, it's like you have to have this really 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:20.600 honest conversation with yourself about the ego. 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.480 And I don't mean that in terms of like being egotistical. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:25.560 I mean like the part of the self that is 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.679 identifying with you know, your personality or like who you 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.520 present yourself as to the world, right, Like we have 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.160 to look at that and go like at my essence 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.440 at my core, like who really am I and what 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:43.680 really matters? And is that really who I am, right like? 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.960 Or is that just sort of who I'm afraid not 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.880 to be because everybody's told you how great you are 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:50.760 for being that way. 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:52.760 What a great question to challenge. 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.880 And so there's a couple things there, right, Like, the 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:01.839 one thing is that most of us are who or 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:07.839 who are overachievers. We're looking for validation from outside of us. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.319 It feels really good because you get a sort of 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.040 a hit of worthiness every time that you achieve something. 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:15.440 Right. 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.359 The other path towards a sense of worthiness and wholeness 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:25.040 is it feels less tangible, right, because it involves getting 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.600 still and quiet and actually connecting with that part of 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:34.400 you that is already whole, already worthy, already wise, already complete, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.479 and doesn't need the external validation. 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:40.280 You know. It's sort of ironic, right because, like all of. 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.560 The stuff that we're out there doing, the feeling that 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.240 we're looking for is actually available to us when we 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:48.720 allow ourselves to just be. 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.720 It's a really really powerful point. 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:57.000 I think about the people that I know that practice 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.920 meditation or even and there's a few people I know 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.440 like this. They're the most comfortable paper in their own 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.640 skin that I know too. You know they're not chasing 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.559 any outside validation. I couldn't care if you love them 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.040 hate them, couldn't care less what you say, because they 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:13.840 love themselves. And it's it's really interesting you say that. 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:15.400 I absolutely say the correlation. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:18.280 Well, and I think it's important because all the people 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:20.520 who are like yeah, cool, but I don't want to 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.440 go live in an astrom and like shave my head 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:26.280 and eat doll and rice for the rest of my life, 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:27.640 like don't worry. 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:29.680 Yeah, yeah, there's this stigma attached. 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:31.840 Yeah, because I think that you also, like when you 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.320 think about those people, Sam, like, can you also say 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:35.880 that they're living purposeful lives? 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.359 Yeah? Absolutely? 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.120 And do they have a sense of satisfaction and direction 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:45.280 and focus? Like we lean into binaries, right, it's like 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.320 I'm either fully motivated and achieving or I'm like a 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.920 good for nothing. It's finding that there's this middle path 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.800 where you can actually use your gifts more fully when 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.000 you're doing when you're out, you know, out in the world, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.160 doing things from a police of wholeness. It's a totally 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.040 different motivation than when you're chasing something outside of you. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.200 Right, So just on that you know that we do 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:14.480 have this stigma attached to what perhaps, yeah, meditating in 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:21.520 that stereotypical form looks like, what forms can meditation be 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:22.320 for people? 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.200 How do you do it personally? 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.120 And how are other ways that perhaps you've seen people 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:30.760 do it that our listeners might not think of when 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.400 they think of meditation or finding stillness. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:34.720 Yeah, great question. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.360 The first step is taking responsibility right for your steat 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.000 and going like, oh, I don't actually living this way 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:47.440 isn't serving me? Then creating a shift in the nervous system. 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.040 That's actually a really great place to start, rather than 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:52.200 going like street to the mind and trying to like 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.920 just sit with your thoughts, which I think is how 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:58.200 many people try meditation. The first time, it was how 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:02.040 I tried it that didn't That wasn't really a great 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.560 inroad for me. But what was really helpful was first 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.120 creating a shift in the nervous system. And the best 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.280 way to do that is the breath. So if I 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.920 were someone who had a total resistance to meditation, now 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:17.440 knowing what I know, I would say that's fine, do 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:21.440 five or ten minutes of shaping the breath in a 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:26.560 particular way, because that step alone is going to create 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:28.560 a shift in your nervous system, and that's going to 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.840 create an on flow effect into your mind as well. 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:36.000 Right, the traditional progression in the yoga tradition at least 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:36.760 is awesome enough. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.760 And then pronayama, which is we think of it as breathwork, 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.960 but it's much more complex than that, and then meditation, 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.360 and so each step is preparing for the step that follows, right, 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:53.000 and so most of us are jumping straight into meditation, 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:55.760 and it's like, well, we haven't actually like you know, 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:57.320 I call it meditation foreplay. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.880 It's like you got to like buy yourself at drink first. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:04.920 Right. For like the most efficacy and the most satisfaction 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:07.240 in a practice, it's important to have some kind of 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.920 preparation and pay attention to it as a threshold or 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:12.920 a transition point into sort. 0:16:12.720 --> 0:16:13.600 Of where you're heading. 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:16.640 So I just want to preface it with, like, if 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:18.920 you only have five or ten minutes, maybe just do 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.280 something to shape the breath because that's going to have 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:25.120 an impact that you feel in the moment, and cumulatively 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.520 done over time, you can shift yourself out of sympathetic 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.560 dominance into parasympathetic dominance just by doing that. And so 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.120 examples of that would be ujai breathing. It's a really 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.920 powerful one. It's super simple. So you're basically just creating 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.480 a valve that the throat sounds like Darth Vader or 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.920 the subtle sound of the ocean, depending on how you 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.600 want to frame it. But that has this whole incredible 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:53.640 biological sort of effect. And so if you did that 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.240 for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, in six weeks, you could 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.840 expect a shift. And that's like been clinically shown to 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:06.199 create a shift in nervous system dominance. So I just 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.000 want to name that because meditation maybe isn't the rate 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.679 starting police for everyone at every moment. 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:12.080 Of their life. 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.000 I've never heard it explained like that before, but I 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.919 love it because those baby steps to bridge that gap 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.480 makes a lot of sense to me, and I think 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.000 it would a lot of other people who have either 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:28.200 thought about it and it's too big a canyon to cross, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.760 or have tried it and fallen down somewhere along the 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.439 line like me. So I love that you're actually breaking 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.679 it down like that. You know, it's funny. It's so 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.359 often how i'd work with people with nutrition or exercise, 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.520 you know, just go for a ten minute walk or 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:44.920 just start with your breakfasts, you. 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.200 Know whatever, Start where you are exactly exactly. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.439 I've never heard it explain from a stillness perspective, but 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.160 it really does make complete sense. What was that type 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:59.000 of breathing called again? Just just say it slowly OJA huge? 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.440 Yeah? Huge y I Okay. 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.280 It's super easy and you can kind of do it 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:07.520 in any positions. You could do it laying down, you 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.280 can do it sitting up, you can do it in 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:10.639 the car on an airplane. 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:10.840 Like. 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:16.760 It's very simple to learn, and it's like deceptively simple, 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.760 as in it can create a really powerful change in 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:26.240 the moment but also over time. JA means victorious, okay, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.720 victorious breath victorious okay. So when we think about agency, 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.960 it's offering us a pathway towards victory over our mind 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.800 right or over our sort of state. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.360 So I've heard you say, and it put a big 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.479 smile on my face. Meditation doesn't have to be and 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:44.840 I quote boring as shit? 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:51.080 What weighs beyond the breath step? Yes? Do you like to? 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.120 I don't know, either practice it or teach it where 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.280 it isn't in people's minds boring as shit because I 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.440 can tell by your personality that you do make it fun, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:01.520 you know, like even the terminology to use, you know, 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:03.040 let's have some for play first. 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.080 It makes sense, and. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:06.800 It makes it relatable to people. If this is not 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:10.760 a space you've ever been in, yeah, or ever even researched, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.920 it feels completely foreign to you totally. It's really nice 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.720 to make these philosophies relatable to people. 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:18.840 And I love how you do that. 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:20.399 Well, thank you, that's so kind. 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:21.159 Yeah. 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.680 I always say like meditation has a pr problem, right, 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.200 Like on a lot of levels, people have all these 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.040 like misconceptions about like what it is and like how 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.120 long they need to do it and what it needs 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:34.760 to look like. And it's not helpful because if you 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.000 have all those barriers and you think it's not for you, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.440 then like it has no opportunity to be of service 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:39.679 to you. 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:41.199 So, first of. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.760 All, I think that it's a mistake to offer people 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:51.080 one meditation technique. In my first book, Heavily Meditated, I 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.200 sort of laid it out as like five different gateways, 0:19:55.080 --> 0:20:00.800 so you have the breath, sound, sensation, visualization, and mantra. 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:06.440 That's not like a comprehensive sort of categorization of every 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.840 technique known to man. But those are five really common 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.840 focal points, and often they're combined. You might have two together. 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.879 You might use the breath and visualization, for example. But 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.000 the reason that I like to frame it that way 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.840 is to say, like, here's a menu of options for you, 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.360 and so try them all and see what resonates for you, 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:32.719 like what feels most easeful. Because for some people, if 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.520 I say, okay, we're going to sit down and focus 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.280 on the breath, they're like that lady, that is going 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.280 to spin me out, Like that's the last thing that's 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.240 going to make me feel calm. Where other people don't visualize, 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:47.960 they actually have something in their brain that doesn't allow 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.439 them to visualize, and that's fine too. So it's like, 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.440 if you just offer one thing, it's not going to 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:56.040 sort of be a connection point for every single person. 0:20:56.080 --> 0:20:59.200 So I think first have like go to the buffet, 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:00.240 the meditation, the. 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:04.400 Fey and like dabble and try and taste different things, 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.199 and then when you find one that you feel is 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.040 easeful or bring some sense of delight, go down that 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.000 path for a while. Right. So you could do the 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.240 same practice, or you could explore different practices that use 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:22.360 that technique. But what I don't love is like people 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.280 having this experience of meditation that it has to be 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:27.520 this one way and they have to do it for 0:21:27.560 --> 0:21:29.800 the specific amount of time, and it has to be 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.000 done it this time of day. Like I think that's 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:39.040 very restrictive, and it takes this aspect of flexibility, prescriptiveness, 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.360 and delight out of the equation. 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:44.639 And I love that. 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.040 And I know I relate things back to exercise because 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:50.240 that's my background, But people do that naturally with exercise 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:51.919 all the time. You know, sometimes I just go to 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:54.359