#848: From Stress to Stillness — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman

Transcript from https://podmenti.com/t/162f88d38a0ba86d

Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferris. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferris Show. This episode is a brand new experiment called Meditation Monday.
That means in addition to my long form interviews each week, every Monday, I will be bringing you a short 10 minute or so meditation, which will help you for the rest of the week. Over this four episode series, you'll develop a Zen toolkit specifically to help you find greater calm, peace, and effectiveness in your daily life.
The teacher, Henry Shuchman, has been on my podcast twice before. He is one of only a few dozen masters in the world authorized to teach what is called Sambozen, and I have found this particularly interesting and effective, and now he'll be your teacher.
I've been using Henry's app, The Way.
Once
Often twice a day, and it has lowered my anxiety more than I thought.
Possible. As a listener of the show, you yourself can get thirty free sessions.
by visiting thewayapp.com slash Tim. So if you like what you hear in these meditations, which will be valuable in and of themselves, you can get thirty free sessions by going to thewayapp.com slash Tim. And for the time being, please enjoy this meditation Monday with
Henry Shootman.
Welcome to this meditation with me, Henry Shuman.
On working with stress.
Stress is a
universal human phenomenon and
You know, it's
terribly widespread today in the way we
Uh conditioned
and socialised and the way we
lead our lives with a constant pursuit of productivity, etcetera.
Many pressures on us all the time.

I personally grew up with a lot of stress from a very difficult chronic
Illness throughout my childhood.
that was highly stressful and the moment I started to meditate
Around
The age of twenty five, it made a massive difference.
to how I dealt with stress.
So I hope to share something of that right now.
We might think of stress
as a thing that we want to kind of eliminate and
There's a lot of research that meditation can greatly help with that.
But it's a counterintuitive way.
The way to reduce stress is not to fight it but
It's actually to learn to allow it
And include it.
That is the meditative approach.
So let's come into a comfortable seated position.
And we'll see how this can work.
Yeah, get yourself settled.
Find a comfortable position.
Close the eyes or lower.
The gaze with the eyes open if you prefer that.
Yeah, make any micro adjustments.
of the body that will help you.
Settle in?
Just
Be in a
Position that feels good to you.
Right now.
Let's take a deeper inhale.
Fill the lungs?
And slowly let it out.
Let the breath turn and once again fill
The lungs.
Hold it a moment.
And slowly exhale.
And one more time.
Feeling
The lungs.
Holding a moment.
And releasing.
and letting the breath return.
to its natural rhythm.
So we're gonna begin by
Becoming aware of the body?
Feel your feet on the floor or whatever surfaces beneath them.
Just sense the contact that they're making.
Feel your seat.
Below your buttocks and whatever.
They're resting on?
Feel that contact.
And perhaps some pressure?
And be aware of your head?
No.
Just sense your head and let it be in a restful position.
Now let your
Shoulders.
Arms and hands and
Relax.
Let them go slack, let them hang.
Like old ropes.
Let your legs also be.
Completely relaxed, loose.
So both arms and both legs are
Ah, really?
At ease, they're not doing anything.
Slack.
And let the whole torso, the
Chest area the
The belly area.
And the whole back of the body.
Let it all be.
Relaxed.
At ease.
So just see if you can get a quick sense of the whole body.
Mate.
can almost be like a mental image of the whole body.
Just sitting here.
Being still
And coming into
Its own state of rest.
So stress shows up as a physical sensation.
In the chest some
Research suggests ninety four percent of people are
Experience.
Stress.
In the chest area.
If they look for it as a physical sensation.
Yeah.
So just see now.
How's your
Stress level
Right now.
Can you sense any kind of
Sensation in the chest.
that might be associated with it.
Perhaps uh
Certain kind of tightness,
Or a
Certain heat.
Oh
Sense of
Activation in the chest.
Or weight or density.
And just
Back off from that.
And bring your awareness
To the surface of your whole rib cage.
The skin.
Around your ribcage.
Let
That
Sheesh.
Around the ribcage.
Become soft.
And warm.
Like
Warm wax.
Let it be warm.
And notice that
In its softness.
And its warmth.
It can
Contain
And allow
Any other energies that are
Within the chest area.
So whatever.
Other kinds of energy.
Maybe
Subtly.
Arising.
In the upper.
Torsum.
This softness
Encircling them.
Softness of our ribcage.
And of the
Sheesh.
Around the ribcage,
That's warm and soft.
It can hold
All energies.
It can allow them.
So we're not actually trying to get rid of anything.
We're developing
Or rediscovering
Our capacity
To allow
Any sensations that are
Uncomfortable.
More uneasy.
There's
Away.
In which we can already be
Be able.
To allow them.
And include them.
It's as if there's a part of us that
hasn't
Inbuilt capacity.
For patience.
Fair certain
Flavour of
Kindness.
Of compassion.
For ourselves.
We
Allow ourselves to
To be as we are.
Including with
The stress.
We sometimes
And to notice
That we can hold it, we can allow it.
That actually
Destresses us.
It wakes up.
A more patient
And
Compassionate.
Side.
To us.
One that is already
Somehow welcoming.
As
Our very own experience,
Just as it is.
So just resting for a moment more
With whatever warmth.
Unkindness.
Toward ourselves,
We can taste right now.
Not making any demands on ourselves.
Letting ourselves be
Be as we are.
Perhaps tasting
Just a little bit of well being.
In spite of whatever
Difficult feelings we may.
Be experiencing.
There's another kind of well being.
That's here for us.
Part of our makeup.
Okay, let's
Gently start to come out of the sit.
Bring a little movement into the upper body.
He might.
Sway a bit from side to side. You can
Move the shoulders.

Raise the eyes, look around you.
Have a little stretch?
Great.
Thank you so much again for joining me.
Please feel free to use this.
And any of this little set of meditations.
Any time you like.
Any time you're needing a little
Yeah.
Of quiet, of calm.
Of resetting yourself.
Just
Go through any of these meditations.
And
Make them your own.
To use the same thing.
As and when.
You wish.
Have a wonderful rest.
Love your day.