#789: Ease Into Stillness — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman

Transcript from https://podmenti.com/t/3ee34f026b668418

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 for the last few months, 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 the wayapp.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 the wayapp.com slash Tim. And for the time being, please enjoy this meditation Monday with
Henry Shookman.
Welcome to Meditation Monday.
It's a joy to be back with you.
Thanks for
Hopping on.

So
Many of us.
Come to meditation to help us with stress.
And
Rightly so.
Meditation is a great vehicle for dialing down.
Our nervous system's coming back into homeostasis into more of a balanced state.
But I've noticed over fifteen years of teaching meditation that it's not uncommon for people to get stressed about meditation.
There's good reason for that.
In meditation we're still
We're quiet.
And for many of us, we just don't do that in the course of our day. We're we're busy all the time.
Engage in activities.
We also don't have distractions. If we're feeling uncomfortable we
You know, we we can't reach for the fun.
in while we're meditating, or whatever our favorite distractions might be.
So it's perfectly natural.
But there's even a bigger reason, I think, why people get
stressed around it, which is the
We commonly think I did it myself for years.
Th there's something that I'm supposed to kind of measure up to.
There's some way my meditation is supposed to be.
And one of the common misconceptions right there is about thinking.
thinking that we're supposed to have no thoughts.
When we meditate.
Basically.
It's rubbish.
We are developing a different relationship with thoughts, is true.
But our brains naturally secrete thought, as some people put it.
So when not
Aspiring to have total, you know, radio silence.
Within
When we meditate.
Not at all. So in this set.
We gonna deal
with and address some of this meditation stress.
i e stress around meditation itself, particularly
When it comes.
To thinking.
So that's
Come into our comfortable seated position.
Get yourself.
Set up.
Seated in a way that
Feels good for you.
We wanna be comfortable.
We want to be able to relax.
So right now we can close the eyes.
Or lower them if if you prefer.
Keeping them open but lowered.
Just give yourself a moment to
To come back to you.
This is really about you.
It's about you as you are right now.
And you know, sometimes we also get
Inklings that it's about
Coming back to some
Sort of deeper sense of myself.
Something that in a way's been here all my life.
And then I may have journeyed far from.
But now
We can
Stop coming back.
And it begins with
Being here.
Just as we are.
Right now.
So let's again
Check how much tension we're holding in our jaw.
And release the jaw.
Imagine there's a little sling.
Right under your chin that your jaw can rest in.
And let it rest.
Let your arms
Hang like the sleeves of an old coat.
Totally relaxed.
See if you can find a certain sense of warmth and softness.
In the chest.
In the belly.
In the hips.
And letting legs and feet.
Also be
Relaxed.
At rest.
We're really just coming home to ourselves.
Uh.
This our life.
Just like this.
Now as we're resting
And being a bit more
Present.
Very commonly.
Thoughts will come up.
And before we know it, we're off on a train of thought.
And then we realise, oh
Who I've been far away.
In another time and place, thinking.
Great.
We've recognized.
So that's happened.
We congratulate ourselves.
We've come back.
And what we're gonna do is just check where we were
In our thinking.
Just enough to be able to file.
The thinking.
We were just in
In one of three files.
Memories.
Plans.
Imaginings.
So just check.
Well.
Kinda thinking it was.
File.
Any the memories
Planning.
Or imagining.
Thank the thoughts for showing up.
And come back.
So as we go I'll offer
A few little prompts.
Sitting here.
In a restful state.
Present.
Not needing to do anything.
Just noticing.
When thoughts have come up.
When we've been
Carried off.
Bye.
Thinking.
Uh any time thoughts have arisen?
No them?
Welcome them.
And file them.
In one of those three folders.
Memories.
Planning.
Imagining.
And when there's no thoughts?
Just rest.
And
Being
Present.
Right.
Yeah.
Sensing your
Calm, relaxed body.
You might notice some sounds around you.
Resting.
Um
The here and now.
Just this.
As it is.
And recognizing
That thoughts will arise.
And filing them.
According to that little scheme.
Memories, plans, imaginings.
When we notice
They have arisen.
So we're not trying to have no thoughts.
We're just seeing if we can
Notice thoughts when they arise.
We acknowledge them.
And we file them away.
Mm.
One of those three folders.
And come back.

Really doing very much.
Basically a kind of
Wakeful rest.
An attentive
Not doing.
Just being
With our experience.
As it is right now.
Soft body.
Some amount of
Sounds.
Around us.
And sometimes.
Thoughts.
Okay.
Let's um
Gently.
Bring a little movement back into the body.
Whatever.
Might feel good for you.
Some people like to sway.
Some people like to move fingers and toes, just coming back, raising the eyes.
Great. Now one thing that I just want to say as we conclude here is that
The most important thing
I'm quite sure of this actually, with meditation.
is not sort of how well we think we do it or how good a time we might have doing it, and we will sometimes have
Blissful, peaceful experiences and so on.
But actually the most important thing is just that
We spent a little portion of our day
Being quiet.
And still
and not reaching for common distractions.
Just that stillness.
Impacts.
are unconscious.
Just the fact of being quiet.
In as quiet as we uh
in our minds doesn't matter so much that we are actually just not talking.
For that period of time.
Quiet.
And still.

impacts it feeds into
Our own consciousness.
And it gradually
Changes us.
Over time.
And beautiful.
Ways that we
Can really come to appreciate.
More and more as we go.
Thank you very much.
For joining me.
See you next time.