Transcript

#791: How to Feel at Peace Amidst High Stress — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman

0:00 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

0:42 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 thewayapp.com slash Tim. And for the time being, please enjoy this meditation Monday with Henry Shopman. Welcome back to Meditation Monday with me, Henry Schutman. Thank you for joining.

1:16 So I've already said that meditation can be an extraordinary journey of discovery. I believe that its deepest purpose. is to reveal Aspects of who we are and what our true relationship To the world really is. Which can kinda blow our minds when we when we when we taste them. And of course, meditation's not the only way of finding out

1:38 That kind of stuff, but it's an incredible way of grounding it. into our lives and integrating it into the way we actually live. However The vast majority of us, myself included, come to meditation. Not for those reasons.

1:53 But To handle Stress. We may not even realise we've got stress, we're just kind of miserable. I was in that category in my early to mid twenties.

2:03 when I started meditating, I was just really unhappy and had a good friend who meditated He was much less unhappy than I was, and I decided to Try out. Uh what he was doing. And it changed my life.

2:15 Here's what we're gonna do today. The tool we're gonna be picking up Is around how To handle stress. How to recognize stress

2:24 And what to do about it. Through meditation. And essentially the the main thing we're gonna be working on is recognizing The signatures of стрес. In our bodies.

2:37 Coming into the body, getting to know it in the body. And Just that recognition. Starts to Dial it right down.

2:48 Stuck. Let's come into A comfortable seated position. You can Close your eyes or you can

2:56 Lower your gaze. And as always, we're gonna start by really arriving. So kinda catching up with ourselves. And here we are with this Little space this little gap in our day.

3:18 When we get to be still. And quiet. And really it It can be a kind of refuge. So just take stock.

3:32 You know, how are you doing right now? Yeah, we've all just jumped in from Our busy lives outside this space. What are we carrying? What's in our bodies right now? What kind of momentum? From the day.

3:56 Why not? Seeking to get rid of anything or change anything. We just Starting to recognize What's going on?

4:06 For us. Catch up with ourselves. Now let's give the body a chance to To relax. To come into some kind of rest.

4:24 Solidding Your shoulders settle. Letting The seat receive the weight of your body. Letting

4:38 The floor beneath you. Receive the weight of your legs. Letting your whole upper body be at rest, so Either balanced, Already giving

4:53 Giving the weight of your upper body. To whatever support it has. You get. To unwind. Right now.

5:05 You get to sort of unbind yourself. From the threads of your Your days, your busy days. So now we may not particularly want to think about stress right now, but it's really helpful to In this space the

5:27 It's kinda shelter almost of meditation. We can get to know what happens in our bodies. When we feel anxious or stressed. You might just think about some miner

5:44 Stress or Like There's a An email you haven't answered yet, or A phone call.

5:54 Mm. Maybe the tire pressure on your car needs to be checked. Just some minor thing. And just feel what happens. In your chest.

6:07 Or your diaphragm. Just below the chest. Or perhaps in your throat? Is there some Sensation.

6:20 That you can Notice In your torso. This seems to associate. Correlate.

6:33 With stress. Just do a kind of gentle scan of your torso. Is there some kind of energy? Some kind of sensation. Could be a tension.

6:53 Tightness. My dear A sense of heat. Or some kind of agitation. Sometimes there's a certain

7:05 Density. Or it might be more like weather. As a a little High pressure system. In the

7:17 Torso. Whatever you're finding. Or even if you're not finding much of anything. Let it be the way. It is.

7:34 Wow. Keeping one part of your attention open To whatever's going on. In your torso.

7:45 At the same time let Let your shoulders Be soft. Let the flanks of your body Be soft.

7:58 That it almost be like The The whole of your torso is made of warm wax. There's a warmth surrounding Your chest.

8:12 Area. Your diaphragm. Area. Feel that warmth. Like warm wax.

8:24 And feel how it can Hold Annie. Uncomfortable feelings. Within. If there is a tightness of

8:37 Or a heat or a density. Any kind of unease. Notice that there's a softness, a warmth in In your body as well. That can welcome

8:57 And hold Any discomfort. We're learning To let things be. Not to get rid of them.

9:16 To let things be. To be with. How uh Sometimes anxious, troubled, Hearts.

9:30 We don't need to Banish them all. Suppress them all. Change them. We ourselves can learn.

9:41 To allow them. To bring a kindness to Towards Our discomforts. So just resting a moment.

9:58 With a soft body. And a sense of Allowing. Of kindness and patience. Toward

10:15 Any stress. We might be feeling. That we really can. Kindly welcome. Yeah.

10:26 And sort of tend. Yeah. As if We might almost be rediscovering a kind of Kind of

10:44 Attentiveness. But we've always had. And can Turn it toward. Ourselves.

10:57 Our own experience was Okay. So that's You know, in your own time. Come out of the meditation.

11:20 Come back to Space you're in. Sometimes people like to stretch a little bit after Coming out of a sit. Whatever feels good for you.

11:34 So Another tool. As we're proceeding. With These sessions.

11:42 This time. Probably or maybe. A counterintuitive one. When we're feeling stressed. We don't try to get rid of it.

11:51 Instead we try to recognize it. As sensation in the body. And Do maybe the last thing we want to do, which is welcome it. Allow it.

12:02 Let it be part of What our experience currently actually Is And in doing that, we discover that we ourselves have a have a greater capacity than we might have remembered.

12:14 to give ourselves loving Kind. Awareness. Thanks so much for joining me. See you on the next Meditation Monday.