Okay,
Welcome back to the Spiritual Recalibration Series.
Thank you for embarking on this series and opening yourself to a new way of being.
My name is David,
And this is Session 21,
Drama,
Possibility,
And Your Amygdala.
Find a comfortable seat in a space where you can allow yourself 20 minutes or so,
Undistracted,
To focus just on you.
A quick reminder,
To get the most out of this series,
Please be sure you've listened to the Welcome Session,
Session Zero.
Here we go.
So the other day,
I was preparing for a group that I was going to be meeting with,
And meditation was fairly new for at least some of them.
I was just kind of reviewing some of the neuroscience,
Because it's a nice thing to present to those who are new to meditation.
It's just some of the reasons why you might choose to do it.
One of the whys is just kind of the changes that Western science has actually studied and found in your brain.
So in the functional workings of the brain of someone who has had a sustained meditation practice for a certain number of years is functionally different from those who have not.
There's some studies you can look at that show the difference.
One of the things is there is your amygdala,
And we've talked about,
I think,
Before our limbic system,
Which is kind of that reptilian part of our brain.
That's that emotionally reactive,
And the amygdala is the protective part.
It's that fight or flight part that was really active and helpful when our predecessors were interacting with lions and tigers and bears,
As they say in the Wizard of Oz.
But in our regular daily lives,
In the corporate world,
In our homes and such,
There aren't a whole lot of lions and tigers to fend with.
But that amygdala is still there doing its job.
And so one of the things that happens with a sustained meditation practice is the connection between that fight or flight part of our brain and the part of our brains that actually makes choices is less.
So one of the benefits that you notice with a sustained meditation practice is that you're less emotionally reactive.
You find yourself less tied in with your sadness,
With your fear,
With your anger,
When those things come up.
So I was reading about that,
And the interesting thing that happened is literally as I was reading it,
Drama unfolded upstairs in my house.
I have two teenage daughters,
As you guys probably know,
And they get along wonderfully most of the time,
But they're teenage girls and they live in the same house and they share space and they're human beings living at this time when human beings are living,
Going through everything they're going through.
Sometimes that happens.
So an argument ensued.
I've certainly had plenty of experiences as a father reacting to that,
Emotionally reacting to that.
And so when we talk about drama,
Drama is so there can be drama in your family,
Drama in your intimate relationships,
Drama in your personal relationships,
Your professional relationships,
In your workplace.
Because drama is in yourself.
And drama is just where it's kind of a normal state,
Really.
It's what really common drama is just when you really,
I was thinking about this,
What is it?
And it's really when you want something to be different or someone to be different than it is.
When you want something to be different,
When we want something to change or when we want to change someone or something,
We create drama,
Whether that's some circumstance or some other person or something that's happening or something within ourselves.
When we desire it different than what it is,
We tend to create drama.
And so that's another way to think of that is resistance.
And we resist what is.
So I was,
I did,
This is a little side note,
I did notice that on this particular instance,
What I felt more than anything else was compassion.
That's what came up,
Just compassion for what it must feel like right now for each girl to be having that experience.
So I was grateful for that,
To have that response internally.
And so a technique or something that I've been asking,
So what I want to share with you,
What I really want to share with you is this,
This thing that I missed.
And I wonder if this might be helpful for you.
I've been asked,
I got this,
I got a bit of coaching.
That was,
You know,
Whenever I,
Whenever you find yourself in drama,
Ask,
What would it take for this situation with blank,
It can be anything situation with my situation with my husband or situation at work or situation at the water cooler or situation with them,
You know,
With whatever the,
With the proposal,
This,
What would it take for this situation with blank to turn out better than I could possibly imagine what else is possible.
And so what you're doing is you're asking this,
This wonder question that invites something else,
Some other possibility.
So I asked that a lot,
I say that a lot,
But what I feel like has been,
Is missing in that little process there is the recognition.
I don't know that you can ask what else is possible from a place of resistance or from a place of drama,
Right?
Don't you have to fully accept what is.
Might we need to work on loving exactly what is,
As it is,
Whether it's ourselves or something else or some situation before that,
Something else that's possible can enter.
Can you ask what else is possible from a place of not accepting what is,
And my feeling right now in this moment is no.
So I was thinking about that and I want to share with you before we go into,
And this is what's going to inspire our visualization here.
I'm sorry,
I have this photo on my phone that I'm pulling up.
And so I was,
This was,
This came in separately,
Same,
Same bit of coaching,
But it actually came in at separate times and somehow they ended up weaving together.
So this is,
This is a quote by Ram Dass.
And I was thinking about the,
When we asked the question,
How do we,
How do we love what is,
How do we accept fully and love what is?
So here's,
Here's what Ram Dass said.
When you go out into the woods and you look at trees,
You see all these different trees and some of them are bent.
You sort of understand that it didn't get enough light.
And so it turned that way and you don't get all emotional about it.
You just allow it.
The minute you get near humans,
You lose all that.
And you are constantly saying you are to this,
Or I'm to this,
That judgment mind comes in.
And so I practice turning people into trees,
Which means appreciating them just the way they are.
I don't know how you all are,
But I'm a very visual person,
It seems.
And so that image of the trees has been helping me.
And so we're going to,
Going to use that.
And we're going to turn this,
We're going to turn this on ourselves,
We're going to turn this on yourself,
That,
That,
That judgment mind and that acceptance and that allowing that loving what is.
Yeah,
Let's do that.
Okay.
So if you're sitting in a chair,
Make sure your feet are flat on the floor.
If you can get them there,
Sitting comfortably.
Spine nice and upright.
Energy rising from your seat,
Up through the spine up into your,
Up into your brain,
Rising that energy.
Sitting up nice and tall,
But not straining,
Drawing the shoulder blades together gently,
But no tension.
Placing your hands on your thighs,
The juncture of thighs and abdomen are a little bit further forward if that's more comfortable for you.
Palms up or palms down,
Your choice.
Palms up is sort of the more open and receiving position of the hands and palms down is a little bit more grounding,
Stabilizing position for the hands.
You choose what you like today.
Eyes closed gently,
If that's comfortable for you.
Eyelids gentle,
Eyes soft behind the eyelids.
Allow the breath to come naturally.
Take a moment and see if you can notice your breath in your nostrils.
This ancient technique,
Many different meditation techniques,
Many,
Many different concentration techniques.
This may be the most common,
Simply watching your breath.
It's always here.
See if you can find the spot in your nostrils where you can feel the air passing.
See if you can allow the breath to be just as it is.
You don't have to breathe any certain way.
See if you can just simply allow and notice.
Notice your mind,
Wander to a thought or two or three.
Notice that and come back to your breath.
Those benefits of a sustained meditation practice that I was mentioning earlier,
Becoming less reactive,
Less tied in with emotion,
Feeling happier,
Being more healthy,
A stronger immune system,
Improved circulation,
Less inflammation,
Better sleeping,
More feelings of peace,
More feelings of kindness and compassion,
Smiling more,
More fulfilling relationships.
That's all in less than 20 minutes a day.
You can do it for five minutes a day.
Just watching your breath,
Imagine the possibilities.
You can change everything.
So now,
Take an intentional inhale through your nose and then exhale through your mouth.
You can let go of watching the breath.
Now here in the quiet,
Allow yourself to see,
Allow yourself to be standing in a clearing in a forest and you see trees around and some of them are bent,
Like Ram Dass was describing.
Let yourself be one of those bent trees.
Now tune into the light,
This beautiful light that's right in the center,
Center of your consciousness or in your heart,
You can see it there,
This light of acceptance,
Of allowance,
Of love,
Share that light with that bent tree,
That light of love,
Of allowing,
Of kindness and compassion,
Let that light spread to all of the trees that you see.
Allow it to spread across the whole forest,
So you see a forest of trees that are made of light,
Trees of light,
Standing tall,
Reaching toward the sky,
Branches expanding,
Leaves and blossoms of light,
This light that is within you and always available.
Now let this visual go,
But stay for just a few moments with this feeling of light,
Acceptance,
Of allowing,
Of love,
Good.
Now take a normal inhale and exhale,
Prepare to come back to the space where you are and when you're ready,
You can flutter open your eyes or stay here like this for as long as you like.
