Meditation And Other Mediums: A Dharma Talk With A Life Coach And Seated Practice

Namaste.

Hello and welcome.

My name is Elizabeth.

And my name is Adérie.

And we welcome you here to our meditation with the sacred circus.

Yes.

I am representing the life coach.

And I represent the meditation master.

And we're here today to talk about how meditation and life coaching are similar and different and how they feed and source each other.

Indeed.

One of my favorite things about meditation is the stillness.

We designate a time.

I have tools like the meditation bell,

The candle,

And we sit and get present in the now,

Mostly focusing on our breath.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

And life coaching is sometimes we'll use meditation as a practice,

But there is something very intrinsically tied together about life coaching and meditation.

And that is really being present to what is here now,

What your experience is so that you can really earnestly step into the future of what you will be creating next.

Yes.

And meditation typically is an individual experience,

Although we find strength in community.

It's a beautiful thing to sit with one person or sit in a group to do your individual practice.

And you practice by yourself and then you practice in community.

Yeah.

And life coaching is similar in that there can be a community and also in that who are receiving the coaching and practicing the tools learned from coaching and decided from coaching,

That's a very individual kind of a thing.

Every person is in a different place and needs something a little bit different.

And so when they get coached,

When a person gets coached,

They typically will have something different and maybe even if they're working on a similar kind of a project,

They might have completely different ways of practicing.

Another way that life coaching is different from meditation is that in meditation you can have a guide,

Someone leading you.

In coaching,

Partnership is required.

You cannot coach yourself.

Well,

You could try,

But it doesn't really work.

It helps to have the outside eye,

Right?

Yeah,

It really does.

And so while there's a lot of internal gaze,

There's a lot of really being present and be in seeing yourself,

There's also a reflective surface of the coach who is there to say,

This is what I see,

Which you might have had a blind spot perhaps and your coach may be able to point it out to you.

And that's where you can then turn your gaze and decide where to go from there.

Another way that they,

Well,

There are many,

Many expressions of meditation.

We can meditate with the eyes closed.

We can meditate on a fixed point.

My preferred is a candle.

And there are two primary modes of meditation that I practice.

One is the Zen,

The art of not doing.

You simply sit for the duration until the bell rings and you have zero responsibility,

But to mind your breath.

Another way which ties meditation to life coaching visualization is active meditation,

Meditating upon a point of concentration.

Nice.

Yeah.

One particular,

I like the way that you tied that in because really what life coaching does is it shows you where you are,

Who you are now,

And also gets you a presence to who you want to be moving forward.

It's always looking in the forward direction.

And so while you need to be really clear on who you are choosing to be in the present,

You get to decide,

Is that who I want to choose to be in the future?

And immediately and also in the long term.

And it's a way to purposefully create your life.

And that kind of like seeing,

Visualizing,

That is another tool that life coaching can use.

So another way that life coaching and meditation are really tied together.

What is meditation?

An answer to that question sounds like this.

Meditation is the practice of being.

And in particular,

The brand of life coaching that I study in practice is ontological life coaching,

Which ontology is the study of being.

In this way,

They are also related.

And we said the P word,

Practice.

Practice.

They both require practice,

Which means not only does it get easier the more you practice,

The more you see the effects,

The more you practice.

And this is one place where the analogy to a sports team does work.

You can have the greatest coach on the planet.

And if your team doesn't practice,

All the coaching in the world isn't going to do anything for them to actually improve the quality of their long term game.

They might do some great drills and learn some stuff,

But if they don't actually put the practices into their practice and then perform them and then do them again and improve the quality,

They're not going to go very far.

Repetition,

Repetition,

Repetition.

So that it becomes second nature.

Yes.

And practices that you co-design with your coach,

Meditation is often one of them.

Just because it's so great for being still and looking inward and simply practicing being and letting that be enough.

Because ontological life coaching is the study of taking your being and creating the being that you want to create in the world.

And the question is,

Who are you being about your life?

Instead of what are you doing about your life.

I like that.

The practice of meditation gives you access to insight,

Inner listening.

You reflect upon your past,

You reflect upon your current.

This is if you're active,

You could just simply sit here.

But they really do require that practice,

That repetition,

That designation of a structure.

However loose or rigid or coded that it is,

You still need to say,

Now is the time for meditation and consciously turn it on.

Life coaching is very similar in the need for discipline and it's just a deciding to do.

Deciding to be in relationship with your coach and to take on the practices that will actually have your life shift in the direction that you decide.

Powerful stuff.

Indeed.

Thanks practice.

With practice,

We do get to see the effects of meditation.

There are cumulative effects not only on the mind but literally on the body.

We talk about cultivating stillness which leads to peace.

Your body literally relaxes.

A personal share for me in my experience of life coaching is that I have body sensations throughout life coaching.

Some of them are more stressful but then at the very end of the endeavor,

I generally feel very,

Very relaxed,

Very at ease and empowered to move forward,

Empowered to recommit to my meditation practice,

Empowered to recommit to taking action.

That's perfect.

That's all anyone could really want.

Yeah,

That is what life coaching is designed to do is to have you really take stock of what inner turmoil there might be,

Any tumult or storm drawing and channel it into something really creative and really generative and leave you ready to take the next step in whatever direction it ends up being.

We're going to practice a sit,

I will guide.

Take a deep breath in and exhale.

Soften your eyes,

Soften your gaze,

Perhaps close them completely or leave them just a sliver open and gaze down the tip of your nose.

Inhale and exhale.

Deep breath in and like an ocean wave crashing on the beach,

Long,

Smooth exhale out.

Simply get still.

Draw yourself into this present moment.

Soften your throat,

Take a gentle swallow.

Soften your cheeks.

Soften your eyebrows.

Soften your forehead.

As you inhale,

Sit a little bit taller.

And as you exhale,

Soften everywhere.

This heightens the sensation of peace and calm.

It creates open space for possibility.

Your choice.

You may simply do it Zen and sit here and breathe.

You may actively focus on one aspect of your life,

Much like life coaching asks us to do.

In the way of inspiration for today,

I offer the possibility of adventure,

Of travel.

It is fall currently and whenever fall descends upon us here in the Midwest,

My immediate response is to begin meditating on more temperate and even tropical climates.

So if you would,

Envision your adventure that guides you somewhere warm.

I like the beach.

It's your breath like ocean waves rolling in and rolling out.

And you have choices for your visualization.

Did you go on your adventure by yourself?

Did you take travel companions?

You can choose to get as specific or as general as you like.

But simply see yourself in the midst of the adventure.

Take a deep breath in and a long,

Smooth exhale.

If you've chosen active concentration for the next few moments,

Simply release and come back to the sand.

Draw your awareness back to this present moment,

Wherever you are.

When we get still,

Our senses heighten.

So perhaps feel the temperature of the air against your skin.

Perhaps in the stillness you might perceive your pulse or even your heartbeat.

We'll have one minute of silent sitting and in the way of life coaching,

Simply envision yourself as your greatest self.

Next one please.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Namaste.

What a lovely scent.

Indeed.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

We could sit here and talk at great length about the similarities and distinctions between meditation and life coaching.

And the ways that they can intertwine and utilize each other for the greatest expression of humanity.

My name is Ade Oye.

And my name is Elizabeth.

Namaste.

Namaste.