Ask Your Guides - Live - 9/21/24

1:15:09

1:15:09

Ask Your Guides - Live - 9/21/24

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talks

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Meditation

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Ask Your Guides - recorded LIVE - 9/21/24 - An unscripted collaboration among teachers, addressing questions from the Insight Timer community. This was recorded LIVE and might have some background noise. The following teachers were in this LIVE session: Sonic Yogi, Kirsten Pancras, Daniel Roquéo, Don McAvinchey, Alejandro H, Pier | Frequencies For The Soul, Maria Wood. Please check out their profiles on Insight Timer and follow them! Host Teachers: Melanie Underwood and Violet 108 Please join our Insight Timer Group "ASK YOUR GUIDES" to continue interacting with the teachers and the community.

Live Session Community Meditation Spirituality Healing Emotional Wellbeing Creativity Community Support Meditation Styles

Meet your Teacher

Putnam County, NY, USA

Meet your Teacher

Putnam County, NY, USA

Transcript

Okay. Well, Welcome. I'm so glad that you guys are joining us. And I really want to thank everybody on the panel today. I'm going to have everyone go around and do a little introduction. Make sure you're letting everyone know what name you use on Insight Timer and all the beautiful places and things that we want to hear about you. So I'm just going to start at my top, Which is Alejandro. Alejandro, Welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much, Melanie. Thank you so much, Violet. My name is Alejandro H. That's my name here on Insight Timer. I am a health and wellness coach, But I'm also a meditation and mindfulness teacher. And I am so honored to be here. My approach is one of vulnerability. I just got off my Saturday Lives. So this is my second one for today. And I am so honored to be here with all of you. And thank you, All of you who have joined. So thank you, Melanie. And thank you, Violet, For having me here today. Thank you. Sonic Yogi. Hi, Everyone. My name is Jonathan. And I go by Sonic Yogi on Insight Timer. I've been on Insight Timer since around 2016. And I produce meditation music. My background is that I'm a musician. So I studied that in university. And in the course of my life, I discovered meditation and yoga and fused the two passions and began creating and sharing this music. So I'm grateful to be with you all this morning and look forward to our discussion. Daniel. Hello, Everyone. My name is Daniel Roquejo. I'm a spiritual teacher. I'm a content creator, Transformational coach. I've been on what I call the path to freedom, This beautiful path of awakening or enlightenment or sanity or whatever we want to call it for a number of years. And it is my mission to assist individuals to wake up to their true nature and to transform their lives forever and for the better. So thank you so much, Melanie and Violet, For having me. I'm very much looking forward to this space and the time that we get to spend together. Did you say me? Hi, I'm Maria. And yeah, I've been on Insight Timer for a while. And two years ago, I was actually diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. And at the moment, What I'm doing is I'm kind of using my own singing voice on my own healing journey. And so on Insight Timer, I've been experimenting with how do I turn up and find a sort of a safe space in my body while I'm singing and then just sort of seeing what happens when I inhabit that space. And it's been really amazing, Actually, The lower, The more and more I just relax into my own body and allow my singing voice to create a path for me, The more healing comes to me and the more healing comes to other people. So it's actually been quite an amazing journey, If very challenging. But I feel like there's a path through a forest almost with the singing voice leading the way. And along the way, I'm meeting a load of magical people. And what I predominantly do is sing very simple nature based lullabies, Chants, Healing songs that I've written and just see what happens really. So that's, Yeah, That's lovely. Don? Hi, Melanie and Violet. Thanks so much for putting this on. It's really, Really sweet to be here. And it's nice to meet everybody on the panel. Jonathan, Big fan of yours for many years now. So it's been really cool to listen to your music and to meet you now face to face. I've been a teacher here on Insight for about four years. And I do a live event every week on Wednesday for an hour or so. And we generally generate from one week to the next, What the topic is going to be. We just have been in about a six week cycle talking about what enlightenment is, And how we might know that we're on a path of enlightenment, What that path could contain and things like that. So from the comments and the conversation on those live events, We just kind of keep it rolling to the next week. And it's been really, Really fun. Like my new friend, Alejandro, I'm very vulnerable on those calls. And I talk about my own stuff. And I don't try to pretend like I'm some sort of guru above everybody else, Just facilitating this lovely discussion. So thanks, Everybody for coming on, Who's listening. Appreciate you being here. Thank you so much, Don. I'm just going to say that I think it's amazing. I mean, I do believe that in most spaces, Women are encouraged to be more vulnerable than men. And Don and Alejandro, I have seen both of your lives as I have Daniel and Jonathan, But it's a really, And Pierre, It's a really important thing to do. And I value that. As the mom of two boys, And obviously, I have a husband, I think it's just a beautiful thing that you're doing and giving people that space. Yeah, Vulnerability is strength. It is. I'm just gonna address that people are saying the chat is very static. I mean, The voice is very staticky. So I know Violet is working on that right now. I think she might have a loose connection. But we're gonna keep going. And I know she's gonna get that fixed. Pierre. Hello, Everybody. I'm Pierre from Italy. My experience is that I've approached meditation around four or five years ago. I am suffering from arthritis from my 20s. So I and also I was facing other issues in my life. And I started this journey, But it's not easy to find your way to meditate, At least for me, It has not been. So I also found find my teachers here, Which was lovely and lovely to connect with many beautiful teachers. And after I started taking some private lessons, I just wanted to go back to my main passion, Which was music. And I started playing around 11. My main instrument is guitar, Even though I play quite a few. And yeah, It was very, Very natural the way then I started to teach, Which actually is playing live on inside timer since February this year. It's been just amazing. I love it. It's the way I also like for meditation myself. And yeah, The connection and the community has been loving and caring. So I'm very happy also for today. I know some of you and it's I'm looking forward to see what the conversation brings up. Kirsten. So my name is Kirsten and I'm in the Netherlands. And I've been in inside timer as a teacher for a while now, A couple of years. And most people know me because when I do live sessions, I use the wind chimes, So Koshi chimes and other chimes. And so, Yeah, I do meditations. I have a couple of courses. I love human design and with everything that I do. So my recordings and my live sessions and my courses and everything, It's my goal to help you to not only relax, But to really bring the magic back into your life and to help you feel more empowered, More confident and so that you can really thrive and experience that magic of life again, Even though life can sometimes be hard. And yeah, I got into meditation when I was having a hard time after my divorce, Along with my kids. They were really small at the moment then. And then, Yeah, Life was really challenging and meditation really helped me. And then somehow, Someday, I started creating meditations. And here I am years later, Still doing that and sharing it with everyone here. So I guess that's it. Thank you. And really quickly, I'm Melanie Underwood, And I do mindful cooking and intuitive baking. And I've been teaching for 28 years. And I think the reason I got into mindfulness was because when I worked in hotels and restaurants 30 some years ago, It was a lot of stress. And I had a ton of anxiety. And by tapping into mindfulness and meditation, I realized that I could really calm myself down and use it as an amazing tool. And then I started bringing it to where I worked and not everyone was super receptive, But it's been a really beautiful journey trying to bring it to people through food. Violet? So as all of you know, We've been doing, I think there's like our 13 Ask Your Guides Live. We've been doing these since June, And I love them. It was a thought that I had in the shower, As most of you know by now, And ran past Melanie. And Melanie, Who is always awesomely supportive of me, Who I know a lot of you have asked how long we've known each other. We met on Inside Timer in January and actually met in person for the first time in April. So while I have not known her my whole life, I feel like I have. I'm going to let Melanie start. So if you have questions for our panel, Please put them in the chat. And Melanie is going to keep track of them and she's going to put them out to our lovely panel. And thank you everyone for being here. Yes. Okay. So this is a question that came in earlier for everyone. What is your preferred style of meditation in your personal practice? Don? Great question. Mine has gone through a lot of evolution. I started meditating in 1976, So it's been quite a while. Part of what's happened for me, I've moved from visualization through some of Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings around meditation. And the last couple of years, I've just been really fascinated with Deepak Chopra's book, MetaHuman, And his ideas about these three states of consciousness that are operating all the time, The conscious level, Subconscious level, And consciousness. And then kind of combining that with one of my favorite teachers here on Insight Timer, Mooji's meditations, Which I highly recommend. I just sort of open things up in terms of my awareness to feeling the stillness. And I've been considering the stillness that comes, The physical sense of it and the consciousness sense of it, As this great field of the universe, That that's actually what we're actually experiencing and we do this in the live events every week also, The same kind of meditation. So it's been really simple, Just kind of, I literally think of it as sort of opening up shutters to be aware of the stillness, And then just letting that kind of permeate and fill me. And I'm doing that mornings and I do it on those live events. It's really been really fun. Great question. Thank you for that question, Whoever sent that in. Sometimes people send them to me on Instagram and I always feel like those are the people who don't want to be known. Kirsten? Yeah, So like I said, I started meditating when I was in a really low point in my life, When I was really feeling super stressed and sad and angry and all the things. And for me, Guided meditations, A little bit like the ones that I make, Like really meditations that take you on a journey to somewhere where you experience something magical, That is what I love most. And sometimes it happens that, You know, You hear something and then you're like, Wait, What, I missed something? Because then I tend to fall asleep during the meditation. But yeah, And one other thing that I really, Really love is empowering affirmations. I love the Kenneth Soares, Especially the six minute ones. They're very short and sweet and you can listen in the morning quickly while, Or while doing something else, Or the longer ones. But yeah, So like really a magical journey or affirmations. Yeah, And really listening to the affirmations, Even though doing something else, You know, It really, I feel like it really enters your whole, Like being energy and really helps to, Yeah, To feel more empowered. And, You know, Like you can really take on everything that you will, Everything that will happen during your day, Right? You know, Never know what's going to happen, But empowering affirmations in the morning really help. Daniel? All right. So great question. I agree with Dawn. Meditation is such a fundamental tool that we get to, That we get to lean into on this beautiful path of Awakening. And my meditation, Actually, I started meditating like 25 years ago and I had these, I heard, I started meditating because I had heard people say that meditation is something that I should do. I mean, Teachers and everybody that I listened to, They were meditating and they were all saying, Oh, This is so awesome. This is a great piece. Everybody should meditate. And so I started. And I remember sitting in my living room, I was living by myself at the time, And I was sitting on my couch. I lit all these candles and was burning some incense. And I was sitting there and all of the images, Everyone I'd ever heard talk about meditation, They were saying that, Oh, You need to sit cross-legged. So I would sit cross-legged, But my hips aren't that flexible. So that was, It was a challenge for me to sit cross-legged, But that was what meditation was for me at the time. And I was living in an apartment and there was a street outside my window and the neighbors, There were a lot of noises and a lot of distractions. And my mind kept going even more crazy than when not in meditation. And so to me, My initial encounter with meditation actually ended with me dropping it altogether because to me, It wasn't working. My perception, My opinion, My judgment of it was this is not working because meditation to me back then was to get the mind to shut up, To be really, Really quiet, To become fully still. And as it wasn't, I believed I was doing something wrong or that I was not the one to meditate, That meditation wasn't for me. And so I picked it up a number of years later. And to answer the actual question, My favorite modality of meditation is completely silent meditation because that's where I really get to connect with myself, With my heart, With my soul, With this benevolent, Loving presence. That's where I catch the guidance. I love guided meditations and other forms of meditations. But the most powerful for me on my journey in the unfolding of me is the silent ones. Not always easy. And I still have many moments where I sort of drift in and out in the meditation. I can be very, Very present. And then the mind goes on a trip somewhere. And I wake up five minutes later, 10 minutes later, 15 minutes later, Realizing that, Oh, I'm to come back to the breath because the breath is what I use as my tool of meditation. Just being with the breath, Witnessing it, Observing it, Allowing the air to flow in and out, Just being with it, Not having to do anything, Not having to make it happen, Not participating in it, Just witnessing and observing it. So coming back to the breath beginning again and coming back to the breath beginning again. And that's my absolute favorite when it comes to meditation. So thank you. Great question. Alejandro? I'm a baby meditator. I think I started meditating maybe seven years ago and it was in the midst of having lost absolutely everything. I discovered meditation through yoga and I've always been ADD and I've always been all over the place. So sitting in stillness, The idea of what meditation looked like from the outside was definitely a no for me. And a friend of mine convinced me to go to a very early yoga session and I went and there I was. And in Savasana, I, For the first time, Experienced the beauty of silence and stillness. And I fell in love with it. Not only was I in the middle of what is so far the worst season of my life, But being able to quiet the mind and come back and be rooted in the breath was so powerful. So I started, I come from a background that said yoga and meditation were not very good, Were, You know, Evil things. And so I started having to deconstruct certain beliefs from my upbringing and doing my own research and speaking with mentors and asking the questions and finding that for me, I started with guided meditations and then it evolved into just music and now practicing stillness, Which for me, I don't, Sometimes it's not very long, Whatever I need at the time. But the formal practice for me is finding the stillness so I can listen to myself and I can connect with spirit and with guidance, Whatever that is, Whatever that looks like, Whatever that sounds like. So my formal practice is that, Although when I teach, I teach guided meditations. But yeah, It's been a journey to find stillness and falling in love with stillness, Even when the mind rages. So yeah, Great question. Thank you. Thank you. And for me, You know, I grew up on a farm, So I would sit outside and listen to animals and that was my stillness. And I would literally lie down in the field and just look up at the sky, Which is something that I still do, Which is actually really important to me. And when I started meditating, It never resonated with me to do guided meditations. So like Kirsten, I do affirmations. I took TM many years ago, Which also sort of resonates with me, Although I know a lot of people have their feelings about it. But being able to repeat something is very helpful for me to center. And I think that's the most, You know, Probably the one I use the most now is affirmations, Especially just, You know, On my own personal journey. Maria. Hey, Yeah, I wouldn't really have a style of meditation. Like, Obviously, I've been inspired and learned from many, Many different people and incorporated that probably into my being. But at the moment where I'm coming from is almost from a creative space, Like it's the same place as meditation. But so if I was to write a song or a poem or something, I just sort of wait. And without knowing, And obviously, If you're going to start writing a song about a tree, A lot of normal lines might come into your mind, A lot of what you might expect to say in a song might come into your mind. And I let all those pass until something unexpected comes. And it's like, Ah, Now there's a starting point. And so I suppose I do that with my own meditation where I just I might look at a nettle and just myself and the nettle are just together. And there's no expectation, There's no, There's almost no expectation that anything is going to happen. It's just, There's almost a physical connection of just, And that's it. So that's kind of my meditation. I live on a farm, I have 13 acres and we have horses. And sometimes some people ask me, Is nature good for you? And I feel like nature is good for me if I listen to it. And I think that's the journey for me, Is to settle into it and to settle into nature. And so obviously, There's like some people said, There's moments, There's moments where you achieve that stillness. And then it's gone. But it's nice to at least have that moment to come back to. So that's kind of what I do. And Maria, I'm going to go back to you because someone asked a question. Did you always sing? And what made you decide to bring into your healing practice and bring it to Insight Timer? Hmm, Good question. Yes, I've always, I've always sang in my family. I was the singer, Which is unfair to my other family members, Because they also sing. But I was the one who was good, If you know what I mean. But I never pursued it because something didn't sit with me. I was a very loud singer, Very, Very like, I'm here, I can sing. And it never resonated with me. And from working with groups, I was working with groups as if I was teaching them. But then I was seeing things that I was like, Oh, This is interesting. You're a beginner singer. But I like what you're doing. And so there was a sort of a reverse thing happening all the time. And I learned myself to just be calmer and calmer and calmer in my voice. And then I suppose I started to, There was a few moments where I started to see things with people where I was able to guide them into a physical state of relaxation while they sang, And also sort of a mental state of connection. And my nervous system would just, Like this, Just relax. If they could inhabit the space of storytelling as they sang, My nervous system just, My nervous system just, I was suddenly out of flight, Fight or flight mode. And I became fascinated as to what is this. And it's just the simplicity. If you can connect your own story to a song, It just becomes magical. And that story can be anything. It doesn't even have to be the story of the song. It could be just a story of where you heard the song, Or the story of how you're nervous as you sing the song. But if you inhabit it with the words, It is spellbinding. And that is for every single singer, Even if you're like, I can't really sing. But if you can, It's amazing if you can connect to it. It is spellbinding. So I became obsessed by this. And I was like, I want to do this. And it became, As I got sick, That I became, My voice got weaker. And it was in that place where I found a very beautiful healing voice, As in beautiful in the sense that it was healing. And that's where my voice wants to be used. And that's sort of the gift of, Now I feel like I'm a singer. Now I feel like I'm doing the work. So that's sort of where I came from, Using the voice as a healing mode. So it's sort of a circular journey where I'm constantly learning from people and constantly finding new places to settle into. Almost like the dust is settling. And off we go. And all I'm doing in my sessions is just relaxing physically more and more and more. And just letting what happens, Happens. That's it. Letting it be what it is. Yeah. So it's lovely. It's very simple in some ways. And just very magical as well. Maria, I don't know if you saw this in the chat, But BD said, Maria's magical music offerings changed my life. And she also said, When you sing our words in the chat, It's so powerful. Oh, Thanks BD. Hi, Good to see you here. And that's beautiful because yeah. And for me what it is, It more and more opens up the possibility that every single person's voice is a magical healing possibility, Regardless of how you see yourself as a singer. It really, It's absolutely true. So thanks BD. That is really beautiful. And Maria, I can attest to that. Jessica asked for Pierre, When did you start playing music and how did you arrive on exploring the healing frequencies you play and how have they influenced your own life? Thank you, Jessica. Yeah, I started at 11, Around 11 with the classical guitar. And then I went through a really wide range of experiences as a guitarist, Also oboist, Bass player. But yeah, Then I left, Sort of left playing during a few, Quite a few years. And as I mentioned at the beginning, When I started my personal healing journey through meditation and through also the guidance of teachers, It really clicked on me that music was my meditation because I always improvised. I never did cover music except when I was 17. I mean, I like when I can flow with the music and just let my creativity express without having to follow a script. So it was natural to me to offer this. And then I realized that since it was a healing practice that I do, Why don't add an extra, Let's say a boost to this practice? Because I never liked to play the standard tunings. I never liked to play the standard guitar tunings. So I investigated, I made a research, My own approach on solfeggio frequencies and other frequencies. And yeah, I mean, It's a very fascinating topic. I won't get into that, But to me, At least it's a wonderful mindfulness practice to retune my instruments, To think and focus on a specific chakra when I play a specific tuning. To me, It empowers my practice. And I feel and read the feedback. So I believe it is powerful. So it was connected with my own experience as a meditator. And to answer also the general question, Which is also interesting, I have either more ease in doing movement meditations like yin yoga, A walk meditation, And, Or if I am still, For example, Early morning or in the nighttime, As others said, I do like visualizations or music meditation. So some focus point, Which is not simply the breath, Even if I really, I'd really like to say, I really like to envision myself in a few years of practice that I can do a wonderful breath meditation by myself without any guidance. But as I have been suggesting to others, It's not so easy. And the last tip I want to add on this is that if you, For example, Want to set an alarm, And because you say, I want to learn to meditate, As also Alejandro was saying, It's not how it works. And especially if you put an alarm in your busiest part of the day, That will be including, It could be even worse, You could also add stress to your situation because you can neither do what you have to do and neither properly meditate because it's really, Really difficult to skip from one mind state and body state to another. So that's a suggestion. If you want to set an alarm, For example, For a body scan or a breath work or a music meditation, At least put it in a moment of the day when your activity is not at its top. You have some rest moment. That's what I think. Jonathan, This question came in from you because someone said like, You do these amazing things with the OM store. And how did you come to connect with them and be an ambassador for them? Yeah, So it was, I guess I should introduce the OM store first. For those of you that don't know, The OM store is it's O-H-M and it's a retail store here in the United States. They sell singing bowls and they also have their own community. They have group meditations and it's run by brother and sister co-founders, Frank and Nikki Moserino. And so I found the OM store where they found me actually during the pandemic and they were looking to add courses to their offerings and they wanted to make a video course about choosing singing bowls. For those of you that don't know, I play singing bowls and have singing bowl recordings here on Insight Timer. And so they wanted to create this video course and Nikki reached out and asked if I was interested and I said yes. And so I worked with them for about a year kind of in that downtime of the pandemic creating that course. And I've been working with them ever since and have developed a good relationship with Frank who's running most of the business now. Nikki took a step back to raise her child and so yeah, It's been a wonderful relationship. But it was just one of those things that sort of happened by happenstance, I guess. But I know Nikki found me through Insight Timer, So thank you Insight Timer. And yeah, It's been a beautiful relationship. I've really enjoyed working with them. For those of you that aren't aware of them, They make custom singing bowls and so they have a variety of singing bowls with different designs. They work closely with artisans in Nepal and really have a lot of high quality singing bowls. And so yeah, I'm really grateful and happy to be associated with their work. And Jill put in the chat, They even have a singing bowl named the Sonic Yogi Bowl. Yeah, I was super excited about that. So that was an idea that Frank had several months ago. And he basically emailed me and said, Do you have any ideas of what you would like design wise on a singing bowl? And how would you design a singing bowl in terms of size and sound and things like that? So we talked about it and designed this singing bowl. And I'm super excited about it. If anyone's interested, They can find it on my, There's pictures of it on my Instagram page. And so on the back of it, There's the caduceus, Which is the sort of Kundalini symbol surrounded by the cycles of the moon and the planets. On the side is a Cairo symbol, Which is a Greek symbol that represents Christ and the sun and the moon as well. And then on the inside of the bowl is the all seeing eye. So I chose those symbols just to sort of symbolize my own awakening journey. And hopefully for folks that ended up with the bowl that those symbols would kind of serve as reminders to them to and sort of like signposts along the way. Sometimes symbols can carry a lot of meaning that we can't quite put into words. Thank you. I totally agree about symbols. I love a symbol. Jessica asked, What has Insight Timer brought to your life as a student and as a teacher? And that is a question for everyone. Can I answer that first? Yes, Violet, And then Maria. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I had to jump in there and say obviously patience. But anyway, Go on, Maria. Thanks. Yeah, I have an immediate answer. Because for me, Because at the moment I'm physically limited, It's provided a window out into the world, Really, And that I can keep developing my practice and keep developing. In fact, Because I normally do community singing groups, I would have had four singing groups before in person. And so I'd be working with big groups and being really physically energetic. And now I can sit and all you can see is my shoulders. So I might be fidgeting my legs or I might be like, You know, Adjusting my seat, Trying to get comfortable because I don't feel well. But I can still sing and I can still inhabit the same healing space. So it's sort of transformed what I do because now I'm almost performing instead of receiving. But it's sort of. So it's actually helped me to develop my voice to the next step and to obviously connect with a whole load of new, Beautiful people, Which is lovely. And just to enable me to keep working and to meet other teachers. And it's been quite magical, Even though it's virtual, It's still real. You know, It's still very, Very real and you're opening up to just something different. And then next in two weeks time, I'm actually going to bring back my in-person practice from a version of the Inside Timer. And I'm going to do a live event in my local town, Which is based on the Inside Timer sessions that I'm doing. So it's all going back out now into the whole world. And it's I think it's going to be the most magical thing I've ever done. So it's definitely brought a lot to my practice and my development. So, Yeah. Thank you. Kirsten. Yeah, So Inside Timer has brought me so, So much. I think that goes for most of us, Whether we're a teacher or a student, Because it's such an amazing community and there's so much love and support everywhere. As a teacher, Well, It brings me an amazing community where I can share my gifts that I would not have had. And it's so amazing when you do something and there's people who actually listen and who like what you do and who encourage you to do more of it. And it's really helped me grow and be more confident and believe in myself more than, You know, When I when I started and I was just, You know, Trying things out. And then I started with the chimes. I was like, I don't know if they like it, But let's just try it. And then people were like, Oh, Well, Give us more of that. And I was like, OK, Little step by step. But if I look back now and I've had people, You know, Some of my friends here tell me that they see how much I've changed, How much I've grown since I started. And it's all thanks to this whole community that because people believe in me so much, I cannot not believe in myself because it's impossible to ignore all the things that people say, You know, This is the reviews that they write, The things that they say in the chats or the messages that people send me, The donations they give. But that's not the it's not about the money. It's about the fact that people love it so much and it does something for them. It changes something in in their lives or in the moment people feel bad. And after the meditation, They feel better. And, You know, I'm like, OK, But it's it's just so, So rewarding and so amazing. And it's just so magical. And yeah. So everyone who's here is listening or watching or listening to the replay. Thank you so much, Because this is thanks to you that, You know, That I've been able to to grow and to feel more confident and to believe in myself more. So thank you so much. And yeah. And one more thing I really want to mention is that Inside Timer has brought me so many new friends among the listeners and the teachers. This just and it keeps growing more and more friends. And it's just so amazing. And I love the whole, You know, Technology thing that brings us from people from all over the world together in in one place. And we can be friends with people from everywhere. Thank you, John. John. Yeah, I was smiling at Kirsten's answer and forgot to unmute myself for a second. So that was really sweet, Kirsten. Thank you for that. Yeah, I'm probably a tad older than all of you here. So I remember when it like you probably can't imagine this, But I had a friend in Europe that I was pen pals with, And it literally took six weeks for an airmail letter to get over to your pen pal. And it was like four or five dollars a minute to talk to him on the telephone. So if you think about six weeks for this thing to travel right all the way across and then they have to decide when they're going to write a letter and it travels all the way back, The communication was like every two or three months that you had with people. So this is phenomenal to me to be able to sit in the live events and have this group of wonderful people come every week and from all over the world. It just feels so, So enlivening to me. So I'd say that's one thing that Insight Timer, The experience with Insight Timer has brought me as a teacher is that sense of being connected across the world and that people find what's happening for me in my spiritual life, My spiritual path to be engaging and relevant to them. So that was kind of a big surprise that things that I'm working on or going through that I share my live events that will resonate with and can relate to. And that's really cool. Because at this point in my spiritual path, A lot of it is about expression as opposed to kind of the inward journey. It's way more outward. So Marie, I'm relating a lot to you and you're talking about music and singing and which is something I love to do. And it sounds like your accent might be an Irish accent. It sounds like, Which is my background. And so maybe we're those Irish singers. As a student, Though, I started with Insight Timer, I think, In 2014. And Sarah Blondin was the first teacher that I connected with to listen to her tracks. And if you don't know about Sarah Blondin's tracks on Insight Timer, I just think they're magical and so sweet and touching. And I would literally listen to one of them every day for a week. And I just went through her whole repertoire doing that for like a year and found it so incredibly insightful and moving for me. And some of the other teachers, I mentioned Mooji earlier, Stefan Pende-Wurmland, I think I'm saying his name right. He's from Austria. He's a wonderful teacher here. Sanic Yogi and your wonderful music. That's been so great. And the Wong Janice, Whose music I love here and I play, Like I actually play her cello for the Crown Chakra every morning and I have for months when I have my coffee and at every live event during the meditation because I just think it's so marvelous. So to feel these wonderful teachers and have their impact in my life to open up space for my own evolution, I would say, Jessica, That's my biggest takeaway from Insight Timer as a student. Thanks for that question, Jessica. And thanks, Don. And I don't know if you saw the chat, But lots of us had pen pals. I want to bring pen pals back actually. I've been working on that with the school that I work in because I think they're a really fun, Amazing way for people to sort of step out of tech but still connect. Yeah, Writing by hand. Is that what you mean? Yes. Okay. All right. It's old school. I like old school. Thank you so much. Yes, Jessica wrote in the chat. Oh my God, Melanie, Sending recipe via pen pals from all over the world. So I actually had a pen pal from Europe and that's what we did. We exchanged recipes back in the day. Alejandro. I've never had a pen pal. Not in handwriting, Not to expose anyone's age, But I think I'm the youngest one here. So as a student, Insight Timer has truly, I started Insight Timer in 2020 as a regular student when circles, Before groups were circles. And it brought a sense of community. We were in the middle of lockdowns and I had gone through a big transition in my life and I was stuck at home. And not only did it bring healing and continuous healing to practice and listen to the guided meditations and to, And to listen to the music and, And to find stillness in the middle of the chaos that was happening in the world. But the sense of community, Finding people around the world who understood the journey was so beautiful for me. So as a student, It brought, It brought that sense of community in my own healing journey. And then when I became a teacher and what Kristen said, It resonates with me, The fact that you cannot not believe in yourself when so many people believe in you also. And it's like, I always say, Just because we're on this side of the screen does not mean that our journey has that we've suddenly arrived. We're practicing it as, And as teachers, As guides, As coaches, We're only three, Five steps ahead. And the journey continues from a different perspective. And it's the, It's the community, It's the holding of hands as we, As we walk forward and as we heal and as we grow, That's really, Really resonated. And, And it's the, The ability, I was a mentor for men before Insight Timer and the ability to bring vulnerability to, To strangers that I don't even see and to resonate and, And, And the ability to have technology, God bless OBS and, And to have, To have this community and to create space for healing in the distance. It's so beautiful. It's so magical. It's so spiritual. When in the past, I would have thought as a teacher, As a guide, I would have taught, You know, We have to be in, You know, You know, In this room, In this circle, This connection, And to, To be guided, To offer the same space in, In this setting, In this platform has been so beautiful. So the growth as a teacher that I've experienced and as a coach that I've experienced because of Insight Timer has been beautiful, Not only in my journey as a teacher, But in my journey as a practitioner. So, So it's been, It's been amazing. The, The few months that I've been doing lives here has been just beautiful, Magical, If to put a word spiritual, Beyond, Beyond what, What words can, Can describe. That's so beautiful. Thank you. Violet. No, I was joking before about the confidence, But definitely, Patience, Confidence, A lot of things it's taught me. I want to say, Because when I first got on as a teacher, I had no idea what I was going to do. And the one thing that being a teacher and a student has taught me is definitely to believe in yourself. Like I want to echo what everybody else here has been saying, Because I doubted myself a lot. I didn't think I had enough to offer to be a teacher. And you know, And you know, Who was going to want to listen to me anyway. And I, You know, I started out with my crystals and my cards and it has evolved to this, Which Ask Your Guides to me is like my passion project. Like I will literally not sleep to make sure that this is working. And you know, And thank you everybody, Also the patience and the confidence that you give me, Because it doesn't always, Yes, Jessica, I want to be the Oprah of IT. I say that all the time. You know, The confidence that you give me because I'm struggling, The volume's not working, Something's not working, But you're also patient and you're, And you wait, You know, And you keep kind of giving me that, That push, You know, With tracks, Because I wasn't really, Didn't think I was good at making tracks either. And I got so much positive feedback and so much encouragement. Like I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for all that positive feedback and that encouragement. So this wouldn't be happening right now because I, I would have given up a long time ago. I would have been like, I can't figure out this program. I don't know what I'm doing here. I'm, I'm out. So I think definitely for me, It's the, The confidence and the belief in myself. So thank you for that before I get teary eyed because Alejandro's over there and he makes me cry. Thank you. Well, A question came in for Daniel. I'm going to ask you, Daniel, And then I'm going to go back to one that came in that is tied directly to what we just answered. But Daniel, What happened that you knew it was time to jump into what you were doing? And that's from Dina, Another teacher here on Insight Timer. Thank you, Dina. That is such a beautiful question. There wasn't really a defining moment for me, But kind of like what some of the others have shared, It's been sort of incremental. I, I began, I woke up one morning, I believe it was in June, 2017. That's, That's how I remember it, At least. I had had my own spiritual journey, But it's been, It has been very, Very personal and almost kind of secret. I didn't want to share with anyone. And so I woke up this morning and woke up knowing that I was to start a website where I would blog and share my insights and my realizations and what I have been taught and what I have caught. And the beauty of this website was that it was completely anonymous. So I didn't, I didn't share my name. I didn't know where, No one knew who I was. And then it sort of just spiraled from there into other things. As it is, When we say yes to something, When we, When we make a choice to move in a particular direction, Doors begin to open up and we will be beautifully, As one of my, We've been talking about affirmations. One of my affirmations that I, One of my go-to affirmations is that perfect preparation and unfolding is always happening. Meaning that when we, When we begin to move towards a vision or a dream, And I didn't really have a vision back then, But there was something calling me, There was something pulling me from within, Then we will be guided along that path. So one thing led to another, I began being comfortable with teaching, With sharing my name. And eventually I started doing, Because people kept reaching out. Once I had gone public with who I was, People began to reach out to, To ask for coaching and, And those kinds of things. And at first I was very uncomfortable with that. I was, It was terrifying. I didn't charge for it because like, Like someone said before, Who am I to think that I have anything to offer? So, So I did it sort of pro bono. It led to the next thing, Which led to the next thing, Which led to the next thing. There's a whole story around how I found Insight Timer about three years ago. I was involved in a completely different thing. And someone reached out to me, Sent me an email. We had had a conversation the day before about meditation actually. And they sent me an email and something in their email address caught my eye. I don't usually look at email addresses and I usually don't look them up, But there was something about their email address that just, There was something there. So I went to their website and it was beautiful website. I browsed around for a while, Didn't see anything in particular. So I, I sort of questioned that intuitive nudge that had been given. Why did I come here? And then just as I was about to leave that website, I saw like a banner, A very small banner saying, Come, Come meditate with me on Insight Timer. And I was like, What is that? And so I looked it up and signed up. And here, It's a continuous process of unfolding. And only in retrospect, Can I see choices that I made and opportunities that opened up that weren't really defining, But that really moved me forward. So I, It wasn't like I woke up one morning and said, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to be a teacher. I'm going to be coaching. I'm going to be, You know, Doing all these things. It's kind of like a flower that unfolds. It unfolds, But we cannot really see the unfoldment happening. When we go to bed and we wake up in the morning, We see that something has happened during the night, But were we to stare at it and look at it, We wouldn't see the unfolding of the, Of the petals. And that's kind of how it's been for me. It's very incremental. So I hope that answers your question. Thank you so much. That was so beautiful. And I don't know if you saw in the chat, Everyone was saying how beautiful your work on Insight Timer is. So the question that came in that related to the one that we asked, Answered a moment ago was, And I think many of you answered this part of it. Do you listen to other teachers on Insight Timer? And if so, Can you recommend another teacher that isn't on this panel? Don? Yeah, I mentioned a few just a couple minutes ago, But in some ways, It sort of depends what you're looking for, I think. And there's, There's some teachers that have very wonderful kind of structures that they teach. And there's teachers here who have like very open processes that they teach. There's wonderful musicians. And I would, I would say that, Again, Some of my favorites have been from the non-musician side, Have been Sarah Blondin, Stephan Pendi-Wyrmland. There's a, There's a wonderful teacher from New York, Cissé Paul Cooper, Who teaches Shikantaza Zen meditation, Which is, Shikantaza means just sitting. And that was a really mind blowing way of thinking about meditation for me, When I started listening to his teachings. Because literally, It's from, From Dogen, The Zen teacher Dogen from the 1300s, Who just taught sitting, And everything else that happens is okay. So just sit. It doesn't matter what happens. It's all okay. And to take that mindset in was really life changing for me a few years ago. Tara Brock, Of course, Wonderful teacher. And there was one other person I wanted to say. Oh, Yeah, Well, Muji, I think Muji doesn't have a huge number of tracks, But the ones that are here, I think are really pretty phenomenal. And so I highly recommend those. So there you go. Kirsten? Yeah, So I'm really thinking really hard, Because there's a couple that I listened to, But I'm like, Oh, What's their names? So there's a few that I will look up, And I will share in the Ask Your Guide group. But I already mentioned Kenneth Suarez, Who has really powerful affirmations, But also really powerful guided journeys. And I love the one Janice with her cello. And I also love, I love mantras. I love Prashanthi Paz, And Gunther Gore, I don't know how to pronounce his last name. Gunther, Who's really, Really, Really amazing people. And I think you all know Blossom Violet, But she's an amazing piano player. And Saturday afternoons here often I listen to Joseph Nemo, When he goes live with his piano, And that's amazing. And Blossom and Joseph have amazing live sessions. Well, There's a lot of people who do amazing things, But these are a couple that I try to catch live when I can. And yeah, And there's, I listened to some breathwork sessions sometimes, But I can't remember their names, So I'll share them in the group. Alejandro? They said no one that's here, So I'm not going to mention Daniel and Sonic Yogi, So I'm not going to mention them. But I mentioned in the chat, Daniel's prayers are, And the way I wrote it was, Their spirit's heart verbalized. They're so good, So good. And Sonic Yogi, So good. But that are not here, I'll shout out some of my friends. Maisha, Who is in the chat, And it's here, Has amazing lives. She has the ability to create a space for healing, That as soon as her camera turns on, You can feel the atmosphere change. On Wednesday, I was in a public coffee shop, And I said, Let me just join in, Just do background music while I work. And as soon as she turned on the camera, I started bawling. And everybody knows I'm a crier, I love it. But it was so, The atmosphere was so good. So Maisha is amazing. And then for those who are Spanish speakers and English speakers, Juan Pablo Castaneda, He is so good. He brings this, Almost this childlike wonder to the practice. It's this beautiful, Just this beautiful way of bringing healing from a joyful place. And it's so good. It's so good. It's so good. So yeah, I'll say those two. But there's so many, There's so many teachers here who have. . . Dora, Dora is also amazing. Kendra, Kendra has this beautiful way of guiding you through vulnerability and surrender. We are so blessed to have this platform with so many teachers who are willing to give part of their essence of who they are into the recordings and into their lives. It's just amazing. When I was asked to be here and I saw who was going to be here, I'm speechless. Although I do talk a lot, So I'm going to stop. Jonathan? Yeah, As they were talking, I just thought some teachers that I'd like to share. And like we're all saying, There's just so many to choose from. And it's hard to remember everyone at the moment. But some other musicians that I've really liked, There's a musician named Diva Sonic. And she doesn't have as large of a presence here on Inside Timer, But she's a wonderful musician. She does lives here. So if you can catch her lives here, She's a wonderful artist. Of course, Wakes, Many of you are familiar with Wakes. They're wonderful people, And I've enjoyed getting to know them. There's a teacher here. I'm in Atlanta. There's a teacher here in my area that I've really enjoyed watching her lives. I've never met her in person, But she has a wonderful spirit. Her name is Barbara Gibson. So definitely check her out. So those are just a few off the top of my head. But like there's literally, You know, Hundreds that I admire and that I really enjoy. And all of the other musicians, Some of the people that I remember sort of starting the journey with were Gunter Georg. I think that's how his last name's pronounced. And of course, Duong Janis. Yeah, I love the musical community here too. I know it's meditation, But there's so many wonderful musicians too. So that's awesome. And so yeah, That's just a few from my perspective. Thank you. And I agree with you because I'm a music lover, And I just want to add Blue Dragon Healing. He's very new on Insight Timer, But his work is beautiful. And Rachel Vibe. It's Rachel Vibe. She does great work too. And I listen to them both. Well, I want to thank everybody that has joined and is on the panel. And I would love to just have you guys wrap up, Do a little, You know, For all the people that joined and didn't hear your intros, Anything you'd like to add? What would be the easiest thing to do to support you? Pierre, Did you want to add? I think you're muted. Thank you. No, I just want to, If I can, Just a couple of minutes to answer the Jessica question because it was really interesting to me to show because on Insight Timer, I really discovered an incredible variety of practices that I didn't know before I started meditation, Tapping, Inner child, Somatic work, Many, Many practices. And so, Yeah, That's as a student, It's like an incredible, It's like going into a library with an incredible amount of things to discover. So I like the question because for me, It's been like incredible. And as a teacher, I mean, There are two sides. On one side is as professionally you learn to work on that limit, Pushing yourself on the edge of your abilities without stressing out, Of course. And as a spiritual level, Well, I already talked about it. It's just been amazing, The feedbacks. And as we all know, As we teach, We also learn a lot. And if I can one minute to share some names also that I'm grateful as other teachers, If I may, I really loved yin session, Yin yoga session. So I would like to recall Hannah Brown and also Samantha Christofferson. It's just a couple of names. There are so many. I really donate so much because it's incredibly helpful for my body health. And then I really love Maria singing. For example, I do love lives. I do connect with dozens and dozens of lives. So I suggest anyone to participate in our lives because it's so important for us to see you and to feel your energy. And I wanted to mention also the inner child work from Liz Doyle. It's really helped me. And Bassam Yonis is a Lebanese teacher. It's really insightful. And I really, Really appreciate it very much. And thank you. Thank you very much for having me and asking me to join. It's been wonderful to see you all. Maria, Everything you're doing is coming out here. Sorry. I can read. So then I mute myself. Yeah, Just check out my profile. I have almost 50 tracks there. And I work on different frequencies. You can find, Of course, Something you can see fit for you and attend when I go live if you can. It's beautiful to see you there. And my profile, There is also some playlists there you can bookmark. So to maybe use as for sleeping or or doing chores, Doing things and listen to music. It's my suggestion as what I do also. Thank you again. I think I was just going to sing. I have a one line song and I thought I'm just going to sing that a few times. And that's my my closing vibe. I have a matching cup to go along with the song and it's the sun rises every morning and the light will always shine on me. The sun rises every morning and the light will always shine on us. And that's, I think, My best way of communicating. And I'm doing a live in 45 minutes, Actually. So you're all very welcome. Yeah, I got one. All right. So you're always welcome to check out my profile, Daniel Roqueo. I've got quite an extensive playlist, Actually. I absolutely love recording the meditations and the talks, And I have a number of audio courses working on yet another. I just picked up doing lives on Tuesdays at nine thirty Eastern, I believe it is. So you're welcome to join in there for another and for a beautiful conversation about what it is to walk this path. And like some of the other teachers have shared, This is not about so much lecturing, But this is about us having a conversation from where we are with the experiences that we are having on this path, Me included. So I'm looking forward to connecting with you at all. And thank you so much again, Violet, Melanie and all the others on the panel. It's been such a pleasure and joy meeting with you. And I hope to meet you all soon again. Thank you. I thought I was like, Yes, One live and Alejandro's not crying. You're right. You're right. You're right. You can you can find me here. My name is Alejandro H or my ad is mindfully. Alex. You can find my links in the bio. My course is only a three day course. It's embracing vulnerability. And some of my my my tracks are there. I go live every Saturday, 830 a. M. Mountain Standard Time. So, Yeah. And you can also find my group Journey to Vulnerability here on Insight Timer. And again, Thank you, Violet. Thank you, Melanie. Thank you to all the teachers. It's been a privilege and an honor to be here among among all of you. And Maria, I'll talk to you after the live is over, Ma'am. Beautiful. Thank you for your spirit. Thank you, Daniel, For being here. Thank you, Sonic. Thank you, Don. Thank you. Thank you, Pierre. Thank you, Kirsten. You guys are all awesome. Thank you so much, Kirsten. Yes. So what I wanted to say is for everyone that's stopped doubting yourself, Start believing in yourself and you don't have to be perfect. People always go and try to achieve certain standards that probably you're the only one making these things up in your mind. So be kind to yourself and just trust that you are amazing the way you are. And it's really something I like to read a lot. Yeah. And if you're curious to what I do, Please go and check out my profile. You can find everything there. I have over a hundred meditations in here. I have some chimes, Sound healing tracks. I made a couple of playlists with my tracks so you can find them. My courses, Human design and rituals. And may sound like two different things, But I believe that all the little things, All the different things that we can do, And that's like all the things that we can do here in Inside Time are not just mine. All the little things, They add up. Every small step moves you forward. Everything combined is magical. And sometimes the sun will always shine again. Maria sang and that touched my heart, By the way. And thank you all for being here. I love being here with this panel, Violet and everyone else, And everyone who's watching or listening. Thank you so much. So grateful. Thank you. Daniel, Did you want to add something? No. Okay. Don? Well, It's an interesting question to end with, Melanie. How can people support us? So yeah, That's a lovely thought. Usually in Inside Time where I'm thinking about giving to people. So it's cool to consider how people could be supportive. I do my live events Wednesdays at 12 noon Eastern time. And it's a wonderful community that comes together. I really, Really love it. I get pretty buzzed and stay high for most of the day afterwards, Sometimes for a couple days, Because it's very dynamic and people are sharing. And again, It's from all around the world. So that part is so incredibly sweet and beautiful, I think. I do this strange thing. I started in 2007 on a joke. I do live portrayals and talks of Mahatma Gandhi. But I've done 138 of them across the world, Six trips to India, Teaching Gandhi's philosophy in India. And last fall, On a two-week American Gandhi peace tour of Sri Lanka, Which was really, Really fascinating, Wonderful. So a way to support me around that would just be to go to my website and read about that. It's been a magical part of my life. It's kind of trippy that this has happened. Come to my live events on Wednesdays at 12 noon Eastern time. That'd be a great way to get to know each other. I'd love to meet everybody who came. And thanks to all the panelists. It's been really, Really lovely listening to you talk and sweet getting to be on the same circle with you. So thank you for that. And thank you all of you for joining us. I didn't get to say this in the beginning because I was messing with sound, But Sonic Yogi, I never miss one of your sound baths. I absolutely love them. And Don has a coffee shop meditation that I literally listened to every day for like two years when the pandemic started. Cause I love coffee and I love that so much, You know, So I have admired so many of you for so long, You know, Kirsten and my God, Daniel, That soothing voice that I used to listen to all the time for me to be here on screen with all of you. It's like, I can't even tell you how, How much that means to me. So, You know, Thank you, All of you amazing teachers for joining us. You know, Alejandro who comes in every time I tell, I tell him I'm short one person canceled, Please. Can you come and, You know, It could be 10 minutes before the live and he's here. So I just want to thank all of you for everything that you do and for being here for me and for us and this amazing community. And thank you for allowing us to go over time today with our little glitches and being so supportive. And with that, Unless anyone has anything else to add, Laurie says, I'm making you cry. Oh, Laurie, Thank you. And don't, Don't mention the word cry because you know, That's like my trigger I'll start. So, And Alejandro and I will sit here and we'll cry together for an hour. So we have to go. So unless anybody else, You know, Feel free to unmute yourself. If you have anything else you want to add, Feel free to do so. Otherwise I am going to end the live and I'm going to say goodbye to all of you. And thank you everybody. So much, Everybody. Thank you so much. And Monica, Thank you. I am, That is my goal to be the Oprah of Insight Timer. So I love that. All right, Everybody. Thank you.