How To Find Answers Through Meditation

Ever sit down to meditate on a question and… nothing happens? In this talk and meditation, we go step-by-step through how to bring a question into meditation without forcing an answer. We’ll move layer by layer, calming the mind, listening, and shifting our energy so the right insight can surface naturally.

Transcript

Okay,

So how do we actually find an answer we are looking for in meditation?

Before we get into that,

My cat's been meowing.

She wants to come in and meditate with us.

Not letting her in for this one.

So perhaps the better question that I like to ask my students to ask themselves is,

What is the energy that I'm in that is keeping me from having clarity and finding my answer?

And here's the difficult truth about part of this.

You know,

When I work with students,

Sometimes one-on-one,

And they'll have a burning question that they want insight or an answer to,

Often they might be at step two,

Three,

Or four in shifting their energy and healing and growing until they can reach,

Let's say,

Step 10,

Where that kind of big juicy answer is that they're looking for.

So for example,

Someone might be like,

Hey,

How come my career hasn't taken a step?

That's a very big question.

And then we sit,

We meditate on it,

And we realize perhaps there's insecurity.

There's cultural programming and limitations that they have about what they're capable of.

Maybe they don't believe in themselves.

They're comparing themselves.

They are afraid of taking the steps they need to take to learn the skills they need to learn.

So one by one,

We find these layers of energy and we work through them.

And then as the energy shifts in a person,

That's when an answer starts to flower.

And I talk a bit about this in my book as well,

That our answers are born out of our energy.

And most people,

They just want to press a button on a vending machine and get their answer.

D9,

Answer please.

They don't realize that the answer is born out of the work that they do on themselves.

And so when we meditate and we release energy,

When we work through layers,

That's when these answers start to flower.

That's when they birth.

So your answer might not be available yet.

It might not be baked.

It might not be done.

It's still in the oven halfway through because there's work for you to do.

And one of the ways that we try to override sometimes,

Not always,

But sometimes override pain is by wanting to jump to the answer.

So if I could just get the information,

If I could just get the answer that I want,

Then I don't have to experience the pain between here and there.

But we all know that when we go through pain,

When we suffer,

When we grow through something,

That is where the richness of life is.

That's where experience comes from.

That's where depth comes from.

That's where we find out who we really are.

And that also goes for our meditation practice.

So if we want to just close our eyes and go,

What's my answer?

Well,

You might be overriding some energy.

Perhaps you want to ask yourself,

Okay,

What is the energy I need to work on today so I can allow this answer to have space to flower?

I know that might be a bit frustrating.

David,

Just give me the freaking answer so I can get it and move on.

And this goes for anything in your life.

It could be around relationships.

It could be an existential question.

It could be a creative question.

Now,

There are people that come to me and they're on step eight or nine,

Nine and a half,

And they're ready to pop,

And they just need a little nudge or a little bit of help.

And other folks,

They're on step one or two,

Just beginning to climb this specific mountain,

And they need tools and instruction and help going each step of the way.

Now,

There are not,

Of course,

10 steps all the time.

There could be five.

There could be a thousand.

There could be lots of little ones and a few really big ones.

And part of the journey of discovering who we are and meditating and finding our answers is recognizing,

Well,

How many steps are there here?

How much energy is there to work through?

What do I really have to uncover to shift myself and get my answers?

That is a step in and of itself,

Just taking inventory and becoming aware.

So if someone's like,

Hey,

I really want to create an intimate relationship,

Who's my next partner?

Whoa,

Whoa,

Whoa,

Hold your horses.

Is there some energy that you have to work through to be able to clarify who you even want to bring into your life?

Is there some pain from past relationships?

Do you really know what your values are and what you want?

Do you know what your energy is?

So there is a lot to unpack,

Usually a lot more than we're willing to admit when we have a question that we want an answer to.

So we're going to do a meditation on that today.

And just one last thing is,

Instead of just a question,

Perhaps we can go on a bit of a quest.

So a quest is more of a journey,

Okay?

And there may be many answers along the way.

And meditation is one of the ways that we quiet ourselves and we go on this journey because the answer,

It might be outside of you,

But it also might be inside of you or part of the answer might be on the inside.

And then it opens up for you to find something on the outside.

So to find an answer on the inside,

We have to get quiet.

We might have to release some energy and be still until something opens.

That's my long preamble.

Let's do it together.

If you're up for it,

Go ahead,

Close your eyes for a few minutes with me and just relax your shoulders,

Relax your entire being.

Well,

We seem to start with the shoulders.

I think it's because we hold the world up on our shoulders.

That's where a lot of stress accumulates.

It's always nice to notice if you're squeezing your shoulders and let yourself just relax for a moment.

You can stop all the ruminating about the future and the past and just let your energy be right here.

Let that breath slow down and draw your attention into your inner world,

Into your subjective world.

Notice that you are conscious.

You might not be sure of much in life,

But you can be sure that you are conscious.

Let yourself settle into that certainty that you are aware.

Notice how that feels and how that might even relax your nervous system.

We want to anchor into the truth.

And even if all of life is a big illusion,

Even if we live in a simulation,

You're still aware.

And as you settle in,

I want you to get a sense of maybe what that answer is that you've been looking for.

So what is it that you have a question about that you've wanted an answer for?

See if you can allow it to crystallize here for a moment.

And if it's kind of vague,

That's okay.

Perhaps it's just,

What is my next step in relationship to something?

Maybe it's,

Why am I always stuck?

What should I do about this thing at work?

What is my purpose here?

I don't want you to choose as much as allow it to just rise up to the surface of your awareness and just sense it and see if you can begin to crystallize it a bit more,

Distill what the question is and what the answer is that you're looking for.

I was recently sharing that a teacher of mine would say,

When we feel like we're the furthest away is sometimes when we're actually the closest and there's just some energy there.

So I want you to notice as you start to distill this question,

Is there some energy here?

What is the energy that comes to the surface around the question?

Is there confusion?

Is there doubt?

Is there uncertainty?

Is there some kind of frustration or resistance or heaviness?

Or do you just start to fall asleep as I'm talking?

I'm just going to take a nap.

This is too difficult.

I want you to notice this.

When you bring up the question,

What energy comes with it?

Perhaps there's distraction,

Despondency,

Sadness,

Anger,

Fear.

And there might be a little bit of all of it.

David,

It's a smorgasbord of feelings.

But allow one that's very prominent to just really be here.

And perhaps it's the one that you need to face at the moment and sit with.

And if your tendency is I want to get rid of a feeling that I dislike,

We can call that resistance.

Okay.

And instead,

As we meditate,

We actually want to lean into that feeling.

Allow yourself to just be present with it and notice it's an energy.

And as you sit with it for a moment,

You might have a realization like,

Oh,

Yeah,

This has been bothering me,

Or I've been stuck on this energy for a while.

You might also notice your tendency to make that a problem.

I don't like this feeling.

I don't like being stuck on this.

It's a problem.

I get lots of messages,

David,

This is a problem.

I'm just being playful so that you can let some of this energy release and maybe not take it so intensely and seriously.

Instead of it being a problem,

It's just an energy.

And it's one of the steps on your quest to finding an answer.

Oh,

Okay.

One of the steps is frustration,

Anger,

Confusion,

Doubt.

Can you take some deeper,

Slower breaths and just relax into being present with this energy instead of trying to get through it or fix it or get it out of the way?

This energy might be a doorway into the next step.

So I want you to ask this energy,

What are you trying to show me?

What are you trying to teach me?

And just see what arises.

You might have an intuition,

A feeling,

Some words arise,

An image.

And if there is something that feels like it's ready to shake off or move,

Perhaps it does.

Maybe as you sit still with me right now,

Some energy just melts off of you,

Off of the question.

Just allow any shift that wants to happen to happen.

If there's any negative feeling instead of fighting it or resisting it,

Can you just be present with it?

And as you are,

Maybe something shifts,

Maybe something moves.

And if nothing moves,

Can you accept that?

Can you have the attitude of,

If nothing shifts,

I will sit for a thousand hours and accept it?

So not a fake acceptance,

But an honest one.

You might find some other layers of energy as you sit.

And make sure you're still breathing.

Often when we have a realization,

When we notice something in meditation,

We might even feel a sense of surprise.

Like an uh-huh,

Like a wow,

Oh,

Oh,

I am afraid.

Oh,

I've been dishonest with myself.

Oh,

I have a hard time communicating my needs.

Oh,

I've been judging myself way too harshly.

You might have a realization,

You might notice,

Oh,

That's what that is.

And even that tendency in your mind to,

I gotta figure it out,

That might even be a form of resistance.

You can allow that part of you to relax.

When we get an answer in meditation,

It's not so much figuring it out,

It's just seeing more clearly.

Notice the difference,

Just seeing things more clearly.

From a more neutral place.

So on this journey that is 10 steps or 10,

000 steps,

We're just looking at the next step.

At the one energy we're releasing today.

One more step of clarity.

Acknowledging how we feel.

And really noticing that as we shift,

Answers arise.

It's not as though we go searching for them and find them in a cave,

It's as though we live out there as much as we shift and answers arise.

Let's see if you can just allow yourself to have a bit more self-acceptance.

Not be so hard on yourself,

Just let things be as they are.

Take some of the pressure off of finding an answer and instead just exploring energy.

I want you to take a nice big deep breath.

Great work.

You can let go of whatever you've been sitting with and looking at.

And when you're ready,

You can slowly open your eyes and stretch.

And you could do this again and again,

Just sitting,

Noticing the next layer of energy and that you are on a quest.

And you're not really just looking for an answer,

But perhaps some form of enlightenment,

Some form of shift of consciousness and a deeper harmony with life is bigger than just one answer.

Great job.

Thank you for sitting with me as always.

I'll see you next time.

Reviews

Lovely meditation. I will repeat! Thank you! 🙏🏻

I truly enjoyed this session and look forward to doing it again. You felt like a gentle friend getting us to come out of our shell of armor that we've been hiding in a layer at a time. Beautiful!

At first my thoughts were about how helpful this would be for a friend, who's really stuck! Hahaha. That could be why, when I refocused on me, the first energy was 'deflection.' But a different clarity came about with a deeper understanding. The next was 'avoidance,' with no answer to that, even though it might seem similar to the first. I'm thinking that's the next energy to be revealed. Thank you for this talk and meditation.

That was amazing
Thank you Dave 🙏

Very helpful transition towards me taking a next step. Thank you.

🙏💗

So helpful as always. Have a big problem that l am working through & this has helped me to understand the process & just keep going. I will get there 🙏

A good, practical practice.

Really helpful meditation. Subtle suggestions at the right time helped me to ask my question in a better way. Seeing the energy of it evolve to give me insight into why it might be hovering there & how I might see it differently. The tone was playful at times which helped to lighten the load of the question itself. Thank you 🌱

We shift… answers arise. Thanks David 🙏❤️

My answer came to me while listening with my loyal golden retriever by my side. It was almost there before meditating. Amd, like a light bulb, it revealed itself during the meditation. Thank you!

Thank you David for the interesting talk and meditation

As always spot on!

Always on target even in my monkey mind

Amazing 👏

🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

Thank you so very much. I experienced some inside out shift (what is my purpose) with this guidance on being aware of the energy. A move of 35+ years of energy 😭❤️