Why We Meditate: Coming Home To Yourself

Why do we actually meditate? Not to make life's problems disappear. This track reminds us we'll still have hard days, meltdowns, and moments we lose our footing. What meditation gives us is a way back: a steady path home to ourselves. In this practice, you're guided to release the noise of the outside world and return to the breath — not your thoughts, not your feelings, but the simple, reliable fact that you're alive.

Transcript

We do not meditate so that we don't have. Any issues. We do not meditate so that our children are amazing. Or our partners are miraculously fantastic. We do not meditate so that our problems go away. We meditate for one reason only. Sew that. We can handle life! So that we can cope with life's arrows in a more skillful way. Effective way. And this doesn't mean we will not have a meltdown. This doesn't mean we will not have a temper tantrum. This doesn't mean we will not have a rage attack, Fit, Lunatic, Psychotic breakdown. This does not mean that. It means that the recovery that the return that the path home is study. That we have a way to recover. That we have a way to come home. And that is why we meditate. So can you imagine? All this time. You've been panicking, You've been anxious, You've been melting down. What do we do in meditation? We find a place to stand or sit or that you can walk, But it is to take your awareness from the outside world. Okay, So to take all that awareness, That attention that we're squandering. In the outside world. What do people think? What will I do tomorrow? What is my next social media video? How will I look for the party? What do I wear today? The next event. How are my children doing? It's taking all that and saying, Shh. That's none of my business. That's tomorrow, That's yesterday, That's the ego, That's the children. It's actually none of my business. And my business is really here. In my center. Why? Because I've been. . . Born in this body. And with this. . . Heart, Mind, Thoughts and My goal in life if there's any goal. Because there's really no goal. There is no point. Sorry to say. There is no point. We just live and we dance. And then we transform into the next form. So there's no point. Because the point never comes. It's a point, And a point, And a point, And a point. So there's not one goal. The goal keeps going, Now it's this goal. Oh, Now it's this goal. Oh, Now it's this goal. So that's what I mean by there's no point and there's no goal. The only point and goal is to be here now. Is to be here now. Is to be here now, As fully, As present, As alive, As grateful, As compassionate. When we say it's not my business, We say that the only thing I need to do now. . . In this moment is to connect to myself. Is to connect to myself. This is my only business. The only thing we can do if we have to do something. Is to be with ourselves. Is to connect to ourselves. And this person we forget about because we get caught up with everybody else and how other people think of us. So we never go inward. And it is the journey inward that is the only journey we need to take. Because when we take the journey inward, Everything else falls into place better. It doesn't mean it looks better, It doesn't mean it's easier. It just falls into place easier. So in meditation, We take the awareness and the attention away from the outside world. And we begin to come inward. Now what does that mean? We focus on the breath. Wide breath. Because the breath. Is not your thoughts. And it's not your feelings. Because thoughts and feelings come from your mind. And they will always keep coming. You will never get rid of your thoughts and your feelings, And your thoughts and your feelings, And your thoughts and your feelings, And your thoughts and your feelings, And your thoughts and your feelings. And people say that you should lead with, You know, Rene Descartes said, This philosopher, I think, Therefore I am. No. You think, Therefore you think. You are not your thoughts. And you are not your feelings. Your feelings come from your thoughts and if you're not your thoughts then you're not your feelings. What you are is life. And how do you know your life? It's because you have breath. And breath. Is constant. And bread. Is constantly impermanent. So your breath and your breath. And your breath. And your breath. And your breath. And your breath. And your breath, And then you begin thinking, And then you begin thinking, And then you begin thinking, And then you have feelings, And then you come back to your breath, And your breath, And your breath is always going to be there. As long as you are alive. And by coming back to the breath. You get in touch with your life. And the present moment. Because the breath, Unlike your thoughts and your feelings, Are not in yesterday and not in tomorrow. They are right here. And they are right here. And they are right here. And they remind you that I am alive. And I am alive. And I am alive. And as long as I'm alive, I can do an infinite number of things. I can choose to be this way. I can choose to be that way. I can do whatever I want because I'm alive. I'm alive. And I can choose to live my life circumstances this way, Full of misery and anger and grief, Or through abundance and joy and pleasure and happiness. And I have choice and coming back to the breath. Reminds you. That you have choice. As long as you're living, You have choice. And the most powerful thing you can have choice over? Is your thoughts and feelings. You know you can change your mind? About how you think and feel about something. In a moment. To my point is that you can move this around. You can shift your reality in your mind. Reality is still reality. I'm not saying you can shift reality. You can shift reality in terms of your perception. Of reality to a way that works for you. But make no mistake, Reality is reality. There are things that are real. OK, And some people are toxic until they do the work. And there is such a thing as climate change. And there is such a thing as cancer if it arrives. And there is such a thing as a fever. So this is not about, Oh, I can think different thoughts and reality will change. No, My experience of reality will You understand? So meditation allows your experience of reality to change. So practicing coming back to the breath, Coming back to the breath, Coming back to the breath, Coming back to the breath, Coming back to the breath, And coming back to the breath, And coming back to the breath, And every minute, As much as you can, Coming back to the breath. I'm telling you, Immediately, It takes you out of your issue. Because you're right now say you were just about to yell at somebody at your friend or your child and you were fully locked in into the trigger and you couldn't see any way out and the child is back and you're going to tell the child and I'm going to scream at the child the minute you breathe on the breath, On the breath, On the breath, On the breath, On the breath, On the breath, On the breath, On the breath. You forget what you were fighting about. You forget. And it decreases, The temperature calms down. Choose them. And you're like, What was I so angry about? On the breath, On the breath, On the breath. So if you make it your practice. Even if you just blew up. That you tell yourself for the next 24 hours, I'm going to just be on the breath. Your experience after 24 hours will be revolutionarily different. And if you are about to break up. And about to tantrum, Sorry, About to, Yeah, About to break down. And you focus on the breath, On the breath, And on the breath, And on the breath, And on the breath, And on the breath, And on the breath. And then you go for a walk, And on the breath, And on the breath, And on the breath. And if you listen to music, And on the breath, You will forget what you were just about to get angry about. Okay? This is the power of meditation. So do you want to have control of your mind? Do you want to perceive reality in a more powerful way or do you want to just be a slave to reality? Oh, Reality is it's a traffic jam and everybody's upset. I'm going to be upset. That is called living like a zombie. Whatever reality says you should be, You become. If reality says you should be sad right now, You're going to be sad. If people say you should be angry right now, You're going to be angry. Right now! You can perceive things differently. Even when you are angry, You can do it differently. That is the power of meditation. So, In meditation we take the attention away from the outside world and we come on our breath. For us who are beginning, We can focus on the breath. As it rises and falls in our chest. And we keep our awareness there. And then our mind goes into the meltdown, Into the trigger, We come back. So sit comfortably. And don't worry, There is no way to do this perfectly. There is no perfect strategy. Just return to the breath as it enters and leaves your chest. So when I say on the breath, You connect to the breath here. On the breath Connect here. On the breath, Connect here. And then your mind will take you away, On the breath, Connect here. And you're like, OK, What's the big deal? Oh, You don't know. When you start making this a practice, Everything changes. Let's practice for 10 minutes, Eyes closed. Let's connect with the breath as it enters and leaves your chest. On the breath. And the breath. And the breath. And in two seconds, Your mind is going to go, Don't worry. And the breath. On the breath. I know your mind went away, Didn't it? Come back to your breath. As it enters and leaves your chest. Come back to your breath. On the breath. Again, Your mind went away. Don't worry. It's only been two minutes. The mind has gone away ten times. Come back to your breath. We're training your mind to come to the present moment. To come back here. On the breath Did you go away again? It's okay. It's natural. We all are going to go away. Come back to the breath. So quickly our minds go away, Right? It's okay. It's not trained to be here now. So bring it back. On the breath. Mine went away. Bring it back. On the breath Come back to the breath. It's not easy. Not easy, This just shows. Wow, I have such little control of my mind. This is normal. That's why we practice. On the breath. Under breath. Ooh, Do you feel that you're on the breath for like five, Six, And you're like, Yes, I got this, And then boom, You're not on the breath. Till you hear my voice. If you're experiencing this, This is normal. Let's come back. Don't count. Don't count. Don't force. This is not about forcing. Gently come back to your breath. Are the proof. Down the breath. On the breath. A good thing is to feel your feet on the floor. You got tushy on the seat. Y'all eyelids feeling the light, Come back to the present room. Back to the present moment. And the breath. Last minute. Sit up straight, Feet on the floor. And the breath. On the breath Beautiful. And when you're ready, You can open your eyes.