Hey everybody,
Welcome to Bringing Meditation to Life,
A podcast in which we immerse ourselves in the intersection of meditation and everyday life,
In which we look at the ways meditation illuminates and deepens our experience of daily living and the ways life itself does the same for our practice.
I'm your host,
Neil McKinlay.
It has been interesting diving into online teaching these past two years.
Certainly I was doing some internet instruction before this stretch,
But it was always balanced with a fair amount of in-person work.
It was always balanced with face-to-face classes and workshops and retreats.
Since April of 2020,
However,
My work with meditation has become nearly 100% online,
And I do expect this to be the way things are for some time to come.
Now I said it's been interesting making this shift.
One of the developments I hold under this umbrella term of interesting is the fact that I've had to do a great many things that were not in my repertoire 18 months ago.
This podcast is a good example,
Though,
Of course,
By this podcast,
I'm pointing to much more than the short recording you're listening to.
In order to share Bringing Meditation to Life with the world,
I have had to learn about microphones and audio editing.
I've had to investigate options for podcast hosting.
I've had to look into graphics and subscriptions and promotions.
I've had to determine what,
In my opinion,
Makes a good podcast and what kind of podcast I'd like to offer here.
This is a lot of new stuff that's arrived on my plate recently,
And to be honest,
I sometimes get a bit fed up with it.
I was doing some editing the other day,
For instance,
And I soon became very tired of the whole enterprise.
Scouring through a recording,
Listening for and removing pops and hisses and unexpected background noise,
I soon found myself tired of the whole undertaking.
This isn't what I want to be doing,
I complained to myself.
This isn't about meditation,
At which point a couple of little antenna sparked to attention.
Right at the top of my head,
There was a kind of shiver,
A twitching as if yes,
A pair of antenna had in a very body-based nonverbal way sensed something.
Wait a second,
This sense was soon articulating.
Let's take a look at this.
I don't think I'm alone in dividing my life into meditation and everything else.
I don't think I'm alone in believing that most,
If not all of my everyday activities have little to do with meditation practice.
This act of dividing was evident in a crystal clear way in the moment just recounted.
In that instant in which I pulled back from the task at hand,
In this case,
Editing a podcast episode and said to myself,
This isn't about meditation.
In truth,
However,
It very much is.
As far as I'm able to gather,
Meditation is about nothing more and nothing less than moment to moment human experience.
It's about what's going on right now.
This aboutness does not distinguish.
It does not evaluate.
It does not separate into meditation worthy moments and not meditation worthy moments.
Instead,
The practice of meditation encourages us and trains us to very simply turn our attention towards what's happening,
Whatever this might be.
So when I'm editing a podcast episode and feel increasingly frustrated with the undertaking and declare to myself,
This isn't about meditation.
Well,
To me,
This seems a perfect opportunity to remember that it actually is.
To remember that in truth,
Everything in our life is about meditation practice.
My feeling frustrated with and dismissive toward the task of editing a podcast episode or the task of washing the dishes or taking the dog for a walk or driving the kids to soccer practice.
All of these are perfect opportunities for me to gently guide my attention back to embodied experience.
Perfect opportunities for me to be curious about what's happening here.
Be curious about what's waiting for me.
A little tension under the jawline,
Perhaps kind of quivering in my chest.
A few bubbling thoughts about this and that.
Some openness and movement,
Some stillness,
Some tension,
Cool air and the barest hint of relaxation.
The slightest sense of tenderness and appreciation as somewhere off in the distance.
A lawnmower growls to life.
Thank you as always for listening,
Everybody.
You can once again learn more about myself and my work at my website,
Neilmckinley.
Com.
Until next time,
Take care.
Until next time,
Be well and let's keep doing this work together.
Let's keep bringing meditation to life.
