Let That Shift Go
Walking in the "Woo":From Skepticism to Enlightenment Embracing Alternative Therapies
When we unpeel the layers of our own self-awareness, what profound truths lie beneath? This heartfelt conversation I had with Noelunveils the transformative power of healing and personal growth, using Skin Deep cards as a vessel for our deepest reflections. Together, we traverse the delicate bonds of sibling relationships and the enlightening shifts in perspective that only time can bestow. We also tackle those aspects of our lives that might seem outlandish to some, lovingly coined 'the woo'. Yet, it is within these spiritual practices and alternative therapies that we find a wellspring of understanding and inner tranquility.
Embarking on a journey from a world of Western medicine to one where holistic approaches reign, this episode is a testament to the ignored science behind practices like breathwork and mindfulness. I share my own transition and the subsequent enlightenment found in embracing these modalities. As yoga once stepped from the shadows of skepticism to become a beacon of self-care, we ponder the potential for other practices to rise to similar prominence. This isn't just conjecture; it's a call to action, urging you to explore and research, to find your own balance between the empirical and the spiritual.
Finally, we beckon you to the calm shores of mind-body coherence, where the art of meditation can redefine your mental landscape. Discover, as Noelle and I have, the liberating experience of becoming an observer of your own thoughts. We dive into the mechanics of breathwork and its power to regulate the autonomic nervous system, a crucial element for maintaining emotional equilibrium. So come with us, let's navigate the serene waters of mindful living, and together, let that shift go. Remember to connect with us for more resources and insights, and may your journey into self-discovery be as enriching as it has been for us.
Hong Sau Meditation https://www.ananda.org/meditation/meditation-support/articles/hong-sau-technique-of-meditation/
Physics of God Book https://a.co/d/6FJIn21
When we unpeel the layers of our own self-awareness, what profound truths lie beneath? This heartfelt conversation I had with Noelunveils the transformative power of healing and personal growth, using Skin Deep cards as a vessel for our deepest reflections. Together, we traverse the delicate bonds of sibling relationships and the enlightening shifts in perspective that only time can bestow. We also tackle those aspects of our lives that might seem outlandish to some, lovingly coined 'the woo'. Yet, it is within these spiritual practices and alternative therapies that we find a wellspring of understanding and inner tranquility.
Embarking on a journey from a world of Western medicine to one where holistic approaches reign, this episode is a testament to the ignored science behind practices like breathwork and mindfulness. I share my own transition and the subsequent enlightenment found in embracing these modalities. As yoga once stepped from the shadows of skepticism to become a beacon of self-care, we ponder the potential for other practices to rise to similar prominence. This isn't just conjecture; it's a call to action, urging you to explore and research, to find your own balance between the empirical and the spiritual.
Finally, we beckon you to the calm shores of mind-body coherence, where the art of meditation can redefine your mental landscape. Discover, as Noelle and I have, the liberating experience of becoming an observer of your own thoughts. We dive into the mechanics of breathwork and its power to regulate the autonomic nervous system, a crucial element for maintaining emotional equilibrium. So come with us, let's navigate the serene waters of mindful living, and together, let that shift go. Remember to connect with us for more resources and insights, and may your journey into self-discovery be as enriching as it has been for us.
Hong Sau Meditation https://www.ananda.org/meditation/meditation-support/articles/hong-sau-technique-of-meditation/
Physics of God Book https://a.co/d/6FJIn21
Hello and welcome to the Let that Shift Go podcast. I'm Noel.
Speaker 2:And I'm Lena.
Speaker 1:And this is where we talk about the good, the bad and all the shift in between we just talk mad shift. Let's get into it, and on this week's episode we're talking about walking in the woo.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, what is the woo?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of push and pull back from that, you know, because you know I what at one time was watching you, you know, and was like, well, she's a little woo woo, I was the kooky sister. Yeah, I was the kooky sister and then I didn't really understand what that was. Until you know, I did.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so you know we're gonna, we're gonna talk about that today, but first let's get into the skin deep cards and ask some, maybe some vulnerable questions and see what comes of it. You want to go first, or me?
Speaker 2:You go first.
Speaker 1:All right. In what ways do you think I heal others?
Speaker 2:Wow, I think the way that you heal others is experiencing your own pain, because having to go into those areas of yourself cause you to dig a little bit deeper and see what was there, and you know, making your way to the other side has been a way for you to bring healing to others. So, watching you move through awareness, coming into awareness of who you are, what you are, what you're not, what are the things that were kind of keeping you in place, and then filing, finding these beautiful healing modalities that have been most helpful to you. Now you are bringing them forefront to anyone who is wanting to receive that in such a beautiful way that you know. So it comes from you having to go through your own journey and get into the other side of it and figuring out what worked.
Speaker 2:It's like building your curriculum and that's what you're bringing to other people, and I just watch you with them and see these transformations and I'm just like, yeah, that's, that's it right there.
Speaker 1:Thank you, that's the medicines. Yeah, okay, your turn. What do you?
Speaker 2:got. What is your story of us?
Speaker 1:Oh, what would be my story of us? Well, I would say that we are brother and sister, blood brother and sister. I have to clarify that because we come from a large family.
Speaker 2:Also, you're not just my spiritual brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's been mistaken as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that grew up in separate households, experiencing life differently and really misunderstanding each other. Until recently, I think that, you know, when we're younger, we were at each other's throats a little bit, just because I don't know. Well, mostly because we didn't understand each other's experience and probably didn't have compassion or space for that. You know the ability because we were younger. But as adults I think we became closer once we had children and found kind of happiness again, you know, with each other, and I got to experience new things with you and Armando, and then each of us going through our own things and our own trials and tribulations and maybe getting a little distance, while that was kind of going through and watching from a distance and then came back together to fill in the gaps. You know it was almost like wicked. You know what I mean. Yeah, and then the play that you would see on Broadway where the Wizard of Oz was the movie and it was all this song and dance, but behind the scenes was really a whole nother story.
Speaker 2:Ah, yeah, so true, yeah, so true. I didn't know how much better it could get.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and in really being behind the veil, wicked is probably a great, you know yeah description or example of like what it was like to be behind the bail and going oh wow. You know my wicked sister, the wicked witch of the West, you know, in all the little nuances behind, yeah, so that came together. So that would be the story, you know, that I would see of us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's so much more unfolding. It's a whole new story.
Speaker 1:And still learning stuff.
Speaker 2:Still learning. And you know, I find too, with just watching other siblings is like even when they grow up in the same house they're still having a completely different experience sometimes of their parents or of the situation, just being at different ages and different. You know stages with the parents, but you know just never, really just kind of taking for granted that you know how the other person feels when you. You may not you know or you assume something that they believe about you or about the family situation and that may not be true and there's just could be this missed opportunity to really know each other.
Speaker 1:Well, that's a good segue into kind of our topic like what is the woo? Because you know people in our families don't always know. You know what that is and sometimes you know I don't know what it was like for you. I think you talked a little bit. You know we've talked a little bit about on different episodes, about watching me not be in the woo and then you doing your thing.
Speaker 2:My version of woo to other whatever that is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not really sharing those things and not pushing your viewpoints on to me and waiting for me to kind of have an invitation. It's like, hey, what are you doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know and I think that's you know what a lot of people struggle with. You know we've talked, we talked. We had a conversation today at dinner about other people not understanding the woo and maybe not understanding what we're doing and how do we help them, and us feeling stuck and not being able to tell them how we feel and how we feel that they should heal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, the thing is like this whole word woo, woo, woo, I don't even like to say woo, woo, I just like to say woo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it can be a derogatory term.
Speaker 2:It is very derogatory, it's very divisive and I feel like it's well and it is it's actually a term that's used to like describe unconventional beliefs right that are perceived as having little or no scientific validity and that it's just based in mysticism or some kind of magic or spirituality or alternative medicine yeah, and that's the thing. It's implying that the practices are less valid or credible compared to those grounded in Western yeah, western medicine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Western medicine, but we see every day.
Speaker 2:Even for me that was really. It was kind of hard because I had my own kind of interpretation of what mysticism or spirituality even the word spirituality was. I came from Western medicine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there's a duality there, right? Yes, I mean, I was, you know, a nurse for 20 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like this. It was really hard for me to kind of bring these two things together, like what do you know? What is energy? What is this? What are these big words? But it really comes down to a lot of the practices that are done by people who you think are in the woo are really something that are very scientifically based and very helpful in so many ways, whether it's physical, emotional, mental practices that you know what kind of I wish there. I want there to be a bridge, because I see people who are like no, that's woo, and then they close off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you're kind of, you are the bridge, you're the example of somebody who left Western medicine and found little ways and synchronicities that you're like oh well. Well, that kind of breaks down into this, you know, and you found different people in Western medicine that maybe are open to some of those these things. And now we're seeing, even with breathwork, that there's science coming out behind, because it's being more and more accepted, because there's research being done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so much evidence out there, and then I think the thing that I want people to take away from it is that, you know, do a little bit of digging, like, don't just say, oh, meditation is woo or yoga is woo, or breathwork, whatever it is, and then write it off, because in our minds we've created like a story around what that means and we're like, well, I'm not that, you know, and that's the thing is like man, if you just knew. There's just like there's so many beautiful practices that are scientifically based but also have a spiritual component, because that's just a byproduct of these experiences of getting deeper into yourself and being able to, you know, be more mindful is. But these are things all of us can benefit from. So it's just a label that I feel like gets put on some of these beautiful practices that a lot of them are very indigenous in their origins but they also, you know, have a very scientific, you know, backed base.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I really thought like woo is like anti religion type thing that's. I mean I didn't even know what it was, but that was one of the meanings that I first pulled away. It was like, oh, they're anti religion and not into God and they believe.
Speaker 2:They see how you had a whole like definition of what it was, even just for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what it meant to me, yeah, and everybody has a different one. It's like, oh, that's just junk science, you know, or it's just something paranormal, or yeah, but my experience has been, and I don't find myself to be very religious, but my experience has been. It doesn't exclude any of that. If anything, it expands on that and you just attach your own. You can go deeper into that, deeper into your own belief system by understanding the components to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a byproduct, and there is so many science-based practices that are talking about how it's regulating your nervous system, that it's reducing stress, and so if you're able to do those things, guess what that does to your physical health. It improves that. So it's just a little gateway into being more healthy, whether it's mentally, emotionally, physically.
Speaker 1:And open heart, just kind of opening to things, being more present and not being closed off and being present to it. Yeah, what?
Speaker 2:does even being present mean? Like even saying being present sounds like it could be categorized as woo, but how about? You're just in a space and you're actually there. You're not completely distracted by a bunch of other thoughts about where you need to be or what you forgot to do and really it's robbing you of the time you're in. So it's just these mindfulness. Even the word mindfulness sounds like oh, that's a woo word. But what does mindfulness mean? It means that when you're doing something, you're fully present in doing it. Whether you're eating something, you're thinking about the food you're eating, you're feeling how your body feels when it takes in the food, or whether you're working If you're working mindfully, like you're actually doing the practice that you're doing, you're working. Or you're having a conversation with someone and you're really present in the conversation. You're not completely somewhere else, distracted by something else. So all of these things that I feel like get called woo, I'm like man, these are gateways too.
Speaker 1:Well, yoga used to be woo to me.
Speaker 2:Oh, totally Right.
Speaker 1:And now it's like totally mainstream and you can attend at, you know, crunch fitness 24 hours. Whatever place that you go to health you know like a workout place, they do yoga. So and that to me before 10, 12 years ago was totally woo. Oh, you're doing yoga, yeah.
Speaker 2:It got put into that category and then, as science, like you know, starts to get in touch with where we are with, like, how valuable yoga is, it's actually you getting in touch with your, your breath and your body at the same time, and your mind, but bringing them all into coherence right Like bringing them into alignment and how do?
Speaker 2:you feel after yeah Right, your body's an antenna, you're literally just kind of tuning into different frequencies and things like that. I mean, it just goes so much deeper. But now that the science has caught up with what yoga offers, then oh, it becomes more mainstream, you know. So I think that's what's happening is a lot of these practices are the science is starting to catch up, they're becoming more mainstream, but people are still kind of defining some of these techniques as woo and then shut themselves off to it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you see, you mentioned something that you know come up is came up in my you know breathwork class, which is mind body coherence.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And and what that means, and that's what you were developing in yoga right, yes, mind, body, body breathing and through calm and meditation and moving, and so the mind, body. You know, coherence is, I think you know, maybe a more practical term for awareness or woo. You know what I mean and that's what our ultimate goal is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell me more about mind body coherence.
Speaker 1:Mind, body coherence. I mean, for me it's been, it was it came about because of breathwork. And every day, with my 10, 20, 30, you know, I was doing 10, 20, 30 and dropping into a meditative state and then, you know, asking myself, like what is my body, what is my intuition and her guidance, what means to know? And as I was doing that every single day, I started to notice that I was getting more in touch with how my body feels and like what my emotions are, and and and, building a coherence, and and, like you said, there's, there's, you know, the space between pause or stimulus and response. Is there's that pause, right?
Speaker 2:That's your power.
Speaker 1:That's my power and that's my awareness, and so I never really had the space. That space was not there, it always just went from stimulus to reaction and I was never able to response or be response able. And so this mind-body coherence was every day of meditating, is building, one that just recognizing where I'm at as my baseline.
Speaker 2:Am.
Speaker 1:I happy? Am I sad? Like, what am I doing today? Am I in pain? Am I in pain, like you know, doing a body scan, when I drop into my breath awareness and I'm just noticing how my breathing am I breathing in my nose or am I breathing through my mouth without trying to affect anything? Just what am I naturally doing? And once I notice that I can, I'm just kind of getting in tune with what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. And so, every day, building the practice of getting in tune with how I'm feeling is the mind-body coherence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a practice that I recommended to clients, which is, when you wake up, before you pick up your phone, before you go get your coffee, is that you just do a check-in with your body, right? So you lay there and you kind of start at your head or your toes and just work your way up and just kind of feeling, just like you said, how, as my body feeling, oh, is there pain there? You know, is my back hurting or am I feeling pretty good, like where is my state at?
Speaker 1:Where's my?
Speaker 2:physical state and then where is my emotional state, Like what's going on, how am I feeling? Am I feeling kind of sad or angry, or you know what's going on? And just simply coming into the awareness of where is my baseline when I'm waking up right.
Speaker 2:So as you're, as you're moving through your day, you already know where you're coming from. So if you're going to be interacting with someone, you might be aware that like, yeah, you know what, I'm not my best because I actually have pain in my back or I'm, I'm, I've woke up, feeling kind of anxious or whatever, and so it might build that kind of response time, that pause of where am I at, what's going on in my environment and how do I want to respond to it. It's just becoming aware, because how many times you just grab your phone, then you get anxious or you're like, oh, I got to get this email and then you're in Iraq doing with your spouse and then it's an argument. You're like I was already irritated.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're revved up.
Speaker 2:I was already revved up. They don't know. I didn't even know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then later it's like, yeah, my back does hurt, or this is hurting, it's just coming, coming into some type of awareness, right when you're waking up, like where's my baseline, what's going on with me?
Speaker 1:That's being present.
Speaker 2:Just with yourself at first. I mean, if you can't be present with yourself, you really can't be present with other people. Yeah, you can't. So there's just something really powerful about coming into some awareness. And what is awareness? Just like an observance, you built up the observer within you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I start practicing that after I do like my 10, 20, 30, if I'm noticing how I'm feeling and I notice I'm on edge to my family, I'll just let them know. Like hey, today I'm just a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm not all there, I'm just spicy a little bit.
Speaker 2:I'm a little spicy today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, and I just let them know.
Speaker 2:Like it's not you.
Speaker 1:And getting good at letting other people know ahead of time, to kind of diffusing the situation, to say, hey, I'm, if you notice I'm a little off today. It's just because I am I'm, I'm feeling a little anxious or what have you, and being able to communicate that it's such a healthy way, healthier way to ask for compassion, some space with maybe something you're going through or feeling or tired, and you know, maybe you are feeling that pain in your back. You know, and if you let somebody know, they might you might have hoped that they noticed and then rub your back or something, but you can simply ask for those things. You know what?
Speaker 2:I mean, but you got to be aware that it's a need you know, or what is going, and the other person when you say that, hey, I'm not my best today, then whatever is next going to come out of your mouth, I'm probably not going to take it personal. I may be like yeah, he did say he wasn't feeling that great, so I don't need to go make it about me and then wonder what I did. And then here comes this whole cascade and we're going over the waterfall.
Speaker 2:Now we got an argument later because you were an asshole this morning. But it's like why, you know? You just kind of pre-game like this, or I'm like, hey, I'm having a great day. Like how are you doing?
Speaker 1:Check in. Yeah, get yourself that nudge. Yeah to check in with them, asking them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just I think there's something too that that mind body coherence so what if you know that was a practice is just just come into mind body coherence. What does that mean? Mm-hmm, simply become aware of what you're feeling, either physically, emotionally, whatever just become aware of it. That can be like step one, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know.
Speaker 2:and the other thing is meditation. Yeah Right, because a lot of the times when I talk about meditation with people who are not familiar with it or they just like oh, I tried that and it's. I just have a lot of thoughts and it's like man yeah, I'm raising my hand over here, I totally get it.
Speaker 1:It took me that's where I was at Years and years and years to figure out.
Speaker 2:Really, one of the best benefits of meditation is just to sit still and realize you are not your thoughts, you are actually the space in between your thoughts. And that sounds like what does that even mean? It's just finding a meditation practice I'm going to suggest one later finding a meditation practice where you can just sit still and just focus on your breath, maybe, and start to come into awareness of what you're feeling. And then, yes, you're going to have thoughts. It's not. It's nearly impossible to sit in a space alone, quiet, and not have thoughts. That doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, but part of the whole thing is to realize that you're noticing that there's thoughts. If you're noticing the thoughts, you can't possibly be the thoughts. So who's noticing? Who's the one that's noticing the thoughts? So you are the space in between the thoughts. So we don't necessarily have to be just constantly reacting to thoughts all day. You know you get up and you got to put your shoes on. Well, what kind of shoes are on? I don't know, it's cool outside, I do. Okay, thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I read that there's like the average human has like six to 8,000 thoughts per day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, at least.
Speaker 1:And up to 80% are negative thoughts. Yep, and you know 95% of them are looping thoughts that are negative and only 5% you know come in that are new information.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so for constantly pulling in, and you know that's why it's so important to be aware of what you're watching or what you're bringing in.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're depositing.
Speaker 1:Yeah what you're depositing in, because if you're only really allowing 5% of new thoughts to enter into that loop, you know you might be a little cautious you know with what you put into that loop.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the power is the space in between thoughts. Because that's where the observer is. You are the observer, you are not your thoughts. So if we can get into contact with that, like yeah, who is actually noticing the thoughts? It's not the thoughts you know. So just becoming more familiar with that space in between, how do you do that Practice Right, it's like going to the gym.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know you're not going to be able yeah, it's a muscle.
Speaker 2:You want to start to train yourself to notice the space in between the thoughts more and more and more, because then, when you're in your everyday life, everything is thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Start to become the observer of what's going on in your environment.
Speaker 1:So you're more responsible.
Speaker 2:So how? What are the tools to exercise this muscle?
Speaker 1:Meditation is the right one. It's a gym for your brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a gym for your brain and breath work, obviously Because you know we're going to talk about the autonomic nervous system. And the other thing, though it was really interesting was I was listening to something or talking about how there was a study you know, I believe it was about meditation and they did this study with a bunch of participants and they said we just want you to come in and sit here quietly for like 30 minutes. There's no stimulation, you can't, you're not on your phone, you just have to sit here with your thoughts, basically for 30 minutes. Alternatively, there is a button over there on the wall and if you push it you'll get an electric shock and then you'll be released from the exercise much quicker. And they tested it to make sure that the shock hurt Right and most of them went for the electric shock.
Speaker 1:Rather than sit for 30 minutes, rather than sit for 30 minutes in silence.
Speaker 2:That's telling, yes, it's like I can't sit here, I just rather get it. I'd rather get it physically hurt.
Speaker 1:Well, they always say silence speaks volumes. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So just that is. That's a big thing. But yeah, let's talk about breath work and the autonomic nervous system.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the autonomic nervous system is wild, because that's kind of what brought me into breath work is recognizing that breath you can take conscious control of your breath and affect your autonomic nervous system. And understanding that there are different types of breath and breathing through the nose is a different process than breathing through the mouth and how those two different processes affect how we feel. And so talk about a little bit how the autonomic nervous system is affected by the breath work for you like that system.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it helps me deal with stress a lot differently, right? Because when we're consciously breathing and we're stimulating the, you know fight or flight in us the parasympathetic the sympathetic breath.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the sympathetic breath, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like you can get yourself up into this very heightened state Right. And then just simply by you know, switching your breathing to the nose, you can bring yourself into the parasympathetic state which is the rest. I just relaxed, so it's really kind of training my nervous system to be able to go up but then also very quickly to be able to come back down. Yeah, and. I know that that affects, like, your heart rate variability. There's just, there's so many incredible benefits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, emotional regulation is something so huge and ANS, you know autonomic nervous system has everything to do with that and you know, knowing that you can take conscious control of your breath and affect how you feel is just mind blowing. For me that was just something that was a game changer, because I've always been a mouth breather. Yeah. And then noticing when I'm, you know, nervous or not feeling, well, I can just switch. Oh, breathe through my nose.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know how it just calms me down, is just massive.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, taking mind body coherence and using our breath and noticing how we breathe and how we're moving through the day, that's the mind body coherence for me. Right, yeah, and what are the practices that we do to build mind and body coherence? You talked about a practice that you would do to build that with your ANS.
Speaker 2:Do you mean the meditation practice?
Speaker 1:The meditation practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a couple things. So one of the meditations that I really like is mantra meditation.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I practice Nealakantha meditation. It's really similar to transcendental meditation.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And for me, after many, many years of like, being the person that said I cannot sit still and just be with my thoughts. I did not. I didn't get it Right, and so this practice was. You know, I had tried guided meditations. Which guided meditations are great. They're just somebody else's thoughts. They're probably better than yours.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's still not kind of training, that observer in you in this way. That's really powerful.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So the mantra meditation is just sitting quietly. There is some breathing that you would do before, and normally I do 10, 20, 30 or you know, or I do some type of box breathing or Nadi Shonanat, which is alternate nears breathing, to kind of regulate my system.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:And then I'll go into a mantra meditation, which is just having a mantra is just a word, that it's better if it doesn't mean anything to you, because your mind can get caught up on what it means.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And you know where I went, where I learned they offered a community meditation, which was Namaha.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Namaha kind of like Namaste.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you sit comfortably, erect spine, just whatever. However you can sit, that you can sit for 10, 20 minutes, and then you just kind of repeat the mantra inside your mind, you know, slowly, just focusing on the breath and the mantra itself Mm-hmm. And then thoughts come right, like I got to go to Target. Oh, what did I make for dinner? Ba ba, ba, ba ba, and so you will go in. I'll go into the thoughts.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:But then I notice, oh, I'm in thoughts, mm-hmm, I just got caught up in a loop. So let me come back to the mantra.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Namaha, namahaa, and then maybe I'll get three namahas with no, not a lot of thoughts, but then I'll get care, I will get caught up again into the junk drawer of thoughts, and then I'll until I notice, oh, I'm doing it again, I'm in thoughts. So here's the observer retracting from the thought loop.
Speaker 1:Hmm, disconnecting from that.
Speaker 2:Disconnecting from the thought loop and then coming back to the mantra.
Speaker 1:Hmm.
Speaker 2:Namahaa, namahaa, namahaa, hmm, and then it'll happen again. So I'm there for, you know, 20 minutes, morning and evening, and by the end of that I've just started to kind of come into awareness of that. I'm able to do that. That I'm not my thoughts, I'm actually the observer of my thoughts.
Speaker 1:Hmm.
Speaker 2:And that is the muscle that helps me when I'm going about my day or if I'm in a situation that can be stressful that. I'm not just reacting all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The way that I like it. That it was explained to me was if you think about the ocean, right? The ocean is very, very deep, but mainly we're at the surface, and so if we're in the boat in the ocean, we are subject to the weather.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Right, so a storm comes, there's a lot of waves, right. You're getting knocked around, whatever. It's just really busy up there With mantra meditation. You're kind of jumping out of the boat, going down deeper into the water.
Speaker 2:Got it Right and you're, as you get a little bit deeper. You're just not as affected by what's going on on the outside constantly, it's a little bit more still. Well, at the very bottom of that ocean is just complete stillness and bliss. That's you, that's us, that's really truly who we are. But mostly what we're doing is reacting in the boat, so it's just finding a way to kind of climb that rope around deeper and deeper and deeper, closer and closer into a still state, and the things that can happen from that are just exponential. It's very, it's calming to the nervous system.
Speaker 2:One. It builds that observer in you of thoughts versus observer awareness and when you carry that into your day on a regular basis, that becomes something you can start to do naturally. So you know, if you're in the Starbucks line and they're not taking your name and acknowledging you, you're not immediately going into the thoughts of, well, I'm not seen, I'm not heard, and they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, they don't, and just being like, oh wow, interesting that I'm getting upset that I'm standing here and not being acknowledged or whatever.
Speaker 2:Is that triggering something inside of me. What is that about? And but not necessarily reacting, you know, just kind of responding and observing, which that's where you reclaim your power, you know, reclaim your presence. So I like that. There's another one that's called, called Hang Sa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you told me about this one. This one's interesting because I think it involves like toning and breathing at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, there's not a lot of toning, but this one. I learned there's a book called the Physics of God.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Very interesting book. We need to put this in the show notes, but it talks really about quantum physics and how that meets up with spirituality and God, meditation and science actually go really well together.
Speaker 2:But he did talk about his practice of Hang Sa as a really simple meditation technique but can be very profound, and I thought, yeah, this is a great one, especially for people who are maybe just starting out and you're overthinking it. These are like this is a very simple process and it was popularized by Paramahansa Yogananda, and so this one is you sit comfortably right with a straight spine. He also says, like you put your hands kind of at where your hips and your torso meet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not on top of your knees, not on top of your knees stretched out. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's just, and what I noticed is you just don't feel the heaviness of your arms.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're kind of gone yeah. Just open palms kind of your hands sitting there, yeah.
Speaker 2:You want to be. You can sit up straight in a chair if that's comfortable, but you want to have your feet planted, just you know, parallel to the ground, with your knees parallel, like just straight out. And then you want to just close your eyes gently and focus your gaze at the point between your eyebrows. So eyes are closed, it's almost like you're looking out over a distance, and if you were looking somewhere it would be right at the point between your eyebrows, got it? And then you just come into a breath awareness. So just inhaling slowly to the count of eight, maybe you hold for the same count and exhale to the count of eight.
Speaker 2:So, it's just kind of almost like a box breathing and you're just repeating this pattern a few times right, and then, as you're breathing, you're mentally saying hung, and it reminds it rhymes with song hung. And then you with the incoming breath and then saw, with the outgoing breath. So, in is hung saw, hung saw right, yeah, okay yeah.
Speaker 2:And it literally means I am he or I am spirit, but it doesn't matter what the meaning is Just in is hung out, is saw, right, just natural breathing, and you do that for just as long as it feels comfortable. I mean 10, 20 minutes is really ideal. But if you do that practice, just start to notice what happens, right, right between the middle of the eyes. Sometimes you can start to see color, like blue or purple or just kind of blobs of color can come in. You're going to have like a relaxed base, but just sitting comfortably hung, saw, hung, saw. You start having thoughts. Oh, here I am having thoughts, I notice it. Let me come back, got it and just start to see where. That is what I love about it is. It's so simple.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anybody can do it yeah.
Speaker 2:You don't. It's better if you don't put music on, it's better if you don't. You know, have a lot of things to distract because you're like that's better than what's going on in my mind.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:And it's just coming into stillness and really bringing your nervous system back into a relaxed state.
Speaker 1:Regulating that autonomic nervous system. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Just have a practice. I mean, there's so many benefits. It's not woo. This is like thousands of years old. You know these practices of meditation and breath work, yoga, just being in nature, like. How much better do you feel when you go out in nature, whether it's the forest or the beach? Take off your shoes. You just reminded that it's not all thoughts.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know that there are other things, so, and you are not your thoughts. I think that's the main thing to remember. Yeah, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 1:All good ways to bring the coherence in and walk in the womb. Even when you started to talk about quantum theory and all that stuff, it's like oh, even me I feel like oh, here comes the womb Dude, that's science. It is.
Speaker 2:It's so not womb. I encourage people like if you're very left brain like I, was Just be curious. Yeah, just get some curiosity and go find out the facts. Don't assume that woo means this you know whether it was anti-religion or its mysticism, or it's just like. These are just actually practices to bring you into presence.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And from that comes everything else Better relationships, better relationship with yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know better health, stress reduction, emotional regulation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, everybody tells me I just move differently. Yeah, that I'm just less sarcastic. You know, I always worried because I would be. I felt like I would be, oh, I'm not going to be as funny, or you know, I need to do these things and I realize how pointless a lot of it was. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all stories that you thought you know you're not going to wear white robes everywhere I mean if you want to, but you know that's not what it means. No it just means that you're slowing down and you're starting to take notice, you're starting to become aware of who and what you are, and what are the benefits of that. So yeah, if quantum physics even remotely interests you and you want to, you know, use your left brain a little bit to bridge over to your right brain.
Speaker 1:I haven't even entered that realm yet. I'm still focusing in, you know, my poly bagel theory and an S system and breathing and all those things I'm just touching. But I see you reaching for the sky and I'm like, okay, yeah, it's a rabbit hole.
Speaker 2:You can't, I don't know, it's hard to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we invite you to be curious. Please Check it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let us know what you think and we appreciate your listening and your time.
Speaker 2:Visit us at Serenity Co for more meditation, connection experiences, community events yeah.
Speaker 1:Alright, that's been another episode of Let that Shift Go podcast. I'm Noelle.
Speaker 2:And I'm Lena. Let us know what your questions are and we'd love to use them on a future episode. Or check us out on Insta at Let that Shift Go, or visit our website, serenitycovtomekulacom.