Latest / Giving Pain Purpose with Lyndsay Soprano / Sit Down, Breathe + Yield with Jeff Patterson

Transcript

Sit Down, Breathe + Yield with Jeff Patterson · Giving Pain Purpose with Lyndsay Soprano

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This is Your Pain Game podcast where we talk about
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the game of living in and with chronic pain and trauma,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: getting to the heart of how to heal. I am
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: your host, Lindsay Soprano. On the show, I plan on
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: discussing with doctors, chronic pain patients, holistic practitioners, loved ones,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: and anybody that is interested in having their voice heard
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in the chronic pain and trauma world that we live in.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I am an anxious, sleep deprived little stress ball every
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: single moment of my life, and it's incredibly difficult for
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: me to relax in my skin most days.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: And this has been something that I've dealt with since
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I was a little girl.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: We talk about it on the show often about stuff
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: that happened when I was nine, and eleven and fourteen,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: just name all the years of stuff that makes me
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: not feel relaxed that's happened to me over my lifetime.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And with all of that, though that stress that I
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: was so instantly introduced to, I actually liked it, And
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: since that introduction to it, I was always functioning at
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: a really high level in my life. In my career,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I thrived under stressful conditions. I strived under stressful situations.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I liked stressful people. I loved the chase of it.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: I liked the thrill of landing new clients, of landing
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: guests on the show, traveling for work, going to conventions,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: doing all of it. I loved all of it and
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: all the stress that came with it, until I have
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: realized over the past couple of years that living like
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: that constant fight or flight has contributed to my illness
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of CRPS.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: And I cannot get out of this stress loop, you know.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: And I've tried a bagillion things to do this, including meditation.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I'm not very good at it, though.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: That overwhelm that I live in every minute of my
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: life is quite frankly devastating, and keeping busy distracts me
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: from my debility pain as well. So if I keep busy,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not thinking about it. So what do we do
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: to get out of this stressful state? Well, I've got
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: somebody for you here today, So without further ado, i'd
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: like to introduce you to my guest today, Jeff Patterson.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Hey, Jeff, how are you.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: Hey, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Oh, of course, it's good to have you. You've got
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: a great voice too, so I'm happy about that too.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Jeff is from Portland, Oregon. He has over thirty six
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: years of experience practicing and teaching the meditative and martial arts.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: He is the founder of the Yielding Warrior, Northwest Fighting
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Arts and Portland Taichi Academy. He has published two books
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and hundreds of instructional videos and has worked with thousands
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of students from around the world. What sets Jeff apart
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: from other meditation practitioners is his unique approach, known as
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the Yielding Warrior Method. He teaches the five basic regulations
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: that are fundamental to any meditation practice, going beyond traditional
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: methods by incorporating ritual, active, and philosophical techniques to help
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: individuals build a personalized, evolving meditation program that seamlessly fits
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: into their lives. And I think that that's part of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: the scary thing about meditation, is how am I going
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: to be?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Quiet?
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Certainly for me, it is all right, Well, I'm rolling
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: out the red book carpet for you, babe, and I'd
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: like to start with talking about your personal journey into
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: meditative arts and then let's take it from there.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So I was introduced to the meditative arts in
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: a bit of a roundabout way in that I was
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: a nineteen year old kid who was very much into
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Western boxing, and I used to go to a boxing
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  Speaker 3: gym just a few blocks down the street here from
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  Speaker 3: my academy. Well, at this one particular gym, one of
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: the coaches that was there, he said something to me
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: that changed my life forever. He said, you know, if
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: you really want to be a good boxer, you should
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: start doing meditation and taichi. Not the time, I was
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: this nineteen year old kid thinking, you know, isn't that
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: like for old people in the park. How's that going
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  Speaker 3: to help me be a better fighter? And I had
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: a lot of respect for him. I took on the practice,
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  Speaker 3: and not only has it changed my life in many
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: ways through the years, you know, I've had thousands of
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: students come through the academy and through my online programs,
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  Speaker 3: and I've heard hundreds of stories of how the meditative
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: arts has positively influenced people's lives. And that's what's made
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  Speaker 3: me so passionate about trying to get the message out
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  Speaker 3: there and help as many people as I can with it.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I thank you for doing that and for
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  Speaker 1: sharing that, because it is it's like I'm nineteen years old.
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  Speaker 4: I love I love the visual of the old people
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  Speaker 4: in the park because it's true or just out there
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  Speaker 4: doing like taichi in the park on a Saturday morning
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  Speaker 4: or whatever. But I love that you were able to
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  Speaker 4: apply something that you learned at such a young age
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  Speaker 4: and have continued to do that. That is incredible, especially
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  Speaker 4: starting so young. How did you keep doing it that way?
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  Speaker 1: Just changed your life so much that it was like
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  Speaker 1: this is just natural because you've stuck with it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, So, to be honest, for me, it was pretty difficult.
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  Speaker 3: I was not really wanting to do meditation, but I
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: knew he was telling me that I should, and the
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  Speaker 3: last thing I wanted to do was to go to
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: the gym and have him ask me if I did
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  Speaker 3: my practice today and have to tell him no. So
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: I did it every day religiously, like I was brushing
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: my teeth. And it wasn't until about the sixth or
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: seven month mark where I went down to my basement.
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  Speaker 3: I normally did about an hour and a half ritual
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  Speaker 3: every morning, with some sitting meditation and some taichi forms,
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  Speaker 3: and I looked up at the clock and an hour
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  Speaker 3: and a half went by, and it felt like it
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  Speaker 3: was fifteen minutes and I had this euphoric feeling like
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  Speaker 3: what just happened? I couldn't explain it, and from that
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  Speaker 3: point forward I was hooked.
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  Speaker 2: I can meditate for about twenty minutes.
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  Speaker 1: That's like about as long as I can go without
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: the world coming in. But I have to do it
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: in a very secluded environment. I have to do it
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: in my infrared suna or do it in my little
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: wellness room. But I can only get through twenty minutes
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: of it. And I know we're going to talk a
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: little bit about how to fix that. How can we
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  Speaker 1: go farther than five minutes of meditation? Well, baby steps,
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  Speaker 1: I would assume here with you right.
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  Speaker 3: One of the things that I hear most commonly from
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: new practitioners is that they've tried meditation but it didn't
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  Speaker 3: work for them because they couldn't quiet their mind.
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  Speaker 4: Exactly precisely my point, I am a monkey brain, exactly
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  Speaker 4: what you said.
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  Speaker 3: Somewhere along the way, people got this misguided idea that
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: in order to be successful at meditation, you have to
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  Speaker 3: reach this state of nirvana where nothing bothers you. And
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: you know, it couldn't be further from the truth. The
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: idea is maybe you're sitting for twenty minutes or doing
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: a twenty minute movement practice like a tai Chie or
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: chie going form. If you get distracted fifty times during
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: that session, and every time you get distracted, you notice
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  Speaker 3: the imbalance, you find your center, you come back to focus.
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  Speaker 3: You just got fifty repetitions of being out of balance
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  Speaker 3: and finding And if you do this every day, every month,
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  Speaker 3: every year, you start to develop this power and this
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  Speaker 3: ability that no matter what life throws your way, you're
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: able to come back to center and find that focus.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's through that consistency that we really reach
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: that benefit. You know, there's this old story that I
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  Speaker 3: really like about these two old monks who are walking
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  Speaker 3: down this dirt road after a huge rainstorm.
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  Speaker 2: Not walking into a bar. Two monks walking into a bar.
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  Speaker 3: Not walking into a bar. They come up to a
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  Speaker 3: huge mud puddle, and on the other side of the
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  Speaker 3: puddles this beautiful little girl and she's standing there in
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  Speaker 3: a white dress and she's crying, and the older monk
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  Speaker 3: he hollers across the puddle and says, is everything okay?
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  Speaker 3: Can we help you? And she says, I need to
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  Speaker 3: be somewhere, but if I walk across this puddle, I'm
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  Speaker 3: going to get my dress all dirty. So the older
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  Speaker 3: monkey rolls up his pant legs and he walks across
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  Speaker 3: the puddle, picks her up, puts her on his back,
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  Speaker 3: takes her to the other side, sets her down, and
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  Speaker 3: she's off on our way. Him and the younger monk
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  Speaker 3: are walking a few miles down the road, and finally
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  Speaker 3: the younger monk is just furious and he says, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we're not supposed to touch girls, but you did back
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  Speaker 3: there at the puddle. And the older monk looks down
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  Speaker 3: and says, I left that girl back at the puddle.
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  Speaker 3: Why are you still carrying her around? And how many
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: times in life do we have to get two miles
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  Speaker 3: down the muddy road before we realize kind to let
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  Speaker 3: that stuff go? And so regulating the mind is an
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  Speaker 3: extremely important part of any meditation practice.
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  Speaker 1: It sounds simple the way that you put because I know,
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  Speaker 1: meditation just seems scary to people are too woo woo
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  Speaker 1: or you know, all of that stuff. And for me,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: while I opened with stress reduction and anxiety, and then
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: we've got pain, and then heart health and emotional regulation.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, all the things that you listed.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Are like ding ding ding ding, and I've got like
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  Speaker 1: twenty other things on there. Obviously I'm high energy, I've
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: got all That's how I've always been, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: crappy I feel. And the regulation of the central nervous
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  Speaker 1: system is a big element of why I am in
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the pain that I'm in. And there's all these different
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: things that are going on in the CRPS community, which
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: is what I have, a chronic regional pain syndrome and
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: lime disease and all these other things that are going
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: on with me. But in the pain community, a lot
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: of what we all are going after, unfortunately, is band
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: aids to fix the pain right now and see if
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: it works, then it causes all these other problems. And
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: now we're unwinding. Now we're getting rid of all those
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: other problems that we have. And it's been the craziest
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: ten years of my life trying to fix it, and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: meditation has been something that has been so challenging for me,
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  Speaker 1: but I know the benefits of it. What is the
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: best way for us to get our monkey minds to
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: get in there and just get started.
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  Speaker 2: Is it five minutes, is it two minutes?
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  Speaker 1: What are some tools that we are some quick tips
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: that we could do to kind of get started.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, one of the most tough challenges
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: I've faced as being a teacher for over thirty years
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  Speaker 3: is that how do I get people to see the
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: value in the practice so they take this on and
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: they are successful with it. And through the years, I've
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: tried many different things, and I've come up with three
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  Speaker 3: considerations that I like people to spend a little bit
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: of time with when they're thinking about taking on the practice,
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: and I find that if they do, they're so much
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: more likely to be successful with the practice, and I
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: feel like it really helps them. And the first one
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  Speaker 3: is what is it that's drawing you to the practice?
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  Speaker 3: Do you want to get healthier? Do you want to
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  Speaker 3: reduce stress, Do you want to stay mobile so you
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: can watch your grandkids grow up? Or maybe you want
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: to improve your performance on the field, whatever that is
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  Speaker 3: for you. And then when you have that idea, then
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: I want you to take it a step further and
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  Speaker 3: think about ten or twenty things that will positively change
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  Speaker 3: if you take on this practice and accomplish that goal,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: from your interpersonal communication to your overall health to your
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: relationships to whatever that is. And then I like to
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: flip the coin and think about ten or twenty negative
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: things that will happen if they don't accomplish this. And
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: in doing this, now those days that come when you
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: feel like you got to get up and do this chore,
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: you stop looking at your meditation practice as a chore
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: and you start start looking at it as something that
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: you get to do and you get excited about because
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: you see so much value in the benefits that you're
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: receiving from the practice. And when you can make that
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: mindset shift, that's where you really start hitting those next
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: levels in your practice.
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  Speaker 2: And I like that because it's kind of how I
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: feel with swimming.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I just recently started in about six months ago, and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: when I first got in the pool, I was like,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to even be able to do this,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Like this is way too tough for me, even though
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I'm not that person.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: That's and my whole life has been tough.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: And then I started doing it, and I started doing
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and then when I miss it in the morning, like
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: I did this morning, unfortunately, I can totally tell the difference.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Because it is my version right now of meditation. I've
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: music plane, and I'm swimming and I'm dancing in the water,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and I'm doing everything that I can't do on land.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I'm going backwards, I'm going into the water and the
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: water and it is my form of meditation right now.
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  Speaker 1: So I like that that idea of you falling in
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  Speaker 1: love with it, you know, and making it's not a
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: chore anymore, because it's not. It's not just oh, I
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: got to exercise, it's I'm doing this for the whole,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: my whole being, my heart, my spirit, my soul, my sleep,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: my all of that stuff.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: So that's good stuff, good stuff.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: Yes, And then once they have that why and that reason,
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: then they need to understand the importance of consistency, because
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: without a consistent practice, it's just a hobby and you're
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: really never going to see the benefits of it. And
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: there's this old story that illustrates this idea very well,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: and it's about the stonecutter who was very well known
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: all over China for making these beautiful sculptures of animals
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: and landscapes. And his work was so unique that anytime
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: some he would see it, they just knew it came
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: from him. And because he was so well known, people
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: from all over China would come to stay with him
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: and apprentice with him to learn the trade. Well, every morning,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: this old stonecutter would start his day by going down
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: to the river and meditating. And one morning, after his
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: meditation session, he's walking along the river and he has
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: this profound vision of this big, six foot tall, mystical
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: Chinese jade dragon. And he was so taken by this
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: vision that he just knew it had to be his
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: next project. So he spent the next few months traveling
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: all around looking for the perfect piece of jade. Finally,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: when he found it, he brought it back to his place,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: and for the next period of time, day in and
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: day out, he would just sit with the rock and
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: study it. He'd feel the energy coming off the stone
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: and envision how this dragon would soon appear once he
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: began his work. One day, when he began working on
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: the stone, carefully placed his chisel on the backside of
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: the rock and started tapping away with his hammer hundreds,
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: if not thousands of times a day to the exact
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: same place. A few days went by, and nothing happened.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: He's still tapping on that same place. A few more
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: days went by and still nothing and his apprentices started watching,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: thinking maybe you should try something different. They started second
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: guessing him. A few more days went by, still tapping
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: away at that same place, and finally this big three
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: foot section of the stone separated and created the smooth,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: slightly curved line that was going to soon be part
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: of the dragon's back. And one of his apprentices, who
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: was watching, said, how did you know that that strike
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: was going to break the stone? And he said, it
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: wasn't that strike that broke the stone. It was the
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: thousands of strikes before it that broke the stone. And
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: with a bit of a discouraged tone, the apprentice said,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: but I've been watching you and there was no change.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: Why didn't you try something else? And the stonecutter got
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: down on one knee and he felt the smooth line
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: that he just created, and he said, each strike was
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: not wasted. The stone was changing beneath the surface. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: not only was the stone changing, so was the one
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: who wields the hammer. And the reason why I resonate
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: so well with the story is that this is the
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: meditative arts. We're not always seeing these changes happen day
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: to day, but through that consistency and effort, we're laying
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: the foundation to reap these benefits for the rest of
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: our life. And so you have to understand the value
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: in this and make it part of who you are.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: And then the third and final consideration is this is
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: an extremely deep practice and you need to find a guide,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: somebody to help point you in the right direction. If
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: you think you're going to sift through the millions of
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: videos out there on YouTube and get any depth in
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: your practice, you're going to waste a lot of time.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: And in fact, you know, I've had students come in
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: here to the academy who have been self taught, and
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: they some of them have trained fifteen even twenty years,
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: and they'll come into a place where there are people
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: that are guided in certain directions, and they'll see people
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: that have only been here six or twelve months that
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: have a deeper understanding of the practice than they do
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: after fifteen years. You know, and our life is short
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: and your time is valuable. Finding somebody to help point
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: you in the right direction is not that hard to do.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: And if you do these three things, you really spend
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: some time thinking about your why, you understand the importance
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: of consistency, and you find a guide. You're going to
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: be successful with the practice.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: But I love that story.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: It reminds me of David the statue David of He
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: knew that David was in there.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: He was in that.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Stone already, So while you were telling that, it was
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: the first thing I thought of. But it's such a
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: beautiful visual of It's true because when we start, we're like,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: you know what, everybody knows what happens on jan one,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Everyone's out in their yoga pants and they stop beating
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: shitty for like a week, and they're like, why haven't
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I lost thirty pounds?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a good visual.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Have somebody's It wasn't the last strike, it was the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: ones all before that.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: It's very well, very well said, and it resonates with
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: me very much.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: So how can we move into the Yielding method and
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: what that's all about? Because he's got one of his
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: books that he's written is called the Yielding Method. It actually,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: excuse me, the Yielding Warrior. And then he's got the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Yielding Method. Can you talk a little bit about what
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: that is and how it's useful.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So, within the meditative arts, there's usually five directions
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: of practice. There's the performance side of the practice, which
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: helps athletes, you know, be more in tune with their
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: body and their awareness so they can perform at higher levels.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: There's the therapeutic side, which is great for longevity and
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: overall health. The medical side, which you know all of
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: Chinese medicine is based off of Chigung theory. There is
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: the philosophical side, which is something that I've always been
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: passionate about and part of the reason why I love
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: this part of the practice is that it helps expand
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: your peripheral visions so you see things from multiple angles.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: It helps you be more strategic, and that's kind of
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: where the yielding concept came from. And then there's also
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: the spiritual side of the practice. So when we're talking
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: about the philosophical side, there's many different philosophical concepts in
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: the meditative arts, and yielding is just one of them.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: And the idea of yielding I've broken down into three
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: basic pillars. We have physical yielding, mental yielding, and emotional yielding,
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: and basically I'll break those down and kind of talk
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: to you about what they mean. So the physical yielding
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: is the idea that I push you, you push me,
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: whoever's a bigger, stronger person with the most leverage. Eventually
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: is going to push the other person over, but with yielding,
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: instead of us trying to see who the bigger meat
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: head is. When you push me, I get out of
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: the way of that force, and now I can respond
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: with less effort, so I'm not trying to butt heads
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: with you and see if I'm bigger and stronger. Now,
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: it's essential for athletes to understand how to do this
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: because they're always going to come up eventually against somebody
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: who's bigger and stronger and faster than them, and understanding
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: how to use yielding can help them get the advantage
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: on those people, and that's why it's been used in
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: martial arts for so many generations. Now, in order to
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: be good at physical yielding, a lot of things have
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: to come into play. You need to be well rooted.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: The lower part of your body needs to be strong
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: and flexible so you can change your central equilibrium without
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: getting tight. The body has to be relaxed, the breath
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: has to be calm, and the mind has to be present. Now,
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: while it may be a lifetime journey to really master
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: these skills, from day one, by integrating a meditation practice
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: into your life, you start to see these things with
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: more clarity inside yourself. And this is where it becomes
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: very interesting, because not only do you see those things
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: inside yourself, but you also start to see them with
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: more clarity and other people. So say, for example, you
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: and I are having a conversation and I say something
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: that unbalances you and throws you off center. It's a
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: lot easier for me to pick up on that sign
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: of imbalance and bring us back to center. Then if
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: I'm not paying attention and pretty soon I'm so far
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: off track, you want to knock me upside the head.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: And so learning how to use yielding and all of
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: our interactions is extremely powerful. Then we have what we
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: call emotional yielding, and emotional yielding is very much like
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: mental yielding, but with our own interpersonal conflicts. So oftentimes
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: things will happen and we'll respond and we'll go down
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: this path and we might get an hour a day,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: a week down the road and realize maybe that wasn't
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the best choice. But with yielding and our heightened awareness
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: through integrating meditation into our lives, we're able to step
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: back when these things happen and not let our emotions
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: get involved and be more present and oftentimes make a
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: more educated decision. This saves us a lot of heartache
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: on the other side, you know. And I've been explaining
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: this idea of yielding now for many years. I've been
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: running my academy for over thirty years here, and one
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: of the most common things I'll hear people say is
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: that AH yielding makes a lot of sense. In fact,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: I do yielding all the time. Well, I would agree
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: in that. I think everybody does some degree of yielding
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: all the time, whether they label it that or not. However,
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: it's kind of like if you or I were to
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: walk into a crime scene with a detective who's been
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: on the job for thirty years, I guarantee you that
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: person would see things about the series of events in
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: the timeline that I know at least I would have
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: no clue of. And the meditative arts helps us see
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: things inside of ourselves and inside of other people that
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: I truly believe most people will go through life and
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: never have any clue of unless they have a practice
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: like this in their life.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: This is something that I always wanted to do.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: I hold space for it, and then.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: I pop out of it and I don't commit, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: I'm not consistent, like you're saying the consistency part of it.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: You know, you mentioned that some people do think that
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: though that the meditative arts are not for them, or
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: they're too busy, or they've got the wrong mindset, or
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: it doesn't work. And you know, every person I've had
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: just here in my academy, over twenty six thousand students.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: Come from the whole.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: In my online programs, I've had thousands more, and I
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: have never once met anybody who meditation couldn't help them.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: And you know, when if you're somebody who thinks that
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: you're too busy, For those of you that think this,
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: and I'm bringing this up because I know there's a
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: lot of you out there, is that what I've found
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: over and over again is that when somebody comes here
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: that is busy and they take on this practice, the
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: fact that they start learning how to become more centered
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: and more present and more productive, they end up getting
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: more done because of their meditation practice. It doesn't take
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: them away from the things that they have to do.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: It helps them do those things with more quality and
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: get more done. And so you're never too busy. And
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: in fact, the Dahalai Lama once said that everybody should
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: meditate for twenty minutes a day, unless you're too busy,
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: then you should meditate for an hour. And I enjoy
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: that saying that it's so true. You know, if everybody
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: just meditated for twenty minutes a day, the world would
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: be such a better place.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I agree with you, and i've I went to this
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: really interesting breath work, this huge room of a bunch
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of people all laying on mats, and it was intense.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: It was like four hours of like this crazy breathing
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and screaming and yelling and crying and sobbing. And when
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: we left, it was like, wow, I feel light, like
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: I sobbed out stuff I didn't even know it's in
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: there still, all from all this crazy breathing exercises and
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: all this holding your breath and letting it go, and
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the whole room and the energy and there was drums
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: in it made oh, I just got the chills now
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: even talking about it, because that evening shifted me in
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: a whole different way about how I was going to
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: approach my pain just from that one night, and all
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I had to do was breathing.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: That was it. It was unbelievably powerful.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: You were saying something earlier, and I wanted to chime in,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: but I didn't want to interrupt you because that breath
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: work and that breathing while you've been speaking, while you've been.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Talking to me.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed, but I've like, I've
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: been trying to work on my posture. I've been trying
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: to slow my breath and because you make me want
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: to do that, like you literally make me want to
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: do the practice, just by sitting with you during this conversation.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: Well, hopefully it sticks and you stay with it.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I would love to, and I want my audience to
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: as well, so we can share each other's stories about
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: how wonderful his methods work for all of us.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: So, oh my gosh, Okay, so how can we find you?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: How can we get involved with you? I know that
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: you're an organ. The whole world is not an organ.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: So what can we do to get more in tune
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: with our bodies and get into this meditator and into
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: meditative arts like you do?
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: So if you go to my website, The Yieldingwarrior dot com,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: you can get access right now. I've got a two
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: week trial up there where you can check out my
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: online program I've got a bunch of different solo products
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: on breath work or movement practices or chieging sets that
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: you can get focused on. That Also, right now, I'm
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: giving away a free copy of my book if you
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: just pay for shipping and handling. You can go to
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: the Yieldingwarrior dot com forward slash book and get access
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: to that there. And for those of you that are
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: interested in learning how to teach these practices and wanting
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: to take it to the next level, there's access for
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: those of you as well.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and I'm definitely I mean, I've
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: already checked out all of your stuff, but i wanted
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to have this conversation with you. A because I was
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: nervous about it, B because I know that I need it,
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: and see because I my audience needs this like nobody's business.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, the people that come on this show and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: the audience and the people that reach out to me.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, the things that people have gone through
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: that we're all trying to do all these other things,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: And I feel like you've made this feel so much
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: more simple and less complicated today during this conversation than
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I've ever felt about meditation. So thank you for that
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: because it doesn't feel so scary or like I'm going
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to fail at it.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: I'm too like performance based. I'm like, oh my gosh,
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: that's not going to work. Oh my god. You know,
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: so we want to be successful at it.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh my god, don't go in there trying
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: to be like the warrior princess of.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Day one.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: Chip away at the rock, chip Away at the Rock. Well,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here with us. You
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: have anything else that you'd like to leave our listeners with,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: because I know we're getting close on time here.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: Only one thing, and that for those of you that
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: are on the fence thinking about doing a meditation practice,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: whether it's with me or somebody else, if you just
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: go out there and do twenty minutes a day and
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: you stay consistent with that every day for one year,
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: I bet ninety eight percent of the people that do
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: that will do this for the rest of their life
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: because they'll see so much value and what they've gained
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: over that one year that they'd be crazy to stop.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: And I've seen that over and over again here with
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: students come through the academy. But you've got to put
• 27:09
  Speaker 3: the discipline in. You've got to put the time in
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: and you've got to make the effort, but it will
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: be one of the best things you ever do for yourself.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate that so very much.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: You are exclusively invited to share this yielding Warrior VIP
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: pain journey together.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Let's get to the heart.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Of how to heal with you and Jeff by my side.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Please follow the Pain Game Podcast wherever you digest your.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Podcast content, we will be there.
• 27:32
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• 27:35
  Speaker 1: us on all the socials. Thanks for listening, my little VIPs.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Catch you on the other side.