Latest / The Bridges and Beacons Podcast / Knower Meditation with Shelley Astrof

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Knower Meditation with Shelley Astrof · The Bridges and Beacons Podcast

• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: I am beyond excited to be here today.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: My guest, Shelly Astroff, as I told her, is literally one of my favorite people in the whole wide world.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you're gonna feel that way by the end of this conversation too.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Shelly and I met, oh, probably about two years ago, kind of looped into this same wonderful community of healers and helpers.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um we just, I don't know, I felt like a soul connection with Shelly.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure a lot of people feel that way because if you can't feel it yet, you're gonna feel the joy that she radiates off of her and the peace and the grace.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you just want some of it.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So she's gonna talk to us today about knower meditation and how to have some more peace in life.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: And never have we ever needed that so much, Shelly.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's so nice to be here, Kelly.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited and delighted.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to just dive into a conversation with you.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pop Shelly's bio into the show notes and all the places that you can find her and connect with her because you're going to want to.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Shelly is actually streaming from India.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: So she's having a lovely evening while I'm having a lovely morning.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this is one of the major blessings of this time, you know, that even in the time of quarantine and, you know, being more in our homes and unable to travel, we have been able to connect with people literally across the globe.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that is one of my favorite rainbow moments from the past couple of years.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel the same way, Shelly?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've met so many amazing people.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and it doesn't matter that I'm on the other side of the planet sitting in the high Himalayas.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and people listening, they're listening all over the planet as well.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So um, we got it covered.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: We do, we literally have it covered, right?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a whole beautiful network of love and healing vibes.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: So you're here today, and I told Shelly from from the beginning, I said, you're gonna have to come back because there's no way we're gonna cover everything in one episode.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So today we're gonna focus primarily on knower meditation.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, in addition to Shelly's wonderful work with adults, she has also done some beautiful work with children, which I told her, I said, you know what, I think I'm gonna have to have a couple months of episodes that are primarily focused on using some of these tools as parents with your children.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: So that's something as a mom that I feel very strongly is super important.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: But I want you to take us back to the beginning.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I you're from Canada.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you find yourself in India?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, I started as um a teacher.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was an elementary school teacher, and I remember um it was in the 70s.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Just letting you know.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband was in graduate school and he came home one day and he said, I saw a sign on the university wall, and it said, Improve your marks, learn to meditate.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I was I was um teaching in an inner city in uh school in Montreal, and I thought, I, you know, I mean, meditation, I didn't really know anything about it, you know, you just kind of know how to spell it at that point.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And and I remember um I asked our our principal and school psychologist if I could try this with the children because I thought, let's give it if it can work for adults, why not children?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, we did an experiment and we um we meditated with the children three times a week, and and the school psychologist um charted the progress of the children.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And to make a very long story short, at the end of that first year, the um class, which usually they were very um underachieving in uh I plot a grade two, they were on par with the school board curriculum because we we did a school board test on them.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So they actually had they actually raised their marks, and I didn't really know too much about it, but we were watching as that year progressed on the days we meditated.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: After we meditated, they were very focused and quiet.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember trying to think of different things to do at that time.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So my favorite thing to do with the class after we did our uh I became very refined here as years went on, but at that time was um we did penmanship because the children were so quiet and they kind of they wanted to do something, but they kind of weren't ready to move and and talk.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I could have read to them, but instead I just that that class had the best penmanship.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I love this.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, you know, and I I you know my my day job is as an occupational therapist.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I've for over 20 years I've been working with children on their their handwriting and penmanship.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: So any of my OT friends out there do a little meditation and then a little handwriting practice.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Go on, Shelly.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you just close your eyes, the children just close their eyes for with children, you know, when they do the 30 seconds minute, you know, you're really happy.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: We got up to almost 10 minutes in the with the two class, but that took a year.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it's never about the length of time, it's about the focus, it's about aligning yourself, and and that's when the magic happens, because that's when we call the knower, it's it's that inner you, you're not connecting with anything other than that inside you.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when the children did that, or when I did that, that's where you're getting to the source of your energy, the source of your power.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's kind of like you know, you keep dipping cloth in um in dye, and the more you dip it, the more color it has.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So as you're dipping your mind in the color of your knower space, which is it's your own delight, it's your own love, it's your own immortality, your mind is being colored and dipped in that, and so it will shine through.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: And meditation is a kind of process where it builds on itself.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you do just a little bit, and then you can have have your activity, and then um, and then whenever you need to, again, you just close your eyes.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: One of your guests, oh, I laughed so hard because I've seen this before, said um about going going into the bathroom.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yes, it's fabulous.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't find the time, nobody's gonna disturb you there.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just go in the bathroom and close the door for a few moments.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know there are lots of moms who have 100% do that.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'll be out in a minute.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Seriously, don't come in.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and I think you're never too young, you're never too old to meditate.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the kind of meditation that I do is the connection to your own self.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: So you're never connecting to something that's outside, you're always connecting to your essential nature, and everybody knows what that is, but it's finding the difference between what is your mind, how is your mind leading you, and how is your self leading you.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the that's what happens in knower meditation when you make that distinction.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the distinction is that anything that comes and goes and changes, that is your mind, and anything that never changes, the unchanging, that is yourself.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So um, for example, if you take a picture of yourself when you were, you know, three, four years old, and you look at it, and you know that that's you, you know that it's not your neighbor, it's not your cousin, it's not a brother or sister, it's it's you know that that is you.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: But what knows that?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you look at that picture, there's nothing about you that's the same.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: You're not the same height, your hair may be different, your teeth may be different, your thinking is certainly different.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: All the sort of cells in your body have changed.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Everything about you is different.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: But what is it that knows that that's you, and throughout that was always you?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's the part of you that is eternal, and that never changes.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's you say that it never dies because that part of you was never born, it always was, and when you connect to that, that's your power.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, Shelly, that is like I've never heard it explained that way, and that's such a beautiful way to look at it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: The unchanging versus your mind changing, and that visual of you know, looking at a picture of yourself and you know it's you.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's gonna be really powerful for a lot of people in understanding, you know, the the behind the scenes piece of meditation and what you're who you're actually connecting with, that self.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's not up here, it's not up here, it's not out there.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's you and it's only you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, we could just sit on that and say, okay, so next time in class, Shelly will teach you more.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: But that is just so gorgeous.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because and when you connect like that, then you use that power to navigate through your world.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because the mind is like a camera, it's a mechanism, and the mind will see with its own lens, and every camera has its own lens and sees in its own way.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing about the camera is it can't see beyond itself, the camera can't see the photographer.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So the one who's taking the picture is take is the one who's moving the camera.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: But if if the mind is the camera, then the one who's taking the picture, the one who's focusing behind, that's you.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's the self, that's the knower.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And if you kind of let the mind, which is always influenced by the senses and everything outside, if you let the mind do its own thing, it's going to take you to here and here and here, whatever you see, it will take you there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: But if you keep connecting to the one behind the camera, to your own self, to your own knower, then the focus is there, and you make your own decision.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's your own self making your own decision using the mind.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, wow, wow.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, number two.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: That also I I love the way that you're describing things because I think it makes it so much more clear for people that so your mind is like a camera, but you're behind the camera, but the camera doesn't know all that you know, it's just a tool.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And you use the tool, but it's you using it, and how you know that the mind is is is the mechanism is because it's always changing.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: But the one that's watching is witnessing it, and the witness is the self, is the knower.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, kind of like I I I love Eckhart Tolle, and he talks about the the watcher, so the observer.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, same thing.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's another name for knower, watcher, observer.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: In Sanskrit, it's called Atma, Brahma.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: It has many, many, many names.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Turia.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I chose my my teacher used the word knower because he said it's the one that knows and it always knows.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: It never doesn't know.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because even if you think you don't know, you know that.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know you don't know.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I always found with children that um they connect with that really easily, but they freak they keep forgetting it because they're still developing.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Adults take a little longer to um to connect like that, but then they but then they hold it.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody has to practice at least a little bit.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I imagine for some adults too, like it's so easy to get distracted by your mind.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, it it will take you in many different tangents away from the self.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, so tell me a little bit about so how do you how do you calm the mind?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: How does the mind play into meditation um in your experience?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, for meditation, there are so many techniques.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I love what I love about knower meditation is that it's you can use it with any technique.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you've if you're doing pranayam, like breath exercises, as you're because the thing about breath, the prana, that is connected to the movement of the mind.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: So when you know, when when you get excited, the your mind also is getting excited, and it works in both directions.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So as you regulate the breath, you start to regulate the mind.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: But to add the knower meditation to it is who is watching the breath.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: You pull back one more time.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're doing, excuse me, if you're doing mantra meditation and you start repeating a mantra, and and that I always found repeating a mantra um really helped me when I need to study and focus.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: When I when I went to graduate school, I did mantra meditation all the time because I felt that breath kind of really helped me more with like anxiety or emotions, but when I needed um to focus, um, I found that the any repeating a mantra really sharpened my intellect.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And but if you take it one step back and you watch, that you become one with the the repetition of the mantra.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: You it's as if it's as if you're the repeater and you're hearing it and saying it, you're the you're the sound, you become the whole of it.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that one step back that knower meditation does because it's you, so it's there for everything you do.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So any kind of meditation that you do, or any kind of activity that you do, when you take that one step back, all of a sudden your vision gets broader.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember um there was uh he was um an eye surgeon who had come to uh to visit here in our setsang many years ago, and he was saying that he was in the middle of an eye surgery, and apparently when you're doing doing surgery, everything's very predictable, like you know exactly what you're doing, and he said that he came across something where he he uh he got stumped, like something happened, and he said that there he was in the operating theater, and he just said, everybody stop, and he said he closed his eyes and he pulled back and he saw what needed to be done, and then he proceeded.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's beautiful.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that stayed with me for really till now.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wow, so yeah, so the the thing about the knower is it's just you, and if you let it um have access to your tools, your vision gets broader because the nature of who you are is actually joy and delight, and it's always for your own well-being.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And you just have to know that if your mind says go left and you went left, just think it doesn't matter if you need to go right or up or down, just change it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Change.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so don't be surprised when they do.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Don't think, oh, I always have to be like this.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: You don't, you weren't like that when you were three or six or a teenager now.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep going after your own well-being, and that's success.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I'm with you on that for sure.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think that's very liberating, the idea of looking at the mind as something that changes, and so you're never, you know, sometimes we have this perception that we're stuck, that like we can't get ourselves out of a certain state or choice or place, but but if we pull back and focus on the well-being, the direction will come.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, because somebody will say to you, well, you know, 10 years ago you said it like this, you know, and then you get new information and it's not like this at all.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the mind changes because it's always going to uh adjust itself according to the new input, and the new input is all it's all changing, so naturally the mind will change, but what doesn't change is you, and it you just stay aligned with you, and you're always good.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love it.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: It makes me think about you know, I'm I'm a huge science nerd, love studying the brain and that part of the brain called the reticular activating system, and how we can kind of get into this this training looking.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: For things that make us miserable, things that make us upset.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, there it is again.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: That happened again.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then we can retrain the brain, refocus the brain on what we want to see.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And it was always there.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's just our lens wasn't focused that way.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can actually change the function of our brain to notice our blessings, to notice our joy, to see all the things that we have and we can be grateful for versus those things that are not happening in the way that we anticipated or wanted them to.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Or those things that happen, we start to see the underlying blessing that exists and that nothing is ever really all good or all bad.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Everything just is.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because you have your aims and ambitions, and but whatever comes before you, if you can make that good, and because you're always good, it's never about what's outside.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's never about that, because that will change.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: If it's good today, maybe tomorrow it'll be not so good.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's not so good the next day, it'll be good.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: But where you're always perfect is in as the observer, as the watcher.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're always perfect.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're perfect when the sun comes out, and you're perfect when the snow comes out.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And there's it's it's what's happening inside of you, and that reflects your whole outside.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing that I find is so beautiful about meditation is that it's always accessible to you.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't require you to be someplace specific.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: You know, maybe at some point in time that was kind of how we saw it.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, we're gonna go and there's gonna be a guru who's gonna tell us what to do, and we can't do this unless we have that guru, you know, and that's not really the way anymore.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: The way is is you the the word guru and the way that it's used now, the word guru is goo and guru.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's two words.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: One is is darkness or ignorance, and the other is dispeller, the the one that gives freedom from the darkness, and and it's been personified to be a person, but your guru is you, like you bring light, you bring the light into your own self, it's coming from your own self, it is your own self, and you just bring that light inside, or you connect to it, yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the the kind of traditional sense of like a guru is knowing the way, that's not really what they ever intended to be.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: It was more, I'm gonna show you how I'm shining my light, and you can do the same thing.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's it's it's directing exactly, it's directing your attention in yourself because it's the mind that's coming and going and changing, it's eclipsing the self, the knower, which is your which is like the sun.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and the mind is eclipsing it because it's got everything out there, it's got its senses, it's got it's dragging your attention.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And and the knower will never change.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine if you do it like this, it's fine.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: If it's fine if you're happy, it's fine if you're not.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to be happy, if you want to live that state of joy, then the enlightenment is that light shining on the tool of the mind, which then makes your whole being shine.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:30
  unknown: I love talking to you.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, oh my gosh.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Same.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: I this is like this is beautiful conversation, and I there's so much freedom in what you're talking about, and and allowing oneself to be, you know, not it's not a state that we're trying to get to, we're not trying to achieve something.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's we are already.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's tuning in.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're kind of like cleaning off the the the little smudge of dirt on your lenses because you're already shining inside.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh that's gonna make a lot of people feel really good, you know?
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Already perfect, you're already perfect, you're already there, and I like how you you shared kind of the analogy of the cloth dipping into dye and becoming like a deeper saturation over time, you know.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: So so what does that look like for you now?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like what does meditation feel like for you?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um I'm always keeping myself centered, you know, like life has its challenges, and certainly these last two years have been challenging.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: And um and somewhere just closing my eyes and seeing the blessing of it, because to be honest, this these two years have been actually amazing.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I would have had the opportunity to meet and connect with people like yourself from all over the world and and have very um important conversations.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that would have ever happened.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would have just we would have just been with our our local neighbors and seeing in person, and that's also wonderful.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: But when I saw this opportunity, because here we are, and we're all watching the screen or just listening, and it's it's one voice and one hearing, and it's and you connect to that singularity that we all are, and and that is absolutely amazing because we are all that.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: The thing is, we need to tune into it, yeah, and we forget, and that's fine.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay too.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: Keep on going, but I found that the more I meditated, the um the quicker my recovery is.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: You fall down, you feel anxious, you feel like this, you feel like that, and then you close your eyes, and in no time, it's like, oh, right.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's who I am.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's life-changing.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: It really is.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'm I'm like a a couple years into my meditation journey, and I really found that offering myself meditation stillness in the beginning of the day and tuning into myself, hearing my own inner wisdom and what was moving me forward in my life before I ever talked to anybody else, got on social media, started my work day, it really transformed so much outside of just that time that I was spending.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: It really shifted, like you said, like to use the analogy of the camera, it really shifted my lens.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I became much more of a, you know, capturing those moments with my mind, with my camera that I wanted to capture and having more control rather than the camera kind of existing on its own.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, you know, camera drops, you pick it up.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, it it you just keep going.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I love I love that analogy you were making, that way you were speaking, because that's what it is.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because who we are is that well-being, that joy, that delight.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's when we really hear it, and we express it through our mind, our body, our all the gifts that we have.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: Those are our gifts of expression.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if we could use it for shining the light to each other as if we're different beings, but connecting with that oneness that we are, that's that's when it really grows and grows.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when the differences become the delight rather than oh, you're like this, you're like this.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's like, oh, you know, you're like this, and you're like it, it's exciting.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is exciting.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm with you on that.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that it's so funny that you say that because that's kind of become my little, you know, my little mission, my subtle mission, or maybe not so subtle sometimes, is, you know, it took me a long time to embody the courage of being who I was and saying, this is who I am, this is what I want to embody, this is what I want to do.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I want to blend mysticism and science, and I want to talk to people about it with like huge levels of curiosity, that you know, that geeking out on things, like that is who I am, that like very, you know, highly curious person.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I want to know.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I what I love about it is I feel the same way that you do, that it became less about, you know, observing differences and and making like these boxes of you fit here, you fit here, and more of like, oh, I'm so excited.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me more about how you're different from me and what you're doing, and you know, shining a light on the things that make us unique.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm finding myself so magnetized to people who are living their own truth very vibrantly.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that's what gets me really excited because when people start living their vibrant truth, we start to really see these bright lights shining, and it's it's permission, you know.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like you say, like you become a guru, you become this light for yourself, but your expression of that is inspiring other people.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, and that and and in and in that way, when you know how when somebody starts to laugh and everybody sometimes you walk into a room, people are laughing, and you don't even know why you start laughing.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: You miss the joke, but that's certainly better than walking into the room where everybody's crying.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted that too.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then joined in.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a I'm uh I call myself a reflexive crier.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I never knew that that was because because I have empathic tendencies, but you know, like I I'd be watching TV and my husband would be like, why are you crying?
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I just do that, I do that.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's like I but I'm as capable of like you said, walking into a room, if there's joy being had, I'm jumping in.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, let's do this.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I I really appreciate your podcast because you're giving expression to so many interesting, amazing people who have so much to offer.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: And and you're allowing that um that to go out to the whole world.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that is amazing because I've been enjoying your podcasts so much.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I hardly I don't know if I've missed any.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Shelly.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's who you are that's also attracting that level of um of person and allowing people to just feel really easy and comfortable to just say it.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and I I love that.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: I love the people existing in their truth and their their beautiful selves.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: We we all have so much to contribute and offer.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, it's funny because I've I've been an occupational therapist for like 20 years, and I've always seen the unique nature of anyone I've worked with.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: The children that I work with, you know, I see their unique nature, and it's not, and it doesn't have to be about these things that they can and can't do, but about who they are.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_01: They're their knower, their being, and that's who I talk to and I interact with.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it makes for such a special bond with the kids I'm privileged to work with, and I take that to these moments too.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to feel seen and heard, and it's important to me.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that that is definitely part of you know why I want to do this.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: I want people like yourself to have visibility, to have people, because I know even in the smallest, you know, bit of knowledge that you're sharing, it's it's kicking something off in people that will change their lives.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we never know who that one person is that we're going to touch.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: And to give that kind of, you know, not permission, but just like ignition.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're igniting something.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, here we go.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna, I now I know what I need to do next to be more tuned into myself.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just when you were talking, I just remembered this um this instance.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: There now, I I heard this as a story where I don't know if you remember there, there were these mannequins and they were long, tall uh mannequins that kind of uh were a bit disproportional.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I heard that the person who was making those mannequins had a myopia.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: They could they and that's how they saw.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when you think of it, everybody is seeing with their own lens, and if you just let them see and express in their own way, yeah.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those funny mirrors that we see in those amusement parks, and everybody sees differently, and it's all okay.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because who's doing the seeing?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's the knower, it's the knower, yeah.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that will always, always, always guide you because it is your own well-being.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, I love it.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I would love for you to give everyone a beautiful, like, step one practical tip and tool.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: I know you've you've been in a couple of uh Brave Healer Productions books.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: You were in the first volume of the Ultimate Guide to Self-Healing with Laura DeFranco, and also in this book you see behind me, Sacred Death with Hamalia Vora.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: So tell us a tool, a tip, something that will give people a start.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: If they've never done meditation before, where are they starting?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: I um on my website for children, I have 30-second meditations.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where that comes from, and it's like close your eyes, put a smile on your face, and then either breathe, breathe in, and pause, breathe out, pause, breathe in, pause.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: And know that the one who is breathing and watching is your own self, the knowing of who you are.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: That it's perfect, and I love that you said that they're 30 seconds, they're meant for children, so any of us of children of all ages can access and start.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, grown-up children too.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I love that.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love that because sometimes that's kind of if we have a monkey mind, that's kind of where we need to start.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: That works for us.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and sometimes that's all you need, yeah.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes because you want to connect, and that's where the light is shining.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love this, Shelly.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: I have loved this time with you.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: We could probably go on for a long time, but we'll say this is part one of Shelly Astroff and the Noah Meditation, and we'll have to sign up a time for you to come back.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I definitely want to delve into um using meditation with children and some tips for parents and educators.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's fantastic.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, our our educational system is just so overburdened right now with everything going on, and and everybody could use some extra positive tools to put in their toolbox.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll definitely set that up with you.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: I just, I'm so thrilled to know you and to have you in my circle of friends and community.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I just applaud everything you're doing to just make the world a better place.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: And if we can do just a little bit every day, we're we're doing some amazing, amazing work.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Kelly, for this opportunity and for the amazingness that you are.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm taking that in, Shelly.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, you've been listening to the Mystic Nerd Squad podcast, and we wish you a wonderful weekend.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: Take care, everybody.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: Bye bye.