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Walking Meditation Noe Valley San Francisco · Calm By Lane

• 0:00
  Welcome.
• 0:02
  Welcome to your walking meditation.
• 0:05
  Today we're going to enjoy Noe Valley, a little neighborhood in San Francisco, and we're gonna begin at 24th and Douglas near the Noe Valley Courts.
• 0:20
  There's a tennis court right there and a basketball court, and a little splotch of green grass for the dogs, and a playground for little wee ones.
• 0:33
  And just as we begin here, you might want to grab a Philz Coffee, or maybe you've already grabbed a Philz Coffee, or maybe you've been walking around the neighborhood already, or maybe you've just come here specifically for this
• 0:48
  practice, and I wanna thank you for that.
• 0:53
  Take a breath with me here.
• 0:54
  Inhale And exhale You've arrived.
• 1:04
  You're here now.
• 1:07
  And before we start walking, just stand for a moment, feeling your feet underneath you, and taking a breath through the nose, inhaling slowly And letting it go twice as slow, letting it go And again, breathing in And breathing
• 1:37
  out There's nowhere you need to get to quickly.
• 1:43
  We're going to walk through Noe Valley together, and if you're not in Noe Valley, you can just imagine being here with me and other friends.
• 1:54
  And before we go looking for our plant, I want you to notice where you are.
• 2:01
  Just notice.
• 2:02
  Look around.
• 2:03
  Notice the houses and the colors of the houses.
• 2:07
  Really look at them.
• 2:09
  Perhaps you can even notice some of the yellows and blues, their colors Some are Victorians, some have little stairways, some have large Maybe there's windows that you're looking at Maybe their doors are colored differently Or maybe you're staring,
• 2:41
  looking at the groomers with all the dogs Sometimes I just look in the window and watch the dogs And they get all wet and they shake.
• 2:55
  It's very sweet.
• 2:57
  Or perhaps you're looking at the big trees Or the purple flowers And just know that someone chose the color blue or color green for their house And someone chose the plants they planted Walking And just feeling your feet
• 3:38
  And someone probably stood in one of those windows this morning drinking their tea or coffee, looking out at the very sidewalk you're standing on now, and just noticed the children playing perhaps.
• 3:52
  And you may hear them before you see them actually And this playground is the perfect place to begin the meditation.
• 4:05
  Sensing the sound of children just being children Running and bouncing and climbing, calling, laughing, swinging That you don't need to be quiet here to be present.
• 4:26
  And life doesn't have to stop before you can settle into it.
• 4:29
  Just take another breath with me here.
• 4:31
  Inhale And exhale And perhaps you can see the tennis court now Notice if anyone's playing And maybe you see a dog or a stroller, or maybe there's even a bicycle.
• 5:00
  Just noticing what's in the vicinity here This is your practice.
• 5:09
  Not leaving ordinary life, just coming more deeply into it And we'll begin walking towards 23rd.
• 5:31
  So walking on Douglas Towards 22nd, towards 21st, 20th, all the way.
• 5:40
  So let's, let's p- pace yourself here.
• 5:42
  Let's be easy You can just walk at your normal pace, moving through the city, feeling one foot meet the sidewalk and then the other Allowing your arms to move naturally and just soften your jaw here.
• 6:07
  Soften, just let it go.
• 6:09
  Ah.
• 6:11
  Perhaps you can feel your shoulders come down a little And continue looking around Noticing the plants in front of people's houses or the bushes that cover the sidewalk And some front areas are tended and some are rather messy,
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  wild.
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  I love those And perhaps you can notice the leaves reaching through the fences, or maybe there's a succulent And you don't have to name anything as you walk Just noticing, noticing the colors, the shapes The textures, the light,
• 7:08
  the reflection, and perhaps there's something to smell here And every once in a while, just allow yourself to gaze up, looking into the trees perhaps A second story window And maybe moving up into the sky And the sky
• 7:37
  between the buildings And if you look to the left, you'll look up to the many colors And perhaps you see different shapes Just noticing the architecture of all the buildings in the neighborhood And there are people living whole
• 8:11
  lives behind these windows People falling in love, people getting sober, people raising children, people grieving, people making food People getting wonderful news or having terrible days.
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  People beginning again, just like you.
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  Just keep walking here and take a breath with me.
• 8:41
  Inhale And exhale.
• 8:52
  And as you continue to walk on this little stretch of Douglas, we're going to meet the plant that we're here for today, the ginkgo.
• 9:00
  The Ginkgo biloba And when you find it, you could slow down And there's no rush, no rush at all Perhaps you'll see one or two or three And perhaps you hear the sound of the children at school if
• 9:27
  you're walking during a school day And feeling your feet underneath you.
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  Feeling the weight of your heel and the tips of your toes And when you come a- across this ginkgo biloba, when you find it, go ahead and slow down And if you can comfortably stop without blocking one, anyone
• 10:03
  or stopping, just allow yourself to gaze into this tree.
• 10:10
  Just allowing yourself to look at it before I say anything else, just really look at it.
• 10:15
  Notice the trunk Just allow the eyes to move up into the branches And if the leaves are present, notice their beautiful fan shape And perhaps they're green or maybe they're turning, they're beginning to turn perhaps a little yellow
• 10:50
  Maybe they're that extraordinary yellow ginkgo becomes an autumn, or perhaps the branches are bare.
• 10:59
  And whatever season you're meeting this tree in, let that be the right one because it is.
• 11:06
  Because that's part of its medicine And ginkgo comes from an extraordinarily ancient lineage And versions of these trees existed on this planet long before our modern cities, long before these houses, long before any of us And the world
• 11:30
  around them changed enormously, yet the ginkgo continued But I'm not gonna make this a story about their toughness We have plenty of messages telling us to be stronger I want this practice to be about something gentler, softer Continuity.
• 12:03
  The possibility that you can change enormously and still belong to yourself.
• 12:09
  Take a large breath here.
• 12:10
  Inhale And exhale, let it go slowly And think about how much you've changed Not only the difficult changes.
• 12:34
  Think about everything.
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  The things you know that you don't or didn't know 10 years ago And people you've loved, people you've lost And perhaps the things you've stopped doing, the things you've begun The way your body has changed.
• 13:01
  Perhaps the way you prioritize different things now Things that once seemed desperately important that barely matter anymore And the things you barely notice, they mean everything now Like a quiet morning A good conversation, your health, when a friend
• 13:32
  calls, or your dog or animal that sits beside you, your child laughing Or being able to walk through your own neighborhood on an ordinary afternoon Maybe this, maybe this is what's growing inside Not becoming someone completely different, but
• 13:58
  becoming more completely yourself And take another look at the ginkgo And every year, this tree lets go.
• 14:12
  It doesn't hold on to every leaf simply because that leaf once belonged to it.
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  No.
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  There comes a time when the tree releases what has finished And it remains the tree And maybe there is something here for you.
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  Breathe You don't have to figure out what you're supposed to release.
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  You don't need to turn this into work.
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  Just ask yourself gently When am I ready to hold a little less tightly?
• 14:55
  Let's keep walking What am I ready to hold a little less tightly?
• 15:05
  There's no answer required.
• 15:07
  As you move farther into the neighborhood, just allow your attention to come back Notice another house And choose one simply because you like its color.
• 15:24
  Maybe it's the blue one Or perhaps it's the garden.
• 15:31
  Notice something someone has done to make their little corner of this beautiful city a little bit sunnier Maybe there's a child's chalk drawing or a tiny tree Whatever it is, just allow it to be.
• 15:59
  Let yourself enjoy it.
• 16:01
  Just look at it We forget sometimes that attention doesn't always have to be directed towards what's wrong.
• 16:11
  Your nervous system can notice beauty too.
• 16:15
  It notices friendliness and color, play, movement Warmth Ordinary life continuing around you.
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  Listening for the birds Listening to the hum of the city Noticing whether there is wind against your face And whether the air feels cool or warm And feel your feet moving underneath you And as you continue to walk,
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  there's nothing to fix, nothing to understand, and nothing to release.
• 17:02
  Just walk and breathe And if you pass another person, just let that be.
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  You don't need to stare.
• 17:14
  You don't need to say anything.
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  You just be.
• 17:16
  Acknowledgement Maybe that person's having the best day or year of their life, or maybe they're barely holding things together.
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  We don't know.
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  And there is something tender about that.
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  All these lives crossing one another for a few seconds on the same walk.
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  On the same street.
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  Just keep walking And bring the ginkgo back to mind, the green leaves becoming gold, the gold leaves falling, the bare branches, the new leaves returning.
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  And none of these versions is more ginkgo than the other And perhaps none of the versions of you were wrong either.
• 18:22
  The younger you, the frightened you, the exhausted, hopeful, the person you were before something happened, the person you were after You don't have to reject one version of yourself to love the person walking right here today You don't
• 18:42
  have to reject one version of yourself to love the person walking right now, here today.
• 18:54
  Take a breath with me.
• 18:55
  Inhale And let it go Maybe growing isn't about getting rid of who we've been.
• 19:11
  Maybe it's learning to hold all these selves with a little more tenderness.
• 19:18
  Just keep walking and noticing the houses, the paint, the colors, the plants, the people, the hills Strange, beautiful little details you would have missed if you were looking at your phone or looking directly in front of you You
• 19:41
  aren't observing life from outside.
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  You're in it.
• 19:47
  Your footsteps belong here just as much as everything else you're noticing.
• 19:52
  Slow your pace for the next couple of moments here in our walk, feeling your body, feeling the ground Then let your breath be exactly as it is, and quietly say to yourself, "I am allowed to change."
• 20:14
  I am allowed to change Quietly saying to yourself, "I can love who I've been.
• 20:26
  I can love who I've been."
• 20:31
  Walking I can love who I am now I can love who I am now.
• 20:41
  And finally, repeating so softly to yourself, I can trust who I am becoming.
• 20:52
  I can trust who I am becoming.
• 20:56
  Keep walking with me here, friend.
• 20:59
  There's no grand finish to this practice, no revelation required.
• 21:03
  You're simply walking through Noe Valley And perhaps there are the children playing and the nannies with the strollers, and coffee is being made.
• 21:14
  Dogs maybe walking or barking.
• 21:19
  Leaves are changing.
• 21:20
  Life is happening, and so are you Walking This, my friend, is the medicine of ginkgo Not simply letting go It's learning that through all of our seasons, something essential remains And perhaps today that's enough Keep walking, my friend.
• 21:58
  Enjoy your time Take a closing breath with me and I'll leave you here as you continue.
• 22:08
  Inhale And exhale Thank you for allowing me to walk with you and be with you, and for the medicine of the ginkgo.
• 22:28
  I hope you've enjoyed this practice.
• 22:30
  Come back to it again and again Life is meant to be lived and loved Never endured We're just all learning to move through it and to be in it.
• 22:50
  I'm so grateful for your presence.
• 22:53
  I'll catch up with you again.
• 22:56
  Take good care