#787: How to Be in The Present Moment — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman

Summary

Episode #787: How to Be in The Present Moment — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry Shukman

Release Date: January 13, 2025
Host: Tim Ferriss
Guest: Zen Master Henry Shukman

In episode #787 of The Tim Ferriss Show, Tim Ferriss introduces a groundbreaking addition to his podcast repertoire: "Meditation Monday." This new segment aims to provide listeners with accessible, short guided meditations designed to enhance calmness, peace, and overall effectiveness in their daily lives. Joining him for this special episode is Zen Master Henry Shukman, a distinguished meditation teacher authorized to teach Sambo Zen and a returning guest on Tim's show.

Introduction to Meditation Monday

Tim Ferriss kicks off the episode by unveiling "Meditation Monday," a new experiment where, in addition to his usual long-form interviews, he will be offering approximately ten-minute meditation sessions every Monday. Over the course of four episodes, listeners will develop a comprehensive "Zen toolkit" tailored to foster greater tranquility and productivity throughout the week.

Tim Ferriss [00:00]:
"This episode is a brand new experiment called Meditation Monday. That means in addition to my long form interviews each week, every Monday I will be bringing you a short 10 minute or so meditation which will help you for the rest of the week."

Tim shares his personal success with meditation, highlighting how using Henry Shukman's app, The Way, has significantly reduced his anxiety levels. He encourages listeners to try the app, offering 30 free sessions for those interested.

Tim Ferriss [00:00]:
"I've been using Henry's app the Way once, often twice a day for the last few months and it has lowered my anxiety more than I thought possible."

Meet Zen Master Henry Shukman

Henry Shukman introduces himself, providing insight into his extensive background in meditation and Zen practice. He emphasizes the profound impact meditation has had on his life, not just as a tool for self-care but as a journey of deep personal and existential discovery.

Henry Shukman [01:10]:
"I've been meditating a long time, since my mid-20s, and it's been the most important thread in my life in terms of not just sort of self care and maintenance and generally being much happier than I might otherwise have been."

Henry elaborates on the dual nature of meditation: it serves immediate needs like stress reduction and present-moment awareness, while also opening doors to deeper existential insights.

Henry Shukman [02:21]:
"But the most important initial foundational function of meditation for most of us is going to be just in getting more present, more grounded, more centered and less stressed."

The Importance and Benefits of Meditation

Stress Reduction and Present-Moment Awareness

Henry underscores meditation's role in alleviating stress by anchoring individuals in the present moment. By focusing on bodily sensations, meditation helps regulate the nervous system and diminish anxiety, offering a sanctuary of peace even amidst external turmoil.

Henry Shukman [04:05]:
"There's something about being present with this body here and now that seems to give us more of a sense of peace and safety automatically, even when things are tough."

Journey of Existential Discovery

Beyond immediate stress relief, Henry highlights meditation as a pathway to profound self-discovery. It enables practitioners to explore their true selves and their relationship with the world, fostering a deeper understanding of existence.

Henry Shukman [02:21]:
"It can be such an extraordinary journey of existential discovery. In this little series, we're going to be exploring both sides..."

Guided Meditation Session

Henry leads listeners through a structured guided meditation, focusing on body awareness and relaxation techniques. The session is meticulously designed to help participants ground themselves and achieve a state of calmness.

Preparing for Meditation

Henry advises listeners to find a comfortable seated position, emphasizing the importance of posture for effective meditation. Whether sitting with support or without, balance and alignment are key to facilitating relaxation.

Henry Shukman [07:02]:
"If you're sitting with your back being supported, then really relax into that support. If you're sitting like I am with your back unsupported, then it's important to be balanced."

Relaxing the Body

The meditation begins with instructions to relax various parts of the body progressively. Henry guides listeners to release tension from the jaw, throat, shoulders, arms, and other body parts, promoting a deep sense of physical ease.

Henry Shukman [07:49]:
"Let the jaw go. Many of us carry tension in the jaw. Just let it become slack."

Focusing on Sensations

Participants are encouraged to become acutely aware of their bodily sensations, fostering a direct connection with the present moment. Henry emphasizes that meditation doesn't require perfection but rather an honest engagement with one's current experience.

Henry Shukman [11:00]:
"In meditation, we never need to do things perfectly. There's really a practice of imperfectionism. We just experience what we experience, and we let that be enough."

Visualization and Letting Go

Listeners are guided to visualize warmth and softness spreading throughout their bodies, enhancing relaxation and promoting a sense of inner peace. Henry encourages them to let go of external worries, creating mental space for tranquility.

Henry Shukman [12:30]:
"Can you sense a softness all through your body... Let yourself rest for a moment kind of in the heart of your own life..."

Insights and Reflections

Throughout the meditation, Henry provides valuable insights into the practice of meditation, reinforcing its naturalness and accessibility. He demystifies the process, portraying meditation as a simple yet profound act of stillness and presence.

Henry Shukman [14:44]:
"It's almost like we're not actually doing anything, we're just stopping. We're ceasing from our restless round of doing just for a little bit..."

He encourages listeners to integrate brief moments of mindfulness into their daily routines, suggesting that even a few seconds of stillness can significantly enhance one's well-being.

Henry Shukman [15:17]:
"You can just kind of hit pause mentally, and for 10 seconds... No more, just be still. Sense your body... Then just sense it and carry on with your day."

Conclusion and Next Steps

As the meditation session concludes, Henry expresses his gratitude for the opportunity to guide listeners and reiterates the simplicity and power of meditation. He looks forward to continuing the "Meditation Monday" series, promising further sessions to build upon the foundational skills introduced in this episode.

Henry Shukman [15:39]:
"So that's the first tool in the Zen toolkit for everyday life that we're kind of assembling here. I'm really honoured to be able to offer these to you. Thank you very much for joining, and I'll see you next Monday for the next session of meditation."

Notable Quotes

• Tim Ferriss [00:00]:
  "Over this four episode series, you'll develop a Zen toolkit specifically to help you find greater calm, peace and effectiveness in your daily life."

• Henry Shukman [01:10]:
  "It's also been a journey of incredible discovery. I think the most crucial, vital, beautiful discovery of a lifetime..."

• Henry Shukman [02:40]:
  "They say the mind is a time traveler, goes to the past, goes to the future quite often... but the body doesn't do time travel. And if we can just get connected..."

• Henry Shukman [07:49]:
  "Let the jaw go. Many of us carry tension in the jaw. Just let it become slack."

• Henry Shukman [11:00]:
  "In meditation, we never need to do things perfectly. There's really a practice of imperfectionism."

• Henry Shukman [14:44]:
  "It's almost like we're not actually doing anything, we're just stopping."

• Henry Shukman [15:17]:
  "You can just kind of hit pause mentally, and for 10 seconds... Then just sense it and carry on with your day."

Final Thoughts

Episode #787 marks a significant expansion of The Tim Ferriss Show, blending insightful interviews with practical meditation sessions. With Zen Master Henry Shukman at the helm, listeners are offered a structured approach to integrate mindfulness into their daily lives. Whether you're a seasoned meditator or a curious beginner, "Meditation Monday" promises to be a valuable addition to your personal development journey.

Transcript

[A]

Hello boys and girls, ladies and germs, this is Tim Ferriss. Welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferriss Show. This episode is a brand new experiment called Meditation Monday. That means in addition to my long form interviews each week, every Monday I will be bringing you a short 10 minute or so meditation which will help you for the rest of the week. Over this four episode series, you'll develop a Zen toolkit specifically to help you find greater calm, peace and effectiveness in your daily life. The teacher Henry Schuchman has been on my podcast twice before. He is one of only a few dozen masters in the world authorized to teach what is called Sambo Zen. And I have found this particularly interesting and effective. And now he'll be your teacher. I've been using Henry's app the Way once, often twice a day for the last few months and it has lowered my anxiety more than I thought possible. As a listener of the show, you yourself can get 30 free sessions by visiting thewayapp.com Tim so if you like what you hear in these meditations, which will be valuable in and of themselves, you can get 30 free sessions by going to the Way app. And for the time being, please enjoy this Meditation Monday with Henry Shukman.

[B]

Hello, welcome to Meditation Monday. I'm Henry Shukman. I'm a Zen master, a meditation teacher, a poet, an author. I've been meditating a long time, since my mid-20s, and it's been the most important thread in my life in terms of not just sort of self care and maintenance and generally being much happier than I might otherwise have been. It's also been a journey of incredible discovery. I think the most crucial, vital, beautiful discovery of a lifetime in a certain sense, because it can show us stuff about who and what we really are and what our true relationship with this world actually is. But the most important initial foundational function of meditation for most of us is going to be just in getting more present, more grounded, more centered and less stressed. It's a great intervention for nervous system regulation and the whole modern mindfulness exponential spread of meditation as a practice has been centered around that stress reduction. And that's great, that's definitely great. And it is what we all need to start with and regularly come back to. But I do want to just note that there is the other side too, that it can be such an extraordinary journey of existential discovery. In this little series, we're going to be exploring both sides, but we're going to begin again and again with arriving, getting grounded, getting centered, more balanced, more present, and in this first meditation that we're about to go into, I'm going to be basically teaching a way that we can again and again come back to the here and now through getting more aware of our body, of our body sensation, and the experience that our body is actually having right now. They say the mind is a time traveler, goes to the past, goes to the future quite often, a lot. But the body doesn't do time travel. And if we can just get connected.

[C]

With our body again, we come back.

[B]

Into the present moment, into right here, right now. And in a slightly unexpected way, when.

[C]

We'Re really here, present, somehow it always seems to dial down our stress, our suffering. It just takes the edge off it.

[B]

Just to be more immediately present now. And weirdly, that even works when we're.

[C]

In a stressful present.

[B]

There's something about being present with this.

[C]

Body here and now that seems to.

[B]

Give us more of a sense of.

[C]

Peace and safety automatically, even when things are tough.

[B]

Okay, so let's go into our first meditation. I'm going to suggest that you get seated comfortably in this process of coming into our body experience. It's really helpful that you can find your way to a setup with your body, a posture where you can be comfortable. 99% of meditation teaching suggests sitting. There's good reasons for that, which I won't go into now, but you can, of course, recline if that's what you would rather do. But I'm going to assume that most of us are sitting. And if you're sitting with your back being supported, then really relax into that support. If you're sitting like I am with your back unsupported, then it's important to be balanced. We want the ears over the shoulders, the shoulders over the hips. As we come into body experience, we want to be coming into this comfort in the body that allows the body to relax. Okay, so now I'm going to invite you to either close your eyes, or if you prefer, you can just lower your gaze. But no need to be looking at anything. If you're lowering your gaze, don't be looking particularly at anything. Just kind of switch off the. The pointer in the eyes. The looker, just let that go. If your eyes are closed, gaze into the kind of gray scale behind the closed eyelids.

[C]

Let's just allow ourselves to let go.

[B]

Just briefly, just for this little period.

[C]

Of time of whatever's come before, whatever.

[B]

Our cares and concerns are this day. Just for now, you can put them.

[C]

On the shelf and just come into the experience of being here quietly. Somewhat still and not needing to do anything right now, you can actually leave.

[B]

The tasks, the to do list outside.

[C]

The door just for a moment, just for now. And think of this as a time of coming back to you, coming back to something a bit more essential about you and your life. I'm going to give some pointers now around experience of the body and relaxing the body. Let your jaw relax. Let your jaw actually sink millimeter or two and feel what it's like to.

[B]

Let the jaw go.

[C]

Many of us carry tension in the jaw. Just let it become slack. Now. Let the throat relax. Be soft. Let your shoulders settle. Let your arms and hands and fingers become limp. Let them go slack like old rope. Lovely. Now let your chest, your whole rib cage become warm. Let it become like soft wax, warm wax. Sense the belly now. Let it too become warm and soft. Yeah. Sense the seat beneath you. Let your sitting bones, your buttocks, just kind of melt down into the seat. Let upper legs become warm and soft and loose. Let lower legs also become warm, soft, loose. Let the ankles and feet relax. Let go. Now can you get a kind of snapshot in your mind of the whole body as you're sitting here? Don't worry as if you can't. That's not needed. But see if you can somehow sense a warmth pervading your whole body. Can you sense a softness all through your body? In meditation, we never need to do things perfectly. There is no perfection. There's really a practice of imperfectionism. We just experience what we experience, and we let that be enough. So whatever you're experiencing, can you let that be enough for right now? Many come to meditation thinking they've got to somehow do it very well or kind of even perform it well. But that's not needed here at all. It's about coming back to you, you having a chance just to be you. It's like having a little respite, a little shelter or refuge from the turbulence of our lives and finding that there is a strange kind of shelter that we can find within. Coming back to a place of ease that's always actually here for us, within place of rest. You know, our bodies know how to do it, our nervous systems know how to do it. Just takes a little bit of intention and some tools. Let yourself rest for a moment kind of in the heart of your own life, your own livingness.

[A]

It.

[C]

Yeah, okay. Yeah. Great. And that's it. That's meditation. It's so natural. It's just being still, being quiet, kind of just being ourselves. And it's weird that it's seems like.

[B]

Sort of a big thing. I'm going to do this thing called meditation, really.

[C]

It's almost like we're not actually doing anything, we're just stopping. We're ceasing from our restless round of doing just for a little bit, just a few minutes.

[B]

10 minutes a day is definitely enough.

[C]

Actually, to make a real difference in our lives. So I hope you've enjoyed this and.

[B]

Had some taste of stillness and maybe of peace.

[C]

I'd like to encourage you to try.

[B]

Through your days every so often. You know, you can just kind of hit pause mentally, and for 10 seconds.

[C]

No more, just be still. Sense your body, however it's showing up for you, right? Then just sense it and carry on with your day.

[B]

So that's the first tool in the Zen toolkit for everyday life that we're kind of assembling here. I'm really honoured to be able to offer these to you. Thank you very much for joining, and I'll see you next Monday for the next session of meditation.

[C]

Monday.