Being with Being

This series of adventures really comes out of a curiosity of mine that goes back to when I was in grade school. I would love to read these science books -- there was even at this mall a store called the Learning Smith, and that's where I discovered all these books about Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking and hyperspace. And sometimes you just kind of set them down and look around and be like...

For me to be speaking right now, for me to make a gesture with my hand, for me to click the mouse button and fix my tech at the beginning of this session — all of that is coming from this integrity of this loop that includes both feeling and doing. From the fullness of our being. We might see this whole series as kind of unpacking the richness of all of this being, and then relaxing into the integ...

It can kind of feel experientially like we're free-falling. Free-falling into the unknown. Because there's no limit to how finely we can feel this fine free flow of our body, even just our physical body. On this next in-breath, in this next nostril — there's a finer flow yet to be felt, ever, by you. And you can open to it. That thing we call a thumb, that we think we know what it f...

It's probably helpful just to introduce some terms here — not as another thing to learn, but as holding places. These words can become holding places that we then associate with a certain level of fine feeling, nuanced feeling within ourselves. Jing is the physicality of our body — centered at the lower dantian, our center of mass. Qi is something finer, a finer inner flow — sometimes Master...

I was not personally struck by lightning — glad I gave the forewarning. I did lose internet, I did lose power, and now I'm back and we can practice together. This is truly one of the favorite parts of my day, so I didn't want to miss it. Some of the Taoist meditation circulation practices can feel more natural and intuitive — less of a trying and more of an effortless revealing — when we...

When we're more activated, even just thinking really hard, there can be this sense of being more in our head — more kind of bunched up. There's usually plenty, plenty up there already, and instead we lack feeling that presence includes all of our body, all the way to our feet, all the way to our fingertips. This is what Qigong calls coarse qi — and what's interesting is that even po...

Full disclosure: I have some emotional release happening in my diaphragm as I come on today. So this is just what I need. And it's not necessary that you have any strong emotion in your system at the moment — but this will give us a way of seeing how we could practice if we did. When I'm working with an emotion that feels kind of stuck — when I just want it to flow, I want it to change,...

In this exploration, we'll be feeling these three qualities of nature's flow in a way that helps us feel them more all together. We'll be feeling a sense of long—long in space, so that there is a sense of the whole flow quality. And we'll be discovering how any length in our body is comprised of all these very fine flows, another quality of nature, and that they all are arising...

In this exploration, we'll be playing with our perception—the *how* of how we are sensing and feeling our body. This is called “ting” in tai chi or listening, and we'll actually be using the sounds around us. If you would like to kind of create a bit of a soundscape in your space—you'd like to play a little music, open a window and even hear some sounds from nature or your neighbors...

In this exploration, we'll be using what's called the external harmonies in Tai Chi—the way that there's this natural correspondence between shoulders and hips, elbows and knees, wrists and ankles, hands and feet, and even all the way to our fingers and our toes. We'll especially allow ourselves more to feel our lower body and the presence of our lower bodies, first of all, bec...

In this exploration, we'll be using the whole flow quality—the third quality of Nature’s flow—to experientially stumble upon an experience of the now that may feel a little more allowing, just the way it is. We can get a lot of messages about how it's better for us to live in the moment, be here now. And even quite subtly, we can tend to associate now as something more kind of like the p...

In this exploration, we'll be using what's called the external harmonies in Tai Chi—the way that there's this natural correspondence between shoulders and hips, elbows and knees, wrists and ankles, hands and feet, and even all the way to our fingers and our toes. We'll especially allow ourselves more to feel our lower body and the presence of our lower bodies, first of all, bec...

In this hour-long exploration, we'll discover how to deeply relax physically by feeling into the first quality of nature's flow: contactful, mutual connection. I'll guide you through accessing these qualities of presence really tangibly and evidently in your experience, then we'll go on the adventure of how we can especially use this contactful, mutual connection as a way to de...

In this exploration, we'll discover how to work with subtle emotional pains that may feel tied to past events and "smeared out" in time. Getting trauma-informed support for these emotions is incredibly important. Ultimately, though, each one of us is “the one” who interfaces with our own inner experiences. I personally find it helpful to do this with as much spaciousness as possible...

In this exploration, we'll discover how emotional hurt and physical pain share similar patterns of bracing and disconnection. I'll guide you through gentle qigong movements to soften the heart area and explore how tenderness itself can be experienced as the refinement and sensitivity of nature’s flow itself, rather than shutting down. Through this practice, you might find how tenderness...

In this integration exploration, you’ll practice how to guide yourself through dissolving pain using all the approaches we've learned. I'll review the toolkit of perspectives and techniques—feeling space, shifting to immersive awareness, and working with the wholeness of the moment—that you can mix and match based on what you need to be with yourself in many circumstances of pain. Throug...

In this exploration, we'll discover how to work with the "blahs"—those all-over, nebulous feelings of fatigue, malaise, or systemic unwellness that can be harder to locate than specific pain. I'll guide you through a gentler approach that starts with the space and sounds around your body before gradually including the whole-body sensations. Through this practice, you might disc...

In this exploration, we'll discover how our stories about pain in time can amplify suffering far beyond the present moment sensation. I'll guide you through experiencing how past, present, and future pain stories are all held within the wholeness of this eternal now. Through this practice, you might find how pain itself can feel lighter when we discover our time-based stories can be held...

In this exploration, we'll discover how to shift from experiencing pain as a separate object to immersing ourselves directly in the experience. I'll guide you through relocating your sense of identity from your head to your heart, hands, and even into the center of pain itself. Through this practice, you might find how dissolving the separation between observer and observed allows pain t...

In this exploration, we'll discover how to shift from the narrow spotlight of attention that can only focus "upon" or "away from" pain to a more inclusive mode of perception. I'll guide you through understanding how feeling space between things helps us access an effortless, simultaneous awareness that can hold pain within a broader context. Through this practice, you...

In this opening exploration, we'll discover how feeling space can fundamentally shift our mode of perception from narrow focus to open awareness. I'll guide you through Dr. Les Fehmi's revolutionary approach of feeling the space between things—starting with your fingers—to access a more inclusive way of being with pain and difficulty. Through this practice, you might find how shifti...

In this exploration, we'll discover how pain that seems stuck might actually be finer flows within flows—ever finer, like a fractal flowing in space. I'll guide you through feeling how however fixed pain might appear, there's no bracing or stuckness at the level of nature's flow. Through this practice, you might find something beyond pleasure or pain—a kind of vibrant togethern...

In this exploration, we'll discover how the first two qualities of nature's flow arise together rather than separately. I'll guide you through feeling the free flow of breath coming down into your body and the wave-like motion of your breathing body, exploring how both freedom and connection are how nature flows together. Through this practice, you might find how the breath and body...

In this exploration, we'll discover nature's quality of whole flow through the sensitive awareness of your fingers and hands. I'll guide you through feeling the length, volume, and space that your fingers occupy, exploring how our hands can feel right there -- right here -- filling and radiating through your hands all at once. Through this practice, you might discover how the all-at...

In this integration session, we'll weave together all three qualities of nature's flow into a complete 30-minute foundation practice. I'll guide you through 5-minute intervals that stack together—mutual flow through body and earth, free flow through breath awareness, and whole flow through hands and space. Through this foundational practice, you might discover how these qualities cr...