WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:12.759 Us will studious. Welcome to the Stillness Journal. I'm Maya, 2 00:00:14.279 --> 00:00:18.839 and today I want to talk about something we often overlook, 3 00:00:20.440 --> 00:00:24.160 the quiet wisdom of the body. We live in a 4 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:30.760 culture that prizes the mind. We celebrate the clever ones, 5 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:35.840 the quick ones, the ones who can think their way 6 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:41.600 out of anything. We are taught from a young age 7 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:46.159 that the mind is the seat of truth, that if 8 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:51.280 we can just figure it out, just understand it better, 9 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:57.799 just name it with the right words, we will be okay. 10 00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:07.480 And so we keep thinking, We keep analyzing, we keep 11 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:12.519 trying to solve our way into peace, and sometimes, after 12 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:18.319 years of this, we realize we have thought ourselves into 13 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:23.079 a corner. But there is another kind of knowing. It 14 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:27.159 does not come from the head. It does not come 15 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.920 from the words. It comes from somewhere deeper, somewhere older. 16 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:41.519 It comes from the body. The body knows things the 17 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:46.680 mind has long forgotten. The body remembers what it felt 18 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:52.879 like to be held. The body remembers what it felt 19 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:59.719 like to be safe. The body remembers what it felt 20 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:04.879 like to breathe without effort. And if we can slow 21 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:10.319 down enough to listen, the body will tell us things 22 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:14.960 we have been needing to hear for a long time. 23 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:20.360 Settle in, Let your body find the surface beneath you. 24 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:28.919 Let it soften into wherever you are. Let your shoulders drop, 25 00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:37.919 even just a little, Let your jaw unclench, even just slightly. 26 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:45.639 Let your hands open, even if just a fraction. There 27 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:52.319 is nothing to figure out here, nothing to solve, nothing 28 00:02:52.680 --> 00:03:00.439 to understand. Just this breath, and the next one, and 29 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:04.280 the one after that. The mind is a wonderful tool, 30 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:08.360 but it is not the whole of who we are. 31 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:15.479 It is one layer. It is one voice, and when 32 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.240 it is the only voice we listen to, we miss 33 00:03:19.319 --> 00:03:23.879 the others. We miss the quiet whisper underneath the noise. 34 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:29.919 We miss the way the chest tightens when we say 35 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.639 yes to something we mean no too. We miss the 36 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.159 way the belly softens when we are finally in the 37 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:43.879 right place. We miss the way the shoulders round up 38 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.159 to protect us when we are afraid. The body is 39 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:54.680 always speaking. The question is whether we are listening. I 40 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:59.159 want to invite you, just for a moment, to drop 41 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:04.280 below the mind, to let the thoughts pass through, like 42 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:10.479 clouds across the sky. You do not have to stop them, 43 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:17.639 you do not have to chase them. Just let them move, 44 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:24.680 and as they move, notice what is left underneath. Notice 45 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:30.680 the sensation in the chest, Notice the weight of the 46 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:36.399 body on the chair, Notice the temperature of the air 47 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:43.920 on the skin. Notice that you are here, that you 48 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.079 have always been here, That the body has been carrying 49 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:54.680 you home to this moment, even when the mind was 50 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:29.040 somewhere else. The body keeps a record that the mind 51 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:35.680 cannot access through thinking. It keeps the record of every 52 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:43.079 moment we held our breath, every moment we braced for impact, 53 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:49.800 every moment we pretended we were fine when we were not. 54 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.759 These moments leave traces. They live in the muscles, in 55 00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.000 the posture, in the way we move through the world. 56 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.720 We do not have to remember them consciously for them 57 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:13.519 to shape us. They shape us anyway. They show up 58 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:19.199 as tension we cannot explain as fatigue that has no 59 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:25.240 clear source, as a sense of holding on that does 60 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.839 not seem to have a beginning or an end. And 61 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:35.040 yet the body is not just a record of what 62 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:40.319 has been. The body is also a record of what 63 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:46.439 is possible. It is a record of what healing feels 64 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:54.759 like in real time. When you breathe slowly and deeply, 65 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:02.040 the body begins to remember that it is safe. When 66 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:06.360 you soften the muscles around your eyes and your jaw, 67 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:13.560 the body begins to remember that it is allowed to relax. 68 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.879 When you place a hint over your heart and stay there, 69 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:25.600 the body begins to remember that it is held. These 70 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:30.920 are not small things. They are the body's language, and 71 00:07:31.160 --> 00:07:35.519 every time we speak them, we are giving the body 72 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.920 permission to do what it has always known how to do. 73 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.319 There is a kind of intelligence that lives in the breath. 74 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.800 You do not have to think about breathing for it 75 00:07:49.879 --> 00:07:55.199 to happen. You do not have to understand the anatomy 76 00:07:55.439 --> 00:08:00.879 of the lungs for them to expand the body knows 77 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:03.959 how to do this. It has been doing it since 78 00:08:04.040 --> 00:08:10.600 before you had a name. And this kind of knowing 79 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:19.720 is older than language. It is older than thought. It 80 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.040 is the kind of knowing that does not need to 81 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:28.120 be proven, because it simply is. When we get stuck 82 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:33.399 in the mind, we forget this. We forget that we 83 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:38.200 are more than our thoughts. We forget that we do 84 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:43.159 not have to figure everything out. We forget that some 85 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:49.440 things are solved not by thinking harder, but by being still, 86 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:54.360 by letting the breath do its work. By letting the 87 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:59.960 body unwind at its own pace. There's a kind of 88 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:06.240 healing that happens when we stop pushing, and the body 89 00:09:06.600 --> 00:09:10.159 is the one who leads us there if we let 90 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:44.120 it so. Today I want to invite you to listen 91 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:50.039 to the body. Not to fix it, not to change it, 92 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:56.360 not to make it different from what it is, Just 93 00:09:56.840 --> 00:10:02.080 to listen. Notice what it is telling you right now 94 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:08.039 in this moment. Notice where it is asking for softness. 95 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.960 Notice where it is asking for movement. Notice where it 96 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:21.399 is asking for stillness. Notice where it is asking for warmth. 97 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:28.679 Notice where it is asking for breath. The body is 98 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:33.440 always answering these questions. We just have to be quiet 99 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:40.279 enough to hear. And as you listen, I want you 100 00:10:40.360 --> 00:10:47.679 to remember something. The body is not the enemy. It 101 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:54.440 is not something to be overcome, optimized, controlled, or disciplined 102 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:01.120 into submission. It is your oldest friend. It has been 103 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.039 with you through every joy and every sorrow. It has 104 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:10.240 carried you through every chapter of your life. It has 105 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:15.559 held your grief when no one else could. It has 106 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:21.320 celebrated your gladness when no one else knew. It is 107 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:28.080 worthy of tenderness, It is worthy of kindness. It is 108 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:34.360 worthy of your attention, not as a project, but as 109 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:38.200 a relationship. One of the most powerful things we can 110 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:44.600 do is simply be in the body, not to escape it, 111 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:51.399 not to transcend it, not to rise above it, to 112 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:57.279 be in it, to feel it, to let it be felt. 113 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:00.240 So much of our suffering comes from a kind of 114 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:06.559 exile from ourselves. We live in our heads, we float 115 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:12.000 above our sensations. We dissociate from the simple fact of 116 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:17.720 being alive. And the body, in its quiet way, keeps 117 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:23.039 calling us back. It keeps saying, here, here is where 118 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:28.919 life is happening. Come back, Come home. There is a 119 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:34.759 moment in the middle of a long exile when the 120 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:42.600 body lets go of something it has been holding. It 121 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:48.960 might be a thought, it might be a memory, It 122 00:12:49.080 --> 00:12:54.919 might be a pattern. It might be nothing you can name. 123 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:03.200 But something shifts, something softens, something releases, and in that 124 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.600 moment you might catch a glimpse of what it feels 125 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:11.840 like to be free of the thing you have been carrying. 126 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:19.960 That is the body's wisdom and work, That is the 127 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:54.440 body's quiet teaching. I want to leave you with the 128 00:13:54.519 --> 00:14:00.200 practice for the days ahead. Several times a day, when 129 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:05.480 you remember pause, drop out of the mind. For a moment, 130 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:11.200 let the thoughts pass, and ask the body, what do 131 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.440 you need right now? Not what do I think I 132 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:21.840 should need, What do you the body actually need, And 133 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:31.240 then wait, listen. The answer will come. It might be water, 134 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:39.360 It might be movement. It might be rest. It might 135 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:43.679 be a slower pace. It might be a hand on 136 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:50.320 the heart. It might be a walk outside, It might 137 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:58.720 be a long breath. The body always knows. We just 138 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.200 have to ask. And as you go through the rest 139 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:08.480 of your day, I want you to remember this. You 140 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:14.200 are not just a mind in a body. You are 141 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.240 a body that happens to have a mind. You are 142 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.759 a living, breathing, feeling creature. May of the same stuff 143 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:30.399 as the trees and the rivers and the stars. You 144 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:34.120 are part of the natural world and you belong to it. 145 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:39.120 The body is not separate from you. It is not 146 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:45.200 something to be managed. It is you, and it has 147 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:51.840 been trying to speak to you, kindly, patiently, for as 148 00:15:51.919 --> 00:15:55.200 long as you have been alive. I want to speak 149 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:59.600 for a moment about the kindness that lives in the body. 150 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:06.360 Not the harsh voice that criticizes, not the punishing voice 151 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:12.320 that says you are not enough, but the gentle voice underneath, 152 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:17.000 the one that says you are tired and you deserve 153 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:24.000 to stop, the one that says you are hurting and 154 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:30.360 you deserve to be held, the one that says you 155 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:37.200 have been brief and you deserve to rest. This voice 156 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:43.159 has always been there and has never gone away. Even 157 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:49.360 in the darkest moments, even in the most exhausting chapters, 158 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:58.799 this voice has been whispering, you are okay, You are 159 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:03.720 going to be okay. You do not have to do 160 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:10.039 this alone. The body is patient in a way the 161 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:18.720 mind rarely is. The mind wants resolution now. The mind 162 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:25.119 wants the answer, the plan, the next step. The mind 163 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:29.400 wants to know how the story ends. But the body 164 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:36.039 understands that some things unfold at their own pace. Some 165 00:17:36.119 --> 00:17:42.039 things heal in their own time. The body does not 166 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:47.680 rush the seasons. It does not rush the breaking open, 167 00:17:49.799 --> 00:17:54.640 It does not rush the mending. It simply moves at 168 00:17:54.680 --> 00:18:00.440 the pace of life itself, which is slow and steady 169 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:05.480 and deeply wise. There is something I have come to 170 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:11.720 believe more and more as the years pass, that the 171 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:16.759 most important conversations we have are not the ones we 172 00:18:16.839 --> 00:18:22.319 have with other people. They are the ones we have 173 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:30.000 with ourselves. And these conversations are not just in the head, 174 00:18:30.880 --> 00:18:37.200 there in the body, there in the breath. They are 175 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:42.000 in the way we move through a room. They are 176 00:18:42.039 --> 00:18:45.960 in the way we hold a fork, or a pen 177 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:53.759 or another person's hand. Every gesture is a sentence, every 178 00:18:53.880 --> 00:19:00.720 posture is a paragraph. And the body is writing all 179 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:06.200 the time the story of who we are and who 180 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:10.039 we are becoming. So I want to invite you, in 181 00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:15.519 the days ahead to read your own body the way 182 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:25.200 you would read a beloved book, slowly, with curiosity, with reverence, 183 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.960 with a willingness to be surprised by what you find. 184 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:34.519 You may discover that the body is telling you something 185 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:40.359 you did not know you needed to hear. You may 186 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:44.480 discover that the body has been holding a wisdom you 187 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:48.880 have been looking for for a long time. You may discover, 188 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:53.039 in the simple act of listening that you are not 189 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:58.480 as alone as you did, that something in you has 190 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:04.480 always known the way, that something in you has always 191 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:38.759 carried you home. As we close today, I want to 192 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:45.200 leave you with this image. Imagine the body as a 193 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:51.519 kind old friend, someone who has known you since you 194 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:58.839 were very small, someone who has seen every version of you, 195 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:08.519 the joyful one, the grief, stricken one, the lost one, 196 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:16.200 the brave one, the tired one, someone who has never 197 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:24.000 once left your side. Imagine sitting beside this friend in 198 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:29.599 a quiet place, with nowhere to go. Imagine resting your 199 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:36.160 head on this friend's shoulder. Imagine letting this friend hold 200 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:42.039 you in the way that only the oldest, deepest kind 201 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:48.640 of love can hold. That friend is your body. That 202 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:53.720 friend is here right now, waiting for you to come back. 203 00:21:54.119 --> 00:22:00.440 So come back. Come back to the breath, Come back 204 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:06.200 to the heartbeat. Come back to the weight of your bones, 205 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:13.400 the warmth of your skin, the miracle of being alive. 206 00:22:14.039 --> 00:22:16.680 Come back to the body that has been trying to 207 00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:24.680 speak to you, kindly, patiently all along. Let it speak, 208 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:30.279 let it teach, Let it hold you in the way 209 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:36.279 that only it can. And as you carry the rest 210 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:41.359 of your day, know that you are not just in 211 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:49.640 mind at war with itself. You are a body, a soul, 212 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:57.440 a whole human being held together by something older and 213 00:22:57.640 --> 00:23:04.759 wiser than any of your thoughts. The mind is one voice, 214 00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:10.640 the body is another, And when you learn to listen 215 00:23:10.680 --> 00:23:15.640 to both, he began to live in a way that 216 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:21.119 is whole. Thank you for being here, Thank you for 217 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:29.079 letting yourself be still. Thank you for trusting the quiet 218 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:34.880 wisdom that has always been yours. I will see you 219 00:23:35.960 --> 00:23:37.880 in the next stillness.