0:14

Welcome to Season 3 of the

0:16

Michael Singer Podcast. Michael

0:18

Singer is the author of the widely

0:21

influential New York Times

0:23

bestsellers The Untethered

0:25

Soul, The Surrender Experiment,

0:28

and most recently, Living

0:30

Untethered, Beyond the Human

0:32

Predicament. Produced in partnership

0:35

with Shanti Publications, the

0:38

Michael Singer Podcast brings you

0:40

select recordings from the Temple

0:42

of the Universe, a yoga and

0:44

meditation center that Michael founded

0:46

in 1975. This

0:49

episode is on relaxing

0:51

behind your inner disturbance.

0:55

Sounds True would also like you to know about

0:57

an extraordinary

0:58

eight-part video course

1:00

that we've created with Michael Singer.

1:03

It's called Living from a Place of

1:05

Surrender, The Untethered Soul

1:08

in Action. It's an online course

1:10

many people report to be utterly

1:13

life-changing. You can find

1:15

out more at michelsingerpodcast.com,

1:18

and you can save 15% off

1:20

any Michael Singer program available

1:23

through Sounds True when you use

1:25

the code SINGER15

1:28

at checkout. That's Singer numeral

1:30

one, numeral five. And

1:33

now, relaxing behind your

1:36

inner disturbance with Michael Singer.

2:05

The

2:11

more you grow, really

2:14

grow, the

2:17

simpler it becomes until

2:19

it becomes so simple that

2:22

it just looks absurd that

2:25

people are suffering, that

2:27

we are doing with our lives what we are doing

2:30

for absolutely no reason. And

2:33

what people look for, if they even

2:36

wake up a little to say, I want

2:40

to have a better life, I want to suffer less, I

2:42

want to feel more joy,

2:44

is they want these things

2:46

called techniques. And

2:48

I playfully always say I don't teach

2:50

techniques, when the truth of the matter

2:52

is, that's all I ever teach. But

2:57

people can't hear it.

2:58

So let's focus on that.

3:00

I want to focus on the highest technique.

3:04

Don't expect to hear anything new. But

3:06

I just want to clarify this.

3:10

Just to give us something to work around, I'm

3:13

going to start by saying the highest technique is relaxation.

3:17

That is the technique, relaxation. What

3:21

does that mean? Well,

3:24

certainly when you do asanas in yoga, it's

3:27

all about relaxation. You get your body

3:30

into a position where

3:32

there's a balance of stress and tension, and you

3:35

relax into it. And if you've

3:37

ever done that, you feel

3:39

an energy change, you feel

3:41

a chemical change, it changes

3:44

you to relax

3:47

past the point

3:50

that you naturally would go, that

3:52

you naturally would exist. Same thing

3:54

happens with exercise of any sort. But

3:56

specifically yoga, because it sets up

3:58

this balance of

4:01

tension and relaxation and

4:03

then you relax into it. And

4:06

what you do is go past where

4:08

you normally hang out, you're getting

4:10

past your comfort zone, all kinds of changes take

4:12

place. I don't do a lot of Hatha

4:15

Yoga, I do some by myself but not

4:17

a Hatha Yogi. But the more I grow,

4:19

the more I see the changes

4:22

in me and I see why

4:25

that process is so important,

4:28

why Hatha Yoga has lasted thousands

4:31

of years that it has, why it's so important.

4:34

And it really has nothing to do with exercise,

4:37

it has to do with relaxation. It

4:39

is about relaxation, that is what it's

4:41

about. It's relaxing

4:44

past

4:45

where you would normally go. So that's

4:47

very nice to do that on the mat and have

4:50

that experience and sometimes you can get

4:52

so intoxicated from yoga that

4:54

you get up and long after that.

4:57

That's why yoga is becoming

4:59

so popular, it's always been popular but now it's becoming very

5:01

popular in the Western world because it's

5:03

not exercise, it's way more than

5:05

exercise. It is a change of

5:07

your being because

5:09

you are willing to relax past

5:12

the points that you used to hang out with, changes

5:14

your mind, changes your heart, changes your whole energy

5:17

system and everything. But

5:20

when I say the highest technique is relaxation,

5:23

I'm not talking about that. I'm

5:25

talking about the following. Let's start

5:28

with your life. What is

5:30

your life? What is your

5:32

life? What it literally

5:35

is, is something very simple. There

5:38

is a planet spinning around

5:40

the middle of empty space. If you want to

5:42

see a picture of it, I have it hanging on the wall

5:45

as you come in the entry wall. That's not

5:47

really just a blank picture. There's

5:49

a tiny little ball there and

5:52

that is a picture of your Earth from

5:54

two million miles out. So

5:56

go out there and look at that planet.

5:58

So what is your life? What is your life? Well,

6:01

your life is the fact that you

6:03

come down, your consciousness comes down

6:05

onto this planet and

6:08

wherever I drop you, no matter where I drop

6:10

you, just pick a place on the planet. Wherever

6:12

I drop you, there is

6:14

what is going on there. It was going on

6:16

before you came, just going

6:19

on where you're not, it'll go on

6:21

after you leave. There's just stuff going

6:23

on at every single

6:25

point on the planet Earth, the rain

6:27

forest, Antarctic, New

6:30

York, the countryside, it doesn't matter.

6:33

Anywhere you go, there's something going on.

6:35

It could be the crickets, it could be rain,

6:37

it could be people, it doesn't matter. Everywhere

6:40

you go, there's something going on on the

6:42

planet Earth.

6:44

Very good.

6:44

So what your life is, is

6:47

you drop down to the planet and

6:50

wherever you are, things are going on. Those

6:54

things come in and you experience

6:56

them. That's your life. You're

6:58

experiencing what is unfolding

7:01

in front of you at any given moment.

7:04

That is what's happening, isn't it?

7:07

It's not complicated. You

7:09

are in there and you're experiencing

7:13

what is unfolding in the world

7:15

around you on the planet Earth, the part

7:17

you see at any

7:20

given moment in your life. It's just what's

7:22

happening at that moment that you're experiencing. Now

7:25

if I asked you, how difficult

7:27

is that? How difficult is it to

7:30

come down onto that planet wherever

7:33

you are, it doesn't matter, the

7:35

same thing's happening. What's happening?

7:38

That's what's happening. Wherever you are

7:41

at that particular point, that's what's happening. So

7:44

I'm going to take you down and you're going to come visit the planet

7:46

Earth. That's what you should do every day, is

7:48

come down and say, I said, I'll go down to Earth, it looks like fun. I'm

7:51

visiting, I'm checking out the planet Earth. If

7:53

I send you up to Mars, that's exciting.

7:55

You'll be the first person that goes to Mars. You'll

7:57

check out what's going on at Mars, wherever I put you.

8:00

something going on, not much, but something, you

8:02

take notes and experience,

8:05

you've got to be the first person on Mars. Well,

8:07

you get to be the person on the planet earth who's

8:09

experiencing what you're experiencing. If

8:12

I had you off the planet and told

8:14

you I was going to take you down onto the planet and

8:16

said, how hard is that? You would

8:18

look at me like I was insane. How hard

8:20

is one that I'm going to drop

8:22

you down on the planet and you just experience

8:25

whatever's going on wherever I put you.

8:27

Okay, well, where's the hard part? Why

8:30

is that hard? I don't understand.

8:32

It's literally a non sequitur. The word hard

8:35

doesn't come into that. I'm not doing anything. Is

8:37

it hard to experience what's in front of you? How

8:40

hard is it for you to see what you see now and hear what

8:42

you hear now? Working hard at it. It's

8:44

just easy. It's what happens, right? You

8:46

know, it just puts you down in front of an ocean

8:49

and your job is to see the ocean. And

8:52

no, no, and that's it. That's your job. Pretty

8:54

easy job. What happens if the ocean gets wavy?

8:57

See the waves. What happens if it gets calm? See the

8:59

calm. I mean, I got no job. You

9:01

have no job. Your job is

9:03

to experience what's happening in front

9:05

of you.

9:08

Wow.

9:09

There. That's what your

9:12

life is. Your entire

9:14

life is every moment

9:16

there will be something else in front of you,

9:18

right? Keeps

9:19

changing and you

9:21

will experience what's in front of you. So

9:23

there's nothing complicated about this. Nothing hard

9:26

about this. So what the

9:28

deepest technique is, relax

9:32

into that. We're

9:34

gonna go there. I'm gonna spend time with you on this.

9:37

I want you to relax into

9:40

that. What do you mean? If

9:42

you are standing in a supermarket, then

9:45

that's where you are at this particular

9:47

moment in your life. And that's what you're experiencing.

9:50

Remember, I came down to the planet

9:53

Earth and I dropped into Publix.

9:57

Dropped into Publix, all right?

9:59

place on the planet Earth. That's all

10:02

it is. It's just a place on the planet Earth. And

10:04

I dropped in there

10:06

and I'm experiencing what? I don't

10:08

know whatever's going on. People are going by

10:10

with carts. It's weird, right? That's

10:12

going on the planet Earth. And I'm going on Mars. I'll tell you that

10:15

right now. So basically people are going

10:17

by with carts and there's cash registers and there's

10:19

different products on the shelves and that's what it means

10:21

to be in publics. And so most

10:24

people never experienced what I just told you. They

10:28

missed the experience of

10:30

being there. Whereas

10:32

the experience of being there is your life

10:35

because that's what you're experiencing. That's what's happening. So

10:38

what you do is you go into publics because that's

10:40

where you are. And at least for a moment

10:43

is what I'm asking you is your technique. You

10:45

go to that place

10:47

and you relax. Go to what

10:50

place

10:51

that you are, have dropped down onto that little

10:53

tiny ball on the planet Earth and you're

10:55

experiencing what's in front of you. That's the

10:57

technique I'm telling you. I am experiencing

11:00

what's in front of you. I have no other job. There's

11:02

nothing else going on. My entire

11:04

job in this moment is to experience

11:07

what's in front of me. And I'm telling

11:10

you, you won't be able to do it. No?

11:14

And it's very important that you won't be able to do it.

11:17

You mean I won't see people rolling their carts

11:19

by? No, you'll see people rolling their carts by. You'll

11:21

wonder what you should say to them. Is your cart

11:23

in the way? And do you look silly standing

11:25

there? There's going to be something else going

11:28

on besides experiencing what's

11:30

going on. You kind of add it to

11:32

the formula a little bit, kind of spice it up a

11:34

bit with your neurosis. I mean, with

11:36

your,

11:37

like you're going to find out that

11:40

you can't even stand there

11:42

in

11:43

publics or in some supermarket

11:45

or on the side of the road and

11:48

just be there. Don't

11:50

get mad at yourself. Don't do anything. I'm

11:52

just saying, if you want to know

11:54

the highest spiritual technique, I just gave

11:57

it to you, is you practice.

13:50

folding

14:00

in front of me so that my mind

14:03

and my emotions feel better in here because

14:05

they're bothering me so much that

14:07

I can't just stand there. I have to

14:10

talk to somebody. I have to do something. I have

14:12

to leave. I don't know. I have to do something

14:15

so that I feel better. And

14:17

so I can't experience my life and

14:19

instead I have to struggle and be

14:21

in a state of constant anxiety at

14:23

one level or another. So the technique

14:26

I'm talking about is really very, very

14:28

simple and at some point it becomes a lot of fun

14:31

and it can't not work. So

14:33

what you do is wherever you are, I don't

14:36

care if you're driving your car, I don't care if you're stop-up

14:38

stop sign, I don't care if you're walking in public,

14:40

I don't care if you're walking down the street, wherever

14:43

you are be

14:45

aware that I am in here and

14:47

I'm experiencing what's around

14:49

me. And then you'll see that

14:52

there's all this noise inside. What

14:54

do I do about that? The high

14:56

being realizes that what I do about

14:59

that every single time

15:02

is relaxed. That's not

15:04

what you're going to want to do but you don't want to

15:06

relax into the awesome either. But it gets

15:08

a little tight. You don't want to relax. You want to get up

15:11

but it is relaxing past that point

15:13

that takes you deeper within yourself.

15:16

It's the same thing here. So if I'm standing

15:18

there, I get to just stand

15:20

there. I get to experience what it's like to be at

15:22

the planet Earth with this going on. It's kind of fascinating.

15:26

Any place you go, it's fascinating that this

15:28

is what's going on on the planet. But

15:30

I can't because my mind keeps telling

15:32

me there's something else I'm supposed to be doing, there's something I did

15:35

wrong, there's something I'm gonna do wrong. I don't know. I

15:37

don't need to tell you. You got one go on inside

15:39

of you, I'm sure. It's creating

15:42

tension. That's what it does. Creates

15:44

tension. Everything you do

15:47

is telling you should have done something else so that

15:49

you can't ever feel okay about

15:52

what's going on. So the

15:54

technique of relaxation, which

15:56

is gonna take you a while to get it, but at least you're practicing

15:58

with it, is to save

15:59

wherever you are,

16:01

bring consciousness to bear. That's what's meant

16:03

by witness consciousness and mindfulness, is

16:06

bring your center of consciousness

16:09

back to the point of realizing, I am

16:12

in here experiencing what's out there.

16:14

How about I do it that simple? I am

16:16

in here experiencing what's out there.

16:18

Why can't I do that? Why can't

16:21

I be okay with that? I'm on

16:23

a date or out with somebody.

16:26

I am in here experiencing what it's

16:28

like to be with this person. That's

16:30

all right. I'm sitting having dinner, doing

16:32

this or going on movies, whatever's happening. That's

16:35

what's happening is I'm in here experiencing

16:37

this experience. And what you're going

16:40

to see is you can't do that. That

16:42

there's just all this neurosis,

16:44

all this noise that gets created

16:47

in the psyche, which stands between

16:49

you, the experiencer and the experience

16:52

you're having. Very good. Your

16:54

mind gets weird and your emotions

16:57

get weird so that you're not able to

16:59

just be there experiencing what's

17:01

happening at your starting position.

17:03

The question is what do I do about that? So

17:06

a wise being realizes that

17:08

because it is uncomfortable, what's uncomfortable?

17:11

The wise person realizes it's not the

17:13

situation outside that's uncomfortable. Situations

17:17

are just there. They're just publics. They're just

17:19

the date. They're just the movie.

17:21

What's happening on the planet earth where

17:23

you happen to be. Be

17:24

somewhere else. There'll be something else happening. You understand?

17:27

Look to the left. There's something else happening. Look to the

17:29

right. There's something else happening.

17:31

It's not what's creating the disturbance.

17:33

The disturbance is within you. You

17:36

are creating that disturbance. Outside,

17:38

there is just the experience of the moment. The

17:41

question is what do I do about the fact that

17:43

I'm uncomfortable? You first

17:45

realize, and this is like 50 to 60% of your entire spiritual

17:49

growth, is you realize it

17:51

really has nothing to do with what's happening

17:53

outside. If you pick me up and put me somewhere

17:55

else in a very short period of time, I get

17:58

worried about that. I'm in

18:00

so much trouble about wherever you

18:02

put me. It just changes what it says,

18:04

but it's never okay. It's always

18:06

scared. It's always anxious. It's

18:09

always thinking you did something wrong. It's supposed

18:11

to do something. It needs something. It's afraid

18:13

of something. Do you understand that? That's

18:15

where you get wise, where you realize,

18:17

well, our friend who I many, many years ago in the 70s

18:19

said to me, just catch on. If it wasn't

18:22

this, it'd be something else.

18:24

I never forgot that, because that's true.

18:27

Whatever's bothering you right now that you think

18:29

you need to solve, it's a big problem today. If

18:32

it wasn't that, I guarantee you it'd be

18:34

something else. Haven't

18:37

you caught on yet? It's always something.

18:40

So the wise person catches on

18:43

that it is not the

18:45

unfolding of the situation outside

18:48

of you at any given moment that

18:50

is causing your issues. Even

18:53

if that changed, you'd still have issues. You

18:57

realize this is a problem I

18:59

am generating within myself. I

19:01

am creating my neurosis. How do you

19:04

know? Just stop in the middle of

19:06

Publix. Just stop there and

19:08

see if you're okay. Because I mean, there's no lions

19:10

or tigers in Publix. There's really nothing

19:13

happening that's so threatening. But you're

19:15

not going to be okay. You'll be embarrassed. You'll

19:17

be self-conscious. You'll be like, no. You'll

19:19

think you forgot something. There's going to be disturbance

19:22

inside. If it doesn't

19:24

within the first 30 seconds, it'll be in the given

19:26

another 15 seconds. You start catching

19:29

on. And that's what I need you to see. At

19:31

any given moment, I am experiencing what's in

19:33

front

19:33

of me. That's not the problem.

19:36

We'll talk about there are extremes in which

19:38

lions could be jumping at you. Then, yes, what you're

19:40

experiencing is a definite problem.

19:43

That is like what percentage of the time you're

19:45

being jumped on by a lion? What

19:48

percentage of the time, literally, are

19:51

you in danger?

19:52

What percentage of your time

19:55

of your life,

19:56

the moments that are unfolding in front of you, have

19:58

you literally been in danger?

19:59

danger to where it is natural

20:02

to be scared. There are some, nobody's

20:04

saying it's not, there

20:05

are some, it's pretty small. I'm

20:07

telling you it's not even 0.001%

20:10

of all of your time that you've literally

20:12

been threatened with danger. What percentage

20:14

of the time do you feel fear?

20:17

Anybody want to be honest? 97, 98. About

20:19

all the rest of

20:22

the time. All right, so something's

20:26

way out of whack here. I'm challenging your intelligent

20:28

people. There's something wrong here. And

20:30

that's when you catch on. I am in

20:33

here

20:33

experiencing what's going on on the planet Earth

20:36

in front of me. There's not a problem with

20:38

that. There's not supposed to be a problem with that. If

20:41

you want to take the extremes, I said I'll give you 0.001. Yeah,

20:43

there could be a problem. We'll go to that later if you

20:45

want. I want to deal with the 99.99. There's

20:48

not a problem. You're just experiencing the

20:51

reality of what is unfolding in front of you,

20:53

driving down the road. Yet

20:56

inside, I am experiencing

20:59

problems.

21:00

Always.

21:01

I am experiencing fear. I'm experiencing anxiety. I'm

21:03

experiencing self-consciousness. I'm experiencing need. I'm experiencing

21:05

embarrassment. You name it. You got it. Jealousy. I

21:07

don't know. You name it. There's something going on in there. All right.

21:10

So it's not the outside

21:12

that is causing that. That is

21:14

a great breakthrough when you realize

21:16

that. And I'm telling you, one way to realize it is

21:19

just stop at any given moment and

21:21

honestly look out there. What's out there? Nothing.

21:24

There's some cars driving

21:26

by. There's nothing happening.

21:28

There's nothing. Okay. They're really

21:30

at this moment. Yet inside, there's

21:32

tension. Inside, there's disturbance. Inside,

21:35

there's fear,

21:36

need, whatever. Okay. There's disturbance

21:38

inside. So you first separate

21:42

the fact that the outside is not causing

21:44

this disturbance inside. It is something

21:47

you are doing yourself. That

21:49

is a major breakthrough. And

21:52

until you realize that, I asked

21:54

you a moment ago, what are you going to do about this disturbance?

21:56

Until you realize you need to practice

21:59

to see this yourself.

21:59

It is not happening outside.

22:03

It is happening inside. I am doing

22:05

this. Because otherwise

22:07

you're going to see you disturbed inside, you're

22:10

not comfortable with it, and you're going to

22:12

try to solve it by changing things

22:14

outside. That makes me sad to even say

22:16

it. Because you've just gone in such

22:19

a wrong direction. It can't solve anything.

22:22

That is how almost everybody lives their lives,

22:24

is to sit there and say, I'm not comfortable

22:27

inside. Therefore, something

22:29

needs to change outside so that

22:31

I'll be comfortable inside.

22:33

There's nothing I can teach you that's more important

22:35

than daring to look at that. Because

22:38

otherwise you're going to waste your life.

22:40

Why? If the problem is not outside,

22:43

the solution can't be outside.

22:46

If it is true that 99.9% of

22:48

the time if you stopped and

22:51

just looked at what was going on out there, there's

22:53

no reason to be scared. There's nothing

22:55

going on that is causing a major

22:57

problem. And yet you're uncomfortable. Yet

23:00

you're disturbed almost all the time.

23:02

You are creating your disturbance

23:04

yourself by what you are doing inside

23:07

of you. Once you see

23:09

that, the concept that what I should

23:11

be doing is working to change

23:13

everything outside of me so that

23:15

I'm okay inside of me starts to look insane.

23:19

The problem is not outside, so the

23:21

solution can't be outside.

23:23

And so what you end up doing if you're not careful

23:26

is you're not okay. You feel scared. You

23:28

feel left out. You feel embarrassed, whatever the

23:30

heck it is. And so you try to create

23:32

situations outside that for a moment override

23:35

that. If somebody comes up to you and says, God,

23:38

you look so handsome standing there.

23:40

You remind me of

23:41

some movie star. So for a moment

23:43

you feel good until they say, just

23:45

kidding or whatever,

23:47

right? Until somebody else says something or until

23:50

your mind says something. God,

23:52

I wonder why I look this way. What am I wearing?

23:54

I need to get more of these. You know, it'll

23:57

do something right to cause more

23:59

disturbance.

23:59

because somebody made you feel good. So

24:02

if you try to solve your inner problem

24:05

that you are creating within yourself,

24:08

we'll talk about that in a moment, how you do that,

24:10

you're creating this problem inside,

24:12

even though nothing's happening outside, the

24:14

best you can do is to spend

24:16

your effort and your time to

24:19

manipulate and control situations

24:21

around you so they make you feel better for

24:23

a moment

24:24

and then you have to keep doing it over and over again.

24:27

There is work you need to do, but

24:30

it is inside yourself. Anyways,

24:32

we've looked at it from many different angles, that's what I always

24:34

talk about, but come back

24:37

to

24:37

you're inside and something's going on

24:39

outside. You will see that you're being

24:41

disturbed. You will see that there is disturbance

24:44

inside of you, period. Anxiety,

24:46

disturbance, whatever the heck it is, the

24:49

question becomes what are you gonna do about that? If

24:51

what you try to do about it is to

24:53

change the outside, find a new girlfriend, change

24:56

this, get a new apartment, buy some new clothes,

24:58

whatever the heck it is, the best

25:00

you can do is succeed for a moment, temporarily,

25:04

put an external situation on top

25:06

of the neurosis you're creating inside,

25:08

it will never last, you know it hasn't lasted,

25:11

how do you know it won't last? Because you've been doing it your whole

25:13

life

25:14

and you're still not okay. Every

25:16

moment of your life is what you've been trying to do. Get

25:19

the outside situation that made you okay. Meet

25:21

the right person, get the right thing, get the right car,

25:23

get the right grades, go to the right college, every

25:25

single thing that you've tried to do, every moment

25:28

and yet everyone you know is doing that and

25:30

they've done it their entire life and no one's okay. What

25:33

does that tell you? It doesn't work, it

25:35

can't work. If you're going to create

25:37

the neurosis inside yourself,

25:40

it's not true that you can create a situation

25:42

outside you that undoes that, it

25:44

can only temporarily feel better and

25:47

then the same junk goes on again. All

25:49

right, so now we're standing in publics, I'm

25:51

in here, the world is unfolding out there

25:53

and I see there's this veil of

25:56

disturbance.

25:57

You come down to what do I do about that?

25:59

I already told you what's not gonna work. So

26:02

what's my alternative? The alternative,

26:05

believe it or not,

26:06

is to relax.

26:07

What does that mean? What does

26:09

it mean, relax?

26:10

It means that you

26:12

are doing something inside yourself that

26:15

is causing this disturbance.

26:17

Publix is not causing the disturbance. The

26:20

cars driving on the road are not causing disturbance.

26:22

Being out on the date is not causing the disturbance,

26:25

but you're sure causing yourself a lot of disturbance about

26:27

those things. So instead,

26:31

relax. That's what I'm gonna say, then I'll work down to

26:33

detail with you. Instead of doing

26:35

whatever you're doing that is creating

26:38

all that disturbance in there, I'm

26:40

asking you to relax. That's

26:43

the alternative

26:45

to letting yourself create all this disturbance,

26:48

is you just take a position of, I'm

26:51

in here, the world is out

26:53

there doing its thing, and I'm

26:55

creating all this disturbance about it. I'm

26:57

remembering the past and freaking

26:59

out. I'm thinking about the future and

27:01

freaking out. I'm feeling stupid

27:03

standing here, relaxing.

27:05

I'm like, whatever

27:08

it is, I'm doing that inside

27:10

myself.

27:11

I'm not doing it.

27:26

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27:27

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27:29

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27:32

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27:34

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27:36

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27:39

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27:41

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27:46

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27:49

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27:50

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28:22

So,

28:22

the net result is you

28:24

come in here, you look and see

28:27

that you are in here and the disturbance is being created

28:30

and what you do is relax. What does that mean?

28:33

It means there will be an impulse to try

28:35

to do something about this disturbance.

28:38

Instead you relax. I

28:40

don't know how to explain it any closer. It's just

28:42

like relaxing into the asana. There's this

28:44

tension that's been created. Instead

28:47

of giving into that tension and getting

28:49

up or doing whatever it's trying to urge you to

28:51

do, you just relax. Even

28:54

it could be as simple as standing a certain

28:56

way. You'll notice you feel embarrassed. So,

28:59

you cross your arms a certain way or you sit a

29:01

certain way or you do something or

29:03

you talk to somebody. I hate

29:05

to talk to you about this stuff because people don't like to deal

29:07

with that. You're going to

29:08

get very mad at me if you start doing this because

29:10

you're going to come and say, ever since I started

29:13

doing this, I'm much worse than I used to be. No,

29:15

you're not. You just never paid attention

29:17

at how uncomfortable you are inside yourself. If

29:20

you are that uncomfortable inside yourself and

29:22

that's why you're talking to people and that's why you're buying what

29:24

you're buying and that's why you're doing what you're doing, you're

29:26

projecting your discomfort into your

29:28

life. Instead, you relax.

29:31

That's an alternative. I relax. So,

29:34

let's say I'm with a group of friends. They're talking

29:37

and they're bringing up different conversations. My

29:40

mind is thinking what I should say but I'm

29:42

afraid to say it or I thought I said it or my way was

29:44

right. Who the heck knows? It's just doing

29:46

its me thing because it's uncomfortable

29:49

and it wants to figure out what it should do in

29:52

order to get more comfortable. What you're

29:54

going to find is that the highest technique

29:56

is to relax. I'm going to keep coming back to that.

30:00

Relax.

30:01

If the reason you're about to say something

30:03

is to try to impress somebody, to try and

30:06

make yourself look acceptable, to who the heck knows,

30:08

whatever it is, relax instead.

30:12

Relax within yourself. And what you're going to see

30:14

is

30:15

that everything gets better.

30:17

At first it's scary because you'll realize

30:19

that all these actions and things you were doing

30:22

and all the noise the mind was making was

30:25

like an attempt to protect yourself.

30:27

It's almost as if something inside you thinks

30:29

you're under attack all the time. That

30:31

you can't even be the presence of a friend

30:33

and feel comfortable. Not

30:35

to mention lovers or anybody or anything.

30:37

And you just realize how scared you are.

30:40

That's what you're going to see. We

30:41

get to the bottom of this. You're scared

30:43

in there. I mean really scared.

30:46

You're going to start to realize everything you're doing,

30:48

how you dress, how you talk, everything

30:51

is because I'm scared

30:52

and I'm trying to create a persona.

30:54

I'm trying to do something, behave a certain way that

30:57

I can feel safer

30:58

because I'm keeping at a distance. Can

31:01

anybody relate to that? Do you understand that? I told

31:03

you the way to test that is imagine

31:05

if you dress different than the way you dress. Change

31:07

your hair to this and then go out there

31:09

a way that you don't feel comfortable with.

31:11

And you're going to see that you're doing everything you're

31:13

doing to try to create a comfort

31:16

zone. Why do you need a comfort zone? Because

31:18

I'm scared. Because

31:19

I'm not okay. People are not scared. No need comfort zones.

31:22

They're just not scared. There's children.

31:24

They're just running around. Okay. But

31:26

we can't do that. So we end up with these behavior

31:28

patterns that we develop,

31:31

our personalities, which are an attempt

31:33

to hide ourselves from this fear

31:36

inside. And now we have to sell ourselves

31:38

all the time. We have to do everything to

31:40

try and keep that persona, that facade up.

31:43

If I had my way, I'd like you. I don't

31:45

want you to live like that. I don't want you to spend

31:47

your entire life worrying about whether

31:49

people accept you or not or whether you said the right thing

31:51

or whether you wore the right thing. I mean,

31:53

my God, it must be intense to

31:55

live in there like that.

31:57

And so you get to the point where you say...

31:59

If I want to be okay,

32:02

I need to stop creating this

32:04

neurosis inside myself. And

32:06

buying into it is not a way to

32:08

stop it. If a kid's throwing a tantrum

32:11

and you get him what he wants and you try to figure out what

32:13

I need to do, that kid's going to keep throwing tantrums.

32:16

If you spend your life trying to appease

32:18

the part of you inside that is creating

32:21

all these problems, it doesn't get better,

32:23

it gets worse. So at some point

32:26

you realize, I am creating

32:28

this problem within myself. Life

32:31

is not creating this problem. Life

32:34

is just going about its business. Life is just unfolding

32:36

like it's done for 13.8 billion years. And

32:39

I just happen to be standing here at this particular

32:41

point in time and I'm seeing what

32:43

life is doing at this particular moment. I

32:46

keep saying that to you because at some point you'll become

32:48

conscious enough that that will blow your

32:50

mind.

32:51

That all you're seeing in front of you is

32:53

a result of 13.8 billion years of evolution going

32:57

on everywhere across the universe and you're

32:59

getting to see this point in time and space.

33:01

That is what's happening, isn't it? That's what's there.

33:04

If it took you out, it'd still be there. Wait a minute. If

33:07

it

33:07

took you in, it'd take you out? Wish I could do that. Pull

33:09

out, drop you into Paris.

33:11

You'll see what's going on. It can't have anything

33:14

to do with you. You weren't there a minute ago. But

33:16

it's still going to be going on. And

33:18

you'll look and you'll see, holy mackerel.

33:21

I am creating turmoil

33:23

inside myself no matter

33:26

where I am.

33:27

If I want to grow spiritually,

33:29

that's what I need to work with. So

33:32

why am I creating all this disturbance?

33:35

Eventually, that's where I got to see

33:37

it. The answer is very simple, because I'm

33:39

scared.

33:40

That's why I'm doing it.

33:42

So you look inside and you say, why

33:44

am I so scared? That's the bottom line. But

33:47

I'm telling you, the only way you can do this

33:49

is to relax. Otherwise, you're going to

33:51

react to this fear, react

33:53

to this anxiety, and you'll

33:55

panic. You'll

33:56

panic in there. I can't handle this. I

33:58

can't handle this. The next thing you know, you're

34:01

saying things, doing things, acting things, doing

34:03

whatever you can to try and not feel

34:06

this disturbance that you created

34:08

inside yourself.

34:09

For absolutely no reason. Nobody's telling

34:11

you to do this. You don't have to do this.

34:13

Like I told you, the past,

34:15

why are you doing this with your past? It's

34:18

over. It's done. It already

34:20

happened.

34:21

But why are you carrying that around

34:23

inside and bothering yourself

34:25

about it?

34:26

Nobody's making you do that. There's

34:29

nobody walking up to you constantly holding your

34:32

past in your face.

34:33

How many people run up to you

34:34

and say, you did this when you were five?

34:37

Nobody knows, but you didn't tell them, but you know you did it.

34:39

On a

34:39

general rule, 9.999999% of the time, there is no one in life that is

34:41

running up

34:42

to

34:45

you shoving your past in your face.

34:47

But you are.

34:49

You're constantly doing this inside

34:51

yourself. Why? It's

34:54

going to make you sick,

34:55

but yet you do it. Your

34:58

work is always

35:00

to go deep enough within yourself to

35:03

say,

35:04

why am I doing this? I don't need to do

35:07

this. It doesn't mean it's going to stop right away.

35:09

It's a habit you've developed. But at least

35:11

reach the point

35:12

where the deepest part of your being knows,

35:15

hey, you know, the world is unfolding

35:18

and I should be able to handle it. What's the big

35:20

deal? I'm just experiencing what's

35:22

happening on the planet Earth. The past is

35:25

over. The future hasn't

35:25

happened. Just get that place inside.

35:28

It's called witness consciousness. I'm

35:30

in here experiencing what's happening. Anything

35:33

else is something I'm doing to myself.

35:36

So if the past is bothering me, understand

35:38

the past is not bothering you. You're

35:41

doing it.

35:42

The past doesn't even exist.

35:44

It's just something you're doing inside yourself.

35:47

If you keep doing that, you will

35:49

not be okay.

35:51

What you need to do is stop doing

35:53

it.

35:54

And that's spiritual growth. So what I'm

35:56

saying is the alternative to doing

35:59

what you're doing... is to relax

36:01

and that may not make sense to you, but eventually

36:03

it will. You're literally, you are

36:05

in there doing something that is

36:07

making your past keep come up and

36:09

making yourself keep

36:11

disturbing yourself. You are in there doing

36:13

something that is making it so when you're perfectly safe

36:16

standing in the aisles of publics, you're

36:18

scared or you're nervous, alright?

36:21

You're doing that. The alternative

36:23

to doing that is to relax. And

36:26

so a yogi or yogini realizes

36:28

this and they start developing a habit

36:31

with themselves. Wherever they find

36:33

themselves, for a moment they take

36:35

inventory and they see, look what

36:38

kind I am, look at the disturbance I'm creating,

36:41

relax.

36:42

You won't want to relax.

36:44

You'll want to do something to feel safer.

36:47

It seems as though if I relax I've exposed

36:49

myself. There's nothing happening,

36:52

therefore there's nothing wrong with

36:55

opening up and letting go of this neurosis

36:57

you're creating inside. More

36:59

and more you

37:00

start practicing relaxing. So

37:02

I'm standing in the presence with friends and

37:05

somebody's talking and my mind is thinking

37:07

what I'm going to say back instead

37:09

of listening to what they're saying.

37:12

You start watching that

37:13

and you notice why am I doing that and you'll

37:15

see it's fear.

37:17

You're trying to get ready. You're trying to make sure you don't see

37:19

something stupid. Whatever heck it is.

37:21

In the midst of that, you

37:23

relax. You

37:24

relax.

37:25

You just relax. What does that mean?

37:27

Relax your shoulders, relax your chest,

37:30

relax your tummy, relax your butt. Because

37:32

they get tight.

37:34

Just do a wave of relax. While

37:36

I'm standing there, while you're standing there. No one will

37:38

notice.

37:39

You just relax. But what will happen?

37:42

Because you chose to relax,

37:45

you didn't allow yourself to get

37:47

involved in this process of creating

37:49

neurosis. Relaxation is

37:52

the opposite of neurosis. That's why in yoga,

37:55

you relax. That's what it's all about, right?

37:57

They go into different stages and postures.

38:00

of relaxation, if you relax

38:02

inside

38:03

wherever you are, now you're not going to do it every moment,

38:05

eventually you will.

38:07

I'll get there in a second. But your practice

38:09

now is at various points,

38:11

you know, regular points throughout the day. You

38:14

catch yourself, you become present, and

38:16

you look to see what's going on inside of you. And

38:19

I'm telling you what you're going to see is that you're creating tension. You're

38:21

going to see that you're creating anxiety. You're going to see

38:24

that you're creating a storm in there when

38:26

nothing's happening outside. And

38:28

one way to tell is if it is about

38:30

the past,

38:32

that's not happening outside.

38:33

The past is not happening outside.

38:36

It already did. It's over. So

38:38

if you're disturbed about

38:39

anything that has to do with the past,

38:41

then it's what I'm talking about, isn't

38:43

it?

38:43

You're creating disturbance for yourself

38:46

where there doesn't need to be.

38:48

Same thing with the future. The future hasn't

38:50

happened yet. If you are creating

38:52

worries and anxieties about the future, that's

38:55

not in front of you.

38:56

Those are things you're doing.

38:59

The alternative to doing that is

39:01

to relax.

39:02

If I'm relaxing, if I'm using my

39:04

will to relax, then

39:06

I didn't put my whole heart and soul into

39:09

using my will to create a hard time for myself. I

39:11

am telling you, if you think life is hard,

39:14

you will eventually reach the point that 95%

39:17

of all the hard times that you're

39:20

experiencing, you're creating for yourself.

39:23

And the most, the unfolding

39:25

of life in front of you might create 5%

39:28

of your disturbances. You are every

39:30

moment of your life creating disturbance for yourself.

39:33

You need to stop doing that.

39:34

So one way of doing that is this

39:37

practice of relaxation.

39:38

So

39:40

you will find yourself in different situations.

39:43

Most of them are neutral. There's nothing going on.

39:46

Relax. Just give yourself this right

39:48

to relax. I'm telling you, it will

39:50

change your life. Even those moments

39:53

I used to do every time I got into a car before I

39:55

started, I would just relax. Every

39:57

time I got out, I would relax.

39:59

back in the 70s. Every time I would

40:02

come in some situation, I have to open a door. I have

40:04

to go through a door. You go through a lot of doors during the day. Every

40:07

time I would remember I'm on the planet

40:09

earth about to go through a door

40:11

and just relax.

40:13

It changed my life.

40:15

Those moments of relaxation will

40:17

change your entire life. Why?

40:20

You will become more conscious. One, you're

40:22

being conscious by being there. And

40:24

two, what you're doing when you're conscious is

40:27

not participating in

40:28

destroying your life by creating

40:31

neurosis for yourself. How many

40:33

times have you worried about something that never happened?

40:35

Well, a lot. There's a lot

40:37

of things. Like I said, the past

40:40

is over.

40:41

So if you're having disturbance with the past, that's

40:43

wasted. The future hasn't happened.

40:46

So

40:46

if you're having disturbance about the future, that's

40:49

wasted.

40:50

The situations in front of you that

40:52

are unfolding, if you're creating

40:54

disturbance about them, if you're embarrassed,

40:56

you're this, you're self-conscious, you're doing

40:58

that. So by the time you're done, what

41:01

I noticed is like 95% of

41:03

my problems are me. That's

41:05

the root of my problems are me. It's something

41:07

I'm doing inside myself that's

41:10

creating this tremendous turmoil

41:12

and tension and disturbance. Therefore,

41:14

for me to try to solve

41:16

that with anything other than stop

41:18

doing it.

41:20

There, that's your spiritual path. Stop

41:23

doing unto yourself what you're doing unto yourself.

41:26

You need to learn to

41:29

develop a healthy relationship

41:32

with yourself.

41:34

And you do that first by

41:37

catching yourself in the present moment

41:39

and seeing what are you doing to

41:41

yourself?

41:43

Because if it is not happening out there,

41:45

and you're just experiencing the outside,

41:48

and

41:48

that is not the 99% of the time, the

41:50

outside is not a disturbance. It

41:52

is you that is creating disturbance, no matter

41:54

what's happening, it's a disturbance. If you're

41:57

driving down the street, it's

41:59

not hard to drive.

41:59

You guys are pretty good at it.

42:01

There's no disturbance, but

42:03

you look and see what's going on inside of you And

42:06

you're gonna see tension anxiety all

42:08

kinds of stuff you are doing

42:10

that so the alternative is

42:12

while you're driving Catch yourself.

42:14

What do I do if I see myself think about the past

42:17

relax? What do I do some is say miss a

42:19

worrying about the future, you know 20 years from now relax

42:23

What do I do if I find myself? I'm

42:25

scared and I'm looking around to

42:28

make sure I'm okay with everything

42:30

Relax

42:31

Just keep relaxing instead

42:35

of what you were doing

42:36

You relax you let go your shoulders you let

42:38

go here then I told you you will

42:41

see that there is fear inside

42:43

That's what you're gonna see. There's fear inside Lean

42:46

away from the fear. Just don't touch

42:48

it. Don't try to solve it Just relax

42:51

and release as it's called relax and release

42:54

is let go and what will happen is

42:56

over time. It takes time

42:58

Over time you will find

43:00

that you're calmer

43:02

you will find that you're more centered You

43:04

will find that you're clearer and you will

43:07

find that you're not as scared the other

43:09

day Somebody was telling me they were playing outside with crickets

43:13

Grasshoppers to see if they could hold it and

43:15

not get scared when it jumped

43:18

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

43:20

But you need to spread that

43:22

everywhere's

43:23

You need to expand

43:26

your comfort zone Like let's

43:28

say you walk across the field people

43:30

say well, there's snakes in the field I've

43:33

lived out here for 40 years By

43:35

God's grace. No one's ever gotten bothered by

43:37

a snake. So are there snakes out

43:39

there? Yeah Rattlesnakes

43:41

coral snakes, but no one

43:44

has ever gotten bothered by

43:46

a rattlesnake or a coral snake Therefore

43:49

if you're worrying about it and you're thinking about

43:51

it and everywhere you go That's what's going

43:53

on and you don't enjoy walking on the fields

43:56

or coming out here because there's coral snake I told you now

43:58

the rattlesnakes of coral snakes, right?

43:59

then you're causing yourself trouble. So

44:02

instead, you

44:03

relax. And you do that with all

44:05

of life. You just keep letting go

44:08

and relaxing, and you're going to find their

44:10

space. And then you'll get to an edge

44:12

where you get scared.

44:14

Where, okay, I'm relaxing, and now I dare

44:16

to say something. And now my mind bothers

44:19

me about what I said. Does anybody's mind do that?

44:21

When you're talking, then it gives you a hard time, because

44:23

what you said, that was stupid, and you shouldn't have said that.

44:26

Come on, I want to know.

44:27

Can you see how you will never be

44:29

okay unless you deal with this? This isn't

44:32

like an optional course.

44:33

It's not an elective. It's

44:36

everything.

44:37

It is basically a mandatory

44:39

course that you need to

44:41

learn how to stop bothering yourself.

44:45

The way to do that is to relax. Now, if

44:47

meditation helps you do that, mantra

44:49

helps you. Any methodologies, anything you

44:51

can do, read good books, I don't care.

44:54

Just make sure that what you're doing, you

44:56

are consciously aware that what I am

44:58

working with is myself, and

45:00

I need to stop creating trouble for

45:02

myself. How about if I say it that way? Why

45:04

are you creating so much trouble for yourself? All

45:07

right, you need to stop creating

45:09

so much trouble for yourself. And what I have

45:11

found is that if you catch

45:13

yourself constantly,

45:15

and don't think about it, don't try to solve it, just

45:18

relax. Just relax. Instead, just relax.

45:21

That you didn't put your energy into

45:23

participating in creating

45:26

this neurosis for yourself. And over time,

45:28

it becomes less, and it becomes less. And

45:31

then what happens is something very, very special.

45:34

You start to realize that all

45:36

that energy that you created

45:39

with all that fear and what to do about it,

45:41

and just neurosis, all that, that's

45:43

a lot of juice. That's a lot of shakti. It's

45:46

a lot of energy. Because you are no

45:48

longer participating in it doing

45:50

that.

45:51

Somehow the energy finds its

45:54

way to a deeper place inside of you,

45:56

does it by itself, and you start

45:58

to feel joy.

47:59

But

48:02

that is a natural state for everybody.

48:05

And that's what relaxation will get you, is

48:07

you relax and the mistake people

48:09

make, and I'm going to close off on this, the

48:12

mistake people make is they think

48:14

that what I'm saying is there's all this tension

48:16

and insecurity and all this stuff that I've created

48:18

in here. I need to make it relax.

48:21

No,

48:22

no, that's the mistake people make. You're not going

48:24

to make it relax. You

48:27

will relax.

48:28

You who's supposed to be experiencing what's in

48:30

front of you, relax, relax,

48:34

and the rest will go away over

48:36

time.

48:37

And you will end up face to face with two

48:39

things. To the great masters of

48:41

the yogi, life consists of

48:43

the following. I am in here experiencing

48:46

what's in front of me, but I have

48:48

to look through the veil of the waves of ecstasy

48:51

that keep coming up because everything that's happening

48:53

outside is so amazing that

48:55

it blows your mind.

48:57

The fact that there's a boy, that there's a girl, that

49:00

somebody's old, that somebody's young, that there's

49:02

a car, that I'm moving in

49:04

a car,

49:05

it all becomes so powerful

49:07

because you're not in the way.

49:09

It doesn't have to be powerful enough to blow

49:12

you out of your own way. I said, it blew

49:14

my mind. That's because you're in

49:16

your mind. When you let

49:18

go of all that, you're on this verge

49:20

and I'm telling you, a bird takes off

49:23

for the next hour. There's this

49:25

joy just pouring through you because you

49:27

heard a bird chirp. That's

49:29

where I want you.

49:31

And you'll learn to live with it. You'll learn to carry your liquor.

49:33

You'll learn to handle your ecstasy and go to work and

49:35

go to school, but it's a lot more fun. I

49:38

want you to live your life from the moment you wake up

49:40

in the morning to the moment you go to bed at night. I

49:43

want that already your state is so high

49:45

that you couldn't tell us what happens. It's just fun that something

49:47

happened. And now what happens is the

49:49

world that's unfolding in front of you becomes

49:52

fun, not

49:53

scary. You don't need anything from

49:55

it. You're feeling great joy. You feel whole

49:57

and complete. And so what ends up happening

49:59

is instead of

49:59

of interacting in the world to try to get something,

50:02

is what everybody's doing.

50:04

You're interacting in the world because you want to express

50:06

the joy and beauty that's going on inside of you. You

50:09

become a giver. It becomes totally

50:11

natural that whatever you're trying to imagine,

50:14

looking and

50:14

interacting in this world for days and weeks and

50:16

months at a time without ever thinking

50:19

that you need anything from it. There's nothing trying

50:21

to take anything or get anything. You're

50:23

not scared that something will happen or not

50:25

happen. There's just this sense of joy

50:27

welling up inside of you and so

50:30

all of a sudden you realize, oh, I

50:32

can give something. I can help somebody. I

50:34

can support something and all of

50:36

a sudden this flow that's inside of you

50:38

starts flowing outside and you

50:40

become a giver. So that's a

50:43

way of living. That's another

50:44

life. That's a spiritual life. How do we

50:46

get there? By relaxing.

50:48

Relaxing. What does that mean? By not participating

50:51

in creating the disturbance that

50:54

you're creating inside of yourself and instead

50:57

just relaxing. You just keep relaxing,

50:59

constantly relaxing and you're going to find

51:02

that it works out way better. All

51:05

right. So there, there's a technique

51:07

and it should be every moment of every second of

51:10

your life and eventually it will be.

51:12

Eventually you're just in there relaxing, just

51:15

relaxing and you'll realize that the world

51:17

is unfolding and you are there with it

51:19

and there are no problems. There's just the circumstance

51:22

in front of you. You're interacting with it and

51:25

it brings you joy and challenge and life

51:27

is a beautiful thing. Come on.

51:30

Tired.

51:47

You've been listening to the Michael Singer podcast

51:51

produced by Sounds True in

51:53

partnership with Shanti Publications.

51:56

Sounds True is the co-publisher

51:58

of Michael Singer's newest. book,

52:00

Living Untethered, Beyond the

52:02

Human Predicament. We've also

52:04

joined with him to produce an extraordinary

52:07

eight-part video course. It's

52:09

called Living from a Place of Surrender,

52:12

The Untethered

52:13

Soul in Action. You can

52:15

find out more

52:16

at michaelsingerpodcast.com.

52:19

And you can save 15% off

52:22

any Michael Singer program available

52:24

through Sounds True when you use the

52:26

code SINGER15 at

52:29

checkout. That's Singer,

52:30

Numeral 1, Numeral 5

52:32

at checkout. The music you heard

52:34

on this podcast is the song,

52:36

Giving It All, by Be

52:38

Still the Earth. Thank you

52:41

so much for listening.

52:42

Sounds true. Waking up the world.

52:44

Thank you.

53:14

Thank you.