0:01 There is
0:05 something most have never fully
0:09 seen. And it's not because it is
0:11 hidden, but
0:15 because it is so close and so
0:22 overlooked. It is this
0:25 body. You were given a
0:29 body. You were given senses.
0:32 You were given the capacity to
0:35 feel, to see, to
0:37 hear, to
0:39 taste, to
0:41 touch. And
0:50 why. They search beyond the body. They
0:54 try to escape it and override it and manage
0:55 manage
0:59 it. And they speak of the body as if
1:01 it's in the
1:04 way. But the body was never the
1:09 problem. It is not a shell. It is not a
1:19 transcend. The body is how life is
1:25 known. Not in thought, but in contact.
1:27 Not in
1:35 experience. And until that is seen
1:41 clearly, the deeper peace that is long for
1:43 for
1:46 remains just out of
1:50 reach. And today I want to begin with this.
1:52 this.
1:55 Not how to fix the body, not how to silence
1:56 silence
2:01 it, but how to understand why it was
2:05 given and what it is quietly offering in every
2:07 every
2:10 moment. You were not
2:14 placed into this body by chance.
2:17 And it was not given to punish you or to
2:20 test you or to distract you from
2:22 something that's more
2:26 important. It was given to you to allow
2:30 something to be known that cannot be
2:33 known without
2:36 it. And there are things that cannot be
2:40 realized through thinking.
2:41 There are
2:47 truths that do not arise through silence
2:50 alone. There are openings that happen
2:52 only through
2:56 living, only through contact with life
2:57 as it
3:02 is. And this body, your
3:06 body, makes that possible.
3:10 It is not who you are, but it is the way
3:21 known. Without a body, there is no
3:24 taste. There is no warmth of the
3:27 sun on the
3:29 skin, no sound of
3:33 breath, no meeting of eyes or paws in a conversation.
3:35 conversation.
3:39 or weight of grief resting in the [Music]
3:41 [Music]
3:43 chest. The
3:47 formless cannot be remembered without
3:51 some form to be remembered
3:53 through. And
3:55 this this human
3:59 life this is the form you have been
4:01 given not to
4:04 escape but to
4:08 meet and not to
4:10 control but to [Music]
4:12 [Music]
4:16 understand. And the body is the exact
4:20 structure needed for you to come to
4:27 experience. To
4:30 respond instead of
4:34 reacting, to rest instead of
4:38 flee, to allow instead of [Music]
4:39 [Music]
4:43 resist. And not because the body is
4:48 perfect, but because it is real and
4:51 present and
4:53 here. And if you cannot be
4:56 here in this
5:05 Many who walk the path of
5:13 awakening, they reach a point where they
5:15 begin to turn away from the
5:18 body. And it's not
5:22 consciously, but it's subtly and it's
5:24 quietly. And there is a belief that
5:26 begins to
5:29 form, often shaped by well-meaning
5:31 teachings and
5:34 traditions, that the body is a problem
5:36 that needs to be
5:41 overcome. That the senses are
5:43 distractions and that the goal is to
5:47 rise above experience, to become
5:49 untouched by
5:55 it. And so the body becomes something to
5:58 silence. The senses
6:05 control. And life becomes something to
6:08 observe from a distance rather than
6:16 directly. But this way of
6:20 seeing creates division.
6:23 It creates a gap between what is real
6:25 and what is
6:28 believed because the body was never
6:30 meant to be
6:35 bypassed and your senses were never the
6:37 enemy. And this
6:42 life is not in the way of truth.
6:50 remembered. And you're not here to float
6:54 above life. You are here to be in it
6:55 it still,
6:57 still, present,
7:05 undivided. And this is not detachment.
7:07 It is not a
7:11 withdrawal. It is not spiritualized
7:17 avoidance. It is something much quieter
7:21 than that, much more
7:25 honest. It is full
7:29 presence in the body, in the
7:32 senses, in the
7:35 moment. And this is what most seekers miss.
7:37 miss.
7:41 Not because they are
7:44 unworthy, but because they were not
7:46 shown how to
7:49 stay. You were given
7:54 senses, not by accident and not as a
7:58 trap. The senses are not something to
8:03 shut down or to grow out of or
8:07 spiritualize away.
8:09 They are
8:12 precise and they are
8:15 intelligent and they are the way through
8:17 which you come into
8:20 contact with what is
8:23 real. But for
8:27 most the senses are
8:29 dulled and they're
8:31 overused, over
8:36 stimulated or they're entirely
8:40 disconnected. The body is moving but the
8:42 awareness is just not
8:45 there. And so the
8:53 The senses are not wrong. They have
8:56 simply never been [Music]
8:57 [Music]
9:07 sight. Seeing is not just about the
9:11 eyes. It's about how you meet what is in
9:13 front of
9:18 you. Is your gaze soft or hard?
9:22 Are you trying to take something in or
9:25 are you simply available to
9:27 it? In
9:30 presence, sight becomes less about looking
9:31 looking
9:37 at and more about seeing
9:41 with. Seeing then becomes
9:44 relational. You no longer scan for
9:48 meaning or judgment. You simply
9:53 see and what is seen
10:01 hearing? Sound enters not only through the
10:02 the
10:04 ears but through the
10:07 skin, through the
10:09 chest, through the whole [Music]
10:10 [Music]
10:14 system. And most listen to
10:18 respond. Most hear only the surface of
10:20 what is being
10:23 said. But when there is
10:27 presence, the tone of a voice carries
10:32 weight. The silence between words says
10:36 more than the words themselves.
10:39 Even the ordinary sounds like footsteps,
10:44 the wind, the breath, a
10:47 teacup begin to register differently
10:49 when you are
10:55 still. And hearing is not
10:58 passive. It is
11:01 receptivity. And what about touch? Touch
11:06 is not just about contact.
11:09 It is how the body recognizes what is
11:16 real. And most move through life
11:19 brushing past things. You know, we're
11:23 rarely aware of what is actually being
11:28 felt. But when touch is met from
11:31 presence, even something simple like
11:34 fabric against the
11:44 here. Then touch brings the awareness
11:49 back into the body. It reorientates, it
11:52 settles, it allows the moment to become physical.
11:54 physical.
11:56 Not just
11:59 mental. And what about
12:04 smell? Smell is often ignored, but is
12:07 one of the most immediate ways the body
12:09 responds to the
12:14 world. A scent can bring a memory. It
12:17 can soothe. It can trigger. It can
12:18 soften the
12:24 breath or cause tension to rise. In
12:25 In
12:29 presence, scent becomes
12:31 information. Not to
12:34 interpret, but to
12:39 allow, to notice what shifts when it
12:42 enters. And smell is part of how the
12:44 body senses
12:47 safety. And it is also part of how it
12:55 And then there's
12:59 taste. Taste is not only about
13:01 food. It is about contact,
13:03 contact, depth,
13:05 depth,
13:08 appreciation, and
13:10 patience. In
13:13 stillness, eating is not a
13:17 routine. It becomes communion.
13:23 Not in a ritualized way, but in a simple physical
13:29 honesty. To taste something fully is to
13:32 let it land. To let it be
13:37 enough, to meet it with no rush, no
13:41 effort, and no resistance.
13:43 None of the
13:47 senses were meant to distract you from
13:51 truth. They were meant to bring you into
13:54 contact with
13:57 it. But only when they are met through
14:01 presence, not habit, not avoidance, not
14:05 performance, just still. awake
14:08 awake
14:13 perception in the moment as it
14:16 is. And everything you
14:19 experience is filtered through your
14:22 system. Not just your mind, but your
14:27 body, your breath, your nervous system,
14:30 your energetic system.
14:33 And when the system is agitated, over
14:35 stimulated or shut
14:39 down, perception becomes
14:43 distorted. So you may be seeing, but
14:45 you're not taking
14:47 in. You may be
14:51 hearing, but you're not
14:53 registering. And you may be
14:56 touching, but you're not
15:00 feeling. And this isn't a
15:04 fault. It is a sign the system has not
15:08 yet learned how to remain present in
15:11 safety. Most people are not in
15:15 danger, but their bodies are still in
15:17 defense. They're still bracing. They're
15:21 still guarding, still preparing for what
15:24 never comes.
15:25 And so the
15:29 senses instead of bringing clarity begin
15:30 to bring
15:32 overwhelm or
15:39 disconnection. And presence cannot land
15:43 in a system that is always moving away
15:45 from the
15:49 moment. And this is why stillness is not
15:56 It must include the body and not just the
15:57 the
15:59 muscles but the
16:03 signals within the system
16:07 itself. And to begin perceiving
16:10 clearly, you must be willing to meet
16:13 what is happening
16:15 inside, not just what is happening around
16:17 around
16:20 you. And this is not about controlling
16:23 the nervous system. It is about
16:25 listening to
16:28 it, letting it show you where there is
16:32 strain, letting it show you what it has been
16:33 been
16:36 carrying, letting it settle when it's
16:41 ready, not when it's
16:44 told. When the nervous system is met
16:47 with awareness instead of
16:49 force, it begins to
16:51 reorientate on its
16:55 own. And in that
16:59 reorientation, the senses begin to
17:03 clear. The moment begins to feel more
17:05 spacious and the world
17:08 becomes less
17:12 loud. And life is no longer something
17:13 that we need to
17:17 survive. It becomes something that you
17:20 can meet not
17:23 perfectly but
17:25 fully. Every
17:29 moment is
17:33 complete. And it may not feel that
17:37 way but it is.
17:41 Each moment arrives already whole,
17:44 already full, already carrying
17:46 everything needed for awareness to
17:50 deepen if you know how to meet
17:53 it. And most of us are moving too
17:56 quickly to notice.
18:00 life becomes background, something to get
18:01 get
18:04 through, something to manage or
18:07 interpret or to fix or to
18:10 escape. But when the pace
18:14 slows, when presence is allowed to
18:16 settle, what was
18:19 missed becomes
18:22 visible. The moment is not just
18:26 something you are passing through.
18:30 It is something you are being invited
18:33 into. And in every
18:37 moment you are being offered more than one
18:39 one
18:41 thing. You are being
18:45 offered a sensory
18:47 interaction which are the sounds, the
18:51 textures, the temperature, the
18:54 light. And you're being offered an emotional
18:55 emotional
18:59 tone which can be subtle or strong. It
19:01 can be familiar or
19:03 unexpected. And you're also being
19:06 offered a nervous system
19:09 response. Is it one of ease or
19:12 resistance, alertness,
19:15 openness? And you're also being offered a
19:16 a
19:19 mirror showing something about where you
19:24 are, how you are, what is still being
19:27 held. And in every moment, you're also
19:29 being offered a
19:32 choice to meet it from
19:36 presence or from habit.
19:40 And then you're being offered an
19:43 invitation to see more
19:46 clearly, to feel more
19:50 honestly, and to respond more
19:55 gently. And often there's also something
19:58 unnameable, a quiet sense that this
20:00 moment holds something for
20:03 you if you will
20:07 stay. These are not concepts.
20:09 This is what life is always
20:13 doing. It's offering. It's
20:17 inviting. It's meeting you exactly where you
20:18 you
20:21 are. And most of the time you are not
20:23 aware this is
20:27 happening because most of the time you
20:28 are not
20:30 here. Not
20:33 fully. Not with your body, not with your
20:36 breath, not with what is actually
20:38 unfolding right
20:41 now. But when you
20:45 are, when presence is steady, when
20:49 awareness is soft and
20:52 gentle, when effort drops
20:57 away, you begin to notice that even the
21:00 smallest moment, a hand on a
21:04 fabric, the shift of air in a
21:07 room, the tone of a
21:10 voice is quietly ly
21:13 asking to be
21:15 met. Not
21:18 interpreted, not
21:21 analyzed, just [Music]
21:23 [Music]
21:31 enough. Presence is not a
21:35 concept. It is not something that we
21:38 should aim for or achieve.
21:41 is not something to practice and
21:44 improve. Presence is the natural state
21:47 beneath the
21:50 movement. It is what remains when there
21:54 is no grasping. There's no forcing,
21:56 there's no pushing
22:01 away. It is not stillness as a
22:03 performance. It is
22:07 stillness as truth.
22:09 And when presence is
22:13 here, the moment
22:15 slows, not in
22:18 time, but in
22:22 texture. You begin to feel more clearly.
22:24 You hear more
22:28 honestly. The body softens. The breath
22:31 lengthens and slows down and
22:33 disappears. And the senses return to
22:36 their rightful rhythm.
22:40 And life becomes less about what is
22:44 happening and more about how it is being
22:48 met. And this changes
22:51 everything. Now without
22:54 presence the world is something to
22:57 manage. The body is something to
23:00 fix. The senses are something that we
23:03 need to control. And the moment is
23:06 something we need to survive.
23:08 But with
23:11 presence, the world becomes something to respond
23:13 respond
23:19 to. The body becomes something to listen
23:22 to. The senses become
23:24 messengers. And the
23:27 moment becomes
23:31 enough. Not because it is
23:35 perfect and not because it is
23:38 comfortable, but because you are no
23:41 longer resisting
23:45 it. And presence reveals what was already
23:47 already
23:50 here. It brings forward what is
23:54 essential and it quiets what is
23:58 not. And it allows you to live from what is
23:59 is
24:03 true rather than from what was learned
24:06 or feared or held on
24:09 to. And this is not a
24:13 technique. It is a way of
24:18 being. And it begins with where you are
24:23 here, right now in this
24:26 moment, exactly as it
24:30 is. And you were not given this life to escape
24:31 escape
24:34 it. You were not given this body to
24:37 fight it. You were not given these
24:42 senses to be distracted by them.
24:46 You were given this life so that
24:48 something could be
24:51 known. So that what is
24:53 true could be realized
24:55 realized
24:57 within an
25:02 experience, not apart from it.
25:06 And your body, your breath, your nervous
25:09 system, your energetic system, your
25:14 awareness, all of it is
25:16 here. Not to be
25:20 perfected, but to be
25:26 inhabited fully and gently and
25:29 clearly. And this is not
25:32 about effort. It's about
25:36 honesty. About no longer leaving the
25:41 moment. About no longer abandoning the
25:45 body. About no longer treating this
25:48 life as if it is separate from the
25:51 sacred, from the
25:54 divine. The path is not far. It is not
25:59 outside of you. It is not hidden. It is
26:03 here. In the way you sit, in the way you
26:08 listen, in the way you meet what is
26:15 arising without dividing yourself from
26:19 it. And you don't need to understand
26:24 more. You need to come closer.
26:27 You need to return to the body that has
26:30 always waited and to soften the patterns
26:35 that kept you constantly looking
26:38 elsewhere. And to allow presence to move
26:41 through you, not just in those quiet
26:45 moments, but in the ordinary ones, in
26:46 the boring
26:48 ones. And
26:51 this this is the
26:53 work. This is the
26:55 return and
27:03 invitation. Thank you for being with
