Ep. 295: Sitting on 9-15-26 (precepts)
Sep 16, 2026 · 1 hr · 10 segments
- Speakers
- BernieHost
- Top entities
- Ruth Ozeki×6Buddhism×15Apple×2Spotify×2God×2
Sep 16, 2026 · 1 hr · 10 segments
I don't think we need technical terms like dissociation or something, but I was pretty disconnected from my body.
In a way, it was strategic.
It was one of the ways I learned to cope with sensations, emotions that I not only didn't wanna feel, didn't know how to hold.
They felt overwhelming.
And so I found in the early years of my practice, body scan meditations, a crucial kind of connecting practice where from that kind of, oh, I'm not really in touch with my body, it just slowly taught me what it was like to bring my awareness to the sensations in my body, like, bit by bit, and to be with those sensations with equanimity, to let them be.
So instead of just like, you know, so I guess in a way it's like, instead of just this very broad, directive, just let your experience be, you know, which again is correct and sufficient saying, oh, now bring your awareness to your toes, bring your awareness to your ankle and just let the sensations there be as they are.
And then the body scan will guide you through the body section by section.
And your only task really, your mission, right, is simply just notice what sensations there are in that part of the body that i'm guiding you to your ankle your calves your knee your thigh you know we'll just move step by step through the body and just let the sensations in that part of your body just be as they are which is like more manageable you know so um that's really it like the practice is just you know bring your awareness through the body And bit by bit, just like notice what you're feeling.
Of course, the first most important is that notice.
And then with as much equanimity as possible in that moment, just let the sensations be as they are.
I found this in the early years of my practice incredibly helpful.
But even now, there are times where like after decades of practice where I can go through long stretches of time where there is nothing more natural, more simple than just being aware of my physical experience moment by moment.
Just like not having to do anything technical to do that.
Where then like for like a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks, suddenly it just feels a little bit more challenging.
You know, maybe I'm going through something particularly stressful or who knows what, you know, just for whatever reason, I don't need to dive too deeply into it.
Just like, oh, I feel like, oh, a little bit, it's more challenging just to be in my body, you know? And so even now, once in a while, I will do a body scan methodically on my own.
And you can do it on your own too.
There's guided versions of this.
I don't think we need technical terms like dissociation or something, but I was pretty disconnected from my body.
In a way, it was strategic.
It was one of the ways I learned to cope with sensations, emotions that I not only didn't wanna feel, didn't know how to hold.
They felt overwhelming.
And so I found in the early years of my practice, body scan meditations, a crucial kind of connecting practice where from that kind of, oh, I'm not really in touch with my body, it just slowly taught me what it was like to bring my awareness to the sensations in my body, like, bit by bit, and to be with those sensations with equanimity, to let them be.
So instead of just like, you know, so I guess in a way it's like, instead of just this very broad, directive, just let your experience be, you know, which again is correct and sufficient saying, oh, now bring your awareness to your toes, bring your awareness to your ankle and just let the sensations there be as they are.
And then the body scan will guide you through the body section by section.
And your only task really, your mission, right, is simply just notice what sensations there are in that part of the body that i'm guiding you to your ankle your calves your knee your thigh you know we'll just move step by step through the body and just let the sensations in that part of your body just be as they are which is like more manageable you know so um that's really it like the practice is just you know bring your awareness through the body And bit by bit, just like notice what you're feeling.
Of course, the first most important is that notice.
And then with as much equanimity as possible in that moment, just let the sensations be as they are.
I found this in the early years of my practice incredibly helpful.
But even now, there are times where like after decades of practice where I can go through long stretches of time where there is nothing more natural, more simple than just being aware of my physical experience moment by moment.
Just like not having to do anything technical to do that.
Where then like for like a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks, suddenly it just feels a little bit more challenging.
You know, maybe I'm going through something particularly stressful or who knows what, you know, just for whatever reason, I don't need to dive too deeply into it.
Just like, oh, I feel like, oh, a little bit, it's more challenging just to be in my body, you know? And so even now, once in a while, I will do a body scan methodically on my own.
And you can do it on your own too.
There's guided versions of this.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
