Meditation

What does Meditation mean to you? Do you meditate? Join Jennifer and Charity as they explore the often misunderstood practice of meditation. Jennifer describes her journey from doubter to certified instructor and practitioner, while Charity shows that meditation can take many forms, such as prayer, that all help you find your center.

Summary Key Words: meditation , thought , feel , people , meditate , day , sit , moment, coherence , heart , studied , praying , mindfulness , self hypnosis , aware , brain , mantra , guided visualizations , fix 

Episode Transcript

Jennifer Wong (00:50):
Hello, and welcome to Our Podcast being
effing honest, I'm JenniferWong.

Charity Rodriguez (00:55):
And I'm Charity Rodriguez.

Jennifer Wong (00:57):
We invite you into our conversations about
everyday issues experienced byeveryday people. We share our
stories with honesty and humor,hoping to bring people together
in community by showing howvulnerability can deepen bonds
when done with kindness and nonjudgment. We know it's tough. So
we'll go ahead and go first.

(01:31):
Hi, how do you feel aboutmeditating? That good.
So how often would you say youmeditate?

Unknown (01:49):
I would say, If I'm lucky, a few times a year.

Jennifer Wong (01:56):
Hey, so how do you feel about meditation?

Unknown (01:58):
I feel like it's something I need to do more.

Jennifer Wong (02:04):
So how are you there? What is meditation mean
to you?

Unknown (02:07):
To me, it's me sitting in a quiet place. Very
comfortable. Eyes closed. Andtrying to think of nothing. Get
absolutely everything out of myhead. Which is very hard to do.

Charity Rodriguez (02:30):
Hi, Jennifer.
Hello. How are you?

Jennifer Wong (02:34):
I am good. How are you doing?

Charity Rodriguez (02:36):
No, wait, are you really doing good? Because
when you hopped on, you weren'tlooking too good.

Jennifer Wong (02:42):
Well, I am now because I was rushing. So now
that we've been talking, I'mdefinitely more settled.
Absolutely.

Charity Rodriguez (02:49):
Okay, cool. I was listening. Like I was having
a really good morning. And I waslistening to this guy, that I, I
love his music. And his name isBen Howard. I don't know if
you're familiar with him. But hedoes, like, I don't know, really
slow laid back. But these reallyheavy lyrics of love loss.

(03:13):
Finding yourself just life, youknow, having a really crappy
day, whatever. So it's mySunday, lay back, deep and heavy
stuffs up. But I was feelingreally good. Like, his music
wasn't depressing me. It waskind of just like, I'm floating
in water. And this is feelingreally good. But then I got

(03:35):
completely distracted as to whyI went on to YouTube to look for
something. It made me anxious.
Like it then made me like, I'moff. Like, my day I got her.
Then I was rushing like,especially like you were
rushing. I was like, Are youever gonna get to do this again?
Oh, my God, this is just so Idon't know what that's about.
But yeah,

Jennifer Wong (03:55):
I was gonna say what changed that?

Charity Rodriguez (03:57):
I don't know.
I've been trying to think and bea little more meditative, I
guess, about my actions in my,how I go about my day and what I
do to keep me focus, and to haveless distractions. But there you
go.

Jennifer Wong (04:15):
Well, it's not easy. It's not easy to be
present, especially with so muchthat's thrown at us. We're
constantly inundated by so muchstuff. It's really difficult.
It's really difficult and and Ifind it so interesting that you
were really calm, and then justwatching something kind of cool,

(04:36):
made you feel anxious. And noone really knows the answer to
that except ourselves. Andthat's why I love meditation so
much.

Charity Rodriguez (04:45):
I love it.
That is what we're going to talkabout today is

Jennifer Wong (04:49):
meditation. It's a loaded word. And I really have
thought about this because Iknow we don't script things too
much. We just kind of have arough outline. But I really
thought about how to do thisbecause I don't want to be a
teacher here today. That's,that's what's something and then
I was like, I don't want it.
This is about us telling storiesabout our own experiences. And

(05:11):
yeah, I can throw in some of itbut I thought I don't want to
run it like one of my groups.
You know, I don't want to run itlike a meditation group.

Charity Rodriguez (05:22):
Yeah, but you have more experience with
meditation. So I was hoping toglean a little more insight into
it because I gave it a lot ofthought to and I was writing
down my notes and and thinkingabout and I had some key
moments. I was like, whoa, okay,you know, I this isn't where I

(05:45):
thought I was gonna go with thiswhole thing, but um, you know,
here we are. So share yourexperience with meditation.

Jennifer Wong (05:54):
Well, let's see, I started meditating about 20
years ago. And it took fiveyears for me to really get into
it on a daily basis. Becausewhen I started, I thought it was
bullshit, I didn't like it, Icouldn't sit still, I hated it,
I found myself getting moreanxious, when I would close my
eyes. And, and I didn't reallytake any meditation classes, I

(06:17):
just kind of listen to whatother people would say, or did a
little googling. And I didn'trealize that I don't have to sit
and have my mind completely voidof any thought, at least not in
the beginning. So I, it's like,I was going to be a professional
right away, you know, like, whostart something and thinks that

(06:41):
the next day, they're going tobe a pro. But for some reason,
when it came to meditation, itsounded so easy, and, and then
what happened is, I would beatmyself up for not doing it
properly. And I would get sotired of doing what I thought
was wrong, that I quit doing it.
That's why it took five yearsbecause there would be like,
probably six months where Iwould never touch it. I wouldn't
even look at it. But from thetime I remember sitting down and

(07:03):
going, Okay, I'm gonna meditate.
I mean to try this, to the timewhen I finally started doing it,
ritually, like three or fourtimes a week was probably five
years. And I think a lot of itwas because I didn't know the
truth about meditation. It'shard. It isn't easy. And when

(07:26):
you close your eyes, it getslouder. You know, it just does,
especially for people thathaven't been practicing. There
are some people that will havethis total affinity towards it.
They'll do great. They'll getright there. But I don't think a
lot of us are designed that way.
I know I wasn't. So in thebeginning, I hated to meditate.
And then what changed it? Ithink was I did self hypnosis.

(07:52):
That's what it was. I got intoself

Charity Rodriguez (07:58):
hypnosis. You got into self hypnosis? Yes.
Okay, we're going to put a pinin that because we need to come
back to what, what keep going.

Jennifer Wong (08:09):
And so self hypnosis gave me a structure.
And when I look back at theteachers process, it's more like
a structured meditation, really,because it's just a mantra. It's
a mantra meditation was what Iwas doing with self hypnosis,
although there anyway, that's,that's long and drawn out. But

(08:31):
it was really just a mantra thatI would say to myself over and
over and over again. And thenthat teacher actually gave me
the idea that I could just do 30seconds. Like, why not just
start at 30 seconds, why startat 20 minutes, that's really
hard when I felt like I wascoming out of my skin just

(08:51):
sitting there, just sittingthere going, and the list the
list, the list of all the thingsI needed to do. And what was
funny is because once I gotstill, I could pay attention to
my thoughts. And then the listwould get longer because all the
stuff that I'm too busy usually,with other things, I wasn't
thinking about my list. But nowthat I was slowing down my list

(09:13):
couple louder and longer. And Ithought, oh shit, this isn't
going to work. But I just keptdoing it and doing it. And what
my teacher then had told me is,the more you do it, the more
those thoughts begin to dump.
It's like they start to dumpout, dump out dump out. And I
didn't believe him, but I thinkit probably was another month.

(09:34):
And I was setting myself for 30seconds, four days a week. And,
and then I kind of got to whereI liked it. I thought I really
liked this. So then I'd go to aminute, then five minutes, and I
just kept increasing. And thatmade me feel accomplished. You
know, I didn't feel like afailure, you know that I

(09:54):
couldn't stay in it for acertain amount of time. Okay, so
that helped me feel moreaccomplished. And also during
that process, I learned toaccept exactly where I am. If
this isn't where I am right now.
That's okay. And then I got moremindful. And I thought, well,
maybe I need to do meditation inthe evening before bed, or maybe

(10:17):
during my lunch break, you know,just being more self aware of
what time is good for me, notwhat time somebody told me. But
what time was good for me. Sothat none shifted it to.

Charity Rodriguez (10:29):
But going back to the beginning, you said
about 20 years ago. Was theresome marked event like what made
you think I need to meditate orI'm interested in meditating or
you know, like, what made youthink I'm really going to try do
this meditation thing.

Jennifer Wong (10:47):
I think it was my first divorce. And I ended up by
ways of which I called theuniverse in a spiritual
bookstore. And they had psychicreaders and they had all kinds
of people there. And I felt likeoh my gosh, I found my people.
And I started hanging out. Andthen just by being there, I

(11:09):
started learning different waysto be conscious, and meditation
kept coming up. So I thought I'dgive it a try.

Charity Rodriguez (11:18):
Did you consider yourself kind of a
spiritual person before this?

Jennifer Wong (11:26):
No.

Charity Rodriguez (11:29):
Because you had found your people, so I'm
like, were you thinking likethose you? Were you thinking you
were kind of like those people.
You just hadn't found them? Or?
Yeah. Okay.

Jennifer Wong (11:41):
I think I didn't even know what I needed until I
was immersed in it. And then itfelt right. And I thought, Oh,
this is good.

Charity Rodriguez (11:48):
Okay. Okay.
Got it. All right. Cool. Cool.
Cool.

Jennifer Wong (11:53):
Yeah, that was a really cool thing that happened.
And but it was still too hard.
And then I had a, I had a healthcrisis, right? And that's when I
started meditating moreregularly. It was actually my
health climate crisis. That gotme to go study hypnotherapy.
Okay. And that's how I foundhypnosis, self hypnosis was
through my training.

Charity Rodriguez (12:17):
So you were saying a lot of things that I
can echo about what I, you know,what's meditation. And as I was
writing down my list of, youknow, when I thought about
meditation, and what I thought Iwould address in today's talk,
and you were you were hittingit, like, right on the nose.

(12:40):
When I think meditation, and thetimes I've tried it in the past,
it was the thought of being soquiet. The thought of not
talking. I equated meditationwith restraint and not
restraint. And this is good foryou. You're not going to hurt
yourself. But in a no, I can'tbe quiet. I can't sit still I

(13:06):
have to move and you're you'recoding you that straight jacket.
It was uncomfortable. And therewas the word unease. I don't
like that is not I don't thinkthat's what people are supposed
to be thinking about. Thinkingabout meditation, but those are
all the words. And we've donemeditation, like I've attended

(13:29):
some of your meditation. groupsettings. Long ago when I was
living out there in California.
Oh, yeah. And I remember that Iloved it. I remember when, you
know, your aunt would say, hey,Jennifer is having another
meditation thing this weekend.
And it's like, but I reallywasn't thinking about selling my

(13:53):
house. I wasn't really thinkinglike, Oh, we're gonna go
meditate. I was thinking, we'regonna get fro you afterwards.
Like I look as you were, youwere living so close to the
water. And I was so inland. Soit's just like, yes, a day at
the beach. And we're just gonnabe walking around and like,

(14:16):
we'll do this meditation thing.
And yeah. And then we're gonnago and just relax.

Jennifer Wong (14:26):
While it hadn't been, it had its benefits.

Charity Rodriguez (14:30):
Also, back in another talk you had talked
about? You were intimidated? No,you were in a competition with
women. And your group at thattime was women like it's a women
that you were, you know, doingthe meditation with. And I have
never considered myself incompetition with women, but I
was intimidated by other women.
And so I did think this would bean opportunity for me to address

(14:55):
that intimidation like to becomfortable with other women
because other women scared me.
Like more surefooted women,aggressive women, women that I
thought were smart women orsexually forward women. And I
was not any of that. And so Ijust thought oh, this will be

(15:19):
cool. Like yeah, women powerwe're going to connect and get
together and you know, talk girlstuff, but then it was just
like, I just want to go get broyou. And then I want to go to
the beach. What do you have alovely voice. And it did help me
be quiet for a moment. But thelists were there. Like I was
going through the list I wouldjust be and the list never ever,

(15:43):
ever stopped and cuz that'swhere I'm at now, like, I'm
still at that point, like Ican't think of, I haven't gotten
to the point where you have, butyou are personal, you know,

Jennifer Wong (15:57):
let's be honest, I have days where that list is
too much for me still, I have,it's still too much. I don't
just sit down and Zen out allthe time, I have more tools so
that when I do get like that Iknow what to do. But I still
have days where I just I set mytimer for 20 minutes, I do five
and I'm just up, I'm like,forget it, I can't do it. And

(16:19):
then I, you know, I acceptmyself and I move on. Sometimes
I have to use other tools, whichI've, you know, I've gathered
many, many tools. But to becompletely honest, I do not sit
down every day and sit and Zenand do my meditation. You know,
that happens? Maybe 60 70% ofthe time, but not all the time.

(16:44):
But for me just the act ofgiving myself the grace to do
it. It shifts, it shifts thingsfor me, even if I don't sit and
do my full time. It does shiftthings for me. But I also have
learned so many things. So whenmy brain is really loud, like
that I like to write. And therewas this woman Julia Cameron

(17:04):
that wrote the artists way backin the 90s, which changed my
life by the way, I think I canthank her for my second divorce.
And a lot of people that dothis, end up divorced. But I was

Charity Rodriguez (17:17):
getting a lot of people check it out. But no,
I'm like, I don't think so.

Jennifer Wong (17:20):
That's not true.
I shouldn't say that. There wasone other person I knew that had
gotten divorced, that done thethe book and I started laughing
about it. But a lot of peopleend up feeling very creative, it
opens the creativity. And a lotof it is just becoming more
conscious and aware is what Igot from it. But one of the
things that she had us do everyday while we were doing this

(17:41):
process, which I think I didover 12 weeks, it's a 12 week
deal was every morning you'resupposed to do the morning
pages, they're called. And youbasically write I think she
wanted three full pages frontand back. And you just free
right? So the first thing thatcomes to mind, you just write it

(18:01):
you keep writing and you keepwriting any those lists, you
make your list, you writewhatever comes to your mind. As
soon as it comes to your mind.
You write it down. And so I lovedoing that. Because I had some I
was like going through divorce.
Well, I was thinking aboutgetting divorced when I started
this. And there was so much Icould not meditate because all I

(18:21):
kept thinking about was the kidsthe shame? How am I going to do
this? Do I call a lawyer? Howmuch is it going to cost? Who's
keeping what how am I going tostay here? He's so overpowering,
will I be able to hold my voice?
Oh my God, he's gonna win. Imean, it was loud. So what I
started doing was I startedwriting. And I would write those
three pages. And it felt like itjust dumped everything. And then

(18:45):
I could sit for five minutes andjust really connect to my heart.
So that really was a good toolto help me get past that list.
Okay, because I thinkacknowledgement is more
important than restriction ordistraction. You know, I think

(19:08):
that, for me, theacknowledgement of what's going
on, in my mind has been way moreimportant than trying to just
distract and push it under therug, because it would end up
getting me I'd end up yelling atmy kids, or I'd be anxious in
the car, or it would just get me

Charity Rodriguez (19:26):
Do you? Would you say that? Through
meditation? That's how we getstrength, we gather strength
through meditation, or how elsewould you? How else would we
draw string through meditation?

Jennifer Wong (19:43):
Good question.
And so I want to start with adefinition. I haven't looked at
the definitions in like 15years, and I thought, I wonder
what's out there now. Oh, mygosh, yeah. Webster's to
everything has their owndefinition of it. Yeah, the one
that I liked was okay, engage incontemplation or reflection for
heightened awareness. That, tome was the best combination of

(20:06):
the definitions. Okay, we engagein collagen, engage in
contemplation or reflection forheightened awareness.

Charity Rodriguez (20:21):
Or heightened awareness. Yeah, that's deep and
that's scary. That is veryscary.

Jennifer Wong (20:34):
And, and I, I felt scared too. I often
thought, what am I going touncover? And if I can cover it,
then what am I going to do andcan I handle it? And do I want
to walk around with thisuncovered throughout my very
busy day.

Charity Rodriguez (20:50):
Yes. Okay.
That's why I am not intomeditation because I feel
exposed. And then there's no, Ineed an answer I need like,
what's going to be the fix? LikeI don't want to expose, I can do
that myself, I'm very honestwith myself about what I am,
what I'm not what I'm doingwhat's going on wherever where
I'm at. But it's like, how do Ifix it? Or change it or cover it
back up? Or whatever, like,

Jennifer Wong (21:16):
Well, can you just let it be? Are you okay?
With just letting it be?

Charity Rodriguez (21:23):
No, and that may be part of the problem.
Because I can't let things be Ido think I have to fix things.
And I'm learning then I don'talways have to fix things. But

(21:44):
it's gotten me into this fifthdecade of living that I
realized, I don't always have tofix things I can, and I should
let things go. But there's stillit's still very hard. It's still
very hard. And the meditationlike I, just thinking about

(22:07):
meditation, I want thattranquility, I want that peace.
But I don't know, it's thatit's, it's, it's a lot, there's
a lot going on, like people justthink like, Oh, you just stop.
And yeah, you'll justimmediately have this wave of
tranquility that'll pass overyou and you know, realign and
reset you.

Jennifer Wong (22:28):
And sometimes you get moments of that, I think
there are moments of that ifyou're doing a guided meditation
in your, you know, you'resitting for a certain amount of
time, I think that you will gothrough moments of feeling the
Tranquility, and then the brainwill come back and pull you out,
then you'll go it's almost likea tennis match, you know, you're
lobbying back and lobbying backand forth. Yeah, a little bit.

(22:49):
So even what I, in my research,what I found during doing my
groups for over a decade wasthat even if you get like 10 to
15 seconds of that tranquility,it goes into the subconscious.
And, and then and it doesn'tleave. And I think that's why
over time, when I kept at themeditation, it was building on

(23:13):
that subconscious belief thatwhen I sit like this, there is
even if it's a second oftranquility, and my body likes
it, and your subconscious willstore whatever it likes, and
it'll keep trying to find thatmatch. And that's why we can get
stuck in bad loops to like maybea cigarette gave us five minutes
apiece. And so that's the onlyway we know what to get that

(23:35):
for, you know, and then we getstuck in that loop. So it will
go in there. Even if it's 1520seconds of goodness, it does go
in there and over time. With youknow, regularity. It goes
deeper.

Charity Rodriguez (23:51):
Is that the same for sugar and candy?

Jennifer Wong (23:53):
Everything?

Charity Rodriguez (23:55):
Everything's my five minutes of releases,
like, just give me that sugar.

Jennifer Wong (24:01):
And going back to just being when I said, Are you
okay, just letting things be? Ithink that was a big question
that I asked myself, like, can Ijust let these things be? Can I
take my claws out of things? Andlet them naturally occur?
Because the reality the truth,the absolute truth? Is it it

(24:23):
happens like that, anyway, I'mnot in control of everything. I
don't fix everything that comesinto my awareness. Anyway,
that's like this big lie thatI've been telling myself is that
if I'm on it, I'm fixing it.
Because that's not true. There'sso many things that go on and in
my life that I don't attend tothat work out just fine. And
that was one of the things Istarted realizing was, I have

(24:45):
let this stuff be in my head for30 years already. It's not like
just because I'm aware of it. Ican't let it be. It's been just
sitting there lying in wait for30 years. What's what's going to
change it? Because now that I'maware of it, it's still gonna be

Charity Rodriguez (25:06):
Oh, I don't know. I don't know that one's a
hard one. Because once I knowwhen I know about something,
then I feel like I have to fixit or I have to be involved or I
have to do I have to engage. IfI don't know, then I don't know.
Like it just happened thenwhatever happens is beyond my
control, because that hadnothing to do with me because
that's just the way of the worldbut I think I think I go at

(25:33):
things in that. Like if I don'thave an answer, then I have to
put it in the I'm going toignore you and I'm going to look
over here because I can't doanything about it and what is to
be is to be but the things Nomatter how small or big they are
that involve me or my, you know,my children, my family,
whatever, I find no, I have todo something.

Jennifer Wong (25:58):
Well, what if the doing something is to continue
meditating? What if that is todo.

Charity Rodriguez (26:07):
And that is a good note. Because it's a good
note,

Jennifer Wong (26:16):
one of the things that I've noticed with my
clients and with myself is thatthe more we meditate, the more
we get really clear about thenext steps. When I don't
meditate, I know I have allthese things I gotta do. But I
don't know what is a priority. Idon't know the next step, I've
also been able to be morecreative and innovative. So then

(26:37):
I see a alternative that I neversaw before. So, for example, I
have had major anxiety and highblood pressure, especially when
I go to the doctor. Since I was18 years old, I remember I moved
out on my own, I went to an eyedoctor, he took my blood
pressure, which I'd never had adoctor an eye doctor take my

(26:57):
blood pressure, and it wasreally high. And that's when he
started suggesting all thesethings for us, like, you know,
you're 19 years old, or 18,whatever it was, in your blood
pressure is way too high. And Ithought, Oh my God, and then
that stressed me out more,because I didn't know why. And
I'm so young, there must besomething wrong with me. So I
saw a bunch of doctors and keptworking out blah, blah, blah.

(27:20):
But anyway, when I started doingmeditation, I would really do
the self hypnosis practice whilesitting in the waiting room to
see my doctor. And sometimes itwould work, and sometimes it
wouldn't. But what I found withmeditation was the meditation
itself did not necessarily giveme the answer I wanted. But

(27:44):
through doing meditation, I wasled and really clear of where to
go. So finally, it took a longtime that I think we all come in
our own time, I was led to thesomatic trauma therapy, which
I'd never thought that I hadtrauma. And then once I did
that, I don't have that anxietyat the doctor anymore. So it's

(28:06):
not always meditation is the endall be all, but it can lead to
things that I didn't see beforethat can help me. Okay, or help
others.

Charity Rodriguez (28:18):
Okay, that's a that's a way. Okay. I like
that. I like the way you framethat, like, Okay, I'm on board.
Now I get it. I can go to there.
That that's cool. All right.
It's not the answer. But it's,it led you to where to go? It
could. So it could it could andI like that versus I have to

(28:40):
have the yes or the no or reddoor green door, whatever. Just
no, no, just listen, and thenyou'll get better idea and
understanding of your nextactions. Okay, let me ask you
this. Because I, you know, Ialso was doing a little research
to like, what's meditation?
Finding it? What does that allthat mean? And I was reading,

(29:01):
and I was getting, I'm notconfused. But to me, sometimes
meditation and spirituality areused inter changeably? Or what
do you think? What do you think?
Like, can you use those twowords? You know, the same? Do
they have different meanings?

Jennifer Wong (29:23):
It's all of it.
It's all of it. There aresecular meditations. And there
are spiritual meditations. And Ithink the more you get into it,
you find your own combinationblend of whatever you want. I
really do. And as meditationteachers, there may be a certain
type that one person reallybecomes an expert at. And you
just you, you see if it fits foryou. For me, I do both. So you

(29:46):
know, mindfulness is notconsidered meditation. When I
studied with the way my highschool,

Charity Rodriguez (29:58):
mindfulness, how define that then

Jennifer Wong (30:01):
they said, mindfulness is not meditation,
and I perked up and I said,Well, what is it? And they, they
call it more of a process ofjust being in the moment.
Whatever. See, for me, I'm like,whatever, call it whatever you
want. It's still creating aheightened sense of awareness,

(30:21):
which I find to be my favoritedefinition, right? Engage in
contemplation or reflection forheightened awareness, and
mindfulness. When I studied Iactually did study this and
trained in it, that it's aboutbeing in the moment and the best
way to be in the moment is toheighten your awareness using
your senses. So what do you see?
What do you feel right now? Whatdo you Hear, do you have any

(30:45):
taste? Is there any fragrance,so you use all five senses, and
you just become really aware ofbeing in this moment. And I find
that really helpful to getgrounded. And then from there, I
might do a mantra meditation, orI might do a walking meditation,
or I might go into I alsostudied shamanic journeying,

(31:08):
which is a whole nother thing.
But it's kind of like a guidedvisualization that you take
yourself on. But I couldn't goto any of that until I was
present. So I blend mindfulnessinto my meditation all the time.
Sometimes when I'm driving, andmy kids yapping at me, I've got

(31:30):
a whole list of things to dowith work. And I, I just have to
tell myself, my feet are on thepedals. My hands are on the
steering wheel. I'm watchingwhat's coming, I'm looking in
the mirrors, like, I sometimeshave to very much do that. And
that's mindfulness is just beinggrounded and present in the
moment. Which also means thatwhen thoughts and emotions come

(31:50):
that I don't like, I just haveto notice them and not fix them
and say, That's a feeling Idon't like, I'm staring at the
computer. I'm touching thefloor, you know, Oh, okay. And
there's that thought, god damnit. Oh, and I'm here, and I'm
touching the floor, and my buttis on the pillows, you know? And
so it can be that, that blend.

Charity Rodriguez (32:13):
This sounds like hard work. I'm just telling
you, like, Wait a second. Iknow, we were gonna do this much
work. I thought you were gonnasay like you didn't want it just
makes me feel good. I just likego with it. But it does. Well, I
know. But the thought of the,the mindfulness part because
that word is thrown around a lotmindfulness, mindfulness, let's

(32:35):
be mindful everyone. And it'slike, well, what does that
really mean? Like, I feel likeit's lost its meaning and
whatever the original intentionwas, it's kind of gone. And it's
just so overused. But now it'slike, okay, all right, that
makes sense. Being in themoment, absorbing everything and

(32:56):
being aware of everything. Andeven even just holding the
steering wheel feet on thepedals, is like that does ground
you that does bring you backinto the moment of like, what
are you doing? You are in thecar, what is the purpose of UBI
you're holding, and you're doingand you're doing all of these
things. And you're not justgetting lost further and further

(33:20):
and further afield. Far, farflung afield of where you're at.
It's like, letting a balloonjust kind of lift you off when
like, No, you need to just kindof stay right here. Right? We
need

Jennifer Wong (33:33):
to be very grounded. Yes. And that's what I
love about the shamanic work isit's very grounded. I've, I've
studied other things where it'svery going in the ethers, which
I enjoy that too. You know,since I don't drink, I don't
smoke, and I don't have sexanymore. I want to go off into
the ethers, right. So I don'thave anything that I really

(33:57):
like, get to, like get into so Isometimes I love those. But I
do. Absolutely to get through myday, I love the mindfulness
piece. Okay, I am here, I amgrounded touch my skin. You
know, one of the My FavoriteThings to start meditation is
just to touch the upper part ofyour hands. So you rub the top

(34:19):
of your hands. And it's a verysoothing, and it's also because
there's touch, it can likeground me into Oh, I'm right
here, I can feel my handsrubbing my hands. And it's nice,
you know, and it's not as muchas like, hugging myself, I can
just that light touch of onehand over the back of the other
hand is very sweet. And so thathas become a trigger, like just

(34:42):
be here. Feel your body, get inyour body.

Charity Rodriguez (34:48):
Okay, now, we talked about what meditation is.
But then you've brought up afew, I don't know, variations or
points of, you know, meditation.
So I'm just I know that thereare different types of
meditation. But can you touchbriefly on what some of those
different types of meditationare? Because you're like talking
about shamanic stuff or walkingmeditation. You know, like,

(35:10):
Okay, what is all that? I mean,it's go to the yoga spine. This
is chill,

Jennifer Wong (35:18):
yes, yoga meditation member because it's
anything that engages incontemplation and reflection for
heightened awareness. So justabout anything can be
meditation, the ones that Ihave, kind of more formally gone
on to were, like guidedvisualizations, I think are
really powerful. Because whenyou can see something in your

(35:40):
mind and feel it in your body atthe same time, super powerful
and I remember reading about astudy they did during one of the
80s Olympics. And they did itwith track and field. And they
just, they would hook theathletes up to like a monitor
that would register their bodylike biofeedback. Okay, and then

(36:04):
in their mind, they would justclose their eyes. And they would
just review their race from themoment the gun went off to them
crossing the finish line. Yeah,and even though they were
sitting perfectly still, theelectrodes would, that were
attached to maybe their legmuscles, or our muscles would
fire off, like as if they wereactually running, but they were
sitting perfectly still. Andthat reminded me of how powerful

(36:27):
our mind and body are connected.
So guided visualizations can bereally helpful. Ooh, that's
really cool. And I want to takethat into something else. But I
want to end with that somethingelse. So there's also breathing
is really powerful. Just beingaware of the breath breathing in
and out, it's very grounding.
Plus, you get the oxygen. I, Ipracticed Zen meditation for

(36:53):
probably a year. It Well, it's aJap. And I think Zen is Japanese
originally. And it's, it'sbasically a sitting meditation
where you really just focus onyour breath, you just stay
mindful in the moment too. Butwhat I glean gleaned out of it

(37:14):
was really this breathing, andthey taught me a specific way to
breathe, you know, in throughthe nose. And then as you
breathe out, you really let theexhale be long. That was like
the biggest thing that I got outof that. I know there's a whole
bunch more, but that was a bigthing. There's Transcendental
Meditation, which they're likethe biggest ones. It was started

(37:36):
by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, inthe 1950s. In India, he ended up
teaching the Beatles and TheBeatles made it popular, but he
was all over the world by the70s. Everybody was, knew who the
Maharishi was, if they were intomeditation at all. And it I
haven't. So here's the funnything is after I had my second

(37:58):
baby, and I had super high bloodpressure, and what I was doing
wasn't working. And I hadn'tgotten to the somatic trauma
piece yet. I thought, I need todo Transcendental Meditation,
because all the stars are doingit. Oprah does it, like just
look on their website. It's allthe stars support it now. But it
is very expensive. It is superexpensive, was cost prohibitive.

(38:20):
So why is

Charity Rodriguez (38:21):
it so expensive? It's like tuition,
it's just supposed to be thequiet with yourself or whatever,
what do you

Jennifer Wong (38:27):
need it because if you want to learn it, and I
think, you know, I think you geta personal mantra is what I've
seen on the website. And I knowpeople that have done it, and
they they're like sworn tosecrecy. So they can't tell you
what it is. But it you basicallyI think you get your own
personal mantra, and then you dothat for 20 minutes. And it's

(38:47):
not about mind control I saw ontheir website, it's not about
that. It's just about repeating.
So a mantra meditation isanother thing where you just
repeat something over and over,you notice what comes up, and
then you just say it again andsay it again. And eventually, it
shifts the energy in thebrainwaves in your body. But
Transcendental Meditation iswhere most of the research, if
you look up, like real peerreviewed type research on

(39:10):
meditation, it's through thetranscendental group or
organization. They have the mostmoney of David Lynch support
some, but and I think they youbecome a trainer and then you go
and you learn from what peoplecome to you to learn. And then
you make your money, basicallydoing this. So the one I went to

(39:32):
11 years ago to try to do this.
It was like $900 and I justcouldn't do it at the time. And
I was kind of sad that it was soexpensive, because I really
wanted to try it.

Charity Rodriguez (39:46):
Okay, that right now. Now something so
wonderful and powerful and wholefilm Tez turned my little
suspicious mind into now thewords that are coming up are
that sounds like a cult. Thatsounds like mind control. That
sounds like you know exclusivismand elitism and someone like why

(40:13):
am I having to pay money likecrazy amounts of money for that
night now I gotta look into thatJennifer. Shoot.

Jennifer Wong (40:23):
But what irregardless and I think if
you're called to it, I think andto be honest, I think they do
offer scholarships if you needit. I think they will work
around it but I also understandthat these people have devoted
their life and they need tosurvive pay it's the comes their
you know, they gotta pay fortheir house and they're so I'm i

(40:44):
i Let go of that if that is whatthey're called, there are plenty
people that will support that.
And I do believe there arepossibly scholarships available.
But regardless, like, I thinktheir research is good. When
I've looked at the research fromTM, it's really, it's solid,
like, I really appreciate it. SoI'm glad that they're out there.
And they've been doing, youknow, they've been doing

(41:05):
research for decades on this,but like, as far as it helps
your

Charity Rodriguez (41:11):
that research is available to me, you

Jennifer Wong (41:14):
can find it online. Okay. All right. Okay,
yeah, you can find some of itonline. And so, I love mantra
meditations. One of my favoritemeditations is a mantra
meditation, where you createyour own mantra, based on your
values. Okay, and you know, andthen there's nature,

(41:35):
meditations, just being out innature and being aware of how
you feel in nature, noticingthe, you know, the trees, the
grasses, the dirt, the animalsaround you, also helps to be
very, very present. So I lovenature meditations. I know I'm

(41:56):
missing some, there's so many.
But I want to tell you what I'veloved his heart math. If you
haven't heard of Heart Math, andyou're a researcher, I highly
recommend looking at Heart Math.
And they have a free learningcalled the Heart Math
experience. And I've known aboutheart, heart math for about 20
years. And I love what they'redoing. But to be honest, I

(42:18):
haven't signed up and dove intoany of their trainings. But I
got their idea is it's reallyimportant to connect with the
heart. And they're verytechnologically savvy, a, you
know, advanced, they have thiscool little gizmo that I am
going to buy. And it'sBluetooth, and it hooks to your

(42:41):
phone on an app and you put iton your ear and on your chest.
And it it's kind of like abiofeedback feedback machine
specifically designed on theelectromagnetic field of your
heart. I know that sounds waytoo sciency. But basically, it's
what they have learned is theheart is way more powerful
magnetically than the brain. Andall we have done is give all of

(43:05):
our power to our brain. So I waslistening to there, I actually
am taking the Heart Mathexperience training right now.
And what they have discoveredthrough actual science is that
the heart has its own nervoussystem and its own brain that
connects to our brain. So asmuch as we think our brain,

(43:28):
we're trying to put it into ourheart, our heart is sending way
more messages to our brain thanthe other way. So in meditation,
if we can connect to that, it'sway more powerful. Because we
have to get to the feeling ofthings. That is where I've seen
meditation for the most part,especially for me. So when I

(43:49):
started, because I was allfocused on my mind, you know,
hypnosis, everything was in mymind, even though it was
supposed to be connecting to mybody, I was just hyper focused
on my brain, what I wasthinking, where it was at what
was going on how I could fix,right, that's all up here. And
then when I looked at HeartMath, like 1520 years ago, it
was, wow, why don't I see what'sgoing on in my heart, and it was

(44:13):
the hardest thing. But it'sreally easy because our heart is
in coherence with our feelings.
And we have when we look at ourchildren's sleeping, that is
HeartMath that is a feeling whenwe watch other people helping
each other. That is a feelingthat we get when we watch
something where people are beingabusive to each other. That is a

(44:36):
feeling like that is what hasthe most power for us to shift
our thoughts, our awareness. Ithelps us to be more
contemplative, because now I'mfocused on what is the feeling
when I'm interacting in thesespaces, heightened awareness,

(44:58):
right. So really getting intothe heart,

Charity Rodriguez (45:05):
okay, but those things that you've
described, I feel are like thoseare just natural things that
occur for us we are like if youhave any ounce of compassion,
you will feel something if youyou know are looking and holding
your child and someone gets hurtor whatever, like those are

(45:26):
natural occurring emotions andfeelings and sensations that we
all have. So why do we need abutton in our you know,
connected to our heart and toour year to like I feel like
that's just happening every daythat that's what what's how
happening. Why? Why the gadget?
Why the gizmo

Jennifer Wong (45:49):
and that's not for everybody, it's for me,
because what you what I've alsolearned is, the more that we are
connected to our heart and awareof our heart, it creates peace,
it creates balance, it createscalm, it helps us to see
alternatives and be creative, itopens up our world. So there's

(46:11):
high coherence and coherence isbasically the internal
synchronization between theheart and the brain. That's
coherence. That's thedefinition. How aligned are is
our heart in our brain,basically. And if and high
coherence means you're veryaligned, and it means that we

(46:32):
get to bring in those goodfeelings and everything. Like, I
think the gadget for me willjust help me focus on am I being
more in my heart or more in mybrain, because my brain is not
really a nice place. It's harsh,and it's judgmental. And it
tells me how I can't do thingsand the dangers, if I don't
control things. That's what myhead tells, yes, my heart tells

(46:54):
me, but look at how beautiful itis right now. Look at all the
gratitude, and how good my lifeis, right now. And if I can, in
my mind, what I'm thinking is ifI could bring more of that
energy into my awareness, I willhave more balance, more peace or

(47:14):
self control, more love, morecompassion, and that is what I
want. So it really depends onwhat you want. Okay, I just
think it's gonna be fun. Becauseas much as I sound like a
woowoo, and I'm just hid intothis stuff. I started out very
much a naysayer. And I still tothis day, and I have trust

(47:34):
issues. So I will, I will feelthings out before I jump into
it. And that's another, youknow. So, for me, it's what I've
noticed is when I am more in acompassionate state, my life
just runs better. And I want tohave this little gadget to see
where I'm at, like, I kind ofwant it for validation, because

(47:56):
I think I know where I'm at andwhen I'm there, but it would be
nice to see it. And to behonest, I want to get my kids to
do this. And if they see it,because most people won't do
something until they see it. Youknow, I won't leave it till I
see it. That's me. This will bemaybe you'll be able to actually
see meditation helping you inyour life with a little gadget

(48:17):
and and an app.

Charity Rodriguez (48:19):
Okay, well, a couple. So that's

Jennifer Wong (48:22):
my answer. That's why That's why the gadget. All
right,

Charity Rodriguez (48:26):
first of all, I think it's funny that you said
that you are you have trustissues, and you're not very
trusting because I, myobservation of you is that your
way were trusting that I wouldever be you engage and try out
so many things that I'm theperson charity

Jennifer Wong (48:47):
are going that's 20 years of meditation. I'm
telling you, when I say I stillhave trust issues, it's like
10%, as opposed to 90% that Iused to. I've come a long way.

Charity Rodriguez (49:01):
Well, I, I may still be on the journey
towards being trusting. I don'tknow that I'll ever be like
fully trusting because I am sosuspicious. And I think there's
a conspiracy about whatever, butI just I am not trusting
everybody. I have to touch it.
Oh, no, I don't think that's agood idea and see it before I
will, you know, go okay, likeyou have my vote. But

Jennifer Wong (49:26):
yeah, we should still be discerning for sure.
Oh, yes.

Charity Rodriguez (49:30):
And I think Yeah, I absolutely. That is the
right word discerning peopleneed to be more discerning. And
you know, and that's just that,but in regards to meditation, I
have a story to tell. Oh, good.
My parents. You know, when theywere alive, they had a little

(49:51):
room. And my parents wereEpiscopalian slash Catholic. And
they didn't go to church. Aftera while they stopped going to
church because, you know, theywere older and it was just too
much of a hassle and whatever.
But they were deeply religiouspeople. They kind of set up a

(50:15):
little altar, if you will, inthis little room, and it had
their saints and it had thispicture of, you know, this
oversize picture of Jesus thatyou will find in every Latinos
house. You will find theoversized picture of Jesus
somewhere. But my mom had it.
She had all over the house, butthis was her, her specialty. And
she had her scenes and it was alittle altar. And it had we

(50:39):
always put white flowers onthere and every Night, like
about either eight or nineo'clock, my parents would go
into the room and they wouldhave like two or three chairs in
there. And they would just,sometimes I would hear them in
there talking, you need yourword, whatever, sometimes they
would just be quiet. And when Imoved back, and I was kind of,

(51:00):
you know, caring for them, and Iwould be there to go pick up the
kids, but then, you know, justend up staying a little extra,
and we're watching TV orwhatever, but then they would
still get up and go into theirroom, they would invite me that
charity, come sit with us. And,like, I knew they were in there.
But I didn't really want to goin there. I didn't want to go

(51:21):
into that room. I was like, Oh,why? Why do I have to go into
the room, and not that I thoughtat the horrible was going on,
but I didn't want to sit and bequiet or i and it was their
prayer room, they would, youknow, we we would call it their
prayer room. Because at the endof everything, whatever what

(51:41):
else was going on, they wouldpray. And I did not want to go
in there. But whatever, I beingthe good girl that I am, yes,
Mommy. And I would go into theroom. So we would sit there and
you know, sometimes they wouldjust be asking me about the day
and what was going on andtelling me things that they

(52:02):
observed with the children andfunny little, you know, this,
that and the other. And then wewould just be quiet and just sit
there. And then at the end ofit, they would start their
prayers. And my mother wouldalways know my father would

(52:22):
start, my mother would ask myfather's start. And then he
would say and our Father in thisis all in Spanish and say
they're our father, then theywould read a passage out of the
Bible. And then they would startpraying, like kind of
systematically. They're prayingfor family, they're praying for
the World Peace they're prayingfor, you know, if there's a

(52:45):
major conflict that they saw inthe news, they would pray for
peace and calm and you know,good resolution. If a friend was
in the hospital, they would bepraying for those friends, they
would pray for the neighbors.
And the children that they sawrunning across the street, just

(53:06):
playing their ball that theynever talked to, they just would
pray that they, you know, growup safe and sound and, you know,
live good lives. And justpraying, praying, praying,
praying, praying for everyoneand everything. And I was so
hesitant I, I didn't want to doit. But that was a part that got

(53:30):
me like when I would sit moreand more and more. And I would
just like what the heck is wrongwith you charity, like they're
praying. They're praying forpeace. They're praying for love.
They're praying for compassion.
Why can't you pray quite good.
What is so wrong with prayingand trying to pray? And that I

(53:54):
got into that. After they passedaway, I realized I missed them.
Like, I was always fighting, andI would go into the room. But
then I got it. Like, it clickedfor me that this was their
meditation, if you will. Thiswas their way to reset, bring

(54:18):
their mind and the spirit torest at the end of the day to
contemplate, and it was theynever prayed for themselves.
They prayed for everybody else.
They were happy with what theyhad in life. They didn't want a
bigger house. They didn't want afaster car. They don't want they

(54:38):
were just like, we're good wherewe are. And they were just
praying and I could feel that.
That quietness. Like after theypassed away, I understood. I

(54:59):
don't I don't know why why, likeafter they passed away that I
get it. Why did he pass awaythen I was like, oh shoot, I
missed an opportunity to, youknow, be there. Be mindful, be
in the moment, you know, as youwill. And so that's the closest
and that for me is when Irecognized and identified that

(55:20):
to me. That prayer and thatmoment that that time of prayer
was meditation and meditationthat I could connect with a
meditation where I had to bequiet but then I was also being
active and I was also beinggauged that I could I could be

(55:42):
fine with that. I was likethat's metal question that's
emitted. That's it. And then Iwent, and when I was reading and
looking up, you know, what'smeditation and spirituality and
whatever. And in the, you know,Christian world or whatever it
said, the contemplation, and I'dforgotten about contemplation

(56:03):
like, oh, yeah, we used to haveto do that, like in grade school
of contemplation time orwhatever. Because I went to a
Catholic school. But it was, youknow, they defined it as it's
the focus. contemplation is whenyou focus intently on a question
on an idea. And you, you're justthinking through all of that,

(56:28):
and my parents would askquestions at the beginning of
it, like, there wouldn't be aquestion of the day because, you
know, sometimes, depending onsomething that they had
witnessed, either on the news onthe TV at the grocery store, and
interaction with people, andthere'll be like, Why do you
think that is? Why do you thinkthat they? They did, what do you
think that they could have donebetter? What do you think, you

(56:48):
know, what would you do? Andthey would just sit and talk it
through. And it was like, Oh,wow, these people were way ahead
of their time. Yes, yes. And Iwas blind. I was very, very
blind, and deaf and dumb to thiswonderful experience that was

(57:14):
happening right before me.

Jennifer Wong (57:18):
So when you became aware of this, after your
parents passed, did you doanything different?

Charity Rodriguez (57:27):
I did what I swore I would never do. I
created my own little altar.

Jennifer Wong (57:34):
Perfect. Nice. My

Charity Rodriguez (57:37):
brother had had some things up in his attic
that he was going through. Andhe was like, here's some things
and I was able to get them thehouse. You know, I think some of
it's yours, whatever. And he haddrove out here we had visited,
he jumped off the boxes. And Ithink the boxes stayed up there
for like an hour or so. I mean,not an hour, a year, a year, the

(57:57):
box a year before I like, okay,these boxes and see what's in
there. And in one of thoseboxes, was the one frame of
Jesus that my mom had in herlittle room, which again, I
suppose like, I'm not going tohave an oversight or just any

(58:19):
big, you know, picture of Jesus,like, why do we have to have
that? And it's not that I'm antireligion, like, I am fine with
religion, but it was just thatOh, I don't know. Like, it was
just the the thing. The thingabout being Latino and having
Jesus everywhere, and having thesaints out in your yard. And

(58:40):
just like, I just didn't wantthat. But there it was, like,
and I was like, that wasn't evenmine. That was my mom's like,
how did that get up in the boxof my stuff? And I asked my
brother, like, did you put thatin there? I don't know. That was
just the box is a box that saidyour name on I just grabbed the
box. And there you go. And I waslike

Jennifer Wong (59:02):
mom and dad are working it.

Charity Rodriguez (59:03):
I know. And I do believe. Like, there's so
many things that I do believeit, but I'm like, Okay, talk to
me. Yeah. So I, I didn't knowwhat to do with it. I had it in
a drawer for the longest time.
And then it pulled it out. Andnow I have it up, I have a
little altar. I have my littleseeds, I have a I have I found I
like went crazy and found everysingle oration that we would do.

(59:28):
And I do it in Spanish. And Ican speak Spanish and but my
reading is like a little so butI have it in me like, okay, it's
quiet, everybody's gone. And Iwill sit there and I would just
pull out like a redacted copyyour father in Westeros. And it
kind of like I can hear myfather's voice I could hear like

(59:48):
it's a time job. It's a timevery valuable thing. And it
takes me back in that moment.
And I'm in that room and I canhear it. And I can feel that
sense of calm that I could onlyever feel in that room in that

(01:00:11):
space. And I'm seeing it and andas you're talking you're talking
about the mantra, and you knowhaving a mantra meditation, and
I'm like prayer. Prayer ismantra meditation. That's what
it is because you see theseprayers over and over and over

(01:00:33):
and it changes and you getsomething new every time.
There's a new one to it. There'sa new application to whatever's
going on in your life. So thereyou go.

Jennifer Wong (01:00:46):
So you're meditating, and you don't even
know it. I and you're shamanic,and you don't even know it,
you're working with yourancestors, and you don't even
know it. And you're doing theHeart Math, and you don't even
know it, because you said,feeling and being there, that's
all that you're doing it

Charity Rodriguez (01:01:01):
the feeling.
Now, when you had talked aboutearlier, the feeling I was like,
That is heightened sensitivitythat is being empathic that and
but like so empathic thatsometimes it can hurt. And I
don't want to feel that level ofhurt. I, you know, you're

(01:01:24):
telling me you're seeing otherpeople and feeling. You know, it
should spark some kind offeeling. And for me, I'm like,
Oh, my gosh, it's sooverwhelming. In my life. It is
so much. It's too much. Like, ifyou come to me crying, I, I can

(01:01:44):
feel your pain. And I don't knowwhy. I don't know. I don't want
to. That's too much. So I haveto close myself off from people.
I know that I can't get tooclose to people or whatever,
because their pain is my pain,their suffering is my suffering
there, you know? And not like, Iknow, I know, I'm sounding like

(01:02:06):
I'm Jesus Christ. I am. Not butI'm like, when you see like when
I know when I know that you'rehurting, I have to fix that.

Jennifer Wong (01:02:22):
What if the fix is just to connect back to a
good feeling. Because we I mean,I get it empathic is a very
tough place to be. And I thinkmore of us are empathic than we
think we've just learnedmechanisms to protect and wall
up and yes, but I think in thatprotection, it's also kept us

(01:02:44):
isolated. So there's got to be abalance in there. And I love
that you brought that up. Ithink, for the Heart Math part
is. So there's high coherence,right? Where you're feeling like
you had mentioned, being with mymom, my mom and dad, I think you
said hearing my dad's voice, I'mright there, I can feel it.
That's good coherence, right?
That is uplifting, it's healing,it feels good. And then there is

(01:03:09):
when we see somebody hurting.
Yeah. And we feel compassion forhim. And then once we start
taking it on, that's lowcoherence, that's when we need
to say, Oh, how can I shiftthis, right? And sometimes it is
just saying, Okay, this isenough. But other times, what if

(01:03:30):
we can go back to that feelingthat you had, when it felt good,
when you thought about yourdad's voice and you say the
mantra, then you're not takingit on, what you're doing is
you're creating this highcoherence, that you're no longer
taking on the low coherence ofsomebody else. And maybe in your
shifting to a higher vibration,that's helping them in ways that

(01:03:51):
we can't explain. Okay, withouthaving to physically make it
better for them? What if wecould energetically make it
better for them. And that's whatthe HeartMath Institute has
really studied is that we areenergetic beings. And we're all
blending whether we know it ornot, imagine if we were more
aware of that blending. And wecould bring ourselves back to a

(01:04:12):
place where we are more stablein that compassionate feeling
for ourselves and others, likehow much better could we be for
someone instead of freaking outand feeling terrible? You know,
data? Do you know what I'msaying? They're like, if we
could be more aware of our owncoherence, and then we can raise

(01:04:32):
that vibration again, I thinkwe'd be more useful to somebody
than cutting them off andrunning away. Okay. Yes, some
way agree.

Charity Rodriguez (01:04:41):
I agree. I can I can go with that.

Jennifer Wong (01:04:43):
I can. So maybe it is because you said I want to
fix it. What if one that is anoption for fixing things?

Charity Rodriguez (01:04:51):
That's how to fix it? Or it could Yes, I
don't. Yes, I agree. BecauseI've had to do that with my
children. I had to let go notfix it, just try to be more
mindful because they arebecoming their own person. I'm

(01:05:14):
not trying to turn them into a,you know, replica or clone of
myself. They have a little bitof meat in them. And that's
what's going to power them asthey blossom into their own
being. And that is hardsometimes. Because you see,
they're suffering as you'resuffering. But it's not it's

(01:05:36):
their suffering. It is theirevolution, their development,
their their experience to makethem who they are, which is not
you. It's them. So you need to,but like I said, don't cut them
off, just build up

Jennifer Wong (01:05:51):
that are the higher vibration, co higher
vibrations,

Charity Rodriguez (01:05:55):
coherence, that's the word, the high,
coherent, to still be able to beuseful and be engaged and be
part versus walled offdisconnected and are just gone.

Jennifer Wong (01:06:09):
So I like just what we need for community,
right? We can't be isolated andrunning away and call ourselves
part of a community.

Charity Rodriguez (01:06:18):
Yes, that is so, so true. And I'm working on
that. And we're working on that.
That's what we're trying to do.
Yes, trying to do

Jennifer Wong (01:06:28):
that. And meditation could help.

Charity Rodriguez (01:06:32):
So does it matter who can meditate?

Jennifer Wong (01:06:38):
Now, anybody can meditate? People are doing it
anyway, like you just shared?
You're doing it and you don'teven know it? What if we did it
on purpose?

Charity Rodriguez (01:06:49):
But does it matter where you meditate?

Jennifer Wong (01:06:52):
No, whatever you're most comfortable with.
But I

Charity Rodriguez (01:06:56):
just got back from a trip I was telling you
about the trip. You always talkabout being disconnected and
wanting to just relax and getaway from it all. But I was in a
rainforest. And I was completelydisconnected. There was no Wi Fi
no nothing, we were just outthere with nothing. And that was
the fastest that I've ever beendisconnected that I've ever been

(01:07:19):
mindful that I've ever been.
Just, there was no list. Therewas no list. There was no
running commentary in my headabout
you know, you're a bad person,you should have done things
better. Like what the heck areyou thinking and I gotta go the
grocery store and get the kidsto the doctor and,
you know, fill out all these.
None of that like I it justbecause you're there. There's

(01:07:41):
nothing you don't have anyanything, anything to do. But
listen, and feel. Because youfeel if you do not feel the
canopy and the power and thecovering and the strength of the
power of a rainforest. Thenyou're dead. Yeah, just a dead
zombie being because, like, it'sso overwhelming, like the noise

(01:08:06):
of that is so overwhelming wasso powerful. That it just it
forced me to be quiet. And Iloved it. I was not scared by
it. I was not. I always thinkI'd be scared. But I was it and
it was. It was a wonderfulfeeling. So

Jennifer Wong (01:08:29):
yes, nature meditation is huge. I agree.
That's awesome that you had thatexperience. And you can take
that feeling and that experienceand bring it back at any time.
That's the trick. Like now I'mhome. The lists are here. I
recognize my list. Now let mejust spend a few minutes
bringing back that feeling beingunder the canopy in the jungle.

(01:08:51):
Yes. And you can us and that'swhat and then that starts to
raise your vibration and it islike a Healing Salve to the
mind. The body the emotions.
Yes.

Charity Rodriguez (01:09:03):
It's wonderful. I'll nature as
awesome

Jennifer Wong (01:09:06):
as I can. So you are meditating and it's not
scary. See?

Charity Rodriguez (01:09:10):
Well, it's just for me. That's all.

Jennifer Wong (01:09:14):
That was awesome.
Yay. All right.

Charity Rodriguez (01:09:20):
Yay. Thank you for listening to being
effing honest with your hosts,Jennifer Wong and charity
Rodriguez. Subscribe to our showwherever you listen to podcasts.
And if you have a suggestion,question or topic you want us to
talk about, connect with us atwww being effing honest.com And
until next time, we hope you'realways being effing honest