April 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Unlock the transformative potential of meditative arts with Ed Watters on the Dead America Podcast. This episode features Jeff Patterson, a seasoned practitioner and author with over 36 years of experience and 26,000 students. Jeff shares powerful insights from his meditative academy in Portland, Oregon, where he teaches Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai, Escrima, and meditation.
Discover how the five paths and three pillars of meditative arts can enhance your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Jeff delves into concepts like yielding and integration, offering practical advice on bringing mindfulness into your daily life. This episode is perfect for anyone seeking to create 'a life, not a living' by aligning their body, breath, mind, energy, and spirit.
Whether you're new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner, this conversation bridges martial arts, mindfulness, and personal growth. Don't miss this enlightening discussion packed with tools and inspiration to help you navigate life with clarity and purpose.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Jeff Patterson
01:14 Jeff's Journey into Meditative and Martial Arts
01:49 The Power of Meditation
05:19 Types of Meditation Practices
08:15 Creating a Life, Not Just a Living
11:41 Connecting with Nature
14:19 The Five Regulations of Meditation
24:35 The Yielding Warrior Program
29:43 Benefits of Tai Chi and Meditative Arts
32:58 Getting Started with Meditative Practices
37:03 Conclusion and Resources
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/TaichiYielding/
https://www.instagram.com/theyielding...
https://www.tiktok.com/@theyieldingwa...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIzi...
#DeadAmerica #conversations
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:54):
Today, we are speakingwith Jeff Patterson.
He is an author, he has thirty-sixyears of experience practicing and
teaching meditative and martial arts.
Jeff, could you please introduce yourself?
Let people know just a littlemore about you, please?
Yeah, thanks for having me.
(01:14):
Um, I have a, uh, uh, academyhere in Portland, Oregon.
I've been teaching here atthe academy for thirty years,
I started it up back in 1994.
And through the years,I've been very fortunate.
I've had over 26, 000 studentscome through the academy.
And we do four different adultprograms here at the academy, we have a
(01:37):
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, a strikingprogram, or we do boxing and Muay Thai.
We have an Escrima program and thenmostly what we're going to talk about
today is our meditation program.
And you know, through the years,what's been such a motivator for me and
has been a lot of enjoyment is that,you know, it's always fun to take a
(01:58):
competitor out in Brazilian jiu jitsuor Muay Thai and have them do well.
But something that's always been closeto my heart with the meditative arts
is that, you know, people are cominghere for learning how to deal with
a sickness or an ailment, or maybethey're dealing with stress or anxiety.
(02:19):
And when they can take on the meditationpractice and it changes their whole life,
that is something that truly inspires me.
And that's what's kind of motivated me towrite my last couple of books and create
my online program and why I'm just reallytrying to get the message out there.
(02:40):
Yeah, I enjoy what you do a lot.
I no longer participate inthose sports, but in my younger
day, I used to really enjoy it.
It really helps ground you in many ways,find your center, and it humbles you.
Once you open up to understanding, you'renot invincible, and that's where thinking
(03:07):
about things come in handy, and I takethat meditation helps with that a lot.
Yeah.
Meditation is great, you know,and it's funny because I got
turned on to the meditative artsin a bit of a roundabout way.
I was about nineteen years old, veryinto Western boxing, and I used to go
(03:30):
to a boxing gym that's just a few blocksdown the street here from my academy.
And if, for your listeners, if they'renot familiar with it, your traditional
boxing gym is not really run likeyour normal fitness class where you
come in and there's a, a teacheror a coach and everybody follows
what the coach's instructions are.
In a boxing gym, usually there's ahandful of coaches or maybe just a couple
(03:54):
depending on the size of the gym, but eachone of those coaches might have three or
four fighters that they're working with.
Well, at this one gym that I was at,one of the coaches had created national
and world champion level fighters.
I really wanted to get to spend sometime with him, he was an amazing coach.
And so I'd always show up at thegym when I knew he was going to
(04:16):
be there and tried to get himto notice me and work very hard.
So he would, you know, keep an eye on me.
And it was about maybe four months ofdoing this, he finally started giving me a
few tips and helping me out a little bit.
And It was only about maybe two or threeweeks from him starting to give me a
few pointers when he said somethingto me that changed my life forever.
(04:40):
He said, You know, if you reallywant to be a good boxer, you should
start doing meditation and Tai Chi.
Now at the time, I was this nineteenyear old kid who didn't know much of
anything thinking, You know, isn't TaiChi for like old people in the park?
How's that gonna helpme be a better fighter?
And, you know, I, I started doing thepractice, I had a lot of respect for him.
And not only did it change my life inmany ways through the years, you know,
(05:03):
I've heard hundreds of stories of studentsthat have come in, come in and taken
on the meditative practice and seen howit's positively influenced their lives.
And so it's, it's beena strong driver for me.
Yeah, it's interesting.
You, you say there's three types ofmeditation, could you cover those
for us and let us know a little bitabout each of those meditation types?
(05:30):
Well, so I, I break down meditationinto kind of five different paths.
And then I'll, I'll touch on what you'rereferring to here in a minute when
there are different modalities of howwe can practice the different methods.
And so when somebody comes to themeditative practice, they can come
with the goal of, uh, what I call theathletic side of the training where
(05:52):
they're wanting to improve their athleticperformance and their timing, and their
present state of mind and their abilityto focus, and all those things that
help make them be a better athlete.
Then there's the therapeutic side ofthe practice, which is great for dealing
with injuries, working on your strength,and stability, and your flexibility.
Then there's the medical side of thepractice, which is a very deep topic.
(06:16):
You know, all of, uh, Chinese medicineis based on Qigong theory, which
is one of the meditation practicesthat we do here at the academy.
And then there's the philosophicalside, which teaches virtue
and how to strategicallythink through life situations.
And then there's lastly the spiritualside of the practice, which is what
(06:40):
we mostly think of or hear about whenwe talk about the meditative arts.
Now, any one of these five pathsthat we decide to follow, there's
three basic pillars that we use
that help us integrate the meditativearts into our lives so we can build an
evolving life practice with meditation.
(07:01):
And they are ritual, active,and philosophical practices.
A ritual practice is whereyou set time aside every day.
Maybe it's twenty minutes, maybe it'san hour, or whatever that is for you.
And you do maybe a sitting meditation,or a standing meditation, or a
movement practice like Tai Chi, orQigong, or whatever that is for you.
(07:24):
And then active practices are where weintegrate these things, these breathing
strategies, these postural exercises,these mental training exercises
that we do into our daily lives.
And they can be done in as little assixty seconds or two minutes, it's not
(07:44):
that you need to retire to a cave andmeditate for the rest of your life.
But when you can learn to make meditationa way of life and not a hobby that we do
once in a while, that's where you reallystart to benefit from the practice.
And then lastly, there'sphilosophical practices that can
be both active or ritual based.
(08:06):
And so with these three pillars,we start to create an evolving life
practice with the meditative arts.
You just brought up a good point.
On one of the podcasts that Ilistened to with my research, I
ran across the quote that came fromyou, Create a life, not a living.
(08:29):
Now I know that somebody toldyou this, but I found that
quote very, very interesting.
And I think that's important forintroducing into our lives also that
we have to create our life and not aliving when we reach out into the world
(08:50):
for like our jobs and all of this.
So, how do we do that?
How do we create a life insteadof a living in this complex world?
That's a great question, andit's not always the easiest path.
(09:11):
You know, I was the first kid in my wholeextended family to go through college.
And everybody thought, Ahh, he'sgoing to go get a big important
job and do something important.
You know, and, and I remember my oldboxing coach telling me you want to
create a life, not make a living.
And, and, you know, the thought ofsitting behind a computer all day
(09:34):
or doing something that I wasn'thappy doing and doing that for the
rest of my life seemed daunting.
And I was really passionate aboutthe meditative and the martial arts
and so I decided to follow that path.
And it was difficult, you know,it took a number of years.
I never would have thought it would turninto what it was or what it is today.
(09:55):
Um, you know, I remember tellingmyself back in 94 that if I could
just make 30, 000 dollars a yeardoing what I love to do, I'd be happy.
You know, it was, I didn't followthis path thinking that I was
going to be rich, you know?
And, and, uh, it's been so rewardingto have a passion that I follow.
(10:18):
And I think the first step for somebodyto do that is, they need to stay
connected to who they really are.
Because there is
such a pull in society today to get inthis fast paced way of life where we've
(10:39):
got the cell phone in our hand 24/7 andwe've got this distraction, and this
distraction, and this distraction wherewe kind of lose touch of who we are.
And a lot of times it's almost as if,you know, we're wearing a mask everywhere
we go or got these barriers up to maybenot show people how we truly feel.
(11:00):
We don't want to say something tohurt their feelings or we don't
want them to see how we really feel.
And because of this, sometimes we getso caught up in this way of life that
we start to look at ourselves in themirror and we're still wearing that mask.
And the meditative arts is one of thosethings that allows us to take those masks
(11:21):
off, put those barriers down, and reallystay connected to the root of who we are.
And when we can do that, then we canstart to create the life that we want.
But without that connection, it's,it's a very difficult thing to do.
Yeah, I believe that 100 percent.
Now going further withthat, you live in Portland.
(11:45):
You know, I, I live in SouthernOregon down here in Bly, Oregon.
And I'm in the wilderness by CraterLake so I have a lot of time to be
in nature and I consume it a lotbecause I find it peaceful and it's,
it's kind of a meditation practice.
(12:07):
So living in the city,how do you enjoy nature?
Or do you?
And do you try to applythat into your life?
First off, yes, I lovebeing out in nature.
Which is why, um, we live in theoutskirts of, of the, the town here.
(12:29):
Um, we have a seven and a half acre lot upin Forest Park, which is, uh, beautiful.
There's lots of trees, it's quiet, youcan't see any neighbors around, you
know, it's, it's very peaceful up there.
And that's always been, uh, somethingthat I've desired and wanted.
You know, for most of my life I've livedin the city and having some connection
(12:52):
to nature, I think is real important.
The other thing is, is that same feelingyou get sometimes when you're in nature
is having the tools and the abilityto use these different meditation
practices to tap into that energy andthat feeling when you're in your office,
(13:15):
or when you're in your living room,or when you're in your car, you know?
And start making it become a connection,and a feeling, and a way of life
that you do and everything you do.
And the great thing about themeditative arts is, it gives us
the tools and the ability to keepthat connection going all the time.
(13:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, I love that.
And I think it's really importantfor people to practice some
sort of quietness, if you will.
I know nature is not quiet,it's got birds, and wind, and
water, and all of these things.
They can be very calming if we justlisten to them and I find it really nice.
(14:02):
Uh, another thing you talk about is, uh,understanding the five religions and this
will lead to a healthier, happier life.
Can we talk a little bit andunderstand more about that?
Yeah.
So these are the five, what Icall the five regulations and
(14:23):
they are, um, the fundamentalpillars in any meditation practice.
And basically it's regulatingthe body, regulating the breath,
regulating the mind, regulating theenergy, and regulating the spirit.
And briefly I'll kind of touchon what all of those are.
So first, regulating the body.
(14:44):
It doesn't matter what meditationpractice you take up and whether
it's a sitting practice, a standingmeditation, a movement practice
like Tai Chi, Qigong, or Yoga,regulating the body is very essential.
Now the idea of regulating the body isbeing aware of our skeletal alignment,
and our muscular tension in the body,and how we move through the day.
(15:06):
And an example of this would be, thinkabout a time maybe when you're sitting
down at your computer and you've beenthere three or four hours and you're
feeling lethargic and drained andyou're, maybe even your neck's getting
a little bit sore, and then think aboutanother time when the most important
person in your world walks in theroom and your body perks up and you
(15:28):
feel like you're on top of the world.
Well, these two differentenergetic states, we are in
control of 100 percent of the time.
And so when we can learn how to regulatethe body, we can regulate how we present
ourselves to the rest of the world.
And the question that I ask for thoseof you that are listening is, How
(15:49):
much of your day are you choosingto live in that depleted state?
Because we can all change thatby the simple idea of learning
how to regulate the body.
Then the next regulationis regulating the breath.
And regulating the breath is a verydeep topic, it's something that you
(16:11):
will study for the rest of your lifeif you take on a meditation practice.
And oftentimes, Qigong is referredto as the science of the breath
because there's literally hundredsof different breathing strategies.
And so we broadly categorize theminto the Yin Methods and Yang Methods.
Yin Methods are often deeper,more holistic style of meditations
(16:34):
that bring the energy inward.
And an example of a Yin Meditation,or a Yin style breath would be, if
you ever listen to somebody sleep,their natural breathing pattern is a
longer inhale and a shorter exhale.
And this is the body's natural way ofbringing your conscious mind into our
(16:56):
subconscious mind, which is where weare when we're sleeping and dreaming.
And so if we want to emulate thisstyle of energy in our meditations,
we can do longer inhales, softretentions, at the end of the inhale
to help bring that energy inward.
And this is very effective for stressreduction, dealing with anxiety,
(17:17):
panic attacks, it's good to boost yourcreativity, there's a lot of benefits
that come from this side of the practice.
Then we have the Yang side of thepractice and this is more aggressive.
It's kind of like if you've ever had topush your car or you pick up something
heavy, your natural instinct is touse the exhale side of the breath,
(17:39):
put tension in the breath, make itaudible, and this helps generate
power and bring the energy outward.
Another example of a Yin breathwould be, if you ever listen to
somebody when they're crying, they arenormally, they're doing longer inhales,
which brings that energy inward.
And in turn, when somebody cries fora long time, and they get depressed,
(18:03):
and they turn their energy inward asa, as a, over a period of time, they
will often make them sick becausethis Yin, this strong Yin energy
is weakening of the immune system.
And then the flip side of that, andanother example of the Yang side
of the breath would be when you'relaughing, ha ha ha ha ha, you're
(18:26):
exhaling longer than you inhale.
And if you've ever laughed, did a deepbelly laugh and laughed for twenty
minutes, you'll notice you startsweating and you start feeling very warm.
Well, this is an example of howwe lead that energy outward.
And we naturally do thesethings in our life all the time.
But when we can learn how to controlthat and balance that with our breath,
(18:51):
and in Chinese philosophy, theycall this balancing the Kan and Li.
Now, you know, everybody goes throughthe day with emotional ups and downs.
Some people are like a roller coaster,others maybe a little more balanced.
But when you start recognizing theseimbalances, and you start feeling a sense
of agitation or excitement, we can use theYin breath to help bring you back down.
(19:14):
And when you start feelingdepleted, we can use the Yang
breath to help pick us back up.
And now understanding how to do thiscan provide us a lot more balance in, in
present state of mind throughout the dayby learning how to regulate this breath.
And then the third regulationis, regulating the mind.
(19:35):
And just as with the breath,this is a lifelong practice.
Now, oftentimes I've heard peoplethat are coming to the practice,
they'll tell me, I tried meditation,but it just didn't work for me.
I couldn't quiet my mind.
Well, somewhere along the way people gotthis idea that in order to be successful
(19:56):
with meditation, that you have toreach this state of Nirvana and nothing
bothers you and you never get distracted.
And it couldn't be further from the truth.
You know, I've been studying themeditative arts for a long time.
I've traveled around the worldand trained with some of the
most amazing practitioners on theplanet and I have never once met
anybody who doesn't get distracted.
(20:18):
Everybody does, it'sjust the way of humanity.
And when you can change that mindsetand realize that you're not failing
when you get distracted and realizethat you're doing good by recognizing
the distraction, you can turn itfrom a negative into a positive.
And now say, for example, you'redoing a, a sitting meditation or
(20:40):
a movement practice for twentyminutes, and you get distracted
fifty times during that session.
Well, every time you get distracted,you recognize the distraction.
You use your posture, your breath,your movement, whatever it is to
help bring you back to center.
And now you just got fiftyrepetitions of being out of focus and
(21:02):
bringing yourself back into focus.
Now you do this every day, everymonth, every year, you start
almost becoming indestructible.
And if somebody says something to throwyou off your game, or you have a stressful
day at work, you can use these techniquesand strategies to help come back to
the present state and be more balancedand approach it with that calm state of
(21:26):
mind rather than that imbalanced place.
You know, there's this, uh, story that Ireally enjoy about these two old monks.
And they're walking down a dirt roadafter a rainstorm and everything's
muddy and there's puddles everywhere.
And they come up to this huge mud puddleand on the other side of the puddle
(21:46):
is this beautiful little girl standingthere in a white dress and she's crying.
And the older monk, he yellsacross the puddle and says, Is
there anything we can do to help?
Are you okay?
And she says, I need to be somewhere,but if I walk across this puddle,
I'm going to get my dress all dirty.
So the older monk, he rolls up his pantlegs and he walks across the puddle,
(22:06):
picks her up, puts her on his back,takes her to the other side, sets
her down, and she's off on her way.
Well, him and the younger monk arewalking a couple miles down the road,
and finally, the younger monk is justfurious, and he says, You know we're
not supposed to touch girls, but yetyou did back there at the puddle.
And the older monk looks downat him and says, You're still
(22:29):
thinking about that girl?
I left her back there at the puddle.
And how many times in life do wehave to get two miles down the muddy
road before we finally realize we'reimbalanced or need to let something go?
And so this idea of learninghow to regulate the mind is a
very important pillar in thepractice of the meditative arts.
(22:51):
Then the fourth pillaris, regulating the energy.
And regulating the energy is a verydeep topic and something that we
could talk about for hours, but thebasic understanding of it is, is once
you've reached a competent level inregulating the body, the breath, and
the mind, now you have the tools tocirculate the energy in the body.
(23:14):
Lead the energy inward,extend the energy outward.
And we do this for differentmeditations to get different outcomes.
And then the last regulation, which isregulating the spirit, is a very profound,
deep idea, and it's something thatmeditation masters and, and monks will
spend their entire life working towardsthat ultimate goal of enlightenment.
(23:39):
And from these basic five pillars, orfive regulations, they're the fundamental
principles of any meditation practice.
The cool thing is when you start tounderstand these and see how they
work, you can see that the practiceaffects everything we do in life.
And when we start integrating theseconcepts into our day to day activities,
(24:03):
it can make everything we do better.
Awesome.
You know, I want to saysorry to my listeners.
My dyslexia kicked in there and Isaid religion instead of regulations.
So I do apologize for that.
I do want to be mindful of those absentee
(24:26):
moments in my life.
So I do really enjoy that andI understand it better now.
So I want to talk about theYielding Warrior Program and
the Yielding Method a little bitbecause that, that's truly unique.
Could you cover that for us?
(24:49):
Yeah, so yielding is a concept that isused in the meditative and the martial
arts and it has been for generations.
And all through my career, I'vealways been fascinated by the idea
because it allows somebody who'ssmaller and weaker to deal with
somebody who's bigger and stronger.
And the basic idea of yielding is, there,I break it down into three pillars.
(25:14):
We have physical yielding, mentalyielding, and emotional yielding.
Physical yielding is the idea thatI push you, you push me, whoever's
the bigger, stronger person withthe most leverage eventually is
going to push the other person over.
But with yielding, instead ofus trying to see who the bigger
meathead is, when you push me, Iget out of the way of that force.
(25:36):
Now I can respond with less effort.
So I'm not trying to buttheads with you and see if I'm
bigger and stronger than you.
Now it's obvious how this is beneficialin any kind of sport or physical activity.
Because many times in athletics,we come up against athletes that
are bigger and stronger than us.
And meeting them head on andtrying to force our will on them,
(25:59):
we're going to lose that battle.
But when we can use this strategy andlearn how to lead them to a point of
weakness and then attack, it allowsus to get the upper hand on people who
are a lot bigger and stronger than us.
Now in order to be good atphysical yielding, a lot of
things have to come into play.
First, we need to be well rooted.
(26:21):
The lower part of our body needs to bestrong and flexible so you can change your
central equilibrium without getting tight.
The body has to be relaxed,the breath has to be calm, and
the mind has to be present.
It's a lifetime journeyto master that skill.
However, from day one, when we startintegrating the meditative arts into
(26:43):
our life, we start developing awarenessof these things inside of ourselves.
Which, and this is where it startsto become very interesting, and we're
also moving into what I call mentalyielding now, but when we start to
see these things more clearly insideof ourselves, we also start to see
them more clearly in other people.
(27:04):
Now, say for example, you and Iare having a conversation and I
say something that unsettles you.
And I pick up on it right from thatfirst sign of imbalance, it's a lot
easier to adjust the conversationand keep us in a happy place.
Than if I'm not paying attention tothat, pretty soon I'm so far off track,
you want to knock me upside the head.
(27:26):
And so learning how to use yielding in allof our interactions is extremely powerful.
One, we're just being moreconsiderate, which is something I
think we could all do more of anyway.
And two, it allows us to be strategicin our interactions, which is great
for relationships, for business,for sales, for negotiations.
(27:48):
I mean, there's so manydifferent applications of this.
Now, the next pillaris emotional yielding.
And emotional yielding is very muchlike mental yielding, but it's with
our own interpersonal conflicts.
So you think about, oftentimessomething will happen to us and we'll
(28:09):
respond and we'll go down this pathand we might get an hour, a day,
a week down that road and realize,
maybe that wasn't the best choice.
But by integrating the meditative artsinto our life and being able to stay
present and aware of these things whenthey happen, oftentimes it allows us the
time needed to kind of sit back, analyzethe situation with a little more detail,
(28:35):
and come from a more balanced stateof mind and make a different choice.
Oftentimes that can save us a lotof heartache on the other side.
You know, and I've been explaining thisidea of yielding now for many years.
I've been running thisacademy here for thirty years.
and one of the most common thingsI'll hear people say is, Ahh,
(28:56):
that makes a lot of sense.
In fact, I do yielding all the time.
And while I would agree, I thinkeverybody does some degree of yielding
all the time, whether they labelit that or recognize that or not.
It's kind of like if you or I wereto walk into a crime scene with a
detective who's been on the job forthirty years, I guarantee you that
(29:17):
person would see things about theseries of events in the timeline that I
know at least I would have no clue of.
And the meditative arts helps ussee things inside of ourselves and
inside of other people that I trulybelieve that unless you practice the
meditative arts, you will go throughyour entire life and have no clue
(29:38):
that these things are even happening.
Yeah, very interesting.
Uh, getting into later life, I know it'svery important to stay active and physical
and, you know, get involved with programsbecause it keeps you active socially also.
(30:01):
There's always a level where peopleare trying to enter into these
martial arts meditation programs.
And I feel that Tai Chi is one ofthose beginner steps that is easy for
people to get into, even if they'reold and sore and beaten up and broken.
(30:28):
It can actually help you reduce the levelof pain and stressors on the body if you
activate them using these simple movementslike in Tai Chi, is that correct?
Oh, there's been hundreds ofstudies on this, you know, and
it's, it's been proven that Tai Chiwill help with your flexibility,
(30:52):
your strength, with your balance.
A lot of older patients or students willpractice Tai Chi for fall prevention.
And, you know, they did a study atHarvard Medical School, which a lot of
people don't even think about Tai Chi ormeditation for this benefit, but where
they took a lot of people who had, um,early onset Alzheimer's and they were
(31:17):
losing their, their memory and theytaught them how to do deep breathing and
they put them in these oxygen chambersand everybody improved on average thirty
percent after just a few short sessions.
Now, a lot of this is, you know, whenwe're doing the meditative practice, we
(31:39):
learn how to improve our lung capacityso we can use deeper breathing and
create that oxygen, carbon and dioxideexchange, which is very beneficial.
And as we age, it's also been proventhat we start to breathe more shallowly.
And so it's one kind of hiddenbenefit of learning how to keep
(32:02):
those lungs more pliable andaccess more of our lung capacity.
Cause I also read that eightypercent of the population out there
uses anywhere from forty to sixtypercent of their lung capacity.
So if we could improve that and useeighty or ninety percent of our lung
capacity, think about how that wouldchange our energy and think about
(32:27):
how that could improve our cognitiveability, our overall physical awareness,
and, and, and our energy levels.
And so there, there's just so manybenefits for people of all ages.
You know, I have students that comein here that are in their nineties,
and I have students coming in here intheir twenties, and all in between.
So it, it really is a greatpractice for everybody.
(32:51):
So, so what is the cost barrier toget involved in a class like that?
You know, that's the great thing aboutthis practice is that it doesn't cost
much to learn something like this.
You know, anytime somebody new is comingto the meditative arts, the biggest
(33:11):
barrier is getting over your own self.
You know, it's, um, there's,there's three things that I always
try to make really clear to newstudents coming to the practice.
And the first one is, why areyou coming to the practice?
(33:31):
Why is it important to you?
Do you want to stay healthy into old ageand be able to play with your grandkids?
Or you want to learn how todeal with stress and anxiety?
Do you want to improve yourperformance on the field?
What is that?
Because I guarantee you, it doesn'tmatter who you are, maybe it's tomorrow,
next week or next month, your alarm isgoing to go off in the morning and you're
(33:52):
going to be tempted to hit the snoozebutton and say, I'll meditate tomorrow.
I'm going to sleep in today.
And so if you have a strong why,it gives you the energy and the
drive to stop looking at thislike a chore you have to do.
But something that you get to do and begrateful that you have this opportunity
to learn these skills and to positivelychange your life by doing this practice.
(34:18):
Then is the idea of consistency,and consistency is key
with the meditative arts.
You know, in fact, the, the DalaiLama once said that everybody
should meditate for twenty minutesa day unless you're too busy, then
you should meditate for an hour.
And I love that saying and that, you know,everybody should take at least twenty
minutes a day to connect to who you are.
(34:41):
And that consistency, it developsdiscipline, integrity, perseverance,
and many other qualities.
And by doing this in our practice,those qualities become not just how
we are when we're meditating, but it'show we show up to our friendships and
our relationships, and our work andour hobbies, and everything we do.
(35:01):
And so it changes our life in many waysby having this consistent practice.
Then lastly, and this is oneof the most important things
is, you need to find a guide.
I've, you know, I've been aroundthe meditative arts for many years.
I'm still a student, I'mlearning all the time.
And I, this isn't just a hobby for me,
(35:21):
this is my profession.
You know, it's a very deep practice,and if you try to do it on your own
by listening to an app or watchinga video on YouTube, you could waste
ten, twenty years of your life andvery get above, just treading water.
And so the idea is, is there's lots ofgood teachers out there, there's lots
of good programs, don't get caughtup without having somebody that can
(35:45):
help point you in the right direction.
And, you know, one of the things that Isee people getting distracted with that
are maybe even fairly disciplined withthe meditative arts these days is that,
you know, I'll hear people say, Oh yeah,I've been meditating for five years.
And I listened to this app.
Well, the meditative arts are calledthe internal arts for a reason.
(36:08):
I think apps are great, videos are greatto learn specific practices, but when you
do your ritual practice, you shouldn't bewatching a video or listening to an audio.
It's time to turn that focusinward and listen to yourself.
Because if you don't do this,you're never going to get a very
(36:29):
deep level of practice by this.
And I think that a lot of people getdistracted because there's so many
different apps out there and videosout there that, and, and they don't
have a guide, they don't have somebodypointing them in the right direction.
That they think they're doingwell when really they're, they're
kind of shortcutting themselves.
And so find yourself somebody to helppoint you in the right direction, be
(36:53):
consistent and have a strong why, andyou'll be successful with the practice
That's solid advice, I like that a lot.
Jeff, our time is reallystarting to wind down here.
We could go on for hours about it.
Is there anything important thatour listeners need to know about
(37:13):
what you practice, what you teach?
You know, if you like what we'vebeen talking about, you could
order a free copy of my book, uh,at theyieldingwarrior.com/book.
And it's a great way to kind ofget introduced to these concepts
and see what we're doing.
And also at theyieldingwarrior.com, youcould get introduced to my online program
(37:38):
that teaches you the strategies on howto build an evolving life practice using
Tai chi, Qigong, sitting meditation,breath work, standing meditation,
all of these different things so youcan incorporate these strategies and
learn how to build a practice there.
I also have a teachertraining program up there.
So if you're somebody who is a lifecoach, or maybe you own a yoga studio
(38:02):
or a martial arts studio, and you wantto learn how to have another pillar
in your business where you can targetmaybe a new clientele, you know, cause
here at our academy, you know, inour martial art programs, we have a
lot of twenties, thirties, and fortysomethings in our, in our boxing,
and Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jujitsu.
But in our meditation program,we've got a lot of fifties, sixties,
(38:26):
seventies and eighties in there.
And so as a business, if you canadd a whole nother client base
to your market, this can be huge.
So it can add a lot ofbenefit to what you're doing.
And I've seen in many cases where they,somebody will add an internal art program
like this to their existing businessand it ends up dwarfing the sales that
(38:50):
they're doing in their other business.
And so it really is something that's verysubstantial and can help you in many ways.
I like that a lot, that'skind of interesting.
And, you know, there are a lot of gyms outthere that could put these practices into
their pillars and it would do them good.
(39:12):
And it helps the community get strongerand healthier, so I like it a lot.
Jeff, I want to say thank you for beingpart of the Dead America Podcast today.
It's been very, uh, educationalin many ways for me.
Hey, thanks for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
(39:35):
Thank you for joining us today.
If you found this podcast enlightening,entertaining, educational in any way,
please share, like, subscribe, and joinus right back here next week for another
great episode of the Dead America Podcast.
I'm Ed Watters, your host, enjoyyour afternoon wherever you might be.
Today, we are speakingwith Jeff Patterson.
He is an author, he has thirty-sixyears of experience practicing and
teaching meditative and martial arts.
Jeff, could you please introduce yourself?
Let people know just a littlemore about you, please?
Yeah, thanks for having me.
(01:14):
Um, I have a, uh, uh, academyhere in Portland, Oregon.
I've been teaching here atthe academy for thirty years,
I started it up back in 1994.
And through the years,I've been very fortunate.
I've had over 26, 000 studentscome through the academy.
And we do four different adultprograms here at the academy, we have a
(01:37):
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, a strikingprogram, or we do boxing and Muay Thai.
We have an Escrima program and thenmostly what we're going to talk about
today is our meditation program.
And you know, through the years,what's been such a motivator for me and
has been a lot of enjoyment is that,you know, it's always fun to take a
(01:58):
competitor out in Brazilian jiu jitsuor Muay Thai and have them do well.
But something that's always been closeto my heart with the meditative arts
is that, you know, people are cominghere for learning how to deal with
a sickness or an ailment, or maybethey're dealing with stress or anxiety.
(02:19):
And when they can take on the meditationpractice and it changes their whole life,
that is something that truly inspires me.
And that's what's kind of motivated me towrite my last couple of books and create
my online program and why I'm just reallytrying to get the message out there.
(02:40):
Yeah, I enjoy what you do a lot.
I no longer participate inthose sports, but in my younger
day, I used to really enjoy it.
It really helps ground you in many ways,find your center, and it humbles you.
Once you open up to understanding, you'renot invincible, and that's where thinking
(03:07):
about things come in handy, and I takethat meditation helps with that a lot.
Yeah.
Meditation is great, you know,and it's funny because I got
turned on to the meditative artsin a bit of a roundabout way.
I was about nineteen years old, veryinto Western boxing, and I used to go
(03:30):
to a boxing gym that's just a few blocksdown the street here from my academy.
And if, for your listeners, if they'renot familiar with it, your traditional
boxing gym is not really run likeyour normal fitness class where you
come in and there's a, a teacheror a coach and everybody follows
what the coach's instructions are.
In a boxing gym, usually there's ahandful of coaches or maybe just a couple
(03:54):
depending on the size of the gym, but eachone of those coaches might have three or
four fighters that they're working with.
Well, at this one gym that I was at,one of the coaches had created national
and world champion level fighters.
I really wanted to get to spend sometime with him, he was an amazing coach.
And so I'd always show up at thegym when I knew he was going to
(04:16):
be there and tried to get himto notice me and work very hard.
So he would, you know, keep an eye on me.
And it was about maybe four months ofdoing this, he finally started giving me a
few tips and helping me out a little bit.
And It was only about maybe two or threeweeks from him starting to give me a
few pointers when he said somethingto me that changed my life forever.
(04:40):
He said, You know, if you reallywant to be a good boxer, you should
start doing meditation and Tai Chi.
Now at the time, I was this nineteenyear old kid who didn't know much of
anything thinking, You know, isn't TaiChi for like old people in the park?
How's that gonna helpme be a better fighter?
And, you know, I, I started doing thepractice, I had a lot of respect for him.
And not only did it change my life inmany ways through the years, you know,
(05:03):
I've heard hundreds of stories of studentsthat have come in, come in and taken
on the meditative practice and seen howit's positively influenced their lives.
And so it's, it's beena strong driver for me.
Yeah, it's interesting.
You, you say there's three types ofmeditation, could you cover those
for us and let us know a little bitabout each of those meditation types?
(05:30):
Well, so I, I break down meditationinto kind of five different paths.
And then I'll, I'll touch on what you'rereferring to here in a minute when
there are different modalities of howwe can practice the different methods.
And so when somebody comes to themeditative practice, they can come
with the goal of, uh, what I call theathletic side of the training where
(05:52):
they're wanting to improve their athleticperformance and their timing, and their
present state of mind and their abilityto focus, and all those things that
help make them be a better athlete.
Then there's the therapeutic side ofthe practice, which is great for dealing
with injuries, working on your strength,and stability, and your flexibility.
Then there's the medical side of thepractice, which is a very deep topic.
(06:16):
You know, all of, uh, Chinese medicineis based on Qigong theory, which
is one of the meditation practicesthat we do here at the academy.
And then there's the philosophicalside, which teaches virtue
and how to strategicallythink through life situations.
And then there's lastly the spiritualside of the practice, which is what
(06:40):
we mostly think of or hear about whenwe talk about the meditative arts.
Now, any one of these five pathsthat we decide to follow, there's
three basic pillars that we use
that help us integrate the meditativearts into our lives so we can build an
evolving life practice with meditation.
(07:01):
And they are ritual, active,and philosophical practices.
A ritual practice is whereyou set time aside every day.
Maybe it's twenty minutes, maybe it'san hour, or whatever that is for you.
And you do maybe a sitting meditation,or a standing meditation, or a
movement practice like Tai Chi, orQigong, or whatever that is for you.
(07:24):
And then active practices are where weintegrate these things, these breathing
strategies, these postural exercises,these mental training exercises
that we do into our daily lives.
And they can be done in as little assixty seconds or two minutes, it's not
(07:44):
that you need to retire to a cave andmeditate for the rest of your life.
But when you can learn to make meditationa way of life and not a hobby that we do
once in a while, that's where you reallystart to benefit from the practice.
And then lastly, there'sphilosophical practices that can
be both active or ritual based.
(08:06):
And so with these three pillars,we start to create an evolving life
practice with the meditative arts.
You just brought up a good point.
On one of the podcasts that Ilistened to with my research, I
ran across the quote that came fromyou, Create a life, not a living.
(08:29):
Now I know that somebody toldyou this, but I found that
quote very, very interesting.
And I think that's important forintroducing into our lives also that
we have to create our life and not aliving when we reach out into the world
(08:50):
for like our jobs and all of this.
So, how do we do that?
How do we create a life insteadof a living in this complex world?
That's a great question, andit's not always the easiest path.
(09:11):
You know, I was the first kid in my wholeextended family to go through college.
And everybody thought, Ahh, he'sgoing to go get a big important
job and do something important.
You know, and, and I remember my oldboxing coach telling me you want to
create a life, not make a living.
And, and, you know, the thought ofsitting behind a computer all day
(09:34):
or doing something that I wasn'thappy doing and doing that for the
rest of my life seemed daunting.
And I was really passionate aboutthe meditative and the martial arts
and so I decided to follow that path.
And it was difficult, you know,it took a number of years.
I never would have thought it would turninto what it was or what it is today.
(09:55):
Um, you know, I remember tellingmyself back in 94 that if I could
just make 30, 000 dollars a yeardoing what I love to do, I'd be happy.
You know, it was, I didn't followthis path thinking that I was
going to be rich, you know?
And, and, uh, it's been so rewardingto have a passion that I follow.
(10:18):
And I think the first step for somebodyto do that is, they need to stay
connected to who they really are.
Because there is
such a pull in society today to get inthis fast paced way of life where we've
(10:39):
got the cell phone in our hand 24/7 andwe've got this distraction, and this
distraction, and this distraction wherewe kind of lose touch of who we are.
And a lot of times it's almost as if,you know, we're wearing a mask everywhere
we go or got these barriers up to maybenot show people how we truly feel.
(11:00):
We don't want to say something tohurt their feelings or we don't
want them to see how we really feel.
And because of this, sometimes we getso caught up in this way of life that
we start to look at ourselves in themirror and we're still wearing that mask.
And the meditative arts is one of thosethings that allows us to take those masks
(11:21):
off, put those barriers down, and reallystay connected to the root of who we are.
And when we can do that, then we canstart to create the life that we want.
But without that connection, it's,it's a very difficult thing to do.
Yeah, I believe that 100 percent.
Now going further withthat, you live in Portland.
(11:45):
You know, I, I live in SouthernOregon down here in Bly, Oregon.
And I'm in the wilderness by CraterLake so I have a lot of time to be
in nature and I consume it a lotbecause I find it peaceful and it's,
it's kind of a meditation practice.
(12:07):
So living in the city,how do you enjoy nature?
Or do you?
And do you try to applythat into your life?
First off, yes, I lovebeing out in nature.
Which is why, um, we live in theoutskirts of, of the, the town here.
(12:29):
Um, we have a seven and a half acre lot upin Forest Park, which is, uh, beautiful.
There's lots of trees, it's quiet, youcan't see any neighbors around, you
know, it's, it's very peaceful up there.
And that's always been, uh, somethingthat I've desired and wanted.
You know, for most of my life I've livedin the city and having some connection
(12:52):
to nature, I think is real important.
The other thing is, is that same feelingyou get sometimes when you're in nature
is having the tools and the abilityto use these different meditation
practices to tap into that energy andthat feeling when you're in your office,
(13:15):
or when you're in your living room,or when you're in your car, you know?
And start making it become a connection,and a feeling, and a way of life
that you do and everything you do.
And the great thing about themeditative arts is, it gives us
the tools and the ability to keepthat connection going all the time.
(13:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, I love that.
And I think it's really importantfor people to practice some
sort of quietness, if you will.
I know nature is not quiet,it's got birds, and wind, and
water, and all of these things.
They can be very calming if we justlisten to them and I find it really nice.
(14:02):
Uh, another thing you talk about is, uh,understanding the five religions and this
will lead to a healthier, happier life.
Can we talk a little bit andunderstand more about that?
Yeah.
So these are the five, what Icall the five regulations and
(14:23):
they are, um, the fundamentalpillars in any meditation practice.
And basically it's regulatingthe body, regulating the breath,
regulating the mind, regulating theenergy, and regulating the spirit.
And briefly I'll kind of touchon what all of those are.
So first, regulating the body.
(14:44):
It doesn't matter what meditationpractice you take up and whether
it's a sitting practice, a standingmeditation, a movement practice
like Tai Chi, Qigong, or Yoga,regulating the body is very essential.
Now the idea of regulating the body isbeing aware of our skeletal alignment,
and our muscular tension in the body,and how we move through the day.
(15:06):
And an example of this would be, thinkabout a time maybe when you're sitting
down at your computer and you've beenthere three or four hours and you're
feeling lethargic and drained andyou're, maybe even your neck's getting
a little bit sore, and then think aboutanother time when the most important
person in your world walks in theroom and your body perks up and you
(15:28):
feel like you're on top of the world.
Well, these two differentenergetic states, we are in
control of 100 percent of the time.
And so when we can learn how to regulatethe body, we can regulate how we present
ourselves to the rest of the world.
And the question that I ask for thoseof you that are listening is, How
(15:49):
much of your day are you choosingto live in that depleted state?
Because we can all change thatby the simple idea of learning
how to regulate the body.
Then the next regulationis regulating the breath.
And regulating the breath is a verydeep topic, it's something that you
(16:11):
will study for the rest of your lifeif you take on a meditation practice.
And oftentimes, Qigong is referredto as the science of the breath
because there's literally hundredsof different breathing strategies.
And so we broadly categorize theminto the Yin Methods and Yang Methods.
Yin Methods are often deeper,more holistic style of meditations
(16:34):
that bring the energy inward.
And an example of a Yin Meditation,or a Yin style breath would be, if
you ever listen to somebody sleep,their natural breathing pattern is a
longer inhale and a shorter exhale.
And this is the body's natural way ofbringing your conscious mind into our
(16:56):
subconscious mind, which is where weare when we're sleeping and dreaming.
And so if we want to emulate thisstyle of energy in our meditations,
we can do longer inhales, softretentions, at the end of the inhale
to help bring that energy inward.
And this is very effective for stressreduction, dealing with anxiety,
(17:17):
panic attacks, it's good to boost yourcreativity, there's a lot of benefits
that come from this side of the practice.
Then we have the Yang side of thepractice and this is more aggressive.
It's kind of like if you've ever had topush your car or you pick up something
heavy, your natural instinct is touse the exhale side of the breath,
(17:39):
put tension in the breath, make itaudible, and this helps generate
power and bring the energy outward.
Another example of a Yin breathwould be, if you ever listen to
somebody when they're crying, they arenormally, they're doing longer inhales,
which brings that energy inward.
And in turn, when somebody cries fora long time, and they get depressed,
(18:03):
and they turn their energy inward asa, as a, over a period of time, they
will often make them sick becausethis Yin, this strong Yin energy
is weakening of the immune system.
And then the flip side of that, andanother example of the Yang side
of the breath would be when you'relaughing, ha ha ha ha ha, you're
(18:26):
exhaling longer than you inhale.
And if you've ever laughed, did a deepbelly laugh and laughed for twenty
minutes, you'll notice you startsweating and you start feeling very warm.
Well, this is an example of howwe lead that energy outward.
And we naturally do thesethings in our life all the time.
But when we can learn how to controlthat and balance that with our breath,
(18:51):
and in Chinese philosophy, theycall this balancing the Kan and Li.
Now, you know, everybody goes throughthe day with emotional ups and downs.
Some people are like a roller coaster,others maybe a little more balanced.
But when you start recognizing theseimbalances, and you start feeling a sense
of agitation or excitement, we can use theYin breath to help bring you back down.
(19:14):
And when you start feelingdepleted, we can use the Yang
breath to help pick us back up.
And now understanding how to do thiscan provide us a lot more balance in, in
present state of mind throughout the dayby learning how to regulate this breath.
And then the third regulationis, regulating the mind.
(19:35):
And just as with the breath,this is a lifelong practice.
Now, oftentimes I've heard peoplethat are coming to the practice,
they'll tell me, I tried meditation,but it just didn't work for me.
I couldn't quiet my mind.
Well, somewhere along the way people gotthis idea that in order to be successful
(19:56):
with meditation, that you have toreach this state of Nirvana and nothing
bothers you and you never get distracted.
And it couldn't be further from the truth.
You know, I've been studying themeditative arts for a long time.
I've traveled around the worldand trained with some of the
most amazing practitioners on theplanet and I have never once met
anybody who doesn't get distracted.
(20:18):
Everybody does, it'sjust the way of humanity.
And when you can change that mindsetand realize that you're not failing
when you get distracted and realizethat you're doing good by recognizing
the distraction, you can turn itfrom a negative into a positive.
And now say, for example, you'redoing a, a sitting meditation or
(20:40):
a movement practice for twentyminutes, and you get distracted
fifty times during that session.
Well, every time you get distracted,you recognize the distraction.
You use your posture, your breath,your movement, whatever it is to
help bring you back to center.
And now you just got fiftyrepetitions of being out of focus and
(21:02):
bringing yourself back into focus.
Now you do this every day, everymonth, every year, you start
almost becoming indestructible.
And if somebody says something to throwyou off your game, or you have a stressful
day at work, you can use these techniquesand strategies to help come back to
the present state and be more balancedand approach it with that calm state of
(21:26):
mind rather than that imbalanced place.
You know, there's this, uh, story that Ireally enjoy about these two old monks.
And they're walking down a dirt roadafter a rainstorm and everything's
muddy and there's puddles everywhere.
And they come up to this huge mud puddleand on the other side of the puddle
(21:46):
is this beautiful little girl standingthere in a white dress and she's crying.
And the older monk, he yellsacross the puddle and says, Is
there anything we can do to help?
Are you okay?
And she says, I need to be somewhere,but if I walk across this puddle,
I'm going to get my dress all dirty.
So the older monk, he rolls up his pantlegs and he walks across the puddle,
(22:06):
picks her up, puts her on his back,takes her to the other side, sets
her down, and she's off on her way.
Well, him and the younger monk arewalking a couple miles down the road,
and finally, the younger monk is justfurious, and he says, You know we're
not supposed to touch girls, but yetyou did back there at the puddle.
And the older monk looks downat him and says, You're still
(22:29):
thinking about that girl?
I left her back there at the puddle.
And how many times in life do wehave to get two miles down the muddy
road before we finally realize we'reimbalanced or need to let something go?
And so this idea of learninghow to regulate the mind is a
very important pillar in thepractice of the meditative arts.
(22:51):
Then the fourth pillaris, regulating the energy.
And regulating the energy is a verydeep topic and something that we
could talk about for hours, but thebasic understanding of it is, is once
you've reached a competent level inregulating the body, the breath, and
the mind, now you have the tools tocirculate the energy in the body.
(23:14):
Lead the energy inward,extend the energy outward.
And we do this for differentmeditations to get different outcomes.
And then the last regulation, which isregulating the spirit, is a very profound,
deep idea, and it's something thatmeditation masters and, and monks will
spend their entire life working towardsthat ultimate goal of enlightenment.
(23:39):
And from these basic five pillars, orfive regulations, they're the fundamental
principles of any meditation practice.
The cool thing is when you start tounderstand these and see how they
work, you can see that the practiceaffects everything we do in life.
And when we start integrating theseconcepts into our day to day activities,
(24:03):
it can make everything we do better.
Awesome.
You know, I want to saysorry to my listeners.
My dyslexia kicked in there and Isaid religion instead of regulations.
So I do apologize for that.
I do want to be mindful of those absentee
(24:26):
moments in my life.
So I do really enjoy that andI understand it better now.
So I want to talk about theYielding Warrior Program and
the Yielding Method a little bitbecause that, that's truly unique.
Could you cover that for us?
(24:49):
Yeah, so yielding is a concept that isused in the meditative and the martial
arts and it has been for generations.
And all through my career, I'vealways been fascinated by the idea
because it allows somebody who'ssmaller and weaker to deal with
somebody who's bigger and stronger.
And the basic idea of yielding is, there,I break it down into three pillars.
(25:14):
We have physical yielding, mentalyielding, and emotional yielding.
Physical yielding is the idea thatI push you, you push me, whoever's
the bigger, stronger person withthe most leverage eventually is
going to push the other person over.
But with yielding, instead ofus trying to see who the bigger
meathead is, when you push me, Iget out of the way of that force.
(25:36):
Now I can respond with less effort.
So I'm not trying to buttheads with you and see if I'm
bigger and stronger than you.
Now it's obvious how this is beneficialin any kind of sport or physical activity.
Because many times in athletics,we come up against athletes that
are bigger and stronger than us.
And meeting them head on andtrying to force our will on them,
(25:59):
we're going to lose that battle.
But when we can use this strategy andlearn how to lead them to a point of
weakness and then attack, it allowsus to get the upper hand on people who
are a lot bigger and stronger than us.
Now in order to be good atphysical yielding, a lot of
things have to come into play.
First, we need to be well rooted.
(26:21):
The lower part of our body needs to bestrong and flexible so you can change your
central equilibrium without getting tight.
The body has to be relaxed,the breath has to be calm, and
the mind has to be present.
It's a lifetime journeyto master that skill.
However, from day one, when we startintegrating the meditative arts into
(26:43):
our life, we start developing awarenessof these things inside of ourselves.
Which, and this is where it startsto become very interesting, and we're
also moving into what I call mentalyielding now, but when we start to
see these things more clearly insideof ourselves, we also start to see
them more clearly in other people.
(27:04):
Now, say for example, you and Iare having a conversation and I
say something that unsettles you.
And I pick up on it right from thatfirst sign of imbalance, it's a lot
easier to adjust the conversationand keep us in a happy place.
Than if I'm not paying attention tothat, pretty soon I'm so far off track,
you want to knock me upside the head.
(27:26):
And so learning how to use yielding in allof our interactions is extremely powerful.
One, we're just being moreconsiderate, which is something I
think we could all do more of anyway.
And two, it allows us to be strategicin our interactions, which is great
for relationships, for business,for sales, for negotiations.
(27:48):
I mean, there's so manydifferent applications of this.
Now, the next pillaris emotional yielding.
And emotional yielding is very muchlike mental yielding, but it's with
our own interpersonal conflicts.
So you think about, oftentimessomething will happen to us and we'll
(28:09):
respond and we'll go down this pathand we might get an hour, a day,
a week down that road and realize,
maybe that wasn't the best choice.
But by integrating the meditative artsinto our life and being able to stay
present and aware of these things whenthey happen, oftentimes it allows us the
time needed to kind of sit back, analyzethe situation with a little more detail,
(28:35):
and come from a more balanced stateof mind and make a different choice.
Oftentimes that can save us a lotof heartache on the other side.
You know, and I've been explaining thisidea of yielding now for many years.
I've been running thisacademy here for thirty years.
and one of the most common thingsI'll hear people say is, Ahh,
(28:56):
that makes a lot of sense.
In fact, I do yielding all the time.
And while I would agree, I thinkeverybody does some degree of yielding
all the time, whether they labelit that or recognize that or not.
It's kind of like if you or I wereto walk into a crime scene with a
detective who's been on the job forthirty years, I guarantee you that
(29:17):
person would see things about theseries of events in the timeline that I
know at least I would have no clue of.
And the meditative arts helps ussee things inside of ourselves and
inside of other people that I trulybelieve that unless you practice the
meditative arts, you will go throughyour entire life and have no clue
(29:38):
that these things are even happening.
Yeah, very interesting.
Uh, getting into later life, I know it'svery important to stay active and physical
and, you know, get involved with programsbecause it keeps you active socially also.
(30:01):
There's always a level where peopleare trying to enter into these
martial arts meditation programs.
And I feel that Tai Chi is one ofthose beginner steps that is easy for
people to get into, even if they'reold and sore and beaten up and broken.
(30:28):
It can actually help you reduce the levelof pain and stressors on the body if you
activate them using these simple movementslike in Tai Chi, is that correct?
Oh, there's been hundreds ofstudies on this, you know, and
it's, it's been proven that Tai Chiwill help with your flexibility,
(30:52):
your strength, with your balance.
A lot of older patients or students willpractice Tai Chi for fall prevention.
And, you know, they did a study atHarvard Medical School, which a lot of
people don't even think about Tai Chi ormeditation for this benefit, but where
they took a lot of people who had, um,early onset Alzheimer's and they were
(31:17):
losing their, their memory and theytaught them how to do deep breathing and
they put them in these oxygen chambersand everybody improved on average thirty
percent after just a few short sessions.
Now, a lot of this is, you know, whenwe're doing the meditative practice, we
(31:39):
learn how to improve our lung capacityso we can use deeper breathing and
create that oxygen, carbon and dioxideexchange, which is very beneficial.
And as we age, it's also been proventhat we start to breathe more shallowly.
And so it's one kind of hiddenbenefit of learning how to keep
(32:02):
those lungs more pliable andaccess more of our lung capacity.
Cause I also read that eightypercent of the population out there
uses anywhere from forty to sixtypercent of their lung capacity.
So if we could improve that and useeighty or ninety percent of our lung
capacity, think about how that wouldchange our energy and think about
(32:27):
how that could improve our cognitiveability, our overall physical awareness,
and, and, and our energy levels.
And so there, there's just so manybenefits for people of all ages.
You know, I have students that comein here that are in their nineties,
and I have students coming in here intheir twenties, and all in between.
So it, it really is a greatpractice for everybody.
(32:51):
So, so what is the cost barrier toget involved in a class like that?
You know, that's the great thing aboutthis practice is that it doesn't cost
much to learn something like this.
You know, anytime somebody new is comingto the meditative arts, the biggest
(33:11):
barrier is getting over your own self.
You know, it's, um, there's,there's three things that I always
try to make really clear to newstudents coming to the practice.
And the first one is, why areyou coming to the practice?
(33:31):
Why is it important to you?
Do you want to stay healthy into old ageand be able to play with your grandkids?
Or you want to learn how todeal with stress and anxiety?
Do you want to improve yourperformance on the field?
What is that?
Because I guarantee you, it doesn'tmatter who you are, maybe it's tomorrow,
next week or next month, your alarm isgoing to go off in the morning and you're
(33:52):
going to be tempted to hit the snoozebutton and say, I'll meditate tomorrow.
I'm going to sleep in today.
And so if you have a strong why,it gives you the energy and the
drive to stop looking at thislike a chore you have to do.
But something that you get to do and begrateful that you have this opportunity
to learn these skills and to positivelychange your life by doing this practice.
(34:18):
Then is the idea of consistency,and consistency is key
with the meditative arts.
You know, in fact, the, the DalaiLama once said that everybody
should meditate for twenty minutesa day unless you're too busy, then
you should meditate for an hour.
And I love that saying and that, you know,everybody should take at least twenty
minutes a day to connect to who you are.
(34:41):
And that consistency, it developsdiscipline, integrity, perseverance,
and many other qualities.
And by doing this in our practice,those qualities become not just how
we are when we're meditating, but it'show we show up to our friendships and
our relationships, and our work andour hobbies, and everything we do.
(35:01):
And so it changes our life in many waysby having this consistent practice.
Then lastly, and this is oneof the most important things
is, you need to find a guide.
I've, you know, I've been aroundthe meditative arts for many years.
I'm still a student, I'mlearning all the time.
And I, this isn't just a hobby for me,
(35:21):
this is my profession.
You know, it's a very deep practice,and if you try to do it on your own
by listening to an app or watchinga video on YouTube, you could waste
ten, twenty years of your life andvery get above, just treading water.
And so the idea is, is there's lots ofgood teachers out there, there's lots
of good programs, don't get caughtup without having somebody that can
(35:45):
help point you in the right direction.
And, you know, one of the things that Isee people getting distracted with that
are maybe even fairly disciplined withthe meditative arts these days is that,
you know, I'll hear people say, Oh yeah,I've been meditating for five years.
And I listened to this app.
Well, the meditative arts are calledthe internal arts for a reason.
(36:08):
I think apps are great, videos are greatto learn specific practices, but when you
do your ritual practice, you shouldn't bewatching a video or listening to an audio.
It's time to turn that focusinward and listen to yourself.
Because if you don't do this,you're never going to get a very
(36:29):
deep level of practice by this.
And I think that a lot of people getdistracted because there's so many
different apps out there and videosout there that, and, and they don't
have a guide, they don't have somebodypointing them in the right direction.
That they think they're doingwell when really they're, they're
kind of shortcutting themselves.
And so find yourself somebody to helppoint you in the right direction, be
(36:53):
consistent and have a strong why, andyou'll be successful with the practice
That's solid advice, I like that a lot.
Jeff, our time is reallystarting to wind down here.
We could go on for hours about it.
Is there anything important thatour listeners need to know about
(37:13):
what you practice, what you teach?
You know, if you like what we'vebeen talking about, you could
order a free copy of my book, uh,at theyieldingwarrior.com/book.
And it's a great way to kind ofget introduced to these concepts
and see what we're doing.
And also at theyieldingwarrior.com, youcould get introduced to my online program
(37:38):
that teaches you the strategies on howto build an evolving life practice using
Tai chi, Qigong, sitting meditation,breath work, standing meditation,
all of these different things so youcan incorporate these strategies and
learn how to build a practice there.
I also have a teachertraining program up there.
So if you're somebody who is a lifecoach, or maybe you own a yoga studio
(38:02):
or a martial arts studio, and you wantto learn how to have another pillar
in your business where you can targetmaybe a new clientele, you know, cause
here at our academy, you know, inour martial art programs, we have a
lot of twenties, thirties, and fortysomethings in our, in our boxing,
and Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jujitsu.
But in our meditation program,we've got a lot of fifties, sixties,
(38:26):
seventies and eighties in there.
And so as a business, if you canadd a whole nother client base
to your market, this can be huge.
So it can add a lot ofbenefit to what you're doing.
And I've seen in many cases where they,somebody will add an internal art program
like this to their existing businessand it ends up dwarfing the sales that
(38:50):
they're doing in their other business.
And so it really is something that's verysubstantial and can help you in many ways.
I like that a lot, that'skind of interesting.
And, you know, there are a lot of gyms outthere that could put these practices into
their pillars and it would do them good.
(39:12):
And it helps the community get strongerand healthier, so I like it a lot.
Jeff, I want to say thank you for beingpart of the Dead America Podcast today.
It's been very, uh, educationalin many ways for me.
Hey, thanks for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
(39:35):
Thank you for joining us today.
If you found this podcast enlightening,entertaining, educational in any way,
please share, like, subscribe, and joinus right back here next week for another
great episode of the Dead America Podcast.
I'm Ed Watters, your host, enjoyyour afternoon wherever you might be.
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