This is a live unedited episode with Jeff Patterson.
Discover the transformative power of Tai Chi and meditation as we journey with Jeff Patterson, founder of Yielding Warrior and Portland Tai Chi Academy. Jeff's path from a young boxing enthusiast to a Tai Chi master offers a unique perspective on how martial arts can change lives. Through our conversation, we unravel the common misconceptions about meditation, emphasizing that distractions are simply part of the process. Jeff's insights reveal how meditation can strengthen resilience, providing a calm center amid life's inevitable storms.
Explore the critical role of consistency in practice as we share an ancient tale of a stone cutter that illustrates transformation through persistent effort. Jeff provides valuable guidance on navigating a culture driven by instant gratification, advocating for patience and diligence. We delve into the various meditative paths within martial arts, stressing the importance of mentorship and sharing recommended resources, including Jeff's book, "The Yielding Warrior." Learn about the distinct paths available at Jeff's academy and how they cater to different aspects of personal growth.
Finally, we examine the foundational aspects of regulating body, breath, mind, and energy. Simple adjustments can lead to profound changes in our physiological and energetic states. We also explore the concept of yielding, where embracing physical, mental, and emotional flexibility can enhance personal and interpersonal harmony. Jeff shares stories and teachings that inspire a holistic approach to meditation and well-being, offering listeners a roadmap to deeper understanding and enlightenment.
Jeff Patterson, from Portland, OR, USA, has over 36 years of experience, practicing and teaching the meditative and martial arts. As the founder of The Yielding Warrior, Northwest Fighting Arts, and Portland Tai Chi Academy, where he emphasizes the transformative power of meditative and martial arts practices, particularly the yielding concept.
He has published two books and hundreds on instructional videos. Founder of The Yielding Warrior online program and has worked with 1000's of students from around the world.
Ready Set Reiki is a journey
From the curious beginner to the Season Master Teacher
All Energy workers of all systems and all levels.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Reiki and all energy work, from the curious beginner
to the seasoned master teacher,welcoming all systems, all
lineages and all levels.
Reiki is a journey and not adestination, and on this Ready
Set Reiki journey, I refer tomyself as a guide rather than
host.
So I'm your guide, tracySeawright, and this is Ready Set
Reiki Live.
Hello, beautiful friends,welcome Ready Set Reiki Live,
(00:25):
tracy C Wright here.
So what a wonderful interviewthat lies ahead of me here.
So joining me on my journeytoday is Jeff Patterson Now.
He is from Portland, oregon,and has over 36 years of
experience practicing andteaching the meditative and
martial arts.
Now he is the founder ofYielding Warrior, a Northwest
(00:48):
Fighting Arts and Portland TaiChi Academy, where he emphasizes
the transformation power ofmeditative and martial art
practices, particularly theyielding concept.
Now he has published two booksand hundreds of instructional
videos.
He is the founder of theYielding Warrior online program
and has worked with thousands ofstudents all around the world.
(01:11):
Jeff, welcome to Ready SetReiki.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hey, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Wonderful, so tell our listeners a little bit about
yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So I'm out here in Portland, oregon.
I've been running a meditationcenter and martial arts academy
now for over 30 years here, andI was brought to the meditative
arts in a bit of a roundaboutway, in that I was a fairly
young guy around 19 years oldand I was very much into Western
(01:42):
boxing and I had no desire atall to study the meditative arts
.
And at this one boxing gym thatI used to train at, one of the
coaches there he told me that ifI wanted to be a good boxer, I
should start doing meditationand Tai Chi.
Now, at the time being, this19-year-old kid who didn't know
(02:02):
much of anything, I thought youknow, isn't Tai Chi for old
people in the park?
How's that going to help makeme a better fighter?
And yeah, I started doing thepractice, and not only has it
changed my life in so many ways.
Through the years here at myacademy, I've had over 26,000
students come through theacademy and I've literally heard
(02:23):
hundreds of stories of how themeditative arts has positively
influenced people's lives, andthat's what's made me so
passionate about trying to getthe word out there and write my
last couple books, create myonline program and my teacher
training program and just try tospread this message Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I started studying a little bit of Tai Chi.
I have a very good friend whohas a podcast called Chat Off
the Mat and I was inspired byher to dive into it a little bit
and it is amazing that thereare some similarities with Reiki
, with the Tai Chi.
It was so fascinating with thatso I really resonated with it,
(03:02):
because I also do yoga.
So the yoga and the Reiki I'mlike wow, this is great, like I
really enjoyed it and was quitesurprised by this.
So when, would you say, themeditative arts came into your
life?
Did it find you or did you findit?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, it kind of found me in that I wasn't
looking for it at all and whenmy coach told me that I should
start doing it, you know, I kindof reluctantly started.
But in the beginning, you know,on that journey, while I was
very disciplined because thelast thing I wanted to do was to
show up at the gym and havethem ask me if I did my practice
(03:40):
that day and have to tell themno, so I did it religiously
every day.
But it took me a good six,seven months to really figure
out what was going on, becausepartially, I think, because I
was doing it with the idea thatI was only doing it to make my
boxing better, you know, and soI kind of maybe had these walls
(04:03):
up and this hesitation to reallykind of dive in and let myself
be part of that.
But once I did and I startedexperiencing the benefits of the
practice, I was hooked, and itdidn't take too long after that
to where my priorities shiftedand the meditative arts started
to become my main pillar andreally focusing on that, even
(04:23):
more so than the boxing, eventhough I was so passionate about
it.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Beautiful.
So what are some commonmisconceptions about the
meditative art?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You know, one of the most common things I'll hear
people say is I've triedmeditation before, but it just
doesn't work for me.
I can't quiet my mind.
You know, and somewhere alongthe way people got this
misguided idea that in order tobe successful in meditation,
that you need to reach thisstate of nirvana, where nothing
bothers you, and be in thisblissful place.
(04:55):
And you know it couldn't befurther from the truth.
You know, I've spent the last36 years of my life traveling
around the world training withsome amazing meditation
practitioners and I've neveronce met anybody who doesn't get
distracted.
We all do.
And the idea is is we just needto change our, our mindset and
the way we look at it.
Because if you do a meditationpractice whether it's a Tai Chi
(05:18):
form or Qigong set or a sittingpractice or some breath work and
you're sitting there for 20minutes and you get distracted
50 times during that session,that means you recognize the
distraction, you bring yourselfback to center and you just got
50 repetitions of being out ofbalance and coming back to
balance.
And if you do that every day,every month, every year, you
(05:42):
start to develop this power andthis ability that, no matter
what life throws at your way.
Every year you start to developthis power and this ability
that, no matter what life throwsat your way, you know you have
the power to kind of bringyourself back to that centered
state and that's how meditationcan be so effective and and
helpful in everything we do inlife.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Right, I mean we can.
It's hard to escape that monkeymind, for sure.
But just to help make friendswith it, right as those thoughts
come in and let them float onby like a cloud in the sky.
I get a lot of that too in yoga.
That they'll say, well, I justcan't sit there, I just can't,
you know, sit there for eighthours or five hours or six hours
(06:18):
.
But it's really a practice, andthe more you do it, the more
you grow and the more you'll beable to sit and be in that
stillness.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So what has been the biggest struggle or challenge in
your healing journey?
You know, one of the biggestchallenges I have as a teacher
you know I've been teaching nowfor over 30 years is getting
people to understand thebenefits of the practice and
really make it a lifestyle.
And so I've struggled with thisfor years and I've always tried
to find ways to help them,because I know that if they
(06:56):
incorporate it and make thisevolving life practice with the
meditative arts that they canreap so many benefits from it
life practice with themeditative arts that they can
reap so many benefits from it.
So after 30 years, I've kind ofnarrowed it down to three
things that I have people workon, and I find that if they put
some heartfelt thought intothese three areas, that they're
a lot more likely to besuccessful with the practice.
(07:17):
And the first one is thinkingabout why they're being drawn to
the practice.
Maybe they want to stayhealthier into their later years
, to watch their grandkids growup, or maybe they're dealing
with a stress disorder and theyhave anxiety or panic attacks,
or maybe they're an athlete andthey want to improve their
(07:39):
performance on the field.
Whatever that is for them.
Once they find what that why isthen think about 10 or 20
things in their life that willbe positively influenced if they
accomplish this goal, and,again, put some time and some
thought into this.
And then I want them to flipthe coin and, if they don't
(07:59):
accomplish this goal, thinkabout 10 or 20 things that will
be negatively influenced by notdoing this goal.
And now, by doing this, theyhave a little bit of fuel.
You know cause we're we're allgoing to face those days where
the alarm's going to go off andwe're going to want to hit the
snooze button and not get up andpractice.
But if you have this good whyand there's reason to get up and
(08:22):
you change your mindset to lookat your meditation practice as
something you get to do becausethere's so many amazing benefits
that come from it, rather thana chore that you have to do,
then you're really a lot moresuccessful and consistent.
Which is the next thing that Iwant them to consider is
consistency.
There's this ancient Chinesestory that illustrates this fact
(08:45):
really well, and it's aboutthis old stone cutter who was
very well known around China andhe created these beautiful
sculptures of animals andlandscapes, and his sculptures
were so detailed that it wasvery clear to see when it was
something he created, because itwas so much better than
anything else that could befound, and because he was so
(09:09):
well-known, he had people fromall over the country coming
through to stay with him andlive with him for a few years at
a time and apprentice with himand study his practice.
Well, every day, thisstonecutter used to go down to
the river and meditate, and oneday, after his meditation
session, he was walking alongthe river and he had this
(09:34):
profound vision of this big, sixfoot tall, mystical Chinese
dragon that was made out of jade.
And he was so taken by thisvision that he decided this was
going to be his next project.
And so, as you can imagine,finding a six foot piece of jade
is no easy feat, and so hespent the next few months
(09:55):
traveling around China lookingfor the perfect rock to have
this creation come to life.
Finally, when he found thisstone, he brought it back to his
place and he spent a period oftime just walking around the
stone and studying it and tryingto feel the energy from the
stone and really see how thisdragon was going to appear out
(10:16):
of this rock.
And finally, when he beganworking on the stone.
He carefully placed his chiselon one specific place on the
backside of the rock and startedtapping away with his hammer
Hundreds, if not thousands, oftimes a day, day after day.
A few days went by and stillnothing changed, still tapping
(10:36):
on that same spot.
A few more days went by and hisapprentices started second
guessing him, thinking maybe youshould try something different,
or is this going to work?
And a few more days went by,still tapping away at that same
spot, and finally he hit therock and this big section, about
three feet long, came off thebackside of the rock and it
(10:57):
created the smooth, slightlycurved line that was soon to be
part of the dragon's back.
And one of his apprentices sawthis and he said how did you
know that that strike was goingto be part of the dragon's back?
And one of his apprentices sawthis and he said how did you
know that that strike was goingto break the stone?
And the stone cutter said itwasn't that strike that broke
the stone, it was the thousandsof strikes before it that broke
the stone.
(11:17):
And with a little bit of adiscouraged look on his face,
the apprentice said but I'vebeen watching you and there was
no cracks, no marks.
How did you know to keep doingthat?
Why didn't you try somethingelse?
And the stone cutter got downon one knee and he felt the
smooth line that he just createdand he said every strike was
(11:37):
not wasted.
The stone was changing beneaththe surface and, even though we
could not see it with the nakedeye, through consistency and
repetition it shaped not onlythe stone but the one who wields
the hammer.
And the reason why I love thisstory so much is that it's so
closely related to themeditative arts and that we're
(11:59):
practicing these breathworkstrategies, sitting practices,
movement practices, studyingthese philosophical concepts,
and we don't always see thechanges happening day to day,
but through this consistency andrepetition, we're building this
foundation that's helping uscreate these fruits that we
(12:19):
later see through our practice.
So having this good idea ofconsistency within your practice
is extremely important.
And then the third and finalconsideration that I like people
to spend some time with is thatyou really need to find a good
guide to help you with thepractice, because you know
there's a million videos outthere on YouTube and things that
(12:42):
you can follow, and I've seenpeople that have been
self-taught for 15, even 20years, that will come into the
academy and they'll see somebodythat's only been here for 12
months that's deeper into theirpractice because they've been
pointed in the right direction.
And so having somebody that canhelp point you down the right
path can save you years andhundreds of hours of time by
(13:05):
having them in your corner.
So having that good, strong,why and really putting some
consideration there,understanding the importance of
consistency and having somebodyto help point you down the right
path will very much help youwith your practice and being
successful with it.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Beautiful Thank you for sharing that.
And even though your backgroundisn't Reiki, you know Reiki is
universal energy.
It's Beautiful.
Thank you for sharing that.
And even though your backgroundisn't Reiki, you know Reiki is
universal energy.
It's moving energy.
So you are moving energy withthe arts, with the thoughts,
right.
And that story fits in right.
Perfect for those that you knowwant to come to this, they want
to learn, they want to find,they want to deepen their
(13:42):
practice.
Have that consistency.
Too many people give up, right,they give it a try.
They don't get those instantresults right.
We live in that fast world ofthe gratification now.
But it's the consistency that'sthe key.
I mean amazing story there toshare, to show that when you are
diligent I always call it likethat, diligent harvester right,
(14:03):
you're planting the seeds,you're tending to that garden
for it to eventually bloom withthat Beautiful.
So what do you wish youryounger self knew about
meditation?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well, you know, I figured it out at a fairly early
age, fortunately for havingthat boxing coach pointing me in
the right direction.
So I feel, when I was trainingwith him and a group of other
students, I'd been with him justfor a few days and I remember
(14:49):
him telling me that after acouple months I'm going to know
you better than you knowyourself.
And here I am, this young guythinking he's full of it.
You know he's not.
How is that even possible,right?
And?
And now, looking back, heprobably did.
You know, and if I would havehad a little bit more belief
(15:10):
from the beginning and reallygot into the philosophical side
of the practice and startedunderstanding how to open up my
vision, I think that that couldhave maybe helped escalate the
learning curve a little bit havemaybe helped escalate the
learning curve a little bit.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Very good, so you seem to have some really
wonderful mentors who haveguided you on your journey, and
that has instilled this withinyou so that you could help guide
and support so many of yourstudents.
What advice do you give someonewho's just entering this type
of work?
They want to go into themartial arts and perhaps explore
a meditative path.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well, you know, here at my academy we have two
separate paths, you know.
So we have our martial artpractices, which are like
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, muay Thai,western boxing, and those most
of the people that do thosedon't practice meditation.
The meditative program that wehave here is just geared around
the meditative arts.
It's teaching them breath, work, movement practices, still
(16:13):
practices, standing meditation,philosophical ideas.
It's more how to build anevolving life practice with the
meditative arts.
It really doesn't have much todo with the martial side of the
training.
However, some people do crosstrain within the meditative arts
.
I break them down into kind offive paths that you can follow.
(16:34):
There's the athletic path.
That teaches you how to be morein tune with the body, more
present.
It helps you make those mindbody connections so we can
perform at a higher level.
Many professional athletesthese days are turning to the
meditative arts because it helpsthem perform at a higher level.
It keeps their mind centered.
(16:55):
Then the second path is thetherapeutic path, and this is
great for longevity andself-preservation and building a
healthy awareness within thebody.
Then there's the medical side ofthe practice, which all of
Chinese medicine is based off ofQigong theory, and this is a
very deep path to follow.
And then there's thephilosophical side of the
(17:16):
practice, which again, isanother lifetime journey, and
this, I've mentioned before, issomething I've always been very
passionate about because Ireally love how it expands your
peripheral vision and helps yousee things from multiple angles,
which allows you to be morestrategic and more centered in
everything you do.
And then there's the spiritualside of the practice, which I
(17:38):
think is what most peopleassociate meditation with when
they hear the words meditation.
And so, really, if youunderstand these different
directions that you can takeyour practice with, then you can
understand what practices arebest to follow for that specific
path.
And again, that's why it's soimportant to have somebody help
you navigate this, becausethere's so many possibilities.
(18:02):
You know I've been studying themeditative arts now for 36
years.
It's been my profession forover 30 years and I'm still just
a student, learning all thetime.
And you know it's next toimpossible really to get any
kind of depth in this practicewithout having somebody help you
along.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Right, right.
So, along with having greatmentors, what are some books
that you recommend that havehelped you in your journey over
these 36 years?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Oh, so many.
You know I try to read at leasta book a week, so I go through
a lot.
I've got a huge library at homewhere so many books, where so
many books Down the meditativepath.
(18:51):
There's a book called the Rootof Chinese Qigong.
That's really good on energyand how to deal with energetic
circulations in the body anddeal with meditations that help
you with that.
There's another book called theEmbryonic Breathing.
That's a really good book tohelp with that.
My latest book, the YieldingWarrior, is very helpful for
(19:13):
that.
There's so many out there.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Beautiful.
I love that, anything that canhelp someone on their journey.
So I love that you read a booka week.
That's fantastic, wonderful.
So what services do you offer?
You have any classes, trainings?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Well, here at the Academy, we have a number of
different programs for people toget involved with.
We have our Brazilian Jiu Jitsuprogram, our striking program,
where we do boxing and Muay Thai, we have our youth program and
then we have our meditative artsprogram.
On my Yielding Warrior website,we offer an online program that
(19:54):
teaches people how to use themeditative arts to create an
evolving life practice with themeditative arts and really
understand the philosophy andthe science behind it.
And then we also have a teachertraining program up there,
mostly geared towards people whoare martial arts school owners
or yoga studio owners or lifecoaches who want to learn how to
(20:17):
hand down the meditative artsand understand how to give
different prescriptions topeople to help them down
whatever path they choose tofollow.
And so that's that's what Ihave for people that are outside
of Portland.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Very beautiful.
So you do this online and inperson.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Beautiful.
So how can we get in touch withyou?
Someone's listening to this andlike, wow, this is, this is.
This is the person, this is theplace for me.
How do we get in touch?
This is the person, this is theplace for me.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
How do we get in touch?
Well, at theyieldingwarriorcom.
Or if you'd like to get a copyof my last book, the Yielding
Warrior, you could go totheyieldingwarriorcom forward
slash book and we'll send youout a free copy.
You just pay for shipping andhandling and then all of the
social media handles as well.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Wonderful.
Where can we find your book?
Is it available onlinebookstores?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
It's on Amazon and then at that link that I just
gave you the yieldingwarriorcomforward slash book.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Perfect, all right.
Well, that ends the first partof our journey and I'm going to
continue to guide you throughthe next part, and that is from
questions from listeners.
So, number one what inspiredyou to create the Yielding
Warrior online program?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I think my biggest inspiration was, you know,
teaching.
For the last 30 years, I've hadthousands of students come
through the academy and I'veheard so many life-changing
stories of how the meditativearts has positively influenced
people's lives that I wanted tofind a way to share this
(21:52):
information with more people,and so I created the Yielding
Warrior Online program to helppeople understand that
meditation is not just aboutsitting and breathing.
There's so much more depth toit there, and oftentimes the way
that I explain this is I talkto students that are unfamiliar
(22:13):
with a meditation practice aboutwhat I call the five
regulations, and these areunderlying principles that are
in any meditation journey, nomatter what it is, whether it's
sitting meditation, standingmeditation, tai Chi, yoga,
qigong, it doesn't matter whatthe practice.
These are underlying principlesthat will help deepen your
(22:35):
practice, and these fiveregulations are regulating the
body, regulating the breath,regulating the mind, regulating
the energy and regulating thespirit.
And briefly, I'll kind of touchon what I mean when I say these
different regulations.
The first one, regulating thebody, which is where we usually
(22:55):
start, because it's the one thatwe can see the quickest change
from and the most benefit fromright off the bat, and that is.
You know the basic idea of ourskeletal alignment and our
muscular tension and relaxationin the body.
You know you can think aboutmaybe a time when you've been
(23:16):
sitting down at your computerfor three or four hours and
you're feeling lethargic, andyou know you're pretty depleted
your next may be getting soreand then another time when the
most important person in yourworld walks in the room and your
body perks up and you feel likeyou're on top of the world.
Well, these two differentenergetic states we're in 100%
(23:36):
control of all day, every day.
The question is, how are youpresenting yourself to the world
most of the time?
And so these small adjustmentswe can make can make a huge
change in our overall physiologyand energetic states.
And on a little bit of a deeperlevel, with regulating the body
, it involves maintaining somekind of muscular structure in
(24:00):
the body, flexibility, eating ahealthy diet and getting an
appropriate amount of sleep.
Then we have regulating thebreath, and regulating the
breath is an extremely deeptopic and in fact, qigong is
often referred to as the scienceof the breath, because there's
literally hundreds of differentbreathing strategies.
(24:20):
And because there's so manydifferent breathing strategies,
we kind of broadly categorizethem into yin methods and yang
methods, and these yin methodsare often deeper, more holistic
style of meditations.
And an example of a yin breathwould be if you ever listen to
somebody sleep, their naturalbreathing pattern is a longer
(24:42):
inhale and a shorter exhale, andthis is the body's natural way
of bringing our conscious mindinto our subconscious mind,
which is where we are when we'resleeping and dreaming.
And so if you want to createthis style of energetic
expression in your meditations,we can do longer inhales, soft
retentions at the end of theinhale and shorter exhales, and
(25:05):
this helps bring that energyinward, which is great for
stress reduction, dealing withanxiety, with panic attacks, for
boosting our creativity.
I mean, there's so many reasonswhy we would practice this yin
side of the breath.
Then we have the yang side ofthe breath, which is more
aggressive.
It's kind of like if you everhad to push your car, maybe, or
(25:28):
pick up something heavy.
Your natural instinct is toexhale, put tension in the
breath, maybe even make thebreath audible, and this helps
expand the energy and lead itoutward.
And once we understand how touse this breath, we can use it
to regulate our physical, mentaland emotional states throughout
the day.
And then the third regulationis regulating the mind, and we
(25:52):
kind of touched on this a littlebit when we talked about
meditation strategy.
And when we get distracted wecome back to center meditation
strategy.
And when we get distracted wecome back to center.
You know, there's this story ofthese two old monks and they're
walking down the dirt road aftera huge rainstorm and they come
up to this big mud puddle and onthe other side of the puddle is
this beautiful little girl andshe's standing there in a white
(26:13):
dress but and she's crying.
And the older monk, he hollersacross the puddle and says is
everything okay, can we help you?
And she says I need to besomewhere, but if I walk across
this puddle I'm going to get mydress all dirty.
So the older monkey rolls uphis pant legs and he walks
across the puddle and picks herup, puts her on his back and
(26:34):
takes her to the other side,sets her down and she's off on
her way.
Well, him and the younger monkare walking a couple miles down
the road and finally the youngermonk is just furious and he
says you know we're not supposedto touch girls, but yet you did
.
Back there at the puddle and theolder monk looks down and says
I left that girl back at thepuddle.
(26:54):
Why are you still carrying her?
And how many times in life dowe have to get two miles down
the muddy road before we realizewe got to let these things go?
And so regulating the mind is avery important part of the
journey as well.
And then the fourth regulation,regulating the energy, which is
another extremely deep conceptand something that we could
(27:16):
literally talk for hours about,but the basic idea of this is is
, once we've reached a competentlevel in regulating the body,
the breath and the mind, we nowhave the tools to circulate the
energy in the body, to lead itinward, to extend it outward and
to get different energeticresults with whatever
meditations we're practicing.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
The fifth and final regulation is regulating the
spirit, and this is a veryprofound idea and something that
meditation masters will spendtheir entire life's journey
working towards that ultimatestage of enlightenment.
So, as you can see, byunderstanding these underlying
principles of any meditationpractice, that it can strongly
(28:00):
affect anything we do in life.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Beautiful and many of the things that you spoke about
really relate to Reiki as well.
We bring in, you know, agoshiho meditation, the breath,
so lots of things that aresounding wow.
You know, it's amazing howthings are blended the more you
learn and grow and expand andfind out.
There's so many similarities.
Our second question you haveover 36 years of experience.
(28:26):
What one specific practice isyour go-to when you want to
reduce stress or settle yourmonkey mind?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
you know, that's um kind of a difficult question in
that I get so many people thatsay they meditate and when I ask
them what they do, um, maybethey do it for stress or they
have their distractions orthey'll have a panic attack and
they'll they'll say, say well,when I, when I get stressed or I
get whatever, I'll practicethis breathing exercise or I'll
practice this meditationpractice and the whole idea of
(29:08):
meditation.
It's not meant to be a pill thatwe take when we need it.
It's meant to be a way of lifeand something that we use on a
daily basis by having a solidritual practice every day that
helps those episodes and thoselevels of high imbalance go away
in our life through having thatcore, fundamental practice.
(29:29):
Then we have active practicesthat we can integrate throughout
the day that will help us findbalance, and they can be
anything from movement practicesto breath work to different
philosophical concepts that wewill study, and these different
breathing strategies and conceptcan help us regulate in
(29:51):
different ways.
So if we're feeling verystressed, we can do more yin
oriented practices to bring usdown, and if we're feeling
depleted, we can do yangyin-oriented practices to bring
us down, and if we're feelingdepleted.
We can do yang practices tohelp pick us back up, and the
whole idea is being able todevelop that higher level of
sensitivity and awareness andfeeling within the body so we
can make these adjustmentsbefore they get too far off the
(30:14):
path.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Right, right, yeah, I agree, in Reiki we do something
that's called the Reikiprinciples and it's an
invitation to do this every day,to bring it as a part.
So it's like, just for today Iwill not worry.
Just for today I will not beangry.
Just for today I will begrateful.
Just for today I will do mywork honestly.
(30:36):
Just for today I will be kindto every living thing.
And it's an invitation to howcan we weave this in every day
and do our self Reiki.
So that way, when thesechallenges are happening, it's a
little bit more.
You're in a more calmer stateto navigate, instead of just
waiting until everything hitsthe fan and then and use it.
(30:59):
So I like that.
It's a constant and people tendto forget that.
They just kind of pull it outas as needed.
But consistency is absolutelythe key and you know, as you
were speaking, it was alsomaking me think too.
Um, you know students in yogawhen they come, I teach yin and
bring a little yang into thepractice as well, and you have
(31:20):
many people that it's achallenge for them to get to the
mat and they'll feel like, well, I was so tired today or I
didn't feel like coming, butthat's when your body needs it
the most, when you don't want tocome, and for many people
that's the first, hardest stepis just moving forward and
having that practice, so havingthat diligent.
The consistency is the key withthat.
(31:42):
So here's our last questionwhat is the yielding concept?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yielding is something I've been passionate about for
many years and it's a concept inboth the meditative and the
martial arts, and in my mostrecent book, the Yielding
Warrior, I break down yieldinginto three kind of main pillars
of the practice.
We have physical yielding,mental yielding and emotional
yielding.
Physical yielding is theeasiest one to understand.
(32:12):
It's the idea that I push you,you push me.
Whoever's the bigger, strongerperson with the most leverage
eventually is going to push theother 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 and now I can respond withless effort.
So I'm not trying to butt headswith you and see if I'm bigger
(32:34):
and stronger than you.
Now, in athletics it's easy tosee how this is beneficial
because no matter what sport youplay, you're going to come up
against other athletes who aregoing to be bigger, stronger and
faster than you, and if youdon't know how to use this
concept, a lot of times you'regoing to lose those interactions
(32:54):
.
Yielding is very important inthat arena on the physical side,
and in order to be good atphysical yielding, a lot of
things have to come into play.
You need to be well-rooted, thelower part of your body needs
to be strong and flexible so youcan change your central
equilibrium without gettingtight.
The body has to be relaxed, thebreath has to be calm and the
(33:15):
mind has to be present.
Now, while this may be alifetime journey to really
master these skills from day one, by integrating a meditation
practice into your life, youstart seeing these things inside
yourself with more clarity.
And this is where it starts tobecome very interesting, because
not only do you see thesethings in yourself with more
(33:39):
clarity, but you also startseeing these things in other
people with more clarity, andthis is where we start moving
into what I call mental yielding.
Say, for example, you and I arehaving a conversation and I say
something that unsettles you.
If I pick up on it from thatfirst sign of imbalance, it's a
lot easier to adjust theconversation and keep us in a
(34:00):
harmonious place than if I'm notpaying attention to that, and
pretty soon I'm so far off track.
You want to knock me upside thehead, and so learning how to
use yielding in all of ourinteractions is extremely
powerful.
You know one?
We're being more considerate,which is something that we could
all do more of.
And two, it allows us to bestrategic in our interactions so
(34:22):
we can guide conversations to apositive outcome with the least
amount of resistance, and thisis beneficial in relationships
and business and sales andnegotiations.
I mean, there's so many ways wecan apply this idea.
And then the third pillar ofyielding is emotional yielding,
and this is very much likemental yielding, but with our
(34:45):
own interpersonal conflicts.
So you think about whensomething happens to us, often
we'll respond and we'll go downthis path and we might get an
hour a day a week down this roadand realize maybe that wasn't
the best choice.
But by having a heightenedawareness, through having
meditation in our life,oftentimes we're able to sit
(35:07):
back when things happen, be morepresent, not let our emotions
get involved, and oftentimesmake a more heartfelt decision.
That saves us a lot ofheartache on the other side.
And so you know I've beenexplaining this idea of yielding
now for many years.
I've been running my academyhere for 30 years and one of the
most common things I'll hearpeople say is ah, yielding makes
(35:30):
a lot of sense.
In fact, I do yielding all thetime.
Well, I would agree in that.
I think everybody does somedegree of yielding, whether they
recognize that's what they'redoing or not.
However, it's kind of like youknow.
If you or I were to walk into acrime scene with a detective
who's been on the job for 30years, I guarantee you that
(35:50):
person would see things aboutthe series of events and the
timeline that I know at least, Iwould have no clue of, and the
meditative arts helps us seethings inside of ourselves and
inside of other people that Itruly believe most people will
go through life and never haveany clue of if they don't have a
meditation practice in theirlife.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Very good.
Well, that is our last question, as we've been talking.
Is there something that youhave forgotten to mention or a
message that you would like toshare with the listeners?
The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You know, I think the most important message if
you're thinking about starting ameditation practice is really
going through that list Imentioned earlier what is your
why?
And putting some heartfeltthought into it, understanding
the importance of consistency,finding a guide.
And if you do that and youstick with that practice, it'll
(36:43):
be one of the best things you'veever done.
And you know, I've seen it overand over again with hundreds,
thousands of students and it'sit's one of the best things
you'll ever do for yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Beautiful, and let our listeners know the name of
your two books again.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
The first book was how to meditate.
My last book is the yieldingwarrior.
Again, you can get that on mywebsite the yielding warriorcom.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Beautiful and you said that you have hundreds of
instructional videos.
Is that only available throughyour program or can that be
found online?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
On my Yielding Warrior YouTube channel.
There's a lot of free contentthere and through our social
media outlets as well.
However, the majority of it isin the online program, but
there's probably a couplehundred videos of free content
out there.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, so how long is the warrior program?
How long is the training, ifsomeone's interested.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Well, I've got.
You know, if somebody wanted togo there and go through
everything that's in thatprogram, it would probably take
them 15 to 20 years to gothrough it all.
I've got a lot of stuff upthere.
It's a very deep program.
And then my teacher trainingprogram to get somebody through
that course is an 18 monthcourse.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Okay, beautiful, beautiful, all right.
Well, thank you, jeff, so muchfor taking time out of your very
busy schedule to take thisjourney with me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
All right, all right, my wonderful listeners.
If you'd like your questionfeatured on the podcast, reach
out wwwreadysetreikicom.
I'm Tracy Seawright and thishas been Ready Set.
Reiki © transcript Emily Beynon.
Reiki and all energy work, from the curious beginner
to the seasoned master teacher,welcoming all systems, all
lineages and all levels.
Reiki is a journey and not adestination, and on this Ready
Set Reiki journey, I refer tomyself as a guide rather than
host.
So I'm your guide, tracySeawright, and this is Ready Set
Reiki Live.
Hello, beautiful friends,welcome Ready Set Reiki Live,
(00:25):
tracy C Wright here.
So what a wonderful interviewthat lies ahead of me here.
So joining me on my journeytoday is Jeff Patterson Now.
He is from Portland, oregon,and has over 36 years of
experience practicing andteaching the meditative and
martial arts.
Now he is the founder ofYielding Warrior, a Northwest
(00:48):
Fighting Arts and Portland TaiChi Academy, where he emphasizes
the transformation power ofmeditative and martial art
practices, particularly theyielding concept.
Now he has published two booksand hundreds of instructional
videos.
He is the founder of theYielding Warrior online program
and has worked with thousands ofstudents all around the world.
(01:11):
Jeff, welcome to Ready SetReiki.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Hey, thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Wonderful, so tell our listeners a little bit about
yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
So I'm out here in Portland, oregon.
I've been running a meditationcenter and martial arts academy
now for over 30 years here, andI was brought to the meditative
arts in a bit of a roundaboutway, in that I was a fairly
young guy around 19 years oldand I was very much into Western
(01:42):
boxing and I had no desire atall to study the meditative arts
.
And at this one boxing gym thatI used to train at, one of the
coaches there he told me that ifI wanted to be a good boxer, I
should start doing meditationand Tai Chi.
Now, at the time being, this19-year-old kid who didn't know
(02:02):
much of anything, I thought youknow, isn't Tai Chi for old
people in the park?
How's that going to help makeme a better fighter?
And yeah, I started doing thepractice, and not only has it
changed my life in so many ways.
Through the years here at myacademy, I've had over 26,000
students come through theacademy and I've literally heard
(02:23):
hundreds of stories of how themeditative arts has positively
influenced people's lives, andthat's what's made me so
passionate about trying to getthe word out there and write my
last couple books, create myonline program and my teacher
training program and just try tospread this message Beautiful.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I started studying a little bit of Tai Chi.
I have a very good friend whohas a podcast called Chat Off
the Mat and I was inspired byher to dive into it a little bit
and it is amazing that thereare some similarities with Reiki
, with the Tai Chi.
It was so fascinating with thatso I really resonated with it,
(03:02):
because I also do yoga.
So the yoga and the Reiki I'mlike wow, this is great, like I
really enjoyed it and was quitesurprised by this.
So when, would you say, themeditative arts came into your
life?
Did it find you or did you findit?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, it kind of found me in that I wasn't
looking for it at all and whenmy coach told me that I should
start doing it, you know, I kindof reluctantly started.
But in the beginning, you know,on that journey, while I was
very disciplined because thelast thing I wanted to do was to
show up at the gym and havethem ask me if I did my practice
(03:40):
that day and have to tell themno, so I did it religiously
every day.
But it took me a good six,seven months to really figure
out what was going on, becausepartially, I think, because I
was doing it with the idea thatI was only doing it to make my
boxing better, you know, and soI kind of maybe had these walls
(04:03):
up and this hesitation to reallykind of dive in and let myself
be part of that.
But once I did and I startedexperiencing the benefits of the
practice, I was hooked, and itdidn't take too long after that
to where my priorities shiftedand the meditative arts started
to become my main pillar andreally focusing on that, even
(04:23):
more so than the boxing, eventhough I was so passionate about
it.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Beautiful.
So what are some commonmisconceptions about the
meditative art?
Speaker 2 (04:33):
You know, one of the most common things I'll hear
people say is I've triedmeditation before, but it just
doesn't work for me.
I can't quiet my mind.
You know, and somewhere alongthe way people got this
misguided idea that in order tobe successful in meditation,
that you need to reach thisstate of nirvana, where nothing
bothers you, and be in thisblissful place.
(04:55):
And you know it couldn't befurther from the truth.
You know, I've spent the last36 years of my life traveling
around the world training withsome amazing meditation
practitioners and I've neveronce met anybody who doesn't get
distracted.
We all do.
And the idea is is we just needto change our, our mindset and
the way we look at it.
Because if you do a meditationpractice whether it's a Tai Chi
(05:18):
form or Qigong set or a sittingpractice or some breath work and
you're sitting there for 20minutes and you get distracted
50 times during that session,that means you recognize the
distraction, you bring yourselfback to center and you just got
50 repetitions of being out ofbalance and coming back to
balance.
And if you do that every day,every month, every year, you
(05:42):
start to develop this power andthis ability that, no matter
what life throws at your way.
Every year you start to developthis power and this ability
that, no matter what life throwsat your way, you know you have
the power to kind of bringyourself back to that centered
state and that's how meditationcan be so effective and and
helpful in everything we do inlife.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Right, I mean we can.
It's hard to escape that monkeymind, for sure.
But just to help make friendswith it, right as those thoughts
come in and let them float onby like a cloud in the sky.
I get a lot of that too in yoga.
That they'll say, well, I justcan't sit there, I just can't,
you know, sit there for eighthours or five hours or six hours
(06:18):
.
But it's really a practice, andthe more you do it, the more
you grow and the more you'll beable to sit and be in that
stillness.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So what has been the biggest struggle or challenge in
your healing journey?
You know, one of the biggestchallenges I have as a teacher
you know I've been teaching nowfor over 30 years is getting
people to understand thebenefits of the practice and
really make it a lifestyle.
And so I've struggled with thisfor years and I've always tried
to find ways to help them,because I know that if they
(06:56):
incorporate it and make thisevolving life practice with the
meditative arts that they canreap so many benefits from it
life practice with themeditative arts that they can
reap so many benefits from it.
So after 30 years, I've kind ofnarrowed it down to three
things that I have people workon, and I find that if they put
some heartfelt thought intothese three areas, that they're
a lot more likely to besuccessful with the practice.
(07:17):
And the first one is thinkingabout why they're being drawn to
the practice.
Maybe they want to stayhealthier into their later years
, to watch their grandkids growup, or maybe they're dealing
with a stress disorder and theyhave anxiety or panic attacks,
or maybe they're an athlete andthey want to improve their
(07:39):
performance on the field.
Whatever that is for them.
Once they find what that why isthen think about 10 or 20
things in their life that willbe positively influenced if they
accomplish this goal, and,again, put some time and some
thought into this.
And then I want them to flipthe coin and, if they don't
(07:59):
accomplish this goal, thinkabout 10 or 20 things that will
be negatively influenced by notdoing this goal.
And now, by doing this, theyhave a little bit of fuel.
You know cause we're we're allgoing to face those days where
the alarm's going to go off andwe're going to want to hit the
snooze button and not get up andpractice.
But if you have this good whyand there's reason to get up and
(08:22):
you change your mindset to lookat your meditation practice as
something you get to do becausethere's so many amazing benefits
that come from it, rather thana chore that you have to do,
then you're really a lot moresuccessful and consistent.
Which is the next thing that Iwant them to consider is
consistency.
There's this ancient Chinesestory that illustrates this fact
(08:45):
really well, and it's aboutthis old stone cutter who was
very well known around China andhe created these beautiful
sculptures of animals andlandscapes, and his sculptures
were so detailed that it wasvery clear to see when it was
something he created, because itwas so much better than
anything else that could befound, and because he was so
(09:09):
well-known, he had people fromall over the country coming
through to stay with him andlive with him for a few years at
a time and apprentice with himand study his practice.
Well, every day, thisstonecutter used to go down to
the river and meditate, and oneday, after his meditation
session, he was walking alongthe river and he had this
(09:34):
profound vision of this big, sixfoot tall, mystical Chinese
dragon that was made out of jade.
And he was so taken by thisvision that he decided this was
going to be his next project.
And so, as you can imagine,finding a six foot piece of jade
is no easy feat, and so hespent the next few months
(09:55):
traveling around China lookingfor the perfect rock to have
this creation come to life.
Finally, when he found thisstone, he brought it back to his
place and he spent a period oftime just walking around the
stone and studying it and tryingto feel the energy from the
stone and really see how thisdragon was going to appear out
(10:16):
of this rock.
And finally, when he beganworking on the stone.
He carefully placed his chiselon one specific place on the
backside of the rock and startedtapping away with his hammer
Hundreds, if not thousands, oftimes a day, day after day.
A few days went by and stillnothing changed, still tapping
(10:36):
on that same spot.
A few more days went by and hisapprentices started second
guessing him, thinking maybe youshould try something different,
or is this going to work?
And a few more days went by,still tapping away at that same
spot, and finally he hit therock and this big section, about
three feet long, came off thebackside of the rock and it
(10:57):
created the smooth, slightlycurved line that was soon to be
part of the dragon's back.
And one of his apprentices sawthis and he said how did you
know that that strike was goingto be part of the dragon's back?
And one of his apprentices sawthis and he said how did you
know that that strike was goingto break the stone?
And the stone cutter said itwasn't that strike that broke
the stone, it was the thousandsof strikes before it that broke
the stone.
(11:17):
And with a little bit of adiscouraged look on his face,
the apprentice said but I'vebeen watching you and there was
no cracks, no marks.
How did you know to keep doingthat?
Why didn't you try somethingelse?
And the stone cutter got downon one knee and he felt the
smooth line that he just createdand he said every strike was
(11:37):
not wasted.
The stone was changing beneaththe surface and, even though we
could not see it with the nakedeye, through consistency and
repetition it shaped not onlythe stone but the one who wields
the hammer.
And the reason why I love thisstory so much is that it's so
closely related to themeditative arts and that we're
(11:59):
practicing these breathworkstrategies, sitting practices,
movement practices, studyingthese philosophical concepts,
and we don't always see thechanges happening day to day,
but through this consistency andrepetition, we're building this
foundation that's helping uscreate these fruits that we
(12:19):
later see through our practice.
So having this good idea ofconsistency within your practice
is extremely important.
And then the third and finalconsideration that I like people
to spend some time with is thatyou really need to find a good
guide to help you with thepractice, because you know
there's a million videos outthere on YouTube and things that
(12:42):
you can follow, and I've seenpeople that have been
self-taught for 15, even 20years, that will come into the
academy and they'll see somebodythat's only been here for 12
months that's deeper into theirpractice because they've been
pointed in the right direction.
And so having somebody that canhelp point you down the right
path can save you years andhundreds of hours of time by
(13:05):
having them in your corner.
So having that good, strong,why and really putting some
consideration there,understanding the importance of
consistency and having somebodyto help point you down the right
path will very much help youwith your practice and being
successful with it.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Beautiful Thank you for sharing that.
And even though your backgroundisn't Reiki, you know Reiki is
universal energy.
It's Beautiful.
Thank you for sharing that.
And even though your backgroundisn't Reiki, you know Reiki is
universal energy.
It's moving energy.
So you are moving energy withthe arts, with the thoughts,
right.
And that story fits in right.
Perfect for those that you knowwant to come to this, they want
to learn, they want to find,they want to deepen their
(13:42):
practice.
Have that consistency.
Too many people give up, right,they give it a try.
They don't get those instantresults right.
We live in that fast world ofthe gratification now.
But it's the consistency that'sthe key.
I mean amazing story there toshare, to show that when you are
diligent I always call it likethat, diligent harvester right,
(14:03):
you're planting the seeds,you're tending to that garden
for it to eventually bloom withthat Beautiful.
So what do you wish youryounger self knew about
meditation?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well, you know, I figured it out at a fairly early
age, fortunately for havingthat boxing coach pointing me in
the right direction.
So I feel, when I was trainingwith him and a group of other
students, I'd been with him justfor a few days and I remember
(14:49):
him telling me that after acouple months I'm going to know
you better than you knowyourself.
And here I am, this young guythinking he's full of it.
You know he's not.
How is that even possible,right?
And?
And now, looking back, heprobably did.
You know, and if I would havehad a little bit more belief
(15:10):
from the beginning and reallygot into the philosophical side
of the practice and startedunderstanding how to open up my
vision, I think that that couldhave maybe helped escalate the
learning curve a little bit havemaybe helped escalate the
learning curve a little bit.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Very good, so you seem to have some really
wonderful mentors who haveguided you on your journey, and
that has instilled this withinyou so that you could help guide
and support so many of yourstudents.
What advice do you give someonewho's just entering this type
of work?
They want to go into themartial arts and perhaps explore
a meditative path.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well, you know, here at my academy we have two
separate paths, you know.
So we have our martial artpractices, which are like
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, muay Thai,western boxing, and those most
of the people that do thosedon't practice meditation.
The meditative program that wehave here is just geared around
the meditative arts.
It's teaching them breath, work, movement practices, still
(16:13):
practices, standing meditation,philosophical ideas.
It's more how to build anevolving life practice with the
meditative arts.
It really doesn't have much todo with the martial side of the
training.
However, some people do crosstrain within the meditative arts
.
I break them down into kind offive paths that you can follow.
(16:34):
There's the athletic path.
That teaches you how to be morein tune with the body, more
present.
It helps you make those mindbody connections so we can
perform at a higher level.
Many professional athletesthese days are turning to the
meditative arts because it helpsthem perform at a higher level.
It keeps their mind centered.
(16:55):
Then the second path is thetherapeutic path, and this is
great for longevity andself-preservation and building a
healthy awareness within thebody.
Then there's the medical side ofthe practice, which all of
Chinese medicine is based off ofQigong theory, and this is a
very deep path to follow.
And then there's thephilosophical side of the
(17:16):
practice, which again, isanother lifetime journey, and
this, I've mentioned before, issomething I've always been very
passionate about because Ireally love how it expands your
peripheral vision and helps yousee things from multiple angles,
which allows you to be morestrategic and more centered in
everything you do.
And then there's the spiritualside of the practice, which I
(17:38):
think is what most peopleassociate meditation with when
they hear the words meditation.
And so, really, if youunderstand these different
directions that you can takeyour practice with, then you can
understand what practices arebest to follow for that specific
path.
And again, that's why it's soimportant to have somebody help
you navigate this, becausethere's so many possibilities.
(18:02):
You know I've been studying themeditative arts now for 36
years.
It's been my profession forover 30 years and I'm still just
a student, learning all thetime.
And you know it's next toimpossible really to get any
kind of depth in this practicewithout having somebody help you
along.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Right, right.
So, along with having greatmentors, what are some books
that you recommend that havehelped you in your journey over
these 36 years?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Oh, so many.
You know I try to read at leasta book a week, so I go through
a lot.
I've got a huge library at homewhere so many books, where so
many books Down the meditativepath.
(18:51):
There's a book called the Rootof Chinese Qigong.
That's really good on energyand how to deal with energetic
circulations in the body anddeal with meditations that help
you with that.
There's another book called theEmbryonic Breathing.
That's a really good book tohelp with that.
My latest book, the YieldingWarrior, is very helpful for
(19:13):
that.
There's so many out there.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Beautiful.
I love that, anything that canhelp someone on their journey.
So I love that you read a booka week.
That's fantastic, wonderful.
So what services do you offer?
You have any classes, trainings?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Well, here at the Academy, we have a number of
different programs for people toget involved with.
We have our Brazilian Jiu Jitsuprogram, our striking program,
where we do boxing and Muay Thai, we have our youth program and
then we have our meditative artsprogram.
On my Yielding Warrior website,we offer an online program that
(19:54):
teaches people how to use themeditative arts to create an
evolving life practice with themeditative arts and really
understand the philosophy andthe science behind it.
And then we also have a teachertraining program up there,
mostly geared towards people whoare martial arts school owners
or yoga studio owners or lifecoaches who want to learn how to
(20:17):
hand down the meditative artsand understand how to give
different prescriptions topeople to help them down
whatever path they choose tofollow.
And so that's that's what Ihave for people that are outside
of Portland.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Very beautiful.
So you do this online and inperson.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Beautiful.
So how can we get in touch withyou?
Someone's listening to this andlike, wow, this is, this is.
This is the person, this is theplace for me.
How do we get in touch?
This is the person, this is theplace for me.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
How do we get in touch?
Well, at theyieldingwarriorcom.
Or if you'd like to get a copyof my last book, the Yielding
Warrior, you could go totheyieldingwarriorcom forward
slash book and we'll send youout a free copy.
You just pay for shipping andhandling and then all of the
social media handles as well.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Wonderful.
Where can we find your book?
Is it available onlinebookstores?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
It's on Amazon and then at that link that I just
gave you the yieldingwarriorcomforward slash book.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Perfect, all right.
Well, that ends the first partof our journey and I'm going to
continue to guide you throughthe next part, and that is from
questions from listeners.
So, number one what inspiredyou to create the Yielding
Warrior online program?
Speaker 2 (21:32):
I think my biggest inspiration was, you know,
teaching.
For the last 30 years, I've hadthousands of students come
through the academy and I'veheard so many life-changing
stories of how the meditativearts has positively influenced
people's lives that I wanted tofind a way to share this
(21:52):
information with more people,and so I created the Yielding
Warrior Online program to helppeople understand that
meditation is not just aboutsitting and breathing.
There's so much more depth toit there, and oftentimes the way
that I explain this is I talkto students that are unfamiliar
(22:13):
with a meditation practice aboutwhat I call the five
regulations, and these areunderlying principles that are
in any meditation journey, nomatter what it is, whether it's
sitting meditation, standingmeditation, tai Chi, yoga,
qigong, it doesn't matter whatthe practice.
These are underlying principlesthat will help deepen your
(22:35):
practice, and these fiveregulations are regulating the
body, regulating the breath,regulating the mind, regulating
the energy and regulating thespirit.
And briefly, I'll kind of touchon what I mean when I say these
different regulations.
The first one, regulating thebody, which is where we usually
(22:55):
start, because it's the one thatwe can see the quickest change
from and the most benefit fromright off the bat, and that is.
You know the basic idea of ourskeletal alignment and our
muscular tension and relaxationin the body.
You know you can think aboutmaybe a time when you've been
(23:16):
sitting down at your computerfor three or four hours and
you're feeling lethargic, andyou know you're pretty depleted
your next may be getting soreand then another time when the
most important person in yourworld walks in the room and your
body perks up and you feel likeyou're on top of the world.
Well, these two differentenergetic states we're in 100%
(23:36):
control of all day, every day.
The question is, how are youpresenting yourself to the world
most of the time?
And so these small adjustmentswe can make can make a huge
change in our overall physiologyand energetic states.
And on a little bit of a deeperlevel, with regulating the body
, it involves maintaining somekind of muscular structure in
(24:00):
the body, flexibility, eating ahealthy diet and getting an
appropriate amount of sleep.
Then we have regulating thebreath, and regulating the
breath is an extremely deeptopic and in fact, qigong is
often referred to as the scienceof the breath, because there's
literally hundreds of differentbreathing strategies.
(24:20):
And because there's so manydifferent breathing strategies,
we kind of broadly categorizethem into yin methods and yang
methods, and these yin methodsare often deeper, more holistic
style of meditations.
And an example of a yin breathwould be if you ever listen to
somebody sleep, their naturalbreathing pattern is a longer
(24:42):
inhale and a shorter exhale, andthis is the body's natural way
of bringing our conscious mindinto our subconscious mind,
which is where we are when we'resleeping and dreaming.
And so if you want to createthis style of energetic
expression in your meditations,we can do longer inhales, soft
retentions at the end of theinhale and shorter exhales, and
(25:05):
this helps bring that energyinward, which is great for
stress reduction, dealing withanxiety, with panic attacks, for
boosting our creativity.
I mean, there's so many reasonswhy we would practice this yin
side of the breath.
Then we have the yang side ofthe breath, which is more
aggressive.
It's kind of like if you everhad to push your car, maybe, or
(25:28):
pick up something heavy.
Your natural instinct is toexhale, put tension in the
breath, maybe even make thebreath audible, and this helps
expand the energy and lead itoutward.
And once we understand how touse this breath, we can use it
to regulate our physical, mentaland emotional states throughout
the day.
And then the third regulationis regulating the mind, and we
(25:52):
kind of touched on this a littlebit when we talked about
meditation strategy.
And when we get distracted wecome back to center meditation
strategy.
And when we get distracted wecome back to center.
You know, there's this story ofthese two old monks and they're
walking down the dirt road aftera huge rainstorm and they come
up to this big mud puddle and onthe other side of the puddle is
this beautiful little girl andshe's standing there in a white
(26:13):
dress but and she's crying.
And the older monk, he hollersacross the puddle and says is
everything okay, can we help you?
And she says I need to besomewhere, but if I walk across
this puddle I'm going to get mydress all dirty.
So the older monkey rolls uphis pant legs and he walks
across the puddle and picks herup, puts her on his back and
(26:34):
takes her to the other side,sets her down and she's off on
her way.
Well, him and the younger monkare walking a couple miles down
the road and finally the youngermonk is just furious and he
says you know we're not supposedto touch girls, but yet you did
.
Back there at the puddle and theolder monk looks down and says
I left that girl back at thepuddle.
(26:54):
Why are you still carrying her?
And how many times in life dowe have to get two miles down
the muddy road before we realizewe got to let these things go?
And so regulating the mind is avery important part of the
journey as well.
And then the fourth regulation,regulating the energy, which is
another extremely deep conceptand something that we could
(27:16):
literally talk for hours about,but the basic idea of this is is
, once we've reached a competentlevel in regulating the body,
the breath and the mind, we nowhave the tools to circulate the
energy in the body, to lead itinward, to extend it outward and
to get different energeticresults with whatever
meditations we're practicing.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
The fifth and final regulation is regulating the
spirit, and this is a veryprofound idea and something that
meditation masters will spendtheir entire life's journey
working towards that ultimatestage of enlightenment.
So, as you can see, byunderstanding these underlying
principles of any meditationpractice, that it can strongly
(28:00):
affect anything we do in life.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Beautiful and many of the things that you spoke about
really relate to Reiki as well.
We bring in, you know, agoshiho meditation, the breath,
so lots of things that aresounding wow.
You know, it's amazing howthings are blended the more you
learn and grow and expand andfind out.
There's so many similarities.
Our second question you haveover 36 years of experience.
(28:26):
What one specific practice isyour go-to when you want to
reduce stress or settle yourmonkey mind?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
you know, that's um kind of a difficult question in
that I get so many people thatsay they meditate and when I ask
them what they do, um, maybethey do it for stress or they
have their distractions orthey'll have a panic attack and
they'll they'll say, say well,when I, when I get stressed or I
get whatever, I'll practicethis breathing exercise or I'll
practice this meditationpractice and the whole idea of
(29:08):
meditation.
It's not meant to be a pill thatwe take when we need it.
It's meant to be a way of lifeand something that we use on a
daily basis by having a solidritual practice every day that
helps those episodes and thoselevels of high imbalance go away
in our life through having thatcore, fundamental practice.
(29:29):
Then we have active practicesthat we can integrate throughout
the day that will help us findbalance, and they can be
anything from movement practicesto breath work to different
philosophical concepts that wewill study, and these different
breathing strategies and conceptcan help us regulate in
(29:51):
different ways.
So if we're feeling verystressed, we can do more yin
oriented practices to bring usdown, and if we're feeling
depleted, we can do yangyin-oriented practices to bring
us down, and if we're feelingdepleted.
We can do yang practices tohelp pick us back up, and the
whole idea is being able todevelop that higher level of
sensitivity and awareness andfeeling within the body so we
can make these adjustmentsbefore they get too far off the
(30:14):
path.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Right, right, yeah, I agree, in Reiki we do something
that's called the Reikiprinciples and it's an
invitation to do this every day,to bring it as a part.
So it's like, just for today Iwill not worry.
Just for today I will not beangry.
Just for today I will begrateful.
Just for today I will do mywork honestly.
(30:36):
Just for today I will be kindto every living thing.
And it's an invitation to howcan we weave this in every day
and do our self Reiki.
So that way, when thesechallenges are happening, it's a
little bit more.
You're in a more calmer stateto navigate, instead of just
waiting until everything hitsthe fan and then and use it.
(30:59):
So I like that.
It's a constant and people tendto forget that.
They just kind of pull it outas as needed.
But consistency is absolutelythe key and you know, as you
were speaking, it was alsomaking me think too.
Um, you know students in yogawhen they come, I teach yin and
bring a little yang into thepractice as well, and you have
(31:20):
many people that it's achallenge for them to get to the
mat and they'll feel like, well, I was so tired today or I
didn't feel like coming, butthat's when your body needs it
the most, when you don't want tocome, and for many people
that's the first, hardest stepis just moving forward and
having that practice, so havingthat diligent.
The consistency is the key withthat.
(31:42):
So here's our last questionwhat is the yielding concept?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yielding is something I've been passionate about for
many years and it's a concept inboth the meditative and the
martial arts, and in my mostrecent book, the Yielding
Warrior, I break down yieldinginto three kind of main pillars
of the practice.
We have physical yielding,mental yielding and emotional
yielding.
Physical yielding is theeasiest one to understand.
(32:12):
It's the idea that I push you,you push me.
Whoever's the bigger, strongerperson with the most leverage
eventually is going to push theother 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 and now I can respond withless effort.
So I'm not trying to butt headswith you and see if I'm bigger
(32:34):
and stronger than you.
Now, in athletics it's easy tosee how this is beneficial
because no matter what sport youplay, you're going to come up
against other athletes who aregoing to be bigger, stronger and
faster than you, and if youdon't know how to use this
concept, a lot of times you'regoing to lose those interactions
(32:54):
.
Yielding is very important inthat arena on the physical side,
and in order to be good atphysical yielding, a lot of
things have to come into play.
You need to be well-rooted, thelower part of your body needs
to be strong and flexible so youcan change your central
equilibrium without gettingtight.
The body has to be relaxed, thebreath has to be calm and the
(33:15):
mind has to be present.
Now, while this may be alifetime journey to really
master these skills from day one, by integrating a meditation
practice into your life, youstart seeing these things inside
yourself with more clarity.
And this is where it starts tobecome very interesting, because
not only do you see thesethings in yourself with more
(33:39):
clarity, but you also startseeing these things in other
people with more clarity, andthis is where we start moving
into what I call mental yielding.
Say, for example, you and I arehaving a conversation and I say
something that unsettles you.
If I pick up on it from thatfirst sign of imbalance, it's a
lot easier to adjust theconversation and keep us in a
(34:00):
harmonious place than if I'm notpaying attention to that, and
pretty soon I'm so far off track.
You want to knock me upside thehead, and so learning how to
use yielding in all of ourinteractions is extremely
powerful.
You know one?
We're being more considerate,which is something that we could
all do more of.
And two, it allows us to bestrategic in our interactions so
(34:22):
we can guide conversations to apositive outcome with the least
amount of resistance, and thisis beneficial in relationships
and business and sales andnegotiations.
I mean, there's so many ways wecan apply this idea.
And then the third pillar ofyielding is emotional yielding,
and this is very much likemental yielding, but with our
(34:45):
own interpersonal conflicts.
So you think about whensomething happens to us, often
we'll respond and we'll go downthis path and we might get an
hour a day a week down this roadand realize maybe that wasn't
the best choice.
But by having a heightenedawareness, through having
meditation in our life,oftentimes we're able to sit
(35:07):
back when things happen, be morepresent, not let our emotions
get involved, and oftentimesmake a more heartfelt decision.
That saves us a lot ofheartache on the other side.
And so you know I've beenexplaining this idea of yielding
now for many years.
I've been running my academyhere for 30 years and one of the
most common things I'll hearpeople say is ah, yielding makes
(35:30):
a lot of sense.
In fact, I do yielding all thetime.
Well, I would agree in that.
I think everybody does somedegree of yielding, whether they
recognize that's what they'redoing or not.
However, it's kind of like youknow.
If you or I were to walk into acrime scene with a detective
who's been on the job for 30years, I guarantee you that
(35:50):
person would see things aboutthe series of events and the
timeline that I know at least, Iwould have no clue of, and the
meditative arts helps us seethings inside of ourselves and
inside of other people that Itruly believe most people will
go through life and never haveany clue of if they don't have a
meditation practice in theirlife.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Very good.
Well, that is our last question, as we've been talking.
Is there something that youhave forgotten to mention or a
message that you would like toshare with the listeners?
The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
You know, I think the most important message if
you're thinking about starting ameditation practice is really
going through that list Imentioned earlier what is your
why?
And putting some heartfeltthought into it, understanding
the importance of consistency,finding a guide.
And if you do that and youstick with that practice, it'll
(36:43):
be one of the best things you'veever done.
And you know, I've seen it overand over again with hundreds,
thousands of students and it'sit's one of the best things
you'll ever do for yourself.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Beautiful, and let our listeners know the name of
your two books again.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
The first book was how to meditate.
My last book is the yieldingwarrior.
Again, you can get that on mywebsite the yielding warriorcom.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Beautiful and you said that you have hundreds of
instructional videos.
Is that only available throughyour program or can that be
found online?
Speaker 2 (37:21):
On my Yielding Warrior YouTube channel.
There's a lot of free contentthere and through our social
media outlets as well.
However, the majority of it isin the online program, but
there's probably a couplehundred videos of free content
out there.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Okay, so how long is the warrior program?
How long is the training, ifsomeone's interested.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Well, I've got.
You know, if somebody wanted togo there and go through
everything that's in thatprogram, it would probably take
them 15 to 20 years to gothrough it all.
I've got a lot of stuff upthere.
It's a very deep program.
And then my teacher trainingprogram to get somebody through
that course is an 18 monthcourse.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
Okay, beautiful, beautiful, all right.
Well, thank you, jeff, so muchfor taking time out of your very
busy schedule to take thisjourney with me.
I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
All right, all right, my wonderful listeners.
If you'd like your questionfeatured on the podcast, reach
out wwwreadysetreikicom.
I'm Tracy Seawright and thishas been Ready Set.
Reiki © transcript Emily Beynon.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.