The Most Important Thing to Know as a Meditation Teacher
No matter where you are on your journey this episode shares an important lesson to continually remind yourself of.
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Podcast Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. My name is Lou Redmond, your host, and this is a podcast for meditation teachers, coaches, creators and guides to learn how to make a meaningful impact and sustainable income doing their work. If you love meditation and want to use it as a medium to share your gifts with the world, you are in the right place. Today's episode we're going to be getting into the most important thing to know as a meditation teacher. At least I believe it's the most important thing to think about. And we're going to be talking about this by weaving a few elements that are important and they all kind of weave into one main focus. So we're going to be talking today about the power of sharing your story. We're going to be talking about how to think about niching and introduce that topic because I know it's something that you hear a lot when you start to think about how to develop your own business. And then I'm going to share some things that I want to encourage you to continue to think about and practice on your own. That's really going to help you become the clearest channel for your gifts to come through in this world. So thank you for being here. Let's get into today's episode. I'll beat my drum for you I sing my song for you I clap my hands to the beat that transforms into I'll be my drum for you I sing my song for you I clap my hands to the beat that transforms. All right, so in the last episode, I shared my story and I believe that the power in telling one's story is a crucial way to be able to attract and connect with the people you are meant to serve. Because by telling one's story, we open the door for other people to see themselves in in our journey. And I want to encourage you to think about your own story as if it is a hero's journey story, because it is. Especially if you've started a spiritual path. You have said yes, you have been initiated, you have answered the call to adventure, and you have put yourself in this archetypal myth. You are the hero of your story. And if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, I to make sure, and I know some of you maybe have heard me talk about this or have heard this elsewhere, but talking about what Joseph Campbell pointed to in the hero's journey archetype, for those that don't know Joseph Campbell, he was a famous mythologist who studied religions, cultures, myths of all different Places around the world at different times. And what he found that every society was telling the same story story. It had similar elements, they were different details, but some similar things happened. There was always a. A call. There was always a refusal of the call, a doubt, a fear, a stepping over the threshold, saying yes, and then at some point, facing some sort of trials or demons, overcoming those trials to then come back and find and share your gift with your community. And there's a lot of synchronicities that are involved. There's mentors that show up, people that show up in our life, that support our journey. And there's a little bit more to this. I would recommend, if this is brand new to you, to just Google Hero's Journey Joseph Campbell so you can see the elements. And this is not to say that we have every element in our story. And just to be clear, we go on different heroes journey arcs. We're continually dying and being reborn. This is the process of transformation. And as someone who's guiding and leading meditation, you are an embodiment of your own transformation. And so learning to tell your story in a way that kind of highlights that Hero's Journey is really powerful. It's really a really powerful way to tell your story. And it's a way to connect with others who might be interested in your work. And so I want to just share a little bit more about this because I love my. My favorite Hero's Journey movie. And a lot of movies, Joseph Campbell inspired George Lucas for Star Wars. And so much movie and writing is based off of a Hero's Journey archetype. And my favorite Hero's Journey movie is the wizard of Oz. Think about it. Dorothy is in a normal, ordinary world of Kansas. Something just feels kind of off. Something doesn't feel right. And so she begins to find and search. She leaves home to figure out what that is that she's searching for. And as she leaves home, things get ruffled up. Tornado comes in, and she's thrown out of the ordinary world into the extraordinary world of Oz. This is her initiating into her journey, and she finds people that are going to guide her. She has our mentor in the Good Witch, and she is told to follow the yellow brick road. And I always saw that as follow your light, follow that inner calling. And so she follows. And on that journey, she learns about herself. She has to overcome fear. She learns about fear through the Scarecrow. She learns about her heart. Heart through the Tin Man. And she learns about herself through this whole time. And she overcomes obstacles. She overcomes having to go through the wild scene at the end, to finally get to Oz, to find out that the goal, the idea of where we're going, it's not quite what we think. And what she ultimately learns is that the entire time she could have went home, she had it within her, but she had to walk that journey to figure out that she already had it within us. And I love this because that's our life. We are as meditation teachers, we understand that at our core that enlightenment is right here, that we don't have to go anywhere for it, that it is our essence, that is our true nature. But we do, we actually have to walk our journey, we have to face our demons, our shadows. To come to that realization that it is already within us. And that is our assignment, if we choose to accept it, is to continually figure out and work on our own transformation. And I believe building a business is a vehicle for that kind of transformation. I asked my mentor, David Gandelman, once, what is a conscious business? And he talks about how a conscious business is similar to bringing consciousness to anything that we're continually asking, well, what am I learning from this? Or in the place where we get stuck, what is the pattern here? What is the stuff that comes up, whether it's our money, stuff that gets highlighted, and what needs to continually to transform within us, what do we need to bring our consciousness towards? And so it's amazing, amazing that we get to do our transformational work and that gets to become what we share, that gets to become the topics, that gets to become the content that gets to infuse in how we're able to hold space for others. And so this weaves into this question that I'm sure you've asked, I know I've asked all the time, and it's common, you'll continually come up against this and you'll help people through this is what is my purpose? What is that one thing that I'm meant to do, and that is the myth of purpose, is that it's one thing that is external. Because your purpose, your true purpose is you. You don't find your purpose, you are your purpose. And as you walk your path, just like Dorothy walked hers, you are going to come against what you need to learn. And your purpose is to keep walking, to keep staying present. And the most important thing, the number one important thing when it comes to this work is your own self transformation, your own development. The level of outer success you will achieve is correlated to the level of inner awakening, inner development, your own self development journey. And again this is what makes this work. Unbelievable is that we get to just come back and when things aren't working out, we get to figure out what's going on internally, we get to continue to do our work because it's really not about that external success. Once we have that feeling of freedom and connection and clarity and creativity, internally, what we're going for, that's really what we are trying to embody and receive from doing this work. Right? We want to have more freedom. We want to be able to live our lives in a way that feels aligned and doesn't take us out of alignment. We don't have to live a life that's not in integrity. And continuing to do our self work again allows the outer to start to unfold and the synchronicities to happen. And I believe that we are supported in that journey, if it really is our journey. Now, there's another conversation here on the roadblocks that we might hit and if we should keep pushing or if maybe life is asking something else out of us. And this is a nuanced question and something that I'm sure I know I will be talking about on this podcast and I'll also be having guests where we talk about this on this podcast of should we stay with our path? Should we stay trying this thing that we've been trying? Or should maybe we figure out where spirit is leading us and trusting that there's no mistakes, trusting that what we did in one area of life in some way is going to come back and give us some direction and support in another area of life. And so this topic of niching, let's talk about niching for a moment. And again, I'm going to talk more in depth about this on a later episode. But for now, to think about this is not that you have a niche, but just as you are your purpose, you are your niche, you are unique. No one is quite like you. So as you bring the embodiment of your energy to this world, people are going to connect with you in a way that they're not going to connect with me, and they're not going to connect with this other person and they're not going to connect with that person, but they're going to connect with you because that is the unique energy that you are emanating. So especially if you're starting out, don't even worry about your niche. You are your niche and your only focus. Really, if you are your niche, then your own awakening is your greatest gift that you are giving to the world. Many wise Teachers have said this. Your vibrational presence is your present to the world. Who you are, who you are being matters more than what you are saying, than what your sales copy looks like and what you say or how you structure a meditation. It's the saying, the words, the structure. It's less important than the energy that you emanate because that's what is felt. It's cliche. We've heard it all the time. People don't remember what you say. They remember how you made them feel. And by you continuing to clear your energy field, to continue to awaken within, that is going to be felt without think about, it's clear when you think about really awakened beings, really high wise teachers that have a broad impact. Thinking about like a Ram Dass or a, or a Krishnamurti or Ramana Maharshi. Ramana Maharshi was just hanging out in India. He wasn't, you know, setting up web pages and trying to get his message out. There was, he had one teaching was, was to ask who I am. But his resonance, people were attracted to him. He attracted followers that just found him and came because that energy was so, so powerful. So when we think of these really high teachers, it's not that they had the best marketing plan. It's not that they really tried. They were sought out because their energy was that strong. And so I'm not just saying that I or you are going to get to that level, maybe, I hope you do, I really do. But it's just a clear example of oh yes, we'll talk about the business end because that's fun and exciting. But at the core of this is it's coming back to our own awakening because that's going to attract people, that's going to attract opportunities, that's going to allow spirit to move through our lives in a way that's going to have the impact that we're meant to have. And so I want to leave you with some important things to continually be implementing in your life. Some of these, you are already doing it. Some of these might be obvious, some of these might be second nature where you're not even thinking about doing it because it's just part of your life. It's part of who you are, it's part of your routine. But it's something that we always need reminders of. So I'm going to share things for you to continually be thinking about. Number one is your own practice. Your practice will inform your teaching. You can't take someone where you haven't gone before. So you can't tell someone that they should meditate for an hour every day. If you've never meditated for an hour every day, you can't tell someone, well, yeah, this retreat will be good for you if you've never been on the retreat. And so continuing to come back to your own practice. I'm not saying you have to do an hour a day. I'm not saying you have to do. It is not about the time, it's about what is your practice look like. How are you embodying that in your life daily? How are you continually getting quiet, looking at yourself, journaling, meditating, breathwork, whatever it is for you? And I use that hour because this was a recent commitment for me. I wanted to. For the month of May, I've been practicing for 60 minutes in the morning because that felt like a little stretch to commit to 30 days like that. And so sometimes it's nice to give ourselves just a little bit of oomph, to have some accountability, to have some edge, some structure and some commitment where we can kind of push ourselves past where we were. So continuing coming back to your own practice. I know this is simple stuff, but it's important to remember number two, I mentioned it briefly, retreats, taking a more extended time to focus on yourself and have a different experience, whether it's a silent meditation retreat, whether it's some sort of more deepening into some kind of emotional work, something that is for you, that you are leaving the ordinary world, putting yourself in a container where things can shift, things can change. Beyond meditation might be psychedelics, it might be writing, it might be breath work, it can be whatever. But continually carving out time in your schedule for something that is a retreat. Now, for some of you, you might have jobs, you might have a very busy schedule. The blessing just to share with you, because I think it's helpful to know where you're going and how you want to structure your lifestyle, is that I'm super fortunate that if I want to go on a meditation retreat next week, I can shift things, right? I have clients, I have to move things. I'm busy, but I can move things. And I can do that all year if I really want to. And I'm fortunate. And that's the blessing of getting to do this work, support yourself doing it is that ability to flex and do things where you're not structured and stuck to some sort of nine to five. So I'm sharing that just hopefully as some inspiration because it took a while to get there. But for those that don't have that right now. Maybe it's an online retreat, maybe it's a day long. I really want to encourage you to do something in person, to find in person things, because I think there's just an energy and especially now we need to get out of Zoom Rooms. And I know this is ironic because I might be doing things on Zoom Rooms, but alas, getting out of your normal state, your normal place and having space to do your work is always so, so crucial. There's many traditions, many teachers, and just a note here. For many traditions, these are necessity before you can teach, before you're. I mean, in Buddhist traditions, you're on silent retreats for months potentially, before a teacher is going to give you that permission to teach again. We're talking about different things. I talked a little bit about this in my last episode, but you don't have to do that. Meaning that you can start sharing from where you are. And there's certain people that are going to be exactly who you need to hear. We don't have to be the Ramana Maharshis or the Nariem Karoli Babas. And I don't even know if they were on retreat or the Paramahansiyah Anandas. You know that it had these strict, strict trainings. And again, I welcome that. If the guru were to find me, I'm here for that. And maybe you feel that way, too. But taking action and putting yourself in that situation is step one. Okay, what else? Coaching and. Or therapy. Hiring someone to hold space to do deep work is so powerful and gives you the continual processing and integration, especially coming out of a retreat. And I know this can be expensive, but I encourage you to invest at the level you're at for me. And we'll do episodes on coaching and investing and what that looks like, shadows and joys and awesomeness of it. But for me, it always was aligned to what it. What was my edge at the time? At one point it was I was paying $30 for a session with my coach, and at another point I was paying $800. And so there's no. I say that because I want to encourage you to just. There's a. There's people there that can support you at the level that you need them. It just might take a little effort, but honestly, it might not take a little effort. When I think about life, the people who are meant to support me came into my life and if I had the means to make that investment, it was shown and it was clear and it felt right for me. And so especially if you're going to hold space one on one, or if you are holding space one on one, having the reciprocity of being held and allowing yourself to look at your shadows, look at your blind spots. And I'm a big believer that every dollar that you invest in yourself will come back times 10. That's always how I've looked at it. I've never looked at it like I'm losing something. I'm, I'm always gaining more. And what's amazing about this work is that we get to write that off. We get to write off our own transformation because that is part of our business model. How unbelievable is that? It is, it's such a gift. And so maybe some of you know that already. Maybe you're like, what? Really? You can write that stuff off? Maybe you don't even have a LLC yet or. And we'll talk about that on another episode, I'm sure. But it's unbelievable that we get to write this stuff off and continue to help ourselves and so take advantage of that. Take advantage of that in any business. There's so many people I've talked to that are in the startup mentality. Let's talk about true startups where when they make money, they're making money and they're putting everything back into the business. They're putting everything back into the business because they know that that is growing now when we are the business, when it's a one person show, when the business is also supporting us in our day to day, it's, we feel a little bit disconnected from that. We feel like, well, I can't just throw this money, I just got back into it because we have to live. And so getting clear on what we need to live and making sure that we're continuing to energize, putting money back into ourselves, which is putting money back into the business and not looking at investing in this software that's going to help us as we would look in buying a new pair of shoes. It's very, very different. And some of that is just getting out of old money scripts and money routines. And of course this is the art and business of meditation so that those episodes are coming, all right, your own practice retreats, coaching or therapy, doing your own work. And then what I'll leave you here with is continually thinking of ways that you can get a little bit uncomfortable. And this is in some ways an extreme meditation because in getting a little bit uncomfortable, we're forcing ourselves to stay centered in something that's a little bit more intense and Great examples of this can be just cold shower or a cold plunge. Right when you go into a cold bath, your mind is going to just boom with all these things of I can't be here, it might start hyperventilating, all these crazy things that might start happening. And your ability to notice discomfort and create that witness and be with it, be with it, be with it until it dissipates is a really powerful tool as a teacher, as a space holder. And so you can do this in many different ways. I've been going to a high intensity interval training class and that in some ways becomes a really powerful meditation when I need to find the resources to just stay in the poses or to stay in the workout. And the mind training that that is, is super, super powerful. So I talked about cold showers, talked about really intense exercise. Fasting is another way to do this. I just came out of a 36 hour fast. It was my first fast in years because I've been in this mode of wanting to stretch that comfort zone and noticing where my mind goes when my stomach is asking for food. And can you find center in the discomfort? Such a big practice. And for those of you that want to go a little bit more intense. And I know kambo is another one that I've experienced. Kambo is a frog medicine. I won't get too far into it, you can look it up. But it is another one where it feels like you're in pain, it feels like you're gonna die. And there's more to say about this because the first time I pretty much passed out. But in doing this a couple times, I have been able to notice that reaction and be with it and find my center. And so all of these things, they have the same in common, is things are getting intense and can I come back to center? So meditation retreats do that too. If you're on a meditation retreat that's a little bit more intense. You're going to have that experience of your body being in pain and you having to practice that. But we can do that daily. We can do that with 30 seconds of a cold shower at the end of the shower. And so these are just things to think about to continue to embody this work. Because again, the embodiment of this work is going to be the gift that you give and it's going to attract the people that you're meant to serve. I said last thing, but not last thing. I think this just goes without saying. I mean, you're listening to this podcast, so you're already doing it, but continually bringing in information, books, teachers, and it's not always information. Actually, Ram Dass has this great YouTube lo fi channel. I'll link it in the podcast description. That is just music and old Ram Dass teachings and just random teachings. And sometimes it's just like a nice thing to just have in the background, even if it's not getting in consciously. There's, you know, having that energy that you are taking in be something that's supportive. And this is tough. I go in and out with this. But also watching what we're consuming in TV shows and the media, they have an effect. And I know when I've watched six episodes of Succession, I've had to actually stop watching that show because while it's interesting and part of me wants to watch it, I'm also going to sleep and I'm having these dreams and there's this effect. And so this is not to judge you for watching any shows. It's just to be conscious. Notice the effect that things are having on your nervous system, on your psyche, and just be conscious. This is not to say that you can't watch something that's super dark, or maybe you're into horror movies and that's great. Be you, do you. And just something to continually be conscious of. This is getting into the fine nitty gritty. And just while we're on the topic of continually having information come in, I know for me, sometimes there's also that part of not being able to just be with yourself or what we can get into in this in somewhat of a toxic productivity and always having to be learning, like we can't waste a minute of our lives that isn't learning, becoming better, getting more awakened. And so watching that energy as well, watching that energy, creating some space where that doesn't have to be, creating some space for boredom. You know, sometimes when I work with people who are in a space of like taking in a lot of information, I'll have them actually intentionally not taking any sort of spiritual text, any sort of podcast for maybe a week or two weeks. Because sometimes we take in so much information, we don't let anything integrate and settle. So, quick recap. Remember the importance of telling your story. Practice telling your story. Write your story. Number two, you are your purpose, you are your niche. Your awakening, your development is the gift that you're giving to the world. So if you get freaked out about what you're supposed to do, just come back to you come back to looking at yourself, doing your own work that's going to lead to the next thing and then the things that help aid that. Whether it's your daily practice, retreats, coaching, therapy, getting uncomfortable, continue thinking about how you want to bring these things into your life. That's all for today. Please. If you got any value from this podcast or something stuck out to you, something triggered you, I want to hear it all. So send me a message. Shoot me an email. I love hearing from you. I love getting a chance to connect with other people that are on this journey, supporting you in whatever way I can. So shoot me a note, say hi and if you feel so inclined, leave a review. Let people know that you like this and that you find supportive. Share with some colleagues, some people that are doing this work that could use some support. Yeah, it's really, really appreciated. So thank you so much for listening. I will see you on the next episode of the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. Take care.