Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Tanuka. Good morning again. For those who may not know me, my name is Tenzin David Zimmerman. I serve as the abiding abbot here at Beginner's Mind Temple, and it's a joy to see you all. I have the delight and honor to welcome our Dharma speaker this morning, Kavali Morgan. I'll just offer a few introductory remarks. Kavali is a meditation teacher. author, speaker, and nonprofit founder. And her Dharma practice began in 1995 and included eight years at a silent monastery. It was the Zen Monastery Peace Center in Murphys, California, which is down south, I believe. And she's been teaching contemplative practice since 2001. She leads meditation retreats, workshops at online classes internationally. including at such venues as Sangha Live, the Science and Non-Duality Conference, the Mind and Life International Symposium for Contemplative Research, and the Buddha at the Gas Pump series, which is a great series if you haven't had a chance to check it out.

[10:13]

One of the things I appreciate about Calverly is the way in which she blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern non-dual approach and lots of heart. I think you'll get a sense of her big heart and her sharing the Dharma with us. She is also the founder of Peace in Schools, which is a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, that created the nation's first four credit mindfulness class in public high schools. And in addition to founding Peace in Schools, she also founded the Presence Collective, which is a community of cross-cultural contemplatives committed to a personal and collective transformation. And Cavali has written two books, one, a kid's book about mindfulness, and the most recently published book, The Heart of Who We Are, the subtitle is Realizing Freedom Together. And we do have these available in the bookstore as well. And I've personally known Cavali now for about eight years through our engagement with the Generation X Dharma Teachers Conference.

[11:22]

And it's been a delight to continue our friendship over the year. I am so happy you are here and look forward to you offering the Dharma. Thank you again. Friends, it is such a deep honor to be here. Thank you so much for having me. I want to invite you to take a moment to look around the room and simply greet eyes with some other friends, Sangha members. Just allow yourself. If we had more time, I would bring all voices into the room, even if it's just one word of what you're present to in this moment. But without that, at least bring your presence into the room. The room for a moment through connecting with others.

[12:22]

This is actually an exercise on allowing the absolute and relative realms of experience to not be separate. What do I mean by that? When I asked David, what should I talk about? One of the things David mentioned was you speak in your book. quite a bit about the absolute and the relative. And it could be worth expanding upon that here. And so I had a few things that I was considering bringing into the space. And then when I arrived late last night and settled in and then spent the morning here feeling into the presence of this space all that arose for me to speak about today were my mistakes and by mistakes i mean my learnings in practice there would have been a time that i would have come into a space like this

[13:45]

And held it as somehow separate from outside the doors. I would have held this space as a representation of the absolute. And for those that are new to this kind of terminology in the room, by absolute, I'm speaking about what's unchanging. I'm speaking about what Zen Master Banke talked about as the unborn mind. When I speak about relative, I'm talking about what's changing all the time. So I would have felt a separation, and I very much felt that separation as a monastic. I very much felt like my experience at the monastery was separate from the rest of the world. I experienced practice as inside those gates, and I felt safe in that separation. There was a comfort I experienced.

[14:53]

And it's extremely touching for me to be in this space now and to feel this space shining with reality, but not separate from. Not different then. So I scrapped the section of the book that I was going to share about. And I turned to a different section of the book. This separate from experience for me was. This is what I mean by mistake. It was a distortion. It was a misunderstanding of the teachings that I experienced as a monastic.

[15:57]

And that misunderstanding stemmed from me taking the neti-neti approach, the not this, not this, not this approach in practice, and running with it. in such a way that I was actually maintaining a sense of separation. I was maintaining a duality. For example, the duality of the absolute and relative. Seeing those things as separate rather than allowing myself to experience reality with a capital R shining through all things. So I thought I'd read this section about... something that supported my own journey in reconciling what had appeared to be separate. This section is called turning toward versus turning away. In your own life, have you ever found yourself identified with a self who's on a mission to annihilate the self?

[17:02]

Have you ever found yourself believing you have to get rid of in order to experience truth? Believing that the conditioned mind can take charge and try to control and omit thoughts, experiences, people, is a distortion of the negating approach, the neti-neti approach I was just referring to. We do it in the name of spiritual practice. In my experience, it was all in the name of spiritual practice. Oh, I'm not this. [...] And in that process, the distortion was, and so I have to get rid of this. I have to get rid of this. I have to get rid of this. Without recognizing the I that was being maintained through that activity. So one way this distortion takes shape. For those new to practice, often looks like, oh, I've tried meditation practice, but I could never stick with it. I couldn't ever seem to clear my mind. As if that is the goal of practice.

[18:05]

And as if practice requires a sergeant to be in charge of the assigned perceived task. So I want to offer an analogy that I found very helpful in addressing my mistake. And it's from the meditation teacher Rupert Spira. He has an analogy of a self-aware screen and a movie playing on the screen. The screen stands in for the true nature of all things. It's pure consciousness. In a negating approach, the movie is considered to be a distraction from the screen. So in the negating approach, we turn off the movie to see the screen. We turn away from the content of our relative experience. Rupert expands the metaphor to describe what could be referred to as a turning towards approach. So in this approach, it's recognized that all movies are merely a coloring of the screen.

[19:08]

To see the screen clearly, you don't have to turn off the movie. You can watch any movie you'd like on the screen. The content of the movie doesn't change the nature of the screen. In this approach, we turn toward experience, recognizing this experience isn't separate. from what it's arising in, what it's observed by, or what it's made of. So we move towards experience rather than away from it. So this is where we find reality shining in all things, in this turning toward approach. the turning towards approach, we look for true nature in all things. We see inherent spaciousness in all things.

[20:09]

We see the reality of all things. As we move into experience, we recognize ourselves as not separate from experience. Or to state it without negation, we know the unity of all things. We learn to see through the movie and we find the screen everywhere. in everything. Turning away and turning toward approaches need not be viewed dualistically. Both approaches lead to the same heart, the heart of awareness, the heart of truth. Both approaches end up with the same recognition, the nature of the screen, the nature of the reality projected onto the screen. All realities share the same reality.

[21:10]

The costumes of consciousness. In activity, you hide behind things. In the noise of the world, you appear clothed. In silence, you emerge naked. In stillness, you are everywhere. In one approach, it could be said that the true nature that true nature can be veiled by the activity of the conditioned mind. In the other approach, this activity is seen to be nothing other than a variation of consciousness within consciousness, a coloring of reality. In the next section of the book here, I go into one of my favorite Zen stories from the Platform Sutra.

[22:26]

the Bodhi tree. Many of you in this room know this story. And purely based on me longing to bring us into experience together, I'm going to only highlight the most important verse within this section of the book that, again, many of you I'm sure know. from when he offered an alternative verse. This alternative was offered after Hongren. Maybe I'll actually, to give it more context for those who don't know this, say what Hongren offered first.

[23:32]

The body is the Bodhi tree. The mind is like a clear mirror. At all times, we must strive to polish it and must not let the dust collect. So then along comes Hway Nung. And he offers, there is no Bodhi tree, nor stand of a mirror bright. Since all is void, where can dust alight? While we can understand this story in the context of progressive versus direct path, it's also illuminating to understand this in light of this practice of turning toward. The story illustrates the truth that all is void or empty, that all is consciousness, and that there is nothing outside this.

[24:34]

Given that fundamentally, all is void. There are no things. The void is within all things. All things cannot exist without it. So as mentioned, I'd like to invite an experience now. Enough talking about it. So I invite you to close your eyes or if you're more comfortable, gaze down at a 45 degree angle. Just begin by asking what is here now? You might ask, what part of you is here now? Whatever is, whoever this is, let it be.

[25:42]

And allow whatever is to be exactly as it is. consciously bring in the image of something you tend to believe you don't like. Pick something you don't have a lot of charge around to start with. We could play with feeling lonely, for example. Choose something that's relevant for you. yourself to be quiet and still. No need to force anything. Just allow. And gently inquire into the nature of this experience, this loneliness, say, or whatever you are working with today, whatever came up for you.

[26:54]

explore what self-talk is present. What are you saying to yourself about this experience? See through this self-talk. Nothing you need to judge or reject. It's transparent. Simply move through it. What emotions are present? What feelings are here?

[28:22]

And then see through these emotions and feelings. Nothing you need to judge or reject. swim through them. They are empty. Now consciously explore what's happening in the body. What sensations are present?

[29:35]

Is there anything to these sensations other than vibration? Gently, without judgment, explore this vibration. the vibration simply be vibration. Move through it in your mind's eye. Notice how you know this self-talk, these emotions, these sensations.

[30:58]

Surrender the self-talk to the vastness of this awareness. Surrender emotion to this presence. Surrender sensation to being. like a dense cloud expanding, opening, becoming translucent, releasing into the vastness of the open sky.

[32:29]

Self-talk, emotion, sensation, all vibration and vast awareness. Turn toward, move into and through this vibration, not as if you're separate from it. More like the way a drop of water moves into a pond. The way a river flows toward and into the sea.

[33:41]

Move toward, in. Surrender anything that would imply that you are separate from this vibration. Surrender it to presence. The luminous being. Surrender it to the sea. The sea shining with countless drops of water.

[34:59]

These drops all shining with the sea. There can be no drop without this water. Even if the drop is colored by something, filled with algae, let's say, the same suchness that is water still shines through. The same suchness, the same being shines through what the mind labels loneliness. Any experience like loneliness is simply the activity of the mind coloring the vastness of being, but not other than it.

[36:26]

and complex creatures we are. We have the capacity to attend to the coloring or what is being colored. We can attend to the experience, the condition mind labels loneliness, the self-talk, the emotion, or we can surrender. to what's always shining through the loneliness. We can surrender to what's often in the background of our experience, seemingly hidden.

[37:37]

We can release into being. In this moving toward approach, we go into the coloring and what's colored. We go into the heart of all things. We go into the heart of who we are. We go into infinite being which is everywhere and nowhere all at once.

[38:53]

How is infinite being nowhere? Because it doesn't exist in a place. It doesn't exist in time. It isn't bound by matter. You don't exist in a place. You don't exist in time.

[40:05]

You aren't bound by matter. that is and everything that isn't is shining with this same being. Therefore, there's nothing to annihilate. Nothing to hold at bay. Nothing to judge and no one to judge it. all can be released to being.

[41:17]

In being. As being. Rest in being and find this being in all things. Know this being in all things.

[42:52]

Love this being in all things. Thank you. We're going to take a few minutes now to turn to someone near you. And what I'd like to invite you to do is have one person be the compassionate witness. So simply being with the other, not responding, not... I mean, you can nod.

[44:42]

You don't have to be a robot. You're just being present to your partner in the Peace in Schools program in our mindful studies class. We call this meeting essence to essence. And so if you're sharing, you're just sharing what's alive for you in this moment, just a minute or two. This is going to be very brief. And then we'll swap. And as you're being present to your partner, I want to invite you to. Rest the intention in being as being. So if you have any of the kind of training that I have received, sometimes your attention might be on noticing, on a more negating approach, noticing the conditioned mind, recognizing you're not that, sort of focusing the attention on not this, not that, not this, not that, that. In this turning towards approach, now with another person, in a relational way, I'm going to invite you to surrender the attention to being.

[45:53]

Again, resting in being as being. Meeting essence to essence as your partner shares. And if you're like, I have no idea what you're talking about, lady, that's fine. Just enjoy your partner. Just allow yourself to enjoy this beautiful being who's here to talk to you. Okay. Turn to someone near you. And you can pass if you're like, yeah, I'm not feeling this today. And just the person with the shortest hair will begin. And so person number one, please begin. Just what you're present to? What's alive here now? The other person simply receiving.

[46:55]

beginning to wrap up that person and then switching partners if you haven't already so person number two please and winding down your conversation with your partner

[51:01]

Thank you, friends. It's such a delight to me. You had so much to share with each other, even if you were just talking about what's happening in our government right now. No, really, it's incredible to feel the richness of the energy of your conversations. We are going to take a break now, and I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation. I'm looking forward to engaging with you with Q&A. So for those of you who I know are new here today, the structure is to leave for about five minutes and then come back into the hall and have a Q&A. So please... Let's break now. And I think I'm supposed to bow a lot and do some other things to leave, but I can't remember what.

[52:31]

So I'm going to bow. And Echo will magically take this away. But we all start chanting first. Good morning, and thank you all for coming.

[55:26]

My name is Kay. I'm the Eno, or the head of the meditation hall, and I just wanted to share a few announcements. As David mentioned, we have copies of Coverley's latest book in the bookstore, and I believe the bookstore will be open until noon, so you're welcome to head over and get a copy if you haven't already. I also want to mention, as always, If you enjoyed this program and the other programs of the San Francisco Zen Center, you are invited to support our activities by making a donation. We'll drop a link to make a donation online in the Zoom chat, and also right outside the Buddha Hall, we have a donation box. And of course, as always, come and join us for our programs and for meditation. morning and evening meditation. We have a introductory, an intro to Zazen and our forms coming up on January 21st.

[56:37]

It's every third Saturday. And that is the next one. And if you've been sitting with us for a bit and you want to take kind of a deeper dive, we have a one-day sitting coming up on January 28th. WITH RYUSH AND PAUL HELLER BOTH IN PERSON HERE OR ONLINE. AND AS ALWAYS, FEEL FREE TO CHECK THE EVENTS CALENDAR ON OUR WEBSITE FOR ALL OF OUR ACTIVITIES. SO THANK YOU AGAIN FOR COMING. WE'LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK AND THEN COME BACK, ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO ENGAGE IN Q&A WITH CAVERLY. THANK YOU. Okay, well, welcome back.

[66:56]

Feel free to ask your questions. You can raise your hand. I'll come over and hand you the mic. And if you're online in our Zoom room, just raise your Zoom hand and we'll call on you. So nice to see you here, Kaverly, in this incarnation. I would be interested in what you have found over the years after the founding of Peace in Schools. What do the high school age young adults, whatever you call them, what do they respond to?

[68:01]

Because it's pretty unusual for persons that young, if they haven't had a prior practice of some kind, to be able to grasp emptiness, pure being. So anything you could use to convey to us what you've experienced really strikes them. I'd appreciate. Yeah, thank you. And just sort of for the record, in our high school curriculum, we're not actually talking about emptiness per se. Students seem to have an experience of it, however, based on how the curriculum is designed. And so what I mean by that is even though a student might not, I'll back up and acknowledge that I think it's really important to name that our high school curriculum is in no way

[69:02]

I said at breakfast this morning to someone, it's not stealth Buddhism. We're not trying to like guide students into an experience of Buddhism. We are, however, inviting inquiry and inviting students to ask important questions like, who am I? Who am I really? And it is my experience to answer your question that students by the end of the class in general, there are always exceptions, but in general, that students a level of comfort with asking big questions because they trust themselves to be able to explore and find out what their own direct experience is. And very specifically, students have in most cases a new relationship with unconditional love. So it's not that we're talking about emptiness and form in the curriculum, but what's most true in experience does seem to shine through experience.

[70:17]

It seems to shine through based on how the students are shepherded into an experience of cultivating authentic relationship with each other. And what I found is that relational activity is an extremely important part of the curriculum. The experience of being together so intimately is very, very important. As I mentioned in the dyads, you know, having this opportunity to connect essence to essence. I mean, for a teenager to even know what that is, it's pretty radical. okay, I'm not who I'm habituated or conditioned to be told that I am. There's something else here. Did that answer your question, Bill? Yes, thank you, Kaverly.

[71:18]

Thank you, Bill. Thanks for coming over here. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PROGRAM THAT YOU STARTED. I'M A TEACHER IN HIGH SCHOOLS, AND WE SEE SO MUCH VIOLENCE, AND ESPECIALLY SINCE COVID AND CHILDREN TRYING TO COME BACK AND GET INVOLVED IN FORGING SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU, WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF RESISTANCE IN OUR SCHOOLS IN MARYLAND TO SCHOOLS OFFERING social justice, peace, meditation, those sort of classes. I was wondering if you, I haven't had a chance to read your book yet. I just got it and I'm excited. Thank you. And I was wondering if you had any quantifiable data as you work with these students? Yes, we have.

[72:20]

We had a wonderful researcher, Dr. Gia Naranjo Rivera. who did a she's through Johns Hopkins. She did a research project that was quite radical in how she approached it and specifically the lens of equity that she brought to how she went about doing the research. And the research is still it's not actually published. published research quite yet. So we keep referring to it as a pilot study that shows pretty miraculous results specifically around the topic of unconditional love. What we're learning from our program is that the place that we have excelled is in supporting students in being able to offer compassion to themselves, for themselves, and then rippling out.

[73:22]

to each other as well. So yes, research is an important piece of being able to show the benefits and I think that there are a lot of changes that need to happen within the field of research so that these changes can be expressed not just through NUMBERS AND STATISTICS AND THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS I LOVED ABOUT HOW GIA APPROACHED WHAT SHE DID. YEAH, THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOOD MORNING. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TALK. THANK YOU. SO FOR CONTEXT, MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION IS TO WORK ON LETTING GO OF THE particular form of judging mind that says good enough and not good enough, right?

[74:24]

During your talk, when you were offering that guided meditation, you were cueing us in the direction of tapping into vibrational energy. I sort of hearkens back to some retreat experiences, right? Where, you know, I have this experience where everything starts to like sort of break down into like a sort of vibration and the whole world gets very soft. And then I found myself comparing that to the sort of like a hard feeling, like the very solid feeling way that I have been interacting with my own life when I've been stressed lately, right? And having this real sense of like good enough and not good enough and like real practice and like, you know, real connecting with interdependence, you know, versus like all the rest of it or like versus the struggle and the suffering. And I was just wondering if you could share a little bit about, I don't know, about whatever that reporting brings up for you.

[75:32]

Yeah. Tell me a little bit more, if you would. What's your name? Oh, my name is Takudo. One more time. My Dharma name is Takudo. Takudo. Yeah. Thank you. So tell me a little bit more, if you would, about the real independence. There's this emphasis you have on it. And I'm just curious, are you referring to the way in which the conditioned mind sort of takes the teachings and turns it into like this is what would be a real or true experience. Can you say a little more about that? You know, when we were guiding the meditation, I was sort of... having some visual recollections of, you know, Sashin experiences where my actual perception, my direct perception of reality gets much softer, right? And my own body and the bodies of others and trees, you know, can take on sort of a softness and even sort of can start to vibrate, right?

[76:34]

I can actually... feel and see like this vibrational energy around me. Right. And then when I leave session, right. And come back into my work life or come back and right. And then there's this sort of like, sort of re like a little bit, it sometimes feels like a hardening, right. Like, like, like a hardening. And then there's a little bit of a sense of loss or like a sense of grief. Right. That like, I'm that like my, that I'm giving up on what's really. Yeah. or like what's really good enough, right? What's really good enough is like the direct experience of that softness, of that connection with vibrational energy and life force, right? And that, you know, while I'm just living my life, like being a teacher, going to the grocery store, like that that's less than or not as good as, you know? Thank you so much for clarifying that. I'm so with you. I mean, how many people in the room have ever been on a retreat and then just felt a sense of grief as the magic of the retreat sort of fades because you're back in like, now I'm doing my shopping and now I'm in traffic.

[77:42]

So one thing that I've found helpful in my own practice is to just start expecting that. Like, yep, that is what's going to likely happen. And just taking away the piece of resistance can be really helpful. And then the other thing that I've found to be incredibly useful is the remembrance of how simple it is to touch my own experience of being. Because if I am running all those stories, it feels complicated to get to this place. of, okay, everything's soft, as opposed to, oh, there's all this other stuff that I'm doing that keeps me from a direct experience that's the most simple experience one can have, which is the experience of our own being. There's actually nothing closer. There's nothing more intimate. There's nothing more simple. So removing the judgment piece is, I think, a really critical piece in what you're describing.

[78:44]

And then also remembering... the simplicity, allowing remembering simplicity to be a good friend, and getting really curious about how does the hardening process happen anyway. So if your attention's on the curiosity about how that happens, that's a much more captivating place to live than the grief or loss of it's gone, especially given that what you're speaking about can never be gone. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think we have a question online. Please go ahead with your question. Thank you, Kay. And thanks so much, Kaverly. We met online quite a while ago. My dear friend Kira had connected us and

[79:48]

So first, I wanted to say something briefly because I've been since that time doing a little bit of volunteer research consulting with Peace in Schools. And so there was a question about research. And so first, just to say that it's something that I know is very much part of the conversation there. And, you know, it takes time and a lot of consideration. And at the same time, the research base overall for this type of thing for mindfulness and self-compassion and similar trainings for teens and other children is becoming more and more robust. So if you go, for example, to the Mindful Schools website, another organization, there's a quite... developed research page.

[80:50]

And yeah, and I would also say that when there's a lot of resistance in schools from certain groups of parents, it's been so politicized now. You know, I have seen in a lot of schools that it seems to be really great to open up a space where we're people can just share their concerns and it can be met with compassion and nonviolent communication and people can first just feel heard. So I just wanted to share that in light of the question that was raised because at the same time, research is finding that like 90% of parents support social and emotional learning in schools, for example. So it kind of matters, I think, what language we're using and just the kind of attitude to not bring up too much hostility or hostility at all toward what might be seen as like resistance to these things.

[81:58]

So I first wanted to share that. I have another question, but I didn't know if you wanted to say anything. I would love to. First, I just want to say thank you. I don't ever pretend to be a researcher, and I'm really glad you chimed in and actually directed folks to a place where they can see even more research. We have some research, as you know, on the Peace in Schools website, some of Dr. Naranjo Rivera's findings, but I'm really appreciative that you directed folks to a place where they can find even more. And I'm in full agreement. You know, one of the things that I didn't acknowledge is that I haven't experienced a tremendous amount of pushback where I am now. I do want to acknowledge I live in Portland, Oregon, but I haven't experienced a lot of pushback. And one of the reasons that I believe that I haven't is because parents that I speak to are seeing the effects of the class on their student. And so mostly what I met with is curiosity about what

[83:02]

is happening in that class that's allowing my student to feel more at ease, more grounded in themselves. Like they're not perseverating on some of the negative self-talk that they were fixating on before the class began. So and then, of course, in the case of our semester long program, we're partnering with the counselors in each school. So if a student's struggling and goes to speak to a counselor, the counselor can know where we are in the curriculum and be able to have a conversation about what tool might be helpful in that moment. So being in real partnership with the school is another thing that based on what's being shared. Thank you again for chiming in. can be really beneficial and supportive, making sure that you're not, as is being shared, you're not coming from a place of other than, you're coming from a place of connectivity around what's being offered.

[84:05]

And it's true, in my direct experience, over 90% of parents and over 90% of counselors, in fact, I have not met a counselor in a school who hasn't been totally supportive of what we're doing in particular once they see the impact. So thank you for sharing that. And yes, please tell us your question. Yeah, I really appreciated the meditation, the guided meditation, and that what came up for me is impatience as what I was working with. You know, I lived at, Tassajara and at City Center for about four years until May of 2021. And so now I'm back living the lay life and, you know, working at a nonprofit and so on.

[85:06]

And so it's, I think, you know, some of the impatience seems to come from a bodhisattva action, like seeing so much suffering and wanting things to happen faster. But, you know, of course, I know on a deeper level, like it's more about how I am than what I do, that if I can be peace, you know, then that is probably the most helpful. to come from for myself and others and that that in and of itself is that is healing too it's yeah and so that's what i was noticing you know that there still is some resistance to the impatience um like a feeling of like oh this is not helpful it's not settled so anyway i just was wondering what reflections you have

[86:14]

Yeah, I appreciate what you're touching on very much. One phrase that I saw from the cover of a Mulu Sadra book is acts of being. And before I even knew exactly what Mulu Sadra was speaking to, it was a phrase that germinated within me. And it's a focus point in the book, in the heart of who we are. We can think of... being is sort of stationary or settled in a certain way as opposed to associating action on behalf of the recognition of our true nature as opposed to this notion of acts of being. And I do think that you're pointing out an important stumbling block that we as conditioned human beings where we get stuck. And that stumbling block is that of falling for a story of what that should look like rather than trusting being itself.

[87:24]

So the minute I'm in the mind of, is this enough? Is this right? Should I be doing this differently? Any form of should. is the moment that that activity has been co-opted, in my experience, by the ego. And so now it's serving an image of what bodhisattva action might look like versus the direct experience of getting out of the way so that being can take form. So the latter is not personal. I mean, the being is run through each of our own karmic filters, if you will. But that's like light running through a prism. It just means it's going to be a particular color based on those karmic tendencies. So my encouragement is to, rather than focus on what, and you're naming this already, but rather than focusing on the content,

[88:33]

or indulging that voice of the inner critic and the voice that's like not just the inner critic, but that inner Howard Cosell, you know, the narrator of your experience. My encouragement would be to see that voice for what it is and let your practice be more about resting in being as being. And from that place, allow yourself to be delighted by what action arises. Allow yourself to be a participant, a dancer with, but not in charge of. Does that land? Yes. Thank you. It's hard not being able to see your face, but yes. Allow for delight and surprise. Thanks very much. Thank you.

[89:34]

I REALLY JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR IMPORTANT WORK AND PRACTICE. AND I REALLY WORK IN THE PEACE AND SCHOOLS AND YOUR PRACTICE AS A SERIOUS PRACTITIONER. AND I'M JUST AMAZED AT HOW YOU'RE COMBINING THOSE THINGS. I also work in schools and have a practice and I'm really interested in maybe if you could share some reflections about youth who don't feel much hope. Sorry, it's kind of an emotional issue and how your piece in schools can really help. support youth who aren't the ones that come forward.

[90:48]

They're the natural helpers and they volunteer and they want to change the world. And then there are youth who maybe are afraid to even feel that. So if you could share a little bit about that. First, I want to just bow to your heart of compassion. And I know you're not the only educator in the room, and it's an act of service to not only be an educator, but be an educator that has a primary focus of allowing the truth of who someone actually is to flourish and to support people an educational field in which rather than not being stamped out by the conditioned world, you are attending to the nourishment and the thriving of what's most authentic.

[91:57]

So I just want to bow so that we don't know each other yet. Annette, we don't know each other yet, but I appreciate you coming all this way to be together today. And I do want to just acknowledge your What's arising for me in response to what you're sharing is the importance of not being afraid to let that heart of service and to let that intention of nourishment shine, even if you're not talking about it. The cure for hopelessness is recognition. Seeing. Seeing truth and not leaving it. Because that intimacy of being is felt even when there's not concept.

[93:01]

Even when a student can't say... What is happening? That's why it's not necessary to talk about a lot of the concepts that I get to talk about freely in this room because they're just interesting to me. But if you take away all language, that your presence is what offers hope. Your presence, your dedicated commitment to seeing what's true and what's real and to not being confused. about everything else that's moving around on the surface of the water is where healing happens. So let your own presence be the form of nourishment that so many young people are seeking, your own non-judgmental, attentive

[94:02]

CLEAR PRESENCE BE THE MEDICINE. NEW SPEAKER 1 OF THE YOUNG STUDENTS WAS SAYING AND HE SAID IT OUT OF BOTH ANGER AND DEEP. NEW SPEAKER 1 OF THE STUDENTS SAID AND HE SAID IT OUT OF BOTH ANGER AND DEEP GENTLENESS AT THE SAME TIME WHICH IS PRETTY PRECIOUS AND HE SAID What we need is realized hope. We just need to know that people care. And so what you were saying really does make sense, and I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for coming here. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I see that we're at our time, so I'll just close out with the research that I have seen about... ACEs, adverse childhood experiences, and how in so many cases, our researcher on the call will know probably a percentage, it's just one present caring adult that makes the difference, that makes the turn from a life of self-destruction or destruction of self and others and opening a path to an alternative, an alternative that

[95:28]

is one infused with love and leads to truth. So thank you for your commitment. Friends, thank you so much for being here. I'm so honored to be with you. Thank you.

[95:45]

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