CIIS Public Programs Podcast

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This is the CIIS Public Programs Podcast, featuring talks and conversations recorded live by the Public Programs department of California Institute of Integral Studies, a non-profit university located in San Francisco on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Land. 

Experienced mindfulness teacher Kaira Jewel Lingo provides accessible advice on navigating difficult times of transition by drawing on Buddhist teachings on impermanence to help us establish equanimity and resilience. In this episode, CIIS Integrative Health Studies professor Megan Lipsett talks with Kaira Jewel about her teaching and her latest book, We Were Made for These Times, which offers teaching on meditation and a step-by-step process to nurture deeper freedom and stability in daily life. 

This episode was recorded during a live online event on October 28th, 2021. A transcript is available at ciispod.com. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect with us on social media @ciispubprograms. 

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Megan Lipsett: All right, welcome, welcome. Thank you so much everyone for offering your time, and your presence, and your attention this evening. Really looking forward to this conversation, Kaira. Thank you so much for being here, and for devoting yourself to this work. I hope that for all of us this time together moves us towards a renewed sense of our interwovenness with all that is, but also deepening our discernment around how to move forward, to care for our own difficulties, but also to take care of the needs of our time. So, I want to really start, Kaira Jewel, just right, kind of in the heart of all of it. I'm going to read a little quote, abbreviated quote from the book, and I thought we could reflect on that piece, and I think it really gets to some of the heart of what maybe drew some of our listeners to attending tonight.  

So, this is from Kaira Jewel’s upcoming book, We Were Made for These Times, and you said, “The tremendous challenges humanity is now faced with are unlike any confronted by previous generations. Interwoven with the koan of being good stewards of the only planet we have are the challenges of unraveling white supremacy, and racial capitalism, toxic patriarchy, poverty on a global scale, homophobia, xenophobia, and the greed, hatred, and delusion at their roots.” You say, “I believe we are each called to continue the work of many young people in the civil rights movement in new ways, to bring about even deeper freedom and greater awakening so that we can truly live harmoniously and altruistically with each other, our world, and all of its species.” 

So, I’d love to just hear from you a little about how see where we’re at in our times and how you see this work overall contributing to this moment. 

Kaira Jewel Lingo: Thank you Megan. I think we really are at a very important moment where so much is possible because it’s so difficult. And, you know I was reflecting today with someone that so many more people started meditating during the pandemic. With the very tragic death and killing of George Floyd, so many people took to the streets and said, “This matters. Black Lives Matter. How I want to show up in this country has changed because this happened”. So, this is a time of great possibility as, as wonderful teachers, like Angel Kyodo Williams said, it's a time of peril, and possibility, real potential, and, you know, everything is on the table. Everything is up for grabs. We can either figure out how to make it at least with some part of our experience of humanity thus far intact or, or we don't and everything gets reconfigured with us not there. So we are in this moment that hasn't ever been encountered by previous generations, where so much is at stake. And so, there is this, some kind of portal, and we have to figure out if do we make it through that portal, or not? 

Megan: Yeah, and so much in what you said, one aspect I want to name here in the beginning is just from, from an experiential and individual perspective, what makes these times so difficult. Of course, we're naming the social upheaval on the political issues, but from the experiential sense, you know, so much of the difficulty is in this feeling of the unknown, right? And I don't know how many times the word unprecedented has been spoken in the past year, but it's an unprecedented number of times, I’m sure. [Kaira laughs softly] So, you know, this is really the question, this space of how do we appraise uncertainty and the unknown? And that I think a big piece of what really informs how we experience these difficulties, but also, how we develop insight and receive the guidance in them is really about how we're orienting to what that means. So, let's talk about why uncertainty can create so much difficulty, and what can happen if we change the way that we relate to it. 

Kaira: So, our nervous systems are calibrated on having some sense of what's going to happen. That’s where we get our sense of safety from, I mean, it's really at a very fundamental level of our being that we rely on some sense of predictability. As a real marker of okay, I'm okay, because this is what was expected, and this is what happened. So, our nervous systems do not like the unknown at a biological level, let alone psychological, mental, emotional level. And just like we have a deeply innate avoidance of suffering, of what's painful. For many good reasons, and yet the spiritual path the spiritual discipline is to turn towards what's difficult, what’s painful, because of all that it has to teach, and to show, and similarly, getting intimate with uncertainty, with the discomfort that it brings, with the insecurity that it brings, is a really powerful practice.  

I mean, the truth is, life is always uncertain. There’ve been pandemics before, many in human history. And people went through that. So, there were all sorts of ways in which life was very unpredictable. And when we take that on as a fact, as the reality, things become, more fluid, more easier to manage. When we lean into, oh okay, it's like this, there is this fundamental insecurity, things are always changing. What we had yesterday or today, there's no guarantee that we'll have that tomorrow, and what it forces us to do is to see where is our refuge. That it isn't actually outside of ourselves, that it's inside of ourselves, that we can cultivate an inner refuge. And this doesn't mean us as separate individuals, it does mean that to an extent, but this inner refuge is also something we can cultivate in communities where everyone is learning to return to the true home that's there in each of us, and that we as a collective can empower in each individual. So, it's not necessarily a solo task to take refuge in into this other place, but I'm just so, you know, moved by the many, many stories and examples of, of wise people in the past, in the present who have such a deep understanding of the safety that's possible in the midst of danger. Of the steadiness, the stillness that's possible in the midst of turbulence. That is really a guide for us in these times, that we really can take a deep breath, and feel into what's beneath the surface. Whatever it is, that there is something else.  

So, the uncertainty is real, and there is some part of ourselves that's always available, that knows how to be with uncertainty. Without being overwhelmed or reactive to it. It's really like, you know, this saying we will ride the waves. Don't try to control them. The wave is coming, you ride it. You surf it so we can roll with uncertainty rather than bracing against it. And as we open to it, first of all, we don't get hurt by fighting it, because it's a force. That uncertainty is a force. And if we push against it, we get hurt. So, the rolling with it for one is we don't get hurt, and secondly, we get carried somewhere, that uncertainty is leading somewhere. And if we are accepting it with our eyes open, ready to face what comes, we have way more possibilities to work with it than if we're… Right, then we don't see, then we don't have the facility to, to be agile to move, to respond. So, it's really about working with it learning, to flow with it, and be carried by it, and connect with each other in the midst of it. 

Megan: Yeah, I think this term agility really lands well with me, you know, we're talking a lot and in the context of meditative practices, we talk a lot about surrender. We talk about allowing, we talk about letting go, and possibly due to a lot of socialization, around those concepts, there's this sort of feeling of like, well, I hope we don't mean, I hope we don't mean passivity. I hope we don't mean, you know, non-action when action is what is needed, and all of this. And so to understand, you know, how practices like mindfulness, or these self-awareness practices can support us in developing, what I know as regulatory flexibility, to be able to observe a situation externally, but also internally, right, to use our relationship to our intercept of awareness of what is occurring, the sensations occurring in our bodies, to understand how to best respond to a situation so that we can choose how, and when to release, and to be, and to observe, and when to be a part of the change, so I love these metaphors that you’re using, you know, rolling with it. I'm into that, I'm holding that one, and you also use this metaphor of a ladder, right? So that we have to let go of one rung to reach for the next.  

And so, there's this question of well, how do I know? When do I know when to soften back into witnessing? When to release my grasp and my clinging to what is occurring. And how do I know when to take action, when to even avoid situations? Right? We know from studies on trauma and resilience that it isn't just never distract and always go towards, there are, there's a right time to protect, there is a right time to stay close too, and maybe even to distract, in some situations and yet to chronically do so can become just a complete imprisonment in our own experience, and so to find out how to encounter this difficulty with a caring, with a welcoming, so that we can begin to learn from it, so that it can give us that crucial information about what is needed? What is needed for me? What is needed for us? Right? Because we talk about dissolving that discrepancy, you know, and what is needed for all of us. So, you know, I'm curious to hear from you because there is this sense of like, in your book, I think you use this term. Like I need to, we all need to do this in the very midst of that moment, which feels so difficult. Right at the center of it is where the practices are most needed. And so, yeah, let's talk about what it is like to bring presence to our most difficult experiences, right as they are unfolding. 

Kaira: So, there's such an aliveness, if we're present to it, when things get difficult, when things get tight. One of the experiences I share about in the book is a time when, when I really felt like I was at my limits in terms of just not being able to continue in this role that I was in, because there was so much internal questioning and conflict, and it had to do with, you know, showing up, just sort of hold space in a big retreat with other monks and nuns when I was a nun. And so, I wanted to just get out of that place and go to a quieter monastery, where I didn't have to be in that kind of tightness. And I went to my teacher, to Thich Nhat Hanh, and I said, “you know, I just don't think I can be here. Can I go somewhere else, because it's just too much for me?” Thousands of people were about to arrive at our monastery.  

And he listened, and he really received what I had to say, and he very calmly, kindly said, “you know, you can stay,” he wasn't saying you have to stay, or you should stay. He was saying, “you have the capacity to move through this,” and he said “This is exactly the moment when you have to take refuge in the basic practices of mindful breathing, mindful walking, every time you move around the monastery when you walk, you know, that you're walking, take refuge in your steps. When you're sitting, when you're, whatever you're doing and you know, you're breathing, you take a refuge in basic, simple, day one practices”. And as he said that some part in me opened that it was so tight and tense. And I heard, I heard the truth of what he was saying, and I felt more confident. I thought, “oh, I am capable of staying and moving through this time”. And I, I did, I decided to take his word, to take his challenge, and I did practice taking refuge in my steps. I did practice taking refuge in my breath. And it was an amazing experience of building confidence that in a time when I thought, there's just no way I can do this. There was a way, and it was, it was right under my nose. Literally, it was right under the soles of my feet.  

Basically, it was already there. I just wasn't, you know, taking refuge in it. I wasn't paying attention to this capacity to simply pay attention to this basic experience of breath of steps of my body and that really shifted, because it shifted my experience, because when you bring your attention into the simple activity of whatever you're doing in the moment, all the super high functioning parts of your mind don't have the time and the, you know, occasion to go spinning out into all of your worries and fears, and anxieties, and projections. You're just drinking a cup of tea. You're just putting on your shoes. You're just looking at the sky. So, you're using your mind, your attention, with a lot more skill than we usually do when we're on automatic pilot, and all the high gear parts of our mind can go spinning off into all the kind of machinations that they engage in. So, so it really is about right in the midst of where we don't think we can do anything, we can. This is just a simple shift of focus. The externals don't need to change. It's really about where we put our attention.  

Megan: That's right. And you know as you're talking, I'm thinking about a, I don't know. I guess I'll call it a game, I was playing with my own mind for a while, about cultivating anticipatory ease. There's this phrase, anticipatory threat or anticipatory stress, right? Which is a sometimes helpful, often dizzying aspect of this beautiful mind of ours to be able to try to predict. You know, I'm an etymology geek and I looked up the etymology of anticipation, and it was something like to grasp before, right? And there is that sense of like, it's almost a mistrust with our future selves, isn't it? Like I should probably prepare for the next moment because I don't know if all my future self will be able to handle it.  

And so, we have this going on all the time. And of course, from a neurological level, much of what we envision in our primarily, our prefrontal cortex, is being described to the body in much the same way that direct sensation is. And so here we have this opportunity to populate that experience with the presuppositions that things will be, or at least who knows how they will be, but that we will be able to show up to them, in a way. And so, you know, I think a lingering concept that stuck with me from We Were Made for These Times, is this metaphor of a germinating seed. Right? And so often because of that anticipatory nature of our relationship to existence, we want to plan, and to know, and to take action.  

And so, I was just really loving that, your offering of that metaphor that, you know, we, and it's really a metaphor of the unconscious, or as the Buddhist say, the store conscious. That sometimes we were just in a space of germination, and it can be uncomfortable to the part of us that wants to know the whole story, and yet this is where growth happens. And so, what a beautiful, if challenging practice, to say “Okay. I have something I really want to decide.” Maybe the people listening right now, even have a choice. A dilemma in their own lives, and that we want to work it out. We want to envision all the possibility, all the scenarios, weigh them out, or just simply just to know when we feel frustration, or a fear of the not knowing, and what a practice to say some deeper knowing inside of me, is working this out at a level that is more aware of the totality of all, and to start to trust into that. So, thank you, you know, for that metaphor, and let's talk about patience a little. Can you give some suggestions in all of your time at Plum Village and in all of your practices? How it was for you to cultivate the patience of not knowing. 

Kaira: Yeah, first of all, I just love that anticipatory ease. And you know, this beautiful teaching from Thai that, from Thich Nhat Hanh, that the best way to take care of the future, is to take care of the present. We so often mix that up thinking, I'll just take care of the future now, but it doesn't work that way. So, this anticipatory ease is such a beautiful... As you said it, I just found myself [makes content sighing sound] I just settled back, when you said it.  

And so, you know this practice of patience, it's very much connected to trust, and to this, you know, opening to, it's just like this right now. There isn't more that I can add right now. There's just the opening and being. And so that's also this, not trying to control, and what comes up is something, you know, we facilitate a lot of groups, and I did that a lot in the monastery group discussions, and they would often be periods where there would be this kind of pause or silence. And I often had the impulse to say something, to kind of make a connection or somehow jump in to fix that, and what I noticed many times is that. Certainly, sometimes it was an appropriate, you know, role that I needed to play to respond to someone, or to kind of help the group know where we were going. But a lot of times I noticed that if I could just hang on just a little while longer in that discomfort of like “oh, I don't know what's going to happen next,” the next share would be just the right thing. The next person who I couldn't ever predict would say something that really responded to what someone else shared in a way I never could do, or would, would open a new door to a new exploration that the group really could dive into, and I often was like, “wow, if I had stuck my foot in out of discomfort in that moment, I would have shut down that possibility”. So, I often could appreciate that moment of like just to hang on, you know. Don't react, don't jump in out of this sense of, you know, this is taking too long because there's a, there's a group rhythm. There's a group, you know, wisdom. I really experienced that there's, I don't have to have the whole picture. The group has the whole picture, and I can trust that and give it time, and if I'm too quick, I'll cut it off.  

So, you know, as far as this, metaphor of the seed, that we, this question that we plant in the store of our mind, in the soil of our mind. And then, how do we stay? How do we give that space to do its own thing? Without needing it to be on our timeline. It needs to be on its timeline. You know, back to this basic practice of sitting of being with the breath, of being with the steps, that's a really helpful antidote to impatience, whenever we think something should be happening, that's not happening, or that seed of our question should be coming up and telling us what the answer is. What actually helps the seed germinate is our daily mindfulness, is taking refuge in what's happening right now. So, it's the slowing down and enjoying, and treasuring the moment. That's actually the rain that the seed needs. That's the warmth of the Sun that the seed needs.  

So, it's quite counterintuitive, but the being still inside, coming into that place of it's okay. I'm safe. I can enjoy this moment. I can have ease right now. That's what actually allows the question to ripen more quickly. Paradoxically. So, I think my, what I try to remember, and I forget so often, but whenever I'm leaning into the future, the best medicine is to lean back, and to find some way to connect with what's nourishing, what's beautiful, what I can appreciate that is right here. Because really, if I can be fully myself, be whole in this moment, the future is cared for. I don't need to worry about the future, if I'm not worried right now. And then, this now will become the next moment, and the next moment, and the next. And so, this patience is really about taking care of what's, what's right here. 

Megan: I’m just appreciating everyone who is listening to this right now, and in the future now. And knowing that all of their, even though it's just you and I…I know there are so many beautiful thoughts, and imaginings, and knowings in that collective ethnosphere. So, I'm just delighting in that, in that whole garden, you know, I... The thought came to me about what is it that we are collectively germinating right now, and to me what, what comes to mind for me is that perhaps we are collectively germinating this question of what is equity? What is racial justice? What is this kind of identity-based reckoning that is occurring collectively? Not at the conceptual level, but at the lived, experiential level, what does that look like? And there is such, and of course, what is it to be an ecological steward, you know, and so there are many ways that we are answering this question, and many ways that we don't know, and here are all sitting together with the discomfort of it not being fully germinated yet. And so, I think what I want to invite with that question, you know, especially because when we bring these topics up there is there is an internal reckoning that has to occur, right? There are these emotional experiences that arise when we allow ourselves to be present, or when we witness and experience the space where those questions are still going unanswered. And anyway, I know that you were interested in doing a vagal tone meditation, and I thought this might be a nice moment to offer that. 

Kaira: Sure. And yeah, just appreciating the bringing in of the discomfort around this question that we all have to answer together, and live into together, of how do we, how do we restore what's been damaged, and harmed, and taken away. Ancestrally and currently, and into the future as we're stealing from future generations right now, by the way we live. So, yeah, it's a really important meditation for us all to look at what does equity mean? And how do we, how do we live in ways, from the smallest of our decisions to the biggest of our decisions, how do we make choices, and live in ways that support greater equity. It's not so simple, but it's really important to be in conversation with each other about it in courageous and compassionate conversation.  

Megan: And I'll just briefly reflect this word leaning, it really, I think works in a sense that often when we think about change, especially, when we're thinking about global change and societal change, we can become dualistic, right? We can start to say like, well, we're not there now and there's this giant, you know, step forward. Of where we think we maybe should be and often that distance debilitates us, right? And so, to reorient to this space of leaning towards liberation, how in this moment can I orient more and more in the direction of liberation? And how can I do that in the next moment? And the next?  

Kaira: And having confidence that, that we can manifest liberation right now, right? And, and be part of, yeah, nourishing it in wider and deeper ways collectively. Because there really is this, it's really real that it's not going to happen if we grasp for it out, you know, in the future. it's when we live it now that we, we create it. And that it's really dependable.  

So, this vagal nurturing technique, I learned from a Canadian therapist, and it's about creating the sense of safety, and ease right here, right now through touch, through connecting to these points in our body, that through which the vagal nerve travels. It makes this journey from our brain, down into our, our bellies, and we can care for this largest nerve through the sequence. So, I'll demonstrate it, but I know there will also be, some folks will just be listening on the podcast, so I'll try to describe it in case you're not watching, but we'll begin with massaging our ears. So, starting at the, the top, the spine of the ear, is what we're going to massage to the outer ear. So, I start at the top, and just gently massage, kind of squeezing down to the earlobe. And we'll do that three times. Noticing how that feels kind of between your fingertips. Just gently rolling the spine of your ears, and then a third time. Because we first listen for safety. That's first. Where we want to know, are we safe?  

And then, if you're wearing glasses, you can take them off. Which is what I'm doing. Then we're going to bring the fleshy parts of our palms, placing them over the bones of our eyes. So not pressing on our eyes, but just bringing a kind of rest to the eyes. You can close your eyes and just feel your eyes being bathed in the darkness of your palms. So, you're covering your eye sockets and just letting your eyes rest, so after we listen for safety, then we look to see that we're safe. So, this is providing that sense of a visual cue for safety. You could take a breath and just let your eyes rest.  

And then we'll bring our palms to the face, to each cheek. So, it's like someone maybe, when you were young, someone held your face in their palms, so you could feel them doing that with a lot of care, or you hold yourself with care. Taking a few breaths, and just feeling the comfort of your hands on your cheeks. Bringing kindness and friendliness to yourself.  

And then we'll bring one palm over the chest, and the other palm over that palm, so our palms are stacked over the chest, just feeling the chest, and the comfort of your hands on your heart. And you could say to yourself: I am safe. Right in this moment, I am safe. There's research that shows that this gesture really calms the reptilian brain. This fight/flight response in us, all of these gestures balance that reactivity in us. Taking a deep breath. Feeling your hands on your heart.  

And then bringing your palms in the same relationship, one over the other, down to your belly. So, just under your belly button, letting your hands hold this spot under your belly button. One palm over the other. Taking a few breaths here and noticing how it feels. Breathing into your belly if that's comfortable. So, once we know we’re safe, we can do the resting and digesting that mammals, animals do. Noticing, feeling the effects of this sequence.  

And then the final gesture, is to turn your palms upward and rest them on your thighs. So, this is like the closing, kind of like savasana at the end of Yoga. We just let things integrate the receptive gesture. You could close your eyes if that feels good, and just notice what's different in your body, in your mind, if anything, after doing these movements, these gestures. [silence]  

So, as I learned it, the idea is to do this three times. So, ears, massaging the ears, covering the eyes, holding the cheeks, hands over the heart, and over the belly, palms up, resting on your thighs. So that's one round we just did, and then you do a second round, and a third round. So, if you found that supportive, you might try it either at the beginning of a meditation, the end of the meditation, just trying that sequence, and noticing if it settles you, if it supports you, if it helps you to touch into the reality of your liberation, and your being part of the collective liberation. Right in this moment. 

Megan: Well, I certainly feel grateful for that practice. My ears are very warm, those of you who are looking now, they're quite red, which feels nice and cozy. I love, I love my vagus nerve. [both laugh] I, it's often called the wandering nerve because, you know, it integrates so many different organs, and goes through, and I think it's so social, it just cares about everyone, and wants to know how all the other body parts are doing. So, thank you for letting them have that conversation. 

Kaira: Yes 

Megan: I think we have to speak about some of this concept of cultivating the good, right? We’re presenting so much of the challenge, and difficulty, and yet we have these practices available to us, thanks to so many who have preserved them for us, and taught them. You know, I think you mentioned several that are, I think pretty well evidence-based now with expressive writing, and movement, and gratitude. I especially want to talk about play. I know that you work with youth activists, and play has been something for me in my own facilitation that I have actually found to be some of the most transformative spaces. Both in terms of just releasing away from our notions of how we should be, what we should say. That, right? That expectation that of a certain outcome, right? That play really allows us to just be here which is so much of, right, often what we're seeking is this desire for the remembrance of our own awe, and wonder of being alive, but also that openness, and that dance with others, right? To let go a bit of all of our identities. Even in the sense of I don't have to show up as XYZ notion of who I am, but I can just show up as whatever expression is spontaneously emerging at this time. So, I want to just ask you to speak a little bit about play, and a little bit about hope.  

Kaira: Well, one of my favorite topics... You know, as a nun in the monastery, the majority of monks and nuns were from Vietnam. And so, there was a lot of Vietnamese spoken, and the term in Vietnamese for “hanging out,” was, “đi chơi” Play. Let's play, Let's go play. That was used a lot, like in the monastery, like, just being was talked about as playing, you know, so if we weren't doing something formal, then we were playing. A lot of, a lot of our life was playing, and, and it really is this…You know, opening to meet what's here, you have to be playful to really, you know, it's so connected to everything we've been talking about in terms of uncertainty, and meeting things as they are. Those things can sound so heavy, or scary, or like only an adult, need to have an adult outlook to do that, but actually the best way to meet all these things is playfully. Because then it's like we're dancing with what's coming, with the circumstances of our lives, and play has this energy of joy, which is very energizing, and creative, and intelligent. It's very wise.  

And one of the things that I have really appreciated, and I believe is not so far from the California Institute of Integral Studies, is interplay. A practice that I have been trained in, and I teach, and train people in. Of letting our body wisdom lead the way, and improvising with others, or alone to feel what is it that our body wants? And how can we playfully with humor, with creativity, how can we see things we haven't seen before? I mean, I have a puppy. So, it's my first pet as an adult, and I'm amazed at all the things she finds to play with. And all the ways like she, walking she'll, she'll find something, and she'll throw it up in the air. It's inanimate, but it becomes animate for her, the way she plays with it. It becomes this playmate. And with other dogs, the other puppies she plays with, how they create games, how they find ways to play, to, to improvise with things, with a stick, with a bone that they're creating games all the time.  

So, we can really, you know, I offered a retreat with one of the founders of interplay, Philip Porter, using interplay for climate activists, for young social justice activists. How do we use play to meet the coronavirus pandemic, to meet climate chaos? It doesn't have to be this, you know, we don't have to create more suffering by seeing it as this, you know, by weighing ourselves down even more. Because this is the serious topic. Yes, it is serious. It is urgent, and we can bring the best of ourselves to bear. By being embodied, by telling our stories, by using our voice, by singing, bringing in ritual, bringing in stillness, silence, but at the heart of it, this energy of play, which is really like an affirmation that we're here, life is happening. We can join in the dance and make it as beautiful as we can. And there's so many surprises that that can come about when we allow ourselves to play, so many synchronicities. So many possibilities for connection, for insight. So much happens when we play, that reveals a wisdom that we wouldn't be able to access if we went through the front door. I like to think of play as coming in through the back door. And so certain things are more accessible when we don't hit them head on, when we come to them indirectly. And so, when we're playing, material from our lives can come up in this other arena that we don't have to fix, we don't have to solve, but it starts to get digested and integrated without even trying because we're playing, we're just playing. But it has a very healing effect, and it can open up really unique spaces for well-being. That the direct more serious path won't open.  

Megan: I so agree. So, we're just about out of time here, but Kaira Jewel, I'd love to invite you to just share any final thoughts. 

Kaira: Hm. [pause] Take a breath together, and just feel, heal our bodies. Feel the presence of these people that are gathered, even though we don't see everyone. Just taking a moment to feel that we are connected to each other. [pause] And to let this sense of others out there, listening with us, practicing with us, and to let this in, let this into our bodies, into our minds. For our own nourishment, for own healing. There is something inside of us that we can rest upon, and there’s something around us that we can really rest in. I'm grateful for this time that we've been able to be together, and I'm grateful for your presence, your practice. Each person that's here with us. Thank you, Megan.  

Megan: Thank you for bringing this presence, and this wisdom, and these practices, and your dedication, even at this late hour in your day. And thank you so much to everyone who's been here listening, and huge thanks to Alex, and Lyle, and all of the other crew that are supporting in the background to make this look easeful, and smooth. And I will send us off with one of the quotes that comes from your book, We Were Made for These Times, and I, my understanding is it informs the title, and it's a quote from Clarissa Pinkola Estés, so this is abbreviated: “My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply, improperly bewildered. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment, and even righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most. You are right in your assessments. Yet I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry, by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes, for years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training. Been in training for, and just waiting to meet on this exact plane of engagement.” So, thank you all again for your presence, and I will send it back to Alex. 

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Thank you for listening to the CIIS Public Programs Podcast. Our talks and conversations are presented live in San Francisco, California. We recognize that our university’s building in San Francisco occupies traditional, unceded Ramaytush Ohlone lands. If you are interested in learning more about native lands, languages, and territories, the website native-land.ca is a helpful resource for you to learn about and acknowledge the Indigenous land where you live. 
 
Podcast production is supervised by Kirstin Van Cleef at CIIS Public Programs. Audio production is supervised by Lyle Barrere at Desired Effect. The CIIS Public Programs team includes Kyle DeMedio, Alex Elliott, Emlyn Guiney, Jason McArthur, and Patty Pforte. If you liked what you heard, please subscribe wherever you find podcasts, visit our website ciis.edu, and connect with us on social media @ciispubprograms. 
 
CIIS Public Programs commits to use our in-person and online platforms to uplift the stories and teachings of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; those in the LGBTQIA+ community; and all those whose lives emerge from the intersections of multiple identities.  

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