The power of meditation and mindfulness
If you’re familiar with any of Tony Robbins’ peak performance strategies, you know that your ability to maintain a peak state is a key component of achieving success. In this one-hour episode of the Tony Robbins Podcast, you’ll hear from Tony, his wife Sage Robbins and podcast host Mary B. as they discuss one of the most valuable skills to maximize your mindset and prime yourself for gratitude, power, clarity, concentration, focused attention and a life of meaning: meditation.
The gift of meditation
We aren’t able to be the best version of ourselves when we are in a stressed state. Your state is affected by the way you use your physical body, your ability to direct your mind’s focus and the language or meaning you give to your experiences. Meditation can help you do all of that and more. This is just one reason why Tony Robbins incorporates a gratitude meditation (known as his priming exercise) into his daily morning routine to center his mind every single day.
As Sage explains in the podcast, “The gift of meditation is that it brings us here now. It calls our attention back to this moment.” In life, it’s easy to miss the beauty and simplicity of the moments that life shows us. Meditation tunes our awareness and attention to this moment, here and now.
In a world of constant demands and digital distractions, mindfulness is about making your moments truly matter and living up to your full potential. It’s about your power to put your attention where you want it to be in the present moment, and not on what someone else dangles on a screen in front of you. Your attention is a valuable resource – don’t squander it.
Silencing the dictator in your head
Meditation can also help you change your self-talk, transforming your limiting beliefs into empowering ones so that you can overcome what’s holding you back. Sage explains, “To come back to the moment, question your thoughts, notice what you’re experiencing or what you’ve missed, that broadens your perception.” You realize that the chatter in your head disconnects you from the moment.
When you listen to the narrator in your head, you’re letting it run the show. Sage says, “We all have that voice, and it’s only a dictator if you listen to it.” Even she experiences that chatter, that narrator, but the gift of the practice is to learn to disentangle yourself from it.
Anyone can meditate
In the podcast, Mary B. discusses a common roadblock: She doesn’t think of herself as someone who meditates. But as Sage explains, we’re all meditative in certain moments. Walking on the beach, watching a dog play, being with a child, there are moments when life slows down. That is meditation.
Being frustrated is part of being human. Being selfish is part of being human. We all feel negative emotions sometimes. Meditation isn’t about feeling less – it’s about letting negative emotions go and coming back to our true nature: happiness, love, grace and joy. Anyone can do it, and anyone can see the benefits of meditation.
Remember, the incoherence of our head and heart, the jitters in our nervous system and body, are normal, but also make us less effective and less resourceful. By practicing meditation and present moment mindfulness, you change your state to one of coherence between head and heart, body and spirit, self and the universe. From this position, you can solve any challenge, create innovative solutions and pursue your mission with purpose and clarity. Listen to the podcast to learn how.
EPISODE NOTES
[1:15] I used to think meditation was a waste of time
[2:00] We don’t experience life, we experience the life we pay attention to
[2:39] Tony and wife Sage and traveled the globe together for 22 years
[3:32] A podcast on meditation? I’d be outta here. But…
[4:12] Twin hearts Sage and Tony Robbins
[5:30] Why does time go so fast?
[5:53] The gift of meditation
[6:40] One of us is a meditator and one of us is not
[7:24] Meditation definition | What is meditation, really?
[8:20] Styles of meditation
[9:57] What’s your outcome?
[10:30] The science of meditation
[11:24] Be here now and notice
[12:24] Our attention is the most important commodity
[13:30] Self-judgment and imposter syndrome
[15:50] Ellen Langer, Harvard professor, Mother of Mindfulness
[16:37] Just close your eyes for a minute
[17:28] I’m thinking about a grilled cheese sandwich
[18:23] Meditation is not something to achieve, it’s something to experience
[19:04] The throughline is gratitude
[19:32] Thoughts are like clouds floating by
[20:24] How do I stop the thoughts in my mind?
[21:25] There’s an entire universe inside of us
[22:22] Collective mind
[23:16] Sage and her baby in the rain
[24:25] In the busy-ness we miss the nuances
[25:25] Mary B: Meditation has gotten really trendy
[26:27] Story: Full Moon Meditation with Tony, Sage, Billy Beck and Mary B.
[29:13] We will never experience this moment of life again
[29:51] Profound knowledge
[30:42] The beautiful gift of the practice
[32:04] Catching this moment
[33:51] Unlearning and remembrance
[34:25] Coming back to our nature: beingness
[35:01] Observing the orchestra of life
[37:00] Expectation of enlightenment
[37:57] There is no place like home
[38:33] Meditation complements religion and prayer
[39:38] Prayer is filling up, meditation is emptying out
[40:04] Thomas Merton: New Seeds of Contemplation
[41:27] Prayer of gratitude
[42:40] Dr. Andy Newberg: How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain
[44:35] Michael Singer: external world, thoughts, emotions
[46:00] The voice in your head
[46:30] Byron Katie’s The Work, a form of meditation
[47:07] Noticing what you missed
[50:15] Self examination
[51:27] Walking meditation
[52:27] This is just a thought
[55:01] What used to hold me down becomes what wakes me up
[55:53] Mind wanders, just call it back
[57:00] Life became more interesting than what is in magazines
[58:04] Removing distractions
[59:07] Soccer practice
[1:00:15] The only time we can wake up is here, now. Notice it.
[1:01:30] The need for certainty and the illusion of control
[1:03:09] You are uniquely you
[1:04:15] Many paths lead to the same place
[1:05:04] The Untethered Soul: Chapter 17, Death is a teacher
[1:06:42] You’re a meditator, aren’t you
[1:08:44] Just notice
[1:09:20] Priming: Tony’s guided gratitude meditation
[1:11:05] Sage’s meditation tips: #1 physiology first (shake it out)
[1:13:04] Sage’s meditation tips: #2 make the sound (let it out)
[1:14:17] Sage’s meditation tips: #3 comfortable position
[1:15:52] Sign off