Podcast notes

The Quiet Turning: Meditation, Yoga, and the Truth of Impermanence

One of the most frustrating instructions I ever received in a meditation class was deceptively simple: Close your eyes and quiet the mind. I remember thinking, if I could do that, I wouldn't be here learning how to meditate. Like so many others, I was searching for peace amidst the chaos of my own thoughts.

Fortunately, I stumbled upon an ancient method that didn't demand silence from the start. It welcomed me exactly as I was. And over the years, daily meditation has become a cornerstone of my spiritual path, a way not to escape my thoughts but to learn how to be with them, honestly and gently.

Many people believe they can't meditate because their minds are too restless. But that's precisely why meditation works. You don't need to be naturally calm to benefit from the practice, in fact, it's often those with the most inner turbulence who stand to gain the most. The very effort to sit, to observe, to try, even if imperfectly, is itself transformative. Every sincere attempt to concentrate, even for a moment, changes the texture of our awareness. Presence deepens. Stillness peeks through.

In this way, meditation becomes a necessary companion to the physical discipline of yoga āsana. While āsana strengthens and opens the body, meditation refines the mind. Both are limbs of the same eightfold path and thrive in relationship to each other. If you're immersed in a strong physical practice, I invite you to explore the quiet power of sitting. If you already sit, but haven't stepped onto a mat, consider how movement might deepen your awareness. It's in the meeting of stillness and motion, of breath and body, that yoga reveals its deepest gifts.

There is a turning that happens in every sincere moment of meditation: a turning inward, a turning away from distraction, and when we're ready, a turning toward truth.

Seeing the Dhamma in Impermanence

The Buddha's path is experiential, not theoretical. In the Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 22.45), he says:

"Yo aniccaṃ passati, so dhammaṃ passati. Yo dhammaṃ passati, so aniccaṃ passati."

"One who sees impermanence sees the Dhamma. One who sees the Dhamma sees impermanence."

To walk the path is to see clearly—moment by moment—that all things arise and pass. This insight is not depressing, but liberating. It opens the heart to compassion, to presence, and to the letting go that leads to peace.

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