All right, so I figure probably the best place to start is the beginning.
So I've been raised with kind of a spiritual background my whole life.
My mom has always been into yoga and meditation.
She actually was trying to get me into it for most of my young life.
I tried it a few times, went to a couple of classes
and it never really clicked.
It wasn't something that I liked or so I thought.
And then over the summer,
my mom decided it would be a good idea to sign me up for a mindfulness retreat
at the Ojai Foundation.
What I didn't know is that mindfulness retreats
tend to involve a lot of meditation -
in this case like six hours a day.
So I kind of had to learn to live with it, and then I learned to love it.
So before I go on, I want to define "mindfulness."
Mindfulness is the practice of being present and aware
and showing up for your everyday experience in the present moment,
if that makes sense.
So basically what you do
is you just pay attention to what's going on right here, right now,
and enjoy it like you should.
And a mindfulness meditation is done
by finding an anchor in the present moment,
which can be anything that you're experiencing right now.
So it can be your breath, your heartbeat,
a sound that you're hearing,
the heat in a room, really anything.
You focus on that and let yourself not think about anything else,
and it's really just that simple.
The reason I meditate is because in modern society,
with the internet and all that,
we're all occupied with rushing from one thing to the next
and not stopping to smell the roses,
figuratively.
What I like about meditation is that it lets us stop and slow down
and just pay attention to whatever's going on right now.
So what I'm going to do here is I'm going to lead you guys
in a meditation session.
It's only going to be a couple minutes.
It's going to be easy.
So what you do is find an anchor.
I want you to find an anchor right now, something that you're experiencing.
So it can be the sensation of the seat against your back.
It can be that noise of the fan, heartbeat, breath, anything.
So focus on that and close your eyes
and let yourself experience the present moment.
So I'll join you.
Remember, if you find your mind wandering from whatever you're focusing on,
that's normal.
Just acknowledge that
and gently guide your attention back to your anchor.
If you find there's a thought that you keep returning to,
I use a visualization exercise:
inhale through your nose
and imagine that you're inhaling pure white light.
Exhale through your mouth
and with the exhale carry the bad thought that you want to stop thinking about
and exhale it as a cloud of thick black smoke.
All right.
That's just a sample, and for some of you I'm sure it was hard,
or at least difficult, and that's normal.
It was hard for me too.
It can be hot, exhausting, but as long as you stick with it,
it's really rewarding.
And before I leave,
I just want to leave you with one thing:
remember the past, plan for the future,
but always remember to live in the present.
Thank you.
(Applause)