Summary
Overview
Tim Ferriss introduces a four-part Meditation Monday series featuring Zen master Henry Shukman, who guides listeners through a practice based on the Zen teaching 'take the backward step that shines the light inward.' This meditation explores how to disengage from daily activities and rest back into a deeper awareness, accessing an intrinsic sense of calm and well-being that exists beneath our everyday experience.
Introduction to Meditation Monday Series
Tim Ferriss launches a new experimental format called Meditation Monday, featuring weekly 10-minute meditations in addition to his regular long-form interviews. He introduces Henry Shukman, one of only a few dozen authorized Sambo Zen masters worldwide, who will guide listeners through a four-episode series to develop a Zen toolkit. Ferriss shares that using Henry's app, The Way, has lowered his anxiety more than he thought possible, practicing once or twice daily.
- New weekly Meditation Monday format launching with 10-minute meditations
- Four-episode series designed to help develop a Zen toolkit for calm, peace, and effectiveness
- Henry Shukman is one of only a few dozen masters authorized to teach Sambo Zen
- Tim uses The Way app once or twice daily and it has significantly reduced his anxiety
- Listeners can get 30 free sessions at thewayapp.com/Tim
The Backward Step: Core Zen Teaching
Henry Shukman introduces the central teaching of this meditation: an old Zen directive to 'take the backward step that shines the light inward.' He explains this means finding a way to rest back into the heart of our experience, into the very fabric of awareness that underlies everything we perceive. This practice offers a method for disengaging from daily life and accessing an intrinsic, unconditional well-being that Zen traditions teach is always available to us.
- Previous meditations covered body scans, doing less, and being with stress without fighting it
- The Zen teaching 'take the backward step that shines the light inward' means resting into the fabric of awareness itself
- This practice helps access an intrinsic, unconditional well-being available in ordinary life
" Take the backward step that shines the light inward. "
" We're going to be exploring an old Zen teaching...finding a way to rest back into the sort of heart of our experience, into the very condition of our own awareness, as it were, into the fabric of awareness that underlies all our experience. "
📚 5 more sections below
Sign up to unlock the complete summary with all insights, key points, and quotes
Get this summary + all future The Tim Ferriss Show episodes in your inbox
100% Free • Unsubscribe Anytime
Sign up now and we'll send you the complete summary of this episode, plus get notified when new The Tim Ferriss Show episodes are released—delivered straight to your inbox within minutes.