Gentleness

Adam Wes Namaste, everybody! What a beautiful group we have today, consecrating ourselves to an hour toward one of the most lofty, important virtues: gentleness.

Now, gentleness goes by a number of names. This is a graduate-level course in gentleness. That means we're going to go beyond the status quo comprehension, the superficial understanding of the word gentleness, to see what it means when Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the earth."

The meek shall inherit the earth, and yet that's something that's so unconsidered. By the way, this is not a Christian thing at all. In Taoism, it has to do with Wu Wei. Wu Wei is the path of effortless action. It means non-action. This is an ancient Taoist philosophy.

When we look at gentleness, think of it as less of a concept and more as metaphysical law. When we practice gentleness, we undergo an inner transformation of our kundalini, of our qi, of our life force energy. It takes on a different structure, and there's a scientific reason for that. I wouldn't say necessarily scientific in the sense that it has measured qualities, but there's empirical evidence. This is how the human condition works, which is why, for thousands of years, we've been talking about gentleness in various ways.

My word for it is gentleness. I think that really brings it forward with a bold acceptance of something that perhaps is, in the present day, a very significant topic. We don't live in a very gentle world today. It doesn't feel that gentle to me, and I try to stay with the flowers, with my gentle friends, with my gentle shows, watch Mr. Rogers, and do all the gentle things, so for me, it's quite gentle. But it's probably not if you're out there in the mainstream.

I've got a lot to share.

Gentleness can be practiced from moment to moment. Your words can be gentle. The way you close the door can be gentle and intentional. The way you eat your food can be gentle. The way you relate to your heart and yourself can be gentle, right?

Being gentle with oneself is a completely different experience of life. There's a paradox, because gentleness is sometimes thought of as being a pushover or not doing anything. But really, the gentle man or woman is a man or woman of power, righteousness, and strength. It's not their power; it's the strength of the universe coming through them.

You can be gentle in a way where you just wither. That's not what we're talking about here. I'm talking about the gentleness of the saint, the gentleness of Michael Jackson's voice when he does "Billie Jean," right? I'm talking about the gentleness of Thich Nhat Hanh, the great spiritual teacher, or Nelson Mandela. Or have you ever wanted to find national independence as a country? Gandhi. That was gentleness in action.

Now, gentleness is very metaphysical. Gentleness changes the way your energy moves. If you've practiced energy work or kundalini, you know what energy feels like. If you haven't felt energy, that's something to work into, and gentleness can also awaken that.

Gentleness is the antithesis of the dissipation of energy. In conflict, we dissipate energy. In gentleness, we are out of conflict entirely, and we cultivate energy. You sit down and meditate every day, and you generate love and energy. But if you go out and get into a state of conflict, either in your own mind, with other people, with the door, or whatever it is, that lack of grace dissipates your power.

This is an intelligent way to live your life, and it's very practical. I'm going to give you practical ways to practice this, starting now, and it's up to you if you want to try this out.

Can you just say, "I am gentle," and feel, "I am gentle," and let your actions be an expression of that quality, that holistic quality? Maybe let's take a moment right now. Oh my God! Sixteen people being gentle for a moment is going to change the world.

That was not sarcasm, because how many people are doing this, and how potent is gentleness? What is more beautiful, a voice that sounds like a beautiful flute, where you feel safe, like the breeze, or a voice that is cutting, edging, and pushing? Everybody knows we love gentleness. People will gravitate toward you, and your mission, your Dharma, will flourish in your gentleness.

Let's just take a moment and feel, "I'm gentle."

You may notice that you're not that gentle in certain ways. Nice, Kira. You're not that gentle in certain ways, and that's okay. Be gentle with your lack of gentleness. Do you understand?

Gentleness, or lack of it, is stored in the body, stored in the fascia, stored in the energetic structures and habitual patterns that have cultivated over perhaps a lifetime. Perhaps many of them aren't even ours; they're cultural, right? We're building culture here. We're architects of culture by showing up here and building a new feeling for humanity.

It's hard to be gentle when you don't feel gentle. Let's practice feeling gentle, and this will be the meditation for the second half.

Scanning your body, a lot of times it's in the heart. Sometimes it's in the lungs, sometimes it's in your voice, sometimes it's in your arms and shoulders.

Just become aware of the resistance within you, of the conflict that you are creating, that nobody is creating but you or me. All of us are prone to this. We recognize that our natural state is not conflict, and that achieving things in life does not require conflict. It requires an acceptance of the unfolding of the intrinsic nature of circumstances.

Some things aren't meant to happen. Some things are meant to happen. There's a lot of trust and courage in gentleness.

I'd like to really acknowledge that the gentle man or woman is the powerful man or woman, right? Perhaps that's a bold statement, but I think we can recognize it's true, because a gentle person is in command of themselves.

The gentle person is in communion with the truth. They need not fight for what is already there. They need not defend the self that they know. The gentle person is flowing with the river of life, one with its power. They're not wielding their own. They're one with nature, the kaleidoscopic evolution of life and destiny.

Mr. Rogers did wonders with gentleness. That man never raised his voice, and I seek to never raise mine. If you're my friend or family and you see me raising my voice, you can say, "Adam, I know you want something different for your life," because I don't want to raise my voice. It means I'm being unconscious in that moment, right? For all of us, I think that's ultimately what it comes down to. Either we're being unintentional or we're unaware.

Thich Nhat Hanh, I mean, that guy, you could hardly hear him when he talked. But it's good to enunciate, and he had quite an accent. Gentleness is practiced in action, in every little action.

Be gentle when you pick a flower. Maybe picking a flower is something you don't want to do. Be gentle when you throw away your garbage. Don't throw it away; place it away. Right? Even these words are very exposing of the mentality.

Be gentle with the people in your life. Gentleness requires consideration, responsibility, and so many qualities of love.

Why is gentleness so important to me? Well, it's very much a part of the bhakti path. I would say it's really a part of so many paths, but in Bhakti, it's held enthroned as one of the great principles. We're kind. We're gentle. We're positive.

Kira, look at Kira right there. Kira is all of these things. Super Bhakti. She's always smiling, looks like a sunflower, a happy sunflower.

Gentleness is one of the key bhakti principles because it affects the heart. If anybody's been struggling with anxiety or depression, these are energetic manifestations of the heart energy not flowing freely and happily. You can cure anxiety and depression by sitting down and feeling gentle.

It's the resistance in the heart that creates anxiety. In gentleness, we are actively transmuting that resistance into freedom, into liberation.

I think being gentle with yourself is a difficult one for people. It doesn't matter what you amount to. Be what you are, unfold, and be your best. But that chasm between what you are and what you should be is a creation of conflict. Gentleness involves radical acceptance of what is.

We make decisions based on our value hierarchy. If you value something more, you tend to do that thing and act on that thing. I think what's important today is if I could maybe help people see, and you'll have to look for yourself and see this, gentleness might be a question you ask yourself: Is gentleness more important to me than all the various other things that I may put before it?

If you can really see that, maybe journal about it, write about it, and get clear about it. I spend an hour or two writing about gentleness before I talk about it, to really connect with it. That's why I love this. I get to be a really fervent practitioner with all of you.

Let's enthrone gentleness, study gentleness, contemplate it, and see if we can embody it.

I think I've covered many of the things I wanted to cover. This can be a confusing topic, right? We're like, "Wait, am I supposed to be gentle?" All the resistance within oneself, mostly because of society, comes up. Let's talk about those things. I'd love to talk about it.

A lot of people here, I just want to say, are very gentle souls. That's not to mean that we should just be content with that. We love gentleness, right? It's not about reaching some level. It's about enshrining it as something we value, studying it more and more, and growing in it more and more.

Does anybody want to ask a question? Also, I wanted to say welcome to everybody who's here for the first time. I'd love to see your faces if you're up for it. Faces are always nice. You don't have to, though. It's totally fine if you don't want to.

Hi, how do you say your name? Sepideh?

Sepideh K Hi, I'm Sippy. Yes, how are you?

Adam Wes Hi, nice to see you!

Sepideh K Nice to see you finally here.

Adam Wes Yeah, I want to tell everybody about our little synchronicity today. Sometimes I'll randomly look on my Instagram and feel from my heart, "Who should I maybe invite randomly to this meditation?" I saw her, and she had this beautiful, glowing, white-gold photo. I was like, "Wow, that's an interesting person. She's totally in the Bhakti vibe." It turns out she's just a couple of miles from where I am right now.

Sepideh K Yes. We are very close.

Adam Wes I'm talking to the whole world, and she's right there. Namaste, welcome.

Sepideh K Namaste. Thank you for inviting me.

Adam Wes You're welcome.

Sepideh K Does anybody want to say anything about gentleness?

Eslam O Hi, Adam. Hi, everybody.

Adam Wes Hi, Sam!

Eslam O I'm noticing that we're using other words to describe gentleness. I'm looking at the words with the most alignment and coherence with gentleness. I look at grace, I look at ease, and I look at even words like poise. I see the proximity within this vector embedding space that I have in my mind.

Adam Wes Spoken like a true AI engineer. That was super AI engineering talk right there. Amazing. You know what's amazing? A word that I haven't said yet, but I said earlier in my contemplation to myself, was equipoise.

You said poise. I like equipoise. There's a little bit of equanimity and poise mixed together.

Eslam O That's rhythmic and harmonious. In geometry, we have this harmony when things are aligning with each other. I see these words aligned together in my mental space, or the imagination, or the things that I remember when you mention grace or gentleness.

I see these images mesh together and form something coherent, something that makes sense when you put them together in adjacency or proximity. Then you have a definition of what gentleness is. You have a topological definition.

Adam Wes I love it. I love the math metaphor. Beautiful. This is synchronicity here, talking to somebody like Sam.

Gentleness is an ineffable quality of the human condition, and all of these words point to different facets of it, right? It's grace because, it's harmony because, it's equipoise because. They're all pointing to the way of water.

This is why poetry is so good, because poetry helps us describe that which is beyond description. Yet we know it, or maybe we don't. In the inner dimension, we come to cultivate that knowing through embodiment.

This is an esoteric study. It can't simply be read in a book. You have to learn what it feels like for your heart to transform.

Hi, Brian. Brian is so studious. I love it.

Bryan V You said a bunch of interesting things. One thing that really stood out to me is that you mentioned that much of this is indescribable by words and that there is a chasm between what is and what should be.

You mentioned that we have to feel this, but for people who might be inexperienced at invoking gentleness or getting to that place, what are good signs in a meditation? I know we're going to do it in a bit, but what are good things to note between what is real and what is not?

I could think of a bunch of words that might mean something to me in regard to gentleness, but actually feeling it is way different.

Adam Wes Beautiful. Think of those words as invitations. You get invited to a great party. You're not done there, are you? Right? You have to go to the party.

What does going to the party look like? We've talked about karma before. Karma means action. Karma is a very subtle and complex yogic Sanskrit word for the way action evolves our state of mind and our energetic flow.

Make every action a consecration to gentleness. I'm talking about every action. You can be extreme about this, and you'll be fast in your transformation. Every step.

I've told Kira before that I like my mindfulness walks. I call my walks mindfulness walks because I'm walking with intentionality to cultivate a particular karma.

Walk with gentleness. Practice it. Think of yourself as an artist of life. How do you want to show up? You have a canvas of self that you can paint in any way you like, right? Make every action an action practicing gentleness. That's one thing.

Another thing is that there's lots of paraphernalia you can use. For example, I've got this beautiful pink crystal here. When I focus on this, it helps me enter into a gentle state. It embodies a quality of gentleness, and that's perhaps personal, perhaps objective. It helps me get there.

I'm burning incense right now. Guess what incense I'm burning? Rose. I'm wearing mostly white and light colors. I've got a pink crystal, and I'm burning rose incense, right? I am really interested in gentleness. I really want to discover it as much as I can.

How do you do it? There are so many ways, and you have to keep vigil and look for those ways. In meditation, the dissolution of the self, absorption in the light, and expansion of the heart all help us move into an impersonal state where gentleness is very natural.

A lack of gentleness comes from conditioning and separativity. It's the self against the other, right? There's no need for the creation of the self. You will continue breathing, walking, moving, doing your business, doing whatever it is that you do without conception of the self.

In yoga, they call it self-reflection. You don't need that. Be like a child giggling, rolling down the hill, getting all dirty in the grass. They're not thinking about their self-reflection, right?

Bryan V That's the water aspect you're mentioning, right?

Adam Wes Yes. Water is powerful, but it's adaptive. You can't cut it. You can't eliminate it. It transmutes. It molds. It can create the Grand Canyon. It's very powerful. It's very patient.

What did Bruce Lee say? "Be water, my friend." If you're water, you take the shape of the cup. You take the shape of the teapot. This is a martial arts master, probably the best martial artist in the world, and he said, "Be water."

Is gentleness strength or weakness? I'd take Bruce Lee's opinion on this one. But you have to see it for yourself.

Bryan V Thank you.

Adam Wes You're welcome, Brian. How about Ariella? Now, this is a gentlewoman.

Hey, Kara, nice to meet you. Thanks for being here. We'll start meditating just after this one. How about that?

Ariella I love the description of gentleness being like water, just filling every container. It's a beautiful description. Thank you.

Adam Wes You're welcome. Nice.

Think of gentleness as the truth flowing through you, right? JFK speaking to the country with gentleness. He spoke the words with gravitas and directness, from love.

I'm seeing the best in JFK. I don't know if everybody agrees, but just think of the archetype here. Elias, you're funny.

One of the things in Bhakti that we do, maybe to a fault, is that we see the best in everybody. It's part of the positivity principle. Maybe be careful with that one. It's good in your privacy to see the best in people, but when you're engaging with them, you might want to know what's actually there so you can stand for what's true.

The whole idea is that there's a righteousness behind gentleness. You know the truth; you need not yell it. You can whisper the truth, and it will stand like an oak. It's impenetrable, immutable truth.

Opinions don't stand up to truth. Truth is its own resilience.

I just want to let everybody know, because some people drop off after the meditation before I get to say closing things, that we do this every week at this time. I invite you to come when you like and continue to do your practice.

Please contemplate this topic if it feels resonant, and practice gentleness. It's a really profound way to make a difference, to be it and to choose it.

If the whole world were being gentle, we would be in a different world right now, but every individual must make that choice. Maybe not to be gentle, but to choose gentleness. You can't be gentle immediately, perhaps. You don't feel it. But you can choose it. You can practice a karma, non-action.

Also, if you care to support or donate, the suggested donation is $3 to $33, and you can do that on my website at the meditation page. Thank you for being here. Let's start our meditation.

The meditation will be another 30 minutes or so. We do a little description at the end of our metaphysical experiences. The whole idea with meditation and description is that we want to have an esoteric experience.

We're not simply getting quiet. We're going to interface with the subtle aspects of our energy, perhaps even see qualities and dimensions that you'd only see if you take drugs, which I don't recommend. I recommend doing it through meditation. Unless you want to take drugs, but it has adverse effects and it's not as integrated, right?

We want to become an embodiment of something otherworldly while here in the world, and you can do that through meditation.

Just bring attention to the heart center, right in the center of the chest. You can touch it with your finger, with your hands, or simply bring your attention there.

We want to soften the heart. Anything that you've been holding onto, now is your opportunity to let it go, to become absorbed in the moment, beyond the reach of the past or the future.

Even in the act of meditating, we move beyond expectation, beyond anticipation.

Just observe the tendencies without response.

We go through life fighting, resisting, striving. What if right now, even if just for a moment, you can give it up?

Give up the burden of becoming, the burden of selfhood.

You are an innocent infant. You have no responsibility. This moment is for you.

This is the practice, the practice of giving up.

If you feel the urge for tears, let them come, because this is the release from bondage, and the heart loves that. It comes through in tears.

Little by little, we release as we become aware of what we can give up.

Giving up takes courage and trust. Things will evolve perfectly without all that pushing, all that effort.

Bring attention to your face. Let your face surrender.

There's an energetic connection between the heart and the face. It is countenance.

Let it soften. Soften your cheeks and your forehead. Soften your eyes and your vision.

As we sit here in this energy, you may begin to see a luminosity appear within the mind.

There is a light. It is the light of freedom, the light of love, the light of truth.

It's the substance of consciousness coming forward when we dissolve into our essence.

Let the power of that brightness wash you into the source, into the moment.

Continue to shed the layers and submerge in gentleness, giving up ultimately all but that which we cannot give up.

And now, the true self.

Let's bring our attention back to the heart center. Or, if you like, you can just stay with the light. If you're perceiving the light, that's very deep. Awesome.

A perfect and advantageous energetic structure, or perhaps emotion, you can have is compassion for yourself.

Be gentle with yourself right now. You're just a kid. We're all just kids, children of the universe.

Just have compassion. Be safe with your own self. That's gentleness.

Make sure your heart is also expansive. Let's take a moment and expand the heart field.

The heart center is a vortex of energy. You can feel it in the chest, but it has a field of existence.

Allow it to travel beyond the body. Let the field expand to its natural, beautiful state.

Not confined.

Open the heart. Expand it at the periphery of the heart.

Touch the edges of the room. Let it expand to the sky.

There's a yang within the yin and a yin within the yang. Let's make sure to pay attention to the yang as we focus on gentleness.

The yang would be the navel center. The navel center is one inch below the belly button. In Taoism, it's called the Golden Stove because it feels like a fire in your belly if you activate it.

Simply bringing your attention to that spot will center you. You can take your finger, your middle finger usually, and put it one inch below the belly button to help bring your attention there.

This produces a nice balance. When the tree's roots grow deeper, it can reach higher into the sky. Balance is important. It also allows us to will our transformation.

Simply feel that spot. If you're capable, generate the quality that feels like heat in the lower abdomen.

You can do it.

Another thing you can do is a little mudra, a little hand technique here. Put your palms facing down in front of the solar plexus, and feel like there's a beach ball of energy coming from the navel center, one inch below the belly button.

It's very much a Tai Chi stance. This is usually how I personally interact with it, interface with it.

Feel the qi in your hands. Let your hands get charged. Build energy in the fingertips and palms.

Let that energy connect through lines of astral connection to the navel center, all while staying centered in the heart.

Feel the righteousness moving through your gentleness.

That's the yin and the yang.

It feels really good if you do it, and it's a worthwhile cultivation. Take at least a little step in that direction.

If you feel the power, don't resist it. Know that you are a force for good because you have already consecrated yourself to gentleness.

Feel the will.

Let's bring your attention back to the heart center.

If the energy in your navel got cultivated, you'll notice it's interesting to be in your heart now. Nice balance.

We're at the end of this meditation.

Take a deep breath in.

Exhaling, Yam.

Maybe have a little smile, because it's joyful.

When you're ready, we can come out of the meditation.

Colleen, Mom, would you like to share your experience?

Colleen Sure. Firstly, it seemed to be very fast, so I don't know where I went, because it felt like 10 minutes, not half an hour.

Adam Wes It was about 25 minutes, slightly shorter. Nice.

Colleen Getting back to gentleness, I have related words, and I was surprised by some of them. What was the one I was talking about? Gosh.

Adam Wes You just turned off the intellect.

Colleen I just turned off the intellect. My mind is somewhere else.

Adam Wes Would you like to share your experience in the light first, and then maybe come back to it?

Colleen My experience in the light was red and green immediately. Two greens, like evergreen and a nice leaf green. Also, some waves.

Adam Wes Beautiful. The pulsing waves that go through every three seconds?

Colleen Correct.

Adam Wes Beautiful.

Just so you guys know, she's describing esoteric experiences that have specific words in the ancient Sanskrit language. Those waves are called Soma. The light is called Shakti. It has other names too.

That's a genuine, metaphysical, self-invoked experience. Beautiful, wonderful. Congratulations.

Colleen Thank you. The word came to me: tolerance. I didn't think of tolerance as a similar word to gentleness, but when I sit down, I get a pain in my leg. I try to feel tolerance and say, "Tolerate the pain," and it actually went away. Perhaps I was trying to be gentle to it. I'm not sure.

Adam Wes I think there's a connection there. Beautiful. Tolerance. Acceptance is the word I was using.

Colleen That too.

Adam Wes Not creating resistance or conflict.

The only reason I don't use the word tolerant is that sometimes it almost feels like there's a negative connotation. It's like, "It's bad, but it's going to deal with it," versus, "It is." But that's a very subtle distinction in the wording.

Thank you, Mom. Namaste. How about you, Ariella?

Maybe we'll go to Kira first.

Ariella Okay.

Adam Wes You got it? Okay.

Ariella My experience of the light was just incredible.

Adam Wes Oof!

Ariella I've been very judgmental of myself recently. Something was requested of me five years ago, and I haven't manifested it yet, so there's been a lot of tension. But just being in the light for these 25 minutes has been incredible.

Adam Wes You look really high. Nice. High on light. Wonderful.

I hope you had a wonderful quality of light. Thanks for sharing.

Ariella Thank you.

Adam Wes Just so everybody else knows, if you didn't experience light, Ariella and my mom, Colleen, have been doing this online for three years now. It can happen the first time, and maybe you're already doing it, but it's a cultivation.

We want to connect with the source daily, if we can.

How about you, Kara? I want to meet you. Oh, bye, Kara! K-I-R-A. I want to say hi to Kara. Wait, she's saying she wants to go first. Okay, you go first, Kira. You guys have names that are so similar.

Kira I'll be quick. Thank you so much. I have wonderful things to share.

The first is that I loved what you said about the yang within the yin, and the yang being the navel point. I went from almost melting in gentleness, maybe even as though I was going to flow away, like I was water or something.

Then, when you shared about the navel being the yang, I loved it. I could see my body as the symbol. All the rest of my body was soft and gentle, and then the navel point was that white part that was the yang powering and holding up the yin. It gave a different quality to it, maybe a more functional quality.

Adam Wes I almost didn't do that, but it was coming up in me so much that I just followed it. It's interesting. It's a little different. It's like, "Whoa, I'm gentle, but I'm not."

I remember one time one of my students said, "You're really calm, but really powerful." That was interesting.

Kira I'll say one last thing quickly. Even just focusing on it altogether, the fact that all of us were centered around it, helped embody gentleness in a way that I haven't experienced. I felt like you helped bring me back to my nature. Thank you, Adam. Thank you, everyone.

Adam Wes Thank you, Kira.

Kira I have to run.

Adam Wes Wonderful. Bye.

Sepideh, do you want to share before you have to go?

Sepideh K I was just leaving, but okay. My experience was so beautiful.

I'm a quantum hypnosis practitioner, so I always go deep, and I always see past lives. This is something very deep because, with every meditation, I see something. I see more light because this is more practice for me. I've been doing it for a long time.

This one was so deep for me. I met the light, and my heart was like, oh my gosh. I don't know how to describe the feeling. This was so deep.

Thank you so much. Thanks, everyone, for sharing this energy in this group. This was so deep. Thank you.

Adam Wes Thank you for being here. Wonderful.

Sepideh K Thank you.

Adam Wes Let's keep in touch.

Sepideh K Yes, definitely. Namaste. Thanks, everyone.

Adam Wes How about one more share? Let's let Kara share, and then we'll get off together.

Kara, welcome. Would you like to give a quick share?

Okay, Brian, go ahead. I was calling on Kara before you raised your hand, but that's okay. Let's go with Brian.

Bryan V You sure? Okay, sure. I was actually pretty reluctant to share this, but I'll go ahead and share it. It might be helpful.

I was feeling a bit of resistance, and this is the first time it's happened to me. I saw or felt what you've been describing as light. I just turned this light on, so I know it wasn't something I was making up.

I actually teared up there. I felt some resistance initially, but there was something about when you said to connect to the navel area. I felt some energy there. Then you mentioned that it is okay to move with that energy. You don't have to be afraid of it because, if my intention is good, then I could just go full throttle with it.

I'm still going to sit with that. How is it possible to have gentleness with so much energy?

Adam Wes Right. Beautiful.

Bryan V I saw it right here on the left side of my body, kind of like a sun streak. In the back was a deep blue light. I don't know how to describe it, but it was like an opaque light.

Part of me wants to see this from a very reductionist take, that it's just my body having to process some energy and some stored things. But there was something there that I want to explore more.

I'm very excited about it, but also uncertain about where it could go. I think that's okay.

Adam Wes That's a natural feeling. You're exploring the unknown in a fundamental, transensorial way, right? Who knows what it could do? But you can sense that it's good, right? Follow that. The unknown is not bad.

Get in touch with it. Is it good? Does it feel good? It feels like divine light, right? So it's pretty good.

Bryan V Dude.

Adam Wes Very good. Namaste, Brian. Thank you.

Hi, Kara. Okay, Kara for real this time.

Kara C Hi.

Adam Wes Hi! Sorry, it took me a minute to figure this out.

Kara C I want to say thank you to everybody, all the beautiful people, and to you for leading this. It's really awesome that you extended this invitation. I feel a lot of gratitude.

It's probably the first real meditation I've done in a long time. I don't even want to know how long it's been. Twenty years ago, I did Reiki a little bit, and I really did value the qi below the navel and expanding the heart.

I was able to visualize my heart expanding upon every breath I took in, and I was also able to expand with every breath I took out. I just feel great, honestly.

I didn't get all the visions that people had. I got little swirlies, but I would love to continue expanding. Like you said, cultivating this would be magical. I can already feel the benefit from just that short session.

Adam Wes I love it. Welcome back to meditation. If you're feeling great, that's the thing. We sit down, and we're feeling great just because, right?

That's the cultivation and the growth. There's no need to experience anything out of the ordinary yet.

Kara C Could I ask you one thing? Would you mind expanding upon what you mentioned earlier, that anxiety is the heart resisting? I would love to hear just a little bit more.

Adam Wes Sure. I think that's really important because a lot of people experience anxiety at different levels, and depression too.

When the heart is full, just imagine your heart is full. Full heart. Warm, full, fuzzy. There cannot be anxiety there, right? Anxiety does not feel like that. It feels like a lack of heart. If you really observe it, you'll notice that distinction.

When the heart is not active, not actively radiant, you can't feel it, or it feels small or dense energetically, then there's a sense of not being safe in your own body, in the world, in the moment.

When there's heart, there's a sense of completeness, and anxiety can't stand. It can't remain in that complete quality.

Heart is this way of courage and resilience. It's an energetic transformation. I don't know if that's a nice little paragraph for you, because we could talk about it for a long time. I can go into it energetically. Thanks for asking.

Anxiety can be covered up by medication, drugs, alcohol, codependent relationships, TV, movies, or blah, blah, blah, so many things. But it doesn't go away unless you have a transformation of the heart field.

You can cure it through acts of kindness, which open the heart; meditation and dissolution, which open the heart; and gentleness, which opens the heart. All these bhakti methods actually cure anxiety, and I can say that through personal experience.

It's a very powerful way to move from a sense of, "I am small in a great universe," to, "I am the great universe. I am whole now."

Namaste, Kara. Thank you. I feel your love and your heart, just so you know. I feel it, and it's so lovely. Thank you for contributing that for all of us in the field.

Kara C Thank you.

Adam Wes Wonderful. David, did you want to say something? You were pointing. What did that mean?

David P No. I didn't want my son to come into the room, so I was saying, "Go up."

Adam Wes Gotcha.

Well, it's good to see you, David. I hope your practice is going wonderfully.

David P It is. It is.

Adam Wes All right, let's go and be gentle.

Let's open the gates of gentleness and go out into the world! Thank you for staying a little longer. Usually, I guess we go about 75 minutes on these. We start about five minutes late, so it's just a little over an hour.

Namaste, everybody. Thank you. I hope to see you next week. Thank you for being here. So special.

Kara C Thank you.

David P Thank you.

Adam Wes Bye!

David P Bye, everyone.

Kara C Bye!

Gentleness is a powerful way of living that cultivates energy, opens the heart, accepts what is, and allows the strength of the universe to flow through each action.

• Gentleness is less a concept and more a metaphysical law that can be practiced from moment to moment.
• Gentleness is not weakness. The gentle person is in command of themselves and allows the strength of the universe to come through them.
• Conflict dissipates energy, while gentleness cultivates energy.
• Gentleness can be expressed through words, movement, eating, closing a door, and relating to oneself and others.
• Being gentle with oneself involves radical acceptance of what is, without creating conflict between what one is and what one should be.
• Gentleness requires trust and courage because life does not need to be pushed or forced.
• In the bhakti path, gentleness opens and expands the heart through kindness, meditation, and freedom from resistance.
• Words are invitations, but gentleness must be learned through embodiment and action.
• Like water, gentleness is adaptive, patient, and powerful.
• The meditation practice softens the heart and face, releases the burden of becoming, and cultivates compassion for oneself.
• Gentleness includes balance. The expansive heart is joined with the centered power and will of the navel center.

Choose gentleness and make each action a consecration to it. Let words, steps, movements, relationships, and moments of meditation become opportunities to feel gentleness, while remaining gentle with any lack of gentleness that becomes visible.

• The quality of gentleness in words and tone of voice.
• Gentleness in small actions, including walking, eating, closing doors, and placing things away.
• Awareness of resistance or conflict held in the heart, lungs, face, voice, arms, and shoulders.
• Compassion and safety in the relationship with oneself.
• Radical acceptance of what is, without pushing toward what should be.
• Softening and expanding the heart during meditation.
• The balance between the gentleness of the heart and the centered power of the navel center.

• Where does gentleness already feel natural?
• Where is conflict or resistance felt in the body?
• What changes when gentleness is valued in a small action?