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The speed of vulnerability and the speed of connection is astounding to me.
When you're putting yourself out there, you just start to see that we all have that in common. It's this human need for connection and community.
Have you ever wished you had a wise meditation teacher on speed dial?
Someone you can call after a long day.
Someone you could lean on for their advice.
Someone to listen and help you to see things differently.
Welcome to Dear Headspace.
Hi friends, I am so excited to be here with you for another episode of Dear Headspace, which is a podcast where I sit down with one of our meditation teachers and we answer your questions about career, relationship, mindfulness, basically whatever question is on your mind, we are answering it.
I'm Robin Hopkins and today I get to go on this little journey with my friend Sam.
Hi, Sam. Hi, Robyn.
How are you today? I'm doing well.
I'm doing well. I have my colleague, Kay Sanga, who's in town, so I saw him and his whole family.
I know they just, before you got here, they popped in and said hello, and I got to meet his two kids and his wife, and it was so delightful.
I know. My face just beamed seeing his family in my heart.
I was just so, it just brought me so much joy, so.
I know. Isn't it funny, though?
Sometimes it's like I feel like I know the people that are associated, even though I've never, and I would think I was overly like, oh my God, you guys, how are you?
And they were like, who is this lady?
Exactly. You've seen photos, you've seen videos.
Yeah. You just feel like they're your nieces and you're just so excited to see them.
Yeah. Well, I have a question.
I heard there was some scuttlebutt around the office that you just got back from Joshua Tree, where you all were recording some meditations for the Headspace app.
I mean, I have to say I'm wildly jealous because I've never been there.
But first of all, how was it before I asked my question?
Yeah, it was beautiful.
It was, it was stunning.
We, and especially because we were getting footage of, you know, sunset, like we were looking for specific times of day that were so beautiful, that were kind of optimally beautiful.
And that's not something I usually do when I go there.
When I travel, I'm like, oh, I'm hungry.
Let's go. So to actually stay and watch the shifting of the sunlight, you know, affected the landscape and how it was just absolutely stunning.
And to be there with amazing colleagues and have these discussions about how the landscape reflects our mind and the felt experience, like what shifts in us when we leave the busyness of a city and enter the wildness of nature and for miles and miles and miles.
I mean, you don't see any billboards.
You don't see any, you do see some other cars But you see people just letting go, you know, just really disconnecting and tuning into each other and their surroundings.
So it was, yeah, it was a partnership we are doing with the National Parks Foundation.
Oh, that's so cool.
Where we go to different national parks around the country and explore the intersection of nature and mindfulness.
What that makes me think about is, like, let's be fully honest here.
We can't all be in Joshua Tree all the time, right?
So it's like we don't all have access.
So where would you find your connection outside in a city or near your house?
Yeah, love that question.
So my husband's been volunteering at this place called Placerita Canyon Park, and it's beautiful.
I mean, there's a hiking trail, and because we've had so much rain, everything is green.
It's only a 10 -minute drive from my house, and it's, yeah, it's stunning.
But for me, you know, a big part of being in nature is being in nature with others to see families talking to each other off their phones.
My husband trained to be a docent, a nature docent.
So when he takes us on hikes now, me and our friends, he explains like, oh, this is the wild cucumber and this is the oak tree and this is how long it's been here.
And, you know, it really becomes this – it definitely gets elevated by knowing what you're looking at and also just appreciating the cycles of plants and wildlife that are all around you but you don't necessarily pay attention to.
All right. Well, here's what I have to say, Sam.
After we're done recording, I think we should both commit to going outside and just – we'll take a moment in nature.
That sounds wonderful.
I'm right by the beach, so – See, now you're just rubbing things in.
Now forget about it, Sam.
All right. Let's get to today's listeners' questions, because we've got questions about how to live a mindful life in college, struggling to find community in a new country, and how to expand your practice beyond the Headspace app.
And I am so excited for our first question.
I am going to hit play now.
Dear EdSpace, As a young person just starting college, I found it easy to feel really overwhelmed in finding the direction of life.
I struggle with knowing that I'll never fully know where my choices as a young adult will take me, and wasting precious time away, and falling behind.
So I find it hard to stay mindful, as I navigate so many moments or decisions full of uncertainties in this chapter full of novelties in my life.
So I'm curious as this, what are some tools or ways that living a more mindful life can provide that may help someone in such a versatile chapter of life like mine?
That was a great question, but I love the fresh spin at the end, calling it a versatile time in life versus tumultuous, which I like.
Because that's an angsty time, your 20s, And there was a lot in there in that question.
Yeah, it brought me right back to these moments in my life in my 20s when I struggled so much to make decisions because I wanted to make the right decisions.
And I also felt that preciousness of life.
There was this, yeah.
And what I thought about was, like, how wonderful to feel the preciousness of life, right?
I mean, what a great mindset to be in.
And if you lean into it and kind of see the beauty in the impermanence and feel the excitement and the wanting to make the most of it.
And I think that's for me, that's what my 20s was all about, was exploration and following, you know, why do I have this urge to go to Guatemala?
I don't know, but I'm going to follow it, you know, I'm going, I booked the ticket, I, you know, save the money.
So it's, yeah, I think sometimes it's easy to think that that's, or natural to think that that's a problem or something that we're fighting against. I remember a teacher of mine in grad school, because I, I mean, when I say I struggled with decisions, I struggled.
Like I was, I would cry, I would go to therapy, I would, wouldn't eat for weeks at a time.
I was just really, really struggling with big life decisions.
And my advisor in grad school could see this happening.
And she gave me a string of turquoise beads as a gift when I graduated.
And she said, I want you to think of each bead as a step, as like one step you take in your life.
life. And you're not going to be able to see all the steps all at once.
But you know, you can pause and you can say you can ask yourself, like, what is the next step that I'm feeling called toward or that I'm that I want to take?
And then as you make that one step, another series of doors will open or another array of steps will appear.
But we really can't jump past all of them to see what what will be.
And that really spoke to me.
It was so simple. That's so beautiful though, that that teacher did that for you.
You know, it's so interesting because I hear a lot of internal pressure in the question as well of just where I'm supposed to be and how it's all supposed to be.
And I think if I were able to go back to my 20 -something Robin and talk to her, I think I would tell her to take some of the pressure off because nothing is permanent.
permanent like even if i pick up and move across the country and then i get there and i realize oh i don't love this the way i thought i was going to love it or things aren't going like i can always make another move just like your your string of beads there's so few things that don't have another step behind it that you can't take to to make a shift or a change yeah that that was a big realization for me and and it's so true that you're never stuck duck.
And you'll always, if you can commit, for me, this was a big thing, like I committed to learning from everything.
Everything was information, right?
I take a step, I do something, it doesn't feel right, pause, journal, meditate, and go, what did I learn about myself in this moment, in this relationship, in this journey I took to Guatemala?
I mean, I discovered my values use through those decisions.
I clarified what I'm all about and what brings meaning to my life.
And it's not something that, at least for me, and I think for a lot of people that you just wake up and realize, oh, this is how I am.
This is what I value.
This is what I care about.
It's one clarity through action and through trial and error.
That's the way. Yeah.
But also just to add on to that, sometimes learning something you don't want like it's just as important as learning what you want.
Exactly. And thinking that I just had a conversation with my sister, actually, yesterday, who's studying to be a rabbi.
And she said that she wished she had these two years back in college that she spent pursuing economics because she did two years of economics.
And then she went into sociology.
And I was so adamant with her.
I was like, I mean, I wasn't using using my best listening skills because I was so passionate.
You are not right. It's going to come in handy at some point.
You know, we never know when the knowledge, because my argument was no knowledge is wasted.
Yeah. I really believe that.
And I've had this happen in my life where I think, oh my gosh, I did this thing for a year.
It's not going to, it adds nothing to my life.
I don't know why I wasted that time.
But then, you know, flash forward six months and now you're using knowledge from that time in some unexpected way.
So it all comes back.
You know, I really believe that, that no time is wasted when you're pursuing something that you think you're interested in or curiosity is driving you.
Love is driving you, right?
There are these drivers that we listen to, even though we're not sure if we should.
But then as we go through it and extract the meaning and and extract the lessons, even if we're not extracting it right away, it'll come back.
And even if you never use calculus ever again, or economics or whatever, you still learn things about yourself that are valuable.
Yeah. Sometimes the learning isn't about the actual content, but it's about what changed in you as you were learning that content.
It's all part of learning, whether it's academic or self -awareness.
It's all learning. Yeah.
It sounds like our listener has a practice and is very mindful, but it seems like during any versatile time, you know, that's that's a time when I would assume the practice would be very important just to help with the ups and the downs and the lefts and the right and the unexpected swings.
wings. Exactly. Yeah, because when you sit down to meditate, I like to think of it as making time to listen to yourself.
You're creating this safe, open, kind container to witness worrisome thoughts, thoughts like what ifs, and you're greeting it with the same kind of kind, open awareness.
You're giving it that attention, but you're not believing it.
Those are very different different things.
And so it's like you're befriending yourself in those moments.
You're creating a friendly, loving relationship with your thoughts, no matter what they are, whether they're exciting thoughts, whether they're depressing thoughts.
And that relationship you'll have with you throughout your whole life through the ups and downs, whatever happens.
And it's a worthwhile.
And I always felt this as I was developing my meditation practice in my my teens and my twenties, I knew it was worthy, worthy of my time.
Like when I sat down to meditate, there was no doubt that this was wasting time.
I never had that thought.
So that too can bring you a sense of stability amidst the tumultuousness of the twenties of those times where you're just not, you're not sure where to go.
All right. Well, we, we just have to say, thank you so much for your question it was really a fantastic question and you can't go wrong if you just listen to Sam all information is feedback all information is good and you're going to be you're going to be okay it gets better it does all right well good luck out there and keep us posted all right shall we Sam roll into our next question let's do it okay here we go this is Javier.
Hi, my name is Javier and I'm from Spain.
I am living right now in Lexington, Kentucky because I'm going to be here teaching Spanish at a school for a year.
And I'm feeling these days, I'm feeling kind of stress and anxiety because I don't really know how to start my classes since this is very different from what I do in Spain and I'm struggling and I'm feeling bad and well I also don't like being alone and here most of the time I'm alone I am my own and it's kind of hard to meet people.
Actually I joined a gym in order to meet people and this kind of community But there's no community in this gym and it's kind of hard to have relationships with people here, meeting people.
And I guess I have to learn how to handle this.
Wow. I mean, there's a bunch of things in that question.
I mean, Javier started talking off about not having support and a new job and it not being the same and then moved into not having community and support in a new location and the stresses that come along with it.
That is just a really, that's a big question, Javier.
So thank you for trusting us with that.
Yeah, I have to say that I've struggled with this myself in some big ways.
And I've discovered over time how important community is to me.
Community is, you know, I've gone through many values clarification workshops where we get very, very clear on what our top three values are.
And for me, community is always number one or number two right after health, because it's so crucial and foundational to our well -being to have that community.
And I would say just first of all, take a moment to appreciate that you jumped into such an adventure, right?
right, that you went into this and you're in Kentucky, which, I mean, I've been to Lexington, Kentucky once or twice.
I've also lived in Spain, so I can tell you they're quite different.
I haven't been to either, but I make that same assumption.
Yes. Yeah, you don't have to be there.
But yeah, just taking a moment and going, wow, I'm here.
This is a story that I'm going to remember and tell my children and my family, you know, and you might not see the way the story ends right now or the way it resolves the stress and anxiety that you're feeling.
But just to acknowledge that it's such a bold and adventurous thing to do.
And you'll probably feel good about it when you look back on it.
But right now you're in the middle of the stress of it all.
And yeah, I've definitely been there.
And and my way of dealing with it, I'm a big fan of Meetup, meetup .org.
I think it's an org.
And so wherever I am, whenever I'm in a new city or whenever I've lived in a new city or new country, I immediately start attending the meetups.
And if there aren't any meetups, I make my own.
That's the beauty of it.
You can create anything you're interested in, even if it's just, you want to go see a movie, you can post a meetup about going to see a movie and people will join.
And you quickly see that you're not alone.
I mean, every time I've built a meetup or launched one, usually, of course, around meditation and mindfulness, I have people showing up the first day.
That's amazing. Yeah.
And it always reminds me of that movie Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come.
They will come. Yeah.
I say that all the time.
Yeah. Because I've done this now in at least five cities, five different cities, and people come, and we end up having a community within a couple of weeks.
The speed of vulnerability and the speed of connection is astounding to me.
When you're putting yourself out there and you just start to see that we all have that in common, it's this human need for connection and community.
But yeah, you'll soon see that you're not alone, that there are, I'm sure there are people living there from other countries doing something similar to what you're doing, like a year abroad where they're teaching or something like that.
But just staying optimistic and remembering, even if you do have a hard time finding community, just remembering that you're not alone in that desire.
Because sometimes it can feel, I don't know, I think sometimes we can get judgmental of ourselves or self -critical and think like, oh, I can't be alone.
Why can't I connect people?
Yeah. Yeah, all those things.
Exactly. The instinct is to kind of go inward and question what you're doing wrong, but really it's just you existing in a whole different set of cultural expectations and norms. Yeah.
It's funny you should say that because I think that even exists.
Like I used to say to our interns, I managed the intern pool at one of my jobs at MTV.
And I used to say to them, you have to give New York a year.
It is, it is a very, everyone is up to something.
Everyone's going a thousand miles an hour.
And it's a very strange feeling to feel alone when you're amongst that many people.
Exactly. And I think even if you have to travel a little far to find a meditation group or maybe a weekend retreat somewhere, it's worth it.
So not to be afraid to take that extra step to, you know, go and venture a little bit farther than maybe where you're centered, just to make those connections.
And even going online.
I mean, there's so many virtual meditation groups happening all around the country that you can do.
And, you know, No, it's not ideal.
I think for most people, we want to be together in person, but it still gives us a lot.
I mean, every time you meet, whether it's in person or virtual, you're sharing stories, you're sharing perspectives, you're sharing common experiences, and all of that is beneficial.
All of that is medicine, is medicinal for us when we're going through a hard time.
Now, I do think before we say goodbye to Javier, I think we should address the other side of his question, which is about showing up to a job, you think it's going to look one way and it doesn't look the way, you know, and I think all the mindfulness stuff that we've been saying still applies, like grounding yourself and, and finding your practice and finding community around there.
But I do think there's a piece about expectations and leadership in the workplace that, you know, to try to see what support you can get.
And I'm curious your thoughts around that, Yeah, well, it is.
It's true. I mean, I've had so many instances like this in my life where I thought a job was going to be my dream job.
And then you quickly see that there are human dynamics, shall we say, at play that we're entering into.
You know, there's drama, there's budgets that haven't been balanced.
There's, I mean, there's so, so many people who've been passed over for promotions, all kinds of corporate drama.
Yeah. And we're just entering it.
And I think there's a disconnect sometimes.
Like it would be wonderful if, Javier, if someone stopped and went like, what is it like for Javier to enter into this right now and to kind of be with your experience and just witness what you're going through and provide some like true, genuine empathy and help you to adjust, like help you introduce you to some people.
I'm just imagining someone like that because it would be wonderful to have that.
A lot of colleges have that actually now where they kind of pair you up with someone, a buddy, and they get you acquainted in a more thoughtful and intentional way.
But when you don't have that, it's hard and it can feel lonely.
And I think there's something to be said for getting counseling during this time just to have someone witness what you're going through.
So if you have access to like EAP or coaching or something like that, it could be great for a temporary amount of time just to have someone witnessing and helping you problem solve.
But also, yeah, I think like you said, Robin, it's hard for you to initiate a conversation or like introduce yourself to someone.
But maybe just hanging out in the teacher's lounge or spending some extra time just seeing if you could help someone out.
That was kind of my go -to when I wanted to meet new people.
I would just say, hey, do you need any help with anything?
You know, and most people do need help.
So they're glad to put you to work.
But just putting yourself there and making yourself more available physically, like in the space, staying at the school longer, and then maybe asking a principal or someone who has some leadership role if you can do something extra.
You know, can I help with this project?
Can I help with this thing coming up?
Yeah, I would also like add on to that, like asking the administration, is there someone who's done the job prior to me who came in, who was new that I might be able to speak with or look around and see who there's always that one person in the office that just looks like they know everything.
everything. Like they know where the, they know where the bodies are buried.
They know where all the things are.
They know where the office supplies are finding that person.
And that's a really good starting place.
Cause it's like, it's very sad.
Like when you're just sitting in the cafeteria eating alone, so you've got to find your people.
And then we might be able to kill two birds with one stone.
Like there might be somebody in the office that ends up being part of your community there.
But they always say, look, when you're talking to your kids about, if they're traveling alone, you always say look for the helpers.
Look for the people that are helpers because they're always there.
Yeah. Mr. Rogers said that too.
Yeah. Yeah. And I was thinking about the Spanish piece because so many people want to learn Spanish.
So that could be a way.
There are a lot of meetups around Spanish exchange.
So you speak if you I mean, your English sounds pretty great, but maybe you could help people who are trying to learn the language.
And that's a great way to meet people as well.
That's great. That's fantastic.
Well, Javier, just go for it a little bit.
I mean, I feel like just kind of jump in.
I like I'm now going to go to other cities and try meetups because Sam just suggested that.
I love it. So fun. And also watch Field of Dreams. It's a great movie.
Yes. If you build it, Javier, they will come.
Okay. Well, thank you so much for your question and good luck.
Alrighty. We have time for just one more caller and I am going to hit play.
Here we we go. Dear Headspace, this is Madhurima and I have a question for you.
I have completed almost everything there is on the Headspace library that is there to explore and I want to take my meditation practice a little bit higher and I want to be more aware and have that quality as much as I can as I live my life.
So what is the best way to expand my headspace practice or rather my meditation practice after I am done exploring the content on headspace?
Thank you for making my life a bit more richer.
her oh she's talking to you on that part sam she's not talking to me but i love this question and i love it mostly because it's probably a question that i would never ask because i don't think i'll get there but but i just love it i know right there's so much content in the app yes i mean the good news is the mind is as vast as the universe right so there's always room to to grow and practice and discover more about yourself, more about your mind to continually deepen the relationship that you have with yourself for lifetimes.
I have this koan that comes to mind that I don't know if I've mentioned, mentioned it on here before, but it's every person is a 10 ,000 foot precipice.
If you imagine you're standing on a precipice and there's just this this great depth, 10 ,000 feet, just symbolic number.
But the idea that there's so much depth to each one of us.
And if we can continually tap into that natural curiosity that we have and keep refreshing it through our meditation, but also just through the way we live our lives, there's so much to discover.
And this is why I like being with people so much because people, people, even my husband, who I've been married to for seven years, continually surprises me.
And I'm always delighted by that, right?
It's like, oh, even if it's something that annoys me.
I didn't see that coming.
Yeah. Okay. Oh, I have to change my script a little.
Yeah. But one thing you said was that, one thing she said was that she wants to be aware as much as she can, right?
And awareness Awareness and meditation is very concentrated.
There's a formula a lot of the time.
You have an anchor, you kind of get in the rhythm, you know what you're doing.
But the minute you get off that cushion, a lot of us struggle to keep, maintain that awareness and that sense of presence.
And so that is, again, another lifelong practice.
And also, I wanted to mention that I kind of see guided practice as to some extent like like training wheels on a bike.
When you have long periods of silence, a voice comes in and it says, okay, remember, let your thoughts be like clouds in this vast open sky, watching them come and go.
We're kind of continually reminding you.
And then in the advanced sections of the app, the advanced courses, there's more silence.
So you just basically have an intro and an outro.
But I would say to start experimenting with maybe practicing in silence and seeing what it's like not to have the training wheels or going on a silent retreat, you know, where you're in silence.
I was thinking about that.
Yeah. Yeah. For many days at a time and exploring what that's like, because that's a situation where all the distractions are taken away or most of them.
Right. You're not reading.
You're not watching any media.
You're really just with yourself.
Yeah. Yeah. So there's so much to explore and there's so much depth to you and to the people in your life and every human being.
So if you can meet every human interaction, you know, every time you're listening to someone, to take that as a meditation, right?
To go, oh, I'm going to do mindful listening and see if I can be really present having this person as my anchor so that I notice when my thoughts drift from what they're saying to maybe my own experience and then come back.
and then every moment, at least every social moment, becomes an extension of your practice.
I did have a question because, so I'm not currently practicing, but I'm an advanced brown belt in karate and there's this term called renma and it means constant polishing.
And one of the things that I think is really intriguing about the practice, and I think it really lines up with this work, is that before you go to get your black belt, at least in the the, the version that I was studying, they take you back to white belt and it's, some of it is about ego, but mostly it's about going back to beginner's mind.
It's that, it's that idea that you need to always remember that you are a white belt and a black belt.
You are, you know, you're all these things.
And I feel like that could apply to the app as well.
And, and this isn't like a sales pitch for the Headspace, you know, app.
I'd link a lot of people who listen to this are are already users.
But it's, I imagine you could listen to the same ones over and over and still have a new experience every time.
I mean, can you, can you speak on that a little bit?
Yeah, absolutely. The guidance is really guiding you to notice your own inner experience.
So which changes every day.
And there might be this subtle, you know, desire for novelty that she's describing, like, oh, I want something more.
And our mind can be like that, right?
The grass is greener mentality or the craving for something profound.
A lot of times people come to meditation for that, to have a profound experience or to have some kind of mind -altering or transformative experience.
And there's some grasping in there that can become an obstacle to the practice.
practice. But if you're witnessing that, that's the practice, right?
You sit down, you notice, oh, I have clinging, I have craving, I want something exciting to happen.
I want to have a profound experience.
Just being aware of that and then gently coming back to whatever you're paying attention to, the sound, the breath, counting your breaths.
But that helps you to to ride the wave of that craving.
It helps you to ride the wave of those urges.
And it doesn't really matter how many times you do the meditation.
I mean, it's really you witnessing yourself in any given moment with a little bit of help.
We're kind of curating that experience for you to help you witness yourself and help you grow in that relationship to yourself with more kindness and curiosity and openness, which we do need continual, most of us, I can't say everyone.
I know I do. I can say that.
Yeah. Most of us need that continual guidance, that continual reminder.
I mean, that's why I do what I do.
Partially it's selfish because every time I teach, it's reinforced in me.
Every time I speak about it, it's reinforced in me.
And I'm really lucky and privileged to have that and to have pursued that.
So it never gets old.
If it does get old, witness that.
What's that like? What is it like for this to feel old?
What is it like for this to feel repetitive?
What is that bringing up in my body?
I'm so fascinated in hearing you all talk and in listening.
It's such a simple thing, but yet it is the greatest thing all at the same time.
time, do you, you know what I'm saying?
Like, it's like, you're just saying like, just witness it.
And that's the whole experience.
That's all you're supposed to do.
And I, as a doer, I'm always like, but I'm trying to get to this or I'm trying to do that.
And it's just that, just do that thing.
Yeah. And that's the, that's the, the like little bit of separation, the observing instead of reacting.
So we're in our lives.
We're used to reacting to those thoughts.
Oh, I have the urge to do, I'm going to do, I have the urge to succeed or to push or to do i'm going to do it right there's there's very little space between a thought or an urge and then our reaction to it or the action that we take but meditation is giving us more space between the impulse and the response so that we can witness it and see and decide if we truly want to act on it instead of having it be this this reactionary you know knee -jerk reaction to to whatever thought arises at the time.
So we're really giving space and we're developing that inner observer, a part of us that is witnessing without doing anything about it because that's underdeveloped.
That's why we spend time doing it.
If it was our natural way, we wouldn't spend as much time, but it isn't.
It's very much not our natural tendency.
This I can confirm.
Yeah, so witnessing, developing that inner observer Yeah.
I just wanted to mention too, there are programs where you can become what they call a dedicated practitioner.
I know UCLA, that's where I went and trained.
They have like a year -long program where you go into the roots of mindfulness.
You can explore some of the Buddhist roots or the science of mindfulness.
You can really go deeper in different ways, whether you are really drawn to some of those spiritual roots or whether you're drawn to the science.
I've been drawn to both.
But yeah, going deeper and giving yourself the opportunity to be in community with other people who are as passionate about it as you are could be a really great experience.
Well, good luck. And thank you so much for your question.
That was really wonderful.
Good luck with your practice, wherever it may take you.
Yeah, thank you. All right.
Well, as always, spot on with the advice, Sam.
I swear to you, I am a better person for just sitting here with you.
And I think our listeners are too.
It's always a pleasure.
And yeah, I was just after the last question, I was thinking about the beginner's course as a great place to start.
You know, it's very it incorporates all the elements of the practice of mindfulness meditation and just introducing it to you in a really gentle way.
So just wanted to plug that course because it's it's a great place to start and restart, even if you're an advanced practitioner.
Start, restart. I love it.
And thank you to all of our callers today for just such thoughtful questions.
And if you have a question that you're dying to ask us, we have made it really easy for you to submit your question.
Just head over to sayhi .chat slash Dear Headspace, or you just click the link in the show notes.
And then all you have to do is follow the prompts to record your question.
If we use your question in a show, you're going to get three months of Headspace for free, which is pretty fabulous.
That's great. Yeah.
So keep those questions coming.
And then as you know, each week we like to leave you with an opportunity to pause and reflect on what you just heard here.
And it's really a time for you to transition from this moment to the next moment in your day.
So as you listen to some recorded sounds of a jungle canopy, just let your mind do whatever it wants to do.
Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy.
And please be kind to each other.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Dear Headspace is a Headspace Studios original podcast. It's produced by Robin Hopkins, Ash Jones, and Scott Sorenson.
It's executive produced by Morgan Selzer, Sarah Cohen, Baron Farmer, and Danny Karistamy.
It's hosted and produced by Robin Hopkins, Kesonga Giskombe, Dora Kamau, Samantha Snowden, and Eve Louis Prieto.
Sound recording and post -production is by Dan Krull.
Music is by Scott Sorenson and Chris Murguia.
And a very special thanks to Colleen Lutz.
Thank you.