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Last week we talked about the spiritual path and why integration matters, but not how to do it. If you've been meditating or working on your spiritual growth and still feel stuck, integration might be the missing piece. In today's episode, I'll share eight powerful ways to integrate your meditation practice so the peace and clarity you touch on the cushion actually shows up in your everyday life. Welcome back to Roots of the Rise with me, sarah Hope. One of the biggest misconceptions about meditation is that the point is to have a blissful experience every time you sit. People imagine meditation as a daily vacation to Bliss Beach. And sure, there are thousands of meditation methods out there and a few are designed exactly for that purpose. But most of us, the real reason we meditate, isn't just to get 10 minutes of peace. We meditate because our lives feel stressful and overwhelming. We are juggling way too many responsibilities, facing constant demands and running on limited time and energy. We think if we can just get a few minutes of calm, that's the best we can hope for. But here's the truth. The goal of meditation isn't simply to have a blissful moment. It's to have a blissful life. The point is to carry the peace, clarity and awareness we touch in meditation into the rest of our day. I don't know about you, but I don't really care about feeling calm when I'm sitting in my comfy chair meditating while my cat is purring on my lap. I want that calm and clarity when my child is melting down about homework, when the dog refuses to come inside and relate, or when someone cuts me off in traffic because they're texting behind the wheel. That's when presence and focus actually matter. And this is where many meditation practices fall short. They skip the essential step of integration. Without integration, meditation it doesn't change all that much. You know, you'll see it. You'll see this in people who have been meditating for years but still struggle with anger issues, still choose toxic relationships or still carry resentment from something that happened decades ago. Integration is what allows those aha moments, that sense of peace and the awareness you gain, whether through meditation itself or other inner growth work, to become part of your everyday life. And the good news is there are so many different ways to practice integration. So that's what I want to go over right now. I want to explore a few kind of general approaches to help you start weaving your meditation practice into your daily reality. So the first one I want to talk about is heart-centered living. I've talked about this kind of off and on and it's this element of cultivating the heart, cultivating qualities of the heart like gratitude and compassion, acceptance, joy. You know, a daily gratitude practice, for instance, is a really simple but transformative way to start cultivating the facets of the heart. You can also explore the facets of the heart by reading books, for instance, that offer actionable steps, like Loving what Is, by Byron Katie that's all about acceptance really. Or Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping Beautiful book. You know, anytime you practice embodying the qualities of love in everyday life, you are weaving your spiritual insights into your lived experience.

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Okay, second one community and connection. Community is another like essential tool for integration. First, meditating in a group amplifies the practice. Anyone who has gone on retreat or does group meditations will tell you this. It feels different when you're in a group. It's exponentially more powerful. The other thing that community does is strengthen presence and accountability. You know, integration happens through verbal processing. There is power in talking about this stuff, speaking your insights out loud, whether in a circle with a friend or with a mentor. It helps ground them and make them real. I know for me I gain so much clarity just by talking things through. It's one of the reasons I love teaching. Every time I share something or someone asks me a challenging question, even better, I integrate my understanding on a deeper level. You know, when you witness others in their growth process, it can inspire your own. You know, while reflecting patterns back to you that maybe you haven't seen in yourself before.

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A third option is actively seeking out opportunities to learn. This could be reading inspiring books, listening to educational podcasts, going to retreats, workshops. There is always something more for us to learn. I remember when my husband and I first got together when we were dating, I warned him. I said, honey, just so you know, I am a perpetual student. I'm always going to be wanting to take another class, another workshop, another training, and I've held true to that. I mean, I go to trainings every single year. I leave in a couple of weeks for another one, and it's because there is always something more to understand. And as our consciousness grows, as we meditate, as we expand our ability to receive new information, to look at things from a different level, well then, these workshops and these trainings, we get more out of them. I've had one of my mentors, dr Douglas. I've been working with him for over a decade now and I still get something profound every time I'm with him because I hear things on a different level. Now I understand what he is talking about on a different level and it's such a gift and it's something that we all want to look for. Is that ability to find people or different types of modalities or techniques or ideas that are going to help us grow and understand ourselves in a new, deeper, more meaningful way? Okay, enough about that, I'll get off my pedestal. Let's move on.

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Fourth, journaling. If you really want those insights to stick, journaling is one of the most effective tools. You know. Writing clarifies what you've learned and keeps insights, kind of, from fading from mind. You know, a powerful question you can ask yourself after you've had a big aha moment or a revelation is how am I going to take this insight and change how I speak, act or relate to others? That's a great one to journal about, because it turns that inner wisdom aha moment into outer transformation. Journaling also creates a personal map of your own growth. So when doubt creeps in, you're not sure how to continue. You don't remember how you dealt with something before. You can look back and see how far you've really come All right.

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Number five contemplation. This is another powerful skill for integration. This is not about overthinking or analyzing, so when I say contemplation, I'm not talking about, you know, mulling something over again and again and again. No, it's about shifting into a quiet, intuitive space where deeper understanding can emerge. In contemplation, you step back from your actions and simply witness them without judgment. This practice develops the capacity to observe your life with clarity and compassion, which is necessary for real transformation. But again, the real distinguishing element of contemplation is that you're looking at everything from an intuitive space, so it's not thinking or analyzing something, it's stepping into an intuitive place and receiving information in a way that your rational mind would not be able to figure out.

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Number six conscious reprogramming. So conscious reprogramming often involves using binaural beats or other relaxation methods to enter a deeply receptive state, and from there you can either follow a guided meditation, do a visualization practice or repeat affirming mantras that align with the new patterns you want to embody. If you do this over time, it can really help rewire old habits and install new, life-giving, supportive beliefs. It's a way of reinforcing your meditation insights so they don't just stay as ideas but actually reshape the way you think, feel and live All right. Number seven nervous system reset. I have said this before, I will say it again because it is worth emphasizing Helping your nervous system, your central nervous system, reset and stabilize, is a hugely important integration tool.

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So often people have a big insider breakthrough but they don't have the energy or bandwidth to follow it through to completion. Like, have you ever mapped out the perfect morning routine? But then you are so exhausted from anxiously staring at the ceiling and worrying about stuff all night long that when the alarm goes off, you immediately hit snooze. Our central nervous systems are stressed out. Guys, the world is nuts right now and regardless of the season of life you're in, I know that you have stressors, whether it's the kids or your 401k or school or taking care of aging parents. If you don't give your body a break, you will find it near impossible to hold the higher vibration you're going for.

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My personal favorites for calming the nervous system are craniosacral therapy and heart-based meditation, but there are so many other options. There is acupuncture, yoga, nidra, mindfulness practices, even simple breath work. You know anything that helps bring your central nervous system from that fight, flight, fawn, freeze response into the rest and digest into parasympathetic mode makes integration much more sustainable. Last one, number eight embodiment practices Alongside this central nervous system support.

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Embodiment is key for integration, just like the body keeps the score of trauma. As Bessel van der Kock says, insights need to land in the body too, not just stay in the mind. Practices like mindful walking, yoga, other forms of breath work, even slowing down while eating, help anchor shifts in the nervous system. You know, without embodiment, realizations stay abstract instead of really deeply transforming the way of being. And here's where intention matters.

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You know I have to laugh about things like wine, yassa. You know those like the yoga classes with wine. No, look, I am not against a glass of wine and a wine. Yassa class sounds great. But let's be real. Yoga is designed to clear and open your energetic channels, while alcohol often clouds and contracts them. It's not that you can't enjoy both by all means. Like you do, you have fun. But let's also be clear that what you're doing is essentially raising your vibration through the yoga and then promptly dumping all that pure energy out by drinking wine. Again, I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just saying like, let's be really open and honest with ourselves about what we are doing when we do it. And'm just saying like, let's be really open and honest with ourselves about what we are doing when we do it. And if you are purposely doing yoga, not just as exercise, but from the energetic side of things, acknowledging it as a form of integration and purification, then you know, make the choice that's appropriate for you.

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You know, when you practice embodiment, you allow insights to move from the level of like aha moment in the head into your muscles, your breath, your nervous system. This helps transform fleeting realizations into lasting change. All right, so that's a lot of options. That's eight options for you, with many sub options within them, and the truth is some are going to resonate more with you than others. Everyone's path is unique and yet in many ways it's also the same. We all need to remember compassion for ourselves as we learn and grow. You know, some insights will land immediately, while others they might take weeks or months or even years to fully stick.

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Like I mentioned last week, it's incredibly rare to be able to have a moment and see how we can do better and then instantly live it out perfectly from that day forward, real growth. It swings back and forth. It's easier in some situations than others. It swings back and forth. It's easier in some situations than others. That's why patience, compassion, self-forgiveness these things are essential when old patterns resurface. Integration is not about perfection. It's about allowing newfound wisdom to gradually infuse your everyday life.

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So here's my invitation for a moment of reflection today. Which of the practices I talked about do you already know work really well for you, and are there one or two you haven't tried yet that you can experiment with this week? So let's do just a quick review to refresh your memory. So the first one I talked about is cultivating the qualities of the heart, heart-centered living. The second community and connection. Three self-reflection and continued learning. Four journaling. Five contemplation. Six conscious reprogramming. Seven central nervous system reset. And eight embodiment through movement and breath work. Start with just one of these that you haven't tried before and see what happens. See if it shifts anything, because integration is what turns meditation from a temporary escape into lasting transformation. That is all for today.

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If this episode helped you, I'd love for you to share it with a friend who might need it too. And if you haven't already, make sure to follow Roots of the Rise so you'll have each new episode waiting for you Until next time. Remember, know who you are, love who you've been and be willing to do the work to become who you want to be. Just a quick reminder this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a licensed therapist and nothing shared here is meant to replace the guidance of a physician, therapist or any other qualified provider. Replace the guidance of a physician, therapist or any other qualified provider. That said, I hope it inspires you to grow, heal and seek the support you need to thrive.