i want to live an intentional life
although it's hard to know how to do
that sometimes without getting swept up
in our fast-moving world
the best way to figure out the kind of
life that you want to live i have found
is by trying things out so i decided to
perform a little experiment
in episode 6 of my series stepping into
the lives of the people that i admire i
decided to try living like the dalai
lama a man who embodies childlike joy
despite all the challenges that he has
faced
love and compassion are necessities not
luxuries without them humanity cannot
survive
those are words from the man that is the
spiritual leader of the tibetan people
and a refugee that lives in india
the name dalai lama comes from the
mangolic word dale which means ocean or
big
and the tibetan word
meaning master or guru
he champions compassion and works
tirelessly towards a more peaceful world
this is my experience living like the
dalai lama
[Music]
we just made it out here up in the
mountains in austria it's super
beautiful there's a gorgeous town down
below the sun's setting already i can
feel the energy
coming down that's totally i think the
point of this it's about learning about
the art of slow living i suppose i think
i'm only going to realize how hard it is
actually tomorrow morning when i'm
waking up at three to start to get into
that rhythm we're gonna quickly just
sort of try to end the day it's so
beautiful wow and hopefully we'll be
rested enough for things
come tomorrow morning there's something
magical about this the air so fresh
and crisp feels outside of my comfort
zone it feels like an adventure so
um i'm excited i'm already shivering a
little bit
here's a breakdown of the dalai lama's
daily routine 3am wake up shower prayers
meditations prostrations
[Music]
the world is still sleeping
it is 3 30 in the morning taking a few
minutes to get up get dressed wash my
face stretch a little bit and now it's
time to begin meditating it's a bit
difficult to speak this early in the day
but i'm excited to begin meditating
[Music]
since we are dealing with
emotions
so the best method to deal with that is
so called meditation
not for next life not for heaven
but this is for day-to-day's well-being
how do you feel
i really needed back support
it was good though
5am short walk around residence
this is insane
this is so much snow if raining we'll
use treadmill we haven't really followed
that advice here it's snowing like crazy
here
i gotta say my brain is barely barely
working right now waking up this early
is difficult i think the cold air is
helping me wake up a little bit all this
is making me realize is how much
discipline is required to be able to
maintain this rhythm we all like the
idea of doing this kind of thing but
actually doing it is so much more
difficult so when we got in here last
night there was already some snow for
sure but
so much has come in overnight it's like
a completely different landscape how
many inches of snow is this look at that
dude i love austria the nature here is
unbelievable
5 30 a.m breakfast which is often
porridge in sanpa it doesn't get more to
bed than sappa by the way which is a
staple of the tibetan diet and made from
roasted flour
it's eaten in dozens of different ways
pretty good
wheat barley kind of tastings actually
pretty nice it's really healthy for you
6 a.m continues morning meditations and
prayers
so i was able to meditate another half
an hour so an hour and a half already
today
but i'm just nodding off
so i think i'm going to take a little
nap
i don't consider that cheating
and i think that will actually help me
be able to
meditate a lot more for the rest of the
day because right now it's just
it doesn't feel like meditation so i
think
this is a bit of a transition into
things so i feel okay with my decision
here at 9am he would study buddhist
texts and commentaries written by
buddhist masters
at 11 30 is lunch
this is hilarious and very random in my
opinion but
i'm having
noodle soup because apparently the dalai
lama loved noodle soup and this is my
last meal of the day there's no dinner
he wouldn't eat dinner so i'm gonna eat
as much as i possibly can of this in the
hopes that i won't be starving before i
go to bed he goes to bed early so i
don't think it'll be too bad 12 30
visits his office conducts interviews
gets his work done
i'm not gonna lie today has been
really hard
this was
a lot more challenging than i was
expecting it to be it's just difficult
to transition from
very fast living
big cities
sped up constant notifications dopamine
etc to slowing down
3 30 to 5 pm is a gap
some of his favorite hobbies include
repairing watches and gardening
5 pm is evening tea because he doesn't
eat dinner and that is followed by more
meditations and prayers and then at 7 pm
his day comes to a close
this evening i'm going to do the evening
meditation that the dalai lama always
does go to bed hopefully even before 7pm
get a good night's sleep
and
throw everything i've got at this
tomorrow
i want to briefly explain what tibetan
buddhist prostrations are because you
might not have ever heard of them
it's basically a series of poses that
you do that illustrate reverence to what
is known as the triple gem which is a
reference to the buddha the enlightened
one the dharma which are the teachings
of the buddha and the sangha which is
the monastic order that follows these
teachings
faithful buddhists are apparently
supposed to do this 100 000 times over
the course of their lifetime before i go
to bed i'm going to do 108 of these
because 108 is a number that has
enormous significance in tibetan culture
it represents the kangur which is the
word of the buddha a loosely defined
collection of sacred texts
my first day of doing this routine was a
huge struggle without sleep i find it
hard to focus and be present
interestingly the dalai lama also
believes greatly in the importance of
sleep getting eight or nine hours a
night sleep is the most common
meditation for everyone even for birds
the most important meditation
not for nirvana but for survival
i still had high hopes that i would get
into the flow of things but the journey
inward it would seem would take more
time
before i go any further into this video
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video alright let's dive back in
i feel like we're really starting to get
into the flow of things we're about to
do two hours of meditation i did some
prostrations already today
i feel like waking up this early is
becoming a little bit easier today feels
like
nothing like yesterday i'm actually very
excited to go inwards and see what this
meditation
reveals
in a world of instant feedback and
gratification it's things like
meditation that help me feel grounded
there's hardly anything that is more
important to me than this time for
self-observation which is a real chance
to learn about myself and what i like to
call my internal universe an enormous
place where everything beneath the
surface is happening
if i forget to check in with that place
i often end up feeling lost and
disconnected from myself
i really enjoyed that slowing down and
exploring a little bit more my internal
universe but very difficult as well when
you're not used to sitting down and
being still for that period of time even
just the physical element it's like it
your body gets achy and you get really
cold and whatnot this was the first time
that it felt like since starting this
whole experiment that i was able to like
be reflective on
my life and in my body and
it made me realize how little i do that
feels a little bit like a reset and
really an amazing way to start the day
it's cool it's only what time is it six
oh my god
in 1989 the dalai lama was awarded the
nobel peace prize for his work
advocating non-violent means to free
tibet from china
to me he is a reminder of the true
impact one single person can have when
you commit to something he provides an
example that we can all follow in
simpler ways than we may even realize i
want to offer a tibetan buddhist
meditation technique that i find really
beautiful that i think anybody can do
that's called tong len
but before i do i want to provide a
little bit more context on the core
principles of tibetan buddhism something
that you see come up all the time any
text any sort of interpretation is this
idea of compassion clearly illustrated
in a very popular mantra which goes
which translates to
the jewel located in the center of the
lotus the jewel being compassion and the
lotus being the heart the practice of
tongue line can be boiled down to this
idea of
breathing in suffering
and breathing out compassion so you
visualize somebody that you love or feel
neutrally towards or even dislike you're
breathing in their suffering
they often describe this as like the
visual of black smoke
and you breathe out compassion for me
personally when i'm able to get past my
feelings of envy and jealousy and
whatever else that is kind of boiling up
and i'm able to replace that with
compassion and a feeling of love towards
others my own life becomes a lot more
beautiful as well and so you can apply
this idea of tong len to the world you
can breathe in the suffering of the
world and breathe out compassion for the
world and it's
for
things like this that i think
tibetan buddhism is really special
and why i think the dalai lama is a
unique world leader this is the kind of
thing that i would love
more world leaders to embody right not
like the corrupt politicians that are
everywhere
okay so i'm going to read a few buddhist
texts uh right now i know that sounds a
little bit weird and random but this is
actually something that i do from time
to time and i think there's something
really valuable about sitting down and
taking these words of wisdom in in many
ways i think there's similarities across
religions in this way right this is why
a lot of people sit and read the bible
or the torah or the quran
it quickly became obvious to me that
this is not really a daily routine to
follow for a few days or weeks it's a
lifestyle
it's a mindset that can be applied to
anything no matter what your life looks
like where you live or who you are
does the art of living slowly
intentionally and joyously belong only
to buddhist monks i don't think so
i think that life awaits all of us every
day in every moment
i think the question is and always has
been
where will you choose to focus your
attention
[Music]
[Laughter]
how was the meditation that's nice dude
it's so nice to meditate outside
i decided to try adapting the schedule
in ways that could make it feel a little
bit more accessible to anyone who wants
to try maintaining the core principles
but also continuing to live a life that
feels like it's mine
so i'm in salzburg now staying with a
few friends and i woke up around 6 15 6
30 to go walk into the forest and do a
walking meditation
the sun hasn't even yet risen yet it's
very peaceful outside and i'm very
excited to do this
walking the quiet streets of salzburg i
was struck by how a simple morning walk
could make me feel so alive sometimes i
get scared by how fast life moves but
this helped me remember that i have some
control over that by bringing more
intention to whatever i'm doing
it doesn't have to be a precise
rigid schedule but i do think that
my takeaways from doing the dalai lama's
routine are
that mindfulness is at the center of
everything that you do
so there are regular pauses to go on
walks to meditate to breathe to recenter
to practice things like tong len i'm
just trying to listen to my body and
take the day at a slower pace
there's
impulse to go quickly and to rush
through things
but
there's no need isn't it interesting how
you said before um let's go to a quieter
spot and i want to do the morning like
walk with 10 steps forward 10 steps
backwards so i don't get distracted by
the surroundings do you want to bring
yourself into a more secure spot to be
able to meditate better i think it helps
make the meditation a bit easier
i will admit walking up here this is
extraordinarily beautiful i was so
amazed by the beauty of salzburg that i
was a bit distracted
and not as mindful in my body so it's
helpful to go somewhere a little bit
more peaceful
but no in truth i think it doesn't
matter what you do really anything can
be a meditation
and
that is something that i think the dalai
lama illustrates
this experiment showed me how much
beauty there is all around us if we just
slow down to take it in
it takes effort but it's worth it
you