Meditation Could SOLVE Asian Problems

can mindfulness meditation a practice originally from Asia help asian-americans in the largest issues that they face today I am with a meditation coach a professional Tim hang a certified meditation teacher personal meditation coach and occupational therapist and Tim you have been a Trailblazer in bringing secular mindfulness meditation to NYC public schools which is interesting and you're empowering students of all kinds especially ones with autism and ADHD so thank you Tim for being here oh thank you so much Andrew for having me here I'm really soaked to be talking about this topic and uh you know talking about meditation and how can help asian-americans right and even initially like even though meditation comes from Asia from Buddhist practices uh and a lot of Asians actually are Buddhists I feel like a lot of Asians actually don't practice meditation unless they think like oh I got to be like a monk do I got to shave my head you know uh to just do meditation and I think uh Med the talk of Med has become so much more mainstream now but a lot of people forget it actually comes from Asia so maybe this is one of those Asian things that asian-americans are forgetting about yeah no I I think it's that that's a great point in terms of like uh you know a lot of people have feel like there's barriers to meditation like do I have to be a monk do I have to dress a certain way but do you have to be mystical are you like going to take your brain to a higher level and all that stuff yeah yeah yeah right exactly but at the same time like a lot of my work is like making meditation accessible like what are we actually doing how we can how it's uh can improve our lives and how we can implement it in our lives to make us better people yeah good and and obviously there's uh we know that there's a mental health stigma amongst asian-americans at least especially about talking about it and so that's why we're addressing the five main uh kind of mental health I guess mental Wellness things that Asians face in America um so yeah everybody please hit that like button check out other episodes of the hop hop boys hopefully this uh is found useful for you and you enjoy this talk so I'm going to go through the list real quick and then we'll knock them down one by one uh suicide unal living yourself is an issue amongst young asian-americans as we're going to talk about and as people may have heard uh depression uh not feeling like they belong there's of course generational issues we have parents from another country there's cultural uh uh culture shock and that and and um also you know feeling like an immigrant and then also just battling ster types and media perception you know and how that all um impacts Asians and I guess I want to touch on and I'm sure this video could be so much longer but I want to touch on how meditation can help all that so I guess uh people always hear you know the line 15 to 24 year old asian-americans the number one leading cause of death is suicide which is interesting because it's not the case for other races of kids other races of kids black or white maybe the homicide overdoses and accidents are more prevalent but for us as Asians as young Asians uh well I'm outside of this R age range now but it's that internal battle it feels like you know oh absolutely 100% I can totally relate to that in my own experience yeah I dealt with a decent amount of uh depression and anxiety uh growing up feeling alienated as an Asian-American and that's why uh I mean mental uh meditation was like is is what helped me transform and break through a lot of that and understand my emotions and understand that these emotions are really just fleeting they're always just coming and going and then I I learned to take a different perspective on these uh on these emotions and these these really strong uh emotions that were like just uh gripping me so I you know I'd love to is it kind of like and obviously you know people un alive themselves for so many different reasons and and you know it's so tragic and it's hard to stop but I guess you would say that in short If people could sit down it and and meditate when they're starting to have these feelings that it would it would help them yeah absolutely a big part of meditation is really just okay let me just feel this let me sit sit and uh kind of just lean into this a little bit notice it and when she start noticing and start naming what what is happening as it's happening you you take it less personally and you don't get so like uh wrapped up in it and it like feels so solid and it feels like it's going to last forever like this Panic or like depression but meditation helps you actually just focus on it and then actually see it for what it is and then you get some space from it and then you can kind of just um work with it in in a way and get some understanding so I think that's um for me that's like that was everything for me right yeah and then I I think also like obviously uh a lot of this stuff does stem from not feeling like they belong like there's statistics saying that only 38% % of asian-americans feel like they belong in America and these are probably young asian-americans um yeah and like that's that's CRA that's the lowest of any ethnic group in America that we Asians feel like they belong the least now is it maybe because there are actual language barriers that a lot of uh Asians if you come from Asia and you immigrate to America you don't feel like you belong blah blah but I also think it's like it also ties to the media perception and and everything like that um let's talk about like Asian males the the issues that you know we're two Asian guys and of course there's plenty of issues that Asian women and Asian men both face but I think like on the Asian male side I guess there's certain kind of interesting stats that we were talking about earlier that that are somewhat startling right that would lead you to believe like yo Asian dudes might really need to meditate yeah actually yeah we were just looking at a study uh that talked about how um Asian born uh us-born Asian-American Men actually have uh increased risk of substance abuse and to me I mean that that actually speaks a lot to me to my own experience that's us we're American Born Asians right 100% yeah and uh we're at the highest risk of substance abuse yeah and you know and it makes a lot of sense because a lot of Asian men including myself feel like uh we might feel like kind of othered or not not seen in in Media or just at work or or maybe we're um taught to like suppress our emotions and just like keep powering through and not be vulnerable too and meditation really is like this act of being vulnerable with yourself right it's like meditation you'd want that ideally to be like the anti-drug but a lot of people do lead to substances alcohol to you drink your sorrows away you're looking for Community maybe you go to the bar you're just drinking away at home just to kind of like suppress these feelings and then you may go on other substance 100% And you suppress it and you end up not even addressing the the root cause the issue yeah I mean I think like obviously when you see a stat like that that Asian American Born Asian men are the most likely of Asians to uh abuse substances I think like even though that's a headline and there's probably a lot more to that you have to like that's interesting yeah it opens up a lot of questions oh shoot um yeah I mean there 's uh there's even differences between uh genders there is this one report that said um there's evidence that Chinese and Vietnamese males have more alcohol problems than Chinese and Vietnamese females or that what was it that um Asian born immigrant women have the lowest likelihood of substance abuse like kind of like our moms yeah exactly yeah I would say generally moms immigrant moms are not usually going to abuse substances or worried about the family we about raising the kids but often times it's it's more on the on the male side right so yeah males yeah we're facing there's issues there yeah absolutely and and then the other I guess touching upon one other issue is just like this feeling of tension because the uh because we're American Born there's that tension of like am I you know Western am I Eastern like where do I fit into into society and there's just like I know being emasculated or feeling like letting that uh internalize you even if I think sometimes people I don't know if if this is a stat that you came across but I heard from one of those experts on a podcast that like most people they their trauma or whatever little whether it's a lot or a little they usually amplify it in their mind like they remember it as much worse than it maybe actually was yeah yeah that's interesting yeah yeah but anyways I guess let's talk about like how can meditation and what type of meditation particularly because there's different yeah like I don't want to say strains of meditation but there's different uh's different prac styles different practices of meditation which one are you teaching and why do you think that's the best one yeah I'm I'm trained in mindfulness meditation but I'm kind of like a polyglot meaning like I study and I've studied and practiced so many different traditions and types I um the main one I teach is uh mindfulness meditation okay how is what just describe mindfulness meditation cuz that's kind of the mainstream one right people are doing so I guess describe it yeah so mindful what do you what do you do you sure yeah yeah so what you do is um well what it is it's a sustained present moment awareness uh and it's it's this openness it's this curiosity and this kind of like this kindness to whatever you're experiencing at that moment and it's the training of it and the meditation is the actual training of that to be open to what you're experiencing uh moment after moment how do you like what are some of the things you would like say to yourself to be open what does it mean to be open to be really curious and like see things like a uh for the first time it's almost like okay I'm going to be open to what it feels like to sit in this chair I'm going to be open to what I'm thinking about just curiously open and I'm going to open and like not reacting not being oh my gosh if this thought comes in my brain cuz you know sometimes you're sitting there and there's like weird thoughts or maybe sexual thoughts just come into your brain and then you're like like yeah no exactly it's it's the sense that's where you're touching on this skill called equinity and acceptance equinity is like this weird word um but what it really means is I'm going to accept whatever is in my experience without wanting to change it or try to alter it and and you're going to accept your situation and that right there is like that's so key because it's just it feels like H such a relief to just like I'm just going to accept whatever is here so is mindfulness meditation when you're coaching people what does this session we don't have to pull off an entire session right now but what does it look like am I closing my eyes or am I just like literally just trying to breathe like it's almost that simple like yeah yeah so a a seated practice right uh T typically um it's all of it's it's all pretty much you can alter it you can make it make it your own so eyes closed that's how I like to do it eyes closed you can do it eyes open too you're usually picking one spot uh to focus your attention on what it's usually the breath is most commonly taught feeling of the breath and then or sounds and you're literally just putting your attention on some sensation of your experience and when it drifts away into thought or Drift Away into an emotion you kind of just notice it note it and then you just come back to whatever you're focusing on like the breath okay yeah so I you know I'm sure that we could delve into even more Nuance of it but I guess I want to talk about like what is meditation supposed to do and how can it help like Asians Asian Guys these we these issues that we're talking about yeah on like these are serious stuff un living uh not feeling like you belong uh substance abuse yeah I guess uh what are some things that meditation does for that when you're practicing it because it still takes practice yes yeah absolutely yeah so good question so what is actually the thing what are we doing in meditation well we're building our concentration we're building our Clarity our ability to feel our situation we're we're building our ability to accept whatever is here and what does that what does that do well number one it reduces stress so like um your ability to calm your nervous system by doing this practice over and over again just coming back to the present moment you can so like kind of being in control of able to calm yourself yeah that's even an aspect of meditation it doesn't mean that just is it is it like do you think people have actually meditated in their life and they didn't even know it oh 100% yeah you hear this a lot with athletes for instance uh or people just doing uh uh housework you know they just feel like you know they're um they're not in their head so meditation teaches you to disembed from your thoughts and the studies show that the more in your thought you are the the more neurotic the Le lower your mood right that's what it kind of means to be in your thoughts uh I guess like is could you describe it as like the art of not being stressed out um yeah that's that's I I like that I like that framing um it's definitely an antidote to stress and at the same time like you're you're actually meeting your stress in the same in a way so like it's not that you're never going to get stress but how can I like work with it in a way oh is it like hey stress I'm seeing you I'm meeting you I'm feeling you I'm talking to you right now I acknowledge you're there yeah there's a sense of you're not you're not like coming at me I'm able to keep you and like yeah control where okay what about like uh I I think obviously like when it comes to not feeling belonging or being emasculated as Asian guys like confidence is a big part how does it help confidence yeah so good great question so uh how it helps with that is you can see kind of the narratives and the stories that are playing in real time when you're meditating or when you're off the cushion you can see it for when it's happening in real time you acknowledge it you know you just say you know just say hi to it but at the same time then you can disentangle yourself from that as soon as you notice you're caught in the spell of like um uh having lack of confidence or having low self-esteem you can see that and then you can start to replace it with what you want to uh actually feel more of like more joy or gratitude or maybe you know well um yeah kind of just thinking of ways of being able to work with these things and then finding a different path so getting some space from it okay can can we get uh give me can you give me an example like if let's say uh I'm an Asian guy I feel like I lack confidence because I've been told I'm short I'm not that goodlook and uh I don't know if my my we we is very big mhm right and these are all things that these are real feelings for like any guy right but we're just talking about agent guys uh that's that's what you're told so I guess like what's what's maybe one thing that you might want to tell yourself if you're this guy or like you know I guess do yeah you you can ask yourself is this true is this true true you know you can notice it what is happening what is the story I'm telling about is it like a you know and and that leads you to think well who said it's true and why is it supposedly true exactly right and then you can also just turn you can find a way to kind of just slowly not tell yourself a different story so you notice it in real time that's happening oh you know um you know uh Asian men are a weak or whatever that's a narrative that's a story and then I'm seeing it happen play out and then I can just like like I can redirect my attention somewhere else I can feel my my body sitting in chair it's almost like you play the story out in your mind and it's a story that you told yourself or other people told you yeah but at the end of the day you can tell yourself a different story exactly you can tell yourself a different story and you can turn away from it you can learn to turn away so is that also how I guess mindfulness meditation can give you I guess the strength or the confidence to act on the change because I think like there's always a disconnect between thinking about your ISS issue yeah and people was like oh I can describe my issue but I can't muster up the energy and the fortitude to go out and actually start working out start doing this start doing my hair start like doing the things that would make me more confident 100% like you can so what I just thought of like this Narrative of self-pity when you see it playing out you can ask yourself like is this helpful is this helpful right now and how many times am I going to tell the story you know so it's just like right because you it's like saying yo I'm in control of what movies we watch at this theater how many times do I want to keep replaying this Saab story to myself exactly how I can play any movie I want technically right yeah exactly no I mean within reason but yeah you can tell yourself any story but like probably you want a good reasonable story but like exactly you can change the channel that's what it is you can pause and you can change the channel let me let me look up let me watch it different movie or let me turn to a different song yeah you're like why do I keep watching this YouTube video on Loop yeah it's like watching the same like you're nothing yeah you're not a man and then you're just like okay that's cool but like am I going to watch this a hundred times like yeah exactly and you're and you start realizing you get disenchanted with it you're like H let me let this go right it's like you're carrying this in your backpack like all the the time the weight of this and then you're just like meditation can help you realize that and and let it go and just release he what about uh I I guess it's also from Asia it's from Buddhism Buddhism comes from South Asia between like Nepal India that area uh came over to East Asia obviously has had a huge impact on the world um I think people forget that it's Asian yeah that's funny yeah that's a that's a good point in America for sure uh it can get uh kind of confused uh it's confusing because um there 's this whole talk it's it's debatable right now about how you know secular mindfulness is really for mostly for uh White converts for for for uh and you talking about like the the guys with the ponytails that can sit crisscross and they're like yeah they're like I'm a mindfulness teacher right ex but they don't mention Buddha ever right well yeah so there is that there's a secular secularization of meditation which um which is very very controversial because they believe that it's being appropriated from Asian roots and there's another movement um there's a small corner of the internet that of it's they're called like angry Asian Buddhists who actually are angry that like there's no representation of uh asian-americans in the Buddhist scene most of the most of the books are being written by uh White converts and most most of the most famous teachers are white as well so there is there is this movement of of of people kind of saying like yeah what's up with this you know are there I guess my question would be are there Gatekeepers that are stopping Asians from yeah rising up to that level and maybe do we need to support other Asians who are at least trying to represent in their own way you know anyways I think that's a larger conversation um but I guess like yeah I think when you describe it the way you did it almost just feels like yeah you can boil it down to mindfulness you know like before the word meditation was tacked on to it it's like hey just be mind and just like think about yourself and tell yourself a different story and that sounds like you said so non- mystical non- Buddhist you're like you know you're not doing a a a humming group you're not even doing the Tibetan bolts you have there you can pick them up yeah pick up that you brought them just do it just do it can we do it yeah see dude real meditation right here but yeah I mean I think that uh overall a lot of people use meditation in different ways you know I've heard everything from top athletes and Navy Seals they do their version but they don't call it Buddhist Meditation but anyways I definitely I didn't want to do this video because I I I generally just think like I'm not saying like everybody needs to even be Buddhist because um no you have people have their own religious beliefs that's fine but no matter what I feel like religion background you come from even if you're a non-believer of anything that this can benefit you yeah because it's actually just you understanding yourself MH and controlling your that story that you tell yourself and getting out of that and like you said meeting your stress head on yeah it's building emotional intelligence it's uh it's helping you deal with stress um and there is this whole Rich you know spiritual tradition there is this mystical and esoteric uh part of it of like understanding like you know um interdependence and things like that and there's an ethical conduct to it but meditation has been kind of separated and like as a skills training so you know you can legitimately think of it as a technique you know as well and it's part of a broader religious and spiritual tradition I heard some people try to like they say oh it's like breath work or like I guess if you want to use that term if you don't even want to say meditation maybe there's sort of like different names for the mindfulness meditation I suppose but right exactly yeah well uh no I'm glad that we talked about this you know we just want to acknowledge a lot of the issues that Asians are going through especially mentally um because obviously Asians are very hardworking High achieving very enterprising people we own so many business so many llc's are owned by Chinese uh I mean Asians in general and so uh but yeah one thing that we don't maybe we forgot about or even like other people who come from Buddhist families I have friends who come from Buddhist families but they as far as I know they don't meditate so yeah hey bringing back the meditation yeah that's right all right everybody uh thank you so much for watching that check out Tim's links down below um I'm going to do another video with him but uh yeah check out his links uh bombard him with direct messages yeah please ask me reach out to me if you have any questions on meditation happy to talk thank you so much Andrew for having me on all right all right everybody hit that like button click subscribe and until next time I'm out peace