Mindfulness Meditation Podcast - Mindfulness Meditation with Michel Pascal 07/17/2025

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

The Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art presents a weekly meditation for beginners and skilled meditators alike. Each episode is inspired by a different work of art from the Museum’s collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher.The episode begins with an opening talk followed by a 20-minute meditation. In this episode, the guided meditation begins at 6:24. Teacher: Michel Pascal Theme: Joy Prayer Wheel; Tibet; 19th–20th century; wood, metal, and pigments; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; SC2019.32a-hLearn more about the Rubin’s work around the world at rubinmuseum.org.

Welcome to the Mindfulness Meditation Podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, a global museum dedicated to bringing greater awareness and understanding of Himalayan art to people around the world. I'm your host, Tashi Churden. Every Thursday, we offer a meditation session at New York Insight Meditation Center that draws inspiration from an artwork from the Rubin's collection and is led by a prominent meditation teacher. This podcast is a recording of our weekly in-person practice. The description of each episode includes information about the theme for that week's session and an image

of the related artwork. Our Mindfulness Meditation podcast is presented in partnership with Sharon Salzberg and teachers from the New York Insight Meditation Center, The Interdependence Project and Parabola Magazine, and supported by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. And now please enjoy your practice. Hello everybody, good afternoon and Tashi Delek. Welcome and welcome to the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Arts mindfulness meditation program here at this beautiful New York Insight Meditation Center.

I'm Tashi Chodun, Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, and I'm delighted to be a host today. So the Rubin is a global hub for Himalayan art, and we're so glad to have all of you join us for this weekly program where we combine art and meditation. Inspired by our collection, we will first take a deep look at the work of art we've chosen today. And we will hear a brief talk from amazing teacher, Michelle Pascal, who actually selected this beautiful art for today's session. And then he will guide us for meditation and chanting mantra for about 15 to 20 minutes. So let's take a look at today's theme and artwork. The artwork for today's session is this beautiful prayer wheel. In Tibetan it's called Manichokor. Kor means wheel.

This is origin from Tibet. It's later 19th to early 20th century. And this is a wood, metal and mineral pigments about 94 into 33 into 10 and a half inches and this is a ritual object. The connection to the theme as you see here it's a cylinder wheel on a spindle around as you can see in the square box. But inside there, there is a cylinder-like wheel. It's held on a central metal pole. And then if you look right on the bottom, there's a hole where the string goes and ties to the pole. And as you pull, the wheel spins and inside the wheel there is hundreds and

thousands of mantra that is rolled and kept upright and it's spun clockwise. There's a smaller wheel on top which is decorated with the Lenza scripture. Experts think that that may have been added much later. So you will see images of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. What I understand is that the mantra is om mani padme hum, which is the Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion mantra, often referred to as the sixth syllable. So the idea is the more you recite the mantra, the more the blessing or the good merit. In fact, I've heard a saying in Tibetan that ngakki nupa thang la yue, which I heard recently from an elder. What that means is that the power of the mantra is number of accumulation that each does.

So the blessing is that much more. So there are so many different types of prayer wheels. As you see this one, which I just read the size, but there is handheld prayer wheel as well. And then there are prayer wheels that is by the wind that blows. So this is just a glimpse of the prayer wheel that is spun and handheld prayer wheel. And then in the other hand, you see the prayer beads. Imagine the good merit and the karma accumulated through many different variations. But one of the key as a practitioner is to whatever number of blessings or karma

you accumulate from these mantras and recitation is to dedicate not just for oneself, but for all beings benefit. That is very important. It's not about I, me and myself, but it's for the benefit of all sentient beings. So let's bring on our teacher for today. Our teacher is Michel Pascal, a meditation teacher for 25 years,

has led successful programs for prisoners, which help prevent suicides and reduce reoffending. He's written 20 books on spirituality, including Meditation for Daily Stress, 10 practices for immediate well-being known as the Medicine Voice. He's performed at Carnegie Hall and played at the Peace Day Concert in Times Square in September 2023. In December 2023, he presented his method at the United Nations. Michelle, thank you so much for being here and please help me in welcoming Michel Pascal. And please help me in welcoming Michel Pascal.

And please help me in welcoming Michel Pascal. And please help me in welcoming Michel Pascal. As Tashi was explaining, the power of the mantra, Om Manipeme Hum, it's the power comes the more we repeat the mantra. What we name in a monastic life, the rumination, we ruminate the mantra. We try that every word enter in our soul and stay in our soul.

Om Mani Pemeum. O we are your will Oh do do do do do Omani, Pemaeum O Omani Pemeyon Omani Pemeyon Oh Omani pemeo Omani, Omani Pemeyo Omani P Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Oh Oh O Manny Pemeo O Manny Pemeo O Manny Pemeo In Tibetan, it means may all I can say today be full of love.

All I can think today be full of love all I can say All I can do All I can think be full of love Omani Pemeyo Omani Pemeyo Omani P bemeo.

Omani, bemeo. Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani pemeo Omani pemeo Omani pemeo Mani Pemeyo Oh Oh Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Omani, Remem-em-em O money, remember Omani pemeo Omani pemeo O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, O Manny, Amen. Om.

Om. Om. Om. Thank you so much. What's happening at the second we calm our mind? What's happening in one second. You will say one second it's nothing, but one second it's a lot of time. Many things happen in one second. And at the second you calm the mind. You really calm the mind. Immediately, you are less affected by your emotions. Immediately. Immediately, you dissolve your thoughts.

If you have preoccupation, pressure, sadness, every emotion suddenly is vanishing. You can have any trauma. You can have any problem in the past, in the present, you can have any emotion. At the second, you calm the mind. You vanish the emotions. Suddenly, as we say in Buddhism, you go back to your true nature. Your mind is pure. Our mind is pure.

But we forget our mind most of the time. Because we are stressed. But again, at the second you calm the mind, in one second you change your life. Imagine the benefit of one second very calm in every cell of your body. of your stomach. This is the reason why a lot of people have gastric reflux. You know in America one of the pills, the most successful, this is the pills for the gastric reflux. So you take the pills and it's true it calms the reflux.

But in reality the acidity stays in your body. The acidity stays in your oesophagus, stays in your stomach. And at the second you calm the mind, you modify the pH of your stomach. You modify the pH of your oesophagus. So immediately, every cell of your oesophagus, of your stomach, feels better. This is the same for the heart. When you are stressed, you compress your arteriouus. And you know, a doctor said to me yesterday that when they observe the heart of some young people, 20 years, with the stress that they have accumulated, their heart is like someone of 80 or 90 years, because the stress damages the arteri arteries around your heart.

Most of the time we say, I don't care, I am stress. That's life, everyone is stress. No, to be stress is not normal. To be stress is to be sick. Mentally, spiritually, physically. So when you come here, when you see the beauty that Tashi was showing to us in Ladakh, when we sing Om Mani Peme Hum, when Tashi just before you arrive puts a beautiful mantra on this table you feel, suddenly you go back to your true nature, you go back to your soul

if you know me I come from Buddhism and also from Christianity. And I will say something special. But for me, the original sin, this is to forget our ultimate nature. The original sin, it's not because you make love. The original sin, it's to forget our nature, to forget our soul. We forget. So when you go here, when we go in a special place where we can pray, meditate as we will do, imagine the benefit of every second of calmness in every cell of your body,

your heart, your stomach, your liver, your kidneys, your blood, your blood pressure. It's fascinating when you realize that every cell of your body is connected to the frontal cortex. It's like a SIM card, you know the size? It's like a thumb, like a SIM card in your phone. But every cells of our body is connected to this SIM card in our brain. So at the second we stress, we have toxic emotions. We critique. We judge.

Anxiety, anger, jealousy, et cetera. We send a poison to every cell of our body. And every day we calm the mind. Immediately we are more joyful. To finish, I will say to you that when we have mental fatigue, for example, because we live in a, there is some noise in the street. So it creates a lot of mental fatigue.

But we can be in the middle of this chaos and be very calm. Me, I moved back to New York since two months. Day by day, I am more calm. New York helped me to be more calm, to think deeper, to think differently. Because the more I see the stress, the chaos, the more I realize there is the peace in my heart. We are free. There is the world outside, but we have a world inside. So I will guide a special meditation today

to meditate like a dolphin. One day I was with my Rinpoche, Chepa Dorje Rinpoche. And Rinpoche one day said, you see, Michel, there is the world outside. The noises, the stress, the tension. But you have a world inside, inside. How to go from the world outside to the world inside. And during many years, I was looking for the metaphor.

How can we adapt that in a practice? And during many years I say, oh I keep this teaching of Rinpoche, but how can we adapt that on a practical way? And one day in Santa Monica, in Los Angeles, I was swimming and there is a dolphin, a huge dolphin just close to me. Wow! Wow! And he smiled! You know the dolphins they smile and I saw this big guy diving. This is it! Because the waves of the ocean for me became the symbol of our emotions. Our emotions are like waves, they move all the time. But we can dive inside! So there is the world outside the waves,

but there is the world inside. So let's meditate like a dolphin together. And we close our eyes. We are sitting down in a comfortable position, like we are at the surface of the life, the surface of the waves, and we listen to New York City. We cannot stop the sounds of New York. We cannot stop the waves of the life. But we can dive like a dolphin.

So we visualize the ocean, the waves of the ocean, like the waves of our emotions, we breathe in like a dolphin, and we dive like a dolphin. And immediately we are in the peace of the ocean, the peace of the fishes, the peace of our ultimate nature. It's amazing to dive inside of us in the peace of the ocean, the peace of the ocean, the peace of our soul, the peace of our ultimate nature. Let's do it again. We go back at the surface of the waves, the surface of the emotions, you see the waves, we breathe in like a dolphin

and we dive! You feel the peace of the ocean, the peace of our soul. One second. Two seconds. 2 seconds 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 in the peace of our soul, the peace of our ultimate nature. And when we are in the peace of the ocean, the peace of our soul,

we can listen the chanting of the dolphins Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do You feel the peace inside of you. we can meditate like a dolphin and we open our eyes It's good, huh? Shhh. To calm the mind, it's really a miracle. This is the awakening. We go back home. Home, Michelle, for reminding us all that we all have the basic goodness, the innate basic goodness, the wisdom that is within each of us.

And thank you for illuminating that with your beautiful chanting on the sixth syllable, Om Mani Padme Hum. That concludes this week's practice. To support the Rubin and this meditation series, we invite you to become a friend of the Rubin at rubinmuseum.org slash friends. If you are looking for more inspiring content, please check out our other podcast, Awaken, which uses art to explore the dynamic paths

to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. Season four, hosted by Isabella Rossellini, delves into the Buddhist concept of attachment and explores how the practice of letting go can transform our experience of the world. Available wherever you listen to podcasts. And to learn more about the Rubin Museum's work around the world, visit rubinmuseum.org. visit rubinmuseum.org. Thank you for listening. Have a mindful day.