Justin Michael Williams - Stay Woke

I am you.

You are me.

We are we.

I commit to thee.

This book is dedicated to my people.

We rise together.

contents

The guided practices in Stay Woke are available as free audio downloads at justinmichaelwilliams.com/staywoke.

IF YOU CAN WORRY, YOU CAN MEDITATE

W e close our eyes, and we can see a life we havent started living yet. We see the people we know we were put on this earth to beand we all know that we were born to do something incredible. We feel it inside. We can see the mother weve always wanted to be, the lover weve always wanted to be, the father, the entrepreneur, the dancer, the artist, the actor, the singer, the leader, and the relationship weve always wanted, the business idea we always think about. But we spend so much time sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the right moment. We sit, and we wait, because when we were younger, somebody told us, That dream you have is not for you. Its not for you because youre too fat, or too old, or too ugly, or too gay, youre not good enough, youre too skinny, too black, ormy favoritepeople like us just dont do that. Whatever. They told us we werent good enough, and we believed them.

I have a confession to make. This is not really a meditation book.

Yes, Im going to teach you everything you need to know about meditation, but if you came looking for your typical hippie-type Zen meditation book, youre in the wrong place.

This book is for people who are overwhelmed with obsessive thinking. For people who are dealing with so much anxiety and stress that they have trouble sleeping. For people who have felt ashamed, wounded, not good enough, silenced, or marginalized. For people who feel like theres something missing in their life but cant figure out what it is. This book will help you pinpoint that wound, heal it, and use it as fuel to live the life youve always dreamed of.

This book is about taking action.

This book is about getting rid of that stuck feeling thats been gnawing at the back of your mind for all these years.

But, most importantly, this book is for usfor the people.

For my black brothers and sisters, this is for you.

For my LGBTQIA+ brothers and sisters, this is for you.

For my women who have had enough, this is for you.

For my starving artists and workaholic creatives, this is for you.

For my conscious entrepreneurs who want to make an impact, this is for you.

For those who have been discriminated against for their otherness, this is for you.

For my social justice warriors, this is for you.

For my tree-loving planet savers, this is for you.

For all people of color and everyone who is woke enough to understand why Im pointing that out, this is for you.

Throughout my last decade of teaching yoga and meditation, Ive been blessed to work with thousands of people, of all types of backgrounds, from more than forty countries around the globe, and everyone says the same things: Ive tried meditation, but I can never stick with it, or I just cant get my mind to slow down, or I dont believe in meditiation. And I understand why.

Meditationat least the kind of meditation most of us have heard aboutstarted with a bunch of men who were monks, sitting in the forest. And to become a monk, you had to release and abandon your entire family, your friends, all of your internal desiressex, passion, intimacyand all of your emotions and needs, including hunger, thirst, and everything you loved. You had to renounce all of it, sit under a tree, and devote the rest of your life to spiritual practice to transcend the suffering of life. Sounds intense, right? It was. So intense that ancient monks had to use special techniques to help them totally abandon their worldly desires. The most powerful of these techniques? Meditation.

I need to break some news to you. We are not monks. We are modern people in a high-tech world. We have First World problems and shit to do. We have iPhones and social media, and we have emotions that keep us connected to our passions, dreams, and one another. We have relationships, kids, jobs, and long to-do lists. And if you grew up like meovercoming systemic oppression, homophobia, sexism, depression, poverty, toxic masculinity, community disempowerment, racism, and traumayou need a different type of meditation. One that doesnt pretend the struggle doesnt exist.

The reason why so many people try meditation and it doesnt stick is because theyre practicing the wrong kind of meditation, a kind based on renunciation. This makes meditation feel like doing a chore or even being punished. It can feel like your mind is going crazy with random thoughts and you have to force yourself to sit still and stop thinking. Sound familiar?

The style of meditation Im going to teach you in this book is the opposite of all of that.

And if youre someone who thinks you cant meditate because you cant get your mind to stop thinking, I got some news for ya:

If you can worry, you can meditate.

Worrying and meditation are essentially the same thing, except with worrying, you play out bad scenarios in your head over and over, continuing to return to them throughout your day. Meditation works exactly the same way: the trick is flipping the switch from fear to empowerment. When you worry, you let your thoughts control you; when you meditate, you take your power back.

Im sure youve heard about some of the benefits of meditation. It:

Reduces stress

Helps you sleep better

Fights off depression

Relieves anxiety

Improves your memory

Improves your focus

Makes you more productive

Boosts self-confidence

Combats prejudice

Enhances empathy

Helps with decision-making

Boosts your immune system

And thats just to name a few. A quick Google search will lead you to a plethora of studies done at major universities around the world highlighting the benefits meditation has on the body, mind, soul, and spirit.

Over the last several years, Ive been on a mission to take meditation out of the spiritual echo chamber and bring it to everyday people like you and me. I believe all people, of all backgrounds, deserve to have access to the truth. So I started asking big questions. How does meditation loosen the grip of our toxic habits, especially when it comes to things like porn, drugs, alcohol, social media, sex, and the incessant need for validation? How does it fit in if were stressed out, overwhelmed, stretched too thin, and dont have extra time? How does it help us get shit done? How does it impact social justice? Productivity? Relationships? Money? Trauma? Healing? Entrepreneurship? Creativity? How does it help us overcome the obstacles that hold us back from our inherent greatness? The answers to those questions gave birth to the style of meditation that Im going to teach you in this book.

Id like to introduce you to Freedom Meditation , a practice that connects us with the most powerful version of our own selvesthe Self thats deep down inside, untouched and unscathed by all the bullshit weve gathered over the yearsand sets it free.

LETS GIVE IT A TEST RUN. Place both hands over your heart and take three slow, deep breaths5 counts in and 5 counts out. Feel your chest rise and fall with each breath. Make sure you dont breathe too fast. Really slow it down5 long counts in, 5 long counts out. Notice how your entire body expands a little bit with each inhale and contracts and gets smaller with each exhale. After at least three breaths, keep a hand over your heart and answer these questions: Whats the