Meditation Club

The Master CraneA visualization of the breath.In this Meditation Club session, I guide you through a simple but powerful visualization practice I call The Master Crane.We turn the breath into wings.On the inhale, the crane lifts.On the exhale, the wings fall.From there, we explore what happens when the mind drifts — and instead of fighting our thoughts, we give them form.Elephants for creative ideas.Bulls for urgency and self-criticism.Buffalo for work and obligation.Bears for big emotions.This practice isn’t about suppressing thinking. It’s about sovereignty.When thoughts remain unnamed, they run us. When we see them clearly, we don’t have to obey them.This episode is about learning to notice without chasing, to name without judging, and to return — again and again — to the present moment.The crane keeps moving.Up. Down. In. Out.If this practice supports you, share it with someone who could use a little more sovereignty in their day.And remember:The hook that has no face or name becomes your master. Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Meditation Startup Kit, Shabazz Larkin shares a beginner-friendly approach to meditation for people who’ve been told they “can’t sit still.”This isn’t about mastering stillness. It’s about permission.Drawing from personal experience with ADHD, busy life rhythms, and real-world responsibilities, this episode breaks meditation down into something practical, accessible, and honest.In this episode:Why five minutes is enough to beginGiving yourself permission to sitHow to use a timer so your mind can restWhy posture matters less than balanceA simple breath practice anyone can doLetting meditation feel good without guiltThis is meditation for real life. Loud minds welcome.Stay tuned for Part Two. Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe

The Five Daily Remembrances taught by the Buddha.I say them like this:1. We all will grow old.2. We all will have ill health.3. We all will die.4. There’s nothing we can do to keep what we love from separating from us.5. The only thing that we truly own is our actions.Contemplating on these things are both, somewhat morbid and completely liberating.The Buddha was always teaching about non-attachment to stuff. So much so, he required his Bhikkhu disciples to shave their hair, eat one meal a day and give up sex, owning anything, having a home and eating more than once a day. Extreme much.(side note: he was known as the least strict spiritual teacher of his day - lol)So it’s important to take note whenever he talks to lay practitioners - cause you know… a brother’s gotta eat. On this day, he was talking to a king that was aging and worrying about what would happen with his kingdom, here’s a paraphrase of how it went down.He said:Imagine four massive mountains were closing in on you and all you love. They are coming toward your kingdom from all directions. They are headed for your people, your family, your homes, your food and you.Not armies, not hills. Mountains.Mountains so big nothing could stop them.They’re crushing villages, people, animals and all. Everything in their path.No army can hold them back. No money can bribe them. No bombs. No pleading, no democracy, no strategy works—nothing will stop them.What would you do? He asked.The king said - in essence,There wouldn’t be much to do except live well.Live in peace. Live well. Be good to those around me.And enjoy what’s left.The Buddha replied,Those mountains are already coming.They are:Aging.Illness.Death.And losing everything we love.They’re closing in on all of us.Kings included.Sit with that for a second.There is nothing we can do to hold off these mountains.I think the point of the story and these great remembrances is that anxiety is here, yes. Danger is here, yes. Hard times are coming, yes. But what we have left is what we have left.Enjoy it.Why waste time trying to hold onto my youth? Why waste time arguing with those that don’t want me? Why continue to grieve a love that is lost? Why waste time quivering about the pain in my foot, and grieving the foot I used to have?Care for the pain. Heal to the health that is still possible. Love this body. This Foot. This life. This middle-aged madman. These two kids. This three-story house. This small circle of friends and family.If my only possessions are my actions, I want to own treasures of love, kindness, bravery in the face of oppression, stillness in the face of hustle and recovery in the face of addiction.I’ll stand ten toes on that dharma.PS. I was writing this post, when my sons challenged me to make an animation in three hours. Just as I was about to tell them to ‘scram,’ I thought I’d take the opportunity to make the Pixar-worthy animation above, telling of the story.The Path of Shabazz is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support this work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.PS-PS.For those that find themselves alone on Valentines Day, I just released a song about the joy and pain of being home by yourself, for yourself, with yourself, to yourself. Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe

The Long Way to Peace — Show NotesThis reflection explores how meditation shifted for me once it met the Dharma.What began as a practice focused on calm, serenity, and stress relief evolved into something more demanding and more honest: a way of learning how to stay present with fear, discomfort, and uncertainty instead of escaping them.I reflect on how many modern mental health and wellness practices draw directly from Buddhist teachings, often without naming their lineage, and why that matters. The piece looks at the difference between relaxation and awakening, shortcuts to peace versus the long road, and what happens when practice moves beyond comfort.Using the image of Batman descending into the cave of bats, I describe how real insight comes not from perfect conditions, but from standing still in the places we want to flee.This is a meditation on Dharma, bodhicitta, and learning to be flexible rather than brittle—on the cushion and in everyday life.Themes: meditation, Dharma, Buddhist lineage, mental health, fear, presence, bodhicittaTone: reflective, grounded, uncompromisingFor listeners: best experienced slowly, like a long walk rather than a quick fix Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve been practicing meditation for around 3,000 days now.That number still surprises me as I say it.Over that time, I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve seen new angles to see the world. New ways of understanding what this spiritual life even is. Things I honestly didn’t think were available to me.But when I first started, I couldn’t sit still for two minutes. Not exaggerating.Two minutes felt impossible. And for most, it’s harder than it sounds. Maybe it was my ADHD. Maybe my dis-regulated nervous system or my stressful career path was to blame.I didn’t believe I was built for meditation. I thought it was for calmer people. Quieter people. People with less going on. For caucasian people or Asian people. But not me.And on top of that, I didn’t know of anyone that spoke like a normal human being, that could tell me how. Or why, someone even needed to sit quietly and focus on their breath, or if I was doing it right.All I had was a documentary on Netflix about how monks have special healing powers, and I wanted those powers.If this sounds familiar, take refuge that now we have each other. I want to share some of the lessons i’ve learned.I would try to sit still and I couldn’t - until I realized that the first critical part of any meditation is what happens right before it starts.Permission.You have to give yourself permission to sit.If you don’t give yourself permission to sit, it won’t happen. Period.When you first come to the practice, just giving yourself permission to be still can feel like a lot. And it only gets harder when life is busy. When you’re stressed. When something’s off. When your mind is loud. Or you’re in pain. or late. or depressed. or anxioius.Which is wild, because those are usually the exact moments you need the practice the most.This was my first lesson. Permission.I think I want to use this space to share these lessons I’ve learned through my path. And share them like a human person. And not a mediation guru robot.Still, It’s worth noting what I learned next.At some point, I stopped trying to do meditation “right” and started doing meditation as a gift i gave to myself. Not a duty or a workout - but as a very short vacation from all my stress. Then I showed up. Consistently. I had a two minute meditation I listened to in my ears, all day long. Every bathroom visit and moment between tasks was an opportunity to get lost.That was the second lesson: Consistency creates joy.A teacher and friend of mine in Nashville, likes to say it this way. Brushing your teeth once a week doesn’t work very well. You have to do it daily. Meditation works the same way.—Jenifer Wang, Nashville BIPOC SanghaThe image stuck in my head, like plaque on teeth that haven’t been brushed in two weeks. Inspired by her words, there is a practice I’d like to call Brushing the Heart.Like brushing your teeth. You don’t overthink it. You don’t wait until conditions are perfect. You just do it. Every day. Because it adds up.This practice is almost nothing.It’s the most simple meditation practice you can incorporate into your daily life.Three mindful breaths. Do it with me.In. Out.In. Out.In. Out.That’s it.The idea is that the three breaths, done on purpose, brings you back to this present moment.You can do it anywhere. Sitting. Standing. In the car before you walk inside. In the bathroom. In the middle of a hard day.For those looking to start meditating, this is the bare minimum practice. Not as a diss. As a truth. It’s the smallest practice I know that can bring you back to the present moment.Some moments, three breaths is all you’ll get.And in those moments, that’s enough.Let’s try it again. And when you do it.Say to yourself. “I know I am breathing in”Then, “I know I am breathing out”“In…Out.”Follow the breath from start to finish. And try to enjoy it.It’s said that, “Stress is the gap between, where you are and where you want to be.”With every breath, you return here. To the present moment. The only place joy is possible to realize. One more time:“In. And out.”That’s brushing the heart.Do it once, twice or as many times you need.Do it every time you pick up your phone. Or whenever you get in your car. Or first thing when you rise.Nothing to fix or become.Some days it’s all you’ll manage.Some days it’s all you need.And for this moment, that’s enough. Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe

When my son was a younger boy, I taught him a way to deal with big feelings. I told him that anger, fear, frustration, and jealousy are a tiger that lives inside him. A tiger that has his back.The tiger is powerful. It is his.It is his protector. His fortress. His “baseball ready.”His superpower, resting deep beneath the surface, waiting to make him strong. It would be there to help him fight and stand up for himself when he needed it.But the tiger is also blind.A big, uncontrollable animal that tears through everything in its path.So while it has his back, it can also cause real harm when it’s on the loose.I tell him he can talk to his tiger, keep it calm.But the tiger only speaks one language: breath.Bring all your attention to your breathing, and the tiger comes under control.The deeper and lower the breath, the more authority he has.I love this analogy.And he does too.He made a book about it.It came as a surprise when this analogy came back around to me.When I began going to recovery meetings, I started hearing the term of learning to walk with the tiger. -I wrote this on one of those days where the tiger’s got me by the leg.The kind where the itch is real.Where my hand wants to reach for Instagram and scroll until my eyes burn.Where distraction feels invigorating.Thank God for the OPAL app. I bought it by accident, thinking I was just starting the free trial. Now it locks me out all day. I have to beg it to let me back in.It lets me back in once. Then I’m out again. It slowed me down just enough to rethink it all.I sit with it.I eat.I don’t roll a joint.I don’t phone a friend.I don’t disappear into the feed.I just sit there.I breathe.As I switch from sitting to walking on my wooden floor.Eventually, the pull loosens. The tiger loosens his grip.It doesn’t leave, but it sits with me. It walks with me.Then I get back to work.And so does the tiger.Thanks for reading The Path of Shabazz! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to The Path of Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.substack.com/subscribe