Deep Unwind: Unwind with the Stoics 🏛️

Deep Unwind: Unwind with the Stoics 🏛️ 

What if peace is found in simply recognizing what is—and isn't—within your control?

In this Deep Unwind, you'll journey back to ancient Athens, where olive trees sway over weathered marble, cicadas sing beneath the warm Mediterranean sun, and one of history's most influential philosophies quietly began.

As your body relaxes into a deeply restorative hypnotic state, you'll walk the same ancient pathways once traveled by Zeno, the founder of Stoicism. You'll discover how the loss of everything he owned became the beginning of a remarkable inner freedom, and how his teachings were carried through Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and eventually into the timeless wisdom of the Serenity Prayer.

Sometimes peace is found by gently loosening your grip... and coming home to yourself.

This Unwind includes:

Stoicism, acceptance, inner peace, resilience, nervous system regulation, parasympathetic activation, guided hypnosis, deep relaxation, guided meditation, mindfulness, stress relief, anxiety relief, personal growth, Marcus Aurelius, and ancient history. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi everybody, this is Jessica, and welcome to Unwind, a podcast where we come home to ourselves so we can explore relaxation and ask the question: what do we find when we unwind? I love that question. Ah, thank you so much for being here. You know, I record a couple of weeks before episodes come out. So I'm recording at the end of the week. The week of which, or during which, I officially exited Sleep Magic and started Unwind, meaning they were released to the world, that information and the pivot occurred. And I just want to say thank you to everybody who reached out, who gave us your email addresses so we can keep you posted, who have following me on Patreon, started following on Instagram, and just basically have stuck around for this new adventure. Because I'm so excited. Your response made me so excited. And my job is to just keep showing up, keep bringing this vibe, and keep helping us all relax. If you want to participate in a sort of behind the scenes world, come to patreon.com, search for Jessica Porter, and you can uh get behind the scenes on this podcast. Okay, tonight. Unwind with the stoics. The stoics. You know, frankly, I'm really amazed it's taken me this long to discover the stoics. I mean, I've heard about them my entire life because people say, you know, you gotta be stoic about that. Or he's a very stoic man, and it gives the impression of this sort of buttoned-up, constipated sufferer. You know? But two different listeners from Sleep Magic. Someone who calls herself Mama and Matt from Duluth. They both reached out to me and suggested I do an episode on the Stoics. So here I am. It's gotten me into a deep dive back to ancient Greece, and it's been really interesting and resonant, not only personally, but for today's world. The core idea within Stoicism is that we cannot control the world. But we do have influence over ourselves. And the older I get, the more true I realize that is. In fact, I think it's an eternal truth. Almost a natural law. And I think it's a truth that the sooner we happen upon it, the better. And without getting too specific, let's just say that I've been, for various reasons, saying what's called the serenity prayer throughout most of my adult life. And I've realized that it's a throwback to the stoics. Because it goes like this. God, which means higher power, source, nature, universe, whatever you want to call it. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. That's like stoic 101. The courage to change the things I can. That's stoic 201. And the wisdom to know the difference. I mean that's what stoicism is all about. Recognizing the difference between those two things and walking that line. I don't think there could be a message more pertinent to our lives today. Or to the mission here at Unwind. Oh, yeah, we're gonna go back to ancient Greece tonight. I'm super excited. I hope you are too. And uh enjoy and get yourself cozy and comfortable, and let's unwind. So just let your eyes close softly and gently. As you settle into your inner world. And you bring your awareness to your breath, that lovely natural wave of your breath. And by hanging out with that wave of your breath, you're coming into sync with other rhythms and waves inside of you. And by hanging out with your breath, with the wave of your breath, you're aligning more naturally with rhythms in nature. Good. Now I invite you to bring your awareness to your eyes. As you allow your eyelids to become soft, just let them rest. And as your eyelids are resting, all the muscles around your eyes are softening and relaxing. And now your eyelids are feeling very heavy. Heavy, like they cannot open. Of course, logic tells us that you can open them, but your imagination, which you're using so beautifully, is keeping them closed. So now let's play our little game. As you imagine trying to open your eyes by wiggling your eyebrows, but your eyes are remaining closed as you align with your imagination. And you find that this little game is taking you deeper and even deeper into relaxation. Good. Now bring your awareness up into your head. Inside your skull, where your brain is. And imagine that there's a ball of yarn inside your head. And now imagine that one end of that ball of yarn is coming out a little hole in your forehead. And now you begin pulling on the yarn. Gently pulling and pulling. And the ball of yarn is unwinding and unwinding. Feels good to let it unwind. Now the ball of yarn is becoming smaller and smaller. And now the ball of yarn is unwinding completely as you see the other end of the ball of yarn coming out that hole. And your mind feels clear and open. Peaceful. And now this lovely feeling of peace. Lovely wave of peace is moving down now over your shoulders. Moving down now over your arms. This lovely feeling of peace is like a weighted blanket moving over your arms. Your arms are feeling heavy. Heavy as that piece moves down into your hands, into your fingers, and your whole body is letting go as you unwind. Good. As you bring your awareness now to any sounds that you may be hearing around you. Or your home or noises from the street. Bring your awareness to them now. And just let them in. Whereas in normal waking life, these sounds might wind you up. Now they're unwinding you. This is a decision you are making. Just like the Stoics decided that they were in charge of their own minds, their own reactions, their own feelings. You have decided to allow these sounds to take you deeper. And so they are. Your whole torso is sinking deeper and deeper as your pelvis feels heavy on the bed. And the muscles of your lower back are softening. Holding you, relaxing you, softening you. Nice against your skin. These stones beneath your feet have carried people for thousands of years. Merchants, philosophers, citizens of ancient Greece. And yet the stones remain. A gentle breeze moves through them. And you watch as their leaves shimmer silver and green. You focus on a single tree. You notice its twisted trunk rising from the earth. You can almost feel its roots gripping the rocky ground. It is steady, patient. Over a thousand years old. Every breath carries the fragrances of the Mediterranean. You notice dry grasses poking up here and there among the ruins, warmed by the afternoon sun. You relax, going deeper and deeper, and you hear the cicadas singing from their hidden spots between the trees. And as you relax into your body, you feel them. Pulsing through you and the landscape taking you deeper and deeper as you continue walking. The ruins begin to reveal themselves. You notice a broken fragment of a column poking up through the ground. A piece of history piercing the veil of the present. You are walking here just as the ancient Greeks did. Just people living their lives, thinking their thoughts, dreaming their dreams, you walk up a gentle slope, and from the top you see modern Athens stretching toward the horizon. You see white buildings, terracotta roofs, narrow streets winding between neighborhoods, and far beyond the city, the sea glimmers beneath the afternoon light. As you stand here, looking out across the water, it shimmers, shifting from blue to silver. It stretches outward into the Aegean Sea, and beyond that, into the Mediterranean. Over two thousand years ago, a man named Zeno traveled these same waters. He was a successful merchant, his life a continual journey between ship and port and marketplace. At that time, the Mediterranean Sea was the great highway of the ancient world. Ships carried olive oil, wine, and spices. The sea connected distant cities and distant cultures. And Zeno made his living on this water. As you imagine him on his merchant vessel, it's made from pine and cedar, broad and sturdy. Its sails stretch high above the deck, and its hull is filled with valuable cargo. Zeno likes the smell of the salt in the air. He hears the creaking of ropes and the sound of water moving against the hull. This world is familiar to him, predictable. It is his life built upon his plans. He feels control. Perhaps it is a storm or a regrettable mistake, a sudden turn of fortune. History does not tell us exactly what happened. Only that Zeno's ship is lost. And although he survives, most of what he owns sinks to the bottom of the sea. Imagine Zeno now standing on the shore far below you, looking out over the water. His future uncertain, and his illusion of control is gone. Just the sea stretches out before him as you continue your stroll going deeper and deeper. As the sun goes down, shadows are stretching across the ancient stones. You sit down on it. It feels so comfortable. Hearing the cicadas, watching the light slowly change. Or even over his own possessions. Ancient writers tell us that Zeno's loss became a turning point for him. He suddenly understood what was his and what was not. And in that shift, he discovered his real power. Zeno moved to Athens. It was around three hundred BCE, and the city was filled with thinkers. Citizens were steeped in the questions posed just recently by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. This was a place where people gathered to discuss the nature of life itself. Perhaps near where you were sitting right now. He began reading the works of Socrates, and something about his teachings spoke to Zeno. So he stayed and studied, and he gradually became a teacher. After a while, people are gathering around him here, in the public square. At that time, at one end of this square was a long covered colonnade, built upon a large marble porch. It was here that Zeno would speak, and people would gather to hear him. Imagine them now, listening to this wise man between the columns. He speaks about his experiences and the truth he has discovered, the treasure he found when his worldly possessions sank to the bottom of the sea. His audience grows and grows on that porch, just over there. And the Greek word for porch is stoa. Hence stoic. Zeno has discovered something deeper. He has found the stability that endures when circumstances change. The strength that remains when fortunes rise and fall. Depends less upon what happens in the world, more upon how he meets the world. As the evening light settles across the ancient stones, you can feel his students' enthusiasm in the air as you go deeper and deeper. Imagine all the things you want to control in your world all the strings you want to pull, all the people and events that frustrate you. And imagine now you're releasing your grip and letting them be, and all that energy returns to yourself, your mind, your thoughts, your feelings, your inner being. You are open to inspiration, to intuition, wisdom. This is your realm of control. And from within this place, you make inspired decisions. You create beautiful things, you take effective actions, and as you sit here beneath the olive tree, your inner being is expanding beyond the ruins, beyond the trees. The original porch disappears. The painted columns fade. But the idea moves from one mind to another. Like a flame past from candle to candle. And the wisdom continues its journey. More than a hundred years after Zeno's death, new teachers continue exploring the same questions. The conversations continue. As you imagine ancient Rome beginning to rise, as the Mediterranean world expands. Roman roads are connecting distant cities. Ships are crossing the sea, and the flame is past. Candle to candle until a powerful statesman receives it. He lives in a world of wealth, power, and intrigue. Seneca reminds us that peace comes not from possessions or status, but from within. He says, We suffer more often in imagination than in reality. The flame continues to travel to our next stoic, a man born into slavery, Epictetus. He knew as a slave that external freedoms were not guaranteed, but that his inner world was sovereign territory. He said, Some things are up to us, and some things are not up to us. It was passed from a man who'd lost everything to one who had plenty to a former slave. And that slave passed his light to an emperor. Marcus Aurelius. Human beings discover these truths over and over again. Flowing through rivers and valleys in monasteries and temples, in quiet rooms where people sit and pay attention to their inner worlds. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference as you sit beneath the olive tree, feeling the warm stone beneath you, and the world softens around you as you come back home to yourself, and here you are connected to the earth, and the air, and the sun, just as emperors are, and slaves, and your inner being is expanding as you lie back on the rock. The same stars that Zeno used to navigate by your stars.