--- ai_generation_date: '2026-08-24' ai_model: gemini-3-pro-preview audiodharma: talks: - date: '2020-09-28' mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/12160/20200928-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-guided_meditation_meditating_with_self_respect.mp3 speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: 'Guided Meditation: Meditating with Self-Respect' url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12160 video_unavailable: false location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: pynVpBUOeX0 imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Guided Meditation: Self-Respect' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pynVpBUOeX0 --- # Guided Meditation: Meditating with Self-Respect - [Gil Fronsdal](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## [Guided Meditation: Meditating with Self-Respect](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/12160) Good morning everyone, and good day. Welcome to the beginning of the week. I hope that starting the week with meditation and a little bit of teachings will support you through the week, and through today. Thank you for being here. I think it is supportive for me, and for all of us as a community, to be coming together to sit this way in the morning. It's one of the great experiences of my life, over my practice life, getting up in the morning and sitting with people. And for some of you, of course, it's not morning anymore, but to have a daily sitting with people is pretty special. So thank you. As some of you have heard me say, I like to think that a very rough synonym for _Vipassanā_[^1] is the English word "respect." In part, it's because the two words are etymologically similar. "Spect" comes from "to see" in Latin. _Passanā_ (in _Vipassanā_) also means "to see," and the prefix _vi-_ in _Vipassanā_ is kind of an emphatic prefix to emphasize _really_ seeing, or usually, it is translated as "clear seeing." And _re-_ usually means "again"—to look again. Respect. I like this idea that we would give ourselves a second look. Mindfulness is partly really giving ourselves a second chance, a second look—really showing up for ourselves and getting to know ourselves in a deeper way. Respect also means to approach with value, with dignity. To approach ourselves with respect is to approach as if we're worthy of mindfulness, of bringing our attention, and waking up from the inside. We are valuable, and we have a potential for dignity. We can be breathing and alive and have a certain kind of simple dignity about being a human being. It allows us to enter into a state of freedom and dignity that is far removed from conceit. In fact, it's almost the opposite of conceit. It's soft, free, relaxed, and open—not trying to prove anything or assert anything, but to be respect-worthy, to be respectful, and to sit that way. ## Guided Meditation So, take an upright posture that perhaps expresses respect—perhaps expresses self-respect. It is a posture that you would maybe take if you were going to approach someone that you wanted to have respect for. Take a posture of respect. It probably means sitting up a little bit straighter so that more of yourself is presented, more of who you are comes forth and is included here. Because in doing _Vipassanā_, we would like to include all of ourselves. Sometimes if we're too collapsed in a couch meditating or something, there's a way in which maybe not all of ourselves has been brought to be included, or given a chance to come forth. And then, to sit with the eyes closed. Perhaps it respects the fullness of who we are to take some deep breaths into that fullness. Deep inhales and deep exhales. Each time you exhale, perhaps gently quieting the mind, quieting the thinking mind, so that you can maybe attend more fully to the experience that's here. And then, letting your breathing return to normal. Take a few minutes with every exhale to go through the body. Face, shoulders, chest, stomach—the whole body, relaxing on the exhale. And then, sitting quietly. Taking a second look at yourself. How are you? How are you, in some deep way, sitting here? And in recognizing how you are, what might it be like to gaze upon yourself, to show up for yourself, as you are, with respect? Approaching yourself as someone who's valuable enough to offer a second look—maybe even a second chance. To respect is not to judge as good or bad, but to show up as if we're worthy to get to know deeply. And then, allowing yourself to be how you are, in a sense, in the middle of it all. To breathe. To breathe mindfully. With every exhale, allow the thinking mind that takes you away from the present moment, away from respect, to become quieter. As you exhale, soften. Let go of the thinking mind. And as you inhale, quietly breathe into whatever way you are, allowing it to be just the way it is without the interference or the complications of thinking about how it is. Quietly breathing, letting go, and allowing yourself to be in the field of awareness. Perhaps when we bring respect, offer respect to ourselves, where mindfulness is an act of respect, perhaps then something inside of us can stop being afraid. Stop being agitated. One motivation to be present for oneself with respect is that something in our inner life, if it feels respected and safe, and if we are present in a quiet, unassertive, receptive way, something inside will become a treasure. Not to sit expecting to see that treasure, but to approach oneself with more than just respect—treasuring oneself for the treasures that will be revealed. ## Reflections And then, as we come to the end of the sitting, the greater we can bring respect together with mindfulness, that mindfulness becomes an act of respect, the capacity for respect becomes stronger, or more second nature. Self-respect allows us to become more fully ourselves, and the more we are ourselves, the more we have the capacity for respect. As we respect ourselves, the greater will be the value of our respect for others. There will be more behind respecting others—more strength, more fullness. To sit and meditate is a form of profound self-respect, so that we can more fully respect the people that we encounter. We can value them. We can see them as worthy of a second look, a second chance, a second listen. To listen to them again, to listen more deeply. To respect that it's worthwhile knowing the fullness of who they are. And may it be that this practice today prepares us to go out into the world for the next 24 hours to offer more respect. As if we look upon[^2] all beings as dignified, as valued, valuable—all beings as treasures. Because if we see them that way, even those who maybe don't seem quite that way, maybe we're making room and space for them to grow into that. May it be that the practice we do is to allow all beings to come fully into themselves, in their own dignity and value, so that they can be happy, feel safe, and be free of oppression, inner and outer. And so they may be free. May all beings be happy. --- [^1]: **_Vipassanā_:** A Pali word often translated as "insight" or "clear seeing." It refers to the Buddhist meditation practice of observing things as they really are. [^2]: Original transcript said "look to lick upon", corrected to "look upon" based on context.