The longer we cling to the notion that there’s a separate self who awakens, the more arduous our path will be.

Have you ever had the thought, “That was a good meditation, my mind was really clear?” Or, “My mind is always so busy…I can’t meditate?”

Such conditioned beliefs come from a felt sense that we are a separate self that needs to do something in order to experience the peace we long for. These thoughts fuel the notion that we know our being through striving. Our conditioned world readily reflects this felt sense of being separate, and when we’re identified with such thoughts, we are often left depleted, exhausted, and/or overwhelmed. 

This iPause session offers a technique to cut this conditioned process off at the pass, and it takes no effort! Join us to explore shifting the way your attention habitually moves, allowing you to more readily experience the peace of your being—not only in your practice, but in your life at large.

Recommended reading: The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together by Caverly Morgan

This guided practice is one session in the three-part series taught by Caverly Morgan during the Contemplation by Design Summit. You are welocme to attend one or all three sessions. The other sessions include a lecture titled The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together and an interactive workshop titled Moving Beyond Personal and Collective Conditioning also on October 17th. Caverly also will be co-preseting with Janice Martellucci in a sesison titled Peace with Youth Starts: Insights form Implementing an Inner Curriculum in High Schools. Caverly will be in conversation with Rev. Tenzen David Zimmerman on Oct. 27th.

Caverly Morgan is a meditation teacher who blends the original spirit of Zen with a modern nondual approach, drawing from her eight years of training in a silent Zen monastery. She is the author of The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together as well as A Kids Book About Mindfulness. Caverly is the founder of Peace in Schools, a nonprofit that created the nation’s first for-credit mindfulness class in public high schools. She is also the founder of Realizing Freedom Together, a non-profit organization dedicated to making practices that lead to liberation for all, accessible to all. She has been teaching contemplative practice since 2001. Caverly leads meditation retreats, workshops and online classes internationally. Learn more at caverly morgan.org.

This session is part of the FREE Contemplation by Design Summit, Oct. 15-27, 2025.

The full summit schedule is posted at: https://med.stanford.edu/contemplation/summit.html.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stanford-contemplation-by-design-summit-2025-online-oct-15-27-registration-1520413249959