I had the great pleasure and honor to guest on Dayna Gerrard's Spirit To Cell podcast. This is a reposting of that podcast so be sure to check out Dayna's full blog post for this episode https://energyovermatter.com/blog/f/meditation-beyond-the-cushion-from-reactivity-to-responsiveness for even more resources as well as Dayna's site https://energyovermatter.com in general for all kinds of healing and developmental goodness
Note: the intro quote of me uses an edit that excludes context and can be interpreted in a way that is not entirely representative of major portions of our conversation
Here's a description for the episode from the youtube version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD7X8zEtsDU on her https://www.youtube.com/@energyovermatter channel:
What if meditation could change not just how you feel—but how you respond to life, stress, relationships, and your own thoughts?
In this episode of **Spirit to Cell**, Dayna Wylder sits down with **Josh Dippold**, meditation teacher and founder of Integrating Presence and InnerSkilled, for a deeper conversation about what happens when meditation moves beyond the cushion and becomes a way of living.
Josh has maintained a two-hour-a-day meditation practice since 2012, and his journey has taken him from intense inner work toward a subtler exploration of consciousness, energy, ethical living, sense restraint, and presence.
Together, Dayna and Josh explore the difference between simply practicing meditation and allowing the practice to change the way you move through the world.
They talk about nervous-system resets, mindfulness in everyday life, social conditioning, productivity and the pressure to constantly accomplish, solitude, boundaries, releasing judgment, and the Buddhist and yogic practice of **pratyahara—or sense restraint**.
They also explore something particularly powerful: the language we use to describe ourselves.
For Dayna, this connects deeply with her own healing journey and the shift from identifying with a diagnosis to recognizing symptoms and experiences without allowing them to become the whole story.
• Why Josh began meditating two hours a day—and what changed
• How meditation can evolve from intense inner work into deeper awareness
• The connection between meditation, ethical living, and daily choices
• Breaking social conditioning around habits and behaviors
• Why solitude can create space for greater awareness
• Moving beyond productivity and the need to constantly accomplish
• Simple nervous-system practices that can be used throughout the day
• Boundaries, sovereignty, and responding rather than reacting
• The practice of pratyahara and reducing sensory overload
• What we pick up from other people—and what we can choose to put down
• Lessons from silent retreats and noble silence
• How language and labels can influence our experience of ourselves
• Creating more space for intuition and inner knowing
00:00 — Introduction & Welcome
01:10 — Josh’s Origin Story with Daily Meditation
04:08 — Moving from Suffering to a Sustained Practice
07:18 — Ethical Precepts & Lifestyle Shifts
14:10 — Breaking Social Conditioning Around Habits
18:35 — Releasing Judgment & Finding Solitude
21:50 — Dayna’s Recovery, MS Journey & Shifting Meditation Styles
26:30 — Mindfulness in Chaos & Daily Life Practices
31:10 — Overcoming the Need to Always Accomplish
34:55 — Nervous System Resets & Family Dinner Rituals
38:40 — Navigating External Stress, Boundaries & Sovereignty
49:30 — The Practice of Pratyahara (Sense Restraint)
54:20 — Letting Go vs. Picking Up Burdens
59:40 — Experiences with Silent Retreats & Noble Silence
1:07:50 — The Power of Language & Detaching from Labels
1:12:40 — Where to Find Josh & Final Insights
1:17:15 — Closing Thoughts & Takeaways
https://www.amazon.ca/Unlearn-Dis-Ease-Relearn-Well-Being-Frequency/dp/1069897906
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