WEBVTT -- English

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I'm Susan.

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This is Ravi.

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And we're the co- founders of Awaken.

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Awaken is a meditation app,

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but we're different than
other mindfulness apps.

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We start each practice with
a mindfulness meditation,

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coming into the body,
coming into the breath,

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and then we move into a contemplation,

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which is a great form
of mindfulness practice

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where we take Buddhist
philosophy and classic wisdom

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and apply it to our everyday lives,

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to our work, to relationships,

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to our jobs, to our habits,

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and especially to
politics and our culture.

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And we end with a journaling prompt.

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So if you want, you can
journal a little bit,

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and we take all the journal posts

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and throw them onto the
newsfeed at the end.

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It's really about asking questions

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and discovering our own inner wisdom,

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rather than someone
telling us what to believe.

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We've made meditations on creating habits,

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processing emotions,

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cultivating passion
for our work, and more.

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It's this broad range of topics

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that really makes our
approach to meditation unique.

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In today's world, I think
the most powerful reason

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to meditate isn't actually stress relief,

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or to escape our lives,
or anything like that.

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It's that we've been programmed

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to think and be and live in the world

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in all sorts of ways that are habitual.

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We don't even realize that we're doing it.

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What are the social structures

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and the psychological structures

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that are underneath the way
that we experience the world?

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And this is where meditation
can be transformative,

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not just for ourselves but for our world.

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When we sit, when we give ourselves time

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and space to be with ourselves,

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to contemplate what's really
going on in our lives,

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we get in touch with our inner truth.

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And that inner truth can
light the way to a new world.

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It's that simple and yet that profound.

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And that's why this app is so important

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is because I think it's one
step in not just the resistance

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but in the building of a new world,

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in a political and social
and cultural movement

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that is rooted in mindfulness
and getting in touch

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with what it is that we actually want.

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Our Founding teachers

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are Reverend Angel Kyodo Williams,
Lama Rod Owens,

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and Greg Snyder

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These teachers are incredible,

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and it's because they're not
just teachers of meditation.

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They're teachers of the world.

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They teach about love and liberation,

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about race and gender,

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about culture, politics.

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They teach about climate change

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and what that has to do with meditation,

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and what that has to do with culture.

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Ravi has a background in tech.

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I'm an artist, and we've both
been meditating for a decade.

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We launched a prototype in the Spring,

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and people have loved it.

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Our app works on a
monthly membership model,

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and we're doing this
Kickstarter to spread the word

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and offer discounted memberships.

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All of the money we raise goes only to

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creating the app and paying our teachers.

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This presale is an amazing
opportunity for you

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to be part of our community

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from the ground up as we build it.

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Awaken is meditation for people
who care about this world,

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who care about each other,

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who care about leaving this
place better than we found it.

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That's how we teach mindfulness,

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and that's the community we're building.

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So we really appreciate all your support,

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and we'll see you on the app.