Welcome to the Commune Podcast. My name is Jeff Krasno.

Every Saturday, I publish a podcast episode that provides a guided wellness practice.

I feature a variety of modalities, including meditation, stoic contemplation,

and breathwork. Now, sometimes I am your guide, and other times I pepper in master teachers

from the commune library, including Jack Cornfield, Sharon Salzburg, David G. and Michael Beckwith,

among others.

Now, these weekly short guided praxis will hopefully provide you with a foundation to develop

a regular practice. And there really is every reason in the world to develop a practice.

Now, today's exercise is a stoic practice focused on the concept of

memento mori, or the acknowledgement of your own mortality. If your interest in stoicism is piqued,

well, you're in great luck. I released an entire course of stoic meditations earlier this year. You can access it and

over a hundred other courses on meditation, yoga, integrative medicine, personal development,

and more by signing up for a free 14-day trial of commune membership at onecomcom slash trial. Okay. So this meditation doesn't need to take

place in lotus pose, Padmasana in Sanskrit, better known as crisscross applesauce in our house.

It also does not require Palo Santo wafting about the room, though. I do love Palo Santo.

It's really more of a contemplation, and personally I love hiking and working through this practice.

It does, however, necessitate quiet time and focused attention in order to have good results. So only embark on it if you can

fulfill these requirements. And the great Stoic Marcus Aurelius wrote, think of yourself as dead.

You have lived your life. Now take what's left and live it properly.

The Memento Mori is the practice of acknowledging your mortality, or literally remembering death.

Now this practice is central to numerous philosophical and spiritual traditions, including, but not limited, to Stoicism.

In Buddhism, there is a practice known as Maranasi, Sanskrit for Mindfulness of Death.

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