Not a meditation. Me telling you who the voice belongs to. Music underneath
A million downloads, so here is who the voice belongs to. Broken neck at 18, rock bottom at 40, and still cannot meditate to save my life.
About 8 minutes. Not a meditation, just me talking.
I was the kid told to sit on his hands. My granddad took his own life when I was twelve, we lived in a caravan for a while, and I took an overdose the same year I broke my neck. At 40 I was suffering far too much, and every book I opened told me to meditate. I do not care much about the number. I am still that seven year old who wants to help.
Treat me to a coffee, keep the podcast free, and get my Weekly Calm every Sunday. It is all on stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for sitting with me.
Steven
Who this is for
Anybody who has been listening for a while and does not know whose voice this is.
A million downloads, so here is the story behind it. It is not a meditation and there is nothing to do.
What happens in this episode
I cannot meditate to save my life. I sit down and my mind immediately suggests Facebook and nine other things. I was the child told to sit on his hands.
Being paralysed does not help with that, incidentally. Broken neck at eighteen, paralysed just below the neck, hands paralysed too.
The rest of it. My granddad took his own life when I was twelve. We were homeless for a while and lived in a caravan, which was terrible for my mum and an adventure for me. I was kicked out of sixth form. I took an overdose the same year I broke my neck.
At forty I hit rock bottom and was suffering far too much, and every book I opened told me to meditate. I went to groups and sat there with one eye open wondering what everybody else was doing.
So I found my own way in. Sit, breathe, and if you want to look at the clouds, look at the clouds. That is what these recordings are, and apparently people like the voice, which I have never understood.
I do not really care about the numbers. I do care about reducing somebody's suffering.
I began suffering as a seven year old, and I am still that boy who wants to help. I know it will never be enough, and I wrestle with that daily.
How to get the most from it
Eight minutes, nothing to sit for. Put it on while you are doing something else.
There is a health update in it too. I was rushed in on my birthday in December after bleeding a lot, had an emergency operation, and the recovery took longer than I wanted, as it always does.
Questions people ask
Why is a talk on the meditation feed?
Because it seemed right to say who the voice is after a million downloads. It does not happen often.
You teach this and you cannot do it?
Correct, and I say so constantly. What I found was a way in that does not require silencing anything, which is why these meditations never ask you to.
Where are you biggest?
Australia, by a distance, and I still have no idea why. Several of you have emailed to say hello, which I always appreciate.
Read along
The transcript
It follows the audio. Press any line to jump there.
update · personal-story
Read the transcript
Okay, you're not going to believe what's just happened. I have just passed the 1 million downloads
on my podcast.
Now then, this is the Inner Peace Meditations podcast that is my guided meditations. And two years ago,
I decided to give them free. Because they helped me so much. and I thought I would record a
quick podcast for you to tell you who the voice is behind all these meditations.
And the gift I have in putting people to sleep is, well, I think it's a gift.
So I've got a talent. I can put people to sleep. What more can I say? Hey, look, I'm Steven
Webb and I'm going to briefly tell you some of my story because I think it would be helpful.
I cannot meditate to save my life. Literally, I sit down to meditate my mind goes, hey, let's do
all these other things. Let's check Facebook. Let's do all these other things and And it comes up with the
most not important things that are the most important things to my mind at that time. And I sit down
and I fidget. I'm the person that was told at school to sit on my hands. And being paralysed,
you would think that I'd find easier to meditate. Not at all. I'm paralysed just below my neck and my
arms paralysed and my
Well not entirely my arms, partially my arms and my hands are paralysed. And I suffered a lot from
pain and suffered through so many things in life. At 18 years old, I broke my neck. That's how I
ended up paralysed. And sorry if this story is a bit everywhere. I haven't scripted this. I just wanted to
tell you a bit about my story, why I do this. And through a really difficult childhood,
not always difficult, it wasn't all bad, but it was good times. But through my granddad committing suicide with us
12 we were homeless as children for a while we lived in a caravan. For my mum, that was really
terrible. For me, that was an adventure um Different perspectives there. And we moved schools and
I was kicked out of sixth form and Yeah I took an overdose when I was 18. And in that
year, I ended up breaking my neck and ended up paralysed. It's now 32 years on. Since then, I hit
rock bottom. I lost everything. I lost my partner. And just so many things happened to me in my life
that I turned 40 and I was suffering way too much. And I tried to reduce my suffering. And every
book told me I had to meditate. And I couldn't meditate. Couldn't that They would say, sit down, take a
deep breath, quiet in your mind. I was like, yeah, that shit's not working on me. And I ended up
with meditation friends. I went to meditation groups and It just did not work. I would sit there one eye
open and looking at everybody else thinking, what the hell are you all doing? My mind's as wake as anything
and you're all going home So I ended up thinking that that meditation is not for me, but
there must be something in it. There must be. So I don't think I'm got anything new when
it comes to meditation all that, but I don't see it as meditation. Although Inner Peace Meditations kind of gives
it away. Just sit, take a deep breath. You know, if you want to look at the clouds, look of
the clouds. If you want to think of other things, allow it to do that. But just, ah, soften itself.
And by doing this, I found that it helped me anyway. I had a more peaceful life.
And just by doing that and having a more peaceful life, I thought, well, I could record this and just
what I'm doing. And that's what I did with a small group of us. That's what I did. And I
put it on Insight Timer and Aura. And I'll put links to my teachings on there. And it's very similar
to one here. And for some reason, people like my voice. I have no reason why. I think my voice
is terrible. But yeah. And now I do it and people donate a coffee to me. And
there's been more than a million downloads. Primarily by you guys in Australia. I will say that. You guys
are awesome in Australia. On Spotify, it seems to have just completely taken off there. I'm number two on the
religious charts on there or something. So I don't know quite who's singing my praises over there.
I know a few of you have emailed me and said hello and introduced yourself. And any of you can
message me, ask me questions. Just go to StevenWebb.uk. You can also donate a coffee if you want or anything
like that. It's totally up to you. If I can ask you to do one thing, leave a review. Just
leave a review on this podcast. That would be amazing. Just if it helps you, leave a review. If it's
something I can improve, leave a review. Just a really brief update as well. In the last couple of years,
I've been quite poorly and I didn't realise how poorly I've been. So in December, I was rushed into hospital
on my birthday actually, having bled a lot and I had an emergency operation. The recovery has not been
as quick as I would like it to be. It never is. But I'm now doing a lot better. I
ended up getting a couple of other infections and things like that, but I'm now doing a lot better. So
there will be more meditations uploaded and there will be more. So yeah, here's to 2024 and
a little more inner peace for us all. Do you know what? I just want to say I don't really
care about the numbers, but
I do care if I will reduce someone's suffering. As a seven-year-old boy, I began my suffering.
And whenever I'm choking up a bit here now, but whenever I think about that there's suffering in the
world, I am that seven-year-old boy that wants to help. Then I know it will never be enough. I know
I can never achieve that. And I'm wrestling with that every day. And there's more on that on my sister
podcast, Stillness in the Storms, which is also a link in the show notes, which I talk deeper. I don't
go into meditation on that one, but I talk deeper about life and newer, different perspectives. But I
am still that seven year old that wants to reduce your suffering. And if I help in any way, just
let you know that I'm so grateful that it's helped. That's enough for me. One million
downloads. Thank you to each and every one of you um I don't know what else to say apart from
the world cares about numbers. I don't necessarily, but I think it's something to be grateful for and celebrate.
I love you guys. Take care. Don't forget to check out Stillness in the Storms and leave a review if
