Misconceptions Of Spirituality-Life, Lessons, & Laughter
In this special episode I welcome Aubrey Kennedy to the podcast to gain a different perspective on the teachings. We discuss common misconceptions that happen at the beginning of a spiritual path and how to deal with them.
Transcript
Welcome to Life,
Lessons,
And Laughter with your host,
Glenn Ambrose.
Hello,
Hello everybody.
Welcome to the show.
So,
Lots of changes.
Last week you had my son Mateo on with me.
And this week I have a special guest,
Aubrey Kennedy.
She's co-hosting with me.
And we're going to dive in and let you learn a little bit about her and yeah,
Just talk about,
We're going to talk actually about the misconceptions of beginning spirituality.
We're kind of discussing it ahead of time and there's,
Seems like there's a lot there and I think it's going to be a good way for you guys to get to know her.
So,
Without further ado,
Here she is.
Hello.
Hello.
So,
How are you?
As if we haven't been talking for the last few hours.
I am fantastic.
I'm really excited to be here.
Yeah,
So now you've been listening to Life,
Lessons,
And Laughter for a while.
Yeah,
I don't know.
How long have you,
When did you record,
What year did you record your first podcast?
Do you know?
Do you know how long?
No.
For some reason,
Co-five is popping up.
Oh,
2005 maybe?
Yeah,
No,
I've been listening to them for like a decade.
Yeah,
I just needed that.
I was like,
Wait,
I want to say 10 years,
But yeah,
I used to listen to your podcast on YouTube.
Oh,
No,
It couldn't have been 2005.
No,
It wasn't 2005.
Maybe 2015.
I don't know.
It's been like seven or eight years.
It's been,
Yeah,
It's been a long time.
Yeah,
It was kind of funny.
We just,
Like for some reason,
You know,
I see,
What was it?
Facebook that I saw you?
I think it was Instagram.
Instagram.
Yeah,
There was something,
And of course you see people's names and people recommended to connect with on all social media platforms all the time.
That's part of it,
Right?
And I don't,
Very,
Very rarely do I actually click on somebody,
Especially somebody that I don't know,
You know?
And for some reason,
You just caught my attention and I just clicked.
Before I knew what I was doing,
I just clicked connect.
And then you were like,
Oh my God,
I can't believe you reached out.
I was going to reach out before,
But then I didn't.
Literally,
Literally a week before,
Like a week before I,
Because I was really listening to your podcast,
Heavy Again.
I would go through phases where I would just,
I've always listened to them consistently,
But I was just like going through some stuff and I love using them to cope,
Like in a healthy way.
It just helps with my mental space.
And so I was just listening to them a lot and I'm like,
Maybe I should just reach out to Glenn.
Maybe I should just reach out to him and just see where the conversation goes.
And then I just never did it.
And then I got a follow request from you on Instagram,
Like a week later.
I screenshotted it,
Like I sent it to my friends.
Honestly,
I was like,
Hold on,
This is major.
So I just reached out.
I remember,
Yeah,
I just reached out.
I'm like,
You've impacted my life in so many positive ways.
This is really cool for me.
So thank you.
Yes.
Well,
My pleasure.
And this is,
You know,
I think,
I think people just right now already got a glimpse of why I asked you to be on.
You know,
It's your energy.
As soon as I talked to you once,
I was like,
Damn,
Okay.
You know,
You're high energy,
Intelligent,
Capable.
You understand this stuff because you've been doing it for a long time.
And I thought it was going to be a good dynamic between us.
You know,
You got the male and the female.
You got the,
You know,
I am a little bit older.
You're younger.
Just a couple of years or something.
So relative.
Yeah.
So,
So I just figured,
You know,
I thought it'd be a,
You know,
A good dynamic.
And I think,
I think it is going to be.
And,
You know,
Earlier we're talking about,
You know,
People getting into spirituality and you're a yoga teacher.
Yes.
So that's so of course,
You know,
Once,
You know,
When I started talking about kind of people not being able to meditate and slow down their mind.
That brought you right into talking about yoga and Shavasana and stuff.
So,
Yeah.
What's your,
What's your take on that?
Because that's one of the biggest things,
You know,
Every time I talk to,
I think everybody has their own path,
You know,
Like,
So when I coach people,
I'm not trying to teach them my path.
Like I don't have a specific way I try to teach.
Like I try to help people find their path because the only thing about their path that I know is that it ain't mine.
So like let,
And if they follow mine,
They're just going to at some point figure out that they're on my path and not theirs and have to start over.
And that's a big pain in the ass.
So why not let's just go on yours.
So this is,
That's my mentality of teaching people their own path.
But so I don't like to tell people you have to do this because everything,
You know,
People have different paths,
But I can't find a way around meditating.
Like you have to start slowing your mind down.
You don't have to meditate perfectly.
You don't have to meditate the way you think meditation is,
You know,
Petting your cat or petting your dog could be a meditation,
Walking,
Running.
There's lots of different meditation,
But I think we do have to,
In this day and age,
Practice slowing our mind down at some point.
And the biggest objection I get is,
And I get this objection,
I think from every human being I've ever talked to says,
I can't slow my mind down.
Oh,
I can't meditate because I can't slow my mind down.
It's like,
Yeah,
Everybody's like that.
Nobody can just slow their mind down.
And that's literally why you have to meditate to regain control of your mind and learn how to slow it down and learn how to stop it because otherwise it's just building momentum and going and it's running your life and you don't have control over it.
There's nothing wrong with our mind.
There's something wrong with our mind controlling us.
We're supposed to be controlling it.
Absolutely.
So,
Yeah,
This is such a big thing with a misconception about spirituality.
It's like,
You know,
Yes,
Everybody's the same,
You know,
We're just another bozo on the bus,
None of us can stop our mind.
This is why we need meditation.
So as a yoga teacher,
What's your experience,
You know,
With that?
Yeah,
So I mean,
I think that a big part of how we look at life.
It depends on how much space we have,
You know,
Between thoughts and reactions.
And it's separating like the emotion that gets us all worked up about things and then we just go and act in the next moment.
And what I really love about yoga.
It helps create the space between emotion and reaction.
So I'm not as reactive because what happens is,
You know,
I may be reactive about something I react immediately out of emotion without having that space.
And that's where that's where the mistakes happen.
You know,
That's where the things happen that we can't,
We can't take back,
You know,
So that's,
That's really what I love about yoga meditation that it does create that space so then you have the ability to choose how you want to react,
Not just reacting based on the emotion they got you all worked up and you're thinking about x,
Y,
Z that it's not even relevant.
So and it is it really is just like a muscle that we have to continue to work.
And I hear that a lot with students that will come in and they'll just be like,
I just can't relax I just can't.
Like I can't get there.
And so that's when we start to okay you don't you can't turn your brain off you know you can't stop thinking so think,
You know,
Think about your breathing,
Something physical,
Like think about something physical that you can tell you don't have to think about nothing,
You know,
It's just focusing on one thing and staying there and not going in all of these different places.
Right.
Yeah,
That's it.
That's the,
You know,
And I liked how you said,
Creating space because that's.
You know,
I mean,
I can't say it's everything but boy it's damn close.
Because it's really creating space it's like I talked about it a lot as the sacred pause.
You know just that pause but that's what it is it's creating space and learning to be in control of your mind that creates space.
And when you know every teacher in the world is teaching mindfulness so the power of now or consciousness.
That's creating space that's what's in that space.
When you stop,
It's like when you're being mindful,
You're not going into a automatic reaction.
What you're doing is you're creating space and in that little space,
You can choose how you want to react,
You know,
So that's,
That's why it's like,
You know,
You were talking about it I'm like,
Yes,
Yes.
It might not be everything but it's really close to everything.
It's not and it's like those little wins though you know like it's it's those little wins for ourselves.
Like,
Just in little decisions like I get to choose how I want to react to this and I get to,
And every time that happens and you create space.
It just,
It validates it and it and it solidifies it and then before you know it,
You're choosing how you're reacting to your whole life.
Like,
Really,
You know,
Your experience.
Yeah,
Because with with a space when we have open space that's there's there's room for infinite possibility but without it's it's a very fixed mindset,
You know,
And that's just conditioned on our past you know it's basically our.
This is,
You know,
That's really the brain the brain is a computer.
It's just,
It's just all it can do is spit out a response based on what it's what's been put into it before.
You know,
So it's programming so we've been programmed through our own lives,
Through our experiences meshed with our personalities and it's like,
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom so then when a stimuli happens in our life that that matches that.
It's like it is just a reaction.
You know,
And it's instant and it's not there is.
And what's funny is people who are just walking around in life who really aren't diving into the spirituality yet,
If you were to ask them,
Like,
Are you conscious Do you know what you're doing.
Of course I know what I'm doing.
But they actually don't,
Because it's just an unconscious reaction based on their past experiences.
So it's like when somebody says hey you're an asshole.
You know,
Certain people have a patented response to that,
You know,
When,
When attacked,
I attack back 10 times harder,
Or when attacked I shut down,
Or when attacked I get myself out of the situation.
And it just,
And people just go and do it.
And they,
You know,
And then after,
You know,
It's right.
The aftermath of it right like that's really what that is it's the cleanup.
After we act through whatever it is that we're dealing with.
Yeah.
And everything's like that,
You know,
With when there's a price hike on broccoli.
And then we just act in response.
Most people don't realize that they're like,
You know,
Oh no,
I mean broccoli went up,
I was upset so of course I acted upset.
So this is how we people actually mask it is that,
Like,
If you've noticed that if we disagree with something in society nowadays.
It's socially acceptable and expected that you are going to be angry over it.
I can definitely,
You know,
Like this,
There's no middle ground anymore.
It's just like,
Well,
Broccoli went up,
I wish it didn't go up,
But it did that space doesn't live in society anymore.
It's broccoli went up these bastards that set the prices,
What are they thinking they're trying to screw us this is wrong.
And then,
And they have to go on social media and tell everybody or go to the water cooler at work.
And that conversation will go for a good half hour at work.
I know,
Did you see apples,
Apples are like that,
This is ridiculous.
And the outrage,
If you're not outraged,
You know,
Because like a lot of my life I've been out in society and I try not to let this stuff piss me off.
So everybody else is,
You know,
Really pissed off and I'm sitting there and they're like,
Well,
I suppose this doesn't bother you,
Glenn.
Yeah.
Well,
I'm choosing to not let it bother me.
I don't like it.
Absolutely.
But shooting my heart rate through the roof and,
You know,
Minimizing my immune system and developing cancer because somebody raised a price on broccoli.
No,
I think that's an overreaction.
Absolutely.
Like I got bigger things going on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Displacement.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
And everything is small stuff.
No.
And it's funny too,
Because even it's when you think about it,
The chain reaction that happens,
Like you,
You see broccoli and it goes up and you're enraged and you go and you complain to someone else and then their,
Their heart rates going up,
They get upset.
Now maybe that person's triggered and that's a domino effect on them.
And we don't think about how that impacts other people,
You know,
Right.
All we get is the bond.
It impacts,
It could impact their whole day and everyone they know and everyone they come in contact with.
It's just breeding it.
And it's socially acceptable.
So it's,
You know,
This is how,
Unfortunately,
This is how we bond.
Yeah.
We're in society,
We get very,
We get very scared of thinking that we're better than other people.
You know,
Like that,
Like,
Egomaniacs,
Not ego in the way we usually say it,
But,
You know,
Old school egomaniacs.
I'm better than everybody.
I'm awesome.
We're so scared because we know unconsciously that that's wrong and we don't want to be like that.
And it's socially unacceptable to think you're better than other people,
Which is fine.
You shouldn't think you're better than other people.
We're all the same.
So,
But we're so fearful that somebody else is going to think that we're better than them.
You know,
They're like,
Oh,
You know,
If I say something happy,
How's your day?
Great.
Well,
I can't walk around saying that because they might think that I think I'm better than them because they said great.
So like,
So everybody's scared of that.
So the only way they can feel safe connecting with one another is through complaining.
You know,
So because then there's no risk of somebody thinking if you're,
Everything sucks.
Yeah,
Everything sucks.
So that's safe.
No,
I can feel connected with another human being that way.
So this is how we've developed how to connect with one another is through complaining and misery.
This is,
You know,
Which breeds the socially acceptable aspect of it.
I just clicked for me for a second.
It's just crazy that we have so many things that we can connect with people about.
And we choose such a low vibration type of thing to connect over because it's the fruit.
It's the easiest.
It's,
You know,
Whatever,
However you want to label it.
But yeah,
I just got that.
I was just thinking about that.
Yeah,
It's fear based,
You know?
We're like,
No,
I don't want to,
I don't want anybody to think that,
You know,
I'm better.
Or I think I'm smarter.
I think I'm more not.
Yeah.
So I'll just,
I'm happier.
I don't want to act happy because somebody might be having a bad day and that might make them feel like crap.
You know,
It's that type of mentality.
That's what I love.
I love grocery stores because like,
You know,
As I think they're trained to ask you how you are.
I love grocery stores.
Yeah,
That might be an overstatement.
But I like that part when I'm checking out because it's a moment to connect with somebody in a different way because you know they're going to ask you how you are because they're supposed to.
So I always pause for a second and give them an honest answer.
You know,
It just takes a second.
They're like,
Hi,
How are you?
And I'm like,
I'm great.
And usually they're already scanning,
Right?
Beep.
Beep.
They just look up and they just stop and look at me like,
Is he kidding?
Does he not understand the socially acceptable way of connecting with other human beings?
He must be new here.
Maybe he's not.
But they just stop and look at me to see if I'm kidding.
And I'm just sitting there like,
Yeah.
And they're like,
And then they're reading my energy and they don't even know that they're doing it.
Because they just lock on to me.
They can feel it's different.
Yeah,
Like that's different.
That's not normal.
He's not being a wise ass.
He's serious.
Yeah.
And then most often they really enjoy it.
I was just thinking that.
I'm thinking it's interesting because if you think about how people act unconsciously most of the time,
You coming in and giving a response that's not what they typically would hear being unconscious,
That's got to wake up something in that moment,
Which is why they're just like,
Huh?
You okay?
Are you okay?
Actually,
Phenomenal.
Yeah,
It's interesting.
Yeah.
You can break people out of that unconsciousness for a moment.
Yeah.
This is how we look at.
You know,
We have this real deep desire to help others.
And,
You know,
Most people have it really.
And it's getting stronger and stronger.
And if we're going to be on a spiritual path,
One of the first things we have to learn is that you can't save anybody.
You know,
We cannot save,
You know,
And I was blessed enough to learn that right in the beginning because I came in through recovery.
So,
Like,
You know,
I was knee deep in AA and,
You know,
Wanting to help people once I woke up.
And,
You know,
In recovery,
If you think you can help people,
You're going to learn real fast that you can't because you're going to be at funerals and you're going to be going like,
Oh,
Crap.
Like,
Man,
They were doing so good three days ago and now they're dead.
Yeah.
That's like trial by fire.
There's a lot in recovery that was trial by fire for me.
I had to learn,
Like,
If I was going to continue helping,
I need to learn to be disconnected with the outcome.
You know,
I couldn't have,
I couldn't try to control whether they were going to do well or whether they weren't going to do well because they were relapsing or dying or,
You know,
Like,
And you're like,
What the hell,
Man?
I'm attached to an outcome.
I really want to help them.
And,
You know,
And I can't.
So you have to deal with all that emotion and that attachment really quick through that doorway.
But this is how we can actually help people just by living authentically and happily because it gives,
It captures people's attention,
Like you said.
You know,
It's because it's just a different vibration and it's different way.
And you show them that it's OK to be like that.
And it doesn't mean that you think you're better than other people and they can feel that.
And they're like,
Oh,
My God,
This is another way of being.
Yeah.
That's not arrogant.
That's pleasurable.
Yeah.
Note to self.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's just it's like enrolling them in a possibility of some other type of thinking that's not what they're typically used to,
Which may be enough for people to get started.
Yeah.
And it's just exposing people.
You know,
It's it's attraction rather than promotion.
No,
That's right.
Just be a living example of what love looks like.
Yeah.
And then all of a sudden the right people will start finding you.
And then the other people who aren't ready are going to call you all kinds of stuff.
And they're going to be like,
Oh,
He's out of his mind.
Yeah.
I haven't heard that in the last 19 years.
I mean,
Of course I have.
You know,
Plenty of times.
And it's like it's OK.
You're not ready.
I mean,
I'm not going to tell them that because then,
Oh,
What,
You think you're better than me?
I'm not ready.
You know,
I don't even bother.
Like,
Just let them know.
Let me know.
But you just said it.
You just be.
Be love,
Be kind,
Be you and then just let it go.
And then,
You know,
People people will come in those sometimes that happens with people who aren't ready.
Like they're not even started.
And sometimes that happens with people that are on a spiritual path when you're working on it.
Like you're familiar with my work.
My work is the way that I do stuff is not a lot of fluff on the surface.
So people who listen to my podcast regularly,
They like that because they won't listen to me.
They'll go find another podcast as well.
They should.
But the people who listen to me,
They get spirituality on a very deep,
Straightforward level.
You know,
Sometimes it might feel like a punch in the nose,
But it's it's very deep level.
And when you're dealing with things on a deep level,
Fear can get triggered.
And sometimes fear comes up and people can't break through that fear at that moment in their life.
We can all break through it.
But sometimes they can't.
And like,
As soon as I feel that my job is to hold them there.
Just hold them there and wait to find out which way it breaks.
Yes.
You know,
Which is up to them.
Don't go backwards.
Stay in this bit.
Yeah,
The only way.
And they start squirming and it's uncomfortable.
And they're like,
Fuck this.
And it's like,
Yeah,
Yeah.
What's there?
Yeah,
Yeah.
Just stay in it.
Yeah,
Yeah.
And they either choose to break through and go forward or they shut down.
Yeah.
And if they shut down,
Then usually they flip it on me.
And they're like,
There's something wrong with you.
There's something wrong with the way you teach.
There's something wrong.
You should go to school and get.
Your way isn't the only way.
You know,
They start projecting it onto me.
And which is fine.
I mean,
I'm not going to take it personally because I'd just been holding them in a ball of pain.
You know,
So like,
I know it's going to break one way or the other.
They're either going to break through or break down one or two.
So like if they break down,
They're not able to go forward.
You know,
Yeah,
Maybe they'll project it onto me a little,
But that's fine.
But what's cool is I've had people come back a year later,
Three years later,
Five years later.
And they're like,
Hey,
I got to apologize.
I'm like,
No,
You don't.
But they're like,
I know I knew who to come to when I was ready.
Yeah.
And I was like,
Yeah,
That's,
You know,
That's part of the journey to just waiting.
Yeah.
Meet them where they're at and then hold them there.
And if they're not capable of breaking through,
That's okay.
Like what,
You know,
I mean,
I wasn't capable of breaking through the first time.
Yeah.
You know,
Lots of people relapse in recovery,
You know,
So it's like,
And recovery is one way,
I feel if you do it right,
To pop open because that's what happened to me.
And I've seen it happen to a lot of other people,
You know.
Yeah,
Absolutely.
So,
Yeah,
It's,
You know,
But it's fine.
But like,
At least that seed was planted.
Yeah.
And there is the exposure to that,
To knowing there's something else.
Because we don't know what we don't know.
So just giving that exposure at least opens up that door to some degree.
Yeah.
So how do you like,
How do you view,
You know,
Yoga,
Shavasana,
Or,
You know,
Or any aspect of it?
Whatever comes to you,
You know,
As far as people coming into this,
Coming into spirituality,
What's your experience with that?
I think,
I think yoga is a really nice bridge between spirituality and like the non-physical sense of the word.
And also like the non-physical sense of what spirituality is,
Like what exists up here,
Where yoga kind of helps meet what's going on internally with something physical.
So it helps people kind of connect that because just being thrown into conversation,
Sometimes people just aren't there yet mentally,
You know,
And they have stuff they want to work through.
So with yoga,
What's really nice,
It's a nice doorway to spirituality because you,
You're coming into it in a group setting,
You know,
You're coming into it with other people that are most likely in that health and wellness space,
Like that energy is there.
But you get to create with it whatever you want.
You know,
That's what I love about yoga because I say to my students all the time,
When I start my class,
Like I tell them,
If you want to take Child's Pose the whole class,
You can take Child's Pose the whole class.
Like this is your practice,
Like I am just here guiding you and what you choose to do with whatever I guide you with is completely up to you,
You know,
And it's completely up to you with what you want to do.
So just like meet yourself where you're at,
Don't force yourself past,
You know,
Where you need to be.
And I do,
I see a big difference,
Honestly,
From when students come in from the beginning of class and they've got that energy from the day and just like everything going on in their brains.
And then we go through our little introduction and after about 10 minutes,
Everyone settles in and you can see that mind settling down and the stories calming down and living in,
You know,
The future,
The past,
It's all kind of comes to the present.
So I think that for anyone that wants to practice like mindfulness and to be present,
Like yoga is a great introduction for that.
Yeah,
I agree.
And it's,
You know,
The,
As you were talking,
I,
You know,
I was seeing all the lines and it's like that,
You know,
The breathing aspect of it is huge because that connects you with your body and your body with the physical exertion.
You know,
That also can ground you and it can burn off the nervous energy that's sitting on the surface.
You know,
That's the first energy that burns off,
You know,
Being a personal trainer.
I saw that a lot.
So it's like,
Yeah,
It's,
It's,
It's a,
I think it's a beautiful combination because it's oftentimes in spirituality,
Spirituality talk,
It kind of sounds like we're fighting against things,
You know,
Like we're fighting against our mind.
We're fighting against our ego.
There's been a long history of,
Of fighting against our bodies,
Denying our bodies and spirituality,
You know,
Aesthetics and that,
Like,
You know,
Buddha's story is beautiful of that,
You know,
Buddha became one of the best aesthetics like in the area,
Because he was on a spiritual path looking for enlightenment and like he was just well renowned as being able to deny his body better than most others that were in the practice.
But he didn't,
He found,
He realized that he wasn't going to find enlightenment there.
Right.
You know,
So it was when he,
You know,
He's,
He started eating food again,
And all the other aesthetics were like,
Oh,
Buddha sucks.
Well,
He was Siddhartha back then,
He wasn't the Buddha,
He wasn't the awakened one.
Yeah,
You know,
But he's Siddhartha sucks,
He's just,
You know,
He caved,
He couldn't handle it and all this stuff,
We thought he was really good.
But what it was is he realized that the denial of part of himself was not the pathway to enlightenment,
You know,
Which that's what this reminded me of,
We don't need to deny our mind or fight against our mind,
You know,
We must recovery,
It says we must cease fighting everything and everyone.
You know,
So we,
So it's not about denying our body or denying our mind or denying our ego,
It's actually about becoming friends with all of them.
Yeah.
And so it's just,
You know,
Sometimes you got to be firm with friends.
Especially when you're stepping over the boundaries that they're not supposed to be stuck together.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So that's what we're doing,
You know,
Where we are,
If our mind is controlling us,
We need to get in control of our mind.
It's not because our mind is bad.
Same with our ego.
You know,
Our ego is not a bad thing.
Our ego is a warning system trying to protect us from danger.
So it's,
These are our mind and our ego are the two things that in spirituality,
Most often people think about fighting and denying and it's our enemy.
And it's like,
No,
It's none of that,
You know,
And I think yoga is a good example of that.
It's that,
You know,
No,
We're working with the body.
We're slowly,
We're learning to slow down our mind.
So we're in control of it instead of it being in control of us,
You know,
It's really a beautiful.
Yeah,
I love,
I love all kinds of yoga.
I actually studied all the different kinds just a little bit.
There's a lot of different kinds.
It's very,
There's a different type for,
You know,
Whatever anyone's into.
There's a yoga out there for you,
Really.
Yeah,
Yeah.
It's a beautiful,
Beautiful practices.
I actually at the beginning of last year,
I think it was maybe the beginning of this year,
I don't know,
Recently.
Recently,
I took a meditation course in Kriya Yoga.
Oh,
Wow.
Which was pretty interesting.
Kriya is some intense yoga,
Man.
Yeah,
I was just,
I was like,
Okay,
Let's hear how this works.
You know,
That's how I am,
You know,
It's like.
All in,
I hear you.
Go look warm.
You're like,
Come on all in,
I hear you.
Yeah,
Let's see,
Can I cannonball into Kriya?
Is that allowed?
Oh,
It's funny.
Yeah,
But yeah,
There is lots of different kinds of yoga.
And,
You know,
This is,
I think one of the things that yoga gets a bad rap for,
Especially in developed countries,
Is it being watered down and only looked at as an exercise thing.
A lot of people think it's just an exercise class.
And it's so much more than that.
But it can be whatever you need it to be,
You know.
Like you said,
It's a beautiful doorway because there's so much variance in there that you can come in at your level.
And if you just want to work out your body,
Then fine.
Just work out your body for a while.
Yeah,
You can focus on one of the areas or you can,
I mean,
It really does hit mental,
Physical and spiritual.
It's the only it's honestly the only type of physical exercise.
I don't know if you can think of another one.
I don't know any other one other than yoga that hits those three because it's not just a lot of during the class.
It's setting intentions for the practice,
You know,
And it could be in your life or it could be it could be with mantras.
It could be with whatever.
And you're practicing meditation.
The yoga itself is a form of meditation.
You're breathing,
You're doing breath work like,
You know,
You're doing the physical part that's getting your body together.
It's funny.
I mean,
It's not really funny,
But the union,
Like for construction out in the on the West Coast,
I don't know if they're doing it over here.
I'm on the East Coast.
But at some companies,
They're actually getting insurance breaks like they have to they're paying less on insurance to have their guys do a yoga class in the morning before they start work.
Because it actually cuts down on the level of injuries that they have on the job as a whole,
Not only because their bodies are stretched out,
But because they're more mindful.
It's all tied together.
It's really cool to see it being used.
Like,
People talk about it being watered down.
Yeah,
Sure.
Does that sound like a watered down yoga class doing getting a bunch of construction guys and their boots and hats and getting them to stretch,
You know,
Before they go like get on a forklift?
Yeah.
It's not,
Of course,
It's not the typical,
What you would consider to be traditional yoga,
But that's going to impact all those people in a really positive way.
So,
Exactly.
That's what it's all about.
Yeah,
Everyone.
Everyone has their their twist with it.
So I think it's great.
Like I don't.
However,
People are going to perceive it is how they're going to perceive it.
At the end of the day,
Too.
So,
Yeah,
No,
I agree.
It's I think it's great.
And it's this is one of the things that,
You know,
A lot of times we look at what's what's wrong in the world.
But like,
I think what's wrong in the world is because we're hitting the end,
You know,
Where we're coming to the conclusion of a lot of dysfunctional ways of being.
And part of that is research.
Like I,
I have this side of me that's very business oriented.
Like,
I,
I don't know.
And I know that like I,
Well,
I'm pretty sure it's going to be expanding in the near future because I feel it bubbling up even more and more lately.
But I've always been intrigued by business,
You know,
I get and part of it is the entrepreneurial bug that I've always had and stuff like that.
But the dynamics of business intrigued me.
And one of the things that I think is great about where we are right now is that we've researched everything,
You know,
Our addiction,
Like nothing is good or bad.
It just is.
So like,
If you go in the wrong direction,
Far enough,
You will find the right direction.
Yeah,
Because so this is what has happened.
This right and this,
You know,
As humans,
We can go all the way because we don't know how to stop.
We're addicted.
Yeah,
We're addicted to growth.
So,
So in in business what they've researched every way humanly possible to make more money to expand to grow to increase productivity and to make more money.
So,
And you know that sounds like a negative thing but where we are now is we've got to the point where we've researched everything.
The only thing left to research is happiness.
So this is what over the last 1015 years they've started researching in business,
They've started researching the impact on a happy worker,
As opposed to an unhappy worker,
They've started to research the impact on healthy living,
As opposed to unhealthy living.
You know,
So this is,
You know,
When your yoga at a construction site was a part you do think they're doing frickin yoga at a construction site and giving people breaks on their insurance,
Because they're not making more money.
Right,
It's money motivated.
Yeah,
Crap why they're doing.
Yeah.
The fact is that is they're putting people into a healthier direction.
Mm hmm.
You know they're pushing people in the direction of meditation of the exercise.
Why,
Because it makes them more profitable.
Yeah,
Good.
I'm glad we finally got here,
Because we've been kicking their ass for the last 100 years to try to get them to be more right on every other way.
Well,
Let's,
You know,
We'll minimize breaks and we'll push them harder and we'll get less vacation time and,
You know,
They've tried everything that they could to make people more productive to a dysfunctional in a dysfunctional way.
And they got them to a certain level of production.
And they hit a ceiling.
Yep.
Then all sudden they're like,
Okay,
What can we what,
You know,
How can we destroy,
How can we turn them into robots more right well I don't,
We've hit a wall we can't,
There's no more robotic stuff we can teach them and pull out of them,
It's done.
Okay,
Well,
What there's got to be something else because we're addicted to grow so we can't stop.
We don't just stop because I lose my job if I don't come up with something that increases productivity.
Okay,
Well,
What if they're,
I don't know happy with,
I don't know,
Try.
We increase productivity 5%.
Okay,
Yeah,
Everybody wins like that's,
I mean,
If they make more money,
You know,
There's a lot of people like we were talking about to loop back with the,
You know,
Complaining and it's just like broccoli and you know that people bond based on that they're like,
Oh,
They're just doing this to make money because I guarantee you know that's that's probably a big,
You know,
A response that happens and who cares.
Like,
They win and I win and you win so I mean really who cares if they make more money.
And I've been in the middle spot where,
Like,
I've worked with businesses to try to implement,
You know,
Now granted these businesses had more of an open mind and maybe some other businesses but they talked to me about creating a program for their employees to be more mindful.
And now,
They're,
You know,
Like I said they're more open minded to even be talking with me they are,
You know,
So some of the people are.
But what if I have to go talk to the CEO and the board.
I can't go in there and say,
Like,
You know,
Hey,
You know this is,
We're in the middle of a spiritual shift happening on the planet it's all about love man,
Like I can't go with that like,
See ya.
Okay,
Thanks hippie you may go.
Right,
So to present it,
Like to present it to them I have to show them how this is going to enhance their productivity.
This is going to benefit you let me show you why.
Right,
So I have to come at it from that perspective.
So I've been in that middle seat where I'm like,
Okay,
I'm going to tell the big wigs,
How it's going to I'm going to show them because I'm not lying.
It's true.
I will show them how this is going to improve their productivity and how their business is going to expand,
And all the benefits that they're going to get the the loyalty that they'll get from their employees,
The extra work that they'll get from their employees once they start being feeling like they're valued and all kinds of stuff,
Like I'll show them that.
And then,
I'll be,
And then I'll be free to do my stuff.
Yeah,
You know,
Then I can go help the people.
You know,
This is,
But that's what I love about spirituality is if something is beneficial.
It's there's a spiritual law underneath it.
That's why it's beneficial.
Absolutely.
So,
To me it's all one thing.
We got to introduce the cat.
What's the cat's name?
Come back,
Come on back.
Her name is Gizmo.
We're just,
You were just,
She'll be,
She'll be.
There we go.
All right,
Gizmo.
She really wants to be a part of this conversation.
Yes,
Clearly.
Energy's going up right.
She's getting wild.
I don't know.
She's very present,
I can tell you that.
She's very in the moment right now.
She's got no stress.
We've got lots of animal lovers that listen,
So it's good.
Or watch.
If you're listening,
You've got to go to YouTube and watch now because now you can't see the cat.
You're just not going to see the cat.
Sorry.
Sorry.
So,
Yeah,
But you know,
This,
That's it.
It's all like if we go in the wrong direction far enough,
We find the right direction.
It's,
You know,
Love wins.
Sorry.
You know,
That's the beauty of it all.
Yeah,
I agree.
Yeah,
So then.
How long of a road you want to take to get there?
Yes.
Yeah,
That's it.
Like I'd recommend just going straight for the spirituality and happiness,
But you don't have to.
You can run in the direction of,
Well,
So actually this is kind of interesting.
This came up with a conversation with Dave many years ago and I always remembered it.
He was talking to me about that aha moment.
Like,
How do you induce the aha moment or something?
I'm like,
You can't.
You know,
And,
You know,
He was like,
Well,
What about suffering?
You know,
Suffering can induce an aha moment.
I say,
Yes,
It can.
But not if you're suffering consciously,
Not if you're choosing to suffer.
Because people do that,
You know,
Like,
I mean,
I even played around with it many years ago.
It's like,
It's,
I didn't,
Wasn't really trying to do induce a spiritual awakening.
I didn't even know what that was.
But,
But I was playing around with suffering enough because I was just suffering,
Suffering,
Suffering,
Suffering.
And I'm kind of an extremist.
So I figured,
Let's just,
Yeah,
Let's just put,
You know,
Let's just dive head first onto a cement floor and see if that wakes me up.
I understand that I have a very,
I've done the same things.
And it's just,
It's all Yeah,
I mean,
When he's sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Right.
And that's when,
And it's hard then,
You know,
And it also depends on just I think,
Like how receptive you are and how open to change you are,
Or,
You know,
Like it only it only Oh,
My goodness,
Stop it.
It only takes,
You know,
You just have to hear something in the right way at the right time and just be in that receptive type of state of mind.
So where it breaks you out of that unconsciousness,
I think is when the aha moment happens.
And you can't.
It doesn't matter if you try and go face first in a concrete.
You're just gonna have it when you're gonna have it.
Yeah,
It just hurts.
It just hurts more because it's,
You can't intend like suffering will pop you open if,
If that's what it takes.
And if that's what it takes,
Then it's unconscious.
Like you can't consciously choose to suffer to,
To awaken because then you're,
You're saying you're consciously choosing to suffer.
And that's your fault.
Like,
You're not suffering blindly.
You're just going,
Oh,
My God,
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do.
That type of suffering is natural.
And you can pop open and have aha moments.
But if you go like,
Well,
I'm confused.
So I'm going to induce more suffering on myself.
Yeah,
That's just like pity pot crap.
Yeah.
The universe can read energy like you can't manipulate the universe.
No,
It can read it.
It's like,
No,
Dude,
Like,
That's not real suffering.
You're choosing it.
It's suffering that you're asking for.
Like,
To trick people do it to to like trick themselves.
If I if I suffer enough,
I won't want to do this anymore.
You know,
Like,
Yeah,
And that's how we were taught.
We were taught to do that to ourselves.
And that's one of the big things that we need to get out of that pattern.
It's punishment for Absolutely.
I remember being a teenager in high school and my dad caught me smoking cigarettes.
It wasn't a great kid.
I wasn't a bad.
I was just I was just like not I was very I like just couldn't listen to anyone.
And so he catches me.
And of course,
Like the first thing,
You know,
A lot of our parents like at that time or whatever a lot of parents maybe they still now say,
But he'd be like,
I'm gonna make you smoke the whole pack.
And that's gonna then you're not gonna want it anymore.
You know,
And I feel like I took that on like in life,
Like and I've looked at things through that,
Like,
So just a simple thing that said to you,
You know,
At different times,
And you take it on and you live through it.
So I can I can definitely relate with the suffering thing because I feel like a lot of people that do that also have heard the same types of things and that mentality.
And think about think about our,
Our whole system.
I mean,
In school,
When you do something wrong,
You get in trouble.
That's,
You get punished at home,
You do something wrong,
You get punished.
And in life,
You do something wrong,
They punish you,
You go to jail,
You know,
It's all about.
And what's interesting is they actually proved,
I don't know how many years ago,
But quite a few that you cannot change negative behavior through negative feedback.
It doesn't change negative behavior.
Only positive feedback changes negative behavior.
So they found this out,
And they've proven it,
But they haven't implemented it.
Why?
Well,
Because I mean,
What are you going to do like take down the whole penal system?
Yeah,
You know,
Like,
That's a lot of money.
Like people aren't gonna let that fly.
They're like,
Oh,
Well,
You know,
It doesn't doesn't matter if you proved it scientifically,
La la la la la.
But we can stop doing it to ourselves.
Yeah,
Absolutely.
We can stop beating ourselves up and start feeding ourselves self love.
You know,
It's that's what actually changes negative behavior.
When you feel good about yourself.
Yeah,
When when you're like that,
That fit your energy rises,
And you're like,
You know,
Like the,
I missed,
I missed yoga class tonight.
Why do I even bother?
There's no,
I don't even I'm not even gonna bother trying to go back because I always screw up and I never and I always fall through.
And your energy just drops and drops and drops and you don't feel like going to class again.
Yeah,
You know,
But if you're like,
Okay,
Life got me today.
I missed yoga class.
But hey,
It happens to everybody.
I can do this.
You know,
I'm good enough.
I can follow through if I stick with it.
Now all of a sudden your energy is rising.
Yeah,
You're more likely to attempt to go to the next class.
Yeah,
I can just see it in the energy.
Yeah,
You can feel it.
It's really it is like a Yeah,
What you resist persists,
But always sticks with me.
I say it all the time in my head.
But it's the same thing.
Like,
I feel like it's almost the same concept,
You know,
Like,
You just have to,
I feel like living into something greater than even being in the moment is sometimes what can help get people out of the moment.
And I don't get people out of that,
Like the possibility of what you'd want to live into what would that person will kind of,
You know,
Decisions with that person make right now.
Right?
Like having that whole mentality too,
Because people become so resigned.
And I'm not x,
Y,
And z.
It's like,
Don't focus on what you're not.
What do you want?
What do you want to create?
What do you want to do?
Yeah,
Yeah,
I mean,
I did that years ago,
I was years ago,
I made a list of the qualities that I admired in people.
So it was like honesty,
Integrity.
You know,
Just probably a list of like seven qualities.
And I had it on my desk.
And whenever I came to a situation in life,
That I didn't know how to handle it.
Because I needed to learn to live like this,
Too.
You know,
Like,
Yeah,
I blew open in the beginning to concepts and stuff,
But I needed to take these,
These knowingness,
And I needed to learn how to implement them in my daily life.
So I made that list.
And every time I came to a situation,
I had to try to figure out how to handle,
I would look at that list,
And I would go,
What would this dude do?
Yeah.
Like,
What would a person that has these qualities,
What would they do?
And then I would,
I'd be like,
Well,
They'd probably do this.
I'm like,
Oh,
Okay,
I'll do that.
And then I did it.
And then like,
After a few months,
I was sitting there one day,
And I looked at that list.
And I was like,
I think I'm that person.
Right?
Is it me?
That's a cool moment.
That's a really cool.
Yeah.
Like,
How the hell did that happen?
When did this?
I have all these qualities,
Like every day.
And I live them.
So surreal.
You know,
And this is so I think this is probably a good place to wrap up.
Like the,
So the,
This is something that people have a very hard time with,
In the beginning of spirituality is that constantly keeping score of where they are.
They're unhappy,
And they're so focused on being unhappy,
That they cannot let it go.
So they're like,
Well,
Well,
I did three meditations and two yoga classes,
But I still have anxiety.
I did 14 shavasanas.
And I thought it's that way.
But,
You know,
And I listened to 42 podcasts and read three books,
But I still feel like crap.
Like,
It's like you're keeping score.
Yeah,
You're addicted to information.
Right?
So like,
And you're you're addicted to seeing where you are.
Am I there?
Yeah,
It's like a kid in the back of the car.
Are we there?
Yeah.
Are we there?
Yeah.
Are we there?
Yeah.
Am I happy?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You're never going to be happy as long as you keep asking if you're happy.
Like,
What you have to do is just get lost in the work.
That's trust in the process.
You just get lost in doing what you're supposed to do.
You just get lost in creating space.
You get lost in practicing a sacred pause.
You get lost in going to yoga regularly.
You get lost.
You just get lost in whatever the heck you're supposed to be doing.
And you just do it.
And then all of a sudden,
One day you woke,
You wake up and you're like,
I think I might be happy.
When did this start?
That's really how it happens.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know,
And you see it in you,
You know,
Like for me,
It was the first time I've experienced this several times,
But the first time was through drinking.
You know,
One day I woke up and I was like,
I don't think I thought about drinking yesterday.
Wow.
I don't,
I don't,
I didn't think about drinking all day yesterday.
I'm pretty,
I'm almost positive.
I did not think about drinking yesterday.
And I was like,
When did that start?
And for me,
It was,
I don't remember now,
But I think it was somewhere around a week to two weeks that I had estimated because I kept going one day back and one day back.
And no,
I don't think I thought about it that day either.
And I'd run through the day.
I was trying to figure out when the hell the last time I thought about drinking was.
And it was like a week or two weeks before somewhere around that.
And it blew my mind.
Yeah.
You know,
You never think you can,
You can get there.
No,
But,
But like,
Because you took the attention off of it too.
It's and then you put that energy in other places.
Like one of my favorite things is like helping people,
You know,
Or like whatever,
Like everyone,
You know,
Is going through something.
Everyone,
Everyone.
So like getting too much into that self,
It's,
It'll keep you from getting there.
Like you say all the time,
Happiness is a means of travel,
Not a destination.
You know,
So the only way to find that is through taking us out of ourselves as well.
Right.
Then,
Then you like you check out for a bit and then you do the work because it's outside of yourself.
It's not here.
And then you come back and you're like,
Oh,
Wow.
Yeah.
And then sometimes it's,
Sometimes it's helping others.
I mean,
That's like the,
The go-to when all else fails,
Just help somebody.
That's my go-to.
Yeah,
That's in our community.
Yeah,
For sure.
Yeah,
Because,
Because it works.
But like if you're working on,
You know,
Whatever you're working on,
Get lost in the doing of it and forget about its results.
Did I get the results yet?
Did I get the results yet?
Did I get the results yet?
This is what I,
Okay,
So this is it.
I saw this earlier and I didn't know how it was going to tie in,
But this is where it's going to tie in.
So when I was studying the yoga,
All the different styles of yoga,
What I found interesting was that the,
The way yoga was done back,
You know,
The different types of yoga,
Back thousands of years ago,
Like it was never like nobody,
We're,
We're addicted to trying to know what's going,
What,
What's going to come.
Like if it's going to be worth our time or something.
So,
So like in yoga,
That's not how they did it.
Like they,
You know,
They went and said,
Hey,
I want to learn.
I want you to be my guru,
You know,
And if the guru set took you on,
Then agreed,
Then they took you on and they,
They just told you to do stuff and you just went and did it.
And half the time you didn't know why you were doing it or what the meaning of it was.
It wasn't about that.
They didn't explain it to you.
They just said,
Go do this.
You know,
It's the,
It's the karate kid stuff,
You know,
Wax on wax off.
Yeah.
It's,
I'm not going to tell you why you're just do it.
Just,
You know,
Trust me and do it.
And then it all falls into place.
And that's much more effective because it keeps our mind out of it.
Yeah.
We're not going well.
We're not going to be able to do it.
We're not going to be able to do it.
We're not going to be able to figure it out or label it or just do it.
Yeah,
Just do it.
And then,
Then all of a sudden you'll wake up one day and you'll have the results.
Absolutely.
Well,
I guess I'll do it.
I,
It's the full circle moment.
That little piece came in.
It might have been before we were talking or something.
I know.
And I'm like,
Oh,
I know.
Doesn't fit.
I'm like,
I need to say something conclusive after that statement for sure.
Yeah.
Divine perfection.
All right.
Well,
Thank you.
This has been fun.
Thank you.
This was great.
All right,
Cool.
Well,
I'm going to end and you hang around.
I'll talk to you backstage.
Yep.
Let's see.
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