Byte: Rudy Hunter ~ A Miracle Inside A Prison!

Rudy relates a powerful story this time- of how he volunteered at a men's prison down South, and one day a prisoner asked him a question that shocked and surprised him, and changed the way Rudy viewed the world forever!

Transcript

Hello, Everyone, And welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I don't think I can go for much longer without acknowledging what is happening in the outside world. I think that things are becoming more challenging, More heartbreaking, And more difficult to understand day by day. And this is just for me, I don't know how you're feeling. But I just want to let you know where my mind is at. And, You know, Putting together this podcast and suggesting that this world is magical. Well, Sometimes it's hard to do that when the news is so dire, When the news is so depressing. But a part of me feels that introducing people to you, The wonderful guests that I'm meeting, The very different and unique individuals that are out there, And the work they're doing in the world, And the things that they've witnessed that are inexplicable. Well, These topics, These subjects, I hope that each and every week they remind you that this world, This universe is peopled by those who are enchanted, And who are enchanting, And who really are here to make this place more magical. I mean, If you bump into them, When you're taking the bus to work, You're going to have a really great conversation. So I'm going to continue bringing you this podcast, And introducing you to really special human beings, So that you remember that not all is dark, So that you remember that not all the news is bad. And that maybe just around the corner, You're going to bump into someone that's going to remind you that this world is a beautiful place. I have to tell you that my interview with Rudy Hunter this week was exactly the medicine I needed. Because not only is Rudy hilarious, Intelligent, And doing good work in the world, Rudy used to also be a professional magician. So you know, Here I am in this interview completely gobsmacked, And kind of fangirling all over Rudy, And Rudy did not disappoint. And I think he will do a much better job telling you about the work he does and how he got there. So now, Without further ado, Here's my interview with the fabulous Rudy Hunter. I got a chance, I already mentioned it, To work with the men and the dogs inside this prison program. And I was there to do, Specifically, I started being there, To do energy work with a crew of people, With the trainers, A very skeleton crew of people. So I was the energy work woo-woo dude. We had the trainer, We had somebody taking photos for the press for trying to fund the program and keep it going. It was a small little crew. And I got access to the guys by happenstance. And remember, This is medium security. This is like neck tattoo medium security, Like terrifying. My one goal when I first went in there was not to cry. I'd love to ask you the main question of the podcast, Which is, I would so appreciate if you would share an experience in your life, Maybe more than one experience, Where you feel like you've witnessed something magical, Miraculous, Or maybe even mysterious. Whatever you'd like to share. Okay. There's a lot. I want to tell you the prison story because it stunned me. I got a chance, I already mentioned it, To work with the men and the dogs inside this prison program. And I was there to do specifically, I started being there to do energy work with a crew of people with with the trainers, A very skeleton crew of people. So I was the energy work woo-woo dude. We had the trainer, We had somebody taking photos for the press for trying to fund the program and keep it going. It was a it was a small little crew. And I got access to the guys by happenstance. And remember, This is medium security. This is like neck tattoo, Medium security, Like terrifying. My one goal when I first went in there was not to cry. You know, 10 minutes later, I was of course crying because of the dogs. But the guys were, The guys had worked very hard to be in this program, They had to meet a lot of requirements. But one day was never happened to me before. We're out in the yard. It's in Florida, It's a sunny day. So we're out in the the fenced yard with all the all the guys had a dog each. I'm there, Giving them instructions on the energetic work. And I gotten very friendly with the lady who was the the head guard who was to a great extent responsible for the program. She and I were very much on the same page. And I've been there multiple times. And we started and she just came up to me and said, You know, I got to run some errands. I'll see you in an hour. And I went, Oh, Okay, Great, Because I was in the middle of blabbing on about energy work. And then it slowly dawned on me. Oh, I'm in the yard outside of a medium security men's prison, And the guard has left. So I had two thoughts. The first was, This is where I die. It's like, What's gonna happen? And the better thought was, I wonder what the guys want. Because I'd never talked to them directly. Because we're busy focused working on our animals, Right. And the revelation to me was what they asked for help with. And I'm gonna I'm gonna make you guess not to put you on the spot, But I'm going to make you guess what the guys in the prison for various offenses wanted help with. Did was it kind of unanimous? Did they all want the same thing? So they wanted they wanted pretty much the same thing. I'm gonna guess to see whether their dogs liked them. Oh, That's very sweet. No, They were good with the dogs. They were good. And the dogs did like them. They were great dogs. What they actually wanted help with was dealing with their feelings, Especially anger. Being so closely confined with other dudes. And I thought to myself, Huh. So they're asking me to teach them the same stuff I teach everyone who works in an office, Everyone who lives in a family, Everyone who has a terrible relative that comes for Thanksgiving and annoys them. It's the social skills, But specifically dealing with their own anger and frustration. And that was a turning point for me as a practitioner. Because it really pointed out. It didn't matter that they were in prison for what they were what they were accused of and, And had done the management of the day to day stuff for them is the hardest stuff. That's why they worked out. That's why they lifted weights. It's not to be big and strong to be in a fight. It's to discharge some of that anger because they had no skills for what to do with it. It was a big turning point for me. Wow, I, You know, I've, I've often heard it said that anger and I'm just saying this because this has proven to be true for me. It is really challenging for me to get just actually really angry. But when I do, It's I'm like incandescent. And I don't ever hurt anyone or do it. It just feels first of all, Like a massive energetic release, I can just feel it. But there have been times when I've also understood that anger is grief or sorrow that hasn't been released. And so when I start getting angry, Or when I start feeling the glimmerings of it, I think to myself, I need to go cry somewhere, Because that usually just, You know, Dispels it. And that's actually worked for me too, With anxiety, When I'm starting to feel anxious. And I was, I think to myself, I need to cry. This is, This is a way to get rid of it. Would you agree with any of that? Oh, All of it. And let's put in a layer of complication. If you're a big, Tough dude in a men's prison, You can't be seen to cry. So and by the way, Crying is a great, A great way to get that out. When people are afraid of anger, Because it always feels Pandora boxy. Like if I take the top off this, It's going to all come out. The, The allegory of Pandora's box is actually a little misunderstood. The problem is not that she opens the box, Which everyone thinks, Oh, That's the problem. Just keep it all in there. You'll, You'll work it out with your therapist next week, It'll be fine. So the gag is not that she opens the box. The problem is, She knows as soon as she's opened it, She can't get it all back inside. It's the wanting to pull it back in and control it, And recapture it that's an impossibility. So that's one of the reasons exploding with anger, Or even crying with anger is challenging. And while we're on the subject of feelings, It's one of the things we're never taught. You can express anger, You can go break some dishes, You can go punch a wall, Punch somebody in the face, Kick somebody don't recommend any of those. That's explosive. What most of us do is implosive work. So we have our stomachs full double, We produce a bunch of bile, We get an ulcer, We, We start the beginnings of a biological process that leads to all kinds of diseases by constantly clamping down those feelings. What we're not taught is the middle road of how to let go of anger by just letting go of it. That sounds impossible, Especially when you're angry. It's like, You've got to be kidding, You can't do that. Well, You can do that. That's actually a real doable thing. And it means you don't necessarily have to implode, You don't necessarily have to explode, You can do bits of those if you like. But if you let it go directly, It's a very different experience. And it's one you can do anywhere. And that's it, Everyone. Another enchanting human being on this planet, Making it a more beautiful place. Now at the end of the credits, Stay tuned, Because Rudy has to count them down to three meditation sessions to help you feel better, Heal faster, And discover that the path to healing might be a lot easier than we suspect. I'm also going to release both of these beautiful healing sessions and their own separate little podcast. So if you want to go back and listen to them in the future, You can just hit play and experience Rudy's magic. These interviews ground me and they remind me of just how enchanting this world is, And that there is hope and gorgeousness everywhere if we just know where to look for it. Please do give me a rating or review those ratings and reviews help other people find the podcast and they mean so very much to me. Thank you for listening. And here's my one request. Be like Rudy. Be endlessly surprised by the world and be delighted by it. What I think is especially powerful about Rudy's story is that Rudy is in service to everyone and every little creature out there. And he doesn't say, I can't do it or animals don't deserve to be healed or what are you talking about? You know, I don't have a connection to this or that or the other. Rudy just wades in and says, I see you. I can be present for you and I can help you in ways that are truly profound. So who knows where you're going to be asked to be of help, To be of service. I think we shouldn't let ourselves limit our own selves for where we can show up and where we can be powerful, Where we can change the world. Those opportunities are out there and they abound. So be like Rudy and be present and be ready so that you can change the world when you least expect it. Hey, I greatly appreciate everything you just said and also greatly appreciate the really kind of challenging situation you found yourself in, You know, Trying to answer these gentlemen's, These prisoners' answer. I mean, I don't know, That sounds like quite the tap dance. But it also leads really, Really beautifully into, You're going to have a couple demonstrations on my show, Which I'm really excited about. So let's do it. Let's do it. All right. Let's, Is there a feeling, Here's the deal, We're going to work in a way that I call secret therapy, Which means you being the client I didn't even ask permission for, Guess what you're doing now? You're going to be a client. You are going to keep us 150% out of any content whatsoever. That means you can't tell us it has to do with your knee or your mother or your history in Guadalupe. No content. We're going to work at the process level. And the reason we're going to do that is because it'll keep all the nosy listeners out of hallucinating more about you. Because that's what we are as human. We're all nosy. We all want to know. Yeah, What's up? What's up with Kirsten? What's that all about? None of our business. And it'll allow folks to lean into this process thing and play their own game at home. And we can do that cleanly. So what I want you to do is pick a feeling, It can be any feeling, You will have to tell us what the feeling is, But you're not going to tell us what it's about. You're going to give us no context. I want you to pick a feeling that has been around for a while, One that haunts you or dogs you or keeps coming up every week or every three days or every month. Just tell us what the feeling is. Anger. Perfect. So you picked one of the force, Probably the most forceful one, And the one that people are either really good at, Or mostly afraid of. So that's perfect. So we know we're working on anger, What I'm going to ask you to do is to think of a specific situation that where it keeps coming up for you. And you're never going to tell us what that is. You're going to use that to compare when we're done. Okay. So when I think about x, Y, Z, It makes me this angry. So the next thing we do is figure out how angry this angry is. So zero to 1010 is I am going to throw this fire extinguisher through your head. I'm so angry. Zero is Yeah, It doesn't bother me. No problem. Where are you? I would say I'm at an eight. That is perfect. So you now know, We all know it's anger. It's tied to a specific situation. And we're starting at an age. Now we do the crazy tinfoil half brigade stuff. Find the place in your body, You're probably already there. You're actually probably queuing us right there with this. Find the place in your body where the anger feels the hottest. Well, I'm rubbing my throat and I even started rubbing my throat before. Yeah. By the way, This is an old Chinese medicine fix for rising anger. It's to rub it back down. It only works for so long. All right. So here's what we're gonna do. For about 30 seconds or so. What I'm going to have you do is focus on the anger. Without it escalating, You're just focusing on it as an idea. And you're going to focus on the place that constantly triggers it to keep it at an eight. All right. During that time, I'm going to do some crazy sounding mumbling stuff, Which I barely even understand what it is. We'll see what happens to that eight. And it's important when we're done that I'm going to have you check that same memory or the same same trigger, Really. Okay. Here we go. Bring it to mind. I'll let you know when we're done. Okay, Bring your attention back. But I want you to use the same reference point. So it's the same situation, Person or event. We started at an eight. What number are we at now? We're at five. And I had the most interesting experience. It felt like it was being flushed down the toilet. When you started. Interesting. Yep. Perfect. So the rule is, If it worked that well, Which it did, We're gonna do it again. We have to keep the mind and now try it will want to try to help. So this is why I'm a little pedantic about this. Same target. Same feeling. So it's anger directed to the same thing. Same circumstance. Again, Lightly keep your attention on it. Here we go. All right, Bring your attention back. And then lean in and check notice anything that may have changed, You want to check your number, But also notice if anything arrived or anything left. Well, I'm at a two, But I do have to say that it made me nauseous. Like I felt like I wanted to throw up in my throat and my stomach started getting like, I felt like I really needed to throw up. And I'd have to say that, You know, I obviously I felt in my throat, But the secondary place for anger was in my abdomen. So that's, You know, I felt that also wanted to just throw up. Gotcha. So just check. Is that sensation still here? Or is that that? Well, It's it's abating. It's like slowly disappearing. It always will. It's rare. Someone will actually throw up if they need to. So be it. But that's pretty rare. We have the we have the that pattern is so ingrained in the nervous system. It's like, Oh, I get it out. It's poison. Because it's poison. Just FYI. For those of you playing the home game. So good. 852. That's a normal progression. And by normal, I want to just say one thing. Everybody's different. But most people go down a couple of numbers at a time. Because there's no barrier to that happening. I'm going to build in for folks who are not as facile as you a thing to eliminate the barriers so that their decline can be easy to we're going to do it one more time. Okay, We're gonna start in a slightly different way. All right. Focus on the to focus on anger, Same target. Give me one second. All right, Attention back. Let go of anything you were focused on. And then check it fresh. I had an interesting experience. So I was at a two. I'm just gonna call it a gremlin. Yeah, In my stomach. The gremlin was not happy. Right? It was you did it a third time. And it is resisting. And it's not pleased. And so I'm still at a two but I could feel the pushback. It was interesting. That's very insightful. That resistance is it even hurts when we say this out loud. But it's it's sort of a true confession of how we're wired. Don't take my pain away from me. Or don't take all of it because I need some at 2am to keep me up and to be angry at like when I'm in the grocery store. We hold on to a little bit because there's this false belief that somehow it's either justified or important. And it can be very justified. But it's poison. Here drink your justified poison is the same as drink your regular poison. So let's do a little piece for that gremlin. I love the I love the term gremlin. Put your attention on either the gremlin that you're experiencing or the sense of pushback. And I'm going to do something different this time. There we go. Okay, Bring your attention back. And tell me what you noticed. Well, That felt a little playful. So it felt almost as if you came in and you were I don't know, Not teasing is the wrong word. But having trying to make friends with my gremlin or having fun with my gremlin and, And saying, Hey, Don't take yourself so seriously. You know, We can have fun together. This doesn't you don't have to be so rigid, I guess. So entrenched. Let's have fun. That's basically what it felt like. And are you still at a two and it's fine if you are? Yeah, I am at a two but it's it's, I can feel the gremlin is softening. Yeah. What happens when we do this? And I should tell this says for folks are going to come back and use this because that's part of why I do this. This can stay embedded in the recording. Folks can come back and use this as much as they want for any feeling that they want. When we start with something worth having start with something over a five, You started at an eight, So that it's really worth doing. And then when it starts to drop, We really notice it. When we get down to a two, A one or a zero, We're done. Because what happens if we leave it now, 20 minutes to a couple of hours after the fact, It automatically starts dropping. And we we let go. It's hard to let go fully consciously that rapidly because it freaks a lot of us out. It's like this is too quick. It can't be changing. So there's a little time delay. Usually, That's 20 minutes to hours. Sometimes it's as long as the next morning. A sleep cycle is very helpful. I get many, Many emails that start with, Yeah, I heard you. I was on a show yesterday. I thought it was stupid. And then I went to bed. I'm having the best morning ever. Those are those are my favorite emails. Because sometimes 20 years of this pattern takes an overnight for us to go. You know what feels better when it's not in full enragement? Oh, Yeah. Well, This Yeah, This has just been kind of mind blowing for me. And I can't wait to go to sleep tonight. I'm a big dreamer. I love dreams. I love having adventures on dreams. So I'm thinking to myself, Maybe I will be going on an adventure tonight. Do you set yourself up with with parameters before you go? I don't know. I'm open to the I've had so many strange things. You would not even understand the amount of strange things that happened to me. So at this point, I've just given over control of the wheel. And I'm like, Whatever you want to tell me, Whatever needs to happen. I'm open to it. So great way to do it. Good. Yeah, Dreaming is like living another, Like life or another story in your own, You know, In reality, You get to go on these amazing excursions. Yeah, I'm the same way. I always I always tell people I have my PhD in sleep. It's like, Because it's nice that you're right. It's like a second life embedded in your own life. Oh, My gosh, I have to say that that was really an I mean, I that's astonishing. Just what you did with that, That first healing, And I can't believe that change that I felt my body. I'm so excited. I know you have another one. I do. Um, I always like to leave breadcrumbs for folks so that these one of the things about therapy and change work and self improvement work is almost always we do fairly well during the day. And then you know, 3am comes and our eyes blink wide awake and go, Oh, My God, What do I do with this? Nobody's open? I can't phone a friend. And, You know, Do I just lie here and panic? So much of my practice, Much of the ways people find me in the world is at 3am they go on YouTube and go, Okay, Who's up who's got something I can use, I like to leave breadcrumbs in the world so that these can be used because that's the whole point of them. So let's do something very physical. And here comes the necessary disclaimer. I am not a doctor. I am not. I'm an old bodywork teacher. And now I'm just a basic psychopath who prays in a laser focused way. That's, That's really my gig. I have lots of friends, I've trained lots of chiropractors, Acupuncturists, Lots of friends who are physical therapists, And they're all great. And sometimes we have a thing, Whether it's in our elbow, Or the back of our hip, Or chronic neck thing, Or whatever it is, That comes from the conglomeration of stuff we don't want to deal with, That has almost always in my practice, The folks that find me, Even if they're not aware of it, They come to me with physical stuff that has a massive emotional component. So there's two ways to do well, There's two basic ways to do emotional processing. One is you get the tissues, You scream, You cry, You pound some pillows. I did that in the 80s. That was fun. You know, We used to get 300 people together in a hotel ballroom and scream and, You know, Kill our mothers in our imagination hundreds of times. And there's nothing wrong with that. But you know, It takes a lot of doing. The other way is, Thanks to energy work, We don't have to necessarily go in and find out even what that is. I mean, It's useful to go, Is it grief? Is it anger? Is it sadness? Is it resentment? You know, Do I want to punch my neighbor in their face? That's useful, But you don't actually have to go beyond that to start the emotion draining out of the physical space. And nobody believes that. So let's do it instead of talking about it, Because it'll be much more interesting. So here's the deal, Find one single place in your body that has a chronic, Biting you in the ass kind of feeling. So for those of you who are back pain sufferers, Or leg pain sufferers, The back is too big a neighborhood. The whole leg is too big a neighborhood. The whole arm is too big a neighborhood. Find one place that really feels uncomfortable. That has the feeling of being constantly recurring or constantly there, Or associated with more stuff. And don't worry, I'm not gonna in the podcast here throw people into the deep end with no support, We're only going to go after the sensation. Got it. Yeah, Let me give the list. Here's an another example. Let's say you've got, Oh, I don't know, Lower back pain, Like 80% of the world. And one of the reasons I became an energy worker. You can absolutely go at your back pain with this, But find the place that's about the size of a silver dollar. So narrow your even if your whole back hurts, Or your whole lower back hurts, It's still too big. Is it on the left side? Is it on the right side? Is it above the hip? Is it around the corner? Find the place where you can put your attention. And we're going to poke the bear just to prime the pump. So to the best of your ability, Rate it zero to 10. 10 is this is agony, Get me to the chiro, Take me to the hospital as horrible. And zero is it's gone. Okay, I would say eight. Okay. That's a perfect thing that's worth going after. So I'm going to ask you a very juicy question. And I'm going to give you no time to think about the answer. So you want to go with the most out of your mind answer, Whatever name pops up, Just go with it, Even if it's totally wrong, Because it can be totally wrong. If there was a face connected to that place, Whose face would it be? Pull the answer out of somewhere. And note for yourself whose face that is. I'm getting a dog. Awesome. Is it a dog? You know? I don't know. I I don't think it is. Does it belong to anybody? You know? No. I can remember. All right. So that's a great example of just a random information that's there. A great majority of people will see the face of their sister, Their mother, Their brother, Their next door neighbor, An ex boss. And it doesn't matter. Actually, If you know them or not, It doesn't matter if it's human, Or non human, Different species, All of that's fine. It's a way of poking your brains attention right at that spot. So here's what we're going to do, We're going to sit for probably be 45 seconds, I'm going to do some pretty freaky stuff. And I'll work silently. And all you do is you put your attention on that spot, You keep it there, The mind desperately wants to drift, And trust me, It will drift. And when you noticed it, Notice that it's drifted away, You just pull your attention right back to it and rest your attention on it. All right, Attention at the place. And here we go. All right, Pull your attention back from wherever it may have drifted. And then notice what the number is how things have changed in that spot, Irrespective of whether things around it have changed or not. I would say six. Yeah, Weird, Right? Yeah, We're not even in the same physical space. And somehow, There's a shift. Yeah, Absolutely. Here's the next juicy question, Which I'm not going to give you much time to answer. If there was a dominant feeling in that place, What would the feeling be? And I'm not looking for sensation, I'm looking for emotional feeling. Oh, Gosh. So so not a, So it's a feeling not, Not like pain, Not like, Because we know we're already working on pain. I see. I see. Okay. Very happy, Sad, Resentful, Jealous. I would say sad, Sad. Yeah, Very common, And much more common than we might even be aware of. So there's a sad dog in that coin sized place in the back, Or wherever. Keep your attention on that. We'll go again. Here we go. All right, Pull your attention back from wherever it may have wandered. And let's check that number. I would say a five. Right. So we're continuing in the right direction. We're going to go one more step. This sounds like the lamest question of all. And neurologically, It's super powerful, Even though it doesn't sound like it. Lean into that spot we're working on. We know there's a dog there. We know there's a sadness there. What's the color or colors and limit yourself to no more than two colors like don't there's a whole rainbow of stuff there. That's not going to be what's the one dominant or two dominant colors there? I would say red and yellow, Red and yellow. Perfect. Let me ask you, Is it the kind of red like ruby slippers and the kind of yellow like a banana? Yes. Oh, Well, That was just a cheap guess. So if listeners have a different set of colors, Take a second and ask yourself, Is it this kind of green? Is it that shade of blue? Just so that you can really identify it. Put your attention on that at that space. Here we go. All right, Attention back one more time. And what's the report? I would say three. Yeah. You're by the surprise in your voice that man, That's weird. Yes, It's weird. And just a note to everybody who's playing the home game with us. Everybody's numbers will tend to move to lower and lower. Some people will drop like a rock. Some people jump by two, Some people go by ones. It doesn't matter. It only matters that we're going in that direction. So if yours don't match Kirsten's exactly, Just keep going. Because everybody's experience with this is really unique. Let's do one more short round. We'll pull the plug out of this completely. So we're focused on the same space. The same face arrives a little the same color or colors and the same emotional feeling. Keep your attention there. I'll be right back to us. All right, There we go. Attention back. And where did we land? I would say two now. Awesome. Yeah. So we're going to stop at this point, Because when we get in the category of two, One or zero, We know, Like Elvis, It's trying to leave the building. And it's not very useful to go after it at a one and then at a zero, Because your brain's already on it. It's smarter, Actually, To leave it alone for at least 20 minutes or a couple hours, And then check back and notice how it feels. Mostly, It will have dropped completely away, Or almost completely away. And if that's not the case, The next morning, You're totally clear of it. Often the mind needs and your whole consciousness consciousness needs you out of the picture, Not interfering. Sleep's perfect for that. So it can do the work and let the foundation of what created that pain or discomfort leave. And that's a useful tool that we can all use at three in the morning or any other time. And what's important is you can use this process because it's basically content free on anything that comes up, Along with all the good things you're already doing for yourself to take care of yourself, Along with medical interventions from good medical people, Thyroid visits, Acupuncture, Whatever you're whatever you're doing. I love this, Because it uses the imagination as well, As well as gets you to connect to your body, Which I think is really, Really important. So you know, Kind of takes you out of your your brain, Your mind and gets you to connect to your body. So thank you. Both of these were really powerful. And I experienced really like great changes with both of them. And I'm just absolutely fascinated by this.