Finding Your Bliss With Lou Redmond

In this episode, I talk with Lou Redmond, who is a meditation teacher and writer. Central to this episode is finding your bliss, the hero's journey and belief in action. We talk about how Lou went from addiction to alcohol for a complete change in his body and mind. He found his path and supposedly his destiny. We deconstruct what happened to him and why he had the courage to quit his job and go on a soul searching journey. We talk about his meditation practice and his teachings on Insight Timer.

Transcript

In this episode of the Project Mindfulness Podcast,

You will learn about finding your bliss,

The hero's journey,

And belief in action.

Welcome to the Project Mindfulness Podcast.

We'll take you on a journey across the globe and talk with other meditators about their practice,

The lessons they have learned,

And what they want the world to know.

Good day and welcome.

This is episode 21 and I am Christian Netersong.

Thank you for joining us.

Today I talk with Lou Redmond,

Who is a meditation teacher and writer.

We talk about his practice,

His journey into meditation,

And about finding your bliss.

Welcome Lou to the Project Mindfulness Podcast.

Happy to have you here.

I am super excited to be here.

Awesome.

So,

Lou,

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Who are you and what do you do in life?

That's a big question always to ask.

It actually has become my least favorite question for a long time.

I'll give you an idea of what I do now.

I am a meditation teacher,

A mindfulness educator,

And I'm an author of a book called Find Your Truth.

The main work I do now is weekly classes.

I teach online on the app Insight Timer.

Then I have a business that does education in school.

I do mindfulness education in schools throughout New Jersey,

Both for teachers,

For professional development and for their care,

And then also classes with kids and students as well.

That's awesome.

It's been a journey to get there,

That's for sure.

Yeah,

Because I couldn't help but read up a bit on you and your story of how and when you stumbled on meditation has a,

There's quite a radical change there from the life you lived before you got into meditation and after,

Is that right?

100%,

Yeah.

I would say I actually got into meditation through entrepreneurship.

That was my first window into this world of other people are living drastically different lives than me,

And then seeing that they are way more happy,

But not only happy,

They're just way better people.

They're just talking about things that matter.

It was this group that I got involved in when I lived in San Diego that just opened up my world to what else was possible.

I hadn't been living at the time,

Just working for the weekends,

Drinking and partying and going to raves.

This group met every Friday at 6 p.

M.

,

Which was a time that I would normally be going to the beach and having happy hour.

This group,

I found myself,

I remember my first meeting sitting there and all of these people were just talking about running their own businesses.

They were just talking about just emotional topics for a bunch of group of men.

I was so insecure.

I was like,

Where am I?

I almost couldn't even barely speak because I was so scared and insecure in that meeting because I felt like I had entered this other world.

It really shook something in me where I made a commitment to myself from that,

That I needed to make some sort of change.

I kept going back to this meeting week after week and I just was starting to get into personal development,

Which I believe is spiritual development without putting the spiritual word on it.

I got into personal development and just started seeing my life just start to grow.

I loved it.

I loved the natural feeling of the high I was getting from starting to read.

That was one of my main things that I wasn't doing at all.

I remember I read my first book that shifted something within me and that was Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill.

I read that and then just started running.

Then meditation came in from just a habit of what these people were saying.

I was just like a sponge soaking in all of this information.

I tried meditating and that didn't really start off very quickly.

I was just doing it here and there.

I ended up,

I think I did the Oprah and Deepak 21-day challenge that year and maybe got through a little bit of that and then slowly,

Maybe it's not the time for the whole story yet,

But meditation really opened me up to,

I had a huge spiritual awakening and that's its whole story in itself and it was the spiritual awakening that really led me to quitting the job that I was at even though through my personal development I had gotten a promotion.

I was crushing it at work,

But I had this really intense opening that felt like a call to something much greater and led me on the path of that I'm on right now.

Right.

That's awesome.

When you first encountered meditation in this group,

Was there a specific method that they practiced?

That's a great question.

I don't think so.

I was really never directed and try this method.

Yeah,

For a long time I really just practiced what's.

.

.

I remember it's probably just a basic breathing meditation just trying to stay focused on your breath and maybe whatever the guidance was in that 21-day Oprah and Deepak challenge,

I'm not exactly sure what it was,

But it was just a natural intuitive practice,

I guess.

It's interesting when I think about that because I never actually really thought about that.

I didn't start on a specific meditation like TM or mindfulness or.

.

.

I just kind of felt I just breathe and spent time for myself and close my eyes and kind of did what I needed or did what felt right.

That's kind of also led me to a lot of how I teach.

It's really been a very intuitive process where I don't feel like I'm pigeonholing myself that I do this sort of meditation or that sort of meditation.

Meditation to me is like my art.

Creativity is an art.

I really feel like when I produce the meditations that I produce,

They come.

.

.

I would say they're based from different practices and probably more based from mindfulness,

But I will kind of do what feels intuitively right.

I've seen by doing that that it resonates with people.

It's really kind of been a really.

.

.

I'm blessed that that's kind of how it came,

But I never really kind of boxed myself into this one sort of meditation or teaching or being a practice of.

Right.

It's not like you follow a specific tradition.

It's more of doing a practice and then finding out what works for you and what intuitively comes up to bring to others.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

I think it was just the way that it opened up to me because I was on this hike in Joshua Tree by myself and I had been meditating up this mountain.

I was just going on a hike.

This is the first hike I've ever been on myself.

It was a couple days after New Year's of 2015.

New Year's was the last time that I've gotten drunk to this day,

But I was meditating up this mountain and I was just having these really profound realizations of just having these words just come to me and it was just,

You are fulfilled at your core.

I just kept repeating,

You are fulfilled at your core.

I guess that was kind of the mantra that came to me and I just felt so alive and electric and present.

It was like,

Oh my gosh,

This actually works.

It was the first time where I was like,

Wow,

This must be what people are talking about when they're meditating.

Then when I got to the peak of this mountain,

I started journaling and I started writing a note to my future sons or daughters.

I don't know what came over me to write this note,

But I had been getting emotional about just the thought of being a father.

I'm still not a father to this day,

But I was just thinking about it and I felt a really a call and an ask from some power much greater that I knew what I needed to do if I really wanted what life had in store for me.

I knew that I needed to commit to stop drinking,

Even though at the time I'd probably been drinking less than I've ever been drinking in my life.

When I wrote this down in my journal to make that commitment to myself,

I closed the journal and it was just the most profound opening that one of the most profound openings I've had because I kind of had a few of those in those coming days,

But I just started crying and screaming,

Thank you.

Up to that point right there,

I'd never been a spiritual person.

I had never considered,

I grew up Catholic.

I had a relationship with God,

But it was very kind of distant or just at church.

Right there was what I felt,

The communication with God within me.

That's what I felt,

What you're fulfilled at your core.

I intuitively know that,

Oh my gosh,

God is not out there.

God is within.

That practice of meditation,

Whatever that was,

Brought me to realize my own inner God.

I just really ran from there,

From that understanding.

That's cool.

You said you were raised Catholic and you were brought up with this idea of God and through meditation and exploring meditation,

You realized that the God was in you,

So to say,

That there was a higher self.

Exactly.

Pretty much.

I would always say I had my doubts,

But I always had somewhat of a relationship to God,

But it was never like I am a piece of that same self.

That was an intuitive,

That was an understanding of it and an experience of it unlike any other.

You talked about a drinking problem that you had or at least that you seem to have a drinking problem,

Is that correct,

Before getting into meditation?

Yeah,

I would say I have a very long line of alcoholics on my father's side and you could say I've had many instances in my life that would show that I was on the same path,

If not wasn't considered one.

I wasn't someone that drank every single day,

I wasn't drinking really during the weekdays that much,

But when I did drink,

I really did not have that much control and I would just get myself into a lot of trouble sometimes.

It was really the drinking.

What kind of took me down though is when I got really into the raving scene and got more into MDMA and ecstasy and saw the real dark side of that whole scene and just kept getting myself into these really,

Really deep lows.

I'm grateful for it because it brought me to where I was and I'm also grateful for it because through the practice of meditation,

I've come to learn what true ecstasy actually feels like.

After I got off that mountain,

The next few days I kept having these openings and I was just literally feeling like there's no words for it,

It's ineffable.

It gave me a reference point to like,

Wow,

These are natural chemicals in our body to access and we can do it without putting anything in our body that's outside of it,

That our essence is towards this state.

So it kind of opened me.

You could say that the addict in me,

Instead of searching it for outside,

Went to now go search for it through more meditation.

Right.

So did you became an addict to meditation or is that an overstatement?

I wouldn't say it's an overstatement.

I mean,

You have to define how much you would meditate,

But it was definitely after I quit my job and then that started a whole other crazy,

Crazy,

Crazy,

Crazy journey.

My meditation was like my savior.

I needed it because it kind of kept me sane in a lot of ways because a lot of people actually,

Everyone that I knew thought I went crazy,

Which if you've had a spiritual awakening,

If you're listening to this,

Since we are on a,

This is why I was so pumped to talk on this podcast because I'm like,

All right,

We're talking on like a meditation mindfulness podcast.

I can kind of talk to my people.

I don't have to like,

You know,

Not go there,

But you know,

I had this just,

I still don't know what I had.

I have not figured it out what happened to me specifically.

The only thing that I can see that's relatable to it is stories of people's Kundalini awakenings.

Cause it was just,

It was absolutely like beyond this,

This,

This world.

And I,

And people thought I lost my mind.

Like I literally went insane and in certain ways I definitely did go like insane.

And but the,

The,

But God,

The universe like has supported me every single,

Single step of the way in,

In allowing me to bring forth what I originally quit my job to do,

Which was really just to travel and help people.

I had no idea.

I just felt this like boundless love and I just knew I needed to share it.

And the first thing that he brought back into my life was actually on that day,

I,

I got,

I proposed to my ex girlfriend on the same day that I quit my job.

And that was,

That was a,

And she said yes,

Even though she,

We weren't even dating.

And that was really kind of the core of what needed to support me then.

And,

And it's,

It's,

It's allowed for so many amazing things to,

To come of that.

Now it's been four and a half years or maybe four and three months since I quit my job.

And it's,

It's really been a,

That's awesome.

And so you had this awakening.

You also talked about like Kundalini,

But what,

What,

What happened?

Like was it an experience of no self or was it a different kind of experience?

I would say it's a different kind of experience because I've seen and heard about that,

But it doesn't feel like it's like an experience where you,

You don't have to be in a meditation to be feeling it.

I would consider some of it to like varying levels of ecstasy,

But then at one point really feeling like I had this real like sense that I was not ever going to be able to be in society again.

Like it was just nothing made sense.

Like I was never going to be able to function in the world how it was.

I was like right after like quitting my job,

I literally just felt like I was not on,

Like it just,

Nothing made sense to me.

But I was also like,

If I would meditate,

It was just like really intense,

Really intense like ecstasy.

Like it was just so good where I'm like,

Oh my gosh,

Now I know why people are monks.

I was like,

Now I know why people do this all the time and go like become monks.

Cause this is insane.

But it's so hard for me to explain,

Dude.

I'm still,

I'm still putting those pieces together.

I don't know if I'll ever exactly know what happened.

Maybe at some point,

Maybe it really doesn't matter,

But I'm still trying to understand that cause I really don't understand.

I don't understand it.

The thing is at that time,

There was zero people in my life that I knew who were spiritual,

Right?

And that actually helped me in teaching meditation because I thought no one,

I thought there was like 12 meditation teachers in the world.

Like if that,

Like five,

Like I had no idea at the world that I was entering into,

Which actually helped me.

And I'm a big believer of having healthy naivete.

Like you don't have to know what's out there until you are at that point,

Right?

Like until you are like kind of leveled up and then you can see the next level,

The playing field and then you kind of keep leveling up.

So you don't,

And it's,

I believe that helps you,

Right?

To be naive because then you have more belief and the belief is what gets you through.

So yeah,

I didn't know anyone spiritual or so it was really tough for me cause I had no one to,

To talk to about it.

So it was very like scared in a lot of ways cause I,

You just don't know.

You don't know what I know right now.

Yeah.

Yeah,

And I can,

I can imagine once your perspective changes so much that as you said,

You can't go back sort of to how you lived before it's,

It puts you into a,

A quite an isolation from almost everyone you know,

Because I mean,

I imagine not everyone you knew went through the same thing.

So suddenly your perspective was changed and your outlook on things like a job and having stable income and all these kinds of things just shifted.

And as you said,

You appeared crazy.

Is that,

Is that still what some people think?

Like I would say in a lot of ways,

Like for,

I mean,

I don't talk to any of my friends from college.

I was like the typical fraternity frat bro life in college and I literally don't have any communication with any friends from college.

So some people,

Yes,

Probably still think that cause they just don't understand.

And the way that I quit my job was so it wasn't like,

Oh,

A two week notice.

And you know,

I'll do this right.

I left,

I sent an email to my entire company and I just said,

I like,

I was leaving and they thought it was so brash and I burned all bridges.

Like I had just,

I had all of these responsibilities on my plate.

I burned bridges.

Like there's no way to go back to any corporate job after this.

Like there's zero percent chance.

And it was so intense.

They actually thought I was committing suicide because my,

Like my note,

I sent an email to like everyone in my company.

Not just like my managers,

Literally every single person saying like,

I had got a call to like the major leagues and they,

At Tuesday at 9 a.

M.

In corporate America,

They didn't really understand that.

And then I had police show up to my home and we're asking about like,

If I was the one writing emails about a higher calling and that it was really kind of,

Yeah,

It made no sense to anyone and I don't expect it to,

I didn't expect it to make sense.

So I do think people still think,

Still think it,

But they're seeing what I'm doing now.

They're seeing how much better of a person I am.

So I don't know.

I don't really like,

You know,

I don't,

I guess I don't,

I can only have my perception on it.

I lose,

I did lose almost 99% of my,

My friends though.

That's for sure.

Wow.

That's intense.

I think that's also part of getting into meditation and definitely experiencing some kind of awakening is that,

Yeah,

As I said,

You get into an isolation and you,

You,

You drift sort of off into a new landscape,

But at certain point you,

You settle,

You find people,

You find places that work.

Did the same thing happen for you?

Were you able to like find a group or a group of people?

I think you actually talked about it,

Right?

The group of entrepreneurs,

Was that the group where you,

They were,

They were helpful for sure because they were,

You know,

Versed in this type of stuff,

But they weren't quote unquote like very,

Some were spiritual,

Some were not,

Some had had certain experiences,

Some were not so into it.

So it was definitely like a mix,

But they were very,

They just had a good mindset and they were good people.

So they were definitely a good,

Good support system.

And then a lot of just the inner,

Like the,

The dark nights of the soul,

Like the,

The most,

The time in between,

You know,

Who you were and who you are to become.

So that really unknown time where you,

Where you're in this transition.

And I've had a few of those really,

Really kind of depressing,

Like dark nights.

And I think those are part of the spiritual path.

You know,

When we grow spiritually,

When we have awakenings,

They just,

We continue to bring up what is dark within us and we have to shine light,

Right?

It's a,

It's very in like Jungian Carl Jung and like his philosophy of,

Of the shadow and we have a lot of shadows and I know that I still have a lot of shadows,

But we're continually kind of growing to bring more of our shadows into the light.

And sometimes that's going to take us like getting into the isolation and really feeling kind of that disconnection and having those dark nights of the soul.

Yeah,

It makes sense.

It's also the reason you,

You start drinking is because you want to escape for something or there's a reason,

You know,

That you,

You want to experience different stuff and you want to get away from it while now you're almost confronting it.

At least that's how I feel sometimes with meditation is like,

You're just going head on into that darkness,

Into that fear and you're just,

You know,

Sitting there.

100%.

That's a good,

That's a great way to put it,

Right?

It's like,

There's no more running.

Um,

You gotta,

You gotta go through it,

All of it and it's,

It's,

It can hurt and that's the,

Um,

You know,

It's been such a blessing to,

To now see myself being able to,

To maybe support some people who are aware I was and,

And can help them and just knowing,

You know,

Whatever comfort support that,

Um,

Some of the,

The practices I share or just connecting with people who have been there.

And it's really cool to,

To see how similar,

Um,

Kind of each journey is in,

In certain realms and it's really,

You know,

One of the biggest themes and,

And philosophy or not philosophies really,

But one of my biggest inspirations has been Joseph Campbell and the hero's journey,

Which are you familiar with?

Yeah,

I didn't read it,

But I'm definitely familiar with the idea and the concept.

Yeah.

It's really the kind of like the idea and seeing,

Um,

All of those things happen in my own life and really seeing the hero's journey as our personal myth that we're living as our spiritual journey.

And it's,

It's really been,

Um,

I've just taken so much comfort in,

In everything that he's shared and it's something that I try and,

Um,

Bring into,

Into my teaching.

It's really a core philosophy.

Yeah.

So,

I mean,

The title of your book is,

Um,

Find your truth.

And I imagine that that also has to do with this path of a hero finding their,

Um,

Well,

Their path and their destiny in a way or the truth.

Absolutely.

And that's finding Joseph Campbell would say,

You know,

Find your bliss,

Find your truth,

Your bliss.

Um,

To me,

If I were really,

It was like,

Well,

What is your truth?

I would say it's find the,

It's the God essence within you and,

And,

You know,

Doing what that like people would always say,

Oh,

Find your passion,

Do what you love.

I think there is a truth in a hundred percent that,

But it's also,

Is it what you love?

And is it what is going to benefit,

Um,

Everyone the most in line with like,

I'll give a prayer.

Like I always use like the Christian prayer of the Lord's prayer of like,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So like the will of,

Um,

Your higher self,

The will of God in line with what your,

Your unique talents,

Like what your,

That thread is.

And that's the line of least resistance.

That's the line of synchronicities opening up and people coming into your life.

That's the line of your bliss,

Um,

Is by I think connecting to that truth,

Connecting to that higher,

Um,

That purpose,

Um,

Within yourself.

And I think for me,

That's what's brought me the most joy and connection to God,

To the universe,

To however you spirit source,

Whatever name you can call something that can't really be named,

Which is why the Buddha never named it.

Right.

Right.

He was smart.

He was smart.

He's like,

I'm not going to call it anything.

I just kind of,

Just going to show the way.

Um,

But I think following that,

Um,

I think his is important.

And sometimes I've seen people get really into meditation,

But they hate 50 hours of their job and they're like trying to find their path through meditation and they know they need to quit their job,

But they're like,

I don't know.

I've seen that happen where I'm like,

I really believe that there is a path,

Um,

For all of us that is going to be like our meditation that's going to be connected to that.

So it's not so different.

So it's not like,

Oh,

I can't wait to get out of work so I can meditate and connect.

And maybe I,

You know,

I mean,

I'm obviously,

I'm still can be very naive in certain realms.

And I understand that,

That,

That maybe that does serve people,

But I think the ultimate question that we have to ask ourselves is,

Is like,

Am I,

Am I happy with my path right now?

Like,

Am I fully happy,

Fully living,

Um,

In a way that feels aligned with my highest self.

And um,

That's really what I believe when you follow your truth,

You find,

You know,

I found my truth.

The book really took me to like me jumping off and entering my hero's journey.

And then the last four years have been the actual journey.

Um,

It was like the transformation that took place and how that transformation took place.

But I think I just believe like so viscerally that it's within every single person,

Every person that is listening to this,

Like,

Ah,

Man,

I just feel like that's what I've been in the experiences that I've had,

Like they were so intense and that intensity makes me just want to like feel like I have sometimes to just that message to share because it's,

I've seen the craziness that will happen when you push past your fear and when you meet God halfway and like finally kind of take that step towards your fears,

Like doors,

As Joseph Campbell would say,

Doors will open where there were not doors before and where there will,

Would not be doors for anyone else.

And it's,

And I can speak on this stuff all day,

But it comes down to just like the belief and belief in action.

Those two words get you far.

Yeah,

Exactly.

I think,

Um,

You know,

From you making such a decision to quit your job,

There,

There needs to be a lot of faith,

A lot of belief,

A lot of trust in,

In the thing that you're doing.

And I think,

Um,

For a lot of people,

It's very hard to understand,

Like,

Where does that trust come from,

Where,

Where,

Where,

Where does your,

Where did your trust come from?

Did it come from the meditative experience or was there something to really spark that trust into this path?

Yeah,

That's,

That's a really good question because it's so needed.

Trust and faith is if you don't have the trust and faith,

Like,

Man,

Because when you're,

When you're,

Um,

When you're down,

You're,

You're going to,

You need that.

And,

Um,

Where did it come from?

Well,

Yes,

It definitely came from the meditative experience because that gave me the connection to,

To God.

And then it's been,

Um,

Just,

It's like,

I've just had,

Like,

It's really tough to explain.

It's just like after that happened,

After I quit,

I didn't know what I was going to do.

Like,

It's not like I had a plan.

I literally thought that I was going to travel and help.

I thought I was going to join the peace corps to be honest.

Like right away I thought that was what I was going to do,

Just had this like love.

But I just like,

It was just this knowing from,

It was a knowing,

Like,

Like I've never known anything else.

And I think,

Um,

So that experience brought that,

Brought that connection to God.

And then after that,

It's just been the faith that someone is looking after me or something is looking after me.

And I've just had this,

Just knowing,

Like,

I don't know.

I think,

I wish everyone could have a knowing,

Um,

You know,

And I'm still even like working on,

You know,

It's still just starting to like,

Everything's coming to fruition,

But it's just like a knowing that I still two years,

Three years ago,

I felt the same way.

And I just wish,

I don't know how to help people because everyone maybe can't have that,

Like that experience right now.

Like if everyone had like an experience like that,

That where they're like,

Oh wow,

Yeah,

There's way more out there.

And I feel that connection.

But um,

And that's why a lot of,

If you look at some of my practices on,

On insight timer,

I have like a few that are like trust your journey,

The hero's meditation or the hero's journey.

I have a recent one called trust the work.

It's just like,

It's all about that.

It's all about that,

Like faith and trust in the process and,

Um,

Also being in love with that whole process.

And I think that's where I've really benefited from being around a lot of entrepreneurs and being around that mindset because building a business is a process and your spiritual journey is a process.

So really trusting and enjoying that each step is a step and even the wrong step is the step in the ultimate path.

Someone asked me,

Told me that she went to Bali and she was looking for something and she didn't find what she was looking for.

And I told her,

I was like,

Well,

The not finding sometimes is part of the finding because that's kind of going to give you the duality of experience,

Right?

I know it's not this that way that when it is this,

You can see,

And which is kind of if you want to get deeper down the rabbit hole of why we're even here,

The duality of our experience of why we experience good and bad and all of that,

That could go a different route.

Well,

It's funny because I just read about,

Um,

I know it was like a case of a young boy,

I think kid of,

I don't know,

A really young kid who constantly craved salt and he found ways for his parents to always give it to him.

But at a certain point something happened and he needed to go to the hospital and there the nurses wouldn't give him the salt that he needed.

And because they didn't give it to him,

He died because apparently internally he had a drive for salt because there was something wrong with his,

Um,

You know,

I'm not really sure which part of his body didn't work or function well anymore,

But that part of his body like signal to him,

Like,

You know,

That,

That created the salt craving.

And I feel with the spiritual journey or,

Or this journey of self-development,

It's like sometimes there's a craving that's just driving you to go.

And if you just go on that drive,

You sometimes just find,

Well,

Exactly what you said,

You find what you're looking for,

But not necessarily what you thought you were looking for.

Right.

No,

No.

Yeah.

It always changes.

Um,

Yeah.

And it's the craving.

Craving is a good word.

I'm just like,

Um,

Just,

I mean,

I guess that's the ultimate of the seeker,

Right?

Like we're,

You know,

That there's something,

But you're just,

You're just kind of putting the puzzle.

Yeah.

Together each step of the way.

And then the journey unfolds differently than you planned.

And I think that's what's important about having a vision,

But not getting tied down to like specific goals and then having goals.

Yes.

But the vision is what kind of carries you through.

And then it'll kind of come in a way that is exactly what you wanted,

But in a way that is not how you thought you wanted it.

Right.

If that makes sense.

In a lot of sense.

And I think it's a good thing that you propose about goals because what I noticed is more and more that,

You know,

You can set goals,

But in some ways you also can't set them.

Like you have to keep space open for that to evolve and also not attach too much to these goals,

But you can still set those goals.

It's just that,

You know,

It's not going to happen in the way you always wanted them to happen.

And I think that's,

That's such a big struggle for a lot of people who also,

A lot of people who believe in God,

Who pray for something or want something,

But they want it in such a specific way that they can't see,

You know,

Where the whole intention is bringing them,

Which could be as beneficial,

Even more beneficial.

Exactly.

That's the,

You hit it right there.

It's like we want something,

We think we want it how we want it,

But like there's kind of someone who can see down the road that's like,

Well,

You don't know,

You're going to want it like this,

But you just don't know it.

So you're like,

You know,

We can't,

We don't know what we don't know.

So we can't see the bigger picture.

So kind of a lot,

You know,

Keeping that,

That soft kind of openness towards,

And this is again,

This is where you can learn a lot.

I really have learned a lot in,

In,

In being surrounded by like the startup world of like,

You know,

The pivot in a business,

But like understanding that your path and spirituality is constantly like pivoting here and there,

An opening and just kind of following that,

That lightness,

Right?

That's you should always ask your,

Your body.

It's like,

What is,

What feels light,

What feels,

What feels light and what feels heavy and just continue to like make decisions sorted based if you can kind of tune into your body.

And that's where the actual practice of like,

You know,

Meditating regularly can help you to just open up into your,

The energies within your body.

So you can more,

We can feel those energies better.

You can ask that question.

Should I do this and feel what happens within your body?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And earlier you talked about the sort of improving yourself versus spiritual,

Which you said were actually kind of the same.

And I imagine like I've seen that happen a lot of times that people,

I know like two,

Two guys who were into PUA pickup artists.

So they were studying sort of how to pick up girls and they ended up both on a more spiritual path.

And I think that's so funny that you actually end up on a spiritual path by developing yourself.

So there's really no,

As you said,

Hard line between those two.

They mix very well.

They do.

And you don't have to,

Again,

Name it.

I mean,

Like,

You know,

Becoming a better person is both personal development and is,

You know,

Spiritual development,

Right?

If you want to take the Buddhist,

You know,

If you in all of the right speech,

Like right view,

Right?

Or just like becoming more aware of the things that you're saying and becoming more aware of how you interact with people and looking to be more kind and more forgiving is just moral code.

And I think,

I don't know,

I'm sure you've heard if you're around this topic,

But like Marianne Williamson running for president and,

You know,

Her coming from this place of very,

Very spiritual teacher that would always talk about God.

And she would even she was been saying like,

You just she's just not going to use,

She just doesn't have to use a different language to talk about the same stuff,

To talk about this morally the right thing to do,

Which is,

You know,

We don't have to name it.

We just get we get so caught up in we don't have to get caught up in labels because the words are so limited to the experience of what it feels like when you're on a personal growth journey.

I can remember feeling there's a situation where I did something at work that was pushing my comfort zone.

And I stepped up to my boss and I was like asking him for a raise.

And I remember leaving that I was actually not my boss as the CEO of the company.

And I remember just telling him kind of what I wanted for myself in this company.

And I left that meeting and I was like on a high and not realizing that it was a spiritual high,

But I had no basis to that,

But I was on this like,

Just really,

Really feeling good.

So again,

Like if you don't have the vocabulary to call it spiritual,

It's not spiritual,

But it already but it still is spiritual.

That makes sense.

Yeah,

That makes a lot of sense.

It's sort of a unified experience,

Right?

It's not that some things are separate.

And as you said,

Even like politics and all those things,

Like we like to separate so many things into different boxes and stick with a certain box that we're comfortable in.

And yeah,

What you talk about is actually getting out of that box.

Well,

I mean,

Maybe realizing there is no box.

Right.

We've made up all the rules.

And so on your path right now,

Like what is something you feel you're going towards?

What is a goal you've set that you want to share?

It's a goal that I'm going towards.

A goal.

I think the vision is still the same.

It was back when I quit my job,

The vision is still the same.

And I feel right now it's actually becoming just more crystallized and actually like putting it into practice and actually seeing myself get rewarded for like the work that I've put in for the past three and four years.

A goal.

I would say,

You know,

If I really have a goal and to be completely honest,

It is would be to fully make to finally fully make my living doing this because I still do other things that are not aligned,

Not in line with completely this journey,

Like just side contracted gigs.

So that's,

I'll put that out there.

I'll put that out there.

It's still a struggle,

But it's not a struggle.

It's just slow.

It's just slow and I'm getting things exactly how it is.

So I mean,

That's a hundred percent of goals.

So I don't,

So I can fully do the work that I love.

And then I've been so blessed in all accounts on financial support and that in realm,

But that's definitely,

Yeah,

It's definitely a goal of mine.

As far as practice,

I really,

I finally,

I got on my first silent meditation retreat last month and man,

I just,

It's really deepened my practice and just,

I can't wait to get on another one.

So I'm sure,

You know,

In my future,

I don't know what,

Where that's going to take me,

But I can definitely see myself kind of going into more week long and maybe even a month long like retreats,

Just to deepen my own understanding of this.

Cause I,

It's all,

It's all great.

I'm so excited about it.

So that's,

That's really exciting for me.

And right now my personal practice has really deepened,

Which is really exciting.

Yeah,

That's really cool.

So the silent retreat was really you being on that retreat for,

I don't know,

Like sitting for six hours or was it more of a combination of different things?

Because from Vipassana,

You like the Gunka Vipassana,

Those are quite intense sitting periods where from what I understand,

You're not even allowed to do yoga or anything in between.

And then you have other ones,

Which are,

For instance,

I went to a retreat last year where it was much more like it was sitting,

But it was also walking meditation.

You also,

You know,

You had to cook,

But you had to do it like silently and mindfully.

Yeah.

What kind of retreat were you on?

Mine was like the ladder that you were on definitely.

And I have a friend who's actually in,

You know,

I feel like if you do Vipassana in like Eastern countries,

It's really,

Really intense.

I did it at Insight Meditation Society,

So I was the founder of like Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield back in like the 70s.

But it was definitely very between a 45 minute sit and then a walking meditation and then like a 30 minute sit,

Walking meditation and a 45 minute sit.

So like there wasn't any really intense sits.

So it was definitely broken up.

So it was definitely like if you're like fearful of going into a retreat,

Because I'm like I can't sit straight for six hours,

Which is really intense.

My legs cannot do that.

My mind maybe,

But my legs,

There's no way unless I'm sitting on a chair.

Yeah.

So it was definitely on the ladder.

But I think,

Yeah,

I loved it.

I loved the experience.

It was a really just a good experience.

It was a good intro to the week long silent for sure.

Nice.

Yeah,

That's awesome.

I definitely plan on heading to another retreat.

And actually on that note of,

You know,

Like at retreats,

They have a schedule of how your day is going.

And I wonder like,

How does your daily life schedule look like?

Like in the morning when you wake up,

Do you have a certain routine that you go through or is it really not that consistent or like structured?

Sure.

Right now it actually is pretty structured.

Unless I'm teaching like a 630 a.

M.

Yoga class,

If I am,

If I don't have to teach an early class in the morning.

And in my morning routine is always kind of shifted and merged over the years.

But right now it's pretty set.

It is a wake up,

A 30 minute meditation,

Do that into making coffee and then I read a journal,

A journal every day and then I read for 30 minutes and then I start to engage on the computer.

I'll normally go on inside timer and actually engage with people that maybe have commented on different meditations and then I'll kind of start my,

I'll actually shower then and then I kind of start my work day and I have a really awesome home set up.

My girlfriend while I was away,

Well she was my fiance,

Same person,

We just haven't gotten married,

We've been engaged for four and a half years.

When I was away on retreat,

She had set up this room in our house.

It was our meditation room but it wasn't really nice and now she set it up and it's really awesome.

She painted it,

She's got like just a little like an altar,

A plant,

It's just really nice and we have a standing desk so I get to work and meditate.

For me,

They're kind of the same.

So that's my routine for sure.

Awesome and like if you,

Well actually what book are you currently reading if any?

I knew you were going to ask us something about the book.

Right now I'm actually reading,

I picked up a couple books when I was at the retreat center.

The first one I read when I came back was One Dharma by Joseph Goldstein which is actually really really insightful about all different Buddhist traditions and he was like tying it into the West and how the Western Buddhism has adapted it.

And then I also picked up The Four Foundations of Mindfulness by Bhante Guanarranatha.

I think that might be how you say it,

I don't know.

And just as like,

I've read Joseph Goldstein's mindfulness which is really all about the Satipatthana Sutta and the four foundations but one of my teachers was highly taught from this book and I never actually read it so I picked it up and I'm just about done with that book right now.

Nice.

And are you writing a book or is that something that is not yet on a planning?

You know what,

I actually I wrote,

I was for a while,

For a year.

I actually started writing the second book really about the journey and making what I've been doing into actual reality because it was like find your truth and then how do you live it?

How do you find that you have this God within you and you can kind of create,

I don't like saying create your own world but you can kind of make your own way so to speak.

How do you actually do that?

And I was writing that for a year and I just kept like,

I just hadn't,

Man,

It was so tough for me to figure out organizing it and I kind of just,

It was just so hard.

I hated pulling up the files to work on it.

I just had,

It wasn't right for me at the time.

What ended up happening was I proposed a course for Insight Timer and I started working on that course in January and I just had all of my inspiration,

Creativity into this course.

It just felt so right and felt like the creative thing that I needed to share right now.

This was what needed to happen before another book comes out.

So that was what I put really all of January into creating and created this course which is still waiting to come out.

It should come out in April.

It's on how to stop caring about what other people think.

And I write about this or I speak on it and we do some meditations about it really because it's been such a huge part of my own journey.

And even through that,

Through this whole process,

It's really about kind of a live your truth type of thing.

It's about giving yourself permission and the journey and facing your fear and it's through the lens of knowing that of other people.

And I really believe that we teach what we have to learn most and this is still something I've come so far in just feeling so much judged by others that has just kind of numbed me a lot in my,

Not numbed me,

But just caused me a lot of pain in my own growth as a person that gets in front of people and speaks to people and not feeling that self judgment and not feeling that and not judging others myself coming from a very competitive judgmental place most of my life.

So I'm really so,

So excited.

I just,

I keep just wanting it to come out and it's only the bad thing when you don't control your publishing is that you don't control your publishing and you don't know.

I left because once I submitted a guided meditation to Inside Timer and I think about two months later I decided that I canceled the submission or maybe three months later.

You can't.

Yeah,

They have so much.

They have so many.

I just,

They literally,

I had so much,

I had been posting once a week because they gave me the green light that I could do it back in July and literally today as we speak,

This is the first day that a new post hasn't come out because they told me that they are so backed up that they can't keep me on regular schedule.

I understand you and other teachers and people wanting to get their content out but I'm like,

Man,

I've been doing this every week for,

But honestly I've been so blessed in how doing that every week has grown me and grown in the understanding of what resonates with people and has allowed me to really connect with so many people and it's helped me so much.

I have nothing but incredible love for,

And I'm sure a lot of teachers feel the same way,

What Inside Timer really allows you to do as to get out there in front of millions of people and see that you can connect with all these people.

So much love to Inside Timer and I'm excited for a lot of things on there.

Yeah,

It's super cool.

It's the app I've been using for over two years now and I don't regret it.

It's really cool.

It's so cool that they now have this course and really support the people on there doing the work in a way that's,

I mean,

As far as I can see,

Really fair and really all about just getting the good stuff out there for people to enjoy.

Yeah,

They're doing really,

Really,

Really great stuff and I'm so grateful.

I don't know how I found it,

I posted my first meditation on there in 2016.

And now it's back.

I wish I took advantage of it back then because your meditations would stay up for three days because it was just like no people didn't put content on it like they do now.

But I wasn't at a place where I could crank out and wasn't right.

So I listened to like,

It's funny though,

Those first meditations are still like,

I listen to them and see how much I've grown,

But they're not like,

It's just,

It's an interesting to watch that journey.

Yeah,

I can imagine.

Well,

Really cool.

I'm actually excited to see that course appearing on my Insight Timer.

So as a last question for the podcast,

For the people right now listening,

What would you give as an advice?

What is something that really helped you in your life or is really something you feel you really want to share?

I think the advice,

I'm not going to plug Insight Timer again,

But probably the best advice is to go on Insight Timer and listen to my track that's Advice for a Spiritual Journey.

It's literally four and a half minutes.

So it's literally Advice for a Spiritual Journey.

But to not take you there,

To give it to you in a shorter realm is that to what you're fearing is where your path is.

That if you're afraid of something,

If it makes you uncomfortable,

But also like a little bit excited or like,

I know that I should do this,

Like that is where your growth is.

Like that is your North Star and you can try and go around and say,

No,

No,

No,

That's not really it.

And I'm going to do this thing and then,

But it's going to keep coming up.

So I,

That is your path forward.

And knowing that on the path,

Everything that is on the path of love,

Everything that is unloving is going to come out of you.

So just because you are really high and you go through these high moments,

You might face a point where you plateau or you think that you're going down because you're feeling like disconnected again,

But just know that you have reached another level and just more darkness has to come out.

So there's kind of two ways there.

Follow your fears and just know that each kind of,

There's no going back.

Really.

It's just new levels.

It's just a new level in a video game.

Right.

And just for a second,

I had a dark fader coming to my mind.

Right.

It's like you beat the demon on level one and then you think you're like,

Okay,

Great.

Everything's great.

And then you get to level three and there's another demon on it.

It's a constant process,

But man,

Just follow your,

Just ask,

Do what's scaring you.

And then what also is excites you.

And that's going to take you to,

Let me just breathe here for a sec.

Make sure that that's kind of connecting right now.

We already kind of talked about it,

But getting on that path where it's,

It's you're,

You're pulled right where you're not pushing.

You're pulled by something greater.

And for me,

I found the fears being kind of a guidepost to get on that.

But maybe it's not always right in the moment.

So finding like that bliss where God is helping you.

It's really,

It's what it comes down to.

It's like,

You're going to have the help of God or you can try and do it,

Do something else on your own.

Awesome.

Well,

Thank you so much for that advice and the whole talk really.

It was really interesting talking with you.

Yeah.

We're really happy that you joined us on the podcast.

Christiane,

I am so,

Yeah,

I'm really cool.

This was once I heard about this podcast and you got what you guys are doing.

I'm like,

Man,

This is the most excited I've been to be on a podcast in a long time.

This is right in my zone.

If you enjoyed what Lou talked about,

Make sure to check out his website mentioned in the description of this episode.

Shout out to our Patreons,

Jay,

Candice,

Beebate,

Kat and Benjamin.

Thank you very much for supporting us.

In the next episode,

I'll talk with John Verveke about the meaning crisis and how to awake from it.

Remember to subscribe to our podcast if you enjoyed this talk.

Thank you for listening and have a great day.

Reviews

Wow! Mahalo!!!! Loved this! Lou … I believe you did a mediation about letting things off your boat????( I could be mixing u up with another). Anyway the way you explained that you’re going to have to go through it, “ pain” to be your authentic self towards the end (your last answer to a question submitted to you). I’ve been on the path of being a healer as long as I can recall….. finally at 59 doing some extremely painful work in Bali … I started releasing those dark layers I shoved down and tried to bury. That was 8 months ago and there’s not a day I don’t cry and sometimes I can’t even work… because of all the pain mental and physical that I have shoved into my soul and being. I even lost my voice for 5 months ….The layers do need to come off! Thank you! Gotta go cry and that’s ok! Much Appreciation,
And Aloha!
Kathleen (pubic school teacher/
And Mindfulness Club teacher)

Excellent. Thank you for sharing your story Lou. I’ve had some of the same experiences and are still on this journey. Specifically right now I am quitting alcohol. Thank you for your insights .

Really interesting talk gentlemen, thank you. I've done lots of Lou's excellent meditations, so it's great to hear some background. Blessings to you both 💜 x

Well, like it was ment for me today.We are not alone on this journey.🤗🤗