Today’s episode ends the series on Mystical Intimacy, where I have the pleasure of conversing with a small group of participants about the last chapter of my book, a chapter on love.
Their vulnerable sharing, keen inquiry, thoughts and feelings truly move me. I feel so blessed for the experience and honoured to share it with you, the listener.
The conversation centres on our needs, what needs are, their validity and how to honour their intrinsic value.
We explore how we externalize our need for love and simultaneously abandon ourselves – how we live outside of ourselves and how cultivating self-compassion and understanding allows us to receive the care we need.
Ultimately, we uncover how acknowledging our needs fills our inner well to overflowing and supports us in being powerfully magnetic and alive in the world.
There is a special channeled message celebrating our human nature through all the ups and downs, expressions and experiences. Spirit is in awe of the courage it takes to feel, and they want us all to know that the more we feel, the freer we are.
Many people hold an overarching sense of responsibility towards measuring up to the idealized self, based on what they do, what they achieve and who they’re supposed to be.
We play many roles defined by our conditioned upbringing and society consumed by this pressure to be the providers, the successful, the ultimate picture of worthiness. Where is there space for love, acceptance, and self-soothing?
Today’s episode centres on the last chapter of my book about love. I explore how being unconditional doesn’t mean turning the other cheek, as the saying goes. It doesn’t mean that we must be selflessly tolerant.
Love begins with the self, reminding me of a wellspring – a hole drilled into the ground to access the aquifer – the underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock. The aquifer needs to be replenished by rain to fill the well. Nature is continuously resourced in time.
Human beings are no different. We need time to rest and relax to heal and be replenished. We need time, if only a moment, to pause, to slow down and remember to breathe. We need time to tune in to become aware of our natural boundaries – to know when to limit the over-consumption of our inner well.
This second-to-last episode of my podcast series on Mystical Intimacy is devoted to the gift of love and how it endeavours to remind us that we are sacred and compels us to trust in life because that is what we need to be whole, body and soul, and to thrive.
Today, my guest is Matthew Jaworski. You may recognize his voice from episode 17 of my podcast where he was part of a group conversation on the importance of the ego and our longing.
Matthew is from Michigan in the US, the son of a long linage of military veterans. In his early adult-like, he joined the Navy and soon came to realize that he was out of place in that environment and out of his personal integrity.
Like many people, Matthew followed in the footsteps of his family, their beliefs and values. After leaving the military life, he found steady work and went about living his life in a way that he thought would gain him approval and security, but instead, he found little meaning.
I asked him to join me for today’s episode on spiritual commitment because I recognize how devotion is playing a big role in his healing and awakening. I’ve witnessed his growth in the Mystic Heart Circle and in private sessions and have come to deeply appreciate his willingness to unravel the conditioned perceptions he’s had of himself and of life on his journey of uncovering his true sense of self and purpose.
In today’s episode, I share passages from chapter-11 of Mystical Intimacy, a chapter about spiritual commitment that explores how you can take charge of your life while simultaneously yielding to the guidance found in everything.
I also talk about aligning yourself with the fruition of your longing by positioning yourself within reach of infinite possibilities.
Spiritual commitment is about honouring what sustains you, not what drives you. The mind is strategic in planning and securing your life while your soul, on the other hand, is focused on supporting your life. The two are needed to balance the whole self, to fine-tune your soul-embodiment.
In my experience, spiritual devotion is a long-term commitment that requires constant rededication of our spiritual integrity. I liken this to musicians who have to retune their instruments regularly, and so do we have to retune our own instruments: our body and mind, our focus and intent, and our willingness to be guided.
Masiandia says that spiritual commitment is the willingness to return to harmony. It’s about accepting and honouring reality and simultaneously changing reality with the presence of our devotion.
It’s a dance between the simultaneously co-existing paradox between our longing to connect and our resistance – our drive to survive. At the centre point of this paradox exists deep spiritual devotion and belonging.
Today, my guest is Bettina Roth, an embodied leadership coach, conscious movement facilitator, community builder and public speaker. Through her work, she aims to bring people together in heart-centered and embodied ways.
She describes the goal of her work as helping people return to a sense of belonging and connection — to their bodies, to themselves, to each other, and to our ecosystem.
I met Bettina on the dance floor at my first 5-rhythm workshop. It was a full-day event that I found profoundly nourishing. Bettina was the facilitator with whom I felt instantly safe and whom I found so inspiring.
There is something about her grace, confidence and her wisdom that I was compelled to for the topic of renewal, a deepening exploration of ch-10 of my book.
Our conversation takes us through the natural cycles of embodiment, release and rebirth, and the role of fire as an element of renewal in our lives, which Bettina refers to as our life-force energy.
Renewal centers on redefining reality. What if the belief you hold about reality doesn’t serve you?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
– Albert Einstein
Our perception of reality can be so binary that it ensnares us in evaluating life through the lens of right and wrong. We then become defended against the bad that we perceive and seek only to be good and expect good from others. But what defines goodness? Our intrinsic sense of value or conditioned beliefs?
Some people are programmed to believe that their dreams, heart desires and needs are too much or require too high a sacrifice. For instance, some don't want to be vulnerable enough for love, as they've learned early in life to hide their feelings from others and from themselves.
Many of my clients first come to me with the judgment that there is something wrong with them, and if they’re not critical towards themselves then they project judgments onto others - their spouse, manager, parent, child, friend. They perceive reality through the lens of good and bad, evaluating rather than feeling their way through life.
How can our sense of value, purpose, self-expression and vitality be resourced if our emotions are trapped in judgment? How can we retrieve fragmented parts of us, the wounded child, guilt and shame, when our feelings are buried?
Listen to this episode to unlock the power of compassion needed for healing, renewal and fulfillment. Come explore the richness of human emotion and being the vessel for divinity.
In today’s episode, my guest Catherine Whelan Costen and I explore how to deepen into the art of seeing and sensing more, especially when it comes to grief - the art of letting go into love.
Catherine is a podcaster and author. Her new e-book: Permission to Breathe, a memoir, captures the essence of core beliefs, how they define us and how they are the driving force behind the decisions we make and the quality of our life experiences.
I am especially moved by Catherine’s spiritual awakening following her son’s fatal accident. She had a mystical experience where she saw him leave his body into the light of his spiritual consciousness and has since felt his presence, guidance and love. She believes in our eternal beingness and trusts that life is so much more than it seems.
Listen to the episode to be moved into a deeper awareness of the cycle of life, death and renewal, and ultimately see the beauty and wisdom within grief, and receive its gift - its blessings
In today’s episode, my guest Michael Stone, a shamanic practitioner, radio host, and spiritual mentor, is adamant about taking the doing out of letting go. I love how Michael refers to letting go as a way of making peace with the parts of ourselves that we see as neurosis, as well as the facets of others that we resist.
Letting go is less about what we’re trying to get rid of or trying to get unstuck. It’s more about letting in and letting be, which awakens awareness and returns us to our original wholeness.
The significance of making space for the fragmented aspects of our human experience through embodied experience is not lost on Michael. He’s a strong advocate for integrating our lost parts by getting into the body with care and respect for the intelligence of our conditioned responses. Instead of fighting up against our supposed maladjustment, we’re invited to see their value
Rather than pressure ourselves and others to change or try to be what we’re not, letting go is a surrendered state that allows us to be present to what wants to be experienced, seen, heard, felt and healed.
What does surrendered consciousness really mean? This is the question I ponder in today’s episode, which delves into the art of letting go, a deepening exploring of chapter 9 from my book Mystical Intimacy.
Like a sunset, which cannot be captured because its beauty is in its unique metamorphosis, surrendering is, in essence, ever-changing. By letting go, we release the role of the ego-mind, we allow it to evolve, and we encounter a complete metamorphosis of our creative potential.
Left on its own, the ego, if it could, would capture the sunset to make the moment last forever. But by letting go, the ego allies with the soul. Together, the ego and soul unite to create such beauty that we are moved beyond old conditioning into states of inspired freedom. By letting go, we lose nothing. Instead, we see, we witness and are open to receiving what we need.
Only then can the mystery of life truly reveal itself – not to our rational thinking minds, but to our inner sense of resonance, faith and belonging.
Chapter 9 weaves together a number of stories from my travels, stories that reveal how
childhood wounds never go away. Healing is not about getting rid of anything. Instead, when we’ve been traumatized, our whole being, body, mind and soul, needs to be nurtured and soothed. On travels through Asia and in writing my book, I discovered how to care for my inner child and soothe my stress responses – a necessary life skill in all areas of our lives.
In essence, letting go is synonymous with self-nurturing and acceptance of self and others, and profoundly needed in our relationship who self and others and in our world.
In this episode conversation, Rachel Newton and I explore abundance from the spiritual perspective that we have more than enough right here and now and that receiving takes presence and the willingness to let go of struggling to get what we want and need.
In a spiritual context, abundance is less about actualizing what we think we want or about material gain. Instead, it revolves around savouring life in its fullness. It’s the cultivation of presence and appreciation of the human experience and universal consciousness.
Abundance is the fruition of creative ideas, desires, and needs actualized without effort and combined with conscious intent and faith. This sweet effortlessness is an act of compassion, a lessening reaction that deepens our relationship with our longing.
How can we receive the abundance that life has to offer us, in the here and now, if we are not in touch with our longing? That would be like expecting to be loved by another when we shy away from acknowledging our own worth and refusing to recognize what is loveable within ourselves.
Being open to abundance is a surrendering to the flow of life. This surrendered state is ultimately a welcoming towards all of us – especially the buried parts we tend to be unwilling to feel. Rachel refers to these fragmented parts of us as belonging to a Gestalt, reminding us that the whole is greater than the parts and that by focusing on the abundance, we already have begets more abundance.
We often think of abundance as something outside ourselves that we pine for or work very hard to get. And, we go to great lengths to measure up to our standard of deservedness.
We don’t think of abundance as requiring something from us – our receptivity. Our openness is needed to bring about the fruition of our desires, dreams, and needs.
To manifest the life we want and bring about change, such as a new job, a successful endeavour, love, health, well-being, adventure, excitement, we need to say “YES!” to our desires, as well as our fears and doubts, and our past hurts and disappointments.
Manifesting the abundance that we long for necessitates welcoming life as it is, not discriminating against anything.
When we are open to what life offers, we recognize the inherent gift in both the opportunities and the setbacks. Today’s episode explores this at length with storytelling and channeled guidance.
In today’s episode, Dr. Monique Giard joins me to talk about the beauty of deepening our embodied experience, and how our feelings hold the key to release, repair and deep healing.
Monique is a clinical counsellor and Master Teacher and Healer, trained by Master Zhi Gang Sha. She has experienced and witnessed many long-lasting transformations in her work with the power of the soul.
Our conversation honours the feminine and child within, the sensitive deep-felt realm of the soul.
Every child, every being, comes into this world with the capacity to love and be loved, and to know joy. We come into this world with curiosity and when nurtured that wonderment activates our connection with divinity. That’s the potential of Faith, a Return to Wholeness, the theme of today’s conversation.
Faith is often seen as a passive force. We give it so little attention and yet it plays a large role in manifesting our longings and our dreams. Faith is really an active force that unites our heart’s desire with the presence of spirit. Faith serves to open us to the divine in everything.
In today’s episode, I explore the deeper meaning of faith and how it is essentially our freedom, the source of knowledge within us that moves us beyond the rational mind into greater possibilities.
The ego-mind, our logic, has a very hard time letting go of the reigns. Faith, on the other hand, is so much larger than the mind; it’s a stream of energy that is given to us by our higher will, from our eternal grace, and it can’t be explained or coerced into a manageable rational mental idea.
It’s impossible to connect with the inner self, our knowing, our spirit, with the cognitive mind. The mind’s logic can’t fathom the spark of divinity. That’s the work of faith.
I had the pleasure of recording this episode with a small group of dedicated readers. What transpires is a beautiful exploration with like-minded persons on a similar path of growth and expansion.
As we gathered together to share and discuss the pivotal themes of the first six chapters of my book, we explored topics ranging from the collective unconscious, the role and importance of our egos, and the gifts inherent in our longing.
One of the main concepts revolves around how to connect with our longing, how to get really close to our true needs, be seen, heard, and feel safe.
It was interesting to hear and share different experiences of longing and how the participant's questions helped clarify the importance of our egos and how when balanced, our egos support and serve our deeper soul purpose.
My conversation with Kelly Thiel echoes what I find so prevalent in the healing community. Spiritual growth is not a constant quest for outer truths, but a process of releasing and unlearning what isn't true for ourselves.
Kelly shares her experience with the notorious NXIVM cult and how she gained a priceless lesson. She discovered her true voice, not so much from what she learned with NXIVM , but more so from what she had to unlearn.
In the process, Kelly took charge of her destiny after facing the hard truth that she had given her power away. Her commitment to her spiritual integrity deepened, as she began to conquer her trauma, and in turn, help others conquer theirs.
She is now the driving force behind Be Glorious, a platform that is devoted to creating space for people to have real conversations with themselves on their path to finding their own brand of Glorious. She is also the author of Unapologetically Glorious
Join me in this inspiring episode with Kelly who believes each of us is our own guru, and how she supports others on their paths back to themselves.
In this episode, I share my personal inquiry around the common spiritual belief that life is an illusion. With Masiandia's guidance and my research on this spiritual quest, I have come upon a truth that resonates with me, which I share more in-depth in this chapter of Mystical Intimacy. In short, our human perceptions of reality are limited: however, the overarching presence of our multidimensional universe is in fact very real.
Join me in this discussion with Masianda as I share my understanding that the Universe simply cannot be reduced to our simple perceptions of it. Instead, I envision experiencing our lives with reverence while understanding that our rational linear perception of reality does see the whole picture.
In my conversation with brilliant craniosacral therapist Kim Brandt, we discuss the importance of helping clients connect to their bodies in meaningful ways. His practice combines Polyvagal theory, breathwork, and self-regulating practices, to help clients get into the wisdom of their bodies and out of their heads. His mission is to share the importance of creating a safe inner environment for healing from within. He believes through this empowering process, each person moves closer to one's true sense of self.
In Kim's experience, learning to self-regulate is part of what supports ultimate embodied divinity. When we recognize where we are living from, we can choose to better integrate and understand how mindfulness relates directly to our soul-purpose. When we practice regulating our nervous system, we help support our healing through life-affirming signals from mind to body.
Enjoy this thought provoking discussion where mindfulness becomes "bodyfulness", a practice of moving out of the mind and back into the safe haven of the body and moment.
In this episode, I share my thoughts on embodied mysticism, and how that looks on a daily level. What I encourage myself and my clients to embrace, is this desire to be with and love EVERY facet of your personality and life. While most people tend to separate the spiritual from the ordinary, I believe that everything that shows up can help evolve us towards the highest version of ourselves and our purpose.
Masiandia has taught me that the difficult, or displeasing emotions and experiences can also be the most healing. Pain, anger, hurt, fear all show up to remind us to integrate more love into our human experience. More tenderness and more presence allow us to experience a softening towards ourselves and our journey. They mention that we seek comfort in order to control our lives and maintain our familiar reality which does little for our growth.
Embodied mysticism is the willingness to be fully present in all our points of contraction and expansion. In this sense, we are becoming the most evolved version of ourselves, present and in tune with our true life's purpose.
Many would agree that these past couple of years have brought about the constancy of change, and have affected all of us quite deeply. I feel honoured to share thoughts with my guest Jacki Scallion, a fellow devotee of the spiritual path for almost three decades. One of her core intentions on her path is to find truths that allow her a deeper inner peace in a world that doesn't always honour sensitivity.
One of the many concepts that I love in what Jacki shares brings us back to an earlier episode about longing (Episode #10). She experiences her longing as a way to remember who she truly is, and her purpose in the outer world. Through practice, she found her feelings held the key to channelling and freeing her spirit in a way that served both her own path and the service she offers others.
Her intention to partner with spirit is a beautiful reminder that we can utilize these changing times to deepen our relationship to self and spirit.
In this unique look at the world of tarot and other mystic methodologies, Debbi Lang joins me to discuss our humanity's consensus reality. Her work is fuelled to understand and assist her clients to examine the synergies and universal themes that propel us to feel and act as we do.
She shared that reading Mystical Intimacy had her deeply examine her resistance to the unfolding of the pandemic and helped her explore the purpose behind the events. We share an interconnected belief that as a collective, humanity is in the process of healing our ancestral lineage.
Listen to the full conversation as she shares how her work has taught her to remain curious and open to what is naturally unfolding in and around us. With the assistance of tarot, astrology, and numerology, we can view a wider purpose for certain events and lean into the trust and purpose of all of life.