This is an episode I hesitated putting out for all kinds of reasons. This practice is something I mostly keep to myself as a personal thing but I'm getting more and more people contacting me about it so I figured it's time to let the cat out of the bag. In it, I explore the idea of what it means to relate to an animate world that is magical and responds to all kinds of ritualized actions. It's about sorcery, magic, animism, and sentient agency in the so-called external world. This is obviously a little bit of a taboo topic, particularly in the west where we have convinced ourselves that the world is dead and therefore we can do what we want with it, or on the other side we have been told that anyone who interacts with this perspective is evil somehow.  I talk about how different frames can change the description of what happened (spirits vs energy vs god vs nature) but that essentially at the base the essence is more or less the same even though it gets dressed up in different ways. I mentioned a few resources (hopefully I didn't forget any, I recorded this a few weeks before I wrote these shownotes): Josephine McCarthy & the Quaeria school: https://josephinemccarthy.com/ https://www.quareia.com/  Glitch Bottle Podcast: https://www.glitchbottle.com/podcast  Aidan Wachter (recommend his book Six Ways to start): https://www.aidanwachter.com/  Denis Poisson (great youtube channel for basics): https://www.youtube.com/@FoolishFishBooks  The Emerald Podcast (specific episode linked here, highly recommended): https://www.themythicbody.com/podcast/animism-normative-consciousness-re-released/    Please drop me a message if you're interested in this topic! Enjoy  

In this episode I talk about the nuances and intricacies of internal practices vs visualization based practices. In some systems, visualizations are used to provoke a change in the body, in others it is recommended to stay away from visualizations and stick to direct awareness of physical sensations. I actually use both modes of practice, but for very different reasons (and outcomes). When you have a basic framework for how to approach the two modes of practice it becomes easy to differentiate and understand what each practice is useful for and what it is not useful for. Towards the end of the practice, I mention Josephine McCarthy. You can find her work here: https://www.quareia.com/ I also mention at the start of the podcast that I've just released a new online course, which you can find right here: https://courses.craigmallett.com/products/courses/releasing-through-the-legs The rest of my online courses can be found here: https://courses.craigmallett.com/ Enjoy!

In this episode I interview my friend and fellow cultivator Jackson Collings. When I asked him what he wanted to call the episode, he said "Daoist Bro Down" which is pretty apt, we basically spend the whole time geeking out about the finer points of cultivation from the Daoist perspective. I spent a little bit of time prompting Jackson to talk about the difference between his previous explorations in various esoteric realms and his current practice, and some of his responses were pure gold. There is a lot of info in this episode about the nature of a really structured practice, in particular he noted that most of his crazy woo woo experiences have lessened significantly, but despite that (or more likely because of that) he is much happier and content in his life. A must listen episode for anyone in esoteric circles. If you want to get in touch with Jackson, his instagram is right here:https://www.instagram.com/jackson_collings/ As a side note, we didn't get much into his art in the podcast but Jackson has recreated the famous Neijing Tu, with the guidance of his teacher, so you can be sure it's full of all the requisite juice. You can order a copy right here:https://www.jacksoncollings.com/store And if you'd like to support me, you can do so via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected Or by picking up one of my courses: https://courses.craigmallett.com/   Enjoy

In this episode I talk about some approaches to the how & why of creating a daily practice. More easily said than done, as we often run into the fact of non-perfection in our practice when we keep it up every day without end. So many days will not be perfect, so many days will not allow the time to do full suite of practices you want to do. How do you keep it going despite these hindrances? The key lies in creating a thread of practice, a small habit that happens every day no matter what. If you're looking for the courses page I mention at the start, it can be found right here: https://courses.craigmallett.com As always, if you'd like to support the podcast please consider becoming a Patron. You'll get early access to the podcast, and from tier 2 onwards you will get a practice of the week, every week! https://patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected

It's time for the non-dual episode! This week I am talking about this topic that is a rather tricky topic to talk about. When we start leaning into these principles, the mind can easily grab hold of it and use it to excuse a whole bunch of gnarly behaviour, and we obviously don't want to end up like that guy. Nevertheless, it's a topic that needs to be broached, as it's talking about how we relate to reality itself. It's a reasonably deep/big episode, so strap yourself in! Remember, if you'd like to support the podcast, you can get early access and a whole bunch of other boons by joining my Patreon, over at https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected Some of the resources mentioned (and one not mentioned but it would have been very relevant to do so): Adyashanti: https://adyashanti.opengatesangha.org/teachings/intro Loch Kelly: https://lochkelly.org/shift-into-freedom David Chaim Smith: https://www.thethirtytwokeys.com/ Peter Kingsley: https://peterkingsley.org/ Enjoy!

In this episode I interview my buddy and fellow cultivator Ramon Castellanos. Ramon has a colourful history, from being raised in a family with an ancient animist lineage to working in a wolf sanctuary, and throughout this time he has engaged in practices of magic, devotion, rewilding, natural movement, human domestication, internal and external martial arts, and deep meditations. We talk about the dynamics of practice, the balancing agents between internal and external, how he dealt with a sudden energetic awakening that kind of wrecked his life for a little while, and much more. Ramon has written a fantastic book called The Ancestral Now, and is almost done with his second book (title tbc). You can find the first one right here, I highly recommend you grab a copy: https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-ancestral-now-ramon-f-castellanos/book/9798218052621.html I always have fun connecting with Ramon, and if the stars align we will hopefully be doing some stuff in person very soon too, stay tuned. As always, if you'd like to support the podcast, please consider becoming a member of my patreon. Members get early access to podcast episodes, as well as a whole host of other benefits such as weekly classes. https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected  

Want to support the podcast? Join my patreon right here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected In this episode I dive into my approach to understanding the mind. It's a tricky beast, and it's worth spending time getting to know the tricks, how they work, and the various ways they might appear. Beyond this, I also discuss an approach to gathering the mind and how the orientation towards how this is done is rather important - instead of violently cutting ourselves away from distractions to return to the task at hand, we want to release the energy bound within the distraction back into what we are doing. In the moment of noticing distraction it's also possible to begin to reestablish a better relationship between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, and I talk a fair bit about the dynamics involved here. Overall, a pretty fundamental episode for my approach, as everything discussed here will apply any time you have a task that you should be paying attention to and how to gather the attention to a single point in a healthy way. The gathering attention follow along practice mentioned in the episode can be found right here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/123492257

Want to support the podcast? Join my patreon right here: https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected In this episode I interview my good friend Soisci Porchetta. Soisci has a wealth of experience, she's a former women's world champion Thai kickboxer, trained in the inner circle with Ido Portal, learnt traditional Indian meditation and Yoga, and has dived deep into the philosophies and practices of Fighting Monkey. Like me, Soisci has also moved from a performance based athletic practice to one more focused on internal cultivation and this has given her quite a unique vision and approach to personal practice. She now is now more interested in what she calls integrative life practices, and you'll find plenty of insight into what that's all about in the episode. If you want to learn more about Soisci, you can head on over to her page: https://www.soisci.com In the podcast, we talk about a particular clip of her world championship fight. You can find that clip right here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9nOzV_xzZW/ Enjoy!

In this episode I dive into some of the aspects of the 2 main qualities which form the heart of my approach: opening and releasing. But what do I mean by these words? What dynamics do each of the concepts point to, and how are these dynamics realized in different ways depending on the context? The next question is why...why train in this way, why go to all the effort? I explore how this process can actually aid many different parts of life, and how its transferable quality can make it possible to both continually develop and deepen one thing, at the same time as always finding new contexts and angles to experience this thing. If you'd like to join my patreon, you can find me at www.patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected If you're interested in a guided training with me, I offer a mentorship program where I will guide you one on one in the creation and refinement of this process, and how to apply it to the things you love to do. More details at www.craigmallett.com/mentorship

I have a Patreon now! If you'd like to support the podcast, head on over to https://patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected In this episode, I interview my good friend Joe Fairleigh. Joe is one of those guys who is both masterful at his arts, and super humble and down to earth. He has been a cornerstone for many other people I know, helping them find stability and meaning in their lives. I'm super stoked to have Joe on as my first guest, and this episode was so much fun to record. We got into topics of martial arts, meditation and more, but mostly talked about how diving into any skillset comes with the big risk of becoming crazy and evangelical about it. If you'd like to connect with Joe, you can find him over on his website right here: https://www.joefairleigh.com/

In this episode I take a bit of a deep dive into the topic of orientation and motivation. Why do we train what we train, what do we believe we are going to get from it? Often people will use terms like "to get well/healthy/fit" but these terms mean such different things to different people that it's worth clarifying for yourself and understanding the lens you're looking through. This is all tied together with a short exploration of the unconscious perfectionists that tends to disconnect us from natures perfection by looking for perfection where it can't exist: within the relative world. If you'd like to support my work, please head on over to www.craigmallett.com and have a look around, I have plenty of services available. Enjoy

In this inaugural episode of the podcast, I introduce the tone of my approach to self cultivation and the basic pillars that make up my current curriculum: Physical Cultivation Internal Cultivation Cultivation of the Mind Cultivation of Relationship to Reality as a whole I also take a quick tour of my history to see the main influences on this approach and hopefully set the context for everything to come in the podcast.