Awareness Explorers episode 220: Shadow Work

In this episode, we explore various approaches to shadow work, that is, becoming conscious of hidden parts of the psyche and bringing them to awareness, which helps reveal and release emotions stored in the body that might otherwise cause trouble in life and relationships.

• Includes a guided meditation focused on dissolving resistance to unwanted emotions by fully experiencing feelings in the body and dropping associated storytelling.

Mentioned in this episode:

Adyashanti's instructions for "Working with Negative Emotions" is included in the set from Sounds True called "Guided Meditations" "The Work" documentary about a group therapy retreat in Folsom Prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_(film) https://releasing.dogwoof.com/the-work

Angelo DiLullo's Group Transformation Process Mindvalley Blog "75 shadow work prompts for healing and growth" Internal Family Systems (IFS) https://ifs-institute.com/

Effortless IFS with Sid Friedman Voice Dialogue https://www.voicedialogueinternational.com/ https://www.voicedialogueinternational.com/global/IVDA/select_Bridgit_Dengel_Gaspard.htm

Scott Kiloby Transformative Emotion Work https://kiloby.com/

Sam Roff: Secrets To Great Shadow Work (Regulate Unstable Energy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTxwFD5P_Pk

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To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

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Awareness Explorers episode 219: Fooled into Dualism

In this episode, we explore how language, culture, and survival instincts create a dualistic view of the world, which is at odds with the underlying reality of interconnectedness and oneness.

• Includes a guided meditation helping us to see beyond the dualistic nature of language, and to sense how everything is interconnected, and nothing, including you, is truly separate from everything else.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Photo by 愚木混株 Yumu on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 218: Scott Flynn, Guest Explorer

In this episode we talk to Scott Flynn, about how non-dual teaching helps people let go of their false sense of individual identity by recognizing that the ego is just a collection of thoughts that can be dissolved through self-inquiry and resting in one's true nature.

• Includes a guided meditation helping us to turn our attention to the experience of "I Am" and to see that "I Am" is what you've been searching for your entire life. "I Am" is who you are, and who you are is unconditional love and acceptance.

To learn more about Scott Flynn, please visit: https://www.scott-flynn.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@scott-flynn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scott_flynn_nonduality Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584487106400

For a set of images illustrating Scott's funnel gestures, please see… https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/scott-flynn-funnel-gesture Or watch the YouTube video version: https://youtu.be/jdFFCWqWWTA

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 217: Tracy Lease, Guest Explorer

In this episode, we talk to Tracy Lease, a yoga, Pilates, Qigong, and mindfulness teacher who discusses the integration of body awareness practices with spiritual development.

• Includes a guided moving meditation from Tracy combining breath awareness with gentle movement to help listeners experience the connection between physical relaxation and expanded awareness.

To learn more about Tracy Lease, please visit: https://fulllifeyogastudio.com/

For examples of tensegrity models discussed in this episode, see: "8 Incredible Structures Around the World That Use Tensegrity to Defy Gravity" https://mymodernmet.com/tensegrity-architecture/

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 216: Types of Thought

In this episode, we discuss different types of thoughts and how to distinguish between helpful and harmful thinking patterns. We cover practical thoughts versus emotional ruminations, the importance of intuitive wisdom versus egoic thinking, and how to recognize beneficial thoughts that come from outside the normal mind.

• Includes a guided meditation leading you through a suite of games to quiet the intrusive mind, as well as a practice to open your heart to intuitive guidance.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Photo by Quilia on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 215: Luciano Melo, Guest Explorer

In this episode we feature Luciano Melo, a PhD researcher on awakening who shared his transformative journey from depression into non-dual awakening, and how these experiences led to a complete deconstruction of his sense of self before integrating back into a state of wholeness.

To learn more about Luciano Melo, please visit: Omni-Integration.net

For a good description of Jeffrey Martin's Locations of Fundamental Wellbeing discussed in this interview: https://insanebraintrain.blogspot.com/2015/01/jeffrey-martin-locations-of.html or The Martin Matrix, a Comprehensive Map of Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCfeamM07dk

The book by Henry Shukman mentioned in this episode is One Blade of Grass: https://henryshukman.com/writing/one-blade-of-grass

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

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Awareness Explorers episode 214: Approaches to Spiritual Growth

In this episode, we discuss different models of spiritual growth, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of each, and sharing our personal experiences across multiple approaches, including books, coaching, religion, satsang, peer support, AI chatbots, retreats, 12-step programs, YouTube teachings, transmissions, communes, and workshops.

• Includes a guided meditation helping you to intuitively assess which models might be most suitable for your personal spiritual journey.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Photo by Call Me Fred on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 213: Eric Zimmer Guest Explorer

In this episode we talk to Eric Zimmer, host of the podcast, "The One You Feed," about his new book, How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life, his approach to personal transformation combining both inner spiritual practices and outer behavioral changes, and how to balance both acceptance and change. We also discussed the importance of community and social connections in spiritual development.

• Includes a guided meditation from Eric moving us through three different modes of experience—body sensations, sounds, and breathing—and then noticing them at the same time, and letting the three merge into one field of awareness.

To learn more about Eric Zimmer, please visit: https://www.oneyoufeed.net/

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 212: Life Force

In this episode Jonathan and Brian explore the nature of life force energy, two paths to access the life force, and possible obstacles to its full expression.

• Includes a guided meditation focusing on how we can get out of its way and allow the universal life force to express itself through our temporary form with all of its talents, gifts, abilities, and limitations.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Photo by Juan Cruz Mountford on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 211: Salvadore Poe, Guest Explorer

In this episode we talk to Salvadore Poe, a spiritual teacher and author who shared his journey from rock musician to spiritual awakening, and described his concept of "having a holiday," that is, recognizing pure being without fixing on any particular experience. The discussion covers topics including spiritual bypassing, doership, and meditation practices.

• Includes a guided meditation leading you to relax the focus of attention, notice the movements of life, and see that what you are is not moving. This pure being at the core of all of the movement is that which never moves, and is who you essentially are.

To learn more about Salvadore Poe, please visit: https://www.liberationis.com/

Books by Salvadore Poe: https://www.liberationis.com/books Liberation IS: The End of the Spiritual Path The Way of Freedom: Conversations with Salvadore Poe Blown Wide Open: A Collection of Holidays The Audacity of Freedom: A Journey of Spiritual Liberation

Discussed in this episode:

Jnani: A Sanskrit term for a wise person, sage, or "knower of the Self" within Hindu philosophy, particularly in jnana yoga, the Hindu "path of knowledge" or wisdom.

Bhakti: A Sanskrit term meaning intense love, devotion, attachment, and surrender to a personal deity or guru, often serving as a path to spiritual liberation. It is often practiced as bhakti yoga, focusing on devotion through service.

Karma: Karma Yoga, or the "yoga of action," is a spiritual path focused on selfless service, purifying the heart, and reducing ego by performing duties without attachment to results.

Shiva Shakti Amma https://sivasakthiammaiyar.com/

Ajja https://myajja.weebly.com/

Dolano:: https://www.friendsofdolano.org/

Dzogchen: Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection," is the highest teaching in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, focusing on recognizing the innate, radiant, and empty nature of the mind. It emphasizes that enlightenment is not a distant goal but is already inherently present and requires only recognition through effortless, non-conceptual awareness.

I Am That book by Nisargadatta Maharaj https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/I-Am-That-by-Sri-Nisargadatta-Maharaj.pdf

POK (Perfectly Okay): Perfectlyokay.org is the social and support center of Jeffery Martin's Finders Course alumni community,

Tiruvannamalai and Mount Arunachala: Arunachala hill has been considered sacred for centuries and is located within the temple town of Tiruvannamalai, one of the most ancient heritage sites of India and the home of the Ramana Maharshi Ashram.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 210: The Problem of Compartmentalization

In this episode we explore the problem of compartmentalization and how applying spiritual awareness to some areas of life (such as meditation), but not others (such as money or relationships) creates a spiritual identity that fails to integrate shadow material, thereby inhibiting the cultivation of non-dual awareness alongside engagement in ethical, human action.

• Includes a guided meditation helping you to visualize a challenging compartment in your life and to bring impartial witnessing to that compartment, while gaining insight into what obstacles trigger reactivity and impede your true nature.

Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature.

To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/

If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z

Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations

To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one.

To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/

You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n

Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian