A beautiful conversation about trauma and how we block ourselves from love, connection and everything we want with unconscious beliefs, we unpick what gets in the way of seeing our own beauty and allowing ourselves to be loved, from the mind to the body, a fully inclusive conversation, through the lens of 3p, non duality, somatic healing and meditation. Below are some of the insights I got when listening back:

• What is it like to receive love
• What happens in the body
• Do you allow yourself to feel?
• have the walls of unworthiness come down?
• Do we have to do anything to be worthy?
• Where does the idea of unworthiness come from?
• It’s felt as an experience of the body (contraction)
• The nervous system (flight mode) is activated by love
• It can show up as anger/doubt towards the giver
• Or the desire to run away
• Allowing love to filter in, can be very touching
• Living with a tender heart
• Putting the story aside and meeting yourself
• Well-being is innate
• No one bullies us as much as we do ourselves
• We can only guess – but the body knows
• We have been programmed not to feel
• Stay out of the story and be with what is
• Feeling yourself as energy – not matter
• You are not your body
• We’re not victims
• Don’t be afraid of your own feelings
• There is nothing wrong with your feelings
• Your ego cannot be enlightened
• There is nowhere other than here
• There is no escape from now
• The body keeps the score

You can find Angelica at her website here https://angelicaalmqvist.com/

The post Letting Love In appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

This conversation with Rupert was recorded almost a couple of years ago, when I had just started really going to non dual retreats and wanting to be directly involved experientially, the reason I sat on it so long is on the audio before it starts, it turned out to be a great conversation covering so many subjects around the spectrum of experience, from suffering through to awakening and what happens on that journey for people including healing from trauma, what actually is trauma and how we might point people who are suffering to their true nature. Below are some of my insights from listening back:

• All reality is not made of thought
• What is the space between thought
• Thoughts are like subtitles
• Thoughts do not describe reality
• We give thoughts and perceptions power
• The goal is to bring the mind to the end
• Seeking = Agitation
• We experience happiness when seeking ends
• Once the promise of fulfilment starts, the mind ends
• why searching for true nature will not end addiction
• Detox is sometimes required
• Habits are very strong
• Distraction with energy usage is valuable
• Seeing the role of thought in suffering
• The recognition of true nature
• In between 2 thoughts I remain
• Finding out what we are not is a start
• Recognition of true nature takes further curiosity
• what’s left after awakening
• The contractions of the body are stuck beliefs
• You cant separate the mind and body
• There is work to be done to realign the body
• Allowing buried feelings to be exposed
• This is not a requirement to awakening
• There is a process of allowing in vedantic tradition
• Trauma is buried layer of feelings that needs dissolving
• You need an experiential journey of the body
• Trying to bridge the gap from suffering to awakening

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This great conversation with Rudi & Jules goes from relationship triggers, to prison violence, from spiritual bypassing to embodying the essence of who you are it was great to dig into all these subjects with a sincere depth and quality of really seeing experience for what it is without being wedded to a concept or idea.

• Trauma responses can be elusive
• Is it the body or the mind
• Love can be a threat to the body
• The body leads the way
• Breaking out of spiritual conditioning
• Going to the body brings powerful results
• The body can numb itself and dissociate
• Suffering leads to hope for bliss
• Spiritual sharing becoming dogmatic
• Are you open to something you dont know
• Do you react when other people share differently?
• Can we listen to other peoples understanding?
• Openness is a gateway to God/Universal Mind
• The truths of the universe are not in thought
• Including the body is life changing
• Communicating with the body is expansive
• The body is the bridge between form and formless
• The body perceives safety before cognition
• No body no experience
• We begin with the essence
• People are too comfortable in beliefs
• Life beats us into a state of reasonableness
• Parts stay at a young age
• Your body heroically keeps you safe
• Adopt and attitude of curiosity towards parts
• Trauma is an energetic signature
• High alert / HSP is a trauma response
• We will react until something helps us see
• How to find safety and healing
• Misunderstood spirituality can mess you up
• Destroy spiritual concepts and beliefs
• You are the answer to everything
• Skip the middle man it takes you away
• You’ll know an experience of peace like never before

To find Rudi & Jules you can look on their website here

The post The Truth of the Body Cannot be Ignored appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

A great conversation with Rohini Ross that looks at how relationships are beautiful containers for healing when you see what is really playing out, embodying the struggles and leaning into the intelligence of all experience.

• We long for things we run away from
• Picking loveless relationships for safety
• The intelligence of the nervous system
• bodily reactions that are not created in the mind
• When we are willing to be vulnerable we can learn
• Relationships are a catalyst for revealing blindspots
• the present moment activates hidden beliefs
• This is a gift
• It doesn’t mean we need to stay in abuse
• Being present to experience we gain insight
• We stop identifying with the misunderstandings
• Compassion for our partner can bring healing
• Seeing what’s really true clears misunderstanding
• What’s the issue? ‘Things’ can lose their power
• Relationships are a beautiful container for healing
• It’s not just your thinking
• Experience is of the body not the head
• We can increase our capacity for presence
• There’s health in all human experience
• Becoming more embodied, breath work, somatics
• Follow your own inner guidance
• The power of psychedelics with trauma
• Softening the defences to be with experience
• There is no way, only your own direct experience
• The power is never in the form/technique
• Direct experience is the only teacher

You can find Rohini at her website https://www.therewilders.org/

The post Relationships, Trauma and Spirituality appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

An in depth look with June Jackson at trauma, beliefs contained in the body’s reactions to stimulus and the difference in spiritual pursuits and somatic investigations to find the roots of trauma beyond what the mind can see.

• The pursuit of spirituality as an object
• Doesn’t exempt you from experience
• Experience is not constantly anything
• Unrequested responses of the body
• You can’t spiritualise away your experience
• The body doesn’t awaken
• Contractions, tensions, tightness still exist
• Parts will naturally surrender when understood
• Honouring our system is important
• Parts are running the show anyway so make friends
• Parts are normal human response to adversity
• They are trying to be helpful – intelligence
• Life guides us to ourselves
• Awakening will only take you so far
• Spiritual Bypassing
• Natural reaction to grief – closing down
• We can’t discount the programming
• Contractions don’t show up as thoughts/memories
• Strong emotional reaction comes before cognitive
• The body can say NO!

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Ok, everything is a concept but in this wonderful conversation with Clare Dimond we explore what is actually happening, in the body, right now, in our experience, we discussed spiritualising away your every day moment to moment experience, with innocent attempts to stabilise an identity where it is never possible, trauma being the origin and maintainer of the identity that I think I am, even when I sharing spiritual shit that sounds great. This conversation really shines a light on what is happening, how and where to look, and most importantly, it’s all ok.

You can find Clare at her website here

• Seeing beyond your identity
• Thought is the messenger
• Innocent attempts to stabilise identity
• There’s still a body
• What is really going on here
• Don’t pretend you’re fine!
• Spiritual bypassing
• Having an embodied experience
• The universe exists within us
• Using the mind to avoid the body
• Escaping ourselves with spirituality
• Escaping the present moment with words
• Trauma is the origin of identity
• Trauma is the maintainer of identity
• Exploring trauma from a place of grounding
• The relief from finding the 3 Principles
• It’s still from the perspective of separation
• Everyone else is a creation of me
• The present moment is the teacher
• The therapist identity – confusion
• Seeing beyond the dream
• The only purpose of life is to wake up
• You can never get enough of what you don’t want
• Life will keep pointing you inwardly
• Non-duality as a shot of heroin
• 3p as a glass of whiskey
• You can’t argue with the truth, but
• Disembodied spiritual sharing
• Spiritualising contractions away
• What is really going on!

The post Beyond the Concepts appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

In this conversation with Sunitha Sandeep we discuss how the understandings of Buddhism, 3p and non-duality do not exempt you from trauma, that the body-mind is just 1 system that functions perfectly. How the experience of trauma in adulthood is only ever pointing you home, like all suffering. Spiritual bypassing, and more.

The post The Beauty of Trauma appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

A beautiful conversation with Marnix Pauwels on the experience of loss, and being present to witness the sadness, the joy, the confusion the pure love that is inside all of us. We explored many things including the impact of losing someone as a child and how that shows up in life, the loss of love, to the creation of love and beautiful experiences of opening our hearts.

• Life Death and Loss and all its wonders
• Feeling emotions and the beauty of them
• Coming out of spiritual bypass to the present
• How the body keeps the score
• Is spirituality really about becoming feelingless
• Embracing the humanness and all its quirks
• Creating in the world riding the roller coaster

For anyone who wants to find Marnix, you can go to www.marnix.nl to find out more.

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Pete felt tired and worthless during his struggles with alcohol, trying his best to stay sober just was not working. Holding down a job but struggling inside with the battle not to drink every day. He came across the understanding of true nature and the inside out nature of life that transformed everything while trying to take his own life by jumping from a bridge. Saved by a passing soul in the form of a police officer Pete serendipitously found his way to freedom via the work of Sydney Banks.

Listen in to hear his story of hope, from struggles, sharing what happened, what he saw and how it changed his life to his current beautiful experience of being alive. Pete is a true inspiration to anyone struggling with drugs or alcohol, and a testament to how a simple insight can change everything.

If you have a powerful story of how insight changed your life, and want to share it please reach out

The post Alcoholism, Drugs and Suicide appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

An interesting conversation with Linda Pransky on the misunderstandings of psychology. We each share snippets from our own journey what looked true and what changed, how it looks different now, and simplicity of discovering our true nature, seeing whats beyond our thinking and what we need to experience transformation.

• The answers are not in the past
• Don’t give up searching
• You’ll know when you find home
• Life is taking us on a journey
• Change is beyond the eyes
• Moods are not an issue
• Insight is the key to change
• Looking beyond the intellect
• It’s all in the feeling
• higher state of mind = clearer thinking
• Insight lead learning, beyond the contents
• Trust the knowing of something more
• There’s no complicated solutions
• It’s in the simplicity
• There’s nothing to do
• The answers are within
• Relax and live your life
• The ‘problem’ resolves itself
• The past is not important
• Mental health is perfect when you leave it alone
• Even that
• Don’t underestimate the power of presence
• Addiction is an attempt to quiet your mind
• We use our own thinking against ourselves

you can find Linda over at the Pransky & Associates website here

The post Misunderstanding of Psychology appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

An insightful conversation with Rachel Singleton about the natural system within the body, how our health is always pointing us home back to the natural equilibrium of the system. You don’t wan’t to miss this one, if you have ever suffered with ill physical health, there is so much wisdom here.

• Letting something bigger guide us
• Realising that we’re not listening
• Our true health guides us from within
• It is knowing what to do when
• Your body tells you when it needs it
• It’s about looking in a different direction
• We all have inner guidance within
• We make our pathology worse
• We create suffering ourselves
• What happens in the moments of respite?
• Looking in the direction of health, not illness
• What can we see that works for us
• We don’t need to listen to what is wrong
• It’s a self correcting system
• All systems in the body work this way
• Symptoms are love letters from the body
• It’s about letting life come through us
• It’s about hanging out in the unknown
• Problems are a reflection of our level of consciousness
• Health is available regardless of the diagnosis
• Thinking always looks compelling
• We are not unique in our pathology
• It’s what is true for everyone
• Every moment is fresh, unwritten
• Everything can be seen through different lenses
• The cage door is always open
• Home is available at all times
• Just be willing to look in a new direction
• Look for a beautiful feeling, do more of that

You can find Rachel’s website here

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