WEBVTT
1
00:00:01.080 --> 00:00:04.679
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
2
00:00:04.679 --> 00:00:07.679
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
3
00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:12.080
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
4
00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:17.480
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
5
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.800
legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek
6
00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:26.920
the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any
7
00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.559
suggested ideas.
8
00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:33.119
At the end of the day, it's not about what
9
00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.479
you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what
10
00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:40.079
you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up,
11
00:00:40.439 --> 00:00:43.679
who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.
12
00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:48.759
Thanzel Washington, Welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is
13
00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.479
to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you
14
00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:52.200
to do the same.
15
00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:56.399
Elijah, welcome back to the show.
16
00:00:57.159 --> 00:00:59.159
Thank you so much for having me again.
17
00:00:59.799 --> 00:01:02.159
Well it's great. And you know, last time we were
18
00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:05.799
talking about the effigy breathing, and you know, it was
19
00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:09.920
so fascinating and I actually tried your three minute one
20
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.799
and I'm not sure that i'd lasted more than a
21
00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.640
minute and a half, which I don't know what that says,
22
00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:20.840
but fascinating, and then you're doing so many other things,
23
00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:22.599
and we had talked about so many things that we
24
00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:25.680
couldn't get to that I really wanted to have a
25
00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:30.319
further discussion about that. Plus either writing or you've written
26
00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:33.120
a new book, and yeah, it looks like that's a
27
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.040
few different things. So again, if the audience doesn't get
28
00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:38.000
a chance to hear your first one, go ahead and
29
00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.560
share again with the audience who you are and what
30
00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:41.599
brought you to this point.
31
00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:49.840
So I was exposed to a breathwork technique when I
32
00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:53.599
was in my mid twenties, and it was really nineteen nineties,
33
00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:55.519
so thirty five almost thirty five years ago. It was
34
00:01:55.640 --> 00:01:58.519
very powerful, and I lived in Canada at the time.
35
00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.519
I followed my teacher out to California. I trained with him,
36
00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:06.200
I ran his empire, so to speak, for ten years,
37
00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:09.560
and then I tried every breath work technique that was
38
00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:13.319
out there, and I ended up developing my technique, which
39
00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.439
is called effigy breathwork, which is basically a conscious hyperventilation.
40
00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:20.080
That was what you're doing for three minutes. If somebody
41
00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:23.360
does it in a session, it's it's an hour. And
42
00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.080
as you could see it, for a minute and a half.
43
00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.479
It's it's a very rigorous and powerful technique and it
44
00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.319
stuck with me all these years because it opens up
45
00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:37.120
the body's energy and clears trauma, connects you to your unconscious,
46
00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.439
connects you back to who you're really meant to be.
47
00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:44.159
And I've done, you know this with tens of thousands
48
00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:46.719
of people. It's been very powerful. But over the years,
49
00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:51.599
the working with people and traveling and training is that
50
00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:56.719
something I noticed is that there's the realization that you
51
00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.360
have when you when you do this breath work, takes
52
00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:05.599
you back to like these core feelings of who you
53
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:10.599
really are, that visceral, powerful, passionate person that you're meant
54
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:14.560
to be to fulfill your life purpose. But in talking
55
00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:18.759
to people and the complexity of people's lives, what I
56
00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.319
really began to see is that that fulfilling your life
57
00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:28.319
purpose and actually actualizing executing your real self out in
58
00:03:28.360 --> 00:03:32.680
your life is was much more complex than just laying
59
00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.159
down for an hour, and like having this realization like
60
00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.080
to live it. You have you have work to do
61
00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:39.960
because you have to go out into the world, and
62
00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:43.439
the world's a complex place and you have many habit
63
00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:49.840
patterns within your body mind. If you will that m
64
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.360
that even if you awaken in some way and you
65
00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.800
become clear, that doesn't mean that your body all of
66
00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.240
a sudden changes your behaviors, even change your mind can
67
00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:05.199
change somewhat, but there's still all this work to do.
68
00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:11.120
So in nineteen ninety nine I started studying Internal Marshart's
69
00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:14.800
tai Chi with a teacher in San Francisco, and eventually
70
00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:18.360
he used to bring many masters over from China. He's
71
00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:20.839
a very open guy. His name is George Schu, meaning
72
00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:23.720
as a Chinese man, he was very open to sharing
73
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.519
the history and the culture. He spoke English fluently. He
74
00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:30.959
would bring these masters over and he would expose us
75
00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:34.439
to them. But in twenty fourteen I went to China
76
00:04:34.680 --> 00:04:37.160
and I just fell in love with it. I was
77
00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:40.120
just absolutely knocked out. Didn't speak a word of it,
78
00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:45.800
couldn't But he put all these masters together, living great
79
00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:50.959
masters left of this ancient form at a camp and
80
00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.319
we got to study with them. And I got connected
81
00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:57.879
to this one guy who spoke a little bit of English,
82
00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:01.000
and I just emailed him. I sarted learning Mandarin. I
83
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.959
went back to China every three months for five years,
84
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.680
twenty one times, and to Taiwan and I studied with
85
00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.879
lots of masters. I learned Mandarin, and in just before
86
00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:16.480
the pandemic, I you know, I went five times in
87
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.439
twenty nineteen. Actually the last fun fact, last trip I
88
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:24.120
took January twenty twenty was the Chungdu, which is the
89
00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:27.199
next town over from Wuhan. I got home and I
90
00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:33.759
got so sick and didn't know why. But anyway, while
91
00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:35.920
I was home during the pandemic, you know, in all
92
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.160
those years of studying, I did not realize that all
93
00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.560
these martial arts forms, these that are thousands of years old,
94
00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.680
are based on Daoism. And Daoism is basically the it's
95
00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:51.480
God is the natural world, it's it's it's physics, meaning
96
00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.079
just the universal laws of you know, the laws of
97
00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.519
like Newton's third law, that sort of thing. That's what
98
00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:03.920
it's based on. And it's also animals, animals, intelligence, and
99
00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:08.040
elements five elements. And during the time of the pandemic,
100
00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:14.120
I just had this broader awakening for myself of how
101
00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:20.079
to use this ancient these movements as personal development, to
102
00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.720
retrain these aspects of the self that aren't really affected
103
00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.319
by certainly by the breath work. Because I always say
104
00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:32.600
that the breath work. It is this powerful thing to clear,
105
00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:38.279
but it doesn't train you for anything. So my last,
106
00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.279
my most recent book, The Trauma Code, was three times longer.
107
00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:46.879
I cut out almost all the stuff about the movements
108
00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:51.040
because I couldn't. You said to me for the podcast, like, well,
109
00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.240
people can are going to learn this by listening to
110
00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:56.879
a podcast, Like you can't really learn my work without
111
00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.639
doing it. So I held that back. I finished that
112
00:06:59.720 --> 00:07:02.079
book this year. I'll be putting that book out with
113
00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:09.000
programs and the books called from Realization to Manifestation, the
114
00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:12.160
four levels of mind and the four regions of the cell.
115
00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:16.800
And these four levels of mind are internal processes that
116
00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.279
are four different minds. And then the four regions, which
117
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.680
are the part of the manifestation is from your center
118
00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:29.040
of yourself to three other larger centers and how to
119
00:07:29.319 --> 00:07:33.680
develop them so that you can start from an intention
120
00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.079
and then manifest well.
121
00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:38.439
And I want to talk about each of those, if
122
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:41.040
you don't mind, I think that would be fascinating. And
123
00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:44.079
I think you've made such an interesting point, Elijah, is
124
00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.800
that you know, we we can become aware, we can
125
00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.839
become conscious, mindful of all that junk that's going on
126
00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.759
in our lives that's causing us to behave in a
127
00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:58.600
certain way that's not really in our best interest. And
128
00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:02.600
yet to make that change, to be able to be
129
00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.879
aware of that, and then to make the actual change
130
00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:09.759
where we change the neurological aspect of it, we change
131
00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.199
our habits, we change our patterns to the point where
132
00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.959
we literally have changed is not easy. And it sounds
133
00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:18.439
like that's what you're talking about.
134
00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:21.639
Well, you know, it's funny because you did a minute
135
00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.759
and a half of the breath and you're like, that's enough.
136
00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:27.920
And last night I had a class and for people
137
00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:29.759
talked for an hour and a half, Like I did
138
00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:33.600
a like a group taught chat first and I gave
139
00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:36.480
feedback and talked and people are talking about the complexity
140
00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.360
of their lives. And then a lot of people have
141
00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:41.399
done the breath. It's like, oh god, I don't want
142
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.759
to do this again. I don't want to do it.
143
00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.720
And I was like, you have twenty three other hours
144
00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:49.000
of the day, way harder. This breath works just one hour.
145
00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:53.159
Like living your life and being a clear human being
146
00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:58.320
it is. I mean, that's that's the gold the gold standard.
147
00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.399
If I can look at life from a clear place,
148
00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.080
perceived correctly and then follow up with every step being
149
00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:12.120
exactly in alignment with my intention and who I really am.
150
00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.440
This is what I think is the hardest job on
151
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:18.399
earth and the only one that matters in a way.
152
00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:21.440
Well it is. And with the new book that you know,
153
00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:25.440
from Realization to Manifestation, you're talking about the four levels
154
00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:26.840
of the mind. Can you kind of share with the
155
00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.720
audience what are they? And you can expand a little
156
00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:30.399
bit on each one.
157
00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:31.559
Yeah, thank you.
158
00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:31.879
You know, I.
159
00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:36.639
Have been sort of teaching it over the last five years,
160
00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:39.440
but it's taken me almost five years to say it
161
00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.399
is simply because even people who work with me will
162
00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:46.519
sometimes they'll glaze over if I'm being too dense about it.
163
00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:51.360
So I say it this way. We know, as Eastern
164
00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:54.919
culture came over to the West, we learned about meditation,
165
00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.720
we learned about the idea of the mind, and Western
166
00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.840
psychology mixed with Eastern philosop if he has brought meditation
167
00:10:03.240 --> 00:10:07.159
and other and mindfulness and these things into our culture.
168
00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:11.480
But the mind is thought of as sort of this
169
00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:15.240
we're talking about like our inner dialogue, our linear process,
170
00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.000
our way. But I say there's four minds, four levels
171
00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:22.360
of the mind. Very most simple one that everyone can
172
00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.960
relate to. So I'll tell you the four levels are
173
00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.440
the animal level of the mind, the linear level, the
174
00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:32.720
energetic level, and the visionary level. So the animal level
175
00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:35.200
is like the body mind. So what I call them
176
00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:42.120
minds is because your mind, as conscious beings, are thinking.
177
00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.279
The one that we're talking about for meditation is a tool.
178
00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:48.600
It's not our consciousness. It's so when people identity when
179
00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:52.159
you meditate, you try not to identify with what you're thinking,
180
00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:57.919
because we're all pretty crazy, you know. So that but
181
00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:02.960
it's a process that that takes information and organizes it.
182
00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.399
So the body mind is another is another level of
183
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.799
the mind, at the level of sensation. If you have
184
00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.600
if you have a pain in your neck, or you
185
00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:14.679
get butterflies in your stomach, that's a mind. So the
186
00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.720
animal level is easy to explain as the physical body.
187
00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:21.799
And where I center that and my work is in
188
00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:25.759
the feet because the feet are what makes you grounded.
189
00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:29.120
You know, you as the animal party has to be
190
00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:33.759
on the ground the line. And the animal I associate
191
00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.440
with this is the chicken, because the chicken's been descended
192
00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:40.480
from dinosaurs that are two hundred and fifty million years old.
193
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.159
They are the masters of being on the earth. And
194
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:47.360
all of the footwork and tai chi and every internal
195
00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.480
martial arts is based on chicken feet. If you ever
196
00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:53.720
watch chicken and you watch tai chi, the feet are
197
00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:57.559
the same. Interesting. Yeah, and you know, no teacher told
198
00:11:57.559 --> 00:12:01.679
me that until like thirty years I just brought it
199
00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:06.279
up and then anyway. But the linear level is the
200
00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:10.159
one that we all know and love, our wonderful thinking
201
00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.639
faculty of rights and wrongs and like the calculation and
202
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.480
perception that we have between in and out. This level
203
00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.559
is meant is a structural level, meaning that it's how
204
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:27.720
you organize, create skill, create stability and security. And this
205
00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.440
is through the bones, ligaments and tendons in the body.
206
00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:34.399
It's how we stand up and have posture and adapt
207
00:12:34.919 --> 00:12:38.120
both be secure but also be able to change. This
208
00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:40.679
is the nature of the mind. If a mind is healthy,
209
00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.799
a mind is open and adaptable, but clear and sequenced
210
00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:48.759
and coordinated. But if you have a crazy mind, you
211
00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:56.559
have disorganization, not sequenced, not secure, or rigid and like oarthritis.
212
00:12:56.600 --> 00:12:58.759
So the animal with this is the snake, which is
213
00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:01.919
ahead with a skeleton body and if you you know,
214
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.399
touch the head of the snake, you touch the tail
215
00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.919
of snake. It's all working as one. So working with
216
00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:12.639
all the joints, ligaments, tendons in the body is the
217
00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:19.159
linear mind. The energetic mind is the one that moves
218
00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:24.679
away from the physical to more the space between matter.
219
00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:29.440
This is what a lot of internal martial arts tai
220
00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.919
chi is based on. Like chi is energy, it's what
221
00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:38.679
is there inside the space. And from my point of view,
222
00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:43.080
this is like it's the self. It's the creativity of
223
00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:49.159
who you are. It's the potential of when you imagine
224
00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.200
and you start to creatively think about, Okay, I'm going
225
00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.159
to make a podcast and how I go but and
226
00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:56.759
do that before you do it, which is the linear mind,
227
00:13:56.919 --> 00:14:00.600
you make a plan and then your animal mind does it. Imagine,
228
00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:05.279
you create, You work with the possibility of something before
229
00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:11.200
it's happened. The Dallas of this word sure, which means
230
00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.799
potential but in manner, and it basically means like the
231
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:20.159
trend of a wave, meaning scientifically the wave is going
232
00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:22.960
to do exactly what it's going to do. You can't
233
00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.960
you can't change the physics of the trend of a wave.
234
00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:30.720
But as a daois term, potential means you know, what
235
00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.879
the potential of something is, and you don't get in
236
00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:38.080
the way of it. You follow that. So if I
237
00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:41.679
throw a ball and the ball goes somewhere, that's one thing.
238
00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:43.360
But if I take my arm and I don't have
239
00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:49.480
a ball and I throw, that's potential energy. It's not