WEBVTT
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This program is designed to provide general information with regards
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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
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legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek
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the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any
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suggested ideas.
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At the end of the day, it's not about what
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you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what
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you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up,
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who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.
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Thanzel Washington, Welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is
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to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you
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to do the same.
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Catherine, welcome to the show.
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Thank you, Doug very much.
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Indeed, Oh, I'm pleased to have you on the show
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as I've read some more about what you're doing, and
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obviously you have an incredible podcast yourself. I find it
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fascinating and I think this is going to be an
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interesting discussion. What I'd love for you to do is
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to share with the audience who you are and maybe
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the story behind how you got to this point.
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Okay, Well, I was born to a very interesting alternative couple.
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My father's name was Douglas. Actually, that's the name that's
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been very present for me all my life. And they
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were kind of unusual in the sense that they were
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kind of anti establishment, freethinking, alternative, Bohemian, natural health, you know,
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all that kind of thing, which meant right from the
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very beginning, I was encouraged to question things, and I
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was encouraged to try to take responsibility for myself, which
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to me was always good news at the age of six,
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and also to see the possibility of celebration in life.
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There was a My parents were Scotts as well as
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being very alternative, and the Scots, I don't know if
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we know them very well, are probably partly to do
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with living in a very hostile environment with all the
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mountains and the rain, but they've got this extraordinary sense
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of humor of we're going to have fun no matter what,
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no matter how bad it gets, We're going to say,
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every crisis can be turned into a game, you know.
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And so that was my roots really and I think
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from there on I kind of ricocheted back and forth
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between following that particular lead and going deeper and deeper
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into all of the wonderful unfoldings that can occur from
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that and the other side of the extreme, all the
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usual problems and issues of I'm a child. Does nobody
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like me at school?
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You know?
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Is someone bullying me? Am I being bossy? Or am
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I just being assertive?
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You know?
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All of the start adolescent, all this stuff in adolescents,
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all of the stuff everybody has. So I had having
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that kind of interesting background didn't save me from all
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of the developmental experiences that we're all exposed to.
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The care.
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I did, actually, at one point in kind of entertain
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the illusion that it's possible to get rid of all
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the baggage, you know, that it's possible to rise above
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all of these human concerns and ego issues, et cetera.
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And for several years I tried to just get rid
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of them all until I realized that this was a
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really stupid endeavor, utterly impossible, and besides, why bother, it's
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not really you know, So I went through all of
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that as well. So I've now landed at a place
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where I'm working with people quite a lot, doing quite
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a lot of group work. I think a lot of
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people at the moment are looking for connection, community group
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sort of group exploration, particularly after the last few years
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that were very isolating for a lot of people, and
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people are kind of trying to soak up some love,
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you know, in whatever context that might be, and also
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doing one to one transformative coaching work. And I'm kind
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of integrating a number of different threads that have run
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through that I've become interested in and immersed in in
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my life, and one of those is the humanistic psychology
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thread of you know, we all have the possibility at
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least of choosing what we want to do with our
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lives and choosing our own growth, and that we do
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naturally want to grow and that we will naturally heal
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unless you know, that whole kind of thrust. And then
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another whole thrust, which is around conscious movement, living, inhabiting
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the body, allowing the body to move, breathe process, express
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that whole kind of free spirit physical embodiment aspect of
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being alive. And the third one being about energy and spirituality,
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you know, consciousness. I've done a lot of work with
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energy healing modalities and I'm still working with one of
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those now. So I'm working with a number of things
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with clients, one to one, with people in groups, and
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I'm running my podcast Truth and Transcendence, which you kindly
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said kind words of that. So that's a bit about
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the beginning and where I am now and just the
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bits in between.
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Okay, well that's great, And you know, you mentioned something
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that I find fascinating and I think there can be
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a really strong debate about this because you talked about
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you know, and obviously as we think about our lives,
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and I think most of us that have really studied this,
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investigated and research that know that our lives, our experience
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in lives, you're so controlled by those subconscious belief systems,
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imprints all of those types of things, or at least
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they can be controlling. And there's a lot of people
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that say we need to get rid of those, and
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that's what you brought up. You know, I need to
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get rid of those, and yet the reality is you're saying, no,
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I don't. And so I think for a lot of
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people that I've talked to, the concept then becomes recognize
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that it's there, and I think this is where consciousness
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comes in. So we can talk about that but recognize
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that it's there. But once you recognize it and accept it,
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it just kind of goes away and it no longer
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becomes the effect of what's going on. What are your
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thoughts on that and what's been your experience with that?
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Yeah, I would say that that dynamic is a very
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strong tendency, you know, the sense that when we become
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aware of something it then changes. The only thing about
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it is it doesn't necessarily change one hundred percent forever,
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so we still go in and out. So you know,
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I've done a lot of work around what you're talking
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about there of recognizing the conditioning and the limiting beliefs.
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I'm acutely aware that those are not who I am,
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they are not the heart of me. They are programming.
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And because I'm aware of that is, of course I
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feel much more free to actually live in the present
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and make my own choices. And yet there are still
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situations that can throw me right back into that. And
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that's when it gets really tricky. When we think we've
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got it, when we think we're enlightened, when we think
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we've transcended it all, and then something happens and we're
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reminded with a crash that we're still human.
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And how does consciousness fit into that? Your definition of consciousness,
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I'd love to know what that is and how does
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that fit into exactly what you're talking about.
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Well, first off, I don't think it's possible to define
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consciousness because it's infinite and it's everywhere you know, it's
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in everybody, it's in everything. So people do ask me
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to define consciousness and either I can't do that when
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I can say that my experience is that my state
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of consciousness, anyone's state of consciousness does pretty much dictate
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our perception of everything. So if the state of consciousness
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is a state of equanimity, a state of acceptance, a
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state of love, a state of devotion to the divine,
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when we're in that state of consciousness, everything that happens
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to us feels and is experienced completely differently from when
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we are in a completely different state of consciousness. And equally,
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our state of consciousness actually dictates how the body functions.
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You know, there are some people who have this kind
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of wonderful glow about them who never seem to get sick,
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and it's something to do with the fact that that
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state of consciousness actually supports the body functioning as it's
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supposed to rather than interfering, because when we get well
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tangled up in the self limiting beliefs, we can literally
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cause tensions and blockages within the body which can actually
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make us sick and eventually kill us, you know. And
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that's a very extreme way of describing it.
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Well, yeah, And as you talk about from what I'm hearing,
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as you're talking about state quote state of consciousness, what
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I'm really hearing you say is that consciousness are We're
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not going to define that. We could talk about awareness
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and all of that, but the reality is that there
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are different levels of the state of consciousness. Is what
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if I'm hearing what you're saying right is kind of
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like a ladder. Are we on the first step right
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at the bottom or are we much higher? And is
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that kind of what you're trying to talk about? That
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we all have a certain state of consciousness and depending
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on the level of that state of consciousness determines to
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some degree our experience in life.
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Absolutely, and we move between different states of consciousness much
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more easily than we think. Our state of consciousness can
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just shift just like that. But the thing about it
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is when we're really conscious and aware in the present,
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we recognize that experience and it's absolutely wonderful. We know
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we're there, we're not there. We don't realize we're not there.
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Because we're not there. Because we're not there.
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It's also the weird mystery thing that goes off.
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So if if we're not at that higher level, we
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don't even know that we're not at that higher level,
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that type of thing.
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In order to know, we would have to be at
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the higher level in order to be able to be
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aware at which level we were at. You know, So
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I think the best I think the best thing we
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can do is to sort of practice paying attention. Practice. Well,
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there's all sorts of practices that kind of drop into
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our experience, drop into being present. I went to yoga
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this morning, and this particular lady who I've only just
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started going to is very good at having us do
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really really simple physical movements that actually help us to
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come into a different state of awareness. And she says
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at the beginning, you know, you can't practice the state
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of awareness, according to her theory, but you can practice
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the physical movement and that will shift your awareness. Do
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we understand how that happens. No, does it matter. No,
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What matters is you're kind of openheartedly we're opening ourselves
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to the possibility of shifting the consciousness.
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Okay, So for those of us that are at that
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lower revel level of consciousness, and we don't even know
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where at the lower level, how do you help us
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to be able to move up to that higher level
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to where we actually are conscious enough to know that
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we're conscious?
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Well, do you know what? I think that awful lot
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of people are actually on that path now, and probably
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most of the people listening to this podcast are actually
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on that path in the sense of, you know, a
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lot of people have been to retreats, They've been been
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to yoga for example, They've meditated, they've done conscious dance,
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they've done weird sort of water treatments, you know, all
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sorts of things that we've done. And I think for
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each of us, there are things that kind of really resonate.
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And I would always recommend to people look out up
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for the things that really resonate. You know, if you
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try something and it really resonates, weave it into your life,
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you know, integrate it into your life so it becomes
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part of your lifestyle. You know, don't say, God, that
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really blew my mind. Right, Let's just go back to
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my life and ignore I ever did it, which is
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sadly what many of us have done in the past.
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And if you try something and it doesn't really resonate,
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leave it.
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Well, and you talk about different things. One of the
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things you really hit on is meditation. And you know,
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even yoga is a part of meditation. But you know,
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I happen to meditate. I try to meditate every day.
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Sometimes I don't get a chance to do then. But
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how much does meditation, for instance, Let's talk about the
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different areas you said that people could find that resonate
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with them. Let's talk about a few of those that
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you have understood to be helpful to people.
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I'm working at the moment with an energy modality called Pellowa.
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I don't know that's it.
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No, I've not heard of it.
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It's quite new over here. It's out of Australia, channeled
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by the founder about twenty years ago, twenty one years now,
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and just came to the UK six years ago. And
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there's about three or four practitioners in the US, right,
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so it's really really really early. It's an energy technique