Podcast 320: The Voice with Brian Alman

Brian AlmanI was introduced to Brian Alman through a very good friend just about a month ago.  She recommended that I do an interview with Brian about his new book entitled ” The Voice: Overcome Negative Self-Talk and Discover Your Inner Wisdom.”   I was very impressed with Brian, and the message that he delivers through his book.

What you will find out about Brian during our interview is that the techniques he teaches to reach deep within and find your true authentic voice are truly amazing.  Brian was trained by one of the leading experts in the business Dr. Milton Erickson, and what Brain learned while under the tutelage  of Dr. Erickson truly transformed his life both emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Brian is now teaching what he learned from Dr. Erickson to thousands of patients, and obtaining amazing relief from pain and suffering in all areas of their lives.  What Brian knows is that it is not the difficulties themselves but our repression of our feelings that elevates our stress to dangerous levels.  As Brian states stress is the leading cause of 60-80% of all doctors office visits.  Also “chronic stress” caused by ” adverse childhood experiences” in the family is far more prevalent than most medical doctores believe, and is highly correlated with a whole host of physical and emotional problems later in life

Brian teaches the ” Find Your Voice” process that is based on a three step .   First, he says stop trying to get rid of your challenge.  That never works and is even counter-productive–the harder you try to fix yourself, the stronger your challenge becomes.

Second, you need to learn how to constructively deal with your Inner Judge, that self-critical voice in your head that’s quick to blame you and punish you for your mistakes and imperfections.  Third, as you experience and engage positively with all your pain and negativity–as you embrace all of the thoughts, feelings, and self-criticisms that are driving your challenge–you find yourself spontaneously developing a new and more loving relationship with yourself.

Brian’s book “The Voice” is simple yet provides the reader with a process that will allow you to get rid of the “negative self-talk” while getting you in touch with your authentic inner voice.  I know that reaching that place where we can hear, listen and actually utilize the guidance of this voice is where we make decisions in our life that change us forever.  I know you are going to enjoy my interview with Brian Alman about his new book ” The Voice“.

 

If you would like more information you can go to Brian’s website by clicking here, or watch a YouTube video on ” The Voice” by clicking here.  Enjoy listening to author Brian Alman.

Podcast 310: Aware, Awake, Alive with Dr. Elliot Dacher

Elloitt Dacher MDDr. Elliott Dacher has been a guest at Inside Personal Growth previously.  I am honored to bring him back again to speak with us about his new book entitled ” Aware, Awake, Alive-A Contemporary Guide to the Ancient Science of Integral Health and Human Flourishing“.  Prior to his deep work in the Indian modalities of health and healing, Dr. Dacher practiced Western medicine for over 21 years seeing over 50,000 patients. Over this period of time, Dr. Dacher was finding that for many of his patients that the conventional ways of Western medicine were not have a lasting and sustainable healing impact that he would have liked to have had.

Through a series of serendipitous events Dr. Dacher ended up spending over 12 years going back and forth between the US and India studying the aspects of healing and what is termed in the book as “Human Flourishing”.   As Dr. Dasher state in the book ” to flourish is to move beyond the stress, dissatisfaction, and suffering that too often limits and diminishes our lives, and reclaim the profound well-being which resides at the center of our being.  That is our vision, a vision of human flourishing.

Even though each of our lives has an inner and outer aspect, they are usually unequally developed.  In modern times our focus has been on the outer aspects.  We have mastered an understanding of biology.  We know how to enhance our physical well-being, address physiological disturbances, reduce biological risk factors and promote high levels of physical wellness.  As mythologist Joseph Campbell reminds us, “where there was once darkness there is now light”.  We once knew very little about our biology, and now we know a great deal. But he also reminds us that, ” Were there was once light there is now darkness” There was a time we had a profound understanding of our inner life.  We could describe and traverse, as Plato did, the full development of consciousness from darkness to light, from confusion to wisdom. But in modern times that is no longer the case.  We have mastery of the outer world but we have simultaneously lost touch with our inner life.  It has become a buried and unseen treasure.

In Elliot’s book ” Aware, Awake, Alive” he provides the reader with a course of practice and study that is 10 weeks in length, along with more advanced material for those who master the basics and want to continue on.  This book and workbook provides the student with a complete overview of the journey to human flourishing—vision, path, fruition, and integration.   It also includes a CD to help the reader/student establish a stable and effective daily practice.

If you ready to transform your life completely, and have health, happiness and lasting bliss then you just might want to consider reading and studying the content of ” Aware, Awake, Alive” by Dr. Elliott Dacher.
I know you will enjoy this enlightening interview with someone who has devoted their life to helping us understand the miracles of how doing the deep inner work will assist in healing our bodies.  If you want to learn more about Dr. Dacher and his course please click here to be directed to his website.

Podcast 309: Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar with Jeffrey Armstrong

 

Jeffrey ArmstrongHow many of you have seen the movie “Avatar”?  I bet that many of my listeners have, and this interview with author Jeffrey Armstrong about his book “Spiritual Teaching of the Avatar” will provide profound insight and wisdom about an “Avatar”.

The authors knowledge about the deepest meanings of the word avatar revolve around his forty years of study.  According to the author Avatar, a Sanskrit word, combines Ava, meaning “to descend” and Tara, ” To heal and restore.”.  The idea is that a divine being or Supreme Being purposely descends to Earth, takes on a body, and then fulfills some kind of mission according to the needs of the moment.  This is different from reincarnating, which is not a conscious intentional birth but a result of karma. The Avatars come according to their own will.

When the Avatar comes, the primary purpose is to rescue and heal the Earth at a time when the balance in Nature or Mother Earth is being destroyed.  The secondary purpose is to remind us that we are also beings from the Transcendental and that transcendental is our true nature.  The Avatars usually leave us a set of teaching that are essential tools for living a life of integrity for the good of all.  The Avatars exemplify this message and teach us to do the same.  Thirdly, the Avatars also come to develop personal and loving relationships with humans, in a number of different flavors: as servant, child, friend, spouse, or lover. In the process, humans get to interact with the avatar–in simple terms, God or the Supreme Being–who has lovingly come to us disguised in what appears to be a human form.

In my interview with Jeffery you will be treated to the teaching of the Avatars collected form Vedic Spiritual traditions of India that can be traced back more than 15,000 years.  The author illuminates how contemporary cultural references to Avatars reveal their deep and enlightening historical roots.  At the heart of these teachings is a respect for all life, and the concept that we are each part of the same Ultimate Being, and that everyone is able to make the journey back home to the Divine.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with a very spiritual and knowledgeable teacher.  Jeffery’s book is definitely a must read for the spiritual aspirant wanting to learn more about this ancient tradition.  You can also learn more from Jeffery’s website by clicking here.

Podcast 308: Love Service Devotion and the Ultimate Surrender with Ram Dass

Ram DassAbout a month ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Ram Dass about a series of audio tapes that were found in the archives at Naropa Institute.  The talks were given in 1974 by Ram Dass  to a group of Naropa students on the topic of Love, Service, Devotion and the Ultimate Surrender.

In my interview with Ram Dass we speak about the Gita and the tale of the warrior Arjuna and his divine friend Krishna.  The story serves as a metaphor for the recurring dilemmas that we encounter as we spiral into the depth of our spiritual journey.  Our dialogue together is about the Arjuna and the challenges his is faced with because he is taking his role as a warrior to seriously, and his true journey is to understand his souls calling .  Krishna is informing Arjuna throughout the Gita the various paths one can take to experience God.

As a warrior Arjuna is looking across the field seeing his family and teachers and is faced with the dilemma that he might have to kill some of his family and friends.  Krishna advises Arjuna that he should not be so upset that he is doing his Damara and they are doing their Damara, and not matter who kills who you will emerge from this battle with your soul.  Krishna in the 11th chapter of the Gita ultimately shows Arjuna that he is everything, that he is God.

The lessons that the Gita teach each of us are deep and provide a better understanding and relation to the challenges we are all faced with as we walk the spiritual path. In these sessions on this CD series, Ram Dass illuminates the Gita’s essential verses with insights spanning many traditions, from Runi’s ecstatic poetry to Basho’s koans, from devotional chant to monastic silence, from Sri Ramana’s self-inquiry to Saint Paul’s devotion to Christ.  The Destination? A new perceptive on the crucial moments of contradiction and questioning that all spiritual seeks must face again and again.

Ram Dass advises reading the Gita three times, once as an interesting story, second from the perspective of Arjuna and the third time from the perspective of Krishna.   As Ram Dass states our world is currently in turmoil and reading the Gita from the perspective of Arjuna will certainly shed light and a better understand on our spiritual paths and what actions we might want to take to awaken to our souls calling.

During the course of my interview with Ram Dass, I personally had some amazing insights and awakenings.  I hope that as you listen to my interview and clearly pause to reflect on the words of wisdom that Ram Dass is articulating—give reflection to the God within you.  Give thought to how Love, Service , Devotion and the Ultimate Surrender might yield new answers to your deepest spiritual questions.
If you would like more information about Ram Dass you can visit his website by clicking here, he also has a series of talk coming up with Wayne Dyer and Echart Tolle please click here to be directed to the registration website.  His website is a wonderful resource, video, webcasts and writings.  I hope you enjoy my interview with Ram Dass as much as I enjoyed doing the interview.  Namaste.

Podcast 307: Evolutionary Enlightenment with Andrew Cohen

Andrew CohenIf you are not aware of author Andrew Cohen, then you should be.  His new book entitled “Evolutionary Enlightenment-A New Path to Spiritual Awakening” is truly written to get the true spiritual aspirant thinking about their own limitations.  In my interview with Andrew we discuss a very important concept being articulated in the book about ” letting go”.  Now all of us who are on a spiritual path have heard or discussed this concept of “letting go” but Andrew in ” Evolutionary Enlightenment” take the concept of letting go to a whole new level.  He states “you have to take an inner journey beyond everything you are and everything you know, beyond time, form, thought and memory , all the way back to before the beginning, before anything every happened, before the universe was born”.

Now for most of us we have discussed this aspect of letting go, and have probably experienced it to some level or degree–but what Andrew is writing is about takes this concept to a whole new dimension.  Through meditation Andrew states if you go deep enough, letting your attention expand and release from all objects in consciousness, you will find that all the structures of the created universe begin to crumble before your eyes.  Awareness itself-limitless, empty, pristine–becomes the only object of your attention.

Andrew refers to this state of emptiness the Ground of Being.  A place where you cease to identify with objects, that timeless, spaceless, infinite no place emerges as the very nature of your own unborn self.  So in one sense Andrew explains the level of consciousness available to anyone so that they can come to his place of evolutionary enlightenment.

The teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment are about the evolution of cosmos and culture as yourself. So it is essential that you make the effort to see your own self and your life-circumstances from the biggest possible perspective, and relate to your own predicament as our shared predicament.   Andrew states when you begin to awaken to the perceptive beyond postmodern individualism, in which you see your own human experience in the context of an evolving culture and cosmos, it changes everything.   When you discover dimensions of your own self and of life itself that are infinitely deeper and higher than your culturally conditioned indivuated self-sense, that “personal” dimensions of your experience is now seen as an important but part of a very big picture. In this shift of perspective, the way you understand and approach the spiritual path changes.

Andrew outlines five tenets of Evolutionary Enlightenment: 1) Clarity of Intention 2) The Power of Volition 3) Face Everything and Avoid Nothing 4) Process Perspective 5) Cosmic Conscience.

If you want to learn more about ” Evolutionary Enlightenment” I highly recommend this book by author Andrew Cohen.  You can also visit his website to watch video’s and read more about the Evolutionary Enlightenment movement.  I hope you enjoy this interview with truly a great spiritual teacher and though leader–Andrew Cohen.

Podcast 304: Embrace, Release, Heal: An Empowering Guide to Talking about, Thinking about, and Treating Cancer with Leigh Fortson

Inside Personal Growth with Greg Voisen · Podcast 304: Embrace, Release, Heal: An Empowering Guide to Treating Cancer w/ Leigh Fortson I recently had the

Podcast 302: The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman with Hank Wesselman

Hank WesselmanI had the pleasure of interviewing author Hank Wesselman about his new Sound True book entitled ” The Bowl of Light“.  I must admit that Hank is a very interesting and well versed author on the aspects of Hawaiian Shamanism.  In my interview with Hank we discuss the development and long standing friendship with his Hawaiian mentor Hale Makua.  Hale Makua taught Hank over the years a number of spiritual insights that author Wesselman articulates in the “Bowl of Light“.

Hale Makua was a revered Hawaiian elder who brought forth from his ancestors many beautiful and powerful teaching to inspire and guide Hank to remember his spiritual gifts and provided him with an enhanced way of being. The Bowl of Light is filled with much of the wonderful wisdom that Makua had to share and now through the authors intimate and evocative sharing of his encounters with this great man, these teaching are available to those who did not have the pleasure of meeting Makua. Your heart will be warmed by the loving and supportive relationship that developed between them.

In my interview with author Hank Wesselman we discuss what Hale Makua revealed to him including how we can restore our natural diving radiance, referred to as the Bowl of Light.  We also discuss the three directives of the spiritual warrior–love with humility, live with reverence, and know with self-discipline.  This is a wonderful story that not only captivates the reader, but provides insightful wisdom on the spiritual teaching and practices of the ancient Hawaiian practices of Shamanism.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with author Hank Wesselman.  I you want to learn more Hank has a wonderful website filled with references, blog entries and audio recordings–please click here.  I encourage you to visit Hank’s website and learn more about his encounter and long standing friendship with mentor and master spiritual teacher Hale Makua.

Podcast 301: ChiWalking with Danny Dreyer

Danny DreyerIt was a pleasure interviewing Danny Dreyer the Founder of ChiLiving about his new audio program through Sounds True entitled “Chi Walking“.  Danny Dreyer is a waking and running coach and is nationally ranked ultramarathoner runner.  He is a student of renowned t’chi master George Xu and coauthor(with Katherine Dreyer) the books ChiWalking and Chi Running.

In my interview with Danny we discuss the benefits of Chi Walking.  I know that lots of people are attempting to find ways to become more peaceful, centered and clear their minds from all of the chatter as well as become more healthy.  What I learned during my interview with Danny is that Chi Walking which I bet many of my listeners have not been exposed to is a way to accomplish the peace and inner harmony while at the same time obtaining a great workout.

As Danny states walking is one of the most beneficial forms of exercise on the planet. In his audio program Danny teaches you how to take this routine activity to a whole new level and turn it into a deeply rewarding experience for the mind, body and spirit. The secret to this program is in what Danny refers to as “The Five Mindful Steps” which help you increase awareness using the energetic movement principles of t’ ai chi.  Drawing on the concepts of the program that have helped thousands around the globe walk more efficiently, get into great shape, clear the mind and tap into a deeper source of well-being.

I know that you will enjoy learning more about this wonderful program.  If you are looking for a way to combine the art of t’ai chi with the movement of walking, then you have come to the right place. Chi Walking just might be the next form of movement and focused breathing that helps you release stress and obtain a wonderful workout without the pounding to the legs and feet.  If you would like to learn more about Chi Walking and Chi Running please click here to be directed to Danny’s website.
I hope you enjoy this interview with one of the forerunners in the art of art of Chi Walking. If you would like to obtain a copy of Danny’s CD’s please click here to be directed to the Sounds True website for ordering.