Podcast 209: Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind with Roger Walsh M.D.

Roger Walsh M.D.It was a pleasure to have interviewed Roger Walsh about his book entitled, “Essential Spirituality“.  This book was originally recommended to me by a very good friend, and I am so glad that I made the effort to reach out to Roger and conduct this interview.

Roger Walsh is one of the foremost scholars on spirituality and psychology, his wisdom became so apparent as we dialogued about his book, “Essential Spirituality“,  that I could have engaged in a much longer dialogue with Roger.  I have invited him to return to do additional interviews-so stay tuned for a series of interviews with this wonderful man.

Rogers book is about the deep practices that each of us should cultivate and maintain in our life to reach a deeper connection to the Divine.  Roger has done extensive research into the various religious and spiritual practices that for centuries have assisted us in cultivating a deep spiritual connection.  He makes a point to differentiate between religion and spirituality, which I believe is important. The word religion has many meanings; in particular it implies a concern with the sacred and supreme values of life.  The term spirituality, on the other hand refers to direct experience of the sacred.  Spiritual practices are those that help us experience the sacred–that which is most central and essential to our lives–for ourselves.

The ultimate aim of spiritual practices as our author states ” Is awakening; that is to know our true Self and our relationship to the sacred. However, spiritual practices also offer numerous other gifts along the way. Gradually, the heart begins to open, fear and anger melt, greed and jealousy dwindle, happiness and joy grow, love flowers, peace replaces agitation, concern for other blossoms, wisdom matures, and both psychological and physical heath improve.  Virtually all aspects of our lives touched and transformed in some way.

If you are seeking to cultivate a life of joy, meaning and fulfillment then the spiritual path would be a great place to begin.  Our author Roger Walsh in his book “Essential Spirituality‘ provides the tools and practices that will assist anyone on the path of awakening.  His book is the best book that I have ever read on spiritual practices and the benefits associated with the cultivation of these practices.  I encourage all of my listeners to add this book as a must read if you are exploring the spiritual path.

 

If you would like to learn more about Roger Walsh, you can visit his website by clicking here or you can watch a short video on YouTube by clicking here.  Enjoy this wonderful interview with a very wise and knowledgeable scholar who speaks the truth to the common man and woman.

Podcast 208: Finding True Magic with Jack Elias

Finding True magicI had the pleasure of recently interviewing Jack Elias the author of, “Finding True Magic“.  Our dialogue was really enlightening, and Jack provided me with a new way of seeing my reality.  Actually much of our discussion was based on providing an understanding of how we are really hypnotized, and our job is to wake up and become un-hypnotized.

This book explores the possibilities for recognizing and freeing ourselves from a destructive process of perceiving, thinking, and acting that can be viewed as a pernicious worldwide epidemic.  Unlike other diseases, which we strive to isolate and cure, this insidious fever has a characteristic that make us blind to it presence: we come to identify it’s symptoms as our very own self.   This disease is lovingly referred to as our ego.   Our author prefers to call is “egoic-minding”, because it is a process not a thing.  Egoic-minding is a fragmented, biased way of perceiving and thinking–it is that hypnotic trance that we are in most of the time.

Our author has synthesized insights and techniques of Eastern and Western philosophy and psychology, “Finding True Magic” explores various ways to disperse the feverish trance of egoic-minding, heal the trauma it causes, and wake us up to the sacred magic of our true Self.  As Jack states, “this true inner Self is the well spring of our capacity for cooperation, community building, and the celebration of life.

Jack Elias

Jack’s mind blowing, thought provoking ideas you really need to listen to, and take action on. This interview could truly transform your relationship with yourself, and more importantly everyone you love.

I can highly recommend  Jack’s book “Finding True Magic” Please  listen to this fascinating interview with a true master of Transpersonal Hypnotherapy and NLP Certification that will provide you with the insights and knowledge to truly heighten your awareness of the habit patterns we are trapped that help to form our reality, but truly are not our reality.

For more information about Jack Elias and his teachings please visit his website by clicking here.

Podcast 200: Spiritual Partnership-Journey to the Soul with Gary Zukav

Gary ZukavI recently had the distinct honor of interviewing Gary Zukav about his new book entitled, “Spiritual Partnership-The Journey to Authentic Power“.   I know that many of my listeners remember Gary Zukav for his previous works entitled, “The Dancing Wu Li Masters” and “The Seat of the Soul”.   This new book dives even deeper into helping us all understand what is like to live beyond our five senses and become what Gary refers to as a multi-sensory being.

In our forty-five minute interview we cover a lot of ground, so I encourage you to listen carefully.  “Spiritual Partnerships” will assist in bringing awareness to what it is like to live in a world of equality, commitment, courage, compassion and conscious communications as is outlined in the Spiritual Partnership Guidelines.  Human Consciousness has and is shifting, we can experience more than our five senses.  We will be able to sense ourselves as personalities and souls at the same time, and know things we couldn’t before–meaning, information, reasons for past events and more.

We all have a choice, we can either choose to ignore the evolutionary process taking place and live as we have in the past. Or we can embrace the incredible opportunity to live our lives in alignment with our souls, and discover what Gary states is our Authentic Power.

When we embrace our authentic power we will create spiritual partnerships,  based upon equals for the purpose of spiritual growth.  These new partnerships will be different from all previous forms of relationship and serve a different purpose. Spiritual Partnerships are vehicles that multisensory individuals use to create authentic power and support one another.  In these new types of relationships we commit to aligning our personalities with our souls with the benefit being a life that our heart longs to live,  more fulfilled, grateful, patient, fully present, meaningful, creative and living.

This wonderful new book is certainly going to bring awareness to the shifts in consciousness in our world.  The greater our awareness and willingness to embrace our own shift, and become a more conscious loving, caring, compassionate human being, the closer we will be to transforming our world into a place of cooperation vs competition.

We can live in harmony, peace and abundance with living beings—what a wonderful place this world will be when we awaken to our own authentic power and use this energy to create lasting and meaningful spiritual partnerships.  I encourage all of my listeners to read and fully understand what is happening in the evolution of our species.  It is truly a beautiful thing, and you are part of it!

If you would like more information about Gary’s new book, ” Spiritual Partnerships-The Journey to Authentic Power” please click here to be directed to his website.  There you will find videos, and down loadable information about the Spiritual Partnership Guidelines.   Pleaseclick here to be directed to information on his upcoming workshop at Mt. Hood, Ore.

Podcast 195: Feel Good Thoughts with Gladys Jimenez

This new inspirational  pocketbook entitled “Feel Good Thoughts” is a great way to reflect on beautiful Gladys Jimenez messages, and bring some sanity into your world.  Author Gladys Jimenez has compiled  really wonderful thoughts in this little pocketbook that you can position on your desk to remind you of what to be grateful for in your life.  I did a podcast with Gladys, and she certainly has lots to be grateful for considering her personal near death experience.

I can’t recall the number of times I have interviewed authors, and the impact  a near death experience has had on their life.  It truly is an awakening to a new world with a 180 degree turn in their perspective about what is important.

It is so easy to take for granted  family, friends and loved ones while forgetting that our experience on this physical plane is  impermanent.  Lets face it none of us is going to get out of here alive.

“Feel Good Thoughts” is not loaded with lots of useless words,  and its not your typical self-help/ personal growth book.  It is however, a small book with very few words providing the reader with an opportunity to take just a few minutes each day to reflect on quotes, thoughts and inspirational messages that will up lift their spirit and bring life back into your soul.

I encourage you to listen to this wonderful podcast with a beautiful soul who has traveled the path through a near death experience and emerged on the other side liberated and awakened and committed to helping others understand the importance of love.

Please visit Gladys Jimenez’s website by clicking here to learn more about her publishing company or to contact her.

Podcast 194: Mind Beyond Death with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Dzogchen Ponlop RinpocheIt truly was an honor to be able to interview Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.  His book entitled “Mind Beyond Death” is wonderfully written about the Buddhist culture and the levels of transition we make in preparation to death.  The Rinpoche speaks in this interview about the concept of the “bardo” which is the intermediary state and has become the catchphrase in Buddhist circles.  As the Rinpoche says this book is as much about life as it is about death.

There is a level of existence that is experienced between death and birth, and according to the Buddhist there are three levels: the existence of death, the existence of birth, and the existence  of what lies in between the two.  The Rinpoche encourages the readers to reverse their attachment to the appearances of this life and extract the most meaningful essence from their precious human existence.

I love the examples that the Rinpoche uses in the book, he explains that the moment we step outside our house and close the door, we begin to leave our life behind. We say goodbye to family and friends and to the familiar rooms and routines that we inhabit. We might feel regret mixed with excitement as we climb into the taxi and that will take us to the airport. As our vision of home recedes, we are both sadly parted and joyfully released from all that defines us. The further we go from home the more focused we become on our next destination.  We think less of home and more about where we are going. We begin to look at a new map; we start to think about where we will land, about the new people, new customs and new environment–the new set of experiences to come.
Until we reach our destination, we are in transit–in between two points.  One world has dissolved, like last nights dream, and the next has not yet arisen.  In this space, there is a sense of total freedom: we are free from the business of being our ordinary selves; we are not tied to the day-to-day world and its demands in quite the same way. There is a sense of freshness and appreciation of the present moment.

This interview with Rinpoche is an enlightening dialogue about life, death and the in between.  We discuss our fears, and how to learn to live in the moment without fear of our transition through death.

I know you are going to enjoy my interview with Rinpoche about his book entitled “Mind Beyond Death”  If you would like to learn more about his teaching you can visit the his website by clicking here or you can visit the website of the Nalanda West Center for American Buddhism where he teaches.