Adversity often opens unexpected doors to purpose, growth, and deeper spirituality. In this episode, Liesl Bernard sits down with Johnny Blackburn, the founder and director of Mystics, a school for personal and spiritual development.
Johnny shares how a life-altering injury transformed his path and led him from consulting to a deep dive into spirituality and personal development. He reflects on the power of facing difficult emotions and explains how practices like breathwork and meditation can help release trauma and unlock greater awareness. Johnny challenges us to see loss as a gateway to presence and empathy, and offers practical insights for integrating spirituality into daily life.
Join Johnny and Liesl’s conversation to be reminded of how even in our toughest moments, growth is possible.
Quotes
- “There’s a quote I love by Rumi: ‘The wound is where the light gets in.’ …I also want to note that it's important that we don't spiritually bypass because many of us in our own way… there’s a tremendous sense of loss and having everything taken away. So, I think it’s important that as we look at these things, we first meet the experience with presence and empathy and really imagine what something’s like for someone.” (04:34 | Johnny Blackburn)
- “Like Alan Watts says, you can’t get wet from the word ‘water.’ So, these squiggles, our brain interprets as meaning something, but the direct felt sense of being wet is something that we experience in the present moment through our body. And so, there’s another stage of deepening spiritually where we have to actually feel and be embodied and expand open from there versus being in our minds and mentally trying to understand something.” (07:31 | Johnny Blackburn)
- “In a way, our past sort of keeps us stuck from the greater future wanting to live through us.” (17:26 | Johnny Blackburn)
- “No matter what’s happening, I can always direct my attention to my breath if there’s pain in the body, if there’s overthinking. So, bringing the attention back to the breath is a great first place to start. The breath and the body are some of the best anchors to the present moment.” (27:41 | Johnny Blackburn)
Links
Connect with Johnny Blackburn:
Connect with Liesl Bernard:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lieslbernard/
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