February 26, 2025 • 29 mins
As I navigate bustling streets filled with the captivating sounds and rich cultural rituals, I encounter powerful spiritual symbols—majestic eagles and sacred cows—that guide me toward deeper self-discovery. Each moment reveals insights into overcoming personal grief and embracing authenticity, allowing nature's teachings to illuminate my path.
Discover the meaning hidden within the complexities of travel. From the sacred temples where diverse deities offer unique blessings to the challenges of a pilgrimage that mirrors life’s obstacles, my experiences invite you to look beyond chaos and find tranquility within. This immersive tale also emphasizes the strength we can draw from nature and how our surroundings can empower us when navigating turbulent times.
Together, we can reframe our experiences, embracing the signs presented by the universe, and discovering our authentic selves. Ready to embark on this adventure? Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, I'm your host, the Gentle Yoga
Warrior, and this is AwakenedConscious Conversations podcast,
and as we head out of the timeof death into a new moon, which
will hopefully help us feel moreawakened and alive, I wanted to
share with you some mysticalexperiences that I had when I
(00:20):
went on my adventures throughTamil Nadu and, as a point of
point, I was focusing quite alot in telling people about all
the dangers rather than all thebeauty that was there and to
particularly embark on a realadventure.
Sometimes it has everything itwants, and it certainly did have
this on this trip.
If those who know me, I seldomget like sick.
(00:43):
I'm very, very healthy, and Idid get sick when I was on this
trip and also there was quite alot of things going on.
I didn't feel that I hadn'tlike my um autonomy to go and do
what I wanted to do.
I always had to be aroundpeople and maybe that kind of
(01:04):
sparked me a little bit intofeeling a bit negative about
things.
But there were some verybeautiful things that did happen
on this journey, like forstarters we managed to go
through and there was only onetemple that turned me away
because of the colour I was um,but all the other temples were
(01:25):
really kind and let me in and itwas with such grace and honour
that I got to go around thesetemples.
But it was difficult because Ihad to have the courage to be
seen, to stand out, to not worrywhat people were thinking about
me.
And it was a challenge at timesbecause people would really
(01:46):
stare and I'm not one for beingin the limelight.
I kind of I like to observe,like quietly, get on with things
and observe.
So it was pushing a lot ofbuttons for me.
But I want to summarize, becauseI don't have my diary at the
moment with all the names of theplaces that I went to.
But I just want to summarisesome of the beautiful things
(02:09):
that happened and what I seethem as.
And I'm not summarising them insequence, I'm just summarising
them as I remember them.
So what I mean is some of thesethings I say straight away
might have happened towards theend of the trip, some in the
middle, some in the beginning.
You know, some of these thingsI say straight away might have
happened towards the end of thetrip, some in the middle, some
in the beginning.
But if you see like time, somepeople say time doesn't exist.
(02:33):
In the way that we see it, theyall have their significance, if
that makes sense.
So really powerful things thatsaw and symbology was these sea
eagles, the beautiful hugeeagles.
And in the UK we get lots oflike um kites and we get things
like falcons and hawks andthings like that.
(02:54):
Um, I think we get eaglesdefinitely up in Scotland but
not um down in the in um Englandand seeing these great big
birds flying and I saw the birdsone time.
I saw them in the hotel towardsthe end and they were and they
were kind of like, just let meknow they were there and they
(03:17):
felt quite peaceful.
But there was other times wherethere's one town in particular
that I found it very chaotic.
Um, it was just, it was just abit much for me.
I think it was just a bit muchfor me that particular day there
was so many people about etc.
And there was so much rush andit was on the day I just wanted
to be like slow, but lifedoesn't always work out how we
(03:40):
kind of want it to, so I wantedit to be a bit more kind of
movement and flow in in my dayand I was getting a bit.
Oh, this is a bit much.
Here and um, for personalreasons, there was a grief due
to a death of a loved one and,um, I just thought this is just
(04:02):
too much.
I can't go out anywhere bymyself without being looked at
and this I remember looking outthe hotel room and this
beautiful eagle had its wings.
So it was huge and there was afew of them actually, but I kind
of see them all as one and theywere just circling around
(04:23):
taking a bird's eye view of theworld and from up there I'm
guessing that things looked alot calmer because they've seen
the whole picture and not justthe pockets of busyness and
chaos that I was kind of pickingup on this particular day, and
that busyness and chaos wasdefinitely a reflection of my
(04:43):
inner world as I processedthrough this grief.
But the bird helped me to seeand to feel like this great big
bird's eye view of the world andwhenever I feel retracted or
stuck or as if things aren'tmoving, to remember a few things
, to have faith, faith in in theuniverse.
(05:06):
That means different things todifferent people if you have a
religion and faith in yourreligion, if you feel like
you're spiritual, without areligion, but to have faith in
the universe, have so whateverthat feels for you, but when you
feel attracted, can you draw onthe power of like this eagle,
to have faith in seeing the bigpicture and drawing on the
(05:30):
universe, knowing thateverything is perfect and it is
how it is supposed to be, nomatter how you kind of feel
about it.
Number two when I was walkingwith, my feet was so sore.
I am one of those people Idon't really get my feet out.
I like them to be in shoes.
(05:51):
I know the spiritual world isall about walking in bare feet
and if it's the right terrain,by all means, like if it's soft
grass or warm sand that's nottoo hot, or even mud.
I kind of I don't mind thingslike this, but it was like
concrete with like rubbish, likea lot of rubbish, um, a lot of
(06:14):
dirt.
There was like dead things, um.
So I put shoes on because Ialready had lots of cuts in my
feet, so many cuts that I had tosoak my feet in salt.
And then I had been bitten alot by mosquitoes as well.
Not excessively amount, becausethat would be exaggeration, but
it was definitely.
My feet were like covered incuts and um.
(06:37):
So I decided to do thispilgrimage with these shoes, but
then the shoes ended up rubbingmy feet.
So, as you can see, that's mekind of um tapping on the
negative.
But I saw some really beautifulthings on on this walk.
I saw the absolute trust ofsome people that were just
sleeping there outside, somewithout choice, of course that,
(07:02):
um, they were homeless.
But there was people that werealso been on the pilgrimage and
they really took it seriouslyand were walking with bare feet
and resting at the end of it.
But as I was walking along, wewent past um, in the inner part
of the city.
There used to be like thisnature thing and this is at the
(07:24):
base of Shiva's mountain, butit's a city.
It's like this really busy cityand people do this pilgrimage
for about six, seven hours whereyou walk around to all the
different temples and get ablessing.
And it was really powerful inso many ways.
And the blessing was that eachtemple had its different deity,
(07:46):
its different flavour, itsdifferent way of being, and I
thought that makes me feel likethe different ways that we are
like, just like the weather, ouremotions and feelings and
thoughts can change during thecourse of the day and sometimes
we feel like we're just lappingalong at sea and other times we
(08:08):
can feel that we are free andable to kind of maneuver and
just be beyond our thoughts.
And that's how it fell on thispilgrimage, because we went into
the different temples and gotthe different blessings and I
can still smell the smell of,like the ash which has the
(08:29):
talcumy scent to it and thecamphor incense and all that.
And if you go into thedifferent temples they have
different rituals.
Like the Vishnu temples theyput, like this, golden corn it's
my accent c-o-n-e.
Onto the head and you getblessed that way.
(08:50):
And, um, I, I got aunderstanding with Vishnu and
the beauty of it, because it wasactually one Vishnu temple that
I was at, not on this town buta different town.
That turned me away and and itkind of put a bit of fear that
would I ever get into all the umtemples after that and it also
(09:14):
made it a little bit exciting,even though if I did complain a
bit, it made it a little bitexciting but I did get in all
those the temples after that.
I think it was a bit ofinitiation of like, how serious
was.
I on on, on learning thisaspect, uh, and, and of tapping
into this aspect of myself, andhow serious I to overcome the
(09:36):
uncomfortability of of this alland and I, as I navigated and
went through this journey, andthe most amazing thing happened,
and I may have explained thisbefore, but I want to show the
significance of it.
So we were going past, Idigressed a bit there, but as we
were going, we were going pastthe nature reserve, but it's
(09:58):
kind of like high, high, highhigh, like um railings, like
something like jurassic park,and it has pictures saying don't
come here, this is our domain.
There's wild animals.
Well, we were walking on theopposite side to the other
pilgrimage people, um, for a bit, and apart from the odd person
sleeping, it was, it's a lotquieter there.
(10:19):
And as we walked past, I sawthis, this most grand, beautiful
beast.
It was a giant wild bull, buthuge, I'm talking like.
It looked like the size of acow, it was huge and it was
walking through like thisforesty terrain on the other
(10:42):
side of this fence, and Ispotted it.
No one else had seen it.
Well, I was with my partner butI didn't.
I didn't then point it out tohim.
But I spotted it and I was justlike, oh my word, this is like
such a blessing.
Um, I know that they tend totry and avoid humans and it's
(11:02):
only if they're kind of corneredor something like that they're,
they're forced to be reckonedwith.
Well, I'll come back to that.
But the next temple that we wentinto had a wild boar god in it
and then I I did some researchand, um, the wild boar god was
actually an avatar of Vishnu andthe god was called Varaha is
(11:29):
the third avatar of Vishnu andif you think about a wild boar,
they're kind of like they'lllike scavenge and kind of like
food no-transcript by the tusksout of the ocean, the cosmic
(11:58):
ocean, because I study celticand um shamanism and also work
with trees and nature and stuff.
If you to look at the wild boarin the celtic mythology and it
is it is also seen as sacredbeing and the god, freya, is
(12:27):
sometimes seen riding on theback of a boar and I believe her
sister also was also seenriding on the back of a bull and
you just think it's quite apowerful, strong and hunted,
unfortunately, animal andwhatever you could look at all
(12:51):
the different mythology of bullsacross all the different
traditions.
But to me it was bravely going,like through the forest and god
knows what else was in thatforest tigers, you name it, it
could have been all kinds ofwild animals but it was going
through through it and and it'ssuch a speed and it just
reminded me this that I can have, um, the courage like that,
(13:16):
that, that wild boar, that I'vegot this, that I might be having
a difficult time on thisamazing holiday, or travels, as
I would like to call it, and andyes, it maybe it was a bit
difficult, um, like I felt likeI didn't always have my freedom
to do and be who I was all thetime, but this bull was telling
(13:37):
me, this wild boar.
This wild boar was telling me,like, just go for it, you have
your freedom, you your.
The freedom starts with vainand just go for it and just go
for your dreams and just go forbeing you and allowing yourself
to be loved for who you are andwhere you are.
And when I went into this, thistemple afterwards and I saw it,
(13:58):
it was, it was like a pop-uptent temple rather than an
actual thing, but I saw the wildboar garden, I was just like,
oh, wow, there's, like there'sstuff like that you just can't
ignore.
It's when the universe is givensigns and power animals, or
whatever you want to call it.
That was definitely like apower animal sign and just
before that we'd seen all thesebeautiful deers as well, like um
(14:22):
wild deer, and they had reallybig ears and it was just so
beautiful and the people, allthe people, would go mad over
these deers.
But then they forgot thisnature side and me being one who
likes nature, I continued onthat side and hence got the gift
of seeing this wild boar.
Before that, we were sitting inthis hotel and, um, I kept
(14:45):
thinking why is there um bars onall the hotels?
I'm just thinking, wow.
I just thought because I didn'tget the sense that there was
loads of crime at all.
I was thinking we're high upand then I saw and there was a
monkey sitting, like on the airconditioning unit right outside
(15:07):
our window, and the windows mustbe tinted because this monkey
did not see me, but it sat thereand the monkeys are quite,
really naughty actually.
I saw them like steal umsomeone's shoe outside this
temple just for the fun of itand throw it, and our guide was
saying that they, they can like,they'll antagonize the dogs and
(15:30):
do all sorts of nasty things tothese poor dogs outside this
other particular temple.
But in this case, this monkeywas sitting outside my window
and he was just sitting there,um, and it made me think, um, of
Hanuman, the monkey god, uh,another deity from the Hindu
(15:50):
tradition.
And I just thought, okay,people say, of course you're
going to see monkeys and thingswhen you're outside.
Well, I saw it when you were injail, of course, but it just,
it felt really symbolic to havethis monkey god sat outside the
window and it reminded me totake a leap of faith and to, um,
to kind of stretch between thishuman world and the mystical
(16:16):
world, as the honey man pourswhen one does the splits.
And it was a powerful symbology.
And we got to go to alldifferent places and some places
were really sweet and someplaces were sour, but together
they made a whole picture of theworld and so very beautiful and
(16:41):
so very mystical.
And then, um, there was a?
Um, we're going up to onetemple and you had to walk up it
barefooted.
And again, we arrived and, asalways, everyone stared at me,
um, outside the temple.
But then this cow came up to meand just wanted me to pet it
(17:02):
and have a cuddle.
And I had this cuddle with thiscow random, I know, but again,
there are lots of cows runningaround in India but it it came
up to me and, as you know, thecow is sacred and I just felt
that was a beautiful blessingbefore I went into the temple.
And and it so happened that, um, we got, when we went into this
(17:24):
temple that I um, there's a bitwhere everyone's trying to get
in front of the priest to getthis blessing, and I don't know
how well it was divine time andwe got into the right queue or I
don't know we were.
I went into this queue wherethere was no queue and we ended
up having, like, the audiencewith the priests and getting
(17:46):
these wonderful blessings.
And that was Lord Ganesh and oneof the first deities that I
ever connected to, um in Indiawhen I first went there over 21
years ago.
And God of overcoming obstacles.
And I thought, yes, all theseobstacles of my mind and Maya,
(18:06):
the reality which is manifestedin such a way.
And Ganesh just reminded methat, gentle, yoga warrior,
you've got this, you've got this, go for it, go for it and it
felt such a blessing and and itwas like this woman was so sweet
to me in the temple she gentlytouched my back and said oh hi,
(18:27):
and she spoke english to me andand then afterwards she like did
this thing with her heart tosay, like she walked, to show,
like respect.
As I tell you, I can feel theemotions kind of come up as I
share the words because you hadto be there.
But it was just so beautifulbecause she just wanted me to
feel so much more at ease,because I was finding it
(18:48):
difficult, and she just showedsuch love and care.
And you never underestimate thepower of how someone can change
your life.
So there are a few things thatI've shared from the mystical
experiences that I have, but Idon't think you have to go to
India to receive such thingsyourself is to just allow
(19:10):
yourself to notice the world asit unfolds.
So allow yourself to notice theworld as it unfolds and never
underestimate, like this womandid where she was so kind to me,
how much a powerful deed canhave for other people.
I'm going to change this lastbit before I share some more
(19:33):
advice, but basically I was on ashamanic course.
And then, um, I came up and, um,there's a, there's a gentleman,
um, who is always, always therein Glastonbury and it's such a
beautiful being, like he'sdressed up as Merlin.
He's known as Merlin I thinkhis real name is Raymond, but he
(19:56):
, he was there for many yearsand he'd stand outside the abbey
and he'd give people runereadings.
But, like, I had a rune readingonce, but he was like he always
used to call, used to call mesister, which I'm sure he called
most people um, and he'd alwaysspeak and say hello and I
remember he did a reading withme and a friend and he was so
(20:17):
accurate for this other personand mine was really good as well
, um, and just someone to neverunderestimate what you can do by
your presence.
So his presence, what?
When you went past there, youknew you'd get a warm smile, you
knew that you'd someone wouldspeak to you, speak to you in a
way that was kind and it justlifted the whole town.
(20:39):
In my opinion, he was a verybeautiful person and I found out
that he passed and now, like Ididn't really know him that well
at all, like I'd say hello tohim.
I'd had a conversation from theroom reading several years back
but always said like hello andum.
(21:00):
But he, to me, felt like someonethat was living his life, um
and just being himself and byjust being his, complete, an
authentic self.
What a power.
And you know that we crave andwe drive towards achieving so
(21:26):
many different things in lifeand thinking we've got to be
this, that and the other.
And the greatest gift that anyof us can ever give life is just
to be completely andauthentically, unapologetically,
(21:49):
kindly and wonderfully oneself.
So I invite you over this nextweek to get glimpses of how you
can be yourself unapologetically.
That doesn't mean to be mean orcruel, but this guy was never
(22:14):
mean or cruel as far as I couldsee, it was just himself.
But you know, we try and shapeourselves to fit in what, the
image of what other people wantus to be and, of course, advice
is good to take on.
But can you find the glimpseswhere you are really you and
(22:37):
what is your superpower?
Like this guy's superpower wasjust to lift everyone just by
saying hello, a simple hello,and smile, authentic and natural
.
What is your superpower?
(22:59):
Perhaps journaling?
If in doubt, I always say, getthe journal out and find out
what your superpower is.
(23:26):
But for now, we are going to doa meditation where I'm going to
take you on a mystical journeythrough India to help discover
who you are.
Top tips for the meditation iseither sit nice and cross-legged
on the floor with a nicestraight back always nice to sit
on a block or a cushion,although that's not available
for you, you sit in a chair withthe back nice and straight.
The important thing is you'renot slouching, and if you're
doing something that requires alittle concentration, all you
need to do is just pause thisand you can reconvene the
(23:47):
meditation at a time that isgood for you.
If you're doing the meditation,let's begin so as you breathe
softly and calmly in and outthrough the nostrils.
Just be nice and relaxed andimagine that you have joined me
(24:10):
now at the foot of Shiva'smountain and you, in your
imagination, are going on thispilgrimage through all the
different temples, and in thistime there's no one else on the
(24:31):
road.
It's the twilight hours.
As you look up, you can see thesparkle of stars in the sky.
As you look down, there is adusty road, but you have the
(24:53):
most comfortable shoes orshapples as they call them in
India on your feet and you arefully supported on your feet and
you are fully supported.
Or perhaps you are walkingbarefooted.
Whatever feels appropriate toyou.
Either way, you are on thispath and as you walk through the
(25:14):
night, the road at first feelslike it's full of obstacles,
there's things to cross or getaway from, packs of wild dogs,
the odd traffic, perhaps evenwild animals, but you are safe
(25:42):
as you take your footsteps alongand you come along this road
and you come to the first temple.
The temple can be whatever it isin your belief system or your
way of being.
In this temple there is abeautiful moonlit pool of water
(26:05):
and you walk softly up to theedge of that water and you peer
in and you see the reflection ofyourself.
But in your reflection you seewhat your superpower is, what it
is that you give to the worlddaily, and that reflection
(26:26):
reflects back to you and itshows you what it is, so that
you can feel it within yourheart.
And after gazing at thisreflection, you then walk into
the temple barefooted andthere's a beautiful shrine and
(26:50):
the shrine represents the lightof possibility that you have
within yourself.
If only you allowed yourself tobe seen and to be, and,
gingerly, you light a candle andyou place it onto the altar and
you give your inner light tothe light of all, and then the
(27:14):
light reflects back to you,knowing that you are whole, you
are yourself and you arebeautiful, and you take that
gift into your heart, put yourshuffles back on your shoes and
then you begin the walk intoyour day, back into the present
(27:37):
moment, back into the now,knowing that you possess that
light and that light is withinyou.
So thank you, dear listeners,thank you for listening to me
today.
Love and light.
Hello everybody, I'm your host, the Gentle Yoga
Warrior, and this is AwakenedConscious Conversations podcast,
and as we head out of the timeof death into a new moon, which
will hopefully help us feel moreawakened and alive, I wanted to
share with you some mysticalexperiences that I had when I
(00:20):
went on my adventures throughTamil Nadu and, as a point of
point, I was focusing quite alot in telling people about all
the dangers rather than all thebeauty that was there and to
particularly embark on a realadventure.
Sometimes it has everything itwants, and it certainly did have
this on this trip.
If those who know me, I seldomget like sick.
(00:43):
I'm very, very healthy, and Idid get sick when I was on this
trip and also there was quite alot of things going on.
I didn't feel that I hadn'tlike my um autonomy to go and do
what I wanted to do.
I always had to be aroundpeople and maybe that kind of
(01:04):
sparked me a little bit intofeeling a bit negative about
things.
But there were some verybeautiful things that did happen
on this journey, like forstarters we managed to go
through and there was only onetemple that turned me away
because of the colour I was um,but all the other temples were
(01:25):
really kind and let me in and itwas with such grace and honour
that I got to go around thesetemples.
But it was difficult because Ihad to have the courage to be
seen, to stand out, to not worrywhat people were thinking about
me.
And it was a challenge at timesbecause people would really
(01:46):
stare and I'm not one for beingin the limelight.
I kind of I like to observe,like quietly, get on with things
and observe.
So it was pushing a lot ofbuttons for me.
But I want to summarize, becauseI don't have my diary at the
moment with all the names of theplaces that I went to.
But I just want to summarisesome of the beautiful things
(02:09):
that happened and what I seethem as.
And I'm not summarising them insequence, I'm just summarising
them as I remember them.
So what I mean is some of thesethings I say straight away
might have happened towards theend of the trip, some in the
middle, some in the beginning.
You know, some of these thingsI say straight away might have
happened towards the end of thetrip, some in the middle, some
in the beginning.
But if you see like time, somepeople say time doesn't exist.
(02:33):
In the way that we see it, theyall have their significance, if
that makes sense.
So really powerful things thatsaw and symbology was these sea
eagles, the beautiful hugeeagles.
And in the UK we get lots oflike um kites and we get things
like falcons and hawks andthings like that.
(02:54):
Um, I think we get eaglesdefinitely up in Scotland but
not um down in the in um Englandand seeing these great big
birds flying and I saw the birdsone time.
I saw them in the hotel towardsthe end and they were and they
were kind of like, just let meknow they were there and they
(03:17):
felt quite peaceful.
But there was other times wherethere's one town in particular
that I found it very chaotic.
Um, it was just, it was just abit much for me.
I think it was just a bit muchfor me that particular day there
was so many people about etc.
And there was so much rush andit was on the day I just wanted
to be like slow, but lifedoesn't always work out how we
(03:40):
kind of want it to, so I wantedit to be a bit more kind of
movement and flow in in my dayand I was getting a bit.
Oh, this is a bit much.
Here and um, for personalreasons, there was a grief due
to a death of a loved one and,um, I just thought this is just
(04:02):
too much.
I can't go out anywhere bymyself without being looked at
and this I remember looking outthe hotel room and this
beautiful eagle had its wings.
So it was huge and there was afew of them actually, but I kind
of see them all as one and theywere just circling around
(04:23):
taking a bird's eye view of theworld and from up there I'm
guessing that things looked alot calmer because they've seen
the whole picture and not justthe pockets of busyness and
chaos that I was kind of pickingup on this particular day, and
that busyness and chaos wasdefinitely a reflection of my
(04:43):
inner world as I processedthrough this grief.
But the bird helped me to seeand to feel like this great big
bird's eye view of the world andwhenever I feel retracted or
stuck or as if things aren'tmoving, to remember a few things
, to have faith, faith in in theuniverse.
(05:06):
That means different things todifferent people if you have a
religion and faith in yourreligion, if you feel like
you're spiritual, without areligion, but to have faith in
the universe, have so whateverthat feels for you, but when you
feel attracted, can you draw onthe power of like this eagle,
to have faith in seeing the bigpicture and drawing on the
(05:30):
universe, knowing thateverything is perfect and it is
how it is supposed to be, nomatter how you kind of feel
about it.
Number two when I was walkingwith, my feet was so sore.
I am one of those people Idon't really get my feet out.
I like them to be in shoes.
(05:51):
I know the spiritual world isall about walking in bare feet
and if it's the right terrain,by all means, like if it's soft
grass or warm sand that's nottoo hot, or even mud.
I kind of I don't mind thingslike this, but it was like
concrete with like rubbish, likea lot of rubbish, um, a lot of
(06:14):
dirt.
There was like dead things, um.
So I put shoes on because Ialready had lots of cuts in my
feet, so many cuts that I had tosoak my feet in salt.
And then I had been bitten alot by mosquitoes as well.
Not excessively amount, becausethat would be exaggeration, but
it was definitely.
My feet were like covered incuts and um.
(06:37):
So I decided to do thispilgrimage with these shoes, but
then the shoes ended up rubbingmy feet.
So, as you can see, that's mekind of um tapping on the
negative.
But I saw some really beautifulthings on on this walk.
I saw the absolute trust ofsome people that were just
sleeping there outside, somewithout choice, of course that,
(07:02):
um, they were homeless.
But there was people that werealso been on the pilgrimage and
they really took it seriouslyand were walking with bare feet
and resting at the end of it.
But as I was walking along, wewent past um, in the inner part
of the city.
There used to be like thisnature thing and this is at the
(07:24):
base of Shiva's mountain, butit's a city.
It's like this really busy cityand people do this pilgrimage
for about six, seven hours whereyou walk around to all the
different temples and get ablessing.
And it was really powerful inso many ways.
And the blessing was that eachtemple had its different deity,
(07:46):
its different flavour, itsdifferent way of being, and I
thought that makes me feel likethe different ways that we are
like, just like the weather, ouremotions and feelings and
thoughts can change during thecourse of the day and sometimes
we feel like we're just lappingalong at sea and other times we
(08:08):
can feel that we are free andable to kind of maneuver and
just be beyond our thoughts.
And that's how it fell on thispilgrimage, because we went into
the different temples and gotthe different blessings and I
can still smell the smell of,like the ash which has the
(08:29):
talcumy scent to it and thecamphor incense and all that.
And if you go into thedifferent temples they have
different rituals.
Like the Vishnu temples theyput, like this, golden corn it's
my accent c-o-n-e.
Onto the head and you getblessed that way.
(08:50):
And, um, I, I got aunderstanding with Vishnu and
the beauty of it, because it wasactually one Vishnu temple that
I was at, not on this town buta different town.
That turned me away and and itkind of put a bit of fear that
would I ever get into all the umtemples after that and it also
(09:14):
made it a little bit exciting,even though if I did complain a
bit, it made it a little bitexciting but I did get in all
those the temples after that.
I think it was a bit ofinitiation of like, how serious
was.
I on on, on learning thisaspect, uh, and, and of tapping
into this aspect of myself, andhow serious I to overcome the
(09:36):
uncomfortability of of this alland and I, as I navigated and
went through this journey, andthe most amazing thing happened,
and I may have explained thisbefore, but I want to show the
significance of it.
So we were going past, Idigressed a bit there, but as we
were going, we were going pastthe nature reserve, but it's
(09:58):
kind of like high, high, highhigh, like um railings, like
something like jurassic park,and it has pictures saying don't
come here, this is our domain.
There's wild animals.
Well, we were walking on theopposite side to the other
pilgrimage people, um, for a bit, and apart from the odd person
sleeping, it was, it's a lotquieter there.
(10:19):
And as we walked past, I sawthis, this most grand, beautiful
beast.
It was a giant wild bull, buthuge, I'm talking like.
It looked like the size of acow, it was huge and it was
walking through like thisforesty terrain on the other
(10:42):
side of this fence, and Ispotted it.
No one else had seen it.
Well, I was with my partner butI didn't.
I didn't then point it out tohim.
But I spotted it and I was justlike, oh my word, this is like
such a blessing.
Um, I know that they tend totry and avoid humans and it's
(11:02):
only if they're kind of corneredor something like that they're,
they're forced to be reckonedwith.
Well, I'll come back to that.
But the next temple that we wentinto had a wild boar god in it
and then I I did some researchand, um, the wild boar god was
actually an avatar of Vishnu andthe god was called Varaha is
(11:29):
the third avatar of Vishnu andif you think about a wild boar,
they're kind of like they'lllike scavenge and kind of like
food no-transcript by the tusksout of the ocean, the cosmic
(11:58):
ocean, because I study celticand um shamanism and also work
with trees and nature and stuff.
If you to look at the wild boarin the celtic mythology and it
is it is also seen as sacredbeing and the god, freya, is
(12:27):
sometimes seen riding on theback of a boar and I believe her
sister also was also seenriding on the back of a bull and
you just think it's quite apowerful, strong and hunted,
unfortunately, animal andwhatever you could look at all
(12:51):
the different mythology of bullsacross all the different
traditions.
But to me it was bravely going,like through the forest and god
knows what else was in thatforest tigers, you name it, it
could have been all kinds ofwild animals but it was going
through through it and and it'ssuch a speed and it just
reminded me this that I can have, um, the courage like that,
(13:16):
that, that wild boar, that I'vegot this, that I might be having
a difficult time on thisamazing holiday, or travels, as
I would like to call it, and andyes, it maybe it was a bit
difficult, um, like I felt likeI didn't always have my freedom
to do and be who I was all thetime, but this bull was telling
(13:37):
me, this wild boar.
This wild boar was telling me,like, just go for it, you have
your freedom, you your.
The freedom starts with vainand just go for it and just go
for your dreams and just go forbeing you and allowing yourself
to be loved for who you are andwhere you are.
And when I went into this, thistemple afterwards and I saw it,
(13:58):
it was, it was like a pop-uptent temple rather than an
actual thing, but I saw the wildboar garden, I was just like,
oh, wow, there's, like there'sstuff like that you just can't
ignore.
It's when the universe is givensigns and power animals, or
whatever you want to call it.
That was definitely like apower animal sign and just
before that we'd seen all thesebeautiful deers as well, like um
(14:22):
wild deer, and they had reallybig ears and it was just so
beautiful and the people, allthe people, would go mad over
these deers.
But then they forgot thisnature side and me being one who
likes nature, I continued onthat side and hence got the gift
of seeing this wild boar.
Before that, we were sitting inthis hotel and, um, I kept
(14:45):
thinking why is there um bars onall the hotels?
I'm just thinking, wow.
I just thought because I didn'tget the sense that there was
loads of crime at all.
I was thinking we're high upand then I saw and there was a
monkey sitting, like on the airconditioning unit right outside
(15:07):
our window, and the windows mustbe tinted because this monkey
did not see me, but it sat thereand the monkeys are quite,
really naughty actually.
I saw them like steal umsomeone's shoe outside this
temple just for the fun of itand throw it, and our guide was
saying that they, they can like,they'll antagonize the dogs and
(15:30):
do all sorts of nasty things tothese poor dogs outside this
other particular temple.
But in this case, this monkeywas sitting outside my window
and he was just sitting there,um, and it made me think, um, of
Hanuman, the monkey god, uh,another deity from the Hindu
(15:50):
tradition.
And I just thought, okay,people say, of course you're
going to see monkeys and thingswhen you're outside.
Well, I saw it when you were injail, of course, but it just,
it felt really symbolic to havethis monkey god sat outside the
window and it reminded me totake a leap of faith and to, um,
to kind of stretch between thishuman world and the mystical
(16:16):
world, as the honey man pourswhen one does the splits.
And it was a powerful symbology.
And we got to go to alldifferent places and some places
were really sweet and someplaces were sour, but together
they made a whole picture of theworld and so very beautiful and
(16:41):
so very mystical.
And then, um, there was a?
Um, we're going up to onetemple and you had to walk up it
barefooted.
And again, we arrived and, asalways, everyone stared at me,
um, outside the temple.
But then this cow came up to meand just wanted me to pet it
(17:02):
and have a cuddle.
And I had this cuddle with thiscow random, I know, but again,
there are lots of cows runningaround in India but it it came
up to me and, as you know, thecow is sacred and I just felt
that was a beautiful blessingbefore I went into the temple.
And and it so happened that, um, we got, when we went into this
(17:24):
temple that I um, there's a bitwhere everyone's trying to get
in front of the priest to getthis blessing, and I don't know
how well it was divine time andwe got into the right queue or I
don't know we were.
I went into this queue wherethere was no queue and we ended
up having, like, the audiencewith the priests and getting
(17:46):
these wonderful blessings.
And that was Lord Ganesh and oneof the first deities that I
ever connected to, um in Indiawhen I first went there over 21
years ago.
And God of overcoming obstacles.
And I thought, yes, all theseobstacles of my mind and Maya,
(18:06):
the reality which is manifestedin such a way.
And Ganesh just reminded methat, gentle, yoga warrior,
you've got this, you've got this, go for it, go for it and it
felt such a blessing and and itwas like this woman was so sweet
to me in the temple she gentlytouched my back and said oh hi,
(18:27):
and she spoke english to me andand then afterwards she like did
this thing with her heart tosay, like she walked, to show,
like respect.
As I tell you, I can feel theemotions kind of come up as I
share the words because you hadto be there.
But it was just so beautifulbecause she just wanted me to
feel so much more at ease,because I was finding it
(18:48):
difficult, and she just showedsuch love and care.
And you never underestimate thepower of how someone can change
your life.
So there are a few things thatI've shared from the mystical
experiences that I have, but Idon't think you have to go to
India to receive such thingsyourself is to just allow
(19:10):
yourself to notice the world asit unfolds.
So allow yourself to notice theworld as it unfolds and never
underestimate, like this womandid where she was so kind to me,
how much a powerful deed canhave for other people.
I'm going to change this lastbit before I share some more
(19:33):
advice, but basically I was on ashamanic course.
And then, um, I came up and, um,there's a, there's a gentleman,
um, who is always, always therein Glastonbury and it's such a
beautiful being, like he'sdressed up as Merlin.
He's known as Merlin I thinkhis real name is Raymond, but he
(19:56):
, he was there for many yearsand he'd stand outside the abbey
and he'd give people runereadings.
But, like, I had a rune readingonce, but he was like he always
used to call, used to call mesister, which I'm sure he called
most people um, and he'd alwaysspeak and say hello and I
remember he did a reading withme and a friend and he was so
(20:17):
accurate for this other personand mine was really good as well
, um, and just someone to neverunderestimate what you can do by
your presence.
So his presence, what?
When you went past there, youknew you'd get a warm smile, you
knew that you'd someone wouldspeak to you, speak to you in a
way that was kind and it justlifted the whole town.
(20:39):
In my opinion, he was a verybeautiful person and I found out
that he passed and now, like Ididn't really know him that well
at all, like I'd say hello tohim.
I'd had a conversation from theroom reading several years back
but always said like hello andum.
(21:00):
But he, to me, felt like someonethat was living his life, um
and just being himself and byjust being his, complete, an
authentic self.
What a power.
And you know that we crave andwe drive towards achieving so
(21:26):
many different things in lifeand thinking we've got to be
this, that and the other.
And the greatest gift that anyof us can ever give life is just
to be completely andauthentically, unapologetically,
(21:49):
kindly and wonderfully oneself.
So I invite you over this nextweek to get glimpses of how you
can be yourself unapologetically.
That doesn't mean to be mean orcruel, but this guy was never
(22:14):
mean or cruel as far as I couldsee, it was just himself.
But you know, we try and shapeourselves to fit in what, the
image of what other people wantus to be and, of course, advice
is good to take on.
But can you find the glimpseswhere you are really you and
(22:37):
what is your superpower?
Like this guy's superpower wasjust to lift everyone just by
saying hello, a simple hello,and smile, authentic and natural
.
What is your superpower?
(22:59):
Perhaps journaling?
If in doubt, I always say, getthe journal out and find out
what your superpower is.
(23:26):
But for now, we are going to doa meditation where I'm going to
take you on a mystical journeythrough India to help discover
who you are.
Top tips for the meditation iseither sit nice and cross-legged
on the floor with a nicestraight back always nice to sit
on a block or a cushion,although that's not available
for you, you sit in a chair withthe back nice and straight.
The important thing is you'renot slouching, and if you're
doing something that requires alittle concentration, all you
need to do is just pause thisand you can reconvene the
(23:47):
meditation at a time that isgood for you.
If you're doing the meditation,let's begin so as you breathe
softly and calmly in and outthrough the nostrils.
Just be nice and relaxed andimagine that you have joined me
(24:10):
now at the foot of Shiva'smountain and you, in your
imagination, are going on thispilgrimage through all the
different temples, and in thistime there's no one else on the
(24:31):
road.
It's the twilight hours.
As you look up, you can see thesparkle of stars in the sky.
As you look down, there is adusty road, but you have the
(24:53):
most comfortable shoes orshapples as they call them in
India on your feet and you arefully supported on your feet and
you are fully supported.
Or perhaps you are walkingbarefooted.
Whatever feels appropriate toyou.
Either way, you are on thispath and as you walk through the
(25:14):
night, the road at first feelslike it's full of obstacles,
there's things to cross or getaway from, packs of wild dogs,
the odd traffic, perhaps evenwild animals, but you are safe
(25:42):
as you take your footsteps alongand you come along this road
and you come to the first temple.
The temple can be whatever it isin your belief system or your
way of being.
In this temple there is abeautiful moonlit pool of water
(26:05):
and you walk softly up to theedge of that water and you peer
in and you see the reflection ofyourself.
But in your reflection you seewhat your superpower is, what it
is that you give to the worlddaily, and that reflection
(26:26):
reflects back to you and itshows you what it is, so that
you can feel it within yourheart.
And after gazing at thisreflection, you then walk into
the temple barefooted andthere's a beautiful shrine and
(26:50):
the shrine represents the lightof possibility that you have
within yourself.
If only you allowed yourself tobe seen and to be, and,
gingerly, you light a candle andyou place it onto the altar and
you give your inner light tothe light of all, and then the
(27:14):
light reflects back to you,knowing that you are whole, you
are yourself and you arebeautiful, and you take that
gift into your heart, put yourshuffles back on your shoes and
then you begin the walk intoyour day, back into the present
(27:37):
moment, back into the now,knowing that you possess that
light and that light is withinyou.
So thank you, dear listeners,thank you for listening to me
today.
Love and light.
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