224: Liam McClintock, Guest Explorer

Awareness Explorers episode 225: Spiritual Athletes and Advertising In this episode we discuss the concepts of "spiritual athletes" and "spiritual advertising" as potential traps on the spiritual path. We explore how those who pursue extreme practices can become unattainable role models for us, while promises of enlightenment or freedom from negative emotions can mislead us into fruitless effort, and how both can obscure the truth that awakening is a present-moment realization. • Includes a guided meditation to help us drop future-based goals and rest in present awareness. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy,  Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 224: Liam McClintock, Guest Explorer In this episode we talk with Liam McClintock about his transition from private equity to becoming a Buddhist monk and his studies in neuroscience. Liam explains how his interest in meditation evolved from a productivity tool to a deeper pursuit of enlightenment and lasting well-being, leading him to create FitMind as a systematic meditation training program. • Includes a guided meditation using Liam's "Four Rs" technique, which involves recognizing, releasing, relishing, and remaining in a fit state of mind, and showing how to identify and release tension, cultivate loving-kindness, and maintain a positive mental state. To learn more about Liam McClintock, please visit:  FitMind.org His YouTube channel: @FitMindMeditation  https://www.youtube.com/@FitMindMeditation Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy,  Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 223: Katharine Pincham, Guest Explorer In this episode Katharine Pincham shares her background studying Vedic and Yogic scriptures in the Himalayas and her transformative spiritual opening. She also delves into the three gunas—fundamental tendencies of nature—that can foster detachment and create an environment for recognizing the existential freedom of awareness, independent of the mind's changing states. • Includes a guided meditation from Katharine helping us to tune into our senses and observe that awareness remains ever-present, undisturbable, and constant, regardless of changing sensations, or thoughts, or temporary physical and mental phenomena. To learn more about Katharine Pincham, please visit: UnchangingBeing.com Her YouTube channel: @unchangingbeing https://www.youtube.com/@unchangingbeing And here's a link for you to sign up for her (free) booklet pdf, "The Gunas & You": https://unchangingbeing.mykajabi.com/gunas-booklet-landing-page-1 To learn more about Katharine's guru, Swami Shyam, please visit: https://swamishyam.com/ Also mentioned in this episode: Writing by Adi Shankaracharya: Vivekachudamani, The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy,  Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 222: Mystery and Motivation In this episode we discuss motivations for spiritual practice, contrasting suffering-based motivation with curiosity and the desire for truth, especially around anomalous and miraculous experiences. • Includes a guided meditation helping you to remember events in your life that might be outside of the way you normally look at the material world, and showing you how an open heart is a doorway to mystery and wonder. To learn more about Jonathan's new book, Opening to the Miraculous: True Stories and Investigations into the Weird and the Wonderful, please visit:  OpenMiracles.com Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian   Photo by Yann Stenson on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 221: Rupert Spira Encore We're on vacation! So today we're offering an Encore presentation of our interview with our first guest, Rupert Spira, in 2018. In this episode we talk to Rupert Spira about happiness, and how he leads people to the recognition of our true nature as awareness. • Includes a guided meditation from Rupert for going beyond our normal notion of self into the experience of pure awareness. To learn more about Rupert Spira, please visit: https://rupertspira.com/ To listen to the meditation from this episode alone, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EBWfCT2Lv4 Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter: https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit https://findinghappiness.com/ and https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 220: Shadow Work In this episode, we explore various approaches to shadow work, that is, becoming conscious of hidden parts of the psyche and bringing them to awareness, which helps reveal and release emotions stored in the body that might otherwise cause trouble in life and relationships. • Includes a guided meditation focused on dissolving resistance to unwanted emotions by fully experiencing feelings in the body and dropping associated storytelling. Mentioned in this episode: Adyashanti's instructions for "Working with Negative Emotions" is included in the set from Sounds True called "Guided Meditations" "The Work" documentary about a group therapy retreat in Folsom Prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_(film) https://releasing.dogwoof.com/the-work Angelo DiLullo's Group Transformation Process Mindvalley Blog  "75 shadow work prompts for healing and growth" Internal Family Systems (IFS)  https://ifs-institute.com/ Effortless IFS with Sid Friedman Voice Dialogue  https://www.voicedialogueinternational.com/ https://www.voicedialogueinternational.com/global/IVDA/select_Bridgit_Dengel_Gaspard.htm Scott Kiloby Transformative Emotion Work  https://kiloby.com/ Sam Roff: Secrets To Great Shadow Work (Regulate Unstable Energy)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTxwFD5P_Pk Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website: https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian   Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 219: Fooled into Dualism In this episode, we explore how language, culture, and survival instincts create a dualistic view of the world, which is at odds with the underlying reality of interconnectedness and oneness. • Includes a guided meditation helping us to see beyond the dualistic nature of language, and to sense how everything is interconnected, and nothing, including you, is truly separate from everything else. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian   Photo by 愚木混株 Yumu on Unsplash

Awareness Explorers episode 218: Scott Flynn, Guest Explorer In this episode we talk to Scott Flynn, about how non-dual teaching helps people let go of their false sense of individual identity by recognizing that the ego is just a collection of thoughts that can be dissolved through self-inquiry and resting in one's true nature. • Includes a guided meditation helping us to turn our attention to the experience of "I Am" and to see that "I Am" is what you've been searching for your entire life. "I Am" is who you are, and who you are is unconditional love and acceptance. To learn more about Scott Flynn, please visit:  https://www.scott-flynn.com/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@scott-flynn Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/scott_flynn_nonduality Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584487106400 For a set of images illustrating Scott's funnel gestures, please see…  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/scott-flynn-funnel-gesture Or watch the YouTube video version:  https://youtu.be/jdFFCWqWWTA Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy,  Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 217: Tracy Lease, Guest Explorer In this episode, we talk to Tracy Lease, a yoga, Pilates, Qigong, and mindfulness teacher who discusses the integration of body awareness practices with spiritual development. • Includes a guided moving meditation from Tracy combining breath awareness with gentle movement to help listeners experience the connection between physical relaxation and expanded awareness. To learn more about Tracy Lease, please visit:  https://fulllifeyogastudio.com/ For examples of tensegrity models discussed in this episode, see: "8 Incredible Structures Around the World That Use Tensegrity to Defy Gravity"  https://mymodernmet.com/tensegrity-architecture/ Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy,  Jonathan and Brian

Awareness Explorers episode 216: Types of Thought In this episode, we discuss different types of thoughts and how to distinguish between helpful and harmful thinking patterns. We cover practical thoughts versus emotional ruminations, the importance of intuitive wisdom versus egoic thinking, and how to recognize beneficial thoughts that come from outside the normal mind. • Includes a guided meditation leading you through a suite of games to quiet the intrusive mind, as well as a practice to open your heart to intuitive guidance. Don't forget to subscribe for more ingenious ways to tap into the ever-present stillness and joy of our true nature. To learn more about Awareness Explorers, and to listen to all of our podcast episodes, please visit:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/ If you want to listen to the meditations alone, you can find all of our meditations excerpted either in this playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAVvivvVVGNfQgJxbWB6dF6Z Or on our Awareness Explorers website:  https://www.awarenessexplorers.com/meditations To Support Awareness Explorers, please consider clicking the "Donate" button on any AwarenessExplorers.com page, or becoming a Patreon supporter:  https://www.patreon.com/awarenessexplorers NOTE: If you are a Patreon supporter and have not been receiving our bonus material, please check to make sure that the email address you have on Patreon is an active one. To learn more about Jonathan Robinson and Brian Tom O'Connor, please visit  https://findinghappiness.com/ and  https://www.playawarenessgames.com/ You can listen to all of our episodes on this YouTube playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLThffcko0gAXyaArC4OyY0y84CZ8uSb_n Enjoy, Jonathan and Brian Photo by Quilia on Unsplash