Holistic Horizons: Exploring Somatic Wisdom | Episode 108 with James Knight

(1) Holistic Horizons: Exploring Somatic Wisdom | Episode 108 with James Knight - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o3fSQkQS5k

Transcript:
(00:03) [Music] I've always been interested in addressing the whole self and for me the term Soma if you look in the dictionary it's Greek for body but the way I use the term Soma is the whole self so it's the physical body it's the emotional body the mental body and the spiritual bodies bodies I'm I'm feeling into the oric field that we have parts of our mind that I feel um is wanting to engage to be our whole self so when I use the word s it's the whole self and so with that in mind uh this year I've been collaborating with
(00:45) other people who are experts in other fields of energy medicine and movement education that are complimentary to General sematic yoga but might be able to introduce us to other parts of ourselves for example you and I um I was so appreciative that you co- facilitated u meditation course with me for static sanctuary and that's an example of like yes we do meditation and gentle sematic yoga but I really appreciate how you came in and introduced another way to find oursel in that state and there's other methods like uh sematic stability
(01:19) where I'm teaming up with uh one of my genos sematic yoga practitioners Rachel Shepherd and she's a Pilates uh trainer and so we're taking the new Neuroscience with genetic yoga and blending it with Pilates because one of the things as we age we all need to continue to build muscle mass and bone density so that's another example of I feel like that's a safe way to exercise but we're taking Pilates and somatizing it to bring in the Neuroscience so that when we're finished um breaking down the
(01:50) muscles and building a bone that we can also return muscles to their optimal length in a resting position um and just one more example um I have another gsy certified practitioner Ren briquette and she special she's a yoga therapist and she specializes in sound and specifically NADA yoga and so we're combining uh NADA yoga with gentle somatic yoga to use sound as a way to direct Consciousness with sematic movement flows which are part of gent sematic yoga and that particular method has me so lit up and I think that you
(02:28) might find it interesting too because we both love exploring Consciousness and um with NADA yoga blending with that I was blown away at just using organic sound how that can direct Consciousness with movement and I dropped into a deep state of bliss unified Consciousness when I was finished I couldn't even talk for like 10 minutes because I was so expanded it was hard to come back into the personality small so much s sua with a small s instead of sum with a large s meaning connected so I'm super excited
(03:06) that I I can now expand the brand to include Hobbies art meditation relationship skills having fun I find it very interesting this experience that many of us go through from you know being in a state of unified conscious iess as you call it and then coming back into this personality right and this pulsation that can happen you know what what have you learned about this and how have you navigated the journey back and forth I knew when I was going to talk with you that we would go deep and I just love I really appreciate when I'm
(03:54) with you your questions and so let's see if I can answer I so for me learning what different states of Consciousness feel in my Soma through sensation so right now I'm aware of there's already a slight expansion I'm feeling a lot of space in the field that I'm sitting in right now so I feel like I'm almost entering it right now with you um to witness when I'm in that state as a part of who I am recognizing that my capacity for personality is um it's almost like it takes a back seat
(04:43) so there's less of a need to express myself as an individual and yet I know it's a beautiful part of being in the S is to be an indiv individualized self so using that Unified Consciousness as a state as a contrast to witness the personality and then holding space for it to come back in I noticed there's resistance actually I I would like to stay in that state longer and I have everyday life activities so I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself clearly but I'm just aware of being in this state and what it
(05:21) feels like Sense on a sensitive on a sense level and then the choice to bring it back in and learning how to modulate that do you ever question you know do I really need to come back in to this personality can I stay in that expansive state for longer it sure is a nice thought um I don't know if I would be able to be on time for my meetings or if I would remember what I'm wearing and if I need to put on something else if I was cold was interesting like um yes maybe I feel like when I'm teaching actually because
(06:09) I'm I'm here at yogaville right now completing two events one was a spiritual weekend workshop and now we're I'm teaching genos medicel level one training and when I'm teaching I feel like I do drop into that unified Consciousness I have information that I want to deliver to invite people in to experience something this might be my first experience of having both that I'm still choosing to bring in forms and at the same time I'm completely open to just to be open to what the next form wants to be it's like
(06:42) both so I'm practicing practicing it since I've been here but I do get I tend to be an Arabic medicine I'm bought up primarily so in an expanded State I feel a little more Spacey forgetting words less inspired to talk so um I feel like it is possible but do I stay in that state when I'm walking and talking with students or when I'm on the phone or in a zoom call that experience so far is less yeah sometimes I think about this in terms of relationships with other people and living in community that there's a give and take
(07:30) here that if I want to have relationships with other people and live in community that I also need to play this game of of personality you know and scheduling and responsibilities and and all of that [Music] um but something is also lost or it feels like it's lost in in doing that and it's okay right like there's a give and there's a take I receive something out of that because I get to be included in the community and receive those benefits and have those relationships and all of that um but there is a part
(08:09) of me that doesn't really want to be this personality playing this game talking about myself answering questions all that you know yes yeah that can be tiring sometimes yeah I I feel like maybe one of the keys to practice this is presence developing keeping a ground and keeping presence right now I'm listening to you without thinking what I'm going to say next so I can do that with you cuz I feel really comfortable so maybe presence can bring us more Choice points and some of those uncomfortable times
(08:50) when we feel the personality coming up maybe there's maybe there's more Choice points than we think we have I think so too actually I'm I'm I'm glad that you said that like there I can have conversations in a certain way that maybe is older that I'm used to that I used to have in the past or I can explore having them in a way that feels right now you know abiding in this presence not knowing what I'm going to say next um being more Curious having less to defend yeah I've been uh since I've been here
(09:33) at at yoga Ville this time I've been self-reflecting on Rel certain relationships I have in my life and curious to observe the ones that have that feel more restrictive even people that I've known for a long time that I consider my best friends my inner circle friends and do within this well ever since Co um things have been shifting quite a bit and I've been feeling like why am I feeling like I'm losing my comfort with this I'm thinking of one particular person because they're still the same person and I'm still the
(10:07) same we love each other and there's that trust and respect and all of that and my presence with this person doesn't necessarily feel flowing right now and I'm having I'm I have to work extra hard with the personality to find a way to have that resonance so I've been asking myself it's okay the way it is without changing anything and if I want to stay in this relationship it feels like if I was true to myself I wouldn't be efforting as much which means I might actually be losing some interest to
(10:37) connect with that person in quality experiences so I don't I'm not sure how this fits into the conversation but I'm just aware that my personality has to work extra hard it doesn't have to I have been so far and is that the best choice but I I would be I would be longing and sad if I lo if I didn't have it so any I'm aware of my personality struggling and so I think the best bet for this circumstance is to have a conversation but um but that's a really interesting thing to notice the the efforting as you put
(11:15) it to like pay attention to myself when I'm I'm feeling that I I need to put effort towards something and then exploring why well do I do I really need to you know make that other person feel good by engaging them in a conversation in this type of way or what whatever it is just questioning that you know what does that mean to give effort in that kind of a way and and do I have to really do that and again maybe it's an old self that used these kind of um practices habits in order to fit in to to survive but now you know I don't
(12:01) feel that I I have to do that anymore I guess just like the play even between what is old and what is present is very interesting yeah while you were sharing I I'm wondering uh for me how much attachment I have to the way things were and um is that part of my identity and I can say yes it has been to have an inner circle friend or an inner circle family or to have a of belonging I can feel that I have an attachment to that that's how I used to identify myself and there's a sense of security that goes with that like a I
(12:40) belong so with questioning this there's a sense well then where do I belong if I'm not with this [Music] person yeah and I wonder if that's like mostly like the mind trying to figure this out and whether or not it can be another way uh meaning like my goal is to just exist in this presence because it feels right it totally feels right or being in the Dow you know living as a yogi whatever whatever you want to label it as and if I do that whatever happens externally I'm going to be okay with as
(13:20) opposed to trying to control what's happening externally you know I think we're talking about Flow State like yeah like um maybe more of a DST idea of just whatever it is is and keep keep flowing with what is without any attachment but then where's the personality where's the function is there a function I think so I I think it's it's very subtle you know but the way that you put it in terms of presence I think and and kind of you know imbuing the personality with a sense of presence that I am this
(13:57) personality but I'm also not the same that I was I'm also aware of this connection to something Beyond Myself while I am speaking having a conversation whatever it is and it seems that it's possible yeah I think we're doing it right now I feel that way am I am anyway and I'm having a mirror to this conversation that in a way we're talking about we we're talking about relationship so far and I really feel like it's relationship also to other things like a a project or I'm thinking right now I'm going to be
(14:32) traveling to Mexico soon and I go to certain places I'm wondering if this conversation can expand a presence with other things as well that we're in relationship with a food that we eat the bed we sleep on the clothes we wear um just thinking about identity and how I might have attachments to certain things oh I am this way and I am that way oh am this way but maybe with this level of presence there could be other choices where like well gosh maybe I just don't want to go to that that I'm thinking about this town in Mexico right
(15:09) now something may be shifting in me like well maybe there's another place to explore like you're sensing something inside of yourself that might have resistance to Something in the past that was already created like I am going to do this yeah my identity when I'm when I might be attached to who I think I am because I always go there I always eat this food I always sleep in a certain way thinking about the personality again like just like yeah just since I've been here I've been looking at things like that like is
(15:45) this my best is this the most nourishing choice for my S now I mean I suppose it's all information and I believe information's neutral maybe the personality is what places something on the information to build a perception yeah a belief or a yeah but for me this definitely does tie into um when I'm in my unified self there's less of a need to make these decisions because whatever is is exactly I want to use the word perfect but that's not really a real word to me but you know what I mean like there's such a
(16:34) whole state there's not a lot of need in that moment when when I'm in it I'm always fascinated how quickly it can fluctuate like I can be in that state maybe I would term it acceptance like I'm just I'm accepting exactly how it is flowing and then all of a sudden there's like a need you yeah it almost feels like fear to me like I problem solving I've been noticing more and more that my mind needs to be solving problems and how comfortable it is in that and how uncomfortable it is in the
(17:17) notion that there you don't have to solve a problem there's nothing that needs to be solved right now but so used to it yeah you know even like just as an example like should I go to this place in Mexico should I not should I sleep this way should I not like there's a million decisions to to be made and they can all be looked at like they're something I need to solve you know and I'm not going to release that completely of course yeah but what's my relationship can I be conscious of the
(17:47) fact that this is what the mind's doing and can I at least give the mind a break from that from time to time yeah hopefully even more than time to time yeah yeah I I wonder it feels like it's a universal law to to reach a contrasted Point let's say a stressful point to to maybe then have the awareness how to come back into homeostasis like maybe this decision making of like trying to figure out something as part of returning back to this you know like I'm wondering right now while we're talking
(18:25) if it's if it's even a universal law that we could just stay in this Blissful expanded state or if we need these times of self-correction these times of contrast that show up in relationship or a project or a place I mean I I'm kind of more of a believer that if it it wouldn't be here if it wasn't if it didn't serve a function yeah so that those times of contrast of needing to figure something out there has to be a purpose yeah for it so that's a great question to be looking at I was walking with a friend
(19:03) last night here at the ashram and we were talking about uh Swami satand and some of the other great Masters who've lived on the planet in the past and present and this idea of what enlightenment is and I used to ask that question more previously especially when I get into these expanded States and so our conversation was like I think some of us I have this idea oh when I'm enlightened I'm going to be so much more comfortable everything's going to be easier and life just going to flow I don't know if you feel that or if other
(19:37) people have that experience of idealizing this concept of Enlightenment I think even more to a point is idealizing the future right oh yeah you know like right going back to being a kid and I think about you know oh when school's out yeah you know for the day or for the summer what whatever when I go on vacation whatever it is that that then it's going to be perfect it's always just projecting into the future and yeah I don't know it's interest there's a part of me that wants to open up to that and just say okay you
(20:16) know what like I love having things to look forward to like I'm not going to get rid of that you know that's enjoyable to think oh this thing is coming up that I that I that I'm looking forward to H happening but at the same time noticing the possibility of always wanting to be somewhere where I'm not and I don't want to experience my life like that so then yeah it becomes the practice of of of being in this present moment and squeezing the juice from it and how can I squeeze the juice from
(20:51) this particular moment I like that yeah yeah I I'm flashing back to last night I had a really deep meditation um this really special place here at the ashram and uh but there was this time limit like I had a plan at a specific time so I I could only meditate for a half an hour and at 6 o00 I was going to I had a commitment to do something else so I dropped in and it was pretty nice to be able to maintain a sense of being with thinking for extended period of time back of my mind well I set my phone for 6:00 and so
(21:34) I sat there just sometimes in meditation it's like oh I wonder how much more time I have I'm like okay let that go just you're still here now your phone is set just and then all of a sudden my alarm went off but I was like I wasn't I wasn't anticipating it but I was really curious to witness my personality go okay turn off turn off the alarm come out and you know come out of that state and just do do the next thing and I thought that's so wild that I could just go from second to Second
(22:04) like I wasn't attached that I that I wished I had more time and I don't feel like I was personality because I wasn't talking but nothing really mattered for that half an hour except for just being there but at 6:00 I had commitments is it isn't it amazing like often I consider that the most appropriate response to the situation that we're in is is awe like just that that that can be possible yeah you can sit there for okay half an hour I'm going to be you know totally letting go of as much as I can possibly let go of
(22:43) abiding in this state and then the alarm boom I go and I and now I go yeah and now I'm off that's fine I can move back like it's incredible I don't think we give enough just like attention to the Wonder of what this is that we're all experiencing I'm glad you're laughing and smiling cuz when I got back to my bed I was reflecting on the day all the things teaching and some of the conversation I was thinking about that I'm thinking like is this Modern Life that now I'm in my bed and that's
(23:12) finished and now I'm here and but it were always me it's just kind of trippy but I was laughing to myself thinking this that could have been labeled a profound State the meditation because it was a really special experience but that I'm just geared for next okay well now we're now I'm here I mean I just came from teaching to sit here and talking to you so back to this concept of Enlightenment I'm wondering if if a more compatible word for myself is presence because I was present then present in the transition hearing the
(23:50) alarm present to lying in bed I'm wondering if that's for me that feels more comfortable leaning into you as I age because then I'm aware of my Choice points my intention is to be aware of my Choice points as a response instead of a reaction I could have been bummed that my alarm went off and I wasn't this time I could have been bummed that I had to fall asleep because I had to have prepare for this you know what I mean like I don't know like taking the being present aware that there is a choice
(24:21) point and when am I where am I in that choice Point can I stay present all the way through that transition I feel like that might be touching on a what some people might call an expanded State like Enlightenment perhaps yeah I don't know the word that comes to mind for me is maturity actually and I think this word actually might be underused I was reminded of the importance of this word from someone else the other day and and it's a real challenge to myself to be with that because to be mature my definition of the word I guess
(25:05) I would say is is not to really have preferences in this kind of way or complain about how it is and how it isn't you know to be mature is to be in gratitude for this experience um for all the variety that I'm experiencing so it's that I'm I'm really sitting with that word now more maturity okay I haven't considered it for a while yeah does that go along with wisdom gained from life experience I mean it has to yeah so that when you're up to a similar Choice point you can lean into the wisdom of your past to
(25:54) evaluate what your next nourishing choice is for self yeah but or others I'll give another example of of where it comes into play is that I notice my mind's tendency to want to rank like rank myself rank other people you know this is how you know far along the path you are this is how enlightened you are and this is how enlightened this person is and this is how enlightened I like I don't really play that game very much anymore um and ideally I don't want to play it at all but Within Myself that
(26:30) that probably has uh I give that the most attention but to me a mature person to me what it means to be mature is to let go of all of that because that's all my mind that that's arrogance even thinking that I know how I rank compared to someone else yeah more and more the the the practice of genuine humility is essential to me and to realize that there's two things that are very important for me to be aware of at the same time one is that the mind is an unbelievable tool that is absolutely fascinating beyond what I can even
(27:08) appreciate but trying to appreciate the mind that's fascinating and in the other hand realizing that the mind is so limited in what it can understand so stop believing that you can know more than you can really know and be comfortable in the unknown that's maturity to be totally accepting of the [Music] unknown just going to breathe into that for a minute for a second yeah uh an image I had while you were talking was a wave one of my spiritual teachers has Tau taught me quantum physics and along married with
(28:02) metaphysics and um she is suggesting that we are waves of light and each thought and each emotion um vibrates at a frequency out into the universe and it appears to be a law of the universe that those waves come back shown to us in our experience um so I'm I'm curious playing with the idea of maturity that through learning through life experiences that we change the vibration of what's moving out to us like I'm almost wondering like as a maturity also that are we ready for the next layer of information to make a choice something
(28:50) may not feel as comfortable now as it did a year ago so I'm just playing with with the idea of of mind because I feel like mind is beyond thinking thinking is one part of the mind and also just pure awareness is part of the mind um so I'm just I'm just curious if you have any Reflections on that um feeling into us being vibrations and light and does that inform us I think so no when I stop and get quiet I get the sense that the you know the words I can I can label this experience I'm having with maybe the most accurately is
(29:41) that I feel like a filter that something is being received something happens Within Myself yeah and then something is released something is given back yeah and this process of just receiving and giving that's the whole experience of life that's the breath right there every moment that's happening yeah when I breathe in I'm receiving when I breathe out I'm giving and something can happen to me kind of like the work that I get to do I get to play at what means anything yeah is what happens essentially between those two things
(30:23) like what I whatever I'm breathing in has a certain quality to it something happens within me and then as I breathe out it has a different quality to it you know if I'm if I'm angry if I'm frustrated then it has that energy is being released yeah yeah when you said you know when when when when something appears as an undesirable State like a anger or sadness or disappointment um how are we with that I was having this conversation with this student today about this um because they were unhappy that they were stuck in this
(31:11) emotional state they wanted it to change and um in genos sematic yoga we lean into discomfort instead of move away from it like in genos sematic we use pandiculation which is bringing and hugging the muscles in towards the midline or the sematic center before we move out so I was thinking about that in relationship to emotions that are uncomfortable or M mind states that are uncomfortable um for me I like to stay with it a little bit to feel the texture of these undesirable emotions to register how my body is feeling it so
(31:48) I'm not skipping over it too fast not staying in for too long and that's going to be different for each person but for me lately part of my wisdom body is stay with it for a little bit to see what it feels like and um not necessarily analyze it but I'm talking more like on just a presence level of sensation okay well I'm angry so my face is scrunched up or I might feel a knot in my stomach or my shoulders are tense or my jaws gritting so my practice has been like okay well yeah well let's just stay here
(32:22) for a little bit and really own what this feels like and then observe it creates some space for it and just notice if it wants to change like if it can change by just me giving it presentence and often times it does so maybe that's part of that wave of like oh yeah I'm at the top of the wave where I'm super uncomfortable this is not desirable giving that some space witnessing if it changes and then making the next choice rather than making a choice right in that reactive State yeah yeah it's helpful it's really
(33:02) helpful one thing that I've been playing at noticing is you know when more of these kind of undesirable emotions come up you know my tendency is is just like like to get rid of it right this is not good how can I get rid of it yeah but is the word that's coming to me is belief because that that's what I'm working with inside because like this notion that there's value in these emotions okay I've been playing with that for some time seeing that I don't want to make that wrong you know I don't
(33:46) want to make anything happening inside me wrong because that's just another trap because that creates suppression you know so I haven't been making them wrong at the same time it's been a nice challenge ask asking like can you really see the value in this like do you really believe that in the sadness that you're experiencing right now there's something of value for [Music] you it's a great question I mean especially sadness you know loneliness right away it's just this instant uh response you know no more yeah I was
(34:34) just feeling the same thing body wanted to say no yeah how do I and then the Mind goes to trying to solve the problem there's a problem how can I create a strategy to solve the problem but I think that there's a different way and that's what I'm I'm trying to explore right now is you know can I can I be with with the sadness can I really believe do I really believe that this is here for a reason this is here to offer me something yeah we started off the conversation with um unified Consciousness I wonder if
(35:19) this is a tool we have in our mind to modulate between trying to figure it out and then letting it go like giving it back through the breath and then like is there can there be a choice point there I mean I feel like that's part of we're talking about at least for me it is like how much are we like like like you know chewing on it when is it enough to just then give it some space you know I have a question question for you yeah um how do we know how does one know how to make the next decision like the information's coming
(36:12) through how to make a decision of something like for me it would be I my intent is each decision I make brings me closer into wholeness or closer into uh feeling my wave feeling relaxed and even I I use the word regenerative like something I'm doing will bring something the next choice can bring a nourishing Choice those are my words that's how it feels to me but so I'm curious curious for you how how what do you how do you how do you ass simulate information to make a decision what is your process you're reminding me I was
(36:54) listening to our last uh podcast that we did yeah and uh you're talking about the the inner yes right and I think maybe the program was called that too finding your your inner yes uh it was this weekend yeah yeah so and that really struck me when I was listening to it again and you I want to hear your answer to this too because you almost kind of created like a formula I think for knowing you know what is Right essentially for me mhm you know how to what are the different signs to know that this is this is the right decision
(37:32) and I think it's so important right because decision- making is the hardest part of life know all the time throughout the day small decisions big decisions that's what we're doing is Mak making decisions yep so for me how do I do [Music] it I mean hopefully like the the heart and the mind are working in unison yeah uh I mean I very much try to feel I try not to give it too many words but I just try to feel for what is right what feels right to me you know Letting Go not fighting against the way that I'm being guided
(38:26) yeah um I've just I've experienced a lot of pain as I'm sure so many of us have from trying to fight against reality so here's reality how can I work within it in a way that feels right it's really just a it's a feeling in the body and then I think the mind is getting feedback from the body um hopefully the mind is not I don't know it's hard for me too because I really I like my mind and I I yeah I believe in my mind's ability to um try to make sense and be rational and I I appreciate rationality I think
(39:19) that that's that's a beautiful thing to try to do that um sometimes I get caught too much in that though that's probably the area where I have the most opportunity to shift yeah every sum is unique the way that we are processing information um one of the major benefits I find to having meditation as a practice not only sitting in silence but also also through the movement practice is um for me that's one of my strongest allies is practicing emptying my mind or or or bring using awareness to sense and
(40:13) feel to balance out the thinking mind that's trying intending to be rational or making decisions and analyzing and contrasting that um if I start my day in meditation my day unfolds so much more differently cuz my reference is more based on continuing to have a sense of inner awareness of self-regulating naturally and when I don't meditate every day or I forget or I'm more in that thinking mind and moving through the world on a different level of Mind where I'm not as self-regulating the body is just kind of
(40:55) reacting more so I love being here and having all these opportunities at the asham to practice meditation and being in a community of people that value that we are talking about practice and you know what it feels like to start your day and yeah that way yeah more and more I see that you know I'm creature of habit know and so the morning is such an opportunity to set myself right and you know I thankfully rarely miss my morning practice but in a way it's good when I do because then I I I notice the difference yeah and it's really
(41:41) interesting the way that my day will unfold um if I have or haven't practiced you know yeah you going back to this the inner yes yeah do you remember oh yeah kind of I'd love to hear again okay okay yeah well so I mean my whole career has been in The Healing Arts and developing um protocols and experiences to feel the body's messages so this is a much more reliable place for me to find answers this Soma then then the thinking mind it's not as enjoyable for me so an inner yes for me is um well first of all being in an
(42:35) experience where my body's receiving information like um I'm thinking last year when I was at the ashram the first night on Friday night the program officially began after dinner and I I had a really uncomfortable experience I guided everybody through meditation and a movement practice and afterwards I asked how does everybody feel and you know I I guess I had an expectation everybody would feel fantastic but there was just one person that was like I feel awful like this is what is this why am I here
(43:06) what are you doing you know I was like so in that information in that moment I was reliving that experience my whole body just I could feel almost like my my face was glazing over I stopped breathing um I felt Frozen for a second like oh my gosh I'm in front of 30 people and here's this person that's not happy and how can I navigate this in this moment to transition to even finish the session and then move into the whole weekend Workshop like it was a felt like a pivotal moment and so I felt this like
(43:37) no inside like I wanted to resist it like you know so yeah it was just like that like but mostly I was aware of this I would feel like this Frozen my face felt like Frozen and that might have been more of how are people viewing me right now cuz I know everybody's listening and everybody's watching how how is James going to handle this situation so I was aware that was my first clue of like my body showing me that I was already out of a choice point at that moment so how can I find my flowing yes was to
(44:17) um witness it first and have compassion that I was in this state the mind was multiple places it was like lots of different places it wasn't just thinking but all Al having compassion and empathy for this beautiful person having a having a valid experience so to find a way through it was to realize that I soften my face soften my gaze drop into compassion and um ground my energy down and through that giving myself some space out of a contracted space brought me into a yes where I I felt like I could maneuver it more grace ful and
(44:57) authentically and not from a place of reaction cuz I just wanted to say what do you mean you're not feeling better and who are you to challenge me in front of all these people that part of the personality so so the inner yes for me I'm going to get there is like without confrontation just sitting down and having a meal do I want this food does does this food feel nourishing to me being here at the ashram some of these Foods I don't eat very often I'm finding the ones that I feel uncomfortable
(45:25) afterwards even while I'm eating I can feel like well just because it's there my body's already starting to do something so my inner yes is feeling when I'm feeling contracted maybe feeling the no and then um it feels easier and more comfortable when there's a sense of buoyancy or a sense of lightness a sense of ground that returns back presence without reaction so that's how I know that something's is that my body my body awaren my body changes the body the body yeah something that I try to tune into
(46:08) as often as possible is you simply it's so simple feeling the whole body like embodying my body yeah when I do that everything changes it's amazing then I get to I kind of feel like I'm this character you know and all a sudden I have freedom to move the body and that's that's that's key even what's your relationship with this word Freedom how how how often do you tune into this feeling of of feeling free yeah it's it's one of my um it's one of the words that brings me the most Joy even
(46:48) thinking about and talking about because um right before you said that I was feeling really playful with the conversation like look you were saying there's this character like I I feel like freedom is a sense of playfulness and creativity flowing um Choice points being aware that my body is reacting in a certain way and freedom to me is recognizing that something's happening and I have the choice to self-regulate and change my experience my heart rate my breath pattern my muscle tone um I have the choice to self haveo to
(47:26) self regulate that to me is freedom the closer I can get to the as the more I can maintain this conscious response that feels free to me love it how about you yeah the breath is so important for me to feel free like just taking more and more I am taking these nice long deep breaths throughout my day and if if something whatever is going on that maybe doesn't feel so good yeah that's the self-regulation that's the opportunity like okay you have the opportunity to self-regulate yourself and I'm doing
(48:11) that primarily through the breath just just nice long deep breaths and I'm I'm receiving the energy too that's how I feel that that's what's happening and yeah do even just one of those all of a sudden that then I feel more free it's that simple yeah do you ever find yourself taking deep breaths in public like I I find myself doing that and people be like oh wow you just took a deep breath are you okay I'm like I feel great yes do you ever find yourself doing that yeah I'm sure that I do I don't really
(48:47) give it much thought I think more of my breath are are kind of like little like silent long silent no one would even really recognize that I was taking what I yeah okay yeah type of thing but it's all good I mean it's definitely something we have constant all the time to tune into yeah appreciate you so much friend likewise yeah thanks for doing this again I feel so joyful right now and because we're getting to know each other and when I drop in with you I mentioned to you this last podcast I have so much
(49:26) sensation of awareness like um my heart feels expanded and I feel joyful and I I I feel the viscosity of energy that we're sharing in this space it's very unique it's interesting how each relationship brings out something different and so I want to thank you for the presence that you hold and the invitation that you invitation that you have in your beingness to have podcasts like these and really drop in with people people it it's just I feel so much gratitude for your your presence and your entity
(50:02) called Avi Gordon when I'm in your field I just feel so excited to just it's not just coming from here it just feels like there's an exchange happening on a lot of levels so I'm aware of that so thank you for inviting me yeah I mean thank you for for seeing that and expressing that because I I do a lot of these relatively yeah um and uh that's not the response that everyone has you know it might might be happening I don't know hopefully it is but that's a cool thing too how just everyone is so
(50:36) unique right and you meet you can meet someone and and I had this experience of being um at like a music concert you know and I was just kind of walking around and like looking at faces and i' never seen these people before right any of these faces but still if I really like looked at them I felt like that I knew them and how is that possible how cool is that you know more emotions are coming up because uh it was my birthday since while I was here and you were actually the one to pull me out from the outside into the
(51:11) dining hall because I was you were like where's James where's James and I was hoping to go undercover with my birthday because I didn't want that attention I didn't think I wanted that attention and I thought I was doing a really good job you know because typically my birthday with friends is a really big deal I usually travel for my birthday for a holiday or something like that and so your head popped out you're like James James I'm like what what like what's going on and you were sharing something
(51:35) but I I had just finished meditating and I walked back from the temple and I was all like in this unified State and all of a sudden I'm like what what what's going on and then I walk in and and everybody was holding space for me and um and I found myself having this contraction at first like oh no I don't want everybody to know this my birthday and then and I thought oh gosh James come on like I'm not in control of this this is Flowing right now and this is a gift people are giving you and the
(52:05) swamis and you and the people and I thought so what I did as a practice as a as a conscious Choice point was like look at people's eyes CU I I had wanted have I had the tendency I felt like I was going to go up and out out of my body because I was uncomfortable yeah and I thought no come back into your body receive this as a gift and so that's what I did is I looked and I just made eye contact with as many people as I could it was the first time I'd ever done that so that's interesting that you're saying that that's so cool yeah
(52:34) CU I just practiced that as a choice point to connect what I love so much there's nothing that lights me up more is that when in experience presents itself and I feel myself getting ready to respond to it in a way that I normally would that I'm in the habit of doing yeah and I make a choice no this time I'm going to explore something else yeah so thanks for being part of that because you're you're that character popping out of the door going James I'm like what so again thank you AI thank you to yogaville and the sasham
(53:13) and all the people here and I'm just grateful that I get to play with you again and keep practicing and exploring and so wonderful appreciate you brother you're welcome thanks for listen in if you've enjoyed this content and think others might as well please feel free to share and subscribe