106 You Can Awaken! My Personal Practice - Q & A

Topics discussed in this Live Q & A are How to work with Negative thought Loops, Why are we here in the world, Can I be in the world but not of it, What is my personal practice now, Can you be awakened, Is pain the same as your Radiance? Etc.

These podcasts are here to support your personal path of awakening whatever that might be. I feel they are most powerful when listened to in sequence from podcast one forward because each is built on the last. Though they, also, all stand on their own. If anything does not resonate, please disregard it and follow your heart. All my podcasts and website are free. Enjoy!

Though I am a psychotherapist, and these podcasts are offered to be spiritually helpful, they are not psychotherapy. If psychotherapy is ever needed, please reach out to a psychotherapist.

www.williamecooper.wordpress.com for more support. You may, especially, enjoy the short contemplations and the resource page which gives you some supportive material.

Transcript

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Welcome everybody. Welcome to Awakening Together, Relaxing Into Happiness. I'm William Cooper. This live session is designed for everybody to answer any questions that you might have on your path. It supplements the podcasts that I have that are also available to you. Oh, I see some nice friends. Hello everybody. So, if you would like to type in the box any question you have on your practice, whether you've heard any of my podcasts or not, you have your own practice. And maybe I can say something that would be helpful if you've wondered about something and maybe it won't be helpful. Um, trust your heart. Take what I say with a grain of salt and mix it around with everything else that you know. Hi Gary. Hey Monica. Monica asks, Hi William, glad to be back here with you. What's the name of your podcast? Good question. My podcast is Awakening Together, Relaxing Into Happiness with William Cooper. You can just Google Awakening Together podcast, William Cooper, and you'll get it. Also, you can find it on Insight Timer, just Google William Cooper under the teachers. Uh, if you follow me on Insight Timer, you'll get a notification every time I do a new podcast or live session. So that'll keep you in touch as well. So good to see you all. While you're thinking of a question that you might have, let me talk a moment about trust and tension and blocks. Have you ever had a block maybe in your stomach or tension in your stomach or a pain, maybe in your throat, tightness or your heart, anywhere? What I've discovered for me, and you check it out for you, but that's a sign of a lack of trust, a lack of connection to who you are. And I'll explain that. What I mean by that is often, and I'll just take myself, let's say I have a tension in my stomach. I might say, Oh, I have this tension in my stomach. I have this thing over here. And so that immediately turns that tension into an object. It's a tension in my stomach. That's not really true. What is true is as I own that tension, as I feel it and live from that tension, I realize that I am tense and I am putting it, I am displaying it in my stomach. It's not something I have. It's something I am. Now, I mean, from the perspective of my body, mind, personality, of course, we're much, we're beyond that as a being, but on a practical sense, as we go through our day, I could say, I am that tension. I am the tension in my stomach. There's nobody else inside of me, except for me. So I'm creating that tension. Now, why am I creating that tension? Because I've separated myself from knowing that it's okay, that something's okay, because what does that tension display? It generally displays anger, fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, something. And these are symptoms of being separated from my beautiful self. When I connect, when I own that tension, I can connect once again to my infinite, to who I am, because when I don't own it, when I say I have a tension, now I've lost all ability to heal that tension because it's an object just sitting over there, supposedly, when really it's me who's twisted off, repressed, or dissociated from how I've dealt with some sort of disappointment, hurt, fear, something in my life. So when I own it, when I step into it, I'm reassociating, reintegrating, owning, becoming whole again. And from that place for a while, it just hurts. That's why I dissociated in the first place. It just hurts. Oh, I heard, I heard, I heard, I'm tense. I'm tense. I'm tense. Don't expect a quick fix. You'll feel bad for a while. But then as it bleeds off that pent up energy, then after a little bit and a little bit, I don't know, that could be days, could be weeks, could be hours. I don't know. But whatever it is for you, at some point, you'll be able to breathe in goodness again from that place that's tense. And when that tension can receive, then it's no longer separated. And what is receiving? That's a trust of a kind. If you receive nature, that's a trust. If you receive happiness, that's a trust. If you've been meditating for some time or have other ways to be one with yourself, your being, and you receive that, that's the highest thing that you can receive. And that's ultimate trust because as that tension receives, what does it do? It releases, it relaxes, and it lets go. And when it lets go, where does it go? It disappears. Into what? Into oneness. When you do that enough, you are one. You are oneness itself. Because that's who you are. The illusion that we aren't is just a series of these twisted off tensions that are telling us otherwise. So the bottom line is, when that tension receives, it ultimately is simply trusting. That's what receiving is, trusting. What is it trusting? Ultimately, the oneness, the well-being of who we are. Okay. Now, a number of you have written some things, and so let me, since I've invited you to ask questions, let me see if I can answer some of them. Gary says, negative thought loops are so sticky and keep pulling me back in. Is there a good way out? That is such a good question, Gary. Extremely good. And I think all of us experience that on some level. Now, life, as you know, is complex. It's multi-layered. And sometimes answers to these questions require approaching them in more than one way to get your complete solution. So I'm going to say a number of things that each one all by itself probably will not do the trick, but it might move you in a good direction, each one of them. But together, hopefully, it'll move you in a good place. So the very first thing, negative thought loops, if you talk to a neurobiologist, they will say your neurons are linked together. They're firing together and creating these actual biological loops that are sticky. And so when they work with somebody with an obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, or almost any kind of thing that we're all prone to, these words sound so oppressive. I know, and I apologize for that. And the thing is, all of us suffer from these negative thought loops, just about all of us, at least on a very subtle level. So the way to stop these, the first thing is, when they work with OCD or some more severe cases, what they'll say is no matter what, even if you feel like you have to go back and check the stove to see that you turned it off, and you've already checked it 50 times, but you just feel that you have to do it. That's an extreme case. They would say, don't do it the best of your ability. Try very hard not to do it. You might be successful or you might not, but try not to do it. Every time that you cannot follow that obsessive negative loop, when they scan your brain, they see that there's a brain change and it starts to wire differently. So the first solution out of many is to just stop it the best you can. This is a very shallow answer I realize, and it's not complete, but it's powerful. You just stop it the best you can. Sometimes people use an affirmation or a mantra. I am good. I am one. I am love. I am trust. Whatever you need, whatever works for you. Find a mantra that can help interrupt that negative thought loop. When the negative thought comes up, have your mantra ready to go. And right when you feel like gripping you say the mantra instead, replace the loop with a positive affirmation. I am this. I am that. I am this. I am that. That's just interrupting and rewiring the first lurch of those neurons. So let's start there. You want to do baby steps on almost every change. You don't want to try to change too much too fast because it'll be overwhelming. What you may find underneath these negative thought loops is a negative emotion, hurt, fear, or anger. So another way to approach it is when you stop yourself from engaging in the negative thought loop, feel what emotion comes up. You might feel out of control. You might feel panicky. You might feel angry. You might feel afraid. You might be a feel anxious. Those are simply emotions. And by simply, I know they're very powerful, but they are emotions and they can dissolve. You can release those. They're not real. They're made up things. So Gary, I think you've listened to a lot of my podcasts already, but I would go back through those and just treat that underlying emotion. Like often I talk about in meditation, we observe the emotion and let it burn off. We let it expend its energy. And then the second thing we let it do is just like I described, uh, earlier tension and breathing and trust. We let that emotion breathe and trust or wellbeing or, um, the love of you. Now I've described it in many different ways and different approaches and different podcasts. So that's why I'm directing not simply you, because you may have already approached these podcasts, but anybody else that's listening in that I would do that. I would go through those podcasts. And of course, from negative loops, you can interrupt them with positive behaviors like exercise, jogging, walking in nature. They will release what I found when I was going through a period of time in my life where I had a lot of negative loops. I found that journaling every day for about 30 minutes where I would just get on my computer. Some people write and journals. I would just get on my computer and I would type 30 straight minutes and I would go by time, not by content of what I typed. It would just be a stream of consciousness. I wasn't trying to solve anything. I was just letting it flow. And it would be like, I feel horrible. I feel horrible. I feel horrible. I feel this, I feel that I feel this, I feel that, this will never resolve itself. This will, you know, I just did that for 30 minutes every day. I also did some of the other things that I'm talking to about, but the journaling really also helped. It helped clarify and sort of burn off some of the tension and stress of these negative loops. There's a book called self-talk. And in that, the author just talks about, it's kind of what we just talked about is start programming in positive self-talk instead of the negative self-talk. And I just referred to it as affirmations earlier. Ultimately, I think consistent meditation every day, where you observe these thoughts, you see that you're not them. And during the meditation, you don't attempt to change them. You don't attempt to replace them with positive affirmations. You just let them run their course, expend their energy and let them breathe in the goodness of that, which is watching you, your awareness. You get used to the fact that your awareness is love, peace, and wellbeing, and you let them breathe that in. And when they breathe it in, remember, it's not oppressive. Whenever you do a spiritual practice, listen to those thought forms or those emotions and let them breathe into the degree they can and want to. Sometimes they just want to do the most shallow breath, because this is a little part of you. It's a part that's twisted off. Like I described earlier in this live session, it's you that's been twisted off and dissociated. And now you're reintegrating it. And from the perspective of you, when you did that, maybe all you can handle is a little bit of goodness right at the moment. So you just breathe in a little bit. If you overwhelm, you'll skip over yourself. And what dissolves, uh, distress is when you receive and absorb, when you soak in goodness, when you skip over yourself, you're simply routine routinely doing your practice, but you're not receiving and therefore melting. You're just dutifully completing your practice. So that's a start anyway. And, um, if you could see how some of that works, and if you want to talk about it a little bit more, our next live session will be in about 10 days. Please ask me again, or if something else comes in, uh, another thought, just ask me tonight. Thank you, Gary. I hope that answered your questions. Gary J asks, why are we all here? That's a great question. Leanne asks when I do the awakening meditation, not much comes up normal. I'll answer yours first, Leanne. Yes, that can be normal. Just keep doing it. Let whatever comes up. Nothing has to come up. Let me put it this way. If something needs to come up, it will come up. You don't have to worry about it. You don't have to hunt it. You don't have to provoke it. It will come up. If it needs to come up when nothing's coming up, that's wonderful. Just enjoy your meditation and put your attention. Since not much is coming up, put your attention on that part of you that is aware and experience yourself, that which is aware of everything. Just notice its qualities. Notice if you follow it back to the deepest level, does it even exist? How do you know it? Is it through intuition or is it also through your senses? Um, and you may already be doing that. I'm just giving some ideas, but yes, that's normal. Shannon asks a very good question. So if we are journaling, is it bad to say something negative? Is it getting it out or feeding the emotion? You know, there are so many paradoxes with this stuff. What I would say is that, and that is an extremely good observation and question. I imagine lots of people have had that as soon as I said that I was going to address that as well, but so much was happening. So Shannon, what happens in my experience is when I journal, it's just getting one layer, it's loosening everything up and it's allowing everything to exist. I'm reowning, I'm reintegrating with myself instead of isolating my negative emotions. I'm feeling them. I'm letting them flow. I'm letting them come to the surface. I'm letting them expend themselves and I see them and because I'm letting them get out, I don't have to dwell on them all day long. So it, it's sort of a release. However, to you, the core of your question, when I'm out and about in the world, there are certain times that maybe it's better not to follow the negative impulses. That's what disrupts the neural connections, the neural pathways. Like I don't go check the stove again. I don't say something that might feel good, but it wouldn't, would not be productive to my neighbor who's acting in a bad way. Even if that would be my habit and maybe my, my right in a way, but is it expressing my higher self? And I mean, I don't mean morally, I mean that part of me that I'm connected to in my meditation, that I feel as peace. Can I stay as that all day long? Stay as the love, stay as the wellbeing, as the light, as what's deeper than all of it. Can I stay? That's beyond words. Can I flow from there? Because anything else, but that any flowing from any tension, anxiety, or anger is me simply flowing from my personality. So that's what I disrupt in my daily activities by not doing that and seeing if I can be in touch. Maybe I can't be in touch with my higher self so well in the midst of lots of things going on. But if I can, I do. And if I can't, at least I disrupt the neuropathways by not doing that. But journaling is something I'm doing for a different reason. And I look at it more as reintegrating owning and letting myself discharge, not forcefully, but just naturally let things flow again. Let things not be jammed up again. Such a good question. I hope I answered it or at least started the answer. I want to get back to Jay's question. This is a very big question, Jay. And I have a podcast on it, actually. I wish I could remember. I hope the name of the podcast is something like has that in there. Like, why are we here or something like that? Sometimes I address things in podcasts that cover more than one topic. So I just can't remember the name of it. But first of all, we are here. So that's, that's a fact. So we start with that. What do we notice here? We notice drama. We notice good. We notice bad. We notice pain. We notice happiness. We notice joy. We notice a lot of things. We also notice the ability in meditation to connect what's beyond all of this creation. What's even beyond our senses that we can only know through our intuition, but we can know it. And it's very real. When people say you can't know it, they just simply mean you can't know it through your senses, but you can know it just as much as you would know anything through your senses. I think more. So in that place, everything is beautiful. And from flowing through that down through your being, you notice that everything in this world, all of creation is made of this being that sort of slowed down and turned into creation. So even negative things are made of happiness. Even knives are made of love. Guns are made of love because every there is only one building block, which is consciousness. And that is made of love. However, if we went to a movie and there was just one big smiley face on the screen, the whole two hours, and that was it, we would get very bored and we would not go to that movie. Same with life, it would be very boring. So we need separation to block ourselves off from just complete happiness all the time. So that we can get drama, we can get excitement, we can get delusion, you have to be deluded in order to believe the delusion of life. Does life have to be a delusion? No, you can see clearly. And that's what these podcasts are about is to be in the world, but not of it, to hold things very lightly and to stay connected to the happiness and wellbeing that you are and let everything that's otherwise go yet still participate in the dramas of life is to the extent that you would like. So we are here. The same reason why the infinite is here because creation is the flip side of the infinite. They're one in the same. It's just infinite in creation. The infinite is every possibility that exists. The creation is a display of many of those possibilities. And that infinite keeps changing all the time because many different possibilities are being displayed through time, which is also a creation time. So the creation is an expression. We are the infinite expressing ourselves in creation. So we're in this odd situation where we're beyond creation yet we're fully within creation. So that's why we can say we are in it, but we're not of it. And we can actually have a life that feels that way. We feel free and released, possibly not completely because creation is sticky and it will grab you and delude you for a moment. Even the deepest of gurus and, and, uh, people, uh, such as us that are on the path. Okay. I, that's a start to answering your question, Jay. It's such a good one. And so deep. I don't want to spend the whole time on it, but I might direct you to just take a quick scan of my different podcasts and see if you see a title that says something like that, awakening together with William Cooper or just Google William Cooper. Uh, let's see. Laura says, isn't it amazing that we are, that we all are here from this point of view? Yes. It's amazing. It's beautiful. We're part of a painting. We're in a three D painting, so to speak. So, uh, the other one says, great question, Shannon, I reached recently stopped journaling because it was like I was writing my story based on old memories. Yes. Leanne, that's such a great comment as well on every spiritual practice. Remember it's simply a practice and you, you let it go when it no longer serves you and you'll know the difference. So when somebody says even your guru or your yoga teacher or whoever, they keep moving you through a very helpful process. But at some point, a practice is designed to open you up and receive who you are. And at that point, you don't really need a practice. And these various practices are designed to touch different levels of us. I often describe myself as a rainbow, that we have all these different colors and levels inside of us that each one can use attention and open up on all the levels. And once that practice has done its job, let it go. So beautiful. Trust yourself and let your teacher go. Once your teacher who's helped you so much, but once they've done all they can do, move on to the next one, do that in everything until all that's left is you. Catherine says, isn't it about letting go of the experience? Um, you know, that is such a good observation too. And let me say this again, because we are a being that is beyond all of existence and we're also a being fully within creation and existence. We have two things going on on one level, on an emotional level or a thought level. It's, it is about letting go of the experience, letting it go. When we make a construct, which emotions are and thoughts, remember our hallucinations, we make them up. They're useful, but they're hallucinations, right? So are emotions. They're just slow moving hallucinations. So our tensions in our body, we make them up when we don't deconstruct them, they can grind away at us and hurt. So, and I do address that in my podcast. So yes, in that sense, it's about letting go of the, both the constructs and in our daily life, letting the experience flow through us gently, nicely don't hold on to anything, be in the world, but not of it. And that is, yes, letting go of the experience. However, I do want to add this because it's all one ultimate awakening is to be fully connected to every experience as well. So we don't block out anything at all. Ultimately, maybe at certain levels of our awakening, we need to do that to protect ourselves. That's fine. But ultimately we are fully connected to everything. So when we're in the world, but not of it, we are totally connected to everything. We feel the core of it, the core of the pain and the core of the joy. Now, when we fill it fully, it turns out that it's all joy. It's all light, but on a halfway feeling it, it feels like pain. So we feel it completely. So we're totally in the world, but we're not of it because we don't hold on to anything in the world. We don't grab anything in the world when we're not fully connected to our deepest self. We feel like we have to grab the world to satisfy ourselves. We have to hold on to love. We have to hold on to this person. We have to hold on to this experience. It's so good. We better never let it go. So we grab, grab, grab. And in that grabbing, we get stuck in a level of separation because the actual reason we were grabbing in the first place is because we're disconnected from ourselves, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have to grab love. When you feel yourself as love, you are the love that you're trying to grab. So it makes no sense as love. You just enjoy other love and you let it float through, but you're fully connected to it. Now, maybe life is destined for that love to stay forever. It's just that you're not grabbing it. Slavina says, journaling is a great tool to reach out to self-reality and understanding. It helps with letting go, finding out and personal growth. Yes, that's my experience too. And you know, right now I don't journal very rarely. I used to do it every day for years, but just like somebody else says, it served its purpose for me and I let it go. But while I did it for those years, it was incredible. It took me so deep in my process. Leanne says, do you think it's possible to awaken without community? That is such a good question. Absolutely. It is. Absolutely. You can awaken no matter what, what is awakening that simply experiencing yourself fully. And you're here all the time, whether there's community or not, you're just relaxing and letting go of your delusions. You're seeing through them. You don't even have to let your delusions go to awaken. You just have to see through them enough, enough to know who you are and experience yourself fully. Cause sometimes it takes a while for those delusions to let go. So when somebody asks, sir, Lama Surya does, are you awake? I was in this little workshop of his like 10 or 20 years ago. And he says, well, I'm awake enough. And that was such a good answer. And it's true for every being on this earth. Now, let me circle back around with this question of community. Community is very important. It's one of the things Sangha is what Buddha said was one of the most important things you could have, because what happens in community community is a way to stay focused, to keep you guided with high teachings, to keep your conversations and awareness connected to very deep to your deepest self and to let things go. Because the people around you are reflecting and at least the gesture of the good awakening way. I say gesture because we're all human beings and none of us are perfect. So it might not be perfect in all ways. However, that itself is perfect because when somebody interacts with you and it brings up anger or frustration or jealousy or whatever, that shows me that I still have that within me. Otherwise it couldn't be brought up. Somebody would do the same behavior and I would just have compassion and wonder what's wrong with them. Are they okay? I wouldn't feel jealous, hurt, anger, anxiety, because it wouldn't be about me. So community can bring that up too. So community is very important. But the question is, do I think it's possible to awaken without it? Absolutely. You know, Jesus, when he awakened, what he did was go into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. So he wasn't around anybody. And that's what Buddha did too. He got under a Bodhi tree and he meditated and he said, I'm just going to meditate. I'll die rather than move from here. And he wasn't talking to anybody. He was under that Bodhi tree. Now, 40 days and 40 nights in Bible language means a very long time. So I'm guessing it was years not seeing anybody. Ramana got in a cave and he didn't want to see anybody. His mother moved in and he got himself a different cave. So it can be very helpful to be in community and at other times in your life, helpful not to be in community. You know the difference and you just follow your heart as with all things. Laura says the journaling, I do it every morning, three pages. It helps me as much as meditation. I don't pay too much attention to what I say. Just let go and feel better. Normally that's the exact kind of meditate journaling that I did also, Laura. And I think it's the kind that's talked about in the artist way, that book, the artist's way. Very good book. Catherine asked, and hi Catherine, good to see you. Catherine's from England and staying up very late to be with us. How important is insight and self-realization? That is also a very good question, Catherine. See, again, we exist on many different levels and some things inside of us don't let go or let go more easily when we have insight. It's like, ah, now I understand. Let me put it this way. You know that story where somebody sees, where somebody is afraid all night long and they're having panic attacks because there's a cobra in the corner of their dark room and then light comes in and they see it was a rope. And so instantly the panic disappears. The anxiety disappears. They don't have to see the psychiatrist after all. They don't need to take medication for their anxiety attacks and they don't see need to see a therapist. They just now can see clearly. My guru used to say to see is to be free. So insights can be like light and they can help dissolve things. That's the Yana Yanni path. Also the Yana yoga. And in a sense, that's what these dialogues are about is to bring awareness and insight to help things melt away. So insight is very important in self-realization. However, uh, you could approach it differently too. And in self-realization, there is no one path. We're multi-dimensional. We're multi-leveled and on different times of our life. Some things work better than others. Some things don't work that will later work. Some things used to work that no longer work sometimes just sitting still and observing my thoughts and emotions and feeling them fully, but not getting involved in them. That doesn't require insight. It just requires some discipline and letting that happen in consistency. Often when these thoughts start to unwind and the emotions start to dissolve, they will themselves release insights that will help them further dissolve. If that's what's needed, there is only one. This is the ultimate being that is who we are. That's who you are, Catherine. It's who I am. And it's guiding your process, even though it seems like it's you guiding it, or it seems like it's me guiding it, guiding my process. When the personality releases, we find out that we didn't guide anything because we didn't exist. Our personality is a fiction. So it's this light that is this oneness that shines through all of us. That's guiding our step-by-step process. And it could be no other way. And I know that's paradoxical because here we are talking about things to do. So it's both important to do the things that appear to you to do and do them in the way that it appears for you to do them, because that's how life is unfolding in your experience. But at the same time, you can relax and know that it's divinely guided. If you like that word, divine. Other people just like infinite. I don't know. Choose your word. It doesn't matter. Light. I don't care. Destiny. Whatever suits everybody. Take your word. Take your label. But that's what's guiding us. And what is that? That is you. That is you are guiding yourself. Why is it so slow? You're the one that's making it slow. Why? Because what seems to be a chore now is a richness later. You think, oh, this is so painful. Why do I have to go through this? I can guarantee you it's perfect what you're going through. And it may not seem that way right this moment, but at some point you'll go, wow, I, I am so glad I had that experience. Now, I never would have chosen it for myself. It was horrible. But because of it, I can speak from that to others, or I can understand something, or I have a richness in my life or a depth that I wouldn't have had. Laura says Eckhart Tolle was alone too. Yeah. And Byron Katie, didn't she lock herself in the attic? They both felt like they were going crazy and they were depressed and probably, I think suicidal. Those are not prerequisites, by the way, it was just their story. Slavina says out of interest, William, what are you doing these days? Instead of journaling, do you feel a need to have practice to keep yourself meeting with love wherever you're on your journey? Yes. And no, here's what I do. I live on the beach. I like to walk on the beach, get up at five in the morning. Thereabouts, whenever I wake up, sometimes four 30, sometimes later. And I like to walk on the beach for two or three hours under the stars. I mean, it's early and I'm walking on quartz crystal because the sand here is made of quartz crystal and it's just beautiful. And so I do that for two or three hours and I just feel everything that is. And I let things unwind as they do. In a way, it's like a walking journaling in a way. And then when I get back, I meditate for a while and just let whatever flows. I see clearly and anything that's still deep in my system that needs to release or come out. I just welcome it. I feel it. I used to try to push things out or willpower them out or manipulate them out. You know, have a practice to get rid of them, quote unquote. But now I don't do that. I just welcome them and feel them and they unwind and kind of poof, they leave. And then there's only being. And then after that, I do this yoga Nanda kind of yoga. It's called reenergization exercises. I think you can look on YouTube and they'll describe it. It's designed to be a 15 minute kind of tense, relaxed, tense, relaxed, move this joint, move that joint kind of practice. And what I find for me where I am now didn't I did this for years and it did not do anything much for me that I could tell. But now it's so profound. I just melt completely away. Anything that's separating me, any remaining trace just melts into light and dissolves. And I find it very powerful because I have different ways that I've separated in my history, my thoughts, my hallucinations or my thoughts, my emotions, which are the slow moving thoughts that give three D that's how you hold onto your dramas and perspectives and give it three D, um, and staying power. It seems very real because of emotions, but what's more real and long lasting than that is muscle tension. When emotions migrate down into your muscles, when you sort of dissociate or really drive them in deep, uh, they get into your stomach or into your nervous system, into your muscles. And I find when I tense, relax, tense, relax, tense, relax, and move the joints because they also get stuck in joints. There's a deep release. And for me, it's very profound. So I do that. And I'm telling you, if anything's gripped me by the time I've done that, I've really let some layers go. I mean, they're gone. There's nothing there's only being my background was a very severe and difficult one. And I carried a lot of trauma. So I have, it's like getting in the sun and you know, those sun cancers come out for decades after you're no longer getting in the sun. Well, traumas can come to the surface decades later, bit by bit by bit by bit. And so still I find tons of them releasing, but not like it used to be nothing like it used to be. It's like 10% of what it used to be 5% and they release pretty easily. Poof, they're gone. They're not threatening. Maybe they are for a bit sometimes big ones, but then they release. So I do these three things. That's what's good for me now. Oh, and sometimes I do a mantra or an affirmation. I am trust or something like that just to keep me focused on who I am. So I don't get grabbed by something in this world. Uh, that's very compelling. That would separate me from myself again, once I've connected with myself. So I answered that question. I said, yes, I do a practice. I said yes. And no, the reason I said no is because what I'm realizing now is I'm already connected always. And sometimes doing a practice gets in the way. It's like you kind of have to do the practice before you're allowed to relax and be one. Instead, I just am one. And so that changes my perspective on what a practice is because I used to do it to let stuff go, just like I just now described. Now I'm also experiencing it's already gone often. So the practice is all this is new to me. So I don't know if I can describe it well, but it's almost the practices. Maybe it's deepening me in levels. I didn't even know that I needed deepening in. Remember earlier, I said, you connect fully to this reality. Maybe in that practice, I have moments to connect more deeply than I would if I didn't sit still and do a practice or do the re-energization exercises or walk on the beach. But it's not sometimes now to get away from something, but it's maybe to deepen. How about that? But sometimes it is to help things release. I also started to say I used to try to manage things or push them away by willpower or positive thinking or whatever. And there's a time and place for all that stuff that it really can be productive. But at some point, what I realized is I own the stuff. I don't manage it because it's me. It's my creation. I just embody it, reintegrate it. And from that perspective of pain, breathe in niceness and kindness, breathe in nature, breathe in beingness, breathe in which is who I am. Just let it realize, because once that pain realizes, wait a second, I am that. It can breathe it in and when it breathes it in and it needs to experience it by breathing in, I mean, soak it up a little bit, maybe just to drop to the degree it can breathe it in. It dissolves into oneness, into happiness. It feels, you know, how tension feels and then you relax it. Ah, it feels good. That's how traumas feel when they relax. You all know that. Okay. I hope that answers your question. Such a good question. Thanks for asking. Hamden says, do you feel relieved walking on the beach side and such at such an hour? Yeah, because I don't force myself to get up then. If it was a chore, no, no, no, no. I would never ask somebody, you know, these things get up at two. It's the best time in the night to meditate. Don't, don't lose this moment and all that. No, that's not me. More because so much clear energy these days is flowing through me. I don't need as much sleep as I used to and I just pop up. I'm just awake. So that part is not, that is, I'm eager to get outside. I'm eager. So it's, it's, so yes, I feel so relieved because I'm connecting to myself in a sense. I'm already myself, but I don't know. It's just listening to the ocean and smelling the, the fragrant air and hear the, the waves and the, feel the breeze and hear, uh, feel the stars and see them and walking on this crystal, uh, sand. It's like, uh, like walking on feathers or powdered sugar. It's just, uh, and then it's oneness. I'm both beyond it all. And I am at all, all at once. So yes, that relieves any in that situation. If there's a tension in me, it just becomes glaring because everything else is such a flow of happiness. And I'll tell you a strange things. I have strange things happen to me. You all probably to, to, but say walking on the beach. Sometimes, uh, I've noticed it feels like somebody else is up early and shining a halogen light on me. And I turn around and there's no person. It's just light shooting out of me. It's that bright. And I'm like you, it's, you know, if that happened or when it does happen with you, it's startling you like you, you don't even believe it. And, but these things happen in that connection. And great relief is great openness. And in great openness, there's great flow. And in great flow, there's all that you are. And one portion of what you are is light. It's really wonderful. Laura says, do you think the environment where you are like the beach helps you feel more connected and clean and grounded also happier? Because for me, nature is a big healer. And I do feel better being there. Especially if you live in a noisy city, I do feel that stuckness in my body often. Well, that's such a good observation, Laura. And of course, nature is being that doesn't think it's not mucked up by thinking nature's not thinking. It's not emoting. It's not all twisted in circles. It's just a clear flow of nature of beingness. And so that part of you that's clear and clean flows and resonates just like two tuning forks tuned to the same frequency, you tap one and it starts to vibrate. Well, the other one that's nearby will vibrate too. So nature is already vibrating clearly and cleanly. And it brings that out in us. So of course that yes, it's very deepening. I will say though, awakening does not require nature because I don't want anybody to feel stuck. Just sit down and do your meditations consistently. Everybody can awaken no matter where you are. There are certain places that are more conducive. That's why Buddha did talk about Sangha. He talked about good teachings. He talked about being in touch with your beingness, your Buddha nature. So, however, you can do that. Some find it journaling is helpful. Everybody, it's perfect. Your path is perfect wherever you are. You're where you need to be because it's perfect. You've arranged that. And when it no longer serves you, you'll arrange to be somewhere else. You will. Or life, it may not even seem like it's you. It might seem like it was life, but it was you. Slavina says, that sounds like bliss to have cleared out the majority of your traumas. I hope I get to reach that place of clarity, growth, healing, and feeling the deepest self. Such a blessing. Thanks for sharing, William. Slavina, you will. Everybody here that wants to, the reason you want to is because it's a movement inside that's telling you this is going to happen. That's where the wanting comes from. You already know it. You already know the end of the story. You know it will happen. It will. And at the same time, most of us have doubts. Like Jesus said, the man came up and said, can you heal my son? And Jesus says, well, if you have faith, I can. And he says, well, I do believe, but help my disbelief. Because our separated self is the disbelief. And Jesus says, your faith has healed your son. So your belief is there always. You're perfect. It's fine, even when it doesn't feel that way. Because I can guarantee you, it did not feel that way for me. Absolutely did not feel like I was in such pain and overwhelmed. We could talk 80 podcasts in a row on just how bad I felt. I don't feel that way anymore. And it's a relief. You're right. So I cherish and I understand. And I know you can. You will. You're just doing it in your time and in your way. And he says, negative ions from the sea help us clear free radicals. I live by a beach in Scotland and feel much healthier and better than when I lived in a city. Oh, that's so lucky, Angie. I shouldn't use the word lucky. You made it happen. But wow, Scotland. I've never been. I hear it's so beautiful. And yes, the negative ions by the sea do help clear and heal. Yes. Lavina says, thanks for the encouragement. Absolutely. It's the truth. It's the absolute truth. No different. It's the truth. It's the truth for all of you. Isn't it interesting? We're all here in an interesting that you're interested. That interest is telling you something that you already know. It's happening now, even if it doesn't feel like it, it is. Angie says, yes, manifestation got me here. Beautiful, Angie. Laura. Yes, Angie. I feel that same with the trees. Yes, absolutely. Hey, everybody. If I had to say a couple things as encouragement, I would say you are going to awaken to, I would say, be kind to yourself. And embrace baby steps consistently. Just do something every day. Even if it's a day where you have almost no energy, you can't do anything. Maybe 30 seconds of a meditation or take a one minute walk. Just do something because that consistency has a power and you'll open and awaken beautifully. You're on your own time. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you, Leanne. Leanne says, William. Thank you, William. Your podcasts are so clear and accessible. I don't have many questions currently on episode 28 and looking forward to continuing. Yes. Thank you, Leanne. Keep going. I will keep covering things in those podcasts. I think right now I'm at something like 105 or 104 or something like that. Okay. You guys are amazing. And really, please take this in. We're all the same. I was in, I was such a disaster. I felt so bad. Things seem so far away. So if there's even one person that feels that bad right now, I want to tell you that you will awaken if you want to. You will. You really will. The depth and the pain that you feel is there's only one energy. That pain, that intensity is the same intensity as your radiance, as your beauty, as your joy. What happens is it's been twisted into pain as it untwists, it releases into light. So you don't want to get rid of it. You don't want to bury it. You don't want to dissociate with it because it's your aura. It's your light. It's your beauty. It's your gift. I know it doesn't feel like it. It did not. Me did not feel like that to me, but it really is. So keep at it, keep up the good work. And I look forward to seeing you all soon. Hello, this is William. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please consider sharing it with somebody else. Send them a link. Thanks so much.