When Spiritual Work Feels Stuck — What to Do Next
Feeling stuck despite doing “the work”? This is the only podcast for spiritual, self-help-curious midlifers where you can explore hidden blocks, soulful practices, and actionable tools to find clarity, calm, and progress. We interview inspiring guests who share insights to help you move forward, and your host, The Gentle Yoga Warrior, knows what it’s like to be stuck for years — offering guidance, meditations, and practical practices to support your growth.
Many episodes include a bonus optional meditation!
Formerly Awakened Conscious Conversations, we’ve rebranded with a new title: When Spiritual Work Feels Stuck — What to Do Next. This updated name more fully reflects the heart of our work, and we’re deeply grateful to our longtime listeners for growing with us—and to our new listeners for joining us on the journey. We’re so glad you’re here!
When Spiritual Work Feels Stuck — What to Do Next
Embracing the Spirit of the Hornet: Exploring Hidden Messages in Nature
Have you ever wondered about the hidden messages behind nature's most misunderstood creatures? Join us on a tranquil autumn evening as we explore the world of hornets and their crucial role in our ecosystem. Amid the soothing sounds of a wind chime, we reflect on a nocturnal encounter with a native UK hornet. This experience sparks a conversation about the beauty and strength of these remarkable creatures, drawing connections between their untamed nature and our own inner resilience.
Prepare to harness the spirit of the hornet in our guided meditation, designed to cultivate bravery and balance in your life.
This episode invites you to embrace the mystical qualities of creatures that sting and encourages you to share your own animal encounters, fostering a deeper connection between humanity and the natural world.
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A note for every episode: we do not necessary agree with all the views on our podcast and leave listeners to make their own mind up with what they do or don't agree with.
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as I record this week's podcast, I can hear gently blowing in the wind because there's a light wind outside, my neighbor's wind chime and it's kind of got this beautiful rhythm and it makes me think of the rhythm of life. Last night I have this thing that I really like it, like when you get some kind of cold air into the bedroom at night and the seasons here are changing from summer into autumn, also known as fall, and in this autumnal time of year the fresh, crisp, vibrancy of nighttime air in my room is so lovely to sleep in. But last night we opened the window and this great big hornet came in and hornets kind of get a bad name. Like I know, in the UK we've been told we have to report with this non-native variety of hornet, the asian hornet, which has accidentally come to the uk and unfortunately it attacks honeybees. So that's why they're trying to. That's why they're trying to. Well, we have to kind of let them know. That's why, if you do see a asian hornet nest, that you should report it to the authorities. But this was a native, as far as I can tell, a native hornet from the UK, and they are very unaggressive, in a sense from the UK and they get a bad name because they're actually not as aggressive as the common wasp and they will seldom sting if they're by themselves. They're a really vital pollinator in the world of kind of nature and they stand for so many things.
Speaker 1:But it of course we were frightened because they're quite big and you know when you're half asleep and you and you didn't know where it had gone and because one time we had a bat that came into the house and we thought it had gone, we were partly were looking for it and basically before it'd gone out the window, but then I saw it climb on the bed so we had to spend a bit longer helping it get out of the house and going back to the back. I think that time you know how we have like mobile phones I don't, there's all these different theories but whatever happened, it lost its way and luckily we managed to help it get out of the window and that flew off very kindly into the to the night, and bats are protected species and ones that we should give a lot of respect and love to. But getting back to the hornet, it was kind of flying around. It's quite big and you know when you've got that nighttime lit rooms and they kind of look even bigger and the sound is so much louder than, in my opinion, than other kind of flying things, and it just kept going all around the house. In the end my partner managed to get it, capture it into a glass and take it down to the bottom garden, just tip the glass so it could fly out when it wanted to.
Speaker 1:But the total symbol of these beautiful but scary having that, that strength and often they have it assigned to feel like they are of great inner strength to it, reminding us of our inner strength and our inner courage to be and to be in the flow. I like something about their wildness, you know, like how cats always seem much more wilder than dogs. I think it's kind of that untamed strength and determination, that kind of wildness about them and the beauty from having that kind of raw inner strength. And I had one short before when kind of going through a lot of change in the past and I think it's about change for the best and a sign of a kind of rebirth and growth.
Speaker 1:According to the Woodland Trust, hornets right are most active between May and November, and it is almost October as I record this, so that makes sense. They are quite common in the UK so they're not under threat. I can't speak for the rest of the world and also your hornets might be very different to how we have them in the UK but like with most of those kind of creatures like bees and stuff like that, the male ones can't sting, it's only the female ones that can. From what I've read, they tend to sting when they're to kind of gather. But it's almost as if, like, they've got this amazing. It makes me think of how they've got this amazing strength that they don't always kind of realize that they have so kind of like their armor and the way that they're dressed up in their their nice bright colors. It's kind of like they're like warriors of strength and warriors in this realms and other realms and their ability to boldly go where no other hornet has gone before, in a sense that they're explorers and we can learn to explore our own inner self and our own inner visions and our inner abilities to be and love.
Speaker 1:You know people say two magpies, one magpie and the other thinks, think it's bad luck. I think magpies are very good, lucky birds and they're they're a bit naughty but they're also very intelligent and and clever. They are very territorial but they have a way of kind of getting on with things and I don't know. I like I'm digressing a bit, but I love, I love magpies. But getting back back to back to back to the hornets, and the reason I said about the magpies was just because they get a bad name as well as anything that kind of stings and, of course, like no one wants to be stung, I one time I was deadheading some roses and I I didn't have my glasses on I got stung on the finger and it really hurt and and I felt more sad because the bee had died because of me not wearing my glasses. Wherever I had my glasses it would have lived. But anything that stings kind of gets a gets a bad, bad name. But like, like I said, they tend not to sting by them, by themselves and they're a lot less aggressive than the common wasp are in the uk.
Speaker 1:Um, I think they have a mystical quality towards them. Um, like I said, strength, determination. They can be a sign of things to come. It's almost if I almost felt like the, the, the hornet come in and it's sometimes when we're kind of getting stuck in some sort of mental loop or some way of being. And the hornet symbolizes expected, unexpected, which sometimes can be good, sometimes it can be transitional, but either way it's kind of a reminder that what we think is there is not always how it is. And and the hornet is brave because, like, there's always things, even though it hunts things and I know that other birds and things can hunt them. And another thing with the hornets, they kind of can be very confronting, which I think reminds us to kind of confront our kind of hidden fears and challenges. Like I said, this hornet came out from the unexpected. Like I said this, this hornet came out from the unexpected and it's kind of having this respect for nature and having kind of this um, um, powerful potential that we don't always tap into cycles in life. So it's kind of like a lot of those stinging um creatures have like a short cycle of life and they and then kind of they go, like I know, at the end of them. I'm not sure what happens with hornets, but I know that kind of in wasps and bees things, they chuck out the, they chuck out the males if they haven't died, like at the end of like their season.
Speaker 1:And so my dear question to you, dear dear listeners, is what animals, creatures, insects, etc. Have you come across and what do you think that means for your life? I'd be very intrigued to hear from you if you drop our podcast Align at shamanakeelingsorg and there's a bit on podcasts there and anything that you'd like me to share on the show. I really appreciate it. The show is like over four years now and it does cost quite a lot to run the show, so if you would be so kind to sponsor it there's a sponsor it page there. Any sponsorship is very, very graciously received.
Speaker 1:As promised, here is your meditation inspired by today's show. Top tips for the meditation is either sit nice and cross-legged on the floor with a nice straight back always nice to sit on a block or a cushion, or that's not available for you you sit in a chair with the back nice and straight. The important thing is you're not slouching, and if you're doing something that requires you concentration, all you need to do is just pause this and you can reconvene the meditation at a time that is good for you. If you're doing the meditation, that's Begin. So as you close your eyes, you feel as if there is a giant moon above you in the sky and on this night you are able to take flight and fly high in the sky With wings. Like a wasp, you flow and you grow, discovering and boldly going where you've never been before. As you take this hornet's wasp eye, the you of the night, you are blessed with the sight of an owl, the swiftness of a wasp and the knowledge of the said.
Speaker 1:Time had just begun.
Speaker 1:Time had just begun and as if you were to view your life from this mystical plane, this magical world where things may seem slightly insane, but mystical and magical without no doubt.
Speaker 1:As we slow down for a moment and pause and look at what you can see, what you allow yourself to be, as you take some slow, delicate breaths, in rhythm with your unique and natural breath, allowing yourself to grow, allowing yourself to just be slow, capturing those moments, as a great big Phoenix suddenly takes flight and for a moment, you have to swiftly dive and duck and be boldly brave enough to find the solitude, the shelter of a tree Beneath a leaf.
Speaker 1:You hide and you just be, knowing that you are now safe and safe and sound, as you relax into the moment, into the here and the now, in this place of great safety and being as you slow the breath right down. But you know you can't stay here forever. But you know you can't stay here forever. As the weather begins to turn and blows at the leaves of the tree, the leaf blows off, but now it is daylight and your predators are gone, and yet that bravery that you just had should not be forgotten. So you can take that bravery into your everyday life as you slowly, slowly land back on your feet, back into the moment, back into the now, knowing that within you there is bravery, there is moments of peace and in balance of being present in the now, life will unfold in an elegant dance, ever changing but stillness, between whatever life has to throw at you. Offer you or be you are loved as you allow yourself just to simply be as you come back into the moment, come back into the now, brave and aware.
