Awakened Conscious Conversations
Healing the world one episode at a time by offering realistic solutions to the journey of life. Both self hosted ( By The Gentle Yoga Warrior) and guest episodes.
Many of our guests have overcome significant obstacles and transformed their lives.
Rich with deep talks and solo endeavours, often offering tips on living a more conscious life.
Many episodes include a bonus optional meditation!
Awakened Conscious Conversations
Discovering the Spiritual Symbols of India And How That Can Help You Find Clues in Life
As I navigate bustling streets filled with the captivating sounds and rich cultural rituals, I encounter powerful spiritual symbols—majestic eagles and sacred cows—that guide me toward deeper self-discovery. Each moment reveals insights into overcoming personal grief and embracing authenticity, allowing nature's teachings to illuminate my path.
Discover the meaning hidden within the complexities of travel. From the sacred temples where diverse deities offer unique blessings to the challenges of a pilgrimage that mirrors life’s obstacles, my experiences invite you to look beyond chaos and find tranquility within. This immersive tale also emphasizes the strength we can draw from nature and how our surroundings can empower us when navigating turbulent times.
Together, we can reframe our experiences, embracing the signs presented by the universe, and discovering our authentic selves. Ready to embark on this adventure? Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
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Hello everybody, I'm your host, the Gentle Yoga Warrior, and this is Awakened Conscious Conversations podcast, and as we head out of the time of death into a new moon, which will hopefully help us feel more awakened and alive, I wanted to share with you some mystical experiences that I had when I went on my adventures through Tamil Nadu and, as a point of point, I was focusing quite a lot in telling people about all the dangers rather than all the beauty that was there and to particularly embark on a real adventure. Sometimes it has everything it wants, and it certainly did have this on this trip. If those who know me, I seldom get like sick. I'm very, very healthy, and I did get sick when I was on this trip and also there was quite a lot of things going on. I didn't feel that I hadn't like my um autonomy to go and do what I wanted to do. I always had to be around people and maybe that kind of sparked me a little bit into feeling a bit negative about things. But there were some very beautiful things that did happen on this journey, like for starters we managed to go through and there was only one temple that turned me away because of the colour I was um, but all the other temples were really kind and let me in and it was with such grace and honour that I got to go around these temples. But it was difficult because I had to have the courage to be seen, to stand out, to not worry what people were thinking about me. And it was a challenge at times because people would really stare and I'm not one for being in the limelight. I kind of I like to observe, like quietly, get on with things and observe. So it was pushing a lot of buttons for me.
Speaker 1:But I want to summarize, because I don't have my diary at the moment with all the names of the places that I went to. But I just want to summarise some of the beautiful things that happened and what I see them as. And I'm not summarising them in sequence, I'm just summarising them as I remember them. So what I mean is some of these things I say straight away might have happened towards the end of the trip, some in the middle, some in the beginning. You know, some of these things I say straight away might have happened towards the end of the trip, some in the middle, some in the beginning. But if you see like time, some people say time doesn't exist. In the way that we see it, they all have their significance, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:So really powerful things that saw and symbology was these sea eagles, the beautiful huge eagles. And in the UK we get lots of like um kites and we get things like falcons and hawks and things like that. Um, I think we get eagles definitely up in Scotland but not um down in the in um England and seeing these great big birds flying and I saw the birds one time. I saw them in the hotel towards the end and they were and they were kind of like, just let me know they were there and they felt quite peaceful. But there was other times where there's one town in particular that I found it very chaotic.
Speaker 1:Um, it was just, it was just a bit much for me. I think it was just a bit much for me that particular day there was so many people about etc. And there was so much rush and it was on the day I just wanted to be like slow, but life doesn't always work out how we kind of want it to, so I wanted it to be a bit more kind of movement and flow in in my day and I was getting a bit. Oh, this is a bit much. Here and um, for personal reasons, there was a grief due to a death of a loved one and, um, I just thought this is just too much. I can't go out anywhere by myself without being looked at and this I remember looking out the hotel room and this beautiful eagle had its wings. So it was huge and there was a few of them actually, but I kind of see them all as one and they were just circling around taking a bird's eye view of the world and from up there I'm guessing that things looked a lot calmer because they've seen the whole picture and not just the pockets of busyness and chaos that I was kind of picking up on this particular day, and that busyness and chaos was definitely a reflection of my inner world as I processed through this grief. But the bird helped me to see and to feel like this great big bird's eye view of the world and whenever I feel retracted or stuck or as if things aren't moving, to remember a few things, to have faith, faith in in the universe. That means different things to different people if you have a religion and faith in your religion, if you feel like you're spiritual, without a religion, but to have faith in the universe, have so whatever that feels for you, but when you feel attracted, can you draw on the power of like this eagle, to have faith in seeing the big picture and drawing on the universe, knowing that everything is perfect and it is how it is supposed to be, no matter how you kind of feel about it.
Speaker 1:Number two when I was walking with, my feet was so sore. I am one of those people I don't really get my feet out. I like them to be in shoes. I know the spiritual world is all about walking in bare feet and if it's the right terrain, by all means, like if it's soft grass or warm sand that's not too hot, or even mud. I kind of I don't mind things like this, but it was like concrete with like rubbish, like a lot of rubbish, um, a lot of dirt. There was like dead things, um. So I put shoes on because I already had lots of cuts in my feet, so many cuts that I had to soak my feet in salt. And then I had been bitten a lot by mosquitoes as well. Not excessively amount, because that would be exaggeration, but it was definitely. My feet were like covered in cuts and um. So I decided to do this pilgrimage with these shoes, but then the shoes ended up rubbing my feet. So, as you can see, that's me kind of um tapping on the negative.
Speaker 1:But I saw some really beautiful things on on this walk. I saw the absolute trust of some people that were just sleeping there outside, some without choice, of course that, um, they were homeless. But there was people that were also been on the pilgrimage and they really took it seriously and were walking with bare feet and resting at the end of it. But as I was walking along, we went past um, in the inner part of the city. There used to be like this nature thing and this is at the base of Shiva's mountain, but it's a city. It's like this really busy city and people do this pilgrimage for about six, seven hours where you walk around to all the different temples and get a blessing. And it was really powerful in so many ways.
Speaker 1:And the blessing was that each temple had its different deity, its different flavour, its different way of being, and I thought that makes me feel like the different ways that we are like, just like the weather, our emotions and feelings and thoughts can change during the course of the day and sometimes we feel like we're just lapping along at sea and other times we can feel that we are free and able to kind of maneuver and just be beyond our thoughts. And that's how it fell on this pilgrimage, because we went into the different temples and got the different blessings and I can still smell the smell of, like the ash which has the talcumy scent to it and the camphor incense and all that. And if you go into the different temples they have different rituals. Like the Vishnu temples they put, like this, golden corn it's my accent c-o-n-e. Onto the head and you get blessed that way.
Speaker 1:And, um, I, I got a understanding with Vishnu and the beauty of it, because it was actually one Vishnu temple that I was at, not on this town but a different town. That turned me away and and it kind of put a bit of fear that would I ever get into all the um temples after that and it also made it a little bit exciting, even though if I did complain a bit, it made it a little bit exciting but I did get in all those the temples after that. I think it was a bit of initiation of like, how serious was. I on on, on learning this aspect, uh, and, and of tapping into this aspect of myself, and how serious I to overcome the uncomfortability of of this all and and I, as I navigated and went through this journey, and the most amazing thing happened, and I may have explained this before, but I want to show the significance of it.
Speaker 1:So we were going past, I digressed a bit there, but as we were going, we were going past the nature reserve, but it's kind of like high, high, high high, like um railings, like something like jurassic park, and it has pictures saying don't come here, this is our domain. There's wild animals. Well, we were walking on the opposite side to the other pilgrimage people, um, for a bit, and apart from the odd person sleeping, it was, it's a lot quieter there. And as we walked past, I saw this, this most grand, beautiful beast. It was a giant wild bull, but huge, I'm talking like. It looked like the size of a cow, it was huge and it was walking through like this foresty terrain on the other side of this fence, and I spotted it. No one else had seen it. Well, I was with my partner but I didn't. I didn't then point it out to him. But I spotted it and I was just like, oh my word, this is like such a blessing. Um, I know that they tend to try and avoid humans and it's only if they're kind of cornered or something like that they're, they're forced to be reckoned with. Well, I'll come back to that.
Speaker 1:But the next temple that we went into had a wild boar god in it and then I I did some research and, um, the wild boar god was actually an avatar of Vishnu and the god was called Varaha is the third avatar of Vishnu and if you think about a wild boar, they're kind of like they'll like scavenge and kind of like food no-transcript by the tusks out of the ocean, the cosmic ocean, because I study celtic and um shamanism and also work with trees and nature and stuff. If you to look at the wild boar in the celtic mythology and it is it is also seen as sacred being and the god, freya, is sometimes seen riding on the back of a boar and I believe her sister also was also seen riding on the back of a bull and you just think it's quite a powerful, strong and hunted, unfortunately, animal and whatever you could look at all the different mythology of bulls across all the different traditions. But to me it was bravely going, like through the forest and god knows what else was in that forest tigers, you name it, it could have been all kinds of wild animals but it was going through through it and and it's such a speed and it just reminded me this that I can have, um, the courage like that, that, that wild boar, that I've got this, that I might be having a difficult time on this amazing holiday, or travels, as I would like to call it, and and yes, it maybe it was a bit difficult, um, like I felt like I didn't always have my freedom to do and be who I was all the time, but this bull was telling me, this wild boar. This wild boar was telling me, like, just go for it, you have your freedom, you your. The freedom starts with vain and just go for it and just go for your dreams and just go for being you and allowing yourself to be loved for who you are and where you are.
Speaker 1:And when I went into this, this temple afterwards and I saw it, it was, it was like a pop-up tent temple rather than an actual thing, but I saw the wild boar garden, I was just like, oh, wow, there's, like there's stuff like that you just can't ignore. It's when the universe is given signs and power animals, or whatever you want to call it. That was definitely like a power animal sign and just before that we'd seen all these beautiful deers as well, like um wild deer, and they had really big ears and it was just so beautiful and the people, all the people, would go mad over these deers. But then they forgot this nature side and me being one who likes nature, I continued on that side and hence got the gift of seeing this wild boar.
Speaker 1:Before that, we were sitting in this hotel and, um, I kept thinking why is there um bars on all the hotels? I'm just thinking, wow. I just thought because I didn't get the sense that there was loads of crime at all. I was thinking we're high up and then I saw and there was a monkey sitting, like on the air conditioning unit right outside our window, and the windows must be tinted because this monkey did not see me, but it sat there and the monkeys are quite, really naughty actually. I saw them like steal um someone's shoe outside this temple just for the fun of it and throw it, and our guide was saying that they, they can like, they'll antagonize the dogs and do all sorts of nasty things to these poor dogs outside this other particular temple.
Speaker 1:But in this case, this monkey was sitting outside my window and he was just sitting there, um, and it made me think, um, of Hanuman, the monkey god, uh, another deity from the Hindu tradition. And I just thought, okay, people say, of course you're going to see monkeys and things when you're outside. Well, I saw it when you were in jail, of course, but it just, it felt really symbolic to have this monkey god sat outside the window and it reminded me to take a leap of faith and to, um, to kind of stretch between this human world and the mystical world, as the honey man pours when one does the splits. And it was a powerful symbology. And we got to go to all different places and some places were really sweet and some places were sour, but together they made a whole picture of the world and so very beautiful and so very mystical.
Speaker 1:And then, um, there was a? Um, we're going up to one temple and you had to walk up it barefooted. And again, we arrived and, as always, everyone stared at me, um, outside the temple. But then this cow came up to me and just wanted me to pet it and have a cuddle. And I had this cuddle with this cow random, I know, but again, there are lots of cows running around in India but it it came up to me and, as you know, the cow is sacred and I just felt that was a beautiful blessing before I went into the temple. And and it so happened that, um, we got, when we went into this temple that I um, there's a bit where everyone's trying to get in front of the priest to get this blessing, and I don't know how well it was divine time and we got into the right queue or I don't know we were. I went into this queue where there was no queue and we ended up having, like, the audience with the priests and getting these wonderful blessings.
Speaker 1:And that was Lord Ganesh and one of the first deities that I ever connected to, um in India when I first went there over 21 years ago. And God of overcoming obstacles. And I thought, yes, all these obstacles of my mind and Maya, the reality which is manifested in such a way. And Ganesh just reminded me that, gentle, yoga warrior, you've got this, you've got this, go for it, go for it and it felt such a blessing and and it was like this woman was so sweet to me in the temple she gently touched my back and said oh hi, and she spoke english to me and and then afterwards she like did this thing with her heart to say, like she walked, to show, like respect. As I tell you, I can feel the emotions kind of come up as I share the words because you had to be there. But it was just so beautiful because she just wanted me to feel so much more at ease, because I was finding it difficult, and she just showed such love and care. And you never underestimate the power of how someone can change your life. So there are a few things that I've shared from the mystical experiences that I have, but I don't think you have to go to India to receive such things yourself is to just allow yourself to notice the world as it unfolds. So allow yourself to notice the world as it unfolds and never underestimate, like this woman did where she was so kind to me, how much a powerful deed can have for other people. I'm going to change this last bit before I share some more advice, but basically I was on a shamanic course.
Speaker 1:And then, um, I came up and, um, there's a, there's a gentleman, um, who is always, always there in Glastonbury and it's such a beautiful being, like he's dressed up as Merlin. He's known as Merlin I think his real name is Raymond, but he, he was there for many years and he'd stand outside the abbey and he'd give people rune readings. But, like, I had a rune reading once, but he was like he always used to call, used to call me sister, which I'm sure he called most people um, and he'd always speak and say hello and I remember he did a reading with me and a friend and he was so accurate for this other person and mine was really good as well, um, and just someone to never underestimate what you can do by your presence. So his presence, what? When you went past there, you knew you'd get a warm smile, you knew that you'd someone would speak to you, speak to you in a way that was kind and it just lifted the whole town. In my opinion, he was a very beautiful person and I found out that he passed and now, like I didn't really know him that well at all, like I'd say hello to him. I'd had a conversation from the room reading several years back but always said like hello and um.
Speaker 1:But he, to me, felt like someone that was living his life, um and just being himself and by just being his, complete, an authentic self. What a power. And you know that we crave and we drive towards achieving so many different things in life and thinking we've got to be this, that and the other. And the greatest gift that any of us can ever give life is just to be completely and authentically, unapologetically, kindly and wonderfully oneself. So I invite you over this next week to get glimpses of how you can be yourself unapologetically. That doesn't mean to be mean or cruel, but this guy was never mean or cruel as far as I could see, it was just himself. But you know, we try and shape ourselves to fit in what, the image of what other people want us to be and, of course, advice is good to take on. But can you find the glimpses where you are really you and what is your superpower? Like this guy's superpower was just to lift everyone just by saying hello, a simple hello, and smile, authentic and natural. What is your superpower? Perhaps journaling? If in doubt, I always say, get the journal out and find out what your superpower is.
Speaker 1:But for now, we are going to do a meditation where I'm going to take you on a mystical journey through India to help discover who you are. 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, although 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 a little 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, let's begin so as you breathe softly and calmly in and out through the nostrils. Just be nice and relaxed and imagine that you have joined me now at the foot of Shiva's mountain and you, in your imagination, are going on this pilgrimage through all the different temples, and in this time there's no one else on the road.
Speaker 1:It's the twilight hours. As you look up, you can see the sparkle of stars in the sky. As you look down, there is a dusty road, but you have the most comfortable shoes or shapples as they call them in India on your feet and you are fully supported on your feet and you are fully supported. Or perhaps you are walking barefooted. Whatever feels appropriate to you. Either way, you are on this path and as you walk through the night, the road at first feels like it's full of obstacles, there's things to cross or get away from, packs of wild dogs, the odd traffic, perhaps even wild animals, but you are safe as you take your footsteps along and you come along this road and you come to the first temple.
Speaker 1:The temple can be whatever it is in your belief system or your way of being.
Speaker 1:In this temple there is a beautiful moonlit pool of water and you walk softly up to the edge of that water and you peer in and you see the reflection of yourself.
Speaker 1:But in your reflection you see what your superpower is, what it is that you give to the world daily, and that reflection reflects back to you and it shows you what it is, so that you can feel it within your heart. And after gazing at this reflection, you then walk into the temple barefooted and there's a beautiful shrine and the shrine represents the light of possibility that you have within yourself. If only you allowed yourself to be seen and to be, and, gingerly, you light a candle and you place it onto the altar and you give your inner light to the light of all, and then the light reflects back to you, knowing that you are whole, you are yourself and you are beautiful, and you take that gift into your heart, put your shuffles back on your shoes and then you begin the walk into your day, back into the present moment, back into the now, knowing that you possess that light and that light is within you. So thank you, dear listeners, thank you for listening to me today. Love and light.
