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
The Extraordinary Ordinary: Creating Anchors When Everything is Shifting
We're living through unprecedented technological acceleration, where AI threatens jobs, privacy vanishes, and digital distractions fragment our attention. Yet amid this shifting terrain, our internal compass remains our most reliable guide—if we know how to calibrate it.
Drawing from decades of practice, I share my personal approach to maintaining centered awareness in chaotic times. While quick morning routines have their place, the transformative power comes from being a bit more.
Many resist longer practices, finding endless excuses to avoid confronting themselves. But that resistance precisely highlights why extended sessions matter—they break through barriers smaller practices cannot touch.
The guided 20-minute meditation included offers a starting point, focusing on breath awareness and simple mantras. Remember that thoughts will arise—meditation isn't about stopping thoughts (a myth) but developing awareness of when you've drifted. Picture thoughts as soft rags bouncing harmlessly off you rather than obstacles to overcome.
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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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And I am delighted today to finally be able to share this week's edition with you. Technical issues got in the way where I had to do several software updates, my mic wasn't speaking to my system and all very good systems, but they just did not want to talk to each other today. So, several hours down the line, I am now this, and the lesson today was perseverance. Sometimes we try and persevere and if it's not working then the best thing to do is to walk away and try something later. But today it felt right to persevere and it means I've got my system hopefully set up in a way that is good and is going to work, set up in a way that is good and is going to work. And today we are all about how we can serve ourselves in this ever-changing difficult terrain of life and the gems in which, the gifts that we can give ourselves to help us to do this. And I think life is only going to get faster.
Speaker 1:As we know, ai technology is kind of taking over the world. Many predict that there will be a big shortage of jobs in the future because of the fact that AI is doing stuff, and there's also been talk that how, when we use. Use it for creative ventures. It's going to take the soul out of things. Who knows? It's like whenever there's any new technology, there is a lot of fear around it. I'm not afraid of technology, it's more I'm afraid of those in power who will use it to manipulate people. But I'm also hopeful that there will be some goodness as well. Who knows? It's a very new terrain and in 50 years' time, when I probably won't be here anymore, the world's going to be an extremely different place. And who knows? People might look back and think actually we wanted a time before technology, when one could just pick up a book, one could walk down the road without being tracked by satellite 24 7, one could have boring private conversations with our loved ones without ai listening in and tailoring adverts to kind of manipulate us into buying stuff that we think we need, and that is a very cynical kind of view in some so many ways. But then just to say just because we can doesn't mean we have to. Equally, it's not all about being frightened of stuff. It's about kind of having our our feet firmly planted on the ground, because there is changes that we just do not have any power over, and that is a fact. I've seen how much the world has changed since I was a young kid, running around in flares and um, and how, how it was so much nicer to go out in many ways when I was, when I was a young woman, where we went out and everyone wasn't looking at the phone or thinking I need to capture this moment to please people in this imaginary world of social media, etc.
Speaker 1:So what are anchors and how can we use them in our everyday lives, and why is this any different from other podcasts that you're listening to? First of all, I honor myself by trying to be as authentic as I possibly can, letting you know that I am not perfect. There are many ways in which I fail in life and will continue to do so. I do try and learn as much as possible from my mistakes and I do have a mission. I feel not from a place where, oh, I feel like I'm special because I think each and every one of us has got a mission, but my mission is to help others find this sense of ease, love, joy, fulfillment in their life, but in a way that is more tangible but more joyful, but also more of a bridge between the connection of nature and um, this modern world which we are, we have all been thrust into and, um, in many ways, where to tell the truth can be a sin sometimes and, um, yeah, it's a crazy world. People can go so far down the rabbit hole that I think they kind of lose the plot of it. So I think the best thing to do is just to stay centered within ourselves and whatever people think that's their right to do so. In the same way, I think the only compass that we can have these days, dear listener, is ourself. And the best way to make sure our compass is in balance and pointing in the right direction, so that it's it's pointing north or um, we're not trying to find east when the when the compass isn't tuned to north, if that makes sense. So we need to kind of know, um, where we are. So if our compass is pointing the right direction, when we're looking for north, east, south west, wherever we're going, it's going to unfold for us.
Speaker 1:And the number one tip that I can give you is if you can dedicate, so people say, oh, you need to do all these long things in the morning. I know people don't have time to do that these days, but I think make some time. What I do is I have like a kind of more condensed morning practice which I do on the days that I'm working quite hard, and then, once or twice a week I really go for it and have a long meditation, a long sequence or some kind of thing. And I think the length thing once a week is really important because that is where you're going to cross over from just being a kind of average to the extraordinary, and the extraordinary comes from this immense amount of surrender. And you can only do this, I feel, if you dedicate a really strong practice, you do a really strong sequence once a month. And I'm not saying like it has to be physically strong or anything like this. I'll give you an idea.
Speaker 1:So I got up like super early because I'm lucky, because it's light at the moment a bit more of a challenge when it's dark but I went out, I went out for a walk to collect spring water. Um, I think I only saw one person in the distance it was. So it was so early in the morning. Um, and it's just because it's warm weather. I was able to do that. But I really used my connection with nature, which I've had since a very young child to really connect with the nature all around me. Then I came back and I did an hour and a half kundalini yoga, which is a type of yoga, it's particular sequence which I like, it's a green energy opportunity sequence, um, and it's got very, very powerful energetics, I feel, and I did that. And then I did some of my other personal stuff that I do to help me through the day. And then, um, it put me in a place that I felt balanced to do this podcast.
Speaker 1:And then I was challenged again by the universe, by the technology not working. And then, prior to that, I had a really difficult day. I was doing some freelance work and I was doing stuff in a certain way and I misunderstood. And then it was supposed to be the way around and I had had a very difficult family situation a few days prior to this and even though I had these challenges, yesterday I kind of ended up in tears, which you think, oh why, but it was so cathartic in the sense that it just released and then it made me realize the big picture beyond like all these trials and tribulations. I remember when I was a very young girl that I had I worked in this office for a bit and working in an office in them days was a lot more difficult um, he didn't have like the protections that he did.
Speaker 1:Now there was a member of senior member staff and they always said that what you have to have your information down. So that they used to say to me, if they got knocked down by a trolley bus which I wasn't really sure what that meant so I just thought the meaner bus, that you can still carry on, and it makes me think that we all think we're so indispensable and to some people we really are. But also life will always go on, because we're here for a short period of time and life will always go on. So these things that we can't catastrophize in our mind, it's kind of how to say. It's a kind of way of kind of keeping us slow, small and slow, but small is what I meant to say and we can choose to see these things as all bad or see as learning. So that the key thing in this was I didn't disallow my feelings, allow myself to feel upset, allow myself to feel a little bit frustrated earlier, but I felt so much more kind of able to navigate it because I had this long practice that I had done this morning in my bank and that practice will then be like kind of like the foundations between the many practices that I do in between because of work commitments. But I I really think it's really worth doing.
Speaker 1:So I'm not saying everyone needs to do this particular sequence, um, I mean, find something that's meaningful for you, dedicate like a long practice, but try and do something that's kind of nurturing and holistic. So there's there's yoga, but try and once you've been to yoga classes and you know what you're doing, I really invite you to just set your alarm for an hour, an hour and a half once a week when you've got the time, or, if you can't quite do that, at least 40 minutes and just do a practice where you're completely within you're, you're kind of in tune with your being, and then some people do. You can do that by doing. Maybe you do a long walk, but you're not doing a walk while you're chatting on the phone, you listen to music, you are completely aware of everything.
Speaker 1:Meditation it makes a big difference if we, when you get to kind of a certain amount of years of practicing, that doing these longer meditations is going to have a real big change and it is because there's so much resistance. We can find so many ways in which we um don't want to do stuff. We have all these excuses oh I haven't got time, this is, I need to do this, I need to do that all these kind of ways in which we um find excuses not to. And, of course, if you're about to go to work and you've just got up and you've had to get your, your kids, ready, um, help your partner find something. It is quite a short window to get to that place and of course you're not going to do a long thing. But honor yourself and tell your family, say, like, just say, on the weekend, just say that for an hour a bit you're doing your own thing, and be that of something that you do inside.
Speaker 1:Or you find a really spiritual class, not like a yoga class where it's a fitness thing, because obviously they do have their places, but not where it's kind of been westernized and you've pulled out the bits that feel to make it more of a fitness routine. Instead, try and find, if you can't do it at home, a really spiritual, moving class where the teacher recognizes all the eight limbs of Logar or things like Tai Chi. I read somewhere that was it a menopausal woman who were doing Tai Chi ended up with a flatter stomach than compared to aerobics and things. I don't know why that was. I think it's probably to do with the stress thing, but Tai Chi some sort of thing and I know we're all financially strapped a lot these days, so maybe you could find like an online class, because a lot of time online classes are cheaper and it depends how you get on. I personally get on really well with online classes because I I obviously I've got a lot of knowledge in a sense that I've been doing this for a long time, but I also find that I'm able to find that space, but I understand that not everyone can. I do offer like online energy healing sessions and I also can do a tailored meditation or yoga plan. If that is something that you would find useful, just go to shamanichealingsorg and just click contact there and you can find details there.
Speaker 1:Other ways you can do it is um, you just you sit down, you listen to a really good meditation. So I think the best kind of meditation if you're going to do a long meditation, you want one that's got more space, these shorter recorded meditations where someone talking are great for when you've got less time, but I'm talking about when you've got more time. It's good to have that space, and the biggest fake thing I ever heard was that you can stop your thoughts. You can find a space of inner being and calm and beauty. So just imagine that the thoughts are just like someone throwing a really soft rag at you, right, so okay, so they might come at you, but they're not actually going to hurt you. But you could choose to look at the rag or you could just allow them just to bounce off, and that's the way to do it, because, also, not to tell yourself off if you suddenly have thoughts.
Speaker 1:I was doing a really deep meditation and I realized I'd then suddenly gone into this internal monologue, so I could have dissed my whole meditation session, think, oh, I've ruined this. But actually I had that awareness and I came back out of it. So what is the thing that you can do once a week where you can really go deep in something? And I think the best thing to do is gradually, because we're not going to be able to run before we can walk or it's not going to be the best solution. So can you start off by doing like a five minute meditation each day and then on the weekend, could you make that longer? That is a way to do it, and then each weekend you just add an extra 10 minutes and then you can go up to an hour, an hour and a half, and you will really confront yourself because you'll be sat there, sometimes wiggling and thinking I don't really feel like I want to do this today and I will come up with a million excuses why I don't always want to get on the mat. But I never regret when I get on that mat. When I say I get on that mat, the map signifies to me connection with nature yoga, meditation, shamanic work, the energetic healing systems that I've done decades ago and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:And I'm working on something now because I used to be a very I wouldn't say like obsessive writer, but I used to write a lot more, and my mind, because I'm doing these courses, finding the space to do that at the moment. But as soon as I finish these courses I want to get back on and do the writing. I'll do a whole podcast edition on that. So it's all about this mastery and the reason why this is so important these days, dear listeners, is there's going to be so many distractions.
Speaker 1:There's going to be even more distractions. We don't have any privacy anymore. Every conversation we have is listening to by an apple device or an android device, or we walk along the road, even if to go and pay and shopping in shops, these days, they video on you. Like why do they need to video you? It's just the lack of privacy. So what I mean is we're going to be bombarded all the time. Everything about us is going to be known what kind of food we buy, where we go, who we're friends with, how we think, how we speak, and that is unfortunately, something we have no control of. The only thing that we can control is ourselves, and our only way we can it's not a sense of control ourselves, but connecting to our higher selves, and I feel so passionate about this is to kind of do something like this for yourself.
Speaker 1:Try and do a thing where you do something of real mastery, because that will take you from um the learner pool to um the adult pool. You know, when you were a kid, you were learning to swim and you were in the kiddie pool and then you managed to get into the adult pool. Eventually, you could do these long lengths and feel a bit more free. That is what it's going to offer you. So I'm really would love to hear from you, dear listeners, and how, what you do as your sense of mastery once a week and have you managed to stick to this? So I'm going to do a meditation today. I'm going to make it a bit longer. It's going to be a 20-minute meditation. I'm not going to speak all the way through it because I want it to be an experience where you can lengthen this and once you feel comfortable with this, then perhaps you could set your alarm for an hour and use some of the similar techniques in it. So I hope this is of help to you.
Speaker 1: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 your 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 A mastery meditation for 20 minutes of our own inner well-being. So, as you sit where you are, either in a nice tall back chair or cross-legged, just feel as if the spine is really nice and long. Doing the best you can scan the body for places where you might be clenching, like the jaw, the face, the hands, the body, the toes, the feet, and can you allow yourself to feel a bit more relaxed, a bit more in the moment, a bit more in the now?
Speaker 1:A bit more of inner peace. So and we'll start off with the first part as a focused, a focused meditation. So as you breathe in, think in your imagination, in, and as you breathe out, think out, try and make the breath long, calm, deep and relaxed. So you're not forcing the breath, but it's kind of like a natural rhythm of inhalation, exhalation, breathing from the diaphragm. So you're not just breathing in the upper chest, you're breathing below. So breathe in and out.
Speaker 1:The mind may have wandered, but instead can you just bring it back to thinking I'm breathing in, I'm breathing out, in and out, in and out, in Out, choosing In, out, in out, choosing a breath rhythm that is appropriate to you so you can be faster or slower, never breathe so you feel out of breath, but instead a sense of peace and calm as you inhale and you exhale, breathing in and out, thank you, in, in and out. And we can now change this to another internal mantra, so you can just continue to breathe naturally, I am bliss, I am love. So in your head you start saying internally, I am bliss, I am love. And you can have gaps between saying this. But watch your thoughts, because you will try and flip off somewhere. So just come back to that internal mantra I am bliss, I am love. And even if you don't fully realise this yet, just by reminding yourself and continue to do so I am bliss. I am love, thank you and we'll just continue.
Speaker 1:Don't worry if this sounds quiet no-transcript knowing that all is well.
