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What happens when the person who taught you the most about awakening is also the one who needed you to stay small?

In this conversation with Nicole Wordlaw, we explore the difference between the awakening we imagine, permanent, painless, almost superhuman, and the one that actually happens, ongoing and fully human. Nicole speaks openly about a cage that formed in her mind long before she met her teacher, and how that same cage was later reflected back to her inside a devoted spiritual relationship. We talk about rest as an unexpected teacher, the quiet work of giving herself permission, and what it means to stop looking for a final arrival.

About the Guest

Nicole Wordlaw is an African American clinical psychologist, longtime meditator in the Buddhist tradition, spirited coach, and the author of Waking Up Alone, Navigating the Narrow Passage Through Master-Slave Narratives. Her training at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley honed her thinking mind. But the wisdom she needed did not come from a book, nor did it come from staying away from the difficult. The wisdom she needed arose from spirited practice, practices that illuminated the quiet, still voice that always sounds like Love. She lives with her two children and partner on the Indigenous lands of the Monacan people in Virginia.

Website: https://www.nicolewordlaw.com/ 

Substack: https://nicolewordlaw.substack.com/ 

Book Waking Up Alone: https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Alone-Navigating-Master-Slave-Narratives/dp/1591813735

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Music by Valdi Sabev. In loving memory and gratitude for the music he shared.

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Websites
http://ilonaciunaite.com
http://liberationunleashed.com