Felix Price on Psychedelic Ceremony & Connecting to the Divine

Gorgeous Listeners, welcome to this week’s episode of Finding Your Way Home

Today, a little adventure into realms thus-far unexplored on the podcast... 

Earlier this year I had the chance to sit down with Felix Price; Founder of the Mixed Spiritual Arts movement, exhibiting artist and mens-work retreat-facilitator.  His passion: supporting those who might have been inhibited or uninvited into a deeper harnessing of their physical capacity, mental resiliency and spiritual connection. 

Felix began his journey in his late teens, when he was introduced somewhat accidentally to the world of psychedelics. As you will hear, he has explored this world extensively - describing the personal impact these had in expanding his psycho-spiritual awareness. And, as you will also hear, full sobriety from them became a fundamental answer to the deeper question: how, in the world we live in, can we experience bliss, connection, deeper clarity, without needing to pick up a substance? 

In our conversation, you'll learn about about Felix's own journey not just with plant medicines but with rehabilitating physical pain (a huge focus of his work now) personal growth, partnership, fatherhood and mens-work facilitation. We discuss the controversy around psychedelics, the dangers, and the profound need to personalise and safeguard any choices you do make to ensure you are individually cared for. For me, it was fascinating to hear his unique experience on such a charged topic - it felt only right to share the conversation with you all. 

And to underline the point my loves: none of this conversation is shared to move you toward altered states, or altering substances. As ever, the key with any decision is to tune in to yourself; seek real expertise related to your unique circumstances; and to truly ensure that any choice you make is a profound representation of the deepest love you hold for yourself. 

Let us know what lands for you, in a rather unusual episode... 

To find out more about Felix and his work:

Find him on Instagram: @felixprice.uamsa
Check out Felix's artwork: @felixpriceart
https://www.felixpriceart.com/ 
Check out Urban Avatars: https://felix-price.mykajabi.com/ 

Stay connected with the podcast:

Thank you for listening; it means the world to us. We'd be so grateful if you could rate, review or share this gorgeous episode with someone you love. That small act brings us to new ears and eyes - it builds the movement of health and connection that FYWH is built on. 

For more information and upcoming news on the podcast, follow us on  @ab_embodiment and our website. 

And to explore working together more deeply:

• Secure your space at our beautiful retreat in Costa Rica this Autumn. 6 days of sacred ceremony, moving you into the body, into the heart and through the emotional / historic blocks that have held you back. Prepare for a depth of connection you have never felt, in one of the most magical landscapes in the world. Be with us...

Sending love, wherever this finds you,

Ax

Transcript

0:02

It was this beautiful day in Glastonbury and I ran around, like everything I looked at was shining, glowing, everything was completely alive and connected and all one, I was in this state of complete enlightened bliss. And it was the first time in my life where I had this perspective shift that the sun was looking at me and everything around me was the face of God. And this was God. And I am a, I am like a tiny, tiny little unit here. And my consciousness had previously been entirely contained within this poster crown of me as a, as a human went. It was like, I am, I am. Everything, everything is connected and, and everything is God. Like, there was not a thought in my head. It was just feeling like ecstatic bliss pulling through my whole system, in that, in that time and space I had the feeling that that was gonna be how it was gonna be forever. And then the next day things were, and you know, the normal processing of Conscious Mind returned. And then there was this realization like, oh yeah, okay, so this is how I've normally been experiencing having a mind and a body. But bloody whatever happened yesterday is the only thing that I am eternally interested in for the rest of forever now. How do I do that just by doing it? How do I get this to just be, how do I just get to be like that the whole time? And that set me basically like, boom. Anybody who's presenting themselves to be any kind of spiritual knowledge keeper group, guru, whatever, how do I train my mind and body and heart and soul to like be in that state?

Anthea: 1:57

welcome to Finding Your Way Home, the secrets to true alignment. I'm your host, Anthea Bell, movement teacher, mind body coach, and lifelong spiritual seeker. This is a podcast about the depth, weight, and profound healing power of connection between mind and body, spirit and soul, and from one human to another. Together with an incredible range of inspiring guests, we'll explore just what connection and alignment mean. How to get there in a world full of the temptation to conform, and how great challenge ultimately can lead to life changing transformation. Get ready for groundbreaking personal stories, conversational deep dives, and a toolkit of strategies to build not just your inner knowing, but your outer world. Let's dive in.

2:50

Gorgeous creatures. Welcome to this week's episode of Finding Your Way Home. We have a kind of unusual treat for the season, not least. I'm standing in front of a chap in the middle of his burgeoning art studio. Felix Price is someone that was actually recommended to me as a form of spiritual connection before I met him in person, which was a complete coincidence. I have a very dear friend who's actually featured on the podcast called Mira, who said that when she was really going through a challenging time, she was really asking a lot of existential, quite esoteric questions. One of the things that grounded her, especially given that that was in a period of quite high global political suffering, was connecting with. Felix and the first thing, Felix, I dunno if you know this, but the first thing that she told me about you was that you had helped her to reimagine what connecting with a man could look like. It's her landing statement. I wonder how that lands with you. I don't know. If's shared that with you. Is that an experience that you commonly have that you are able to help women perhaps understand differently? The possibility of masculine connection? Mm-hmm. Thank you very much for the introduction yeah, this is a great honor and thank you. Thanks to her for making the connection. And asking the question about masculinity. Yeah. I think it's something that women have shared with me before I can, I can drop into my, I can drop into my, my feminine energy. Every man has feminine energy and masculine energy. We're all together, you know, brothers and sisters. It was something particularly about the safety that she was implying. We were in the middle of a really beautiful conversation actually about dating, partnership, marriage, like all of that stuff. Mm-hmm. And we were talking about getting to a stage where You feel so deeply whole actually, where nothing really is lacking. Where then the question becomes not so much in your friendships, in your colleagues, in your partner, how do I find someone that fills the whole, or how do I find someone that's living a life that emulates a sort of life that I want to live? And the question much more becomes how do I build a community of people around me that are reflective of where I'm at and that add all of their own gorgeous richness, but where there's not a, a quality of dependency? And it was interestingly in that conversation, I was asking her about different archetypes of men and she said, ah, Felix, actually, he was one of the first people where I really got to re envisage the whole thing about what I considered male to be and how I could interact with the male. I. In a very, very different way. And I've sort of got the sense of that even from absorbing your content on social and knowing a lot about the, the spaces that you hold, I know that you hold spaces exclusively for men. I also know that you do a, a fair amount of couples work with your gorgeous wife, you're a dad, your husband, your grandson. You post about that regularly. This kind of beautiful relationship of intimacy and service. And it, it just feels as though you're bringing something quite different, even in conversations around masculinity and the need to embrace that. You're bringing something quite different as an energy. Is it something that's conscious for you? The, the need for people to reappraise how they look at that theme. It was for me personally, what you are seeing in me is a representational of the journey that I've been on to, to find my own healthy balance inside. Walk us through when you first started to explore your own relationship between the masculine and the feminine. Start us there. I guess for a simple answer forever, I've been exploring it forever. I mentioned before we're holding a couple's retreat. The reason I'm doing this is because it is so powerful to do this work as couples about four years ago, I first kind of emerged into the world of men's work. I watched a film called The Work about men's work in prisons and I was completely blown away by it. And the next morning I set up a put a time and a date and a place and sent it to my local friends and I said, that's it. Men's circles, I'm starting them. From then I've been discovering this world of what is known specifically as men's work. 16 years after being in the whole world of spiritual arts and stuff. I was yeah, specifically and then been going through holding my own ones and going to other trainings and stuff. And Deanne has been doing women's work from even before then. So the last decade or so we've been in it, doing it separately. She's doing the women's cacao ceremonies, women's raves, women's constellations, amazing coaching containers. She does. And then I've been doing the men's work, these prime or retreats and stuff, and we've held retreats that were mixed, that were, you know, any, anybody could kind of come with what happened every time. It was nearly all women and the last one was all women. We did one in Morocco and I was the only man in in there. So. That, that, that happened and it, it was great. Amazing. Like, and in that space, yes, I can, I can be there and be very at ease and serve. And, and do you know what I've have a ability to do and connect and communicate with women. To make rapport, you know, and safety and just, it's chill and comfortable. But this is like, this has been really clear for me, like, we need to bring it to this. It must also be really nice on that basis to have a feeling that this is what you are meant to do. I think a lot of people spend a lot of their time trying to work out what is that thing, what is that thing? That's my niche, or what is that thing? That's my opportunity for service. And it's almost like we're chasing it so much out there that we can't get quiet enough to just hear the I idea or the instinct land. You started our conversation offline by sort of describing yourself, or your, key. Purpose in life as, as offering people pain, freedom. Mm. And lack of integration, lack of communication, lack of connection in a couple, there's kind of not any more important form of pain freedom than that. Pain. Freedom, definitely. Am I right in thinking, forgive me if this is an overly personal question, but am I right in thinking that you've been with your wife for, for quite some years? It's gonna be our 20th anniversary this summer. Amazing. And you've got one child or, or two? Two. Two. My daughter's eight and my son's one. So I'm guessing therefore in a 20 year span of, of ing even, although both of you are clearly very keenly committed to spirituality and you are both practitioners. Yeah. That. There could still be the same with any couple. The tendency of separating out too much and then needing to find ways of coming back together. Yeah, like the moon and the earth, you know, sun, the moon and the earth, it's healthy. Keeps it circulating. Sometimes it's closer, it's full moon, and sometimes it's new moon where you just keep rolling the cycles and you can see it's so much for me, like, so many metaphors in nature to understanding relationships and seasons and, and then tuning in and being, being aware of where you're at in the season and where you're at in the cycle how to time things, you know, and, and also like honoring that. Not what we think should be here, but just honoring. Okay. Well we are in the season right now, and so this is the way that we would. Tend to that or support that or just allow it to be, has it been scary ever when one of you has gone through, let's say a growth, a growth curve?. Yeah. Hundred percent. We did 20, we nearly 20 years. Yeah. We've gone through everything. It's been a whole journey. It wasn't like, hi ya. Hi ya. Sweet. Yeah, sweet. 20 years later. It's just amazing. And the more, the more cycles together. It's like the deep, the deeper the love, the deeper the understanding, the connection. And also at point, you know, the deeper, the deeper the challenge and the test.'cause good woman will, she tests me I get to arise to the, to the test., I just turned 40, so for me it's there's a lot of kind of integrating happening right now., What are some of the things that she has taught you the most? In how she naturally shows up in the world, in how she naturally radiates, Courage.. Yeah. I can imagine that being really profound. Courage, it feels like, to me, encapsulates. So many other things. Like there's a, there's a tenderness and there's a care, and there's a respect, and there's an accountability, and there's a belief in you for you that can so often be missing in a couple that I'm, I'm willing to see so much in you that I'm gonna push you to realize it if you give me consent to do that.. Have you had to work together on how to give feedback in a way that does call someone into their courage rather than leaving them feeling critiqued or, or. Not supported. Has that been an aspect of your experience? Mm, yeah. That's, that's that's it's a good, it's a good thing to tune into. Yeah. How, like I said, communication how we communicate, the effectiveness of our communication, the timing of communication. These things affect us a lot. How to listen, how to drop in, and how to., How to share feedback positively. With encouragement, I'd say encourage. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, as I say as well, learning curve, so, you know, have plenty of time to work it out, the journey continues, but definitely that's been essential, to our relationship. Being able to like, really hear each other If I was to turn the same question and ask you, what do you, what do you suspect you may have given her, or you may have taught her as the one standout if hers was courage for you? What's yours for her, do you think? Good question. Expression. Or making art, sharing art, you've been beautiful to see and flourish in her, because that's also a massive part of your life. Right. You are both a kind of spiritual explorer kind of physio movement, body-based human, and you are also a very actively practicing artist. I'm an artist as the first, As the one word answer artist. Yeah. I hold that.. And I also say we're all artists. That's also what I believe. Everyone is an artist. Life is art. For me, I was on a long journey to, to discover what is all this I'm doing what is this stuff I'm drawing?'cause it was definitely getting drawn. I didn't know what it, I didn't know what it was, but I was drawing it with a lot, a lot behind it.. And then when I had the spiritual experience quantum shift and understanding what I've been doing my whole life in, in that moment of this is what I've been drawing. And then opening up into that, Te tell us a little bit about the spiritual experience. I know that that title is very different for each and every person and, and how they get there is also a completely different journey. Walk us back. Alright. Walk you back 20 years ago and I was in the art school after one break dancing training session, the University of Arts Break Dancing training session. One of my friends, she was outside and they, her and her friend were laughing and I was like, what are you, what do you up to? And they were like, oh, we just had a bit of this mushrooms. And I was like, what? She was like, you on sound? I was like, what? Go on and I'll try that. And then I had a little, I just had this little munch, this little bit. And oh my gosh, I had the best night for me. That was one of the, to be honest, I think one of the first times in my like adolescent life where I genuinely felt really like relaxed and free and calm and like I was in the flow. I was in the zone. And I don't normally cite that one, but that is actually technically the first time I had it. So. He just set me on to be like, this stuff's good. I think it must have been a really, really small amount.'cause I wasn't like, whoa at all. Like, it was just like a feeling like I, I feel nice, I feel good, like felt calm and happy. And then like, so when I, someone else told me that it was, could go and buy it in Camden, I was like, do that. I went and bought a big old bunch and then then I had them in my house and I, I just ate'em in, ate'em in my bedroom and oh my God, the world, the world changed and I just began laughing so much and anyway, I'm going super into the detail, but that set me on the path of like, this stuff's amazing. I love it. And I was just like going with that without really knowing. Like, so the, the, the quantum shift of, of perspective happened about after about a year of like just having fun with it. They were powerful, beautiful experiences where I would be completely in the, in the, in the trance of painting and like cover a whole wall and ceiling, like with paint, like yeah, they, they, it would really just opened me up to so much. But when I went to Glastonbury Festival nearly 20 years ago now, so it was June, 2005 that's when I had this quantum shift of perspective where I, I, I was in it. I took the mushrooms and my friend gave me a little bit of MDMA as well, and it just, my heart went like, wow, like as wide as the whole world. It was this beautiful day in Glastonbury and I ran around, like everything I looked at was shining, glowing, everything was completely alive and connected and all one, I was in this state of complete enlightened bliss. And then I looked at the sun and it was the first time in my life where I had this perspective shift that the sun was looking at me and the whole sky was a face, and everything around me was the face of God. And this was God. And I am a, I am like a tiny, tiny little unit here. And my consciousness had previously been entirely contained within this poster crown of me as a, as a human went. It was like, I am, I am. Everything, everything is connected and, and everything is God. And, I just danced through the whole day in that state of like, there was not a thought in my head. It was just feeling like ecstatic bliss pulling through my whole system, it was a very special moment. And in that, in that time and space I had the feeling that that was gonna be how it was gonna be forever. And then the next day things were, and you know, the normal processing of Conscious Mind returned. And then there was this realization like, oh yeah, okay, so this is how I've normally been experiencing having a mind and a body. And a, my awareness is kind of like re recon contain within this container, but bloody whatever happened yesterday is the only thing that I am eternally interested in for the rest of forever now. To have that, to be in that forever. And also, how do I do that just by doing it? How do I, how do I be that without eating the mushroom? Because it was also simultaneous thing. I was like, ha, I, like, I don't want it to stop. So if it only happened'cause I took the mushrooms, how do I, how do I get this to just be, how do I just get to be like that the whole time? And that set me basically like, boom. Anybody who's presenting themselves to be any kind of spiritual knowledge keeper group, guru, whatever, like all the whole range of it was just like, right, who knows about this? How do I train my mind and body and heart and soul to like be in that state? And that sent me onto to the, what I call the spiritual arts. India was a big green light for me.. And I'd been getting into yoga classes as well. So I was like, right, boom, I'm going there. I'm gonna learn to meditate. I wanna get into, I'll do, I'll do the step by step, walk up the mountain rather than taking the jet and then having to come down. And then I spent about four years, like mainly sober. Like, like sharpening. My mind did more, the vipasana longer longer meditation stuff, trained like asana, vinyasa, asanas, like all the health body, heart stuff. Painting, making art. Not like so much explosive, psychedelic work. And then the, then my friend at our school came back from a, a weekend on a Monday morning. I looked at him, he had this look in his eye. I said, what have you done? Like, what, where have you been this weekend? And he just stole me. He told me he'd been on an Ayahuasca retreat, said, wow, I thought you had to go all the way to the Amazon to do it. I had no idea. It was like, you could do it. And he gave me the link and I went, went straight there. And then that, that's, that's when I had that experience of it opening within i'm having this ecstatic inner experience that set me up in 2009. I just went, boom, just kept on going. Went South America. Lived there for a few years, kept on tuning in with the power until I went as further far, far, far away as I ever did. And then I was ready to come back to London and share what I'd learned with the world. Am I right in thinking, Felix, you've done about a hundred plan medicine journeys by this point? Not everybody counts, but for some reason it was easy for me to count. I just knew that was the first one and that was, and every time I went to the next one I'd be like, oh, this is number da da da. I knew, so I've done 101, There's been various other things I, I haven't counted, but there's, there was, there's been a bunch of those as well. I'm aware of the, the various things that people say about the various different forms of these kinds of medicines, which are ancient and and increasingly studied from a sort of psychotherapeutic perspective, from a somatic perspective, from a trauma recovery perspective. Mm-hmm. I know that at the moment I know that the kind of, that there's a lot of study and. And there's a lot of conversation about it and about safety, and you know, really rightly, there's a lot of scrutiny about this area that is also, in some respects, very revealing of different ways that we can work with mind and with consciousness to really tap into someone's innate potential for a more transcendent, expansive experience. But I'm, I'm grateful that in a way, your personal journey, which you are modeling for the listeners is. I really did do a lot of this work sober for a long time. Yeah. To, to come to know who I am and also to come to know this machine of the monkey mind, which could so easily take us down a pathway of addictive dependency with any substance, whether it be alcohol, whether it be sex, whether it be codependent relationships, or whether it be the sorts of medicines that you are now very publicly talking about. I'm grateful that that was a part of your experience and that you are sharing about that, honestly, because I think it is important that we don't just have the conversation about the positive benefits, but also that we do air the fact that this can be really tricky terrain actually to, to manage. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah, I've been I was really blessed. I had really beautiful experiences begin with and yeah, powerful experiences along the way, but. It can be the most difficult thing anyone will ever face in their life. And it is something to, to go into mindfully, carefully, like with a lot, with a lot of care and and attention. that said, also there'll be blessing where people will just get it and they'll eat it and they'll walk around and you know, they'll be, they'll be blessed. They'll have an amazing time. Like, it is, it is, it's kind of like, yes. And like all the exceptions to the rule I, my interest is that the major, the majority of it, like with, without any planning or, or the safety stuff, the majority of it is still super blessed. Especially if someone's feeling nervousness about it, like check in, like with the person, with the group, with the thing, you know, like get a feeling, take your time. Like it's not a rush.'cause once it's on, like it's, it, it really is happening. Yeah. And I suppose that's where the surrender remember one of the things that I was told is that you have to, you, you have to surrender to the experience. You ha you have to, if you try to resist it, that is a, it won't work, but b it causes quite a disconnect and, and potentially a, a degree of suffering in your actual experience. You know, if you feel the call to that, then, listen. I think what you are speaking about also applies to kind of anything ceremonial. It's so individual, it's so dependent on the person that take the precautions, have the conversations, go into the sorts of settings for your own healing in whatever modality you're using, whether that's just conversation or whether that's dance or you know, or even art. Like tailor it, curate it to what you feel that would be the most beneficial for you in that moment. And if that means don't, don't do it or do it at a later date, then great. Again, that's individually orienting and it's really important that there isn't a standard as to how we will experience these things. So we do have to be, we have to have a certain level of individual accountability to know ourselves well enough to know what's what we consent to. Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah. I'm curious about this pain freedom piece. Okay. Where did that mission for you start, particularly with the physical body? Hmm. So, when, I mean all the long story and up to when I was 19, 18, 19, I must have grown a lot in the last few years. And my posture was not, was not good. I was very flexible from like my solar plexus up, but my lower back was really locked up. And then I started I basically, I hadn't learned any of the, like how to balance and stretch and organize my body. I was just doing football with my mates or whatever, and then doing pushups and pullups and kind of just standard, teenage boy training at, at the time I was doing and then I started working on a building site doing laboring. So I was lifting up cement bags off the floor the whole time. And basically I got a really, really intense back pain, which is sciatica, non sciatica. And I, I began experiencing like these, like pain spasms down the back of my, down my lower back and down my legs. And I'd have to like, stop walking and like do loads of deep breathing, like all of a sudden like the, these, when, when this nerve hit. And it led me to seek healing. And I went to a friend of mine's mom is an osteopath and I still see her. And she did my first like adjustment where she twisted me out and as soon as like I had this big click out release in my lower back, it was like. Oh, like this massive like, release and then it was like quite sore for like quite sore afterwards. But I began to getting like all the, all the movements from my lower back like this, like the ripple from the, from the tailbone. It's like my lower back had just been like, and then it freed it all up and I'd just be like cycling along, like rippling my spine, like loving it bliss. And then I saw a sign for yoga. I saw the yoga sign someone, I was like, my dad had taken me when I was like 10. A few times he'd been doing it a bit. And I was like, all of a sudden the only 10-year-old in a group, full of people in the forties. But I remembered it that I liked it and like, and I was like, oh, let me try that. That felt good. And I knew I was very, I was very hypermobile, so I was kind of like, I've always been able to like, put my legs and arms behind my head and do like a deep, super deep back bend and stuff and that. But it made sense if walked in and then what really, what really opened me up. Made me realize and made me fall in love with the world of yoga at, you know, at the time with classes. At the very end, I was lying down and in the relaxation, and she was going through scamming all the different parts of the body. And when she got to the hands, she's like, relax your hands. And I realized that I've been like, on my hand a bit like a fist. We're working on a building site with like a 50 Albanian blokes giving me a hard time, like mother def Fry for the last six months. And I was like, she said, relax your hands. I was like, oh. And then it's like, whoa. And I came out and my body was just in bliss and I felt absolutely amazing. And, and it stayed for a, for a day or so. And then I, and I didn't, and I didn't go, I hadn't been back to the class, but the feeling started coming again. I was like, oh shit, he's coming back again. And then I started just doing like some of the stuff from the class, like kind of spontaneously, like what was that thing? I needed to do that. And then I used to get this like. Sofa age, and it's like, you know, like a cat, you see like a bear that rubs it up against a, a tree. I just find the point like just learn how to clear, clear myself out. Anyway, I realized if I do that I feel good. If I don't do that, the pain comes back and then I got it on CD and I just put, I used to just put it in the, in the CD every morning. I had a couple, one was an hour and one was 90 minutes, and I just knew that if I just pressed play on that, did whatever that guy was saying, 90 minutes later I'd be lying there and like sweating in absolute ecstasy and the rest of the, my day would be amazing. So it just got to be a kind of non-negotiable for me. Really. It was like before I go uni, I'm gonna do this first and then I'll just feel, I'll feel banging again and have a great day. So I just kept on doing that. That's, that was my kind of four year process. Like as I say, like I knew you were asking before about the kind of the preparation of like the sober work before the ceremony. That's, that's exactly it. So I turned up to the ayahuasca ceremony like in, I was in great shape. I mind and I, and I'd look, I've been training my mind like this, like there's people every time, every time I went to ceremony, there'd be people in absolute all over the place. Like people, old, older people outta shape going through it like, ugh, like vomit, you know, vomiting and like, ugh, in, I've been these crazy purges and I was just there like, boom, antenna is, and having this, these super, super shamanic journeys through the spirit world, like in ecstasy. But it was definitely like the all preparation was, was a really important part of it. So get back to your answer about pain, freedom. That's how, that's how I got into learning about how to, to do that. And also after the, the, the one of the very first classes I went and saw some group of friends in the park and was, were talking about it and he said he had a bad back and I just literally showed him the cat one. I was like, just do this a few times. He did it for about a couple of minutes and was like, wow, my back, my back doesn't hurt anymore. And that was, that for me was like, wow, that was amazing. And then when I meet anyone, like, you know, say my grandma or our family, like people, like, you don't have to, it's not hard to find people in pain in London, in, in in the world. It was just like, right. Like the feeling. And it was, there's, as I, as I look back, you know, I was very naive as well'cause I just wanted to like, help everyone instantly not have any pain. Mm. As like a 20-year-old. Just be like, oh, just do this, this will, so this will solve all your problems. You know, I'm telling people in their sixties, like, just stretch like this. And it's been a journey of like working out what, how it does actually happen and how long things do take and the cycles that you can begin and how to kind of manage expectations with people's transformations and be be aware that, you know, we're all on this journey. But that really, really inspired me to like, okay, I wanna do this. I wanna do, that guy sat there saying, let's do this. We're all doing it. That I can do this. I'm up for it. When you're telling the story, I get such an impression of your kind of, we talked about this before we started the recording. I get such a feeling for your kind of gregarious willingness to challenge yourself. Which is obviously also the case with anyone that's done 101 ayahuasca ceremonies is there's a, there are two things there for me as I interpret you. One is quite a core belief in yourself, and I mean that almost on a primal level, like a belief that you'll be all right, a belief that you have the wherewithal, you, you sort of in innately have what you need to survive and to come back to your own clarity and come back to your own decisions. And from a lot of the work that I do, I would say there are lots of people that do not come into the world with that. Sense of self and that sense of self capacity. But the other thing that of course is critical if you are gonna show that form of courage, which it sounds like your wife has taught you, is also the willingness to be a learner. It's a quality of humility that I also think is often missing in the culture that we live within. Particularly in a place like London where there is so much hustle and there's so much push and actually there's so much dishonesty and so much artifice that people are living as quite superficial forms of identity there transactional with each other rather than connective with each other. And underneath all of that, it feels like, to me, is a huge amount of fear. It's like so much fear that we cover up with posturing and charactering and it's kind of brilliantly liberating and also kind of terrifying to. Even like you were saying to me earlier, to answer questions, honestly, rawly without predetermining, what is the answer for me to give that's gonna make you think the best of me, that's gonna cultivate my audience, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm just aware of all of that as you're telling, even just that story about freeing people from pain, freeing people from suffering. And I suppose the only other thing is just to reflect back that it's so gorgeous to be in presence with someone who has not just a real disciplined interest in yourself. Because you are definitely someone that shows a huge amount of discipline, and that's quite easy for you, which is not characteristically for many other people, but also that you have such an others oriented focus. There's a generosity in you that's like, well, I've learned it now. Fuck. Like, this is the best secret ever. Do other people know about this? Maybe I should go and tell other people. Do they know? Should we, should we spread this thing? Mm-hmm. And I think that requires a level of naivety in the best way, in the way of child. It requires like that childlike spirit of this is great. People look at it over here. Mm. Yeah. Lots of that. You used this phrase with me earlier, you said, I wonder what the cool people would do. And I reflect on that sometimes the way that cool has become such a compressor of, of truth and creativity and fun and spontaneity. We're just thinking about it a bit too much., Would you agree with that? Generally that part of the problem in the world is that we think ineffectively and far too often. It's both the problem and the solution to the world as well.'cause it's also it's also made all the most amazing things as well. People's ability to think but like you say, it takes training in the same way that your physical body takes training, which brings us back to discipline. Mm-hmm. I think you're right. It is the solution, but it is the solution when we're willing to take accountability for what is going on here and is it good and is it working, and how can I hack the system to make it better? For me, I see a spectrum with everything on it from the, from the worst to the best. We're all on a big wheel, like a big learning curve where we, we we get to evolve through all the stages. Myself, yourself, we're like, we are currently some version of that spectrum and how Yeah. How much we lean into the growth and like, do the things that evolve us through the feelings that come up as we, as we genuinely, as we do genuinely do things is up to us to, to, to work out our dance with, because it gets, it, it's, it's beyond the comfort. Like sharpening the knife is the, is the grindstone with a lot of sparks and a lot of pressure and a lot of time, and a lot of heat. And it makes a very, very sharp blade. Yeah. But that, that blade has been through a lot. Yeah. You and I operate in a space where people talk about quantum shifts a lot and their blessings, as you say, they are a literal representation of a deep, deep, deep learning that comes very, very quickly. But I, I think a, a lot of those quantum shifts happen after like years of softer, smaller, more quiet, maybe even unconscious work Hmm. But b, they're not necessarily the norm. And I almost feel like part of the problem that we create mentally is that we put so much pressure on ourselves to learn big, big, big, chunky lessons in a micro moment of time. Because we think, okay, well that will make me a better practitioner. Or if I can create quantum shifts for my clients or my students, like, then that's the goal. It does a disservice to how much you learn incrementally by treading the path and giving ultimately deep, deep focus and respect to just this one day., Could I choose to live this one day as though this one day was the fucking prize and it was the only one that I had, and this was the one day where I was gonna be able to insert all of my values and all of my joy and all of my gift and all of my humility and all of my surrender into this 1 24 hours. Could I just do that? And could those days then build into a completely different life? Mm-hmm. Definitely. Really well, really well put. It made me think is actually that, my second big wave of naivety came after having previously thought I could just show people stretches and they'd be all sorted, is when I had the Ayahuasca experience and I thought, oh, this is what everybody needs to do. This will solve everyone's problems. This and, and the thing that you did speak about, about learning so much, the quantum ship that happened to me so much. Through, through the ceremony that it was a, a massive inspiration for me to share with people I knew it was rare, but I also knew that it was actually quite simple to do for me. It, for me, it just seemed really simple. Like, oh, like are you suffering with all that stuff? Like, do you not, have you not had this quantum shift thing yet? Have you not worked out that we are in a, in a God dream surrounded by God, like surrounded by everything, everything, energy and rule, rule one is that like, you know, like speaking to people and it becoming apparent that they weren't experiencing that same thing that I was tapped into was like, we just do this thing. Why, why don't you just do this and then you'll, you'll have the same thing. I wanted people to experience that same thing, and I still do. And also there, exactly what you said as well, powerful word, both. It's, it's the spiritual and the material. So it's the getting fit in the gym and it's the getting fit in the temple, if someone's missing either of them or even, you know, never had either of them, then I, I do see recurring patterns of lostness. You know, unhappiness. Like the thing you spoke about, people like not having their, like, their mission not not being clear on what their thing to do is. I mean, this is why I guess I share, I'm inspired to share.'cause it became really obvious to me, like, strongly, quickly, amazingly, very inspiringly. Like so much of the information that I, that I had been looking for, I had been asking myself those questions and then like, boom. All of the questions and more answered. And then go into the world and do it. Like build the thing, put the bricks in bit by bit. Build the foundation, build the shelter for people to come to, you know? Felix, it has been amazing to talk to you and, and just kind of so fun for me to sit down with someone who's on a fairly unique pathway and that has a really gorgeous individual perspective about all of this. So thank you so much for your time. Thank you very much. Yeah. If if people want to find out about coming on one of your men's retreats or even coming to the couples retreat that I know you're hosting later in the year mm-hmm. Where's the best place for them to find you? Are we talking Instagram? Are we talking website? Like what's the best? On Instagram, I share often and I have a website, urban avatar.com. Felix Price dot UAMA on Instagram. Felix Price Art as well. I have two that I curate. One's more a bit like a gallery for my fine art. And then one I share more about everything I'm sharing with the world, the spiritual arts and the training and the retreats and the retreats company, the men's one. It's called Primal Retreats, my friend James Magic Marine. We're, we're doing it together and we're doing wild camps in London over the summer and the retreats at 42 acres in September with my wife Deanne. And I just wanted to, just, just before we finish, kind of, you did ask me like the really good question about the men's work. Mm. And then I guess that's another whole hour I could talk about that. But in, in a nutshell, Holden space for men is, is, is been amazing. And it really inspires me continually, as you spoke about when you were in a, just a, a group of women, you feel, you feel something shift like as soon as we, the men are together. And it's just that like, it's, that container is set. You feel it. The men putting down their weapons, their shields, their armors, and not needing to protect any women. That, that was the shift about it. As soon as there's a woman there, there is this deep, deep, deep, whatever part of the brain it is. But super deep instinct that a man has, whether he fulfills it or not, whether he's a, you know, in denial or whatever about it, but like to protect a woman, it shifts the state, and I want to give thanks to the group that has massively inspired me. And it's been recent in my journey. I went to a retreat in January with a group called The Mankind Project, and it has been absolutely amazing for me. It was a fantastic experience and the journey has continued from them with the guys that I did it with. For further integration, regular calls and catch ups and, and more work that we've been doing., It's a a project or foundation that's been running 40 years and over 80,000 men have done this initiation, and it's very, very deep and strong and powerful. And I really, I'm really grateful for it. And it's really inspired and informed a lot of what I'm sharing now. So for anybody who's listening and wants, wants, you know, some thing to kind of look at, look towards is what I share. Primal Retreats and then there's the MKP project. Very accessible. Highly, highly recommend it to, to any man looking to really meet themselves. Very challenging, emotionally, mentally, spiritually experienced, very revealing in a really, really powerful loving way. So I think Felix, all that's left to just say again is, is thank you so much for your time in this very busy growth oriented season in your life. I can't wait to see what comes. Thank you so much. Take care my love. Take care. Lots of love.

Anthea: 43:51

Gorgeous listeners. I hope. You enjoy today's. today's. episode. To find. More about our. Featured guests. Have a look in the show. Notes.