You Already Know What to Do — Guided Meditation for Clarity, Alignment & Real Change

In this episode, Christopher Shaw and Aeon Archer deliver a powerful teaching and guided meditation on personal transformation, spiritual awakening, self-awareness, identity change, and deep inner work. This episode explores why high-performing individuals often feel stuck despite doing the work, and how to break through subconscious resistance, emotional avoidance, and limiting patterns to access clarity, purpose, alignment, and embodied leadership.

This transmission brings you directly to the moment where real change happens—the edge. The place where clarity is no longer the issue, and the only question left is whether you will act… or continue to hesitate.

Through lived experience, interspiritual teaching, and embodied awareness, Aeon shares a deeply personal reflection on one year of sobriety—revealing how the very thing he avoided became the doorway to his life.

Christopher then guides a meditation designed to help you stay present with what is already true, release what is ready to fall away, and reconnect with what remains when you stop holding everything in place.

If you’ve been doing the work, gaining insight, and still finding yourself circling the same patterns… this episode will bring you face-to-face with the exact point where most people stop just short.

🔱 In this teaching + meditation you will explore:

• Why you avoid what you already know is true
 • The fear of the unknown vs. familiar patterns
 • What’s actually waiting on the other side of the decision
 • How to stay present instead of turning away
 • Why clarity is not the problem—and what actually is
 • A guided meditation to embody alignment and release resistance

✨ Reflection Questions

 • What do I already know is not aligned?
 • Where am I hesitating right at the point of action?
 • What am I avoiding—not because I’m confused, but because I’m afraid?
 • What might be waiting for me on the other side of this?
 • What happens if I stay present instead of turning away?

🔥 Practice of the Week

The Staying Practice

1️⃣ The Seeing
Pause.
Take a slow breath in… and a full exhale.
Bring awareness to something in your life you already know is not aligned.
Silently say: “I see it.”

2️⃣ The Staying
Notice the impulse to move away… to delay… to distract.
Don’t follow it. Stay.
Breathe into what you feel without trying to fix it.
Silently say: “I stay.”

3️⃣ The Shift
Without forcing anything… remain present one breath longer.
Notice what begins to open when you don’t leave.
Silently say: “I’m here.”

Take three slow breaths… and remain with what is real.

🔗 Links & Resources

Apply for Private Work:
 https://www.archershaw.guru/bookonline

Immersions & Retreats:
 https://www.merkabaretreats.com

Merkaba Temple Services:
 https://www.merkabatemple.com

❤️‍🔥 Support the Temple

Venmo: @MerkabaTemple
 https://www.merkabatemple.com/donate

If this episode served you, share it with someone standing at the edge of a real decision.

🔱 ArcherShaw Temple — Teachings for Sovereign Awakening

If this episode served you, share it with someone standing at a threshold of becoming.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Archer Shaw Temple Podcast. Teachings for sovereign awakening, sacred union, and embodied devotion. I'm Christopher Shaw here with Aeon Archer. May this transmission meet you exactly where you are and open the next doorway on your path. Let us begin.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

You know, the over the course of uh all of these services that we've done over the past six months, there have been a you know a couple times where maybe I couldn't make a service and Christopher nine months. Oh, nine months, yeah. Where Christopher would have to do that Sunday. So it's not always been like an equal cadence of uh of taking turns, but it's just interesting how it lands on my one-year anniversary, and I get the opportunity to do the temple service. So like it's super exciting, and we never really know how our higher power, whatever you call higher power, uh how it's organizing uh our lives uh on our behalf when we when we lean into that. So this week, today, marks one year. And I want to say that simply without too much ceremony around it, because honestly, the most remarkable thing about this year is not that it happened, because it almost didn't. I almost didn't let it happen. For a long time, uh I told myself I wasn't ready, that the timing wasn't right, uh, that there were other things to handle first, that I had to go to work, that I had to, you know, I couldn't give myself the time or the freedom or the space to get well. But if I'm fully honest with you this morning, and this community has sort of always asked that of me, the truth is much simpler than that. Uh I was afraid, I was terrified. Uh I was not afraid of failing. I was afraid that it was gonna hurt. I was afraid of what I might find when I stopped moving fast enough to avoid myself. Uh I had constructed a very convincing story that the thing waiting on the other side of this decision was pain, was loss, was emptiness. But what I found instead was my life. And that would make me cry because it's so true. Um and I don't usually, usually Christopher's the one that cries during his teachings. I'm not a crier, usually typically, but this is really emotional for me because it's just been an incredible year. Um, the Yoga Sutras, which are one of the oldest sacred psychological texts on this planet, name this as one of the deepest human afflictions, not a personal failing, not a uh not a character flaw, but it's like this ancient instinctive clinging to the familiar, even when the familiar is the very thing that is hurting us. And the sages were saying thousands of years ago, what we are all still learning today, that we do not avoid hard things because we are weak. By any means, we are not weak, but we avoid them because the fear of the unknown feels more dangerous than the pain that we already know. And most of us will stay in a familiar suffering, and I mean for years, rather than risk an unfamiliar freedom. I know I did. And honestly, I even watched my mom go through this. Uh, and it's been it's been beautiful to watch her journey because she stayed in the familiar suffering of an unhealthy relationship with my stepfather for 16, 17, 18 years, but finally got the courage to step out into her life and her path. And it has just been incredible to watch the transformation that she has gone through over the course of the past 12 years now, I believe, that she they've been separated. So this is this is not unique to me. This is a familiar story and it resonates with all of us. So this week, I also decided to try something a little different and pull a couple tarot cards uh before writing the teaching. And as I was shuffling the deck, the cards that jumped out were the magician and the empress. So I sat with them for a long time because something about the two of them together felt like they were answering the very question I had been sitting with all week. The question this year of sobriety has been asking me quietly almost every day what might be waiting for you on the other side of the thing you keep not beginning? Because I am standing here one year later, and I want you to know the thing I avoided for the longest, I mean 20 years, became the very thing that set me free. Now we'll go over the magician, the magician card. The magician is the card of sacred will. Uh, it is the card of conscious choice, of waking up to what has already been placed in your hands, because you have every single tool available to you. You have everything that you need to succeed, everything, the every truth, all of that is already inside of you, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be accessed. In traditional imagery, the musician stands at a table, and on that table are all four elements. Everything needed to do the work in front of him. He lacks absolutely nothing. All of the tools are there. But here is what I learned this year is you cannot use what you have never truly examined. One of the things that Yoga Sutras teach, and this has lived in me all year as well, is the practice of honest self-study. Not self-criticism, not shaming myself, not self-improvement as a project, but genuine, courageous, tender inquiry into who I actually am? What actually moves me? What motivates me? What lights me up? What gives me joy? What makes me feel good inside? What do I actually need to thrive? And what have I actually been carrying that is keeping me from that? What are what thoughts, what patterns of belief, what shows up at specific times of day? When am I energized? When am I not energized? What foods uh make me feel good, what foods make me feel bad? Like honest self-study on every level of the human experience. Our thoughts, our devotion, our spiritual nature, the way we feed ourselves, the content that we consume, all of these things, and stepping back into the awareness, not into the judgment, of noticing how my choices affect how I feel. Because that's the translation. So I thought I knew myself before this year. I had opinions about myself, I had a story about myself, but opinions and stories are not the same as knowledge. So this year has been like meeting myself for the first time. And it's been incredible, challenging, fun, exciting, depressing, all of it. And I've got to be present for all of it. But I also discovered my passions, passions that I had long buried and forgotten. Uh I started to understand how I was wired. Like I said a moment ago, what lights me up, what depletes me, what I actually value and care about when I'm not performing or managing or numbing. And I began to see gifts I had been using unconsciously, some of them in service of growth, and honestly, some of them in service of my avoidance. It's interesting because sometimes our gifts, depending on how we choose to use them, can either serve our growth or serve our disconnection. And so it's it's stepping back into that self-study and taking uh taking stock of who we are and what activates us, and and and we can turn things that we that we typically would see as a character deficit into a character asset because it's just the same thing, it's just one thing on the same spectrum. And that is what the magician is really asking. Not do you have power? You have power, trust me. It is that has it's it's it is how you use that power, or that has never been the question. The question is, are you awake to it? Yes, you have power, but are you consciously engaging with it? Because power that moves through us unconsciously doesn't disappear, it just gets directed by whatever is loudest inside of us, or whether that be our fear, our pain, out of habit, or hunger, this hunger for relief. And I can relate to the hunger for relief because I was stuck in that cycle, just like trying to fill this deep, empty hole inside of me that was really seeking a relationship with God, but I was so disconnected that I didn't understand that. And recovery, and I would say any actual, actually any genuine spiritual practice, because recovery is a spiritual practice, is the sacred process of learning to pick up the tools on the table with conscious awareness, with your eyes wide open and with intention, using them intentionally. And again, going back, that all circles back to self-study, is stepping outside of the thoughts and resting in the silent, vast spaciousness of your being, the silent awareness and just observing yourself. Now, there was a moment in there was a moment early in this year where I realized I had spent years being incredibly capable and incredibly asleep at the same time. I could show up for everyone else. I could lead, I could teach, I could hold space, I could inspire. And I was doing all of it while quietly avoiding the most important conversation in my life. And that conversation was with myself. And now the magician doesn't shame you for that. He just turns you, he turns to you and he says, You have everything you need. It's time to wake up to what's in your hands. Take a drink of water. Almost fell over the chair. All right, so we're gonna go into the empress. And then there is the Empress. So if the magician asks you to wake up to what you carry, the Empress asks you something quieter, something more tender. What are you allowing yourself to receive? You see, the Empress is the card of abundance, of nourishment, of a life in full bloom. She is not striving, she is not performing, she is not managing impressions or holding herself together for the sake of anyone else in the room. She is simply, and this is the radical part, flourishing. That is her nature. Her nature is flourishing. That is your nature. Your nature is to flourish. And oftentimes that flourishing is on the other side of the door that we've been avoiding. And I want to tell you what this year has actually looked like because I think sometimes when we talk about transformation, we skip over the texture of it. We go straight to the breakthrough and we miss the beauty of the ordinary days. Because even ordinary days are abundant. Even ordinary days are a part of the flourishing. This year, incredible, incredibly special people came into my life. All of you, Sapphire, Roy, Jacob, uh uh um, Karen, like so many incredible people. And I woke up to some of the incredible people who were already in my life, who I had not even connected with. Christopher. Now, people who are also doing the work themselves, genuinely growing. Jennifer, genuinely evolving, genuinely committed to becoming more alive. And I want to say something about that because I don't think it's a coincidence, because when you begin to do the inner work yourself, you become available to a different quality of connection. You stop attracting what numb you, and you start attracting what nourishes you. That is the Empress at work. So this year I'd rediscovered passions I had long forgotten were mine, like I said earlier, things that lit me up before. I learned to suppress what I needed in favor of what was expected. And there was something almost grief-like about that. Finding something precious you didn't realize you had lost. But mostly it felt like coming home. I also want to be honest that there were challenges, questions about my identity, about how the authentic version of me fits into this world. Questions I had been avoiding most of my life. About what role I am actually here to play. How do I make a difference? How do I show up? How do I like start to really express my authentic self as I discover this authentic version? You know, there was a time where like I would think I had reached a level of authenticity and I would create all of these things in that level, but then a deeper level would appear, and all the things that I had created no longer resonated with me. And so then I would really land in this level of authenticity, and I would create all these things, and then an even deeper level of authenticity would appear. So it's been this really weird journey of I'm there, create, create, create. Oh, nope, not quite. I'm there, create, create, create. Oh, nope, not quite. So it's been a lot of creating and also a lot of self-discovery in that process of creating something that I can contribute to the world. So discomfort in the light is not the same as suffering in the dark. Struggling with real questions about your life while sober, while supported, while connected, that is not the same as struggling as the one I was in, the same type of struggling I was in before. It looks similar from the outside sometimes, sometimes, but it feels completely different on the inside. The Empress doesn't promise you the absence of difficulty. She promises you fertility. She promises that when the conditions are right, when you are nourished, connected, honest, tended, things grow. You grow, you evolve. Even through the hard seasons. I call the hard seasons manure because it's like, you know, when shit happens, you just use it to nourish your garden. It's just that's the best way to do it. You know, you don't want to waste the shit because if you waste the shit, you're not going to nourish your garden. So it just helps. When shit happens, nourish your garden with it. And at the center of all of it, for me, has been Christopher and this community. All of you have been my anchor. Not in a way that kept me small or dependent, but in the way that a root system works, invisible to most people, quietly holding everything upright, allowing the tree to grow taller than it ever could have alone. Let it go. You're rubbing off on me, Christopher. Let it go. The Yoga Sutras call this the third movement of transformation. Surrender. Not giving up, not collapsing, but the radical act of releasing the illusion that you were ever meant to do this alone. And allowing something greater. Love, community, the divine. The divine expresses itself in the relationships we share with each other to hold what we cannot hold by ourselves. I did not set myself free alone, and neither will you. So here's what I want to bring, here's how I would like to bring this home. The magician and the empress together are not just a beautiful pairing of cards, they are a map. They are showing us the two movements of every genuine transformation. First, you wake up to what is in your hands, to the tools that God has already given you. Then, allow life to bloom in your care. It's necessary to tend the garden. You can't just throw shit on it and expect it to grow. If you want a beautiful garden, you gotta take care of it. But neither of those movements is possible while you're standing on the outside of the door. You can't tend your garden and not leave your house. The Yoga Sutras describe the path of transformation as three things working together discipline. Like I said a moment ago, self-knowledge and surrender. And what I find so honest about that teaching is the order. Discipline comes first. The daily choice to show up for yourself, for your relationships, for your community. And the self-knowledge that follows the slow, courageous, trust me, courageous process of actually meeting yourself. Getting to know who you are. And then the surrender comes last. Because it's not in defeat, but as the moment you finally trust that you do not have to carry this alone. And that, in a nutshell, is the year I just had. What in your life are you avoiding right now? Not what are you struggling with, not what is hard, but what is the thing that you've been circling for weeks, maybe months, maybe like me for 20 years that you've convinced yourself you are not ready for yet. And what is the door you keep walking past? Because that is the door you keep walking past because you have decided that what's behind it is gonna be painful. Because I want to offer you the possibility, not a guarantee, but a genuine possibility that what is waiting behind that door is not what you fear, because it might very well be your life. It might be the version of yourself that you've never met, but have always somehow known is there. It might be the freedom you've been looking for in every place except the one place it actually lives. I did not know one year ago that all of this was waiting for me. The clarity, the community, the rediscovered passions, the quality of love I now get to live inside every day. The sense of being genuinely, solidly, unmistakably myself in the world for the first time. Okay, that's three cries in one teaching. Man. I did not know any of that was on the other side. I just had to walk through. So before I close, I want to say something directly to Christopher. Now I'm gonna really try not to cry because I cried when I wrote this. Um you have been, in the truest sense of the word, my home this year. Not a place I return to when I'm depleted, but the ground beneath my feet. The thing that made the growth possible. Thank you for being the kind of love that lets me be me. And to this community. Merkaba Temple. You've shown me what it looks like when people choose each other confidently. When we gather not out of habit or obligation, but out of genuine commitment to each other, to becoming more alive together. You have been my example. You've been my witness, and my proof that transformation is not a solo act. I am one year sober today because of the grace of something greater than myself. And that something greater has a face. And it looks like every single one of you. The magician says you have everything you need. The Empress says you are made to flourish. And the oldest wisdom traditions on earth say you were never meant to do this alone. So whatever the door is. It's time. Omni Mashivaya. Omguruom. Amen. Oh. Ashe. And so it is. Christopher will now lead us in our guided meditation to embody this teaching. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Okay. So if you're not already in a position that allows you to be still, find a position that allows you to be still. Letting the body settle without forcing it. And if it feels natural, closing your eyes, taking a deep breath is and a full exhale. Again, inhale. And exhale. One more time. Inhale. And exhale. Letting the breath return to its natural rhythm. Feeling the weight of your body. The ground beneath you. Nothing to hold. Nothing to manage. Just hair. Now bring your attention into the body. And to the center of your experience. Not thinking about it, but feeling it. And just notice what's here. No need to name it. And no need to change it. Just notice it. Now I want you to bring your attention to something in your life right now. But you already know. A place you've been circling. A decision you've been delaying. A truth that's already clear. And let it come into awareness. Not the story about it, but just the actual thing. And take a moment to feel how your body responds. Notice if there is resistance, hesitation, a pull to move away. But I encourage you to stay. No need to fix it. No need to act on it. But just don't leave. Take a slow breath in and let it move through that space. And exhale without pushing anything away. Again inhale. And exhale. Now feel into this. What you're sensing is not confusion. It's knowing meaning fear. And just see that without judgment and without pressure. And now gently, without forcing anything, without trying to figure out what comes next, just allow a small shift. Instead of turning away, stay one breath longer. Instead of delaying, just stay present. And feel what happens when you don't leave. There may be discomfort. There may be openness. There be maybe nothing at all. But let it be exactly what it is. Now quietly inside. Ask yourself what might be waiting for me here if I stop avoiding this. And don't answer with your mind, just feel. Take a deeper breath in. Feel your body again. Your chest. The simple fact that you are here. One more full breath in. And a complete exhale. And gently, when you are ready, opening your eyes and coming back to this place. All right, before we jump into what's next, seventeen years ago in Windsor, Ontario, my beloved father who is here with us today was in Windsor, Ontario with all of my family to celebrate my first year of recovery. And that year I received this chip. I've kept it like all of the others over all these years. Blood, sweat, and tears in this chip. Eighteen years of blood, sweat, and tears in this chip. And today I offer it to my beloved Aeon. Thank you. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Good stuff. Before we close today, we're going to take a moment for offering. And I want to keep this simple and honest. What you've been in this morning, this space, this teaching, this community, it doesn't exist on its own. It's something we're all building together. And if you felt something today, if something landed, if something in you recognized itself, then this is a moment to respond to that. Not later, not when it's more convenient, but now. Because the same pattern we've been sitting with this morning, seeing clearly, feeling something real, and then waiting, it shows up here too. This matters. I feel this. I'll come back to it. And most of the time, we don't come back to it. So let this be a practice. Closing the gap between what you feel and how you move. If this space supports you, support it. If this work matters, invest in it. Not from pressure, not from obligation, but from alignment. You can give at Mercabatemple.com forward slash donate. Or take out your phone, open up Venmo, and you can find us at Mercaba Temple, all one word. So take a moment, feel what's true for you, and act from there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

All right, we have some announcements before we take off for the day. This summer we're offering our Colorado immersion series in Evergreen, Colorado. These are two small intimate retreats designed for real reset, clarity, and deep realignment. If you've been feeling the call to step into this work with us, this is a powerful way to do it without leaving the country, for those of you that are in the USA. No more thinking about it, all right? No more researching it. It's time for you to make the decision. Today, spots are filling up. There is a way, I promise. Do not worry about finances, do not worry about air travel. Do not worry about anything. The universe, take care of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Get into the flow of the current. You can find more info on Merkovetreats.com. And if you're feeling something more immediate, now is actually one of the best times to come work with us in Puerto Vallarta. Yeah. From now through October, we're in low season. So flights are way more affordable. Uh the pace here slows down, and the space becomes even more supportive for deeper work. So if you've been considering a private one-on-one immersion, or maybe a couple's retreat or a chosen family's immersion, this is summer is the window. Yeah. And once again, no more pondering whether this is right for you. Your soul will know. It's time to listen.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

And lastly, we have been publishing consistently across both Mercuba Temple and Merkaba Retreats blogs. We have some great writings on there. I just released a series of essays on money, which is we we all, I mean, all of us think about money, right? So there's a beautiful new series on money at Merkubatemple.com forward slash blog. And Aeon recently shared an article on the importance of the container and the role that the facilitator plays in sacred plant medicine work. So his latest blog post can be found at MercabaRetreats.com forward slash blog.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

And if this work resonates with you, take some time with take some time with those. And make sure you're on our email list so you can stay connected to everything that we're building. And also make sure to share this community with anyone you know who you feel will benefit from it.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah, share on. We're out there. So share about us. Please bring your friends. We would love that to continue to build our family.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

Thank you for being here with us at Archer Hall Temple. If something in this teaching helped your body soften or brought you back into yourself, let it keep moving. Share it with someone who's ready. This temple is sustained through conscious participation, through those who feel the resonance and choose to support the work from clarity, not pressure. If you feel called into write exchange, you're welcome to support the mission on Vimbo at MerkovaTemple All OneWord. And if you'd like to go deeper, you can schedule a complimentary soul alignment session at archershawl.guru. Until next time, take care of your nervous system, walk gently, and stay close to what's true.