Be Mythical

This week's show is with Steve James. Steve travels internationally teaching somatic practices, meditation, as well as leading explorations in contemplative & relational realms. Known for his direct, grounded approach and his dedication to first-hand research, he has extensive experience in elite athletic performance, contemplative and spiritual disciplines, the arts, extreme outdoor survival, and human behaviour.

Steve’s unique range of experiences and understanding of human behaviour, high performance, spirituality, and interpersonal relationships is highly sought after by leading figures at the highest levels of the arts, entertainment, and business. In his private client practice he specialises in the unique interpersonal and strategic challenges faced by very successful and highly visible individuals. Ongoing clients include Oscar-winning actors, multi Grammy winning musicians, CEO’s, and fund managers.

Steve is the creator of the Movement Koan Method® and the host of the Guru Viking Podcast.

In this show, Steve and Lian spoke about magic as a world view or a way of listening... en route they spoke about meditation, yoga siddhis, ceremonial magick, shamanism, and more. 

I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation…  please leave a comment below.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • Because of the cultural shadow we have around magic, we believe it's a sign of stupidity or naivety to believe in magic, when historically many of the most renowned thinkers, whose work we still revere hundreds of years later, were practitioners of magic
  • When we "got science" we believed we'd moved beyond magic, but what if it's magic is something that's still deeply serving and is really a description of what we don't know yet?
  • Magic can be seen as a cheat code to push for things to happen, going around the back door, but when we've got something that way, how do we hold it when we've got it?  And  there's also something much deeper available in magic... the Great Work, . And Steve suggested magic can be a "listening" beyond the known, a way of waking up, sobering up, a way of being in a relationship of wonder with the world.
  • Practice relating to something beyond your own experience of a person or object... "Become the tree"

Resources and stuff that we spoke about:

Thank you for listening!

There’s fresh episode each week, if you subscribe then you’ll get each new episode delivered to your phone every Tuesday (that way you’ll never miss an episode):

Thank you!
Lian & Jonathan

Direct download: Steve_James_Magic_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:18pm EDT

This week's show is with Ryan Simbai Jenkins. Ryan is a hypnotherapist and coach with an unusual upbringing. He was born in Papua New Guinea, and his first experiences with non-traditional ways of healing came early on in life when his mother (a medical anthropologist) discovered a “lost” indigenous tribe called the Hagahai people. Ryan witnessed first hand how the tribal healers and shamans used forms of Trance to heal people from diseases of the body and mind. This profoundly influenced the course of his life.

This led to an intense fascination and deep study and practice of meditation, self-hypnosis, NLP, shamanism, ceremonial Magick and the many varied psychological modalities of personal development. His love of this field comes from the profound personal transformations he regularly experiences in his own life and those of his clients.

In this episode, we explored what I call the Shadow Needs, which are inspired by the work of Lester Levenson. We spoke about what these Shadow Needs are, how we can use them in enquiry to uncover shadow that's behind these Needs and ultimately how we can release those Needs to live more freely and fully as our true self open to the Divine. We also took a tour around Magick, Qabbalah, Michael Beckwith's 4 stages of consciousness and more... it really was a deep dive into Soul and Spirit!

I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment below.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • The four Shadow Needs we spoke of are: Control, Security, Approval and Oneness/Separateness, though personally I tend to work mainly with the first three
  • We can use these Shadow Needs in enquiry in the way Ryan described: Asking: "Could I let go of wanting..." Would I be willing to let go of wanting...?" "When? Or noticing when these Needs are showing up and then working to illuminate and integrate the shadow creating that need
  • This work isn't about dismissing our physical security, it's about allowing us to see we have a physical body *and* we're also more besides.

Resources and stuff that we spoke about

Thank you for listening!

There’s fresh episode each week, if you subscribe then you’ll get each new episode delivered to your phone every Tuesday (that way you’ll never miss an episode):

Thank you!
Lian & Jonathan

Direct download: Ryan_Jenkins_Shasow_Needs_mixdown.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:23pm EDT

This week's show is with Chris Lüttichau. Chris is the founder of Northern Drum Shamanic Centre, a UK-based educational organisation offering a renewed perspective on traditional shamanic and medicine teachings, and a safe grounding from which to learn them established in 1998.

He is the keeper of an integral body of teachings that he shares in workshops and ongoing training groups. The teachings cover a broad range of topics from healing and the art of dreaming to spirit contact and the way of the council. Chris is the author of the critically acclaimed book on shamanism 'Calling Us Home – Find Your Path, Your Balance and Your Inner Strength' published in 2017 and 'Animal Spirit Guides: Discover your Power Animal and the Shamanic Path' published 2009. He is an international teacher, and has appeared on TV on BBC 1, and in Denmark on TV2, and has given radio interviews in the USA, Canada, and the UK.

Chris Lüttichau is the renowned author of the acclaimed  book on shamanism.

In this show, Chris and Lian spoke about the power of dreams. We explored the shamanic perspective on dreams, the wisdom and guidance available in them and practical actions you can take to create a deep and revelatory relationship with your dreams.

I’d love to know what YOU think about this week's show. Let’s carry on the conversation…  please leave a comment below.

What you'll learn from this episode:

  • In shamanic cultures, dreams are often seen as one of the most powerful and important ways we can work with our soul and spirit - this is an important resource that we've lost contact with in our modern culture but is something we can reclaim.
  • The three kinds of dreams are dreams that are simply working through the happenings of your day, reflective dreams which provide guidance on things happening in your life and finally shamanic dreams, or big dreams, which provide important teaching about things you or your community need to know.
  • Keep a dream diary - write down your dreams as soon as you wake up, as you gather your dreams over time, start to look for patterns and revelations, learn the language of your soul.

Resources and stuff that we spoke about:

Thank you for listening!

There’s fresh episode each week, if you subscribe then you’ll get each new episode delivered to your phone every Tuesday (that way you’ll never miss an episode):

Thank you!
Lian & Jonathan

Direct download: Chris_Luttichau_Dreams_mixdown.mp3
Category:Interview -- posted at: 10:01am EDT

1