You Are Not Your Pain — Meditation Is Returning, Not Escaping

Meditation isn't about escaping reality—it's about fully inhabiting it. In this soul-nourishing conversation with Swami Nityananda, we explore what it truly means to ground ourselves and return to our essential nature through mindfulness practices.

Have you ever noticed how we tend to live "from the neck up," caught in analytical thinking while disconnected from our body's wisdom? Swami shares her journey of discovering meditation as a practical tool for letting go of stress, calming the mind, and connecting with the natural spark of joy that exists at the core of each person. Through a guided meditation experience, we demonstrate how to create space between awareness and thoughts, showing that you are not your nervous system or your emotions—you are the awareness witnessing them.

One of the most liberating insights from our conversation is recognizing that pain is a natural part of living in time and space. There's nothing wrong with experiencing difficult emotions; it's our resistance to them that creates suffering. When we allow ourselves to feel fully without judgment, these emotions move through us "like a spring storm," eventually clearing the way for greater clarity and compassion.

We explore practical tools anyone can use during challenging moments—from placing attention on your solar plexus when encountering strong emotional waves, to taking a single conscious breath to activate your prefrontal cortex rather than responding from fear. Perhaps the most accessible practice? Two minutes of free-form dancing can dramatically shift your energy state, requiring no skill or preparation—just the willingness to move with curiosity and playfulness.

Whether you're navigating grief, facing uncertainty, or simply seeking deeper connection with yourself, this conversation offers gentle reminders that the light within you never dims, even during your darkest moments. As Swami beautifully states, "Love life totally. Nothing has to change for you to connect with joy."

Connect with Swami Nityananda here : www.awakeyogameditation.org

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Lift One Self Podcast
• 6:10 Guided Meditation Experience
• 11:46 Natural Points of Connection with Awareness
• 18:02 Pain as Part of Life's Journey
• 26:09 Navigating Energy Fields During Challenging Times
• 37:41 Moving Through Grief and Heartbreak
• 51:18 Finding Stillness and Universal Friendliness
• 56:07 Simple Tools for Shifting Energy

Transcript

NatNat: 0:00

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast, where we break mental health stigmas through conversations. I'm your host, nat Nat, and we dive into topics about trauma and how it impacts the nervous system. Yet we don't just leave you there. We share insights and tools of self-care, meditation and growth that help you be curious about your own biology. Your presence matters. Please like and subscribe to our podcast. Help our community grow. Let's get into this. Oh, and please remember to be kind to yourself.

Swami Nityananda: 0:36

Welcome to the Lift One Self podcast. I'm your host, nat Nat, and today we are going to get into some mindfulness, some joy, and really start delving into what really is meditation. What is it to ground yourself and come back into yourself and you hear me talk about it all the time. Yet I'm going to have somebody else that is going to give their perspective and what their journey has looked like and what it is to hold space for others to enter into this space. So I know how to pronounce her first name, which is Swami. The last one, I am not going to take a chance to butcher it. So, swami, could you introduce yourself to myself and the listeners and let us know a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 3: 1:19

Absolutely. First of all, just net net thank you, and thank you for your joy. Like your light shines really brightly. So I'm very excited to talk with you, and the name that my teacher gave me is Swami Nityananda, and my teacher was Swami Shankarananda. He founded our meditation community in Baltimore in 1974. So we've actually been here for more than 50 years and he taught yoga philosophy and meditation for 40 years, and so yoga philosophy and meditation for 40 years, and so yoga philosophy and meditation is just very practical.

Speaker 3: 1:48

It helps you to let go of stress, it helps you to calm the mind, it helps you to live with more connection and ease. It helps you to connect with. I think there's like a natural spark of joy and like a just a natural life force and a natural light and love and laughter and hope that is right at the heart of each of us, and so the teachings and the practices of meditation just help you connect with that. So my teacher left the body. As yogis say, he passed in 2014. And before he did, he consecrated me as Swami Nityananda and he asked me to serve as his successor. So it's been my joy and honor to do that for, I guess, like a little more than 10 years.

Swami Nityananda: 2:27

Okay, so before we dive in, would you join me in a mindful moment so we can ground ourselves and actually show the listeners what it is to. You know, be into a meditative state and, you know, take a moment for yourself.

Speaker 3: 2:41

With joy.

Swami Nityananda: 2:43

And for the listeners. As you always hear me, most people listen to a podcast. So when I ask to close the eyes, safety first, please don't do that. Yet all the other prompts you're able to follow through. So, swami, if you could get comfortable in your seating and if it's safe to do so, gently close your eyes and you're going to begin breathing in and out through your nose, bringing the awareness to watching your breath go in and out. You're not going to try and control your breath, you're just going to let it be in its natural state, allowing it to guide you into your body, to your body.

Swami Nityananda: 3:31

There may be some sensations or feelings coming up. That's okay, Let them surface. You're safe to feel. You're safe to let go, surrender the need to control, release the need to resist and just be. There may be thoughts or to-do lists that have popped up in the mind, and that's okay. Gently, bring your awareness back to your breath, creating space between the awareness and the thoughts and dropping deeper into the body, being in the space of presence, of being. Again, more thoughts may have popped up. Bring the awareness back to your breath, creating even more space between the awareness and the thoughts and completely falling into the body being in the space of being.

Swami Nityananda: 4:48

Whenever you may notice that the mind drifted, it's always beginning again returning back to the breath now staying with that breath and being in your senses, in the body, at your own time and at your own pace. You're going to gently open your eyes while staying with the breath. How's your heart doing?

Speaker 3: 5:19

oh, my heart feels so much joy and gratitude. It's, I mean, it's just such a beautiful gift to connect with that pure heart energy and from that's what each of us is Like, that's our eternal reality, is we're heart energy.

Swami Nityananda: 5:32

Yeah, as I always say, we're feeling bodies that think so. Our nervous systems are always sending out signals and a lot of times we don't even listen to that intuitive part of our body. We're just neck up. We're listening to the cognitive and the intellect. Yet when you can drop into your body and feel the human experience even though there's pain and fear and different things that go on when you can hold the space for it and not identify with it, it's a different experience with that.

Speaker 3: 6:03

Agree, beautifully said, and I mean what you said is just very consistent with the teachings of yoga philosophy as well. And what you were doing at the beginning, like inviting people to witness, like take a step back and just watch and observe, and it allows you to be in that openness and that curiosity and that it brings back like awe and wonder and joy.

Swami Nityananda: 6:27

Yeah, I started introducing this into the podcast because you know, when people are telling people to meditate or telling them what to do, it's like well, where are we modeling this in our interactions? And it can feel a little uncomfortable because a podcast you everybody wants to be high energy and get information and intake. Yet I think the most important part of our healing is are we taking that mindful moment? Are we checking in with ourselves to see where our mind could have taken us all over the place? Or the nervous system is, you know, dysregulated because it's been triggered about something that we don't even know how to soften and really interrupt some of those patterns you know for myself in this journey and I think some other people that may be new to all of this. That's why I introduced the meditation with that kind of same script of observing, because some people don't even know that they're not the nervous system.

Swami Nityananda: 7:22

I think that's the biggest journey to disidentify with the nervous system and disidentify with the emotions. Like they, you think that that's who you are. But once you create that space and you see, oh wait, there's another dimension. It's, it's a different aspect. Could you go back to your beginner's mind and share with us what that looked like for you when you began this journey.

Speaker 3: 7:47

Sure. So I mean, I would say I would invite listeners to consider for yourselves, like as you listen, what are your natural points of connection, and so I'll share some of them. For me, but every human this is my contention we come built in with natural ways of connecting with our highest self, with the energy of unconditional love, with awareness, and so I'm about to talk about some. For me, but for the listener, the really relevant thing is for you to pay attention and just notice, because for every human there are natural points of awareness. Every human there are natural points of awareness.

Speaker 3: 8:27

For me, I grew up in Washington state, and I grew up in the part of the state of Washington that's like very cold and snowy in the winter, and so I grew up aware of nature as like a force and you had to respect nature, and so it was about living in harmony and respect and love in relation to nature. I could feel that my body and nature were connected, that there's a natural extension of awareness from the body to nature and from nature to the body. So for me it was nature, but I think for other people I've heard people talk about rock climbing is a natural point for them to connect with pure awareness, because it might be like a doctor told me that rock climbing his brain. The only thing he's able to think about rock climbing is where does my right hand move next? And so it just slows down.

Speaker 3: 9:20

Otherwise his brain is always like in that analytical diagnostic, which is super great that he does that for his patients. But it's also super great that as a rock climber, he can step back and just be gardening in a way. That's like a very natural way for you to connect with just this. There's a deep knowingness in every human. There's like we come built in with wisdom and we come built in with love, we come built in with kindness and so for every listener to think of, like what are the moments, what are the activities, and also sometimes there's like a respected teacher or there's like a grandmother or an aunt or a neighbor who shares kindness with you in a way that helps you connect with and just know that's what I really am. It's just kindness.

Swami Nityananda: 10:22

Yeah, and I asked that question on a personal level because it helps with the relatability of hearing somebody's story and what they went through and the challenges. I am the same way of. You know I give some insight. Yet it's what is your path, what is your recipe? Not just you know, doing a copycat. It's like finding what works with your biology, what works with your opening, and being able to come home to yourself, being that kind of mad scientist with your own biology of understanding you know where did the wounds begin and how does my nervous system react to certain environments and spaces, and how do I, am I actually feeling my authentic emotions or am I just suppressing and numbing and using? You know, some bypassing and some suppressing which then, you know, put static and disconnection from hearing that inner calling, that inner calling, having that inner connection. As you said, we're all built in with a connection with higher source life. I call it a life force within you of. Can you hear that, or are you always seeking on the outside for those answers?

Speaker 3: 11:36

I absolutely love what you said and I also love what you said about kind of like pain, like what the yogic teachings say is pain is a natural part of life in time and space. And so for the listener to know, like if I have felt pain, that doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. It means I'm a human, I'm here in a human body, I have a human heart, I have a human mind and there's nothing wrong with me. I'm navigating time and space. And so then what happens is you can, I think, let go of self-judgment, because I think often there's like this narrative that the human mind creates that is like, well, I must have done something wrong because I experienced that like what's wrong with me. And then you sort of like are doubting, you're entering yourself to feel what you feel and move forward. There's just a natural healing process that you will love yourself forward.

Speaker 3: 12:31

You sort of like let go of struggle and resistance and fighting yourself and you say yes, like for each listener to say, to acknowledge, like, yeah, that painful experience happened in time and space.

Speaker 3: 12:43

I give myself permission to feel what I feel, but I'll have to move through it, Like I'm not going to stay with those feelings forever. I'm going to keep the wisdom, extract the wisdom and then sometimes there's even like beauty that you can extract from it. Keep that and then you also free and empower yourself to just ask like, okay, now, what would I like to create moving forward? And so this also frees humans. If anyone has felt any patterns that aren't helpful, like some people experience it in career or relationships or with food, or just any patterns that humans can create, you can heal those patterns. So as soon as you kind of you notice like, okay, I can keep the wisdom and then I can make new choices so that I can create healthy new ways of relating to whatever it is my work or my relationships or enjoying my food, but not being like compulsive about it.

Swami Nityananda: 13:38

What would you offer to those that use spirituality as a bypassing, as escapism, because you just explained about the human experience? And just because you're at a certain state and you have tools, it doesn't mean that life isn't going to life Like. People are going to transition. You're going to feel the deep mourning, the ache, the dense emotions that come up. Yet a lot of people think that, well, if I have all these tools, I'll be in a very stoic presentation and I don't have to feel my humanness. So what would you offer to those that think that when I walk into meditation and yoga, it will have me not feeling emotions anymore?

Speaker 3: 14:19

I love that question. That's super interesting. So, like, actually I have to be honest, I don't know people who use spirituality as a bypass, because, like the way that my teacher taught and the way that I teach, we are here to experience the full diversity of human experience, and human experience includes contrast, and so what that means is, like the classic way of putting this is sometimes you experience gain, sometimes you experience loss. Like sometimes you experience victory, sometimes you experience defeat, and this is the way that it is in time and space, and so you get to navigate this with.

Speaker 3: 14:56

I think a word that we use today is like authenticity or integrity, like I'm here to be fully here. I'm not here to be anywhere other than fully present in time and space, and so what I'm here to be is my best self. Exactly where I am, it's like while I'm doing the dishes and while I'm sweeping the floor, while I'm taking out the garbage and the recycling, while I'm interacting with parents and kids and partner and friends and anyone that I interact with. I'm just here to be my highest self, and so I think it's not about escaping, it's about opening and recognizing that actually the divine is present right here in our daily tasks, like where else would the divine be? The divine is right here, and so the divine is right here. Like if my heart is filled with joy, the divine is right here, but if my heart is breaking, the divine is also right here, and so I am to be here to be fully open-hearted.

Speaker 3: 15:55

And actually I would say, you know, like listeners probably would laugh with us too it's not possible really to suppress our emotions. They'll come up like so it doesn't work. And so just possible really to suppress our emotions? They'll come up like so it doesn't work. And so just allow yourself to feel what you feel and trust yourself to be wise and loving with yourself and to be like a good friend to yourself, a good companion to yourself, and treat yourself with kindness, treat yourself with wisdom, the same way you would share kindness and wisdom with a friend. Please share that with yourself, and then you'll be able to be with whatever you experience, but you'll also be comfortable. Whatever another human is experiencing, you'll be able to be with them in a really very present and respectful and responsive, nonjudgmental way.

Swami Nityananda: 16:42

And some of that I know. Possibly some listeners are like, oh, that's easier said than done, Because when we're in the four F's of the nervous system and it's in fight or flight, that kindness can be very challenging to access and you just get into the patterns of stiffness and I think when that nervous system's activated it's like there's certainty. I know where it's like where's the curiosity? Because curiosity lets that opening of what else is possible. Right now, many are emotionally, psychologically and spiritually charged. You mentioned you're in the USS and it's only been, I think. Well, yesterday I think it was 52 days, today's 53 days since the president has been in office, and it feels like it's been years. What would you have to offer for those listeners that have these inner storms? They're trying to grasp for certainty, all these emotions are coming up because there's a lot of fear being invoked and there's nothing to really grasp on. What message or energy would you like to offer those listeners at this very moment?

Speaker 3: 18:02

So at this moment and I think this is true for every moment I think what I would actually say is my understanding is that everyone on the planet is moving through a time of transformation, that it affects everybody, like it's not only people in the United States, but it's like people around the world. Everyone is moving through a time of transformation and no one is like disconnected, no one is immune. And so just to be honest and to say to myself okay, I acknowledge like I and the planet are moving through a time of transformation and I think everyone, every human, has moved through times of transformation. Transformation requires energy. So, for people to just be honest with themselves and to listen to your own body like your own body might need to take a quiet five-minute walk and sit under a tree. Your body might need to take a bath. Your body might need just a little bit of peace, like disconnect from the screen. Notice how am I interacting with news? Am I interacting with it in a way that helps me to be peaceful and present and of service in my daily life? Or do I want to change my relationship with the way that helps me to be peaceful and present and of service in my daily life, or do I want to change my relationship with the way that I'm interacting with news? I'm not saying, don't be aware, please still be aware. Please be present and engaged, but do it in a way that helps you to be of service. And so it's like the lifeguard. The lifeguard needs to keep their head above water or they're not actually able to help anybody else keep their head above water, and I suspect that many of your listeners are helping people keep their head above water, which means that your first obligation is to keep your own head above water too. And so just to keep your sense of humor, your sense of self-observation and your sense of self-trust, because your body knows, like, if you need more sleep or you need just a bowl of soup, your body will tell you, and sometimes it's really simple. Or you just might need to listen to a song that makes you laugh or dance and shaking your body and dance spontaneous, free-form dancing. Nobody's watching, just let it go, have fun, shake it. No-transcript.

Speaker 3: 20:14

I was walking by a neighbor full respect and love to that neighbor but he was experiencing a wave of what you were talking about and so he just kind of like exploded in this little wave of anger and I was aware enough, like I was self-aware enough, that I sort of was like, oh, wave of anger, but I didn't allow it into my energy field. And so that's the thing that I would say is everybody gets to choose. What do I want to allow into my energy field? And so that's the thing that I would say is everybody gets to choose. What do I want to allow into my energy field. And one of the yogic tips that I would share with people is the solar plexus is above the navel and it's below the rib cage and if it's safe, as Nat Nat said, you can put your hand there just to feel like above the navel, below the rib cage. And this is a place where, if there's a strong wave of fear that is being expressed by someone, or there's a strong wave of anger or judgment or reactivity, know that you can place your hands here, you can place light here and you can choose. You can say I'm aware there is a wave of anger here and I'm choosing to exercise sovereignty over my own energy field. So you're basically saying I love myself so much that I'm going to lovingly decline to activate that energy within my own body, and so I would say that's a balance as well, because, like listeners might like some changes, they might not like some other changes that happen in the world. And so, just to know that you get to navigate with respect and with clarity and with kindness and with integrity for yourself.

Speaker 3: 21:48

What are my thoughts in relation to what I'm observing?

Speaker 3: 21:51

What are my words in relation to what I'm observing? What are my choices? I always get to choose, that I can't always choose this larger landscape of change that the world is moving through, but I always can choose. I choose to keep my frequency high, I choose to stay open-hearted, I choose to be open to the highest good emerging. That doesn't mean I have to agree with everyone's behavior or everyone's thinking, but I still can say I see that and I'm open to what's deeper than that. That is the highest good.

Speaker 3: 22:25

And so then, what I'm doing is I'm moving in this energy of optimism and that will be what comes to me. The highest good will be free to share itself with me in that way as I move through the waves of change. Another way that I think it's possible to put this is then I'm always allowing this inner wisdom to lead right. Everyone comes with this heart, wisdom, this knowing, and so for every listener, just to get quiet as much as you can and just listen within yourself, and everyone has their ways of connecting. And the heart. It will often just say things like peace, like love, laugh, and that just gives you this connection of those two will pass and each of us gets to choose like what do I want to create, what do I want to build, what do I want to energize? At least in my own thoughts and my own words, my own speech, my own choices, my own energy field, I always have the ability to choose what I'm creating there.

Swami Nityananda: 23:27

And, as you so beautifully explained, just for the listeners to understand, you explain self-care, you explain boundaries, you explain what it is to always keep your cup full and allow what runneth over for the other people, yet you have to take care of you first before going out. So you know, in a lot of religious or spiritual contexts it's always how can I be of service for others? Yet how could you give them some information about using that, but making sure not to bypass their own human needs and emotions?

Speaker 3: 24:04

Yeah, so I mean I think one of the simplest ways I love what you said I'm included in unconditional love. That's. I mean it's that simple, so, like, so I'm here, I think you're here, I think everyone's here, to share unconditional love. That's the way that I would put it. Another listener might say I'm here to share light, or I'm here to share kindness, or I'm here to share wisdom, or I'm here to share inspiration or whatever it is. I'm here to share beauty, but we're each here to share that, but I'm included in that. I think it's that simple. So if you're here to share beauty, you're included in that beauty. You are the beauty, like.

Speaker 3: 24:50

The true beauty that is sharing is you, and what you do or what you produce in time and space.

Speaker 3: 24:52

It's like a byproduct of the beauty that you are. So I think it's that simple, and so it's like, if what I want to share is kindness, then that means oh, humble. And so it's like if what I want to share is kindness, then that means, oh, kindness is actually what I am, and what happens then is there's like there's less of a feeling of, um, not enoughness, and less of a feeling that I have to, like, reach for something or grasp for something. There's more of like okay, I'm opening and kindness is here, and so kindness of, of course, shares with me. I'm part of kindness, and so self-care is like I'm included in the love, I'm included in the respect, I'm included in the beauty, I'm included in the goodness, and so then it becomes really fun. Just as it would be fun to give a nice thoughtful gift to your friend, it becomes fun to give a nice thoughtful gift to you, and what you're really giving is always just the goodness and beauty of your own heart, the beauty of your own heart.

Swami Nityananda: 25:48

Yeah, I want to ask you when you hear this statement love does say no. What does that mean for you?

Speaker 3: 25:57

Really interesting statement. So I always say yes to the divine, always. There's never a moment that I would not say yes to the divine. And of course, the divine will always ask me to exercise discernment. And so of course, the divine will sometimes say lovingly, move forward in this way, lovingly, let go of moving forward in that way. Lovingly, let go of moving forward in that way. So I think it is actually a natural part. My word for it is the divine. But for each listener it's what is your word for it? Is it my higher self? Is it the divine? Is it the universe? Whatever your word for it is, for each listener, say yes to that, always, and that will always guide you. So discernment is always required, and I think that's what you're talking about is exercising discernment.

Swami Nityananda: 26:47

You see, the reason why I say love in that way and I see where you're going inwardly it's that some people will be in their wound and be saying yes to everybody else and not a yes for themselves. So having to say no to others without feeling like you're not being loving. Because a lot of people think that if I don't have like, say, for instance, family members, and they really activate because of you, know they're charged with anger or their inner terrain. But you have been kind of given a belief system that love means you always stay in connection where it's like. But this is the human part, it's not in the spiritual part. So I just kind of give that statement of love does say no, that loving can still be there. Yeah, it can.

Swami Nityananda: 27:37

You're not to tolerate abuse. You're not to tolerate exhaustion to the point that you don't even know how to take care of yourself. Recognize that these are trauma responses and it's actually fielding a lot of fear. Yet there has been a belief system that it's loving and this is the way to be in love and having heart open. Would you be able to give some perspective on your views on that? I?

Speaker 3: 28:02

mean I absolutely love what you just said. I think it's so important and I guess, like what I would say is I think that it's possible to notice and then to basically like let's call it a script, like if I have had a script. So you just kind of gave an example of like say that I'm a person who's had a script, that love always has to say yes, it doesn't mean being a doormat, right. Like it means that you give to yourself, like if you would like to give love and respect to another, it's actually a requirement to give it to yourself. You won't have it to give to another if you don't give love and respect to yourself.

Speaker 3: 28:41

And so I think that's how humans can get to feeling kind of exhausted is, if I'm not giving love and respect to myself, then somehow I'm like thinking that it's generated from outside of me and then I'm not connected to this basic. There's a pure source, energy flows through all of us and that's actually where love and respect come from. So it's kind of like the difference between like if a human is looking outside of themselves and they're like complete me, like you know, like I need a another person to complete me, um, or I need. Whatever it is, like those cute shoes or that food or that job or whatever it is to complete me, it won't actually work because you're sort of like I need that, I need that. And then what you're in is like that energy of I need that, I need that, I need that, and so the feeling of fulfillment is always being further pushed away from you.

Speaker 3: 29:33

So the basic thing is to come from fulfillment, come from love, like come from completeness, and then you just have clarity. You're like, oh, actually that person who thinks that I would be giving them unconditional love if I said yes to them always. That's not their highest good either, and so you're actually serving the highest good of the other, as well as yourself, if you come from fulfillment and completeness and you exercise that clarity and that discernment within yourself and it will free that other person. You can't force another person to do anything Everyone's got their free will but it frees them to also realize clarity and unconditional love and healthy ways of relating to love within themselves as well.

Swami Nityananda: 30:27

Yeah. Can you share a moment where your practice deepened because of a personal challenge?

Speaker 3: 30:34

So I would actually say like one of the really challenging things that I moved through and the community moved through was having my teacher leave the body, like he passed away, and so that was like hugely traumatic and grief inspiring for me and for everyone that any human has when a loved one departs. There's a feeling of I'm used to this person being here in the body, I'm used to receiving energy through them being in the body in a particular way, and then I would say so. Of course, I cried a lot when my teacher left the body. Of course, that's natural. I also had a very deep heart knowing that my teacher's love and support is always here, and I would say that this is true for every human who has loved ones who are in the non-physical. The love and support of your loved ones it's with you always, always. There's never a moment that you are separate from the love and support of your loved ones who are in the non-physical, that you are separate from the love and support of your loved ones who are in the non-physical. And so what happens and I'm not meaning to say that this is simple or easy, but what happens is we have the opportunity to expand our love and to expand our heart, to expand our connection so that it goes deeper than it was when the loved one was here in the physical. And so I would say that this is true for me, but I would say it's also true for everyone, and I talk to many, many humans who have this experience.

Speaker 3: 32:07

It might be that a person loves their mom very dearly and then their mom leaves the physical, and gradually it depends on the person how long this takes the physical, and gradually. It depends on the person how long this takes but gradually they become aware my mom's love and support is with me always, and so there's a way to be honest with yourself, as we've been talking about, allow yourself to feel the grief. You cannot actually push it down, so allow yourself to feel it. And in my experience, when you allow yourself to feel the grief, it's more like a spring storm. So like spring storms blow through and then the air is like very clear and crisp. So if you don't fight it and you allow yourself, like your private quiet time, to cry when you need to cry, that's the way that it works. And so the yoga teachings actually say our emotional energy is neutral, like we judge it from a human perspective. We say grief's really uncomfortable, but yogis say it's just neutral energy. So if I don't fight it, what happens is it will just move through me and it will move actually into greater love and greater compassion. More light will come into my heart.

Speaker 3: 33:21

I'm not saying that any human should seek out a broken heart, but when it comes, just know there's nothing wrong with you.

Speaker 3: 33:29

And if you work with it and allow yourself to feel what you feel and move forward and you just say things like I'm open to greater compassion, I'm open to greater wisdom, I'm open to greater understanding, I'm open to greater connection, I'm open to helping all the other humans whose hearts are also breaking, all the other humans who also have felt it's unbearable.

Speaker 3: 33:55

It seems impossible to move forward, the things that we move through as humans, and humans regularly do the impossible, and so for each of us to do that, but then also we get to sort of like stand and help others, know like, yes, my heart broke, heartbroke, and I'm so compassionate and respectful that your heart is breaking, and I know your light is even deeper than your heart that is breaking, and so I know, if you keep going, what's going to happen is even deeper love and even more beautiful light will share itself with you. And to do this in a way that I think a lot of this happens like wordlessly. It's just like you're holding your friend's hand, you're bringing your friend tea. Whatever it is that you're bringing your friend, it's that presence, yeah, just being, with, being, energy yeah, and that energy of being there.

Swami Nityananda: 34:53

I want to ask is there a mantra or a phrase or inner truth that's carrying you right now?

Speaker 3: 35:00

I mean, one of the things that I've been just really loving is stillness, so just the simple word stillness. And so my understanding is that, at the heart's core of each of us, that's what we are. There's just peace, there's just eternal love, there's just light love, there's just light. And so when I say the word stillness, that's what I feel, I feel that in me which is unchanging, but I would also say that in me which is unchanging in that I'm one with all humans, because my understanding is we all come from the same divine source, we all come from the same light, we all come from the same supreme love. And so when I'm in contact with that, then I'm also in contact with what I might describe as being like in the energy of being friendly to all beings, just like this energy of universal friendliness, like kindness and respect and awareness, and like I mean, I've never talked with you before, but you feel like a friend, right, and so, and I think that's just natural.

Swami Nityananda: 36:07

Yeah, that heart being open, yeah, yeah, it gives that connection, that it's like I think you know I'm going to go deep right now what a lot of people may not have been curious about. It's because the mind wants to make meaning of things. That's where a lot of our suffering and emotions can come in. Yet if you don't have meaning like if you look at a child, and people are like children, can be so, enjoy and playful and just shake things off because meaning hasn't been placed on them that if you do this, this happens, or if you do that, that happens, or if this happens, this is what that means. So when you can remove that attachment to that analytical mind and be in the stillness and not be so concerned about everything, there is a sense of openness and peace. Yet when we're tethered to that making meaning, that's why, like especially with grief, I think the most harmful thing sometimes that can be said to people. Well, I just came from a funeral a few weeks ago and the pastor kept telling people that they shouldn't be mourning, that they should be in joy and that the person is finally in a joyful place. I understood his messaging. Yet if people do not allow that mourning, that heartbreak, that sense of processing, the disconnection of another nervous system, not being there and really going into the spiritual. I call it the other side of love. There's a bit of bypassing and things that just ruminate and go on.

Swami Nityananda: 37:51

I think another thing that is really hurtful is that when something tragic has happened or something violent, well, there's a reason why it happened. Or there's something that's there where it's like if somebody's child was murdered and to tell them, well, there was a reason for it. It's like people don't need to hear that, it's just let them know. In the power of, okay, this is a shitty thing, that happened, the power that you have is not trying to get back the past, it's. How are you going to choose to show up in this? How are you going to still be connected with yourself although there's such dense heartache and pain and wrath and rage or whatever you know is being invoked because of the experience, how do you still remain connected with yourself and work at opening your heart? Because when these you know, like you said with your mentor, transitioning, the heart closes. It's like there's pain, it's like oh. Yet it's the work of opening back up that heart and allowing that humanness to pass through of the integration of it. Does any of that make sense to you?

Speaker 3: 39:27

are you there? Yeah, okay, I thought maybe I had a present for a second. Okay, perfect, um, I think so. For example, I remember years ago someone receiving a difficult diagnosis and one of the things that I said to them is don't ask why, because the human mind can be like was it something that's wrong with my consciousness? Like, did did I think a wrong thought and so somehow I brought this. What that does is it creates a split between myself and caring for myself and being here right now.

Speaker 3: 39:55

So I think for a human, if you receive a difficult diagnosis or you gave the horrific example of if your child leaves the body or something violent happens to your child or to you, to let go of asking why because there's implicitly a blame or judgment that can easily arise with that question. So let go of blame and let go of judgment and just say I love myself. I mean, I think honestly, that's the most important thing we can do is just to say, oh my gosh, this happened. I love myself. And as many times as it takes like you might be saying it, if you're moving through the raw really, just like when you feel like your nerve endings are just like on fire, you're moving through that raw part of it. Like you might say it 40,000 times a day to yourself. Just like I love myself, I love myself as many times as it takes of it. Like you might say it 40,000 times a day to yourself. Just like I love myself, I love myself as many times as it takes. Say it. And what happens is as you're, just as you're peaceful with yourself and as you're present with yourself. I've heard you talk about the nervous system a lot, and another part of our anatomy that's helpful to talk about, I think, is the amygdala. So like the fear-based part of the brain, and that part of the brain activates sooner than the conscious awareness part of the brain. And so, just for every listener to know, if you experience a wave of fear, just take one breath, that's all it takes. Take one breath and connect with the conscious awareness part of your brain, which is more connected with like long-term memory and solutions and different possibilities and different options. So if you're navigating from the fear-based part of your brain, you're actually like closing down options and possibilities and that's where like reactivity, like lashing out, comes from and like self-judgment, like thinking, oh, there's something wrong with me because this happened in my relationship, or this happened with my child, or this happened. I got this diagnosis. Nothing wrong with you.

Speaker 3: 41:45

From my perspective, every soul is perfect always, and there are human experiences we have and I think from a soul's perspective, the soul looks upon our human experiences differently than our human self does. So I can give a very practical example. I know of someone who was physically robust and healthy and active, very handsome and attractive the first 29 years of his life and then he had an automobile collision. He was in a severe coma and then he was physically and mentally handicapped for the next 41 years of his life. From the soul's perspective, the first 29 years of the life are not better than the next 41 years of the life.

Speaker 3: 42:34

You're learning different things if you're navigating time and space from this really robust, handsome, muscular male body for the first 29 years of your life.

Speaker 3: 42:44

You're learning different things if you're navigating from a handicapped body and a handicapped mind for the second part of your life.

Speaker 3: 42:52

So I think from the soul's perspective it's like I was learning the whole way through and it wasn't that one was right, it wasn't the other was wrong, it was what are the soul lessons that I was gaining from that and what happens then is like there's just no judgment right, because I think implicitly sometimes there's also.

Speaker 3: 43:13

It can be a human thing to judge other people, to think, oh, if they got this diagnosis, like what's up with them, like what bad karma do they have, like what fault in their consciousness do they have? So I would just say, drop all of that for yourself but also for others, and just say here I am, you know, like how can I be loving and present and kind with myself and how can I be loving and present and kind with the other? And to just keep in mind that, ask yourself, for all listeners, like, ask yourself, what's my soul's perspective on this? Because your soul is going to have a very different perspective than your human self does, chances are, in terms of the difficult experiences that we go through in time and space.

Swami Nityananda: 43:58

Yeah, what kept ringing in my mind when you were talking is a Christian verse you're in it but you're not of it. You're in the world but you're not of the world. So, really understanding, you know we get tethered, like I said, that brain making meaning. And you know, if you have great physique and you have the beauty, that equals safety because people are adoring you and there's a tension and that makes that nervous system and human experience feel valued and important and a purpose where it's like if you keep grasping on the external of you and not just be with your life force, you'll never get the full part of living and feeling the divinity, higher source, whatever name you call that, really feeling the full abundance of that internally, that it's not anything externally that will feed that. You have to be whole with the W just within you.

Swami Nityananda: 44:57

But if you keep grasping, like you had mentioned earlier on, at materialistic things or people to complete you, those are holes with an H and they're like black pits that will never be filled. Because it's your responsibility to remember, to sit in that space of awareness that you are already whole, even if these dense emotions come up and it's challenging when they come up and the mind is doing a storm and everything else, like suicidal ideation and depression and all these things are real things that people navigate through. Yet it's in the space of okay, where's the honesty and where is the light in there? Because if you're seeing dark, you're just forgetting that you're the light. You're that light of awareness, but you just haven't connected with it because you've othered yourself out of the space, not recognizing you're part of the space.

Speaker 3: 45:50

I really love what you said.

Speaker 3: 45:51

The light is with us always, always so for every human, for every listener, no matter what we're moving through.

Speaker 3: 45:58

We might be moving through feelings of frenzy or anxiety or disconnection or worry or concern or fear, like whatever it is that we're moving through the light is still deeper than that.

Speaker 3: 46:10

And so you know, like maybe even I'm a person I like humor, like I like laughter, I like good humor, and so if you can make it kind of playful and curious for the listeners just to be like, okay, yes, my human self is, you know, completely freaked out right now, but whatever your phrasing, is what's deeper than that? And kind of bring like this curiosity, what's deeper than my freaked out human self? Like what's deeper than that? And if you keep using all things to just help you go deeper into the light, I mean I think this is one of the reasons why, like the yogic teachings say, from the perspective of the soul, all experiences in time and space can have a benefit. So even the really challenging ones can help you expand in wisdom, expand in compassion, expand in forgiveness, expand in awareness. And I know sometimes listeners that are like I feel like I've done enough of that.

NatNat: 47:03

Yeah, yeah.

Swami Nityananda: 47:06

But I guess, enough now. I don't want no more work.

Speaker 3: 47:08

Yeah, and I guess like my. So. So I do think like, on the one hand, we are eternal beings from my perspective, and so we're never done. You know, like if you bake banana bread or something, that gets done, but we're never done, like there's, we're going to always keep unfolding light and love and pace yourself, like it doesn't have to be a rush. So I think that's another thing that the mind can create, this sense of false urgency. And so if you notice, just say, oh, I'm noticing feeling a false urgency. I'm going to love myself so much that I set that down.

Speaker 3: 47:48

And it's really as simple as just saying I'm trusting in this moment, I'm trusting in the goodness and beauty of life In this moment. The goodness and beauty of life, it's already here. What happens is I'm trusting in the goodness of beauty and life in this moment. Then what happens is I'm open to the goodness and beauty of life in the future as well. But if I'm staying in the energy of whatever it is frenzy or worry then I'm actually creating frenzy and worry for the future too. And so this is where, like in the now, that's my point of creation.

Speaker 3: 48:23

For every human, it's in the now that's my point of creation, so I don't have to actually wait for anything outside of me to change in the now.

Speaker 3: 48:32

That's where creative energy and power and presence is. So in the now, like if I'm happy in the future, I get to start now, just from within myself, for no reason, right. So? And this is like the, the motiveless happiness, like it's just the oh my gosh, it's really fun to talk to a new friend, like it's really fun to smile and really fun to laugh, and nothing has to change, or and that's why I gave the example of like put on a song that makes you dance and just dance for two minutes and then let that energy of the dance move you through the rest of your day and you'll find, like, whatever else you do, like you could still be doing the same really hard tasks or conversations or whatever it is that you're doing, but that energy of like lightness and movement, like forward motion and just like joy, it will be moving through that conversation, that task, whatever it is that you're working on.

Swami Nityananda: 49:26

Yeah, I use the same. I tell people all the time that the most easiest thing that you can access is dance and that whatever the body needs to express without analyzing it, it can somatically express it that way and music can bring us into an elevated state because of the tempo error you know. Or if you know that you need to emote, you can put on some music to really allow that emoting and releasing of those toxins and build up and everything else, just so the body can like give an exhale. So, yeah, we use the same tool that's so accessible for everybody, yet it can feel daunting to do because it's like, oh, what is this going to do? And it's like you would be surprised how much it will open up a space so that new things can come in and see things in a different perspective. I am mindful of time, so could you let the listeners know where they can find you, Swami, and what you have to offer?

Speaker 3: 50:25

Sure. So awakeyogameditationorg is our website and I'll say that again it's awakeyogameditationorg and we are a meditation community and meditation center in Baltimore, so if anyone is in the Baltimore DC, philly area, you're welcome to come in person. We share meditations online and so there's like nothing you have to do other than hop on Zoom. They're completely open to everyone and they're open to long-time meditators. They're also open to beginning meditators and I think people find that just meditating at the same time as other humans is a very uplifting experience.

Speaker 3: 51:00

So it helps the mind let go of stress, it helps the mind relax, it helps the mind find calm and then it helps you connect with that energy of pure love and pure joy, like someone said to me recently. They were like I came here thinking that I would learn techniques to calm my mind and my heart got blown wide open, and so it's really you're just always connecting with your own heart. I mean, that's the basic truth, and so we just have a lot of teachings. They're open to people from all backgrounds. We do share teachings on YouTube and Substack, and so if you would like our free newsletter, you're welcome to subscribe on Substack. We're also on the socials as well.

Swami Nityananda: 51:37

Okay, what is one intention you would like to leave the listeners, especially somebody that's listening in right now, just connecting in your heart to speak into that heart.

Speaker 3: 51:48

I would say love life totally. I would say love life totally Like, just exactly as it is. Love life totally Like nothing has to change. Love your life totally, love the light within you totally. And then when you connect with that total love, that's the energy. We were calling it the source, we were calling it pure creativity. It's the energy of pure potentiality and we are each completely connected always.

Speaker 3: 52:16

So I know that humanly we can feel lonely, we can feel confused, we can feel disconnected, but the reality is that we're always connected to wisdom, we're always connected to support, we're always connected to light, we're always connected to pure love. And so meditation just helps you see what's real and it helps you let go of, like, the confusion, the illusion, the judgment, like the human humans can create confusion. And so just practice discernment and keep seeing reality clearly, like, keep looking deeper than human confusion, and you'll connect back into that awareness. And so I would also like Nat Nat, you said throughout the time today, but you were talking about, there's an embodied wisdom. So the body carries wisdom.

Speaker 3: 53:02

And so for each listener to just trust yourself and listen to your body and just notice, like when I dance, if I give myself the gift of dancing, free-form dance. It doesn't have to be fancy and all you have to do is like move to the left and the right and front and back. Um, how do I feel later? Just to practice self-observation and then to notice, oh, I actually do at my fingertips. Just dancing for two minutes will shift my energy, and that's always present, that's always possible, that's always available. And then, basically, like, each of us can connect with there are so many tools and so many tips and so many teachings and practices, and then what we gain is the ability to have self-awareness, to have clarity and to know okay, for this particular body, each body is different, for this particular energy system, each energy system is different.

Speaker 3: 53:53

Right now. That will help me. Like, with a single breath, I can come back into my heart, or I can dance two minutes, or I can go take a five-minute walk, I can go sit under a tree, so for each listener to just notice and pay attention and then to live in those moments of connection and then to allow the energy of connection to just move you through your days, move you through your nights, and what happens then is we're living in. I think flow is a word that people use today, but there's just like this natural ease and this natural kind of joy and life loves to be here through us. It's actually amazing to be here and full sympathy and respect. I know it's kind of a high-pressure time on the planet right now. So love and respect for you and for me and for all of us being here on the planet right now. But life is amazing and so just to allow yourself to know that nothing has to change.

Speaker 3: 54:43

It's already amazing for every single listener.

Swami Nityananda: 54:47

Yeah, I want to say thank you so much. It's been a delight to be in your energy, in your presence and really, just you know, open up the dialogue so other people can hear a different perspective. I think what becomes challenging for people when they start doing this journey, in this work and create the practices, is that there's simplicity. Yet we have been taught to be complicated, like things are complex, don't get me wrong. There's a big distinction between complicated and complex, and the simple things just feel like, oh, they're not going to attain to anything. Yet little by little it does shift and a drop of water going every day several times it will burn a hole into something, it will bury something very deeply. So it's recognizing to come back into that simplicity.

Swami Nityananda: 55:44

Yet it can be very challenging when you've been kind of indoctrinated that it has to be hard, it has to be complicated to be able to have any kind of value to it. So I want to thank you for the reminders of the joy, the reminders of coming back to that simplicity and the power of choice, but also really not, but also really what community can do, cause I totally I believe in our collective energy and when we meditate or hold space together. There is a wisdom that is communicating and a knowing that is communicating amongst us that all of a sudden there is an opening that words can't really explain. It's just you have to embody the experience and be there to really gather it. So thank you so much for everything that you are offering in the world and what you're presenting as light. So thank you so much, swami.

Speaker 3: 56:42

No, no, thank you. It's an absolute joy to talk with you. So much joy and for the connections that you create. Much joy for that, as well, thank you.

Swami Nityananda: 56:49

Please remember to be kind to yourself. Hey, you made it all the way here. I appreciate you and your time. If you found value in this conversation, please share it out. If there was somebody that popped into your mind, take action and share it out with them. It possibly may not be them that will benefit.

NatNat: 57:09

It's that they know somebody that will benefit from listening to this conversation, so please, take action and share out the podcast.

Swami Nityananda: 57:19

You can find us on social media, on Facebook, instagram and TikTok under Lift One Self, and if you want to inquire about the work that I do and the services that I provide to people, come over on my website, come into a discovery call liftoneselfcom.

NatNat: 57:39

Until next time, please remember to be kind and gentle with yourself. You matter.