069 The heart is not just a pump, it is also the tender center of our being we most often guard and long to liberate. As young children we got to experience the wonders of life through an open heart, but also the pain of separation and in some cases, betrayal. The process of adulting in a materialistic culture necessitates constructing elaborate strategies and conceptual shells to navigate the chaos of life and keep us safe. However, the more we identify with our thoughts and live life from head, the more disconnected we become from our true nature and sense of aliveness. The desire for wholeness demands an inner journey into the deep heart.

In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Dr John J Prendergast, non dual spiritual teacher, psychotherapist and author of The Deep Heart: Your Portal into Presence and Your Deepest Ground about the archetypal spiritual journey of restoring connection with the subtle and profound wisdom of the heart. In this conversation we also discuss the intersection of psychotherapy and a grounded approach to spirituality in working through trauma and internal blocks to loving more fully.

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Credit: Music used in this episode intro by Orangery

068 The spiritual journey is not all love and light. The more one commits to waking up, the more life is punctuated by times of intense loneliness and a longing to be liberated from the sense of separateness. The nature of love is expansive and free flowing. Only when we fixate and try to constrain it does it become transactional and begin to sour. Without warning the transcendent joy of a passionate love affair can turn to self doubt and neediness.

According to the Buddhist tantric tradition, love is a vast storehouse of energy that exists beyond the dualistic barrier of ego clinging or relationship status and is available to all who are brave enough to seek its truth. By becoming familiar with the open nature of love we can dance and communicate with others with greater delight and ease. In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Buddhist author, teacher and returning guest, Susan Gillis Chapman on the non dual, indestructible nature of love and cutting through ego’s obsessive strategy to possess it.

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Credit: Music used in this episode intro by Grand_Project

067 Every rose has its thorn... so too, there is no intimacy without first facing the Shadow. In the background of our quest to be known and held deeply in relationship is a murky and sometimes dangerous territory. The Shadow contains a lifetime of unmet needs and raw emotion that can resurface abruptly in situations involving power, money and sex. It also holds a vast treasure trove of latent gifts and the potential of love waiting to be expressed if we are brave enough to look.

In a time when 50 percent of marriages end in divorce and1/3 of us live alone shadow work may be the secret to transforming old wounds and self defeating patterns and realizing our deepest desires in conscious intimacy and connection. In this episode of Awake In Relationship we welcome back Dr Connie Zweig, retired Jungian and author of Romancing the Shadow to discuss the path of shadow work and waking up in our relationships.

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