 Well Kelly welcome to the show. Thank you Atlas great to be here with you It is an honor You have created very powerful content Distilled the spirit and science very well One of the things that I'm extremely passionate about so I'm Very much honored to have this conversation together and also be able to share What you've distilled and also advance the mission of creating more love and abundance unity on Earth Yeah, beautiful Excellent. Yeah And We'll have several Conversational points throughout the show on effortless mindfulness the direct path the art and science of awakening Awake awareness will go through a glimpse practice and We will share some of the action items that Locke is currently offering Including his mobile meditation program Including his exceptional books and His YouTube channel Instagram Twitter all those links will be in the bio below Would love for you guys to check them out if this episode resonates alright, so Man right, I feel like the best place for us to start is The direct path. Yeah And Just the importance of it what what it is and the importance of it Yeah, yeah, that's a beautiful place to start because It it is maybe what's the difference between the gradual path Which is the more common or Well-known variety of meditation So the premise that makes it the direct path is the hypothesis that The awakeness the freedom the love that we're seeking Isn't something that's created or developed It's already here within us and Even as us Yeah, it's essentially Who we've always been it's just literally subtler deeper wider Higher but more essential so that With a direct Approach Like a glimpse we can shift kind of background to foreground what's hidden Comes into the foreground and then it becomes more the ground of our being from which Becomes the new normal the new operating system Which we then lose it and come back so Just to say that in my experience the direct path is Kind of a way to glimpse directly, but it's not instant enlightenment meaning You don't stay there. It's small glimpses many times repeated so it's direct Realization but then gradual unfolding. Yes the core part of what I feel you shared there is to Bring the background into the foreground is a really good way to put it so Let's talk about that more So there's a sense of We could say I Or being this a presence before the name Identity stories that is shared Mm-hmm, and that we would like to bring that background into the foreground in a sense Yeah, and Then what Is the direct path of doing so is the question right? So this is I think this is one of the most important questions and I'll start by saying that even within my Particular approach, there's many doorways. So the idea is that People have different learning styles and they have different obstacles that keep us from recognizing and realizing This essence of our true nature or this awake consciousness so There's not one way and there's certainly not one tradition, but there are some simple principles that are similar And there's a couple of the two main ways I would say are what's called the the resting method or the do-nothing method right Which is kind of letting go and letting be and some traditions like Zen call it shikantaza, which is just sitting so that the Metaphor which I love there. It's almost like a poem is Muddy water Let's stand Becomes clear, right So there it shows that in some ways it feels like a background foreground, but actually the water The clarity is not in the background only it's always everywhere, right? It's just being obscured By the primacy of the denser consciousness So when you sit and don't engage and re We Russell up the the the mud by active Identification engagement then it may settle Now that can be direct But that also is actually one of the main practices of the gradual path, which means you sit that way for Three years or 30 years or three lifetimes and then it may settle enough to be able to be Able to live from it because when it clears the next stage is Okay, so then it's clear, but you're sitting and you're not moving so what happens When you recognize it Then you important to realize that's who I am and then what's the relationship to the mud? So that you can get up stand up and begin to walk and create and relate Without just saying oh, I better go back and meditate again I have to sit still as if stillness or slot silence is the absence of sound or movement Right, so that's one that's one method and a little bit about it then the other method is is more of what I do which is a little more of the inquiry method or the looking method or the Unhooking of awareness, which is already identified or attached and having it drop or open and immediately Know itself or return home to the subtler dimension Which then recognizes that that's the ground or the source from which Energy is actually made of it. So there's a can interconnected feeling of unity or flow where you're more the ocean of awareness arising as Movement energy then as patterns of consciousness thought feeling sensation sub personalities and then a human body still primarily awake consciousness But and that's the the key is to learn how to be 51 percent away consciousness and then Welcome everything else right and Those two can also be very much like one. Yes. Yeah, I Found and you can start with one right. Yeah, right Right and this is great because it It's important to share that what we're What we're describing is what we feel like is the most direct way and There's an incessant amount of movement Which is Deeply conditioned by identity and separation and location and lack and all of these other things and the The slowing down of those Oscillations of thinking can bring us More inward and that's why rest is just such a beautiful way to put it do nothing inquire and Through that process that Can lead us to feel whole When we're doing nothing exactly Beautiful, yeah Like I don't have to do anything to be Perfect to be the absolute to be the highest possible and That itself is peace. That's love right That's the freedom the realization of the kind of okanis or essential well-being which has a feeling of Unity or interconnectedness and innocence like That it's deeper than the trauma. It's deeper than the feelings of worthlessness and not good enough and subtler deeper meaning subtler and More essential so that those other feelings are welcome to arise to you so that's one of the Simplest inquiries that I have is is to shift from Focusing on what's arising to Find what is it arising to what or who is this all arising to pleasant or unpleasant The traditional mindfulness is looking at the contents of consciousness Noticing it's coming and going it's arising and passing but then effortless mindfulness kind of begins By having awareness look back to itself look back through the meditator To open to the field of already awake Consciousness that's awake without our help That then is arising as the aliveness not not being caught in what I call the witness protection program of being Dissociated and looking from a detached disembodied view which can be a halfway Point and can be very helpful Transition but just staying open and coming home to embodiment and then open-heartedness or Kind of the fabric of love that feels there's no Non-fear non-worry non-shame to which fear worry or shame are welcome to arise and isn't spiritually bypassed but now the psychological healing and the physical releasing of being kind of frozen and Protective can begin to thaw out and be included. Yes right Yeah, I feel we're already Yeah, deeply diving into awake awareness, which is excellent and The art and science of the practice many glimpses repeatedly and stabilization Yeah Yeah, the last bit you shared has also Been deeply resonant because they're there feels to be a Spaciousness in the background that can be recognized and then that can be brought into the foreground And then that can feel like love for everything that is and So then that sort of that duality collapses But it's it can be a helpful duality at first I Found that to be also very powerful. Yeah, and it it then becomes a multidimensional Reality meaning that primarily there's a You know a pure awareness that's empty or void or Infinite and then there's a unity or love that's interconnected with everyone and everything and then there's these unique waves of the ocean of awake consciousness, which are particular individuals that have personalities and and and then can see each other with integrity and respect and Equality, you know, almost naturally if you're looking through the eyes of the heart Yes, nice Yeah, and I've known noticed that you also Speak of it like a a Simultaneity Right being across all of those domains at the same time those dimensions Yeah, and then that Helps us be as you've said aware of distinction and unity simultaneously Yeah, and that that's very powerful because it It's a very holistic perspective Because it takes into account the The traditions of unity and love Spaciousness and yet at the same time it takes into account the beauty of the individuation. Yeah, and then seeing all From that makes it so that when Individuals interact or engage they're coming from that. Yeah unified love and yet at the same time the unique expressiveness Yeah, and yeah, the messiness of being human is just part of the grist for the you know that isn't Doesn't have to take over but it has to kind of detox or thaw out because of the conditioning and The not only our own personal conditioning, but almost like ancestral just passing on generational cultural That that can begin to Liberate but the liberation often as it moves out takes over for a while like You know anxiety fear and then it's like so that magic move of Effortless mindfulness once you've done a practice sitting still to be able to unhook or what I call unhook, but let go and Actually have awareness step back Into that which is spacious and pervasive. Yeah to be with what's arising from a more holistic view Loving self with a capital S if we use that language then whatever parts of us that are angry or fearful or Traumatized are Being held and welcomed Right as they throw a tantrum And we're not acting out from them, but we're not repressing and acting in we're actually letting our full humanist because we've discovered that the Open-hearted awareness is the capacity To be fully human. Yes. Nice. I'm so happy that we're on this Healing thread so by recognizing this open-hearted spaciousness we can Fearlessly and courageously lovingly Spaciously be with anything anything and all of our conditions And it can be hard to look at many of the conditions But in doing so we Love them into Dissolution and integration and transmutation and in freedom greater freedom Yeah, and there seems to be nothing that I found really more powerful than that as Another huge part of the direct path Exactly if it comes back so that's you know the beauty of you what you're saying both the direct path and the healing so discovering the awake consciousness which is unhooked or detached in Order to be more unified and and embodied while remaining Infinite and intimate Yeah, that's great infinite and intimate Yeah Yeah, ah That's that's beautiful how important healing is on the direct path. Yeah So important for us and for everyone we engage with you know Just to realize when you hear someone's story You can't believe it if they those who like they look like they're have it all together or something and they just Start being honest. You're going like oh my god. Everyone is just carrying around all this stuff Right and most recently it's been very beautiful to Recognize that those are each Individuals treasures. Yeah to look at it their own time Yeah, so there's like no urgency There's no need to generate a catalyst It's just timeless for them to look at that unique treasure inside Yeah Just yeah, just to be able to show up for the unfolding so not pushing the river but not You know kind of staying underwater too much You know so that you see where and feel what's going on as whatever the next thing that's ready to to come forth for You know to be heard and met and And loved up, you know Yes yes and it's It's actually a really It's a really beautiful way to to share that the direct path can be both this very like powerful direct inquiry Into the nature of reality and identity Um and yet at the same time it can really be this like hey, I I feel A deep Trauma in my life that I would like to look at and I don't necessarily know how to And I would like your help in holding that open heart space while I do Yes And that's another way Well, it is and you know that part as you say it beautifully you kind of give a lot of space to that, you know because it can be with Friend with a therapist in a group. That's a supportive group And but it's it is that kind of finding a safe You know Same same but other person other human being that you can be feel listened to and you can kind of get that out So at some point, you know, whether it's therapy or coaching or A good friend or two or three if you need as you go along Uh to tell your to tell that story. It's not to tell to have those parts of you that have been hidden away To let them be heard by another and then ultimately The one they're looking for is you the one they're looking for is that you that's not you that's bigger than you It's essentially you That has no self that's a self That paradoxical Healing of like wait a minute. This isn't me. It's bigger than me. Oh, but it's the source of me That's that's that feeling that can't be put into words That's where a lot of direct path get gets caught. It's like, oh, it's not. Oh, I'm out of duality. I'm pure awareness And now life is just a movie playing on the field of awareness coming and going it's like Okay, keep going come on back, you know, because it's not a movie. It's actually an ocean of life and connection that you're in it when you're in it you're You still have that support that's bigger than you and then you can be your be your unique personality That's just the flavor of the wave, you know, right Right Another powerful way that I've Seen be a common approach has been sort of using the mind to study the symbols of what I is and then anchoring in the body In that interconnected oceanic unity Rooted earthed basically Yes, so say more about the symbols like Say more about the first part of that As though Mind understands the symbols. Yeah, right, right. So there's like a There's like an endless a possibility space of imagination and symbology Yeah, and there is It's very much mirrored by the internet, let's say, right, okay, and it's a big Lots of hay and very few needles Okay, yeah, right and so by using the mind to look and find the needles Of what I is Yeah, try and identify them put them into Maybe some notes or a distillation of sorts Across the ancient wisdom traditions modern science things like that. Yeah, that's it and then embody It which is more about the heart and the root just as an example So then everything can come Yeah, you know online like that and it feels different when everything's online like that that's been really recent For me is coming more online like that and sometimes it can show up a bit, you know a bit Like primordial it can show up a bit Uh and that feels great too No, that's great. That's gotta gotta have that juice, you know You can't you know, that's what one of these little side eddies of some of the spiritual Uh maps that start to get people caught is if oh, I get it. You're not supposed to have any emotions Okay. Oh that oh, let me try that, you know, and then it's like no, no, no that don't don't do that You know, maybe when you detach from over emotionality You'll have freedom from it and you'll be in a kind of observing Accepting place, but then when you come back You have you're still open and you have you start to what I call shake and bake you kind of get this kind of fullness of Juicy life But what you're describing sounds like yeah as I was saying there's different doorways and paths like in hinduism The jana path, which is the path of knowing or knowledge sometimes it's knowledge, but it's like you're doing looking to the You know kind your consciousness is going from gross to very subtle to really And then it just drops in in from the mind in To with consciousness within which is connected out. So that's that door Which is a great door All right Just it's really warm. It feels really good. It's being together. It feels great. Yeah This feels like a A good time to explore A glimpse practice as you are sharing. There's Doors Yeah, there's ways to access we were talking about the direct path through all these different facets of the diamond including healing or yana path So let's go, uh Yeah, let's do this Yeah, so I feels like there's two if you don't mind. I'll do one now and one later that almost complements it please So So this one, um Okay, I'll start with kind of we were at the second one, but I'll go back to the first one So when we started we said that often the the mud that settles is kind of conditioning and kind of operating from Important but more gross level, uh physical emotional mental And missing and those three physical a mental emotional mental form a self a small self That is trying to survive as a separate human being which is important since we are Animals in the world and there are fast moving objects and things like that. So but that overly Dominant definition and training and conditioning Can cover over What's already here behind more open subtler non physical non emotional and non thought based So the little small self tends to Uh orient by thought going to thought and creating this little thinker and doer and Problem solver to try to be safe. So it's probably trying to you know, what's going on out there Is there any problem out there? Is there any problem in here? What's going on out there? Is there any problem out here? so that problem solving Function as we get smarter and more More successful it actually gets stronger so one of the main obstacles to people who really actually Learn a lot and grow a lot Is there strong problem solver ego center their small self So if that can relax We might be able to feel Kind of a more subtle not sleepy and not thought-based alert Awake consciousness that's more spacious and pervasive. So that's the premise. That's the kind of description So here's the little inquiry That is being asked both to the problem solver initially, but actually is a invitation to the awake consciousness So the inquiry is To look with understand with thought and then look with awareness to feel What's here now? Just now When there's no problem to solve Just understanding the words and then not looking to thought But letting the problem solver relax and then feeling that Which is aware when there's no problem to solve and then being aware of it And then what's it like to rest as it as this And thoughts can move but just not getting on the train and then resting as this awareness What's the relationship to vibration sensation thought emotion and the world Without going back to create a problem solve But if everything's included from this more spacious alert non-thought based And yet flow like a flow consciousness That could move your hand you could use thought But then you could let your hand go and you could let go of thought and have clear peace of mind and you could respond To something if you needed to in the world. So that's a little A glimpse practice that goes through Some of the stages of Awakening from awakening to awakening as and then Awakening as being So good I'm curious if If this Be familiar with papanka Papancha sanasanka. Yeah, right, right So and where Papancha is very much this weaving or this mental fabrication and and then this nibbana Is the cessation of the mental weaving or the fabrication Yeah, and and so that that that has been such an instrumental part. I feel also of this As what you just described through this glimpse practice What happens when we just Slowed down that fabrication and that mental proliferation about our sense of self and our identity and sense of others in the past and the future and all of that And then when we just rest And we rest and we relax back it's just And then I love how you said that there will be some arising, but it's not taking us off of out of that That's right. Yeah And then the more that we just feel that and then bring that into Right Bring it in Bring that in and then That is love And the unity of love. Yeah, that's right Yeah, so yeah, papancha Sanasanka is conceptual proliferation is from the poly language and one of the kind of lynchpin sutras between I think Insight meditation or taravata or gradual practice Uh to direct practice because it kind of gives one of the lynchpins as you were saying And the thing is even nirbana is not As from the direct path isn't eliminating from more of a tantric direct path. It's not eliminating the Thoughts it's just That you don't get on the train and you don't have to orient to thought that thoughts are like mental sensations Being observed not by a thought based. I think therefore I am That's the key is it's the thinker more than the thoughts thoughts are not a problem The brain actually from neuroscience doesn't stop no matter how quiet you are it's going to be active but we have a habit of not only paying attention but then forming a thinker and uh You know from there whereas when you're in a flow state It's higher consciousness and you can respond faster without orienting to thought without creating an ego center So that's the feeling And then it feels like there's no thoughts, but they're actually Kind of gone into the background Um, so one of the examples I use I ask people like if you bring your awareness to the bottom of your Left foot right now And just feel the nerve endings and all that sensation that's there Like So you know if you can feel that yeah, so a minute ago it was in the background but if you Had a habit, you know, which pain often You know chronic pain will give you that habit But if you just started paying attention to Sensations in my left foot. How are you doing today? My left foot's fine and my big toe is a little better than yesterday But my other toes are not so good, but then you'd be whereas your if you just Let the sensation in your right foot and the mental sensations in your head Go into the background And then the key is awareness of awareness So instead of awareness of thought which then Creates thought going to thought You unhook awareness of thought which is the first Uh, mindful move of awareness of thoughts coming and going so now you're aware of that. That's half step Now be aware of awareness And then as then rest is awareness and then as that awareness notice The arising and the interconnection and the unity with sensation thought feeling And the world so there's kind of a Awareness behind you within you in front of you and a liveness behind you within you in front of you But where you're aware from Is no longer either The small self in the middle of your head nor a mindful witness That's watching contents You've kind of discovered Kind of dropped open and included this new Open mind open heart to infinite intimate, you know Feeling of being so that that just that description that sounds like oh well, that's Boy, that sounded a little complicated. Well, you know what it's about six moves. It's not that it's really not It's new It's unique. It's it's it's like a little weird. You gotta what do you mean awareness awareness then awareness is aware of itself Then it, you know, it's like, okay That that I don't know any of that. That's true. You don't know yet, but it's it's Fairly simple. It's not easy. It takes what it takes but It's available. It's learnable. It's teachable It's almost a necessity at this point in our evolution and Yeah, it's human development. Um, yeah perhaps let's see if If this Way of describing also resonates You said there will be another glimpse practice that will do So is Describing the the the obsessions With identity and all stories can sort of be at least from I've also understood it seemed like a little barbie house and that the relaxation of the story and of the identity is sort of The ability to begin seeing Through all eyes simultaneously or seeing as the whole itself Being that Yeah, and then it was seen that the Stories and identity of the barbie house was beautiful And it served typically as the drill sergeant of awakening suffering And then from this From this realization one can then recognize that the way that Like you described flow consciousness that one can be that and live from that and express as that and And then that can hold space for all of the other barbie houses Yeah I hadn't used I hadn't used a muscle that I hadn't used barbie houses as one of my main images, but that's good So so, you know, one of the unique things that having come from Being at the same time training as a kind of consciousness meditation Person and and a psychotherapist is kind of bringing those two worlds together and then adding neuroscience and other things but so currently the The internal understanding is that this awake consciousness when it comes back and then that problem solver Isn't the center the egos isn't the center The self isn't the center, but it's not like there's nobody home. It's not an empty barbie house It's not an empty the actual ego that was trying to be me that was trying to solve problems Is an ego function that was trying to be an ego identity? So it doesn't need to be killed doesn't need to be gotten rid of it's not That it is relatively It's relatively real It's ultimately not real. There isn't any solid separate self there, but it's functionally Can be part of the team So once you realize that that all the characters in the house Are parts of us, you know the the part that Uh, you know the worker be part the judging even the you know the critic and the judge Are all trying to Find love they're trying to help They're just confused and they're burdened with these kind of uh Ignorance or misinformation And but they have energetic value, you know, they they have life and they can be You know, we're kind of multiple Uh, sub personalities once we're But the key is who who's aware of them? Has changed radically so that changes, but then we come back as you say The house is still Here we don't have to keep acting like no, there's no me I go to the grocery store and things end up in my cart and there's no person named lock There's just you know, which I've heard and I'm like What is it in your cart? Is it things you tend to like or is it all cat food and you don't have a cat? You know, it's like If you don't unify then you're kind of dissociated or Spiritsly bypass so finding a way to understand and to feel All right, what is happening Here so this Subpersonality or parts based psychology Seems to go very well Because then you can have You can start to feel anxious and go All right, where am I feeling anxious? I'm feeling my throat. All right. Well, where is it located? Is it in my head? Am I no just like right here? All right. Can I step back and be aware Of that anxious part of me And then say oh part of me is anxious. Okay And is there part of me that's not anxious? Yeah, there's part of me that's excited About what's happening and there's part of me That it's fearful and there's part of me. That's like it's all going to be all right So you are aware of these parts of you then that one part doesn't You know Possess you take you over As if I am anxious. I need to try not to be anxious I better go meditate and not be anxious like okay. We'll just step out in a direct way Be that which isn't anxious and notice This isn't anxious and now Don't Make it spiritualize it away. Just like okay. Stop being anxious because I'm Truly the non-anxious awareness Then come back and say who's anxious with part of you is anxious. What are you anxious about? So it's almost like being with inner children So then they tell a little story because they've been holding it and they're trying to You know tell the truth And if we can then start to Meet that and listen and be with then they just relax they start to go like All right. Well, uh, you know Nobody's listening to me and I'm saying okay. I hear you that nobody's listening. Well, nobody's listening me. Okay I'm here listening saying hearing you say no one's listening and they're like All right, so you're listening. It's okay. Yeah, so it starts to Be this relationship with Those parts is but even the you know, the rageful parts the panic hateful Are just like they're just have something to say they were hurt. They were right, you know, they need to be heard Right. Yeah, right Right Mm-hmm It's really powerful to Have non-resistance to the barbie house To have healing to the barbie house and then that is what then unwinds those conditions and contractions I was doing some yard work today and I was noticing resistance to the yard work. Oh There could be a more Rich expression of the universe right now through this vehicle then yard work And then there was the the relaxation of that resistance And that was all that needed to happen in order for This to become the yard work itself. Yeah, and that was peace Yeah Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's The uh, that's the that's the process once you have access which is why the direct path I feel can be done You know, certainly in the midst of doing everything else and growing up and But once you have access to that then when you get gripped by something like a resistant part that's like I should you know, like a spiritual ego I should be doing yard work in a spiritual way that makes me feel and then you just go like All right. Well That's an opinion. Thank you for sharing All right Yes Great Is this good time for the second? Sure. Yeah. Good. Excellent. So this one is uh, I'll do a little story Because there's a little neuroscience in it, but uh, so In the like the first Neuroscientist that studied meditation a guy named Herbert Benson who Wrote some books. He was a Harvard professor So he he went over to Tibet In the end of a three-year retreat with a big group of Tibetan monks And he brought all these, you know, they had like these Uh suitcases and and huge containers to bring all the equipment over there. They did this EEG On the monks and that, you know, which is like this bathing cap with little nodules on it So the way they measure it So he sets up and he starts talking to the young monks who are Pretty much in their advanced stage of the last part of their three-year retreat And he says Okay, now what we're going to do is we're going to take this cap with these nodules And we're going to measure your meditation. We're going to put it on your head and they all start laughing And then he's like the head monk is like now now, please respect these western scientists They've come from far away, you know, it's like, okay. Okay. So so when we measure your meditation, then they're They start laughing and then finally they ask what are you laughing about is that when we experience meditation We experience it here and here In the heart space We don't we experience this as empty is gone So they were saying, you know, in terms of our experience You may be able to measure it there, but that's not where it's happening. It's happening We've dropped from head to heart mind body cheetah so this meditation I kind of Picked up on that and it's called dropping from head to heart space. So the premise from this direct practice Approach is that you don't look down Like you would watching your breath from your head using your attention To your chest or your belly that literally you have awareness itself as as identified with thought unhook and de-center And then feel as if your awareness is aware of your jaw and your smile From directly from within direct perception Then feel as if your awareness drops Into your throat and neck and then drops Into your body and then behind your heart space into your heart space So you're aware of your heart space from your heart space. So that's the description So now that's just to give you a sense so you don't have to listen too much to my words. You can just kind of feel it So the sense is that I'm talking Not to you the ego or the meditator or the intention attentional One who does things well. I'm talking to you the awake consciousness Which is identify with thought and you can move yourself Down Because you're aware from everywhere already So this is the premise Don't have to feel it or know it or believe it, but try it. Let's see what happens. Yeah, so just feel that sense of seeing And hearing that goes to the center of your head to feel that sense of identification or Normal sense of seeing consciousness hearing consciousness thinking consciousness. Just find that location Of where are you hearing from? Where do you see from? Where are you thinking? And then just notice the premise that awareness Is what thoughts are made of and awareness is identified or attached to those thoughts and awareness can simply unhook and step back into more open primary space and then from that openness awareness can actually Feel your body directly from within so it drops from head to your smile and your jaw and see whether you can feel This shift so that you're feeling your jaw and smile directly from within then feel like a globe of invisible awareness or as if The center is dissolving you feel dropped into your throat and your neck Just feel that aliveness space and awareness direct perception And then feel as if awareness can move itself and drop below your neck into your upper body And just feel your body as if perhaps for the first time directly from within the awareness Within your body from which your body is made Just drop open Drop below and behind your emotional heart until you find this kind of safe heart space this heart mind or this And then go deep like into a River and then into a space within the atoms So that you're aware Of your heart space you're aware From your heart space you're aware as your heart space So it can even kind of open up back through them all of your body And start to become aware Back behind you of the awareness that has you back So surrender that globe of awareness back At the speed of awareness until it discovers The awareness that's already aware And like an ocean of awareness That Is becomes dancing aliveness feel that awareness Is equally spacious and then pervasive as your body And then feel uniquely as if you're almost looking out of the eyes of your heart So your eyes are like periscopes receiving information Goes down to your heart mind And then interconnected with everything and everyone Without projecting without analyzing just being seeing Dropped open and including everything connected to kind of a boundless heart That connects to your whole body Top to bottom but doesn't relocate in your head stays dropped So see what that feels like and you know, certainly you can try it now and then But see if you can kind of Try it when you're taking a walk sometime like drop and then just walk and just feel the Nature or just simply you know do an activity that Feels like you can stay dropped open behind you kind of in a panoramic way And then receiving with your eyes Open in this Wisdom mind this It has discrimination but not uh Judgment in its negative judgment discriminate gorgeous It's powerful to use the word soma or somatic In contrast to the mind Because it it it feels so much like it's It's it's Yeah, yeah right And from From from here, you know, and then that Right Bonus of it. Yeah, it's like that Yes, under the Chi the chi when it's more like Chi then then Kundalini kind of goes up the channel but this kind of opens like the wings of the heart kind of has the same But it doesn't stay too Too tight. Yeah Opens that up, but it opens this up too. So you have right. Oh, that's great. Oh, that's great. So there's uh There's see like a wings of the heart And then there also feels to be a Rooting an earth thing I'm down tn through the back of the spine Like almost sometimes through the leg but sometimes not even through the leg almost like your spine goes in the ground. Yes just like And that's the earth, you know power Source and then and then you can be aware of all that Because that's the area that has certain repressed a lot of repressed. Yes life force sexuality hunger trauma power so you need The the the infinite and then you need the open hearted to go down Yeah How to just go right to the to the belly chakra the root chakra It's tough tough work because you just it's stronger than any ego. It's gonna blast you out so Finding this resource then you find it's it's power because it wants to be liberated to it wants to do its natural thing about power and sexuality and hunger and it doesn't want to be Confused and wants to be life force life force natural natural right I've also recently been feeling Like the the breath the breath itself rather than being In Symbols and concepts Very shallow breath That there's this There's like a rooted heartfelt somatic Yeah Sourcefulness to the to the breath to feeling that oceanic-ness and waveness And a powerful for me and I've seen this is a very powerful one Um Down here Down here to have as we unlock the fearlessness and the courage to look one of the one of the powerful ones is The relation of this To all Yeah, right so its self image is one of the most Subtle ones let's say to to look at and investigate and transmute any lack separation Desire to be seen validated unworthiness Yeah, that that that feeling of you know, the heart is the center, but it has to go down and up Like often people feel the the ground of being Like right here at at the belt line. It's almost like Like and that's kind of the connection between in and out So it's not so much of a chakra or a energy center. It's like literally the Inside and out of the same the world and me are connected Right here like Right and then there's you know more energetic Stuff going on but that's A place to rest the ground ground quality and then I ask people Usually by doing something go out and we come in and then it's like well How do you feel and someone will say grounded and I said well, where do you feel grounded? Like they often go here or everywhere and I say well, what's the ground made of? And they go what's made of the ground? I don't know. Is it like made of earth? They go like no not earth like what? I don't know. It's really grounded It's really safe It's really okay Like never before it's me. It's like oh, it's made of awareness It's made of nothing but not nothing like oh awake nothing It's made of the infinite that's here So that's the you know, that's the thing it sounds like I mean, I hope People are getting this if you haven't gotten it It's it's not it's not that weird. It's not that far foreign and far away. It really isn't It's learnable. It definitely is learnable Um It's just subtle like you'll make your own words to it the words You know or the pointers that we're describing from our experience Are one way to kind of get a sense. Oh, okay. I'm in the territory a little bit I was a little like this. It's not like that but then finding a door and a Direct way to have that Awareness be the knowing and the knower Of itself and then of energy and then of your body Most people have known it they in fact, you know that flow consciousness. I often use I say What do you do in your free time that you love? You know and then people are like I walk in the woods. I garden I play with animals I play with children. I surf I Dance I paint I you know, I say well, what if you did that in order to get out of yourself? And into a more interconnected field called the wake consciousness Like it's not about the thing or the activity That's the door What if you didn't focus on The hill you're climbing And getting to the top and looking out over at the at the sky What if you then Looked out the sky got that feeling and then felt back who's experiencing this And then what if you could access that any place anytime? Because you know the door you already do it. In fact, you're you're compelled to do it and you call it fun, right? Nice Yeah But you don't know that you know it You you think it's about You know the person who plays music can find it the other person who You know goes surfing like the person who goes plays music may not get it When they're surfing the person, you know, because that's not their door. It's not about surfing or music It's about something That allows you to drop into that out of the ego Into the interconnected field that's subtle and knowing and highly functional That those activities totally isn't just sitting still But has this illness to it, right? Illness, yeah, right as though it It brings the realization of stillness into all movement and a simultaneity. Yeah, that's right Beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, so beautiful. I mean that you know that first question resonates again like what is the direct practice and You know, is it how do you do it? And that's that's what I've been like about like what is it and how do you do it and then how do you share it? You know, how do people Other people get it because the water is so good. It's like the water is great. Come on in because When you taste it, it's just like, oh my god, so many people say I can't believe this has been here all along And nobody ever showed me how or oh now I remember how I naturally experienced it, but I didn't know that's what it was right Right and there's access points which can feel like Pre is some in some ways pre 18 months of age That baby like innocence another one Can feel like the saturation of god's love being omnipresent So perhaps a sage like wisdom Um, perhaps a bit of like Reptilian or primordial chimp like playfulness and groundedness And and that and to Have this available as a Minifaceted access points to the diamond that's right here always right here It's gold Yeah, yeah the the The awareness-based knowing Is what's just coming to me. So we're you know talking about that term. I use awake awareness It just means that it's not attention. It's not It's not You know, I am aware of something it's It's a awareness that's already awake an alert so It's alert without using thought Because it was alert in the 18 month-year-old baby and it's alert a post You know using thought and in a flow consciousness. It's alert and functional and then The implicit memory can just be a program That is used as needed. Yes, but that that's the new operating system. Nice. It's awareness-based primacy of awareness not Thought and thought is made of awareness. So we're not getting rid of thought thought is useful. Our hands are useful Our emotions are useful Where are we operating from and you described Each of those facets the ape-like one and the You know the love and the you know each one has the awareness because you've shifted into the Awareness-based knowing and then the aliveness will come out in different expressions, right? Right I love that so open spacious And then pervasive that that a lot and then that alive expressiveness through And I love how you brought flow where we're Whatever Is that activity that is sought after is just the cessation of the identification and stories because it's it's dissolved into the very is-ness of what is that and In a very highly functional way now. Yeah Yeah, because you're still so good. I mean Steph Curry is shooting and he's not a separate person. He You know it he that is it's the very Three-pointer happening yes self and The violinist or the gardener or the hiker or whatever the activity is is that That is and it's scientific as well, which I wanted to To just bring to recognition as well, which were At least let's see if this is aligned with you as well That it seems to be the cessation of the default mode network and the activation of the central executive network the flow network Modulated by the salience network Yeah, it well it's interesting because I was there's a I was part of a research project at NYU with Zora and Joseph Povic is the scientist um and what he considers what it is is the balance the balance of the default mode network and the task mode network Are both simultaneously on so what it seems to be at least from this this theory That we have this alternating two alternating networks that alternate about every 20 seconds. They look out And then 20 seconds they look in So in terms of meditation so certainly you know that in terms of distraction everyone knows that but when you try to focus on your breath, which is a task About 20 seconds in if you start to really look at it your mind will wander Well, what is it? Well, it's because you're not concentrating. No because the network just alternated now. It's gonna it's gonna look It's looking out now it looks in to daydream or to thought Um, and then you have to 20 seconds later. You'll say, oh, that's right. I was meditating bring it back And here's the interesting thing when you do one-pointed Meditation focus on your breath you repress the default mode network And you just put on the task mode. It's a greater kind of calm, but it's a repressed calm So here kind of comfortably numb Calm and then it can't last when you try to function Because you can't function from just external because you have no creativity. So default mode has creativity it has Kind of an inner life to it. So what we did he had us a group of us who are able to do this more Buddhist non-dual which is equally balancing outside and inside or task mode internal showed is that Instead of alternating the networks were both on at the same time, right? So then what happens is when you feel that they're on you feel this evenness Or this uh, continuousness of unity. Yes This sense that oh, I'm aware of what I'm thinking and I'm aware of the world And they're both kind of the same they're both Have this this action and they're very soft and they're very Kind of happy and flowing so perhaps a way to express it is that there's a tremendous amount of our day-to-day intelligence that is in the weaving or the fabricating which is an excessiveness let's say compulsiveness in the rumination default mode and that the direct path or the inquiry Into inner kingdom of experience that that is the toggling inward into perhaps the concentration the That central executive network is ability to focus and That through that process then we can target. What is the subject? What is the background? What is the nature of this? and then finally upon sort of recognition um, we can then Have that very much that between those two both lit up And there's a equanimity. There's a flowness So i'm no longer i'm no longer competing to To kind of calm down the bar the barbie house That's right. Yeah, because if you get lost in the default mode network you can be in daydream and past memories and flooded by trauma and worry and triggered and if you're so a lot of people go into work mode and become workaholics because then you're just avoiding the The default mode network right asks over and over again and even some of the you know the Phone is going down the rabbit hole. Yes outside because you're avoiding the inner. Yes the world Exactly And so so the feeling of when you're when you balance the two and when you're aware from Open hearted awareness is you're not aware from your attentional system You're actually feel like you're aware from the field. Yes interconnected with the object like it's over there There's some connection to it through this ocean of awareness And i'm aware from here To the to the you know from everywhere I'm not aware like a flashlight right attentional system uses a flashlight My mindful witness uses like a floodlight to watch thoughts feelings sensations. This is like a ocean. Yes ocean connection that is Has a panoramic feel so even it's never connected there. It's always connected I love this this is so good. Um I I uh, I've also shared how there's an obsession with the with the devices And they can be so helpful for us to recognize what's happening. Which is the obsession on the object And then we just trace back To oh, well, there's a perception happening and then well, what is the perceiver? What's the subject itself? What are other subjects? and Through that like inquiry process, which I think the social dilemma was a great Catalyst to to see that And then like you described there's uh, the there's like this witness version There's the flashlight version the observer Yeah version of the horizons and passings and then there's this collapsing of that into There's a field There's a field that's aware And and the weird thing is this kind of trips people out when they hear and your body and is arising in the field So you're not it's not coming from you going that way. It's like it's everywhere And your body's like a wave in the ocean And so i'll do so you can use your attentional system, which everyone's pretty good at And bring your attention to an object And then just leave it there And and let your attentional system like be okay, that system is doing that now I have awareness Turn around unhook and be aware of the space between you and feel the space between you and the object And now have awareness feel back through That which is above your shoulders Until it feels the awareness that has your back And now if you're doing anything You're resting back as that awareness Which then discovers that there's a field of awareness That's already effortlessly mindful effortlessly aware of your body and the object And that's just been happening all along but we've been trying to concentrate trying to focus Trying to get the default mode to cooperate and meanwhile There's a bigger system available so that That move scientifically hasn't quite caught on But I feel like I want to make that like The attentional scientists get that like for ad people with add adhd That i've taught a lot of people individually how to focus from the Embodied open-hearted field Because it's easier to focus from the flow And I think it can become more Just normal there's the There's the birth of of from the Holistic into the contracted that is then seen to be contracted Through inquiry released back into the whole and That seems to be a great mechanism for disintelligence to Fall asleep wake up play with itself endlessly Yeah Yeah Yeah, so fun, you know, so it's that getting used to just recognizing realizing Familiarizing the the Tibetan word for meditation is familiarize So once you recognize you realize just familiarize then lose it no big surprise Just re-recognize It's my little I love that small glimpses Right familiarize If forgot no big losing no big no big surprise just re-recognize Losing no big surprise just recognize, right? right They have beautiful locks so so nice Thank you. Yes, so welcome very good to to connect with you and geek out with you and Go deep, you know go deep and and let other people kind of hear a conversation Between us that should share that just us being us talking about what we love what we experience and trying to Imperfectly articulate and Communicate with each other and hopefully others Can hear a little bit of that and be inspired to give it a try yes Yes, and I found uh, I found a lot of love Here between us it feels really beautiful And I um, I feel like it's been successfully emanated through the conversation and that there are There are an awesome amount of ways to to engage if you guys would like I mean first we would love to thank you Thank lock for coming on the show Thank everybody for watching also And We would love to hear from you. So if you guys want to drop a comment below and let us know what resonated You guys can always like the video and share the video if it resonated. That's a powerful way to Continue spreading this You can subscribe to our channel. You can also subscribe to locks channel. His youtube will be in the bio you can find a lot of great free content there also on his instagram and twitter those links will be in the bio You can find all of his books on his website. We'll have that link down there as well I highly recommend the way of effortless mindfulness and also shift into freedom just powerful reads A direct loving you can feel the love in the books um and Also, you can find the affiliate link to effortless mindfulness to the mobile meditation And give that a go i've been playing around with it and it's very direct what locks shared with us through the The glimpse practices is just dived into even more deeply and regularly. So give that a go check that out and anything else lock you know, I think that's it, um you know, I look forward to meeting people and Just to invite people to give this direct path A try it's so beautiful There's many different ways. There's other teachers other, you know, don't Feel like there's only one way Keep trying because I find that people are like, um, I don't know No No Oh Oh Whoa Stay with it keep trying a different door try this door try that door Right, but then don't try any don't just don't try it all right hopefully You'll be in the in the soup, you know, you'll be in the yes And it'll find you because it's already here. That's the main thing It's already within you. It's already who you are It's just a little covered over And we're finding out how to drop or open Let go turn over but What is it that let's go and what is it that let's go into And then what is it that includes everything that? Exploration is Uh is possible and just really Wait extraordinary Yeah And then what does that recognition bring forth into Yeah, our world how much more love peace unity prosperity abundance for all is possible It's all we know it is we know we know it is but we like to play the game of we are separate from these other people And that we would like more for ourselves and that whole game and um But the pie can grow for everybody from a place of unity and love and we know that that's where where it's all heading Yeah, yeah, it's for this is not an individual You know go to a cave or a monastery. This is literally let's awaken together in this world and and live and then make Responses and compassionate activity that flows naturally from this clear seeing and courageous motivation yes Excellent and I feel I feel powerful uh with a continued exploration with lock and the effortless mindfulness Institute as well as offerings. So I'm really looking forward to that and just cross pollinating our networks and Super excited for that Let's go ahead and wrap The recording and then you and I just for a moment can stay together lock. Okay All right. Thanks everyone. We love you so much. Bye. Bye everyone