 Hello, hello, hello. Oh my God Thursday the 24th. Where are the weeks going Bryce? I can't believe it's almost March and here in Georgia yesterday was so freakin hot. We're already going back into The hot summers the hot bowl of soup the humidity You're just making us jealous aren't you? See my fire my cats in the background and this is why prices always got had lovely tank top on and I've always My latest one we claim we claim because I am Reclaiming my power and and we always so looking forward to this coffee chat I meant to nip in and get my cup of coffee, but I have thanks Let me be honest with you guys so Because it's so hot down here in the south now people do drink coffee down here But even with like tea like if you asked me for a glass of tea, I would not think of a hot tea I would think of a cold sweet tea That's what we drink down here is because it's so damn hot to do to drink hot beverages But yeah, no, it's not the hot heat down here in Georgia can be gross I mean, it's a you sleep with the air conditioning on and fans on and you still wake up sweating in the middle of the night So it can be a very wow hellish heat But we both have weird issues because I've been without power for three days because we've had really bad Storms in the UK and I was speaking to our mutual friend Lucy Davis this morning and Because I live in the most beautiful place in the middle of the countryside Absolutely love it Of course when the storms hit loads of the big trees blocked all the single track lanes and because there's not many of us living here We're left right on the bottom of the priority list to come and sort it out Well, so of course you were saying you had a power outage Didn't you because you in the middle of the city you're and all the businesses are there It's quite high priority to get it up and running again quickly. Yeah That's the beautiful thing about living right in the middle of Atlanta is that when the power does go out They fix it pretty quickly because I'm right in midtown Which whenever I say that people like you're doxing yourself. No, I'm not there's six million people in this city Good luck finding me, you know, but um, but uh, yeah, we I was right in the middle of a zoom And there's a restaurant right beside where I live some literally right I mean I can walk to things everywhere here because I everything's around me a Transformer blue and it literally scared the crap out of me when it happened because it was so loud and Robbie my dog Started barking in the power blue and I literally was right in the middle of a zoom and it just took me right off I got you know, like what can you do though? You know, what can you do the powers out? You can't you know, but we got it back within like Milled and I it came back on so I want to like messages right away because my phone was losing charge and yeah So but yeah, and we have in Atlanta because Atlanta is known as like one of the greenest cities We have a lot of trees here, which is awesome But we get whether like you guys have we get that all the time here We get these Tremulch was thunderstorms and trees go down in tornadoes and that happens a lot here is trees will go down in the power lines in the city and take out a whole block of power and and It's it's a thank God. It wasn't super hot that night when it goes out when the power goes out when it's real hot You have to sleep with your windows open or else. It's just too much and then of course being in a city Sleeping with your windows open isn't the smartest thing to do because there is a lot of crime that happens in cities But you know modern world problems, right? We're so lucky we can still sleep with our doors open and not worry about, you know We don't lock anything up and things so because it that's the nice thing But it's gave me a lot of time price to reflect because I had three days Well, I couldn't use the internet Couldn't anything and yes, I had a lot of looking clearing up to do and looking after the animals Which I'm surprised I haven't got a permanent head torch hat my forehead But I prepared with my prepping so I have my candles and I have my gas stove and I have a thing So I was all fine But it did give me a lot of time for reflection and one of the things I was reflecting on is what we were going to Talk about today, which is a difference between ego and confidence Mm-hmm, and this is big thing that's come up I think recently and of course, this has kind of been my the last 15 years of my life. This has been my own Self-practice because that is the really one of the one of the most crucial parts of the yoga practice within your own Self is is basically having ego deaths and And it started for me as people would say, oh, you know, Mr. T has an ego and I'm like beg your pardon No, he doesn't have an ego an ego is fragile an ego to can't take criticism an ego is fear-based He's confident because if his ego was playing he would not be able to take the heat that he's been under for Years now and years now and he and he fights it with confidence. That's not the ego That's confidence and so I wanted to read so in the yoga sutras in the second Pada Which is the portion of practice or the Sadhana Pada The sixth sutra said egoism is the identification as it were of the power of the seer Parusha with that of the instrument of being seen the body mind. So I'll give you Sri Swami's Chhattitanada's commentary on that. He says in this sutra Patan Jaleen explains Explains egoism the ego is the reflection of the truth self on the mind the two appear to be the same But one is the original and the other is a reflected Duplicate the self will always be falsely represented by the ego until our ignorance is removed Let me read that again the self with the capital s the self will always be falsely represented by the ego Until our ignorance is removed. I often refer to the two eyes One is the capital I and the little I with the period What is the difference just a small dot a little blemish of ego the capital? I is just one pure stroke just as the highest truth is always simple and pure What limits us and makes us little just that little dot without that dot We are always great always the capital I all the practices of yoga are just to remove that dot How simple is it all the difficulties and terminals can be removed from our lives In no time just by taking away that spot But preparation for that is what takes takes time many times we climb up only to slip back down again Sometimes we get all the way up there only to find we have forgotten to take along an eraser to wipe off that dot Dot so we have to come down and do it again And so what he's basically saying here is the ego is the false sense of identity and the false sense of identity from the seer from The soul is trapped in the nature of things and therefore all fears can go back to our own mortality And so that's what makes the ego fragile. And so somebody who has a big ego Can't take criticism and if you can't take criticism you can't grow as a person Confidence is different confidence carries humility and in order to take criticism and course correct and grow You have to have that humility So if that makes sense it makes perfect sense and you know on every scale I mean We always say and and most people know that what we're seeing in our External global environment is a reflection of our micro environments and a reflection of what's going on internally and we're seeing this on so many different levels aren't we in terms of the fragility of the ego and how that can cause people to Lash out not be able to take feedback not be able to take criticism and It's interesting because we've seen it in the sort of popular culture of the Movies and the music scene and the models and things for ages and it's quite accepted in that But what we don't see is how much often our own behaviors reflect that Yeah, and you can start and we were talking before we started filming that yeah, we all have an ego You're not going to be able to get rid of your it's always going to be there It's gonna be like that green-eyed little monster. That's always there But part of being spiritually mature is recognizing it. Yeah. Oh, okay. I see you. This is what's coming up for me This is I need to like self reflect and it's kind of like what we're saying with Lucy the whole idea of you know A lot of times the ego will listen to respond whereas confidence humility in the pure self will listen to understand You know and so somebody who's able to listen to understand is not not living in their ego But live living in their true humble nature and their true self because the true self is pure constant love The ego isn't the ego will die with the body the ego is not going to go on to the next existence Well, that's a new life or our heaven or wherever we go next that soul will go and the ego will stay behind And so it's kind of a shame when you see people even even speaking for myself like living in the ego because it's not real Yeah, what's interesting is what is real and that's where like the gold nuggets are people if even myself are able to like Sit back and say, okay, that's the ego. That's my fault sense of self That's my illusion if that's just an illusion then what's behind the curtain? What's real? What's really there and what people find out they do again come to that vulnerable place of being humble and they also have Confidence because they're coming from a place of love. Yeah And that confidence is is such an important thing, isn't it? And confidence to me really comes the more you know yourself and the more you're at peace with yourself Then the more you've got that natural confidence and it's funny. I think particularly us Brits We we confuse most people confuse ego and confidence the whole time So knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are that's just really good knowledge and in and knowing of yourself and having Confidence and what you can do and what you can't do but I Really reflect you so much over the last couple of weeks and it's just been so interesting to see Despite the journey so many people that watch channels like as such as ours are have been on How many of the same pitfalls people and again when we're talking about this Bryson are including ourselves in this We're not saying we're not falling into these pitfalls, but how many of the same pitfalls we we You know fall into so we've seen for example the slagging off of Truthers and that your truth is better than my truth and this is right and that is and you promise this would happen on a certain day And now it hasn't and so now I'm going to spread all these rumors about you sort of thing it's really Fascinating to see how then How misunderstood the ego is even in the spiritual community? Oh, absolutely I was just saying I mean I've been doing this I've been working and breathing and living in the spiritual world for like 15 years straight now And it's interesting because you will definitely see that there you can pinpoint the people who have actually done the work Yeah, that's what we're just saying isn't it? Yeah versus the ones we call it spiritual materialism Where they they talk the talk they are constantly talking about it and they're constantly pretending like they're wise But then when they're given an opportunity to show that they've done the work the ego pipes up and they lash out with the ego And it's interesting. It's kind of like even with everything going on in the in this in the world right now You know part of the yoga practice and this goes back to ego to is seeing the truth or the illusion So if the ego is the illusion then your true self is the truth But that also the micro the macro as you were saying, you know people in the yoga world to who have fallen for the deceit of Of the world. I now know I can't there's nothing I can learn from them anymore And I will say too so something that I'm really good at I'm a really really really good philosophy teacher I will put that out there. My courses always sell out I we don't even have I put like one post up and they that we have waiting list I've worked my ass off though. I've educated myself and I'm really good at teaching philosophy. I'm really good at doing these courses However, even though I have confidence in my teaching ability. I'm still constantly Re-educating myself. I'm still constantly listening to other teachers commentaries. I'm rereading the yoga sutures every year I'm constantly. I'm not I'm not resting on my laurels. I'm ready in that confidence There is humility where I'm still also You're never even as a teacher regardless of what what role you're in even if it's not even a spiritual Even if you're mr. T and you're leading this this huge demolition you still have to be in a place of humility where you can Correct yourself and you can continue to learn and grow because for all of us It's all about the personal journey anyway, you know and and um, yeah And I would flush my boobs at you because I'm to leave this I've got my I learned the lesson I don't want to get banned for exposure on YouTube and we don't want to put all the listeners off No, it's not really If I started lifting my sweatshirt up, we might lose a lot of viewers So you got so Why do we think that us humans because we've spoken before you see my lovely dogs that the yoga Lola was just doing a lovely yoga strike Why do we think that us humans find this so difficult this issue of the full seago Well, I think Sean Stone said it best best and last interview I did did with him He said something that kind of ding ding ding dinged in my head, which hopefully we're gonna have him on with us for a meditation series I'm gonna we're gonna try to arrange that um He said that you know, we have been raised for generation after generation and paraphrasing what he said guys generation after generation after generation in this predatory type environment Yeah, you have to be predatory To matter you have to be predatory to be successful And so I think that this this predatory nature is the nature of the matrix and whether we realize it or not That's what we've been indoctrinated into in order to survive and and in fairness if you go back 20 30 years You had to be predatory to survive so to make that income and that's how they've set it up And that predatory nature means that if you're not predatory you could become the prey you could lose everything and We're hopefully shifting into a world where that's not true anymore But that is why the ego has been allowed I believe to flourish is because people don't want to look like they're weak people don't want to look like they're Less than they want to look like they are the best that they're that they're that in that predatory nature of this I'm the best. I matter. I'm enough Where in my experience being in one of the most, you know, the ashtanga yoga the lineage I practice is one of the most extreme versions of yoga And so it will humble you whether you want it to or not it will break you. That's part of the practice that's why it's so extreme and What I have learned with myself and then also watching other people my peers my fellow students in India fellow classmates is the people who are the most vulnerable And who are willing to fall on their ass and who are willing to look like an idiot trying to learn something They're there in my opinion seem to be the most powerful. Yeah, they're the ones that are the most wise They're the ones I want to talk to I want to pick their brains Because they're they're quiet in there in their motion there and they allow themselves To just fall and there's wisdom in their strength and beauty in that whereas when someone's playing with the ego You can tell when someone's in their ego. It's not attractive. No, it's really not attractive it's not attractive from in any sort of way and and Certainly it doesn't make you feel comfortable and it doesn't build trust and it doesn't want you to Move forward with that person because it's it's sort of It's a very negative energy that comes on I know there's lots of discussions that we can have about what the benefits of the ego are from a self-preservation point of view But again, how much of that is ego and how much is that is confidence? You know, you can tell straight away when someone has that natural confidence. There's a huge difference between confidence and arrogance Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Ergon's comes with ego. Yeah, absolutely Um, and it's lovely when you really see people who are very naturally confident in themselves Isn't it? They're a real pleasure to be around they attract You into their their energy field don't they because you feel comfortable and you feel safe and you feel Accepted and they're often the ones that are the best listeners as well. Mm-hmm Well, they're willing to learn they're willing to also learn as well And I think it also goes back into having a sense of self I know he talked about the self with the capital s and their self the lowercase s but being able to like sit within yourself You know, I find in from my observation of people including myself times of my ego has been out of hand But when I watch people who seem to have this real arrogant ego The thing and maybe this is me just being a yoga student yoga teacher the thing that always gets me is like What are you hiding from yourself? Yeah, what are you running from? Like there's something you're trying to cover up There's something you're trying to you're trying to portray yourself in a way that I can already pick up Is is not the real you and I'm not interested in the fake you I'm interested in the real you I don't care You know if you if you're not perceived to be the best like that's not what interests I wouldn't I want to hear about you as a person as yourself until every time I see that with somebody I'm like, ooh, I actually kind of it sounds bad I kind of have like empathy and compassion sometimes because I feel like there's something and within them that they don't want to expose you know protective shield that people put up around them, isn't it and and I think We've seen it a lot over the last couple of years because You know a lot of people have been speaking out about different things But again, it's I find it quite fascinating when you look at the ego in Terms of what's happening on the global situation and what we're finding out about everything and about how We've got our own need for things to happen in a certain timescale in a certain way And for truth to be exposed, but of course that's only our version of the truth, right? We think our version is true and other people think their version is true and Yeah, and there's something that is big in the yoga sutras that I've been going through on David Zublick's channel Basically because we've been doing that because people think yoga is demonic and we're proving it not by going through the actual philosophy like you know But he there's a huge emphasis in the practice of yoga It's one of the eight limbs which is basically I won't say the Sanskrit, but it's basically surrendering to God surrendering to the divine and when somebody What is very apparent is that when and this is I'm totally speaking about myself in this situation Is that when you can say that you're spiritual and you have a connection to the vine and you trust in the vine? But when your ego flares up and there's anxiety and there's all this stuff coming up That means you don't actually have faith in the divine That means you don't actually trust it because you're having to put up that false sense of self And that's something that I've had to check myself with my ego just rereading the sutras and like okay My anxiety kicks up like be like okay You just have to relax and know that the divine source creator is in control and you're fine You there's enough for everyone. You're gonna be fine. This is a you we all matter We all are enough And so that is again the fault sense of the ego that comes up to when there is a lack of that real and you know People can say they have faith in the divine, but do they really you know Because if you believe what you believe if you truly believe what you believe Then you don't have to prove it to anyone You don't have to so important because we've all had these conversations and had to giggle with it and you know Myself very much, you know, we've all had family members and friends and work colleagues that think all mad And and I will put my hand up still, you know I've still got a thing where there's certain family members. I want to be proved right to but again You know it this this ties into the issue of the ego ties into every other aspect of the spirit to development doesn't it because if you really do truly have that trust then It questions everything it questions Why do we need to interfere with what decisions other people are making about certain things at the moment? Why do we feel the need to change things on a global scale because if we really did have that trust? Would we need to be sort of fighting protesting speaking out so much about it and you and I have had so many interesting conversations many of them off camera where It's so interesting, isn't it to to have the keep asking these questions and keep looking from an individual and then Everyone watching this from an individual perspective. Where is this coming from within me? Yeah, is it coming from? a true confidence of Knowing that My actions and my thoughts and my words are really with the intent of making the world a better place Or is it coming to prove that I'm I was right and I'm better than well, and it's it's also, you know, it's The ego people get caught up in their ego again. Yeah, that whole I'm enough or I'm right and I'm I'm worthy And it's like you can definitely tell an ego flare up when there is been something wrong done But then there's no accountability no because that's fear of like Not being enough and if I if I if I have to apologize and I'm gonna look vulnerable and therefore I'm not the predator anymore I'm the prey but again, I find the people who are the most vulnerable to be the most confident and the most beautiful souls You know, they're not fragile being vulnerable doesn't mean you're fragile. It actually means the opposite It means that you're confident and you're you're willing to be a human being a human means that we're not always going to Be perfect. There's always going to be pitfalls and obstacles and opportunities to learn and that and when you're vulnerable to that You're actually showing your human your humanness and that is and that is beautiful. That is powerful. That's powerful You know, if I mean you look at some of the, you know So I'm gonna use Gandhi as an example now. I understand I'm gonna put this out there disclaimer I know from my friends in India that there's a lot of Questionable things about that story. I'm just gonna put that out there But from what I know as of now, I'm gonna use Gandhi as an example Mahatma Gandhi Now, I know Shanti and I've talked about the first law of yoga is a word called a hemsa So hemsa means violence a hemsa means non-violence now Patanjali and the person who wrote the yoga sutras 5,000 years ago picked a hemsa non-violence for a particular reason He didn't pick the word peace. He picked non-violence And so if you look at Mahatma Gandhi and the story we've been told we'll just say it that way He stood up for what was right against the British Empire But he never did it in a violent way and he was always accepting of what happened And so that is where the whole you know with with the yoga It's like yes, you stand up for what you believe is right, but you don't do it in a violent way You don't impede on other people's free will and then it still if it doesn't go your way You have to fall into a place of acceptance that that's how it is because then that's that faith in the divine And you think about how hard that is like you think about I know even though we know the Bible's corrupt There's a when Paul was writing his letters some of his most beautifully written letters about love were written when he was being transported to be executed and How powerful is that that he was sitting there writing these beautiful letters about the power of love in a moment? An existential crisis when he knew that his whole body was not going to be around anymore You know so that my that is that is coming from confidence and peace to be able to be in that mindset And that is someone who has worked on themselves to be able to accept whatever is coming in a very because I know as sure as hell If I was sitting there about to be executed. I would not be writing letters on love Exactly, and I think you know going back to the vulnerability It's really really important There's a big difference between vulnerability and weakness as you say it's actually complete the opposite because if you're if you're at peace enough and You know yourself enough to be open and vulnerable Then that is the opposite of weakness in mind And we twist these words don't we to have meanings that they don't they don't really mean at all And I think so many people at the moment We're still very caught up and and me as well just this is why we're having these coffee chats And this is why we call them coffee chats because we're talking out loud We're we're talking on camera about the type of things that we talk about off camera About looking at our motives for all of this looking at the motives about Where our attention is going in general And and that balance between the study whether it's the yoga sutras or some form of spirituality or herbal medicine Or what's happening in ukraine or whatever it might be that balance between The awareness of the external and the awareness of the internal and how those two merge And at the end of the day, it's all about you. It really just comes down to you This is your experience on this earth This is your opportunity to evolve in your soul And so it all comes down to that pratyahara that self study and I like that because there is no there is no finish line You know as we said like I said it doesn't even when you start to work on your ego doesn't mean the ego is going to go away It just means that you know how the tools to recognize it for what it is And it doesn't mean you're not going to screw up and and and flail in your ego If that doesn't that's it doesn't mean that all of a sudden it's going to be cured No, it just means that you have that ability to kind of step back And assess yourself in a very different perspective And and that's just that's just the journey for everybody. It's no one nobody gets out of this world alive We all have to go through our own Evolution of the soul it's funny rom das who does my favorite quote We're all just walking each other home. He also has a lot of great quotes But one of them was if you think you're so spiritually evolved go try spending a week with your family exactly I know I know I mean, I think You've got to be able to when you recognize these things when you recognize when it's your ego kicking in That's the important thing, isn't it because when you recognize you can then consciously choose to do something about it um And you can consciously look out make a decision as is this serving me as is serving The people around me or or the planet around me or is it not? Is it just keeping me on the old behaviour patterns and stopping me really knowing myself and and really accepting the true The true intent behind what action you're taking because I was speaking to lucid this morning about you know, gratitude about gratitude and meditation station And again when you're clear behind your intent for wherever it is then you'll be aware when your ego Is out of hand then you'll be aware Of the thoughts which are yours which are not yours which are serving you which are Which are getting you to enjoy the journey because at the end of the day This is a journey as you say there is no finish line And you what's the point being here if you're not going to enjoy it You know enjoy the badge and the ugly and learn from it and then Help yourself make better decisions Yeah, and the good thing about the ego too though is that it will give you opportunities to course correct So if you do something if you react out of ego And later on you feel guilty about that. There's some you know guilt there. That's your true self telling you Okay, let's let's go course correct. Let's go fix this because yeah that was it's like um I think we've talked about it like you know if if you are going to apologize or course correct and you say i'm sorry But that's still coming from a place of ego But if the if this if the soul recognizes that and you start to feel that little like oh crap like I did not You can go back and course correct and that's showing your vulnerability, which in my opinion That is so much more powerful When somebody can actually sit back and be vulnerable and course correct and recognize Wow That is a powerful person that can do that You know so even if you're worried if the egos then the ego fights back and says oh, but if you admit You know, you were wrong then it i'm gonna you're gonna look like a fool. No, no, no No, no, no that is one of the most powerful things you can do is actually sit back And acknowledge the ego for what it is and take that power away from that ego And and appear vulnerable to people because that is that is that's actually sexy like when somebody is very much so and it stops that self-perpetuating negative energy because When you generally from the heart say sorry or I reacted for this and everything then it's game over people Everyone can just release it shake it off as our dogs do and move on but until You get to that stage you get these self-perpetuating cycles Don't you of going on and what better example to be To those around you then actually being the one that can actually recognize when you've been in that and then Apologize You know Explain where you you know sort of yeah I'm sorry realized I did this and then everyone can move on and you'll step because there's so much energy and time and attention Wasted on things that are not actually making any of us feel better. Yeah most importantly ourselves And I would suggest with that starting with yourself Apologizing to yourself For the time that your ego hurt you Because at the end of the day Even we're hurting other people the person that egos hurting the most is yourself And start with that be vulnerable with yourself And that's where that power starts I'm sitting in my office. It's the mid-afternoon Sorry guys, I've just got to do this and there's the most beautiful little fox just walking We've got family of foxes, but we it shouldn't really be out at this time It's a young male. So I we will look up the spiritual significance. I was about to say Now I've got a live in the countryside. I'm just gonna see if I can show you all without scaring him off I don't know if you can use um. Oh, yeah, I can see I'm back by the um. Oh, yeah. Yeah Yeah, we'll see And it's right outside my window now What's really funny if my dogs suddenly start barking because the dogs and three of the cats are in here But he's going and eating both of we do Have the foxes that come out at night But for him to be in the middle of the wall here he obviously wants to join in in the conversation. Sorry, but I was gonna look that up I would look that up I would I'm gonna look that up and I'll put it below because they there's obviously something in there But yeah being kind to ourselves and just having I know I love these coffee chats because for me, they're so Great because I learned so much because when you talk it out with your best friends Then you get more clarity and once you've got clarity You can move on but if not, it's very easy, isn't it to get stuck in the same cycle And and then it's frustrating and you're just sort of that was now we're cleansing out this energy We're coming to realizations ourselves and then hopefully You know you and I talk all the time about be the person your dog thinks you are and this for me is the greatest example Of you know when you learn to recognize your ego Recognize um when it's kicking in and as you say apologize to yourself and apologize to others Then move on and have fun. Yeah And the world would be a better place if we could all just be a little bit more humble and realize that we are True selves are so much better than the false sense of the ego Exactly. Oh, that was so useful for me. I must say I definitely Fine kicked in this week. Um, so I hope you all enjoyed the little coffee chat. We're very happy to have subject matters be You know suggested to us and we will be back very soon. Thanks guys. Have a wonderful day you too. Bye guys