7 Tips to realize the impossible

Its common to create dreams and also very common to doubt or talk yourself out of them.  What if you could realize the impossible more often?  What if the steps are available to you now if you choose to take them? What if everything you think is pointing to or guiding you toward completely new, different and unforeseeable experiences, even the unthinkable experience of immortality?

1) Believe what you want is possible 

The psychology of believing: this brings the vibration of possibility into your conscious awareness. As everything is energy,  you must realize that your thoughts are energy and your every thought is creating your reality. We have to question the belief systems given to us by our societies in order to liberate ourselves from them in a practical way.  This is about understanding why we come to believe in self-created limitations and taking steps to stop lying to ourselves. What if you could begin a 7-Day Kickstart Program to begin reclaiming control of your focus?

2)  Make the unconscious death urge conscious

The philosophy of believing (or not): the  idea exists that death is inevitable and also that death is optional. Realize every apparent obstacle, injury or illness you encounter relates back to the unconscious death urge.  This is about what Leonard Orr calls Breaking the Death Habit. From the moment you believe in time, you exist in the conditioned idea your time (and life force/ body) is running out. Notice where you place your attention and how you reinforce your belief with thoughts, projections, and experiences. Fear-based vibration from within you can only be reflected back as materializing versions of fear (i.e. not getting, not being, not having- all versions of the illusion of separation). 

3)  Unravel what comes up to the surface

You have to work with the mind directly, learn to go inside yourself and root out all self-sabotaging, victimizing thoughts which you have about yourself. This begins in pre-infancy and infancy consciousness in this timeline, yet baggage may emerge from before and beyond too, if you are open to that.  For now, in this life, body memories arise, get out of control and are reinforced consciously and unconsciously in our habits of living which develop into longstanding patterns. Your life is about decoding your patterns and correcting your misperceptions. 

4) Stop believing in programming

Demonstrate our rational mind can change our emotional mind so then the emotional mind produces immediate results through our physical body. We have to take responsibility for the subconscious mind and make conscious changes. Genes are programs passed on genertion to generation.  Insurance companies bet you will die of approximately the same age and symptoms of our same sex symptoms. Death occurs due to collective disbelief or ignorance of natural divinity (i.e Orthodox religions reinforce this), and our diet. Imagine what happens as you internalize The Science of Everlasting Life.  Recognizing and overcoming this urge involves making the belief conscious, seeing through illusion of fear.  People hide the possibility of immortality from themselves because they do not wish to take full personal responsibility for every aspect of their life.

5) Survive senility and aging

One view is that this is just a stage of the human condition. Yet when people believe death is inevitable and beyond control, there belief exists that this is the end. What if, this is not the end? What if this is simply a stage and a second childhood? What if senility has rejuvenation built in? Your own book of life comes up. If you read it, trace out cause and effect relationships, see the causes and effects, heal the causes, then the effects also change.  Imagine stories about thriving centenarians is only a glimpse of what is and can be.

6) Activate your own Bio-circuitry

The basic guidance is keep surrendering to divine nature, view your body energy flowing (kundalini) or as points of light, allow these points as light to become responsive to your thoughts and feelings.  See every experience as a pointer to your own divine light.  Physicists see energy as points of light in form. Smallest point is thought which combine into points of light that can join. Every cell in the body emits photons. You have to be in an enlightenened state in order to literally illuminate the body to its true destiny. Some yogis do manage to do this without healing the emotional mind completely. Healing the emotional mind is the typical path to transform the body into light.

7) Recognize your connection to the cosmos

As consciousness awakens up through every chakra system, earth, air, water, fire, mind elements are intelligently interacting with each other. The spiritual practices involve bathing or cleansing regularly (purification), doing pranayamas (breathing consciously), interfacing consciously on different levels with each of these 5 elements. It may be said the highest mission is to recognize cosmic purpose and consciousness. You can relate all this to the process of mastering time, working your way through cleansing the chakras and energy bodies. Monk Thích Nhất Hạnh reminds us, "Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts." 

Interview with Rick Strassman

Dr Rick Strassman, is a medical physician, clinical researcher, visionary, and author of the seminal work, DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2000).  He also co-authored Inner Paths to Outer Space (2008) and more recently, is author of DMT and the Soul of Prophecy (2014) ebook & paperback.

His related documentary also receives widespread acclaim. You might say his cutting edge work prompts inner shifts, inviting us to envision and take steps to create a new kind of conscious future.

Intuition guides me to connect with specific people with perfect timing. Interviews that arise empower readers to see a bigger picture unfolding. At one stage of life, I engaged in psycho-pharmacology research, gained insight into the grant-writing process as well as politics of drug research trends.  It reflects shifts in collective consciousness, points to where we are heading.   

Thank you Dr. Strassman, for the presentations about mystical experience & spiritual scripture (@Horizons Perspectives on psychedelics), other work you do, and making yourself available for this dialogue. Interest in the effects of psychedelics (literally, "mind-manifesting") on consciousness is growing.

Due to your books and work, what is your view of changing public interest, understanding and receptiveness to new uses of hallucinogens? 

I’m glad to see that psychedelics are returning to the arena of public discourse. So far, however, there really are no “new” uses of psychedelics in the research environment. Rather, these new studies are confirming and extending older data that was generated during the first wave of human research. Perhaps the newer uses that you are referring to concern religious applications, which include both indigenous and more Western-religion-oriented type settings. By these, I’m referring to the ayahuasca churches and indigenous ayahuasca use.

Yes. New Yorker magazine recognizes a huge ayahuasca boom in the U.S. Well-intentioned researchers like yourself, aim to bring ayahuasca as ancient medicine, into the light of science.  The prospect of a fast track to awakening draws western travellers to the Amazon in droves. (For anyone considering it, invite doing soul-work first and read: things I wish I knew before drinking ayahuasca).  How do you feel about these social trends involving hallucinogens? 

It’s important not to prematurely close the door on with these drugs can do. That is the temptation I see people indulging in regarding a type of fundamentalism. Either these drugs “occasion mystical experiences,” “mimic psychosis,” “increase brain connectivity,” etc., as their means of producing their effects. We don’t really know what they do to exert their effects.

When do you see them being clinically legalized for therapeutic healing?

In the US, there are movements to place MDMA and psilocybin into less restrictive drug categories. These efforts are using the tools of normal pharmaceutical companies to get a drug into the clinical pipeline. Phase I, II, and III—safety and tolerability in normals, small-scale studies in patients, and then large-scale studies in patients.

That is encouraging.  It shows people are growing more open-minded, even legalizing certain drugs for public benefit. The view of cannabis, for instance, has shifted dramatically. Although marijuana is not a hallucinogen, it can have hallucinogenic properties.  

Business Insider (Mar 2018) says 29 U.S. states have legalized medical cannabis.  This article notes 23 health benefits, including, slowing the spread of cancer, reducing anxiety, and slowing the progression of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.  What stands out is cannabis offers huge pain relief and facilitates natural healing.  Civilized Life is presenting the World Cannabis Congress in June 2018. The widespread legalisation of cannabis reflects a shift in acceptable drug use.

In this light, Australian private insurers offer partial reimbursements for some alternative health treatments. In the Netherlands, various drugs can be obtained in cafes without prescription.  What is your feeling about the evolution of psychedelic drug use in the Western world?

We still don’t have the optimal setting worked out for the optimal use of psychedelics. What will probably turn out to be the case is that because of the wide range of effects of psychedelics, there will be various optimal settings for various desired uses: religious, medical, creativity, and so on.

Your research popularized the notion DMT is produced during dreams and near physical death. Both the general public and other researchers are interested in this. Please expand.

Unfortunately, those were educated speculations rather than objective data. Nevertheless, those ideas have spurred on bona fide research and we are closing in on the role of DMT in the dying process. 

Your research inspires other researchers to go deeper, conduct further studies.   Recent neuro-pharmacology studies begin to touch on dreams and psychedelics. One article states, "The broad overlap between dreaming and psychedelic states supports the notion that psychedelics acutely induce dreamlike subjective experiences which may have long-term beneficial effects on psychosocial functioning and well-being." Researches also envision more clinical studies.

Progress is being made.  We don’t have information about dreams yet though.

Existing computed tomography (CT) research proposes a calcified pineal may relate to aging and the onset of Alzheimer's. Current theories suggest DMT is produced naturally during waking states in the pineal.  Yet, calcification of the pineal appears to inhibit DMT production. Why?  

The pineal gland appears to make DMT both in humans and lower animals. We don’t know whether calcification has any effect one way or the other.

David Attenborough reminds us, “We only know a tiny proportion about the complexity of the natural world. Wherever you look, there are still things we don’t know about and don’t understand." As you and he imply, new information is available to be discovered and examined. 

Research shows calcification prevents the pineal gland from functioning. Fluoride accumulates in the pineal more than any other organ. Fluoride exposure in animal studies has found to decrease melatonin and lead to accelerated sexual development in females.  When our pineal gland is calcified, one view is humans are out of balance with nature, impeding proper biological functioning. How do you sense this relates to DMT?

I don’t know how fluoride ties into the DMT scenario.

What do you envision happening as the pineal is de-calcified in more people?

I know of no way to decalcify the pineal gland.

Considering over one million people have watched DMT and the mysteries of the pineal gland, and huge audiences are focusing attention in this direction, this certainly warrants new attention.  How would you build on your  previous work in an international study if you could today? (I already know a few people who are ready and willing to volunteer)

There is one DMT study taking place in London right now. This is a brain imaging project. There are plans to actualize a continuous infusion study of DMT, wherein it is possible to maintain the state longer than is the case when it is given as a single bolus or smoked one time. There are ayahuasca studies taking place now in Spain and Brazil. Unfortunately none in the US or Commonwealth countries.

Traditionally, tribal shamans use plant substances to connect with spirit worlds and for healing. Shamanic schools now exist in different parts of the world, including the U.S. Shamanic healers offer services not covered under Medicaid or other insurance. When do you envision U.S. shamanic clinics emerging for the general population?

This relates to what kind of clinical models emerge for using psychedelics. While certainly not around the corner, I can see at some point “shamanic” use of psychedelics being considered “indigenous healing” which could be reimbursed. This is the case with, for example, certain indigenous healing practices of Native Americans and Hispanic cultures in New Mexico that at least one of the major insurers reimburses.

Your remark here echoes new changes in the air and echoes changes in collective consciousness. Helen Keller reminds us that the heresy in one Age becomes orthodoxy in another. George Bernard Shaw agrees. He echoes "all evolution in thought and conduct must first appear as heresy and misconduct.

How else do you imagine shamanic healing (DMT, ayahusca and other drugs) growing more accessible in the U.S. like medical opiates and marijuana? What about legalizing psychedelics for conscious tourism as is done in Costa Rica, South America and other part of the world?

This again relates to setting up environments in which people can take psychedelics for various reasons. The settings where there is direct benefit provided to patients for whom more traditional practices have failed are more likely to get off the ground first.

What does this echo on the state of collective consciousness and nature's harmonizing influence?

My late Zen teacher used to say that the balance between good and evil is always 51:49.

Midwives, health and well-ness practitioners such as chiropractors, naturopaths, ayurvedic doctors and others, are revolutionizing and changing the way people view health care services, integrative medicine and self-healing. What inspired your pioneering DMT research?

I was interested in the biology of spiritual experience. To the extent that psychedelics could bring about states of consciousness resembling those that occurred in non-drug religious states, I believed that there were common underlying biological denominators. The presence of endogenous DMT and its psychoactive effects made it a strong candidate for such a mediator.

Emerging technologies can record what the experiencer is sensing in altered states.  This is used for dream research, to track the brain in meditative states, channelling mediums and others. How do you see this, along with DMT, perhaps validating connections to the spirit world (i.e. higher vibrational states)?

First one needs to define “spirit world.” This needs to be done with more rigor than simply alluding to their having a higher vibrational state. I have more or less glibly wondered about dark matter cameras that could image those things that are comprised of it.

Agreed. John Chavez, who interviewed you before, suggests, we also need a clear idea of what Science means. Often people can be conversing about Science and spirituality and not be clear, and not be on the same page.

If the spirit worlds reside in normally invisible planes of existence, perhaps that type of imaging device could capture images of things existing in those planes. Then, one might compare those images with what one sees on DMT and related substances.

Many people are familliar with the psychedelics in the movies. Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Ridley Scott's original Bladerunner , Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey, are examples. Actor Jim Carrey took DMT and says his consciousness shifted dramatically as the result. How do you see the DMT experience is important for breaking through the matrix of individual and collective consciousness?

The existence of “things” in parallel, objectively verifiable, self-existent alternate planes of reality would be of great interest. However, simply establishing their existence without some goal in mind would only be tinkering rather than automatically being useful for the world.

In your Other Worlds, and your books, you suggest psychoactive substances like DMT allow the brain to bypass our five basic senses to unlock multi-dimensional realm of existence where other-worldly communication occurs.

This, of course, is only an hypothesis.

How do you account for the phenomena of synaesthesia, clairvoyance, and individuals with selectively magnified subtle senses, who do not ingest DMT yet access multi-dimensional realms spontaneously and at will?

It makes sense that nondrug states that resemble those brought on by giving DMT may be mediated by the same processes that are called into action when DMT is administered.

Also in Other Worlds documentary, you suggest the external search for alien life-forms is mis-directed.  Is our collective attention mis-guided when popular visionary sci-fi stories with aliens are the focus rather than the inner space world of our minds? 

Not necessarily mis-directed, but not the entire story.

Alien encounters are perhaps the most highly documented events yet are also the most downplayed. Sheer numbers of common stories, reports, and apparent abductions would, if on another subject, be substantial enough to make a huge statement in a traditional judicial system. That aside, if you view this from the perspective of your research with DMT, would this imply increasing numbers of people are expanding consciousness and producing DMT to access inner worlds of the mind?

We don’t know if endogenous DMT levels rise in states that resemble those brought on by giving DMT. Don’t gild the lily. Psychedelics can be used for terrible purposes. Just look at Charles Manson who used LSD to cement malignant beliefs and goals of his followers.

Why or why not? What other explanation could you suppose?

Humans are always living on the edge of disaster, the closer to the edge—that is, the more extreme the situation—the more extreme the potential solutions. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that LSD was discovered around the same time that the atomic bomb was developed.

Do you foresee DMT or related psychotropics being used more as a divination tool to gain greater insights into downloading visions for greater holistic technologies, mathematical and quantum understandings, as a think tank under controlled experimental conditions to improve upon the human condition?

There were some early studies using psychedelics to enhance creativity. This is an area that needs to be revisited.

Great composers and creative minds tune into the wide universe to download their masterpieces. What kind of world do you imagine as more people ingest DMT for clinical trials, healing or produce it naturally, to tap into conscious dream worlds? Would more of us get clarity faster and manifest our divine gifts?

It depends. I think that psychedelics provide a cementing of beliefs that previously were more or less conscious or about which people were more or less certain. This has to do with my notion of psychedelics as super placebos. Not wanting to beat a dead horse, it would be of use if you read the book about Manson and his use of LSD in his followers: Helter Skelter. It’s a sobering account.

It is suggested Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were aiming to contact the Afterlife with their emerging technologies. Tesla is known for saying the secrets of consciousness require an understanding of energy, frequency and vibration. He also said, “My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.” Which connections do you see emerging related to your work with DMT?

I have a predilection for the medieval Jewish philosophers. They suggest, based on Aristotle’s early work, that there exists an “Active Intellect” in which resides all past, present, and potential future information and events. The philosophers believe it is possible to “conjoin with” that information depending on one’s particular state—in particular, the state of one’s “intellect” and “imagination.” I think psychedelics stimulate the imagination, and to the extent that a more perfect imagination allows one to conjoin with the Active Intellect, there may be a little for them in tapping into what Tesla refers to as the “core.”

Indeed. Tesla's work still inspires shifts in what Science originally taught us to believe is impossible. Look at the electric car, free enegy and other technologies. Albert  Einstein also echoes, “The person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The person who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever seen before.” 

Why do you sense the origin and function of the DMT- Spirit molecule frustrates many scientists?  

Most scientists are limited to what they can see, measure, observe externally. The properties of DMT are a little trickier to subsume in this way. For example, DMT is actively transported into the brain across the blood brain barrier using energy. This is something that the brain does only for required substances like sugar and certain amino acids. This indicates that DMT is necessary for normal brain function, and normal brain function translates into normal consciousness. In addition, the DMT synthetic machinery is active in retina. Thus, both general consciousness and visual consciousness in particular may be mediated by the maintenance of a homeostatic level of DMT. This is too mind blowing a notion for most of us.

As DMT production in the pineal is clincally proven in rodents, what can you add about human DMT production?

New data hone in more carefully on how DMT is produced in the pineal, and extends findings to the human.

What do you imagine is required for the assumed boundary between science and spirituality to dissolve?

It will never dissolve, but might become more porous. Even then, people believe what they want to believe.

One of your theories is that DMT may function as a type of cross species Esperanto, in that it allows communication among any organisms. If everything could tune into the same frequency at the same moment, what are the implications?

It might make people more compassionate. It also might open up a can of worms regarding mind control, loss of privacy, etc.

Your theory of Theo-neurology suggests God designed the brain for us to connect with the divine. Does your DMT research corroborate the idea the human body is a system of bio-circuitry?

My research didn’t address that.

Would you suggest the human body is like a radio dial and the level of DMT determines the channels or frequencies we tune into?

I speculate about this.

If so, do you suppose we regulate DMT release to change channels?

We don’t know anything about endogenous DMT levels in humans and their relationship to non-drug altered states. The “changing channels” notion is a metaphor, hopefully useful.

Many famous geniuses have drugs of choice. Graham Hancock's research led him to consume ayahuasca and he explains his journey on youtube. One thing he concludes is:“It may be that DMT makes us able to perceive what the physicist call "dark matter" - the 95 per cent of the universe's mass that is known to exist but that at present remains invisible to our senses and instruments.”  

Terrence McKenna and David Icke also advocate of the use of psychedelics to open the mind. Which ones have you or would you like to consume? What do you notice about your own shifts in consciousness with or without psychedelics?

I don’t talk about my drug use or non-use.

Terrence McKenna says “Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.” Please comment.

Psychedelics are illegal because of their adverse effects. I think it’s a counter-productive myth to point to their putative mind expanding effects as reasons for their illegality. There are enormously powerful drugs that can be misused and cause major problems. Thus, strict regulation is more helpful than not over the long run. I would rather fewer people with more supervision take psychedelics than more people with less supervision.

If you could leave a piece of advice for our readers, what would you share?

Psychedelics are not panaceas. One big trip may be all that you need, provide enough of a push for the rest of your life. After that, the rest is commentary.

Thanks again Dr. Strassman, for offering food for reflection about the ongoing shifts in collective consciousness. It is clear dialogue is ongoing in scientific, government and public spheres.  The jury may still be out on the best or most appropriate uses of psychedelics, but growing interest exists in exploring and testing out new possibilities.

Encourage visitors to check out Dr. Strassman's  books, Youtube presentations and to visit his blog. His visionary approach to psychedelic research is a sign of the times.

Nikola Tesla is right on point as he echoes, many people, much like Dr. Strassman, are doing research, and proposing theories that point the way in which humanity and collective consciousness is heading.  Invite you to tune into the vibe.

Interview with Jaan Sanaam (Jerabek)

Jaan Sanaam (Jerabek) is Founder of Global Transformative Education, large breathwork training and therapy organization in the southern hemisphere (at the time of this interview).  Based north of Sydney, Australia, he is Director of The Depression Solution, trainer of breathwork-orientated psychotherapists, and a new generation of therapists who value pioneering approaches to therapy.

His unique approach to Advanced Breathwork Therapy led him to become one of the most sought after and successful teachers who has even led programs on route to Antarctica.  He runs regular retreats and programs. He and his graduates tailor services to small groups.

Its fascinating how the universe works. About a year ago, my husband attended a packed Business Success Systems breakfast in Melbourne and Jaan was the speaker. Hence, a pamphlet about this wellness guru and his group retreats reached me.  Intuitively, I researched into his programs, watched Youtube videos and discovered we have some mutual colleagues. I attended one of his retreats, connected with some of his past students, and experienced the power of breathwork directly.

This said, as the result of training under the supervision of Jaan and senior students, turns out there is more to this man than meets the eye.  Thus, I am pleased to invite him to engage in an interview here.

Thank you Jaan, for reserving time in your busy life to share glimpses of your personal journey. 

Please tell people about your origin? How did you end up Down Under?

I was born in Czechoslovakia.  At age 6, I immigrated with my parents to Australia. My parents wanted my brother and I to have greater opportunities, and by god, did we ever.

Share some of the milestones that you lead you to create who you are right now.

My journey started at the age of 14. I came across a book about how ‘Ninjas’ attained their powers they are known for, and that was through meditation. Like any teenager, living in their dream world, I was determined to access these powers, so I started meditating daily for an hour. My atheist parents understandably found this a bit strange, but, let me go on with my dream of ‘attaining powers’, humouring their young child’s ‘fantasy world’. By the age of 15, after researching the ‘Yogi’s’ way of meditation and their level of mystical abilities and states they experienced, I upped my meditation to 2-3 hours a day.

That sounds like a very dedicated practice early on. I sense this invites readers to step back and view events in their own lives from a very different place. Would you say this is soul-driven?

I did not know it at the time, but I was well into the ‘full swing’ of my destiny. As much as I know I am writing this now, feeling the keys beneath my fingertips, I know on a ‘Soul Level’ I set my life up, so I could ‘get onto the tracks of my destiny’ – My sadhana – final Yogic stage where daily meditation, chants, purifications etc finish off the final stage…. Which has many stages itself.

And your sense of sadhana, what role does it play on the spiritual path?

Sadhana does not mean any one specific activity.  Rather, sadhana means using everything as a tool for well-being.  There is a lot to it.

So then, its not simply traditional meditation practices per se.  It is the insight we gain into ourselves through this process. 

Yes. sadhana is about how we eat, sit, stand, conduct the body, mind, sense energies and emotions, as well as the how we breathe.

Ah-ha! Tell us about breathwork.  This feels like a huge part of your calling.  What is it exactly?More than basic pranayama? Which life experiences guided you to get into breathwork? 

Going back a bit, At the age of 17, I had my first ‘Re-birthing Breathwork’ session. It was a turning point. I quickly experienced ‘Re-birthing Breathwork’ (RBW).  The emotional & psychological side is like using a hammer and chisel to break-through an emotional block – as if the emotional block was a huge cube of concrete. Cathartic Breathwork, however, invented and refined by me, is like taking a sledgehammer or sledgehammer to it 4 – 6 blows and the ‘Block’ – cement cube – breaks and crumbles.

How did developing this unique approach to breathwork change your life?

By age 20, I was a qualified Breathwork Facilitator, began seeing clients on a professional basis and facilitating workshops on personal and spiritual growth. At 21, I had a vision to bring Re-birthing Style Breathwork into mainstream healing. I was the founder and initial driving force of the body that has grown into the Australian Breathwork Association. This body is dedicated to raising the profile of Breathwork so it may claim its rightful perception as a valid, effective healing and psychotherapeutic technique.

Love that inner changes are reflected as external changes. Many people are noticing restlessness within themselves and shifts accelerating in the world around them. What you say about your journey with Breathwork reminds me of Arthur Schopenhauer who says, "All truth passes through three stages; First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." It reminds us to act when it feels right, and to hang in there and trust.

Now, on your site, you offer a free cathartic breathwork ebook.  Why is it a useful introduction?

It offers only a glimpse and invites you to explore further. That’s why I focus in hosting my 7-day residentials.  This involves 7 days of advanced Cathartic Breathwork Techniques plus a handful of other psych-therapeutic therapies I feel are 'the best of the best.'  If you are willing, using my techniques guarantee your transformation. Over 12 years of teaching them shows that my techniques work. 

The mystical aspect of breathwork and your early interest in ninja techniques reminds me of the mentor of Doctor Strange from the recent popular marvel comics movie. The protagonist relates that he was once a brilliant but ego-driven surgeon. After a car accident severely damages his hands and hinders his ability to perform surgery, he searches the globe for ways to repair them and encounters the Ancient One. After becoming one of the old Sorcerer Supreme's pupils, he follows his detiny as practitioner of both the mystical and martial arts. He also discovers what is involved in Mastering Time. This sparks one's curiosity about your teachings.

Yet for now, let's shift to focus on breathwork which is both technical and mystical. Who discovered, created key techniques in the West?

‘Holotropic Breathwork’ was discovered in Czech by a Doctor of Psychiatry in 1950’S – Stanislav Grof. ALSO, it was re-discovered at roughly the same time by Leonard Orr – An American spiritual explorer. What are the chances of this occurring?

Only synchronicity exists, when one is ready to see. The world must be ready for this phenomenon that presents as one of many ways to expand consciousness.

Exactly! This beautiful & precious jewel we call planet Earth, has paid for it collective Karma enough, to finally be given a tool that makes enlighten-ment, not to mention healing anxiety, depression, seemingly ‘no-way-out’ relationship blocks, and a whole range of inner issues - especially the ‘SELF WORTH’ ISSUE – which virtually no-one escapes from childhood with intact.

Karma, or the Law of cause and effect, is a huge, open-ended matter.  The healing potential of open-ended consciousness is also a significant development and tool for self-healing. 

Life experience and pioneering work has led you to be viewed as an authority on consciousness and evolution. For those unfamilliar with your work, please expand. What do you really do?

I teach about kundalini awakening. Did you know the real ‘Awakening of the Kundalini includes 3 very distinct stages? Each stage requiring a total different approach and and set of techniques for each of those stages. (yes, there are as many symptoms of the kundalini awakening as there are people on planet earth.) How do I know all this? First-hand experience.

You are a man who wears many hats; therapist, teacher, director, workshop facilitator and others. Who are you really?

I am Sanaam – Sanskrit for ‘Body of Bliss. Otherwise know as Ananda. Swami Muktananda, Nityananda, Sanannda etc. Sanaam is another word for the matrix of Bliss we have our cells arranged on and we access in love, child-parent love, universal Love etc; I am just not worthy – established 100% of the time in Ananda – Then I have a right to call myself ‘Sanaam’ and my name, which already is to a certain degree an access to Shakti Energy – To Heaven It-self, will within 10 years approx… become a mantra itself, so much shakti will be charged into it.

It is said we grow into our names; they evolve with us and us with them. What is in this name?

Jaan Sanaam Jerabek - My name has evolved and continues to evolve during the moment of my energetic evolution, I was born Ja'n Honzik Jerabek.  At school, John Jerabek out of a desperate desire to be accepted. Ja'n become John Jarabek. Changing the name felt temporarily normal. Changed back to Ja'n at 22 as it was truly me (at that stage). I stopped being insecure about my name.  At that point, I had no idea Jaan meant 'love & life' in Hindi.

Age 28 my Maha Guru - the real deal - put me into heaven bliss by pure divine will power - a state that surpasses orgasm, love you feel for someone, ant type pf experience of beauty...

One day I was initiated and realize I was 'Anananda' - the bliss behind everything..., I had experiences of giving prole experiences of Bliss till that point, but they were far and few between, it was not at my conscious control. I was the biss that reality is built upon, I creamed this whilst running after my maha guru....Her response...; Excellent'', You've done it, but I need you to establish yourself in that bliss, live, sleep, eat and have your being in it. Since your 1st name is Love & Life, I will give you a diifferent
version of Amnanda -You are Sanaam - The Body Of bliss -  Love, the Body of Bliss, and one day you will experience yourself as the bliss behind everything in existance, simultaneously, That's when you can
call yourself a real Guru, an embodiment of bliss and people just by repeating your name 'Sanaam' will enter the'Kingdom of heaven'. What you have worked so hard for over 26.27 years has just been your
university, your training Ground - Your Sadhanna. You cannot even fathom what awaits for you.

Would you say then, you offer unique insight into enlightenment? Many people seek this path.

The real nature of enlightenment is- Gradual. It is not arriving at a place, like all life, like all energy, it is a process. Having a ‘God Experience’ or ‘Momentary Enlightenment Experience’ is where things go wrong, People mistake this for enlightenment when it is simply an ’glimpse’ of enlightenment. How do I know this? in my late teens I decided to join my individual mind with the universal mind, spark with the great flame –The result I gain access to truths you will never read about unless from someone whom has done the same

How to you use direct insight as a teaching tool to empower others to transform their lives? 

THE TECHNIQUES I USE ACCELERATE EVOLUTION. I run a ‘Spiritual Bootcamp’ for Disciples, where healing depression, anxiety and inner conflict also a natural by-product of releasing the baggage that hinders true enlightenment.

It would be helpful to offer a testimonial:

Recently, a partner in a law firm said – ‘’I feel this year with you Jaan has enabled me to by-pass 10 -20 years of butting my head against the wall with my psychologist and other ‘therapists’’’.  

I am not wanting to blow my own horn, (well, maybe a little ), but my system works. It is the ‘Most Powerful Personal Development & Therapy Program available in Australia today. THIS WORKS! AND IT WORKS RELATIVELY FAST.

In addition, I am also happy to speak with anyone about my own-life changing experiences as the result of this Cathartic Breathwork training.

How long have you been teaching? After all, longevity makes a statement about staying power.

I have refined it over the last 20 years to take it out of a ‘close your eyes, and make an intention – a mental level regression occurs, usually very ‘Hit and Miss‘. You will most likely people told ‘what a great session, you cried, had an insight etc’’, But what about each and everytime’hitting’ the root cause of what you want to transform in your life, in a very precision, laser type surgery depending on your issue, depends what leading edge ‘psycho-therapeutic’ tool, is called for. IT IS NOT THE OLD, EVERYONE LAY DOWN, BREATHE, HALF OF YOU FALL ASLEEP AND SOME OF YOU CRY OR SCREAM INTO A TOWEL or HIT a PILLOW…. The dark, early days of Breathwork. It is now a ‘laser precision guided technique’ – to get at the core of your issues.                              

How do you envision your approach to breathwork evolving in the public eye?                  

Watch 20 years or so…we’ll have it on Medicare (I am the founder of what is now ‘The Australian Breathwork Association’ – a body to educate the public, constructed ethical guidelines and boundaries, access indemnity insurance).  Now, 20 years later, we do not yet have access to Medicare and private health funds. It will happen soon.  What is being ‘prescribed initially -Psychologists who have done little on no work on themselves get their knowledge from ‘other people, ‘case studies in textbooks’ COMBINED with drugs that are unhealthier than Cocaine & Heroin combined (at least they come directly from natural plant ‘alkaloid’). The pharmaceuticals (Greek for ‘mixing of poisons’) are often ineffective and, in my experience, usually makes matters worse.  Breathwork is the Future of Therapy. It is here to be used by all who are ready for it.

Who are greatest inspirations or mentors? How do they shape your life purpose and sense of being here? 

Leonard Orr and teachers on higher planes guiding me though the experience of my destiny.

What is the Anxiety-Depression Solution? How did this brainchild come to be? How do you envision that project evolving? Is there any connection between this program, breathwork retreats and your other projects?

I go into detail by answering questions on my website. Invite readers here to check it out.

Many people are experiencing noticeable changes in their lives and events appear to happen faster.  What kind of advice can you offer them?

Explore Breathwork – easy – It is the long lost ‘Siamese Twin’ of meditation.  What do I mean by this, 3 things:

1)      IT ‘IS’ the Future of Therapy. The collective takes a long time to catch up. IT IS A FACT. Did you know CBT - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – the main ‘so called therapy’, used by ‘Psychologists’ (who spend the 1^st 5 years of full time Uni studying statistics and then if they want to specialize in treating people they get taught CBT in the 6^th year), CBT was ‘invented’ in the 1960’s!! Imagine using the same surgery technique Doctors used in the1960’s now on people!?! What would result be? Our Organization – The largest Breathwork Training & Therapy Organization in the Southern Hemisphere –  get to speak to many people on the ‘front line’ of ‘mental illness’. I constantly hear reports along these lines…’’I have had 40 sessions with my psychologist and I still think negative thoughts and feel depressed and that’s even though I am also on 2 different ‘Anti-Depressants’’ – This was a call I had only yesterday. So, think of seeing a Psychologist for your depression or anxiety? Think hard. As ‘Well meaning’ as they are, unless they have the up to date tools/ and or have done years or decades of their own ‘inner work/ serious therapy, you are in for a long and frustrated (in most cases, fruitless I HATE to say) journey. 

2)      Breathwork, CATHARTIC Breathwork (CBW)I call it these days as I specialize in using it to release even womb and birth trauma, let alone early childhood * dysfunctional parenting trauma – works from the 1^st session onwards. You do not need to practise it or even believe in it, it just works automatically on everyone. It is actually something I recommend and get you to sign a disclaimer you will not be using it at home. Dangerous unless super-vised by a trained & experienced facilitator.

3)      Why, do I call it the ‘Long Lost Siamese Twin’ of Meditation. Easy, anybody can shut themselves of in their room and close their eyes and after a chunk of practise they can experience ‘Transcendence’. Rise above their issues, enter into the higher chakras – Crown and beyond and have a bit of quiet…but then they leave the room, interact with their partner, parents, boss, siblings etc and BANG! The same triggers are there. They lose their ‘peace and go back into their ‘normal’ state. Usually at the mercy of their triggers.

Does breathwork allow transcendence? In other words, is it a stepping stone to enlightenment?  

Breathwork does not enable you to ‘Temporarily Transcend’ It allows you to ‘Permanently Transform’. You see the root of ALL Your uncontrolled thinking, your monkey mind has at its core a trauma that has not been resolved/ integrated. that’s why you worry about the future, ruminate about the past, not allowed to live in the present Now, in the moment, where God Lives. Cathartic Breathwork enables the root of the automatic thinking patterns to be released permanently – the end result – a life in a permanent state of peace, what the Yogis call ‘Living in Meditation’. I used to be such a thing-a-holic I would at times not even sleep my mind went around and around, no…it’s as if a had a lobotomy. And how did this look like? The Kundalini awakening.  

Do  many of your students compare the experience of breathwork to lucid dreaming?

Many people ask me about lucid dreaming, projecting your 3^rd eye, listening great distances, Experiences of God/ Enlightened states, clearing the chakras, Experiencing the bliss, Love & joy we really are, Best Meditation techniques to achieve all of these and more….

Take Lucid Dreaming, becoming aware on the lower Astral plane to be more scientific and accurate about it. You see. If you want to learn ‘Lucid Dreaming’ instantly tells me, your energy bodies are at a certain level of vibration, where you are not becoming ‘conscious’ / ‘aware’ on the astral plane. It means you have a low vibration filled Etheric body (Your Emotional Body) so the bridge in your consciousness between your physical brain and astral body is clogged up with emotion – The Etheric Body. A.k.the emotional Body, needs to be cleared for Lucid Dreaming Nightly & ‘OBE’ – out of Body experiences. Now you could set months aside and form new channels, around the clogged ones that are already there. You program your mind, telling yourself each night ‘’ As soon as I start to dream I will ‘wake up’/ become conscious. You cut meat and other dense animal and chemical foods out of your diet to help things, eat nuts, use special oils and music - but this is not enough.

What is absolutely necessary to allow enlightenment to happen?

THE answer to all this is always the same. The kundalini awakening which has many stages to it, has to occur if you wish for any permanent affecting ‘Enlightened states’. The ‘Awakening of your Kundalini’ does not occur once and then that it, is open.

It is a matter of repetitious practise of a discipline, until the Kundalini starts to ‘Stir’ and starts to let you experience your powers automatically. 

Can you give readers a sneak peak of what they are in for, from your perspective?

I will give you a shortcut as a gift and enable you to experience where.

To speed things up, you need start to learn the art of transferring your consciousness to your astral body by imaging a double of yourself on the astral/ in a luminous darkness (astral comes from the Latin word for ‘starry darkness’ which the lower to higher astral plain looks like) and keep imagining using the arms, legs, torso of this ‘astral double you imagine’. See through its eyes, use its appendages etc With enough practise you eventually build a bridge between your physical brain and your astral level of awareness and eventually, your nightly programming –‘’as soon as I start to dream I will become conscious’’ and daily intention – you really have to want/ desire this strongly, so re-enforce this desire during the day hours, for months at least putting any goal or practice aside and eventually you will get your reward.

You see, we can all develop any power with enough training.  Yet, as you awaken the Kundalini, all the powers come to you one by one…for good. The Yogis called the people who spent months and years training themselves to acquire a power, as the misfortunate ones who were caught by the ‘trap’ – the acquisition of powers. Unfortunate, because they could have spent those months and years working on their ‘Sadhana’ – their final enlightenment process, after which, if they attained, they were given ALL the powers anyway. Permanently. Even into the next lifetime. For the psychic powers you develop individually, in the manner I just described, are a skill, there are not integrated into your soul level consciousness and you are born next life without the power to 90% of the degree. You do not get to ‘carry over’ your ‘learned skill’ into the next life time. This applies to all ‘learned ‘psychic abilities.’

Music is often a sought after tool for inspiration. It is widely assumed music or specific vibratins can induce meditative states and to promote lucid/ astral travel.  What is your feeling about this?

No music. It anchors you into material place. Music is cheating. I could put moving and emotional music to make you open up ur heart and cry. Cheating, I am here to help you master your breath. Not an emotional dj. Music has zero to do with lucid dreams and obe’s. Cheating otherwise. That is if beats and music helped failitate lucid dream. It can effect a true yoga nodes meditation but most fall asleep before 1 hour is up. No short cuts.

If you could offer readers some life changing advice, what would it be?

Listen to your heart. Do what other people fear to do. You, yourself are the knowledge. Only you can access it, but first, you have to discover how to feel and get out of your own way.

Thanks Jaan, for sharing this insight and inviting readers of this blog to discover the wisdom that awaits them through exploring options in Global Transformative Education. For more information on his programs, 7-Day Advanced Life Transformation Intensive and other retreats, the Depression Anxiety Clinic explore his website and contact him directly.

Interview with Max Igan

Very pleased to catch up with Max Igan while he is off on a new mission abroad.  At some stage, I came upon his radio shows and podcasts, and grew aware of the huge reach of his videos like The Calling. He created two full documentary films, The Awakening (2011) and Trance Formation (2012), both of which are widely-acclaimed and watched by well over one million viewers.  He is regularly engaged in truth-seeking endeavours and shares his thought-provoking findings widely.

As synchronicity has it, this is the moment to gain new insight into time from a different perspective than you may be used to.  Take this opportunity to step back and review how you experience life.  This dialogue invites you to see how your sense of time shapes your world. Discover you have the power to shift not only how you see and use time, but also influence the flow of underlying energy that is so often overlooked.

Thanks Max, for all you do and are, and especially for sharing things in ways only you can, from your unique vantage point. You repeatedly remind us its a gift to turn our world upside down.

Many people know you from The Crow House and Crow House Radio. What is the origin of the name? Why crow and not some other bird or animal, for instance?

The 'Crow House' name came to me completely out of left field. It happened at a point in my life when I was separated from my wife and she would not let me see my son. I joined a game clan to create a virtual connection with him.  My clan name was scarecrow.  I did lots of clan artwork.  

Somehow, I sense many people relate to this story. People may say, its just a cyber game or internet chat, phone text, or Wi-fi call without visual, yet, who realizes what is happening to perception as technology mediates communication?

Using an alias to play the game reminded me we all create personas in what we think is the real world.  People have different ideas about reality and time, and often see them as separate.

So true! Skype, What's app and other programs completely change how we connect through distance (space) and time-zones.  When people live from a place of fear, they feel physically and emotionally disconnected by technology.   Yet, technology can also make people feel closer. It depends on how you see things.

The Internet compresses time like nothing else, to be sure. It is common to be unaware of why we do the things we do, to be unconscious about why we use technology, how others use it or why its available to us. Notice when its a crutch.  When people ring or text because they fear seeing you, getting your reaction in-person, this differs from inconvenience. Your feelings echo your true motives.  However, you have to be aware of your emotions as a gauge to go deeper inside and see what is really going on in the world around you. 

Ah-ha! We are each invited to get to the bottom of our own truth. Our feelings are key pointers.  Now, what inspired you to create truth-based initiatives?

The truth portal arose because I needed it. The world gets to a point to where you feel the urge to act. As you start to question reality and reference points, you begin to see why I came to wonder where the end game is, what everything we are being fed and taught in this world is leading to.

What a useful point: thought focuses our attention on the time-based outer world. The restless mind jumps between thoughts, allowing them to come and go incessantly. Thoughts are not exactly invited; they arise, hijack our attention for a bit, then disappear, making place for others. Did a turning point arise in you?

When 9/11 happened (Twin Towers fell), this was a turning point. What I had been researching all my life was coming to a head.  It hit me hard, that it was one thing to know certain things and another to share how the magic works.  The latter, I feel, is the right thing to do.

This reminds me of David Icke , his books and hearing, "the what always comes before the how."  Your videos and podcasts also echo themes addressed in The Matrix films with Keanu Reeves,  including The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.  Many interpretations exist. One view is the Matrix as an allegory of someone reaching a higher consciousness, and then doing his best to share what he has seen and knowledge he gains. This is the universal story of a mystic (shaman) through the ages. Thoughts create the prison of the mind and your spirit is being awakened by the "one".  Thus, the flock of birds soar like Michael Singer's Untethered Soul. And how do crows help you see from a higher perspective?

Lots of crows enter my life, show up on my path, guide me home when I least expect it. The feeling of being interconnected led me to interact online.  One thing led to another and I developed the skills to create slide-shows and then become a film-maker.

What you say reminds us everything is always preparing us for the unforeseen.

Yes. Life gave a me the skills I need to survive as a nomad.  A crow is like a nomad, a scavenger, taking what it needs and sharing morsels it finds as it travels. Crows guide me to grow aware of my soul purpose through hardship.  That is me, in a nutshell. 

The crow totem picked me. I never asked myself what it means, I just go with it. Crows have guided me ever since. Crow magic, crow medicine emerging, crow dreams. Images and inclinations come to me. In shamanistic tradition, crows are birds of guidance. I sense I am to do my research, my art and move forward without fear. Crows show up, cross my path, remind me I can adapt to anything.

And how are you putting the pieces of your puzzle together, decoding and living your purpose?

I never consciously planned on doing what I do. My soul knows, but early on, it was not obvious to me.  Everything I did in my life lead me to have the perspectives I have got. I simply do what I do, speak candidly, put myself out there, see what happens.

Identify a turning point when your life direction began to take shape.

When I was four, I was devestated to learn I had to grow up, earn money and buy land. My soul told me we should not have to pay to be alive. It made no sense to me. I felt the same as animals, that we all share the same earth, water, air, why should we pay to be here? I began questioning everything. And so it began, the restlessness and desire for answers. 

Tell us about milestones.  Which pivotal events contribute to where you are?

At age 17, I left school. I was a musician. The way I saw the world was not what I was being taught.  School did not work for me. I did not fit in with society. I learned about ancient mysteries as I travelled.  Certain places called out to me, like crows.  The musician lifestyle permitted time to explore.

Also, when the universe took away everything that I thought was important: when my music was stolen from me, my 38 year collection by my x-wife, all I had left was to embrace my journey.   The universe took everything away as a gift.  This freed me from the attachment to everything valuable so I had the choice to leave this world of accept the destiny I have given myself. Music was no longer an option as it once was.

Names aside, who is Max Igan, really? What does he stand for?

I am a social misfit.  Max(well) is my middle name. Ian is my son's middle name. My son is why I exist.  As it is, Igan is the original Irish spelling of the name Ian.   I have no Irish roots, just like sound of the name.  I exist to invite others to get in touch with deeper truth and freedom.

As a non-conformist, you invite everyone to recognize and accept their own uniqueness. You also echo we exist to support each other, value ourselves, be real, to do what we are born to do.  

Amidst your focus on truth-telling, what drew you to create a pen name? Why is anonymity important? What dream you are in the process of making real?

Anonymity was something I never planned, and my ensuing following or repulation either. I do not view it as delicate though. I keep doing what I do not because I think I have to tread lightly, or because I feel I have to build myself up. I do whatever it takes.

Because you love the adrenalin in your veins and you love how it feels to break the chains? You may knw the message of groups like Imagined Dragons.

During my life, music has been my sanity. When I was 5, I told my parents I would be a guitar player. Music was my bubble, my protection, it had always carried me through. Whenever I could not handle society any more, music was my refuge, my source of strength. When my music was stolen, it was not longer my source of strength but my source of pain. It hurt. This is when I wrote my book Hidden Secrets. Writing helped me feel the way through a very difficult period.

Tell us  more about your book, Earth’s Forbidden Secrets. How does this differ from other books that offer the keys to ancient mysteries? Why share this now?

This book is useful as a reference point.  It puts everything together in one spot, cites lots of sources, and questions ancient history. First half of the book outlines ancient artifacts that simply should not be where they were found. The book echoesthe world is lied to on all counts about history. If you accept you are lied to about the past, how can you believe what you are told about present and future? 

Losing points of reference may feel like having the carpet pulled out from under you.  It takes a courage to accept we have been and continue to lie to ourselves.  We can also come to see the external world mirrors our inner world. This invites taking new levels of personal responsibility.  One can shift from fear and victimhood. Anything about this or your book that you wish to add?

I do not even agree with the last part of the book anymore. I no longer agree with Sitchen. You are supposed to grow, you know, we all are. I still agree with what I said in the early part of the book. I assumed that the timeline they gave us was correct (for stringing together and relating events, now I see it is very innaccurate).

Why the change of heart?

Lots of reasons. Scan weekly program titles and tune into my radio shows.

One example relates to where I stand. The buildings I am in now are not the age I was told they are. New research is available all the time about dating with layers of mud and other materials.  What we are told in one period of history changes and then we make new discoveries and are told something else.

So, what can we know for certain?

All that we know is living memory, that is what we experience directly right now, in this moment.

Graham Hancock (Fingerprints of the Gods) and Robert Duvall may be correct in their research and books. I do not know whether they question the related timelines. The amount of data documented in their books is impressive. Anything that helps show us history lies is great.  The key step after that is recognizing we choose what to believe. The period of Mayans and other ancient cultures existed may be completely skewed. My view is: question the whole lot. Question the validity of the timelines we have been given. Ask yourself what relevance history has and how your sense of the world is constructed around it.

That point also invites us to recognize we each have within us the power to change how we view ourselves and the world. The power of thought is often underestimated.

Look at the example of clocks in Geneva. Why keep Julian time and Gregorian time when the Gregorian calendar was widely accepted as universal time? Okay, so other calendars have sprung up elsewhere, but you get my point.  Why would anyone bother to keep the Julian birthday and Gregorian birthday recognition?British royals each recognize two birthdays, that on the Gregoian and Julian calendar.  What ‘s it all about? Among other thngs, this echoes we are all living in more than one timeline.  We choose our focal point of attention. Each of us is invited to ponder this, digest it. Why limit yourself to two timelines or even one? What is the purpose of time as you know it? You decide on what time is and what power you give it.

Reflecting on time is certainly inviting each of us to step outside the familiar and imagine a different kind of existence. And what happened when your book was released?

I initially made my book available for free. A few people started contacting me. An aussie docu-video maker contacted me and encouraged me to make videos. Suddenly I have been catapulted into this persona of truth activist. Never get hasseled because I travel with my normal passport.  When I made the slideshow the Big Picture on the youtube, it was fun to make documentary. Inspired by Zeitgesit-first incident blockbuster. I leanred I could make vdieos easily at home and make a feaure length documentary. Zeitgeist had enormous impact not so much for for its content or message as how it demonstrated it was possible for the every day person to make an impact with a home video-documentary. I did not expect to get the attention I got.

What, deep down, inspires you as an activist?

I saw people speaking out, but often sensed self-exaltation, ego involvement. Nobody was really speaking on things without an agenda. I offer an honest opinion, call it the way I see it. Honestly, I would prefer to be smoking weed in the forest. My motivation is freedom. Without that, there is nothing. A real opportunity exists to create some.  The working global mechanism is more obvious than ever before. I want to see people rediscover themselves, ask their rulers why they do what they do, not just blindly accept.  Again, it invites us to recognize why we think and feel as we do and reclaim conscious control of that.

You highlight sense of freedom.  Please tell us more about that.

Freedom is something we have never experienced in the human condition. We have an idea. I believe we are subject to natural law, where we are free to do anything without harming ayone else. What we have here is a people farm where people are forced to live in a situation of mind-control. People are not allowed to see what they wish to say, be what they wish to be. Nobody is free to exist who they wish to be. Everyone has a different idea in their head. Its a freedom of expression of self. Natrual law takes over if you ahrm other. People do not sffer the consequences of their actions. People do not suffer the consequences of wanting to expres themselves. We are living in a situation that is controlling in every way.

 Surrender is the key to listening to ourselves. Surrender to something beyond us, me or you.

Yes. still, we have social structures in place.  We have created them.  We need a set of responsible people in place to manage it. Wars happen externally when conflicts are ongoing inside each of us. The more we think we are getting freedom from technology outside, the more we are actually being locked down because we are suppressing ourselves, our heartfelt voice, and abilities.  

At this point, I have this vision of Dr Seuss characters in the Pixar Lorax film.  They move around this quirky city with a lot of things they do not need. Any character driven by greed is unhappy, attempting to fill an emptiness within that external things cannot fill.  It echoes humans are so often taught to be distracted by thoughts and objects that are not needed.   Listening to ourselves involves hearing our truth, whatever that is, just as characters in the film who wake up and opt to plant trees, change how they live and create a new kind of future.   

Like the characters in this film in fast vehicles, you certainly do get around. How do you know which area or topic to focus on next?

I do not really know where it comes from. Its like channelling. When I do radio shows, I read the opening quote and start talking. I know I have 54 minutes to talk, put myself in the zone and let it flow. I have to listen to the shows back to decide on the title. Its amazing when you do a show, yo uget dozens of emails, every week you are talking about what I am thinking about. Consciousness is shifting and this is in the field. I am just giving you what I am thinking about. I articulate in simple language because this is how it comes to me. I simply wish to speak to people, conversational. It simply comes, flows. Its part of the universal consciousness shifting. I have always lives on the outside fringes of  society. I do not have. I lived in a storm drain when I was 12. I have come through huge adversity and know every experience makes me stronger. I have no idea what I am going to say in stage, I just sort of let it happen, let it come out and it does. NOt havign an agenda helps. I do not really know where the thought process goes or is going. I am interested in where this is going. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I do not care if I get it wrong. We are all learning on the way. I have no fear, no stake in the outcome.

Can you offer us an intimate example?

Even when I was crawling through tunnels in Gaza, we are 50 m underground, dirt tunnel, took about an 1hr+1/2 to get through. I was crawling 45 min on my hands and knees, one Irqaui bomb and this tunnel is toast. I started to giggle. What the hell am I doing here. This hippie guitar player from adelaide, australia. If I was to die here, I imagined, "what a way to go." Just the fact that I was here and I could die here, what a way to go, was what I was thinking. What are the chances that I would be put in front of a firing squad in the Gaza strip? Allow the universe to take you where it will, and incredible things happen, only as you allow it and do not allow yourself to become emotionally attacheded to outcomes.

So many people are taught to be results-oriented.  What would you say to them?

I can speak as I do, name things as they are, because I have no stake in the outcome. I am fearless, as I remind myself this experience called life, is over in heartbeat. My motivation is to get this spark into people. people are running so fast in this rat race going absolutely nowhere and they never get to see the state of themselves. it is so important that people see that they have value beyond the measurable and material.  This is my entire motivation.

What triggered this incredible fearlessness?

Back in 2008, I had an experience tht changes everything. I was entering all these chat rooms about 9/11 truth site, news websites and starting debates with people. I attempted to wake people this way. I did not know how to harness the power of the internet to get the word out. I had a meditation. I was sudenly sititng inside myself, in the centre of my heart, I could see all my body around me, could see the skin of my body, like 3-D mesh. All of my organs looked like super clusters. All the atoms looked like galaxies and solar systems. I could see outside my body, the computer, the spirit outside myself. I could see the whole world, sitting inside my hear inside my heart looking at the world. There were 2 universes outside myself. I realized everything was a fractal. I was outside myself looking at myself in the chair and I was also inside myself. The floor started to ripple: it turned into a pond., Everything turned into white light. Everything split at the centre.  Millions of universes were joined. I was at the centre of this multiverse all joined at the fractal point where I was sitting in the air. The entire emotional content of a million universes flowed through me.

Then it hits, you have to know the truth in order to lie to yourself and believe it.  And when you have realized the true nature of the self, formless and infinite, your sovereignty as a human being becomes untouchable, and your conditioning becomes a choice.  Growing conscious implies lying to yourself is no longer possible.  What else do you recall?

I fell out of my chair and I was sobbing for 7 hours. Even when I tried to talk about it to people, it took me 3wks or a month to even talk about it. Even now, I am fighting back tears. It was an incredible experience. It hit me it was an emotionally-based reality. It is an electromagnetic language we speak all the time. It hit me entire life is an emotional, energetic  prayer. The external world manifests based on electromagnetic language. When people disconnect from or suppress emotion, they miss all this.

Please share key examples.

I heard a voice within me that being a radio host would be a great idea to get the word out. I got up every day, sat at my computer and put myself in the emotional state of a radio host. (See Life is a prayer- recent Crow House show). 

If you pray for rain, this is a negative affirmation. You go into a church to pray for love and peace, you only get war and hatred. If you want something, you must put yourself in the emotional state where you are this, embody and resonate it. If you are in a negative state, making negative affiramtion, this is not the natural state of prayer. Be the blessing.  Act as if it has already happened. Put yourself in the emotional state where you are feeling the rain, tasting it, and it comes. If you want the perfect relationship, and this is the electromagnetic signal you send out, this is the electromagnetic reality that mirrors back.

This is amazing information that clarifies a lot. Please share a personal example.

6wks after I  put myself into the emotional state fo being a radio host, imagining what it was like, pretending I already was, I was given a real job as a radio host (not internet radio). This is where the energy comes in. This is where the job fell into my lap.  I do not attach any economic value on anything I do and the world mirrors back the existence I am vibrating.

Ancient history is another of your preoccupations. How did this arise?

Fascination from childhood. Since age 8 when I saw pyramids in books, it hit me right away that nothing makes sense about versions of history we are told. I had this thirst for knowledge. It is so obvious that what they are telling us in and out of school is wrong, missing pieces. As you awaken to this, you start reflecting; who are the history makers and writers? what is being covered up and why? One question leads to another. It all led down the rabbit hole. 

Ah-ha. There is that What the Bleep do We Know movie and Alice nd Wonderland by C.S. Lewis that draw attention to such questions.  The nature of your awakening and shift in consciousness intrigues people.  You always have your finger on the pulse of the world. Do you have a spirit guide or some other-worldy advisors that talk to you in your dreams?

That sounds a bit 'New Agey.' Like anyone else can, I simply tap into the collective energy field.  When people email me in droves about my shows and express amazement that I speak on something they were thinking about, this is what I mean.  Anyone can tune in, feel where intense concentrations of energy are on this planet.  

I relate what you are saying to weather. People are conditioned to look outside of themselves, to accept a forecast from a meteorologist rather than trust they feel into what's coming. It is really something to feel the lightness or heaviness of the air, the high and low pressure systems, to literally feel a storm coming without the eyes. We can all recall and do this accurately, it simply takes practice and willingness to go within rather than be deendent on the external.

You are a major ‘go-to’ for Truth seekers as a source of alternative media.  How do you suppose that has happened?

Have no idea how this has happened. I am a nobody the same as everybody. We are all the same. I do not have an agenda. I have nothing for sale. I simply offer the perspective that many people share. I do not wish to be followed, I wish people to follow themselves. I need to you know you, to wake up yourself. We can all free ourselves. We need each other. I do what I do because I would like us all to have a better world. This is the purpose of everything, to elave this place better than we found it. I think people like self-empowerment people get from realizing their own value. Its humbling to get email from people. Close to suidcide-listenr. lListened to show wrote email had eueka moment said Now I get it, I see it. Max- that’s all I need to save a soul and it makes it all worthwhile.

Do you have any mentors who inspired you to be such a trail-blazer?

Todd Rundgren. Song-is it my name? Inspirational music in 1970s. He writes a lots Frank Zappa. Helped me laugh at how stupid it all is. George Carlin-Funny guy. People who keep us sane are often underestimated.

What is your view on Time?      

 Time is a construct. It is non-linear, cyclic. May explain déjà-vu, the idea we have done this many times before. Speculate on time as a program. Hypothetical- no first-hand info to offer.  Comedian George Carlin looked into sky and asked "what is time? who made this stuff up? Somewhere, at some point, someone told us we get older based on an asssumed rotation of Earth around the sun. If every cell regenerates itself every seven years, where does aging come into it? It all happens because of an emotionally-based energetic system. Mental projection is huge.  People told they have a life-threatening disease simply come to believe it, resonate the frequency and die. They merge with energetic projections of death.

Why do you feel it is useful or imperative to understand our relationship to it in this world/ perceived timeline? Would you consider yourself a time-traveller?

We are all time travellers. If we could find out the truth of the past, we could be better equipped to create future. George Orwell, in his book, 1984, says "He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” 

If we do not know who we are, we do not know what we are capable of. We have no reference point for freedom. If we could discover our reference point, we can pinpoint  lost our abilities of things we can do and reactivate them. We have taken to the internet so well because this is our second nature. Most people  do not have a reference point to know what has been stolen from us. We have no reference point for our higher abilities. We could be in any time, any reality, if we put enough emotional and  mental power behind it. We would need a reasonable focus and direction at the same moment. Anything is possible

Its funny how many science fiction movies exist about time travel that invite us to focus on building something external to ourselves. Dreams are stories we tell ourselves. To change our dreams we must thus change our thoughts. Amidst all the activism and controversy, what is your true take on reality? 

Collective consciousness is an absolute reality. This is not local to the body.This is in the field. Collective consciousness is shifting. Body is a buiological computer that is tuned into a particular frequency. This si a single collective consciousness experienced in a billion people. Each frequency is the centre of its own univers. Your univers erevlves around you. I am the centre of everything I know. We have 7 billion multi-verses with 7 billion people walking on this planet. The kidney is downloading aspects of me in the surrounding field. That kidney has aspects of my consciousness sin there. Time is cyclic. Every thought you have is an electromagnetic impulse, you put it out there, it remains there.

Any films resonate with you about this?

Recall Contact film. The first radio wave sent out is still there. Same happens with thought waves. All waves are coded in water as well. Its all coded into the water, the memory and ram drive of the earth. All exists in the field and we can access it all if we know how to do it.  We are all unique and individual and finding our way back to a greater version of self.

If you could offer some advice to our readers, what would it be?

Do not ever doubt yourself and do not ever think you are not capable of incredible things. Everything that is every created by the hand of man, the greatest wonder or weapon, the greatest anything, begins as the spark of energy before the idea. Everyone is capable of having thought to change the world. Do not bow out. Do not think its all oppressive. We can all put ideas in motion. As Gandhi said, "be the change we wish to see in the world."

Share anything else you would like to add.

The End game I was speaking about earlier is the Smart grid.  The 5G systm that the authorities are in the process of installing is not something you want, no matter what you think right now.  Be procative. Learn more and stand up for yourself. Do what feels right. Take personal responsibility for your life and the direction yo uare tkaing yourself.  Your body is your vessel and Earth a kind of time-ship for as long as you are here.

What can we do about what we do not like?

When you raise consciousness, the way you function in the world changes. What you do not like in others, first and foremost, you do not like in yourself. Change how you feel about yourself and the external world mirros that. Focus not on root causes of external conflict and war but on the real reasons for inner concflict.

Also, check out the Ritchie Allen Show from April 11, 2018 on Why We Need To Act Urgently On Social Crediting, Internet Of Things & 5G. This is nto intended to be a fear-based program.  Instead, its intended to invite people to take charge of how they wish to see and create the world. Be informed and remember you only change the way you feel and respond.

Again Max, thanks for reflecting on some very intimate moments and inviting readers to do some soul searching. This interview itself is a wake up call.  Its not an invitation to follow Max Igan's path, but to value yourself enough to set up boundaries and reclaim your own life purpose.  How much you love yourself is reflected back in the world as the result of energy you send out and taking responsibility for what you are creating.

Interview with Dr. Eben Alexander

I am delighted to share this dialogue with Dr. Eben Alexander. Ever since I read his initial book, Proof of Heaven, I felt deeply touched by what he so eloquently presents as a view of reality beyond what many consciously see as their own.

Having myself had more than one Near-Death Experience (NDE) in this lifetime, conversing with Dr. Alexander enables me to gain new insight into NDEs, the brain, Science, and Spirituality.  Exploring these topics here helps me to better understand, accept and integrate more of myself, and even begin to touch on what human existence is really about.  

Thank you Dr. Alexander. I feel privileged that you create time in your busy life for this interview, not only for me, but for the world that now has access to it.

As an experienced neurosurgeon and traditionally-trained scientist, you have earned the respect of the medical establishment and patients through years of medical practice. Your books Proof of Heaven, Map of Heaven, and most recently, Living in a Mindful Universe, are all inviting readers to question their sense of reality, especially popular Western views of life and death. How has writing your books affected your sense of heaven, purpose of fulfillment in this lifetime?

Following my NDE, and hearing about those of others, my view of what is real has changed profoundly. The lessons that continue to unfold provide the content of my books. My experience and its interpretation have offered insights into a far more robust worldview, in which consciousness is fundamental in the universe and generates all of emerging physical reality, and in which human beings have far more potential than conventional science acknowledges in manifesting their free will over unfolding reality. I have come to believe that part of my mission is to share this information with others. We are all eternal souls, loved deeply by God/Source, and this physical life is but one small aspect of consciousness and one of many opportunities for our souls to grow. This knowledge alone has given many people hope and solace in the midst of grief when losing loved ones from this lifetime. And for others, it has opened up new ways of thinking about the world they live in and their broader soul’s purpose.

Like the film Avatar by James Cameron invited an audience of over 1 billion to rethink how they see themselves and the world,  Ready Player One , a new Steven Spielberg film, is to invite a wide audience to realize each human has complete control of the virtual universe it creates. The protagonists in the four new Avatar films in production, also enter new worlds to escape, only to discover something much bigger than themselves. As you share in your books, the protagonists in these films awaken, see with new eyes. Their focus, or reason for living, changes.

After emerging back in this world from your coma, you cite feeling ‘shaken up,’ Similar to Jill Bolte Taylor who had a unique Stroke of Insight, you share key points of reference had lost meaning. How did an NDE alter your sense of being human? What does it feel like to shift and integrate consciousness into our collective ‘human’ notion of reality?

While I was having my NDE during the time in coma, I had no recollection of who I was in this lifetime – I did not reflect on being a man named Eben, a physician, a father, or even a human being per se. I simply was a being that was led on a journey of observing many things. I had no reference of religion to influence my interpretation of what was going on around me. In a sense, my brain (and prior human prejudices) was off-line so I could experience the full spectrum of consciousness. Later, as I returned to my body and my day-to-day existence here, I felt shaken up, trying to integrate the broader knowledge I now have with what I slowly remembered as my human life circumstances.

At first I could not speak or recognize loved ones at my bedside. I knew I had to “come back” for my youngest son, Bond (although I did not remember him as “my son,” only as a deeply entangled soul for whom I had connection and responsibility), and as I would later realize, to share my story with millions of people who have expressed a resonance with it, or who found hope and comfort from learning about my journey. Within two months I had regained all my previous knowledge including that gleaned from almost three decades spent in academic neurosurgery. I had difficulty sleeping, but I used the extra awake time to write down all that I could recall from the experience, and later to study the voluminous literature supporting a much broader vision of consciousness, quantum physics and the nature of human spirit. I now have a new life partner, nine plus years after my NDE. I am closer to my sons and have become better acquainted with my birth family.

Although I hear about other NDE experiences, your sharing here touches me in new ways. As it happens, I stopped breathing at birth and had other NDEs after accidents for reasons I did not consciously understand until recently through Breathwork. In my denial of life, I did not really know what it truly felt like to live. I did not wish to face what I could not change. Much like yourself, I also knew I was meant to 'come back' and am in process of living my destiny. Love how on Gaia, you teach about accessing spiritual realms , invite people to re-view deeper meaning in life experiences.

In this light, you share that surviving a rare form of brain meningitis and coma altered how you value illness, pain medication and injury. Tell us about that. What sorts of lessons can we all take away from perceived adversity?

Whether through illness, injury or trauma of another sort, these events are challenges in our lives. They are often the result of our soul’s planning or our soul group’s joint planning prior to incarnation. Their purpose is to give our individual and collective soul experiences from which to grow, strengthen relationships, learn about love and compassion for others, or how to give and receive. The lessons can be many, and we may not learn everything the first time, so we sometimes experience a challenge recurring in another form, to apply the wisdom gained thus far and go deeper in our learning, teaching and understanding on a particular subject.

Among the lessons and gifts received, I felt much gratitude and joy. The feeling of being loved completely, without judgment or conditions, is very healing on all levels – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual.

Indeed. Your story is, as Time Magazine states, forcing Science to see the Afterlife differently. It is a friendly reminder that more than one kind of intelligence and way of understanding the reality exists. Every experience we create invites us to review what we think we know. Its worth noting you offer a recommended reading list to expand on the basis of your experience. I really resonate with stories of transplant recipients who develop new affinities based on consciousness transferred in their newly transplanted organs.

We have a unique and beautiful opportunity to grow here, in the density of the physical realm. We should treasure each moment, as we learn much about love that reflects the immense love of pure consciousness. Each time we are on “the other side” it is not forever, but for a period of time between incarnations or journeys that invigorate and educate our souls.

Your response resonates deeply.  Human beings are so often taught to focus on the external world, to take their bodies, mobility, current use of their minds, training or skills for granted, unless/until something happens that prevents doing what is habitual.  Losing what we think is important can trigger a new appreciation, deeper understanding of who we are and why we exist. Part of being human involves the experience of duality, comparing thoughts so the mind can have a reference for ideas. Yet, as you point out, we are far more than thought, multi-dimensional beings, in truth.  We can be wounded without conscious awareness and blind to aspects that only reveal themselves as our perception expands.

Now that you have tasted what it is like to see worlds from expanded consciousness, what, in your view, is the biggest issue for this physical world? 

 Lack of acknowledging and embracing our spiritual nature, thinking that the physical is all that exists and our lives are birth to death and nothing more – these are among the greatest travesties most challenging our modern cultural understanding.

Spiritual nature is gaining increasing attention in the Western world which itself is founded on material and physical principles. Please offer related evidence and an example to clarify your point. 

The most common and profound evidence that the materialist world view is wrong consists of the profound nature of “placebo effect” in medicine, yet we continue to educate medical and nursing students from the disproven “physicalist” position – it is high time to face reality, and utilize a world view that fully incorporates “mind-over-matter.” We may not be able to test things in a laboratory exactly the way one might test a chemical reaction, but the preponderance of evidence from NDEs, after-death communications (ADCs), mediumistic communications, past-life memories in children indicative of reincarnation and similar human experiences, reviewed under specific protocols, provide the evidence not only of the soul surviving physical death, but of its return through multiple incarnations. Consciousness demands a far grander world view than our conventional physicalist one – our new book, Living in a Mindful Universe, portrays this evolving world view in a more complete fashion than prior works trying to unite science and spirituality.

Love the views and examples you offer in this new book. It draws attention to the fact that everything is energy first.  Conditioned perception can distort that. Nothing happens except in the mind, including illusion of separation. This said, what is the solution to the biggest issue you see?

As radical as it may sound, Love is fundamental to the solution. Compassion for one another on a very deep level can bring all kinds of change for the good. In addition, although I cannot put it into words, I was astounded by the science at work in the universe that I could observe during my NDE. There truly is convergence of science and spirituality, although humans have not been able to explain it yet in earthly terms. But we can come closer, as more souls become actively engaged and enlightened in working together for solutions.

Swami Vivekananda said, "Spirituality is the science of the soul." Emerging scientific research and increasingly common experience like NDEs, reveal what appear to be separate disciplines are connected yet often misunderstood. 

As a womb twin survivor (WTS), familiar myself with OBEs and worlds beyond the physical, I have always been connected to expanded consciousness you cite awareness of as the result of your illness. I have long been surrounded by physicians in my family, close relations and colleagues, who see and experience the world very differently. Issues can arise in relating to people who do not see or accept the existence of different realities.

In light of all that has happened to you, what enables you to feel most alive and grounded in this world, continuing in your scientific role, knowing what you know about expanded reality? 

Well, for one thing, I know what my training taught me and how rooted in materialist science I was. So, I understand colleagues who are cautious when listening to my story. It does sound incredible when viewed from that strict mindset. As a scientist, I feel it is incumbent on me to more deeply examine the research around NDEs and other spiritually transformative experiences in order to convey to my physician and scientific colleagues in particular ways to expand awareness and consider consciousness from a far wider perspective.

What has changed and what remains the same?

I no longer see patients, but have a deeper understanding of the healing power within all of us. My role as a “healer” is far greater than I imagined before, but every step in my life was necessary to serve the role I now serve. Now I encourage people to become more involved in their physical and emotional healing through the daily practice of meditation, heart-centering and personal empowerment. Personally, I try to spend at least one hour each day reconnecting to the spiritual realm and the guides I encountered there through a practice of meditation using the sounds of Sacred Acoustics. This keeps me grounded in the reality of knowing myself as an eternal spiritual being. But the real gift of near-death and related experiences applies very directly to how we live our lives in these incarnations – this grander perspective (including the notion of reincarnation and living multiple lives here on earth) is crucial in allowing us to live our lives to the highest purpose and meaning we came here to experience.

It is valuable to hear you echo that healing power inside ourselves is often underestimated.  One view echoes humans are cosmic instruments that are in or out of tune. Western approaches to healing are not all evolving at the same pace.   As you say in your blog, we have cause for great hope in this world. We only experience what we are ready and willing to accept, individually and collectively.

In reality, we are all connected through the binding force of love at a spiritual level -- there is no separation.

In your books and public talks, you highlight the view that Science and Spirituality must come together for the world to move forward. What are you witnessing about the illusion of separation in Religion? 

Religions often focus on the differences between their varying dogmatic beliefs.  This takes us away from the “oneness and primacy of mind” that was so clear to many founding fathers of quantum physics (Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, etc.).

How is quantum physics closing the perceived gap with spirituality?

The leading edges of studies on the nature of consciousness, especially in light of ever-refined experimental evidence in quantum physics indicating the absence of an objective physical reality independent of the observing mind, not only support the reality of our spiritual nature as fundamental – they demand it. Our true free will is the gift of this emergent synthesis.

You and individuals like Canadian Wilder Penfield who redrew the map of the brain, determine memories are not stored in the brain. During The Ottawa International Writer’s Festival, October 21, 2017, you speak about The Mindful Universe and say “the brain is a reducing valve. The main role of the brain is to limit, inhibit and restrict conscious awareness. This has survival value.” How is the role and usefulness of this ‘reducing value’ changing?

The conventional neuroscience I was taught in medical school in the late 1970’s was based in physicalism (the notion that only physical “stuff” exists), and assumed that consciousness was the epiphenomenon of the chemical reactions and ion fluxes in the brain. One obvious implication is that our sense of free will is completely illusory – if our very consciousness is just the illusion of awareness resulting from those physical interactions in the substance of the brain, where might one inject any form of “free will”? Modern consciousness studies provide far more robust explanation of all variety of human experience through “filter theory,” which was first discussed by luminaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – William James, Henri Bergson, FCS Schiller, and Aldous Huxley, to name a few. This reducing valve of the brain is necessary so that we may perceive and comprehend the world around us in an orderly fashion.

As it happens, as an undergraduate McGill student, I volunteered at the Montreal Neurological Hospital where Dr. Penfield spent his career. I also participated in a brain experiment there which involved being injected with radioactive isotopes. My brain activity was tracked and studied through Magnetic Resonance Imaging and other techniques. How do you feel about what  is not traceable by current scientific instruments? What does this reveal about consciousness?

Becoming more aware of our expanded consciousness beyond the brain provides the opportunity to know ourselves on a grander level and to feel the sense of our collective connection.

Monks and other experienced meditators have had brainwaves studied during meditation. Varied scientific results are documented. The widespread view is that most humans are not using full brain capacity. Popular views assume ‘enlightenment’ involves using 100% brain capacity. Hence many people work harder, in efforts to activate greater brain capacity, striving toward enlightenment. Another view is using no brain power reflects enlightenment. What is your view?

Given that the brain and physical reality emerge from consciousness itself, and that mental function is not produced by the brain but filtered through it, it is irrelevant to discuss what percentage of brain we are using to support mind. Experiments using fMRI and magnetoencephalography in patients under the influence of psychotropic substances (e.g. psilocybin, DMT (ayuhuasca), LSD, etc) reveal that the most vivid experiences correspond to less active junctional regions in the brain (especially what is known as the “default mode network”). The state of creative flow, for example, when we are fully engrossed in an activity and lose awareness of time, is correlated with decreased brain function in the frontal lobes’ executive center. It seems that getting the brain out of the way allows us to access more of the spiritual realms, and of Collective Mind.

This view is shared by Om Swami in his book,  Kundalini-An Untold Story, as well as insights shared by Gopi Krishna and other yogis who convey directly the nature of enlightenment. 

Your work provides great insight that empowers millions of people who are on a quest for a deeper connection with the divine. Your books attest to the existence of a universal dimension characterized by peace, acceptance and unconditional love that is accessible to all of us. What role, in your view, does the human brain have in connecting humanity with God?

The brain is simply the filter that allows expression of the mind, and of primordial consciousness. I see the source of that human (and all sentient being) consciousness as the ultimate source of all that is – the God-force so universally found amidst accounts of NDEs and related spiritually-transformative experiences (STEs), that infinitely healing power of unconditional love. In a very real sense, our human consciousness is connected directly with God – we expand our awareness of it through a practice of going within.

You make it sound so simple. Funny, the Western world often teaches things are complicated.  From your view, what can each of us do to connect more deeply to the universal mind?

Begin and continue a practice of daily meditation. Learn to recognize and distinguish between the neutral observer within and the constant mind chatter consisting of our thoughts (including the voice of our ego). Release emotional trauma, which might be blocking us from reaching an expanded state of awareness. Open the mind, and trust that the loving force of the universe will provide all that you need to come to a deeper understanding. There are many methods to choose from and each of us is unique.

That echoes Paramahansa Yogananda who says meditation is the act of becoming one with the Soul. It means seeing we are more than the body and its perceived limitations. Meditation thus points to existence of God. What can people access to help them get beyond limits of the mind? 

For those who have not yet established a regular practice, and especially those who feel the chattering “monkey mind” voice in their head is forever blocking their ability to go deep within, I strongly recommend the powerful meditative tools of Sacred Acoustics.

Agree whole-heartedly about the power of sound. Such meditation triggers shifts in perception. Many meditation techniques exist. What specific meditation would you suggest that would enable people to be more present?  Which parts of the brain do you feel influence growing awareness? 

The recordings of Sacred Acoustics who create brainwave entrainment audio are created using a proprietary blend of monaural and binaural beats combined with harmonic principles. I have worked closely with Sacred Acoustics to develop and test many of their audio products.  Due to what I believe is a profound effect of the lower brain stem, I find them most effective in quieting the mind and reaching expanded states of awareness. Beginners find them very useful and experienced meditators often report going deeper than before. They offer a free download of a 20-min meditation called “Om”. Highly recommend tuning in to this.

What you express here reinforces how spending time immersing in nature is essential to listening to our own inner music. As singer Grace Vanderwaal echos, we must close our mobile phones  (and put other external technology aside) to listen and hear what is so often overlooked.  Breathing deeply along this crazy ride of life helps us realize there is so much more than this.

What kinds of exercises can we do to better get to know the inner self?

The 33-Day Journey into the Heart of Consciousness is our free on-line companion course to the book Living in a Mindful Universe. Each day for 33 days, we offer a bite-sized nugget of a concept from the book and a related practice that can be applied in daily life. These are derived from material in the book and are techniques or practices that my co-author, Karen Newell, and I have found quite valuable.

More broadly, I recommend a frequent (e.g. daily) practice of “going within,” that is of centering prayer or meditation that successfully labels the “voice in our head” or our linguistic brain (also largely the voice of the ego) as merely “our annoying roommate,” allowing a broadening of our sense of conscious awareness connecting with higher soul and providing a bridge to the Collective Mind. This greatly expanded awareness allows a refreshing and even revolutionary perspective.

Imagine you dine with 5 people you have not yet met (from past/present/future). Who would they be and what would you like to ask them?

Each would be asked the Big Questions of the fundamental nature of reality, the binding force of Love, and of the meaning and purpose of our existence:

Jesus Christ –

Albert Einstein –

David Bohm –

C.S. Lewis –

Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) –

Absolutely love your choices! I would be delighted to join this group encounter and at some point, hear the nature of what is discussed.  Imagine asking fictional characters to ask to dinner too. The topics we wish to ask those we admire tell us a lot about ourselves.  For now, if you could share an insight, revelation or advice for our readers to take away, what would it be?

All of the answers lie within. Dedicate the time to meditate each day, because the very reason for the existence of your soul and this precious lifetime are to become more of who you truly are. The way to achieve that is by aligning more to your spiritual nature.

Please share anything else you feel would benefit our readers.

Each and every soul plays a crucial role in the evolution of consciousness. We are absolutely responsible for all of the choices in our lives. Given the justice and balance that is inherent in the universe, we are wise to realize we will reap what we sow, and living the golden rule, or treating others as we would like to be treated, is essential in providing the smoothest route possible to enlightenment.

Dr. Alexander, again, I truly appreciate your presence during this timely conversation as I know our readers do also. When people speak, audiences can listen with interest or curiousity, and sometiems with the intent to reply.  Yet, communicating as you do so openly right now, on this timeline, sharing insight, invites each of us to listen more closely to ourselves. I invite our readers to read your books, attend events and take steps to deepen understanding of the mind.

In order to share our gifts and be heard in this world, we must hear ourselves clearly first. As the great Confucius echoes, "I hear. I know. I see. I remember. I do, I understand."

Short Bio

Eben Alexander, M.D., was an academic neurosurgeon for over 25 years, including 15 years at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School in Boston. He has a passionate interest in physics and cosmology. He is a New York Times Best-selling author, speaker and event facilitator. Visit his website to explore information about his books, consciousness as well as details of his current events.