Are You In There?

Finding one's soul is the essence of all Spirituality. 19th-century spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff designed a training programme whereby he taught his disciples how to find the soul.

Published in 1945, 'In Search of The Miraculous' is nowadays one of the most in-depth records of Gurdjieff's spiritual teaching that we have.

Join us as we try to decipher how to get out of the state of 'inner slavery' that Gurdjieff describes as '...

The chief miracle of life is for a human to find their soul.

This is the message that comes to us from today's book, the great classic, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. In this video, we analyse the existential crisis of Levin, one of the main characters in the novel and a reference to Tolstoy himself. We learn how Levin finally overcomes his existential crisis by finding a deeper part of himself. The good news is that you can do thi...

If you want inner peace, do THIS: make time for introspection!...

This is the advice that a guy called Thomas from Kempis is giving us. Now long dead, Thomas, was a German monk in the Middle Ages, and he wrote a book that, ever since, has been a fundamental spiritual scripture for many people. What is the advice he gave in his book? It's a really simple one: make time for introspection... How do we do that?!

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Stop taking your thoughts so seriously!

This is the lesson that comes to us from the great novel 'Kafka on the Shore,' by Murakami. In this video, we analyse the behaviour of one of the characters in the novel, who is an embodiment of a set of spiritual values, that you too can put into practice.

What are these values? It starts with learning to trust in life and letting go of our preferences.

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(02:04) Kafka On The ...

If you want happiness, do THIS: learn to reawaken!... What?... Learn to Reawaken.

In the spring of 1845, 27-year-old Henry David Thoreau went to the woods at Walden Pond and resided there for the following 2 years, completely excluded from society. He wanted to understand how exclusion from society could help him live the most fully.

In the following years after returning from the woods, he wrote his book, Walden, a maste...

Today's teaching comes to us all the way from ancient china, form the mouth of one of the greatest philosophers to ever live: Chuang Tzu.

This is the advice that comes to us from this Spiritual classic: learn to let go of judgment, comparison and competition. Wisdom comes when you discover that deeper part of yourself that doesn't need protection.

Join us as we try to decipher what Chuang Tzu is telling us in this...

Today's book tells us that if we want to make good decisions, we need to start by doing this: learning to be at the front of the train of our awareness... What?!...

This is the advice that comes to us from this great 70's classic: learn to be at the front of the train of your awareness. Stop thinking and return to the present moment. Return to the real Universe. In this episode, we discuss how to do this.

Join us...

"How to be happy?" is a question we seldom ask consciously. This is because we have convinced ourselves that we already know the answer: I get what I want and I avoid what I don't want.

The lesson in today's book -- Awareness, by Anthony De Mello -- reminds us that happiness isn't at all about getting what you want or not, but rather about learning to live each moment fully. It's about finding the ver...

Welcome to the second season!

Join Alex, a psychotherapist, as he shares nuggets of wisdom from books that have deeply influenced him. Books like these contain the urgently needed transformational tools that we are all looking for.

What can we learn from books like these? What lessons can we take with us, which when put into practice, will lead us to greater happiness, fulfillment and inner peace?

We focus on Personal and Spir...

"It is not length of life, but depth of life." - Ralph W. Emerson
What an incredible journey this has been! Join us, as we close this first season with one last episode on the art of finding yourself.
I start this season finale by explaining why I have decided to make this one the last episode of the season. I argue that it is not more and more content what we need, but rather learning to trust our sense of intuitio...

“Don't turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That is where the light enters you.” - Rumi
This episode invites you on the journey of navigating the landscape of your emotions, as we unveil how they serve as catalysts for personal and spiritual growth. We start off by spinning a tale of a king on a quest for wisdom and balance, who after approaching a wise sage for guidance, receives the following teaching: "Th...

"Be strong then, and enter into your own body: there you have a solid place for your feet."

In this episode, we use a poem by the mystic poet Kabir to guide us deeper into ourselves and our understanding of the important questions of life: where can I find happiness? where can I find security? where can I find myself?

Kabir's poem takes us on a complete journey through the promises and perils of the...

A Greek Philosopher by the name of Epictetus once wrote: "Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want; welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace."
In this episode we explore the subtle art of surrender, which means acceptance of the present moment circumstances as they present themselves. We explore how letting go of our judgements and desires can open up the door for true pea...

Ram Dass once said: "Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it." In this episode, we keep the focus of our attention on the ego and how it operates. We do this because we've learned that the most direct way of disidentifying with the ego is to observe it in operation. Where does it operate? In your field of consciousness: in your mind.

In the previous...

The Tao Te Ching has an interesting line in it, which says "First realize that you are sick, then you can move toward health."

Have you ever wondered, "Who am I, really?" In this episode, this question becomes a catalyst for a detailed exploration of the complex realm of the ego. We argue that in order to find who you are, you need to first know who you are not!

What is the ego? How does it ope...

"How often do you actually pay attention inside? If you're like most people, the answer is never at all!"

In this episode, we talk about the Hindu Philosophy of the Four States of Consciousness, listed as follows: dreamless sleep, dreaming sleep, ordinary wakefulness, and lastly, the so-called 'turiya', simply translated as 'the fourth state of consciousness'. In this episode, we pay most...

Eckhart Tolle says that presence is a 'body state', not a 'head state'. An important part of our journey to find ourselves is to regain awareness of the aliveness, the life force that dwells in our bodies. What force heals your wounds? What intelligence orchestrates your digestive system, your immune system, etc.? One of the greatest tragedies in life is to lose touch with the energy that animates our bodies.
The...

Look at yourself in the mirror and ask: "Are You In There?" ... Keep doing this until you come up with an answer... "Yes, I am here!..." The fact that you are there, that you exist, is so self-evident that we hardly take any time whatsoever to reflect on it, yet the answers to life's most important questions lie all there. In the premiere episode of "Are You In There?", we explore the essential con...

Are we really living in the present? Or are we just too distracted by our minds... prisoners of our past, future, worries, anxieties, and anticipations? Join me, Alex, as we journey through an in-depth exploration of our relationship with the present moment. We'll uncover how we regularly fall prey to a pattern of 'present moment blindness', a psychological trap inherited from our collective mind.
The first part of t...