Today's guest is Zack Alexander, Shamanic Healer and coach who incorporates a Trauma-Informed approach in this work for helping others find clarity and wholeness. In this episode, we discuss shamanism, soul loss, soul retrieval and how incorporating energetic healing can help those who feel disconnected from who they are as a result of trauma. Learn more about Zack Alexander and his work on Instagram at @ZAEnergetics or online at www.ZAEnergetics.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Through this process of self-discovery and personal growth, there is the ever underlying theme of change, of moving forward, and of bridging the gap between where you are and where you want to be. But though that process, we can fail to see the very thing that we need in order to grow. While it may seem contradictory the very thing that we need to move on from here is to accept where we are at and who we are in this moment.Accepting where you are and who you are is imperative because without doing so, we are constantly in a state of resistance against ourselves.In this episode, I talk about how self-acceptance is both necessary and healing, and the steps we can being to take in order to get there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we talk about forgiveness, it is usually the desired state of being due to a particular event, person, or situation in life. What we are missing in the conversation about forgiveness is a very important element: self-forgiveness. In this episode I talk about the importance of forgiving yourself and why is it so necessary when it comes to healing and moving on. Because, just as we can feel and experience pain because of the actions of others, so too can we feel trapped or burdened because of the own emotional weight that we are carrying within ourselves.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we learn self-worth? I believe that it’s done by removing the barriers within ourselves that keep us from experiencing a true sense of worth. In this episode, I explain what unworthiness is, where it comes from and how it affects our lives. Like self-love, self-worth is something that is continuously promoted (rightfully so) but there seems to be something missing from the equation. Seldom we are taught or shown how to navigate the ways in which to feel that worth when all we see is our believed lack of it. This leaves us feeling not only less than worthy but also without hope of even having a path to elsewhere. How are we suppose to move forward navigating the world and the self when we don’t feel as though we have an ounce of self-love left inside of us? When it comes to the feeling of unworthiness, if we don’t go towards it in an attempt to understand and release it, then it is always going to be there. In this episode, I attempt to go towards my own feelings of self-worth in order to better understand the self and the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pain is often passed down through relationships. Why? Because sometimes it's easier for us to cause another person pain than it is to accept and heal our own. In this episode, I reflect on the pain that I have passed on to other people through my relationships and why. I've found that we often pass on the pain that we received growing up on to other people. Until we become aware and heal those wounds within ourselves, we’ll just keep on hurting other people as a way to defend ourselves from experiencing certain pains again. But protection doesn’t heal, compassion and love for yourself as well as other people does. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Down the path of self-discovery and inner navigation, there comes a point where looking at our past choices can offer valuable insight. One of the greatest teachers and ways of learning about ourselves and who we are is to take a look at the relationships we created and engaged in throughout our lives. Relationships are valuable because they can show us the things that we cannot see on our own. In this episode, I take a trip down memory lane and reflect on a few past relationships in order to gain insight and understanding. At first, I was blaming the men I dated for my series of failed relationships, thinking that there was something wrong with them. But over time, I came to realize that the common denominator here is me and thus began the shift in perspective. What am I doing to contribute to these relationships? What choices am I making that are part of this pattern? What am I putting out into the universe that is bringing these people to me? Self-reflection can be fun… sometimes.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Embracing the unknown isn’t a one-time event, it is a daily occurrence. It’s not once that we have to make a drastic change but rather it is a reoccurring practice of learning how to let go. In this episode, I come to terms with the fact that stepping back into a place that I know is actually another unknown within itself. Embracing the unknown means letting the universe open up a path for you - one that you have not and potentially could not see on your own Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's topic is a reflection of the process of death as it happens every day to the ego. Because as Krishnamurti said, “You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die psychologically every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise, you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is.” So understand to understand the self, we must understand which parts of yourself are truly your own and which parts of yourself are holding your back and then to allow those parts to die. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the path of moving forward and moving on, there comes a time to accept the things that will eventually come your way. And accepting that the future holds both love and loss is difficult for me on many levels. In this episode, I confront the fact that opening yourself up also means opening your heart to both the love and the pain. Ultimately, there is no way to avoid the pain the only thing that we can do is to go towards in an effort to heal it and understand it. Shallow living is best avoided by going down into your depths and accepting whatever you find. Even if you fear the pain that you are going to eventually experience, there are still lessons to be learned in the present moment. Because if that fear is calling you, that means that you must towards in order to hear it's message and meaning. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When traveling to unknown places within ourselves, sometimes we need a little bit of help getting there. In this episode, I have a live coaching session with Ryan Branch, also known as the Core Truth Coach.  During our session, he helps me access a part of myself that I sometimes have a hard time getting to: My heart. By helping me open up myself and the love that lives inside of me, Ryan helps me see my heart for what it is. He also helps me become aware of some of the things that are stopping me from living through that space. For more information or to set up a coaching session of your own, contact Ryan Branch at: http://www.ryanbranch.mehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/clubfearless/the_coretruthcoachh Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Repression is a process, it is something that happens over time. In this episode, I talk about repressed emotions: what they are and how they got there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just because you are taking a step back, doesn’t mean you are going backwards. In this episode, I wrestle with the fact that just because Im going back to something that I know, it doesn't mean that it is a failure. I have an obsession with moving forward and automatically assuming that where I am at is not good enough. I am constantly not just trying to move onwards but also sometimes pushing myself too forward and too fast. Learning how to take a step back is needed because its showing me that it is okay to be exactly where I am at and that ultimately that I am okay. Basically what it comes down to is learning how to have acceptance and compassion for myself. to matter the situation, taking a step back is both needed and necessary. If that is the step in front of you, then that is the step that you need to take, whatever direction that may be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s suiting that I ended up in Ireland at this point in time because like myself, I found that Ireland is on its own healing journey. In this episode, I talk about my most recent trip to Ireland and the realizations that I came to. Before I arrived, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but my trip there ended up being everything that I needed. Ireland has helped open up my heart a little bit and by doing so it has shown me that it is safe to move forward and move on. During this trip, I felt the immediate benefits of letting go of much of the pain that I have been holding onto. By letting go, I can already feel some of the emotion, mental, and spiritual space inside of me freeing up. Because of this, it is allowing me to continue forward and allow myself to be the person that I always have been. My surroundings are once again acting as a mirror and Ireland has shown me that my capacity to love and to heal goes deeper than I initially thought. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is this episode, I end up answering my own question of “letting go of what?”. I realized that the thing that I needed to let go of wasn’t just what happened in the past, but of how I related to the past. My year spent living in Portland, OR was a bitter/sweet experience. I found that I was still holding onto the pain that I experienced there because a part of me didn’t believe that there was another option. In this episode, I briefly tell the story of my time in Portland while dissecting the layers of my hurt while there. I can finally speak about this aspect of my past because I am confident that I am ready to let go of any and all traces of pain that I experienced while I was there. I find that wanting to move on from something is enough to actually do it. This episode is symbolic of me cutting all emotional ties to that particular time of my life. I am proud to say that I am ready and willing to let go, which is very fitting because it is also my last day being 26. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all hear the concept of letting go, but what does it actually mean? In this Episode, I try to understand the philosophy of letting go and why there seems to be a disconnect with how it is done in practice. Letting go is something that I struggle with, probably because I don’t understand how I am suppose to go about letting go of something. What exactly are we letting go of? How do we know when we have let it go? Or how do we let go of something when we aren’t even sure of what it is? I find that I convince myself that I have let something go, but then it keeps coming back up days, months, or even years later. This makes me question, maybe I’m not doing it right? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all know that the place we need to go is within, but what is keeping us from going down that path? In this episode, I talk about the importance of being alone, truly alone, with yourself. While I recognize that inwards is the directions I am heading, I still find that going in that direction is difficult. There is a resistance that I feel when trying so go inwards and the resistance is rooted in fear. Being alone with ourselves is simple but it is not as easy as one might think. To truly be alone means being alone with every aspect of yourself.. your fears and pain but also the beauty and love that exist within you that you can sometimes fail to see. It means being alone with everything that you are and that can be scary because it means facing the truths you do not want to see. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes you can only understand yourself in relation to other people or places. In this episode, I talk about about some of the major lessons that I am learning so far while in Spain. Being here is showing me that I not only need other people, but that I have so much to learn about myself through relationships. Spain is acting as a mirror… it is showing me that while personal relationship are difficult for me, they don’t necessarily have to be. Some of that friction exists because we can only see certain parts of ourselves when they interact with their exact opposite. Becoming aware of who you are is also found in how you relate to other people. Join me on my 40 Day Spiritual Practice Challenge! Go to http://www.artoftheunknownpodcast.com/episodes/ to download the free Audio Book “May Cause Miracles” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes we leave a place, a situation or even a person and with it we think that a part of ourselves has left with it. Since I’ve left the states, Ive assumed that some of my internal problems were fixed because they haven’t in the forefront of my consciousness. But recently, these problems have been resurfacing and for me this is a clear sign that the root of my suffering still needs to be addressed and healed. While I have made huge strides, the lack of self love that I have for myself is still very apparent. The lack of self love that I feel deals with the wounded core belief that I am not enough. Often we go through life reaming unhealed because we don’t take the time and the energy to focus our attention internally. Admitting how I actually feel instead of distracting myself from it seems to be the necessary first step. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I know that "being in the now" is something that we all strive for, but why is it so difficult to obtain? In this episode, I talk about why it is so difficult for me to live in the present moment and ways that my mind distracts me from fully being present.During my recent trip to England, I found that I wasn’t quite all there. It was almost as though I left as soon as I arrived because my mind was constantly somewhere else: the future.  This trip to England has shown me that I'm not in the moment as much as I thought I was. As quickly as the mind can be pulled to the present, it can leave just as fast. No matter how much I try, I know that I can't keep running from the present moment because there is nowhere else to go.Click here for Episode 21 Transcript   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I can confidentially say that I am fully engulfed in the unknown, so now would be the appropriate time to reflect on it. In this episode, I take a step back to in order to not just reflect on my travels, but also how I got here. This trip is showing me that no matter where I end up, it’s not as mysterious or surprising as I thought it would be… instead it just makes sense. Only by letting go of who I think I am, can I truly and freely step into the person that I was along. As I begin to see the bigger picture, not just of my travels but also myself, Im realizing that I’m being drawn to all the right places and circumstances, I just failed to recognize it before. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In order to move forward, we need to face two sets of fears: fear of the external and fear of the self. In this episode, I explore the concept of self doubt and why it can be harder to face than anything outside of us. Self doubt is defined the lack of confidence in one own’s motives, abilities, and even thoughts. But what exactly do those doubt show up as and how do they prevent us from moving forward? I am attempting to look my self doubts in the face in order to eventually move past them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We all hear the terms Spiritual Awakening and Ascension, but what does that actually mean? In this episode, I try to answer the question “What is a spiritual awakening”? I try to understand this concept both philosophically and as I try to work my way through my own awakening process. I’ve come to terms that I am beginning to awaken and hopefully my experience can give some insight to you on your journey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After arriving in Las Palmas, Spain, I realized that I fell into the same trap that I always do. I assumed that if I change my outside world, then my inside world would follow, but that is not the case. In this episode, I try to understand my version of happiness, not only what it looks like but also what it feels like. I have always blamed the outside world for my unhappiness which is why I am constantly trying to change my surroundings. I’ve begun to realize that I focus too much on what I think is making me unhappy rather than what happiness actually feels like. As I begin to understand what happiness is, only then can I start moving towards it. The shift from blame to responsibility has begun and so too has my understanding of where I am and where I want to be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes in life we can feel as though we are lost and sometimes we can feel that way for a while. Feeling as though you are directionless doesn’t just happen to us physically, but it can also happen spiritually. In this episode I talk about why being lost in the Balkans is also a reflection of my internal world. I talk about the ways in which I feel spiritually lost and why. But no matter how far I stray or how lost I feel, I know that I am not alone even when I am by myself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Moving on means going onwards even if you don’t feel like you are ready. In this episode, I talk about my next move: leaving Turkey. I have been in Turkey for two months, and even though I am traveling, I have found a bit of comfort and security there that is hard to leave. No matter how far and how wide we may travel, leaving something that you have grown used to and attached to isn’t easy. This is a reminder that trying to embrace the unknown takes constant effort because it is easier to remain stagnant than keep moving forward and just because you know its time to move on, doesn’t mean you necessarily want to. This is my last episode in Turkey before I depart to Bulgaria and Romania for two weeks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No matter how or where we are headed, there comes a time when we need to travel onwards. In this episode, I talk about the one place that I have a difficult time leaving: the past. No matter how much I hate to admit it, the past still has a hold on me because I am affected by past pains and memories. The more I try to move forwards, the harder they pull me backwards because it is clear that I still haven’t dealt with them. Traveling onwards means being honest with ourselves and where we are at before we are able to fully let go and move forward. Understanding how and why we are hurting is just part of the process of moving on so we can eventually get to where we are going. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spiritual journeys can take on many forms, for me it is becoming clear that mine is a healing journey and this trip is just more proof of that. Israel had been calling my name very loudly and very clearly for the last month, so I knew that I had to go in that direction. Once I got there, I realized that the energy I was feeling was a source of love, but i didn’t understand why. It wasn’t until I got to the Dead Sea did I realize that the love I was feeling was a reflection and one that I forgot I had. Sometimes we need a mirror to see the things in ourselves we cant see without it, and the Dead Sea was just that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In order to live authentically and honestly, we must be able to fully and completely express who are are. In this episode, I talk about creativity and why it is an important part of the spiritual journey. I talk about some creative blocks that I face and what that means on a deeper level. Ultimately, how we express ourselves becomes an indicator of who we are and what is inside of us, even if were not completely aware of its contents. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s episode, I talk about Istanbul, Turkey! At this point I have been here for one month and I talk about what the city is like, my overall experience adjusting to it, and some of the political fears I had to face before arrival. I also look at the city from a spiritual perspective and really try to understand the energy of Istanbul and how it has affected me. If I could describe the energy in one word, it would be: Healing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Using your intuition is imperative while traveling. In fact, it is the best guide that you can have while in an unknown and foreign place. In this episode, I talk about how to use your intuition, times that I have failed to do so, and lessons I’ve learned while traveling and being lost. This is the second half of the pervious episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is “spiritual awareness” and how does it relate to traveling? To become aware of something means to be conscious of it and to recognize its existence. When you become spiritually aware, you have a greater understanding and increased perception of what’s going on around you in the non-physical. No matter where in the world you are, your surroundings have an effect on you whether you are conscious of it or not. Using your awareness while traveling isn’t only important in terms of guidance, but it is also necessary in order to find a deeper connection, wherever in the world you end up. (Part 1 of 2) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Being in the unknown means doing things that you have never done before. In this episode, I reflect on my first month as a “Digital Nomad”. The hardest part about making this adjustment is that I keep acting like what I am doing is a transitional period, even though it’s not. By assuming that I am in a state of limbo, or that right now doesn’t matter because it’s not ultimately where I am going to end up, it takes away the value and the importance of the present moment. It’s almost as though I am trying to arrive somewhere and I forget that I can’t be anywhere else expect where I currently am. By traveling and being on the move, its becoming painfully obvious there is something missing from my life: Balance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When traveling to an area, we all look for different things. In this episode, I give a brief summary of what it was like being near the Mediterranean Sea for the first time from an spiritual perspective. I go over what the energy was like, what it did to me, and what I learned from it. Overall, if I could describe the Mediterranean’s energy in one word, it would be receptive.​ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We can’t know the truths about ourselves if we already think we have it figured out. In order to understand who we truly are, we must be willing to let go of the parts of ouresvles that we have been so tightly holding onto, no mattter how much it sucks. In this episode I talk about the importance of traveling inwards, especially to the places you really don’t want to go. The outside world is a reflection of our inner being, so in order to understand the world we must understand the source of its creation: ourselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Throughout time, the concept and understanding of the self has been widely debated by philosophers. What is the self? Do we actually possess a self? If the self is constantly changing and evolving, can it truly be understood? In this episode, I talk about the notion of the self as it relates to travel. I question the idea of traveling in order to find yourself while taking a look at some of the ways travel aids in spiritual growth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Running away isn't always physical, it can be mental and spiritual. In this episode I talk about a time I tried to runaway from my self, why it didn't work, and what is different for me this time around. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I will be talking about what keeps people from traveling and why. Also, this is the final episode before I depart to Europe so I will also be going over general pre-departure thoughts and reservation in terms of long term travel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stepping into the unknown can apply to so many different aspects of one's life. Although it could seem daunting at first, the unknown is a very unique place. If you let it, the unknown can be a place of creativity, change, and opportunity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A short introduction about what the Podcast is and where I hope to go with it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.