I recently returned from a men’s work retreat through the Island of Men: a transformative program designed to help men connect and heal.

I left with two main takeaways.

1: There is a tremendous male loneliness and meaning epidemic. Men feel alone and unsure of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and feel like they have no one to talk it through with.

2: There is vulnerability within positivity and success.

I was asked about my purpose and realized that I was already living it (a journey over destination kind of thing), and I chose to do an improve comedy workshop over the deep introspective darkness exploration and healing that I would usually explore.

Why? Because doing so felt more expansive (scary) than not. I realized I am more than fine to share my pain and shadow, but not my light.

This was revolutionary. I now realise that I need to explore and express all aspects of myself.

Reminder: You are invited to join the December Self-Care challenge in the Art of Self-Connection community. Lets stay sane this festive season!

Language is flawed, and it keeps us from touching the divine.

Every time we try to communicate, we start with a felt sense (thoughts, emotions, sensations) and we’re forced to translate that into code. Words. Sounds. Symbols. Then we hope the signal survives the noise. That nothing gets lost through misunderstanding, projection, or the limits of whatever medium we’re using…

The art of manifestation gets a bad wrap, tied in the minds of most to questionable woo-woo ideas that seem fanciful at best. But manifestation is real, and the methods it works on are simple and obvious once explained and embraced.

Simply put, we manifest what we focus on because we are primed to find and act on them.

In this episode I share two tracks, the first is a talk titled ‘how manifestation really works’ and the second is a guided meditation called ‘powerful manifestation visualization’.

In today’s session I share with you a guided meditation that weaves together mindfulness, breathwork, healing visualization, and mantra, inviting you to soften, slow down, and reconnect to the self and the moment.

You can follow each cue or simply sit and listen. This space is here for you. Let the words, breath, and stillness meet you as you are.

The difference between expectation and reality is often the source of significant discontent.

Life trains us to search for ideals: the perfect partner, job, life, outcome. Unfortunately this almost never arises and even if it did, it would be fleeting…

The more you know about yourself the better choices you will make and thus the better life you will lead.

In this episode I share some recent instances of deep personal insight where I discover things about myself that are both good, bad, and ugly.

I share the importance of such discoveries as well as the ways in which I (and you can) foster further insights into your own nature.

Yesterday, a friend asked me how to meditate, that talk inspired this episode. Here is my guidance for absolute beginners:

1: sit comfortably (no pain or sleepiness)
2: set a timer for 5 minutes
3: pick a meditation object (breath, vision, sound)
4: when you notice a wandering kind, bring it back to focus. A successful session is one that you complete, ideally every day!

The moment we label something, it is limited. The label isn’t the truth, it is a representation of, it’s a finger pointing to the moon, it is a suggestion of possibility that always falls short of reality.

This is the story of a dark night of the soul, of traversing the depths of despair, and of rebirth.

It is the story of transformation from a shadow version of myself into my embodied fullness.

It is the story of reintegration with my body after years of trauma, and of letting go of old wounds and identities that no longer serve me.

It is a story of reframing my inner world, from victim hood into strength.

It is a story of how I am now hunting my own shadow.

Every Christmas season I talk on this topic, because every Christmas season I am reminded of just how overwhelming, panic inducing and confusing it all can be.

Thankfully I am learning from the past and have realised the need for intervention, prevention, and pre-emptive attention to self-care and preparation to stay sane over the next few months.

So with that said I want to share with you the following podcast and blog post. If you, or someone you know is neurodivergent, you will get a lot from this one….

Embrace the present moment with this guided mindfulness meditation.

Our goal isn’t to ‘empty our mind’ or ‘attain bliss’. Our goal isn’t to do anything, other than returning our focus back to the breath.

With a focused mind we can then explore the wonder of the universe, both inner and outer.

Escape from the stress of the world with this amazing guided meditation. Using a combination of mindfulness, breath work, body scanning, and visualisations, this session will serve as a mini day spa for the mind. Use it whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, or in need of a recharge. Enjoy.

We have a tendency to believe that happiness will come ‘when we make it’ or ‘when we accomplish the goal’. In this way we delay our happiness to some future state.

The problem is that we live the majority of life in the pursuit, and when we finally do arrive, our happiness is short lived.

Thus we risk living a life where we are delaying our happiness, and never actually enjoying it, or the present moment.

But the good news is that once we recognise this process, we can start mindfully appreciating the present moment and enjoying the journey as well as the destination.

There is nothing in life that doesn’t change.

Consider your body, your goals, your life. It is always changing and will always change.

In this talk, I break down how mindfulness helps us to accept change and embrace it by living in the moment.

By seeing reality as it is, for what it is, we can find peace.

Positive daily habits are the key to personal development and growth.

Start slow and let life open up to accommodate the new habit. One minute a day is infinitely better than none - and the change will not come as a shock.

Your mind, body, and life will accommodate to your new habit and it will stick.

Live morning mindfulness sessions, 6:40am AEST on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zacpphillips/

Program:
06:40 - Welcome + short talk
06:50 - 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation
06:55 - QnA + Closing gratitude

I would love to see you there!

Introducing my 10 meditation course on insight timer ‘Your Mindfulness Toolbox For Daily Living’.

In this course you will learn a collection of traditional and novel practices, techniques, concepts and strategies to attain mindfulness, and take the benefits of clarity, calm and control off the meditation mat and into every day life.

Mindfulness Meditation is the act of purposefully paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment.

To begin meditation, focus on the sensations of your breath. When you notice that you are distracted, gently return your focus back to the breath. Sounds simple enough, however, the beginning meditator quickly runs up against a plethora of questions, concerns and insights.

This talk aims to inform and empower all who wish to start a successful mindful meditation practice.

Worried about the Coronavirus? Meditation will help.

Unchecked fear can make us irrational, take away our functionality and impair our judgement. This impact is compounded when those around us are just as afraid as we are.

Fear has a way of spreading.

The panic buying of toilet paper, preserved goods and medications, as well as the absolute desolation of global share markets in response to the Coronavirus is telling.

We are afraid, and rightly so. But do we need to be this afraid to remain safe? I doubt it.

In this course you will learn five different meditations that will help you to reduce the severity and duration of intrusive thoughts. You will learn how to manage the (natural) fear that arises, as well as learn to put the information about the pandemic into an appropriate context for your life.

These skills will help you to maintain a sense of normality in a world that feels increasingly confusing and scary.