Getting in Touch with Your Inner Guidance & Truth with John Prendergast | Awaken Ep. 4

From a very early age, John was drawn to what he describes as an “inward” life. He found any interest in studying contemplative subjects and spiritual practices and sought out spiritual teachers from whom he could learn from. In addition to this investigation, John successfully pursued a doctorate in clinical psychology.

Johns paths of deepening self-inquiry and helping people seamlessly merged into what is now his psychotherapy practice today. John effectively helps people get in touch with their deep inner knowing.

Listen in as I speak to John about topics such as; the process of disidentifying from our limiting self-identities and emotions, tuning into the bodily/somatic contractions associated with emotional reactions, awareness being the foundation of our consciousness, and how to connect to the guiding power of our inner knowing and intuition.

In this episode John and I discuss:

• Johns long history of living a “spiritual” life of self-inquiry and inner knowing, experiences with spiritual teachers, and experiences with Transcendental Meditation (TM) (03:22)
• His early experiences with self-inquiry of “the perceiver’ and glimpses of oneself’s true nature  Knowing oneself as consciousness itself (07:44)
• Disidentification (not dissociating!): disidentifying with our limited identities, the bodily/somatic contractions associated with emotional reactions, and the transformative nature of this process  (10:27)
• Dissociation and splitting of the psyche as a defence mechanism, and how it can get in the way of disidentification (14:50)
• Identifying as “The Watcher” and spiritual bypassing (or John’s improved term ) being a form of avoidance (16:29)
• The often overlooked idea that not only spirit is transcendent, but that it also infuses everything (including the body) (18:50)
• Awareness being foundation and ground of experience regardless of the objects that it contains. And allowing the attention to fall back into awareness   (21:12)
• What “inner knowing” means. (25:47)
• The bodily response that are indicators that we are honing in on the truth (27:52)
• “Inner dissonance” when oneself is out of alignment with their truths, and approaching it as a feedback system (30:09)
• Intrapersonal resonance (33:02)
• Making our way through the noise of fear and desire to access and observe inner knowing (34:22)

Resources:

• In Touch: How to Tune in to the Inner Guidance of Your Body and Trust Yourself – John Prendergast
• www.listeningfromsilence.com – John’s website
• Jean Klein – John’s first spiritual teacher
• Adyashanti – John’s spiritual teacher
• Transcendental Meditation