Dan Millman (Part 2) - Responding Optimally to Each Moment: Self-Mastery, Service, and the Peaceful Warrior Spirit

Ep. 13 (Part 2 of 2) | Dan Millman has shown us how to live with both a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit for forty years. His new book Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit shares his reflections on the extraordinary experiences that shaped his evolution from youthful dreamer to spiritual teacher. Dan’s first book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was a bestseller and adapted into a feature film. Dan is a former world trampoline champion, Stanford University gymnastics coach, martial arts instructor, and Oberlin college professor. His 18 books are published in 29 languages. Dan has traveled widely, teaching in over thirty countries. To learn more about his books, events, online courses, and free life-purpose calculator, visit www.PeacefulWarrior.com.

Dan Millman, a man who has devoted his life to mastery—in sports and in the arena of life itself—and author of the book that opened doors for so many, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, published in the 80s, talks about inspiration, talent, discipline, mastery, ordinary life, and his own path, practices, teachers, and new book, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit: The True Story of My Spiritual Quest. Humorous and humble, Dan embodies the peaceful warrior way, centering his life around service, sharing his wisdom, and living the question, “What needs doing right now?” Recorded on October 20, 2021.

“There are no ordinary moments.”

Topics & Time Stamps - Part 2

• Dan’s teachers: the professor, the guru, and spiritual technology (01:37)
• On cults (07:52)
• The first 5 levels of consciousness: blind belief, conventional reality, St. Ego, the philosopher, disillusion (13:22)
• Dan’s daily practices and the 4-minute meditation on the process of dying (22:46)
• The fundamental foundation of the peaceful warrior’s way (25:17)
• The Zen of ordinariness (27:07)
• Dan’s teachers: the warrior-priest, David Reynolds (29:13)
• On gratitude (33:41)
• Approaching life as an experiment and action inquiry (39:04)
• Carlos Castaneda’s four natural enemies of man: fear, clarity, power, and old age (41:02)
• Dan’s guiding question (45:26)

Resources & References - Part 2

• Adi Da, American spiritual teacher
• Carl Jung, “...making the darkness conscious.”
• Arthur Deikman, pioneering psychiatrist*
• The 4-minute Peaceful Warrior Meditation
• The Ten Ox Herding Pictures from the Zen tradition
• Dan Millman, The Life You Were Born to Live*
• David Reynolds, Constructive Living*
• Bill Torbert, Action Inquiry*
• Carlos Castaneda’s the 4 enemies, The Teachings of Don Juan*
• Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity*
• Dan Millman, Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit*
• Dan Millman, Way of the Peaceful Warrior*
• PeacefulWarrior.com

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos

Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell