
Misunderstandings of the Mind
Transformative conversations about misunderstandings of psychology
Latest episodes

Jan 8, 2025 • 52min
Conscious Relating
An insightful conversation with Angela about the human experience, what conscious relating is and how healing occurs in the present moment, this is a super insightful conversation shining a light where many practitioners are confused on conditioning, trauma, spirituality and somatic healing, Angela has some very clear explanations, I suggest a pen and paper to write a few notes.
Below are the nuggets I heard while listening:
A moment of pure presence shared
Osho’s influence
The power of presence
Exploring spirituality
The process of awakening
We are not a tiny mind trapped in a body
Finding Safety
Spiritual bypassing
The role of the body
Relative vs Absolute
Spirituality in the present moment
Escapism
Is it the body or the mind
Understanding projection
The body pulls you into the present moment
Only the present moment is a direct experience
Coming to you via sensations
The value of meditation
Levels of consciousness explained
What do we mean by healing
Processing somatic reactions
Contraction/Reaction is intelligent
Love & Compassion is what’s needed
Staying present to be of use
You can find Angela at her website here https://angelaharrison.uk/
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Mar 14, 2024 • 47min
Letting Love In
A beautiful conversation about trauma and how we block ourselves from love, connection and everything we want with unconscious beliefs, we unpick what gets in the way of seeing our own beauty and allowing ourselves to be loved, from the mind to the body, a fully inclusive conversation, through the lens of 3p, non duality, somatic healing and meditation. Below are some of the insights I got when listening back:
What is it like to receive love
What happens in the body
Do you allow yourself to feel?
have the walls of unworthiness come down?
Do we have to do anything to be worthy?
Where does the idea of unworthiness come from?
It’s felt as an experience of the body (contraction)
The nervous system (flight mode) is activated by love
It can show up as anger/doubt towards the giver
Or the desire to run away
Allowing love to filter in, can be very touching
Living with a tender heart
Putting the story aside and meeting yourself
Well-being is innate
No one bullies us as much as we do ourselves
We can only guess – but the body knows
We have been programmed not to feel
Stay out of the story and be with what is
Feeling yourself as energy – not matter
You are not your body
We’re not victims
Don’t be afraid of your own feelings
There is nothing wrong with your feelings
Your ego cannot be enlightened
There is nowhere other than here
There is no escape from now
The body keeps the score
You can find Angelica at her website here https://angelicaalmqvist.com/
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6 snips
Feb 21, 2024 • 36min
The Spectrum of Experience
This conversation with Rupert was recorded almost a couple of years ago, when I had just started really going to non dual retreats and wanting to be directly involved experientially, the reason I sat on it so long is on the audio before it starts, it turned out to be a great conversation covering so many subjects around the spectrum of experience, from suffering through to awakening and what happens on that journey for people including healing from trauma, what actually is trauma and how we might point people who are suffering to their true nature. Below are some of my insights from listening back:
All reality is not made of thought
What is the space between thought
Thoughts are like subtitles
Thoughts do not describe reality
We give thoughts and perceptions power
The goal is to bring the mind to the end
Seeking = Agitation
We experience happiness when seeking ends
Once the promise of fulfilment starts, the mind ends
why searching for true nature will not end addiction
Detox is sometimes required
Habits are very strong
Distraction with energy usage is valuable
Seeing the role of thought in suffering
The recognition of true nature
In between 2 thoughts I remain
Finding out what we are not is a start
Recognition of true nature takes further curiosity
what’s left after awakening
The contractions of the body are stuck beliefs
You cant separate the mind and body
There is work to be done to realign the body
Allowing buried feelings to be exposed
This is not a requirement to awakening
There is a process of allowing in vedantic tradition
Trauma is buried layer of feelings that needs dissolving
You need an experiential journey of the body
Trying to bridge the gap from suffering to awakening
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Dec 18, 2023 • 59min
The Truth of the Body Cannot be Ignored
This great conversation with Rudi & Jules goes from relationship triggers, to prison violence, from spiritual bypassing to embodying the essence of who you are it was great to dig into all these subjects with a sincere depth and quality of really seeing experience for what it is without being wedded to a concept or idea.
Trauma responses can be elusive
Is it the body or the mind
Love can be a threat to the body
The body leads the way
Breaking out of spiritual conditioning
Going to the body brings powerful results
The body can numb itself and dissociate
Suffering leads to hope for bliss
Spiritual sharing becoming dogmatic
Are you open to something you dont know
Do you react when other people share differently?
Can we listen to other peoples understanding?
Openness is a gateway to God/Universal Mind
The truths of the universe are not in thought
Including the body is life changing
Communicating with the body is expansive
The body is the bridge between form and formless
The body perceives safety before cognition
No body no experience
We begin with the essence
People are too comfortable in beliefs
Life beats us into a state of reasonableness
Parts stay at a young age
Your body heroically keeps you safe
Adopt and attitude of curiosity towards parts
Trauma is an energetic signature
High alert / HSP is a trauma response
We will react until something helps us see
How to find safety and healing
Misunderstood spirituality can mess you up
Destroy spiritual concepts and beliefs
You are the answer to everything
Skip the middle man it takes you away
You’ll know an experience of peace like never before
To find Rudi & Jules you can look on their website here
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Oct 30, 2023 • 47min
Relationships, Trauma and Spirituality
A great conversation with Rohini Ross that looks at how relationships are beautiful containers for healing when you see what is really playing out, embodying the struggles and leaning into the intelligence of all experience.
We long for things we run away from
Picking loveless relationships for safety
The intelligence of the nervous system
bodily reactions that are not created in the mind
When we are willing to be vulnerable we can learn
Relationships are a catalyst for revealing blindspots
the present moment activates hidden beliefs
This is a gift
It doesn’t mean we need to stay in abuse
Being present to experience we gain insight
We stop identifying with the misunderstandings
Compassion for our partner can bring healing
Seeing what’s really true clears misunderstanding
What’s the issue? ‘Things’ can lose their power
Relationships are a beautiful container for healing
It’s not just your thinking
Experience is of the body not the head
We can increase our capacity for presence
There’s health in all human experience
Becoming more embodied, breath work, somatics
Follow your own inner guidance
The power of psychedelics with trauma
Softening the defences to be with experience
There is no way, only your own direct experience
The power is never in the form/technique
Direct experience is the only teacher
You can find Rohini at her website https://www.therewilders.org/
The post Relationships, Trauma and Spirituality appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

Aug 24, 2023 • 52min
Beyond Spiritual Bypassing
An in depth look with June Jackson at trauma, beliefs contained in the body’s reactions to stimulus and the difference in spiritual pursuits and somatic investigations to find the roots of trauma beyond what the mind can see.
The pursuit of spirituality as an object
Doesn’t exempt you from experience
Experience is not constantly anything
Unrequested responses of the body
You can’t spiritualise away your experience
The body doesn’t awaken
Contractions, tensions, tightness still exist
Parts will naturally surrender when understood
Honouring our system is important
Parts are running the show anyway so make friends
Parts are normal human response to adversity
They are trying to be helpful – intelligence
Life guides us to ourselves
Awakening will only take you so far
Spiritual Bypassing
Natural reaction to grief – closing down
We can’t discount the programming
Contractions don’t show up as thoughts/memories
Strong emotional reaction comes before cognitive
The body can say NO!
The post Beyond Spiritual Bypassing appeared first on Misunderstandings of the mind.

Apr 26, 2023 • 50min
Trauma Beyond the Concepts
Ok, everything is a concept but in this wonderful conversation with Clare Dimond we explore what is actually happening, in the body, right now, in our experience, we discussed spiritualising away your every day moment to moment experience, with innocent attempts to stabilise an identity where it is never possible, trauma being the origin and maintainer of the identity that I think I am, even when I sharing spiritual shit that sounds great. This conversation really shines a light on what is happening, how and where to look, and most importantly, it’s all ok.
You can find Clare at her website here
Seeing beyond your identity
Thought is the messenger
Innocent attempts to stabilise identity
There’s still a body
What is really going on here
Don’t pretend you’re fine!
Spiritual bypassing
Having an embodied experience
The universe exists within us
Using the mind to avoid the body
Escaping ourselves with spirituality
Escaping the present moment with words
Trauma is the origin of identity
Trauma is the maintainer of identity
Exploring trauma from a place of grounding
The relief from finding the 3 Principles
It’s still from the perspective of separation
Everyone else is a creation of me
The present moment is the teacher
The therapist identity – confusion
Seeing beyond the dream
The only purpose of life is to wake up
You can never get enough of what you don’t want
Life will keep pointing you inwardly
Non-duality as a shot of heroin
3p as a glass of whiskey
You can’t argue with the truth, but
Disembodied spiritual sharing
Spiritualising contractions away
What is really going on!
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Apr 18, 2023 • 51min
The Beauty of Trauma
In this conversation with Sunitha Sandeep we discuss how the understandings of Buddhism, 3p and non-duality do not exempt you from trauma, that the body-mind is just 1 system that functions perfectly. How the experience of trauma in adulthood is only ever pointing you home, like all suffering. Spiritual bypassing, and more.
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Jan 20, 2023 • 0sec
The Beauty of Death & Presence | Marnix Pauwels & Jason Shiers
A beautiful conversation with Marnix Pauwels on the experience of loss, and being present to witness the sadness, the joy, the confusion the pure love that is inside all of us. We explored many things including the impact of losing someone as a child and how that shows up in life, the loss of love, to the creation of love and beautiful experiences of opening our hearts.
Life Death and Loss and all its wonders
Feeling emotions and the beauty of them
Coming out of spiritual bypass to the present
How the body keeps the score
Is spirituality really about becoming feelingless
Embracing the humanness and all its quirks
Creating in the world riding the roller coaster
For anyone who wants to find Marnix, you can go to www.marnix.nl to find out more.
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Oct 17, 2022 • 33min
Alcoholism, Drugs and Suicide
Pete felt tired and worthless during his struggles with alcohol, trying his best to stay sober just was not working. Holding down a job but struggling inside with the battle not to drink every day. He came across the understanding of true nature and the inside out nature of life that transformed everything while trying to take his own life by jumping from a bridge. Saved by a passing soul in the form of a police officer Pete serendipitously found his way to freedom via the work of Sydney Banks.
Listen in to hear his story of hope, from struggles, sharing what happened, what he saw and how it changed his life to his current beautiful experience of being alive. Pete is a true inspiration to anyone struggling with drugs or alcohol, and a testament to how a simple insight can change everything.
If you have a powerful story of how insight changed your life, and want to share it please reach out
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