In this episode I explore the spiritual side of strength training and long distance running with Gary Hawke. We are often led to believe that Yoga is the only 'spiritual' form of exercise out there. But what if you feel an affinity with the life of a yogi but are not drawn to classical yoga? Any type of exercise, from solo forms like strength training to team sports, can bring us to a collision with the infinite when used intentionally as a technique of ecstasy. This conversation explores the su...
Apr 28, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 22
How do you pray when you don’t believe in a wise old man who lives in the sky? Are deities out there in the universe or are they archetypal forms of our own psyche and does it actually matter which is true? What’s the difference between the law of attraction and prayer? What are the similarities and differences between meditation and prayer? Christian contemplative prayer, The meaning crisis of modernity, The shortcomings of the neo-advaita teachings in relation to prayer, How to traverse period...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 21
You will find exceptions to these generalisations. With that caveat here we go: Different traditions say different things about who we are, and they often contradict each other. Could it be that they are all right but have a part of the truth that they are trying to hold up as the whole truth? If we use the metaphor of each tradition being a musical note, each moment presents itself as the different notes integrated into a chord. That is the oneness of our identity. It can be hard initially to g...
Feb 23, 2021•12 min•Ep. 20
The esoteric spiritual traditions excel at delivering a 1st person experience of divinity: the deity is not just out there (3rd and 2nd person perspective) but also in you and me….we are that in the 1st person. Modernity has keenly focused on the objective world, the 3rd person perspective, and helped us fall in love with amazing intelligence and beauty of Nature. But, that awe and devotion is directed outwards towards Nature. What if we do a 180 degree shift and recognise the 1st person experie...
Feb 23, 2021•48 min•Ep. 19
Ben Calder is the founder and primary practitioner at the Centre for Integral Health in the town of Shrewsbury in England where he helps clients with Kinesiology, Bowen technique, Access bars, Nutrition advice, NLP, qigong, Allergy testing, meditation and Mcloughlin scar tissue release. We talk about how to approach integrating the health of our body, heart, mind and spirit. Ben has been practicing Qigong for 30 years, is a long time meditator and has been a professional kinesiologist for 18 yea...
Feb 16, 2021•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 18
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Paul Witcomb about his journey. Topics covered are: his job as a psychiatric nurse in the NHS, his training with Dan Millman (author of the peaceful warrior), NLP, Hawaiian shamanism, Generative Change, and meditating throughout the day. For more information on Paul’s work please visit...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 17
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Jon Freeman about his journey. Topics covered are: Jose Silva and training in the Silva method which teaches people do develop their intuitive abilities with respect to health, integrating the insights of quantum physics into our worldview, and spiral dynamics training and teaching. Fo...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 16
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Lynn Evans about her journey. Topics covered are: Chi Kung, Transcendental Meditation, Waking Down in Mutuality with Saniel and Linda Bonder, how interpersonal relationships within a spiritual community can be a crucible for awakening, how deep tissue massage can access, open up and he...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 15
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Gary Hawke about his journey. Topics covered are: bodybuilding, yoga, love as the essence of spirituality, long distance running, Integral theory (the good things about it and the limitations), Critical Realism and the work of Roy Bashkar, drama therapy for shadow work, Gary’s experien...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 14
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Sanji about her journey. Topics covered are: life as a Sanyasin at the Rajneesh community in India, whether Gurus are relevant in our contemporary era, subtle energy massage with Michael Barnett, Bob Moore, PsychoSynthesis, Trillium Awakening, Spiral Dynamics, and what lies beyond waki...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 13
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Nick Osborne about his journey. Topics covered are: his work helping the effectiveness of groups dedicated to social and environmental change, his tour of 30 eco-villages and intentional communities in Europe and North America, permaculture, the Transition Town movement, Extinction Reb...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 12
Here are some instructions for a few meditation postures that I have used at different times in my life. At the end I also list a few useful bits of equipment to aid your meditation practice. Getting the correct posture is a crucial first step when engaging in a meditation practice. For more information about my work please visit www.bodyheartmindspirit.co.uk To hear more of my music please visit my soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/ralphcree My YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/ch...
Feb 08, 2021•9 min•Ep. 11
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Barbara Hunt about her journey. Topics covered are: Sufi retreats, Buddhist silent meditation retreats, sacred music, Evolutionary Spirituality with Craig Hamilton, nutrition and her work with Vital Detox based in Glastonbury UK, 5 rhythms dance, the More to Life program, a Course in M...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Ep. 10
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Stuart Verity about his journey. Topics covered are: Theosophy, Vipassana meditation retreats, his 3 visits to the Kumbh Mela religious festival in India, psilocybin mushrooms, drinking Ayahuasca with the Santo Daime Church, Tai Chi and Chi Kung, his post graduate degree in Integral th...
Feb 08, 2021•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 9
Meditation is a very effective relaxation technique, and for many people this is the goal of their practice, and a worthy one. It can also be a technique for realising something more radical: waking up from the dream of exclusive identification with your personality (often called ‘the self’ or ‘ego’ in meditation literature). This sounds quite odd, disorientating and even scary. I am going to demonstrate that this is actually everyone’s experience all the time whether they know it or not, and is...
Feb 08, 2021•13 min•Ep. 8
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Tessa Martin about her journey. Topics covered are: Iyengar yoga, Tibetan Buddhism, Mondo Zen with Jun po Roshi, the value of spiritual friends and community on the journey, how yoga benefits meditation, and the benefit and a power of silence. For more information on Tessa’s work pleas...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 7
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Layman Pascal about his journey. Topics covered are: the art of practice, yoga, Zen Koan practice, relationships helping you grow emotionally, how practice can help us navigate the chaos that is potentially coming more and more in the future, practices that use our sensory experience a...
Feb 08, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 6
I would like to offer my story as a lesson in both the blessings and the perils of psychedelics use, may it benefit those others walk this path. I feel like I can now come out of the closet as someone who has been an enthusiast and keen practitioner with these substances for many years. I believe opinion is shifting on this topic because many very successful mainstream public figures, for example Steve Jobs, Sam Harris and Joe Rogen have spoken of the contribution these substances have made to t...
Feb 08, 2021•41 min•Ep. 5
Ralph Cree interviews Barbara J Hunt about her book and process 'Forgiveness Made Easy'. Barbara shares her wealth of experience guiding clients through her 90 minute forgiveness process which draws upon visualisation, sentence completion and a large tool box of psychotherapeutic techniques. Forgiveness is a simple idea but like every powerful practice is difficult to do. In this interview we explore the nature and impact of forgiveness as individuals and collectively and the A-Z of how to do it...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 4
This conversation is part of a series exploring the personal journeys people have taken with a holistic approach to transformational practices integrating body, heart, mind and spirit. In this episode I speak with Donald Clarke about his journey. Topics covered are: Mixed Martial Arts, The Wim Hoff method, ice baths, psychotherapy, psychedelics (in particular 5meo DMT), Vipassana, and Integral Theory. For more information on Donald’s work please visit www.floateffect.co.uk For more information a...
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 3
Could a world spirituality be the first ever complete spiritual path? Our contemporary moment presents us with a pluralism of truths and I believe it is time to make a world spirituality that brings together the distinct strengths developed in the many cultures of our planet’s history. The great gift of our era is that we have all the various spiritual traditions available to us, and we can watch them compete with each other and see which is most appropriate and effective in different circumstan...
Feb 08, 2021•16 min•Ep. 2
This is an introduction to the Evolving Spiritual Practice podcast giving you an idea of what to expect. By ‘Spiritual Practice’ I mean any activity that expands your sense of identity, for example meditation, contemplative philosophy, prayer, yoga, martial arts, psychedelics, transpersonal psychotherapy, fasting, visualisation, lucid dreaming, conscious parenting, forgiveness and much more. By ‘Evolving’ I mean that everything develops and adapts over time. Most of the spiritual traditions that...
Feb 08, 2021•5 min•Ep. 1
