664. Isira, 2nd Interview

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Rick Archer

Isira is an awakened spiritual teacher who has been initiated in advanced spiritual practices and rites across a number of traditions including Australian Aboriginal, Yogic Indian, African Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhist. When she was a young adult, Tibetan Lamas, recognized her as an important incarnation and travelled to Adelaide, Australia to bring her to the Himalayas to be ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Isira is also honored as an Australian Indigenous elder and wisdom keeper.

The heart of Isira’s teaching is Holistic Awakening. While the predominant western model of awakening focuses on individual consciousness, Isira’s holistic approach has us awaken to the sacred in all of life. It is an awakening that is integrated, embodied, and grounded, rather than siloed, conceptual, and abstract.

Isira believes that, even among those on a committed spiritual path, there is still a deep sense of “something missing.” The human spirit is hungering to be nurtured by the sacred. We know this because we’re living in a world that is fractured and conflicted more than ever. And people are reporting a sense of fear, alienation, depression, anxiety, and chronic illness in epidemic numbers.

Inspired by the wisdom of indigenous cultures, Isira teaches that we must awaken to what she calls the “Four Sacred Pillars of Life.” While one of these four pillars is the Self or Spirit, they go beyond the Self to include our interconnected relationship with three other essential dimensions of life—the second is nature or earth, the third is kinship or others, and the fourth is the cosmos or universe. While conventional thinking assumes that our spiritual connection must start with Self or Spirit, instead, Isira teaches that for awakening to be holistic, it is essential that we start with our connection to earth or nature.
Through holistic awakening, we move out of the mind into a lived experience in which the sacred is restored to each moment of our day-to-day life.

As we integrate our awakening, a natural byproduct is that we relate in a deeper, more meaningful way—respecting, honouring and loving all of life. Simply, we live sacredly.

Books:

Awakening You: Embodying Peace, Love and Freedom on Earth (enter code ISIRA010 to access eBook for no charge)
Buddha on the Dance Floor

Website: isira.com

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

First BatGap interview with Isira

Transcript of this interview.

Interview recorded September 25, 2022

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

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661. Anneloes Smitsman

Posted on September 10, 2022 by Rick Archer

Dr. Anneloes Smitsman (Ph.D., LLM), is a futurist, evolutionary systems scientist, coach, healer, and award-winning bestselling author. She is the Founder and CEO of EARTHwise Centre. Her programs, practices, and strategies are sought after around the world for actualizing our future human potential, and catalyzing the next steps in human consciousness and systemic design for thrivability. She was awarded the Visioneers Lifetime Achievement Award in May 2022, and was crowned overall African winner in the category “Human Development” of the 2022 Africa’s Most Respected CEOs Awards. She is the co-author of the award-winning Future Humans Trilogy with Dr. Jean Houston, and a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle.

Website: earthwisecentre.org

Other books:

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded September 5, 2022.

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

660. Alaya Dickinson

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Rick Archer

Alaya first experienced brief glimpses leading to a spontaneous awakening in 1997. This left her with a burning fire for truth and a determination to find a release from her suffering. She was drawn to satsang and to the feet of her beloved Neelam: a teacher of the Ramana Maharshi lineage. From that very first meeting there arose a profound recognition of unconditional love but also a strong sense of separation and resistance. However, Alaya instinctively knew that penetrating the resistance was exactly what was needed to penetrate the suffering. With Neelam’s unconditional love this separation fell away shortly after the birth of Alaya’s first child in 2001.

With a new husband and baby, Alaya moved to Asheville. She found in her daily experience of being a householder and working mother, that there was much abiding awareness/living in present Reality. But the non-abiding dream state kept arising which created an even deeper desire to investigate what was still appearing as separation. She realized that what was needed was already in the life she was leading and that every moment was a gift and opportunity to return to the natural awakened Self. “My husband, my children, my job, everything is my teacher, and true love is laying down whatever pulls on you, turning back to this life with an open heart and open palms.” With the realization that ordinary everyday life was sacred and that each moment was the Beloved pointing us home, she continued to question and inquire into her ideas, perspectives, and feelings until the veil of separation finally fell away. “With tenderness and openness, conditioning can unmanifest – leaving what naturally remains, as stillness, presence and love.” As people began to ask her to teach, Grace appeared as the non-dual teacher Adyashanti and with his support and friendship she began to give satsang in 2011. “Grace is like gravity, it will continue to pull you within for the truth of who you are isn’t found in doing. It is found in the silence – in stillness.”

Website: alayasatsang.org

Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.

Transcript of this interview

Interview recorded August 27, 2022

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.