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This episode is continuing my series on the Wuxing / 5 phases energies; this one is focused on the fire phase. The Metal episode is episode 18, the Wood episode is 19, and the Water episode is 22. Here I discuss the joy associated with discovering something new, but also the problems with being stuck in a loop of needing new material stimulus (phones, cars, clothes, reels, whatever) when you're unable to recognize the new-ness that's inherent in any given moment. For those interested in my courses, you can find them all here:  https://courses.craigmallett.com Enjoy!

In this episode I'm diving into the Water phase of the Wu Xing, to go along with my previous episodes on Metal (episode 18) and Wood (episode 19). Here I explore the link between willpower, the capacity to confront the depths of fear and potential, and the wisdom to act from a place of experience rather than fast knowledge. In Daoist cosmology, this is linked to the concept of Jing, the essence of our being that contains all the potential that can be realized before we die, should we take appropriately wise action. I mention in the episode that I'm working on a few courses (Dan Tian Gong and a Wu Xing multi course series), all of which will be available on my courses website whenever they are finished, which is right here: https://courses.craigmallett.com Enjoy!

In this episode I am interviewing Gabriela Gutierrez who has been deep in both a practice and scholarly investigation of mythology, particularly based in ancient greece. We talk imaginal, and the balance of the rational intellect and irrational relationship to the living animate world. Gabriela runs a Substack called 'Under a Fig Tree' and also has a bunch of online study options on her website. I've linked both of them below. https://www.gabrielamairgutierrez.com/ https://gabrielamgutierrez.substack.com/  As always, you can find my stuff via my website right here: https://www.craigmallett.com/  Enjoy!

A semi rant/call for clarification about martial arts and what they actually do and what to keep an eye on if you're after real martial capacities. I don't consider myself a martial artist, but I do use a lot of martial drills as cultivation tools, and I have enough insight to understand that traditional drills are not effective unless you're also doing a whole lot of actual fighting (which I'm not doing), and learning to operate under conditions like a severe adrenaline dump really regularly (which I'm also not doing). That does not make traditional arts useless, rather that they are useful but for something entirely different, namely cultivation practices! Stay clear about this and you won't end up in a delusional fantasy land, and all will be good in the hood.

In balance and opposition to the previous episode, this episode explores the opening of potential, and the link this has to dreams, growth and a drive that takes us forward in life. Modernity treats dreams, and many of its associations like the realm of the imaginal, as childlike and immature. This leads to many people being stuck in a life that inherently frustrates and irritates them. Connecting to the bigger picture and the potential can help us get a view of things that is beyond the day to day. It gives our life an arc and meaning rather than just survival for survival's sake. It's this part of us that will happily sacrifice ourselves for the greater good of the group, community or life as a whole. As usual, you can find a bunch of courses from me on various topics on my website here: https://courses.craigmallett.com  If you'd like to support the podcast, consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected Enjoy

In this episode I discuss the benefits of cultivating density in the system. It's an in depth look at how condensing practices can really help most of the problems people in the modern world experience these days: it can help you know who you are, where you are, where you're going, where your boundaries are, what you need and don't need, and prevent you being possessed by group thoughts or peer pressure. Based on the metal element, I also go into details about how this condensing action requires release. In the end of the episode I mention some of my courses, they can all be found here: courses.craigmallett.com If you'd like to support the podcast, consider becoming a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected Enjoy

In this episode I interview Adrian Cannovo, a friend of mine who is a practitioner of an internal martial art called Yang Mian. Adrian is one of the real deals of Internal Chinese Martial Arts, and has worked as a bouncer as well as honed his skills in real MMA bouts. In our talk shares his experiences and insights into the martial arts as he sees them, including some of the more esoteric aspects. You can find Adi on socials here: https://www.instagram.com/adiyangmian/ https://www.youtube.com/@easternmovementprinciples4799  If you're interested in my own work, you can find my latest course, as well as my other courses, and my patreon, at the links below: https://courses.craigmallett.com https://craigmallett.com/arms https://patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected Enjoy

In this episode I answer some questions from listeners on the topics of tension, ADHD, coherence across many topics of practice, emotions and more. If you're keen to get on the patreon, you can support me by buying me a coffee each month, or getting on board with the practice of the week. www.patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected If you'd like to check out my latest online course on the spine, you can do so here: www.craigmallett.com/spine Enjoy!

In this episode I am interviewing Denis Poisson, host of the Youtube Channel 'Foolish Fish'. Denis has a long standing practice of magic, and on his channel he spends a lot of time both reviewing esoteric books and presenting basic orientations and practices for all to enjoy. In the episode we dive into magical practices, pitfalls, how magic can't be proven, and Denis shares a story of the event that got him into all of this work. You can find Denis' YouTube channel right here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoolishFishBooks He is also (at the time of publishing) available for consults and various other services. You can check all that out on his website right here (and I have personally used these services and can highly recommend them): https://www.foolishfish.net/ As always, you can find my stuff on my website below, there will be some new courses dropping very soon. https://www.craigmallett.com Enjoy!

In this episode I interview Jackson's (from episode #010) teacher Damo Mitchell. This was the first time I had met Damo, and we had a good chat about his approach to Neigong. His public teachings have inspired my work quite heavily, and I find the way he explains things is very clear. Some of his cuing and framing was instrumental for me in passing some of my own sticking points and improving my own capacity to teach dramatically. This was a super enjoyable chat and there are some gems in there for those who are into such things! As you'll hear at the end of the podcast, Damo is not so into marketing and doesn't really have capacity for more students, so didn't really want to promote any of his own work. At any rate, his website is below and he has a stack of books that I recommend checking out if you're into internal stuff (just search Amazon etc for Damo Mitchell and they should come up). www.damomitchell.com   Enjoy!

In this episode I interview my friend Nil Teisner who teaches an approach to movement and soft acrobatics he calls Finding Flow. It's a bit of a change up from the previous episode, getting back into the territory of the value and need for a good old fashioned physical practice, and the many benefits that one can bring you. We cover quite a bit of ground, including soft acrobatics, falling, interacting with the ground, release and much, much more. This was a really fun episode for me and has definitely inspired me to return to some of my more physical practices again. If you'd like to check out Nil's work, you can find his website below. He has a whole stack of courses available for all sorts of different acrobatic and physical development topics. https://nilteisner.shop/ Nil also has a great Youtube channel with lots of free material, which you can find right here: https://www.youtube.com/user/Skateass94 ---- As always,  if you wanna check out my stuff you can find courses here: https://courses.craigmallett.com and all of the rest of everything here: https://craigmallett.com  Enjoy!

This is an episode I hesitated putting out for all kinds of reasons. This practice is something I mostly keep to myself as a personal thing but I'm getting more and more people contacting me about it so I figured it's time to let the cat out of the bag. In it, I explore the idea of what it means to relate to an animate world that is magical and responds to all kinds of ritualized actions. It's about sorcery, magic, animism, and sentient agency in the so-called external world. This is obviously a little bit of a taboo topic, particularly in the west where we have convinced ourselves that the world is dead and therefore we can do what we want with it, or on the other side we have been told that anyone who interacts with this perspective is evil somehow.  I talk about how different frames can change the description of what happened (spirits vs energy vs god vs nature) but that essentially at the base the essence is more or less the same even though it gets dressed up in different ways. I mentioned a few resources (hopefully I didn't forget any, I recorded this a few weeks before I wrote these shownotes): Josephine McCarthy & the Quaeria school: https://josephinemccarthy.com/ https://www.quareia.com/  Glitch Bottle Podcast: https://www.glitchbottle.com/podcast  Aidan Wachter (recommend his book Six Ways to start): https://www.aidanwachter.com/  Denis Poisson (great youtube channel for basics): https://www.youtube.com/@FoolishFishBooks  The Emerald Podcast (specific episode linked here, highly recommended): https://www.themythicbody.com/podcast/animism-normative-consciousness-re-released/    Please drop me a message if you're interested in this topic! Enjoy

In this episode I talk about the nuances and intricacies of internal practices vs visualization based practices. In some systems, visualizations are used to provoke a change in the body, in others it is recommended to stay away from visualizations and stick to direct awareness of physical sensations. I actually use both modes of practice, but for very different reasons (and outcomes). When you have a basic framework for how to approach the two modes of practice it becomes easy to differentiate and understand what each practice is useful for and what it is not useful for. Towards the end of the practice, I mention Josephine McCarthy. You can find her work here: https://www.quareia.com/ I also mention at the start of the podcast that I've just released a new online course, which you can find right here: https://courses.craigmallett.com/products/courses/releasing-through-the-legs The rest of my online courses can be found here: https://courses.craigmallett.com/ Enjoy!

In this episode I interview my friend and fellow cultivator Jackson Collings. When I asked him what he wanted to call the episode, he said "Daoist Bro Down" which is pretty apt, we basically spend the whole time geeking out about the finer points of cultivation from the Daoist perspective. I spent a little bit of time prompting Jackson to talk about the difference between his previous explorations in various esoteric realms and his current practice, and some of his responses were pure gold. There is a lot of info in this episode about the nature of a really structured practice, in particular he noted that most of his crazy woo woo experiences have lessened significantly, but despite that (or more likely because of that) he is much happier and content in his life. A must listen episode for anyone in esoteric circles. If you want to get in touch with Jackson, his instagram is right here: https://www.instagram.com/jackson_collings/ As a side note, we didn't get much into his art in the podcast but Jackson has recreated the famous Neijing Tu, with the guidance of his teacher, so you can be sure it's full of all the requisite juice. You can order a copy right here: https://www.jacksoncollings.com/store And if you'd like to support me, you can do so via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected Or by picking up one of my courses: https://courses.craigmallett.com/   Enjoy

In this episode I talk about some approaches to the how & why of creating a daily practice. More easily said than done, as we often run into the fact of non-perfection in our practice when we keep it up every day without end. So many days will not be perfect, so many days will not allow the time to do full suite of practices you want to do. How do you keep it going despite these hindrances? The key lies in creating a thread of practice, a small habit that happens every day no matter what. If you're looking for the courses page I mention at the start, it can be found right here: https://courses.craigmallett.com As always, if you'd like to support the podcast please consider becoming a Patron. You'll get early access to the podcast, and from tier 2 onwards you will get a practice of the week, every week! https://patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected