Awake In Relationship

061 The modern world is filled with connectivity, yet for so many people the need for authentic connection goes unmet. Even in a long term relationship we can hide our vulnerability and true desires, sometimes for decades. When we avoid having the important and risky conversations with the people we love we miss a precious opportunity for deeper intimacy and healing old wounds. The questions we ask have the power to illuminate and transform any relationship for the better.

In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Topaz Adizes, an Emmy Award-winning director, experience design architect and author of 12 Questions For Love: A Guide to Intimate Conversations and Deeper Relationships. Since 2014 Topaz has been documenting intimate conversations in an celebrated series called THE AND, which has been viewed by millions of people online.  In this chat we talk about the nature of love, the modern hunger for intimacy and how to hold space for conversations that matter. We also discuss how the questions we ask can help us see loved ones in a new light.

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060  For anyone who has loved and lost you know how much it can hurt when the fairy tale ends. Neuroscience has shown that social and emotional pain stimulate the same regions of the brain as physical pain. However, while heartbreak might be the price we pay at the end of a relationship it doesn’t mean we have to suffer. The grief that follows breaking up is an invitation to mend our most primary relationship, the one we have with ourselves.

In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with returning guest Mel Cassidy, a relationship coach and educator who focuses on ethical non monogamy, about the subtle art of breaking up and tending to a broken heart. We also discuss how to know when it is time to end a relationship and how to exit in a compassionate and clean way.

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059 Artists and creators have always held a special station in life, even if their work goes unnoticed.  It is the artist who sees the details of life that we often miss, speaks truth to power and imagines into existence new ways of being. Central to the creative process is the source of inspiration, the Muse. When the Muse is present middling art and science is elevated to greatness. The Muse awakens the senses and ignites revolutions.

In this instalment of ON AIR the host of Awake In Relationship Silas Rose explores the critical role of the artist and Muse in breaking through the current state of cultural stagnation and polarization to imagine a hopeful future again.

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058 If your New Year's resolutions include improving your social fitness this holiday replay is for you!

The promise of online social platforms was access to an infinite pool of new friends and possible mates.  However, rather than making the search for love easier, the apps have trained our brains to select connections  based on the shallowest metrics. For anyone with a heartfelt desire to find love the daily grind of swiping left and right can feel soul destroying. Authenticity and real intimacy requires letting go of our curated online personas and masks to reveal the truth of our inner experience at every stage of relationship.

In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak to the cofounder and lead coach of Authentic Relating Training International Ryel Kestano about using the tools and practice of Authentic Relating in the murky realms of dating. We also discuss the role of curiosity and following the thread of aliveness in conversations to quickly build trust and connection on the first date.

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057 Ecological anxiety a is new diagnostic label describing a complex of physical and emotional symptoms related to existential dread and despair around the state of the environment. Extreme weather events like wild fires, floods and hurricanes in combination with politicians slow walking meaningful change is causing many, especially young people to give up on a hopeful vision for the future.

In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with returning guest David Segal, therapist and co founder of Human Nature Counselling, a not for profit society with a mission to provide accessible nature based therapy for youth and adults. This conversation explores some of the unique challenges we face as humans living through the Climate crisis and identifies common physical and emotional symptoms of ecological anxiety and grief. We also discuss proactive ways for processing the collective trauma of the climate crisis and finding the will to take action in community and our innate connection to the natural world.

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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

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056 The Oct 7th attack on Israel has ignited a new hot war in the middle east and a polarizing  information war online. For many people around the world the conflict  between Israel and Palestine touches old wounds of injustice as a cycle of religious violence repeats again and claims more innocent lives. If anything has been learned from this war it is that history is complex and good and evil are indistinguishable in the fog of war.

In this instalment of ON AIR Silas Rose, the host of Awake In Relationship, reflects on the unspoken grief at the centre of his Jewish identity and the prescient need to recognize and interrupt the chain reactions of suffering and violence, beginning with our own complex and sometimes paradoxical emotions.

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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

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055 There are few things in life more ephemeral than money. Those who seek an enduring happiness and freedom through a path of awakening often find themselves rich in spirit, but constantly struggling to keep the lights on, literally. This is especially true for creators, social entrepreneurs and heart based business owners who lead with their values. Survival and success requires that we first go through the fire of reconciling our relationship with money. Rather than being the root of all evil, money can be a natural expression of the inherent richness at the core of the human spirit, even in an unjust economic system. 

In this episode of Awake In Relationships I speak with Mark Silver, business mentor and author of Heart centred business: Healing from a toxic business culture so your small business can thrive about the possibilities that arise when we put love and our deepest values at the center of our work and business. We also discuss some of the unconscious blocks that prevent spiritual entrepreneurs from achieving financial growth and how to re-align our heart with the income and the impact in the world we desire.

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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

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054 The struggle to reconcile the better angels of our nature with powerful, earthly desires of the flesh is familiar to anyone on a spiritual path. Historically vilified and repressed by religious intuitions and the state, our sexual energy often hides in the shadows. Unexamined, it remains as a juvenile object of fascination or worse, a corrupting influence to avoid at all costs.

The sexual revolution cast off centuries of rigid norms around sex, yet half a century later instead of liberation we have fallen into what many experts have called a ‘sex recession’, especially among young adults. A legacy of trauma, internalized shame and fear around sex endures and has blocked many from experiencing the full potential of their sexuality for connection, creativity and transcendence.

In the episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Indus Piche, transpersonal therapist and sacred sexuality teacher, about healing the  hidden religious and cultural blocks to sexual expression and freedom. We also discuss practical steps to reclaiming our sexual energy as a source of empowerment in daily life and spiritual growth.

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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

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053  Since time immemorial humans have danced in tribal and shamanic ceremonies for healing and social harmony.  The rhythmic beat of a djembe or a subwoofer connects us with the internal rhythm of the heart and entrains us with others. When we move together we co regulate our nervous systems in times of high stress. All over the planet the phenomena of ecstatic dance is breaking down barriers to connection and building diverse communities. In a time of great uncertainty dance is the perfect medicine for casting off fear and reconnecting to joy.

In this instalment of Awake In Relationship I speak with Shauna Devlin, the founder of Dance Your Ability, a Not for Profit organization that is bringing conscious dance to marginalized populations including elders and the differently abled. Shauna trained in 5 Rhythms with Gabrielle Roth and has rocked dance floors for over 20 years. In this conversation we explore the many facets and forms of conscious dance from the perspective of a seasoned facilitator and DJ.  We also discuss the power of music and moving together for healing old wounds and how to make dance medicine more accessible to those who need it most.


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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

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052 For decades people have been leaving traditional religious institutions in droves to pursuit a more direct path to enlightenment through eastern practices like meditation and yoga.  In this lonely world it can be intoxicating to find a community that feels like home and provides a sense of safety and support to explore your spiritual longing in depth. If you are fortunate enough to connect with a teacher or mentor it might even feel like destiny calling.

In many traditions the teacher/student relationship is considered sacred because unlike other worldly relationships an authentic spiritual teacher can see through our BS and offer a glimpse into the ultimate view, our true nature beyond dualistic thought and ego clinging.  However, the highest bliss of devotion also contains the possibility of a poison pill that neither student or teacher are prepared to swallow.

Great realization doesn’t necessarily mean great emotional intelligence or the absence of the shadow. The shadow is a Jungian term for the unconscious mind where we store our deepest family secrets, repressed emotions, unmet desires, and also our unexpressed potential.  We only become aware of the shadow when it is activated in intimate relationships that involve power, sex and money.

What is a spiritual path for if not to bring to the light the most hidden aspects of ourselves? Yet so many spiritual communities are blindsided when allegations of clergy abuse surface. In this episode of Awake In Relationship I speak with Dr. Connie Zweig, author of Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The dance of darkness and light in our search for awakening, about the archetypal quest for transcendence and the inevitable disillusionment that results when divinity mixes with human fallibility.  We also discuss some of the lessons learned from patterns of misconduct in the west and how recover trust in the teacher student dynamic and joy on the path of awakening through shadow work.


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If you have been loving what you are hearing on AIR  please rate, review and subscribe to get the latest content fresh to your device.  Sign up for our newsletter at awakeinrelationship.com to learn about upcoming programs and events.

Do you have suggestions for guests or feedback on the show?  Send us an email at [email protected] or better yet, fill out a brief audience survey