Someone recently asked me how I can suggest that even people in Ukraine respond with love when their lives are in danger. The person went on to tell me that they struggle with spirituality because "we have fear for a reason and if a bear is charging at you, it doesn't care if you respond with love or not, it will still eat you. If you respond with fear, maybe you'll at least run away and get to safety."

This is really a great question and something I know a lot of people wonder about. The good news is, mindfulness does not make us foolish, naive or deluded. Mindfulness is simply about being more aware — more aware of danger, more aware of potentially harmful situations, and most importantly, more aware of how best to respond.

Luckily, this even works for bears. Experts say don't panic and try to run away from a bear or it will surely eat you. Many animals can sense fear. Even humans can pick up on it. The agitation in you triggers agitation and fear in the animal and they are more likely to respond out of fear themselves and preemptively attack. However, if you stay calm, if you stand your ground, if you look strong and big and confident, the bear will back off. People are the same way. Studies show that when we feel fear, we are more likely to be victimized. 

As for Ukrainians, responding with love isn't about giving something to their enemy. It's about giving themselves the inner strength to go on. Hate is draining and love is invigorating. The response on the outside may look the same, but on the inside, only love is sustainable. Love is about responding rationally, not in a reactionary manner. It's about not losing ourselves so we can know how to respond most wisely. It's about maintaining our faculties so we can best be of service to our cause. It is the complete opposite of rolling over and accepting brutality.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Someone recently asked me this question about how to respond to people who hurt us. I get it, believe me. Our first (unconscious) instinctual reaction is to respond with anger. But this would be a reaction that lacks wisdom, patience, perspective, and most importantly, efficacy. It is just not effective when communicating to respond with anger. People's walls go up and they dig even deeper into their positions.

So how can we see the error of that small thinking? How can we step back and see the bigger picture? How can we respond most effectively? To do this, we need to maintain our composure so we can see the situation as it truly is and how best to proceed. By not losing ourselves in rage, and through a little careful analysis, we can see there is never any need to be angry, there is no need to hate, and there is no benefit to conflict.

In this episode, I explain why love is the only answer, and how to love even our greatest enemies. We are all only here because of love. Someone nourished and nurtured us as babies because of love. Love can save lives, and the lack of love is what has caused all violence and cruelty in this world. Love isn't some fantasy or hippy thing. It literally can change the world.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

One person recently asked me, "Why do I get extreme tingling in my face and fingers when meditating?"

The fact is, it is not uncommon for a wide variety of sensations and reactions to occur when we meditate. It's not the meditation that caused it. It's the meditation that allowed this buried feeling/trauma/pain to come to the surface and start to heal.

No matter what comes up in meditation, allow it to be without any negative feelings about it. What happens when we do this is we train our mind to accept without negativity whatever is happening in the present moment. This is how the practice of meditation is the practice of life. Differing sensations will come and go. Simply watch them come and let them go. In this episode, Todd talks how to do just that.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Burnout is the result of self-sabotage in the moment at the expense of ourself in the future. We think if we just work a little harder, if we just push ourselves and stretch ourself a little more, that we'll eventually reach the success we want and have the happiness we need. In reality, we're sacrificing our mental and physical health that will only result in a major setback when our brain and body say, "Enough!"

Here I'll talk about a few ways we can work smarter, always stay centered and rested, and even get more done.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Learning to let go is a lot harder when it's letting go of childhood trauma. When we're young, experiences will shape how we see the world for the rest of our lives. It becomes deeply engrained and becomes that much harder to heal from. But there are ways to do it. It is possible to reach deep into our psyche and pull out those weeds of trauma and plant beautiful flowers of love, trust, and gratitude.

In this episode, I share how we can all start the healing process from trauma, how we can make peace with what happened, how we can be more present and how we can transform the deep-seeded conditioning of our minds.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Today on the podcast I answer the question, "How can I become spiritual?" Before really answering this question, we have to talk about what the word "spiritual" even means.  To every person it can mean something slightly different.  In this episode I lay out what spirituality means to me and how we all have the potential to tap into our rich inner spirit of love, gratitude, peace and bliss.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

The future is coming at us fast. If we look at the trend of where technology is headed, we can see robotics and software becoming smarter, faster, and smaller. In many ways, computers are smarter than humans, but a computer still can't design a computer better than humans can. They lack the creativity and the conscious awareness that humans have. 

So, if the seemingly inevitable merger of humans and machines does take place, will ai be able to expand our consciousness? Is the merging good or bad? Will it make us more human, or less human? And ultimately, will it be a tool to further our spiritual journey or will it prevent spiritual progress? The answer may surprise you.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

To eat or not to eat, that is the question. During my travels throughout Asia and India, every guru, monk, meditation instructor and meditator told me the same thing when it comes to eating before or after meditation.

In this episode, I'll share the wisdom I learned on my travels. And, I'll share what I have found both in my own experience, as well as the experience of people I've taught how to meditate. While there is no wrong time or bad time to meditate, here are few pointers for getting the most out of your meditation and spiritual journey.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Can I meditate while standing? Driving? Biking? Walking? Talking??? I get it. We all want to reach that blissed out feeling 24/7. So what's the best way to get there? Will standing meditation hurt or help? These questions and more will be answered in today's episode. I'll talk about the benefits to sitting meditation, why we sit, and what kind of effects standing will have on our practice.

While we may not wish to stand while meditating, I also dive into the best way to turn every activity into a meditation practice, from standing to eating, walking or waiting.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.

Some people have such a loud voice in their head, that they are actually unaware they have a voice in their head at all. It's gotten so noisy and constant, that we don't even have the awareness to hear it because we are completely lost in our thoughts. In those cases, only when a person sits down to meditate and they actually turn their attention inward, do they discover the presence of this unrelenting voice.

This voice is inside of us, and yet we cannot control it. It's like having an alien visitor living with us. And what do you do when you meet an alien visitor? You make peace with it. Your work together. And then eventually, you become best friends who only exist to help each other. In this episode, I'll share they key for turning that loud negative voice into your personal helper.

Please enjoy other episodes where Todd shares meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

If you have enjoyed listening to the podcast, please share a review. It will help many others find their Path to Peace as well.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/ToddPerel

*****
If my words have ever touched your heart or helped you through a hard moment, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping this podcast alive. Support the Podcast

And if you’d like to explore these ideas in greater depth, you can find all of my books here.