Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Alan Finger. Welcome to the Genius of Nothing podcast. Nothing is no particular thing.
Speaker: It's all things at once. Genius.
Speaker: Hello, everyone. I'm Katrina Repka, and this is the Genius of Nothing podcast. I'm in sunny London, and I'm here with Sebastian Forsman in Stockholm, well out or in the countryside outside of Stockholm.
Speaker: ah Well, no, actually the other side of the country, actually Gothenburg or yeah, in the archipelago. So yeah, so sunny and nice. Yeah, spring. It's warm. The sun goes up about four o'clock in the morning. So yeah, it's lovely to live again.
Speaker: Yeah, finally. And Al, how's it in Florida? I'm in sunny Boca, beautiful, perfect weather, sitting, looking, and there's a little stream, little river behind at at the back of our house.
Speaker: And there's a there's a family of ducks going along the river. It's so cute. The little ones behind and the big two in front. That's adorable. And you just got a new car.
Speaker: Yes, I got a new VW Buzz. It's an old hippie style gone new. And i in my past, it's the only car, the main car I had. I've had five of them, three in South Africa and two when I first came to America.
Speaker: Didn't you tell me once that you drove around Malibu and Hollywood to all those appointments in a VW bus? In a VW camper, that was, because because we stayed in the camper and we had a pop-up trailer Malibu.
Speaker: And it was a beautiful trailer park because it was small but had it beautiful bathrooms and you'd cross the PCH, Pacific Coast Highway, and there was the beach. Nice. so my first wife, Jackie, went there with the kids, Tevin and Eva, to the beach, and I would go in and start getting teaching and go to different people's homes and talk to all the different stars, et cetera, in Hollywood.
Speaker: And that's how I got going in America. Wait, wait, when you and you when you came, did you did you live in the in the van? you live You lived in the van? In LA, yeah. I came first to Washington, D.C., just outside. Yeah. and And I started a center and then it snowed. And I'm from Africa. I didn't know there was terrible thing happening. You freaked out.
Speaker: that the clouds were ice and falling on me because in Africa we had no snow. And so I decided, no, can't live in this. ah So we went, we bought the, vet we changed the VW bus to a camper, bought a little as pop-up trailer and went cross country to ah California, to l LA.
Speaker: And in LA, I um met Norman See, a South African photographer. who was photographing all the stars. And I started teaching at his center, his studio.
Speaker: Twice a day, we had a class. And of course, he made all the stars that he photographed come to loosen up with the yoga class. And that just set me off. at I started teaching in the studio, Paramount Studios, and all these shows, Mork and Mindy, Laverne and Shirley.
Speaker: And i I got going, and i that's how I got going in America. It's interesting that you're coming full circle because we thought we'd talk today about like, you know, you always say you can have things, but don't let them have you. And I can't quite imagine you living in a van in a trailer park now, but it's so amazing that you did that and were the same person and put your pants on one leg at a time like you do now. You know, it's it's relative.
Speaker: You know, Katrina, I could absolutely do it again and be quite fine with it. um i Whatever I'm in, i make the most of.
Speaker: So at the moment, yes, I have a beautiful home in Boca that we bought in the pandemic and got a great price, which has doubled now. But it's a wonderful place, and you guys both know it. You've been here many times. Haifa Ashram.
Speaker: Half a home, I'm trying to get it like South Africa, what we had there. would never be the same as that, but sort of like mimicking that. yeah and And, yeah, you know, what what the what the yoga teaches us from sitting in meditation, sitting in that still period every day, getting your mind quiet,
Speaker: It allows you to be in the world, but see the world. You have that space, kevalia, from the world. So although you can have things, what Sebastian mentioned earlier, one of my quotes, you can have things, but things mustn't have you.
Speaker: And that's called aparigraha, one of the yamas. um You know, if you've got something and you have it and it's fine and it hasn't got you, that's great. If it goes, you don't want to now become, oh my God, I'm a different person because my health had to go back to the camper.
Speaker: yeah I taught. Barbara Streisand, all these people, Robin Williams, all these stars in L.A. Didn't you also teach Jody Mitchell?
Speaker: Joni Mitchell and all of them. But I went in my camper into their house, into them and started teaching in my camper. And to me, then afterwards, when i i we had moved into a little apartment and grew and moved again, then we're in a little house.
Speaker: And then i i the the camper started breaking down. I got rid of that. And then I had a little, one of my students was selling a very fancy little old car and he wanted me to have it.
Speaker: It was a Mercedes vintage Mercedes little convertible car. forgotten what it was called this and he and he actually was a lawyer and he sold it to me at a bargain price and of course it tripled the time I sold that and then I drove in that for a while and so it's kind of like yeah I had these things but it didn't change who I was only because when you meditate and you get the space that meditation in the morning
Speaker: When you wake up and you sit still and you just hold your mind still, that that sitting still reprograms how you view things. Whoops, sorry. it view It reprograms how you view things.
Speaker: And that's the important part. So when you do that and you still your mind, whether you get into God realization or realize what the cosmos is and what the creative intelligence is or not, one of the major benefits is that in life you have this clarity and spontaneity yeah in doing things and things happening for you.
Speaker: But what do you think, I mean, where does it factor, because, i mean, when I moved to London, i also, you know, built myself up. And even when I went to New York, I built myself up as a yoga teacher. And then I left New York and came to London, sort of started from scratch again,
Speaker: i'm I'm someone who, you know, went around the world with a small bag of clothes and a book and was happy with that.
Speaker: um But I think there was always a motivation of some kind not necessarily to acquire things, but to grow and to achieve and to, um kind of work hard. And as a result, I've ended up with a lot more things than I've ever had in my life.
Speaker: yeah Um, and you know, I, so i think it's like, ah yeah There's the one hand of sitting and being contented and letting things happen, but then there's also this natural drive to evolve and grow and in some senses, to acquire comforts to, you know, increase your bank balance, all of that.
Speaker: And those seem sometimes diametrically opposed, and sometimes they work in tandem. But I think this is also something we've been taught so much because it's like a social and cultural influence, so much of this.
Speaker: Like you go through all these grades when you grow up and you you're always trying to like level up, getting something better, better job, become a better yoga teacher, you know, get more pay. And when you've been programmed, you know, your whole life to invest in the ego and that, you know, the things you own as a reflection of who you are, then it's very hard when somebody comes and tells you like, no, you shouldn't try to use your ego too much. That's not where you're going to find happiness or peace.
Speaker: And because you've been investing in it your whole life. so So I think that's a very hard thing. And that's why the practice of sitting down every day is so important, the sadhana, because you really need to rewrite your brain, which is neuroplasticity. You can do, but it it just takes time.
Speaker: And we can't forget also that there's also a neurological component to all this also, that every time you you know buy something new or get something new and shiny, you get a dopamine dump release.
Speaker: And we know that dopamine is a neurotransmitter that's mostly associated with pleasure and reward. So there's also this chemical component to it. So that really makes it very hard for us to resist impulse buys and you know wanting things because the whole society is kind of built up around it.
Speaker: But also weirdly for me, like as ah someone who has now a lot of comfort, I feel more free than I did when I was traveling with just a bag around the world. And I think some people would think you'd be more free with just a bag of stuff. But actually, i feel way more free now because I can do whatever I want. And I have some, you know, stability. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: ah so So other people who would have, it it depends whether you are separate, if you have space from the false identity that you think is you and you. Because when you, who you really are is not those things at all.
Speaker: But We are living in a world of the five senses and we have to survive and we have to procreate. This is what's built into human beings in order for the evolution process to continue.
Speaker: So we gotta think of it like that. We're born into a world of matter and things and we gotta live in it. But what happens to most people They get into it and the things are what are driving them.
Speaker: And you don't have, if you don't have that space from the things, called Kevalia, if you don't have space from your mind, then you become obsessed with these things.
Speaker: You want more and more and more till you want a rocket to own Mars and you don't stop. It'll never be enough for you.
Speaker: Because once you're in, once you've slipped into the false identity and you think that's you, then you've had it and you're going to get pulled.
Speaker: What else is there for you? But to get trapped in that illusion... and That was interesting because a couple of weeks ago was cleaning up my attic in Stockholm. And I mean, I've been treating that thing like a black hole. It just sends stuff in and just kind of disappears.
Speaker: So was kind of afraid of getting in there because was so much stuff. and But the amazing feeling when you start throwing things away... is so unbelievably satisfying to me. Like I love throwing things away because it makes me feel so good.
Speaker: And it's really that feeling that nothing really can bind you. Yet we hold on to things kind of like they're necessary for our survival. And you start to realize that the cleanup you're doing is not just physical. It's actually, for me at least, more mental almost than physical.
Speaker: Because I'm not just freeing up space in my storage unit, I'm actually freeing up space in my mind too. And that that kind of makes me happy. And i love it that's why I love cleaning out stuff like that. And that's why it's very interesting what you're saying, because there's the yamas and the niyamas in yoga, the things to do and the things not to do and the things to do to deprogram you from being obsessed and locked in them.
Speaker: So the last of the things not to do is not to hoard. because And then the first of the niyamas is cleanliness, which also means order.
Speaker: So when you've got too many things... haunting, it messes up your cleanliness, your mental cleanliness. You begin, these things are just hanging on you.
Speaker: So the more you clear and have just the things you truly need and use, that's what you have. That's that's called cleanliness in yoga.
Speaker: When you're in the false identity and you don't, guys, you must realize it's that space from the mind that gives us the ability not to become the things.
Speaker: So i have i've got I have a VW Buzz, very latest in that car. People stop me, beautiful car. say, yes, beautiful.
Speaker: But if I didn't have it Yeah, cry for 10 minutes and then put it aside. Say, okay, enough, enough, Al. And have whatever, bicycle or whatever it was.
Speaker: So you're saying it doesn't sadden you at all when you lose things or give rid of things. It doesn't matter. But hold on. It's natural in the way that we are developed.
Speaker: to have these defenses and protections which are called sadness, upset, pain, pleasure. All of these are things in your mind which are mine in the mind, in the world of of these five senses exist.
Speaker: But it's only when you get into the now and you get space from them based from them that you can actually sit back and say, yeah, well, okay, I've cried. I was attached to it for a few minutes.
Speaker: I'm going to let that go now and move on. And then you move on and other things just naturally happen for you. And was kind of interesting because, you know, I had a very nice Kia EV9.
Speaker: And I kind of liked it. And it was quite sporty and nice, the electric vehicle. Yeah, but it was a tank, Al. it I mean, it weighed as much as, I mean, half of Connecticut. It was huge.
Speaker: Big tank, yeah. I loved it, though. Yeah. and then And then the battery died. And I'm like, oh, gosh. Anyway, they ended up giving me money and taking the car back.
Speaker: and gave me a loaner and gave me money. And then I looked on the line for, I like a big car because I'm a big fellow, and I looked for electric vehicle, EV, SUV, large, and the bus popped up just coming available in America.
Speaker: And I went to one dealer. It was much too much for me. I went to another. He altered, manipulated, and came right in my price range, and I said, thank you. And here I have the EV9, beautiful vehicle, and it landed up with me.
Speaker: So I really see it like that. I see how things are happening for me. Katrina, it does happen for her, but she still slips into some time, right, Katrina, that you created it.
Speaker: So with me, I have a little bit more of that Kevalia, that I never see it like I made it. I see it that it happened to me because I was in the right space at the right time.
Speaker: And I know it happens with Katrina. I've worked with you for so, you're so close to me and worked for so many years. And I see it happening for you all along. But is that, if I just sat on my ass for the whole time, would it have happened the same way?
Speaker: um if you sit sorry on your ass If you sit on your ass, that's a new statement in yoga, that's called tamazic.
Speaker: I'm not asking anyone to be tamazic. I'm asking you to distance yourself so you know who you are, that you can view life happening.
Speaker: that you're not life is not happening to you, you can see yourself moving through the elements and the atoms that make up our world.
Speaker: And I know that sounds a little, you know, heck very wary. It sounds like my approach is actually better when you've got your feet on the ground and you're going to work every day.
Speaker: Yeah, but but you you know, you see what it is because I've seen you go through, Katrina, all sorts of spaces in life to end up where you are now. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And... But do you think that would have happened all along? Like, do you think I'd end up here regardless of, was this always my destiny? No, no.
Speaker: It depends if you are living in harmony or not. And if you're living in sattva guna, then the negative and positive things balance out and you move through life, what I call most gracefully, where things just happen for you. But how do you how do you know if you live in Satwaguna then? How do you know if you're living in that space?
Speaker: You're watching life happen. And it just unfolds. You watch life happen. you ah i i and I'm not in a place where I'm financially... totally secure and I'm going to be 79 this year. and But things happen for me.
Speaker: Privates appear. This happens. That happens. My wife gets different. Things happen to her. And we we flow along. And if I have to change my house, which is beautiful, as you guys have seen, I'll change it and I'll make another place. That townhouse is beautiful. You see it.
Speaker: i'm not you see it It's not like you're not, i I know that I've had other beautiful homes in my life. They weren't mine.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess we're just holding it for the next person, right? Yeah, it's only we rent it.
Speaker: It is amazing, though, because all the years that I've known you, and this has happened before, and you grumble about it, you we talk about it, and, you know, you you I get more worried than you do. I kind of freak out a little bit, like, oh, what are we going to Shit.
Speaker: And you're like, ah, it's fine. So I'm more worried than you are, frankly, about it. But... but I've learned also that during the years that it always works out for you. i mean, you always get a new private, you always get a new investment. Something always like works out for you. And it's kind of like clockwork. With Sebastian's, sorry to cut you off, but with Sebastian's love for me, he's more worried about me usually when I'm going through it than I. And he calls me and says, are you going to be okay?
Speaker: Do you want me, Shana? Can I try and help you a little? And I'm like, yeah, we'll see where it goes, whatever happens. Thank you so much, Jan, thank you.
Speaker: It's happened quite a few times. you know And it's kind of like it all whatever happens, happens. But so breaking that cycle is just really being in the now. The meditation that puts you in the now, outside time, outside everything, and just observing things as they are and just finding that satvaguna really in your life and how to move through it whatever you're going through and i think also like i love the i love the phrase in yoga abhyasa viragya where you do the best you can and then you surrender to the result because ultimately you know there's an element and you used to say al when i first started with you 25 years ago
Speaker: That it was 50-50. You do 50% effort and 50% surrender. And then you changed it because you said course it has to be 51-49 because everybody tries too hard. So you actually have to surrender 51%.
Speaker: and only try for 49%. But even that feels like for most people, you know, they're trying like 99% and surrendering 1%, if that. So it's quite a reframing of your own view of the world, really.
Speaker: And the simplistic way is, you see, if we try and view it, but we're not separating from the world, the goal in being a tantrica is an Ishtar tantrica, because other tantricas in India is another story, but to be Ishtar tantrica, where we are trying to get to a place where we are flowing through life,
Speaker: and we see that we are going through this prahabda, this karmic period in this body, in this vehicle, in this mind, to work out our karma.
Speaker: And that that is so strong in me from all my practice for 60, whatever, four years or whatever whatever it is, that that's how I see things.
Speaker: So I'm always saying, but when you're in life, you don't say to someone at the garage or at the car dealership where I negotiating, excuse me, sir, I'm at this point in my evolution where I can spend more than this.
Speaker: mean, you can, but you wouldn't get a very good deal. You do the week. Yeah, you do the wheeling and dealing and talk and you play them a bit against each other and things happen and then you say, okay, got Ronnie, thank you. And then you pop out of it and you watch it and it's watching a movie of what just happened.
Speaker: So how do you not get attached in the moment to, for example, you know, you're looking at different cars and you're thinking, God, I really want that. Or you're looking at a new house and you're God, I really want that. And then you start to almost like decorate it in your mind before you even have it. So the attachment, the mental attachment is very strong before you even get there. And actually a lot of mental energy is spent on the whole process. And then you might not get the house or you might not get the car. you might and so But if you're doing that multiple times, you're spending a lot of energy in those moments without even any result.
Speaker: Because Katrina, when you are, when you think that you are the one in the house and the doing and all that, you you have to act it when you're in the body, in the mind, in this plane of consciousness.
Speaker: So the only way to be able to have to be able to see it differently, if you have something else to go to. So you've got to get out the mind to see this.
Speaker: out of the mine to see this It's all about your ability to remove yourself, to separate yourself from the mind.
Speaker: and And the only way you can do that really is if you do it daily because the brain will pull you out. And even for the first years of meditation, it's very difficult.
Speaker: But eventually, you get into that place where it's kind of like, look, this is the illusion of life. I'm doing as best I can through it and I'm surrendering it.
Speaker: and that's what it is so i kind of feel like everything we're talking about here is really connected back to one thing it kind of sounds like everything is just the same thing the end and the false identity getting attached to things it's all just like bivessa the fear of death really and in psychology they call it like that it's the mother of all fears almost because like all fears can be traced back to that fear because you know that's that's what we're afraid of the most because that's the death of the ego really so but then it gets interesting because al i know you're not really afraid of dying
Speaker: I am kind of afraid of dying. I have a little bit of fear of dying. Not as much as I used to, but I'm still not 100% there. I still have a little bit of fear of that. And, you know, that kind of attaches me to this world, I feel. But you don't really have that. So if you don't have that, it must be a lot easier, I feel, to move through these things and not get attached in the world and see, you know, be their observer.
Speaker: Yeah, that's very much the space of being the observer, not being in it. You see, when you're in when you withdraw yourself from the mind, what is the mind made of?
Speaker: Your five senses. So your five senses come in and give you pictures. And then we believe those pictures are our reality.
Speaker: So when you get out of the mind, pratyahara is the first step where you draw your senses back into you and say, I'm not this world of senses where I've become indulged.
Speaker: And you sit there and you feel you stop time because time exists from the senses. So now you stop time, you're in the now, you're in the genius,
Speaker: And you be, and you've got to get it to eventually 18 minutes, approximately a day. And then when you come back to life, you come back into the senses.
Speaker: It's like putting on your clothes in the morning.
Speaker: You take your shower, you put on, I'll wear this today, these shoes, this pants, this shirt, this color. And now you're ready to go back into life. But you don't walk out in the nude.
Speaker: Well, we cannot do. Me and Katrina you know, we're Europeans. so Well, i mean that's it. Yeah, you and Katrina have done some interesting things. But yes, exactly.
Speaker: But generally, you put on your clothes, which is putting on who you are. So after you've done your meditation, you go back into your senses and now you do the dance of the senses and there are emotions involved in it.
Speaker: When the one dealership told me i the price on the VW bus, I said, i'm sorry, and not and my sister wanted me to get it so bad. It's so you, Al.
Speaker: I said, no, it's too much. I can do that. It's going to be uncomfortable. And I said, I'll, I'll, I'll find something else, and many ah whatever it is. Okay, so let's be really practical here then. okay like your You're going to buy something. you look You're looking at a house. you're You're going to buy a hat or a car, for example. and And you're right there in the moment, like in the car or showroom, and you really want that tricked-out Benz that's shiny and all new and great.
Speaker: But maybe you just drive once a week or don't even have a driver license. Who knows? But what do you do to help yourself... to really stop the impulses when you're in that moment than to not get swept up in those you know emotions. Aham Brahmasmi.
Speaker: Aham Brahmasmi. Feel many times during the day. It's a very useful mantra to keep in your pocket, which means I am part of the universal,
Speaker: experience. I am Brahman. I am what creates the stance of life. so So for those who feel that that's a bit abstract, what should you really feel when you do the Aham Brahmasmi mantra?
Speaker: So when you feel Aham Brahmasmi, involved in that is Ishvari Pranidhana. The ability to realize lies that you surrender your efforts to the universe and then do what is right for you.
Speaker: So I was going to do that with my buzz, my VW. I said, no, no, no, I can't get the one with two motors. Literally the salesman wouldn't hear of it.
Speaker: And he was his name was Mohamed Moh. And it was it was ah he he was more excited about me getting this class than me almost when he heard I was a yogi and he Googled me.
Speaker: And he said to me, no, no, no, you must get this one. i'm going to ah It's only going to be this much difference. I'll knock it down within, I'm $6 away from where you said you want to be.
Speaker: And you should get this one. And he made me get the top of the line one. So did you pay the extra $6 or did he get it down? No, I paid the extra $6. Oh, see, so it didn't come totally right in the end.
Speaker: The universe didn't come totally right for you in the end. you've gone from thousands to $6, it was quite a deal for the six bucks. That's where they get you. Lol.
Speaker: So for anyone who perhaps missed the mantra and didn't really know how it was spelled or pronounced, it's going to be in the description of the episode. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Aham brahmasmi. Gosh. Sorry, forgot to put it on. Well, that might be the universe telling us to end it here. ah Okay. I'm just going to put on do not disturb anyway. Okay.
Speaker: Sorry. We need to end. I think, yeah, I think that was good. Yeah. Well, I think that was a good conversation. not too long, not too short. yeah Yeah, and I think this is good for, I think it's good because I think this can be applied for people when we're going through these major shifts from politicians creating a bit of a upside downness in the way we're living, which actually, try and understand, is actually governed
Speaker: by Brahman. Brahman, the universal quantum consciousness, is calling for this shakeup. in human beings.
Speaker: brahman Brahman made the tariffs and the whole economic meltdown? It made everything. Brahman is consciousness that comes through us oh and chose some kind of character to create upset in everything, in the whole world balance, to shake things up.
Speaker: And strangely enough, as he shook them up, he then started saying, okay, well, not this, not that, not this, not that. And it's slowly 90 days, no tariffs. so It's kind of like, let's see where it's all supposed to end.
Speaker: If you meditate and you have space, you will adjust to it accordingly for these times, which will reset your consciousness for going forward.
Speaker: Now, it could last four years or whatever, but it'll prepare us all for a parigraha, letting go not and a time for saucha, cleanliness, which allows us to see things clearly, order, and realize exactly what Katrina said,
Speaker: Ishvari pranidhana, the deal is the universal consciousness governs. You do as best you can, 49%, and it will do the rest for you as it should be.
Speaker: Sit back, know who you are, and enjoy the trip. And relax. the Relax. you canly yeah You don't have to work. It's not so hard. don't have to work. No, you have to work, but you have to relax. Okay, you have to work, but you can relax when you work. You can relax and work. What is Work is just like what I've never worked in my life. No.
Speaker: Make your work play. Don't make a difference between work and play. Make it the same thing. Exactly. I've never worked. at each I teach yoga. It's like I share with people wisdom.
Speaker: And other people could call it, well, I did so much. I worked hard today. But it's just flowing through. I can't. flowing through our dharma gracefully.
Speaker: So have a super wonderful week, everyone. And we'll be back with more tools and techniques for you. But remember, aham brahmasmi.
Speaker: You are part of the evolution. you're part You are part of the intelligence which created the entire universe, all beings and every bit of things.
Speaker: Everything has consciousness from Brahman, from that universe. Versal collective consciousness. You're part of it. If you forget that, you will suffer.
Speaker: Summuration, it's almost like clearing out the storage unit. Meditation. Get rid of some stuff. So new stuff can come in. I'm going to throw out some of those old blocks there, I think. Okay, you guys. Perfect.
Speaker: Thanks, guys. Thank you. Lovely to be back with you all. Namaste. Namaste.
Speaker: Thank you for joining us today and have a super wonderful week. Namaste.
