Speaker 1: You are listening to Coast to Coast AM. Hello there,
Speaker 1: I'm Connie Willis and I hope that you'll find me.
Speaker 1: Just sign up for my email list if anything else,
Speaker 1: at Connie Willis dot com and join my show too.
Speaker 1: That would be really nice. We have a lot of
Speaker 1: fun Blue Rock Talk Connie after Dark, you can have
Speaker 1: a drink with me live virtually what happens there stays there.
Speaker 1: Or you can also go on live investigations to creepy
Speaker 1: hotspots or one hundred percent with activity and it's really
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. We learn a lot. We're not
Speaker 1: one on one. We go deep into the subjects and
Speaker 1: really want to know what's going on. It's all about
Speaker 1: communication and relationship. And if you're that kind of person,
Speaker 1: then join become a member of my show, Blue Rock Talk.
Speaker 1: So just go to Connie Willis dot com and look
Speaker 1: around and see what you like. And I'd love for
Speaker 1: you to be a part of it. So our next
Speaker 1: guest here has a cool name. You gotta love his name,
Speaker 1: Paul Sugar. I mean, Paul Sugar is a cool name.
Speaker 1: That's just the way it is. You're gonna remember it.
Speaker 1: And I actually I just recently met him. Kind of
Speaker 1: called him up after I saw him on Do you
Speaker 1: all remember Michael Ford when he was the Angel Guy.
Speaker 1: At one point when I was learning about Michael to
Speaker 1: bring him on Coast to Coast, I had seen one
Speaker 1: of his interviews and it was just a very short
Speaker 1: bit with Paul Sugar, and that's who we have on tonight.
Speaker 1: It was very interesting to meet him. I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm going to always know him, and you all might
Speaker 1: maybe everybody feels that way with him. Some people say
Speaker 1: that about me. You know, you meet some people and
Speaker 1: you feel like I'm going to know you forever. But
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I'm going to know him
Speaker 1: or already even do, which is really cool. He's somebody
Speaker 1: that you can talk with. He'll talk right back. You
Speaker 1: can stay deep into a subject and go deeper and
Speaker 1: deeper and deeper and just enjoy the conversation. That is
Speaker 1: my thing. I love this.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There's going to be several things we can talk about
Speaker 1: with him, and I don't really actually know where to
Speaker 1: start because there's so many cool things to talk about
Speaker 1: with him. Usually I try not to talk to anybody
Speaker 1: except for a little bity bit before I bring them on,
Speaker 1: so that we can share everything live right now. But
Speaker 1: he and I got into some great conversations and I
Speaker 1: just think we will continue to do that for the
Speaker 1: rest of our lives, and I don't think we'll ever
Speaker 1: run out of anything to say. He's got such a
Speaker 1: background that is absolutely amazing that I'm going to let
Speaker 1: him tell some of those things because I don't want
Speaker 1: to mess those up with what he's done, but I
Speaker 1: do want to say that it was really cool originally
Speaker 1: talking to him about basically the fear of dying, and
Speaker 1: what he does is helps rid of fear and stress
Speaker 1: and people, especially the fear of dying. So there's a
Speaker 1: whole thing to that, but the bit it's huge to
Speaker 1: be able to help people rid of fear. Fear, love,
Speaker 1: love is all there is. That fear gets in the way.
Speaker 1: All my life, I've been looking for people that can
Speaker 1: rid of fear because it gets in the way, it
Speaker 1: stops people from what they're trying to do. It's terrible.
Speaker 1: And here's a guy that does do that and so
Speaker 1: much more so. Paul, I'm gonna bring you in on
Speaker 1: that alone. We'll talk about anything, everything, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: We can just zoom right into all of it. But
Speaker 1: I'm glad to meet you, and I know we're gonna
Speaker 1: be talking more. I'm excited. I watched some of your
Speaker 1: videos today on stressbeaters dot com and just one or two,
Speaker 1: maybe three or four of them, and as I was
Speaker 1: taking a short nap, I got into like that erv
Speaker 1: stage you might remember from days of Ingo Swan relationship.
Speaker 1: But I felt like I did one of the things
Speaker 1: you said to do, and I was right there in
Speaker 1: the presence of something and it was like where I
Speaker 1: should be. It was just really really cool. And anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm glad to have you here. Welcome. I believe this
Speaker 1: is this the first time you've been on coast to
Speaker 1: coast as well.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is, Connie, nice to be here.
Speaker 1: It's so great. You are a teacher, you know as
Speaker 1: I started watching your videos, you're a teacher. You're definitely
Speaker 1: a teacher for sure. But you've done so many things.
Speaker 1: You have the benefits of having talents and just incredibly
Speaker 1: intelligent with awareness and also a happy life with love.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, I've been a lucky guy.
Speaker 1: Well tell us, yeah, now you have in is it Scottsdale?
Speaker 1: You're in Scottsdale?
Speaker 2: Yes, I am, I am.
Speaker 1: Tell me about your institute.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm the director at the Scott Stille Institute for
Speaker 2: Health and Medicine and the Center for Mindfulness, And this
Speaker 2: is an organization that I founded in nineteen ninety three,
Speaker 2: originally to develop a holistic center in the Phoenix area,
Speaker 2: and we did that, and then after the center was developed,
Speaker 2: I decided that I wanted to focus my attention completely
Speaker 2: on the practice of mindfulness and teaching mindfulness. And so
Speaker 2: with that intention of really focusing in on mindfulness, we
Speaker 2: went forward and have been very successful in teaching many,
Speaker 2: many people, thousands of people, the practice of mindfulness and
Speaker 2: helping them reduce stress and reduce their fear and basically
Speaker 2: just be able to live a happy and healthy life.
Speaker 1: And when you say mindfulness, what do you mean when
Speaker 1: you say, hey, we talk about mindfulness and teach mindfulness.
Speaker 1: Is that consciousness?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, let's figure that out. My definition of mindfulness
Speaker 2: is being able to pay attention moment by moment, on
Speaker 2: purpose to the body, thoughts, emotions, and breath. And the
Speaker 2: reason that we pay attention in that particular way to
Speaker 2: the body of the thoughts, the emotions, and the breath
Speaker 2: is because the body is the gateway into the present
Speaker 2: moment experience. And what we've discovered through well over ten
Speaker 2: thousand studies over the past thirty years or so is
Speaker 2: that there's this phenomenon going on all over the world,
Speaker 2: really where in the field of stress are getting stuck
Speaker 2: in that experience of fight or flight. So we all
Speaker 2: know the experience of fight or flight to be our
Speaker 2: response to a survival threat, which is a good thing.
Speaker 2: We want to be able to have that response to
Speaker 2: the survival threat. We need the fear that comes up
Speaker 2: during fight or flight in order to mobilize us to
Speaker 2: be able to deal with whatever happens to be threatening
Speaker 2: our survival. The problem is this, for some reason, and
Speaker 2: we don't know why exactly, we just know that it's happening.
Speaker 2: But for some reason, people all over the world are
Speaker 2: getting stuck in that fight or flight response. So if
Speaker 2: you think about that for a moment, think about all
Speaker 2: the changes that take place physically, mentally, and emotionally when
Speaker 2: we go into fight or flight. Just sit with that
Speaker 2: for a minute. Imagine that all of those changes that
Speaker 2: we go into stay with us for an extended period
Speaker 2: of time. And I'm not talking just hours or days
Speaker 2: or weeks. I've worked with many, many people where it's
Speaker 2: not unusual at all for people to come to the
Speaker 2: realization that they've been stuck in this fight or flight
Speaker 2: mode for decades. It's not unusual to be with people
Speaker 2: who realize twenty thirty, even forty years they've been stuck
Speaker 2: in this fight or flight mode. And the predominating emotion
Speaker 2: that comes with that fight or flight mode being stuck
Speaker 2: there is of course fear, and very specifically fear of dying.
Speaker 2: And so when we begin to practice mindfulness training the
Speaker 2: attention to stay in the body, the thoughts, the emotions,
Speaker 2: and the breath, it's as if the body's senses that
Speaker 2: we're reconnecting with it and coming back into the present moment.
Speaker 2: And so the catch twenty two with being stuck in
Speaker 2: fight or flight is that our main coping mechanism that
Speaker 2: we deal with when we're in that fight or flight
Speaker 2: mode is our ability to disconnect. So what do we
Speaker 2: disconnect from? We disconnect from our body, our thoughts, our emotions,
Speaker 2: and breath, which is a good thing because if we
Speaker 2: get caught by the saber tooth tiger, we don't really
Speaker 2: want to be there to experience the pain and the
Speaker 2: suffering that's going to come to us if we get
Speaker 2: caught by that tiger. And so we've learned how to
Speaker 2: disconnect from the body. The problem is when we get
Speaker 2: stuck in fight or flight that we become chronically disconnected,
Speaker 2: so we lose our ability to really communicate with the body.
Speaker 2: And you would think that it would be a natural
Speaker 2: occurrence for us to come out of fight or flight
Speaker 2: and go back into balance, but unfortunately it's not a
Speaker 2: normal sequence to that anymore. And so in the practice
Speaker 2: of mindfulness, we become proactive and we focus our attention
Speaker 2: on the body thoughts, emotions, and breath, and it's as
Speaker 2: if at that point the body senses that were reconnected,
Speaker 2: and it takes that as a signal that there's no
Speaker 2: more danger out there. So what it does is it
Speaker 2: shifts the autonomic nervous system out of fight or flight
Speaker 2: and brings us back into that normal, balanced mode where
Speaker 2: we lose the fear, where we lose all of those
Speaker 2: changes that take place physically, mentally, and emotionally when we're
Speaker 2: in that fear mode. And so just by a very
Speaker 2: very simple practice of engaging that skill of being able
Speaker 2: to pay attention in that particular way, we're able to
Speaker 2: reverse being stuck in the fight or flight mode and
Speaker 2: coming back into balance. And so you'd think that would
Speaker 2: be the end of the story. Yeah, but it's not
Speaker 2: the beginning of the story. Coming out of the fear mode,
Speaker 2: that's just the beginning. Now, if you continue to stay
Speaker 2: connected to the body that gateway into the present moment experience,
Speaker 2: you will begin to have that present moment experience twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven. Now, I'm sure everybody has heard, either
Speaker 2: through sports or through some other medium, the term flow states,
Speaker 2: you know, being in the zone, peak performance, so forth,
Speaker 2: and so on. That is the natural state of being
Speaker 2: when you're in that mindfulness state, in that present moment state.
Speaker 2: Lots of studies behind that. So when we get rid
Speaker 2: of the fear and normalize the body of the thoughts
Speaker 2: and the emotions, we then begin to enter into these
Speaker 2: flow states. And you don't have to be an athlete,
Speaker 2: of course, to go into the flow state. The flow
Speaker 2: state is something that you can experience regardless of what
Speaker 2: you're doing twenty four to seven in your life. And
Speaker 2: so if you continue to do this practice, which does
Speaker 2: need reinforcing on a regular basis, So if you continue
Speaker 2: to do the mindfulness practice. You'll be able to sustain
Speaker 2: that flow state for the rest of your life twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven. And that really brings a lot of
Speaker 2: joy and happiness and peace into your life. So it's
Speaker 2: a great reason to do the practice. It's a prime
Speaker 2: motivator because it really brings us into a deeper experience
Speaker 2: and enjoyment of our lives and allows us to be
Speaker 2: more peaceful, more creative, more productive, so forth and so
Speaker 2: on without having the detriment of that fear from the
Speaker 2: stress hanging over us all the time.
Speaker 1: Does it take a long time with the practice to
Speaker 1: get to that point.
Speaker 2: It's a gradual thing, and you know, it's different with everybody.
Speaker 2: But I can tell you you know, as I mentioned before,
Speaker 2: I've worked with thousands of people over the years, and
Speaker 2: particularly with an eight week course that I teach, and
Speaker 2: I find that most everybody that goes through the eight
Speaker 2: week course, at some point during the eight weeks they're
Speaker 2: beginning to experience the benefits of the practice. Some start
Speaker 2: to experience the benefits after the first week, some second week,
Speaker 2: third week, but certainly by the end of the eight weeks,
Speaker 2: people are engaged and really experience that present moment experience
Speaker 2: the benefits of the practice, and then from that point on,
Speaker 2: when they continue to practice, it begins to unfold even
Speaker 2: more and more, and they continue to sustain those slow
Speaker 2: states that they've that they've begun to access during that
Speaker 2: eight week program.
Speaker 1: Do you blame like some of the reasons why we
Speaker 1: get stuck in what you were saying, also because life
Speaker 1: is busy, hurry up, got to do something else, have
Speaker 1: more responsibilities where you don't address your own self.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, that's that's a good point, Connie. The kind
Speaker 2: of lifestyle that most of us live in modern day life,
Speaker 2: with technology and so forth and so on, makes it
Speaker 2: difficult for us to turn inward and really focus our
Speaker 2: attention that way. It doesn't have to be that way
Speaker 2: to me. So, for example, a lot of people complain
Speaker 2: that stress that they excuse me that technology in the
Speaker 2: form of our phones and computers and so forth and
Speaker 2: so on, are creating this problem. My contention is that
Speaker 2: it's just a byproduct of the problem, and that it's
Speaker 2: really the way you see things that dictate whether or
Speaker 2: not you're going to experience stress. So I think that
Speaker 2: technology in and of itself is not the problem. It's
Speaker 2: our relationship to technology. That's the problem. We haven't learned
Speaker 2: yet how to relate to all of these things, these
Speaker 2: new things that that we're experiencing in the past ten
Speaker 2: twenty thirty years with that high technology in so many
Speaker 2: different regards, and you know, and beginning to unfold now
Speaker 2: even more so with AI and quantum computing is not
Speaker 2: far away as well. And so our world is changing rapidly,
Speaker 2: and we really need to have the tools to be
Speaker 2: able to survive without it taking us down into that
Speaker 2: rabbit hole of stress. And I believe through my own
Speaker 2: experience that mindfulness is that main tool that will allow
Speaker 2: us to survive and thrive in the face of all
Speaker 2: of this massive change that we're all experiencing nowadays.