Ep. 52 (Part 1 of 2) | Saniel Bonder and Linda Groves-Bonder live and guide others along the path of embodied awakening, using the tools of transmission, mutuality, self-inquiry, evocation, and more. They have named their process of spiritual embodiment “waking down,” to distinguish working the nuts and bolts of an individual’s unique path of spiritual development from the more general transcendent state described by the term “waking up.” Saniel and Linda not only mentor people on the road to awakening, but also through the challenges and never-ending process of purification that characterize post-awakening stages.

How do we speak to our present state of divinity? What really leads to the stabilization of awakening? In this heartfelt, open conversation, Linda and Saniel share practical wisdom about nonduality, self-sense, and radical transcendence; the importance of fostering communion and appreciation; using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality; and also describe their own unique and beautiful ways of sanctifying and ritualizing everyday life. Saniel and Linda's system of opening people up to an awakened life, is very much an individuated one; their 10-year vision is one million hearts illumined. Recorded October 27, 2022.

“Practicing one’s identification as the Great Mystery.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• John talks about his early experience with cults, shadow, Integral (01:01)
• What does it mean to be enlightened/awakened? Saniel’s capacity for transmission and mutuality (06:20)
• Cult leaders and what really leads to the stabilization of awakening (10:29)
• What is waking down (versus waking up)? (15:43)
• “Onlyness” and the down aspect of waking down: embodiment (19:09)
• Nonduality, the self-sense, and radical transcendence: the simultaneity of being here as a divinely human being (20:04)
• Sahaj samadhi: living in a transcendental condition while also participating in everyday life (24:30)
• Using “HEART” to point to ultimate reality (25:28)
• The nature of human evolution is not human seeking God, but God seeking human (26:11)
• The unique ways individuals find to open up to the greater reality are often a surprise (31:36)
• What are the specific elements of Saniel & Linda’s process? (33:20) 
• Tanking up on the transmission aspect: meeting in mutuality together, and exploring the precepts and practices that have emerged for Saniel over the last 3 decades (35:43)
• Individuating the system (38:42)
• Self-inquiry and Saniel & Linda’s own working kōans (40:22)
• 12 gateways to realizing yourself as a divine human being, 6-step recognition yoga, and active conscious dreaming (43:08)
• Ethics, emotional work, shadow, community, and waking down in mutuality are all part of the “down” aspect of the work (45:58)
• Broken-off zones in relationships can be a chokehold on the transformational process (53:27)
• Crystalizing a deeper identity as the “all”: recognizing each person’s uniqueness and appreciating the other (55:40)
• The effectiveness of Six Step Recognition Yoga: see it, feel it, live it, be it, transcend in place, and speak it all along the way...