08 Sep 034: Your past does not have to dictate your future – with Sam Morris, founder of Zen Warrior Training
Fear makes you something that you’re not. It’s something we all suffer, but it’s also something we can get beyond so we can live our lives full of joy, freedom and vitality.
In this powerful episode I’m joined by Sam Morris, founder of Zen Warrior Training.
In 1999, just after leading a bicycling trip for nine teenagers across the United States, Sam was in a car accident caused by a drunk driver which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Determined to not become the victim of his circumstances, Sam learned and created a system of mental and physical training based in Zen philosophy, meditation and somatic disciplines that healed his mind and body and brought him more vitality and clarity than he had before his injury.
In this episode we discuss how your circumstances do not have to define you, and how you can choose a life based on your intention.
We talk about how truly transformative Sam’s work is for his clients.
Find out how to get outside the habitual thoughts you have about yourself and tap into a deeper truth about who you are.
1:08 – Introducing Sam and his background, including being the founder of Zen Warrior Training and the car accident that put him in a wheelchair.
3:09 – The fear associated with situations like Sam’s, but using the situation as a journey to a more present and mindful place; not being defined by your circumstances, but your intentions.
7:06 – Knowing who you are rather than who you think you should be and how Sam forced himself into knowing who he is through confronting fear.
9:35 – The feeling of discovering a rare understanding and awareness of yourself.
11:42 – The concept of being present and training your mind to be present rather than consumed with busy thoughts; learning to observe the mental noise while being separate from it.
14:02 – Applying these ideas to Sam’s specific situation and examining how he started training his mind.
18:16 – The role of these techniques as they relate to limiting belief systems.
19:25 – Comparing Sam from now to Sam before the accident, mentally and physically.
21:59 – Different ways people go through traumas and how Sam can help unpack that through the Zen Warrior Training; the microtraumas in the unconscious mind.
23:57 – The impact of daily actions and Sam’s analogy of an island being shaped in the way our lives are shaped over time.
26:35 – How perspectives and expectations can shift.
28:18 – The importance of figuring out who you are and how that shapes the trajectory of other goals and decisions; breaking away from ego through being humbled.
30:52 – The concept of neutrality and using that as a way to listen to yourself; describing neutrality as a state of observation and the analogy of making a movie.
35:45 – Separating yourself from the noise and how that can aid in decision making; effortlessness as a result of this process.
38:06 – Embracing the discomfort and quiet of separating from noisy thoughts; the analogy of your mind as a still lake from The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.
41:28 – Finding stillness as the foundation for tapping into a deep joy of being connected to the authentic self.
43:13 – Contacting Sam.
Resources and Links Mentioned:
The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer