Episode Transcript
My name is Ken Hanuman, and this is my wife, Dr. Anne O'Hare. We both work in healthcare and have been meditating for many years. We also enjoy a happy and fulfilling marriage. Come listen and see how to demystify spirituality and bring it into your home, your hearts, and in all your relationships. We will share our experiences and how we use these principles in everyday life. Welcome to the spiritual relationship. Hello everyone. Welcome to today's podcast. As you know, the name of the podcast is The Spiritual Relationship. My name is Ken Hanuman, and this is my wife, Dr. Anne O'Hare. Today's topic is about cultivating team consciousness. What we're actually doing is to point out that it is necessary to, learn how to function in a large group when you're on the spiritual path. As you know, we have been studying, yoga for many, many years, and I've been practicing meditation. We have used it in our lives and it has been tremendously helpful to us. So we would like to share that and to and to even share a part of our life showing you how we've used it in practice. I find that being in, a large group, it gives you a sense of belonging. You, are able, your self transformation and your understanding of the knowledge, you are able to share that with others, and others are able to share their experience with you. So this is a form of emotional support and we need that. And the other thing, it, provides an opportunity for us to reflect, for us to have a deeper spiritual experience. And, if you are in a company of people who have been doing it for a longer time, you get that validation or you get that guidance as you progress. And you need that because spirituality is about understanding yourself and understanding the mind. If we are honest with ourself. We haven't really done much of that in our life. Now that we are on this path, we're realizing we are getting into territory that might, you can say unknown. So this is where we need the big, the larger group to be in. Luckily, today, we can do that physically by being in the same area. The same building or the same, at the same address, but also people can meet on Zoom. I mean, there's so many other ways that people can share. So I would like to ask, Anne in her spiritual practice, what was the benefit, that she received by being in a large group? Wow. I like the words belonging that you just used. I like the words that we're able to share with each other, reflect back each other, maybe what I've learned in my, my spiritual progress, that I'm adding it to the group and that whatever is going on in the group gets added back to me. I just wanna make a distinction here. I didn't even realize. That we're talking about team consciousness, but as you're talking now, it's, we're talking about now a spiritual group. Yes. We're talking about a group of spiritual people who are working on themselves doing Raja yoga meditation, which I didn't know. I didn't realize that we were gonna talk about that. So, because I had this other idea, like maybe we were gonna talk about, you know, getting something accomplished or something like that. But in spirituality, it's not really about that. Although things do get accomplished, don't get me wrong, things do get accomplished, but the emphasis is not on what gets accomplished. I'll share my experience. I don't know. Many of you may have the same kind of background as me. Where, maybe before the emphasis was on getting the thing accomplished. I remember growing up and even in my career as a nurse, early on, if people had bad personalities or were nasty or whatever, if they were able to do the job, it was almost like the personality didn't matter. Because it was more important to do the job and you had to kind of harden yourself. I was, grew up in New York, so. I guess location and circumstances matter, right? Because environment matters. So what I'm talking about now is the environment that I grew up. So if you were able to do something and you were able to work with other people and get to get where everyone is trying to clear away their old ways of operating and their old habits that maybe are maybe selfish or jealous or, and all, we all bring all that into the spiritual gathering anyway. Jealousy and selfishness and everything all comes in. But your question is what do I get out of it and what I get out of it the main thing is that the emphasis gets taken off the task, and gets put onto the souls that are there. So it's about the gathering. It's about being together. It's about learning from each other. It's about, and one thing I'll share one other thing. Whenever you meet people, however you show up with them, they're remembering you that way next time. So like one of the things with the team. Is maybe you don't wanna bring in a negative energy with the team. You always wanna bring in a positive energy with the team. If you say, like, if you have a, an energy that's built up, you have like two people that are thinking the same, like a couple or something. You have two people that are thinking the same and working the same and whatever. Imagine you have 10 people that are thinking similar. Have the same aim and maybe working together. Maybe they have different specialties, or different roles in the group, but it doesn't matter 'cause we all have the same aim. Now imagine 50 people like that. Imagine a hundred people like that. When you have that kind of sameness or unity or that same feeling or the same aim and you have bigger numbers, it really helps you. It really makes a difference. So the team consciousness, I would say would be that you're not alone. You're with a group of people who are making the same effort as you. And we're getting things done. But on a subtle level, I'm being cooperative with the group and I'm benefiting from the group. So it's subtle. Maybe we don't talk about it. But I can tell you from experience, we just came back from a retreat in, we have a retreat center in Peace Village in New York, the Catskill Mountains. And after that experience, there's definitely a feeling that changes or you get something from being with the group. From being in the group for meditation, from working with the group. Ken stayed on for another week or two week or so where he was actually working with the people who live there, you know, doing things for the facility. So that is also gives you a sense of belonging, but it's not like an ordinary thing. Yeah, it's not an ordinary thing. The aim is higher and the, and what you're thinking about and what they're thinking about is much higher than ordinary. Well, one other thing that I learned from that and is that your awareness or your consciousness, you're thinking of the group, you're not thinking of yourself. Mm. How, who am I in relation to the group? What am I contributing? Am I making it better? Am I making things lighter? Is there cooperation? Is there a harmony where my skills are used? And, in a way that compliments and to ensure the, that everybody who attend, that retreat would come out with a great experience. And actually they did from the feedback that we got. Mm-hmm. But to your point, you were saying that we can look at this another way. When you're in a family, that's also a team by the way, that's also a team. It's also a team because you're a unit and you're working towards the upliftment of everyone in that group, which calls for a selflessness, an, to be inclusive, to maybe sacrifice a little bit for the benefit of others. And then I think this helps you spiritually because spirituality is not just about doing meditation. It is about developing a self-awareness and self, development that enables you to cooperate with others. And that can be a challenge. But if you do well, and if you enhance. The family, name or reputation or things like that, then everybody benefits from that. There is a kind of a blessing there because you're not only doing it for yourself, you are actually doing something that benefit others and they're not necessarily benefiting from what you tell them what to do, but by your action. That's the thing about. Families. I feel that in family people don't necessarily listen to you. Your advice. They're actually learning from what you are doing. That's a very, very important point, isn't it? Yeah. Because isn't that true? We're more interested in what people are doing and how they behave. Yeah. Than what they're saying. Yeah. And as you know, they're gonna bring up. You are all your old stuff when you try to tell them, no, I've changed now. Mm-hmm. And then they would say, really, I remember when you used to do this. Is it possible then for you to change in a way that they can see the transformation to the point where it diminishes their recollection of you or see you through that, one mistake or whatever it was in the past. So you could see where your spiritual growth, it's almost like you get a stamp of approval and you need that from the group to know that you're actually doing a good job and you, you're growing, you know? Can, can I thread this? Can I put a thread through this whole thing? 'cause I don't know, when we started talking about team, I'm thinking like a team, but it's more than team. It's family, it's group, it's how people remember you. It's the influence that we have on each other we're talking about. Right? Yeah. So in spirituality, we're looking at it much deeper than just, oh, you know, we have a football team and we can all work together. Yeah. You know, it's much deeper than that. It's much more, much more heartfelt than that, or much more. I, I'm not finding the right word. Yeah. But like in your case, you're the one in the family where you know, you've, dedicated yourself to this study, you're still working. Yes. And, you're bringing up a child and they are learning from that. And in, initially there might have been some resistance, but now they're very happy that you are the one that is trusted. You're the one that, is. Yeah, my family was a little bit mm-hmm. You know, 'cause I did something different than they're used to. Mm-hmm. So of course there might be a little bit of a reaction, but now it's all of a sudden it, it has transformed and now it's, and and it is still transforming. Yes. It's still even transforming now. Yeah. Can I add one last thing for me anyway? Like you have to with team consciousness where you have to challenge yourself to continually increase your own self-respect. Yeah. The team is gonna do whatever they do. The other people in the group are gonna do whatever they do, and I have to continually challenge myself to grow and to know that what I have to give and what I have to offer is valuable, right? Whether they're paying attention to me right now or not. Mm-hmm. Whether I'm getting attention or not. And sometimes that's important to say, 'cause in in groups, yeah. It's, yeah. In groups sometimes maybe they'll be paying attention to you and everybody will be so happy that you're there. And then the next time you're with them, they're not paying attention to you at all. Right. So there has to be some kind of self stability and self-confidence, and also self-respect. Like I, I know who I am regardless. Yeah. And that's very important and that's an individual thing I. But you have to maintain that in order to be healthy. In the group. In the group. In the group, exactly. Yeah. I mean that it's not gonna be without challenges. Yeah. But at the same time, if you can overcome that and you're able to hold your own, you can balance solitude with interaction, you don't lose your self-esteem, you don't lose, your understanding of your role or your virtues. Or your, yeah, your skills. Your skills or, yeah. Right. You don't lose that. Don't lose sight of who you are because you're not, you have to hold your own. You can't, you can't try to please others, by trying to be what they want you to be. You have to know who you are. And if you are stable in that it, and you were convinced that it is making a difference in your life. Then, you know, it'll also do, it'll be the same for them. Eventually. Eventually. Even if it isn't right now, it's okay. Right? It's okay. Yeah. Stability, self-esteem, and a good heart. A good feeling towards them. Don't lose sight of that and you'll see that being in the group will make you a better person. I hope this kind of gave you some tips. That you might be, not be in like a spiritual group like we're talking about, but these are spiritual principles that you can bring to any group. We were talking about family, you can use this at work, you can use these ideas in your, any group that you're in. Very important to have these kind of balances and to be able to contribute. So with that, we'll finish for today. Yes. All right. Thank you everyone for being with us and we'll see you next time. Take care. Thank you. Bye-Bye. When you walk into a room, life gets little. You.
