Bridging Ancient Wisdom and Modern Life: Unlocking the Modern Mystic with Marko Petrovic

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What happens when you've checked
all the boxes for being a

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successful man and still feel
that something is missing?

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Hello and welcome to Real Men
Feel.

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I'm your host, author, coach and
healer, Andy Grant.

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Please visit theandygrant.com to
learn more about me.

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We have conversations that most
men are not having, but that all

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men and the women who love them
can benefit from.

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My guest today is Marco
Petrovic.

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Marco is a visionary world
explorer and two time best

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selling author who bridges
ancient wisdom with modern

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living.
He leads transformative retreats

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to sacred sites worldwide,
aiming to awaken the soul

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through rituals and ancestral
connections.

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Today, Marco shares about his
willingness to drop his armor,

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to sit in silence for nine
months, the one thing we should

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use our mind for, and how grief
and betrayal were his doors to

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powerful transformation.
Let's do it.

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Hello Marco, and welcome to Real
MEN Feel.

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Thanks Andy.
Great to be here.

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Mark, I'm really inspired,
intrigued by the work you do and

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the sacred sites and the
initiations and all these

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things.
So what were the pivotal moments

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in your life that cause you to
embrace being a a modern day

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Mystic?
I'd say it was an awareness that

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the life that I've been fed by
the modern world have a sense of

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incompleteness to it.
And the way that manifested for

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me was I followed the typical
model of what it means to be a

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successful male in the Western
country.

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So I was raised in Australia.
That's where the Hexan comes

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from.
And, you know, I started off

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straight out of high school as a
personal trainer.

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I, at the age of 19, was making
more money than some of my

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friends combined in a week.
And so I was doing well as far

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as material sense goes.
And, you know, I drove a nice

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car, had a nice body, like, oh,
I checked all the boxes, so to

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speak.
Yeah, There was a part of me

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that felt significantly out of
touch with life, and it was a

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part that I couldn't name at
that point in time because I

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wasn't even aware of what it was
that I was missing.

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But as life does like, it leads
us down a pathway that gives us

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the insights that we need.
No.

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So what manifested for me was I
started to understand, you know,

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topics of.
And these are topics that to me

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at that point in time was in the
category of I don't know what I

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don't know.
Right.

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So we've got that category is
completely in our blind swap.

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And to me, that was like the
world of the inner realm,

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introspection, meditation,
personal insight through

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reflective practices, through
prayer, through connection.

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And that was a completely new
world to me because I was raised

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to be, you know, a man, right?
So I look at the world

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externally and I put on my armor
when I step out the door and I

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go.
And I forged my way.

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And it was those experiences
that led me down this path.

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Of what?
What you tell this is a modern

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Mystic.
Was there a single dark night of

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the soul and you just became
aware suddenly?

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Or was this, you know, a slower
process of various steps?

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How did it?
How did it unfold?

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I wouldn't say there was one
dark night of the soul moment.

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There was definitely key points
of impact.

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I'd say a blessing in disguise
was actually my mother's

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passing.
And I only learned how much of A

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blessing it was later on in
life.

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So she passed about, this is now
11 years ago, so in my early

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20s.
And at the time when she passed,

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you know, there was a lot of
sadness around the fact of like

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this person that I've known to
have in my life around every

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breath and around every meal
that we eat to always be there

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is no longer here.
And all the experiences that

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I'll miss that I was looking
forward to her being there for

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such as, you know, like at my
wedding to witness my children,

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you know, all those important
milestones of life.

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And I experienced her passing
both with sadness and grief, but

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at the same time a lot of beauty
and love and grace.

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How I experienced that beauty
was realizing that when she was

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no longer there, some of the the
pieces of the way that we relate

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because we all have our ideas of
how we should live our lives,

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right?
Our parents have a certain idea

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and I have my own.
And those themes that I didn't

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agree on with her and where I
would previously argue with her,

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I realized I no longer could
because she wasn't around.

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And the deeper insight that I
gave you was that actually all

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those arguments was her best
effort of expressing her love to

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me.
And so that cracked me open in a

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way that I still kind of
expressing words.

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And it had me look at life in a
completely different way,

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realizing how much time, energy
and effort I'd spent doing this

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with her butting heads, rather
than taking a moment to look at

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life from a slightly deeper lens
and appreciate how much love it

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takes to have a child that goes
against the grain and still keep

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showing up for him.
Right.

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And so I'd say that was one of
the big moments.

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The reason why I say it was a
blessing in disguise is because

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I later learned through studying
various indigenous cultures and

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and initiatory practices that
for men, one of the key

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processes for a boy to become a
man is actually have separation

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from women all together.
And so for me, life kind of

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gifted that to me by the passing
of my mother, which then led me

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on this quote UN quote soul
searching journey of being a

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modern day Mystic.
And many times I found myself by

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myself entirely.
Or do you surrounded with with

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elder men?
Is it common for grief to be an

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opportunity to to dive into a
spiritual journey?

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I'd say so.
I'd say it largely depends on

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how he made it right in that my
greatest initiations in life

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have been through the darkest
and most challenging times, so

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the passing of my mother is one
of them.

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The feeling of abandonment by a
mentor and a teacher who

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promised to do good on his word
and then turned his back and did

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the exact opposite was another.
You know, all these experiences

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where we can experience extreme
shock and trauma.

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Shock is like, if we look at it
from good and bad, the way I've

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experienced it is shock is bad
if I stay stuck in it.

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It's good if I can see the
greater effect of that ripple in

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my life.
And what I mean by that is shock

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would be me continuing to speak
about the sadness and grief of

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my mum's passing and never
actually integrating that

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chapter of my life into
understanding the blessings that

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that it gave me.
Because for everything I lost, I

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gained something, right?
I gained the opportunity to get

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to know myself in a way that I
didn't.

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I gained gained the opportunity
to get to know life in the way

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that I didn't.
In the same way with like, you

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know, a mentor or a teacher
abandoning me.

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Like these relationships that
are really close indeed to us,

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that's usually where the
greatest levers for

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transformation are.
And when I say it's how we meet

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it, it's about me asking the
question of how is this

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benefiting me in my life?
And until I can bring it to a

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point where I can look at that
person in the eyes and say,

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thank you, I love you.
By realizing the the degree of

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blessing that I got, then I
haven't come to peace with it

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yet.
And to to me, it's ultimately

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that, you know, it's easy to
point the finger and say, ah,

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this person did that to me or
whatever.

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But it takes a real man to be
able to look at the demons in

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our lives and make them our
best.

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Friend, I, I wanted to ask you
how important rites of passage

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and initiations are.
But but already I think you I, I

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at least used to have a rather
formal definition of what those

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were, but it seemed like you're
any challenge in your life

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you're talking about as an
initiation.

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Yeah, absolutely so.
How important are they and can

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they be?
Are they kind of self chosen?

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Self-described.
Yeah, I'd say that absolutely

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self chosen.
The piece to it is that life

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will inevitably bring them upon
us.

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It's a question of whether or
not we pick up the sword, right.

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So if we look at it through a
mythic lens, like the hero will

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have a challenge, whether it's
the dragon in the castle,

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whether it's the town bully that
picks on him, whatever it may

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be, the hero will always have a
task to show up to.

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It's a question within us
whether we have the the valiant

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and the internal resolve to say,
you know what, I'm going to man

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up and take care of this beast
in my life.

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And in that way, life is the
initiation.

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Like to me, there's no point of
our now I'm initiated, right?

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To me, that's a game of the ego.
And the moment that I say I'm

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initiated, I've actually lost
because I failed to recognize

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that like I'm through 1 tunnel.
But there's something else

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that's looking me in the eyes
already.

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So for me, business is the
initiation, family

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relationships, the whole piece.
Yeah.

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So it's not a single event, it's
a progression a a chain of

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multiple challenge opportunities
to that you turn into

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initiations for your own
expansion.

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Absolutely, yeah.
Cool.

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Mark, I've heard you speak about
aligning the gut, the heart, and

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the mind.
How does that triad impact daily

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lives and decisions?
It's a valuable question.

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I'd say for me, the real shift
was that journey of from boyish

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tendencies into manly tendencies
and earning my own masculinity.

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And what I mean by that is, like
I've spoken to 50 year olds,

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they're still very boyish in
their tendencies and the ways

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that they relate to life.
They can be fathers, but they

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can still be very boyish in the
way that they show up for life.

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And for me, one of the big
pillars is about where we

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resource ourselves from.
So a man typically has enough of

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a solid foundation to resource
within himself.

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And that doesn't mean that I
don't look outside for

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inspiration, for ideas, for
feedback.

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Absolutely.
I've solid man in my life.

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And as the old saying goes, iron
sharpens iron.

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But before I do any of that,
I'll take a moment to consult my

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own genius and give myself the
opportunity to take the seat of

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the throne of my own life and
take a look at how I'm relating

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to my Kingdom and everything
that I'm creating.

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And so this concept of the three
minds being the gut, the heart

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and the, and the brain, what I,
what I've learned through

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spending time with indigenous
cultures is that we actually use

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those three in reverse.
And for the most part, we only

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consider the mind to be a brain
and the heart.

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Maybe in some like conscious
men's circles, people will speak

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about it and then the gut is
very rarely spoken to.

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But the way that they look at
them through an indigenous lens

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is that the gut is actually the
first brain.

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Like that's the closest to the
umbilical cord, right?

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So that's where we know life the
most intimately.

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That's what we were given life.
And so that doesn't speak to

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emotion.
That speaks to all the subtle

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feelings that we can't name,
Like when someone slides you a

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deal and you go, yeah, that
feels good.

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Or something about that.
I don't know what it is.

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I can't put in words, but for
some reason I feel off about it.

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Right.
That's that gut instinct that we

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largely numb out, partly due to
dietary habits, partly due to

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the fact that we convince
ourselves that it's nothing more

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than a feeling.
And I should think about this

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longer, but you shouldn't.
Like you already had the

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instinct and the more you think
about and ponder on it, what

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I've come to appreciate is that
the more you open up the karma

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of that thing.
So I give you a perfect example

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where I invested money in
something that felt like that

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and then I ended up in an 18
month hold of my money not

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coming back to me and
experiencing more of that same,

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same energy, that same karma,
right?

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Whereas I should have just been
better off being like this.

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Do I want this in my life?
A seesaw?

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Not really.
I'm good, right?

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And then the heart is about the
emotional center.

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That's, that's about actual
emotions, that's about giving

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ourselves the capacity to de
armour all, all the strength

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synthetically that we put on
ourselves and actually allow

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ourselves to feel life.
Because regardless of whether we

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are a man or a woman in this
world, we have a heart.

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And the heart feels and like
there's beautiful studies from

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heart math that speak about the
fact that the heart process is

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40,000 times more information
than the mind.

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So it's not even up for debate.
Like, you've got a heart, it's

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beating, you better use it,
right?

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And then the third one is the
mind.

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What I love about one of the
indigenous practices that I was

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taught about the mind is they
actually say that the only time

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that they'll ever use the mind
is under 1 instruction to cast a

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beautiful thought.
And I thought, well, what, what

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a change to the way that we use
the mind in the modern world.

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Most people stress themselves
out, freak themselves out,

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00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,000
create an illusion upon an
illusion about fears, thoughts,

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doubts and judgements from what
they received from social media,

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friends, colleagues, family,
whatever it may be.

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Whereas for them, it's like, no,
you just live in the gut and the

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heart.
Make sure you feel good.

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You make sure you don't get
blocked up with emotion.

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And then if you're going to
spend some time up here, just

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make it beautiful.
That's it.

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I love that it's so simple and
powerful, and usually those are

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the best truths of of the world.
I think that how we go the human

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and experience our ego want to
make things complicated because

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we want to think we're so
complicated and difficult, but

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the the simple truths take us a
long way.

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00:12:56,800 --> 00:12:59,200
So I know you've worked with
indigenous people in multiple

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continents.
What are some of the the

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00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:04,880
commonalities that really stood
out to you and and that you saw

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00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,680
as like universal truths across
all the the all of your

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00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:11,800
experiences?
I'd say the big one is ceremony

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and that's something that we
don't have in the in the modern

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world almost entirely.
Like we have kind of half

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manufactured ceremonies of
graduating high school or

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graduating university or like a
bachelor's party, but they're

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00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,960
not really ceremonies.
They're kind of like moments of

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past like that.
Where is it ceremony for me?

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00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:34,160
Like if I was to answer in one
line, what is the ceremony?

264
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It's about celebrating life.
And so I know people have all

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these ideas from like they watch
movies and like stuff about

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vampires on that's this isn't
anything fantastical that I'm

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00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:47,600
speaking about.
It's about good people gathering

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around the fire and knowing how
to celebrate life.

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So it's like that.
There's a meme that floats

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00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,040
around from time to time that
says when you you when you're

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sick and you go to an Indigenous
Dr. and you ask them, how do I

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00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:03,720
get better?
They ask you a simple question.

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When did you last sing?
When did you last laugh?

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When did you last dance?
And when did you last play?

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Because they know if you haven't
done any of those four in a long

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enough period of time, then your
heart hasn't been expressing

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00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:15,640
itself.
And that's the centre of your

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life.
And so a ceremony is nothing

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more than coming into contact
with those four elements.

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And what I see is that they
light a fire.

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They'll bring some instruments,
some songs, they'll share some

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00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:30,960
good words, they might share
some insights and things that

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00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,600
they learned.
And they'll then have to be in

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00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,080
good relation and in being in
good relation.

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00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,000
To me is this really simple
teacher teaching of where they

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00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:42,880
sit in a circle and everyone's
voice is equal, right?

287
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:46,160
In a world where like how many
Instagram followers you have and

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00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:50,360
what title you you achieved
means something and that, well,

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00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,560
that means nothing.
It's extremely liberating to be

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00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,200
able to sit around a fire and
learn as much as you do from a

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00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,720
six, six year old as you do from
a 66 year old.

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00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,120
Marco, what inspired you to
create the Mara Project and and

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00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:07,080
what what is the Mara Project?
Yeah, the The Mara Project is my

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00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,440
best effort, giving people a
bridge to have more direct

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00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,960
experiences in life.
So like, we're flooded with

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00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:16,960
information, right?
We can learn anything that we

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00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,640
want, but most of us, we learn
stuff and then we never actually

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00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:21,360
apply it.
And for me, the real value of

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00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,240
life is in direct experiences.
So Mara for me is an honouring

300
00:15:25,240 --> 00:15:27,720
of that, learning how to get out
of left brain, right brain,

301
00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,000
thinking out of duality, black
and white, and learning how to

302
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:35,240
come into union with life.
Mara itself being a conjugation

303
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,320
of that Ma It may be like mother
Mama madre.

304
00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,200
It's etymologically rooted in so
many languages as an association

305
00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,000
to the mother and then RA just
like the rays of light, the

306
00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:49,000
sunlight or even the Egyptian
God RA.

307
00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:51,800
So it's that union of energies
coming together.

308
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,800
And so Mara Project was my
benefit of doing that and I

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00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,960
expressed it through some
physical products in the way of

310
00:15:58,160 --> 00:15:59,760
some beautiful plants that I
found.

311
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,200
A hero product is Dragon Breath
actually got the bottle right

312
00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,520
here, which it's probably the
most unique sensory experience

313
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:08,560
that you can have.
You you spray this in your mouth

314
00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,800
and it gives us gash of
sensation and flavour and

315
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,600
cleansing to your mouth.
That is really unique.

316
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:17,560
So for me, that's about just
being bringing people into

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00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:18,800
presence.
When I speak about direct

318
00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,600
experience, it's the kind of
stuff where you go wall like

319
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,640
this is life.
Yeah.

320
00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:25,480
And people putting people into
contact with that.

321
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:27,680
So there's some physical
products, some books that I've

322
00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:29,360
written, and I run some retreats
as well.

323
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,480
Yeah, I, I, I want a second and
third, this notion of direct

324
00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,080
experience because, you know,
everything I do on a daily basis

325
00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:41,040
is something I made fun of for
years until I tried it.

326
00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,320
And then, wow, this works.
I feel the results, right.

327
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,880
It's, you know, judge your
fruits of something.

328
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:51,280
Not, not what someone else said,
not a blog post, but yeah, dive

329
00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:53,320
into this life and experience it
more.

330
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,960
And then you'll, you know,
you'll find that the path that

331
00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,200
supports you most.
I I find how do you select some

332
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,400
of the sacred sites that you
take pilgrimages to?

333
00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,280
What it do you you know, is it a
meditation, a calling?

334
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:05,880
Is it that you always go to the
same place?

335
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,599
How does that work?
It feels like more that they

336
00:17:08,599 --> 00:17:13,480
select me to be honest with you.
So I went through a period of

337
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:17,599
nine months of silence during my
spiritual sabbatical when I sold

338
00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:19,680
everything that I earned about
five years ago and booked a one

339
00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,040
way ticket to Mexico.
And that nine month period of

340
00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,400
silence for me was about hearing
the whispers of life.

341
00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:28,760
And now I say that some people
and I, I can see on their faces

342
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,280
that alliance is like poetic or
like some spiritual, but it's

343
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,720
really not like when you look at
when the researchers went out to

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00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:40,440
speak to the Bushmen of the
Kalahari Desert, the Bushmen

345
00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:42,360
found it stranger.
The researchers couldn't hear

346
00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:45,400
the echoes of the stars and they
were saddened by it.

347
00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:49,200
And to most of us in the modern
world, that's a concept that

348
00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:52,000
we've never even heard of, the
capacity to actually hear the

349
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,640
echoes of the stars.
But they lived their life

350
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:55,520
according to that, They
navigated according to that,

351
00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:57,360
They knew how to move according
to that.

352
00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:59,280
So to them, it wasn't a foreign
concept at all.

353
00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,080
They could actually hear that
vibration and tune themselves

354
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,360
according to it.
And for me, that nine month

355
00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:08,360
period of silence was my way of
saying to life, hey, I'll zip it

356
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,080
for a period of time, but I want
to know where my feet land and

357
00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:15,920
where where my next point is
with that level of clarity that

358
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:17,440
I never questioned the steps in
my life again.

359
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,840
And so now I very much feel like
these sacred sites, they, they

360
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:25,480
speak to me and they call me in,
in ways that like it's an

361
00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:27,720
orchestration far more
intelligent than anything that I

362
00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:29,040
could create at the level of my
mind.

363
00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,320
It's more like coming into
harmony with the divine flow,

364
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:35,960
with the universal flow of life.
And so many of them have been

365
00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,960
pilgrimage sites where I've
visited and revisited many

366
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,560
times.
And some of them like I'm here

367
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,880
in Serbia right now.
I just got invited to 1.

368
00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:47,320
I didn't even know that it was a
sacred site until I showed up.

369
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,600
And then I got speaking with the
owner and I said, hey, by any

370
00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,480
chance do you like have this
particular spot here that you

371
00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,680
consider like a living altar, a
special tree, some rocks,

372
00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,400
somewhere where I can just go
spend a bit of time, get some

373
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,840
thanks, get to know the land.
He's OK.

374
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,880
Actually, we do.
And he walks me over the

375
00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:05,560
mountain.
I couldn't believe what I saw.

376
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,600
The exact same logo that I carry
on the back of my T-shirts of my

377
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:13,400
branding, which is this little
diamond pattern right here.

378
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,800
They had this huge art piece of
that creator that's hanging from

379
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:23,640
the tree and come to find out
that that's actually the the

380
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:26,840
symbology in Slavic mythology,
which is very mostly forgotten,

381
00:19:27,120 --> 00:19:31,360
but there's still remnants of it
around that in Slavic mythology.

382
00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:35,200
That was actually the symbol for
the goddess of fertility and I

383
00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:36,680
happened to be carrying it on
all my bottles.

384
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,080
Happens to be the energy that
I'm working with, happens to be

385
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,800
the design that came to me
through, call it inside

386
00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:43,440
inspiration, meditation,
whatever you want.

387
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,040
But at the same time, when I saw
that and I got shared the story

388
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:51,200
of what it was, I encountered
that as just the ancestors being

389
00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:54,800
very clear in their guidance and
how they're supporting me.

390
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,400
That, that's amazing.
I, I, I love synchronicities

391
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,560
like that, that just, yeah,
prove you're in alignment with,

392
00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,040
with what you're up to and, and
where you're headed and all

393
00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:05,360
that.
So good for you.

394
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:11,240
For people that don't feel able
to travel, is there a way to

395
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,720
connect with sacredness?
Wherever your environment is.

396
00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:17,440
Yeah, absolutely.
I'd say it starts with the

397
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,280
simple things, you know, like
every single moment could be

398
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:23,640
mundane or sacred when we think
about it.

399
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,920
Like if I just, if you just go
sit in an open field or again,

400
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,080
just light a candle and sit in
your house, it would seem like

401
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:35,680
every moment's the same and
quite mundane.

402
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:37,680
But if you actually pay
attention to the fame, they've

403
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,680
actually flickers once the same.
It's always slightly different.

404
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,400
And so for me, it comes out to
bringing more sacredness into my

405
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,360
life is paying attention to the
finer details of life.

406
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:51,960
And for me, the question was,
how can I bring more ceremony

407
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:53,600
into my life?
How can I make everything that I

408
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,320
do sacred?
And it started with a simple

409
00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:56,880
thing.
For me, a simple practice was

410
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,840
every morning I'd pour myself a
glass of water.

411
00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:02,840
And the very first thing I'd do
is I just have one good thought

412
00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,000
with that water before any
notifications, before I went

413
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,040
rushing around, before I did
anything else, I said one

414
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,720
moment, like, I don't have to
sit there and do any kind of

415
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,160
like posturing or anything like
this.

416
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:19,680
No, just water in my hands, even
if it's a thank you, if nothing

417
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,200
else.
And 30 days in, the ripple

418
00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,320
effect of that is profound.
And I can't speak to it, but

419
00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:30,160
what I can say is like with 70%
water in the body, 90% in the

420
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,240
brain, it does have a ripple
effect.

421
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,280
But it's one of those direct
experience pieces, right?

422
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:37,400
Like I can sit here and convince
you for days and share countless

423
00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,120
stories of people who've come
back and told me like, wow, that

424
00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:41,880
thing actually worked.
But I can't tell you how it's

425
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:43,720
going to work for you because
it's going to be rather unique.

426
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:47,000
Because water always finds its
own course according to what we

427
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,440
need and what we require.
So your sense of life?

428
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:56,480
How can ancient practices help
men stop checking the boxes,

429
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,920
stop putting on the armor, and
really redefine masculine

430
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:07,200
strength and vulnerability?
I'd say the first one is by

431
00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,120
accepting the concept of success
will start to change.

432
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,240
And what that looked like for me
was I realized that a large part

433
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,120
of the stress and pressure I was
experiencing in my life was

434
00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:24,800
because I hooked myself onto
this idea that I'm only being a

435
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,320
man if my business is growing.
And if it's not growing, then

436
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,320
I'm failing, right?
And that's a never ending

437
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,200
journey.
My business can always grow

438
00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,360
because it's an infinite.
It's a beast of infinite

439
00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:40,240
potential.
Yeah, I do the rocking show

440
00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:41,560
example.
I ask myself, at the end of my

441
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,280
days, what's going to be the
thing that I'm most grateful

442
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,360
that I did in my life?
Is it going to be the fact that

443
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,200
I diverted every single moment
of my days to growing my

444
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:49,560
business?
Probably not.

445
00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,360
It gets to a point where it's
like, cool, I get this, and I

446
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:54,920
can play this game, but what
else is important for me in the

447
00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,680
game of life?
Well, for me, success is how

448
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,160
many beautiful sunrises and
sunsets I can see.

449
00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,520
And that's something that I
wasn't port in seminar rooms, in

450
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,080
conference rooms.
It's something that I came to

451
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,200
terms with by going for a run
along the beaches of Sydney in

452
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:13,080
Australia and realizing, well, I
actually feel more enlivened by

453
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,560
this than all the successes I've
had in my business up until that

454
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,200
point, right?
And so these indigenous

455
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,280
practices, they help us come
back to the reality of it's

456
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:26,080
really important.
Like actually knowing how to

457
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:27,960
grow my own food was really
important for me.

458
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,680
So I spent seven years on a
farm, I've planted 16,000 trees.

459
00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,840
They gave me a connection to
life that like no words will

460
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,440
ever do justice for.
But when I go out in nation,

461
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,800
people go to me like, how did
you observe that?

462
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,200
How did you see that?
Well, you, you, you spent close

463
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,840
to a decade in nation.
You'll learn a few things.

464
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,680
Get your knees, knees and hands
in the dirt.

465
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,440
Chop with Gary Water is the old
saying guys.

466
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:52,880
Right, right.
Yeah, yeah.

467
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,760
If there's a man listening who
really hasn't started any sort

468
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,400
of spiritual journey, personal
growth, but he's feeling that

469
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,240
I'm missing something that you
described in in your life in the

470
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,440
beginning, what are some simple
steps they could take to start

471
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,960
tending that that temple within?
Yeah, sure.

472
00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:17,200
I'd say the most direct point of
access that can Pierce through

473
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,400
any of the thoughts and the mind
and they they can get us into a

474
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:22,000
direct experience is breath
work.

475
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,160
And I'm not talking like Wim Hof
style thirty 4015 minute

476
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:27,280
sessions.
I've got a very simple piece on

477
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,840
my YouTube actually it's 22
breaths, right?

478
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:31,760
So you can be done with it
within 3 to 5 minutes.

479
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,040
And what it will give you, isn't
it an experience of direct

480
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,960
connection to yourself in a way
that you don't know it and it

481
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:41,480
works every single time.
All you got to do is apply it

482
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,960
and give it a solid effort.
So I'd say that breath work for

483
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,160
starters.
And 2nd to that, I'd say feet on

484
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,080
the earth.
The amount of people that I

485
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,280
speak to that are gung ho for
biohacking and, you know, stuff

486
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,520
that they pick up of Joe Rogan
and other big podcasters.

487
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:58,760
And then when I speak to them
and I say, when's the last time

488
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,040
you put your bare feet on the
earth?

489
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,880
They can't tell me.
It's like, that's cool.

490
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,640
We can spend all the thousands
of dollars and learn all the

491
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:06,320
science and do all that stuff,
or we can just put off here.

492
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,840
Yeah, awesome.
So with all of your globe

493
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:15,480
trotting and writing and leading
and guiding people, what are you

494
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,400
looking forward to?
What's spending more time, more

495
00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:21,240
time with people in person?
Really, really my inspiration

496
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,240
now is the retreats that I'm
doing and being able to offer

497
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,920
more direct transmission.
For me, I consider myself

498
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,320
nothing more than just a guy
that enjoys spending time in

499
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,000
nature.
I've crafted the life that I

500
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,360
have because I really enjoy
being around the fire, being in

501
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,560
beautiful natural locations and
taking, taking people along with

502
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,720
with me that I can share the
memories with.

503
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:44,640
So that's what's really exciting
to me.

504
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:49,000
Aside from that, just working on
on my business for now, because

505
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,760
it's like a fledgling business,
right?

506
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,920
And I'm seeing more and more the
impact that it has in people,

507
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,880
especially our hero product.
And so I want to get get that

508
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:00,560
out there and do my best to get
it out there in a way that is

509
00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:03,560
aligned to natural law.
And when I say law, I say like

510
00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,160
LORE, right?
So following the rhythm of the

511
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,040
business, recognizing that this
thing was born through my

512
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,400
devotional walk through my
pilgrimages.

513
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,520
And so it very much has a spirit
of its own and I want to learn

514
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,840
how to be in good, good
relationship with with that

515
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:20,600
spirit and allow it to spread
its wings.

516
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,000
Marco, if you had unlimited
resources, what would you like

517
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:30,760
to put in place for men?
Greater culture around the

518
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,840
transformation of boy to men.
More, far more education around

519
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,680
it, far more conversation around
it and more than anything, more

520
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,680
direct experiences so that men
can, so the boys can actually go

521
00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:45,960
go through that process and
become men and to, to provide in

522
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,120
a way that it can be like an
ongoing brotherhood, right.

523
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:50,640
So it's not like a once tough
experience.

524
00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:54,120
It's a place where we continue
the the the anvil that we

525
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,840
continuously come back to to
keep refining average.

526
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,280
With all the talk of direct
experience, is there one thing

527
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:07,600
you wish more men knew?
Yeah, but it's on the other side

528
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:13,000
of the greatest darkness.
There's that old quote that says

529
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,360
The Cave we feel to enter holds
the treasures we seek.

530
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,720
It's a beautiful guide to a
degree.

531
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:21,480
But I'd say our greatest fears,
they don't show up as fears.

532
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:23,560
They're not the ones where we
go, oh, I'm afraid of that.

533
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:26,720
No, they're the ones where we
completely sideline ourselves

534
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,880
from thinking about it.
And we'll minimize it or we'll

535
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,480
put it, put it away and lock it
up in the back door to a degree

536
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,760
that we wouldn't think about it.
So for me, one of my greatest

537
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,760
fears that I went through
recently was when usually when I

538
00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,720
lean into like a pilgrimage or
like a ceremony or a

539
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,680
professional experience, I kind
of have a sense of who I am

540
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,320
going in and kind of who I'll be
on the other side.

541
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,920
I don't know for sure, but I
have a sense.

542
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:55,680
And I remember going through
this one where I was so afraid

543
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,320
to lean in because I actually
didn't know who Marco was on the

544
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,920
other side.
And I said that's where the

545
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,480
magic is, right outside the
comfort zone, outside of any

546
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,960
comfort that I've had thus far.
So it was the pieces stretched

547
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,000
me more than anything else.
And I'd encourage men to go

548
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,520
valiantly in pursuit of that
because it's never what we

549
00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:21,000
believe it that it is.
Marco, what's the best way for

550
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,720
people to connect with you and
keep track of all the things

551
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,360
that you're up to?
For sure Instagram was the best

552
00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:29,400
place and I've got all my links
to everything there in my buyer

553
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:33,440
it's just meet Marco M EE
TMARKO.

554
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:36,200
Excellent.
I love the work you're doing.

555
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:40,280
I love more people being brought
into the ancient wisdom and the

556
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,600
indigenous tribes and ceremonial
work.

557
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,480
You know, it's it's initiations
right to passage had a

558
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:50,200
tremendous impact on me.
It was the IT was 2016.

559
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,160
I did my first initiation with a
modern mystery school and also

560
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,760
with the mankind project.
So I felt like I was finally

561
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,960
stepping into my spiritual truth
and my masculine truth.

562
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,720
And, you know, nothing's been
the same since that.

563
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,520
So again, more people need to
know about all the various

564
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,440
options out there.
And this world is, you know,

565
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,680
littered with the sacred places
that you can really have a, a

566
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,680
truly magical experience with.
So again, I'm so glad of the the

567
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,880
work you're out there doing and
and bringing people to these

568
00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:19,720
spots.
Appreciate it.

569
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:21,680
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for having me.

570
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,560
Thanks for joining us everybody.
Please visit realmenfield.org.

571
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,520
See the blog post for this
episode, which have all the

572
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,000
various links and resources
discussed.

573
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,880
If you've done all the things
you're supposed to do, yet still

574
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,760
feel like something is missing
in your life, I invite you to

575
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:36,200
book a free Clarity call with
me.

576
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,360
We'll explore what you want and
what's in your way.

577
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:44,960
Visit theandygrant.com/talk and
until next time, be good to

578
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:45,360
yourself.