Ep 186: Troy Hadeed ~ Trinidad to Transformation & My Name Is Love

Join us for an inspiring episode with Troy Hadeed, an exceptional guest whose life journey takes us from the vibrant landscapes of Trinidad to introspective travels across Central America. As a writer, yoga instructor, and entrepreneur, Troy's experiences bridge diverse cultures and philosophies. Discover how his central theme, "My Name is Love," resonates in today's world, and listen to Troy share profound insights on the transformative power of embracing one's inner experiences. We'll discuss how the practice of yoga, when combined with mindfulness of breath, mind, and spirit, can lead to a deep transformation that echoes beyond the mat.

Troy's extraordinary book My Name is Love is now available in print and on audio.

Troy's exploration of love and identity challenges us to look beyond the surface differences of race, religion, and personal identity. He shares his reflections on how our shared spiritual ancestry can unite us, stressing that our interactions leave a lasting imprint on human consciousness. His stories illuminate the power of understanding and embracing our universal connection, fostering a deeper sense of empathy and compassion. Through this conversation, we reflect on how these perspectives can help us not only navigate our own lives but also contribute to the broader evolution of human consciousness.

In the final chapters of our conversation, Troy opens up about his spiritual journey, rediscovering faith and spirituality outside the boundaries of organised religion. Influenced by his privileged upbringing and the vibrant reggae and Rastafarian culture, he shares how these experiences instilled in him a responsibility to advocate for love and empathy. Troy also talks about the importance of self-understanding and gratitude, acknowledging how our actions impact those around us. Whether you’re attending his yoga sessions or engaging with spiritual teachings through various platforms, Troy invites everyone to harness these insights in their own lives, encouraging a path of authentic growth and transformation.

Find Troy and buy My Name is Love here:
https://troyhadeed.com

Chapters

• 0:02 Breath, Yoga, and Meditation With Troy
• 11:44 Understanding Love and Identity
• 26:04 Rediscovering Faith and Spirituality
• 33:21 Transformative Power of Self-Understanding
• 45:50 Exploring Transformation and Gratitude

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Truth and Transcendence, brought to you by being Space with Catherine Llewellyn.

Speaker 1: 0:18

Truth and Transcendence, episode 186, with special guest Troy Hadid. Troy is on today to talk about his favorite theme my Name is Love which, honestly, I can't wait to see how that unfolds, and we'll find out why that's so important at the moment as the conversation unfolds. Troy was a little bit about him. He was born in Trinidad. He wrote his first letter to the editor at the age of 10. He has taught yoga internationally for over 15 years and has founded several successful businesses, including a hemp store, a waste oil recycling business and a yoga studio. He's walked coast to coast across Central America, navigated the world by ship, spent prolonged periods in silence which for many of us would be harder than any of those other things and is continuously seeking to make sense of the human experience. And good luck with that, I have to say. And you can find Troyroy at troy hadidcom, but he's very, very present on instagram, troy hadid, so that's where you could find him, and we'll remind you of that towards the end of the conversation as well.

Speaker 2: 1:36

So, troy, thank you so much for coming on the show yeah, thanks for having me, catherine, and um, you know, I always like to start. I feel like, um, when we listen to podcasts, we don't always realize what goes in creating a show of being a host and making it. Yeah, so I just want to take a moment to say thank you for what you do and for giving people like me, oh, oh, my pleasure, and I really appreciate you saying that, because you're quite, absolutely right.

Speaker 1: 2:10

It's a bit like the swan. You probably don't have swans over there. No, no swans we have. You know, the swan glides on the water as if it's just gliding, but under the water its feet are madly, madly, madly paddling. It's a bit like that when you run a podcast.

Speaker 2: 2:26

Wow, I didn't know that.

Speaker 1: 2:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:27

I didn't know that, wow.

Speaker 1: 2:29

So they're just when they're gliding. I saw one the other day. There was a we have in Wales. There are a lot of people digging in the ground, you know, for stone and coal and stuff like that, and when they're done it leaves a hole which becomes like a little pond or a big pond. And I was walking around one of these ponds the other day and there was this beautiful white swan gliding and I thought I know what's going on underneath the water.

Speaker 2: 2:55

Yeah, yeah, a lot of activity. Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 3:00

Bless you for saying that. I really appreciate that and you know, by the same token, you've been doing some incredible work for a long time that you've been putting your heart into, and I've actually attended online some of your yoga classes, which I just really do because, not surprisingly, you're fitter and stronger and more flexible than I am, but nevertheless, you know it was, it was something for me to work through and respond to, and I really noticed how you're weaving certain, um, very important notions through the work you're doing when you're yeah working with you yeah, it's so important.

Speaker 2: 3:45

You know, catherine, that I'm sure I teach asana, which is posture, is something that's a yoga, but, um, that's not to me, that's not really the yoga. The yoga is, um, what happens inside of this capsule, what happens inside of that posture. So these postures are just, they hold in practice, and in practice it's really our relationship to our breath, our relationship to our mind, our relationship to spirit. And when we begin to cultivate that, it begins to impact how we live our lives. And it's so important to connect those dots because if we didn't, what use would it be? Yes, yes yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Troy, I'm getting a slight echo on your sound, so I wonder if we are actually picking up from your proper microphone or if we're picking up from the computer microphone.

Speaker 2: 4:42

How about this? Is this better?

Speaker 1: 4:44

That's better. Yes, that's more resonant.

Speaker 2: 4:47

Okay, well then, my microphone just went on.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Ah, excellent, good, Well, listen. Yesterday I was going to do an episode and I had it all set up. I came in here and the computer was off. There'd been a power cut. You had to scramble, the computer was off. There'd been a power cut.

Speaker 2: 5:08

Yeah, I had to scramble, I went into a panic.

Speaker 1: 5:10

I had to scramble. So I think that's another thing that is important we allow ourselves which is that thing of? Sometimes we need to make an adjustment. Yeah, no-transcript.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Impacts how we live our lives. And if we could just cultivate, take time to cultivate a relationship to these things, it begins to impact how we live our lives.

Speaker 1: 6:20

I completely agree. I was working with someone the other day and this person shared with me that they find it very difficult to take a deep breath and I thought that was very sad. Now, this is someone who does extraordinary work in the world, contributes an enormous amount and and I thought, and they can do that without being able to take a deep breath, so what will happen when they can take a deep breath?

Speaker 2: 6:53

yeah, 100, 100 it's, um, you know one of the most beautiful things really quickly. I know we could talk about breath for hours, but one of the the beautiful things if we can actually understand how breath works, you know is for most people I would ask well, when you inhale, do you pull air into your body? And they would say yes, and I would say no. See, that's not actually how breath works, but we think it is. We think we pull air into our body, but it doesn't happen like that. Right, it's a vacuum. It's physics, right. When you expand the volume of your thoracic cavity, which is your ribcage diaphragm, up to your sternum, the air pressure inside of you decreases. The air pressure inside of you decreases and what happens is, according to laws of physics, gases move from high pressure to low pressure. So when that happens, the air outside of us is now at a higher air pressure, so that air moves into us to fill us up. And it's not so much that we pull air into us. I envision it more like we open our arms and allow someone to step in and give us a hug. So we create space to receive breath, we create space to be breathed by something externally, and the same force breathes all of us. And when you begin to understand this, it changes the relationship you have with your breath. And then we can go on to the understanding of physical tension. Because if we carry physical tension in our body, then our muscles are tight, our body is compressed and we can't expand the receding breath. And I think this is one of the.

Speaker 2: 8:49

You know we were talking about yoga postures and asana. This is to me, the greatest benefit of yoga asana it releases tension in the body so that we can breathe differently. And once we start breathing differently, the state of mind begins to change. And I remember being told I've always been told that the old teachings of yoga say that we practice postures so that we prepare ourselves to sit in meditation and pray for long periods of time. And for me it's not only to sit in meditation and pray but it's to live in meditation, that everything we do, every word, every action, every thought becomes a prayer. Our lives become a prayer. Our lives become a meditation, and I think that is the fullest understanding of the practice itself. You know a prayer at. Our lives become a meditation and I think that is the fullest understanding of the practice itself. You know a prayer at all?

Speaker 1: 9:49

Yeah, yeah, how beautiful. Yes, and you do express some of these things when you are. I mean, I know you said to me. Sometimes people say to you are you actually doing yoga at all or are you simply doing spiritual teachings?

Speaker 1: 10:05

And whilst you're doing that, by the way, people there's a little bit of movement going on and that really comes across in your work and I really do recommend to everybody check out Troy's work. He's on Gaia TV is where I tuned in, but I know that you also have other places where your work goes out and of course you know people. If you're in Trinidad, then just find him in person. I know I would, if I was suddenly in Trinidad.

Speaker 2: 10:36

I do actually come on teaching in the UK from time to time.

Speaker 1: 10:39

Do you really?

Speaker 2: 10:40

The last time I was there was before COVID, so it's been a while, but you never know what 25 holds.

Speaker 1: 10:49

Where did you teach in the UK last time?

Speaker 2: 10:53

I taught at a studio in London called Endaba and there's a community in Matlock in Northern England. I believe that I've went to teach at twice.

Speaker 1: 11:09

Fantastic, excellent. I'm glad to hear that.

Speaker 2: 11:15

I've never taught in Wales, but you never know.

Speaker 1: 11:18

Well, you never know. There's a lot of people here teaching yoga and there's a lot of people practicing yoga. There's a lot of people here teaching yoga and there's a lot of people practicing yoga.

Speaker 1: 11:32

I don't think I've ever found a place other than in the city, with so many people working with yoga and it's so rural here. And then you find in the middle of nowhere a hall with lots of people doing yoga. It's fantastic. So, coming back to our theme, my Name is Love, which I just love that. If you kind of cast your mind back, can you remember the first time that that sort of phrase really dropped into your consciousness as something that was really meaningful for?

Speaker 2: 12:05

you, yeah. So my book was released last October and when I was a little bit of backstory, when I was in my early 20s, I loved popcorn. I still love popcorn and I used to go to movies a lot and I put my hand in my pocket and I pulled out an old kernel of popcorn and I ate it and I said popcorn in my pocket is going to be the name of my first book. And it was Up until a few months before we published and I had some literary friends and my editor and we all agreed that the content of this book, the depth of teaching and reflection in this book, was way too strong and way too profound to be called Popcorn in my Pocket. Yeah, way too strong and way too profound to be called popcorn in my pocket. Yeah, popcorn in my pocket was more of like a light, fun, flowery kind of name. So we knew, especially when we cover the book, which is a picture of my face, it's actually a photo that was taken by a UK photographer, english photographer. Her name is Laura Stevens and she currently lives in Paris. So that photo was taken by accident. It wasn't in any way meant to be a Kabobby book. I actually I decided. One thing I did not want was my face on a Kabobby book. So this happened and we and we knew well, we wanted to use this photo, but we couldn't use the name popcorn in my pocket with this photo. So we knew we needed a different name, people.

Speaker 2: 13:55

And uh, I went back and forth with my editor and we threw around a lot of things and she was like love, love, your love suggests falling in love. And I was like, nah, that's way too generic love. Like everyone has a different meaning of what love is, and that's part of the problem. And I um, I remember taking a moment and we played around with all his names and ideas and throughout his book there's a consistent theme in very subtle ways, and that consistent theme is how can we get over ourselves?

Speaker 2: 14:38

Because what gets in the way of us even understanding what love is is our individual identity.

Speaker 2: 14:48

Because as long as we have a sense of identity, that identity might be a skin color, a race, a religion, a name, a belief system, a political view, an opinion, an ideology, a nationality, a sexual orientation.

Speaker 2: 15:04

All these things are aspects of our identity and all of them separate us and they divide us and they make us different, and I'm sure they all have a place right, because they all give us a sense of individual human experience. But if we allow that sense of individual human experience, yeah, but if we allow that sense of identity to overcome us, then what happens is we will always live our lives governed by the need of self-justification, self-preservation, and that gets in our way of being able to love. And we live in a world of being able to love. And we live in a world where we have all these aspects of identity. Everyone is identifying with all of these things, even making them up day by day, and all of these layers of identity just separate us. They're all, in some, some sense, an aspect of illusion that takes us away from who we really are.

Speaker 1: 16:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:11

And I realized in this introspection that the only thing I can really identify with is love and spirit, love and God, because, in reality, even this concept of ancestry well, why am I going to stop at one point along a timeline of history that reinforces my identity as being different from somebody else? Why stop there? Why not go all the way? If we're going back to trace our ancestry, why don't we go all the way back?

Speaker 2: 16:52

Because when we being sort of slime, Spirit, god, whatever it is that source, whatever that source is, but the reality is that, whatever that is, we've. The reality is that, whatever that is, we've all come from that same place.

Speaker 1: 17:09

Yes, I get you that our ultimate ancestry is the same. Yes, thank you. Sorry, I had to do a mind flip just there to get what you were saying, because we're not talking about our physical ancestry. We're talking about our physical ancestry. We're talking about our essential ancestry, our spiritual, yeah, yeah yeah, because because you know what.

Speaker 2: 17:32

What he also points to, catherine, is that I cannot be my body. I am not my body, because I know that I exist after I leave my body. And I remember having this conversation with. I was on a podcast and this guy was an atheist. So he was trying to have fun with me, right, he was really trying to provoke me and I was explaining to him that, you know, I know there's a higher intelligence at some time, whatever form that is, and I am also 100% certain that I exist after I leave my body. And he couldn't understand. He couldn't understand. How can I be 100% certain?

Speaker 2: 18:19

And I like to break things down for people, right, because I understand why someone might have resistance to God or someone might choose not to believe in heaven or hell or any box of the afterlife. I get that, but here's the reality. It's impossible for Catherine and Troy to lead this conversation, as you've seen people that came in, I agree. It's also impossible for our listeners to leave as the same people who came into it. Yes, because every interaction we have, there's a consciousness, an energetic exchange, a resonance that changes who we are from that point on.

Speaker 2: 19:04

Yeah, that changes who we are from that point on. Yeah, so I know when I leave my body that there's a resonance of my life, a vibration of my life and my contribution to the evolution of human consciousness that will live through every individual I have ever made contact.

Speaker 1: 19:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:22

And thereby every individual they have ever made contact and thereby every individual they have ever made contact. Yeah. So in that understanding of energetic resonance, I know that lives my immortality and your immortality, yes, and all of us. So in that I understand that I am not my body. Therefore, when I speak to ancestry, I am not speaking to my physical ancestry, because I know my physical body is just a temporary state and it's not really who I am.

Speaker 2: 19:58

And I think, if we can, can remember that right, and I really don't like to talk in esoteric little things, I really try to break it down. But even on the mere basic level, that is true, that cannot be questioned, and in that is our immortality. It's a reminder that I am not my body, I am not actually Troy, this is just what I'm wearing at this point in time, and so I identify as love, I identify as spirit and I also identify everyone else as love and everyone else as spirit. I think it's all our layers of identity that we've gathered from the day we were born that get in the way of us even understanding what it means.

Speaker 1: 20:56

Thank you Wonderful. I love that. I love the way you kind of you're going along a certain train in the way you're explaining something, and then you, it's almost like you suddenly do a step to the left that I wasn't expecting, and then you just carry on as like you suddenly do a step to the left that I wasn't expecting, and then you just carry on as if you never made a step to the left, carry straight on. It's a kind of lateral, it's revealing. You know, it feels like it's sort of opening windows in my mind as you're speaking, and I find that really delightful. That's just so, it's a gift.

Speaker 1: 21:31

I think that's one of the things that we can do for one another, isn't it? We can, actually, because we each have a unique perception and a unique perspective, don't we? And when we share it kind of unapologetically, just share it without it being an argument. It's a and equally, I don't feel like you are looking for people to agree with you either, are you? You're just you're going. This is what I'm sharing, this is what I'm saying, and then I feel I've got the space just to do what I like with my response to that.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Yeah, yeah, I mean even opinion to identity, right. So what I want, what I would like, is for someone to just consider yeah, just consider. Because we have all these things we've been told and all this conditioning. We've been programmed from the day we're born and the vast majority of our world never questions that programming. They just accept it for what it is and that what they're told is true. One thing I would pray that does not happen is for anyone to hear what I'm saying and just adopt it as true, because that lacks understanding.

Speaker 1: 22:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:52

That's just regurgitation and it's been happening for generations, for eons, and what we need to do is question. So anything I offer, I want somebody to take it to consider it, to hold it up against what they've been told, and question and discover what is right for them. Yeah, because I think in that authenticity is this collective evolution that begins to happen. I think one of the worst things we can do to contribute towards humanity it's just to blindly believe what they do.

Speaker 1: 23:33

Yeah, you know, I completely agree, so you are so. So, um, the, the, uh, the statement my name is love came out as um. It was kind of forced out because you'd written this piece of work and the name it had didn't represent it. So you were forced to come up with this other name, my Name is Love. But coming up with the name was not the beginning. The book came before the name, which is interesting because some people the name becomes for the book. They come up with the name and then they write the book for that name. But I think this is the more creative way around, is the way you're describing it. But the book came from somewhere. You know how did you? Where did that come from? You know where did it? Were you exactly like you are now when you were born? Probably not. So if you go back further, further, what was the trigger point for you, or the kind of early developmental things for you around beginning to get connected with this very spiritual slash, eastern slash, expansive way of relating with your experience of being human?

Speaker 2: 25:10

You know, I can only personally have one answer to that, catherine, that is Christ. This man we know of as Jesus Christ. Some people might relate to Christ consciousness, I think from a very young age. You know, I grew up in a Catholic home and from a very young age he has always been my teacher. I have always idolized him and what I am connecting most is his capacity and his teaching for compassion and inclusivity.

Speaker 2: 26:00

And I remember, even at a young age, questioning what I was being taught and being like, no, that's not, he would never teach that Right, you know.

Speaker 2: 26:04

And I felt like and I want to make clear, in no way am I against or anti-organized religion or church or any of that.

Speaker 2: 26:13

Very much so I would love to influence a church in some way because I believe that over generations, the very key elements of who I connect to as Christ that have been misrepresented, misunderstood and lost within the realm of organized religion.

Speaker 2: 26:38

And I think from a young age I just felt that we were missing some dots, that we were disconnecting it in a lot of ways and that I wanted to reframe this. And I felt this, you know, inside of me, I think from a young age and as I came into my encounter with Eastern cultures, eastern religion, eastern concepts, yoga, practice, all of this. I began to encounter a Christ outside of the church, yes, a Christ that I could relate to more, that I connected to more, that I felt really held what I understood him to be or his teachings to be, and I think through that I discovered different avenues in which maybe I can bring people back to God without God having a label without God having a box or any identity that limited his presence, that I can bring people back to spirituality or back to an understanding of what love was, that had no, that was not exclusive, that was more inclusive and more palatable and more digestible.

Speaker 2: 28:08

Because I know, I think, that that the idea of love we could bear it's very conditioned and I think the the concepts of god that have been presented to us, for a lot of us are very limited, and it feeds our separation, it feeds our division, it feeds our identity. Yeah, how could it be that? How could it possibly be that my god is different from your god? How is that even possible, you know? Um, so I think that that journey evolved naturally on its own and I think that if we any one of us are really authentic in our stitching and our questioning and our seeking, and really present to what's coming up for us and very honest, I believe that the path we are meant to walk is going to reveal itself.

Speaker 2: 29:06

I believe you may have no idea where we're going, but step by step it begins to reveal itself yes, I believe that too, and I, I think, um, then there's always the question of when?

Speaker 1: 29:23

when do we start to listen to that and and follow it, um, you know, consciously? I mean, I also think that even when we're not following it consciously, we are still following it, because, yeah, we can't not, um, but we might not be enjoying ourselves as much as we will be when we're following it consciously, and yeah, I like that, I like that I mean, I, that word, those words just came to you just then, right that minute.

Speaker 1: 29:50

Uh, in this conversation, like you were saying, you know, in this conversation we affect one another and I often find in these conversations I say something I've never thought before. You know, that's one of those words, but I love that and I'm also kind of guessing that this was many, many years of exploration and reflection and practice for you.

Speaker 2: 30:11

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think you know so much, so much of even when I'm writing and I'm here in Barbados, like I mentioned, writing, trying to write a piece, or let me rephrase I am writing my second book.

Speaker 1: 30:27

Yes.

Speaker 2: 30:28

Building it actually.

Speaker 2: 30:29

Yeah am writing my second book, yes, building it actually, yeah, and uh, even while I write, you know, so much of it takes me back to my childhood and I questioned the impact that certain things had on me and the influence that certain things had on me that I never realized, I never recognized that these things shaped me in such a profound way, yes, and it's just really beautiful to look back and be like, wow, you know, sometimes I question why I am this way or why I am that way, and only in that, creating that space to reflect and question, do we get these answers and they become really clear, you know, really clear. And I remember one of the things that, um, that in writing of my first book that really came to me was, you know, I always ask the question at age 10, what possessed me? I asked my mom all the time what in the world possessed me to write a letter to the editor, which I then proceeded, with the help of my mother, to send to Saddam Hussein, president Bush, mikhail Gorbachev and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, at 10 years old what possessed me to do that? And my mom never had an answer and I recognized in the last few years of my own exploration that what did that for me was the recognition of my own privilege, that I was growing up in a world in a bubble of privilege financially.

Speaker 2: 32:17

I knew what love was, I knew what security was. I didn't have much worries as a kid, right, not that I lived some life of opulence in any way, but I was taken care of, I was loved, I was supported. And growing up in a third-world developing nation, I saw a lot of people around me that lacked these opportunities, that lacked this security and I think a massive influence on me as a kid growing up from a really young age but also reggae music and Rastafarian culture, yes, and that had such a profound influence because it exposed me to a reality outside of my bubble. And I think this influence, and as well as the influence of Christ and love and compassion and empathy and this need to want to make it a better place, instilled within me that I had a responsibility at least to try.

Speaker 1: 33:21

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:22

In any way possible at least to try and I reminisce with my dad now that you know we live in a world now where media is so as hundredfold compared to what it was when I was born, and I have a lot of friends who have kids now and I see a lot of people trying to shield their kids from the news or shield their kids from media and what's happening in the world, which I also understand and I am not a parent at the moment, so I'm not gonna say any one way is right or wrong but I can't tell you that every day I used to watch the news with my father At 7 pm every night.

Speaker 2: 34:10

He would sit down and watch the news, him and my mom, and I would sit down and repeat them. I was seven years younger than my older brother, so very often he would just meet me and, sitting with my mom and my dad, and I would watch the news. And I think it was watching the news that brought me this awareness of what was happening in the world outside of my bubble and that also contributed to my sense of responsibility to at least try to do the very little I could to try and make the world a better place.

Speaker 1: 34:43

Fantastic. Well, yeah, good for you. Good for you seriously, I mean, because not all of us respond that way to that sort of input, you know, and so, yeah, you know you were. You were one of those people who paid attention and took it in to yourself and reflected on it and did the work over many, many, you know I don't say many, many years, because you're not that old, but over a whole number of decades, to come to this place where you are.

Speaker 1: 35:15

And I think something I also really appreciate in the way that you're talking and in the work that you're doing is you're constantly refining it and refining and working and also working with the body. I think working with the body is terribly important. Not to say, as you say, it's not about the asanas, it's about what's happening inside the asanas, but the fact that you are physically moving and being physically present in your body is so important, isn't it? And I think that's one of the things I find so difficult in our world that so many of us are. I used to say they're treating their body as a delivery system for their brain to get from A to B, rather than a fundamental part of their experience and their human expression.

Speaker 2: 36:06

Yeah, and you know, the body itself has such an intelligence right. And just two weekends ago in Barbados, I came to Barbados and I wasn't planning to teach at all. But then, you know, people hear you're coming to Barbados and they're like no.

Speaker 2: 36:24

I did. I did teach the last two weekends and I teach a workshop this coming weekend, but I remember my first class I taught two weekends ago. Teach a workshop this coming weekend, but I remember my first class I taught two weekends ago, at this point, three weekends ago. Um, I invited them. We always say how intelligent your body is. We, all of us in this, in this space, we talk about the intelligence of the body. So I ask the question well, when last have you spoken to your body or listened to it? When last, when last have you told your body thank you? When last have you said I'm sorry for wanting you to be things that you're not, I forgive you for, for not being how I want you to be, I love you. When last have we said these things and had a conversation with the body, you know, and the response was so profound because, for a lot of people, they had never. Yeah, they had never. They knew the body was intelligent, but they never bridged the gap, you know.

Speaker 1: 37:35

Wow, that's a big one. When did you last talk to your body? When did you last say thank you to your body? When did you last apologize to your body for wanting it to be different?

Speaker 2: 37:43

or or drink, or doing things to our body that we know are not good, yeah, but we do it anyway because it brings out some satisfaction or some pleasure, and that's okay. That's okay, um, it's okay to do those things sometimes.

Speaker 1: 37:57

It's part of the experience, I think yeah, I think it is, you know, especially if we sort of notice the effect of it as well, and then that takes us forward t honestly, I could talk to you for hours and hours on end, but we don't have hours and hours on end, so I'm going to slightly switch to a few kind of questions before we close. So this one is about leaders in the world today. So if we think there's a lot going on in the world and anyone you ask has got their ideas about what is happening, what they think is happening, what they think should happen, what they think shouldn't happen and what they think should or shouldn't be done about it, right, so we're not going to do that. Everyone's got their own ideas about that and there are a lot of people trying to be good leaders, trying to be part of the solution, whether they're doing it in the way that you are or in the way that I am, or if they're just trying to be good leaders in their own lives, or they're running businesses, or they're politicians or community leaders or many, many kinds of people.

Speaker 1: 39:02

And this podcast tends to attract those sorts of people to listen to it, because these people tend to be reflective and they understand that it's only through their evolving that they can really contribute. So some of those people are listening right now. Is there something you'd like to say to these people?

Speaker 2: 39:26

Wow, I didn't expect that last switch on the question there is think she's still there. Anyway, she said that the question how we change the world sorry, if we can change the world it's the wrong question. And how can we change the world? It's also the wrong question. The question that we need to ask is how are we changing?

Speaker 1: 40:15

How are we?

Speaker 2: 40:15

changing the world. Because the reality is that every word, every action, every thought changes the world we live in, everything we do, every social media post, one word to an absolute stranger can change their life. That sometimes we think no one is looking and we think we're not reaching anyone and we're not impacting anyone and no one's listening. But the reality is that they are. They are listening and we are making a difference. And no matter how much despair we see in the world, that they are, they are listening and we are making a difference. And no matter how much despair we see in the world, no matter how much suffering, no matter how much we want to lose hope, how dare we not at least try? How dare we not get up every morning, in every moment, and at least try to do the work we've been called to do and to at least try to make you a little better, please? We may not be able to see where it's going, but if we're called to do something and we feel it in the depths of our heart, there's a difference between this intuition, this resonance of God that speaks to us, and, in mind, the mind wants to prove something. So always we need to look at are we being governed by mind or has we have required in mind enough to hear the resonance of God in our heart? Because when you feel called to do something from your heart, your mind is going to doubt, your mind is going to tell you you can't. That it makes no sense, that why am I sitting here for 30 days trying to write a second book when I haven't even made money from my first book? What am I doing? What do I expect to come of this? The mind asks these things and it comes hard. But we need to quiet the mind because we know we can all hear that voice inside and once we listen to that voice, then we're playing our part. We're doing our part, we have a role to play, we matter. We're playing our part, we're doing our part, we have a role to play, we matter. And, um, you know one thing, one thing I would invite not just leaders, but I would invite everyone to consider, and I would invite leaders to try to pass this understanding onto their communities is that the second we begin to consider and realize that I am not my body, I am not my identity, and we recognize what that actually means.

Speaker 2: 43:00

It's one thing to say that and not understand what it means. When we begin to understand what it means, here's what it means to me. It means that Within every human body is a seed of God. God lives in every human being and that seed of God carries a bag of conditioning and very often we confuse that conditioning With who someone is, and it's not. Every individual is our seed of God.

Speaker 2: 43:37

Their conditioning is their opinions, their ideologies, how they show up in the world, their perspectives, their actions, their ways, their thoughts, their deeds. That's not really who they are, that's just their conditioning. That's how they've been shaped. That's just their conditioning. That's how they've been shaped. That's how they've been nurtured. That's what they've told has been true. That's what their experiences have shaped them to do. But when we see someone as a seed of God and recognize that it's not their condition, then we have a duty to help them recondition, reprogram, and a very first step in doing that is to make someone feel safe, seen, understood, appreciated, and when we do that, we can then help them recondition and reprogram.

Speaker 2: 44:37

What might have been a misaligned conditioning yeah, and that's how we begin to change it with yeah. One of the most powerful things that also happens in that regard is when we recognize that God is inside of someone and that that is not. They are not their actions, words and thoughts, then forgiveness is no longer an option. It's inevitable. It's inevitable, it's inevitable, it's inevitable. There may be healing that needs to happen, there may need to be conversations that have to happen to facilitate that healing, but it is inevitable. So what are we waiting for? What are we waiting?

Speaker 1: 45:26

for Wow Strong. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 45:32

Thank you. Thank you, Catherine.

Speaker 1: 45:50

That's very strong to hear that, and I think I appreciate that you are saying these things and putting these things into your writing and putting these things into your work with such strength, because even even those of us who, um, would agree with you, you know who might say, yeah, I get you, I completely get you. That does that sometimes we still need a strong voice to say it to us again, you know, as if to say I know, you know this and this is you know. I find this as well in my work. I'm often saying things to people that I know they know already, but it will help them for a strong voice, a strong loving voice, to say it to them, because that helps encourage the part of them that's trying to respond to it and it helps put the doubting mind to one side. So maybe that's partly what you're doing. I mean, maybe you are helping people feel safe to explore these things and to feel, you know, that it's okay for them to do that and to actually you know.

Speaker 2: 46:48

It's? Yeah, absolutely, catherine. I appreciate you saying that so much and you know, I think a lot of the time it's the embodiment of these things. That is the hardest part. Yeah, we talk about them, we speak about them, we repost them on social media. We read the books, we know the direction in which we want to go, but it's the integration of it that seems to be getting lost. It's that connection into our lives. What does this actually mean for me in my life? And one of the things in my Facebook I did not want was questions at the end of every chapter, like a workbook. But, like a lot of things, I realized that I was not in charge and it wasn't really my decision. So there are questions at the end of every chapter and those questions are some of the things that get the greatest positive feedback. Yeah, because it helps somebody ask the question. How does this apply to me?

Speaker 1: 47:56

Yeah, how can I?

Speaker 2: 47:57

engage with it. How does it apply to?

Speaker 1: 47:58

me.

Speaker 2: 47:58

Yeah, yeah, and you know, it's important for us to recognize that our growth and transformation is in the areas of our lives where we need to do better. It's in our own darkness. It's not in our light. We can applaud ourselves and pat each other on the back. That's great for the work we're doing and work we continue to do, that is beautiful. But if we do that without having courage to look into our own darkness and to take accountability and to put our hand up and own it and say this is our humanness, this is part of the work we've come here to do. It is okay to own your darkness. That is the only way you can turn that darkness to light.

Speaker 1: 48:49

That is the only way you can turn that darkness to light.

Speaker 2: 48:50

I think that is such an essential part of what we all need to step into as well, especially as leaders.

Speaker 1: 48:57

Yeah, thank you. Wow, amazing. Well, there's three years of work for somebody to be doing. But you know, I think so. People, when people buy your book my Name is Love they can actually work with what you're talking about and use those questions to help them really engage with it. And people can come and find you and can do your classes online and do you actually? You know, work with people one-to-one in any way?

Speaker 2: 49:32

Yeah, I absolutely do. I do, um, I do private sessions both online as well and in person and, if anybody wanted to, from my yoga studio in trinidad. You know gaia has pre-film classes and a music contest. If they go to my instagram, they'll see a link where they can benefit from a seven-day pre-trial at Gaiacom, and we also stream classes live from our studio in Trinidad at BeyondYogaTrinidadcom. So I actually have quite a few people in the UK that practice with me online from Trinidad, and I also do private sessions as well, one-on-one, whether that be coaching or counseling or yoga practice. Sometimes I just sit and chat with people about life and and they get a lot from that themselves, you know, a lot of perspective absolutely.

Speaker 1: 50:27

I mean, I've enjoyed talking to you so much and I feel it's sort of fed parts of me that can take all the feeding they can be given, because in our lives there's always another challenge, isn't there, and so I really, really appreciate what you're bringing. And just to remind people, you can find Troy at TroyHadidcom and also that other link you just said. I'll put that in the show notes as well yeah, that's beyond yoga, trinidad beyond yoga Trinidad now one. I am go ahead. Sorry, and I cut across your sentence.

Speaker 2: 51:06

You were about yeah, I was just saying I'm also on Instagram, I'm really active and of course, my book is available on Amazon and they can find it there.

Speaker 1: 51:16

Fantastic. Well, I'm going to put the Amazon link in the show notes as well. So it's all going to be there. So, troy, a question I always like to ask people We've talked about so much, has there?

Speaker 2: 51:29

been a favorite part of our conversation for you today. Oh, you have to take me back now, all right, yeah, yeah, there has, but there's been so much of it. So much of it has been really powerful. I think what the direction you took and what you touched on has all been really powerful. But I think you know what, catherine. If I had to say the opportunity to appreciate you for what you're doing in the beginning of our show, I think that would probably be one of my favorites, because I imagine that might not be a gratitude and appreciation you often get, and I know that I could feel that that language for you and so I will now use that allow listeners to reflect on sometimes that, or that's all it takes to change someone's life. It's just a vote of gratitude and appreciation to let somebody know, remind somebody, that what they're doing actually matters in the world. Yes, and it's really that simple.

Speaker 1: 52:39

Thank you. That's so beautiful and you're absolutely right. And we go through life just obliviously not realizing that that's a gift we can just give someone in any moment. Over here in the UK, we are terrible at it, just terrible. I was once working with a group of senior managers in a bank Okay, so you can imagine these rows of men in gray suits and ties and we were working on management skills and I said it's really important that you praise your people, right, and so we're going to do some work practicing that. And they said well, we're a bit concerned about doing this. We're concerned that, you know, if we really start praising people, people are going to get really big-headed and conceited, you know, if we overdo it. And I looked at them and I said I do not think there's a significant danger of that happening in your culture. Yeah, they looked at me.

Speaker 1: 53:36

They knew it was true, right, they were going to do well to get to a point where they were actually saying thank you at all. Yeah, and it was one of those hilarious moments I still remember now, yeah, so thank you so much for that. I loved that moment as well, and it's so of those hilarious moments I still remember now. So thank you so much for that. I love that moment as well, and it's so lovely to do that. So I will do that now to complete the conversation, to say thank you so much, troy, for coming on. It's been such a pleasure and I look forward to experiencing more of your yoga not really yoga spiritual teachings and I hope next time you come to the UK, I hope that you will tell me.

Speaker 2: 54:15

Yeah, absolutely, maybe I'll come teach in Wales.

Speaker 1: 54:18

Oh wow, that would be so fantastic.

Speaker 2: 54:20

I know a lot of people Anyone listening who has a yoga studio or yoga community and would love me to visit. I would be more than happy.

Speaker 1: 54:29

Fantastic, awesome. Thank you so much and have a beautiful, beautiful day.

Speaker 2: 54:37

You too, thank you.

Speaker 1: 54:43

Thank you for listening to Truth and Transcendence and thank you for supporting the show by rating, reviewing, subscribing, buying me a coffee and telling a friend. If you'd like to know more about my work, you can find out about Transformational Coaching, Pellewa and the Freedom of Spirit workshop on beingspaceworld. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next time.