Latest / The Inner Well Podcast / The Ultimate Energy Source For Creative Expression
Transcript
- The Inner Well Podcast: We all contain a space within that when enlivened and nourished will support us with unwavering stability, expansion, and peace of mind. Join us each week as we dive into honest, grounded conversations about transcendental meditation, consciousness, and growth, and what it means to live an integrated life supported by a foundation of creativity and calm. This is the inner world. Hey everyone, welcome back to the inner well. We are live in Austin, Texas this week with Dave Escamilla. ⁓ Dave is one of my students who learned TM about three and a half years ago. And we have a theme of creativity and creative intelligence this month. And so Dave is a great person to talk to about this because he's got his hands in a lot of creative endeavors. He's got a fan, he's a fellow podcast host. And so we're definitely being talking. Going to be talking to him about how TM supports his creative expression. But before we dive into that, I just want to let you guys get to know him a little bit. I I'd like to talk a little bit about your passions and about your TM journey. And so one of the things that we really like to touch on in this podcast is the human experience and the challenges that go with trying to be a good human. And so let's start out first with talking about. What you're passionate about was the human experience. What brings you joy? Wow, thanks, Megan. Thanks for having me on. ⁓ yeah, it's a it's a good question because it's hard to be ⁓ an adult. You know, I was just ⁓ spending some time with my nieces this weekend, right? And they're they're little and you know, when you're a little kid, I think everyone has this creative spark and this wonderment wonderment and curiosity and you want to play and you want to create and ⁓ and and and ⁓ and people lose that, you know. And so, you know, people going into adulthood kind of lose that piece of themselves, right? And so ⁓ number one is how do you find that piece of yourself? You know, that's to me, it's important to me. It it's it's something that's there to try to ⁓ stay in touch with, you know, and then how do you use that in today's world? How do you actually put it into practice. But, you know, I I'm, you know, a creative person and ⁓ a curious person, you know, a a a a seeker, someone who's interested in, you know, what what it all really means and what life's all about. And so just trying to figure those things out in a in a in the world that we live in. And I know that music is one of the things that genuinely brings you passion. And so, you know What does that look like for you? That creative spark? You know, when you're playing or when you're writing, do you feel like you're aligned? Do you feel like you're in flow? You know, does it feel like a meditation in and of itself? How does that show up for you? Yeah. gosh, that's a good question. I mean, I think it it just feels like ⁓ like play, you know, like like children are play. They're just totally in the moment and ⁓ they're tapping into something, right? They're fully present and they're just right there. ⁓ and and so there's something about music. ⁓ and for other people maybe it's something else. Maybe it's ⁓ art or maybe it's gardening or whatever it is. But yeah, music for me is ⁓ puts me into the moment and ⁓ it's just making it for its own sake. ⁓ right there in that moment is its own is its own reward. And ⁓ that's that's always been Rewarding for me. That's great. And it's it's really nice that you can hold it in that space of presence. One of the things that we were talking about on our last episode is we were talking about how, or one of our last episodes, how so many people get caught on this trap of, ⁓ okay, that's something I can do and I do well and I need to monetize it. You know, a lot of the times that takes the passion out of it. And so, you know, being able to have a creative outlet that you still are able to sustain how passion around and create just for the sake of creating is really a beautiful thing. And it does. It brings an element of joy back into life. You know, like what what we had when we were little when life was so much simpler. And we did have capacity to just be in the present moment and not have all the worries of adulting that we normally have to deal with. So that's great. Okay. So ⁓ let's talk a little bit about your Tianager. So Most everyone when they come to learn this technique, there's usually some kind of a catalyst that brought them towards that journey. And so what did that look like for you? What made you want to learn TM? And once you did learn, how did the unfoldment of that journey change your world? You know, what did it how did it support you? How did it support your creativity? You know, and how did it nourish your experience of self and maybe get you on the other side of something you were dealing with that might have been relatively challenging in your human experience? Fifteen years ago or so when I was in my early twenties, ⁓ I was you know, I was creative, but I was also pretty self destructive. You know, I had habits and addictions and was, you know, using drugs, alcohol, you know. a good amount, you know. And so one thing that happened at the time was that ⁓ I overdosed on cough syrup, you know, one night. just, you know, recreationally, right? And ⁓ one thing that I hadn't anticipated was that it had this this lasting effect on me. ⁓ after that happened. And so I noticed all these horrible symptoms really ⁓ that happened. It w so it was like kind of like a super hangover feeling, you know, but it it didn't it didn't subside, you know, like I would hope that it did. And so I entered into kind of like a a health crisis, a bit of a nightmare of ⁓ trying to trying to figure this out. And for about four years I was I was feeling really, really, really bad, you know, physically. I was exhausted. ⁓ brain fog, you know, it had all these all these symptoms. So I became very lost. I ended up finding my path ⁓ holistically, right? ⁓ in in the natural holistic realm, ⁓ that brought me a lot of release, you know, over the years. And I I found my way back to feeling normal again ⁓ visually. ⁓ and and so at the time I was really trying to solve this physiological problem. of what I perceived, right? With some things going on with my body, right? And so then having felt like I dealt with a lot of that, you know, there was just something still missing from me. And ⁓ you know, when I heard about TM, you know deep inside that you need that thing that people are talking about that that deep reassurance and that that comfort and that groundedness and that clarity and that energy. And so ⁓ I got that into that ⁓ a few years ago with Megan, who was ⁓ was my teacher, who I'm so grateful for. And that's just so so helpful for me. I'm now a kinder, gentler version of myself, ⁓ more patient, more ⁓ more energetic and and and more creative. And so that journey sounds like it had so many layers to it. And I think that, you know, loneliness is one of the most challenging experiences that we have as humans, you know, because we're a tribal species and feeling connected is important for our foundation of safety. And so ⁓ I'm glad that you were able to get on the other side of that journey and that you've had such a major transformation as a result of it. You know, there's there's something about those experiences that they give us a reference point of who we were compared to who we have become, you know, and we call it evolutionary momentum. You know, and you can look back on versions of yourself and you're like You know who that person was anymore. You know, you you've grown so much and you've evolved so much and you you become a different person as a result of everything that you went through. And, you know, that's what enables you to do what you do and and give your gifts to other people with your podcasts and everything else. And so, you know, as as challenging as those experiences are, they usually hopefully always lead us somewhere worthwhile and then give us the opportunity to hold that space for others. So thank you for sharing that. And how did TM support that journey for you? So when you came to learn, you were kind of looking for something that was gonna give you more fullness, more energy, more what did you notice after you started meditating? How did that support and help you find what you were looking for? Yeah. gosh, I mean, you know, there's there's so many There's so many good things that I've experienced as as a result of of doing transgental meditation. But ⁓ you know, I a couple that come to mind are ⁓ you know, ⁓ resistance. ⁓ so you know, just like inevitably, right, you want to do something and then life just sort just starts punching you in the face. Like, no, no, no. You sure you wanna do this? You sure you wanna do it that way? Yeah. We just said that this experience earlier we were working on it and it was it was one thing after the other, right? And so the ability to ⁓ to not become emotional, to not, you know, start to break down and start to become, you know, temporarily insane basically. ⁓ but to to s remain logical, remain focused and just say, Okay, how are we gonna figure this out? I mean, that's a that's something that's, you know, for me has exploded in the last couple of years. Whereas I used to have rage to be infuriated. And now, you know, I just I don't get a rage. I just get irritated. But I don't resist it as much. I can move through it and figure it out. ⁓ and so that's a he that's a big one. The other one is ⁓ you know, having space and you know, as you get into TM, you learn about, you know, space and holding space and creating space. And, you know, I it it's funny 'cause I used to have this professor in in college who ⁓ who was, you know, w He was like in that in the creative realm, right? And he would say, you know, you need to have as an artist, as a creative person, you know, you need to have blank space. ⁓ you need to have blank canvas to draw on. Right. And so it creates this massive amount of ⁓ of you know, unchiseled rock or ⁓ of clay that you can mold. It's just, you know, the amount of you feel like you have all this bandwidth and space inside of you and You can I'm trying to describe it as best as I can, but just like this this pent-out energy that then you can mold into into what you want. rather than you know, sometimes in life you feel like you're just doing like a thing to thing and you're frantic and ⁓ my god, one thing's happening to another and you're just reactive and and you never get time to just kind of like breathe and to have that feeling where you're you you feel like you have space, ⁓ over your domain, you know, ⁓ over your own sovereignty, you know, it it it it allows you to have this foundation where you can become inspired and and give these strokes of inspiration to be able to turn that into an idea or a project or give it where your life changes or or a creative endeavor or it's a song or it's ⁓ something artistic or you know so that that's from an artist point of view from a creative versus point of view, TM is, you know, it's the greatest because it just increases that amount of, you know, ⁓ blank canvas that's gonna get filled up with something something beautiful, hopefully, and creative. Yeah, that's a beautiful way to put it. Yeah. Well, and I think there's a couple of things that you touched on there that are really pivotal for creating a more expanded version of this human experience. You know, when you're talking about When you used to get sort of rage, right? And you used to resist. These are both very normal human responses when you don't have stakes and life fans use something pretty heavy to hold and you don't have any space to hold it. So you know it's like your self-preservation mechanism kicks in. And you resist it and you get angry and you get victimized and you personalize it. And you know, this is this is part of how the emotion gets released, right? And when you start doing a technique that allows you to have space and bandwidth and more energy, you can have that same experience and still meet it with what you're seeing, maybe frustration versus rage. Or maybe at some point. You know, you just need it with a satin. You know, you the space that we cultivate it really gives us capacity to sustain a choice for, you know, versus just react. We can now choose how we want to respond. And this gives us so much agency over our human experience, right? Because a lot of times what happens is when we do, you know, get all ragey and just kind of we end up. saying stuff we don't mean, you know, we end up saying stuff that costs us our relationships and and then we feel shady and we feel bad about ourselves. And and so being able to sustain the space to be able to have a more sovereign experience of your reality where you're not dictated by your emotions. You know, you have the capacity to you know have a pause and really choose how you want to show up in response to the scenario that life is sending you. There's a lot of empowerment in that, you know, which is a beautiful thing. And it sounds like you're getting a lot of that, which is great. Has anyone in your life noticed that you're different as a result? Like you're much calmer and you know you're Yes. Yes. My parents have noticed. ⁓ yeah. And some other people too, right? Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, for sure. For sure. And and and to your point, it's ⁓ it it it gives us a feeling of control, you know, ⁓ of and it that makes us feel good, right? We wanna agencies, yeah. We wanna have control over our our destiny and it it's hard because in the in the world there's a lot of things that that you don't have control over. And so to be able to control that, which is your own ⁓ experience as you move through, is tremendously empowering. Yeah. I think so too. I think so too. Okay, now tell us about, you know, the creative angle to all of this. So, like I said, Dave is in a band. Now one, it was too. And ⁓ he's got a podcast and he actually hosts a very successful health and wellness circuit that you know runs annually. And so there's a lot of things that he does in addition to a full time job. And this is what, you know, kind of creates this passion and this creativity for him. And I think one of the nice examples is, you know, when people think of creativity, creative intelligence, they think of, you know, music or art or all these other things. But there's an experience of creative intelligence that goes beyond just physically creating. It's problem solving. It's being able to, you know, strategy. And intellectualize and being able to, you know, do three different major endeavors while you're still fully responsible for a full-time job and all the adulting responsibilities that we have. And so creative intelligence bubbles up in so many different ways and allows for so much, so many different layers for you to expand yourself into. And so if you can just kind of touch on how TM is supported. supported your capacity to do all of these three different things and what you've noticed as, you know, a shift. Because you you did music before you learned TM. And, you know, I mean the podcast came after you learn, but just kind of walk us through that creative journey as a result of TM and how it supports that. ⁓ TM has ⁓ helped with the the the balance, being able to balance everything, right? Work life balance or other types of balance that we talk about. You know, having like a regular job, sales job, regular job, and then doing, you know, the band, ⁓ Rimbleberry band, and then doing the the podcast, you know, my own podcast with Rapper Generation, and then doing the event, which is the Texas Fruit Festival, right? These are all ⁓ but I'm not overwhelmed, right? It's it's figuring out ⁓ whereas I was overwhelmed before I was doing TM, you know. So It it's just it it helps to support that. I found that it's like ⁓ you know, it's an idea engine doing TM. You know, I got the idea for my today of you know, the podcast when I was it came to me when I was doing TM, right? So you I might get an idea that comes to me. It's also like a decision engine because the more complex your life gets, the more creative you get, ⁓ then the more decisions you're gonna have to make. And some of these are hard decisions. Well, doing TM it it's it's like a decision engine because the if I if I if I do my meditation, then the decision comes easily. Yeah. And and it I find that too, yeah. It gives a great level of discernment. That makes life easier when you just know what to do. I mean, like so so much of the challenge of life is I don't know what to do. Analysis, paralysis. Yeah. When that becomes clear. Yeah, and so and like Megan is saying, it's not about being a ⁓ you know an artist or a sculptor or it's not we're not just talking about being creative in the arts. You know, we're talking about ⁓ creative ⁓ intelligence, yeah, which everybody has. Everybody has the capacity to be creative. And we're talking about creating your life, you know, creating the life that makes you feel aligned. with your values and it's the type of life that you can get excited about. And ⁓ so, you know, it's not just, ⁓ I'm not an artistic person, so you know, I can't use this. Everybody ⁓ can can figure out how to create the s the ⁓ different solutions to yeah your own situation. I mean creative problem solving, you know, entrepreneurial, you Endeavors, everything that you're doing, you kind of started from a grassroots space. That takes a lot of creative intelligence to be able to manifest something from an idea into something tangible and even more so into something successful. You know, that's a tremendous amount of creative creative intelligence that bubbles up through you and helps you support that journey. Yes, yes. And and ⁓ and that was already going on. Right for me, but it was greatly accelerated through my journey with ⁓ transcendental meditation. So this is ⁓ Megan did not ask me to shamelessly ⁓ plug it, but to the viewer and the audience member, yeah, I mean you got you gotta do it if you if if you're just curious and you haven't done the actual, you know, coursework. huge, hugely worth it to me, ⁓ in terms of that investment of time and energy. and everything else. And then if you're if you're already doing it, you know, if you've fallen off a little bit, you know, and you're not doing your practice and ⁓ yeah, definitely s you know, stay with it. And it it really it really works for me. Yeah. Good. I'm glad. I can tell that it does. It's amazing. Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, before we close out today, ⁓ just wanna thank you so much for being here. I've really enjoyed seeing you again and I always love hearing your stories and hearing how things are going for you. And so what we always like to close our podcast with is our favorite questions. What does the inner well mean to you? Well, I think the inner world reminds me of when people talk about being in a in a flow state, right? ⁓ and and you see things you see people move with like a a sort of a ease or do things with an ease. Or you seek animals that are in nature, right? And they're going about things with an ease and a gracefulness. ⁓ right. And it's ⁓ it's contrasting that with life being very hard and everything you're doing, it feels like you're sliding uphill, right? You're carrying weights. ⁓ and so that's the opposite of the inner world. That's the it that's the scarcity of you know, the well-being dry and not having not having that energy source to feeling like ⁓ there's no shortage of ⁓ at all of of the energy source right and then you can tap into this energy and there there's no end to it right and and ⁓ whatever your situation is in life you know ⁓ you need you need energy to to to deal with it and so the inner well is that you know seemingly endless supply of energy You know, that that we get down into if we just decide that we want to. Okay, everyone, thanks so much for joining us. We will see you next week on the inner well. ⁓ That's a wrap on today's episode of the inner well. Please subscribe and leave a review. Your support means the world and helps others find us. And if this conversation added something to your day, don't be shy. Share it with someone it might resonate with. Also, please follow us on social for more between episodes and send in your questions, your stories, or the topics you'd like to explore with us. We genuinely love hearing from you, and this podcast exists because of you. So keep showing up for yourself, and we'll see you next week.