Anat Peri: Training Camp For The Soul | Wellness Force #Podcast

Oh, man. This is a special moment for me because there's so many people in life that say they're a coach or a guide or a facilitator, and it's few and far between that I get to, like, interview a friend who actually is a guide and a mentor and a coach that actually radically helps people for real, get in their bodies and get out of their heads. And it's crazy, because I have been doing this work. Gosh, 33, 32. 33 is when I started. I'm about to be 40 tomorrow. It's the day before my birthday.

I know. I got the notification on my. Yeah, you did? My phone. Yeah. How sweet.

This is even more special because last week, you actually took me through a personal experience, you know, a personal session of this work. And I didn't know too much about training camp for the soul before you and I connected. So this is so special that you're on the show with me. Anat Perry. Thank you for coming on.

Yeah, thanks for having me. I. We've been on this journey. We've known each other, I don't know, going on probably six years or so. I think we could both attest to. Bravo. To both of us. Growth and achievements that we've gotten to over the years. So always rooting you on from the sidelines whenever I see or hear your podcast.

Thank you. Yeah. And just so people know, watching or listening, the roots run deep with Anat and I. When I started this podcast, I was actually in a relationship, and she was a friend, Amy Dalton, at that time. And that's how I met Anat. You know, so it's six years ago, and I was just really starting to understand what the soul even was back then. You know, it was a buzzword. And since then, like, I've gone on to have, like, 2 million people hear Wellness Force. And I started out in this little back square in Encinitas behind House when I first met Anat. And you have gone on to create so many memorable experiences for people. And this is what I'm so excited to talk about with you today is really unpacking, first of all, like, what the soul actually is. How do we connect with it? What are the things that get in the way of it? And how do we get down to the inner young man or inner young woman inside of us that's actually screaming for our attention and just a bit of a backstory so people understand a knot's work. Last week, she took me through a process where we did some very interesting. I guess you could call it deep somatic experiencing with guided meditation on top of it as a layer and a lens of your skill set. And I was able to connect with the kind of angry young man inside of me that wasn't being heard and wasn't being seen. How would you actually describe what you do to somebody if they didn't know you? Like, give our audience just a quick skinny on what you do.

I create the safest space for you to go in and meet yourself, meet your soul, meet your inner child and reconnect to all parts of you and listen. Listen to your soul's wisdom.

It's beautifully said. And for the practical people listening, this is like meditation on steroids. I mean, it literally is like the Training Camp for the Soul experience that it's actually, we've had Josh McMurtry do a lot of videos for Wellness Force. I know he was there to capture everything that went on and just tell people that don't know anything about Training Camp for the Soul, what exactly is it and how did it come up for you? Like, was it something that hit you all of a sudden or was it more of like a machine that built?

So, yeah. Well, I'll answer the short question first. So Training Camp for the Soul is a transformational company brand where we do in person retreats as well as we have virtual programs to support you in identifying what's in the way of you living your highest, truest life. A lot of people feel stuck, like they can't produce the results that they want. They can't have the relationship that they want. So moving people from the stuckness to full clarity and ability to achieve what they want.

So did it happen in a dream? Were you in bed and you woke up one morning, you're like, wow, I'm going to guide human beings to train their souls. How did that name come out? Where'd that come from?

The name? Actually, Mike Bledsoe named it. So it's not the original name, but a little background story on myself. So I'm 40 years old and I started the self development path when I was 25. And in my 20s, I was lost, confused, had no self love, was living in New York, trying to, you know, trying to make it in the Big Apple. Hustling accumulating debt, just chasing, chasing the New York dream. And always in background mind had a desire to coach. And when I came across my self development journey, it started me on that path and I knew that I had to get myself there first. And that took 10 years. And I don't think it needs to take 10 years for people. The reason it took 10 years for me is a lot of the work that I was doing and it was all valuable for where I was at in my life. I don't want to discredit any of it, but a lot of it was on the cognitive level. And so it was just like trimming weeds in a garden. And then you're wondering why your garden doesn't look transformed at all. So for eight years of it, it was, I become aware of a weed and I have some tools, but they're not deep enough to get to the root. And so after eight years of that, I met some of my mentors that helped me go deep into the body, into sensations, into what I teach now. And I, for the first time, experienced transformation. And that's when I knew, I knew I had the tools. And I knew enough from being in the self development space and mentoring with so many and getting a lot of years of practice that I was ready to start my own thing. So that was about five years ago that I started my business.

It's fascinating to me because I've seen, I've been witness to your growth. And so for those of you who don't know, Anat and I live in a community here, Southern California, Encinitas, some people call it like the spiritual bubble, which is good. And it can also be bad because people can get lost in going from conference to conference to thing to thing to coach to healer to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I see some people that they're spending so much money and they're investing so much of their heart and their energy into wanting to get better. But like you said, this is a big one. It was all from the neck up. Like, it's all like the top five strategies to heal, the top five ways to connect with your inner child. All these lists, you know, but what's really powerful about what you're doing? And I know this firsthand from having a session with you and also just from friends and people in the industry that you're working with. I mean, you're working with some of the most influential people out there. What do you think is so different about your approach? Is it because it's neck down? What's the difference about what you're doing to really help people, that moves the needle for them.

I think it's a combination of things. I mean, there is somatic healing work out there. I'm not the only one. I don't feel or ever act like I'm the guru Come to me. Everyone needs what I do. But those that are drawn to me, they're drawn to me, they're drawn to my medicine. So it's a combination. It's a combination of the way that we facilitate creating that group environment and that I feel you could go much, much deeper and faster in group than one on one to bringing in all these different modalities, to continuing always to be a student. Myself, I'm right now in the middle of re recording and updating all my content and modules for my virtual program for the fourth time because I keep learning, I keep getting things deeper, I keep mastering things and delivering them in a new way. And so I think that's the edge as well that I feel. When people go to school to learn something, like a doctor, even a psychologist or you know, someone who, who learns exercise, goes to school for exercise. If they are not keeping up with what's new and continuing to educate themselves, then you may get lost in the sauce.

Yeah. Oh, so good. That's so good. Especially with where we are right now. God, I was feeling it this morning when I was meditating. Just this continued maintenance right now. And wouldn't you agree? And how does this relate to your work? When people are going through extra stress or extra tension, or the world is on lockdown, or we're being faced to see how we're treating mother Earth, or we're spending 247 with our partner, in other words, when the stress gets so tight, what comes up for us to take a look at? And then how do we deal with? How do we respond to the stuff that's coming up? Because it's coming up, what's coming is going to. Right, like what's coming is going. So, so how does that relate to your work when, when so many people right now are literally feeling like they, they can't breathe?

Yeah. Well, what I teach is emotional resiliency. So you're really learning to be with these emotions that by the way, have been there all along. You just had enough distractions and enough busyness and enough of a social life and work to go to, to neglect and ignore those parts of yourselves. And now this, you know, COVID 19 for some people, that chaos, that perfect storm where you can't run from the storm, you have to face it. And so I give people the tools to finally know how to face those parts of themselves. And the more you build your capacity to be with any emotion and not be afraid of it, not need to numb it or stuff it down, the more resilient you are in life, the more you can handle anything that life hands you. And that way there's no fear.

I used to feel like emotional resilience meant like how tough I was. Like, oh, I can handle anything. You know, we heard this, this phrase, like, be anti fragile. And there's so much buzzwords about emotional intelligence. And specifically what you said, like, emotional resilience. How do you see emotionally being emotionally resilient now with the fluidity of life and with everything you've learned, like, how is that unfolded for you? That definition changed when someone is, quote, emotionally resilient.

Hmm. I think I know what you're asking for. What. What I feel is like the first step to it is acceptance for people to accept whatever they're experiencing as their experience. And then learning how, like, what does that really look like to be. To be with it? So emotional resilience to me a few years ago, I mean, what the hell were emotions? Emotions were good or bad? Oh, I'm happy. Friggin awesome. I'm horny. Even better, right? I'm sad or I'm angry and like I'm sad or angry or like I'm anxious, I'm scared. And then it's like, why, why, why do I feel this way? How do I get this to stop? I think that's how I related to it for years, and most people do. And now it's more of like, oh, this is what I feel. Okay, this is what I feel. That's reality. Reality isn't what you think. Reality is what you feel. That's being with reality.

Energy in motion, emotion. I think it's easy for us to forget that we have so many people that come on the show and they're very neck up and I always get them below the neck. But with you, it's like you've already gone neck up for so long. And I'm flashing back to something you wrote on Sistership Circle you talked about in December of 2012. I believe you left a relationship and you were like, I felt disconnected. I. I just went on 100 days of dating me. You said, yeah. And for those hundred days, you really were just being with what was like. So this is 2012, y'. All. This is eight years ago that Anat was doing this work. Looking back on that 2012 version of a knot, if you were to plant like one seed in her pocket, what would you tell her when she was going through that?

Welcome to the beginning of your journey to love. And that was after eight years of doing self development work. Neck up Work. That's when I left New York City with $2,000 to my name, $40,000 in debt, heartbroken. Just came out of a five year relationship. No car, no job, no home, no plan. One friend in San Diego. Diego, our dear girl, Tanya. And, and I was resentful and I was angry and I was bitter and I missed him. And it was a whole mix of all this stuff. And it took me a few weeks to be like, oh, I didn't love myself. If I even knew what it was to love myself, I would have never stayed in that relationship or that city as long as I did. And so, yeah, that hundred days was the like, can I be with myself without distract and all that stuff for a hundred days without wanting to find another guy or fill my time up with friends and just be with myself. And it was, it was just the beginning of this journey to love, which actually that was the name of my brand before Mike Bledsoe came around. It is a journey to love.

But I feel like whether you want to call it journey to love or Training camp for the Soul or reconnection with the most authentic, you don't you feel like the etymology of words is fascinating. I love marketing. Like, I love the whole, like, what do we name it? What do we call it? But at the same time, it's the energy, it's the, it's the embodiment, it's. It's the thing behind the thing that's fueling everything. So what, what was that thing that started to emerge at the end of that hundred days for you?

An inkling, a start of like seeing and knowing myself. I mean, you. We probably met around that time. Maybe it was even then like plant medicine. It was just, it was a surrender. It was also my first experience of God. I'm 33. I don't have anything. My heart desires, clearly, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. So. Because New York, you know, the energy of New York is very like, go, go force. You got it. You can figure it out. And so I thought I, like, I thought I knew. Sound like I spent 8 years in self development thinking that I was doing crappy self development and that I wasn't getting to it. When you're in it, you think this is like the best piece of cake.

Do you find that New York people sometimes go there to overwork and overspend and overd so that they won't have to be still and just be with what is?

No, they're not thinking that. They're thinking they want freedom and success and they think that's the way and that's the city, that's the place to achieve it. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, blah, blah. No, a lot of people are not making it there. They're losing themselves. They're spending a lot of energy and money. And that's what it was for me. I was exhausted. I was so misaligned for myself that I literally uprooted in a matter of like three weeks, like ended my relationship and I was on a plane, one way ticket three weeks later, left it all behind and was like, all right, God, I don't know, I'm ready for you to take the wheel. And so part of that hundred days was just learning to surrender to the moment and the next moment and the next moment and I never stopped that. And it's gotten stronger and more solid now that I fully trust that I am co creating and that at times, yeah, panic shows up and how much can I sit with it and be with it and then see what shows up next and how divine everything is? So I have a really strong faith and trust in the unfolding and what that takes. It's not like, oh, great, and it's easy. No, it's taken so much capacity to sit with the unknown, with the unknown. So people see my success in moments and times and I'm like, yeah, but did you see the four months of no results? Yeah, and that I sat with it, I didn't freak out, I didn't force, I didn't go into creating 10 other things that may work. And so that's, that's the practice. Like if you, if you truly trust, it means you're going to sit in a lot of unknown. And so getting comfortable in that unknown is where I've gotten to.

You know, it's crazy. I'm flashing back to a moment I had with, with Jeff Agostinelli in the show right now. In this wisdom that you're sharing with us about faith, he quoted a study where faith has a biological reward. It's not like faith is something that you just kind of like, well, you just kick your arm back and forth and you go, let's have faith, guys. No, faith is a connection to something far more powerful than you, far more divine, far more omnipresent to the likes of which you couldn't even imagine. But that's why faith is so powerful, because you're tapping into what really, you're tapping into a source that is so powerful and so mysterious and it Just gives people the ticket to surrender. Like this muscle building of faith. How do you incorporate this in your programs? And also just for you as a human, you know, like, what is. What is faith for you, really?

It's living in the moment, moment by moment by moment, that all there really is is now, now and acting and co creating from inspiration. So, and faith to me is that trust is that trust that even in the darkest of moments, saying, and this is for me and thank you and how quickly I really practice. To me, my practice of faith is how quickly can I say thank you in the moments when I wish it wasn't the way it is. When. When this, like, lockdown happened, thank God it actually happened the day after my retreat ended. So again, like faith and divinity. But in these moments or, you know, when you go through a breakup or anything, how quickly can you accept it and say thank you, thank you, thank you. Because how many things do you look back at Josh now say, oh, thank God that happened?

Oh, for sure.

The moment of it. You're like, why? Why is this happening to me?

Yeah. And then sometimes it's like, oh, my God, if it didn't happen, you and I wouldn't even be here. This podcast wouldn't even exist if one of quote, those things didn't happen.

But.

But I want to go back because you said something that really got me. You said, I say thank you as quickly as possible. But my question to you is, how do you decipher when to say thank you coming from a heart space versus I'm just gonna spiritually bypass this, because I would assume that with people that don't embody the tools would just use certain phrases to bypass things and not process them. So what's that look like in the middle?

Yeah. So thank you, because that's the second part. So thank you. So you say thank you, and what's gonna happen is it's gonna bring up what's in the way of you fully receiving it. And you have to accept that and face that. Like, how quickly can I say thank you and then tend to what is coming up? For me, that is like, oh, but saying thank you means I have to grieve this, I have to feel this, I have to release this anger. I have to accept that, yes, that did happen to me, and I am so upset about that. Right. And so you have to embody it and move through the emotions. And so it's like this quick route to that gratitude that usually people prolong. So let's talk about, for example, a breakup, right I mean, I remember my first breakup. I think two years it took me to move through that. But you go through a breakup or some kind of heartache, and you could prolong it, moving through that grief and acceptance and all that, and then. And eventually you get to what? Oh, thank God. Yeah, thank God. We can say. Let me say thank you now so that my focus and my intention and my energy goes from, why is this happening to me? To this is a gift for me. And that. That's what I start seeing. And so I have to experience everything rapidly so that I could get to that.

Yeah. And I just want to reiterate, too. Like, I love the way you explain that, because it has nothing to do with being ignorant. This has nothing to do with bypassing what's going on. It's more like. You know, Eckhart Tolle has this concept he calls the pain body. And the pain body is rippling for people, sometimes for decades, but it's about shortening the cycle of that pain body rippling. Like you said, it took me 10 years to get here and 10 years to really embody this stuff. There's a faster way, y'. All. Like, we. It doesn't have to take us 10 years. Like, what's. Do you think there's a shortcut, or do you think there's more of just an intelligent path.

There? You can get to it super fast.

How do we do that?

The tools. I teach.

That's why you got to go to training camp for the soul, everyone. Well, can you give us a preview of, like, what that is?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I had a client at my last retreat. I'll preface with this story real quick. That is 50 years old, and his father was murdered when he was 5. And so for the past 45 years, he's been sitting with that heartache, or not sitting with it, right? Like, that pain, not wanting to feel it. And what I guided him through at the retreat, within an hour of that process, maybe it was even a little less. He got to, like, the most ecstatic bliss. And he said, whoever thought pain could feel so good? Fuck, yeah. Like, that was his statement. Like, fuck, yeah. And he's like, are you kidding me? He's like, this was it. He's like, I just need to learn how to so be with this so that it could move and transform. And so we over complicate it. And it's not our fault that we over complicate it. This is what we learned. We were taught. Like, why. Why are you feeling this way? What do you need. Right when you were. When you're sad and crying at 3 years old, your parents already trained you to use this mind that, this. That you need to fix what you're feeling as opposed to, yeah, you're sad. Feel it. I'm here for you. That's what my sister does with my nephew. She puts her hand on his back. She goes, I'm here. I love you. And he cries for about 60 to 90 seconds. And then he's like, hey, mommy, I'm better. Let's go play. They say it takes 90 seconds when you finally, you know, allow yourself to be there, to move through any emotion or for an energy to pass through. So. So it's not as complicated. People over complicate it by what we've learned with our mind. And so the practice is give you guys a few tools here. First and foremost, we're afraid. We're afraid to let this mind, this ego, stop being in control. Your ego is your ultimate protector. There's no getting rid of it. You don't want to get rid of it, actually, because it is. You want to imagine that this is your soldier, your ultimate protector. He's the one that protects your inner child, your emotions. When you're. When you don't test to yourself, that's what kicks into place whatever your ego pattern is. So. But we want to weaken the need of that protector. We want to put him out of his job, give him less hours, put him on very, very, very part time. And so first and foremost is being like, oh, I'm safe without this protector. So creating safety to be in the body. And so we need there to be congruency between the body and the mind. Feeling safe. So you do your physiology by your breath and by what you tell yourself. So you want to sit straight up. You want to sit palms up, like you're open to receiving, sitting open. Because if you were safe, that's how you would sit. If you're scared, what do you do? You curl up into a ball.

Yeah.

So sit safe. That's already sending the signal to the body that you're safe to be in there as opposed to in the mind. Breathe. You're the breath, man. Breathe into the belly. Breathe consistent into your diaphragm like you're safe. Because how do people breathe when they're scared? They either freeze, they don't breathe at all, or they breathe heavy into their chest. So get the breath down into the belly, the diaphragm, and breathe calm. And then last piece is repeat. I am safe. I am Safe to be in my body. I am safe to experience this. I am safe to feel. I am safe. So you're forming that body mind connection, telling all parts you're safe to go there, and so repeating that and sitting in that until you feel that you've dropped in to your body. And you can start to track the body for sensations. So feel the sensation. Right now, those of you listening, of your feet in your shoes or socks or sandals or floor. If you put all your attention there, there's a sensation there, isn't there? Yeah. Or the sensation of your bud on the chair. Or just scan your. Scan your belly, Any tightness, any movement, any sensation, temperature, scan your chest, scanning all these areas, feeling into where there may be stuck energy or tightness. Like right now, I feel a little bit in my left lower back. So you start to be. And listen to the sensations of the body and then taking whatever it is that you're experiencing.

So.

Josh, what were you experiencing last week? If you just bring, like, one statement, I am what? Or I was what?

Mm, I was upset about.

Doesn't matter.

You can say fill in the blank. Yeah, I was upset about. Well, I was upset about what's really going on with our world. I was upset about what to tell my inner young man. I'm upset about our brother, the sisters, giving up their power.

Yeah. So there's also, like, anger there.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So all these ways that we can quote, unquote, label it. I was upset, I was angry, I was frustrated. And so a lot of times when people hear themselves say that they don't want to feel that way, so it's all. They go to their head and how to fix it, because those are quote, unquote, negative ways to feel. And so my invitation to those listening is let's remove the label because I'm upset and Josh is upset. Could feel very different to both of us. So it's let's remove the word and let's go one layer deeper, and that's be with it. Well, what does that feel like in your body? What's the sensation? Describe it in as many ways. So first, once you scan your body, then you want to say to yourself, okay, I am upset, I am scared, I am angry, I am anxious. Whatever it is, accept it. Accept that a part of you feels this way. Just like if your child came to you and said, mommy, Daddy, I'm upset, you wouldn't be like, go away.

Sure.

Yes, we learned to tell them, how can I fix this? But really, what that child needed in that moment was for you to acknowledge you're upset, accept it, and love the child through it. So it's the same thing. You want to see these parts of you as your inner child, and that child needs to be heard, accepted, and loved. So first step is accepting it. That a part of you is frustrated, angry, upset. I'm upset. And keep saying it until you see, where are you holding that in your body? Where in your body is that? So maybe in your chest. And so then check. Does it have a temperature, a size, a texture, a vibration, a color? And so you start to be with it at the level of energy, of sensation, because what's an emotion? Energy in motion. So let's get away from the label the motion of upset and be with it at the level of energy and get curious about all of its felt senses. Oh, it's the size of a baseball. It's tight, it's warm, or it's hot. Now it's moving, now it's a rod. And just be with it. Be with that energy at that level and keep being with it. And sometimes being with these sensations creates a desire to emote. Like when, when you're nauseous. If you feel nauseous, what's. What's the sound that comes out of you?

It's like a gargoyle.

Right? All of us. Isn't that interesting? Or when a child has a tummy ache, it's like, oh, why do. Why don't they go, oh, I have a tummy ache? Because the energy at times has a sound to it as well. And so if it's so painful, so painful, or that something that you're grieving, then allow that to be expressed too. Which means you may want to scream into a pillow or scream out loud, or you may want to give yourself a good cry, allow yourself to have that. That's what you did when you were an infant before you had language. Bringing us back to what we innately knew, what we innately have always had and who we've always been before we got programmed.

Wow. I mean, just. Just what you gave someone right now was such a gift. So rewind that. Listen to it again. That's the path. But yet, you know what I was thinking of when you're talking? I was thinking, you know how a gun has a safety on it? And if you release the safety, if you. If you release safety, that's when the gun can fire. Things can move quickly as long as safety is opened up. If the safety is opened up on a gun, it shoots. If the safety is opened up within ourselves. We can bust through something in a day, in a weekend, at a retreat, whatever it is. And that is the actual molecular mimicry, however you want to describe it. That's a pretty neck up term. But you know what I'm talking about, right? There's science. We're half beast, half spirit. So we can actually for the analytical people or for the spiritual people, this work works. But it's like sometimes I feel like the words turn people off. So even when someone that might need the most inner child work hears the word healing inner child, it might be like, oh my God, have you found this to be true? Have you found this? Like, the people that need the work the most might get turned off by the sensitivity and the etymology of the words.

Oh, for sure. And I think the journey that's been for me and that I finally learned when I learned integral theory, spiral dynamics, is to speak in the language of your ideal client. And so what my copy was on my website a year ago was like something that would scare those people to. Now I'm like, oh, let me speak in their language. I feel stuck. I want success. I want that loving relationship, right? Speaking in what they want so I. So that they feel heard. But then once they enter the retreat, it's like, well, this is the work, this is it. And they've already committed and they get to learn to love and understand that and have it be a part of their language. I think when something's not a part of someone's language, they're not wrong for it. It's just that new to them that they don't understand it. And once you give someone an experience of it, then they understand it and it's now integrated for them as well.

This is so nuanced with, with where we are in our talk, because there are people that they spend their whole lives gathering. There's like, they got all the podcasts and they read all the books and like they're literally doing everything. They've even got like some of these people have PhDs on the wall, right? They have all the things, all the books, all the trainings, all the stuff. But there's this chasm, there's this bridge between knowing and doing. And this is what I see, skilled people like yourself, like, highly skilled. I mean, this is more than just a skill. This is like a divine embodiment, really. And if that turns you off, I'm sorry, if you're a logical person, it's somebody with all the goods. All right? So if you're a Spiritual person, Alan Watts calls them. You're more of a goo. Or if you're a hard, like, number crunching person, Alan Watts calls you a prickle. So there's prickles and goo. This work, this healing work, it gives people results regardless of who you are. It's like we're all looking for, how do we become the better version a little bit better. Like some people might describe it. I know there's something else out there for me, but I'm just not exactly sure how to get it. Don't you believe, I'm curious how you feel about this? Don't you believe that if when people really want something somewhere inside of them, they already know how to get it? They already know how to get there, but there's certain things that block them from that. What are those things?

Yeah, that's it. My favorite analogy metaphor is the garden, right? You move into a house and you look out the window and you see the backyard, and it's just like weeds everywhere. And you have this vision, you know, that you just bought this home, that you want a beautiful garden. You go to Home Depot Gardens and you pick out all the seeds and flowers and plants and things that you want. But you come back to the house, you still got to clear out the weed before there's a room for what you want. And can't just. You can't just trim them. You got to get. Get that stuff out by the root. And so that's. That's the difference. You know, a lot of people do know what they want. They've been trying to get it from the neck up, and there's. There's still. They still haven't made energetic room for that to be true, for them to believe that. So you want that amazing relationship, but you have this belief that love doesn't last, that you're invisible, that you don't matter, that you're not enough. So it doesn't matter how much you dream and visualize that, you know, you could manifest that relationship. If there's no room for it, then even if you do meet that person, you're gonna sabotage it in some way because you have these beliefs. And when you clear out these beliefs, this energy, there's room for something new. And so anyone can have the life they desire. What they need to do is clear out everything that's been in the way that's not truly them.

Let that pause for a minute, because in our Breathe program, we call it the BTFA loop. And I'm curious, for training camp for the soul, how Many people have been through the program now it's quite a bit.

Probably around a little over 200. And that's up until this point, I've led my word very intimately. So I've done 23 retreats with, on average six people at a retreat in the past, gosh, four years, three and a half years, and started the virtual program and only felt I could do that in small group as well. And the gift of COVID 19 was like, all right, Anat, so many people need what you do now. And like, how can I offer this at a price that, like, more people can say yes? And so it's really stretched me to let go of my limited belief of it has to be this way. It has to be six people. I have to be able to work. I have to be the one to work with each one of them, one on one to what if it can be? And right now we just launched a new beta program and, you know, we're probably gonna have 30 people in that. So I feel ready more than ever to support more, more humans.

The reason I'm asking is because I've always felt in the past two years, especially in my research and in creating Breathe, it's like belief, thought, feeling, action. Every single thing we do is through a lens. And I don't care how great of a driver you are or how awesome you are behind the wheel, if your windshield is super cloudy, you could have the best driving skills. You're going to crash, you're never going to make it to your destination because, like, your belief system, the lens that you look out of is freaking dirty. And I don't really. I don't know how else to describe it to people sometimes. And I say that with, like, a bit of excitement. And also, if I sense into it, I sense frustration because I think we've all felt that where we might want a family member or a spouse or a significant other or a friend to really see us, to really see all the magnificence that we actually are and to really hear us, you know, to be seen and to be heard. But that's not our work. To change someone else's belief, they have to want the change themselves. So at what stage on the journey does somebody come to you and do they even realize that they need to change their belief? Or are they just like, hey, I keep finding shitty relationships, like, when, when do they arrive at the doorstep for you?

So I get two types of people that come to me. One are the seekers that are always, you know, these are the entrepreneurs. I Work with a lot of, you know, high achievers, entrepreneurs, business owners, CrossFit gym owners, that they're always just looking to level up, and they hear about me through someone else, and they're just like, oh, this sounds like this is great. Like, I'm ready for my next level up. And those are easy. And then the other people are those that they're stuck, and they've gotten to a point where they're so done managing themselves. This, like, trimming the weeds, hoping that the garden blossoms into something else. That was me when I met my mentor, that introduced me to my body, and out of just here it was. I remember coming to him being like, I'm exhausted. I have mastery of, like, the weeds. I know. I know my weeds. I have eight years of practice of that.

And you had all the checklists and not. You had all the books in the checklist. The top five ways to clear your emotional self.

Blah, blah, blah. Not. Not emotional stuff, but, you know, top ways to mindset.

Mindset hacks. Yeah. Yeah.

And I was like, I'm done. I'm done doing the same thing over and over again. And, like, getting the same result of not the life that I desire. And so, yeah, so people that hit that point, and so that's why I share with my clients. I go, don't, you know, don't try and save people. Let people hit their ground zero. Let them hit their apocalypse. What people are experiencing now is that. Which I think is why my business, like, we're getting more applications than ever before, as people are realizing, like, there is no way out then in.

Wow. I love podcasting. I love talking with you because it reminds me of other shows where other intelligent people have given us some wisdom we can embody. And I think back to Christine Hassler when we were sitting at Paleo, and she was like, don't ever rob someone of their process. Don't do it. You might feel like, you know, you might want to help somebody or give somebody some money or, you know, hold somebody and tell them everything's going to be okay. What is it about the gift of letting somebody go through the gauntlet? Gauntlet? Like, what actually is that in your work that you see so valuable?

They build that emotional resiliency. They realize that no matter what life hands them, because, by the way, life is going to keep handing you. COVID 19 is not it.

This is just the beginning, y', all, Right?

Just the beginning.

This is just a start.

If you're listening to this and you're in your 20s, you got like the growing pains of like, who am I going to become? Right?

Buckle up, buttercup.

Then, then you have like the, you want the relationship, you want the relationship and the pain of that. So then you're in the relationship and then the pain of that. And then you get married and you're like, woohoo. And then it's like you have kids and it's a whole nother thing to face. And then, you know, maybe there's, God forbid, health challenges and then eventually we all have to deal with, you know, our parents getting old and passing or if they're ill. And so life is going to keep handing you stuff that you didn't quote, unquote, want or ask for that you don't want to accept. And all the. And what those things are creating for you, if you really sit with it and see is a sensation. Like what are you actually afraid of is a feeling, it's going to create some feeling for you. So if you build the capacity to be with any sensation, any feeling, then there's nothing that life hands you that you can't learn to be with and move through and see the gift in it.

Bomb drop, moment with a knot. It's the resistance to the feelings that perpetuate the suffering. That's it. I mean, if you guys get one thing from this show, you probably got like 20 by now. That's a really big one. Notice how I just took a big deep breath. I found that, that in the past two years, especially the breath work component has been not just cathartic, not just healing, but a way of daily living. Especially now. I've heard from people that have done your workshops that there's a very specific type of breath that you use. What is it about the breath that clears? Capital T, lowercase T, trauma. And how do we make that stick? You know? In your work with Training Camp for the Soul, how does breathwork stick?

Well, I wonder who said that about our breath work process. I actually don't facilitate the breath work at the retreat and I feel it's always ever changing, but it's deep. And I think every day we build and on it, we take you on a journey of your, of your breath and the power of that prana, that, that energy, that that's something that you can circulate, that's an energy that you can circulate. And you want to imagine like this analogy just came through, but like taking one of those like blowers that you use on the, you know, to blow leaves and all that, it's like that Air helps to. To move some of that stuckness or move the leaves that are blocking the weeds. So it's something that you have control over, that you get to work with as an energy, and it's important to embrace it.

God, there's so many of us that I think feel lost at times, and especially right now, that feeling of being lost. Keyword feeling. It's a sensation. We're never lost. No one's ever lost. Like, that doesn't exist. Do you feel the same way?

Absolutely. And that's why when people. Again, we're so reckless. People are so reckless. We've learned to be so reckless with our words. And so I invite people to slow down and bring it to paper. Especially when you're feeling stuck or you're like, in your head, bring it to paper, drop it all down, and then really observe it and ask yourself, so I feel lost. I feel lost. Okay. I feel lost. Where in my body do I feel that? Let me describe. What does it feel like? Is it, you know, what's the temperature, color, texture, size, frequency, Color? Yeah, yeah. Instead of how lazy we are with just. Just blah, blah, blah, like talking, the.

The path is not linear ever. But especially when it comes to emotions, you know, energy in motion. I've seen, and I felt in my own experience, like through plant medicine, that sometimes people will go down this path of going from, like, ceremony to ceremony. Ceremony. It becomes. It's so funny because. Because plant medicines, whether it's any entheogen, you know, like mushrooms or iboga or. Or anything at all, Ayahuasca, people can sometimes get in a loop of, I'm going to go once every three months to ceremony, or I'm going to go once a month to ceremony. And in my opinion, I think it's actually dishonoring the medicine. I think it's dishonoring the path because there's no pause. There's no pause to embody anything. And if they go to ceremonies too often, it's almost like they're getting unearned wisdom. They haven't actually spent the time earning the wisdom that the 4 and 5D consciousness is trying to give to them.

Yeah, very good. I speak into this, and I've been interviewed about plant medicines, and I've had people approach me and say, hey, should I do your work first? Or ayahuasca or mushrooms?

Do yours first.

Yes. People turn to that stuff. They're turning it like, this will heal me.

And it has. It has powerful properties, but.

It does. It does. But the truth is that no One can heal you. I don't heal my clients. I introduce them and guide them to the healer within them. You want to be able to tap into your ability to allow your body to heal itself, because, by the way, your body is that brilliant. You cut yourself right now, God forbid you cut your finger. You think the ointment and the band aid is doing the healing. No. Your body is so coming back into connection with that. Our bodies are brilliant, and that's what does the healing. And once you have that and you have. Then. Then ayahuasca, mushrooms, iboga, whatever, is a tool in the healer's tool belt. And you're working with the medicine as opposed to using the medicine, because, like you said, you've developed enough consciously and subconsciously, there's enough knowing of this body and soul and energy that you can. You're bringing a medicine to it. You're working with it instead of using it and using it and abusing it and expecting it to work for you and not knowing how to integrate it. So, quick story. Six months or so after my hundred days of dating me, I was introduced to ayahuasca. I had no idea what it was. One of my friends was like, hey, we have a shaman coming this weekend. Do you want to do this thing? Ayahuasca? I'm like, what? Huh? Like Keisha or whatever? Like, I'm. Yes. Jumped in blindly, and it was. It brought up stuff that I. That I never experienced before. Right? I purged, I cried. I had so many memories of my little girl's sadness, of dad always working all these things, right? And so. But I came out of it. And so maybe you purge the energy of it, but what it doesn't get to, because you can only get to this consciously, is the beliefs that were formed from those experiences that I just remembered. Like, I'm invisible. I don't matter. Men will always choose something else over me. And so what happens is you come out, and because you haven't replaced those beliefs with a new belief, then you haven't edited the script. So you're just gonna go out there in the world and continue to act the way you've acted and reinforce it, and there it is. It's still there. And, oh, I need to go and do ayahuasca again.

Oh, my God. Hardware and software. I just got it. You work on the actual hardware, like changing the system so that when there is new wisdom that comes in, it can actually work. We are, whether you want to admit it or not, we're a spirit inside of a Body. And we're kind of on a rock in the middle of space, and there's this huge orb in the sky that lights us. Do you ever, like, pause to think about this stuff? Like, we are living in such a fucking dream world here. There's so much going on that we could never understand, and the only thing we can do is surrender to the mystery. Like, that's the only thing we can do. So then the question is, if we can surrender to the mystery of the universe and surrender to the mystery of the world and the sun and the moons and the planets and all these things that we could never, ever understand, how do we surrender to the mystery of ourselves? How do we surrender to that type of mystery?

You have to discover yourself first. It has to go from being a mystery to being unknown, Knowing, you know, it's the. Let me go to my garden and let me get to know all the parts and all the weeds. Let me, oh, I'm feeling triggered by my partner. Instead of wanting to fix that or shutting that down, let me get to know that part. Let me explore all parts of myself so that I'm no longer a mystery to me, and I'm clear what's me and what's not me. And then I'm more solid and aligned with myself.

What's something that you've learned about yourself the most through this work? What's a mystery that you were always trying to craft where you're like, God, I wonder why I react in this way? Or I wonder why this keeps happening to me. Was there a loop that you fixed through this work?

Gosh. Loop. How about loops?

Okay, multiple. But which one comes up right now where you're like, yeah, that's. That's one that I cleared effectively through this work?

Yeah, I mean, the biggest one, I'd say, was. Was around my father. It's funny, you know, Daddy was always on a pedestal, and I was always a daddy's girl and worked with my dad for years, you know, is an accountant, had his own business. I'd always help him since I was little. So if you ask me, like, oh, is there a father wound there? I'd be like, no, love daddy. I'm a daddy's girl. And then, like, my mom and I are, like, always like this. And then, you know, I start dating and relationships and all that, and it's like failed relationship after failed relationship after another one. And it's the same pattern, and it's codependency, and then I always feel invisible, like something else is more important. And Then they leave me for someone else. And it's the same. I'm like, oh, there's like an interesting cycle here. And the connection of that I didn't see until I worked with my mentor how it's connected to father. And the reason that's a father. I don't want to call it wound, but a father learning whether you're a woman or a man.

Do you believe in the phrase imprint? Like, something gets imprinted, it can be changed, but it's heavily imprinted.

Yes, yes. And give you guys a little more tidbit of why I say father and how to recognize this. So, mom, second you were born. Mom held you and said, son, daughter, I'm your mommy. And you heard, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa. You didn't understand. She said you didn't know you were looking at your mom. But what you did, the sense that you did have is energy. And the energy you felt felt familiar. It felt like the energy you were just in for nine months. It felt like home. It is home. Oh, this is me. I am me. This mom is me. I am Mom. Mom is an extension of self. And right there in that moment, mom becomes your role model for the self. You look at mom, especially the first seven years, for everything related to the self. So then dad walks in the hospital room on your birthday, picks you up, and says, son, daughter, I'm your daddy. And you're like, what is this energy? I've never felt this energy before. But I imagine at least the first time your father held you, that he was blissed out times a million and vibrating at so much love and joy. And that's what you felt. And so father represents something that's not me. Loving me, something outside of me. Father represents the world. Anything that is not me. He models that for you. So everything from your relationship with others, hence why my relationships with men, went the way that they went. To purpose in the world, to courage, to love in relations with others, to vulnerability. Are you willing to show yourself to someone that's not you? Right. So if dad was open with you and showed and shared himself emotionally, then you learned vulnerability. So mom and dad might act the exact same way, but how it imprints you is different. Because one is here to teach you about the self, and the other teaches you about the world.

What was the realization you got?

Oh, well, my father was a workaholic. Still is. Love, Daddy. Love you. That's what he learned, right? That's one of his coping ways. And he worked 16 hours a day running a hotel in early Years for me. So he was up at 6am and I didn't remember this. I asked him this a few years ago. I go, dad, the only memories I have of us in the early years were we lived in Israel, we're going to the beach with my mom and my brother, driving to my grandparents house two hours away with my mom and my brother, and watching you play soccer with my brother. So none of which are just me and daddy memories. But I didn't say those to him. I said, dad, what do you remember about our time together when we lived in Israel? He said, the exact same three.

Wow.

Because other than that, my father was working. He goes, well, I sometimes get up at 6am, get home at 10pm and do it all over again. And then the weekends we'd go to the grandparents or we'd go to the beach, or he'd play with my brother, who was older, three years older than me. And so if dad represents the world, and dad is love to me, right? And again, this is why every person holds dad on a pedestal. And either dad lives up to that pedestal or he breaks your heart. Dad represents the heart. So if dad represents the world to me and love, and the world's not there, the world is never with me, right? Let's replace the word dad with world or others. Others aren't there much, or when they are, they're busy. You're invisible. Other things are more important than you. He's always working, he's always doing other things. The world will focus elsewhere, not on you. And just like that, I get imprinted with. I'm invisible, I don't matter. And men will always choose something else over you. So you have to come up with a way to survive that. Because as humans we are programmed to survive, not to thrive. We're programmed to survive, we have to learn to thrive. So my way to survive that was, well, if that. And this was in the after age 7 or so. But whenever dad is around, I'll just tag along with him. I'll just be around him. And that's why I started working and helping. When my dad started having his own business as an accountant and left the hotel industry, I come downstairs to his home office and be like, daddy, what can I help you in? And be like, oh, separate the blue, the green and the pink papers back in the day before fancy computers. And I would just be around him and I would think that that's quality time. And so then that showed up in my relationships. I remember sitting in my mentor's office when this Hit me. I sunk into the couch because I was in a relationship at the time with a guy who owned a. Who's a chiropractor. And the conversation that we were in was, well, maybe I'll just quit my job and come work with you and help you in your business. And I was like, whoa, oh my God, I'm doing it. And then I thought about my first relationship when I was 17, when I was in high school school, where my boyfriend loved playing video games. And he would play video games, and instead of me going home doing my own thing, I'd sit there and watch him play or clean the room or make lunch for us. How deeply it was programmed that this is quality time, that this is love, how limiting that was. And so getting to the root of that, there was so much pain, there was so much sadness, there was so much to grieve that my little girl never got. Some of you listening, did not have the mother that you needed or the father that you wanted and to feel, to hold that little one in you give yourself a hug and say, you know, I'm sorry, I know you didn't have that, but you get to. You get to. They did the best they could with what they learned and to finally feel through that grief, that sadness, and replace those weeds with something new. And now I'm almost in a three year relationship with my person, my partner, who, you know, we talk marriage. He has the link to the ring, so I imagine I sent it to him. He'd been asking me for it for like five months and was finally ready. I sent him the.

Oh, my God. Thank you for sharing that. So special, so powerful. Because every human lesson can be universal if we have the proper lens to see it. And so it's inspiring to me. Like, I've witnessed this growth and the way that you're leading now with training campforthesoul.com and the way that you're coaching people that I know that are in the podcast world and all the shows you've done, this has been such the epic journey conversation. If there was one piece of guidance you could leave people with when it comes to this element of what actually is the soul and how do we train it, what would that be?

Your soul. Your soul is, is, is everything. It is your mind, it is your body, it is your sensations, it is your breath, it is everything. And so learning to be with the souls, learning to be and love, all parts of you, mind included. But let's get that mind, body, connection and, and go on that self discovery like we said before. So it's not some like anomaly. What is this? Explore it, get to know it. And you'll find, you'll find your brilliance and you'll tap into your gifts. Because you all have a gift. Your soul came here with a gift to give to the world.

I heard this phrase and I'm probably going to butcher it, but it was something similar to this and it was, you know, the. The real purpose of life is to find out what your gift is. It's to find your gift and then the meaning that we create in life is giving it away. And I feel like you really found your gift. And it's a, it's an intelligent, it's like a beacon. It's like this intelligent beacon of hope, hope for all of us. That if you're willing to do the real work, like you can have purpose and meaning in so much abundance that it'll shock you, it'll blow you away. And I'm curious, with all that you've learned, you know, all this, this meaning and purpose that you're cultivating and, and how you're serving people with. Training camp for the soul dot com. What is wellness to you? You know, if you had to like put together all these pieces you've learned, how would you define living a life? Well, what is wellness to Anat Peri?

It is tending to yourself, tending to your garden, which means physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I just wrapped up a 10 day Priam cleanse. Thank you, Josh for that good stuff for the second time. So making sure that you're tending to all parts of your garden, all parts of your life. Everything matters, whether to yourself, with yourself, to your relationships, to your business. So taking care of everything and taking time, starting out your day, tending to yourself. And what that means to me is sitting, creating that safety, scanning the body and seeing if there's anywhere that needs any part of you, any piece of the puzzle of you that needs a little more love, attention, presence and acceptance.

If somebody's feeling like you woke up something in them, how do they contact you?

Instagram. You can follow me on there. Anat Perry, not Perry, I think it is. Or Facebook or just go to training camp for the soul dot com. I have free Freedom guide on there and right now see how long we keep doing it. We're doing a support call on Fridays for humanity, for any human. We started this out of COVID 19 so you can go to training campforthesoul.com support and join us for that call.

Anand, thank you for coming on the show. It's so cool when I get to have close friends on the show that are doing amazing work in the world. And this is why I love doing this. This is what lights me up. So just deep bow to what you've created. And. And it's no surprise to me that you've created what you've done already, because I can feel it when I'm around you. You know, we talked about the gathering, the application, and the embodiment today. Well, I've always felt this from you. In the past maybe year or so, when I've seen you in public and, like, at gatherings and whatnot, there's a certain embodiment that you have now that is so different. The feeling that I get when I'm around you is so different now than ever before. So it's a testament to your work, and it's a testament to what you're doing with training camp for the soul. So thanks.

I want to say something. Why that is so people understand how to get there themselves. Look at embodiment as like a puzzle, that all the pieces are there. There's nothing missing. So you feel that. And the energy, the parts of you that you want to keep rejecting is like you tossing away pieces of your puzzle and keeping you from being whole. So that's it. I got into that acceptance.

Let's have fun when we put the puzzle together. Anat, thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you.