The Crazy Colombian (left) and Dan Millman (right) at the end of the 2 days
Image: The Master & the teacher: A Peaceful Warrior experience by The crazy Colombian
An inspiring experience. A life-changing series of moments. An insightful teacher.
These are my feelings about The Peaceful Warrior Experience, a 2-day workshop held at the Radisson Hotel in Sydney on April 5 & 6 by Dan Millman. In this seminar Dan covered the core principles he recommends for living a balanced, fulfilling life.
In this article I will provide a bird’s-eye view of the Seminar’s content & structure; and share my experiences and impressions of it. In later posts I will cover in more depth some of the lessons we gained during this intensive emotional, spiritual, and philosophical workout.
A bird’s-eye view: Dan’s comprehensive guide to better living
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, Dan’s tour of Australia & New Zealand started with a series of 2-hour talks at the capital cities. (click here for a review of the Sydney talk) For those presentations Dan re-used a lot of the content & structure from his book The Laws of Spirit. In a similar vein, Dan re-used one of his books (Everyday Enlightenment) as a source of inspiration for the structure and key messages he wanted to share with us during the weekend experience, .
Don’t let that simple fact fool you: This does not mean that you would have gained the same understanding of these principles simply by reading the books. To illustrate why, I will use a passage from Dan’s best-seller The Way of the Peaceful Warrior:
Understanding is one-dimensional. It is the comprehension of the intellect. It leads to knowledge, which you already have. Realization, on the other hand, is three-dimensional. It is the simultaneous comprehension of the ’whole body’ – the head, heart and physical instincts. It comes only from clear experience.
And so is the case with this seminar. Sure, you can read about many of the concepts and practices in his book; but it is not the same as having a teacher in front of you that is engaging you and answering your questions as they arise. It is through this three-dimensional experience that we started to realise what Dan has been trying to tell us through his boos. And besides, Dan is far more entertaining in the flesh than he is in his books – and his books are immensely entertaining and didactical, as we already know.
At a high level, these were the main topics* covered over the 2 days:
Day One
- Discover your worth
- Reclaim your will
- Energise your body
- Tame your mind
- Reclaim your will
Day Two
- Trust your intuition
- Accept your emotions
- Face your fears
* I decided to use the titles the relevant chapters from Dan’s book Everyday Enlightenment, as they line up quite nicely to the topics presented in the workshop. Whilst in some cases Dan introduced us to the topic using these very same titles, in others he did not.
Dan’s Style: Interactive & Fun
Just like the Tuesday talk, during this weekend Dan made liberal use of humour, quotes, and audience participation. On day one, Dan taught us how to juggle 3 limes; and demonstrated the Peaceful Warrior Workout, a whole-body workout that can be completed in under 4 minutes and will help you develop strength, suppleness, stamina and balance.
On day two, we practiced a bit more juggling; completed a boxing routine to Lionel Richie’s Running with the Night; and participated in 2 surprising exercises. The first one was a pin-bending experience. The purpose of this activity was to show that it is easier to achieve an outcome when you are fully committed to it. We were given pins (like the ones used by tailors to pin-down hem-lines, etc), which we then stuck to a wooden board, with the flat-head standing up. The objective of the exercise: To bring your palm down hard on the pin. If you commit to the outcome, and bring your palm down hard, the pin will easily bend, and you won’t even feel it. But if you hesitate and bring the palm down slowly, you will hurt your palm, and will probably not bend the pin.
Dan helps a Peaceful Warrior in Training put the pin on the wooden board
Image: Pin-bending exercise by Johnk Kasonica
On the second exercise we were asked to write something that we wanted to “break through” as part of this seminar’s attendance. We were then told to suspend the wooden board on 2 bricks, and to use the edge of our palm to break the wooden board. The purpose of this exercise was two-fold: First, it allowed us to overcome our fears and break through them (both literally and figuratively – trying to snap a board of hard-wood is quite scary!); Second, it showed us that by focusing on the outcome (the air space below the board, where our hand needed to land) rather than on the obstacles we would face in getting there (namely, the board), we can achieve seemingly impossible tasks.
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A Crazy Colombian’s impressions: Extraordinary moments with an Extraordinary teacher
My impressions of the event can be summarised in 2 words: Fantabulous & Extraordinaire. In short, I loved it.
This workshop left a very deep mark in my soul, and will stand in the history of my personal and spiritual development as a very special series of moments. Not only did I get to meet Dan, and spend 2 days learning from /with him, I also met a very special group of people. Every person that I had the pleasure of meeting on those 2 days now makes a member of The Peaceful Warrior’s Circle, a group of like-minded Peaceful Warrior’s in training.
This is a list of the ’best of’ moments in the seminar:
Most fun: Lunch with the other Peaceful Warriors in training
Most insightful: Overview of numerology approach to learning of one’s life purpose (explained in more detail in The Life you were born to live)
Most humbling: Learning to juggle
Most practical: Learning (and practicing) The Peaceful Warrior Workout
Most surprising: Breaking 2 wooden boards with my bare hand
Most ordinary: None. As Dan says, there are no ordinary moments in life (we only treat some as more ordinary that others)
Coming Soon: Trust your Intuition
Despite my deep analytical education in engineering (I did Industrial Engineering at University), from a very early age I found the power of Oracle tools as ways to tap into my body-knowledge. In my next post, I will discuss some of the principles that Dan shared with us about Trusting Your Intuition, and will relate some of my experiences with tools such as the I Ching and Angel cards.
Stay tuned – the best is yet to come!
Links
- The Way of the Peaceful Warrior (at amazon.com**)
- Everyday Enlightenment (at amazon.com**)
- The Peaceful Warrior Workut (at danmillman.com)
- The Peaceful Warrior Experience: An evening with Dan Millman (at crazycolombian.com)
** Disclaimer: all links to Amazon.com are ’associate links’. This means that every time you follow that link and make a purchase, I get a small commission for referring you to their web site. It is these commissions that make this web site possible; your use of this associate links is most appreciated. If you don’t feel comfortable supporting us in this way, simply go to Danmillman.com or to Amazon.com and manually search for the book you’re interested in.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Diego, that’s a very good post, it was a very satisfying experience for all who attended.
Aaron
Para mi fue igualmente interesante hacer los dos seminarios de Lifespring en Bogotá hace unos cuatro años. Desde entonces, en efecto, mi perspectiva de la vida cambió de manera sustancial y tengo todavía muchos recuerdos positivos y bonitos sobre lo que aprendí y cómo lo hice.
Como con todo en la vida, hay elementos de esos seminarios que me parecen difíciles de digerir e inconsistentes, pero es parte del paquete.
Para Usted, sobre todo, me imagino que la parte sobre confiar en la intuición fue especialmente compleja. Enfín, chévere que ande metido en estos cuentos. Me alegra mucho tener noticias suyas.
Un abrazo.
M.
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Note from the editor
This comment was made by a long-life friend who now lives in Geneva. I met Miguel at University, and is one of those close friends who has a special place in my heart. Thanks, M, for finding me again and for your comments in my blog.
(For non-Spanish speakers, here is a translation of his Comment)
I was equally enthralled by the 2 seminars prepared by LifeSpring that I attended in Bogota a few years back. Since then, in fact, my perspectives about life have had a significant turn; and I was left with many beautiful and positive memories of what I learned and what I did.
Like everything else in life, there are parts of those seminars that I find hard to digest and that have inconsistencies, but that comes as part of the package.
I imagine how complex it would have been to deal with the issue of trusting your intuition, especially for someone like you. Anyway, it is cool you’re involved in these topics. I am very happy to hear from you.
A big hug from a friend,
M
Hey Diego
These are terrific, you are a great writer, very profound and I love the way you share your experiences – would love to share your views with nibbana reads from time to time on our website!
Good work and I am so pleased you enjoyed the seminar and weekend working with Dan and everyone. It was an absolute pleasure having you there.
Love light and laughter
Julie Ann Storr
Chief Inspiration Officer
Nibbana.com.au
Dan Millman/Peaceful Warrior Tour organiser/promoter
REPLY FROM DIEGO:
Julie,
Thanks a lot for the words of encouragement. I am enjoying writing this series, especially as I read more of Dan’s books, and mix the lessons from the experience, from his books, and from my own life all into one single mish-mash of an article. If you ever find something worth sharing with your newsletter readers, feel free to use it and attribute it adequately ( a small note and a link to the blog will be sufficient).
Best wishes,
Diego