{"id":19955,"date":"2023-02-09T08:47:55","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T15:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/?post_type=transcript&p=19955"},"modified":"2023-02-09T08:47:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T15:47:55","slug":"in-deep-shift","status":"publish","type":"transcript","link":"https:\/\/resources2.soundstrue.com\/transcript\/in-deep-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"In Deep Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_print\"Print Transcript<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Tami Simon:<\/b> Hello, friends. My name is Tami Simon, and I\u2019m the founder of Sounds True. I want to welcome you to the Sounds True podcast, <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i>. I also want to take a moment to introduce you to Sounds True\u2019s new membership community and digital platform, it\u2019s called Sounds True One. Sounds True One features original, premium, transformational docuseries, community events, classes to start your day and relax in the evening, and special weekly live shows\u2014including a video version of <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i> with an after-show community question-and-answer session with featured guests. I hope you\u2019ll come join us, explore, come have fun with us, and connect with others. You can learn more at join.soundstrue.com.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I also want to take a moment and introduce you to the Sounds True Foundation, our nonprofit that creates equitable access to transformational tools and teachings. You can learn more at soundstruefoundation.org. And in advance, thank you for your support.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this episode of <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i>, my guest is Valerie Gangas. Valerie Gangas is a speaker, a transformational coach, and an author who specializes in helping people gain a deeper understanding of who they are so they can genuinely thrive and unleash their magic more fully in the world. Valerie has taught TM meditation with the David Lynch Foundation, bringing the practice to the staff of Oprah Winfrey, and she speaks to large groups nationwide about meditation and the benefits of expanding consciousness. With Sounds True, Valerie is the author of a new book <\/span>In Deep Shift: Riding the Waves of Change to Find Peace, Fulfillment, and Freedom<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Valerie Gangas is honest, grounded, and straightforward, while simultaneously talking about personal experiences that are very extraordinary, including her experience of a sudden dramatic spiritual awakening and then finding herself two-and-a-half years later in an advanced meditation training, in what she describes as a harrowing type of spiritual emergency. She\u2019s real, and she\u2019s committed to helping people not feel alone as they pass through what she describes as \u201cexperiences of deep shift.\u201d Here\u2019s my conversation with Valerie Gangas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Valerie, your new book <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i> begins with you sharing a bit about what\u2019s happening in your life that leads you to, I would call it, a type of sudden awakening that you experience. So bring our listeners into your story. What was happening in your life that led you to this deep shift experience?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Well, I\u2019ve always been interested in spirituality, ever since I was nine years old. And then I went to college, I was a comparative religious studies major. I had a mother that was very deeply spiritual. She was a poet focusing on mysticism and always talking to me about the Spanish mystics and just things, magical things. So that was in my orbit. She was really my best friend and my hero, my everything. And she got diagnosed with stage four breast cancer when I was 20 and went into a trial. The trial worked, she lived for 14 years, and then in 2011 she passed away. And it was at that moment that I just broke. I think it was all the years of putting all my energy into trying to keep her alive and just stressing about her health and anticipating her death. And so, when it actually happened, my world just became dark.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how else to explain it. It was like black on black on black. So that went on. She died January 25<\/span>th<\/span>, and I wasn\u2019t getting any better as the months were going by. I was extremely depressed, extremely anxious. I became suicidal, and I just couldn\u2019t pull myself out of it. So I kind of had a breakdown moment one day in the shower, and I just said like, someone has got to either help me live or help me die, because I have nothing left inside of me anymore. And it was only about a week later, I was out. My friend made me go out to dinner to leave the house and someone at the dinner table suggested that I learn transcendental meditation just so I could get some sleep. I also was like an insomniac. I was a disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there was a meditation center in Chicago, and I went there. I told the instructor what was going on. I said, \u201cI\u2019m really sick. I don\u2019t even know anything about this. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll help me or the mechanics of it or anything.\u201d And she said, \u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019m going to teach you how to meditate and let\u2019s just see what happens.\u201d And in one meditation, I went from suicidal to a state of ecstasy\u2014is really the only way I can describe that, and it stuck with me. And from that day forward, my life changed. So it was sudden, all those years of studying spirituality and thinking about it didn\u2019t have anything to do with it, because it was a totally different experience\u2014nothing I could have ever read about or really understood until it actually happened to me. And that\u2019s when my life went in a different direction completely.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>All right. Let\u2019s put the actual breakthrough experience under a microscope, if you will. You learned to meditate this mantra-based meditation practice. What happened? What was the ecstasy? What broke open? And then, what\u2019s really interesting to me is, how are you different when you stopped meditating? Meaning, I think a lot of people have experiences that, whether it\u2019s during sex or perhaps on a hallucinogenic journey or something, where they have these unbelievable breakthroughs and they can describe it. But then they come back and they\u2019re back into the life they were in before the experience, with all their pain and trouble. But it seems like you had this experience and it changed you. And that\u2019s what I want to understand more, what the actual experience was like and how it changed you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> So when you learn TM, they do a short ceremony, they call it a puja. I had, again, no idea what that was either. She started doing the puja, it involves a little bowl of fruit and flowers and some camphor, a candle, and she started doing the ceremony. And when she started the ceremony, the whole room went white. I started transcending before she gave me my mantra. So I had never had that experience before. I mean, maybe a little bit when I had zoned out at some point, but it was as though something took over, and I experienced a level of silence and depth within myself that I never knew was possible. And so, she gave me my mantra, I closed my eyes and I just kept going deeper and deeper and deeper. It was like I was breaking through layers of everything in my body. It wouldn\u2019t stop, I just like sunk into the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that silence filled me up with everything. And so, when I opened my eyes, in the room we were on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, and she had the window cracked open and I could hear these children playing in a playground underneath\u2014it was a condo building and I could hear Lake Michigan and I could hear the cars and everything sounded different. It was like I had never heard anything before in my life. The children playing sounded like cherubs or something. It was like holy, the experience. And I looked around the room and the colors looked different, like everything had changed in that moment, and I didn\u2019t know what to say. I looked at her and I said, \u201cI need to go home.\u201d And I felt like something fundamentally had shifted inside of me, but I didn\u2019t have the understanding or the words to explain it.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I did say to her, \u201cI feel like everything I thought I knew was wrong,\u201d because I felt like a different person. So I went home and I slept for 15 straight hours. And again, I hadn\u2019t been sleeping at all, I had to take Xanax to sleep at night, I was a disaster. And with TM, it\u2019s a four-day training. Next day, come back in. I\u2019m still in that same state. We do it again, we meditate. Same thing, even now it\u2019s not changing, except I\u2019m having spiritual experiences, and I had never had that happen to me either. I had an experience in the room that I felt like I saw my mom with Christ and I couldn\u2019t believe it, but it seemed very clear to me, and on and on we went. And two weeks later, I was working with my TM teacher and Oprah Winfrey.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. It just happened and it didn\u2019t really leave me. It kind of just evened out after a while. But I\u2019d say for two solid years, that magic was 24\/7, it was while I was sleeping at night, during the day, I just felt like I really wanted to either meditate or just look at trees. I didn\u2019t want to do any of the same things I used to do as far as parties and socializing. I wanted to be alone a lot. I didn\u2019t feel like reading. I didn\u2019t want any information. I had this feeling like I already knew everything\u2014not like I could all of a sudden be a chemist, but I knew what I really needed to know. I don\u2019t know. That was my experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>OK. Now, there\u2019s a lot here that I want to tease out, but the first is, you say this lasted, this state of being you describe in your book as being \u201cplugged in, in deep shift,\u201d being plugged in for two years. What happened after two years?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> It was two-and-a-half years, and then I decided, \u201cHey, if I had that experience learning TM, why don\u2019t I take this further and go on another a month-long course to learn a longer meditation?\u201d So I was trained to be able to meditate three hours a day. And I was trained with the sutras, so I was saying more mantras in my head, and it\u2019s a longer period of meditation. And on the course, I was meditating six or eight hours a day, and I exploded. I literally exploded at the end of that course. Maybe three days before the end of the course, it felt like I was having a nervous breakdown, a heart attack, and a psychotic break all at once. It was absolute spiritual emergency, and that was another major experience. But if one experience was \u201cgood,\u201d this was not good\u2014this was scary. I had a brother who had schizophrenia and I thought, \u201cOh, you now have schizophrenia,\u201d is what happened to me. And that magic went away for a while. For years, I was just basically living in fear.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Whoa. And so, let\u2019s see, because now you\u2019ve had a chance to reflect on these experiences. First of all, to what do you attribute the sudden awakening, if you will? Why did that happen to you? That doesn\u2019t happen to, I don\u2019t know what the percentage is, but 99 point whatever percent of people don\u2019t have that kind of experience when they meditate for the first time. Why did that happen to you, do you think?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I\u2019ve thought about it deeply, because once I started working with the David Lynch Foundation and I was around tons of people learning to meditate, I realized, \u201cOh, they\u2019re not having the same experience as me, because I was so innocent about it.\u201d And what the conclusion I\u2019ve come to is, in a way, I was already dead. I have a different view of people now who commit suicide, because I was so on the edge, and I felt like I had died before I died, really. And so, learning this meditation, I don\u2019t know if it was the sound that resonated with me or something, but it just filled me up with light when all that was there before was darkness. And that\u2019s the only conclusion I can come to, because it was just a very extreme situation, which\u2014I don\u2019t think most people are in that position learning to meditate.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>So you\u2019re saying it was the depth of your despair that created this feeling of being dead before you were actually dead?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Is that what you\u2019re saying?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> That\u2019s how I felt.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Right. The depth of your pain, and you said black upon black upon black, opened you or readied you in a certain way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I believe it did.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Created a hunger in you. OK. Interestingly. All right. Then you said two-and-a-half years later, this experience that felt like some kind of combination of, I think you said psychosis and a heart attack, this spiritual emergency unfolded. How do you link that, if at all, to the first experience? Are these two sides of something? Or what do you see as the relationship? One, you broke into ecstasy. The other sounds like it was pretty challenging, distressing?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Very distressing. I would like to add that it felt like I was on acid and being electrocuted. I thought my head was going to explode off my body from the amount of energy going through me. Thought about that too, it\u2019s the reason I got a degree in transpersonal psychology. I wanted to understand what this was, and someone described me once in a casual conversation as spiritually sensitive. I was like, you know what? That\u2019s what it is, I\u2019m so spiritually sensitive. I\u2019m very careful about things that I do around spirituality. I don\u2019t overdo it. I\u2019m very balanced about things, because I know from personal experience, I can go one way or the other, and I have no control over that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always been very intuitive and sensitive, but I think introducing stuff like <\/span>the city\u2019s program<\/span>\u2014which was not appropriate for me, it was too much, it just made me explode. And any trauma I was holding in my body or feelings that I had pushed away, it all came out at once. So the only way I can wrap my mind around it is that I\u2019m very sensitive to things that maybe other people\u2014it doesn\u2019t even touch them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>For people who connect with this idea of being spiritually sensitive, what would you suggest as they approach meditation and spiritual practices and intensive yoga retreats? What would be your suggestions for them?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Really to take it easy, don\u2019t overdo it. When I meet people who are going on yoga retreats, they\u2019re meditating, they\u2019re doing reiki, they\u2019re doing all these things. I want to say be careful, because it can really overwhelm the system. I mean, too much of a good thing is not good, there has to be balance. And for me, I guess that\u2019s what the lesson was. I was thinking, oh well, if I had this experience with TM, why don\u2019t I do something three times as long and it\u2019ll be even better? It doesn\u2019t really work that way, not for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>And I\u2019m curious to speak right now to that person who might be listening, because there\u2019s two different places somebody could be finding, there\u2019s so many different places, there\u2019s a multitude of places. But in terms of drawing out from what we\u2019ve talked about, if somebody is in a place of real darkness and despair right now and they don\u2019t feel plugged into a cosmic source of light, was it the prayer that you think, the prayer in the shower that opened a pathway? Or what would you suggest to someone who\u2019s in that kind of pre-deep shift, just the need for a shift?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I completely surrendered. There was nothing left. I surrendered to God. To whoever was listening, no ego, nothing, I didn\u2019t exist. I just said, \u201cTake me.\u201d Either way, I have nothing left, And that I believe was the turning point. So there\u2019s something about surrender that I think is extremely powerful. I think it comes on the heels of extreme pain. And what comes after that, I think, is the silver lining.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Tell me more about surrender, because I think people hear that word and they wonder, am I surrendering partially all the way? What does it mean to surrender all the way? How do I do that?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> In my case, it was forced. I think I might\u2019ve been pretty cocky, maybe had a pretty big ego, had problems in my life, but always thought, I can get through that, no problem. And not this time. For me, there was nothing left but to surrender. I\u2019ve thought about addicts and stuff, that feeling of there\u2019s nothing left, I have to surrender to a higher power. And then it helps them heal. It\u2019s the same type of feeling, I think that you are destroyed and you finally go to fall to your knees.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Now, I also want to talk to that person who relates to the notion of being in a spiritual emergency. They don\u2019t really know what they\u2019re going through, is this a spiritual emergency? So first of all, how do they know if it\u2019s a spiritual emergency and not something else that needs to get attended to? Like an illness that needs to get addressed because they\u2019re having these weird symptoms inside and nobody can quite tell them what\u2019s going on, and they don\u2019t quite know why they\u2019re so X, Y, Z. First of all, how do you discern this is a spiritual emergency? And then, what do you do if you\u2019re in that situation? You have some good suggestions in <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i> for people who might find themselves in that place.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I think if there\u2019s a clear reason\u2014for me, I was on a very intense meditation course. It was like I did one thing and then this happened. I knew through the insanity, well, there was a cause and effect. So I did still feel, because I grew up with someone who had schizophrenia, I thought, you\u2019re not going to pull out of this. I did have all those thoughts. My best advice, if you do have an experience like this, is to really pump the brakes. Don\u2019t keep throwing gas on the fire and keep doing all of these practices and going deeper and deeper into it. You\u2019ve got to lean back. You\u2019ve got to get some perspective, get grounded. Maybe find a psychologist that\u2019s a transpersonal psychologist, someone that really understands the mechanics of this. Because if you just go to a regular psychiatrist and explain these experiences you\u2019re having, there\u2019s a very good chance they\u2019re going to put you on medication.<\/span><\/p>\n

And maybe you do need medication for a small amount of time. I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not a doctor. But what helped me was talking to other people that really understood what had happened to me. And I had to search far and wide. I mean, I found a healer in Santa Fe. I was living in Colorado, and I just drove to see him at least six times a year, because he was helping me on an energetic level and really understood what had happened to me. So my advice is get grounded, pump the brakes, and find someone that understands it can help you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>What did you find, in your own experience, helped you get grounded as a spiritually sensitive person?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I had to do things like start eating meat again. That helped me. I had been a vegetarian since I was 15, and I started eating chicken and turkey. Everyone was telling me to eat beef, it\u2019s going to ground you. I didn\u2019t go that far, but maybe I should have. I felt like food helped me ground. I felt like meditating less helped me be more grounded, being around grounded people, managing my stress levels, really taking good care of myself and getting great rest. It was a very long process, and all of these things mattered. Getting exercise, moving your body, moving the energy out of your body\u2014because when you have experiences like this, there\u2019s so much energy in your body, it\u2019s like nothing you\u2019ve ever felt before. So it\u2019s imperative that you move that energy. And staying away from drugs and alcohol, that doesn\u2019t help, it also fuels the fire in my experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>OK. One more thread to pick up before we move on. You mentioned something magical happened with Oprah soon after you learned how to meditate, what happened?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> So after I had that experience where everything cracked open, there was a ton of synchronicity. It wouldn\u2019t stop, it was all day. And I was feeling better, so I started living my life and going out. My brother\u2019s friend was in town, he randomly asked me to go to a Foo Fighter\u2019s concert in Chicago. And I was like, \u201cSure, why not?\u201d He somehow knew the band or something, and so we were going to go backstage. And it was like 2:00 in the morning, we were waiting to go back with the band, and Wynonna Judd showed up at this very small venue that normally a band of that size wouldn\u2019t be playing there, but she showed up. It turns out she had the same agent as them, and also it turned out that my brother\u2019s friend also knew her. So next thing I know, I\u2019m sitting with Wynonna Judd, my brother\u2019s friend, and I\u2019m staring at her because my mom was completely obsessed with a performance that she did on Oprah Winfrey\u2019s show.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s sang, \u201cI Want To Know What Love Is,\u201d an old Foreigner song. And it was an ongoing joke in our family, we would tease my mom, \u201cWhy are you obsessed with Wynonna Judd and this song?\u201d And I don\u2019t know, we just would tease her, and I couldn\u2019t believe that she was standing in front of me. I told her about my mom, I said, \u201cI can\u2019t believe you\u2019re here right now and that I\u2019m talking to you.\u201d And I said, \u201cI got offered a job to work with Oprah Winfrey, and I turned it down, but now I\u2019m staring at you and I\u2019m wondering what\u2019s going on?\u201d And I explained it to her and she said, \u201cYou have to take that job. This is a sign. There\u2019s a sign from your mom.\u201d And a week later, I started working with Oprah because I did, I took it as a real sign directly from my mom. I mean, I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat are the chances?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>And what was the context in which you were offered a job to work with Oprah in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Because I had this really great experience learning to meditate, I also wasn\u2019t working, because I was not functioning. So my TM teacher was about to start working at her studio. Oprah had brought in the David Lynch Foundation for her studio and offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. She had learned TM, she really liked it, and she wanted to offer it to all of her employees. Chicago was the main office, so she had a lot of employees there. So there were six TM teachers, and they brought me in, basically, to speak to people before they learned to meditate and after they learned to meditate, and also to help coordinate the teachers too. So I don\u2019t know why they offered me the job, but they did. And then I stayed there for two years. So I think they thought that I would be a nice balance to the team. And because I had a wonderful experience, they thought I could be helpful.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>For people who know just a little about TM meditation, \u201cOh, that\u2019s where you get a mantra and you meditate using your mantra.\u201d Can you shed a little bit more light on what happens in a TM meditation session\u2014what you\u2019re doing, what it\u2019s like?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Sure. It really is pretty simple. Like I said before, it\u2019s a tiny ceremony, I think it lasts for less than five minutes. They give you a mantra and they teach you how to use it. For me, they gave me the mantra, and all of a sudden I could meditate. And I\u2019ve witnessed that now and most people they\u2019ll say to me, \u201cI can\u2019t meditate. I can\u2019t sit still.\u201d And I just laugh. I\u2019m like, \u201cYou will be able to sit still and you will be able to meditate.\u201d It\u2019s the sound that completely relaxes you, and it\u2019s almost as though you can follow the sound down into yourself and quiet the mind. And it\u2019s as simple as that. I mean, I\u2019ve meditated in the back of cabs in Manhattan. There\u2019s nowhere where I can\u2019t meditate. You have to sit in a certain position or do certain things. It\u2019s just close your eyes and quietly think the mantra. I mean, that\u2019s pretty much it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Now, in <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i>, you write about how, after you learned to meditate, you felt like you were living in what you call \u201copposite land.\u201d Why did you call waking life, and maybe waking life and sleeping life, opposite land?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> It goes back to that first thing that I said to my TM teacher. I said, \u201cEverything I thought I knew was wrong.\u201d So I thought things were a certain way, but then I had a totally different perspective, I was seeing things differently. Every situation, I started having the feeling like nothing is what it seems. I could see deeper into experiences and people like, let\u2019s say, I don\u2019t know, you had an argument with someone or something was upsetting. It\u2019s like I could see, it\u2019s not about the argument or what\u2019s actually happening here. That person maybe is in pain or there\u2019s something deeper going on inside of them, so it really has nothing to do with what you think it is. Or the idea of like you graduate high school, you go to college, maybe you get married, live in the suburbs\u2014none of that was real to me anymore nor was describing yourself as like, oh, I\u2019m an attorney. I mean, it didn\u2019t make sense to me. It was like none of that was real anymore to me, there was something much deeper going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>You also write about how you discovered that you had the ability to communicate with people who had died. Tell me more about that, and what was the first time you were like, oh my God, I\u2019m talking to someone who is it deceased human? So I don\u2019t know what we want to call them\u2014an entity in a non-physical form?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> It would happen to me when I was asleep, but I wasn\u2019t really asleep, because I was actually watching myself sleep and interacting with people that had passed away, mainly family members. Sometimes I was able to see people in, let\u2019s say, my condo at night and was able to communicate with them and help them. That went on again\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Help them how? Help them how?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Well, for instance, I think part of the reason I didn\u2019t sleep for a really long time in this condo that I was living in is because there was this man who would watch me sleep at night, but then all of a sudden I could see him. I didn\u2019t feel shaken by it, I wasn\u2019t confused. I just said, \u201cYou don\u2019t belong here, you really have to go.\u201d And with that, I watched him just walk away from me and walk through my bathroom door, and I felt peace about it. I was communicating with him, and I felt like I understood him there. He was confused or something. I don\u2019t know. But the best part about it was that I was able to connect with family members that had passed away, and they gave me advice and were explaining things to me about all sorts of things\u2014maybe something happening in my life, what they were doing after they had passed away, what that was like. That really helped me. So it was like people showed up to help me grow, and it usually happened when I was sleeping.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Now, Valerie, I think sometimes when people hear a story like that, what comes up for them is they are very eager to talk to someone they love who has passed. Do you have any suggestions, some way that somebody might be able to open that channel?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I was very eager to talk to my mom after she died, and I didn\u2019t have that ability. So personally, I went to a medium. She was really good and it really, really helped me. So I don\u2019t know how I could teach someone to do it themselves, but I always tell people now who I love, who have had someone pass away and they\u2019re in a lot of pain\u2014and it\u2019s usually, they\u2019re also very confused about where their loved one is. I always suggest they talk to a good medium because it brings you some peace and helps you deal with that unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>How would you say your own relationship to death and dying has changed through your TM meditation experiences?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I always say now that when I die, it\u2019s going to be the greatest adventure I\u2019ve ever had. I feel like when I meditate\u2014they\u2019re almost like near-death experiences in a way\u2014I feel like I\u2019m tapping into that. I\u2019m also very interested in the subject because it helped me a lot, because I was confused where my mom was. So hearing other people\u2019s near-death experiences, I don\u2019t know if it influenced me, but it definitely made me feel better about dying. I kind of feel like I know where I\u2019m going, not 100 percent, but I have a good idea about it or a feeling about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Yeah. Tell me what you know, tell me what you feel, tell me what you sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I feel like I\u2019ve had experiences that I\u2019ve actually left my body and it\u2019s calm, it\u2019s beautiful, I\u2019m loved. There\u2019s everything but nothing there, it\u2019s like filled with everything that you could want, but it\u2019s not material goods. It\u2019s just like the energy of all things around you, and it feels safe and holy. I mean, really unexplainable, but I\u2019m doing the best I can. It feels like just love. And that has made me not fear death as much. I mean, I don\u2019t want to be sick, but I feel like I know where I\u2019m going in a way, so it\u2019s not as unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Now, it\u2019s interesting, in <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i>, you write about this ability to be, if you will, outside of your body and to have the kinds of experiences you are just describing, this type of utter love and peace. But you also write about how life is not an out-of-body experience, and that it\u2019s so important that we know how we\u2019re being guided by bodily cues. And I wonder if you can talk some about that paradox and how you\u2019ve come to understand both being embodied and knowing these out-of-body realities as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I think those our-of-body experiences can be very intoxicating, and I think you can feel very drawn to them in living in that state. But at least for me, eventually that didn\u2019t work anymore because I realized like, wait a second, I\u2019m on this Earth. I have a body. I\u2019m having this experience. Yes, those flashy experiences are incredible, and I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world. They change you, but it can be a bit much after a while, and it can make you, at least in my case, isolate yourself more. You feel a little bit more disconnected from other people and other things. You become maybe a little too interested in your own experience. And after a while, I needed balance. I didn\u2019t want that, I didn\u2019t want to only be leaning that way. I wanted to be in my body, be present with people, really experience my life, not always be on some other planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>And when it comes to this notion of bodily cues and how you pay attention to your body, to use my language, as a type of compass or something, as a type of source of guidance, tell me how that works for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG: <\/b>I feel extremely sensitive to my body. I trust my intuition completely, there\u2019s little to no doubt. Now I get signals. It\u2019s taken me a lifetime to get here. But this compass that I have inside of me, that we all have inside of us, it\u2019s a gift. And you have to cultivate that and listen to yourself. And I always say, if you think something and you\u2019re unsure, write it down. Write down what you think is really going on or what you think you should really do, and maybe do the opposite and see what happens. Or just if you have to prove it to yourself, I always say write it down, because eventually you\u2019re going to get to the point where you know, you just know.<\/span><\/p>\n

And life becomes a lot easier when you hit that point, because there\u2019s not as much thinking, it\u2019s more you\u2019re getting the information and you act on it. So I remember figuring that out after a while like, have I even been thinking for a year? It kind of felt like I just kept walking into my destiny with less effort and less thought and more intuition and acting on that intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>How do you know your intuition at a bodily level? If you\u2019re not thinking through things, how are you being guided?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> It\u2019s a really strong feeling inside, and there must be a signal to my brain too, but I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s more like a knowing like turn right, turn left. Don\u2019t be involved with that person. Or yes, go to that party or whatever it is, it\u2019s like it\u2019s constant. I guess I don\u2019t pay attention to it as much anymore, but it\u2019s almost like this thing inside of me is actually running the show, and I listen to it. I don\u2019t let my mind override it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>I\u2019m curious, that person who hears a title <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i>, in their experiences, if you will bear with me here, they\u2019re kind of halfway through the birth canal. Some part of them has entered this new glorious world where they feel so connected with all of life and they\u2019re a new being, they\u2019re sensing how plugged in they are, but some part of them is still kind of stuck. Maybe stuck in old relationships or old patterns or old habits or old fears. And they\u2019re like, \u201cGosh, I\u2019m in deep shift. I\u2019m in between. I\u2019m not in this new world, but I\u2019m not in my old world either. I\u2019m so uncomfortable in between. Valerie, help me get all the way out and born afresh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> It\u2019s a lot of work. I mean, I went to therapy, even though I didn\u2019t feel like I needed it. Somewhere inside of me, I thought, you\u2019re not done yet. This isn\u2019t it. There\u2019s more. So I kept going. I worked with teachers that I felt that could help me. Therapy, I just kept leaning into this thing that was a new beginning for me, and I learned things, I had experience, and ultimately it took time. It just took time because it is very confusing, like all of a sudden, you\u2019re a different person. How do you explain that to people who have no understanding of what has happened to you, and family, friends?<\/span><\/p>\n

I left Chicago and I moved to a town in the middle of nowhere, Iowa. People thought I was insane, but I had to do what I had to do for myself. But I did get support and met other people who understood me. It made me feel less alone. Eventually I started reading great books and just, I don\u2019t know, it just works out after a while. But you\u2019ve got to lean into that part, you\u2019ve got to keep fighting for yourself, for your true self, and learn to deal with everything that\u2019s going to show up in your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>You write about manifesting and through this new way of being, not as someone who\u2019s like, \u201cI want to get this,\u201d but instead listening for what wants to be created through you. Tell people more about how you feel that works, kind of the art of manifestation with Valerie Gangas.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I think when you start having experiences like this, you become much better at manifesting, because I think you\u2019re more aligned with who you really are. So that\u2019s step one. It\u2019s kind of like, it just happens. In my experience, I wasn\u2019t as interested in materialistic stuff, so I sold everything I had, I didn\u2019t feel connected to that anymore. So the things that I wanted to manifest were on a larger scale. I was thinking more like, \u201cHow can I help the world? Where is my place in this world? What am I supposed to be doing? What is my job? How can I manifest that?\u201d So I think your interests change. And it\u2019s not like, I\u2019m going to manifest a new Mercedes. I mean, you might want that, I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s bigger-picture things. And I think you get signs in your life and you follow those signs and it just takes you on this ride. And you end up doing very different things than maybe you first thought you would be doing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>So there\u2019s someone listening who\u2019s saying, \u201cWhere\u2019s my work in the world? Where\u2019s my higher purpose? I want to contribute more.\u201d How would you suggest, from your own experience, if someone is asking a question like that, they work with the universe for the answer to be revealed?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Number one, I think you\u2019ve got to remove a lot of the distractions in your life. Spend more time alone, spend more time in silence, say \u201cno\u201d to having different events all the time. Remove people in your life who are not healthy for you. You\u2019ve got to clean your house and then you\u2019ll have more clarity, because those things aren\u2019t working for you anyway anymore. So I think bringing in the silence, getting rid of the distractions, you\u2019re going to start to just know things on your own. You don\u2019t have to push it, they\u2019ll just show up. But if there\u2019s too much noise, then you can\u2019t hear anything. So maybe I took it to an extreme, moving out to a farm, because I wanted the silence. But at the same time, I felt like it was giving me everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Now, the story of how you moved out to where you\u2019re living now is included in <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i>. Can you tell us that story?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I felt like I really wanted to write my first book. I wasn\u2019t a writer, I was in the bar and restaurant business. That\u2019s what I did. I was always in hospitality. My mom was the writer. I did have an experience one night where she said like, \u201cYou are going to be writing and I\u2019m going to be working through you.\u201d And I took that to heart because it was real. And I loved my job, I felt very fulfilled, but it was time to move on. So it was that thing inside of me that I just had to listen to myself. So I sold, again, everything that I owned, all my cocktail dresses, high heels, purses, all my furniture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. In a dream, I saw the house that I ended up renting, and I saw the street sign, and I randomly ended up in Fairfield, Iowa, one 4th of July weekend. I just wanted to get out of Chicago. And I came here and I ended up renting that house that I saw in my dreams. And when I saw the house, I already knew, \u201cWell, this is it.\u201d And so again, the signs were showing up, and I just followed them and then got rid of everything I owned. And it was beautiful, I was in a very quiet place, I could meditate, I could teach myself how to write a book. I didn\u2019t know anyone here except maybe one person, so my days consisted of just going to a coffee shop, putting headphones on, and writing. And it was pure joy. So again, it was like the signs were showing up, things were happening, and I just was saying, yes, yes, yes, yes. You\u2019re showing this to me. I\u2019m going to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>All right. I\u2019m going to be confessional here for a moment. You said that you had an inner experience with your mom where she said, \u201cI\u2019m going to be writing through you. You\u2019ve never been a writer, but I\u2019m going to help you. I\u2019m going to write through you.\u201d And this is recently in my own life, working with an energy healer that I work with and bringing some business challenges that I had forward to the energy healer to help me. And she was like, \u201cYour father is helping you, Tami.\u201d And what I noticed is that part of me feels that and thinks it\u2019s true, but I think a lot. And so, there\u2019s a part of me that also says, I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s true. Come on. Really? So I have both of those things alive in me. And I\u2019m just curious like, really? I mean, how do you know? Where do you get your inner confidence and evidence that, yes, this is your mother, not just you\u2019re her daughter and you have her capacities in you because you\u2019re her daughter?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I was an awful student. I never wrote anything. My mom published four books. She was an amazing poet. The head of two major poetry societies in Chicago. She was the writer. She stayed up every night till 4:00 in the morning writing. That was her whole life. I was not the writer. So when I had this experience, and she literally showed herself at a typewriter telling me \u201cI\u2019m continuing my work,\u201d even though she\u2019s passed away, and I learned that lesson that life goes on. And then it was as clear as day like, \u201cI\u2019m going to help you. You are going to do this.\u201d And at first I thought, what is going on? I can\u2019t write.<\/span><\/p>\n

And next thing I know, I\u2019m sitting in that coffee shop and I\u2019m writing every day, and it was the only thing that mattered to me. And I absolutely felt like she was working through me. I had the experience, and then I had a second experience. There was a flow that, I don\u2019t know, I couldn\u2019t deny, and it was so polar opposite of who I was before. It had to have been my mom. So maybe in your life there\u2019s going to be signs and you\u2019re going to be like, \u201cThat\u2019s my dad.\u201d I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s different for everyone, but that was my experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>Sure. All right. What do you hope, Valerie, people will get out of reading <\/span>In Deep Shift<\/span><\/i>? What\u2019s your hope for the ripples that this book will have in the world?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I really don\u2019t want people to feel alone. It can be overwhelming. It can be beautiful. It can be scary. And I\u2019ve written the book hoping that I could be a support system or someone that at least really understands and doesn\u2019t think you\u2019re bananas. It\u2019s like, no, you\u2019re not. This is real. This is happening. I experienced it. Yes, that\u2019s my ultimate goal: for people not to feel alone in this.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>OK. And then finally, a lot of people would say, I know this whole conversation is about personal evolution, personal growth and awakening, but it\u2019s definitely fair to say that if we look around us, it appears that humans as a species are in deep shift. And I wonder how you relate to that idea and how some of the same blueprint, if you will, might apply to us as a species, as individuals, and if you make that leap, if that\u2019s part of the work of TM, to make that leap.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> I learned TM, but the next person could, I don\u2019t know, do yoga. To me, that was the portal for me, but everyone is different. It\u2019s going to be some other path; whether you keep walking down that path is another story. And I believe there\u2019s going to be a tipping point if there\u2019s enough of us that go down that road, say \u201cyes\u201d to an inner experience, really get in touch with who we really are and change the way we live, and then influence other people, help other people. I do believe there\u2019ll be a tipping point, and I do believe that that\u2019s where we\u2019re going. I mean, I can feel it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m just one person and I had this experience, and I don\u2019t know how many people I\u2019ve touched in this short amount of time. So if everyone had beautiful spiritual experiences like that, and it opens them up, it just makes you more loving and compassionate. And I think that desire to help other people is part of this. I don\u2019t know. I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about, actually, moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>I\u2019ve been speaking with Valerie Gangas. She\u2019s the author of the book <\/span>In Deep Shift: Riding the Waves of Change to Find Peace, Fulfillment, and Freedom<\/span><\/i>. Thank you, Valerie. Thank you for putting yourself out there so that people don\u2019t feel so alone and standing in your truth. Thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VG:<\/b> Thanks for having me on.<\/span><\/p>\n

TS: <\/b>And if you\u2019d like to watch <\/span>Insights at the Edge<\/span><\/i> on video and participate in after-the-show Q&A conversations with featured presenters and have the chance to ask your questions, come join us on Sounds True One, a new membership community that features premium shows, live classes, and community events. Let\u2019s learn and grow together. Come join us at join.soundstrue.com. Sounds True: waking up the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"class_list":["post-19955","transcript","type-transcript","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Deep Shift - Transcript | Sounds True<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read the full transcript from this Sounds True conversation with In Deep Shift. 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