Integrate Yourself | Discover Yourself & Reclaim Your Health
This podcast is all about the interconnectedness of your mind, body and spirit. In my show I share important aspects of how to integrate health and self. Telling my story, sharing other people's stories and inspiring you to get out of survival mode and into thriving mode.
I talk about what I've learned in my twenty years of holistic fitness, energy healing and health coaching and share with you what I've discovered along the way.
Your wellness journey is a self discovery journey. On this show you'll hear inspiring conversations with experts in the field of holistic health, fitness, metaphysics, spirituality and personal growth. Which will give you a new perspective on your health and cultivate curiosity in what you could discover next about yourself. Enjoy!
Integrate Yourself | Discover Yourself & Reclaim Your Health
Health Battles and Spiritual Triumphs - The Power Of Self Acceptance with Kyle Bunnelle
Kyle's spiritual awakening through holistic practices and the teachings of Paul Chek offers a profound perspective on the interconnectedness of physical health and spiritual well-being. Initially skeptical, Kyle embraced unconventional methods that significantly improved his health, deepening his faith and self-acceptance. This episode is a powerful exploration of how acknowledging and integrating both our light and shadow aspects can lead to true transformation. By sharing his insights on self-acceptance, faith, and gratitude, Kyle encourages us to believe that life supports us, guiding us toward our highest potential.
Today, join Kyle Bunnelle as he will discuss:
- How he has navigated through a variety of mysterious, undiagnosable, and debilitating medical conditions for the past half of his life,
- Seeing his dreams and aspirations as an athlete, trainer, and coach washed away before his eyes, and
- How his FAITH that "Life is orchestrating all events for his highest potential" has continued to enable to transcend these situations to have a larger platform and inspire others to stay true to their Path
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Welcome to Integrate Yourself, everybody. I'm your host, alison Pillow, and you can find me at alisonpillowcom and finallythrivingprogramcom. You can find my book on Amazon and my audio book there as well. Today, I'm here with a very special guest, kyle Bunnell. Kyle inspires the next generation of leaders to experience freedom, expansion and transformation through prayer, self-discovery and teaching about life, health and spirituality. He currently serves as an inspirational speaker and spiritual life coach to systematically help individuals to discover their genius inside and how they can tangibly express it in service to a greater whole. He also provides daily minute motivation videos through his website, kylebunnellcom. Thank you, kyle, for coming on. It's such a pleasure to have you on and I'm really excited about what we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to you, allison, for having me on here, and I am really grateful and excited for all of you listeners out there, because if I can inspire you to look within yourself, to remember the genius that you are and how you can bring it out in service to the greater whole around you, that'll just touch me today and I know that it will embark you on a path to reaching your highest potential.
Speaker 1:Thank you, kyle. So I would really love for you to share the story that you shared with me when we first talked about how you've gotten to this point in your life, what you've struggled with and how you've been able to take that into your life and really use it as momentum to do what you're doing now.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Allison. I'd be glad to dive in and share for you and for the listeners as well. But before I begin, have you ever had the opportunity to hold a glass jar?
Speaker 1:Hold a glass jar.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, like this without the rubber over it.
Speaker 1:Oh right.
Speaker 2:Have you ever dropped a glass jar? Do you know what would happen if you dropped a glass jar?
Speaker 1:Yes, it would break.
Speaker 2:It would fall to the ground, it would break, it would shatter. Now, if I was to throw a glass jar through this computer to you in cyber world, I would trust you to catch it. I would trust you to catch it before it fell, it broke and it shattered. In other words, I would have faith in your abilities to catch. It broke and it shattered. In other words, I would have faith in your abilities to catch it. Now, to all of you listeners out there, do you have faith in life? Do you have faith that life will catch you before you fall, before you break, before you shatter? And contemplate deeply on that? Because my life is a testament to that question. I've always felt like I'm about to fall, I'm about to break, I'm about to break, I'm about to shatter. But during each and every one of those experiences, life has always caught me and has provided me a greater platform than anything I could have imagined beforehand. So I preface my story with that, and my story begins as it would for any little boy.
Speaker 2:I wanted to grow up and play professional basketball. I remember it greatly. I was watching the 2008 National NCAA Tournament and there's this little player named Stephen Curry Not sure if any of you guys have heard of him, I think. Last I checked in I think he was a pretty big superstar right now, but this is when he was first getting on the mat and he was still in college. Watching him play reminded me of the way I played just with that joy, that energy, skipping up and down the floor. He had a face like a baby. But when I watched him play he inspired me and from that moment on I decided I was going to become a professional basketball player, that I could ignite the same inspiration in others. And so it's kind of like it was said it was going to be done. I was guaranteed to become a professional basketball player and I started to chase that dream.
Speaker 2:But a few years go down the road and, as I'm in middle school so this is about 13 years old I stopped growing for some reason, like all my friends, hit their growth spurt, and I am not only a late bloomer, but my hormones don't kick in to where I can grow. So me and my family started to travel across the country to many endocrinologist specialists to see what was wrong. Why is Kyle not growing? Why are his friends all experiencing his growth spurt, but Kyle just can't grow, and we stumped them all. Nobody understood what was going on with me, why I couldn't grow.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile, not growing when everybody else is growing makes playing basketball extremely difficult, and I felt like I was losing my edge. And so I took it in my own hands to be the best player that I could be, because if I couldn't play at this young level, there is no way that I could play professional basketball. And if there is no way that I could play professional basketball, I thought that there was no way to inspire other people the way I had always aspired to, and so, when I was 13 years old, I created my own training program. I was in the weight room lifting weights, I was outside doing plyometrics, I was running, I was doing basketball drills for six hours a day, I had a nutrition plan, I had this mindset recovery plan, and I was running.
Speaker 2:I was doing basketball drills for six hours a day. I had a nutrition plan, I had this mindset recovery plan, and I was doing all of this as a little child. But eventually I burned myself out to the point where I couldn't even eat for an entire week because I was bedridden and I was sick and I was throwing up. So my family, worried about me actually becoming dehydrated, rushed me to the local emergency room and when they checked my vitals, my heartbeat was in the 20s. It was like 27, 28, which, just to put things into perspective, it should have probably been about 80.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's low, that's very low.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And the emergency room people were like we got to get this guy to you know a more intensive care unit, like this guy's about to die. And you know we're all like no, I'm not Just give me some some IV fluids so that I can become rehydrated. Huge journey for me going across the country now, not only for my endocrinology issues but also for an assortment of digestive issues. So we go to the hospital, we stay down there for a week trying to understand why is Kyle so sick? Why can't he eat any food? And they performed a gamma of tests on me and once again, everybody was stumped. So what? They essentially diagnosed me as is just somebody that needs to get fattened up so that he can regain his energy levels, so that he can his hormones can kick in so that he can grow. So we're going to give you a prescription to be a couch potato. Take me out of all activities I'm, essentially, whenever I'm home, I'm supposed to play video games, I'm supposed to sit on the couch and eat as high calorie foods as I can. And, just like I said, a prescription to be a couch potato.
Speaker 2:Now, there are few challenges with this. During my situation, like I said, I could like not hold any food down, and when you got to pound the calories and not move, when you can't really eat, that makes things challenging. So for the next year or so they fed me through a feeding tube. They stuck a tube up through my nose that went into the belly, my belly, and I was attached to this. It almost looked like an IV. It was a pole with this bag that they had some concoction of formula in it and that's how I was fed through a year and that was like a supplement to all the other food I was trying to pound.
Speaker 2:Now, like I said, since it was tough to keep food down, this was another huge challenge for me that went along for like the next five years in my life is my body had developed a reflux and we call it regurgitation or rumination, where I would eat food and it would come back up. I would throw it up and the doctor said, well, you got to swallow that, like you got to hold it in your mouth and swallow it. So I would have like second or thirds for every bite. It would throw up inside and I'd swallow it. So imagine doing that after every bite you take, additionally, being attached to this IV tube while you're walking around in middle school and high school and all of that. So that's essentially what they said you know, use this eating this eating style.
Speaker 2:Be as lazy as you can, and you're going to eventually thrive. Within a month or two. However, that was not the case. Within the next month or two, I didn't gain weight. My issues, if you want to call them that, only escalated, and so they just kept giving me more medicines. Take Prilosec, take Zantac, take this, take that. Let's all combine them together and make our own little science experiment.
Speaker 2:And so here I am, this little 13-year-old boy going through all of this. And so here I am, this little 13-year-old boy going through all of this, while traveling across from sea to shining sea, to all the greatest specialists, and nobody understood what was going on. And these are my high school years, when all my friends are hanging out together, going to football games. They get to play on the football field, they get to play on the basketball court, and I am watching, watching my dream wash away from me, watching as I'm going through all of these challenges. And I remember very clearly one day I was like man. I'm supposed to be out there, I'm supposed to be thriving, I am supposed to be inspiring other people. But here I am, sitting alone, connected to this thing through a long tube, and I don't have a platform to inspire others and there was this huge sense inside me and it was almost like God was speaking to me. It's like this is only providing you a greater platform so you can be of more inspiration in the future.
Speaker 2:And I remember when I connected to that I was like, wow, I had never thought of that in this way, so fast forward a couple of years. We still continue to go from doctor to doctor. We started to go a little bit easier on how much I was being force fed. I was able to get back into sports and I continued to actually considering everything I was going through. I was still able to remain competitive and I was able to live as normal of a life as possible. Then, when I was a junior in high school, I was able to do a lot of things.
Speaker 2:I was making the transition to varsity basketball and you know I was going up against guys that were like a foot and a half taller and a hundred pounds heavier than me. And I remember the first few games went by and my coach wasn't playing me as much as I had wanted and I approached him during our mid season break and I was like, hey, coach, I can shoot better than anybody on our team. I can dribble better than anybody on our team. I am beating all our teammates in these, in our scrimmages and practices. Why am I not getting more playing time? And he told me Kyle, you just look too small. I can't trust you. And when he said that, I mean he went on to explain himself, but, being a junior in high school, once that went, everything else went in one ear and out the other ear and it's like here I go again. Once again, I got back on the court so I could continue to inspire people again, like I had once wanted to, but now that door is being closed, and so once again, I determined myself to take matters into my own hands.
Speaker 2:Up my training, two to three, X, and once again, guess what happened? I got extremely sick, couldn't hold anything down for a week, and the whole process continued. And we had essentially this times two, and it was a much harder hit, Except this time, instead of pumping me with fluids, we actually went out to this hospital in California, near Stanford University, Palo Alto area, and they were asking me what my diet was like and everything. It's like oh, I hooked up to this feeding tube, I'm taking all these extra supplements, and they're like do you not eat real food? Like what? Like you're eating all these chemicals. And so that's when I learned the value and the importance of not only getting calories so that you have enough energy, but actually having whole food. And so we removed the tube, we removed all the supplements I was taking and I was eating actual food. And guess what?
Speaker 1:I started to feel better. Go figure right.
Speaker 2:Exactly Like who would have thunk it, and so I mean it didn't help me grow or anything like that. But finally I was able to not have such bad digestive issues Such bad digestive issues and so I continued that eating plan for a few years. I ended up graduating high school, didn't play college basketball. That dream, I saw, went on the wayside. But I started to coach. I started to get into pushing myself over, exerting myself, and maybe I can empower these players to pursue their dreams. And throughout college, as I was doing this, it felt very fulfilling. And so there's this one time when I was about to be a senior, it's like that longing for that dream to play on the court once more started to kick in once again, and it's like I'm telling all of my players that I'm coaching. You can become anything you want. You can truly live your dreams.
Speaker 2:But there's a story gap between what I was preaching and what was actually my life experience, because I never played college basketball. So I decided I was going to walk on. So I started training really hard once again, but this time in a smarter way than I had before. But eventually, when I was training, I got injured. And when I got injured. I remember I was squatting and I was at the bottom, and then I, when I was at the bottom of the squat, there's this huge pain in my back and I mustered up the energy to get it back on the bar. But once I finished the set, there was this huge visceral fear that tingled every single cell in my body and I realized my basketball dreams were over. Like now, I probably wouldn't even be able to move because of how severe the back injury was. At least I wasn't able to exercise for a while. My basketball playing days were over, my dream was over and I went through this whole kind of existential crisis right there. And what I decided to do a very wise move on my decision, I will say, hinted with a little bit of sarcasm here I decided that, well, I'm in a huge life transition. I need some clarity as to what I'm going to do next. I'm going to start fasting, like I'm going to remove all my food, so that I can have some clarity of mind because of my Bible study that, as a part of, we were talking about fasting. This is right when intermittent fasting started to become a huge craze in the health and fitness world, it's like that's what I'm going to do, and I kid you not.
Speaker 2:Within a few months, I went from a tiny yet super strong and athletic kid who was trying to walk onto his college basketball team, so looking like I was on my last days of a concentration camp. I went from 125 pounds of pure muscle to underneath a hundred pounds. I went from being able to do 25 pull-ups to not even being able to do one in just a matter of months and during this time there reached a point where, well, first I realized, oh, I got to start eating, I got to stop fasting there was that part. But I was still coaching and it took every ounce of my energy to roll out of bed during the morning so that I could inspire people. Than trying to connect with God, than trying to connect with all my players and seeing how I'm uplifting them at practice. That got me enough energy to get downstairs and have some breakfast. Then I'd have to do that again to get out to my car, to go to my college classes, then eventually to go into practice, then eventually to come back home and get all my homework done. And I was freezing all the time when I was in the gym coaching my players. You know they're all in t-shirt and shorts and sweating. I have compression tights on, I've got shorts, sweatpants, long underwear, long sleeve shirt, sweater, and I was still freezing. My hands were cracked to the point where I couldn't even peel an orange because I had such bad skin problems.
Speaker 2:Meanwhile, my digestive issues started to kick in again and I remember there was this one time in college where I was so weak that when I got up to leave our class after class was over, I collapsed and I just fell straight to the ground. My professor had to take me over to the ER and I was just that depleted on energy. And I remember when I was sitting there in the ER, once again it's like shoot. Like how am I going to inspire people now? Like, how can I inspire? I can't even go to practice. How am I going to inspire people now? Like, how can I inspire? I can't even go to practice. How am I going to inspire my, my players and my basketball dreams went away. Now my coaching dreams seem like they're going away. My health has gone away three times now. How can I inspire others? And once again, when I lay there on that hospital bed, it felt like God was talking to me again, kyle. This is only providing you a larger platform to be of greater inspiration to people, and that gave me once again just enough energy to keep moving on.
Speaker 2:Luckily, this happened right before the pandemic. So then the pandemic happened. I was able to get some time to recover. I had a lot of great opportunities after college, but all of those got canceled because of the pandemic. And then it's like all right, what do I do now? I just graduated college. I have degrees in exercise science and psychology. I was. I had opportunities to work with some professional football and basketball teams with my strength and conditioning knowledge, but now I don't know what to do because the world is put on hold. And during this time, like I said, I was continuing to improve my health and recovery. I was starting to get stronger again, I was getting more energized and I also got into the Czech curriculum, that holistic health and wellness which you are very aware of.
Speaker 1:I want to know, Kyle, what led you to the Czech Institute, Because not many people really go there. It's like it takes. Usually something happens or something special to that leads you to that yeah, so this is a very interesting story.
Speaker 2:So actually I was. There was this basketball forum that I was a part of and they had this recommended book list and one of the books was how to eat, move and be healthy and it was by Paul Cech, and during this time I I would listen to different podcasts while I was working out and it's like huh, I'm gonna check this Paul, check guy out. And so I'd listened to his YouTube videos, his old YouTube videos, while I was working out, and at first like oh, this guy is kind of interesting. Like he's not talking about macromolecules, he's listening to his soul. This is like some kind of squirrely dude, like what's up with him. Then he started talking about different. I started to listen to some of his talks and he had some differing views on God than I had ever heard of before. And it's like I'm going to I don't trust this guy's view on God so much. This isn't the Christian God I was grown up to believe, so I'm going to just turn this guy off.
Speaker 2:So for the next few years I had nothing to do with anything Czech related. But during this last bout, when I was going through this medical condition or when I like collapsed in college and everything. There is this deep longing to read that book. So I decided to read that book again and he had some case studies in how to eat, move and be healthy where people had all of these mysterious medical challenges and they had never cured them until they started to work with Paul and it's like huh, I have all these mysterious medical issues. Nobody has ever been able to help out with me. So what if I do some? What if I pursue this path and see if maybe the check path can help me to my complete health and wellness?
Speaker 2:And I remember I probably reached out in the best way I could. I responded to one of his YouTube videos telling with a super long description of everything I had gone through, hoping somebody would help me out. And I got a reply take apple cider vinegar, it'll really help with your digestion and everything. There were a few comments like that and then someone's like no, he's way too. He's way too fiery in summer. Apple cider vinegar will only heat him up more. Do zone exercises get some yin in it? And it's like oh gee, this is probably not the best way to go about it.
Speaker 2:But eventually Penny actually replied to one of my to one of my long YouTube replies and Penny got me hooked up with actually I probably should ask his permission before but somebody that was in Ontario, and so I started to work with him for a while and he eventually got me connected with another Czech practitioner as well. So that's how I got into it and, as I saw my health continue to grow and how it was more of a well-rounded approach and more aligned with what I felt inside. It's like I want to, since I'm doing nothing right now, since I just graduated and the world's put on hold. Let me see if I can use this in my coaching career. So that's a kind of a I got associated with it.
Speaker 1:I have another follow-up question with that too, because, as you've been talking about all these health issues and you know these challenges you've had over the years and, and from my experience, these health challenges they're just they're, they're pain points that our body is bringing up for us to pay attention to something, probably on a deeper level, either energetically or, as well, spiritually and it sounds like you're very much into spirituality. Were you able to connect the dots there with what was happening on a deeper level and manifesting physically in your life? Were you able to find a pattern or get any insight on that? What was happening spiritually for you? And, if you did, were you able to resolve it?
Speaker 2:So that is another very interesting correlation. Interesting correlation Right before my family noticed that I had stopped growing. I remember there was one day that I saw my parents fight for the first time. They get in an argument and this little 13-year-old kid's like I've never seen mommy and daddy fight before. Gee, we're going to get a divorce, like what's going to happen to me. And so I did what any other 13 year old boy would do he picked up his Bible. It's a fine sauce, like God. I don't know why, but I'm going to read this Bible. Gee, what do I even read? I don't know. I'm going to read Genesis 1-1 and go from there. And so I started to read it and, you know, after 30 minutes of reading, I felt a sense of calm and a sense of peace, probably because I waited 30 minutes for the emotions to settle. But I remember, after I did that and I experienced that calm, I committed myself to reading the Bible from one end to the other and, like I said, right after that, I noticed I stopped growing and that was the beginning of my medical issues.
Speaker 2:Fast forward to the second time I had my extreme health crisis. Right before that happened, I had committed to starting a new Bible reading plan where I was going to finish it in a year. I was going to take my self-study and amp it up a notch. Once I amped it up a notch, another huge series of health issues went on, and I remember there's this one time it's like God, why do I even read this thing? Like every time I do it? I just like get into more trouble in life, like you know what's the point.
Speaker 2:And then, before the third one happened, I started to journal after what I would read every day and my journal started to get so deep and I started to have my own insights and intuitions that were different than anything I'd been taught in church, in Sunday school, by other people. And it's like I don't think God is somebody that judges us for our sins. I don't think Jesus died on the cross because I'm a murderer and have done sins and therefore this guy had to die because of me. Like, actually, is there an aspect of me that is God? And once I had these realizations, I started to approach different faith people, different Christians that I looked up to in my life, and they were like oh gee, like you are going way out, you're stepping way outside of your box, like may I lay my hands on you and pray for you, that the devil's not taking over you, and like stuff like that. And so I repressed all of that. I repressed all of the intuitions and feedbacks that I started to have during my own journaling and right after I began. That is when I injured myself during training.
Speaker 2:And so part of that existential crisis is I can't follow my dream, can't play basketball, can't work out, don't have that platform to inspire people. I can't follow my dream, can't play basketball, can't work out, don't have that platform to inspire people. Now I don't even know who I am or what I believe, because what something deeper is telling me is true is very contradictory to what everybody else is saying, and everybody else is saying that I'm lost, and so every time I had one of these major health setbacks, it was preceded by a very I don't want to say spiritual awakening, because that takes it way out of context, but insights, or a next step on my spiritual path, so to speak. And what I realized. Now, looking back at it, I don't even consider these medical challenges or issues as what most people would consider sickness.
Speaker 2:I believe it is spirit's way of showing me who and what I truly am. And if we accept spirit, we accept every part of it, we accept the light, we accept the dark. The dark needs to exist so that we can see the light. And if we can change our perspective and welcome in the dark, so welcome in the sickness, welcome this disease we see that underneath the rock of darkness there lies a beautiful soil of light, and so, if I can look at my dis-ease in that light or in that perspective, as to where this is only propelling me on my platform to remember the genius inside of me, to remember the truth I am Now, it's providing me a much grander platform to be able to relate with others, to be able to help people to discover their unique truth, which could be completely in accordance with what I say, or it can be completely against what I say.
Speaker 2:But, as long as you find your life, and so that has enabled me to look at my dis-eases in a whole different lens, that it is all a beautiful divine interplay of God guiding me to my highest potential, once again incorporating that faith component, life is orchestrating itself to guide me to my highest potential.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful and yes, and it's. I just felt that in myself. The truth that you're sharing because it is truth, it's about acceptance, it's about accepting yourself, accepting the world for it is. This doesn't mean we give up, it doesn't mean we condone it, we just accept it. And that's a neutral, nonjudgmental place, and when you're in that place, there's no emotional charge around it so you can actually accept it. And when you can accept it, there's no resistance in your life. And oftentimes, when we're going through pain or sickness, our body's showing us that resistance. It's showing up in a physical form. So I love how you shared that, kyle, and I think this is how you're going to inspire people, is you're going to teach them about acceptance? Because, oh my God, did you have to accept a lot in your life so much? That is incredible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Absolutely, and I agree 100%. It's like nothing. Any type of input is simply that. It's our perception of the input that views it as good or bad. Think of the sun right now. It's like hey, it's sunny out in Michigan, that is glorious, Everybody's out sunbathing, because we've had six months of clouds and cold. So it's like man, sun, sunshine, good like hallelujah. What about in the heat of summer? Like in the desert, it's like gee, why is it sunny out? Where are the clouds? Like sun bad, like go away. It's the same stimulus, the same input. It's simply our perception. So, if we can allow ourselves to receive everything because it's all energy information that is being downloaded into our nervous system to teach us something, to help us to prepare for something, help us to extend to that next level, and if we are open to that, we get to see. All right, what is this input telling us? And do I want to keep this gem or do I want to remove this gem because it just doesn't feel right right now? So you have the power to choose.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that. I love that. That's so beautiful, yeah, and the perception aspect of it. It is so true. I mean we can sit and worry and complain about things, right, or we can see the beauty in it or, you know, feel the frustration, feel the emotions that we're resisting, and then let that, you know, then let it go Like, just feel it and then get into the neutral zone with it. So, but, but yes, we, we resist through complaining and worrying, I think, a lot of times too or or not accepting, like you just the example you just gave about the sun like I'm not accepting right now that the sun is too hot and there's no clouds coming right. Why isn't that happening? That's a great example. So we can look at many examples of that in our life and I think that is.
Speaker 1:It sounds like it's been your lesson, kyle, to learn the lesson of self-acceptance, and that is the highest level, one of the highest levels that many spiritual people don't get to, because there's such a high level of judgment in the spiritual community that they never get to that place of full acceptance with themselves and the outside world, you know, and other people, and so that really keeps you in that lower frequency. It keeps you in a state of resistance to what is happening. You know what is real right now. How am I really feeling? Am I being honest with myself about that, you know? And so this is just such a beautiful example of to set for people who think you know.
Speaker 1:And again, it's like you're talking about religion. There's everything from religion to modern spirituality. There's some kind of a hierarchy that's been set there that really keeps people from growing. You know we're talking about growing too, right, and so uh, yeah, and so if we can just do the things that you're that you know, kind of just learn from your lessons, kyle, about self-acceptance, because I mean you had, I mean you had a choice, right, you had many choices there and you kept choosing. It sounds like you kept choosing you through the journaling, through just constantly checking in and asking God like what, okay, what? Now you know? And so I think that's something that we can all really learn from is to just to start, keep coming home to yourself, keep coming in and growing and just honoring yourself in this process, because there's going to be many people along the way that are not going to be there with you in that acceptance place. So that is just so beautiful. Thank you, kyle, for sharing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I thank you for sharing that too, because that sparked another component of what I believe and I think, in order for us to be able to accept ourselves, a component that precedes that is to be aware of ourselves. And so many times people start off on the path of going down. If you want to say religion, where it's like thou shalt this, thou shalt not that, or even if you want to say the more new age, light and love, spirituality, where everything is sunshine and roses many of them, on both ends of that coin, it's all a set of rules and regulations that we need to follow about how we should feel and what we should or should not do, and that represses or blocks out the totality of the experiences that you are having. And I'm sure you've heard of that. You know the saying if you point your finger at the moon and you're so fixated on that finger that's pointing its way to the moon, you'll never actually see the moon.
Speaker 2:The analogy I like to use is, since I was a basketball player growing up, is the basketball training plan I used to shoot as a kid just would go out in my driveway, played whenever I wanted, and so on, Once I realized that I needed to up my game. I started to follow a training plan and I got really good. Eventually the training plan started to take over where I was driving myself into the dirt and not listening to my body. So that's kind of how religion acts is, once you have that inspiration to take who you are to the next level, it's healthy to have that religion, to have a set of guidance. But then once you follow the religion to the T, you start to not see where it's pointing you to and you start to get so fixated on the structure that it removes you from listening to yourself that's actually trying to guide you to who you want to be. So that's how I view religion is it's a necessary stepping stone, but if you get too fixated on it it holds you back.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, that's a great way to put it, kyle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I agree 100% with that and oftentimes, with spirituality, with religion, there's also this common thread, like what you touched on earlier, as you were sharing as well, about avoiding our shadows, avoiding our darker sides, avoiding our pain, because you know, but, but, like you said, to to enable, so that you're, are you're enabled, enable I keep wanting to say enable, so that you're, are you're enable, enable I keep wanting to say enable, so that you're able to really take in the full experience of your life.
Speaker 1:You have to feel all of it, you have to dive deeply into all of it in order to see the light, to, to, to be one with the light. You have to. You have to go into the shadow parts and, um, and and, like you're saying, be aware of that Cause. If you cause, from my experience of, of ignoring or being in denial about our dark parts, that actually makes them stronger. But if we actually look at them and we acknowledge that that exists within us, then it really dissipates the energy of it and then the light that you bring into that will actually, you know, transform that energy, because it, you know, just because we ignore it doesn't mean it's going to go away, right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'm sure you've heard the analogy. It's like children If a child is coming up and begging you for something and you try to push it back, it's only going to come back stronger. So I'm exactly spot on with that. It's welcoming all aspects of you receiving the information and feedback, because even these shadow components think that they're actually doing a good thing for you. They're actually trying to look out for your survival.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if we are open to them and be like oh hey, thank you. Like, thank you for your message. I'm grateful for that. This is who I'm choosing to be Like and this is why it's who I choose to be, will not only be important for our survival, but it will enable us to thrive and expand into a new level of development. That's when that part is like oh, thank you for hearing me. I feel felt, I feel heard, and gee, that's a really good idea. I want to get on board and I want to expand to that next level of development as well. Let's go Exactly.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's that's how I see it too, kyle. And uh, one of my spiritual teachers would say, uh, you know that, um, oh, I just just hold on a second. I just totally lost that thought, darn it. Um, oh, well, well, it'll come back. Um, yeah, yeah, it's, uh, it.
Speaker 1:It is so amazing because, like I used to be, see this, uh, you know, as you talk about, like we can get into all of the stuff around entities and shadow work and all of these things. But again, it's like there's all, they're all really aspects of you and the way I see it, it's like you know, like you're. You're giving the analogy of the child. Like you know, everything that exists wants to be acknowledged. That it exists is kind of how I see it. And once you do that, it's like, yeah, and let's do this. You know, like it just, but it's going to like push your buttons or, like you said, you may abandon yourself and that may need to take over for a while so you can survive, right, so life becomes too overwhelming, so we don't feel like we can handle it. So maybe part of our ego, self, steps in to just take over. Maybe our left brain takes over, you know, and it's just, it's. It's all like, if we can see the innocence in our ego, in our, in our left brain and our shadow aspects, if we can see the innocence in that, then I truly believe that, you know, we can accept things a little bit better for what they are and acknowledge that hey, yeah, this is what is. And then say, okay, I'm ready to take over.
Speaker 1:Now, Like you're saying, there comes a point where you're letting go of what got you to that point and then you're taking the reins because now you can, you're capable, you're able to go beyond what you thought was possible before. And one of my spiritual teachers would say, like, let's go. And she still says this let's go in our meditations, in our life, like beyond, go beyond what you thought was possible where you've been, go beyond that point, because there's always more right, it's infinite, so it's. It's really incredible when we can look at it like from a bird's eye view, uh, more holistically, um, without feeling that shame and the blame and all the weight of those kinds of projections that we put on ourselves that maybe our ego relates to. And you know, we have to heal those parts first before we can really feel the wholeness of it, all right and bring it into the whole. So yeah, yeah, that's incredible.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and there's no need for shame. Once again, that's our own spin on it, that's the way we judge it ourselves. But we can also take the perspective that this is great, this is a great message for me and this is life orchestrating itself for my highest potential. I could have looked at, I could have gotten all beat down on me for overtraining myself or getting sick and see how all of these things are setting me back, but it's like I let myself get into that pity party for a little bit, but then I was always pulled back out and it's like, oh, actually, this is just a new platform to share my message on a higher level. And so, once again, it all comes back to being willing to expand your vision so that you can see everything around you. Being willing to expand your vision so that you can see everything around you and then consciously choosing the perspective that you take on it and how you integrate it to move you to expand beyond what you thought you were previously capable of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, Wise words and just such great, you know, wisdom. Wisdom is information that's been experienced, and I can feel that you've experienced this, Kyle. So, wow, Thank you so much for sharing that. That's just gold, you know, and I hope that the listeners and people who are watching can really connect with what Kyle is sharing today, because it is everything in my opinion. It's like, and if when we can start to relate to the world this way and ourselves, and really come back to what's true for us and get in alignment with that, then we can truly start living our life and really, like you said, go beyond what we even thought was possible, right? So thank you so much, Kyle. I would love it if you would leave people my audience, give them just some idea of what you're offering and what your website is, what your social media if you're on social media and and anything else you want to share about, about yourself there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and this goes for everybody. If you go to my website, kylebannellcom, that is K-Y-L-E-B-U-N-N-E-L-L-Ecom, you'll notice that you can download a video, and once you click on that button and sign up for the videos, every morning I will send you a minute motivation, which is a daily dose of wisdom and inspiration that takes less than a minute to consume. That way, instead of first thing looking at your phone in the morning and you're scrolling through junk, it's like here's a quick 30 seconds of upliftment that is going to energize me for my day. So if you go to my website, you can get access to those, and I would encourage everybody to do that because it's super simple to do. If you would like to go deeper, for one-on-one coaching where, like I said, I empower you to look within yourself, to discover that genius that is inside you and how you can tangibly express it in service to a greater whole and embark you on your journey to becoming the person you came to this earth to be, you can contact me on my website too.
Speaker 2:My email is at the bottom. It's kyle at kylebanelcom. And finally, I'm also an inspirational speaker. So if you or your organization needs somebody to come in and speak to your audience about faith and how you can continue to transcend your perceived limitations to become the person you're meant to be, not because of what society tells you who you need to be, but from who your heart tells you to be. You can also email me, kyle, at kylebanelcom, and I would be honored, blessed and privileged to come and speak to you and your organization. I'm also on YouTube to come and speak to you and your organization. I'm also on YouTube, instagram and Facebook Just search Kyle, benal, k-y-l-e, b-u-n-n-e-l-l-e. Every week I send a weekly upliftment and then every day, I am posting content to help you and inspire you as well, and I think that wraps it up.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, and I'll include all those links in the show notes as well, for everybody to go and check your stuff out. Kyle, thank you so much for coming on. This has been an honor and a pleasure for me. I have really connected deeply with what you shared today, so thank you for sharing that with my audience. It was just pure gold, so thank you audience.
Speaker 2:It was just pure gold. So thank you. No, I just want to echo that appreciation and gratitude back to you as well as to the audience, and once again, I want you to contemplate on that question I asked you at the beginning Do you have faith in life? Do you believe life will catch you before you fall, break and shatter? Do you have faith that life is orchestrating all events for your highest potential? And when you can take this view on life, you realize that you are indestructible, you are unstoppable and you can carry yourself with an aura of confidence and of self-acceptance and of self-awareness that nobody else is frankly accessing within themselves and you can initiate the process of being who you came to this world in service to be. So I love you all, I'm grateful for you all and I appreciate this opportunity to share.
Speaker 1:Thank you, kyle. We love you too, and I'm so grateful that you came on today. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Alison.
Speaker 1:Your life is your greatest work of art, and it all relates back to the sink in this space.
