Let us know what you thought of the episode! In this episode Petr Lightbear interviews Flowing River, a poet, mystic, and spiritual seeker, as they explore a powerful journey from addiction and inner turmoil to sobriety, spiritual awakening, and sustainable living. Flowing River shares his story of growing up in San Francisco, navigating addiction, and experiencing a profound awakening through music festivals, meditation, yoga, plant medicine, permaculture, and eco-village life. The conversation moves through his time working with Newmundo, living off-grid in Costa Rica, apprenticing in permaculture and sustainable food production, and ultimately discovering deep healing through nature, community, and humility. This episode explores spiritual awakening, addiction recovery, sobriety, mysticism, permaculture living, sustainable spirituality, ayahuasca healing, indigenous wisdom, yoga, meditation, surrender, spiritual ego, humility, eco village life, off grid living, African spirituality, IFA foundation, spiritual teachers, Ascension Academy, healing through nature, poetic mantras, conscious living, and the modern path to enlightenment. This episode dives into: The difference between healthy vs unhealthy surrender The dangers of spiritual ego Why true awakening comes from inner work, not chasing experiences Encounters with indigenous wisdom, African spirituality (IFA), yoga, mysticism, and poetry Meeting his spiritual teacher Bahandur Singh after years of searching The birth of Ascension Academy and modern spiritual teaching To acquire ceremonial grade hape and other sacred medicines visit: www.yaguar.us Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction & Podcast Overview 02:15 – Growing Up in San Francisco & Early Struggles 06:40 – Addiction, Sobriety & the Search for Meaning 11:30 – Festival Awakening & the “Joy Limiter” Realization 16:45 – Radical Surrender & Synchronicity 20:50 – Discovering Permaculture & Newmundo 25:10 – Trading Work for a Permaculture Retreat 29:30 – Off-Grid Life in Costa Rica (Think-O-Morpho) 35:40 – Apprenticeship in Sustainable Living & Food Production 41:20 – Healing Through Nature, Community & Love 46:10 – Receiving the Name “Flowing River” (Narayan) 49:55 – Ayahuasca, Indigenous Wisdom & Mysticism 55:30 – Poetry as Spiritual Reprogramming 59:45 – First Recognition of the Ego 1:03:40 – Healthy vs Unhealthy Surrender 1:09:30 – Spiritual Ego & the Trap of Extreme Practices 1:15:20 – Humility as the Path to True Awakening 1:20:10 – Ascension Academy & Modern Spiritual Teaching 1:25:40 – Mystical Encounters & Meeting Bahandur Singh 1:31:10 – Recognizing the True Spiritual Master 1:36:30 – Poetry Recap & Closing Chapter One 1:39:30 – What to Expect in Part Two spiritual awakening, addiction recovery, sobriety journey, mystic podcast, spiritual awakening, spiritual awakening podcast, spiritual awakening journey, mystic podcast, poet mystic, modern mysticism, spirituality podcast, conscious podcast, awakening consciousness, spiritual truth, enlightenment journey, path to enlightenment, spiritual growth, inner work spirituality, humility spiritual path, spiritual ego, ego death spirituality, surrender spirituality, healthy surrender, unhealthy surrender, radical responsibility, addiction recovery, addiction to awakening, sobriety journey, healing from addiction, recovery podcast, spiritual healing journey, trauma healing spirituality, healing through nature, healing through love, nervous system healing, reprogramming subconscious mind, poetic mantras, spoken word spirituality, mantra healing, vibrational healing, ayahuasca experience, ayah Support the show