Mateo's transformative experience during a 49-day darkness retreat is truly inspiring and illuminating. It's all about self-discovery, spiritual growth, and finding that inner spark within ourselves. Enjoy his vast embodied wisdom in this episode.
Time Stamp Outline:
00:11:35 Darkness: Catalyst for Spiritual and Emotional Growth
00:15:29 Journey to Self-Recognition and Enlightenment
00:18:45 Inner Peace and Balanced Self-Care Practices
00:21:06 Sensory Deprivation Spiritual Transformation Journey
00:22:54 "Transformative Dark Retreat: Melatonin Spikes & DMT"
00:39:46 Navigating Spiritual Growth Through Soul Wisdom
00:47:57 Unity and Ripple Effect in Interconnectedness
00:50:56 Transformation through Integrating Love and Wisdom
On his Website you will find ways to connect with Mateo: https://arianmateo.com
or on his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamarianmateo
Moving to oneness. Nourishing curiosity. Embracing differences. Becoming one.
00:00:38 - Meilin Ehlke
Are you a being, that is uncomfortable being in the dark? No more. My guest today went into the depth of the earth to become comfortable with it and bring up ancient wisdom, so you can be more comfortable in the dark and look even into it for yourself and pull out gems, that are only yours.
Hello, everyone. I'm Meilin Ehlke, your host of the Moving to Oneness podcast. On today, I have my guest who's sitting in Dubai even though he's from Denmark. He really is a world traveler, lives in many spots of the world. I would say is comfortable everywhere he is. That is really important. And he goes into connection with the most ancient. That's the stone, right? Our first ancestor here in our material world.
Hello, Mateo. I'm so happy that you're here. I've told you before, I'm so excited, that we're speaking, because when we met before, you also were interested to be just in the moment and let arise what comes out. And somehow I'm feeling that magic is happening, has been happening, is happening, and will be happening with us coming together and whoever is listening to this episode. So once more. Hello, Mateo.
00:02:20 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Hello, Meilin. Pleasure to be here. I'm excited too.
00:02:24 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. You have a beautiful name. We were just talking about it, that you have a rhythm in your name. You're using also your middle name. You feel, or I felt when you spoke it. There is a rhythm to it, and the rhythm already brings change and tells so much about you as also you name yourself. So his name, everyone, is Arian Mateo Tabatabai.
00:02:53 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Correct.
00:02:53 - Meilin Ehlke
And just when I say Tabai, something happens. So it is. You take someone on a journey with your name. Matteo. I love that.
00:03:05 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah, it's. It's interesting that you go there, because just recently, as part of a men's group I'm in, we were invited to go deeper into the meaning of our names. And I've always known the meaning of my name, but the invitation here was that our names really are holding something for us. It's a code that we can open throughout a lifetime. And so I looked deeper into my name, and it was quite astounding how much it fit.
So, Aryan comes from the root of nobility or purity. That's what it usually refers to. And the Indo Iranian people. So, my ethnicity is Iranian, so it refers to purity or honor, nobility, which are qualities I very much resonate with, and they're very important for me to hold in my life, and especially honor and integrity.
Mateo comes from God's gift, the gift of Yahweh. So there is a God's gift or God's blessing. I knew that I chose that name actually when I was 18, so that's the name I chose as my middle name.
And Tabatabai is a lineage name, that goes back to the Prophet Muhammad. So, it has a direct lineage all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad. It's a branch called Sayyids and Shia Islam, it's a branch of different surnames that go directly back to the source. There are many mystics, there are many guardians of spiritual knowledge. Apparently with this surname I wasn't aware of that until just a few days ago.
So, going through my name, I somehow resonated with this energy a lot. And it was nice to feel how comfortable I feel with my name these days because my first name, Aryan, it took me like almost a decade to unpack that and become comfortable with it.
00:05:06 - Meilin Ehlke
A beautiful. So many, you know, spiraling things going through my head. When you already started with purity, that's how I sense you. You bring the pure principles and you, also in Mateo what is in there? These ancient, for me again it comes, these ancient cosmic, I mean they're not ancient, because they're present and they will always will be. But you carry them in you.
00:05:37 - Meilin Ehlke
And I think that's also what you went out and set out to look for, right? In your 20s, you mentioned, you had been very successful in your life, but something was missing. And I think living that part of you that of you're purpose, you went out to understand it better. And our name, yes, is very important. And you know, some of us can maybe be rather mad to our parents or whatever when we're teenagers or early 20s, but they pick the right name.
00:06:18 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:05:37 - Meilin Ehlke
There is something about it. Some have it right away, some look for it for a long time. Myself too, it was, I don't know, my son was maybe 12 years ago. Then suddenly I understood my name fully. But it went and took me on a search. Mine is Chinese Meilin.
00:06:38 - Meilin Ehlke
Right. So, I learned so much about the Chinese culture, because I wanted to learn about it. But it carries the history of my parents in it and how they met. Then Ehlke. For the longest time I didn't know where it came from. This name, very few people have it and, and I learned then it is a very old name.
00:06:57 - Meilin Ehlke
It comes from Pommern up north and many of The Ehlkes left in the 1800s to Brazil or South America or North America. And there I could find more Ehlkes. But then I also saw Elohim and KI energy. I never cannot use my hands and heal. Meilin the connection line next, to being a landscape architect and being interested in beauty. That's what it carries as well.
00:07:28 - Meilin Ehlke
And also then Esther I never used. I thought it was too biblical. I was always mad since a little girl at the church because I felt confined, Mateo, like you, I could feel that things are not true and I have to find what is really the way to be. But then I looked into Esther and I thought, oh, that's Easter. And I'm often had my birthday on the Easter weekend. So it's always the Friday before Easter. "Karfreitag" I forgot the name, what it's called in English. And then one Easter, I was all alone. I uncovered everything. It came and it is fruitive. It has to do with the awakening of nature. It has to do with giving birth, right? And then I. There was the Ostern. We say the ostara, but the ostara and estara in English. That's where Eastern comes from. From the English direction. And then I looked into the Persian meaning and I thought, oh my God, that really blew also, then again once more my mind. And it was all about stars and light and being bright and seeing the
00:08:50 - Meilin Ehlke
sparkle of the world. I really was amazed. Then I slowly moved into. But as a little girl, I always didn't want to be called Meilin because it was. They all called me Elke, which is a first name in German, and used Meilin as my last name. And I said, oh, I want to marry a German guy, you know, since I am little and well, see I did marry a German. Also my name now is Ankermann, but I keep Meilin Ehlke in my work, because that's who I am.
00:09:21 - Meilin Ehlke
And my husband anchored me then. Yeah,
00:09:25 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes, yes.
00:09:27 - Meilin Ehlke
Right, is very nice, but it is so important that we take the time. And I do look automatically onto names. But it's not like I go and look. Suddenly it pops up the importance. It's like a pulse. It is again like a rhythm that attracts. So I can see a person even deeper really quick. It's like a woop.
00:09:57 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah. 100%. I came from being a very skeptical, rational kind of mindset, which I think is pretty normal, especially in Scandinavia. It's more focused on rationality, quote unquote, scientific think, etc. And I can only say that God, for lack of better word, has just broken this heart open again and again and again so many times to the fact, that nothing is coincidence. And this great mystery is both perfectly orchestrated and perfectly humorous at the same time.
00:10:36 - Meilin Ehlke
Yes, yes, yes.
00:10:40 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Even in the most painful things, sometimes there can be. Of course not when we're in it, we can have compassion for ourselves and others as we are transitioning. But even in those most painful instances, there can often be found a hint of cosmic humor at just the perfection of it. In a sense, things make sense once we start connecting on a deeper soul level. Even though they may not make sense to our mind. Why am I going through this? Or why am I struggling with this particular thing for a few decades now. On a soul level we can connect with. I know why. Right? There can be this soul knowledge. I know what it is I'm meant to learn, or what it is I need to. I need to give up. And I love that. I mean, how can you not love existence and life. Life and the beauty of whatever this is. Whatever life is.
00:11:35 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, I laugh and smile a lot as well. And I notice people, that really see the world and other beings and people and humanity and nature, animals with curiosity are very happy and they giggle a lot. It has to do with our heart opening. And you mentioned that. That's really, you know, people look for enlightenment, but there it starts at the heart. Once it opens up, it becomes brighter and brighter. More energy, more light can flow in and flow out. It makes it so bright. And then it moves. As we experience different frequencies and different vibrations, it moves through our body and then fully we glow.
And I have to go into that now directly. You went in two caves into darkness. These are ancient, ancient rituals. You can see that in every tribe. I had two teachers that spoke about it very deeply. One was a druid. Right. Even in England they go into a cave. And he did an experience with us. We didn't have a cave at that time, but we went into a created dark space. I had a teacher where learned from the Yoruba traditions, the African traditions. They also put people in a cave for a few days, here in Europe as well, right. Even there, where you maybe don't have mountainous, they sometimes dig holes or they go into snow. Or they make like a sweat lodge, for example. You can make it really dark and what happens in there, it is so dark.
But I want to ask you to share more of this and what you've experienced. Some have maybe for a few hours experienced a sweat lodge. But I know also in India, you can go in for nine months. You know, all your teeth fall out, but new ones regrow. So, what brought you into that? What pulled you? Because there must have been a really, really strong pull, otherwise you would have not done or gone there, to do that.
00:14:02 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah. I think as it is for many of us on the spiritual path, there is a, what can be called a kind of enlightenment drive or a self actualization drive in, in all of us as human beings. And for those of us on the spiritual path, for whatever reason, that self actualization drive is more accelerated, it's more active, which is what makes it hard for us to just function in the usual situations that many people, we look at them like, how can they do that?
Well, because the self actualization drive in us has awakened to such a degree, it will not allow anything anymore. It's too painful. The contrast is too painful to just ignore the calling of the soul. So, it was definitely a very strong enlightenment drive that I was born with. I mean, I came in since I was 6 or 7. I was doing spiritual inquiries even though my family was very materialistic, didn't have a bone of explicit spirituality in them at least. And part a lot of pain, which again, I think it is for many of us on the path. Right. There is a longing to come home to, to, to fight. There's a feeling I lost touch with something and I need to refind it because it's so precious, so valuable, whatever that is.
00:15:29 - Meilin Ehlke
This urging. And you're right, I think so. Many of our cultures, we have lost the true rituals that we get taught already when we're a child or, you know, the biggest trauma you work also with it. Trauma is really not being recognized with a gift we came here on to this earth with. So, if you would have been in a functioning tribal setting and if you're lucky, your parent or the whole tribe recognizes within your first 24 hours why you're here and what you're bringing. And then you're being supported in exploring your gifts and taught and trained to really hone it. It's a craft.
But many of us are ancient or old lineages like you. With many, many healers, many of our ancestors have not lived it. You know, too much wars and you had to... That's a whole different other story. But we had to go out and find ourselves. And that's so fascinating, that it is really this urge, since you're tiny, that you went on to look for it and that we know it already as a child.
So, everyone out there keep on looking and dive into the most awkward places in the world to find people or information for support. And your body gives you a lot of information of where to go. So, did your body help you move a lot into that direction, Mateo?
00:17:18 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah, I would say it was a well. There is this story in the spiritual traditions where a seeker goes to a teacher and says to the teacher, please teach me, I'm ready to do whatever and I want to get enlightened or I want to find myself. And the teacher says, okay, we'll come back tomorrow at 12 noon, be here and I'm going to teach you. So, the student comes back the next day and they're next to the riverbank and the teacher says, follow me into the water. They go into the water and the teacher grabs the head of the student, puts it under the water and just holds it down there almost to the point where the student almost is fainting because he cannot breathe. And in the last moment he lets his head kind of pull out, out of the water. And the teacher said, so when you were under the water, what did you want want the most? What were you thinking of? And he said the only thing I was thinking of was breathing. I wanted to breathe. And the teacher says, when you want enlightenment that much, then come back to me.
So, it was that kind of fire that was present in me. It was a, I don't know what it is I'm looking for, but I know I have to find it. There is no other choice and I don't care what I have to go through. It was that kind of fire, that was driving me.
I heard about dark retreats and I had a very bold 20 year old mind that said why not? Of course I can do that without thinking too much about it, which can be very risky. But luckily it went well.
00:19:09 - Meilin Ehlke
Luckily it went well. But it does go well when you have, you know, it has a reason, right? What I went I remember in my first sweat lodge, I I'm more present, I just speak things out or act, or my body acts. But it was so dark you could open your eyes and you saw visions and you saw. I see energy lines though. So, I saw energy lines, light colors. And I thought, okay, it is there to tell me. But I had to experience this. You can't be taught this, right? You have to recognize a similar, that I do see and that it's nothing, that the mind tricks me and I don't have to close my eyes to be connected. I also can have my eyes open to be connected. That's what it gave to me. And that even in Darkness, there is an array of energy flowing through.
So you weren't just put into a darkness, you really chose it. So you probably went with a more relaxed, mindset is the wrong word, more karma into the darkness. What happened? Can you share a little bit? It's probably hard to understand for many, but could you share a little bit what you went through and what you came out with? Because I think that leads you now there's a certain something, that it did to you that you're presenting in your beingness at the moment.
00:21:06 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah, it is. I mean I did more than 100 days in dark retreats. My first one was 14 days and my main one was 49 days. That was the longest one I did. And after the 49 day one, I could say, so just to give people at home some context. So it's, it's pitch dark. You cannot see how many fingers you're holding in front of your hand, in front of your face. You remove all light sources, which is actually much more difficult than one would think, because there are so called light leaks.
00:21:38 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Once it gets dark enough, you start seeing that light is leaking in from all sorts of small places. So you, on the practical side, you fill out all light leaks. So there is zero light coming in. 30% of the calorie intake we use on a day to day level is used by the visual cortex. So because you're not using your visual cortex, you're not seeing anything. You don't get that hungry, you know, you need less calories. And because I wasn't moving a lot, I wasn't eating a lot. Once the spiritual energies really kick in, you usually aren't that hungry. So, I was eating a few pieces of fruit each day and maybe a small, like a protein bar or a nutritional bar just to get something. I had stored all this in my house and once a week I had a helper, dear sister who was helping me. She would come once a week and just leave some food for me. There was a double door system. She would open one door, set the food, close it, so no light ever comes in. So that's a little bit of the kind of context.
Now what goes on in there is the first couple of days you have huge spike of melatonin.
00:22:54 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
So there's just a lot of rest. You want to sleep a lot. Around day seven, eight, nine, you start having very high spikes of DMT. So you're basically on a full trip. There is very high doses of chemical, endogenous chemicals that are helping you process, helping you connect. When I mean trip, trip for me is not something fake. It just means you're in an altered state of consciousness compared to your day to day consciousness.
00:23:28 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
And when I came out of that 49 day retreat, I meant it. I said I could write a few books about what this, about what happened in here. The main things that happened was a profound and very painful healing. At the time I was processing a lot of pain in there. Because when you remove all distractions, you get to really feel your soul state. You cannot hide from yourself and you don't even have the distraction of checking your phone and calling a friend or even journaling.
00:24:04 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
I mean, you can journal, but you don't see what you're writing. So all distractions are gone. And pretty quickly my mind just went, oh, I guess I just have to accept that I have to face everything because I cannot do anything else. So there was a huge upheaval and release of pain. The pain body was purifying a lot.
There's a huge influx of light because you make, I mean we are all going to be receiving huge amounts of light if we make ourselves available. We don't have to go to a dark retention. If we remove distractions, the light starts just flooding and exposing and awakening. So, there was a huge influx of light. Many deep ego deaths, deep states of meditation and initiations. I received a very powerful initiation from what was one of my primary masters who left his body. He had already left his body and he became my master in the inner realms for several years after he gave me an initiation.
00:25:12 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
So, it can be hard to understand for people who haven't had experiences like that, they might say, well, it's just imagination or something. But these visions, these initiations are as real as anything else you would experience in quote unquote, normal life. And more importantly, their transformative effect. They really remove anxiety, pain, fear, open the heart. They change you in day to day practical living.
00:25:48 - Meilin Ehlke
Wow. You know also that you had the determination to find yourself because you could have just opened. You know, there are others where they do put you deeply in a cave and leave. You can't get out then.
You on the other hand did that by yourself. You also stayed in there by yourself. And you stayed and stayed and stayed. This shows me dedication to yourself. I would say the word extreme. Yeah.
00:26:22 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:26:24 - Meilin Ehlke
The people gone into caves for 21 days. I know that Lama that sit a long time, but they're not sit in the dark.
What did you do when you came to that point at the end? When did you know it was over? So, there must have been small moments, but then you were in an altered state and you went in a way also like, it's like a vision quest, right, that you. You stayed and. And time flies anyway, or there is no time. And it's like some people here in Germany, they go into a cave and come out years later because they war went through certain warp holes. You opened yourself up to be a connection line to whatever you needed. When did you know it was done?
00:27:16 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
I had decided beforehand to do 49 days. And one of the things I decided to do, I had an alarm that would go on every 24 hours. I was taking certain vitamins also. So, that was not only my reference point to have some kind of reference point to quote, unquote, reality to 3D reality, but also just to get nutrition. So, I would take vitamin D and stuff. I had prepared them in packages before I went in. So, I had that alarm go on every 24 hours. And in my mind I would keep a counter. And I think that was a very good decision, that I did that because 3D reality disappeared so much that that was kind of my only grounding into 3D reality. So, I would have, like, in my mind in seven days, my sister is bringing me food and fruits, okay? So, I kind of had these little orientation points in there that would keep me grounded enough.
But after 49 days, I didn't want to come out. I actually said I can just stay here six to 12 months. What's the point of me even coming out when this is the most significant and meaningful work I could be doing? I'm doing deep soul work. And luckily, my inner master told me, you have to go out. And it's smart to not make decisions when you're in that altered state of consciousness, right? Because you're not very connected to 3D.
So, after I came out, after 49 days, of course, I was struck by the beauty of life as I came out. Just the senses and the trees. It was on a mountain, so I was surrounded by trees and nature and just feeling very touched by what a gift this 3D existence is. Tears and crying and joy, celebration. And it took me three to four weeks to really re embody fully my. My soul was just on a different plane of existence. So I'm very happy I got out because if I'd stayed in six to 12 months, I may not have ever been able to fully reintegrate back into 3D.
00:29:36 - Meilin Ehlke
It gets hard. I remember I read once a book, someone went canoeing the Great Lakes in the US in the north, and he took a canoe and went for I think two months and paddled once around the edge. And then at the end, he said, you know, after a while you get to hear and hear, hear better. Your eyes get more sensitive. You see further. You get. You see energy different. The water. I mean, you begin to become. We should have more of us, to be in that kind of state. Right? The perception changes and the tones. And when he came then out back, the problem for him was all the noise, for example, that suddenly is that time we still had telephones handels you picked up a. And so they rang really loud or the honking or the drive of a car or a bus that came by, or someone was screaming.
00:30:42 - Meilin Ehlke
So, it also takes a long time to adjust. But you never adjusted back probably. Right. Did you do connections to your prior life? You've been also interested in engineering and psychology, how the mind functions, which is very analytical. But then you went into the alter. It's not an altered state. It's a state we can be in. It's our natural state.
00:31:11 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes
00:31:12 - Meilin Ehlke
Right? That's really how it should be. We're moving back there.
00:31:18 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:31:18 - Meilin Ehlke
That more and more of us are more and more moments in that state. Maybe even you don't have to go into the sun. Everyone. You can look at the sun, you can look at the moon, you can look at a flower for a long time. You can look at a person and go into such deep connection to. To feel the expansion. Oh, expansion. Your mother also told you not to expand too much. So do you expand now much more or do you feel with expansion, Are you directing it now to work with others and support yourself and others?
00:32:00 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah. I love the point about this not being an altered state. It is our natural state that is a very important point. So it's an altered state from the perspective of our normal 3D consciousness. And our normal 3D consciousness is a very altered state.
Actually, we often get it the other way around. But to walk around in normal ego consciousness is a totally altered state of hallucination. Because we're hallucinating all sorts of sufferings and things that are entirely mind created. Of course, life itself has real sufferings like disease and death. And those pains are real. But 99% of our pains are mind generated. So, if you really look at it in, let's say a rational, objective soul vision, we see that our normal state of consciousness is a deep state of altered consciousness.
So, this transition is actually sobering out of that altered state of consciousness and becoming more sober and resting into that natural state that is pure bliss, contentment, peace, clarity. While there can be pain, it's not exclusive of the suffering of being a human being. Also, it includes that. It just doesn't add to it a lot of stories and hallucinations and resistances. In terms of expansion, yes, in one sense we can realize our natural state beyond all expansion and contraction. That's one level of the awakening process.
So and no matter what is going on, no matter how much suffering I go through in the 3D reality or how great I do, it doesn't add or take away anything from my spirit, that spirit nature that I am.
And the next level of that is. And I can embody ever greater states of expansion and love.
So, as human beings, we get to kind of go into both of these developments. One is the causeless state or the nirvana, we could call it the Nirvanic realization beyond everything. And the other is the embodiment of that Buddha nature or that love into more and more dimensions of our existence. So, that we become ever more skillful and have ever more flexibility in dealing with everything. So, that when I go down to the cashier or when I'm doing a podcast or I'm talking with my daughter or my loved ones, how I deal with money, how I deal with everything, can become more and more an expression of that clarity, of that love, of that attunement to the whole.
00:34:59 - Meilin Ehlke
So beautifully expressed. The mind becomes quiet. I think that's what the people understand or desire. With a quiet mind, it is not only then in meditation where you choose to sit, but it turns into your whole life which becomes this way. I have to say the mind chatter becomes less and less and you recognize the thoughts you do then think or feel, or embody.
They're needed. They need to be spoken. They need to be acted on. So need, I mean, it's not like you're pushing need, but the environment needs it or I need it, or someone else needs it. So, there is no censoring of the own person, which hurts a lot.
You were speaking about the pains pain. So, when the censoring of oneself or the suffering, where is mostly because someone doesn't understand us or we don't share enough about ourselves to teach them how we think, how we act, what touches us. And I think as humanity, we're learning that again.
Community, a communication toward others. Oh, that just comes those two words belong together. Community and communication. Right. So communication, not just only the words, but communication with the lights that go through our eyes. The communication, the energy that flows from heart to heart, the one of touch. The communication of just being present with someone, even when no word is said. Yeah. So this is coming more.
And every act is an impeccable act. Okay, that's maybe a little very shamanic, but that's what we've trained. I've trained to.
And if I look at the ancient ones, that have lived several centuries, they become much more quiet, because in a way there's also no waste of energy. You spoke about that.
That was really fascinating to hear that Mateo. That we don't use so much energy. If we don't see. That also tells us how important it is and how much information we take on. I would just like to highlight something. I'm very connected to birds. And I'm a little girl or even more. And sometimes I also think because of one of my teachers, his father was very, very connected to birds. But I can drive down the street, even if I brought my son to school and as a bird I sense him, my whole body turns, my head turns and I just acknowledge him within a second with my eyes. And then that's all that's needed. And I go back and concentrate on driving and being. Keeping the car on the road. This is what's going to happen more.
So, do we use our eyes enough? Do we relax our eyes enough? So in a way, this darkness retreat, everyone could do a little bit for half an hour, an hour and just explore it. Right? But it also is not just to push oneself to the next limit. Yeah, one could see like this. To give ourselves relaxation. To give ourselves, ourselves. There's a whole different feeling to it. Right? You could approach it from two ways. And I love that when you mentioned it, the young man in Goethe wrote about "Storm und Drang". Right. But that's normal. That's is in young people we have to go out and try something new and go at it. Against what we have. Right? This is something, so something new can be created that we. We find ourselves. And not only the influences from others.
And that is also what you bring into life. That we don't have to do the push. It can also just be a gentle pull. And it. That we can give ourselves so many gifts ourselves. That's what I hear also and notice in you. You give yourself the gift of you, and you give the gift of you to others so they can give their gift to themselves.
00:39:46 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes, beautiful. 100%. And that's such a good point. Because I mean, in this day and age, we have access to so more spiritual teachings and teachers and techniques than ever. Plant medicines are really coming into the mainstream, which I think can have many, many gifts. And at the same time, there's also a backside to everything.
Plant medicines, meditations, just going to all sorts of teachers. We can also harm ourselves. You know, there are plenty of studies on meditation that the negative side effects of meditation or people who do too much plant medicines, or they do it in an imbalanced way and they cannot integrate the teachings.
Dark retreats, another example that can go really, really wrong. And what I really love is the soul itself, your heart is the safety mechanism. So, we only hurt ourselves when we're pushing or pulling, when we're avoiding or pushing from ego desires. Like, oh, it would be awesome to do like 30 days of planned medicine in a row. Or it would be awesome to push myself in these extreme ways. That's often when we get hurt, when we're listening to the mind. But if we just come back to the soul, there is a deeper knowingness attuned to our soul wisdom. And it might be extreme from other people's perspective, but as long as you're in your soul knowing, that's a kind of safety mechanism that ensures things will go much more smoothly and you'll avoid major hurdles that aren't meant to be part of your soul path. It doesn't mean we're going to avoid hurdles because we need hurdles in order to grow also.
00:41:30 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, if we don't get the hurdles. I always think my cats pushed me to the next plateau.
00:41:37 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:41:38 - Meilin Ehlke
Every single time it comes from a direction you don't think about it.
Yeah, it is I say sometimes, the need. You feel that there is a need and we don't have to act if there's no need. And you also feel and you can trust yourself if there's a need, even sometimes for an extreme. And then the body does it anyway. So whatever. That's what some people say. Oh, they're the rebels, but they rebels. That's the moment when you know you just have to go or do it. And it can be in a year or two or maybe it's simmering in your head. And suddenly, maybe a few years later you go out. Or it could be tomorrow. And that then you follow your own understanding.
Yeah, but it starts something with the test. And I think also then through experience, you learned Mateo as I did, or many others. Then to finite what is needed more and more. Like with the teacher, we have many questions, but I remember most teachers, they don't tell you anything. They wait for you to ask the right question and they say maybe yes or no, and that's it. And then we have to discover ourselves.
So, you are an example is the wrong word. I don't like the word, it doesn't fit. But in a way you're an example, a way shower of what can be done in a different way. And that it brings, because you're so calm, you're so peaceful within, your voice, it's dropped. I bet your voice has dropped since you've done this work. It's gone into its own typical resonance. Your whole body language, the way you speak. Nothing can rattle you like rattle your cage. This is maybe in the good expression in English. You know what you are. And I think that's also what you're helping people with, to support them in learning about themselves and then to the point of recognition and acknowledgement of how they function and what they are, so they can fall into themselves. It's like a settlement. You have settled into yourself. And from that settlement, now even you, the vastness, you can explore even more vastness. It's like you settle in, you expand. It's like bodybuilding, right? You settle in, you expand. Every time we tighten, we can expand further. Sometimes this tighten and tightening, as you said, can be maybe a little painful. In you Mateo it isn't anymore but for some people.
But then there is a joy when you cry in it. You cry with joy and laughter, which I bet you have experienced and others have experienced too. And then you know that you are on the right path. And that is was just a moment, this hurdle or these depths of tears, a release so you, we as a being can go on and be more of who we are.
00:45:20 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Beautiful 100%. And I know life can be very painful for many quote unquote souls. I put that in quotes because even that reality starts changing as we dissolve more into the whole. But I know life can be very painful because I experienced that. I was probably one of the angriest people I knew. I had a lot of shame, I had a lot of anxiety that I had to work through from my childhood, from previous incarnations, or even in my genetic, you know, we have genetic codes that we get to transform from our ancestors.
So it's clear to me that on some level I chose that I chose to go through all of that because it builds compassion. If you don't experience pain yourself. It's very difficult to have compassion for other people in that situation. You are, you are kind of like the master who cannot relate. So, it's better to go through all of those stages and for me view myself as everyone else. We're all in the same boat and we all go through different stages of pain. And. But we all have that same potential to live as our awakened nature. It is our natural state and it's available to all of us.
And life without that is really not worth it. I have been very blessed to experience the heights of material existence. I have also many friends who have pursued the material path very deeply and have achieved very high states of success. And it, I wouldn't say it doesn't matter. It certainly matters because it's one aspect of this reality to master. It's one dimension to master. And it is important for our embodiment. So, I don't agree that no, the world of materiality doesn't matter. No, it's an expression of God. And we come here to also master that existence. Because often to become successful materially also invites us, if we do it in alignment with our soul, to master our emotions, to master our thoughts, to master being able to structure, systematize, have a vision and guide others. So it's actually only a way for the soul to learn a lot of very 3D skill sets. But if we only do that, we will not have profound joy, we will not have profound peace. Because that can only come from knowing your true nature.
00:47:57 - Meilin Ehlke
And connectivity to everything that is existing comes, because that is also the material world. And we are in a material body. Many of us can go into the non material. Yes, right. And get information, be connected. But knowing we're connected and part with everything that is existing, really that we're one, everything is one with us. This is very important. Not that we are just one, one with everything, but also to understand that everything is one with us. That you are important.
I always sense, right? We are taught not to be important, but everyone is important. Because we're here on this planet right now, together.
00:48:50 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:48:51 - Meilin Ehlke
And to treat each other with that recognition, with that acknowledgement. Again, as human beings, how we treat animals, how we treat our food, how we treat our plants, our beautiful earth. That we begin to repair ourselves or we understand and heal.
You work a lot also with traumata, especially in the young child age, that we can act then and bring change, physical change. Because we're here on this beautiful earth to do things when it's needed and to implement each person has another gift. But when we go into that natural state, what you're teaching people, Mateo, and have it easier.
You're a man who walks his talk. But your talk is not just talk. Your talk is the embodied wisdom. The words you speak are chosen really wise, or they come automatic. But you've explored and trained yourself through all these experiences, or it was really important for you, or you felt the need that it has to be true words. That you want to go back to the principle of what is and not the all. You know, like, if you go with paint over things to cover things up, you uncover. You peel back. You peel back for thousands of people every time you do something. 100,000 people, more, you probably touch millions. Not probably you do touch millions. With everything you do. Thank you for that.
00:50:56 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah. Thank you for seeing that. 100%. If it's not embodied, if it's not lived, if it's not touching every millimeter, an ounce of my life, I have never been interested in it because I met, of course, many really beautiful spiritual practitioners, and I also met some where it just didn't resonate because it sounded nice and beautiful. But then if I don't see it and feel it in. In every aspect of being, I just had no interest in that. I'm very practically oriented. And it should, for me, infuse everything. It should infuse my business, my relationships, how I walk down the street, how I drive. It should. Doesn't mean that we're moralistic or perfectionistic or trying to do it. Right.
00:51:47 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
There is a lot of shame and perfectionism often in spirituality also. It just means it's a luxury. We get to practice being more and more love. That's like the greatest, funnest game one can ever play because the more you love, the more you win. So it's. It's really a gift that we get to experience being greater and greater. Love. It's not a pressure. Oh, I get to release more of my ego. I get to release more of my attachments. How wonderful. Even that maybe as I'm crying and I feel a little bit sorry for myself. It's okay. But this is the game.
00:52:24 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. I have to say yes, because that happens to me. Every ritual, everything I learn new, the more I am connected. Yes. Yes. It's like every time falling. It's fun all those tears.
00:52:41 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:52:42 - Meilin Ehlke
They're gone in a second because there is this, like. It feels always like a release. Again this over and over release. Na, ja. Maybe I'm addicted to that if you want to. But I think it's not the addiction.
We all sense there is more to us than we're experiencing. And I welcome many more rituals back in. We're learning from many other cultures, right? Where many were wiped out on Earth the last 8,000 years, or maybe a few more. But they're coming back. They're being discovered through ways like you doing. Even I've been hearing that from others. They go into strong moments, a physical change, so they can bring back ancient wisdom, old wisdom, which is really not new, but it has been here once on this Earth, and we know about it, and we are supported, like your teachers, from the spirit realm, this light being supporting you in recognizing and bringing new ways or old ways. It's one, right? There's no time jump. But that it's being materialized. And that's why the embodiment is so important.
And I invite everyone to explore what your body is physically able to do. We're able to do so much more. If it's now like the 49 days in the darkness that Mateo has done, or you walk long distances, or you speed up, or whatever is there within you go and explore. Or maybe even being still for a certain time and not move and practice that. Or just turn off a television or telephone and be courageous to explore yourself.
And you probably have many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many tips. Mateo, through all your teachings. How can people or where can people connect with you and learn about you? I know you. You teach in Dubai. You teach also in Asia a lot. Tell us more.
00:55:21 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yeah, I live between Asia and the Emirates. But most of my work is online, although I also do physical retreats all over the world. The best place to find me is ArianMateo.com or on my Instagram, IamArianMateo. Those are good contact points, if you're curious to get in touch with me.
And yeah, I just wanted to add the piece that the greatest, the greatest miracle or the greatest power for me that I have found is one, the power of love. And as an extension of that, the power of liberation. It's probably the greatest achievement anybody can achieve is the power to liberate your own suffering, to liberate your own identifications. And no amount of money, no amount of spiritual gifts or talents, no amount of power, no amount of anything really compares to that, because you can have all the power in the world. You can have all the spiritual abilities, but if you cannot even liberate a single thought and find liberation from your suffering, what's it all worth? So that, to me, is really the greatest power or the greatest love possible as a human being. And many of the mystics say this. It's not something I'm saying for the first time. This is really a theme. What are you going to do with all the spiritual or material riches and wealth of the whole world, if you cannot even liberate your own suffering?
00:57:04 - Meilin Ehlke
Oh, beautiful. I was going to ask you to say final words, but that's it. The power of liberation. You don't hear it so often. You hear it because you. It's what you understand. But this is. It's simple. And it can be a simple exercise.
And I know you have written, published three books, you have meditations for people. I'll put something also in the show notes, how they can find you and explore you a little bit.
But this is nice. So even after this episode, you can practice maybe just closing your eyes, everyone, for a little bit, 5 minutes, 10 minutes in a hustle and bustle in the moments normally you wouldn't do it. Maybe even if you're a woman and you cook for your family. Before you start cooking, close your eyes for a minute, see what things you're putting into the pot or what you're going to kind of dish you're creating and acknowledge it and go into connection with it. It will give you a lot. And this love of liberation. I love that love of liberation goes into your dish for the loved ones you feed and yourself, who you feed. Had to put that in there.
00:58:49 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
00:58:50 - Meilin Ehlke
It just came through you. Mateo is so beautiful. We can do it any second for ourselves and others.
00:58:59 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes. And I just want to add a point to that. Sometimes we can feel a little bit overwhelmed by spiritual teachings, because we're like, I don't know. I don't even know what meditation is. Look, I've been meditating for many lifetimes, and in this lifetime, at least 14 years, very intensely, and still I'm discovering subtleties of what meditation really is.
So, of course, for a beginner, it can feel overwhelming. Well, what am I supposed to do? Watch my breath? Or am I supposed to visualize? And, you know, I have books that go a little bit into that. I can also point people, if they get in touch with me, to some resources.
But for now, I just want to also simplify it. This liberation, you don't have to view it as some big overwhelming thing that's totally out of reach for you. This is something we have all experienced in small moments of our Life in that moment where you chose to let go of a grudge, or in that moment where you chose to just not go into a worry, or you almost got in an argument with your partner or a friend, but you chose to make a different choice, to choose love instead. Those are all moments of liberation. Those are all some part of you that knows a deeper wisdom.
So, if you can take just that wisdom you knew in this moment and start applying it to just tiny bit more moments in your life, you can start extending this flavor or taste of liberation. All spiritual practice is just about that. Have the taste of what it is and then extend it to more and more moments. So, please, to the listeners, this is something also very simple. It seems advanced because we got so muddled up in our thoughts, but at its root, it's something everybody knows this very intuitively in their heart. So, just try practicing with the small things. Then slowly, you'll be able to practice with the bigger things.
01:01:05 - Meilin Ehlke
You to build upon what you can find, feel in the moment and do in the moment.
00:01:13 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes.
01:01:14 - Meilin Ehlke
And it's an automatic then.
We could go on for hours, Mateo. We could be now here also in silence, which would work on the video, but not so much on the podcast. You're exuberant. I think that's the right word. So much light, quietness, peacefulness, gentleness, sovereignty, preciousness, preciousness of the moment that touches, it goes out. I mean, I'm here in Germany feeling you. You're in Dubai at the moment, in the Emirates, far away.
01:02:02 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
I'm in Dubai, feeling you.
01:02:05 - Meilin Ehlke
This is so beautiful.
01:02:10 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Right. We're all interconnected, no distance, really.
01:02:13 - Meilin Ehlke
This is amazing. And I think, as you said, whoever, when you start small or start big, but one thing is important. We're really connected. And you're never alone.
01:02:24 - Arian Mateo Tabatabai
Yes
01:02:25 - Meilin Ehlke
So, please do not be scared to start exploring yourself, because you have two beings right here. But there are many, many, many, many, many more.
So, everyone, be who you are. You're beautiful as you are, and you're bringing beauty to this planet and to me and to Mateo. So thank you everyone for listening, for watching.
Mateo, thank you very much for taking the time to bringing your wisdom, your presence, your body to this beautiful show. I wish you also the best. And I'm curious what it's gonna develop for you, where you, what you are still going to create. You have many, many, many, many, many decades, I would even say centuries to go.
So, everyone, I am Meilin, your host of the Moving to Oneness podcast. I wish you the best. Bye bye.