Embodied Enlightenment & The Spiritual Override | Dr. Brian Tierney

Embodied Enlightenment & The Spiritual Override | Dr. Brian Tierney
Podmasana: Spirituality, Enlightenment & Wisdom Podcast
Embodied Enlightenment & The Spiritual Override | Dr. Brian Tierney

Sep 23 2026 | 00:04:31

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Episode • September 23, 2026 • 00:04:31

Hosted By

Brendon Orr

Show Notes

Explore spirituality and awakening on this wisdom podcast. Discover embodied enlightenment and mindfulness with Dr. Brian Tierney. Brian is a somatic psychologist and author of the upcoming book Visionary Somatics. In this profound segment, he explores the intersection of psychology and spirituality, arguing that genuine enlightenment cannot bypass the physical body. Dr. Tierney contrasts "transcendent spirituality"—the desire to escape our mammalian anxiety—with "embodied spirituality," drawing on philosophies of immanence where the divine spark is found right here, in the flesh.

Whether you are a meditator, a yogi, or simply seeking deeper wisdom in your spiritual practice, this conversation reveals why the body is the true ground of realization. Discover how somatic healing and mindfulness allow us to inhabit our lives fully, transforming our relationship with anxiety and unlocking a profound, embodied presence.

In this episode, we explore:

  • Why true enlightenment and spiritual realization cannot bypass the physical body.
  • The difference between transcendent spirituality and the wisdom of embodied, immanent presence.
  • How somatic healing and mindfulness resolve trauma without needing a "spiritual override."
  • Why anxiety is intrinsic to being a mammal and how to inhabit the body with love.

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View Full Transcript

Episode Transcript

Brendon Orr (00:00) So your upcoming book is titled Visionary Somatics and your work clearly operates at the intersection of psychology and spirituality. For listeners on a spiritual path, meditators, yogis, contemplatives, how does Semantic work relate to their practice? Can someone achieve spiritual awakening? while bypassing the body or is embodied presence actually the ground or the terrain from which genuine realization emerges? And how do you understand the relationship between somatic healing and spiritual development, Brian? Dr Brian Tierney (00:41) Well, I can tell you're really thoughtful in regards to formulating your questions. I really appreciate it. Yeah, really, really solid questions. Well, as a, know, I just recently presented at a Whiteheadian philosophy conference. And Whitehead is a big nugget, a genius mind. I realized at the conference, like, I feel at home here. Like, I'm a philosopher. What does a philosopher mean? A lover of wisdom. That's literally what the word means. Sometimes philosophy just slips into hyper literacy and way too much thinking and not enough embodiment. It doesn't even feel like what it is, which is love of wisdom. By love, mean love, embodied love, love for knowledge. And and I like to think that my project is well, I like to feel that That my project is that the visionary somatics is that it's a labor of love. It's a love That that is there that there's a spiritual instinct in there in so far as love and wisdom go There's a lyrical quality to wisdom that is in my book. It's it's written kind of nonlinearly But it has linear components. has protocols for teaching trauma resolution based on the latest neuroscience. It's got archetypal, archetypal psychology, a lot of discussion about archetypes, and it's got a lot of strange highways and byways into physics and embryology and all sorts of anthropology and things like that. So there's lots of ologies there. And I guess what insofar as spiritual, the spiritual instinct goes, and I would say that, you know, that the way there, the way forward there in the book is that we're looking at an embodied spirituality in contrast to what's called a transcendent spirituality. So there's this Key distinction in some of the philosophies out there between philosophies of transcendence, beliefs of transcendence, that we can finally transcend our anxiety, for example. That's a transcendent ideal, OK? Where the sort of existential psychologists and existential philosophers come in and they say, you know what? Anxiety is intrinsic to being a mammal and intrinsic to biology in trend. It's in Trident intrinsic to being Okay, and so you have philosophies of transcendence which is like trying to get onto this spiritual override what's called the spiritual override and to try to Transcend and achieve something beyond Being in a body or being in the intensities of being a mammal on planet And then there's what are called philosophies of imminence. And philosophies of transcendence include a god that's of separate or an enlightened figure that's sort of separate, that's achieved something beyond what us mere mortals are living in. And this is in contrast to philosophies of imminence, which basically, insofar as if there's an image of a god, then it's going to be a process relational god. It's going to be a God baked that there's a God that's in the process that's unfolding in our relationships now and now and now and now. Otherwise, in other words, the divine spark didn't come from some transcend transcendent position. It's in here all along and it's never going to be out of here. It's all it's all imminent. It's all right here.

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