The Urban Monk podcast with Dr. Pedram Shojai

🎙️ In this Lights On course coaching session, Dr. Pedram Shojai guides students through week three: interoceptive awareness training. Most people have been trained their entire lives to ignore their bodies—overriding tiredness with caffeine, hunger with schedules, and pain with pills. This disconnection means missing early warning signs before they become injuries or burnout, and struggling with emotional regulation. Dr. Shojai breaks down the eight dimensions of internal awareness and explains that emotions are your brain's interpretation of body states—when you can sense your heart racing and chest tightening, you can regulate the physiology instead of spiraling into panic.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
The 8 Dimensions of Internal Awareness: cardiac (feel heartbeat?), respiratory (sense breath moving?), gastric (true hunger vs boredom?), elimination (sense fullness without ignoring?), muscular (holding tension?), vascular (sense blood flow?), temperature (feel internal heat/coolness?), pain/inflammation (read discomfort?)
Why emotional regulation requires interoception: Antonio Damasio's research shows emotions are your brain's interpretation of body states—anxiety is rapid heartbeat + shallow breathing + chest tightness + shoulder tension + stomach churning + cold hands
The Four Common Blocks: dissociation (trauma-based nervous system disconnect), alexithymia (difficulty identifying emotions—trainable as adult), chronic stress (stuck in fight-or-flight), Western "mind over matter" conditioning
The Two Dimensions of Interoceptive Skill: accuracy (correctly perceive what's happening) and sensitivity (appropriate attention without overwhelm)—goal is high accuracy with appropriate sensitivity
🔑 Key Insights:
"We treat bodies like separate vehicles we're driving rather than integrated systems. The cost: missing early warning signs, inability to regulate emotions, poor decision-making—gut feelings are interoceptive signals."
"If you can't feel emotions in your body, they just happen to you. When you can sense 'chest is tight, heart is racing,' you can identify emotions accurately, regulate by shifting physiology, and respond instead of react. This is the core of emotional intelligence."
"Interoception is trainable—it's a life skill that develops with practice. Some days clear, some days foggy (perfectly normal). Practice isn't about perfection—it's about repeatedly turning awareness inward."
💡 Action Steps:
Practice mini check-ins throughout the day: morning body scan before touching phone, check hunger level 1-10 before eating, notice fullness after eating, ask 3x daily "Where am I at? What am I feeling physically?", evening body scan before bed
Use the 8-dimension body scan: systematically scan cardiac, respiratory, gastric, elimination, muscular, vascular, temperature, and pain/inflammation awareness
Try heartbeat detection meditation for cardiac awareness training—build the skill of feeling your heartbeat in chest, not just neck or fingertips
🎧 Perfect for: Anyone who overrides body signals with caffeine or schedules, people struggling with emotional regulation or identifying what they're feeling, those who miss early warning signs (aches become injuries, stress becomes burnout), trauma survivors experiencing dissociation, or anyone who can't distinguish hunger from boredom or fatigue from depression.
📚 Mentioned Resources:
Lights On Course (Week 3: Interoception module)
Antonio Damasio's research on emotions as body state interpretations
3-2-1 Reset meditation
Inner landscape practice audio
Heartbeat detection meditation
Eating awareness audio
🌐 Connect with Dr. Shojai:
Website: theurbanmonk.com
Books: The Urban Monk, Inner Alchemy, The Art of Stopping Time, Focus
Documentaries: Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Trauma, Conscious Parenting
#Interoception #BodyAwareness #EmotionalIntelligence #MindBodyConnection #InteroceptiveAwareness #NervousSystemRegulation #MeditationPractice #FunctionalMedicine #EmotionalRegulation #TraumaHealing #Mindfulness #Consciousness #UrbanMonk #Wellness

🎙️ Dr. Pedram Shojai explores how your physical environment is actively shaping your mental and emotional state every single moment. He breaks down the neuroscience behind environmental influences on your nervous system, explaining how clutter increases cortisol by 25%, how specific colors affect mood, and why silence has become medicine in modern life. He guides listeners through a comprehensive environmental audit covering visual chaos, acoustic pollution, olfactory triggers, spatial dynamics, and energetic residue, offering practical strategies to optimize your space for mental clarity and peace.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
The Five Environmental Influences hijacking your brain: visual clutter (increases cortisol 25%, reduces focus 40%), acoustic pollution (unpredictable sounds activate amygdala), olfactory triggers (directly connect to limbic system), spatial dynamics (ceiling height affects thinking type), energetic residue (spaces hold stress/joy)
The neuroscience of neuroception: your brain constantly scanning "Am I safe? Can I rest? Is this stimulating or depleting?" unconsciously, constantly, and powerfully
Light regulation and circadian rhythm: morning bright/blue light for alertness (10,000+ lux), indoor lighting rarely exceeds 500 lux, evening dim/warm light for melatonin, blue light suppresses melatonin and disrupts sleep
The Environmental Assessment Exercise: visual scan (does gaze have place to rest?), acoustic scan (sounds soothing or agitating?), smell check (fresh or chemical?), spatial feel (cramped or spacious?), energy quality (nourishing or depleted?)
🔑 Key Insights:
"We spend thousands on supplements and courses but meditate in cluttered rooms, work in harsh lighting, and live in visual chaos. Like trying to grow a garden in toxic soil."
"Silence is medicine—rare in modern life. Traffic noise increases stress hormones, open offices reduce productivity by 66%, and nature sounds reduce sympathetic activation."
"Your olfactory system is our oldest, most primitive sensory system. It directly connects to the limbic system, bypassing the rational brain entirely. Lavender reduces anxiety, peppermint increases alertness, rosemary enhances memory."
💡 Action Steps:
Complete the environmental assessment right now: Rate your current space on visual, sound, spatial, and energetic factors—fix the room you're in first
Audit your bedroom next (where you spend most time): Clear clutter daily, train yourself and family to maintain order, everything out of sorts creates subtle anxiety
Optimize circadian lighting: Use bright/blue light in morning (10,000 lux or natural sunlight), dim/warm light in evening (no blue light 2-3 hours before bed)
🎧 Perfect for: Anyone working in cluttered or harsh lighting environments, people with environmental sensitivities or chemical triggers, those struggling to focus or experiencing background stress, anyone spending thousands on health interventions without optimizing their physical space, or practitioners wanting to enhance meditation and consciousness work.
📚 Mentioned Resources:
Lights On: Advanced Urban Monk Mastery course (Module 2 and Module 3 releasing Thursday)
3-2-1 Meditation (10, 5, and 2-minute versions)
Sanctuary course
Full spectrum lights for upper/lower climes
Protocol for pineal gland decalcification (coming in future modules)
🌐 Connect with Dr. Shojai:
Website: theurbanmonk.com
Books: The Urban Monk, Inner Alchemy, The Art of Stopping Time, Focus
Documentaries: Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Trauma, Conscious Parenting
#SpatialAwareness #EnvironmentalHealth #Neuroscience #Neuroception #CircadianRhythm #ClutterFree #MindfulLiving #SensoryIntegration #HolisticHealth #ConsciousLiving #UrbanMonk #Wellness

🎙️ Most people respond to pain with one goal: make it stop. But Dr. Pedram Shojai reveals that pain isn't a mistake—it's a message your body is desperately trying to send you. Drawing from decades of treating patients and studying traditional medicine, he teaches you how to separate pain (the raw sensation) from suffering (the story you tell yourself), and decode the specific signals different pain locations are sending about what's breaking down in your system. Through a guided practice using witness consciousness, you'll learn to read your body's language with precision, track patterns like a detective, and finally understand what your pain is actually trying to tell you.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
The crucial difference between pain (raw sensation, the data) and suffering (psychological reaction—fear, story, catastrophizing)
The Six Types of Pain requiring different responses: acute warning, inflammatory healing, chronic pattern-related, referred (problem elsewhere), neuropathic (nerve damage), and emotional (stored trauma)
The Body's Pain Map decoded: frontal headaches (digestive stress, blood sugar), neck pain patterns (thyroid vs. posture), shoulder blade pain (heart, breathing, emotional holding), low back (hip dysfunction, kidney/adrenal stress)
The Five-Step Detective Approach: locate precisely with anatomical landmarks, describe quality (sharp, dull, burning, aching), track patterns and intensity, connect to other systems, investigate emotional context
🔑 Key Insights:
"Pain is a message, not a mistake. Where pain shows up, how it feels, when it appears—all specific signals. We never learned to read that language."
"Responding to all pain the same way is like turning off the fire alarm. Pain has multiple functions requiring different responses."
"You are not the sensation, you are the awareness observing it. Precision creates objectivity and reveals what your body is trying to tell you."
💡 Action Steps:
Practice the 3-minute morning body scan before getting out of bed: locate, describe quality, notice patterns
Use the pause-and-adjust practice during the day: three breaths, activate witness consciousness, adjust behavior based on the message (example: back pain while standing—engage core, adjust posture)
Track patterns in a journal: when pain appears, what makes it worse/better, connections to digestion/sleep/energy, emotional context
🎧 Perfect for: Anyone dealing with chronic pain that doctors can't fully explain, people who've lost interoceptive precision and can only say "my back hurts" vaguely, those responding to all pain by trying to make it stop without investigating the message, or anyone ready to become literate in their own body's language.
📚 Mentioned Resources:
New Course: "Lights On" - 52-week consciousness program (launching next week)
Previous Weekly Call: Witness Consciousness practice
Analog Pain Scales for categorizing pain
🌐 Connect with Dr. Shojai:
Website: theurbanmonk.com
Books: The Urban Monk, Inner Alchemy, The Art of Stopping Time, Focus
Documentaries: Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Trauma, Conscious Parenting
#PainAsTeacher #InteroceptiveAwareness #ChronicPain #PainManagement #MindBodyConnection #WitnessConsciousness #BodyAwareness #HolisticHealth #PainRelief #FunctionalMedicine #UrbanMonk #Wellness

🎙️ Dr. Pedram Shojai guides listeners through developing witness consciousness—the ability to observe your thoughts, emotions, and sensations without being consumed by them. Through practical examples and a guided meditation, he demonstrates how cultivating this observer perspective creates the essential space needed for healing, behavior change, and breaking automatic reactive patterns.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
The three simultaneous experiences and why most people never develop the witness—that awareness observing both your thoughts and experiences
The tremendous costs of missing the witness: every thought becomes truth, every emotion becomes identity, pain and suffering become synonymous
The Five-Layer Guided Practice: breath as anchor, watching thoughts like clouds, body sensations with specificity, working with emotions through defusion, bringing it all together
Why this matters for healing: separating pain (sensation) from suffering (story), discerning danger signals from discomfort, investigating symptoms without panic
🔑 Key Insights:
"When you believe you ARE your pain or diagnosis, healing becomes impossible. The witness separates pain from suffering—pain is sensation, suffering is the story."
"You're not the clouds, you're the sky. When you get pulled into thought and realize it, that realization IS the witness."
"The witness isn't about detaching from your experience—it's about being spaciously present with it. This creates the freedom to respond consciously rather than react automatically."
💡 Action Steps:
Practice the 4-2-6-2 breathing pattern and ask "Who's breathing? Who is noticing?"—that noticing awareness is the witness
Shift your language: Replace "I am angry" with "I notice anger is present"—this simple change creates observer distance
🎧 Perfect for: Anyone who wakes at 3am consumed by anxious thoughts, people who catastrophize physical pain, those overwhelmed by emotions that hijack behavior, or anyone struggling to sustain difficult practices like meditation.
📚 Mentioned Resources:
New 52-week course launching January (weekly modules)
Reference to Ramana Maharshi and Vedic teachings
100-day gong practices
🌐 Connect with Dr. Shojai:
Website: theurbanmonk.com
Books: The Urban Monk, Inner Alchemy, The Art of Stopping Time, Focus
Documentaries: Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Trauma, Conscious Parenting
#WitnessConsciousness #MetaAwareness #Meditation #MindfulnessHealing #EmotionalResilience #ConsciousLiving #MindBodyHealing #UrbanMonk #Wellness

🎙️ Dr. Pedram Shojai delivers a no-holds-barred wake-up call about victim mentality and its devastating impact on your health. Drawing from real cases of people sabotaging their own healing while blaming everyone else, he breaks down the biological prison that victim consciousness creates—from nervous system freeze responses to chronic inflammation—and provides a four-step process to break free, reclaim your power stance, and take radical accountability for your health choices.
🎯 What You'll Learn:
The biological cost of victim consciousness: nervous system freeze, cortisol elevation, inflammation, immune dysregulation, and why your body literally believes no solutions are available
How victim mentality narrows awareness to one channel ("what's being done to me"), creating loss of internal guidance and making you blind to open doors
The Four-Step Breaking Pattern: Witness victim language, feel the physical collapse, reclaim power stance (stand, stack spine, breathe), ask "What is my available move right now?"
Why creative power and victim consciousness are mutually exclusive—every moment in victimhood is a moment you're not healing
Real case: Patient with almond sensitivity keeps eating almonds, blames protocols when they fail—the pattern of making worst choices while blaming others
Proprioceptive reprogramming: Your body can't maintain victim state when in power stance
🔑 Key Insights:
"Victim consciousness and creative power are mutually exclusive states. Every moment in victimhood is a moment you're not healing."
"Replace 'Why is this happening to me?' with 'What is my available move right now?' Action breaks the spell of victimhood."
"Your body can't be in victim state when in power stance. Stand up, stack your spine, take a full breath. Proprioceptive reprogramming breaks the spell."
💡 Action Steps:
Take the 24-Hour Victim Language Challenge: Catch yourself using "they made me feel," "I had no choice," or "this always happens to me"
Practice the Four-Step Pattern Break when you notice victim thinking
Read The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz for radical accountability
Join the 100-Day Gong Practice: Three Qigong sets daily, fasting cardio, weightlifting
🎧 Perfect for: Anyone stuck in chronic health issues while blaming doctors or circumstances, people who feel righteous in their suffering, or those ready to stop being the victim and become the hero of their own story.
📚 Mentioned Resources:
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
The Gene Keys (current book study)
Lights On Course (launching Thursday 11am Central)
Life Garden Course
Daton Pi and Five Dragons Qigong
🌐 Connect with Dr. Shojai:
Website: theurbanmonk.com
Books: The Urban Monk, Inner Alchemy, The Art of Stopping Time, Focus
Documentaries: Interconnected, Gateway to Health, Trauma, Conscious Parenting
#VictimMentality #RadicalAccountability #FunctionalMedicine #NervousSystemHealth #SelfHealing #MindBodyConnection #HealthTransformation #PersonalResponsibility #Qigong #ConsciousLiving #UrbanMonk #Wellness