Create Change to Have a Meaningful World Impact with Brian Berneman

Today I visit with Brian Berneman, a wellness coach and facilitator, discussing his background, journey, and approach to supporting individuals in leading a balanced and meaningful life. Brian emphasizes the importance of holistic wellness, consciousness, and awareness in achieving physical, emotional, and spiritual health. He also shares insights on abundance, body awareness, and the impact of ancestral experiences.

Brian offers free relaxation sessions on YouTube and hosts the Conscious Action Podcast. Connect with Brian online at https://www.brianberneman.com/

Transcript

Magic Barclay: 1:03

Brian Burniman joins us. Brian is a wellness coach and facilitator who has helped hundreds of people around the world. Lead a more balanced and meaningful life with a background in neuroscience and more than 15 years of experience teaching and practicing yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and different healing modalities. Brian is able to synthesize modern scientific knowledge with ancient wisdom to help his clients get the best results that they desire. Brian has empowered people from all walks of life to realize their full potential and enable them to live a stress free and meaningful life. Committed to conscious lifestyle practices, Brian founded Conscious Action, a movement of people inspired to live more intentionally. Welcome Brian.

Brian Berneman: 1:58

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here in this beautiful space.

Magic Barclay: 2:02

It's really my pleasure, and I really love what you do. How did you get to that? Was there a story that got you to this point where you said, You know what? Meaningful lives. People aren't living it. I need to help.

Brian Berneman: 2:20

Yes. Yes. Definitely. Thank you for that question. You know, it's, it's been interesting looking back and looking into my life and done itself. Where I came from, how I was living my life, and how much that has changed, a lot of it. Has to do with my parents. I am really fortunate that when I was a kid, my parents started their own personal spiritual journey. that, in a sense, then is what I noticed and what led me into my own path and my own journey with learning more about myself, about different traditions, modalities, understanding, trying to understand the mind, the body. and from there, I think that things changed. So a little bit on, on that background, I grew up in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, and I had a typical childhood. I played sports. I, you know, like my parents sent me to all of these different classes of music and dance and this and that and sports just to, you know, like try out what I liked. And I think that even though I did a lot of those things. I couldn't find my place until I started to get into all of these different practices. one of the things that, for me, was really interesting was that I used to think that I was actually really connected. And it wasn't until I went to my first Tibetan yoga class that that was the first time that I actually felt my body and felt my feelings in a way that I had never before. And at that moment, I was like, Oh, wow, this is what it's meant by, you know, like feeling your feelings. I remember at that point, you know, as a teenager, I was super stressed out and I had, you know, like a lot of suppression of my experiences and my feelings. I didn't know how to process anything. And through those practices and our practices through the years, That is what led me to a much, much better and deeper understanding of my experience, how I behave, how I show up, what I care about, and how to live a life that has meaning for me. And how to discover what that is in relationship to others and to the earth and to the universe in a sense. So yeah, like I could go much, much further into my own journey, but I think that that's been the key.

Magic Barclay: 5:13

Thank you for sharing that. Now Brian. I'm going to get straight into our three questions that we ask all the guests and everyone gives me different answers. so here's your first one. What can your expertise do to accelerate health, not just physical, but also emotional and spiritual health?

Brian Berneman: 5:34

Yes, thank you for that. I actually, I focus on a holistic perspective, so as you're saying this is not what I do. It's not about just the physical aspect. It's about seeing all of our different aspects, all of what we will call our layers or different bodies. So I work a lot on the Energy, body, as well as the emotional, physical, psychological level. What I can help or what I help people with is to get an understanding of where they are, to get an understanding of what's in the way for them to live a life that actually has meaning, that is stress free, that has a direction that they want, that is enjoyable, and How I do that is a lot of times by focusing on understanding that we have blockages. Another word for blockages could be trauma that is stored In our being and by actually going there and understanding the importance of massaging those inner blockages and releasing them by integrating and processing those experiences that at some point we couldn't, that is how we start to get to that place that I've been talking about. So what I do is in different modalities and different tools that I have learned through the years and practice for myself. Now I share those with people.

Magic Barclay: 7:14

Great. And our second standard question is around wealth. People think wealth is just the financial, but We here like to look at personal and emotional wealth as well. So what are your top three tips to creating wealth?

Brian Berneman: 7:32

Yes, beautiful. Um, for me, one of the key things for wealth in every aspect of our life, which instead of wealth, I usually talk about abundance, but wealth is Very similar. My tips are, slow down, first of all, we live in a society that is very fast paced, and which means that most of the time we're living unconsciously, and we Don't have the control. We are living in autopilot. So the first thing is slow down. Once we're able to do that, whether that is coming to a full stop or a pause or just literally going slower. Through what we are doing in the day, then is return to your body. As I was talking before with the blockages that return to the body is important because that's how we start to Embrace more of our experience. That is not just the mental capacity that we have The body has a lot of wisdom as well as a lot of those blockages So returning to the body to feel the feelings And that is the third key, that is, understand that what we're feeling all of the time is energy. The world and the universe is made up of energy, whether we want to talk about it from a scientific perspective or from a spiritual perspective. And for me, the most important thing is being attuned to those energy movements. And how we experience that is through feelings. So a lot of times, instead of getting attached to the emotions and getting attached to the labeling or to the judgment of those feelings, it's about understanding, allowing that energy to move and just noticing it, experiencing that sensation in the body. Those are the keys to start to unlock. the natural flow of this universe of that energy, which is abundance and wealth.

Magic Barclay: 9:50

I love that answer. Thank you. And our final standard question is around weight loss. Many people battle with their weight quite needlessly. And, you know, we think about What society puts on us as to what is a healthy weight, have you ever battled your weight? If so, how did you win the war? And what can you offer the listeners who may be on this journey?

Brian Berneman: 10:18

Yes, beautiful. So I don't know if I ever battled with weight. I did have a period of my life where I kept on eating the same as I used to, and suddenly, because of injuries, I stopped playing sports, which I was really active, and suddenly I started to gain weight, and I started to gain weight, and I started to gain weight. And at one point, I think that what changed was having an awareness of being healthy, and having an understanding on the fact that that was possible. And then that meant that. I started to see myself different. I started to behave differently. I changed my diet. And by changing small things in my diet, which wasn't restricting myself of anything, it was just focusing on, I'm going to focus on being well, I'm going to focus on eating healthy. In two weeks, I lost more than 15 kilos. And I wasn't looking really to lose all of that weight, I was just looking to being healthier. And I think that this is the key for me, that my focus was on being well, being healthy. How does that look? I wasn't so caught up on that, that came, that for me is like saying that, that was a bonus in terms of my experience, but I was focused on being healthy, healthy in mind, in body, in spirit, that awareness is what led me to the change. And now for the last more than 15 years, I've been able to be so healthy that I haven't been sick. I haven't taken a day off because I needed to, and that for me is so wonderful because this life is to be enjoyed and being healthy is so important for that.

Magic Barclay: 12:25

I love that. That is a great distinction. So I'm just going to say it again for the listeners, focus on being well, not on the weight, but on being well, being healthy and everything will fall into line. And as you know, listeners, this is not a linear. Expedition or journey, you will have some pitfalls and traps, but that's why this podcast is here for you to support you, bring you some answers from different people all around the world, but also, you know, we have our Facebook pages, reach out, we are part of your support community. So I love that focus on being well. Now that's our standard questions. What. Exactly is conscious action. Can you explain that for the listeners?

Brian Berneman: 13:17

Yes. So for me, there's, this has been part of my life and then this is what I share has been about raising awareness. So that's the conscious part, raising awareness, becoming more conscious of my experience, becoming more conscious of. The reality around me, becoming more conscious of other people's experiences. And when I started to become more conscious, when I started to become more aware of what is actually happening, not what I think that it's happening, what's actually happening and what is possible, as I was just mentioning, for example, with being healthy. If I don't know that that's possible, then I cannot get there. So. If I understand that there's so much that I don't know, then how can I expand my awareness? So that's the conscious part. Now, it's really important not to just stay there, because a lot of times we got We get stuck with information, we get stuck with a lot of, you know, like being inspired, but if there's no action, nothing will change. You know, I can watch hundreds of videos or TED talks. I can read endless books. I can listen to podcasts like this one. And if I am not implementing and taking action on anything, nothing will change. So it's really important to be able to. Act from that place of now I have this awareness, I have this understanding and I'm going to act accordingly. And for me with that comes as well that when I am consciously living, I am in that automatic pilot. What I'm doing is I am reacting all of the time through patterns of behavior and beliefs that I have already been conditioned through. When I'm able to actually be conscious. And become more aware of what is then I'm able to actually respond to life appropriately I'm able to actually show up in the way that is proper for me at that moment and the situation that I'm in. And ideally, then that actually supports not only me, but supports the people around me, in my community, the people around the world and the world in itself and the earth. So for me, all of the actions that we take in terms of, you know, like if I care about the environment and I care about the world, I want to Take certain actions when I need to understand first, what are those actions that are going to be supportive of that, supportive of my, of myself, supportive of others. And the more that I can do that, then the better I will be. And if I am doing well, then we will all be doing better.

Magic Barclay: 16:12

So how exactly do you help people? Stumble across you and they say, yes, I want to leave a more meaningful impact. What can people expect when you are their coach or their practitioner?

Brian Berneman: 16:30

Yeah. So with everyone, this is different and this is why I fell in love with learning so many different tools and so many different traditions and so many different perspectives, because. What works for someone doesn't work for anybody else. So as an example, I have a client that started recently to work with me and I usually try to work for at least three months with someone and the idea is to get an understanding on how. that person has been conditioned, what are those blockages, those traumas, and what's the key that is going to open the door so that they can actually step away from that, to step away from their conditioned tendencies, and to be able to unlock that full potential that they have. So we might do some Talking in terms of asking questions, and that for me is super important, asking questions that opens our mind. Then for some, I do some healing work in terms of energy healing or holistic therapy. Um, then a lot of somatic practices. So coming back to the body, moving the energy, understanding where there's some blockages, where the energy is actually flowing. And then, of course, a lot of Clarity, getting clear about what are our values, what are the things that we want to experience in life, that we want to feel, that we want to grow, what are the things that we want to go in towards that direction, so the more clarity that they have, then the easier it is to actually be, and a lot of it comes back as well to getting someone around. That is going to see you as whole, not as broken, as whole, that understands that yes, there's been a lot that has been going on in your life. And now, if you have the courage and you have the will, To make some changes, then I'm there to support you through that, to hold you accountable and to hold you in love, to hold you in compassion, to hold you with kindness, not judging so that there's a possibility of transformation to take place.

Magic Barclay: 18:59

I think that's really important That your coach sees you as whole, not as someone broken that needs fixing, but just to add to your life and help you reach the potential that is there, but maybe you just haven't reached.

Brian Berneman: 19:16

Yes. And, and, you know, there's something in terms of this as well, that a lot of times in this modern Western societies, We live a very separate life, very individualistic, and for me, a lot of times it's about understanding we live in relationship to the universe, to the world, to the earth, to other people, and we don't need to do everything alone. We don't need to actually try to, like, push through everything. We don't need to, uh, hustle and just trying to make things happen. A lot of times it's about being able to find. That support that someone that can see you in that light, because for me, you know, I, I got into all of this work because I was focusing on my own work, my own inner experience. And after years of doing that, and I'm still doing this, this doesn't stop. Um, I was asked by other people to start sharing it. And I love doing this because as I saw others doing this for me, Now I can see how this is so positive and so good so that I can, you know, like do this where that is when I'm working one on one with people or whether that is when I'm working with businesses running one being programs or when I'm teaching at university. No, everyone is different and each space requires me to show up in a different way, yet something that doesn't change is that I don't see people. As broken, I see people as, yes, there's these things in the way and we need to unlearn, we need to, figure out what it's in the way, figure out what are those blockages and then releasing them because there's nothing that we are trying to achieve. And that is outside. We already have that. We already whole we're already perfect and we're already unique selves. So when we get to that essence, everyone has that. And my role in terms of when I'm working with someone, but just in general, when I'm living life is about seeing that not seeing the parts that are. In a sense, wrong, not seeing the parts that might not be positive, not seeing the parts that are blocked. It's about seeing the love and the energy and the essence of someone.

Magic Barclay: 21:45

And I think in this day and age, that is more important than it ever has been. Now, what haven't we covered that you feel the listeners need to hear today?

Brian Berneman: 21:59

Yeah, so I think that one of the biggest things to understand as well, and this is being part of the work that I do is understanding that, those blockages and that trauma doesn't only come from our past experience. It also comes from our families, our ancestors, our cultures, our ethnicity, our countries. There's a lot of energetic entanglements that. We don't understand really yet when I'm working with them, I can see the shift as we include them. So a lot of times we play out certain patterns of behaviors because of something that happened to. You know, one of our ancestors, it could be my great great grandmother had something happened to her and that wasn't fully processed, that wasn't actually integrated. And now I am playing that out completely unconsciously. So the more that we can understand how to see this as well, it's important. And the other thing that I think that is important is that When we work a lot of times energetically, it's more important than trying to understand things. Yes, our mind wants to understand everything, and our minds are amazing. And at the same time, how can I move beyond that, so that I can actually not get caught up? in the past, not get caught up in the stories that I'm telling myself, just allowing myself to move and shift that energy so that I can process it so that I can move on instead of getting caught up with the past. So for me, it's really important to be able to, yes, it's about going back, but it's not about getting Caught up with the stories of that. It's not about trying to understand it. It's about coming back to this moment and noticing there's something that is having hold on me and I want to release that. I want not to be held anymore. So that's the way that I'm going to move forward. And then. When I'm able to do that, I can see life for what it is, that there's so much beauty around, there's so much preciousness, there's so much that most of the time I'm missing, because this world is magical, and there's so much magic. Pun intended. in this world that we can get to that place if we release a lot of our tendencies and a lot of the things that are blocking our perspective from seeing what this world is actually offering to us. So doing all of that work and then. What flows from us is beautiful, and then our actions are more aligned with our inner experience and the world that we want to see. So then our outer actions start to shift. How we treat other people start to shift. How we talk to other people start to shift. How we consume products and food start to shift because we start to understand what is in alignment and what is not.

Magic Barclay: 25:13

That was so beautifully said. I love it. Now that brings me to the world has been in a lot of disarray and that we're not going to get into why, but people are feeling some internal angst. Maybe, you know, there's a whole lot of fear porn coming at them. Well, there is all the time from multiple media outlets, both mainstream and. Non mainstream, how do people distinguish what is a true feeling? What is something that they really need to explore and what may just be.

Brian Berneman: 25:56

this is the work, this is the work, the understanding what is what, the understanding on how can I realize what's this feeling, what's that feeling, how do I understand what is my mind telling me, when is that in the way, this is the, the work that Each of us need to do to try to understand and to have more discernment when we have more awareness, it's easier to start to understand this. And yes, there's a lot of things that are happening in the world. And the reason, even though we don't want to get into it, that we have the experiences that we have are because of this connection. When we are not connected, then we have the inner experiences and the outer experiences that are happening. And the outer experiences are all of this chaos that you were just saying, all of the changes that are happening. And internally, all of the stress, all of the depression, all of the tendencies that are not helpful are because of that disconnection, because we are not Aware. We're not present. So when we're able to come back and to understand, you know, what is in my control? What can I control? And where do I want to place my energy, my focus, my attention? Because yes, you know, at this moment I am sitting in my house. In New Zealand, there is nothing that I can do at this moment for whatever is happening to someone on any other part of the world, even for someone that is my neighbor here, if something is happening at this moment. So why would I I'm going to spend my time and my energy focusing on that, especially if it's negative, especially if it's something that is really challenging or hard. Why would I choose to do that? And that doesn't mean that I don't want to be informed, that I don't want to know. But understanding where do I want to place my attention? Do I want to understand these feelings that are coming up when I hear something? And do I want to watch, for example, the news, or do I want to actually look outside of my window and look at either nature, or people, or a dog, or whatever it is? No, and this is, I think that it's important to understand this is not about blocking out All of the challenges that are happening, this is about understanding what can I do and how can I actually process my inner experience and the feelings that are showing up? And how can I understand which are which in terms of the feelings? This only comes with practice.

Magic Barclay: 28:43

Thanks for that answer, Brian. I think that was really important for the listeners to hear. Now, we do love freebies here. So what can you offer the listeners and where can they find it?

Brian Berneman: 28:56

Yeah, so I have a bunch of things that are cooking up at the moment. but at the same time, there are some videos that they can find on YouTube. There's some practices for relaxation, so they are called, relaxation sessions. If they go to the Google My Name or the Google Relaxation Sessions on there, there's, I think that plenty of those relaxation sessions, they are movement based and they are sitting, connecting to awareness and they are there to support other people. Those are all classes that I did live during the pandemic, and they are just there on YouTube for free for people. As well as the Conscious Action Podcast. There's hundreds of episodes now. and that's another thing that they can listen for free anywhere.

Magic Barclay: 29:52

Beautiful. Now you're on Instagram at ConsciousActionNZ, Facebook, ConsciousActionNZ. And also on Instagram at Brian Burniman, thank you so much for joining us. I really do appreciate your time.

Brian Berneman: 30:09

Thank you. Thank you for creating this space and for giving me wonderful questions to be able to share with everyone.

Magic Barclay: 30:16

Oh, it's been my pleasure. And listeners, thank you so much for your time. Definitely look up Brian on those Instagrams and on Facebook and on YouTube. And for now, go forth and create. Your magical life.