Velan Cadden on Embodiment - How To Master Discomfort and Use It To Transform Your Life.

The Human Connection Movement Podcast

"Life will initiate us whether we like it or not and I think that’s the real key, how will we meet that initiation, as a society we are entering a global initiation and whether we like it or not it's coming for us and it's important we prepare for it."

In this episode I connect with Velan Cadden, Co-Founder of Sacred Seed. We talk about his path of initiation, the opportunity to grow within our relationships, and how to speak the language of the body to create optimal vitality and health.

Velan is passionate about exploring the maps of the body and reconnecting to the sacred element of life through our connection to the earth.

His sharing of Yoga and Shaolin energetic arts have been deeply influenced by his study with Master Zhen Hua Yang as well as years of practice of the 5 Rhythms dance discipline.

Him and his wife Adya hold Yoga Teacher Trainings internationally in Australia and Costa Rica, weaving the path of yoga with ancient teachings of the earth

As a young man, the body for Velan was the doorway to the textures of the present moment, providing him with the awareness and moments of expansion he was yearning to experience on the sporting field.

Velan was always seeking to explore the outer edge of his limits, and the best avenue for him to explore them during his teenage years was through running long distance events.

Growing up Velan was always physically active - his competitive streak at the time was the foundation for where he found a deeper meaning in his life.

Yet as time went by, this began to only scratch the surface of a deeper yearning that was calling him.

He was seeking a deeper sense of initiation into manhood, hoping to find it by pushing the psychological limits of his mind, sometimes even experimenting with drugs.

In time, Velan's deep rooted desire for initiation lead him to the sacred ceremonial path of vision quest, which is an Indigenous native American tradition where men and women go to connect with the land without food and water for 5 days and 4 nights.

Velan describes the depths of his experience within his initiatory process:

“Initiation takes you beyond who you think you are, we stand upon the precipice of the unknown, often we feel comfortable moving from the known to the known, or the known to the unknown, but the initiation is the transformation from the unknown to the unknown.”

Velan describes how through the act of having no creature comforts (no bed, food, or water) he all of a sudden became witness to the inherent awareness that was moving inside of him all along and was able to connect deeply with his spirit.

There were no more distractions and his quest for the truth was paramount to this realisation.

Part of Velan’s initiation process also involved being designated to work in a Jaguar sanctuary where Jaguars were being rehabilitated to be sent back out into the forest.

He describes this a pinnacle turning point within his initiatory process, specifically when he was pinned down to the ground by the Jaguar he was caring for.

Velan describes how the richest fruits were birthed during his initiation process - he states that it was in his most challenging moments that he was able to break through the limitations of his mind and surrender into a new field of possibilities.

“That thirst for initiation is an inherent frequency that we all carry, to say that I wanted or sought out to do that would be a misunderstanding, it was something that swept me up like a wave."

Velan also speaks of the importance of acknowledging the deep connection to woman and the land, and as men, how our ability to pay witness to the feminine energy, deeply correlates with how we are treating the land, our families and the women our lives.

He speaks of how one of the deepest bodies of our work is within our relationship to our partners; where a lot of misunderstanding arises, this creates many opportunities for us to uncover what our limitations are so we can meet the deepest parts of ourselves.

Velan asks the question, within this global pause, what work are we doing to uncover what is keeping us separate from our connection to everything that surround us?