Awakening Now

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Here's the Buzzsprout description for episode 133, in your voice, mentioning the live Zoom recording and the open invitation to join next time. You can already understand that there is no separate self, clearly and without doubt, and still feel that nothing has changed. The understanding sits in the mind like a fact you have memorised, while life keeps...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message There is a particular kind of loneliness in believing you are in here, and everything else is out there. Most of us carry that feeling for years without ever asking where it came from, or whether it was ever true. In this episode of Awakening Now, I'm speaking with Sabina Witzel, a German awakening guide and author who has spent years supporting people...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , I speak with Sukhdev Virdee, author of sixteen books on Advaita Vedanta and nondual philosophy. Sukhdev works with people who have already explored the teachings deeply. They have read the books, watched the videos, understood nonduality intellectually, and yet still feel that something hasn't fully landed. We explore...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , I speak with Jim Newman, a well-known voice in radical nonduality. Jim shares one of the most uncompromising messages in the spiritual world: there is no separate self, no path, no one becoming awakened, and nothing to attain. Together, we explore seeking, liberation, free will, embodiment, and the challenge of speaking abo...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message “How do I awaken?” is the question many sincere seekers carry. Hidden inside it is often an expectation that awakening will bring permanent peace, clarity, or distance from difficult emotions. In this live Zoom meeting, Ilona explores that expectation directly with participants. Together we look at what happens when confusion, fear, hopelessness, or inner te...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , Loch Kelly and Ilona Ciunaite explore awakening, nonduality, effortless mindfulness, and the subtle places seekers often become stuck after the first glimpse. Loch shares a clear and grounded perspective on awakening as a shift of identity — from living as the separate self to recognizing awareness as primary. The conversat...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , I speak with Greg Goode about self-inquiry and what is actually being seen through. Greg Goode is a nonduality teacher and author with a background in philosophy. He is known for his clear and structured approach to inquiry, guiding people to look directly at experience and question what seems obvious — especially the sense...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode, I speak about the upcoming 8-week guided experience and what it is really about. The enrollement is open untill the 20th of April.  More info here.  https://ilonaciunaite.com/8-week-program/   There is no shortage of information about awakening. You can read, listen, understand more and more. And still, something may feel unsettled. Here we...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Today I share a very simple way of looking at experience. Using a drawing of two lines, we explore what is here in direct experience. One line represents life as it is happening — movement, thoughts, sensations, everything that appears.  The other points to simple being — the sense of presence, the knowing that you are here. Between these, there is what we o...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , I speak with Ananta Kranti about awakening and what the word actually points to. When Ananta first began sharing this message, awakening was described very simply — waking up from the dream of being a separate self. Today, the word is used in many different ways, and this can create confusion about what is being pointed to....

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , Ilona Ciunaite speaks with psychotherapist and author Robert Saltzman about awakening, the illusion of a separate self, and what actually changes when the sense of a personal controller is questioned. Rather than presenting awakening as a dramatic transformation, Robert describes it as a shift in perspective. Life continues...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message If there is no mind, why does it feel so loud? In this episode I look at what we call “the mind” as a living stream of thoughts appearing. Images, commentary, expectations about awakening, ideas about how this should feel and what should happen next. We explore thinking by looking at it directly. Thoughts arise. They move. They dissolve. And it becomes clear...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now, I sit down with Angelo DiLullo to explore the myths that quietly shape how people think awakening is supposed to unfold. We look at the belief that awakening should resemble someone else’s story, feel pleasant, bring special abilities, or resolve the human experience once and for all. Angelo points directly to how these expe...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode of Awakening Now , Ilona Ciunaite is joined by Steven D’Souza — author, leadership guide, and creator of Leading From the Dark — for a deep conversation about shadow work, awakening, and becoming more human. Steven describes the shadow as “the me I don’t see,” and together we explore how it shows up through projection, strong emotional reacti...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this episode, I invite you to look directly at the sense of self — not as an idea or a belief, but as lived experience. Before thoughts arise, before emotions move, before any story about “me” appears, there is a simple knowing of being here. A sense of existing. A feeling of “me.” This sense of self is so familiar that it is rarely questioned and often t...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message After awakening, many people expect the body to relax and life to feel settled. The belief in a separate self has dropped, so ease should naturally follow. Yet for many, the body still contracts. Emotions rise. Old protection remains. This often creates confusion and self-doubt. In this episode, I speak about why this is a natural part of awakening, and why...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Many people on the spiritual awakening path reach a moment where understanding is no longer enough. You may clearly understand non-duality, awakening, or the self illusion intellectually. You may know the language, have had glimpses, and seen moments of clarity. And yet something hasn’t shifted. There is still confusion. There is still a sense of “me.” And t...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Have you been craving awakening? Waiting for the moment when everything finally softens, the mind gets quiet, the heart opens, and you can finally stop searching? In this awakening now episode, I sit with Won Bo, a Lithuanian nun living in Korea. From the very first minute, something in her presence invites you to slow down, soften, and see what’s already he...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Awakening is a shift in perception, a clear seeing of what you are and what you’ve mistaken yourself for. it reveals what was here all along You’re listening to Awakening Now, a podcast for those who are on the path of self-discovery and spiritual awakening. This is episode number 115. The Reality of Awakening: Why the Honeymoon Fades and How to Meet What Re...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In the Stay Spiritual interview, I talk about the quiet flip from seeking to seeing — the moment when the pressure dissolves and looking into your own present experience becomes the first real step toward peace. So many seekers carry a private heaviness that is difficult to name. It isn’t just the desire for awakening; it’s the subtle tension of feeling behi...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Trust yourself in awakening. In this intimate conversation, Ilona Ciunaite and nonduality guide Luchana Uzunova explore spiritual awakening, embodiment, and living as awareness in daily life.  What unfolds after seeing through the self-illusion? How does peace deepen, fear soften, and the body learn to trust life again? We talk about the real texture of awak...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Most seekers begin this journey with expectations — about how awakening should look, how it should feel, or what will be lost or gained. But these assumptions quietly block the very seeing they long for. In this short talk, Ilona Ciunaite points to the five biggest mistakes seekers make on the path of awakening: projecting outcomes, fearing loss, doubting si...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this conversation, Ilona Ciunaite speaks with Pierce Salguero — scholar, author, and long-time meditator — about his book The Lamp Unto Yourself and his multidharma model that honors the many paths of awakening. Together they explore how different traditions point to the same essence of truth and freedom, how awakening unfolds beyond conceptual understand...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message In this guided Deep Looking session, Ilona Ciunaite invites you to look directly into your own experience and explore the nature of the self.  Rather than answering with the mind, you’re guided to notice thoughts, sensations, and awareness itself — to see what is truly here, beyond concepts and ideas. This session focuses on the heart — feeling instead of th...

Send me your thoughts in a Text Message Non-duality and awakening aren’t concepts to believe in, they’re about seeing through the illusion of self. Trying to understand this with the mind is just another trap. You’ve been sold the idea that awakening is a magic switch… spoiler: it’s not. This episode rips apart the myths, the trap of seeking, the patterns that keep you hooked, and the illusion tha...