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Journey of Self-Discovery: Exploring The Enneagram's Psychospiritual Wisdom, Shielding Significance, And Transformative Decision-Making With Robyn McTague
Episode 263rd October 2023 • Mindful You • Alan Carroll
00:00:00 00:23:02

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In this episode of Mindful You, Alan chats with Robyn McTague. Robyn is a life and relationship coach and consultant who uses enneagram work as a psychospiritual system. We learn the significance of shielding and the different ways we can approach choices. McTague speaks about the shifting of your attention from the thoughts in your body. We must value ourselves enough to let go of our mistakes. What is the purpose of dream coaching? Find out on this week’s episode.

About The Guest:

Robyn McTague is the Creator of A Life of Choice coaching & Consulting. Helping individuals, couples and teams navigate the complexities of their personal and professional relationships, through a unique blend of proven strategies including science and metaphysical systems. 

Empowering clients to uncover the drivers behind their behavior, address conflicts head-on, and cultivate thriving relationships with themselves and others.

Find Robyn Here:

Website

LinkedIn

Facebook

Instagram

Email

About Alan:

Alan Carroll is an Educational Psychologist who specializes in Transpersonal Psychology. He founded Alan Carroll & Associates 30 years ago and before that, he was a Senior Sales Training Consultant for 10 years at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has dedicated his life in search of mindfulness tools that can be used by everyone (young and old) to transform their ability to speak at a professional level, as well as, to reduce the psychological suffering caused by the misidentification with our ego and reconnect to the vast transcendent dimension of consciousness that lies just on the other side of the thoughts we think and in between the words we speak.

Personal: https://www.facebook.com/alan.carroll.7359

Business: https://www.facebook.com/AlanCarrolltrains

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aca-mindful-you/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindfulnesseminar/

Web Site: https://acamindfulyou.com/

Transcripts

Unknown:

Welcome back, everybody,

Alan Carroll:

to your next episode of the mindful U

Alan Carroll:

podcast. My name is Alan Carroll, I am your host, and

Alan Carroll:

today's guest. Today's guest is Robin. And Robin has an

Alan Carroll:

interesting story. And as most mindfulness, people seem to

Alan Carroll:

start from suffering, things didn't go well in their

Alan Carroll:

childhood, and they had a lot of ups and downs emotionally and

Alan Carroll:

mentally, which makes them feel that is there something else is

Alan Carroll:

there some way of reducing the suffering, it's just some way of

Alan Carroll:

experiencing more presence and joyfulness in my circumstances

Alan Carroll:

and activities, are there ways for me to be happier, mentally,

Alan Carroll:

physically and emotionally. And so that motivated Robin, to

Alan Carroll:

start her journey. And she describes one of the programs

Alan Carroll:

that she really got excited about. And she started to teach

Alan Carroll:

it. And it's a way of protecting yourself psychologically from

Alan Carroll:

all those influences outside yourself those blocks and those

Alan Carroll:

barriers. And she calls it a shielding a shielding system. So

Alan Carroll:

I'm excited to introduce you to Robin, and please welcome her to

Alan Carroll:

the mindful you podcast. Thank you very much.

Alan Carroll:

Robin, welcome to the mindful you podcast. Thank you, I'm

Alan Carroll:

excited to have the opportunity to speak with you. And for my

Alan Carroll:

audience, who I'd like you to introduce yourself to the

Alan Carroll:

audience, a little bit of your background, a little bit of how

Alan Carroll:

you were how you got on the mindfulness path, the

Alan Carroll:

mindfulness journey, the the transformation of consciousness,

Alan Carroll:

and then we'll move in, and maybe some of the things that

Alan Carroll:

you're doing now in order to develop those those muscles, for

Alan Carroll:

yourself and for and for the world. So we'll start with just

Alan Carroll:

a little bit of your background, Robin.

Robyn McTague:

Sure. Well, I came from one of those families

Robyn McTague:

that was dysfunctional with capital D. She was, yeah, she

Robyn McTague:

was suicidal, I first time, I remember I was four years old.

Robyn McTague:

And when she tried to kill herself, and my dad was an

Robyn McTague:

alcoholic, rageaholic abuser. And my way of dealing with it

Robyn McTague:

was to stay really quiet. I, you know, delved into books. My mom

Robyn McTague:

and I left when I was six, and we lived with other families. So

Robyn McTague:

I had exposure to lots of different settings of different

Robyn McTague:

people. And I was always curious, why did people do what

Robyn McTague:

they do? Like, and why are some people aware and other people

Robyn McTague:

aren't. And I remember having conversations with myself at a

Robyn McTague:

really young age around these things. So, you know, I went

Robyn McTague:

into psychology and counseling, I trained in conflict

Robyn McTague:

resolution. And then I had cancer breast cancer 23 years

Robyn McTague:

ago, this year. And that really opened up the can of worms of

Robyn McTague:

emotions, because that's the part I hadn't dealt with. I knew

Robyn McTague:

all these things intellectually. But I hadn't done that deeper

Robyn McTague:

work that I'd really pushed down to be able to function in the

Robyn McTague:

world. And so I spent six months on my sofa. And I just went deep

Robyn McTague:

into that feeling of, you know, being and that was really tough

Robyn McTague:

places where I wasn't allowed to be myself. I wasn't allowed to

Robyn McTague:

be curious. I wasn't allowed to do anything that I really

Robyn McTague:

wanted. You know, financially, I loved music. And I was so

Robyn McTague:

jealous of the other kids that learn to play piano or different

Robyn McTague:

things. And so, I really felt that I didn't get to be who I

Robyn McTague:

was. And so then with that cancer journey, I came out of

Robyn McTague:

those six months, I was coming back into the workplace. I

Robyn McTague:

worked in a large organization, over 1000 people, a lot of

Robyn McTague:

stressed out people we worked with people who are injured on

Robyn McTague:

the job. And I thought how can I be around all the stressed out

Robyn McTague:

people and I met a one woman at a wine cheese and tarot card

Robyn McTague:

reading party and she said I took a class where you get

Robyn McTague:

shields so you're not taking on other people's energy. And when

Robyn McTague:

I know something I noticed Something so I jumped in the

Robyn McTague:

next week. And I felt better in the first week, the course is

Robyn McTague:

four weeks, you get two energy shields, you get a grounding and

Robyn McTague:

a shielding system. And so I became a teacher of this. So now

Robyn McTague:

I teach adults and children the system. And I continue to grow

Robyn McTague:

in the energy system. And it's quite a unique system. So from

Robyn McTague:

there, I started to learn what was mine, and what was someone

Robyn McTague:

else's, as far as feelings and all of those different things.

Robyn McTague:

So I really started to get more in alignment, and connected to

Robyn McTague:

who I was, instead of always having to be the chameleon to

Robyn McTague:

fit in and feel safe. And through that, I started to get

Robyn McTague:

more independent, I got more tired of the bureaucracy, and

Robyn McTague:

then finally was able to leave early due to the number of years

Robyn McTague:

of service. And then I learned about the motivational map,

Robyn McTague:

which I love and the clarity that brought, I saw where those

Robyn McTague:

internal conflicts were. And it's partly based on the

Robyn McTague:

Enneagram. So I've been doing the really deep dive with the

Robyn McTague:

Enneagram work, which is a psycho spiritual system that

Robyn McTague:

helped me to really bring the spiritual and that humanity, the

Robyn McTague:

practical together to see that lens of the world, why I did

Robyn McTague:

things and to build more kindness and compassion for

Robyn McTague:

myself and other people. So that's kind of where I am today,

Robyn McTague:

where I'm working with the Enneagram, the motivational map,

Robyn McTague:

the meditation and healing system, I do some numerology as

Robyn McTague:

well. So it's interesting, all these number things that come

Robyn McTague:

into play, because there's so many universal laws, right. And

Robyn McTague:

this is something in the Enneagram we talk a lot about

Robyn McTague:

triads. And this number nine, that comes up, we have it with

Robyn McTague:

several of the systems I use, but it's universal law. And so

Robyn McTague:

all of these systems connect in certain ways. And I find that

Robyn McTague:

fascinating.

Alan Carroll:

Right, you could say that there's, everything is

Alan Carroll:

connected. With there's only one being one love one energy,

Alan Carroll:

though the perception is there's a you and me. And as you talk

Alan Carroll:

about the different techniques you're using, it sounds like you

Alan Carroll:

are discovering something, I'll call it beyond the ego, that

Alan Carroll:

there's a space of beingness that everybody shares a

Alan Carroll:

universal sense of beingness. And it's available to everybody.

Alan Carroll:

And matter of fact, it's already there. And all you got to do is

Alan Carroll:

get on your sofa for six months, and allow yourself to just get

Alan Carroll:

get lost. Dissolve the thoughts dissolve the thoughts. I you

Alan Carroll:

talked about shielding, you said it a few times. And it's I like

Alan Carroll:

that where I'm not sure what it means. But I like the idea of

Alan Carroll:

being able to protect yourself. And I the Word Shield means to

Alan Carroll:

me, you're protecting yourself. I'd like you just to talk a

Alan Carroll:

little bit about it because it has significance in your world.

Alan Carroll:

And it might have significance in the listeners world. Awesome.

Unknown:

Yeah, so the system that I teach, we actually as

Unknown:

teachers shift your vibration over the four weeks. And so when

Unknown:

we can shift that vibrational consciousness, we learned to

Unknown:

bring in the universal energy, we learned to bring up that

Unknown:

grounding energy. And so with that shield, then bring in a

Unknown:

shield of love. And so then we have an energetic boundary. So

Unknown:

then we can learn what's going on with me separate from other

Unknown:

people, because we're all energetic sponges. You know, I

Unknown:

get a little bit annoyed with all this empathetic stuff. I'm

Unknown:

an empath. Well, we all are to a certain degree. It's whether we

Unknown:

accept or I have that awareness about it. So we all have this

Unknown:

ability to say, wow, yeah, I'm really noticing that maybe I

Unknown:

going to a party or somewhere I feel great. Before I go, I get

Unknown:

there and all of a sudden, within 15 minutes, I'm not

Unknown:

feeling so good. But I think that's me. And as maybe someone

Unknown:

else I'm picking up. So the energy shield which is light and

Unknown:

love is a way to allow love in and keep the negativity out. And

Unknown:

even with the kids course, I draw a bubble. And then I have

Unknown:

the hearts coming through and then I have the arrows bouncing

Unknown:

off that little bubble that I showed them that they can Hang

Unknown:

up. So even with the kids, we do gentler increase in their

Unknown:

vibration. And it gives them this sense of I actually have

Unknown:

choice. And we've since seen kids stand up to bullies. And it

Unknown:

also brings in a better communication tool between the

Unknown:

parent and the child. So one of the parents has to come and they

Unknown:

learn the system. So, and it's the same with the adults is just

Unknown:

kind of a mini version. But it's ways to be able to build that

Unknown:

communication with ourselves, and then with others. So it's

Unknown:

like when I feel safe and energized, and not feeling

Unknown:

drained by other people, then I have so much more success in my

Unknown:

life, and that ability to know what's important to me.

Alan Carroll:

You mentioned, Robin, the word choice. And I

Alan Carroll:

find that most people don't have a choice. That choice involves

Alan Carroll:

observation. And most people can't, can observe because they

Alan Carroll:

can't let go of something which blocking, which is blocking them

Alan Carroll:

from, from responding. And so if you can't respond, then then you

Alan Carroll:

react to what's going on. And so when you talk about choice, to

Alan Carroll:

me, that's very, that's a very important level of awareness

Alan Carroll:

that most people don't have a choice, this is the way it is,

Alan Carroll:

you know, there's that immediate reaction to it. And is that what

Alan Carroll:

you're talking about when I'm talking about choice?

Unknown:

Yeah, it's learning the different ways. And so that

Unknown:

awareness, like you say, it's like, it can start very small,

Unknown:

just having, you know, some cliche things, they come from a

Unknown:

truthful place, like just having a breath. So when I trained to

Unknown:

conflict resolution, and we talked about anger, so many

Unknown:

people don't realize that they have choice before that

Unknown:

reaction, if they just take that moment, to start to notice

Unknown:

what's going on in their body. And so we learned to see our way

Unknown:

of having that come up, like I'm a real stomach person, for

Unknown:

example. So I'll feel that tension in the stomach rising,

Unknown:

and it's like, Oh, I feel that coming up. So can I let that

Unknown:

feeling come up and just wash through because one of the

Unknown:

things that I find people are afraid of, yes, if we go into

Unknown:

this emotional stew, or mix, I'm never gonna get out the other

Unknown:

side. And that was one of my fears. And I'm through so I can

Unknown:

attest, we can get through it. And if we allow the emotion to

Unknown:

come up, it usually lasts about 60 to 90 seconds. And so when we

Unknown:

can let that wash over, and have that breath, it's like, oh, I

Unknown:

can see I have choice when we're in stress. Breath is the only

Unknown:

thing we have any choice over. And so that's the biggest thing

Unknown:

is like, wow, now I can actually take a moment to say maybe I

Unknown:

need to get out of this situation, maybe I need to ask

Unknown:

for a timeout. If I'm in the workplace or something, maybe I

Unknown:

just need to go to the washroom and take a moment to settle

Unknown:

myself before I come back and not overreact, and maybe put my

Unknown:

job on the line. You know, we see this right people getting

Unknown:

angry, and it's like, I'm not taking this anymore. They're

Unknown:

gone. And then they're in survival mode. And what can we

Unknown:

learn? What can we do in survival mode, we can because

Unknown:

then the old part of the brain kicks in. And we don't have that

Unknown:

choice. So it's about learning what are my ways of noticing

Unknown:

that. And with the Enneagram system, we have a centering

Unknown:

practice. So I do that along with my meditation. So it's like

Unknown:

two minutes breathing into the belly center, two minutes into

Unknown:

the heart center, two minutes into the head center, and then a

Unknown:

minute, noticing that connection to all three. So when we can

Unknown:

center in all of our three centers, because we all have one

Unknown:

that we prefer, we can start to bring that in, and that not just

Unknown:

come from that one place. Ooh, it's

Alan Carroll:

nice. It's nice. I like the idea of taking your

Alan Carroll:

attention and shifting it off of the thoughts the monkey mind

Alan Carroll:

that's going on inside your head and say okay, right now in this

Alan Carroll:

moment, I'm going to take two minutes and I'm going to focus

Alan Carroll:

on my my solar plexus like as I call it, my stomach area. Do

Alan Carroll:

interest, and then my heart, you said, my stomach, the heart,

Alan Carroll:

the, the head, and then and then how all three are connected,

Unknown:

free. Yeah, just noticing how they support each

Unknown:

other and noticing our preference. So often we have two

Unknown:

that we go between. So I might go ahead emotion, and I leave

Unknown:

out the body or you know, some other combination depending on

Unknown:

our type structure. But there's, there's a pattern to all of

Unknown:

this.

Alan Carroll:

And by shifting your attention from the thoughts

Alan Carroll:

into your body, in my experience, the body, the monkey

Alan Carroll:

mind, or the energy or the anxiety begins to settle, calm,

Alan Carroll:

less agitation, more clarity, no, everything seems to be. But

Alan Carroll:

the challenge for me and for other people probably is you

Alan Carroll:

have to be awake in order to observe what's going on in your

Alan Carroll:

body and your emotions and your mind. And my observation is, the

Alan Carroll:

ego is not awake, the ego is operating on automatic, it's it

Alan Carroll:

doesn't it doesn't have that have that luxury of letting go

Alan Carroll:

of my position, in order to relax my body, I will not let go

Alan Carroll:

of my position Robin, because I'm right, and you're wrong and

Alan Carroll:

you better. And so in the midst of the chaos, oh, I'm gonna

Alan Carroll:

relax now because then I'd have to, then I have to give up

Alan Carroll:

something that's real important to me. And I'm not willing to

Alan Carroll:

give that up. I'm gonna hold on to that. And I, I think you're

Alan Carroll:

talking about letting go of things and surrendering, and

Alan Carroll:

I'll call it I'll use the word giving up or letting go, is that

Alan Carroll:

true?

Unknown:

Yes. And I'd like to be very practical and remind people

Unknown:

that, you know, this is why we have to shower every day, we

Unknown:

forget ourselves again and again and again. So allowing that

Unknown:

shame to come up. And this is what stops us from creating

Unknown:

these better patterns for ourselves, like people who want

Unknown:

to do the centering practice every day or their meditation.

Unknown:

It's like, it's okay, this is part of what we do as humans,

Unknown:

but so often we make it wrong. It's like, well, I might as well

Unknown:

give up because I forgot a day. You know, we see this with

Unknown:

people and their eating plans and these healthier ways of

Unknown:

being they give it all up. But it's like, this is normal.

Unknown:

Let's, you know, forget it, and be okay with it. And allow these

Unknown:

feelings that are uncomfortable. So yeah, I feel some shame, I

Unknown:

promise to do something I didn't I promise that to myself. So am

Unknown:

I going to value myself enough to say it's okay? And let that

Unknown:

go that judgment of myself, right? We're our biggest

Unknown:

harshest critics. And it's like when we can bring that kindness

Unknown:

in and say, yeah, I forgot. And I can do it now. Or I can do it

Unknown:

again in the morning or, you know, maybe today I have a

Unknown:

schedule where I need to fit it in somewhere else. You know,

Unknown:

most people can find seven minutes. With the meditation

Unknown:

training, we ask for more upfront when we're first

Unknown:

building those new neural pathways. But the good news is,

Unknown:

right, neuroplasticity, we can learn at any age. And we need to

Unknown:

bring in that kindness and compassion. And let's just do

Unknown:

it. So I know. I see the results and other people. And this is

Unknown:

often how we see people coming into the meditation course their

Unknown:

friends take it, they notice that shift in them. And it's

Unknown:

like, yeah, I want that to soar, we can allow ourselves to do the

Unknown:

same old, same old, are we going to deal with the resistance?

Unknown:

Because that's the biggest piece we deal with, with the

Unknown:

meditation with people the resistance. And that's what

Unknown:

you're saying the ego rate?

Alan Carroll:

Right? The ego is, this shouldn't be whatever's

Alan Carroll:

going on. In my reality. This should not be I'm not allowing

Alan Carroll:

whatever's going on to be I'm judging it. And so that's I'm

Alan Carroll:

very much involved in understanding the resistance

Alan Carroll:

based on my own experience of resisting. Before we go, I just

Alan Carroll:

have to ask you to talk a little bit about dream coaching.

Alan Carroll:

Because I'm a psychologist, Guy and dreams are part of the game.

Alan Carroll:

And so coaching on dreams is pretty cool. So can you just

Alan Carroll:

talk a little bit about that before we before we complete?

Unknown:

Yeah, I love dreams. I have been doing a dream journal

Unknown:

my first year of college actually, even before I was I've

Unknown:

always been interested in the esoteric and the weird stuff. I

Unknown:

was Learning to astral travel when I was a teenager, and sure

Unknown:

all these things. And with a psychology background and a lot

Unknown:

of reading on young and universal,

Alan Carroll:

my goals Young as young as my Yeah.

Unknown:

And so in the meditation course, we have an

Unknown:

act of style. And we give you tools for remembering your

Unknown:

dreams and for dream interpretation, which is

Unknown:

amazing. And it's all on the archetype. And then the dream

Unknown:

coaching is what is that dream I want for myself. So it's a

Unknown:

process we go through to look at the different aspects of

Unknown:

bringing that dream in for ourselves. And because I've done

Unknown:

a lot of work with dreams, I can help you with the the alive ones

Unknown:

or the unconscious ones, and help you bring that out. So, you

Unknown:

know, it's maybe just learning to dream again, for some people

Unknown:

who have been stuck in this kind of pattern of just doing things

Unknown:

for everyone else, like I was stuck in and learning that.

Unknown:

Yeah, I'm important. I'm a value, and I'm going to bring

Unknown:

that dream for myself alive again.

Alan Carroll:

Wonderful. Robin, if people hear our conversation

Alan Carroll:

today, and they say, Wow, Robin has lots of cool stuff. How do I

Alan Carroll:

connect with Robin? What are some of the ways people can

Alan Carroll:

reach out to you and connect with you?

Unknown:

Sure. I'm on LinkedIn, Facebook, and the website

Unknown:

because I'm in Canada is a life of choice.ca. When did there's a

Unknown:

couple of chapters of books on there, and also have a

Unknown:

meditation for relationships, I can give you the link to that

Unknown:

you can add to the show notes if you'd like.

Alan Carroll:

Perfect, perfect. Well, Rob, I want to thank you

Alan Carroll:

very much for being on the mindful you podcast, and sharing

Alan Carroll:

some of your wisdom and some of your experiences that you've

Alan Carroll:

experienced on your personal journey and you're sharing your

Alan Carroll:

personal journey was very, very nice. I want to thank you very

Alan Carroll:

much. And on behalf of my guest and the audience, I want to

Alan Carroll:

thank you for being on the mindful you podcast.

Unknown:

Thank you so much.

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