Unlocking Your Universe: Spiritual Awakening & Conscious Expansion

Welcome to another inspiring episode of Happy Hour for the Spiritually Curious Podcast! Join your hosts Dr. Sandra Marie and Reiki Master Nikki Ackerman as they kick off their special series, Unlocking Your Universe,  where curiosity meets consciousness!

🌟 What Does Unlocking Your Universe Mean? In this thought-provoking conversation, Sandra and Nikki dive deep into what it means to explore consciousness, personal growth, and spiritual awakening. Is a spiritual awakening a single event, or is it an ongoing process of expansion? Tune in as they share their evolving insights and personal experiences.

🌿 Why You Should Listen:

• Discover how expanding self-awareness can lead to profound personal growth.
• Explore the ongoing journey of spiritual awakening and how it evolves over time.
• Hear personal stories of transformation and synchronicity from Sandra and Nikki.
• Gain inspiration for staying curious and open on your own spiritual path.

🌌 Key Takeaways:

• Unlocking your universe is about expanding beyond the surface of daily life.
• Growth is continuous, and spiritual awakening is a lifelong process.
• The universe mirrors our curiosity, stay open to possibilities!

👉 Subscribe & Stay Connected:

• 🎙️ Listen on all major podcast platforms!
• 📺 Watch on YouTube @WildSoulsGatherings
• 🌐 Visit Our Website

The universe expands with your curiosity – keep exploring!

Links
Nikki Ackerman
Website: Reikipagoda.com
Email: nikki@reikipagoda.com

Dr. Sandra Marie
Website: Wildsoulsgathering.com
Email: Sandra@wildsoulsgathering.com

Transcript

Dr. Sandra Marie (00:00.174)
Welcome to the happy hour for the spiritually curious podcast where curiosity meets consciousness. I'm your host, Dr. Stana Marie. And today I'm joined by my co-host, Nikki Ackerman, a Reiki master and a spiritual guide for another episode of our special series, Unlocking Your Universe. So grab your favorite drink, open your heart, and let's dive into today's conversation where we challenge perspectives, ignite curiosity, and explore.

what it truly means to unlock the universe within you. Hey, Nikki, how are you doing today? Wonderful. And how are you? Good. It's been a good day. We have gotten a lot of snow where I'm at. So I'm in that beautiful Snowden piece, peacefulness, because I didn't have to go out and drive in it. How about you? It's good. We've got about three inches and it's cozy is what I will say. It's pretty and cozy and, it's also workable. So.

There you go. Cozy is a good word to describe it. Nicky, before we get started with today's topic, Manifestation, with this being an introductory episode, let's start with what does unlocking your universe mean? To me, unlocking your universe is about expanding your awareness beyond the surface of daily life. It's about becoming curious enough to

question your beliefs, face our fears, and explore the deeper layers of consciousness within ourselves. It's not about finding all the answers, but embracing the vastness of possibility while staying present and open to growth. True expansion, I think, happens when we step out of our comfort zones, trust our intuition, and remain curious about what's happening and about what lies just beyond the edges of

what we think we know. So that's sort of the intention of this series is to do just that. And what's interesting to me is 10 years ago, I would have said my focus would have been, is all about finding the answer. So it's really interesting how that's transitioned. How about you? As I look back and if I were to think back to maybe even 10 years ago as well too, or maybe even a little bit longer.

Dr. Sandra Marie (02:25.75)
When I think about unlocking the universe, keep thinking, not now as much, then that there's something outside of us that is greater and vast, more vast that we can explore. And while some of that is true, where that actually takes place is inward, not outward. Right. It is interesting how we transition. Cause I thought about that, you know, we talked a lot about doing this and

You know, I thought Unlocking the Universe was like a great title. And the more we were working on what this was all about and what it was going to look like, I thought it would be really curious how other people interpret what does Unlocking the Universe mean. Because I think it could be different for different people. Do you want to, just before we get started a little bit too, shall we talk a little bit about how we got to putting this series together?

Sure, Mickey and I have known each other, gosh, for a really long time. And in fact, when I initially started getting into my curiosities and exploring spirituality and sort of following direction from a message that I got from Spirit that made absolutely no sense to me, Reiki was on that path. And back in those days, I don't even know that Google existed, but I'm going to guess.

If you Googled Reiki, like nothing would come up because I had to talk to a lot of people and ask like, have you ever heard of this Reiki thing? And it brought us together. So we sort of started out that part of our journey with the energy work together. And there's a little small group of us. call ourselves the original Reiki sisters. So we talk a lot about things and we have our own curiosities and questions that

even though we've been on the path a long time, still continue to come up. You know, we have the like, hey, I had this epiphany or, you know, I was thinking about this and it's like a WTF. I don't really understand what any of this means. What do you think about it? We decided that maybe we would take some of our personal conversations out into a bigger platform to give folks a little bit of a background. don't know if you have something you would like to add to that. Yeah, I think it's,

Dr. Sandra Marie (04:48.866)
goes perfectly with the title of the series, if you will. Just because it's like the universe did bring everything together. You know, just our paths and just walking this paths and being in and out of each other's lives for over, over a decade. But then as we reconnect, it's like no time has passed and we just continue to elevate and we continue to expand and we continue to evolve. We get to share those things with one another.

just support each other and guide each other as we move through what we move through as we grow. It's just a very exciting experience, if you will. It's also just so fascinating to see how each of us grow during this time period. It kind of reminds me of the analogy of when one graduates from college and people are green and they want to get into their field and they're just so excited, right? And then there's like,

the time of experience afterwards and it's almost like we've moved past that greenness and we're just like, wow. We went beyond putting theory into practice, And it's almost that, and that's just it. We practice and that's where the difference comes in and that's when we start seeing the changes and that's when we start seeing the elevations and we start being able to connect different experiences to.

what we hear about from maybe some of our mentors and teachers and gurus that are out there, they have had the experiences as well. I would definitely agree with it. And as you say that, you know, it's like we've expanded and grown so much and, we joke a lot of times like, hey, I'm a different person than when I talked to you last week. And it's like, we're like dead serious about that. And you don't have many people that you can sit and have that conversation with, you know, just so much.

gratitude for having you in my life. And then I think we both had this epiphany about doing this show together, which, random not, right? The synchronicity of it was pretty interesting. So the other thing I would say with it is I'm at a point where now I know that there's still so much more expansion that where I'm at now may seem so basic a week from now or a year from now or 10 years from now.

Dr. Sandra Marie (07:08.696)
just like what we just described, is it's a never-ending process. I guess, would you say that it's, you know, they talk about spiritual awakening or the awakenings used a lot. And there was a point in time, I probably like a long time, where I thought a spiritual awakening was really the event. Like it would be something that would happen.

and then I would be awakened. I never really thought about it as being ongoing. So what would you think? An event or something that's ongoing? Oh, it's definitely ongoing. There is no end. There is no... And it's interesting because a lot of people who are seeking enlightenment, who are seeking awakening, they think it's like the end point, the goal of where you want to get to. I thought that. And I did too. I mean, I think many of us have, know, until...

we actually start really implementing and practicing different practices that help with that growth and that expansion. And then what we recognize is that while we have these wonderful epiphanies, while we have these wonderful experiences that seem to demonstrate growth and that demonstrate expansion and awareness and aha moments or what have you, that's only the tip of the iceberg.

there's even so much more and it's just like, my goodness, how can I experience even more than this, you know? Or if it's just that maybe we got a taste of something, it's like, is there more? And of course there's more. There's always more because the universe, God, whatever spirit is always expanding. It's always growing. And so as we continue to grow, we just kind of experience that growth and that magnificence of it all. So yeah, it's not an end point. We just get to continue to experience more and more and more.

That's pretty awesome. know. the more you experience, the more you want. It really does. Yeah. The more you experience, the more you want, would say, as we really get to know our true selves. And for me, I know that we're just starting into 2025. You could go either way, depending who you talk to about how they feel about this year. For me, this is like really

Dr. Sandra Marie (09:31.658)
exciting. I think that there's exciting energy out there and I think that consciousness in the universe is actually gifting us different frequencies and energies to really expand on this in a way that I can't even imagine. But I'm truly pumped up about the ride and whatever that ride's going to look like. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I think this is probably one of the first years that I felt

very centered in the moment with what's to come. In the past, I've always been like really looking forward, putting my perspective in a forward motion. And it's like, oh, 2017 is probably gonna be a pinnacle year of change. It's probably gonna be hard, whatever. And then I thought the same, it's interesting I think that with odd years, I thought the same with 2019. no, and I...

And last year just thinking, 2024 is just going to be this magnificent year of change. And there has been quite a bit of change for myself personally. And not in ways that I thought would happen, but it happened, but in ways that I would not have preferred initially, however, they catapulted me into my own furthering of my development spiritually. And it's interesting because as I look into 2025,

I don't really have an opinion, so to speak. I don't have an idea. I'm more like, I'm in the moment and let's see what happens. What do I get to do right now? What is moving through me right now? What is it that I want to bring to the playing field right now? That's really interesting that you say that because this is a little bit different also for me in that I have this sense of anticipation, but I also have this sense of

peace and like it's not an anticipation like I have an eagerness about it. It's like, okay, I feel like there's something on the horizon that's big and beautiful and I'm ready to embrace it. I'm already embracing whatever that is. And I have a sense of peace with it, even though I really have this significant sense of not understanding it.

Dr. Sandra Marie (11:51.822)
but it's all okay with me. And usually like I need to understand things. Otherwise it creates a lot of anxiety for me. It's just different. I'll just say it's a shift within me personally that's different. And I would agree, 2024, a lot of change personally, a lot of change globally. And you hit on something that's significant is sometimes the change upfront is not always so touchy feely. Yeah.

as it moves along. And it's interesting kind of going back to what you were just saying. It's almost like the centered alignment of being present with what's unfolding in front of us and just seeing what happens. But yeah, it's interesting. And as we evolve, I really believe that whatever does unfold, we have the opportunity again just to dive into our practice, whatever that is.

And that's, yes, absolutely. And that's evolving. I mean, I, can talk about this on a different show, but you've been pretty consistent with the practice and working within the system that you do, but you know me, I've been like your ADHD spiritual searcher person here who's been all over the place and I have found something.

as you know that I've been working in in five years, but I'm still curious and testing my toe and other things. You know, it's really just about finding that fit. So we were going to talk about manifestation. How about if we save that for the next episode? Sure. I think that this was great to sort of jump off and have people get a little clearer thought about what unlocking your universe is, although it'll be unique to them. Anything else that you want to throw out there?

just be open, inquisitive, and have fun with it. that's important to have fun with it. Thank you for joining us, everyone out there. I always appreciate you taking time out of your day to join us. Remember, the universe expands with your curiosity, so stay open, stay curious, and keep unlocking your universe. We're excited to join you on this journey and have you join us on our journey. Until next time.

Dr. Sandra Marie (14:13.102)
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Wild Soul Gathering's Happy Hour for the Spiritually Curious. To learn more about our guests, please go to our website, WildSoulsGathering.com. We're very eager to hear from our listeners what you thought of the episode, topics you might like us to cover in the future, your thoughts on spirituality, questions you may have. Please feel free to send us an email at WildSoulsGathering.gmail.com.

This is your host, Dr. Sandra Marie, sending each of you peace and love. Until we meet again, embrace your wild soul.