Episode 12 - Yasmeen from Dallas - How the Camino answered her prayer one year later

Danny

Hello, fellow pilgrims. today, I'm here with a young lady from for me, young I'm an old man. And a young lady, from America And her name is Yasmeen Youngblood. I hope I pronounce it correctly with my Dutch how you say it, dialect. And, Yasmeen, I'm very happy. We already talked before to get acquaintance with each other, so I'll know a little bit about, about your story. But could you please introduce yourself, who you are, where you live, and that kind of stuff so that people know who I'm talking with?

Yasmeen

Yes. And you did great pronouncing my name. My name is Yasmeen Youngblood, and I am in Dallas, Texas. I am actually a an educator in Dallas. I was in the classroom for seventeen years as a third, fourth, and fifth grade teacher. And then recently, in the last couple of years, I transitioned to a position as a librarian. I'm an avid climber, and I actually have climbed, on several continents Europe being one of them, but also Africa and South America. I climbed in Iceland and also I can't remember everywhere I climbed, but I've I have a, platform called the Trekking Teacher where Mm-hmm. People in my community follow along with my trucks. So I do some videography work there and some storytelling and it's just a way to inspire people especially people that are my age and may not think that they can do these things which I'm forty five to inspire them to get out there and try things that maybe they never would have tried before. So, I'm very proud of the community that I've kind of created around this and I'm also very happy to be able to tell my Camino story today. So thank you so much for having me on.

Danny

Yeah. I'm so happy and also the talk we had before. And, you know, I'm I'm happy like a small child with every news story because there's, like, unwrapping the package which lays below the Christmas tree because the stories are many times mind blowing and many times many pilgrims in the podcast get me silent, which is quite a job to do and even crying. So I hope today I, keep it dry. So and, also, you say, to do new things, and this is for you also something new to do to be, yeah, participating in a podcast.

Yasmeen

Yeah. This is my very first one.

Danny

Yeah. And, actually, this is my first podcast in my life as well. So anyway and, and by the way, you climbed so much in so much areas. Did you also climb a mountain in the Pyrenees so I've I've climbed, Kilimanjaro and the Alps, and then I did, the Lottweigur, I think I pronounced it right, in Iceland, the Camino, and I feel like I'm forgetting one, somewhere in there. I feel like I'm forgetting one right now. But Yeah. You're getting old. I'm getting old.

Yasmeen

Yes. I'm twenty five. But I try to climb every summer. So this started in twenty eighteen. I actually climbed Kilimanjaro with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. after my husband was diagnosed with leukemia in twenty thirteen, I had done some work with that society and they had been really supportive of us as we went through that cancer journey. And so when I saw that there was a big fundraising opportunity, it looked very daunting and I knew I wasn't ready for it but I did it anyway and I ended up raising the money that I needed to and making it to the top of that mountain. And I think that once that happened, I knew that I could take on other treks and also be successful. So Yeah. Great. It's been a, it's been a really good journey from there just based on the confidence that I gained. So Yeah.

Danny

Okay. So, you know, the Ina Camino podcast is a self reflection podcast for pilgrims and by pilgrims, and I'm also a pilgrim, walked four times. So how many times did you walk to Camino? So I've only walked the Camino twice. My first one was in twenty five, and my second one was this past year, in twenty six in June. And, actually the Camino is the first one that I've ever done twice. So I my goal was just to hop doing these different treks or these different mountain climbs, but there was something about the Camino that called me right back the very next year when I never thought that I would repeat one. I only have my summers to do one track so I tried to be very intentional about creating new experiences but I knew after I did the camino once that I that I definitely had to come back. So I think I'm gonna be coming back every year and then every other one that I might be able to fit in.

Yasmeen

Yes. And I think that's a Camino. And perhaps you can, we hope that we can receive next year hospital letters. So perhaps you can help out, for a week or two Oh. Receiving the programs here. We don't know yet. It depends if we can find a place also where we can live in the village. But if we are successful, then that would be nice.

Danny

So, you know, the podcast is about self reflection, and that happens quite a lot. And especially in the part in the Camino Francés, which is known as the Merceda. And I don't want to maneuver your what you want to talk to in certain area, but that's, where people are afraid for and having revelations and all that kind of stuff. So, I'm not after stories about your blisters and your backpack packing and that kind of stuff.

Yasmeen

Right. but I'm really interested in things like communal provide moments. I call it now communal provides what you need and not per se what you want.

Danny

Right. magical moments, revelations, insights, things you left behind, things you wanted to left behind, but you didn't left behind. It was sticky. It stays still there. Meetings you had with people, we still think about that kind of stories, these what I call inner camino stories. So do you have a couple, one, or a couple to share, which you really want to share? I do. And I'm so appreciative because I feel like this is such a powerful story, and I didn't necessarily know what platform I was gonna be able to share it on, and I've actually have not shared this story yet. And so I'm really excited to show, or for the audience to hear this because it's very, it illustrates exactly what the camino is all about and what it can do for you and what it can do for the other people who witness it.

Yasmeen

So, my first camino was in twenty five and that one was just kinda me trying it because I'd heard the name Camino, and I really didn't know what I was getting into. and so I had planned this trip, and there was another teacher friend that I Have that had been following me on my platform, and she said, whatever wherever you're going next. you're going next, I wanna go with you. So I said, okay. I'm doing the Camino, this summer. And she was like, I'm going. So when we started the Camino, it was immediately we loved it. We loved being able to go from hostel to hostel. We loved stopping at cafes. We loved being able to just have that freedom each day and each night to travel at our own pace. It was wonderful. And then at one point, we started thinking, like, wouldn't it be great for other teachers to experience this? Because a lot of times, we limit ourselves to our role, of, you know, pouring into the lives of our students. And this is an experience that actually pours into us as individuals. So we talked about it, and we just kind of moved on to the next thing, and we didn't give it a whole lot of, thought. But on the day that, on the day before actually reaching Santiago, I put out a video, and I said, tomorrow, I will get to Santiago. And I would like for anyone who wants me to bring their prayers with them to let me know. And I'm gonna write it in my little prayer journal, and I will bring your prayers to Santiago. And one of my coworkers that was watching and following along said, Yasmeen, can you please pray for my aunt Irene? Because, very recently, she had lost her son in a horrible motorcycle accident. And she was really, the family was grieving a lot. And so I said absolutely I'll pray for your aunt. And so I just wrote in my journal, Erika's aunt Irene. And so when I got to Santiago, we were trying to make it there by the noon mass because the noon mass was the one where they were going to swing the big incense.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And so, we really sped up that morning. I mean we left super early. We were racing there. You know we were sore. We were just you know, doing everything we could to make it there by noon. And we made it by noon, but the line to get into that mass was really long. And so they stopped us like five people before we were able to get in. it's not me. So disappointed. I mean, I was so disappointed. And, so we said, okay. You know, we can't do anything about it. We'll just come back the next morning. So we came back the next morning, and, the way the place that I stood in that church or the place that we sat in that church, there was this window at the very top and that window was like there was a stream of light coming down through that window. And when I looked up I could tell that light was on me, because it's kind of like when you're on a stage and you look into a spotlight and you can just kinda tell that the light is on you. And I wasn't completely sure, but I looked to my left and I saw that my friend was taking pictures because she also saw that the light was directly on me in that moment and just thought it would be a great picture moment. And in the moment that light was on me, I heard God so clearly, like more clearly than I had ever heard him in my life. And I had no idea what the preacher was saying because I don't speak Spanish, but the feeling that I got in that moment, the message that I got was God telling me this is going to be part of your mission. Somehow I knew the camino was going to be part of my greater mission. And he was telling me that somehow I was going to bring other people to him through the camino. And I didn't quite know what it meant, but I knew that was a message. So that day, I went back. We went back to, our hotel. Actually, we took a train back to Lugo the next day and I made a video updating it and I told all about that moment. And I said something happened in that moment and I know things are about to happen in my life. I don't know what it is, but I know things are about to happen in my life because I was told very clearly in that moment. So when I got back to my regular school schedule I began planning a trip for several teachers to come with me on the Camino, and it felt like the right thing to do. However, I had no experience guiding a group. I am not a guide. I'm not, you know, I don't set up trips and things like that for people. So I knew that I wasn't ready to do this and taking all these people to another country where I don't speak the language was a huge undertaking. But I felt that this was what I was supposed to do. And when you feel like something is ordained by God and all you have to do is be obedient, I knew that he would put things into place to make it a successful trip. And so when I put the invitation out, immediately ten spots filled up, and ten was the number that I had in my mind because I felt like that would be a manageable number. And one of the people that decided she was gonna go was that coworker that asked me to pray for her aunt. And so I said, oh, that would be wonderful. You can definitely come. And she said, well, can I bring my can I bring my aunt? And so many things had happened between the church and, that time that I didn't make the connection that this might be the same aunt that I had prayed for. Oh, yeah. So we went to, so we all met up in Lugo, and that's where we started. And, this whole time, you know, and I met her aunt. Her name was Irene. She was just the most lovely person, the most positive person. and so in my mind, I didn't make the connection that this was the same person that had been grieving her son, because that kind of strength I I don't know where that kind of strength comes from, so I didn't make the connection. on night two, we did a shell ceremony. And our shell ceremony was that we put everyone's name into a bag and everyone picked out a name. And that was the person that at the end of the Camino, we would give our show to that person. So our job was to just kinda keep an eye on that person and see how you know, what we admired about them and what we liked about the way that they, you know, were handling the Camino because we wanted to have something to say to them at the end. Well, the name that I picked was Irene's.

Danny

Okay. Well To find, I was like, oh, I'm I'm so familiar with most of these other people because I worked with them. I knew them prior to that, but I didn't really know Irene. So I was like, oh, okay. I gotta really pay attention because I really wanna have some good things to say.

Yasmeen

And so as we went through, I saw her being so positive, being so peaceful, taking in the entire experience, laughing, encouraging me as the group leader even when things didn't go perfectly. And I was just so appreciative to her for that. So at the end, that's what I said to her when I gave her my shell. And I was the first person to go around the circle and say my person was Irene and this is what I appreciated about you. And then when it got to her this is the part that gets me because this is when I realized how everything had come together she talked about the fact that this trip was so hard for her because a year earlier she had lost her thirty two year old son. And immediately I realized who she was and I was just completely overwhelmed. Mm-hmm. she told me that for the first time since this had happened that she danced and that she felt all of these positive and joyful emotions that she hadn't been able to feel, during the time that or since she had, been grieving her son. And so I knew in that moment that this was ordained by God. I knew that when I brought that little journal into the church and I prayed for Erika's aunt that the answer to that prayer was to bring her there. And so I had walked the Camino right next to the person that I had prayed for in that church a year before, and the experience that I had created had given her space and room to feel those positive emotions and that joy again. And I don't necessarily feel like you can just, say that's just happenstance. that is something that is ordained by God and in that moment I knew. I knew how present God is on the Camino because there's no way that I could have written that, that I could have planned that. and God knew that what she needed was something that would come out of an experience that I had created for that group. And I was like, it was true. He told me that my mission was gonna bring be to bring people to him, and he just confirmed it in that moment when I realized that this had happened for Irene. So that was definitely my big moment. That's okay. You managed it. I'm silent Oh, wow. So I need to process this. This is oh because there's so much synchronicity in your story.

Danny

Yeah. Things happening from one point to another, and it was not you? No. It was not me. No. There's no And then wait.

Yasmeen

Yeah. It is not you. And I experienced also that something is working through persons.

Danny

Yes. Sometimes it's also through me. And you tell me this beautiful story, and I'm I'm speechless, to be honest. So when did you walk with her? Was it this year? Or It was this year. This year?

Yasmeen

Yes.

Danny

Yes. So And I'm and I'm curious how is what I cannot say how is it now with Irene Yeah. Because that's a silly question, actually. But I'm curious what that what did it do for her, this whole experience? And, also, you are intertwined there as well. There is you're really connected in the whole thing. So did she did she say something about that Well, we talked on the train on the way back to Lugo, and I think I know that it's difficult for her to talk about still. It's it's still very fresh. It's it's only been a year, but I made it clear to her that I knew that this Camino was for her.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And for herself, experienced this on the Camino, what were her thoughts and her feelings about the experiences she had on the Camino Yes. she explained that the best thing that someone could do is say, tell me about your son Yeah. And so on that train ride, I said, tell me about your son.

Danny

Yeah. And he was just amazing person. he was thirty two. He owned a barbershop. He was just the most generous person around. He was the one that the whole family just depended on and leaned on, and she was just so proud of, you know, the way that she'd raised him. And, you know, losing him was a was something that her family continues to deal with The thing about it is that I wouldn't have known, because to me, she was this person that was so full of positivity and joy and that doesn't make sense. You know, there's there's certain types of joy that you can only get from God. And I feel like that's what I witnessed happening on the Camino, and I feel like it kinda gave her permission to feel that kind of joy again. And I could be completely wrong and I, don't want to speak for anyone else especially someone who's gone through something like that, but the person that I saw was so joyous. one of the things that we did each night was we found a gelato shop and that just kind of became our tradition each night. And that was just kind of like, you know, when we were so tired and just ready to get to the next town it would be like, oh I wonder what gelato shop was there, like what are we gonna eat tonight, you know. And to me it seemed like that was our only concern, you know, that was that was the thing that we were, walking toward each day and I had no idea of the emotions that she was processing throughout. But I hope that it gave her room and permission to process these emotions in a place that, is so holy and allows that type of reflection you can't help but to reflect when you're on the Camino because Yeah. You only have you and your thoughts, the inner Camino.

Yasmeen

Right?

Danny

Yeah. And so I think even sometimes when you don't want to confront certain things, you just kind of work through whatever comes to the surface naturally. And, it's difficult to like, repress those things like we do in our daily lives when we're walking this sacred pilgrimage. So the emotions, the processing, the reflection, the joy that comes from being on this path is so real, and there is something that happens at that church at the end. I mean, there's this isn't a coincidence that all of these people walk the Camino every year. There's gotta be something there, for it to be something that people fly across the world to do. And I'm definitely a witness to the fact that there is something there.

Yasmeen

Okay. And I feel like there is something there for everyone. It's not gonna be, you know, the same thing, but it's it reveals parts of you that you may not have even known existed.

Danny

Yeah. You know so a couple of questions is now floating around in my brain And before I go there, when I walked my first Camino in twenty thirteen with my son, who was then thirteen Yeah. And I arrived in the church and, we were walking both in the church and, he was a young bloke So he said, oh, yeah, daddy. That's a nice church. And poof, off he goes, was, you know. And I was walking there totally overwhelmed by the grandeur of the cathedral.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And and there is something there in the air. You feel it. You cannot name it. And I had a blessing there of a German priest. They don't do that anymore, by the way. At that time, they had boots all around the wall, and you could go there and you talk and you get a blessing.

Danny

Okay. And that blessing was insane what happened at that moment. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, I totally with you when you say there is something there. And there's also on more places on the Camino. I have discovered while walking four times and three times the last hundred sixty, one time from the monastery Samos and last year all the way from Saint Jean. So what is all the way? I mean.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Yeah. But anyway and I noticed that there are what I call magical places or power places because when you enter there, it is overwhelming.

Yasmeen

Yeah. Really overwhelming. You don't know what it is. You don't know what's going on. It could be emotionally overwhelming, but it is overwhelming.

Danny

Yes.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And that's not only in a church.

Danny

Yeah. And I noticed, you know, I landed this year in Viloria de Rioja, where the saint Santo Domingo de la Calzada is being born.

Yasmeen

Yes And I don't want to make this place special so don't get me wrong. Mm-hmm. But we feel and we start to sense this is also one of these places on the Camino. Mm-hmm. Because there are things happening here which has really nothing to do with me being a nice bloke or something or the inner community house.

Danny

Yeah. And we are flabbergasted by things which is happening, and we just cannot express it. And then we realize that how people are reacting Mm-hmm. Was the same thing, how we reacted when we entered this house in February, and we thought, but we are changing our opinion about that, but we are not sure because we don't want to make it special. But Yeah. We went in and there was a certain thing happening and it cut us completely. And we thought it was like, oh, we like the house so much, so that's why we buy it.

Yasmeen

Right. But we see that happens with many pilgrims who go into the door and something happens, and then I think, oh, wow. And it happened for weeks in a row.

Danny

And then sometime I said to my wife, corona, I don't believe it is the thing what we do here, give the pilgrims a home for a moment. And, I think there is something else.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

And then we started to realize that it could be that the village, Viloria, is also a magical place, a power place. I don't know how I need to call it, but I'm but there are many of these, places on the Camino. Mm-hmm. And in that way, I really understand. I also want to walk again next year. So yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. Definitely. And you have to be able to receive that. You know? You have to be in a mind set that you can see things that aren't necessarily in the physical realm. And I think that the Camino has a way of opening up our minds and hearts to them as well as we reflect.

Danny

Yeah. But I sidetracked a little bit because the question I had in my in my head was something different. You know, the lady lost her son.

Yasmeen

Yes. And we have the saying on the Camino, the Camino provides. Mm-hmm. And many people say me too because I experienced a big deal. The Camino provides what you need and not what you want.

Danny

Right. If you have that saying, how can it be that this is something she needed Yeah. Because suddenly, she didn't want it.

Yasmeen

Right. And that question is always so difficult because we just had a very brief talk before we started recording. Mm-hmm. And we talked about also about nonjudgment is experienced as unconditional love, and we perceive God as unconditional love. And how does that fit that you lose your son?

Danny

Yes. And how how could you say then the companion provides what you need and not what you want? That's a very cruel saying in a context like that.

Yasmeen

Right. And so you were talking that, and then that question I'm now putting in the air was in my brain. I think, okay, because we are so happy to say the Camino provides what you need and not what you want when the ending is good.

Danny

Yes. Because I ended up here in the in a Camino house in Viloria, and I live a life now you cannot imagine.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And I'm so happy that the albergue didn't went through, but I wanted it so badly. So it's just so easy for me to say now, oh, the Camino provides what you need and not what you want because end good, all good. But if something like that happens, then a sentence like that is so cruel Yeah. And so heartless.

Danny

Yeah. But somewhere, he is there at play as well Yeah. I think, it's hard for me to, you know, speak for someone who's in that position, to say, you know, the Camino provides everything you need. I or not everything you need, but what you need. But I think that she appreciated the opportunity to first spend time with her niece, and to be in a position to, you know, encourage other people around her to be able to have that quiet reflective time that she may have needed, to meet a whole new community of people because, she didn't know any of us. She only knew her niece, and she knew that her niece had worked with me, but she didn't really know anybody else. So she was able to, you know, meet a whole community of people that didn't necessarily, know her past. So people weren't, maybe treating her like the person that has been grieving for this year. You know? We just knew her as a fellow pilgrim, and maybe that was something that she needed while she was on the Camino as well I, at the end, felt really bad that I didn't know that this was the same person or what she had been through, but then I thought about it, and I was like, maybe I wasn't supposed to know because maybe I would interacted with her in a In a different way. Way.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And, maybe that's not what she wanted. So I'm not sure, you know, what it what it was that specifically that she got that she needed, but I know I remember very vividly that she said she had danced for the first time in a year. And, to, you know, be in a place where you're not able to dance when that's something that you love to do, and then all of a sudden, you know, you're that feeling is lifted enough for you to be able to dance. That's a very that's a very specific feeling, and I I love that she was able to experience some of that freedom while she was on the Camino. You know, do you know the story that's a child story, a very thin book? and the title is the name of the, book is The Little Soul and the Sun. Do you know that story? I don't know that one. It fits so in this what you're telling. And so I want to tell it shortly as I can.

Danny

Yes. Totally. So there was a little soul, and it was in heaven. Mm-hmm. And it's for shining bright, and we're so happy and pure love, unconditional love. And we're so happy there. And, and then one day, it was there in that space with many other souls and light. And it said, oh, I really want to know what I am And god hear that question and came to the little soul and said, do you really want to know what you are?

Yasmeen

Yeah. Says the little soul.

Danny

Yes. I want to know that. Because he said, you're unconditional love And, oh, am I dead? Am I dead? And the problem is, if you have never been anything else, you don't know what you are. Mm-hmm. So if you are called into existence and you are unconditional love, you don't know that you are dead because you always have been dead. So then, the little soul said, yeah, but how do I know then that I'm unconditional love? And God gave her the answer, the little soul the answer, when you have encountered the opposite. Oh, and what's that? What's that? And God said, hate Oh, oh, I don't know what that is. I don't know what that is. So I like to learn. I like to learn. I like to learn. And God says, you really like to learn? And many souls heard the conversation. Mm-hmm. I get goosebumps.

Yasmeen

Yeah. Many souls heard the, conversations and flogged around the little soul and God. And then, God said, I can send you to Earth where you can experience what you are not Oh, and that is hate?

Danny

Yes. That's hate. Oh, yeah. I like to experience that. I like to experience that. Because then he said, you know what you really are. And then it was one of the souls of standing around it and said, oh, I will be with you on earth so you can experience hate So little soul said to the soul, oh, I'm so grateful that you want to do that for me. And he got the answer. I hope that you will still say that when you experience the hate So the little soul went to Earth and experienced hate and was crying out, oh, god, help me because I don't want that. And he came back, and now he knew what he really was. Because you only know when it is hot, when you experience cold and the other way around.

Yasmeen

Right And I want to share a short personal thing here.

Danny

When I grew up, my mother was an alcoholic and I didn't know. She was a secret alcoholic. And that had a devastating effect on our family, but I didn't know So many years later, I was studying applied psychology because I wanted to get the answer, why do I do what I do? And how can I change that in a positive way? So I was all the way, you know, in spiritual world, in religious, in psychology. And I became really clear because of this story that perhaps my mother was the other soul who sacrificed him himself to me to experience what I'm not.

Yasmeen

Oh, wow.

Danny

And so my mother had Korsakoff syndrome at the end. So she had she had alcohol-related dementia. So she really didn't know. She was talking with my father. He was already deceased ten years before, and he was in living in a television. So she was really far gone. Mm-hmm. So I got really that sense, and I got the pull to write her a letter. And to write her a letter and thanking her, the sacrifice she had brought to be for me to be able to understand what I'm not and what I really am, and to become the person who was then at the age of forty five. So we didn't had ChatGPT yet, so I was writing the text. It was just one page of, text, and I wrote I rewrote, read it for a couple of weeks in a row because I wanted to detect every hidden judgment common, just it could be a point in a direct way or whatever. And I really put a lot of effort in it to remove any hidden judgment because I felt so much love and appreciation for the hardship she put me through. And the suffering she endured because of that. I really became aware of that. So and after a while, so I printed on a paper with some nice things around it, read it as a gift. And when I was there at her, home where she was living, I gave it to her and she was really far away. And the last couple of years of her life, she was carrying that letter on her chest as a as a treasure.

Yasmeen

Oh, wow. She understood it? Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah.

Danny

Yeah. You know, and I I was thinking about the little soul and the sun story because you we humans can really not comprehend why God because if God is doing everything why the hell does he takes the son away? That's so cruel.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Yeah And so what is there for her? And that's the question we don't. We here together, we can't answer that Right. Because we don't know. And most likely, she also doesn't know that, and perhaps she will never know. But that whole thing with my with the little soul in the sun story, that's, by the way, from Neil Donald Walsh, the author of the book, A Conversation with God. And he wrote that little parable, and it is called in English. Mm-hmm. And he wrote it, and it really touched my soul in a deep level.

Yasmeen

Yes. And that is what I feel, which is all about when we talk about understanding why people do the things they do. So we can move to the space of nonjudgment and unconditional love.

Danny

Yeah. That's very profound As you were talking, I was reflecting on a lot of things. You know? Just the way that you were able to turn the environment that you grew up in into that type of a lesson is something that I'm sure took a whole lot of reflection Oh, yes. In our work, because so many things seem unfair.

Yasmeen

Yeah. and I think that it's very difficult for us to process those things because we don't like to think about them. We And we are just too damn stupid for it.

Danny

Yeah. Our human brain is not capable to understand that. We think we understand, and we have all kind of concepts, what it is and how what it could be, but actually, we don't know. I just had a talk today with a lady in the Camino House here. Mm-hmm. And I said, you know, you can I asked her, do you have a cat? She said, yes. I said, suppose you are a cat and then your owner, yeah, she he puts you in a in a in a in a box, takes you to the vet, and you don't know what is happening. And then you get a needle in your, leg, and it hurts. And, you are transported back, and you don't understand nothing about it.

Yasmeen

Yeah. Nothing. But in reality, the there's the owner of the cat was taking care of the cat yeah, because it's getting injections, so it doesn't get sick. But because the cat never got sick and doesn't understand the whole thing Mm-hmm. It is just afraid for what is going on. And I compare humans as a kid with God. Or for the people who are in the new age spiritual world, the universe, and the people from the quantum field as quantum field. The intellect there at work is so overwhelming and the creative power is so overwhelming. And then we are humans, which are any teeny brain. And perhaps when we have a super high IQ, we perhaps can reach two hundred, then we are superhuman being. And that's a speck of intellect compared with the power which is there at work.

Danny

Yes. And that explanation gives me a lot of peace with the stories like you told Because we really cannot comprehend why the son died. Mm-hmm. What why that was necessary for him and why wasn't necessary for the family and his mother. We cannot really not understand.

Yasmeen

Yeah. But I know, like, in the example with the cat, the owner of the cat was full of love for the cat, unconditional love, and did anything to protect it. But, yeah, the cat had some pain because there was an injection needle in leg. Mm-hmm.

Danny

And my mother was there doing all the things which she did, and it really traumatized me. Mm-hmm. And I, indeed, I did a lot of work. And, I and it turned it in another way. And she thanked to her I have become the person who I am now.

Yasmeen

Yeah. For sure. And the sacrifice is not to be comprehended Yes. What she did.

Danny

Yeah. You're you're absolutely right. As I was gonna ask you, do you feel like growing up in that type of situation had a big effect on the person that you've become and the life that you're now living?

Yasmeen

Yes.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. That put me on a tri trajectory Mm-hmm. Yeah Of, yeah, inner work, self reflection, learning about psychology, quantum physics, neuroscience, the whole thing. I discovered at the end, it all doesn't mean anything because there's all concepts of the human brain to discover to explain something which we cannot just not explain. So I stopped trying explaining it, to be honest.

Danny

Yeah. And I know now that something is helping us. And I really don't understand what is happening. I would just said also to talk about how I ended up here in this place. A totally insane story. And I I had so much trust in what you say is God, in which people say the universe. And I say, I really don't know, but I know it is there.

Yasmeen

Right.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. It definitely is there. There's some things that can't be explained in our natural world or by, like you said, the brains that we humans have. And that some of those things somehow and for some reason, those things do get revealed on the Camino, and it might just be a small portion of it. I'm sure it's just a small portion of it, but I think that the way that our hearts are so open and our minds are so open when we are on the Camino is the reason that we're able to do that inner work and that self reflection that is necessary to kind of understand this world that we've been put into, that our souls have been put into. and I I feel like my mission is to make sure that the people who want to experience that or more people that want to experience that get to. Because there's so many people that don't, think that they can do something like this until they see someone they know doing it, or until they get an invitation to do it. And I for some people, I'm that invitation. so my goal, you know, moving forward as far as the Camino goes is to be able to host several different groups of people. my niche, of course, is educators because that's who I am, but, just to be able to bring people along that are seeking that type of connection and inner peace and reflection, because I know that they can find it on the Camino. They just might need the invitation. The right invitation from the right person might get them there. And so I hope that I'm that medium, that middle person for some people to truly discover what it is that they're looking for.

Danny

Yeah. And you know what I realized last year when I was walking from Saint Jean that in twenty thirteen, I walked. Twenty fourteen, I married on the Camino, honeymoon Camino. Twenty eighteen, I walked with my daughter. But, actually, I already found in twenty thirteen but I didn't know Mm-hmm. Because I was searching for something else.

Yasmeen

Okay So I when I receive people here and they say, yeah. I'm curious what I will find and I hope to find this. Mm-hmm. And I explain them, but and then I give them a example from, yeah, I already found it then, but I had no clue if I see my face, but I couldn't see it, you know, and it was already there and knocking on my shoulder all the time and I, cut off, get off. For you?

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And it took me literally eleven years. I'm a very slow learner. So and then last year, finally, I started to comprehend what was going on, and I thought, oh, blimey. It was all the way there all the time, and I just could not see it.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. So that also happens with people. They walk to Camino with high hopes, with expectations that they find the new path in their lives, and that is a very tricky situation to be in or mental, position because then you're searching for something which is perhaps already in your face, but you cannot see it because you search outside.

Danny

Yeah. For sure. And it's like I have discovered too that you can't really control what comes to the surface when your mind is your heart is that open. and that is scary too to a lot of people. It definitely was scary to me because I just had no idea what was gonna come up. And some things I'm not quite ready to work through or maybe I wanna work through it by myself at home, but when you are in that state whatever comes to the surface, I feel like that's what needed to come to the surface, and you really have no choice but to think through it and to process it. And, hopefully, you're with people who can help you to do that, or you meet people along the way that can help you to do that. And another thing about the Camino is that, you know, you meet people that you'll never see again, and there's some type of comfort in that because sometimes you're way more honest with people that you know you'll never see again. They're not part of their normal life. You know? So Yeah. I could just have a conversation and be very truthful with someone that I know will just take that story and it disappears with them because they're they're not necessarily meant to be part of my life forever and there's some type of a comfort in that as well.

Yasmeen

Yeah. But you meet so many great people and you know I know that you've probably heard so many stories and reasons that people are there and it's an undeniable, it's an undeniable phenomenon.

Danny

Yeah. That people, they get what they need from the Camino. And I'm just so I'm so appreciative that in twenty five, I decided to go for it as my next track, and then it's just gonna keep calling me back.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Yeah. I thought I was gonna have this career as a mountain climber that just hopped to different continents and countries, but even if I do climb more mountains, I'll always come back to the Camino Yeah. Because there's something there that I can't get anywhere else. No. And you really get, addicted to it in a way. But, actually, it is not an addiction. It is allowing to go back to who you really are.

Yasmeen

Yes. Because when you are home you are not who you really are.

Danny

Right.

Yasmeen

Yeah. Because you're always performing.

Danny

Right?

Yasmeen

Yeah. At least, if you're Or over.

Danny

Yeah. If you're married, you're performing in your marriage. On your work, you're performing on your work. Are you with your family? You're performing a role. It is always in kinda and I don't mean it in a bad sense or something. It is very logical to do it. And then you are here in the Camino, and as soon as you step one step on the Camino, you ditch all the roles.

Yasmeen

Right.

Danny

Okay. You're gone for a couple of weeks. And suddenly, you really are who you are very closely. And I also say that, yeah, and I also say now, and I truly mean it that when you are walking the Camino, then you experience normal life And because that is how I perceive life should be, could be Yeah. Because here, we are so everybody walks here and say, oh, yeah. When there is trouble with the blister on my food or whatever, the Camino provides. That's such a trust that you are being taken care of.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And that is not in the place where you live because in daily life it's riddled by fear. Everything is driven by fear. And on the Camino, suddenly, we left leave fear behind.

Danny

Yeah, and we walk there in totally stupid trust, to be honest, because you don't know.

Yasmeen

Yeah. But somehow, we believe, we feel that it is the way. And then you walk with people who don't expect anything from you, and you connect in a deep level, on hard level, it hurts like hell where you don't see them anymore. This is real life. This is normal life. And I believe that's where the longing back to the Camino is coming from.

Danny

Yeah. And that's why I find the podcast so important because when people listen to you talking and the other pilgrims talking and the conversations we have, then you are for a moment again on the Camino And you take the the vibe, the feeling, the emotion back in your daily life where you live. And when you do that more than not just once a week, but let's say like a medicine every day, yeah, and, before you go to sleep. And then you really start vibrating. Oh, that sounds very spiritual. But anyway, it's it starts to become a part of you, and it will show cause.

Yasmeen

Yes. It will show cause. There's no avoiding it. It's not possible. And it only happens when you are training your the whole human system in being in that space. And it is just a skill you can train. There's nothing about spirituality, talent, or whatever. Just a skill.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Right.

Danny

Yeah. And I feel like a lot of people though will never experience that, and that makes me really sad. And I know that I can't convince every single person to walk the Camino or even to just have these types of, these types of experiences that reveal your true nature.

Yasmeen

But I now know that part of my mission is to bring as many people as I possibly can into that realization with themselves. And I feel very, honored that God has trusted me with this, and I can see it going so many places and just affecting so many people whether they're with me or whether they're watching and just seeing how God is working in my life and in the lives of the people that I lead on the Camino. I'm very excited about what's to come in my adventures on the Camino. So it's it's an exciting time. I just, you know, coming off of my first teacher track just a couple of months ago, I was just so ready to make this a big, you know, a big part of my life and to bring more people along.

Danny

Yeah. So you started to recognize your purpose. I started to recognize it right in that moment at the church right there.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Yeah.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And it changed everything.

Danny

Yeah. And it changed the way also that I looked at my daily life.

Yasmeen

you know, as an educator you are you are naturally gonna inspire the students that look up to you, but I wanna make sure that I'm inspiring them in the right way because there's so much more to life than your career. I mean, you know, I'm I'm preparing them to be adults, and I've been teaching for so long that I've seen so many of my kids turn into adults and have careers, and I have one that's working beside me right now in my same school, which is crazy, but I've seen them become adults and I still wanna make sure that they realize there's so much more out there. You know, I'm I'm proud that now you are an adult and you're maybe you have a family and you have a career and you're doing well, but have experiences too. Push yourself, you know, go out there and do things that you never thought were possible because you just never know what it's gonna lead to. So Yeah So Yasmeen, this is, an awesome conversation we just have.

Danny

And is this something you really want to say to your fellow pilgrims before we close this episode I wanna say to every pilgrim that I'm proud of you. I mean, walking the Camino is a sacrifice, you know, you pull yourself away from your daily life, you pull yourself away from your kids and your family and a lot of situations, and it takes a lot of bravery. People don't understand why you're doing it. some people look at it as a very selfish decision, but it's a decision that you've made anyway. And, I just wanna tell people that I'm proud of them for that because there is something on the other side of that camino that you would have never had you not taken that first step. So I think that's that's the main message is that, you know, keep pushing yourself beyond the limits that maybe other people have set for you because there's so many more things out there when you work past, like you said, judgment and when you work past fear and when you are able to know that the limits that you have are only the limits that you put on yourself. Yep. So I think that's the message that I would like to send to anyone that's been brave enough to walk the Camino.

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Danny

Thank you very much. Mm-hmm. So yeah, again a talk where I was not completely speechless because speechless because I said also some stuff, but Mm-hmm. Really intense and really beautiful and, also challenging. I found this really challenging about tapping to the lady and try to find the purpose of it, which we just don't understand.

Yasmeen

Yeah. And I really want to thank you for sharing this and also that you took you know, you said you said to the people, to the pilgrims go walking and get the experience. And I want to say also to the listeners start participating in the podcast. It is the same. And like you just mentioned before, we started record button on the this episode is that because you had this episode preparation, it was thinking over about the whole thing. So, actually, you got other insights, more insights. So it is also helpful for yourself as participant. And also your story is important even though I'm not talking about your story because you just told it, but the story of a listener is important. Even if you think, and perhaps even then in particular, Dan, when you think it is not important.

Danny

Yeah. Because there's really no story unimportant because everybody has a Camino story. So I really do a call to action. If you listen to the podcast, hit the share your story button and subscribe, and then I interview you. And I will be sitting behind under the Christmas tree, unwrapping a package of yet another insane story.

Yasmeen

Yes. And, I love it. this is so I'm I feel so blessed and humbled to be able to do this. It is insane. And I'm an old dude from sixty eight now, and, absolutely, this is something I never could expect in my whole life to do.

Danny

Right. Cheat. Unbelievable.

Yasmeen

Yeah. You're doing very important work. You're doing very important work. the after work of the Camino, I think, is very important, because we can just kind of put the experience in a box and, you know, put it on a shelf and never revisit it. But the invitation to revisit it feels great. So thank you for allowing me to put myself back in those places and those times that were so pivotal in my life. So thank you so much for having me on Yeah.

Danny

Thank you too.

Yasmeen

Okay, Yasmeen.

Danny

Thank you very, very much. And, yeah. And then we will talk each other speak with each other again.

Yasmeen

Thank you. That sounds great.

Danny

Okay.

Yasmeen

Thank you so much.

Danny

Okay. Bye

Whether you are walking the Camino right now, or preparing for it, or perhaps you are back home, and maybe even suffering from PCS, the Post Camino Syndrome.

I hope that this podcast inspires you. And if so, do NOT keep it to yourself.

SHARE IT!

When you share this podcast, you ACTIVELY help spread the skill of Self-Reflection.

Every person who learns the skill of Self-Reflection begins to see people differently.

You may still question WHAT someone DOES.

But the judgment about their INTENTION starts to disappear. And you enter the realm of non-judgement.

And non-judgment is experienced as unconditional love.

That is how REAL change begins.

With you.
Then the people around you.
Your city.
Your province.
Your country.
Your continent.
And eventually,
the world.

That is why ACTIVELY spreading the skill of Self-Reflection, like an unstoppable virus, is SO important.

So please, do NOT just listen, but ACT on this call, and share it with as MANY people and on as MANY platforms as you can, TODAY.

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Thank you for listening, and Buen Camino.