Latest / Just Be True ~ A Soul-Led Podcast / Who Are You Without the Roles You Play?

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Who Are You Without the Roles You Play? · Just Be True ~ A Soul-Led Podcast

0:02
What happens when the life that you've worked
0:04
so hard to build, your education, your career,
0:08
relationships, and accomplishments look complete
0:11
from the outside? Yet, something within you begins
0:15
asking, who am I without all of these roles?
0:20
This question became almost impossible for today's
0:24
guest Maniska to ignore when the pandemic brought
0:28
her busy life to a sudden pause. What began as
0:33
a search for greater meaning eventually led her
0:36
to leave her security of her career and to reconnect
0:40
with her childhood dream and enter the world
0:44
of pageantry in her 30s. Despite years of being
0:48
told that she wasn't the right age, not the right
0:51
body, the right appearance, it didn't matter.
0:55
Meneska did not walk away with the crown. However,
0:59
she gained something much more meaningful and
1:03
belief in herself. She gained clarity in her
1:06
purpose to travel, to speak, and inspire others.
1:11
And today, Maniska is an ISA certified keynote
1:15
speaker and self -discovery coach who combines
1:20
organic psychology, mindfulness, and evidence
1:23
-based coaching to help women discover who they
1:27
are beyond their conditioning and the expectations
1:31
placed on them from others. A very inspiring
1:36
story and in this conversation we explore how
1:39
yoga can create flexibility not only in the body
1:43
but also in the mind and the nervous system and
1:47
how breath reconnects us with their own wisdom
1:50
of the soul. At its heart This conversation is
1:54
about releasing everyone else's script and finding
1:58
the courage to live in your own truth. I truly
2:02
hope that you enjoy today's conversation. There's
2:22
a Let's Talk link in the show notes to schedule
2:24
a free discovery call. All right, let's get into
2:27
it. Hey, welcome back to Just Be True, a soul
2:40
-led podcast. We are so glad you're here today
2:42
and I'm excited to be joined today by Meenakshi,
2:46
an amazing soul and welcome. I would love to
2:51
start out by talking about your own new self
2:56
-rediscovery of yourself and how that took place
2:58
for you. Thank you so much, Sama. I am super
3:03
glad to be here. I know it's going to be a really
3:06
amazing conversation, and it is going to give
3:09
value to our audience. If I talk about my discovery
3:13
or rediscovery, it's been a journey where I,
3:18
in the beginning, now that I've had this rediscovery,
3:23
in the beginning, my life was extremely smooth.
3:27
I had everything that one can want. I had the
3:30
degree. I have running smooth. Are we still connected?
3:41
We are, yes. Okay. All right, yeah, so you can
3:45
just start talking. I can cut that out of the
3:47
video. So yeah, you can start talking again.
3:49
Yeah. So my life before, I had everything. I
3:54
had the degree, not just graduation, but master's
3:58
degree. I had a job, well -paying job. And I
4:02
had a relationship that was really amazing at
4:07
that point of time. And everything that I can
4:09
dream of, the life that people tell you, it's
4:12
going to be an amazing life. And then something
4:15
happened which we all know was disruption for
4:19
a lot of people, for me as well, the COVID duration.
4:23
And this was the time I first time in life ever
4:26
paused. Paused because I had nothing to do. We
4:31
did not have laptops at that time, no work from
4:34
home facility. I did not have interests like
4:37
arts, music, drawing, reading, because I was
4:40
so engaged in just work, relationship, and that
4:44
was my whole life. And that made me realize that
4:48
what's my bigger purpose in life? It happens
4:53
that any point of time I lose my job, my employer
4:56
says that we don't no longer need you. If I don't
4:59
have this relationship, who am I? And what was
5:02
I watching on television were wars, people dying
5:06
because of lack of facilities, and a lot of things
5:09
that I never paid attention to. And that made
5:12
me see a bigger picture that where do I fit into
5:16
this universe? You know, universe has got a very
5:21
strange way of guiding you only if you're paying
5:24
attention. If you're paying attention every point
5:27
of time, you are guided by universe. And I already
5:31
always had this book by Robin Sharma called Discover
5:34
Your Destiny. I never read it. I couldn't make
5:37
it like past first two pages. But at the same
5:41
time, yeah, I asked universe that I need guidance.
5:45
I'm seeking enlightenment. Show me. Tell me something.
5:49
What's the meaning of life? Why am I here? Because
5:53
this is not what I would call life from now onwards.
5:57
Going to work, eat, sleep, and just begin again.
6:01
I cannot live with this any longer. And I picked
6:04
up this book. When I read first 20 pages, it
6:07
was exactly my story, but in a man's voice. There
6:13
was one specific line that changed my perception
6:16
towards life forever. It says, it's not possible
6:20
in human potential to find your or discover your
6:23
destiny. What is in our potential is to make
6:27
ourselves capable enough that our destiny come
6:29
find us. And that was the time I realized that
6:33
I have not done the groundwork, which is why
6:36
I cannot follow that purpose yet. So I love that.
6:40
I love what you said, you know, in that statement
6:43
in that book that our destiny comes to find us
6:46
if we're still enough, right, to be able to,
6:49
and also doing the groundwork. And what's beautiful
6:53
about this whole thing is like, you know, COVID
6:55
did many things for many people, you know, many
6:58
different things for all of us, but it was also
7:01
there to teach us all to slow down. to identify
7:06
what's important to us. And honestly, I think
7:08
I kind of feel that that's still happening today
7:12
as well, right? I think people are looking back
7:15
and saying like, you know, I didn't have to do
7:17
this or do that. I can slow down. I can be more
7:21
grounded to myself. And I think it's amazing
7:24
how you've been able to do that. And I really
7:26
wanted to get in more about like that re -identifying
7:30
of Who am I without all of these titles and these
7:35
responsibilities and things like that? Because
7:37
I know that. Sorry, somehow I lost your audio
7:50
a little bit. It's it's very low. Yeah, yeah,
8:00
it's back again. Yeah. OK, I just turned off
8:03
the adjust the mic. So hopefully that's better.
8:06
Yeah, that's better. OK, so. Could you just go
8:13
back to the last question that you were asking?
8:16
So yeah, so like how does you know if somebody's
8:20
struggling with that new identity or that lack
8:23
of identity because they may have changed positions
8:25
or change roles or Decided to move more into
8:29
their purpose, but they're still struggling with
8:31
the identity That lack of identity like if I'm
8:35
not this person or if I don't have this job,
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what am I or who am I and You know, what was
8:43
that for you and how you managed through that?
8:47
Yeah, it's been a quite a journey for me, but
8:50
just to simplify for our audience, you know,
8:54
our life is like these two. Okay, this is a blue
8:59
pill. Pretty much this is yeah, this is our life
9:03
like we swallow this blue pill every single day.
9:08
This is an illusion pill. And how do we swallow
9:12
not physically not Not we eat it every single
9:15
day. How do we swallow it? We have told ourselves
9:19
lies and we believe it's true. Like we are not
9:22
good enough. This is our destiny. This is what
9:25
we are meant to do. Where people tell you what
9:28
to do in life. Like go get a college degree,
9:34
get married, have kids and get a paycheck. That's
9:37
pretty much the script of life. This blue pill
9:40
we are given. And what we think as soon as I
9:47
watch that news, as soon as I had in my mind
9:50
that no, I need to change, immediately this blue
9:54
pill took over, that it's too late to start again.
9:58
It's too late to find my purpose. What I am doing,
10:01
maybe this is my purpose. But what changed my
10:05
life was this red pill, the truth that we never
10:11
tell ourselves. You know, sometimes people say
10:14
that we need to heal our past traumas, the things
10:17
that we have gone through. Well, I believe sometimes
10:21
you don't even need healing. Sometimes all you
10:25
have to do is show your brain or nervous system
10:29
a different reality to give them a proof that,
10:31
yes, it's possible. And this is what happened.
10:35
I was... I was taking this blue pill that if
10:39
I quit this job, I will no longer be able to
10:43
pay my bills. I will no longer have a relationship
10:46
and all the lies that we tell ourselves. To find
10:51
a purpose, to find what's meant for you, you
10:54
have to... empty your hands. If your hands are
10:58
full, if your entire day is occupied, if you're
11:01
always worrying about future bills and things
11:04
that you don't even need if you don't have a
11:06
job, I wouldn't need fancy clothes, a fancy mobile
11:10
phone, a car to drive if I'm not going to work.
11:13
If I have to sit for some time, if I have to
11:16
find out what's meant for me, I have to first
11:19
disconnect from this noise. And this was the
11:21
first step that I took to quit my job to actually
11:24
find out to shut that noise. And the first red
11:28
pill that I took was to reflect within, to find
11:33
out who am I. And that's when I... came across
11:38
an ad on Instagram where they were teaching yoga
11:43
for mental health specifically. And I went to
11:47
therapy to get help, but therapy couldn't help
11:50
me because you have to show your vulnerable self
11:53
to a therapist. You have to be truthful to them.
11:57
And I wasn't being truthful to myself. I realized
12:00
all I was telling my therapist were lies because
12:04
I wasn't ready to accept. And that's when I knew
12:07
therapy is never going to work. And when I saw
12:12
this program, I realized that if I can't be truthful
12:15
to therapists, at least I need to start being
12:17
truthful to myself. And that's when I signed
12:20
up for this yoga program. And the very first
12:23
day of introduction, it feels like when you are
12:27
asking for something, universe gives it to you.
12:30
And the very first class, it was just introduction.
12:32
I wasn't an early riser back then. But that day
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I woke up at 6 AM to do this class. And I was
12:41
half sleepy. It was just an introduction class.
12:43
When the introduction got over, my yoga teacher,
12:48
when he was giving his introduction, he said
12:50
that if you have met me in your life, your life
12:54
is going to change from here. And I thanked him.
12:58
Thank you for saying that. Because as soon as
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he said that, I took a red pill. that yes, my
13:06
life is going to change from here. And that's
13:09
when I realized that a lot of people think that
13:14
there's nothing specific I can do. If you have
13:18
bigger dream, if you have something that you
13:21
want to make change in life, if you don't like,
13:25
if you're unhappy with wars going on, you feel
13:28
like I'm very small to make an impact. I'm very
13:31
small to do something impactful in life. But
13:35
what I learned through yoga is every single human
13:39
being, if you are put on this planet Earth, there
13:42
is one specific task, one specific dharma that
13:46
only you can fulfill. And if somebody replace
13:51
you, they cannot do what you can do. So maybe
13:55
I can help somebody. I mean, how would somebody
13:58
be able to identify what that one specific Dharma
14:01
is? Like if they're sitting there and they're
14:03
just kind of lost, like how do they get to the
14:07
point to where they can be still enough to allow
14:10
that to come to them, right? And then also have
14:14
the confidence behind what's coming to them.
14:18
Yes, absolutely. So yeah, it's a journey that
14:23
one. have to walk. So the very first red fill,
14:27
R stands for remain in moment in time. Sometimes
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we are so worried about what happened in past,
14:36
what's going to happen in future that we miss
14:38
out on present. And that's when we can miss out
14:42
on these little sign that universe is telling
14:45
you. We ignore our gut feel. We ignore what our
14:50
intuition says and sometimes What we do is we
14:54
take decisions which are coming from our past.
15:22
If we remain in moment, we will know. my intuition
15:26
would tell. It crossed my mind that how do a
15:30
goat who has never seen a lion, when she would
15:34
see it for the very first time, how would she
15:36
know that this lion is going to eat me? I mean,
15:41
a goat's mother never would have showed a photograph
15:44
that this is something your enemy is. Because
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animals have intuition, and they follow it. and
15:51
so do humans, but we forget our intuition. We
15:55
are so much in logic that this is right, this
15:59
is wrong, that we are always stuck in our head.
16:02
We forget that your body is telling you. So the
16:05
very first red pill that everyone should take,
16:09
R is for remain in moment in time. Be present
16:13
in time. Yeah, listening, taking slow, deep breaths,
16:21
maybe to calm the voice down. Absorb everything.
16:25
I mean, I could have been anywhere at this point
16:28
of time, but we are here face to face. We could
16:30
have done it through phone call. But we are sitting
16:33
here because we want to be present in this moment,
16:37
being here, reflecting each other's energy, absorbing,
16:41
listening. So if we are present fully with our
16:45
body mind not not thinking about what happened
16:48
in past The very first problem will be solved.
16:51
You will know your body will tell you your gut
16:54
feel will tell you whether it is meant for you
16:56
or not So sometimes you have to try different
16:59
things to give yourself give your brain a different
17:02
reality What was your childhood dream that you
17:06
have lost because people were telling you that
17:08
you can't do it? Like, my childhood dream was
17:11
to become a pageant queen. But people kept telling
17:14
me, you are very short, you are very fat, you
17:17
are ugly. And I lost that dream. Oh, no. None
17:22
of those are true, though. I mean, like, I don't
17:23
know how tall you are, but you're a beautiful
17:25
person. So none of those are true as far as I'm
17:27
concerned. Thank you so much. And that's what
17:29
I was swallowing, this blue pill every single
17:32
day, these lies that people told me. But quite
17:35
recently, I signed up for pageant, not just one,
17:38
but two. And I was the finalist. Yeah. Amazing.
17:44
I love that. Congratulations. So I feel like
17:46
that's definitely in order for that. And breaking
17:50
that, you know, that what was like drilled into
17:56
you, right? And like the past and those old voices
17:59
and, you know, that the truth that the the truth
18:05
that doesn't resonate because it's not your truth.
18:06
So maybe it's the lies that we were told growing
18:09
up because we don't fit into society a certain
18:11
way or we don't look a certain way that people
18:15
expect to look to be able to win or be a finalist.
18:18
I mean, in a beauty pageant, I mean, you know,
18:21
anybody can do that. And I think it's beautiful.
18:24
So I love that. And I think the hardest thing
18:27
for us to do is to let go of those blue pill
18:32
voices. We'll put it that way, right? Of how
18:36
we've heard what other people have to say so
18:39
much, which is their own projection pushed on
18:42
to us. And that's not our reality at all in learning
18:48
who we are and what we are. I can't speak for
18:55
men because I'm not a man, but it feels like
18:57
it's even stronger that way for women. because
19:01
we're told we have to look a certain way, we
19:03
have to behave a certain way, our hair has to
19:06
be a certain way, our body weight has to be a
19:08
certain way, our mannerism. And it's hard to
19:13
be able to let go of what's being pushed on us
19:17
from others, of how we should be or how we should
19:21
react or how we should behave. even the type
19:25
of woman we should be, right? And I think a lot
19:28
of women are starting to, I mean, it's been happening
19:30
for a minute, but even now starting to break
19:33
that mold that society has put around us. Yeah,
19:39
which brings me to the second point of red, which
19:45
is E, E for everything is possible. Everything
19:49
that you set your mind to is possible. All you
19:53
have to do is just keep showing yourself, keep
19:57
proving to yourself that it is possible. So how
20:00
did I begin my pageant journey? It's quite funny
20:04
because I wasn't expecting this at all. What
20:07
I did, I took the very first step. I just signed
20:11
up. First step was like finding a pageant where
20:14
I can still apply because pageant is meant to
20:18
be for young girls. who are between 18 to 21.
20:23
And I was already 34 by then. So first I searched
20:27
the pageant and they exist. So that was the first
20:30
sign that everything is possible. Second thing
20:32
I did, I said, let's assume. let's give this
20:37
blue pill a chance to prove myself wrong. If
20:39
I'm so not fit for pageant, I just submitted
20:43
my application. And I was hoping that if I'm
20:45
so bad, that a rejection would come. They will
20:48
tell me that you're not a good fit. But it did
20:51
not. Instead, what came was the red pill. I was
20:56
selected. And they called me for an audition.
21:01
And audition was like, I had to travel for about
21:05
three hours, and it was a really cold morning.
21:09
I mean, for me, it was cold. For you, it would
21:12
still be warm. And it was 6 AM that I should
21:16
get ready by 6 AM. So I just woke up at this
21:19
audition day, and my brain is constantly trying
21:22
to talk me out. It's trying to tell me that,
21:25
hey, you're only going to embarrass yourself.
21:28
Let's stay warm, stay inside the blanket. Why
21:31
waste time? Why waste fuel, energy, and driving?
21:35
And I tore my brain that look. You don't have
21:39
anything else to do, but this body has tasks
21:41
to do, which is going to take time. Let's spin
21:43
this conversation. We'll talk inside the cab.
21:47
And I got ready. I got ready, I took a shower,
21:53
I applied makeup, put on a beautiful dress, and
21:55
now I was like, let's have this conversation
21:58
with our brain. And my brain started being excited
22:00
too. It was like, let's prepare, now it's too
22:03
late. And when I appeared for the audition, I
22:06
was expecting that this is going to be the end.
22:10
Maybe they won't let me go further because the
22:13
audition is to... get more and more girls. That's
22:16
what I've been telling myself all this time.
22:19
But no, I was selected and they asked me to walk
22:22
in finale week, which was about three months
22:26
from that time. And yes, I walked finale. I was
22:31
present there. All I did is just taking the red
22:35
pill step by step, one step at a time. What happens
22:39
is when we keep swallowing the blue pill, the
22:43
The impressions that we have are beliefs that
22:46
we have. The very first belief that you will
22:48
have when you swallow this blue pill, it might
22:51
be very faded. But when you keep telling yourself
22:55
over and over again, these becomes really solid.
22:58
So you have to keep breaking them by showing,
23:02
by taking action. What most of us do when we
23:05
get one rejection, one failure, we stop. I applied
23:09
for more than three pageants, to be honest. And
23:13
some of you like. Yeah, I mean, but you got into
23:17
two. I mean, that's, you know, I think that's
23:20
it. I think like the first step is the hardest.
23:24
Even, you know, like even on the intuition side,
23:28
like the first, you know, like I tell people
23:31
like you just have to start with the first word,
23:33
like the first word that comes through. And those
23:35
are usually the hardest is like that first is
23:37
always the hardest. Yeah. But once you can get
23:41
past that first, it all starts to flow and it
23:45
all starts to begin easier and easier every single
23:47
time. And just because somebody says, no, you're
23:52
not a good fit for me or you're not a good fit
23:54
for this project, it doesn't mean that you're
23:57
not a good fit for another one. It's just that
24:00
one wasn't meant for you. And I just look at
24:03
it this way. Maybe I was just too big and too
24:06
powerful and too much light for that. And so
24:10
like take it into a whole other direction because
24:14
it's those blue pill thoughts that can really
24:18
like pull you down and keep you from following
24:21
your dreams and being in that every moment, right?
24:25
And so the constant of having to shut that out,
24:33
I mean, at first it can... For me, and I'd love
24:36
to talk more about this too, so at first, for
24:39
me, having to shut that out can become very draining.
24:42
And I get tired. But I have to continue, because
24:47
if I don't, then I'm going to be stuck in that
24:49
space. Yes, absolutely. That's so right. Which
24:54
brings me to the third point, third step that
24:57
you need to do. First, when you remain in time,
25:00
when you reflect in moment in time, and when
25:03
you have actually decided when you have actually
25:08
told yourself that everything is possible. The
25:12
third step is, the third step of taking that
25:15
red pill is D for deciding that I need to take
25:19
an action. Decide and take action. Because when
25:23
you know, when you are aware, when you are present
25:26
in the moment, And when you know everything is
25:29
possible, if you don't take aligned action, if
25:31
you don't decide on taking action every single
25:34
day or weekly or periodically, being aware, being
25:40
in the moment is only going to give you even
25:44
conscious form of suffering. Because you know
25:46
this is possible. You are aware that, yes, I'm
25:50
here. But if you are not taking that aligned
25:52
action, you are suffering even more. That's something
25:56
which is right in front of me, which I can achieve.
25:58
I'm not taking action to achieve it. And that's
26:02
what I begin to do when I audition, when I was
26:06
confirmed that I'm going to. I started preparing.
26:09
I've never worn heels for like almost 10 years
26:11
now, but I started wearing heels every single
26:15
day. I would practice. How would I give my introduction?
26:18
You have to be really conscious about your posture,
26:21
gestures. all you have to do is like keep a bamboo
26:26
stick behind your back and fit your arms into
26:31
it so that you're conscious about, I started
26:33
practicing that and they are going to ask you
26:37
questions. So you got to keep reading about it.
26:40
And this series of action led me to decide that,
26:44
yes, I am going to, I'm going to finale. And
26:48
also it gave me a deeper reflection of what I
26:52
wanted. The pageant was just a medium for me
26:57
to speak my heart out. What I wanted to speak
27:01
about, what I wanted to represent at that stage
27:04
is for women to see themselves beyond the bodies,
27:09
to see themselves as a whole soul that has a
27:13
purpose in life, just not living from your body.
27:16
Because a lot of women have these insecurities
27:18
about how do they look. people judging them for
27:22
what they wear, people judging them if they are
27:25
working and too ambitious, people judging them
27:27
if they are just homemakers, and people judging
27:30
them for having kids, not having kids. So it
27:34
doesn't matter what people think about you, but
27:37
how do you see yourself? And that was revealed
27:41
during this pageant journey, that yes, my message
27:45
is to put myself out there myself first. If I
27:52
would have been a tall, sleek, slender, very
27:55
extremely pretty girl, how would women relate
27:58
with me that I am talking about the essence of
28:02
being a person, a human, not just a woman, not
28:05
just a body, not just someone who is pleasing
28:10
to eyes, but someone who has warmth, someone
28:14
who has depth in her soul. And that's when dots
28:18
connected. that my journey is not just about
28:21
myself, it's about every single woman out there
28:24
who's just waiting for her to shine. It's difficult
28:30
for you to walk that pageant because you're putting
28:32
out yourself for judgment. It's pretty much judgment
28:37
for giving people you a title or not. But what
28:42
wins there? It's not you. who get ground, your
28:47
own belief about yourself, whether your message,
28:51
whether your purpose, or how do you represent
28:54
yourself. What I won that night was my own belief
28:59
that I am not good enough. And also, I realized
29:03
that your courage has to be bigger than your
29:06
fears always. OK. Yeah, absolutely. Right. I
29:11
mean, I look at fears, face everything, and rise.
29:16
So, no, that's beautiful and I love that. And
29:21
so I have a couple of questions in regards to
29:25
the pageant in you, right? So you moving through
29:29
that, being accepted, being in the finale of
29:31
that, being one of the finalists in that, how
29:34
has that changed your perspective of yourself?
29:40
Absolutely. It was truly transformational for
29:43
me. I did not win a title that night, to be honest,
29:48
but what I won, I won three things. First and
29:52
foremost thing, I won that night because my message,
29:57
my purpose became much more clearer. It was never
30:00
to win the crown because crown is pretty much
30:03
about glitz, glam, you wearing pretty dresses.
30:06
I wasn't into that at all. What I am into is
30:11
to travel, to talk, to inspire. And when I walk
30:15
this pageant, my speaking journey, I could see
30:19
very clearly. So currently, I am a full -time
30:24
keynote speaker. And that's what I educate people
30:27
about, especially women, about self -discovery,
30:30
how you can find yourself beyond the roads. So
30:34
that was my first win. Second thing that I won.
30:37
Two girls walked up to me, very young girls,
30:41
so it was a mixed competition where Mrs, Miss
30:45
category, so two young girls, they might have
30:48
been in their early 20s, and they told me that
30:51
we want to see you win. And I said, why would
30:54
these girls want to see me win? Why don't they
30:58
want to see when someone who's taller, someone
31:01
who's thinner, someone who's healthier, why do
31:04
they want to see me win? And in that moment,
31:08
I realized that my message has landed right to
31:11
them. They want somebody to win with a message,
31:15
somebody who has a bigger vision than herself.
31:18
And that's what I wanted to do, to inspire young
31:21
girls to see people or themselves beyond the
31:24
body. And the third thing that I won that day
31:27
is keep taking action. It doesn't matter how
31:32
dramatic or how non -dramatic it is. Sometimes
31:35
you win. Most of the time, you will learn. And
31:39
learning about myself during that entire journey
31:42
was much more valuable than winning the crown.
31:46
Because if I would have won the crown, probably
31:48
I would have lost again in the glamour, in that
31:52
busy -ness of you going to shoot and everything.
31:55
But why did I not win? Because my message became
31:58
clear to me that it's not about winning every
32:02
time. It's about what you learn, what's the deeper
32:06
truth behind that. And that's when I found my
32:08
purpose all over again is to travel, talk, and
32:12
inspire. So soon after this pageant, it happened
32:15
in December. This year earlier in June, I went
32:19
to Australia where I delivered my first TED Talk.
32:22
And it was about. Yeah, and it was all about
32:27
how imperfect steps taken step by step will make
32:32
you see a bigger picture because I've learned
32:35
yoga myself and what I believe how people see
32:39
yoga is as somebody who can do really crazy Instagram
32:42
able poses like But what I realized during my
32:50
yoga journey is yoga is never about how flexible
32:54
you are from body, but how flexible you are from
32:57
your mind and your nervous system. And that's
33:00
what my message was about, that when you practice
33:03
yoga regularly, don't just look for flexibility
33:06
in your body. Look for flexibility in your mind
33:10
and your beliefs. So that kind of leads me to
33:14
my second question that I had. in regards to
33:17
how has, so, you know, you stepped into this
33:21
yoga practice for yourself and it's really become
33:27
like a psychological thing for you and the way
33:32
you move it forward. And so when you first began
33:36
that journey into the yoga practice, like how
33:41
was that for you? Like, what were some of the
33:43
biggest things like that you had to bring yourself
33:47
to realize or accept. So this yoga journey entirely,
33:56
it was truly transformative for me. And I really
33:59
thank my teacher and people who designed the
34:02
yoga program. They did not push you into physical
34:06
yoga first, the yoga since that you do. First,
34:10
they taught you philosophy and When I learned
34:13
yoga philosophy, that made me see just beyond
34:17
the body. And the one very important thing that
34:20
I learned through yoga is we are not just this
34:23
body. We as humans exist in five layers and body
34:27
is just the topmost layer, the outermost layer,
34:32
which is your physical body. Then you have got
34:37
your energy body. Beyond that, you have got your
34:41
brain, your wisdom. Beyond that, you have a cosmic
34:45
body. And beyond your cosmic body, there's a
34:49
bliss state. And we all have to tap into this
34:52
bliss state, where you're constantly happy, whatever
34:55
happens around. But what people do is they identify
34:59
themselves with body so much that they are never
35:02
able to tap into all these four, rest of the
35:06
four layers. It's like, just imagine you are
35:09
driving a car. and the car takes the entire control
35:14
and car takes you everywhere. A car doesn't know
35:17
that there's a driver inside, so car is just
35:19
going everywhere and anywhere they can be. But
35:23
when the driver holds the steering and there
35:26
is a destination, you just keep focusing on where
35:29
you have to go. So we, our soul is that driver
35:35
that is going to take you to places, your final
35:38
destination to identify your dharma. Your body
35:41
is just a vehicle and no matter how fancy the
35:45
vehicle is, no matter you're driving a Ferrari,
35:48
if it can't take you to your destination, it's
35:52
useless. Sometimes you will have really amazing
35:56
body, you will have six pack abs, you will have
35:59
perfect muscle mass. Sometimes your body can
36:02
be just like an Alto or a very small car. It's
36:08
important that you keep driving. because if you
36:12
don't connect to your soul, you will never be
36:14
able to find the purpose because the body doesn't
36:17
have a purpose. And in order to connect with
36:20
your soul, you have to really connect within.
36:24
And how do we connect within is, first we do
36:28
yoga asanas. Why do we do yoga asana? Because
36:31
we feel that all the stress is inside our head,
36:35
which is why what I've seen, the first mistake
36:37
that people do, they just start meditating, very
36:41
first step to do. That if I am going through
36:44
stress, I just sit and that too without any instruction
36:49
or guided meditation. And what people meditate
36:53
on, what usually I've observed, people keep meditating
36:56
on the negative thoughts. But what happens when
36:59
you perform Yogasana? perform physical activity
37:03
through Yogasana, is your body is holding memories
37:06
of your stressful situations. And when you do
37:11
that, when you introduce control stress in our
37:14
body, your body learns that it's okay. It's safe
37:17
to release all this. And once you have done that
37:21
Yogasana, then you can start doing breath work.
37:24
Because when you regulate your breath, that's
37:27
when you tap into your pranic energy. your life
37:30
force. If you ever thought about this, I keep
37:34
thinking about all these things. What's the difference
37:37
between a dead person and a live person? People
37:39
will say heartbeat, blood, this and that. Even
37:43
a dead person's heart keeps beating after the
37:47
person dies, up to six to eight seconds. So what
37:51
is the life within us? It's our breath. Our breath
37:55
is our pranic energy. And when you tap into that,
37:58
when you connect with your breath, that's when
38:00
you can connect with your soul. And when you
38:03
connect with your soul, that's when you can start
38:06
meditating. Because when you meditate on that
38:11
energy that you have created for yourself with
38:14
breath work, and when you have released the stress
38:17
from body, that's when you can actually tap into
38:19
your internal wisdom slowly by meditation. So
38:24
that was the journey that I learned during what
38:28
I had as yoga training. And so I love that. Now,
38:34
I love that that our breath is really truly our
38:36
life force and also our breath. Like when you're
38:39
doing breath work, it helps control what's going
38:42
on in the body any times. Right. And use breath
38:45
to lower your blood pressure. You can use it
38:47
to lower stress and anxiety. You can use breath
38:50
to bring you into the moment. And so it does
38:53
so much for us. And then bring in yoga. And I
38:58
guess you're doing the yoga first to bring in
39:00
the practice of that breath is amazing. I think
39:03
it also allows you to connect more with your
39:06
body at a different level than versus just having
39:10
it. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, that is
39:15
so true. When you release that stress from your
39:20
body. Most of the people don't know what is the
39:24
meaning of asana. People think that the more
39:27
difficult pose I will do, the more good of a
39:30
yoga teacher or yogi I am. If you just read the
39:36
Patanjali Yoga Sutra, which is like the systematic
39:39
collaboration of entire yoga that has been talked
39:46
about in all the scriptures, it gives you a step
39:50
-by -step path. And if you read the Patanjali
39:53
Yoga Sutra, it never talks about multiple Yogasana.
39:56
It just talks about four Yogasana, which are
39:59
like meditative poses, Sukhasana, Shishasana,
40:03
and all these meditative poses. Why do we practice
40:06
all these Yogasana? It's just to make sure that
40:09
we are able to release that stored stress from
40:12
our body. And when you release that tension from
40:18
the body, you're not actually releasing it from
40:20
your body. you're releasing it from your nervous
40:23
system because your nervous system clings to
40:26
that feeling that when I get scared I just cling
40:29
myself and I want to hide I tighten my shoulder
40:33
and that's why my shoulders be tight because
40:36
I've learned shrinking until I open my shoulders
40:40
wide until I open my chest really wide yeah I
40:44
won't be able to utilize my lungs full capacity
40:48
And similar things happen when you keep practicing
40:52
something. For example, if you're not spoken
40:54
for a very long time, if you're holding your
40:56
feelings, you might have conditions like thyroid,
41:00
anything related to. Maybe you might have tightness
41:03
in your chest, in your shoulder. And you have
41:06
to release this by slowly transitioning into
41:09
yogasana. So all these yogasanas are designed
41:12
in a way that it releases store stress. And that's
41:16
when your nervous system learns that, OK, it's
41:19
safe. I can open up. I can talk. I can express
41:23
myself. And that's when your nervous system begin
41:28
to change. And that's when your breath control
41:31
also comes. Because sometimes your breath isn't
41:35
in your control. It happens automatically about
41:37
how we feel. Opposite of autotune. You can control
41:41
your breath. do deep breathing, your body will
41:45
feel differently that it's relaxed. But you have
41:49
to pay attention to it first. Yeah. Oh, so, you
41:53
know, getting back. So I have thyroid disease.
41:57
That is I mean, I laugh at it now because I realize
42:02
that growing up, it wasn't safe for me to speak.
42:06
It wasn't safe for me to share my emotions like
42:08
when I would cry, I would. get yelled at and
42:11
said if you don't stop crying I'll give you something
42:13
to cry about or I would be told to go to my room
42:17
and things like that and so and then I ended
42:20
up in relationships where my me speaking my truth
42:24
was not safe as well and so now I have thyroid
42:29
disease um but what I've discovered in the last
42:33
I'm gonna say in the last 10 years which I wish
42:36
I had discovered like 40 years ago that it is
42:40
safe for me to speak my truth and say what I
42:42
need to say. And maybe I wouldn't be dealing
42:46
with the thyroid today, but it's so important.
42:52
And if you're in a situation, I wanna stress
42:56
to women, please feel free to step in, is that
43:00
if you're in a situation or in a relationship
43:02
where it's not safe for you to speak your voice,
43:05
find a way to find that ability to do that. you
43:09
know, because it's so important because it does
43:14
like, you know, keeping these things in, keeping
43:18
these things attached to your nervous system
43:20
and not allowing it free will show up in your
43:23
body as a disease or a disease is what some people,
43:27
you know, like to say, and it will show up there
43:29
and it will manifest. And so having the strength
43:33
in the forethought to do something about that
43:36
early on, I feel it's important. Yeah, that is
43:41
so true. You know, before that's what we call
43:46
in yoga psychology that, you know, what is different
43:52
about human life? Why is humans called so evolved
43:57
beings than any other being? Because humans have
44:01
got a huge range of emotion. They have got seven
44:04
chakras which If you see chakras are pretty much
44:08
all about feeling the emotion in different regions
44:11
of your body. Your root chakra is all about feeling
44:17
of safety and security. Your sacral chakra is
44:22
all about feeling joys, happiness, pleasure.
44:30
Your solar plexus chakra is all about feeling
44:33
confident, feeling good with relationship. It's
44:36
about your identity. It's about you. And as you
44:40
move upward, your heart chakra is all about unconditional
44:43
love. And the highest frequency human body can
44:47
have is authenticity, which is your throat chakra,
44:51
when you can speak your truth, when you can feel
44:53
your truth, when you live your truth. So a lot
44:58
of animals don't have all these expressions.
45:01
They might have happiness, sadness. But if you
45:04
are not expressing as human, then it actually
45:08
puts you in a situation where you're suppressing
45:13
it. And when you suppress it, your body takes
45:15
it as a threat inside. And that's when it starts
45:19
attacking itself. So I would suggest to everyone
45:23
to release all the emotion. Never have any kind
45:27
of guilt, fear. I just had this thought that
45:35
we humans think that we are the superior. We
45:39
do everything on our own. We grow our own food.
45:42
We do this, that. We actually nurture ourselves
45:46
by our own. And that's what we feel, that we
45:49
are superior in the food chain. But look at animals
45:52
in the jungle. Look at very small insects. And
45:56
look at huge animals. They don't go to a job.
45:59
They don't earn a paycheck. They don't quite
46:03
literally have to see a psychologist or a therapist.
46:07
Everyone is doing fine. Everyone enjoys life
46:10
to the fullest, even the smallest of insects
46:12
they do. There are birds which have their own
46:16
dance, who have their own happy rituals. I mean,
46:20
humans think that we have got everything. What
46:23
do these species have that we don't? They surrender.
46:28
They surrender to universe, they take energy
46:31
from universe, they give it back, and they know
46:33
they all will be taken care of. Similarly, we
46:37
humans should know that we will be taken care
46:40
of. We don't have to be scared of anything. If
46:44
this life is given to us, he will take care of
46:47
us. Universe will protect us. So don't be scared
46:51
to take any action, any step, anything that scares
46:54
you. I'm not saying that you put yourself out
46:58
in danger and then be scared. Yeah, that's not
47:03
what I mean. I mean that anything that scares
47:06
you taking that first step, singing on stage
47:10
when you have that fear, just remember that it's
47:14
not about you. It's about people who you are
47:18
performing for, which is why we have these dance
47:21
form. People have stopped indulging in dance,
47:23
music, art. It was all about the expression.
47:30
It was all about, if I can't express myself in
47:33
words, I will write poetry. I would do dancing.
47:37
I will show gestures. And that's exactly what
47:39
Yogasana is all about. It's all about expressing
47:43
yourself, something that you have been holding
47:45
on. Just express with yourself, with body. And
47:49
when you start to express, when you take all
47:52
these emotions out, then you will see that all
47:55
these emotions were there to teach you something.
47:58
If you're feeling scared, that means you need
48:00
to work on putting yourself around a safer environment.
48:06
If you're feeling jealous, maybe you need to
48:08
make yourself much more capable. If you feel
48:11
like I can't trust anyone, you need to open your
48:14
heart to people. You need to show yourself your
48:19
own vulnerability to others. And maybe you need
48:22
to open your intuition as well, because you're
48:26
so closed in your intuition, which is why you're
48:28
getting cheated and betrayed all over again.
48:31
Maybe you have weaker boundaries and all these
48:34
emotions, the lower frequency emotion, they are
48:37
there to teach you something. And what I felt
48:40
that I was being super ignorant towards myself.
48:44
I would put people first. which is why I was
48:47
overburdened in relationship. I wasn't happy
48:50
in my job. I wasn't getting enough support in
48:55
my job. And everything that around me that led
48:59
me to take this path to reflect on myself, what
49:04
I'm doing in my life, because my vision was up
49:07
here. And just because I was scared to fail,
49:12
I was attempting this. If my potential is up
49:16
here and I keep attempting this, I will win all
49:18
the time. Right. Yeah, that's easy. Yeah. And
49:24
I was so scared that I will fail if I attempt
49:27
this. But what I realized that every failure
49:32
is there to teach me a lesson. And I wasn't ready
49:35
to learn this lesson because I wanted to win.
49:38
I was performing here. And if I keep winning,
49:42
if I am doing everything that makes me feel like,
49:45
oh, I'm so amazing, maybe it's time for me to
49:49
get out of comfort zone. And I got out of comfort
49:53
zone. Like, I wouldn't recommend this for people
49:57
to do it, but I quit my job. I ended that relationship
50:02
and I sat with this discomfort almost for a year
50:08
and a half. I did not earn anything. But when
50:11
I was not receiving paycheck, I realized something
50:14
that I still have enough that every time I need
50:18
money, if I need anything, I have been taken
50:22
care of because my purpose was really bigger
50:24
at that point of time. And when you are driven
50:27
with purpose, everything else is a byproduct.
50:31
Right. And it all comes to you, right? So yeah,
50:34
and saying again that, you know, we will be taking
50:36
care of as long as we're. Following where our
50:40
soul leads us and following what we're supposed
50:42
to do. So if somebody was to come to work with
50:46
you, what can they expect? Working with me is
50:51
going to be a lot of self -reflection. Just be
50:55
ready to be in discomfort. People think that
50:58
yoga is like, hmm, let's stay. But it's not like
51:05
that. Yoga is going to be very uncomfortable.
51:08
when you just reflect within yourself, it's going
51:12
to be a lot of difficult journey. It's like an
51:17
ego death. The old self dying is really painful
51:22
because it's a part of you. No matter how miserable
51:28
that part of you was, it was still you. And letting
51:31
that go is very difficult. the miserable part
51:35
of you, because that connects you with a pain.
51:37
What I've realized during this entire journey
51:39
that we think that pain is something which we
51:42
humans don't like. No, it's not right. We love
51:46
pain. We love pleasure, both. What we are not
51:51
ready to accept is that void, that boredom where
51:54
we have to sit with nothing, where we have absolutely
51:58
nothing, no pain, no pleasure. And yoga is that
52:02
journey where you sit with nothing first. When
52:05
you remove your pain and you don't get pleasure,
52:09
that's yoga. That state where you feel nothing
52:14
before you feel the pleasure, you have to sit
52:17
with this void. The longer you sit with this
52:20
void, the more you will realize what pleasure
52:23
really means. And that's the journey of yoga
52:27
from being into individual consciousness first,
52:33
to moving towards the universal consciousness.
52:36
And this is the most difficult part, where you
52:38
have to reflect within. And when people say that,
52:43
I am a good person because I do good to everything,
52:47
everyone. And when you realize the most bad things
52:51
you have done, is to yourself, that's the most
52:54
disturbing part, that we were being good to everyone
52:57
else, but not to ourselves. So this is how working
53:02
with me going to look like. But it's going to
53:06
be a really fun journey. When you will find out
53:09
your purpose, when you will have much more meaning
53:12
into your life, then life becomes really smooth.
53:16
Because you know that everything that you're
53:18
doing, it has a why. What I am doing right now,
53:23
it's 20 times more difficult than what I was
53:25
doing before. My job had fixed hours. I had fixed
53:29
job to do. But today, I work global hours. I've
53:37
done podcast shoot at 1 a .m. my time. And even
53:40
later, I woke up at about 2 .30 a .m. my time
53:45
to participate in in the Next Top Speaker tournament,
53:49
which is another speaking event where you can
53:51
actually share your story with a lot of people
53:54
on a global platform, on an international platform.
53:57
And I've traveled to Australia, which is pretty
54:02
much my first international trip that I've planned
54:04
all by myself. And that's what... being driven
54:09
by purpose looks like. No matter how much is
54:12
the distance, what's the time, how difficult
54:15
a situation is, you know that there's a bigger
54:17
purpose. There's universe guiding you, there's
54:21
everything that will be taken care of and that
54:23
pretty much everything was smooth. I wouldn't
54:25
complain about waking up at 2 a .m. Nothing was
54:28
difficult. It felt like, it felt like that this
54:32
is what I'm meant to do. When we are driven with
54:36
purpose, life becomes very easy. It becomes like
54:39
a flow state that you're just drifting with life,
54:43
and it is going to take you to the right direction.
54:45
Right. It also seems like time disappears. I
54:49
know you're mentioning I get up at this and do
54:51
that in all these different global times. But
54:55
when I'm working on my purpose, it's like time
54:59
disappears. And I can be there doing it for hours
55:04
upon hours upon hours and not even be tired and
55:09
just be in this state of just like unaware, you
55:14
know, like, I don't know, like I'll be working
55:17
and all of a sudden it's like 11 p .m. and I'm
55:19
like, oh my goodness, I have to force myself
55:22
to go to sleep because I know I have to get up
55:25
the next day and do it again. you know, and so
55:28
that's what I found out about it. And it's pretty
55:30
amazing. I kind of love it, right? Yeah, that's
55:34
how you expand time. When you're driven by purpose,
55:38
and you're hyper focused on something, that's
55:41
when you expand time. The time, we cannot quite
55:44
literally slow down the time, but it will slow
55:47
down for you. Because if you see This is a very
55:52
interesting concept, if you would like to hear
55:54
it. Why do you think that time moves only forward?
56:00
Why can't we go backwards? I want to hear this.
56:09
Because if you look at logically, time do not
56:13
have a direction. Who has the direction? The
56:17
universe has direction. Universe is taking everything
56:21
to more chaotic state. If you see, there's a
56:25
principle in thermodynamics that the entropy
56:27
of a material, it stays positive, meaning everything
56:31
will be moving towards more random state, more
56:35
chaotic state, which is why, you know, if you
56:38
see there's a star, the star or black hole, they
56:42
just keep expanding to most chaotic state unless
56:46
they explode. And this is what slowing down time
56:50
feels like. If you can control your chaos state,
56:54
when your mind go haywire, the time just really
56:57
fast, like overthinking or scrolling, it's like,
57:03
oh, it was like... I just washed my phone for
57:07
five minutes and it's been hours because the
57:10
time drifts really fast because your thoughts
57:12
are moving really fast. Your breath is fast.
57:14
Everything that is going towards the more chaos,
57:18
it's going to drift. It is going to move very
57:21
fast. But how time slows down when your chaotic
57:26
state or your randomness slows down. That's how
57:30
you expand time. That's what the direction of
57:33
time and the direction of universes feel like.
57:38
So the time is not flowing forward. We all are
57:42
moving towards the more chaotic state. Our bodies
57:45
are breaking every breath we take. The environment
57:50
is becoming more random and polluted and everything
57:56
that is not supposed to happen. But that's the
57:59
truth. Everything is moving towards more randomness.
58:04
And what you have to do is you've got to keep
58:09
organizing things. You have to keep organizing
58:11
thoughts in your brain. And that's what we learn
58:14
in yoga is to slow down. It's to focus on one
58:21
very specific thing. That's what we call an Ekagrachit.
58:25
Ekagrachit means that you're focused only on
58:28
one thing at a time. You know how manifestation
58:31
works? It's like you put your entire energy into
58:35
one thing. And there might be people who say
58:37
that, no, manifestation doesn't work for me.
58:39
Yeah, because you're manifesting 200 things at
58:42
a time. Just focus on one thing at a time and
58:48
definitely it will come along your way. Absolutely.
58:52
100%. Absolutely. My daughter is amazing at manifesting.
58:57
She will put out there, I want patio furniture
59:00
and I don't want to pay anything for it. And
59:03
that will be her and literally two weeks later,
59:07
she's found patio furniture and at no cost. And
59:11
she's brought it home, cleaned it up, fresh paint,
59:15
whatever. And boom, she's got it. Like she's
59:17
amazing at that. I can tell that she focused
59:22
on one thing at a time. Yep, she focuses on that
59:25
one thing until she gets it. And it usually takes,
59:27
I mean, sometimes a few days up to a couple of
59:29
weeks and bam, she's got it. And it's amazing.
59:33
So of course, we're going to have all your information
59:38
on the show notes so people know how to reach
59:42
out to you. But if you were to leave one message
59:46
for the audience, what would that message be?
59:49
Okay, I have just one simple message that keep
59:53
taking this red bill every single day all you
59:56
have to be is just remain in the moment and Know
1:00:01
that everything is possible and D for decide
1:00:04
and take action. This is it if you keep doing
1:00:06
it every single day Your life is going to change
1:00:10
within 30 days and all you have to do is just
1:00:14
a red And then again, what are the meanings for
1:00:19
the R, E, and D? So R is remain in the moment.
1:00:25
D is everything is possible. D for decide and
1:00:28
take action. Beautiful. Thank you so much. It
1:00:33
was a pleasure having you here today, and I hope
1:00:35
we can definitely get together soon. Thank you
1:00:39
so much for having me. It was a pleasure to be
1:00:42
with you. Absolutely. This has been an amazing
1:00:44
conversation and I absolutely love it. I love
1:00:48
it too. Hope to see you soon. Thank you everyone.
1:00:52
Bye. Hi there, I'm Summer. I'm here to help you
1:00:58
navigate the journey of self -trust and finding
1:01:01
your authentic self. Every episode is a step
1:01:05
toward knowing yourself a little better. Thanks
1:01:08
for spending this time with me. Something in
1:01:13
today's episode landed, sit with it. You don't
1:01:16
have to figure it all out right now, just notice
1:01:19
what's stirred. Subscribe so you don't miss what's
1:01:22
coming and share this episode with someone who
1:01:25
needs to hear it today. Until next time, remember,
1:01:31
you already know. This is how you learn to trust
1:01:35
it.