Bhakti Changed My Life

How can you be more of service and live out your Dharma? The work that I do in the world is all about supporting individuals to live out their soul’s unique mission on this planet, their unique Dharma. Live out your Dharma has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the collective. I found my Dharma by discovering the beauty of Bhakti. Bhakti is a type of yoga that uses chanting, mantras, and being of service.

Transcript

Welcome to another week of the sacred dance.

Today we'll be having a solo transmission,

A solo conversation with me.

I'm so excited to talk to you guys alone.

I've been bringing on a lot of amazing guests for our conscious conversations and I feel like I haven't spoken just me in a little bit.

So I want to share with you a bit what's transpiring for me,

What's changing,

What's shifting because I feel like,

You know,

We set out on a plan,

A trajectory.

Oh,

This is what's going to happen in my life,

In my work,

In my this and my that.

And then spirit,

Source,

God says,

Oh wait,

Follow this breadcrumb.

Oh wait,

There's this thread.

And I'm following some threads and following some breadcrumbs to lead me to what I've been asking for.

So I want to share with you that I started a publishing company and this is a new leg to my business,

A new leg to the work that I'm doing in the world.

And the work that I do in the world is all about supporting individuals to live out their soul's unique mission on this planet,

Their unique dharma,

Because your dharma is a part of your karma.

You're living out your soul's purpose isn't just some far off concept or something to do once we have,

You know,

Enough money and maybe when we're retired,

We'll do what we've been dreaming of for our entire life.

Living out your dharma has actually nothing to do with you and everything to do with the collective.

When we live out our dharma,

We are able to shift from me to we.

It's not so much about what am I getting out of this?

Oh,

What's this going to do for me?

It's about what is me stepping into this going to serve this collective thread,

Right?

And I think that's where many of us stop or don't even get started with living out our purpose because we think,

Well,

How is that going to work for me?

Is that going to be enough for me?

Is that really what I'm supposed to be doing?

Right?

And our purpose is not so much a job title as it is the intention behind it all.

The thread that is underneath it all.

And yes,

It could be a job title.

It could be that you're meant to be X.

But it's also to not be attached to the identity of that title.

It's about being more attached to how can you be of service?

How can you allow source to run through you into the world?

What is your medicine?

And I want to share with you a little snippet from the Bhagav Gita.

And this is the heart of it.

This is where it comes from,

Right?

This is not just a concept that I've thought of on my own.

This is something that I've studied.

I've seen.

I've felt within myself.

The Bhagav Gita really shows us,

Shows us this.

It's all about Dharma.

It's all about shifting from the small self to the big collective self.

So I'll read you a little snippet.

Do your Dharma.

Do your work in harmony with the laws of the universe.

And don't worry about how it turns out.

Just surrender it all to me with love.

And this is from Krishna from the Bhagav Gita.

And Krishna is seen to be,

You know,

Like God consciousness in yogic philosophy.

And in the Bhagav Gita,

There's Arjuna.

And he is the warrior that's supposed to go fight his family and loved ones on the battlefield.

But he doesn't understand why he has to fight these.

Why would God source?

Why would the all encompassing make him do this?

Why is this his Dharma?

So it's a really beautiful read and to reread and reread and reread because it teaches us a lot.

And you just can't learn it all in one,

One read,

One sitting,

One understanding.

And there's many different translations of it.

So yeah,

I wanted to share that with you because that is the heart of the work I do is your purpose isn't about you.

And the more individuals that step into their unique purpose,

The more this world can come closer towards that peace,

That joy,

That collaborative energy,

Rather than the competitive energy to the,

To shift away from manipulation to truth,

To living out everyone's own sovereign individual truth.

And also for every individual to feel wildly expressed,

Right?

For everyone to feel like they are safe to be themselves.

Like they don't have to do it in years from now or however it may be so that it's normal for people to live out their purpose.

And Sanctuary Publishing,

The publishing company that I just began,

Is to highlight those individuals who are already living out their purpose.

So it's all about highlighting those individuals who are shining their light already,

Took the risk,

Took the leap,

And now they're in it.

They're living it.

They're shifting through it.

So we will be having multi-author books and also solo author books.

We right now have our first multi-author project called Caged No More.

It's wisdom from women who have broken free from societal constraints.

So if you are a woman who is in business or is living out her purpose in some way that feels resonant to have broken free from the norm,

Send us an email.

But that's not what today's episode is about.

Today's episode is about what brought me here.

What brought me to living out my purpose?

And my purpose is gathering people together and creating a safe space for people to unravel,

To come back,

To shine brighter.

And it looks different in different ways.

But that,

It's been the thread.

That's where I shine.

It's in this sacred ceremony,

This permission slip to be all that you're desiring and to move past what is not letting you be that.

But I always didn't feel capable to live out my purpose.

In most of my life,

I thought that that would be a distant dream that I would have to work for some corporation for X amount of years.

And then the whole side hustle part-time shtick and all that.

I thought that was going to have to be my life for ages because that was part of what was programmed to me.

But it's not even so much about the programming or any of those things that allowed me to step into my purpose.

It was the path of bhakti yoga that changed my entire life,

Changed my entire being.

It allowed me to shift from the me to the we.

So bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion.

It is,

Yes,

We can include the asana practice,

But when I bring this work to my clients or to community,

It's not so much the asana anymore.

I used to teach asana,

Which is the body postures.

But now I shift to the philosophy,

Working with texts like the Bhagavad Gita,

But also working with chanting mantra,

Heart opening,

And service,

To be of service to the divine.

That is bhakti for me.

And I'm going to just share with you how it all began.

So I've talked a bit on here about the daunting 2017 that I had,

But throughout that time I didn't know what to do.

I was ready to step into my purpose,

But I had no idea what that meant.

I,

You know,

At that time I was teaching yoga,

The body postures,

The asana classes,

And I knew that was part of it.

Just never felt it,

Right?

I was always looking for it outside of me.

Always searching.

Where is it?

Is this job it?

Is this new training it?

Is this new modality it?

Oh,

If I become a massage therapist,

That'll be it.

All the things that I did,

None of them were it.

And I think finding it,

The external,

Is the biggest illusion of it all.

Again,

It's not about the job title.

It's not about those things.

It's about the internal intention and the feeling behind it.

The why you're doing what you're doing.

I think that's it that we're searching for.

And we're just trying to find the job title,

The career that kind of fits into that.

And sometimes it's like,

You know,

Putting a round peg in a square box.

It's like,

Oh,

Nothing's fitting.

And so for me,

My first introduction was to Bhakti.

Well,

To chanting,

I'll just say.

How chanting really was the life changer.

And then the philosophy of Bhakti kind of has blossomed to me the more I open myself up to the possibilities.

So I remember back when I was in college,

Back in 2012,

2011,

I was taking yoga classes at a beautiful studio in Providence,

Rhode Island.

And it was a jiva mukti studio.

And in the lineage of jiva mukti,

There's chanting that happens in the beginning of the end.

And I was hooked.

I would leave.

I would always one wonder,

Oh,

No,

What does this mean?

What is this?

Am I a part of a cult?

Oh,

My gosh,

What am I saying?

What are these Sanskrit words?

I always would ask,

Make sure that I was in alignment or I felt okay with what those words meant.

I always was.

But it was that inner Catholic guilt of,

Oh,

No,

What are you doing now?

So it began there.

And we would always chant,

Loka samasa suki no babantu.

May all beings everywhere be happy and free from suffering.

And may my thoughts,

Words,

And actions of my own life contribute in some way.

And I remember I would leave that class all the time walking to my car and just singing,

Singing these mantras.

And I was like,

How do I even remember the words?

And then I just continued on.

After I graduated college,

I started to do the studies that I actually wanted to do.

I became a yoga teacher and I would teach classes and I would always open with chanting.

And my whole life,

I was always told I was a bad singer.

My brother,

People when I was growing up,

Because I sang all the time.

And it wasn't about being good.

It was just about,

Because it felt expressive,

It felt freeing,

It just felt fun.

I remember being in chorus at some point as well when I was younger.

And I was always deemed a bad singer,

But no one ever deemed me as a bad chanter.

So I felt free to chant because that wasn't a box I was put in yet.

So I would always chant in the beginning and ends of my classes with om and shanti shanti,

Which is peace,

Peace,

Peace.

And I would always get told,

Wow,

When you chant,

It opens something up in me.

And I was like,

That's really funny because,

You know,

Most would say I'm not a good singer.

And then when I hit the point of my old time low thus far in my life,

I didn't know what else to do.

Getting quietly and meditating made me feel like I was dying inside.

My anxiety was just consuming me from the inside out.

It was just like this consumption.

And I had this feeling come over me and it was the energy of Lakshmi.

She is the goddess of abundance and she is a divine light in my life.

And it came to me,

Chant my mantras,

Chant my mantras.

So I would look up Lakshmi mantras and I would just start playing them in my space,

Starting to learn how to chant.

And sometimes when you Google like,

Or YouTube,

A Lakshmi mantra,

The first few that you'll see is like,

Get wealthy quick,

Chant this mantra every day for 30 days and you're going to get money.

And I was like,

Well,

I'm confused because that doesn't feel right.

And then I took a intro to Bhakti course,

An insight timer,

And it really opened me up.

And then I was able to go back and find the mantras and not the cover images that kind of promoted this,

Like get rich fast if you connect with Lakshmi.

Because for me,

It wasn't about what I was gaining externally.

It was about what it was opening up for me internally.

And I think that is an issue in spirituality is really what's our intention behind stepping into our spiritual path.

What's the intention behind living a spiritual life?

Is it for the external gains?

Is it for how we're feeling?

Is it for our connection?

Is it for greater peace?

Asking yourself,

Why am I doing this?

And for me,

For a long time,

I was doing things for external gains,

Like always focusing on manifesting,

Always focusing on manifesting something cool and new.

Things happened.

Magic has happened.

It still happens in my life,

But the attachment to that isn't as high anymore because I know that's not the point.

That's not just my only intention to be this individual who is just continuously seeking for the external to remind me that I'm a spiritual being full of love.

I needed to shift to being that being of love and doing things for that reason.

And that's what the path of bhakti has done for me.

And that's what chanting has opened up for me.

When I was at the lowest,

Lowest points in my life,

I was able to feel the deepest depths of devotional love to the divine that I have been deeply craving since I think I incarnated on this planet because I didn't understand.

I didn't understand how things were taught to me growing up in a Catholic household that I need to do these things and then God,

The divine source,

I use these interchangeably as you can tell.

Then you will receive love.

That didn't make sense to me.

And then I shifted to do these things.

And then when external stuff happens,

You'll feel spiritual and you'll feel this love.

That was not working.

And then it was this opening to you are love,

Remind yourself of that.

And that's what bhakti has been.

Lead from this space of love.

Love everybody.

Act as if,

You know,

This is a Ram Dass reference.

He would always say,

You know,

Treat everyone as if they're God in drag.

And that's the work,

Right?

It's not easy to just be like,

Oh,

We're all just beings of love.

No,

Your greatest enemies,

They are part of the divine.

People have caused you the greatest pain.

They're just as much a part of it all.

But we all have our own karmic baggage,

Our own incarnation that we're living.

So we're unable to see the soul.

We just see the human.

And the more we can start to see the soul within ourself,

The more we can start to see the soul in others.

And for me,

That's what chanting has done was being able to see the soul in me,

To see that love and to feel it.

Is there something to the vibrational language of Sanskrit with the rhythm and the expression that comes with kirtan or chanting?

Kirtan is call and response chanting.

It's kind of like a,

Not a concert,

But it could be like a concert with a lot of people.

If you know Krishna Das,

He's a amazing kirtan leader.

But it could also just be a gathering of individuals coming together to chant mantras,

Right?

It doesn't have to be this whole production.

Kirtan is just an act of call and response.

The leader would call and then the people who are listening would respond with that mantra.

And there's something about the energy there.

It feels so pure,

So loving.

And it reminds you of the infinite love that is available.

Even if it's just for that five minutes that you chant in the morning or that,

You know,

The times they put on some kirtan through your Spotify,

Or when you go and you experience chanting in person,

There's something transcendental that happens.

This repetition of the same phrase,

Quiets that mind,

Gives it something to focus on.

And then it just becomes ingrained in our subconscious.

I'll wake up sometimes just chanting mantras,

Just singing.

And I'm like,

I don't know where that came from.

That's because I'm always feeding myself these mantras.

Always listening to mantras.

You know,

The way of what we listen to,

What we watch,

What we consume,

Plays a part of who we are.

It's all of who we are.

So for listening to the news and all these things that bring us down,

Don't support what we're desiring,

The reality that we're desiring,

Well,

Then that's what we wake up thinking about.

That's what our subconscious gets ingrained with.

But if you choose the vibration that you want to exist in and choose to consume the things that meet that vibration,

Well,

Then that's what you're going to wake up feeling.

That's what you're going to wake up wanting more of.

What we feed ourselves is what we want more of.

And we have a choice in that.

And when we choose a higher frequency,

It's not to say that we are bypassing or avoiding the situation.

It's actually quite opposite.

We see it,

We acknowledge it,

But we choose not to feed it.

We choose not to feed more of what we don't want.

Choosing what we want.

Personal life inside and that relates out into the world.

So what are you feeding?

Right?

What are you feeding in your reality?

Do you want more of that?

If yes,

Beautiful.

If you don't want more of that,

What can you shift to bring the vibration of what you want more of?

And yeah,

The beauty of bhakti is the ability to devote.

And part of that devotion is living out our Dharma,

Living out our purpose,

But again,

Not attached to the gains that come from it.

And that's the hardest part sometimes.

Right?

Not to be attached of,

Oh,

I can make money.

Oh,

I can gain power.

Oh,

I can impress the people in my life.

Yeah.

If I do that,

That's cool.

Yeah.

It's not about that.

And it's,

Again,

There's the work of detaching from the power and being humbled by the experience of why are we doing what we're doing?

And asking ourselves that.

I ask myself that all the time.

I always check in before I bring out a new program,

Shift my business into new ways,

Even with this podcast,

Right?

What is my intention behind what I'm doing?

And is that an alignment?

Is that feel in service sometimes,

We meet ugly parts of ourselves,

The shadow side that we would like to avoid and pretend like,

Oh no,

I'm always all good.

I never think bad thoughts about anyone,

Whatever.

I never have expectations.

I always do things just out of love,

But we can't ourselves either because we're humans and that's part of our process.

If I was to sit here and tell you that I've never thought about waste make money quickly or something,

Well then I would be lying to you.

And that's what brought me to,

At that time,

I remember I was thinking,

Okay,

Well,

How can I help people and make money?

And part of what I did was I went to massage school and I realized I didn't actually enjoy the act of massaging.

I loved receiving massages.

I get a massage at least once a month because it's a necessity in our existence.

If you don't get massages,

I recommend it's not a luxury.

But that's another episode.

And I was living out this life of massage therapist,

Body worker for almost like a year and a half.

And I realized this isn't bringing me any joy.

Why am I doing it?

What was my intention behind this?

And I realized my intention was to make money.

Yes,

It was to help individuals heal on a physical level,

Physiological level,

But another part of it was for me to make money.

And that was the heart of it though,

Right?

Money isn't bad.

Money isn't evil.

Wanting to make money off of your purpose,

That's not wrong.

Money is a tool.

But why I was doing what I was doing,

Money was the purest intention.

And that was not an alignment.

That didn't feel of service.

I'm not serving myself or the people I'm working with.

If all I was thinking about throughout a session was,

Oh,

This is only an hour and then I'll get a hundred dollars,

Right?

But I did.

That's okay.

Saw it,

Noticed it,

Decided to change.

How can I be of service and not be attached to the fruits of that service?

How can I turn my heart to the divine and say,

Work through me in the way that needs to be worked through me?

And yes,

I do think it's beautiful.

That's part of our Dharma is to make money,

To provide for our lives,

Our families.

One of the biggest armas that we have is the roles that we play in our family.

Whether you're a mother,

A father,

A daughter,

A son,

Caretaker,

All of those roles are part of our soul's Dharma.

I think it's about shifting out of the me into the we.

And even if you do make money living your purpose,

Right?

What,

Where is that money going?

What is your intention for receiving money?

Right?

That is a really good question to ask ourselves.

If you received all the money that you've been asking for,

Or that you've dreamed of,

I had a million dollars.

I would be set.

I would be so taken care of.

Why do you want that million dollars?

What are you going to do with it?

And then look and ask yourself,

Am I focused just on the me?

Because there's a lot we can do with money in a supportive way for the collective.

If we decide to shift from the me to the we,

The more money that I called clean money,

The more clean money that we have circulating people that have that intention to support and work with individuals and,

You know,

Have a higher expression that is as pure as it could be in that moment.

I think the more abundance everyone will experience.

But if we are doing things because we think,

Oh,

I'll get this and then I can buy that,

That thing I've always wanted.

Is that thing going to bring you the joy?

And if yes,

Amazing.

But if the thing isn't going to bring you the joy,

What will?

Right?

So,

You have to give yourself that and continue to spend our money,

Spend our resources on things that,

Again,

Support the reality that we want to be creating.

Our choices,

Our decisions influence our tomorrow.

I've said this before as well.

And it's not easy,

But it's about committing to be the best human that you can,

The most intentional human that you can be.

And that's the beauty of Bhakti,

Is opening up to this thread of love that's within us all.

And that it doesn't matter who you are,

What you are,

What you aren't,

You are able to chant a mantra,

Hum a mantra.

And one of the most beautiful practices in Bhakti by one of my gurus,

Neem Karoli Baba or Maharaji,

He's also Ram Dass's,

One of Ram Dass's teachers,

Or I should say his ultimate guru.

He's not one,

Just one of his teachers.

But if you've ever heard of Ram Dass,

Refer to his guru,

That is Neem Karoli Baba.

He always was seen to be chanting the mantra,

Ram.

Ram means the divine,

Always in the state of chanting Ram being plugged into that energy.

And there is a Japa practice,

Which is using mala beads and chanting a mantra for 108 times.

And there's a Japa practice of,

It's called the Ram Nam Japa,

Chant Ram 108 times.

It'll take you three to four minutes,

Maybe even less.

And it is said through chanting the Ram Nam Japa that anything is possible and the impossible becomes possible because we open ourself up,

I think,

To the infinite possibilities and love.

And we remind ourself of Ram,

When we remind ourselves of the divine,

The infinite is available.

But are we choosing to not see it?

I chose to not see it for so long.

It was so much easier to say,

Oh,

That's not possible.

I can't do that.

Oh,

That's too much.

I can't do that.

It's a lot more expansive to say,

This is infinite possibilities I play.

I can kind of do it all.

But what does that mean?

What is that expansion that's leaning in more and more into the unknown?

So try on the Ram Nam Japa if you want to experience a snippet of Bhakti.

And I have a meditation recording of the Ram Nam Japa on Insight Timer,

Which I'll make sure the link is in the description for you.

It's a free meditation app for you to be able to explore my meditations.

And there's thousands of other amazing teachers on there.

And I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't yet.

And that's the beauty of Bhakti again,

Right?

It's this reminder.

And it has changed my life.

Maybe it'll change yours.

Maybe it won't.

I'm not here to tell you,

You should do this.

I'm here to invite you to try something on,

Whether it's with me,

Through what I'm sharing,

Or to try on what our conscious conversation guests share,

Try on and see if that brings you to greater fulfillment and balance in your life.

And if yeah,

Keep following the breadcrumbs.

If no,

Where are the breadcrumbs leading you?

Thank you so much for tuning in today to the sacred dance and for allowing me to have this space to express,

To be heard,

And to share.

It is again,

My highest intention to allow each individual on this planet to feel wildly express in all in which they are,

In all in which they are,

And to live out their Dharma.

So we're also going to be including some deeper questions with our conscious conversations of how people start to live out their Dharma so that we can infuse this balance that we're seeking with the fulfillment that we are craving.

So stay tuned for that as we evolve this podcast a little deeper and further.

And I am so grateful to have you here.

Reviews

Thank you so much for sharing your path! I look forward to exploring your podcast. ✨🙏🏼✨❤️✨

Thank you. I want to explore Bhakti. Thank you for this talk.

Thank you. Enlightening & in line with my own spirit. Opened me to the meaning and value of chanting. Namaste