The Cool Yogi: How a Career Change Led to a Life of Mindfulness ft. Anchal Pilani

[00:00:00] I think as a Sadhak we should never stop learning. So we had this term called Self-Study or Swadhyaya. I have been studying the moment I entered my Yoga teacher training till today. The Shloka that they say is Yoga Chitra Vritti Niroda.

[00:00:14] People don't know how many thoughts and anxieties and worries they are carrying in a single moment. When you are doing that practice, it's clearing it all away. You don't need more than two meals a day. That's intermittent fasting right there for you. Eat a natural plate.

[00:00:30] You know for the cynics out there, if anybody is listening right now, what I would say is experiment. It's so important to experiment because what we are talking about right now, don't go by what you and I are talking about.

[00:00:41] It's about experimenting with Pranayama, with meditation, with yoga and see the difference, see the transformation. And I say don't even come to us. I say go do NSDR with Hooverman Lab. Do that if that makes you happy. But do it to see what are you missing out on.

[00:00:58] Hi Anshu, welcome to Unstoppable Women. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. I think we have been waiting to talk to each other on this show because it's strange knowing you for three years

[00:01:12] and knowing all the passion and the hard work you are putting in behind pursuing yoga as a practitioner and as a trainer. But we never got to know each other beyond that. Yeah, I think it's because two busy women trying to do what they're trying to do.

[00:01:26] Be unstoppable. Be unstoppable. Okay, so your journey has been very interesting right from a corporate professional to becoming a yoga trainer and pursuing it all the way out. What made you transit? I think it was a truly my calling. Okay.

[00:01:42] It was I've always been like when I grew up, I was like always into being productive always being into okay, I want to do my best, you know, so I was very good at education. I did my engineering. I did my masters. I went to the US.

[00:01:55] It's like every Indian's dream in that era, right? Right. And then I got into the best colleges. I was working at Pricewaterhouse Coopers and I moved to Deloitte Consulting.

[00:02:06] At that point, I was in New York and I don't think anyone could have a better life than I had or a better body also or a better friend circle. Like everything was perfect.

[00:02:18] I would wake up at 4.30 in the morning, go hit the gym Monday to Friday, one city, one client, then come back, live in my small apartment for two nights, then go back. Everything was great.

[00:02:32] I used to do everything by the book, meet the kind of people that everyone wants to meet. But you know something was missing. I was like and I could never put my finger to it. But I was like, I'll feel happier.

[00:02:45] I was like, why am I not happy? I am growing. Still a gap inside? Everything there is in the material world. Yeah, everything. You could ask for. And then Deloitte had this amazing program where they would pay for your physical activity.

[00:03:01] They would be like, you go and pursue, you know, you're living out of a suitcase. So I just randomly entered this yoga shala. It was called the Kula Yoga Project in Tribeca. Yeah. And it was a two hour class. Yeah.

[00:03:17] And I didn't know what was I was signing up. I was like, okay, and I used to think yoga, I mean it must be stretching. It's not even worth my time, you know, because I'm like into strength training and marathons at that point.

[00:03:29] And I entered that class and when I left that class, I was like, I had no anxiety. I was not thinking about what I had to do next. Something shifted. Something completely shifted. And then what happened was...

[00:03:43] Like when you say something shifted, did you feel any changes at a mind level, body level? What happened? I think I was too young at that point, 27. But something was there.

[00:03:53] To understand that something shifted, I just felt that yoga could give me a better body at that point. But something shifted because something was re-attracting me again and again. So the only thing I looked forward to in that whole week was my yoga. Amazing.

[00:04:12] How old were you then? 27. Lovely. Yeah. So I would just be like, I'll finish, I'll come back from Seattle or wherever, take some random flight to come back for my yoga practice.

[00:04:22] And I couldn't understand and my friends around me and I said, you know what, I want to quit and I want to go back to India. And everybody in my family was shocked. I was like, why would you leave Wall Street?

[00:04:33] Why would you leave this amazing job you have? You're doing so well. Why go back to India? And I was like, I felt like I wanted to study India. So yoga, Matt and yoga was bringing you back to India? Yeah, I was just...

[00:04:48] There was some pull which happened. I just, there was this beauty, there was this little Ganesha in that Kula Yoga project. You know, and I don't think we, when we are brought up and we are like seeing this in our houses were questioning anything.

[00:04:59] We're like accepting it and we're like, we don't really have a relationship with Pooja or Arthi. Yes. So I was that person and then I was like developing a relationship with this Ganesha. Yeah. I was developing a relationship with that little Deepak.

[00:05:14] You know, I was like, what is going on? You know, I was becoming so conscious about things and I was like, I had this major belongingness to come back. And I quit in one day. My family was shocked.

[00:05:29] They're like, I don't think you should leave when my mom came to pack my bag. This is after working for five years. This was my fourth year. In New York working in all multinational companies, one yoga mat, couple of classes did it to you.

[00:05:41] Let's go back pack up. So my mom, she came to visit me and that point she'd never been. Okay. So when she saw my life, she's like, you have no idea what you're leaving. And I said, mom, I don't know. I can't stay here. Okay.

[00:05:55] So I went back, but I went back with an insurance policy that was working in Google. Okay. So I took a job here. I was like, you know, let me do this at least so that even at that point, even I was like, I can't really quit, quit.

[00:06:06] Yeah. So I was still in Google for two years in Delhi trying to work it out. But again, my heart was in discovering what is this? So and I met these amazing friends like Ira Trivedi, another yoga instructor. She's a very, very good friend of mine.

[00:06:20] We have a similar story. We were both in New York. Yeah. So when we met, it was like lightning. You know, so I went then to an ashram stayed there for a month. Lovely. And was this in Himachal? This was in Kerala. Kerala.

[00:06:34] It's called the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center. Yes, of course. A very basic space. You have like a Charpaai, a dormitory and you have a program from 5.13 in the morning all the way to 10 p.m. You're cleaning bathrooms. You're chanting. You're attending satsangs. You're doing four hours of yoga.

[00:06:49] So you went through the entire yoga. I went through the process. The process. Yeah. So it's supposed to be a seven year process, but now they made it a one month process. Okay. So it was the most transformational time I would say for any individual.

[00:07:04] I would say every human being should say. You got your answer why the yoga mat was attracting you? Exactly. I did that one month. I think the biggest thing is that when you enter the ashram in the yoga hall, there's a question who am I? Hmm.

[00:07:17] So, you know, and they don't say anything. The teachers never give the answers. They're like this is your journey. You need to start questioning this. Right. Honestly, Shailja, I was too young even then to understand. So I got trained. I still thought yoga is very physical. Hmm.

[00:07:34] I was never really into it for the right actions, but when I did my Vedanta course as a part of my teacher training, I felt like it was already there in my memory. I got 100. Right. The teacher came back running and said we've never had this before. Right.

[00:07:47] That a person has scored 100 in the Vedanta exam. Like yamas, niamas, you know, all of that was as if it's been. Basically your sanskars or your, you know, impressions in your subconscious mind were all open. It just gets unveiled right. Right.

[00:08:03] Just because of the right stimulus which happened outside. So I went back. I had a very divine intervention where my husband and me met with someone spiritual. Okay. We're very different, but we still like, you know, came together.

[00:08:17] That also gave me some sort of, you know, like I started questioning divinity then yoga was different for me than divinity at that point. Right. So then we moved to Fujairah, which was a very small city and which didn't have any multinational.

[00:08:30] So I had to quit my job. Okay. And then I started working a little bit with him, but then to keep myself very active. I was like, let me try yoga. Yeah. So I started teaching and then in Fujairah, I was the only teacher and the, you know,

[00:08:42] the Muslims loved it. They loved the women they loved, like, you know, removing their abayas and coming in, getting that sense of balance. Right. They even they couldn't disconnect with their bodies at a very physical exercise level. That's the first step. That was the first step. Right.

[00:09:01] Even when you say that who am I, right? Who am I while we discuss who am I really? But the first step is if you don't understand this body and, you know, be aware in this body, then that's the first step. Right. So it's like the Annamaya Kosha.

[00:09:17] Right. The first layer. The first layer. And even at that point, I would say I was not so empowered internally. I didn't have a connection with nature. Neither was intuition flowing through me. And then I just had a chance at Kring where I moved to Dubai. Okay.

[00:09:35] And I started spending a lot of time with the Chinmeha mission and art of the living. Okay. And that that was really where my things started things really unraveled. I know when you're talking about that things were already there. Yeah. And it's, it's very true.

[00:09:51] You know, any spiritual seeker I've met and I've been on this journey myself over two decades now, you know, it's like everything is there. Yeah. You just have it. It's just at the right time, right situation, right people, right environment sort of just

[00:10:05] brings it up to the surface. And if you're aware enough, you latch onto it and then you culture it and cultivate of course. That moment also gets lost because then you go back into the world and kind of get, you know, into your daily routine.

[00:10:18] So these techniques, whether it's yoga, what you're teaching or meditation, what I teach, I think that's just to culture the mind and keep on with that journey. And I think also when you meet people who've had it always, they always need to give it back.

[00:10:33] Like I don't think I can live without giving it back. Absolutely. It's my purpose. Absolutely. Right. I mean, sorry, I interjected, but you were talking about Dubai and Dubai was the turning point for you.

[00:10:45] So I felt Dubai is doing a really good job on bringing spirituality on the forefront because back then I was meeting people from India and they would say, you know, he got divorced because his wife is too spiritual.

[00:10:56] So I felt like there was a real disconnect and spirituality hasn't been promoted. I understood. Yeah. I was like, I want to take it up to make spirituality cool. That was my biggest agenda. And I am well, that answers a lot.

[00:11:12] Like, you know, I see you the way you conduct classes, your marketing, your packaging, your reels on Insta, then I think I am joining dots now. Yeah, you are making this entire space cool.

[00:11:24] So I want to be, I want to tell you, tell that person that you can go partying and I'll be there with you till 4am. But hey, you need to come back to my breathwork class because that's what's going to keep you going.

[00:11:36] You're removing all your energy there. But here I want to give you four times the energy, right? Where you can take care of your child at the best, best level that you are capable of. You can work really in the present moment at the productivity that you are

[00:11:52] capable of and you can have an amazing social life. Yes. So you're integrating into the lifestyle rather than making it very overwhelming and saying, okay, religious hair. Yeah. It's just about I'm. You know, how do I say I'm blending into what you do and take it.

[00:12:10] But that's what it is about. Yeah. But what are Sadguru or Shri Shreeji or any of the really good teachers trying to do, they're telling you that hey, you've depleted all your energy by giving it away to external situations or to people. Yeah.

[00:12:27] And you need to take your power back. Yes. And we're giving you these small tools. You need to take a little bit of your breath work, take yoga, take Nidra. Correct. Which if you do, you will understand that they are just situations that are here

[00:12:43] to make you become better at what you are, you know, to unfold who you really are, right? So I don't take that away from the spiritual world and I feel like Shri Shreeji and Sadguruji should be given the accolades because they worked hard.

[00:12:58] But I think that people like you and I are required to bring all of that audience that doesn't understand that it will give you the best body you want because it's going to make you single-pointed. Yes.

[00:13:11] And Krishna is telling you that you want a great body, what do you have to do? You have to eat less and move more. Yes. So that can only happen when your mind is single-focused. Absolutely. Right? Absolutely.

[00:13:22] You know, you mentioned that you're trying to make yoga cool, right? Yeah. This is for the city audience. But I like the way that once they have settled in with the technique which you're teaching

[00:13:30] them, you go take them to the second level, which is take them for treats. Right. And I remember the conversation we had in the garden below where you said Shailja, you know, Bombay, my energy is very rarctic. Very rarctic. Right? You said the city is like that.

[00:13:44] You get up in the morning, there's an agenda. Yeah. You hit the road, traffic is there, the smell, the smoke, the pollution. And you need it's a packed day. Yeah. And I've been listening to a lot of, you know, spiritual teachers off late and everybody

[00:14:01] says, you know that while it's not necessary to go to Himalayas or mountains, but if you're really going to level two, level three of your spiritual journey, you will discover more of the depths only if you get out of the cities. 100%. You have to get out of here.

[00:14:16] I think we need to invest in ourselves, especially as women who are working, right? If we don't fill our cup and I think we hear this a lot. So similarly, anybody who comes to my retreat comes because they've come to my class and

[00:14:31] classes and they've understood, hey, there's something missing in my life. I need to tap into it. And I do a lot of chanting and I talk a lot about Krishna because I think the Gita was my biggest, most revolutionary teacher. Okay.

[00:14:47] And I have learned it and I also teach it. In fact, I'm starting my Vedanta classes. I found a huge audience for it surprisingly in our own society. So when people come to my classes and we're doing all the physical work and I'm poking

[00:15:03] in these small verses like Karmanyavad, Ekara, stick, guys, today when you go back, try to keep your emotion away from your action or try to not be so attached to what the result is going to be. Let's be in flow state.

[00:15:18] You know, when they silenced after the practice, the knowledge really goes inside. And when they do it and they come back and I'm like, hey, you know what happened? Did you guys implement any of the knowledge I gave you? They're like, yeah, and you know what?

[00:15:33] My day went this way. It could have gone this way. So it's happening in a very organic fashion. And I'm seeing people are transforming and the retreats really help because when you go in the mountains, the energy is very different.

[00:15:47] It's very, so you've gone to Bhutan, Himachal Bhutan and Aman and we have two more coming up this year. One is a mother and child retreat, which is very interesting, never been done with two very enterprising girls.

[00:16:00] It's called Sahar, which is connecting with your child on a very nature level. And the other I'm doing with Shweta Shah, who's a celebrity Ayurvedic coach. So we're either doing it in Rishikesh or we're doing it in Ladakh. Lovely.

[00:16:14] So I think talking about children, you know, there's also this conversation I think we all are having about conscious parenting. Right. And especially if you are yourself on a path like this, you are so aware all the time of

[00:16:27] what you're saying, how the child is perceiving what you're saying and what's the reaction. And you want to give all the knowledge that you have, but our kids are two small seven years and five years old.

[00:16:38] And the shelter for people are you and I it's more difficult, right? Because it becomes too much for people who are living around us. And there has to be a fine balance. So, you know, going back when I was in Dubai, I entered this class called Shishu Vihar

[00:16:52] run by the Chinmeha Mission where these really lovely ladies, what they do is they volunteer once a week and they teach kids about deities. Like, you know, when they talk about Ganesha, they say that we have this

[00:17:05] Ganesha deity who has a big stomach and he has a long trunk and he has big ears. And you know why? Because we should listen more and we should speak less, right? And we should contain everything in the stomach.

[00:17:18] And it's a very scientific way of looking at our own culture. I would not say religion. I would say Vedanta, you know, where they say that, you know, why do we pray to Ganesha because if he become like Ganesha will remove obstacles from our life.

[00:17:33] Half the times we get into problems because we talk too much. Yeah, agar hum listen karenge. So I have realized that I don't want to teach my kids yoga. I want them to pick it up on their own organically like I did.

[00:17:50] Haven't they started asking because my son asked me like two years ago when am I learning yoga? Yoga he's been doing since he was three. Yeah, three. And I think that's something which he's observed. Haven't really pushed him in that direction.

[00:18:03] And he started the intuition process, which I did mention to you. Yeah. So they you know what they do is my husband and I do breath work every single morning together. And I practice all the time whenever I'm practicing they say mama wanna come Joe.

[00:18:15] Their attention span is only few minutes. So those time they come they always are sitting and trying to meditate with me. That's enough. And they know all the arthis, they know all the shlokas.

[00:18:26] So what I've done is I've taken the Balviha program and I've done it with the kids. So they know Guru Ashdakam. And you know it's very fun in our house. Like we speak about like I try to make things very scientific with them.

[00:18:39] You know, like if my son says mama I'm feeling a lot of fear. I'm like why are you feeling fear? Think about Hanuman. Remember he jumped across the ocean and he said Jaishri Ram. So you need to bring that Jaishri Ram.

[00:18:51] I know at the back end Ram is connected to your navel. It's the mantra to the navel chakra, right? So I know automatically the modification over there, the mental modification will lose it. So you just give a little bit of… I just give them a little spot.

[00:19:06] A little direction and then leave it. Ideally I would want another teacher because my emotions are involved with my kids. As we both know. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So you know if you can send our Rohan and I can send Vian and Anna that would be ideal.

[00:19:19] We should do that. Yeah, we should do that. Do you have a spiritual master? You spoke about Aishwarya Sri Ravi Shankar Ji and you spoke about… So I believe we should learn from everyone. Okay. And I have gone to Art of the Living and educated myself. Yeah.

[00:19:34] And even the Chinmeya mission, I would definitely say Swami Chinmeya Nanda is my teacher because Chin and Swami Sivananda because Sivananda is where I learnt my asana practice which I think is very important. Yeah.

[00:19:47] I think a human being has to maintain his physical body to be able to go into the field of action, to go into the Mahabharata every single day. Yes. And Swami Chinmeya Nanda because I am a knowledge seeker so I love learning and reading.

[00:20:02] So I have done all the Upanishads like I have done many, I have done Kato Upanishad and it really makes you understand life and I think move through the hurdles. Right? Also I think everyone has a journey, right?

[00:20:15] You have to begin with understanding why are battles put in front of me and how to lead life with dharma, how to remove fears. So for me… So you've been on this journey for like 12, over a decade let's say and as a spiritual

[00:20:33] person you've obviously seen transformation in yourself, right? 100%. So have you had any experiences in meditation? I have, I think my biggest experiences have been in breath work which is why I am the biggest prop in inter breath work.

[00:20:50] I do lots of privates with girls and boys who are suffering and industrialists who are suffering mentally. Any breakthroughs? Lots. So we've had one girl who had heightened her knee. She's a friend of, a school friend of ours. Okay. She's part of extreme anxiety.

[00:21:06] She had extreme anxiety when she was breaking down. She called me up and she said, you know what? I have so much… Can you work with me? We did four months of breath work every single day. She's fine now.

[00:21:17] Then I've had people in the pandemic who were having panic attacks. So I did a lot of breath work programs around 100 to 100 people and they all came out of it. A lot of health conditions have been reversed like asthma. Okay.

[00:21:31] And people who had some mental issues, anxiety attacks. So all of that we've helped with breath work. So for me, I think my path is really taking the breath and yoga nidra is something I do all the time. Okay. Personally. Okay.

[00:21:54] I think doing a 35 minute yoga nidra is the best thing you can do to yourself. Yeah. To remove… Mind, body. To get your subconscious mind. Yes. You know, we… whatever said and done, you being spiritual or not, the battles that you

[00:22:05] take in a day, the migraines that you go through, they make an impact on you. How do we like, you know, cleanse it? We can't go to the mountains every single day. You've also incorporated Ayurvedic… Yes, I have. …way of life. 100%. What do you do?

[00:22:19] Like how would you approach is it about the diet or it's about medicines or it's panchkarma yoga? So I'll tell you what. So for me, Ayurveda came to me through intuition. Okay. I've never studied it.

[00:22:31] Yes, I have gone and spent a lot of time with great art of the living teachers. Okay. And learnt the way to lead your life and read books. I think when you come to the path of yoga, everything unfolds, right?

[00:22:44] Asana really helped me so it's very… I educate people about dhinacharya. Why you need to live life a certain way? Why you should have a circadian rhythm? And I like to tie it with western science, you know, because science is doing a great job now on unraveling.

[00:23:01] Why should we eat between 10 to 2? Yes. Even like relating it with the sunlight. Yes. And then why should we sleep? Melitin and pineal gland, headstand. So I try to tie in every single thing.

[00:23:13] So when people come to my retreats, I tell them, you don't need more than two meals a day. That's intermittent fasting, right? Exactly. For you. Eat a natural plate. No one should be telling you.

[00:23:22] In olden times actually, you know, if I used to speak to my grandmom, she's not there anymore. But technically they used to never eat after sunset. Yeah. Right? And it was normal what they were doing, cooking in proper utensils, eating in

[00:23:35] proper utensils, living with nature, you know, and just being guided by what the nature is telling them. So for people like us we're already being guided by nature, right? Like for example, I know it's summer and I know I shouldn't be eating like

[00:23:50] for example, too much of a particular kind of fruit that's not seasonal. It's not like a dietitian has to tell me. My body tells me. Yes. In fact, when I see the fruit, I feel like it's not for me. Yeah. That's intuition right there for you. Yes.

[00:24:05] So I keep telling people you really need to reset your nervous system so intuition can flow through you. So you are guided in your training. Yeah. And then when people don't have that, I educate them. I tell them, you know what? You need to follow a certain lifestyle.

[00:24:19] You should go for a Panchakarma or a juice fasting once a year if that Prarab is there for you. Right. That is the best way to do it. So just hold on to that thought, what you said, right?

[00:24:29] That if we do all these techniques, whether it's yoga, pranayama, which is breath work and meditation, what technically it's doing is is bringing our awareness to a heightened state from where we are right now. Maybe it will, for a beginner, gradually it will heighten it. Right.

[00:24:48] And then you are much more aware of what is happening around and your decisions and your perceptions gets cleared. Yeah. Right? The shloka that they say is yoga chitta vritti niroda. People don't know how many thoughts and anxieties and worries they're carrying in a single moment. Yeah.

[00:25:07] When you're doing that practice, it's clearing it all away. So you can really see right what is. Yeah. You're not seeing what was. Correct. Or what is that hazy mirror? Yes. Or that mirror filled with illusion. Yes. You're seeing what is. What is as is. As is.

[00:25:22] And that is the first thought they say is that intuition thought comes to you, comes to everyone. All that has happened is clouded with layers and layers and layers of the thought or some tendencies or vastness which are coming up. Yes. It's just blocking patterns.

[00:25:39] It's like a veil. So if you're doing all these techniques, it's clear. Correct. And then you can see things as is and you'll take decisions and be anywhere guided by the intuition. Right.

[00:25:50] So it's really beautiful if you know now that you've been on this journey for like a so that you want to take a pan at all. You'll question it. You'll question it. Why am I taking that? Yes.

[00:26:02] And then you will ask people and trust me if you have your intuition on the right person to tell you, hey, you don't take the water. You know, don't harm your gut. So what's happened is over the years because of that and people who come

[00:26:16] practice with me or start following that life. You know, I'm like, why are you taking that medicine? You don't need it. Yes. Eat nature based your what are you eating broccoli? Yes. It's cruciferous. It's going to upset your intestines. Yes.

[00:26:29] So I think what's happened is like when you start doing these practices, the automatic shift happens where you come towards not taking too much aloe patee. You know, start questioning life, eating naturally. You don't want to eat at 2am.

[00:26:44] You know, you mentioned about being aware and all these techniques are making us just be aware of that this is it. This is what's happening around take the right decision and inclusion will come up at the right time.

[00:26:55] And there is something which I've been exposed to because of my sister. She teaches the NLP hypnotherapy and hope ono-pono exercise or, you know, therapy as it's called. And I think what I've learned in that is that you are connected to everything and you're responsible for everything. Right.

[00:27:13] To the extent that I'm responsible for the way I interact with this mic right now, this chair, this paper. And if I don't give its due attention, the issue comes because of that. Of course. So is that level of thinking that, you know, you are responsible for

[00:27:27] everything around in your life. And some area which is neglected is asking for attention. And that's the reason there's problem in that area. I 100% believe that, you know, nothing is a coincidence. The only choice we have in our life is our reactions.

[00:27:43] If we are able to just see situations and be and not react, then our life would be different, right? Whatever we get energy to will grow, will flourish. Yes. Whatever we avoid will not. It's not okay for me to just be a mother.

[00:28:01] I have to fulfill my purpose also, my Svadharma. Yeah. Right? So when we're so heightenedly aware, I'm also aware that my, hey, you know, how is my health doing? How is my mother-in-law feeling? Is my father-in-law still not feeling like everything becomes about care. Right?

[00:28:21] I'm not here with you, you know, even as Mike, if I just, I'm like treating it, it's just Mike. It's a non-living, you know, piece of equipment. Yeah. Just wiping your reformer after you use it is the care it deserves. Yes. Right? Yes.

[00:28:37] And I feel like, because quantum science says everything is energy. And I feel like what happens is also attracts you. Your frequency becomes such that I attracted you, Shailja, in my life. Exactly. Right? Exactly.

[00:28:49] And also people who are like us are so aware that, hey, you know what? We want to wear any cotton. It feels good because of course the oxygen is going through. But it's not because someone told them. Yeah.

[00:29:01] It's because they realized they felt like, you know, the artisans were well treated when they were making this piece of fabric. And that's how I think our life starts flowing. The dots start connecting. Yeah. You know, things start happening. Yeah. And we cannot be happy in a silo.

[00:29:19] In a silo. We can't. We are connected to it. We are connected. And you know, you won't believe this is like so eerie because I think after the pandemic, everybody was questioning life in the world.

[00:29:30] So there's this global wellness summit that happens in the world and this time it happened in Qatar. Okay. So in that they looked at wellness for the whole world and they realized that the most important factor for us to feel healthy and well is how connected we are.

[00:29:45] Right. So yeah, even science is saying that the most important way to feel healthy and well is how connected with you are. It's not seeing with nature, but I can tell you it's with nature. It's with people. It's with objects.

[00:30:00] If you're not feeling that flow in your life, then you'll feel unhappy. Right. Right. You know, right. And that's exactly what the Gita also says, which is why I feel a Gita such a perfect manual. And every person should study it.

[00:30:15] Because so in term, your yoga practices, you are also learning at this stage. Right. So I think as a Sadhak, we should never stop learning. Yeah. So we have this term called self study or Swadhyaya. Yeah.

[00:30:29] I have been studying the moment I entered my yoga teacher training till today. Okay. So every 40-50 days I pick up a Mandala. Okay. So right now I'm learning the Gita chant.

[00:30:39] So I'm also studying, I do a Vedanta class every week with this group where we pick up one Upanishad or like, you know, part of the Veda and we go over chapter by chapter. Can you talk about Vedanta like for a layman? So it's what does it mean?

[00:30:52] And so I'm so happy you asked me because there's so less information on this and so less teachers and spiritual people talking about it. But you will be so surprised to know this. I found Vedanta by CEOs and YPO's of Dubai. Amazing.

[00:31:11] So all the CEOs of the world right now who are little, you know, who are in aware organizations and the YPO's are asked to go to Vedanta Institute in Lonavala and study with Swami Parasarathi. Okay.

[00:31:26] So when I heard that I was like, you know, I met this person called Kunal Suryani and he told me about this. I was very intrigued and asked him what is the program like?

[00:31:34] He said, Achal, we go to Lonavala and these are all people from London who've never been in India. We wake up at four in the morning, we study these books, then we go work out and then

[00:31:44] we sit with Swami Ji and he talks to us and we do a little bit of like, you know, Karma Yoga or something. And we come back and we sleep by six, seven p.m. And I was like, wow Kunal, this is so great for someone like me.

[00:31:57] And I was like, so what does it do to you Kunal? That's what I want to know. He said, Achal, you become better decision makers. And when you're at the leadership level. So and when you're a CEO, you're making decisions every second of the day

[00:32:07] and I found that so interesting. And I was like, I need to look at this. So by grace, I entered the Chinmayar mission or some odd day through my kids, Shishu Vihar. And I connected with my teacher Lakshmi Gulab at such a deep level that

[00:32:22] when she met me, she was like, we felt like we'd known each other for hundreds of years. And I started teaching like 20 classes with her because I was just so intrigued. And then I started attending her Gita class.

[00:32:38] And when I attended her Gita class, I felt like I knew everything. But it really changed the way because Vedanta is a study of how to live life. As anyone told us, whatever our parents are teaching is their mental conditioning, their mental condition, their traumas, their interactions.

[00:32:56] But it's wrong at some level, right? Because they're passing on their ancestral trauma to me. No one told me that if I don't, I don't like go and pursue my purpose. I won't feel happy. You know, I was taught that being a good wife is good enough.

[00:33:10] It doesn't matter to me what my husband earns. I mean, in olden days, like what you're saying, right? Beyond the house children were sent to Gurukul. And Gurukul is technically, you know, we go to a yoga retreat or we go to a ashram

[00:33:27] or we look for spiritual teachers in modern age that's become Gurukul because the concept of Gurukul is not there. Right? You just said that generational trauma and conditioning is true because parents can only do that much. They are carrying their impressions. They have this subconscious mind.

[00:33:44] Their cleansing is going on. Their karmic debts are getting cleared. They are passing it on. But then after a point, you know, this Shishu Vihar or any other, you know, teaching for children of Vedanta or Ayurvedic way of life is brilliant in modern days.

[00:34:01] Yeah, it is brilliant because they have to be out. They have to have some stimulus which is beyond the parents and beyond school as well. And I think it's a great way. So basically before the British came into our country,

[00:34:14] every kid was sent to Gurukul and taught Vedanta. Absolutely. So that when they evolved, by the time they are 18 and they are going out in the world, they know how to move through life. Exactly. We have never been taught. Never.

[00:34:26] We have never been taught that if there is a conflict, we are in trouble. So we have figured it out ourselves. We found our own way to learn. Which is a very Jogadu way, right? Very Jogadu, very like on the go.

[00:34:35] But when I studied the Gita, I was like, this is so scientific. Why did I not look at this? Because it's been wrapped in the garb of religion. Yeah. And there is so much. Why did we not?

[00:34:46] Just because of that word, Krishna, I was like, wow, why did we not do this as kids? Because he's so scientific. He says that you are wasting your time being emotional. Go into the world of action and exhaustion. Vastanas. Now you are a certain way.

[00:35:02] You are someone who gets very angry. Just sitting in your room or shouting it out is not going to help you, right? You're going to repeat this behavior. How are you going to deal with this?

[00:35:11] How are you going to exhaust this anger enough to substitute it with positivity or like something else? And also when you're talking about Gita and the Gita Saar, from what I remember, it also takes you, hand holds you from one level of understanding to another level.

[00:35:29] Karma yoga, se gyan yoga, se bhakti yoga. So eventually you're reaching bhakti yoga but there's a path to it of self-evolution. Because it goes very much first in like, first heat places you in the battlefield, which almost hundreds of cent off.

[00:35:45] And he makes you understand that listen, you're wasting your life thinking that I am, you know, you're doing it very emotionally. Step out of that emotion. You know, I will tell you how to lead your life. Then he goes on to saying what is dharma? What is swadharma?

[00:36:01] What is, why do you need to be sanatan dharma? Why do you need that in your life? Then he goes to understand like, you know, explaining like how to deal with conflict. What are vasanas? How are they impacting you?

[00:36:12] Then he makes you question, you know, what is it? Who are you? Yeah. Body, mind, intellect, what is that? What is that leading to? I have to share one experience I had. Please do. Part of living. My first back in 1999, 2001, bless my teacher, Kavita Vig in Delhi.

[00:36:34] The experience I had was, you know, when she was teaching us and I was very young at that time and she's telling us about all that you just spoke about. And then she mentioned that now observe your body. I'm like, bro, I am the body.

[00:36:52] Why are you talking about? You I'm young and you know, I'm here just to, you know, kind of explore. I've heard so much about this course. And then the second or the third day when the transformation happened and I had like really brilliant experience.

[00:37:05] It was such a fundamental shift in the way I saw myself. Right. And in three days, I saw myself again beyond the body, beyond the body, which is amazing. Yeah.

[00:37:18] And I think once you realize that you're not the body or not this mind, you're not the intellect, all the all the doors are shattered, all the hurdles are shattered because there's no fear anymore. You're like fear is an emotion. It's not me. Yes.

[00:37:33] So you keep walking and you know my like Swami Chinmayanda again going back to Kunal and Vidanta Institute and the CEO is doing it. Then I started studying with Chinmayan Mission and I did the Upanishad on death, which is so transformational. Yes.

[00:37:49] Because all of this mumbo jumbo of life is for that last second when we leave. You know, when you understand all of that, you realize that you so many like hurdles. Stop. You know, there's a lot of, there's lots written about this last passage of life. Yeah.

[00:38:05] Whether it's in Tibetan or Buddhism. Sadguru is written about this. Like my mom was reading that book she was here with us and there is knowledge out there. The fundamental thing is right now we're talking about life and when you're talking about you're not the body.

[00:38:20] Right now to some listeners, they might feel what is that? It can be overwhelming to hear this. Right. And the point we are making here is that there is a huge science out there in form of yoga, pranayama, meditation. Which is cool. Which is very cool.

[00:38:34] We have cool teachers like her who are combining it with science, with Vidanta, with Ayurvedic way of living and full package. Agreed. Right. So yeah, it's absolutely cool. Right. There are many people who keep asking me you've been in media corporate life for two decades

[00:38:51] and also pursuing spirituality for two decades now. And I believe you me, Anjul, I wouldn't have survived. Yeah, you can't. I wouldn't have survived this professional life if I was not on this path. I agree. It's very tough. Right.

[00:39:05] And I wonder people who are not doing it and bless them because whatever makes them happy. Right. If pubbing is making them happy, it's okay. Whatever makes you happy, I say that okay. That's your prara. Right. It's not, I mean it, you don't need it. Yeah.

[00:39:19] But for me like you, your journey, you know, you mentioned that in New York, something was missing. Yeah. I think that's where it started for me. Everything is there. Yeah. There are some things that are wrong. But there are some things that are wrong. Yeah.

[00:39:31] And the immense connection I feel like I never not practice. So today I woke up really early to make sure I practice. I could do my hair and I could come to you. So my practice doesn't take a back seat. Yes.

[00:39:44] Because I know when I don't practice, I feel so unsettled. I feel like, you know, I'm going to shout at my kids unnecessarily. I'm going to, and then when I practice, I'm just so centered. Right. And even when I'm not centered, I'm aware. Yes. I'm not centered.

[00:39:59] That is the most important, most important awareness for me at this moment. Right. You know, for the cynics out there, if anybody is listening right now, what I would say is experiment. It's so important to experiment because what we are talking about right now, don't

[00:40:12] go by what you and I are talking about. Right. It's about experimenting with pranayama, with meditation, with yoga and see the difference, see the transformation. And I say don't even come to us. I say go do NSDR with Huberman lab. Do that if that makes you happy. Yeah.

[00:40:29] But do it to see what are you missing out on? Go do breath work with Wim Hof. Yeah. Do that because ultimately they are only doing this guys. Yes. They're making it look cool and you guys are going there. Yes.

[00:40:40] So the same thing is what we're saying like you know, Huberman lab is bundling it up and selling it to Sundar Pichai. What is that? NSDR is yoga nidra with Swami Niranjanasaraswati has been propagating and that Swamiji no offense to him. He doesn't meet people.

[00:40:57] He's media shy so you don't know about him. But the work he's done is exemplary and it's only available to people like us because we're tapping on his door. But people like go do Huberman lab you know but you must try at least. Yeah.

[00:41:13] So thankfully Sheldja you know we're in at age where people are experimenting. So there is some hope for us. Yeah. Absolutely when you're talking about experimenting I would say you know I've stayed in Singapore, London and now India. I've got in all these countries.

[00:41:28] I still feel and we had this conversation before this show started is that India is still behind. Because there's so much available. We have a problem of plenty. We are you know we are that privileged child who has been in the land of spirituality, yoga, yogis.

[00:41:45] We take it for granted. I was teaching in London and believe you me people would come for the intro talk sit there in silence and have so much of gratitude for the technique. Right. And then they'll come back for the course.

[00:42:00] They'll learn the technique and they'll be off. So no bamboo jambu after that or anything they want you know any connection but they are practicing. Yeah. It's again about the energy that you give right that respect that they

[00:42:14] sat through the intro and the finale and didn't walk off in the middle. Yeah. If you go to any conversations of Shri Shiji you see so many people you know he deserves more. He's done a lot for the world right.

[00:42:27] So definitely the awareness is next level in Dubai. It is next level. I would say it even goes surpassed. What are they doing? What's happening? Art of the living and Chinmeh mission has just done exemplary well over there. Yeah. They have taken these practices. People are really loyal.

[00:42:48] They're regular. They keep elevating it. So it's not like they stopped at Sudarshan Kriya or the Gita. They're moving forward. So I did Mandukya Upanishad which is such an important science because it takes your mind and it brackets it into four compartments

[00:43:02] and it tells you you know you have impressions. You have an intellect. You have a Mahat. You know you have an ego. You need to understand what is your ego. What is it doing to you? So they're going ahead.

[00:43:15] They come for Asna that's the most you can expect. After two and a half years of work I have now a Bhagavad Gita class coming up. See of course it's a desire in me but I can only give that when there's an audience.

[00:43:32] So now people are like okay you know when is the Gita class coming? When is it now there's a Hanuman Chalisa workshop I'm doing for kids. Before I started Bal Vihara I had four kids. Only four kids because football was more important right? Yeah.

[00:43:47] Or some other class was more important. On Saturday morning we can't wake up for Bal Vihara. Why do we need to learn how to arati? So now I believe there's a little bit of a change but I think we're still behind.

[00:44:01] And a lot of it is to do with perceptions like art of the living and which in my mission and all of that but I think people like us are trying to break that and it will happen in ten years. In ten years. In ten years.

[00:44:18] I see ten years. So we have to be at it. I think people like us although it's a thankless profession it's a passion project guys. We have to be at it. We have to be at it.

[00:44:29] Okay this brings me to the interesting and the fun part the quick bites on unstoppable. So if you could have superpowers what could they be? I would say to allow disabled people not be to be abled. That's something that's very close to my heart.

[00:44:48] I have a lot of people like that in my life. Okay. My next question what is the most common misconception about Vedanta? That it's religious. It's absolutely not. It's super scientific. Like it's better than any science that you can Einstein read it. So yeah Einstein read the Gita.

[00:45:07] Okay. Okay. One spiritual book that brought transformation in your life. The Bhagavad Gita. Your favorite yoga retreat destination yet to happen. Yet to happen. Kailash. Oh wow. Yeah that's coming up guys. Okay. And if you could time travel which era would you visit?

[00:45:26] I would definitely go to Satyoga and I would want to be around Ram because you know having a person like that in your life is very inspirational. If you were not a yoga trainer and still working in corporate life the way you were in New York.

[00:45:42] I would stay with consulting. I loved it. I absolutely loved the entire you know like the so your on your heels and high intellect. You have to be very intelligent to survive that I would be in consulting.

[00:45:57] One Ayurvedic herb which is your one stop solution for many ailments. So I would say there I would not say herb, herb. I would say Amritdhara. Okay. It's an excellent you can keep it in your pocket like I always carry actually a kit of like things.

[00:46:13] Amritdhara is great for acidity for headaches. It's great for a joint any heat related disease. Okay. So that's one thing I carry. Okay. Like you can get it anywhere and yeah you can get an Ayurvedic store. It's actually fabulous for kids. Okay. I discovered it for my children.

[00:46:30] Amritdhara. It's a small little you know it's got a little Kapoor in it. It's a small bottle and you can just put it in honey or you can have it in a spoon and okay you have it and immediately you'll burp. Okay. So any any gastric issue yeah.

[00:46:45] Yeah. Head day you know which is honestly the pandemic of today. Migraines. Yeah. Yeah. You know it's the pandemic. It's starting from the stomach like you know if you listen to Dr. Vignesh who is a really prominent Ayurvedic doctor he says that a very good person

[00:47:00] says that Abhi Hamara, Hamare Pure Ye 10 years me Pitta issues are stomach related. Lot of fire issues. Too much fire too much inflammation. So then breath work will absolutely is so good because it airy sets your nervous system

[00:47:15] it corrects your digestive fire it gives vehicle you know toning yes it is very important for grass yes because you're battling it out every single day. Yes. My next question your go to mantra for inner peace.

[00:47:30] So I do a lot of Triambakam, Mahamrityan Jay Mantra you know in fact I chant so much it's crazy I love this Hanuman chant which I'm going to chant for you now please. It goes by Buddha Balam Yasodayriya Nirbhaya Tvam Arogatam Ajadhyam Vajapatutvam Cha Hanumatsmaranat Bhave.

[00:47:58] And what it means is that maybe be free from laziness have the freedom to have the courage to speak have freedom from have determination and have the ability to surrender. Lovely right which is so important in our life right.

[00:48:16] You know there's so much to chat and so much to talk and discover this layer after layer you're opening up and I think we might have a episode another episode with you but for today thank you so much Anshil it was lovely and lovely knowing you a little

[00:48:32] more than what I knew and you're a beautiful person and we wish you all the best for the journey you're on. Thank you so lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing all the unstoppable women. Thank you so much.