The Sivana Podcast

Many of us crave the stability of daily, at-home yoga practice – but life gets in the way! In this episode, I share my top three tips on how to make it to your mat daily. These have worked for me personally and for thousands of my Uplifted members. Turn your daily practice fantasy into a reality with concrete action steps. Can’t wait to share these with you! Join Brett’s Uplifted Membership with a FREE month (use code PODCAST at checkout) http://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/

Let’s dive deeper into Rumi! Today, award-winning translator and scholar of Rumi, Shahram Shiva, teaches us about the chemistry of sound, quatrains, and the art of translating Rumi from Persian. We also talk about ‘transformative whirling’ as a path to enlightenment, and how Rumi whirled when composing. We also read aloud Rumi poetry and discuss how to allow Rumi’s teaching deepen your spiritual life. Don’t miss this special episode.

Let’s travel back to the 13th century and learn about Rumi! Award-winning translator and scholar of Rumi, Shahram Shiva, takes us on a journey of Rumi’s early life. How did Rumi transition from a conservative scholar to the poet we love and know today? Why was his teaching so radical? What about his teaching is still so relevant today? Listen to learn more!

What are the natural hormonal shifts that women experience each month in unison with the lunar phases? Naturopathic doctor, Cassandra Wilder, guides us step-by-step through the New, Waxing, Waning and Full moon. She also provides dietary guidelines and advice for those looking to regulate their cycle or sync their cycle with the moon. Related Episodes 183 and 184: Lunar Abundance: Cultivating Joy Using the Phases of the Moon

Reclaim your menstrual cycle as a time to slow down and make space for healing. Today’s guest, naturopathic doctor Cassandra Wilder, invites us to remember the sacred significance of menstruation. Get ready to shift your perspective around your period and learn many practical tips. Cassandra offers us 4 natural ways we can alleviate common symptoms like PMS, bloating, cramping and fatigue. Related Episodes 173 and 174: Secrets of Ayurveda: Bliss & Spiritual Revelation through Your Menstrual Period

Helen Chin Lui, author of “Know Your Chakras – Introduction to Energy Medicine,” comes on the show today to talk with me about the Chakras!!! Expect lots of AHA moments in this episode as Helen and I dive into less commonly discussed aspects of these energy centers. Helen covers: the front and the back of the Chakras, the concept of “emotion” versus “will,” and why prioritize recharging our energy. We talk about how the Chakras are never truly in balance, but fluctuating throughout your day.

What’s the difference between acupuncture and reflexology? Why would you choose one healing modality over another? Do your organs really map to your feet? Is reflexology really just a foot massage? Get all these questions answered in today’s show with Helen Chin Lui, Certified Reflexologist, Certified Energy Medicine Practitioner and a Certified Reiki Practitioner. We talk about pressure points, Chinese Medicine and taking charge of your own energy. Don’t miss this special episode!

Often teachers ask us to "set an intention" when coming to our yoga mat -- but what does that actually mean? And how do we do this? What if having to set an agenda for our practice triggers us or feels like extra work? In this episode, I cover 3 key methods of "intention setting," how you can use intentions to get key questions about your life answered, and even how to heal yourself (and loved ones) with the power of your practice.

Let’s talk about thinking – HOW to think positive thoughts! In this episode, I explain “passive thinking” and detail the POWER your thoughts have to shape your reality. Learn my techniques for ""blowing the whistle" and “policing” my own thoughts. You can practice these techniques too!

Learn about all the things I’ve done “wrong” in business and my key takeaways. Inspired by my conversation with Dave Ursillo in which we talked about his “failed” book launch, I open up and talk about two whole companies that I launched, which didn’t quite work out quite as planned... Enjoy my post-mortem on my experiences, including the lessons I took away. These learnings helped me form the successful yoga business that I love running today.   

Let’s talk about failure - Woohoo! Social media tends to showcase all the highs. But every successful author and entrepreneur has battle wounds and failures that helped shape who they are today. In this episode, successful author Dave Ursillo takes us deep into the story of his failed first book. Together, we reverse engineer all the things that went TERRIBLY wrong with this first book and extract gold nuggets of wisdom and insight for YOU.

How to the five koshas correspond to the chakra system? How can we balance the five koshas? What can we do (beyond yoga asana), to live a truly yogic life? What do the Vedic scriptures advise? If you’ve wondered about any of these things (I know I have!), you’ll love today’s interview with Ayurveda/Yoga Lifestyle Consultant, Akshata Sheelvant. We go deep into some very complex concepts. Ready to discuss the astral body? Causal body? Let’s do this!

Today’s special episode is a guided, energetic clearing exercise with Art Giser. Let’s deprogram what’s not serving us! For the first fifteen minutes of this episode, Art explains how the exercise works, what to expect and how we can see the negative energy of others as a gift. I ask him about INTUITION and what role it plays in NLP. According to Art, oftentimes what we think is our intuition could be subconscious programming we’ve inherited. The second fifteen minutes is a powerful visualization,

What if you want to clear a particular negative energy, habit or pattern, but you can’t? According to today’s guest, it could be karma and past spiritual contracts that aren’t allowing you to move forward. Today’s guest, Art Giser, is the founder of creator of Energetic NLP, which stands for Neurolinguistic Programming. He’s an internationally renowned NLP trainer, intuitive, and healer.

Our guest, yoga teacher Kelly Smith, was a Savasana-skipper before discovering the subtler aspects of yoga. Now, she teaches meditation and Yoga Nidra almost exclusively! Today she shares her personal story as well as tons of fantastic tips. We cover: What to do if your mind is racing during Savasana or meditation. The pros and cons of guided versus non-guided meditations. Are “guided” meditations a crutch?