Good Life Project - Julie Piatt aka SriMati: On Sacred Moments (and Vegan Cheese).

Episode Date: July 10, 2017

Guest: Julie Piatt aka SriMati is a plant-based chef, meditation guide, yoga teacher, musician, and author of This Cheese is Nuts!: Delicious Vegan Cheese at Home.Story: In the midst of a successful career as a designer and business owner, Julie and her husband made radical changes in career. While this set in motion a powerful new path for both, it also led them into a financial collapse that took nearly 7 years to emerge from, all which navigating both their own individual evolutions and parenting four kids.This challenging time, or as Julie calls it “The Sacred Moment,” has not only defined she as a person but also allowed her to become the highest version of her true self and informed her journey as a teacher, creator, life-partner and parent.Big idea(s): Times in our lives that are filled with struggle and pain that bring us to our knees are Sacred Moments that strip us of anything false, show our true nature, and forge us into our highest selvesYou’d never guess: How receiving her spiritual name, SriMati, has impacted Julie’s journey of discovering her life purpose.Current passion project: Facilitating intimate retreats of yoga, meditation, exploration, and transformation and building a community of like-minded people around the globe. And developing a line of in-store cheese.Want more? Listen in on Jonathan's 2015 conversation with Julie: Fueling Vibrant Health the Plantpower Way and you can watch the video of Jonathan's 2013 conversation with Rich Roll: How One Man Kicked Addiction, Dropped 50 Pounds And Became Ultra-Fit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You know, so many people, they're just like, I want to help people. Well, you can't even help people if you can't walk yourself or you don't really know who you are. And I mean, know who you are when you're on your knees, when you've been in that moment. And so the beauty of those experiences is it chisels you into a servant because suddenly you understand that you are not in control of any of this. And all Ma has to do is shake a little bit and we all go flying like ants in the wind. So when most of us think about those moments in life that bring us to our knees that are very often filled with struggle and pain, I think it's probably safe to say we don't look at them as sacred moments. Well, today's guest, Julie Payette, has a bit of a different lens.

In fact, she looks at them as profoundly sacred. That's one of the things that we talk about, along with a whole bunch of other things. Julie's been on the show in the past. We talked about the book that she actually co-wrote with her husband, Rich Roll, The Plant Power Way, and sort of her journey as a spiritual teacher and musician and healer and somebody who lives a plant-based lifestyle. We go deeper into some really specific topics this time. She's also got a new book out called This Cheese is Nuts, which is actually a really fun and playful name for a two-year experimental deep dive into making these luscious, delicious cheeses and cheese-based dishes

from plants without using the traditional dairy and stuff like that. By the way, the images in the book are kind of mind-blowingly stunning, and the food looks just ridiculously good. I can't wait to dive into this and start making them for myself. But we dive into some tough, some raw, some challenging places here. We talk about spirituality and food. We talk about those moments when we are brought to her knees, and she shares a very, very challenging journey that she has gone through in her life as an individual, as a mom, as a partner, and as somebody who had to really find her own space and identity and struggled in a very practical, very raw way for many years.

We talk about navigating that sacred moment with her family. We talk about community. We talk about healing and music and ritual and all sorts of really powerful moments and ideas. So really excited to share this conversation with you. I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is Good Life Project. The Apple Watch Series X is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping.

And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman.

I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him, we need him! Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. I was thinking about where to start because we've talked before and have had Rich on before.

And I was like, you know what? You and I have like we overlap in so many different ways. There's so many directions we could go. Many ways. And I was like, let's let's. I was thinking, okay, big topics, spirituality, food, community, relationships, and cheese. Yeah. That sounds like a conversation. I can go there with you. Those are like all courses in a meal. I think we're kind of like laid out like that.

Six course meal. Yeah. So, so for those listening, if you want sort of like more of the fuller backstory, we'll, we'll link to sort of an earlier conversation. But I kind of wanted to dive into sort of spirituality with you because you have this really kind of interesting lens. So you go by two names, which are? Only two. Only two right now.

Well, my full spiritual name is Ma Ananda Srimati, but I shortened it to Srimati. So I go by Julie Payet and Srimati. Okay. So by Julie, Paiet, and Srimati. Okay, so let me ask you a question. It's so weird. Like, are they, when you, and I know that it's actually, you know, it's fairly common that when you devote yourself to a spiritual path that at some point in that lineage, you may be given a different name. Do you feel like they're just two different names? Or is there like an identity connected of the two things into really unity, just recently. And until recently, if you'd asked me to say my street name, Julie, it gets stuck in my mouth. It was never easy for me to say my name. If someone said, what's your name?

I'd be like, Julie. Then they'd be like, Julie? I'd be like, no, Julie. It just never sort of came out of my mouth. And recently, just literally in the last week, not right now on this podcast because it still feels a little weird to me, but there are moments when somebody says, what's your name? And I say, Julie, and it's there. I'm like, oh, it feels right.

So I deeply wanted to be connected to a spiritual lineage. And part of that process was getting a spiritual name from you know a master a teacher and i've had many but it was interesting because when i got this name i had forgotten that i had checked the box off on some form and when they called my name i was completely surprised like i was not prepared to get a spiritual name the day he gave it to me. And it was an Indian master named Nityananda, and I'd done a workshop with him, and they called me up, and I was going through this very, very traumatic time

where I had separated from another spiritual teacher, and it had happened in kind of an intense way. And they were talking about that the spiritual name is three things. It's the being of who you are. It's the path to enlightenment. And it's the goal of enlightenment, if there is a goal. So it means all three things. So what this being did was meditated on me and came up. This is the name that he got. So when I kneeled before him and he gave me my name, he said, you are Ma Ananda Srimati.

And he said, this means blissful, beautiful, and fortunate. And as a spiritual name goes, it's kind of a beautiful name to be given. However, don't misunderstand. We are often given the spiritual name of where we need to return. Like rise to? Yeah. Well, I would say, you would say rise to in another perspective, return to. So for the beginning, you go, oh, like I'm so lucky. Like he gave me this gorgeous name, right? Right. I'm blissful, beautiful, and fortunate.

I'm blissful, beautiful, and fortunate. How awesome. How awesome is that? But really what that meant was that I had so much self-judgment and burdensome and ambition. And like I had a lot that I needed to drop. But when he gave me that name, 10,000 bricks just fell off my back. And I suddenly stopped pursuing knowledge with this hardness, with this drive. I would call it ambition. I stopped that and started to be the artist that I am, which is natural to me. It's natural. I'm

always creating art through every medium that I use, that I pick up. And it's really just one and the, you know, one and the same thing is how it feels to me. So the spiritual name, I mean, the reason that I keep it and that I used it is that I don't take it for granted. It's very dear to me. It was given to me at a very important time in my life. And the yogi lineage has blessed me with so much grace. And I always say this, I'm not a devotee of anybody. I'm not of

the lineage, but I love the lineage. And I'm intelligent enough to recognize the beauty of these practices, the grace that is given, and really the amazing wisdom and expansive space that these practices bring to my life. It has made my life beautiful to be in these. And it's also really weird that I have these two things. Like there's my street self. I'm like, yeah, that's really strange. So the three things, do you feel like you actually have returned to them at this point? Or is that the work that happens throughout the entirety of your life? Well, it's not work anymore. It's beingness. So I'm in the moment and I touch upon different parts of that in different ways. And there's always a level. So if you think you've arrived, there's always a place you can sink deeper or expand fuller or drop more open, you know?

So I don't think it ever ends, but I think I experience a lot of states where I'm completely immersed in my being in comfort, in ease, in beauty, in freedom, and in a complete nonjudgment of what comes out of me. It's almost like if I judge what I'm expressing, I'm judging this divine force. So I really function as a channel and as a servant without an agenda, like just spontaneously, naturally, as naturally as, you know, breathing, taking a breath. Okay. So you said when you got the name it was like a

load of brakes dropped off your back how long until you got to this place yeah right because it's like i think there's so much aspiration and attainment wrapped around sort of modern day spirituality and um it's interesting i had a couple years ago, I sat down with Sakyamipam Rinpoche, who's sort of the head of Shambhala Buddhist lineage. And he also happens to be, you know, like a pretty fierce marathoner and equestrian. He's a competitor. Wow. Because I'm so curious, because he comes from a lineage where the idea, at least the way that I've understood it, is that desire, meaning desire towards a particular outcome, you know, is one of the things that you are to let go of. Because it is, you know, it is that desire, meaning desire towards a particular outcome, you know, is one of the things that you are to let go of because it is, you know, it is the seed,

in fact, of so much suffering. Yet he's somebody who aspired very fiercely. And it's kind of like, are you really going to tell me that you trained that hard not to finish under four hours? You were completely out of touch, seriously. Yeah, and I'm so fascinated with this sort of interplay between desire, aspiration, and spirituality. And I don't hear it spoken about a whole lot other than just this blanket pronouncement that desire is bad. Yeah, and I disagree completely.

I mean, not that I disagree. I think another perspective is that there has to be desire or we wouldn't be in a body. We wouldn't even be here. There would be no reason to be here. So there is some ego involved in being alive, in being in a human body. And that is necessary. And a lot of times I reflect on myself, for instance, because I've had a desire to sing to audiences, to share my music. And it's a deep desire and it's a knowing inside of me, even though like logically it makes no sense. I started channeling music in my forties. I was entirely too old to ever do such a thing. Right. But it's a deep intrinsic knowing that it's my Dharma and

that when I sing in a certain way, it touches people in a certain way. And I know that. So when I look at the fact that I was a fashion designer and I like to dress a certain way. And I know that. So when I look at the fact that I was a fashion designer and I like to dress a certain way, and I certainly, you know, I curled my hair before I came over here and I have makeup on and, and, you know, I like the coolest shoes in the shop and, you know, I like my guitar a certain way. I like my house a certain way. I look at all of that and I observe it from an observer point. And I realized that those are attributes or their drives or their qualities that are part of my divine design that are intricately there for a reason. Because I am here to be of service to big groups of people and that goes along with that. Now, as I mature into my highest self, we'll see what form that looks like, what changes. So for me, it's not desireless. I did not incarnate on the top

of a mountain in Tibet in a cave. I'm a mom of four and now really five because my nephews live with me for seven years. So I'm a mom of five. I'm married to an ultra man. I live in a modern world. I'm sitting here in New York, you know, talking on this podcast. And so I don't view desire as bad. I view it as part of becoming the recipe of becoming more of service, more connected, more expansive. I like that.

Because it always, to me, I agree with you. There's, if we don't yearn for something, then we don't act towards it. And to me, I think so much of living a good life is about committing to a process of growth. Not always fun, but knowing that. Usually not fun at all. Hopefully tomorrow, you'll learn something and you aspire. And there's all this research,

actually, that's coming out of the world of positive psychology that shows that we are in our most satisfied or most meaning-filled state when we are aspiring, when we are working towards something. We're sort of like wired for striving. And I guess it's not so much the process of striving or desire that gets not, but it's the attachment to the thing that you're striving after. But again, this is where I get messed up because I'm like, if you have no genuine attachment to it, how could you aspire towards it or desire it? Which is where, yeah. Well, I would ask, does it bring you joy? Because it's always about the process. So I actually have something to, this is great that Yeah. don't dream. It's like you have the dream, and then you step in to be a player or a manifester or a co-creator in that dream. But in the end, then you release it and you give it all back to

Ma. So when I wake up in the morning, I thank Ma that I woke up and that I'm here. And then at the end of the day, I give her all of my triumphs and all of my tragedies. Everything belongs to her. So it's kind of that, that sort of separates it. And the thing that's really beautiful about life, and I always say this, that if you're really blessed, you'll be given a sacred moment at least one time in your life, maybe multiple times. And the sacred moment is what I define as when you're on your knees. So it's that moment where a loved one dies, there's an accident, something like that. Could be financial collapse, could be divorce, could be, you know Rich and me and you know we went through I call it a nine-year financial collapse but there was like a seven there was really seven years there was a year ramp down and then a year ramp up and had we known that it was going to be that long

like I don't know if we would have survived seriously but there was a process we went through and it was a friction it was like a gem being polished it was a process we went through and it was a friction. It was like a gem being polished. It was a constant friction of intensity that at times we didn't think we could bear it anymore. And then we would get maybe a little ebb or a little flow and then the friction would come again. And it literally felt like we were being chiseled into something different. And when you go through one of these experiences where you can't talk your way out of it, you can't watch a movie, you can't go on vacation and make it okay. If you have money, you can't buy something and make it okay. It's just you are in it. And you have no choice but to be in it fully. This alchemizes you and clears you of illusion, personality programs that are really not you. And you become very clear. And I really felt that in the early days, you know, Rich and I had a lot of really great aspirations. You know, we wanted to have a yoga company.

We wanted to like help people kind of, not really, but kind of. I always laugh, you know, we wanted to have a yoga company. We wanted to like help people kind of, not really, but kind of. I always laugh, you know, it's kind of like the spiritual, I like, I want to help people. And I'm like, yeah, but that's a Zoolander type of help people. You know, like I want to create a school for kids who can't read good. I want to be known for helping people. Exactly. And so, and that's okay. You know, it's like, it's okay.

It's just a little, it's a little bit more immature. And I think, you know, so many people, they're just like, I want to help people. Well, you can't even help people if you can't walk yourself or you don't really know who you are. And I mean, know who you are when you're on your knees, when you've been in that moment. And so the beauty of those experiences is it chisels you into a servant because suddenly you understand that you are not in control of any of this. And all Ma has to do is shake a little bit and we all go flying like ants in the wind. So from one perspective, it's really important what we're doing because you want to fulfill your divine design and we want to celebrate life, God as us embodied. And then from another experience important at all, not significant at all.

And I would just have to give it back to her. And then it would flow again back. So, you know, it was that crucial moment, Rich and I, we were like, we're on the razor's edge of either realizing all our dreams or being completely annihilated. Like it could have been either, could it was 50-50 either way. So those experiences, I think are sacred. I think they are huge gifts for the soul. And I think when we come out of those experiences, like now we've been maybe going on four years of everything connecting and our, you know, our, our expressions are expanding, and that creates a danger, a little bit of comfort, you know? So we're constantly bringing ourselves back to that remembrance of what, these three questions, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? And is it in the highest divine alignment?

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Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were going to be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing.

Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're going to die. Don't shoot him. We need him. Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here.

It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series 10, available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required. Charge time and actual results will vary. it's so interesting that the the idea of sacred moments and framing that as the moments when

you're brought to your knees as being like because most people wouldn't say that that's the sacred moment they would say that's the devastating the awful that's the one thing you want to avoid in life so i'm 51 i don't don't know anyone who's sort of hit my age and avoided at least one of those. It doesn't exist. And what's interesting is as you're sort of speaking, for some reason, I think I've also found myself suspect of following the invitations or instructions of others who haven't been there. I don't even care if you share the details with me, but I just kind of want to know that if, I don't want to say suspect, what I'll say is I found that increasingly in life, I look for teachers who I know have not had an easy time at the path that they've followed,

yet they've arrived at, or they're still arriving at a place that in some way I want to taste where they are. But I want to know that they've been on their knees at some point on the way too, because I want to understand how they got up from their knees as part of the process, because it's not an easy thing. And I think that's where so much of the awakening, the learning comes. And what you said about when you're in it, you don't know if this is, you know, the gauntlet, which is about to burn you or the gauntlet that's forging you for something higher until you actually start to emerge from it. With you, do you remember the earliest signals that this was, you were going to sort of start to emerge from this into a better

place? Well, I have to say that from the very beginning, I knew it was a spiritual journey. And I was very, very frustrated with people around me who were projecting, because in this society, financial collapse is shameful. It's a shaming. And it's that you're an idiot, you're irresponsible. I mean, people even will say, well, I pay all my bills, like they're very like proud of it, like that they have it all together financially. And so I knew that I'm going to kind of take me back. Okay, so you know, I'm a very sensitive being. So I can feel things on many different levels. And all I can tell you, I went to work, it's funny that I'm in food now, because let me share this. I worked on the cheese board at Burger King when I was 12. I was a fast talker. I could figure it out. I was kind of raised on the streets, sort of. So I got this job at Burger King. And why am I telling you this

story now? I've lost my train of thought. Okay. About the signs of sort of emerging into it. Oh, right, right, right. Okay. So I've always, so that's just an example of that. I've always done 29 things. I mean, I am like Lakshmi. I am like Durga. I have all kinds of arms. I can do multiple things simultaneously as most women or feminine identified people can. So here I was, you know, I had already had four children. I had had my own company, fashion designer. I was an interior designer. I built two homes. You know, I know how to function. I know how to make money. I know how to manage. And when I gave birth to my fourth daughter, it was like the universe just turned the faucet had ever sat down, and to the point where I knew that I couldn't work for money, and what I mean is I couldn't take a job like a design job, because if I only had four months left to live, I wouldn't have told you, oh, I can't wait to redesign your room. I would have been painting, I would have been praying. I would have been singing. So I had to stop working. And at the time I was making the lion's share of our income. And I told Rich he had to handle it. And what I explained this to people close around me is that I had four children and that I couldn't handle anymore because I knew no one was going to understand what I just said. So while this faucet was off, I knew there was a cultivating and a reorganization of my energy that was a very deep process. And I went through a very personal, deep spiritual journey and odyssey

into other realms, feeling the death of the planet, other life systems, other beings. It was like an inner moment for me over some years. And I say nothing happened and we went through financial collapse, but in fact, I channeled my music during this time, which is so dear to me and so precious to me that I would have come into a body simply for that. That would have been enough, just that one thing. And I played in a band with my children. So, you know, we couldn't buy groceries, but we were singing our hearts off, you know, in our heads and having this incredible experience. Simultaneously, I knew that Rich had to go through this transformation. And at the time, he was a lawyer, but he hated being a lawyer. And it was very confusing to the universe because it was a yes, no. Yes, give me a job. No, I hate that. He hates confrontation. He's soft. He's gentle. He's compassionate. He's not confrontational.

Doesn't like it at all. So I knew when he became vegan and started training, I knew that he had reconnected with something he loved as a boy. And I didn't know where that was going to lead, but I knew he had to do that. So I told him to train first, to tend to me and the children second. And if a law job fell in his lap, he could do it, but he could not pursue it. So it was this awareness of this extreme faith, this knowing that this was going to get us into our authentic expression. Now, did I know it was going to take that long? Absolutely not. Did we break down crying in public many times? Yeah. I mean, and the hardest part was the judgment of family and community for not understanding. And here we are in this moment. And instead of it being,

you know, I had had everybody's parties at my house. I had taken people on trips. Like I was always that person. And then when I became not that person, I was judged for it instead of loved, instead of, hey, let me hold you for a minute. So I always said that when I rose out of that, I always wanted to tell people that were struggling, I believe in you. I trust you. You're going to find your way. I think that's really one of the most powerful things we can offer to anyone because none of us are immune and it's going to visit you some way. Your karmic thing might not be finance. It might be a disease. It might be a breakup. It might be a tremendous loss. These are how we become. Yeah. What's really striking about that also is that you and Rich kind of simultaneously went through your own individual meltups.

Meltups. I love that word. to support a family. And yet it sounds like you were on the same page through much of this process, which is extraordinary and unusual. It's rare. Normally what that would do is it would break up a couple. And believe me, there were days he was just in agony and he was looking at me and I was just pointing at the door going, go run now, go out and train. I had no idea he was going to become an Ultraman, write a memoir. I had no idea. I didn't have any of these on a vision board. I just knew, I knew, like I've lived my life telling people that they should live their heart, you know, that they should really do what they want to do. I really believe that. So who am I if I want to do i really believe that so who am i if i want to do that for me but i'm making my husband not live his heart because of financial reasons and

it's extreme it was wild but i was i was devoted like i just knew the other way was never going to rise above a baseline existence because he didn't like what he was doing. It wasn't what he was meant to do. And I knew he was this financial collapse is not defining me as that. I'm in my sacred moment. And I held, I mean, I did ceremony in our house. I did ritual. I prayed. I'm going to write my memoir. I really am because I have like stories that are just incredible of how I weathered this type of thing. But it was, I refused to let the situation define me. And so when our cars got repossessed, you know, first one, and then they came with the flashlight, you know, in the window, Rich's instruction was not to move off neutral. That's, I was firm with him about that. I was like, I cannot handle your emotional breakdown on top of this warrior space that I'm holding.

So you stay neutral. That's it. And I would go out and I would talk to the guy and ask him about his family and sit down and have a cup of tea with him. I would make it a human experience. And then if he took the car, at least I still had that. I had my soul. And the kids would be like, mom, what's going to happen with the car we possessed? I was like, nothing. Look, breathe. We're here. I love you. We're here. How blessed. Did the kids understand what was going on? Yeah, they did. And, you know, really, I mean, really extraordinary. I would drop them off. I would have to sort of like plan the gas, you know, because we weren't on a bus route or whatever about how I would get

them to school. I mean, some weeks I had no gas. I mean, just insane, you know, and hilarious that I'm living in the modern temple in the mountain with no gas, right? But they believed in us, you know, they believed in us, they loved us, we had a happy home. We weren't, I wasn't up all night, I wasn't stressed. I was challenged, and I was in a spiritual groove, and we were finding the blessings wherever they came. And they didn't come the way we were trained. We lost our health insurance. I didn't have a bank account for four years. Thank God Rich had a bank account. I had none. And really, I, and really, I was fine. I did work and I just, you know, say, hey, you know, I need you to pay me in cash. It's kind of an uncomfortable thing. But,

you know, people be like, okay, or, you know, friend would drop off shampoo or, you know, our dear friend, Compton Rambada from Ascended Health who supported Rich so much through these early days of training with beautiful elixirs. One holiday, he dropped off a velvet pouch with thousands of dollars in it for me, for the kids. Beauty of humans. And also, I had to learn how to receive because I had never done that before in this modern world of all of us in our own little square, taking care of our own, you know, and to be that stripped that I had to say, thank you. I had to learn how to receive it and say, okay, in another space, time, I'm reciprocating, or maybe I already have, or maybe spiritually I've done something for him. Like there's a universal accounting that's always happening. Nothing's for free, right? Everything

has a result. So that was another aspect of that. But it was a deep, a deep time. Yeah. I think that's a story that's very often never told, especially in the shiny, happy internet world that you, I, Rich, and so many others that we know tend to live in. And I feel like there's so much value in sharing the struggle, not just because you want to put out struggle porn there and it drives eyeballs or whatever it may be, but because when you don't share that, that's a part of the journey and people, and you only paint the journey as shiny, happy, like next step up, next step up, next step up. And people look to your path, whether you want it or not to sort of define the way it quote should be. And then they get knocked down along the way rather than them saying, well, this is, of course, like this was going to come.

This is a part of everybody's path. We're all going to get knocked down in some way, shape or form. And my job is to figure out like, how do I move through this and be whole and emerge better? We set the expectation that instead that's a signal that something's wrong, that you're not doing this right. Because if you were doing it right, this wouldn't happen. You would just have success stacked on success. And I feel like it makes people back away when they would probably be most served really leaning in because they believe that it's a signal, that the struggle, that the resistance is a signal that it's not the right path,

it's not the right time, it's not the right moment. Rather than, no, even if this is the absolute right path and the right time and the right moment and the right thing, there will be really tough times along the way. Definitely. I mean, I think it's everything. I think that's, it's funny because I was drinking tea with Master Wuda last night in New York. And he was sharing that, you know, giving guidance is sticky. Because if you give guidance, then someone might look to me or you and think that they're living our life, and they're not, they're living our life and they're not. They're living their life. But we have to understand that as humans on this planet, I mean, we learn much

more. We become much more in the trials, in the tests, in the difficulties than we do in the blessings simply because it's human nature and it's easier. And also, I feel that, you know, being honest with these things, but I mean, really honest, not cultivating a message, you know, with a manipulation. This is the truth of who we are. This is what happened to me. And I have the scars to prove it. And it became a part of my cells. It became, we were alchemized in this process. You can never take that from us. We have become it. And that's another thing that I didn't really realize at a young age. I'm going to be 55 this year. And I thought I was going to be doing everything I'm beginning to do right now when I was 30. And I've learned that a life takes time to become. This is my tree. My tree took all these years to seed,

to sprout, to grow, to mature, to cultivate. And these scars, these pains, these sufferings, these losses are part of the intricate pattern on my face, in my veins, in my cell, in my blood. And there's a beautiful passage from the Ramayana, which is a 6,000-year-old text, one of the revered, beloved texts of India. And I can't quote it word for word, but it basically is Hanuman is looking at Sita and Rama from afar, from a tree. He's looking down, and this is the hero and the heroine of the story. And he says that after all these years that they had a similar weathered beauty, much like rocks being battered about on the shore. And this is something that's been very dear to me that I share with Rich, definitely. swimming or sleeping and it's the fastest charging apple watch getting you eight hours of charge in

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Y'all need a pilot. Flight risk. How has it changed the nature of your relationship with Rich now? So we're, you know, like a chunk of years removed at this point. You have actually started working together like a chunk of years removed at this point you have actually started working together in a lot of ways co-creating not just a you know like a life together but also businesses together income together thank god and thank you god and and both individually sort of like redeveloping along your own individual past and then also collaborating at the same time. And really, it seems like individually and collectively emerging

into a big service-minded, impactful, flourishing space. You're married now 15 years? Longer, 18, I think. Or together, 18. I can never remember. When you first started your journey together with Rich, compared to the nature of your relationship now, could you have looked forward and projected the way that you feel about each other now? Yes and no, both. We had a spiritual wedding that was a huge ceremony that was seeped in a lot of vows, a lot of ritual. We really

activated this baby. We had 300 friends. Bhagavan Das did our Vedic fire ceremony. And we had various different traditions. we had gospel singers and different kinds of healers and channelers and West African dancers. And it was like, it was literally one of the most beautiful days of my life. It was magical. The clouds literally formed, you know, shapes in the sky and the full moon popped over the mountain. It was unbelievable. And it was at our home. And I saw in him that day, I knew what his potential was. I knew what our divine potential as a couple was. And I was pregnant, four months pregnant with Math as our first child. But vows to fully embody the true divinity of who we are. We had no idea that it entailed a lot of suffering, a lot of twists and turns. And yeah, and it takes my breath away on many levels to know that we have experienced what we've experienced

and that the love has cultivated and cured and transformed into something even greater. And that has been even challenging in the recent years as we came out of this, because in the beginning he went first and he was known and it was like, Oh guy has middle midlife crisis and you know, has weight loss. And I almost like spewed my Cheerios across the table. I don't eat Cheerios, but it's just, you know. So, yeah, I was like, are you kidding me?

Like it was such a membrane of the experience. You know, it was just so not deep, you know, not deep at all. But that's the portal. You know, that's how you go and connect with people. And then there was a time where I'm ready to go out on my own. I was never going to stay there. I was just in a different moment. So now the entrepreneur in me is reawakened. And I have all these projects that I've been cultivating my entire life, in music, in art, in clothing, in food, yoga videos. I'm a yoga teacher. I'm a healer. You know, I do all this stuff,

but I was, you know, not, I was not in the focus. So now as I'm born now, it's my first solo book. So now we're choosing the points where we collaborate and we're also completely independent in many other things. Yeah. So tell me about food because food at some point food becomes, you know, like it takes a huge center role in both of your recoveries to a certain extent, but then it becomes like an obsession, an art form. I mean, it's literally like, I look at you, so you have this new book out, This Cheese is Nuts, which I love the title. And we should probably throw out there for those who don't know you, your, how do you eat? I'm vegan. Well, I'm plant-based. I'm plant-based. I eat some honey, so I'm not completely. Okay. So this is a book about cheese,

which actually is completely vegan. Yeah. It's made from nuts. It's plant-based. And you and Rich actually collaborated on a book before this, Plant Power Way. But you've decided to really sort of like to look at food, at healthier food, at plant-based food and raise it to high art. Why? Why? Well, I think, first of all, I have a lot of mother energy in me. Obviously, I'm a mother to many. And I really love that. I really resonate with that. And I love the home. I love caring and nurturing people. And I also know that spiritually, one of the highest blessings is to serve food. That's quite a sacred role in spiritual traditions. And it was kind of funny because at the end of that financial collapse, the story is that Rich was training, this long training because he was doing these double Ironman races. And so our agreement was he could train, but then I would take my time to go to the studio to do music. So he was coming in and I handed him a kid and I was walking out the door and he stopped me and said, do you realize I just ran a marathon? And I stopped and I was like, absolutely. I had no idea. You just ran a marathon. So I kind of giggled at myself and I decided that I could start creating food that would really support him. And he was completely plant-based vegan. So I just started making food up and it was during my sequestered time. So I wasn't doing 29 things. And after about a year and a half, I had about 60 recipes. And because we had no money, I said, babe, would you please put this online and let's try to sell it? So he did that. And

we got this kind of rudimentary product up on the site and people started buying it. And that product fed us that actually bought groceries for our family for quite a few years and it kept growing. So that was pretty amazing. So when we came out of it, the next thing, our partner, Greg Anzalone said, you know, you should do a real book. So he actually showed up at my house with a crew. They had bought all the props. He came with an entire crew to support me to do my first book. And Rich doesn't cook at all. So the food's all me. Rich did the, he does the science and, you know, he researches and, you know, he has all that contribution. So we made this incredible book, The Plant Power Way. And it was, you know, we didn't make the New York Times list, but we, The Plant Power Way. And it was, you know,

we didn't make the New York Times list, but we sold a lot of copies. And most of our following is on Amazon. And, you know, it's still selling really well. And it was huge success. So when I turned that book in, that's all my family food. Like this is the way I cook for my family. So if you're not vegan, and you're listening to this, this is plant-based food, but it's delicious and vibrant. And I've got like lasagna and, you know, fettuccine Alfredo and.

Yeah. And I'll attest I'm not vegan, but I've, we've made a lot of the recipes in that book. And, you know, I have a resistant 16 year old daughter also. It's good stuff.

I mean, this is, it's a beautiful book, but it's also the food is it's, you just know there's yummy plant-based stuff inside of it, but it also happens to taste phenomenal. Thank you. Well, it's the recipes are simple. They're creative. There's no fake meat in it. It's pretty clean, but you're never going to eat one of my meals and be like, oh, that wasn't that good. Like it has a lot of, maybe it's the Latin in me. Like, I don't know what it is, but I've been able to create some really great stuff. And in that book, the sauces are really key. Like if you can nail the sauces,

you've got a lot of ammunition, a lot of, a lot of tools, a lot of creative flair that you can add to your dishes. So when I turned that in, I did a very rudimentary, like just basic cheese section in that. And the cheese in that was so good that I couldn't even get the notches to the table before it was all gone. Like I just have hands grabbing from everywhere. So I knew there was quite an opportunity in the world of plant-based cheese, just because it's the thing that everybody misses. We all like that creamy taste.

I lived in Paris when I was in college. I love cheese is delicious, you know? So I really just dove into it really as an artist and with beginner's mind. So I don't read other people's cookbooks. I don't go research how they do stuff. I did. I have one technique that I got from someone and I listed him in the back of the book. It's one cooking technique, but the rest of it, you know, virtually is just me trying things, you know, trying things out and seeing. So I am absolutely shocked myself that I was able to create such an array of delicious plant-based cheeses, not only made from nuts, but some are

made from seeds, tofu, beans. And I also included companion recipes. So you've not only got the cheese recipes, but then you have all this amazing, delicious food. Like lasagna and all this other stuff. Cheese cake, creme brulee was like my favorite. I always wanted to have that. And it's delicious, you know, and a lot of it's just relatively simple. Like you can make a lot of the recipes without any dehydrator. You need a Vitamix, you know, you definitely need a food processor for the very basics. But if you want to age at all, you do need a dehydrator for just a 24-hour period. And that's just a fancy name for an oven that goes very low.

And all you do is blend the nuts, pour them in a mold, and then, you know, the mixture, there's other things. And then you put them in the dehydrator and walk away and go record a podcast with Jonathan Fields or go run or go do whatever. And then you come back and you put that mold in the fridge for one day. And on day three, you can eat cheese. So it's just, it's three days of basically moving it around and about 30 minutes of prep. And then there's other stuff. There's warm sauces that you don't have to age. And there's, you know, there's just quite an array of stuff. So you just went into basically mad scientist mode for two straight years.

I did. I did. Actually, what I did is I did a run first and then I sold the book. Like I got like 20 together and presented that to my publisher and then they bought it. And then I was like, okay, we're really on now. So then we we begin and as as always true to form to what you seem to be putting into the world and it's not just really yummy recipes but it's also the book itself is gorgeous i mean the you showed up with

your friend slash photographer um leah leah who's also who's not yet so that this it's just visually, you know, it's a yummy book. So spirituality, romance, food, cheese. I want to touch on one other thing, which is community. What does that word even mean to you? Community means tribe to me. I mean, it means many things. It can mean community of the earth, community of sentient beings like beyond this world. I feel for me just a very visceral meaning is this sort of recollection and reuniting of soul tribe members together, you know, that we've been together in other places and times and we're reconnecting at this moment because it's such an important moment on planet earth and beyond.

And so that I I think, is all of our work. By sharing our heart and our expression, we're sending kind of a sonar out, you know, and it's like, hey, you know, we're over here. And it's okay, there's no value difference whether you're gathering with this group of beings or you're gathering in another, you know, for it could be a multitude of reasons. But I'm finding this sort of reuniting experience quite beautiful at the moment. Yeah. It also seems like to me from the outside looking in that it's the thing that brings all these different elements together for you because you bring together people around, you know, like you run these incredible retreats, right?

So you'll bring a group of a couple dozen people together in a stunning place, you know, like around food, around spirituality, around movement, around, you know, like really nourishing plant-based eating and around education, around learning. So it's interesting that I think one of the things that we both come to is that community is both a mechanism on its own. It's a thing on its own that can be incredibly nourishing, just bringing together like-minded people who sort of see the world through a similar lens and want to be in community with other people, but it also, it serves as a sort of, you know, like a, it's the table also on which to set those different courses that we've been talking about. And it's fun seeing what you're creating, how you're sort of, you know, bringing together people around these different ideas. And my sense is again, from the outside, like,

and then that because people come for different reasons, we've seen this with what we do, right? People kind of, they connect with different things that we're about. So when we bring everybody together, like at our camp, you know, like something like that, really different people from all different walks of life, you know, like hard driving type A's, you know, like totally spiritual metaphysical types, but there's something about, you know, like there's something that they come to where all of a sudden it just works. Do you get the same thing? I do. And you're so right on. I would say that this last year of holding these two retreats, Rich and I did two at our Italian location between Siena and Florence, and we gathered

33 attendants. And then we have nine crew of which many are our kids and family. And it's just, it's incredible but this week those two experiences are the most meaningful thing i've ever done in my life and it was because it it was truly my dharma it brought together every single thing that i do so not only did i design the food but every morning we begin tea ceremony with in this amazing presence. Then I teach yoga. Then we have plant-based blends. Then Rich and I teach workshops. Then we have a plant-based lunch. Then we have more workshops in the afternoon. And then I get to do like yoga nidra and like fire ritual and actual like ceremony, you know, and bringing ceremony back to people who, this is part of who we are. That's

part of being a human. And we've lost that thread. And I can tell you in my life, I transcended and rose out of the ashes via the ceremonies I conducted in my home. I mean, and I've seen the visceral proof. It doesn't come right away. It's not the next morning. It's not like taking an aspirin, but literally I can see the proof. So to bring this ritual experience, there were some people that had never done a ritual in their life and they were just transformed by the process. Then I'm singing music at night, either on my sitar or with my children. We had people even coming into an emotional experience or tears simply from seeing the children, seeing us as a family together, just that. And again, like you said, there's no common, I'm looking for the common denominator. There's no common denominator.

There's an athlete, there's a couple breaking up, a couple coming together, a pregnant, a mom and a child, you know, it's just, it's a yogi, it's every single type of person you could ever imagine. And it's like, we're representing like one of each, you know, one of each type of person. And the last day, we have a community day, where we've gone through this incredible week in Italy, we're going to be in Ireland this time in July, but this incredible week in this exotic location that's quite gorgeous. And on the last day, we form a circle and we create a ritual and we make a vow. And that vow is to hold you in your highest expression, no matter what the outward appearances may be. So even if you're in your addiction or you're in your trauma or you're in your financial collapse or you're in your weight, your obesity, or you're in your divorce or you're in whatever it is, we all agree to hold you in your highest essence with complete love. And that experience, everyone is just melted down. I mean, the emotion, the sharing, the community,

that bond is formed and forever they are our tribe. And we communicate with them after and, you know, some of them are already starting their own wellness businesses. And we went to Melbourne and Sydney with Andrew and Claire Davies from the New Normal Project. They took us down there. We did two events. We've had an extraordinary experience, and now we have 66 people. So after this trip, we'll have 99. And after we get a couple hundred people, and this is all international. It was only a few people from the U.S., really quite interesting, from so many different countries.

So together we're forming this kind of community, this kind of tribe. And the experience is just, it's indescribable. It's crazy. And I only imagine that yours are like that. And I see yours and I just want to come so badly. I want to come and see what you're doing. Well, it's interesting because we, I mean, you and I have this shared background also. Like for me, it's less a part of my immediate presence, like in the world of yoga and teaching and studying. You know, for me, that's become just more of a personal

practice, but people will sometimes ask me, I stopped formally teaching in a classroom, teaching yoga at the end of 2008. I still remember my last class because nobody knew it was my last class until I brought them up from Shavasana and told them. And people will sometimes I'll bump into people sort of like from that part of my life and they'll be like, do you ever miss it? And it's funny because I've seen myself saying like without even thinking about it, nope. And what I realized over time is that one of the reasons I don't miss it is because I don't feel like I ever stopped. It's just, it's taken on a different form. So I'm not as overtly yoga based with, you know, Sanskrit and chanting and talking from the different scripts and stuff like this. It's much more practical, common every day. And maybe because

that's the way that I tend to live it more right now. And also that tends to be the easier access point I've seen for a lot of people. But yeah, it's interesting. We used to run an annual program at the end of it. We would always have. I mean, I still believe in ritual just like you. And I think there's a reason it's been part of culture for thousands of years, but it's really being stripped out of culture now, especially just in the last generation.

As people flee traditional religion really quickly, they're also fleeing the rituals that very often even divorced from like the theology, the ritual practice alone has so much power. But we would often end sort of like a long intensive time together by just having people stand in a circle. And, you know, one person would step out and move around the circle and just look into the other person's eyes for a short amount of time. No words were said. There was no hugging.

There was no touching. These were not folks who were deeply spiritual and open. And there's people, like you said, from every walk of life, conservative, buttoned down to all walks. And in very short order, it was just absolute tears, absolute unfolding, absolute, because we don't do that anymore. And I think we don't pause for ritual. And I think we also don't pause just to see each other and say like,

I see you and nothing more. And know? And I think, but that alone has so much power. It does. It's, it's absolutely magnificent. And I, I don't think we do. I don't think we give people the opportunity to really just speak, to share, you know, and, and also just have that unconditional safety, the safety of that moment, you know, to be able to say, you know, I'm going to stand for you. And I'm going to stand space for you. And I believe in you. I trust you. I trust you.

I mean, how powerful is that? So it feels like a good place for us to come full circle. I mean, this is a good life project. So if I offer that phrase out to you, to live a good life, what comes up? To live a good life is to be connected to the true source of who you are in every breath, to live authentically without edit, spontaneously, and to fully be present for your existence.

Thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If the stories and ideas in any way moved you, I would so appreciate if you would take just a few extra seconds for two quick things. One, if it's touched you in some way, if there's some idea or moment in the story or in the conversation that you really feel like you would share with somebody else, that it would make a difference in somebody else's lives, take a moment and whatever app you're using, Thank you. My greatest hope with this podcast is not just to produce moments and share stories and ideas that impact one person listening, but to let it create a conversation, to let it serve as a catalyst for the elevation of all of us together collectively, because that's how we rise. When stories and ideas become conversations that lead to action, that's when real change happens.

And I would love to invite you to participate on that level. Thank you so much as always for your intention, for your attention, for your heart. And I wish you only the best. I'm Jonathan Fields, signing off for Good Life Project. whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes.

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