Saturn Returns with Caggie - 3.2 Discover your Dharma with Sahara Rose

Episode Date: April 12, 2021

Author, podcaster and speaker Sahara Rose has been described by Deepak Chopra as "a leading voice for the millennial generation into the new paradigm shift." In this episode Caggie talks with Sahara, who turned to Ayurvedic medicine to change her life when struggling with her own health issues, about how Ayurveda can help you embody your authentic self, become the person that you are destined to be and discover your unique purpose. --- Follow or subscribe to "Saturn Returns" for future episodes, where we explore the transformative impact of Saturn's return with inspiring guests and thought-provoking discussions. Follow Caggie Dunlop on Instagram to stay updated on her personal journey and you can find Saturn Returns on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.  Order the Saturn Returns Book. Join our community newsletter here.  Find all things Saturn Returns, offerings and more here.

Hello everyone and welcome to Saturn Returns with me, Kagi Dunlop. This is a podcast that aims to bring clarity during transitional times where there can be confusion and doubt. Ayurvedic medicine's holistic approach to health is something that is quite new to me. The term Ayurveda is derived from the Sanskrit ara meaning life and veda meaning wisdom. There are three main body types known as doshas. These are vata, pitta and kapha which express our skin type, physical characteristics, health and personality traits. We can learn a lot about ourselves from discovering our doshas and in this episode we will go deeper into the details explaining how you can discover yours.

So all of these different experiences were our soul's curriculum that Ayurveda would say our souls chose. Our souls chose to go through those experiences because they prepared us for how we are meant to express our dharma. And then different obstacles in our lives show up for us to deepen that understanding. In this episode of Saturn Returns, I'm joined by Ayurveda expert Sahara Rose. Sahara shares her knowledge of Ayurveda through her hugely successful podcasts, courses and books, which have been endorsed by Deepak Chopra,

a major figurehead of alternative medicine. Sahara grew up in Boston with parents who had both immigrated from Iran after the revolution. From a young age she was aware of the harsh realities of the world and as she says she always knew that she wanted to help people. She set out to work in human rights before circumstances or the universe pushed her towards Ayurveda and towards discovering her dharma, your soul's purpose. I first came across Sahara listening to her on Mark Grove's podcast and I was fascinated by her wealth of knowledge

and so I wanted to talk to her about how we can bring this age-old philosophy into the modern era and use it in our lives. But before we speak to Sahara, here's our astrological guide, Nora. Before we speak to Sahara, here's our astrological guide, Nora. Ayurveda and astrology go hand in hand. When practicing Vedic astrology, Ayurveda is often used when analyzing a birth chart to understand the constitution of a person. In the West, this branch of astrology is called medical astrology. Every civilization throughout history will have had a system of connecting the subtle body with the physical body by way of connecting together astrology and the corresponding medical sciences of their time. It was also used in old Greece based on Hellenistic astrology

and it's said that Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine and he was also known to separate religion from medicine, he used to encourage his students to know and learn astrology. Saturn in Vedic astrology and Ayurveda is related to the air element or vata dosha. So during a Saturn return or any major Saturn transit, you might have vata-related health issues. A few proper manifestations of this being a knee injury, joint issues, back pain, bone issues. But of course, it all depends on how Saturn is operating in your chart. You know, growing up, I just knew I wanted to help people. So I looked at the world around me and I saw people like Gandhi or Mother Teresa, and I noticed they sacrificed their lives to help

people. So I thought, okay, for me to help the most number of people, I should sacrifice my life. So I got into human rights and I went to school in Washington, DC, studying to become an international human rights lawyer. And it was when I was in DC working at these nonprofit organizations for immigrant and refugee rights that I found myself so unhappy. I wasn't using my creativity and I felt totally out of touch with the people that I wanted to help. Like I wanted to be on the ground, talking to them, connecting with them, hearing them. And as we know, oftentimes in political spaces, nonprofit, you're, you know, behind a lot of different walls. And I felt like I was

giving my energy to create these spreadsheets to raise money for the next fundraiser. And all that money was going to the next fundraiser. And I felt like I wasn't really helping. And I definitely wasn't using my gifts, but I didn't really know what that even looked like. I didn't even have an idea that I had a purpose. I thought you kind of just like make one up for yourself. And at the stage of my life, then my health started to deteriorate. So it started with digestive issues, then hormonal imbalance. And then, you know, one thing after the next anxiety, insomnia, bone density issues, I got a blood test. The doctor said I had gone through perimenopause, you know, no estrogen or testosterone in my system anymore. My hormone levels were at

someone who has already gone through menopause. And when that happens, you go through, you know, you can get osteoporosis very early in life. You could even become handicapped. And of course, you'll never be able to have kids. So at this stage of my life, instead of trying to help the world, I just had to figure out how do I heal myself? And that brought me on the journey of self-healing, studying many different health systems and philosophies, et cetera, which eventually brought me to Ayurveda. So for me at the time, I was eating a mostly raw vegan diet. And at this point, I don't know, year 2007 or something, raw vegan was all the rage. And I thought if eating junk food is the

worst thing for you then only eating raw food should be the best thing for you mind you i'm in boston where it's cold and it's snowy and i'm like living off of pineapple and coconut water so it's not really what naturally grows there but i was just trying to do the right thing like i i read in the blogs and the bloggers seemed happy so it should work for me too right so it was that disconnection from the body but then on top of that I really feel like I need to go through those health problems for a reason because it redirected my energy into this path that otherwise I would not have walked down yeah absolutely I love that and then what did your sort of world become after that

so when I started to go through the process of self-healing with Ayurveda, I of course had to change my diet, more cooked foods, grounding foods, warming foods, et cetera, which was the opposite of what I was eating. But it also changed my personality. Like I was someone who had so many different ideas of like, I want to start a skincare line. I want to move to Ecuador. I want to do this. I want to do that. Like all of these different, you know, so I was very, very multi-passionate and I would start a lot of projects, but not finish them. And I just thought it was a me problem. But as I began to shift my nutrition, lifestyle practices, then my personality started to shift and I became more focused and I began wanting to dive deep into specifically Ayurveda. So I ended up living

in India for two years, studying Ayurveda, becoming an Ayurvedic practitioner. I wanted deeply to share about Ayurveda. But then when I told my parents, okay, I think I'm going to write a book on Ayurveda and modernizing it for millennials. They're like, are you crazy? Who do you think you are? You're not a doctor. You don't have your PhD. What even is Ayurveda? It's a pseudoscience. What are you talking about? Like, if you want to help anyone with their health, you need to become a doctor. So I wasn't sure if they were right. You know, like part of me was like, screw you. I'm going to do what I want. But then the other part of me was like, maybe I am going to waste all my time trying to write this book that is never going to happen.

And it was a back and forth. It was sometimes having complete certainty and like writing the maybe I am going to waste all my time trying to write this book that is never going to happen. And it was a back and forth. It was sometimes having complete certainty and like writing the book and being so in alignment and it's like channeling through me and other times like going on job websites and trying to find any job I could find that, you know, might give me enough time to have this as a hobby. And it was this like two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, one step back. I steps forward, one step back. I had never even met an author. I didn't even know like, how does a book get into a bookstore? I don't know. I'm just going to try to write it. So I wrote the book, all the money I was making at the time as a health coach, I spent to graphic designing, editing it, et cetera. And then about two years after that, I found a literary agent, shopped it to all the publishers

and they all repeated back the same fears that my parents told me. You're too young. No one cares. Ayurveda is never going to happen. You're not a doctor. This is never going to work out. Good luck. So part of me was like, maybe I am a failure. Maybe I do stop. Maybe this was just like a reckless dream I had when I'm young. And it's part of my story. I tell my kids, I wrote this book that never got published or this all happened to me for a reason. So long story short, that same literary agent was approached by the Idiot's Guide group. They were looking for someone to write the Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda. I applied for it and I got that job to write that book. So I wrote that book, which was a whole new Ayurveda book I had to write in two months.

And then right before it was going to print, I was at a conference and Deepak Chopra happened to be there, who's always a huge role model to me. And I walked up to him and I was like, hey, you're a huge influence in my life. I would love to send you this book that I wrote. I sent it to him and he loved it so much that he offered to write the foreword. So since then, I've written four books yeah that's awesome and when I share this it's not like a random whim or you know a lot of people say luck is where preparation meets opportunity absolutely so it's this it's this dance that we're doing I feel like so often people get into spirituality and they're like well if it's meant to be it's going to. So let me just like sit here passively and wait.

But it's using that time, using that in between to educate yourself, prepare yourself, listen to your heart, do that deep inner work. And then when you have opportunities like that to fully take that leap, take that plunge, because it's in those opportunities that we grow. that we grow. Absolutely. And for those that don't know, can you just actually talk us through Ayurveda and where its wisdom comes from and how you became so passionate about it? Yeah. So Ayurveda is the world's oldest health system and the sister science of yoga based on the mind-body connection. So yoga, the word yoga means to yoke, to become one with the universe, one with universal source consciousness. So really, it's a spiritual practice. Ayurveda, its sister science says, well, how can you become one with the universe when

your digestion is out of balance or you have really bad anxiety or mental, physical imbalances? So it's really about addressing our mental and physical imbalances so we can then access those deeper inner realms. So Ayurveda includes nutrition, self-care, morning practices, beauty practices, meditations, all of these really encompass the word Ayurveda means knowledge of life. So in order for you to be healthy, you must have full knowledge of all areas of your life. That's amazing. And then how does it, because there are different types, aren't there? Yeah. So in Ayurveda, we have these three

archetypes, which are called doshas. Dosha means energy types. So these energy types are air, which the word is vata, fire, the word is pitta, and earth, kapha. So air, fire, and earth kapha so air fire and earth so we are all three of these elements in various amounts just like in astrology right you're not just your sun sign you have all of these different planets so for example someone who has a lot of air is going to have airy qualities in their mind and body like at least in in american english we say an airhead is someone who has maybe they're ditzy maybe they're like, kind of like going from one place to the next, like a lot of air, a lot of space in their head. So somebody who has a lot of air is going to be, you know, kind of going from one thing to the

next. You can't really predict which direction they're going to go like the wind. So the gifts of that are creativity, being idealistic, being a big picture person, thinking outside the box. But then the shadow sides, the challenging aspects of that could be you get really anxious. You get really overwhelmed. You don't know what to do and you run away from something. So these are all really symptoms of air. And then in the body, that shows up physically like bloating, air, gas, constipation. What's constipation? You're cold and you're dry, dry skin, dry hair, just feelings like sometimes you

have a lot of energy. Sometimes you don't like the wind. It's very unpredictable. So if you have different qualities of this, you probably have more of the vata, the air archetype. Does that resonate for you? Do you feel like you have some vata? I mean, I definitely resonate with a lot of that stuff, especially as well. I don't know what your dosha is, but at the beginning when you said how you were kind of would be on one project and then another and not finishing, like that is definitely something that I'm guilty of.

Yeah. And you know, all of these things can be channeled for their gifts. So the gift of being a Vata Air person, and what I have found is these are related to our Dharma. They're related to our purpose. It's so much more than just our nutrition and food. So somebody who has more of that air energy is meant to do a lot of things. They're meant to be a channel, bringing a lot of projects to fruition because they're so excited, especially at those beginning stages. They're also meant to be in the arts, creativity, spirituality, branding, marketing, anything that really lets them channel and see all different perspectives. That really is what their dharma is. however it's important for them to not get distracted by trying to do all the things

because then what happens is none of those beautiful ideas ever see the light of day yeah absolutely and that actually kind of ties into the overall theme of this it's quite um it's quite saturnian in its sort of principles because i think a massive lesson of mine is to actually make sure things are rooted in reality, because like an idea is fantastic. But if it's actually not grounded in reality, and you don't have a plan behind it, then it's, it doesn't exist. So I completely resonate with that. And what are the other ones? Yeah, so every Dharma starts with the idea, right? It starts in that air, the vata stage, but then we bring it through the fire.

Now that fire is the get shit done, take action, be courageous, take that leap. And that's the next step that needs to happen. So people who naturally have a lot of fire, they're fiery people, are ambitious, goal-oriented, driven, type A, just go-getters, right? They're people who are very focused. Like if you want to hang out with them, they're like, okay, let me check my Google Cal. Like, okay, please confirm with me 24 hours in advance. Like,

you know, they're really, they're really organized with their time because they have so much fire energy. Now the beauty of that is they can handle a lot. They can bring a lot of projects to fruition. But the shadow aspect of that is sometimes they can be very, very controlling. Like sometimes life doesn't go your way, right? Like no one could have ever predicted 2020. So if you're like super in that fire of you're like, no, this year we're supposed to be, I was supposed to go to Bali and then I was supposed to do this and I was supposed to do that

and like not going with the flow, then that's when that fire can erupt into a volcano so anger impatience agitation these are all symptoms of excess fire yeah I've got some friends that are like that are like super savvy with business with like always organizing holidays like we'll have an itinerary and just very controlled about things. And it makes them incredibly successful. But when it comes to like things like 2020, it's like, oh my God, I can't handle this because everything is so out of their control. Whereas I think because I'm head in the sky a lot of the time, I'm just like, whatever. I mean, let's just go with it. And that's the beauty too of like tuning into that vata, that air energy of just like, okay,

I guess the world's going this way, so I'll float with it versus that fire that's like, I need to direct and control. So my mantras for pitta people, fire people is trust and surrender. You know, you have so much beautiful energy to you, but trust and surrender that you're going to be redirected to what's right for you. So when, when something shows up in the mind, it's showing up in the body too. So if you are that really pitted person, chances are when you're out of balance, you have inflammation, heartburn, acidity, acne, all forms of heat in the system. You probably get really hot easily. You sweat a lot, like hot and bothered.

We even have this terminology, a hot head. It's important for us if we are that fiery person, we're feeling the heartburn, but we're eating all these spicy foods and we're drinking all this coffee. That's not the best thing for you. You know, I call it coffee pitta juice. It makes you more fiery. It makes you more of a pitta. so steering away from those things that may increase your fire and going for more of the you know cooling foods eating more greens coconut water and milk like kind of it's a bit of the opposite of the vata they need more of the heat whereas pittas need more of the cooling so how do you feel with that one do you feel like you have some pitta energy to you well less so but I think I I can't drink coffee that's the only thing that kind of I can't drink coffee you can probably feel

it and balances your pitta it just completely sends me out of whack like my whole health system is just doesn't respond well to coffee at all which is sad because I love drinking it you know and that's the beauty of Ayurveda so if you do have a lot of heat within you coffee's not the right choice but and if you have a lot of the vata it can make you very anxious so that also may be what's showing that for you because it can you know take you into this like oh my god there's so much to do and you're like the vata mind is like too many tabs open so having more coffee can be like I feel because i'm like

that as well but the the next type the earth type coffee could actually be really good for them so it's interesting because it's like for everyone it's different so this earth type is called kapha earth energy so they're really grounded peaceful like think of an earth mama right like an earth mom is very like bohemian, connected to the seasons. She's like breastfeeding her baby. Like you can think of those qualities to her. So people who are naturally earthy are really easy to talk to. They're very stable.

They're very present. They're space coolers. So think of Oprah energy, right? Like why do we love Oprah so much? Because she's such a mama bear and nurturer. And even when she's in a huge stadium, she is not jumping around like Tony Robbins and having people walk on fire. You know, she is sitting down on a chair next to someone and just saying, honey, what's really happening? And just listening to them. And that's the beauty of this kapha,

this birth type. They aren't afraid of that sacred pause. That's the hardest thing for me to do, for a lot of us to do, especially really vaunted people. But to be able to sit in that pause, the space between the inhale and the exhale. So in the mind, it's grounded, peaceful, loyal, humorous. But when it's out of balance and excess, that's when it can turn into stagnation, feeling really tired, lethargic. You don't want to start new things. You feel like you're so behind. What's the point of even doing it now, which can turn into depression. And in the body, it creates that same stagnation so you don't want to exercise you want to eat a lot of comfort foods that makes you feel even more heavy more tired

and then it creates this you know perpetual circle that until you bring in stimulation and you get yourself out of there it can get you know worse and worse and worse so the purpose of kaphas is to be those beautiful space holders healers coaches of society but a lot of them feel like they're not worthy of doing it who am i to charge for my time so it is you know all of all of these doshas really need aspects of the other one so if you're very kapha that the coffee can actually be helpful for you it can stimulate you it can get you into taking action it can break up your pitta but it doesn't mean you should change into a tony robbins pitta type it means letting that energy bring your natural gifts and that's really what your dharma is about it's about being the most natural form of you letting your mission

statement be the leader of your life and honoring and nurturing these natural doshas that you have within yourself yeah because a lot of these themes really tie into the overall transition that we go through during our saturn return and a sort of unanimous theme that a lot of my listeners send me messages about is that they feel very alone disconnected unsure of their past and that can be a tremendously isolating thing. And because we don't necessarily have a language or people don't have a community that allows them to talk about it freely and openly, it can be like a perpetuating problem. So how can you apply this kind of science and philosophy to navigating your Saturn return?

kind of science and philosophy to navigating your Saturn return? So, you know, I believe that everyone's Saturn return is going to be unique to the aspects that they have been overlooking. I finished my Saturn return, it was like very easy, you know, because I had done a lot of that work beforehand. So I feel like, you know, first, it's reclaiming your power of no one or nothing has control over you. You are empowered. You are sovereign and you are free. I think sometimes, especially when we dive deep into spirituality, astrology, we think, oh, well, it's my Saturn return.

So everything is going to suck for the rest of the year. And then I'm going to be in the phase out of it. Drop my responsibility and just hang out until I'm 33 and then I can get know get shit started but no it's a cop-out completely exactly so it's it's trusting that whatever is showing up in front of me was going to eventually so what a beautiful gift that I get to be on the speed track way towards my dharma and that your obstacles were your soul's unique curriculum to guide you through your dharma. So those very things, those very challenges that you've had, obstacles you've overcome, times that you were not sure about yourself, those are the unique aspects you have been given a front

row seat to, you know, especially the ways that we have grown up as a child. I always say we were born into the microcosm of the macrocosm that we're here to solve. So for example, I was born into a family with a lot of political issues and lack of human rights. My mother was a refugee. My uncles were political prisoners. My grandmothers were in child marriage. So I wouldn't have had the awareness, the compassion, or even the desire to be of service in this way had I not gone through that microcosm of growing up with that background. And then on top of that, those very aspects that we were born into, which by the way, don't need to be even extreme. It could be that you were born into a family where you never spoke what

was going on in your heart. So you know what it's like to have that surface level interaction where no one's really connecting, no one's really sharing what they're going through and feeling so alone, even when you're in the company of others. So all of these different experiences were our souls curriculum that Ayurveda would say our souls chose. Our souls chose to go through those experiences because they prepared us for how we are meant to express our dharma. And then different obstacles in our lives show up for us to deepen that understanding. So, you know, years like 2020 have shown us how to be in the uncertainty, So, you know, years like 2020 have shown us how to be in the uncertainty, how to trust ourselves, honor ourselves, create space.

You know, the lessons that we have learned in 2020 are endless and we're still in the process of learning them. So does this mean we always have to go through incredible obstacles to grow? No. However, as humans, the most natural response we have is often to setbacks, to pain. In Ayurveda, we call this karma. We often think karma is what goes around, comes around, but that's not really the true understanding of the word karma. The word karma means action. So action can show up in many different ways. Now, in relation to your dharma,

it essentially is the action that the universe takes to keep you in alignment with your dharma. So let's say your dharma, your soul's purpose, your fullest expression, your north node in astrology, that is at the end of a highway. And you were born on this highway, driving down this highway on cruise control in total alignment with your dharma. So you were born as a living expression of your dharma. But throughout your life, you know, you're going down this highway and you see all of these different exits. So these exits off the highway say, well, you would make more money doing this. So, you know, you should go into finance or your parents would be proud of you more money doing this. So, you know, you should go into finance or your parents would be proud of you if you do that. So, you know, you should just get this job that your

parents would like, or everyone from university is going that direction. So you should go that direction or, you know, whatever else it says. So most of us, we were born on this highway, but we get off one of those exits. You know, we feel like if I don't get off one of those exits, that's going to be too late. So when you go off one of these exits and you move out of alignment with your dharma, the universe responds because the universe wants you to be living your dharma. It's the only way the world can come into balance. You know, we need every single person living their fullest expression because that's the only way we're going to solve all of the world's problems. So when you go out of alignment with your dharma and you get off one of these exits

the universe responds in the language that we react to pain discomfort so at first it's very subtle you know you get off that exit you get you know you start applying for the jobs that you know aren't in alignment with your truth but you're doing it anyways because it feels safe. And the universe responds, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. I'm feeling anxious. Something is feeling off. I know I don't want to be doing this, but I guess that's what hashtag adulting is like, so let me just do it anyways. So then those taps become a little bit louder. Punch, punch, punch, become a little bit you know louder punch punch punch panic attacks really bad anxiety complete feeling out of alignment with your dharma but you look around and you see oh i guess everyone here feels that same way this must be normal so you still may not take any action still continue and then the universe is like okay this girl is not listening and it gets louder and

that's when it can turn into a collision an accident an on your knees moment something that you need to create that shift so for Eckhart Tolle it was reaching suicidal ideation you know for my friend he said he was partying a lot and then he like stepped on a hot hair straightener and couldn't walk for two months like the universe like, you will not walk to the club. For me, it was my health issues. You know, how are you going to save the world when you don't even know yourself, you know? And so many of us do that. We project onto the world. We don't, we don't look internally. So, you know, different breakdowns happen for different people, for us to make that U-turn to course correct and

to move back towards a dharma. Now, when we're living in alignment with our dharma, that is when we start to feel the flow, the synchronicities, the, you know, random coincidences, which are in no way are random. So you tune into a podcast that says exactly what you need to hear, or you have a conversation with someone that sparks something in your mind that guides you to the next thing. And then before you know it, you're 10 steps ahead in a way that you could have never done for yourself.

So for me, walking up to Deepak Chopra, him writing the foreword of my book, him asking me to join his team. And like, you know, suddenly in a day, my life had shifted because I had entered into this flow. Now, this flow is called Kriya. Kriya is boundless action by the universe, that universal support that we have. The universe is propelling you in the direction of your dharma.

This is actually how life is meant to be lived. We are meant to feel flow. We are meant to feel ease. We are meant to feel flow. We are meant to feel ease. We are meant to feel support. But the pain, the blockages that happen, the karma, those are just the barricades on the side of the highway. They're not out to get us. They're there to support us. They are there to remind us, say, hey, it's not normal to feel anxious every day.

Hey, it's not okay that you hate waking up in the morning. This means something deeper needs to change. So what changes can I make? What shifts can I take to now move into that Kriya? And the beauty is one small decision, one tiny little thing of like, hey, I'm not going to worry about what my boss says all day from today forward. I'm not going to think about it. And then that moves to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. And then you find yourself back in the

Kriya and then the universe shows you where you're meant to go next. So many of us were like, well, I'm not going to take any action until I know my full Dharma, but your Dharma is at the end of the highway. You don't see it now. You only have a flashlight. You can only see the next, you know, four feet or one kilometer or whatever one meter ahead so how are you going to take wait to take action to see the end of the highway when the different layers and pathways for you to get there are being defined by the way that you are taking action so yeah it's important for us to trust that absolutely it completely resonates with me and I can only account for my own experience but when I'm very much out of alignment, I do tend to struggle with depression. And I know that it's basically my body or my mind's way of saying you're off course and we need to kind of adjust the sails, so to speak. in flow, like you were just describing, and then you meet resistance. What is that resistance

that's almost like you are in a good position going in the right direction, and then suddenly you meet this resistance that's created in your head, you're on some level aware of it, but it still feels very much like there are all these obstacles that are there, but they're actually not. So there are two types of resistance that I see. There's personal resistance and universal resistance. So personal resistance has to do with your own living beliefs, stories, lens of seeing the world. So for example, let's say I want to write a book. My personal resistance may tell me who am I? I don't have time for this. Someone else has already done it. I'm not an expert. Whatever else the story is. Is that coming from the universe? Is that the truth? No,

that's coming from myself. That's my own personal resistance showing me the very things I need to get through. Universal resistance looks like, you know, I really want to write this book, but suddenly I was offered to be on this TV show. And now this TV show is like feeling really exciting for me, but I said I would write this book, but I'm way more excited about this TV show now and it's showing up and I could be on the show in the next six months. And, you know, am I going to hold onto this book thing or let the universe direct me to what is feeling more energetic at this time. So I like to think of personal resistance as this analogy that we're on this beach, right?

So you're on the sand and your dharma is out in the open waters. But to get to those open waters, there are different waves, you know? And those waves represent, you know, limiting beliefs, things you were raised to believe, scarcity mindset, all of these different fears that society has put in our heads, things you were raised to believe, scarcity mindset,

all of these different fears that society has put in our heads, things our school system has told us, etc. Are they based on the truth? No. So these are the waves that are going to be bigger based off of how long we have been not listening to ourselves. So most of us, we try to go out into the beach, and we get, you know, thrown back to the shore the first time. We try a second time and get thrown back from the shore. So we say, well, screw this. There must be no such thing as Dharma because I tried two times and I failed. So I'm going to stay right here on the shore. And most people, you know, that you grew up with are on the shore too. And they may tell you, you know what? Living your Dharma doesn't exist. I tried to be an abandoned. It failed. So forget following your dreams. It's a bunch of bullshit. However, if you are feeling expansive, if you are feeling like you are growing

energetically to be going through those waves, it's meant for you. So those waves are showing up for you because they're required for you to become a stronger swimmer, for you to learn how to navigate them, for you to go back to shore and get tools. You get your breath work, you get your meditation, you get therapy, whatever those tools are for you, your surfboard. Then you can navigate through those waves and move through them. And then you find yourself out in the open waters. And this is the flow. This is the path of least resistance that people are talking about. But sometimes to get to the path of least resistance, you first must follow the path that you are personally the most resistant to.

I love that. I think I used to think that if I had a lot of resistance around something, it meant I wasn't supposed to do it. And often that was in the form of personal resistance. But then obviously, it's hard to be able to differentiate between that and the universe being like, this is really not what you're supposed to be doing. We're going to try and redirect you. It's like, how do you know which one you're supposed to follow? Yes, I have a great tool for you for that. So the body doesn't lie. You know, our body always tells us the truth.

Our mind is what creates stories so tune into the energy of expansion like what does expansiveness feel like for you like what does your body instantly want to do when you think expansive it's like um like a uh tingly feeling and like everything opens. And it's actually something that I use in a slightly different way, which is when I'm unsure about a decision. Let's say hypothetically we apply it to like ending a relationship and you're not entirely sure whether you should stay or you should go

and you've overthought it and you're very in your head about it and you're weighing up the pros and cons. What I do is I check into my body and I ask my body like how it feels when I stay and how it feels when I leave and it's such a strong response that even if my head is saying one thing my body might say something totally different and I'm really learning to trust that but with certain things I forget to kind of check in and I think actually it's such a simple tool like you say but it's an incredibly powerful one because like you said the body doesn't lie I love that yeah so tuning into that open that tingly feeling that you get when you're expansive

and then that's your your compass that's your north star and then what does contractive feel like in your body it feels like my throat is tightening it's more of a prickly feeling on the back of my neck and everything contracts and kind of shuts down beautiful so that is the south node there that's the thing to step away from so when you are making a decision that's related to your dharma, tune into the body feeling. Is it feeling tingly, excited, open, or is it feeling more of a sharp, closed, and then letting your body decide that. So for example, that's how you can tell the difference between the personal and universal. So again, let's say I want to be in a movie. That makes me feel expansive.

My heart is open. I'm scared shitless, but that feels so expansive for me. Now, when I think of me becoming a real estate agent or an accountant or something, the first thing, my energy feels like it's closing down. I'm getting smaller. I'm closing my heart. For me, it feels like in my body being on an airplane when you're like sitting on an airplane for too long your body just like hurts and you're like oh I want to just like stretch out whereas expansive feels like being

on the top of the hill with my arms open and I don't want to be in a movie but using that as an example tuning into that the fears may be there but expansive is on the other side yeah I always say you know on the precipice of anything great fear is the gatekeeper and I think during one Saturn return there is always this moment these big moments of like an opportunity to realign but we get so especially in the sort of society we live in, which tells us that money is success versus following your dharma, your purpose, your truth, which feels a lot more risky. Yeah, and it's why we chose to incarnate here. You know, we weren't born to get by. We weren't born to survive.

We were born to thrive. And those very fears, your greatest freedom is on the other side of that. And the beauty is, you know, living your dharma is not a one-time mountain. It's more of a mountain range. I think often we're taught to see things in a very linear process of, I'm not living my dharma. I am living my dharma. Game over. But it's more of a spiral. So we think about a spiral, you you know you look at all these aspects of your life you look at your childhood your relationships your friendships your purpose all of these different things and then you come back to them in a deeper way and

you come back and you come back and you come back and you come back for the rest of your life it's never done how can people use that archetype to really like harness and find their true purpose? Archetypal work has been so instrumental in my life. Archetypes are, you know, personality types, soul types. So astrology, you know, the different planets are planetary archetypes. Myers-Briggs, human design, Enneagram, these are all archetypal systems. So for me, when I was writing Discover Your Dharma, I channeled these nine Dharma archetypes that are related to our soul's purpose. So some of these archetypes are the artist, the teacher, the nurturer, the entrepreneur, researcher, entertainer, visionary. We are all born with all nine of these archetypes in various amounts. I have a quiz on my

website, dharmarchetypequiz.com that you can take that these archetypes are so chose that to embody our dharma. So for example, if you're a teacher, you probably throughout your life have been teaching other people things. You know, you probably studied for a test by teaching it to your friends. You probably learned something. You're instantly teaching it to other people things. You know, you probably studied for a test by teaching it to your friends. You probably learned something, you're instantly teaching it to other people. That's just who you are. So these archetypes are ways that our dharmas can express and roles we can play in society. So for example, my main dharma archetypes are visionary, teacher, artist, entertainer. So for me, I love, you know, usingok and like fun ways of expression to then channel this greater message for someone else like deepak chopra it's researcher like the sims i

don't know if you were playing the sims growing up but like we were each born with these different archetypes or aspects and personalities yeah so we were we're all the same as the universe designed. So we were perfectly designed to find joy in living our dharmas. And in terms of the sort of medical aspect, are there any nutritional changes or Ayurvedic medical therapies that you'd advise for anyone? Well, I would really recommend diving deep into your dosha before doing anything medical, especially working with an Ayurvedic practitioner, because, you know, when doing any dosha quiz or something, you're getting what you feel like you are, but maybe you don't have full, full awareness of everything deeper going on in your body. So before embarking on any kind of medical or herbal supplement regime, I would go to an Ayurvedic practitioner. And there's actually something called the Panchakarma. So Panchakarma is an Ayurvedic

retreat, essentially, that they custom create the exact massages, healing techniques and practices that you need based off of your unique dosha constitution to bring you into alignment. So that's pancha karma and there are pancha karma centers all around the world okay amazing um and sorry if there's anything else you'd like to add as i don't know little words of wisdom for those navigating their saturn returns before we part ways well i really believe that we chose to have our Saturn returns in this time that feels like the world is having their Saturn return too. And it's a lot of shifts happening at this time, but it's to put us on that pathway earlier in our lives to see what are the shadows

that are not serving us within ourselves and within the collective as well and bring them into alignment. And also a huge lesson for me is don't wait for all the world's problems to be solved for you to live your dharma. You know, so often we're like, once everything is fixed politically and once everything is fixed and with COVID and this and that, once that's fixed, then I will live my dharma. But we're going to be on different timelines and different pathways. So if you're waiting for the world's problems to be solved, you may be waiting for a really, really long time. And the thing is, you know,

there are some people who are meant to destroy the old world, but there are also people who are meant to create the new world. So if you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to guess you are part of the volunteers who have come here at this time to pave the path for this new world. So trust that the very things that you are excited about, those are the breadcrumbs that are guiding you towards your dharma. And when everything in the old world has crumbled, we're going to need the new

preschools and food systems and ways of relating and ways of seeing ourselves in the stars and finding medicine in our plants. We're going to need these things. So it's up to us right now to focus on them, give our hearts, give our compassion, and then have these beautiful solutions to the world's problems waiting when people are ready for it. I love that. That's perfect. All right, Sahar, thank you very much for joining me on this episode of Saturn Returns. Thank you so much for having me. It was an honor to be here today.

I really enjoyed this conversation with Sahara and I was particularly fascinated by the way she differentiated between personal resistance and universal resistance and how, you know, the personal struggles and things that we have in our lives are just obstacles that we need to overcome and that we can let the universe direct us to what is feeling more

energetic and aligned and to trust that. Sahara's book Discover Your Dharma is out now and you can follow her on Instagram at I am Sahara Rose. You can follow me at Kagi's World. And if you have the time, I would love it if you could follow the show and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, or just tell a friend about it that you think might find it useful. Saturn Returns is a Feast Collective production. The producer is Hannah Varrell and the executive producer is Kate Taylor. Thank you so much for joining us and remember, you are not alone. Goodbye.