The Rich Roll Podcast - Julie Piatt: Know Thyself

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

As a reminder that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, it’s time to reconnect with matters ethereal and divine. Enter Julie Piatt, prophetess of all things metaphysical, returning for another swim in the holy tides of matters otherworldly. Longtime listeners are well acquainted with the one who goes by SriMati—my in-house spiritual guru and better half. A human who is very good at many things, Julie is an accomplished yogi, healer, musician, chef, and mom to our four children. She’s also the bestselling author of three vegan cookbooks. She hosts the For The Life of Me podcast. She lords over Water Tiger, her online spiritual community. And she’s the CEO and ‘Mother Arc’ of SriMu, the best plant-based cheese in the known universe. Over the years, Julie has been a recurring source of spiritual wisdom on the podcast, dropping many a pearl on everything from parenting and creativity, to navigating conflict, managing relationships, dealing with financial hardship, and many other subjects. Today’s microphone communion with Julie is many things. It’s a dissection of our relationship within a global pandemic—and the powerful lessons we’ve learned throughout the year. And it holds exciting updates from SriMu and forthcoming offerings from Julie. But most of all, this is a conversation about the importance of knowing thyself. The transformative power of owning and standing in your truth. The courage it takes to face what you’re hiding (or hiding from). Finding peace through meditation and ritual. And forming a sacred relationship with yourself — while holding vision and space for the best in others. FULL BLOG & SHOW NOTES: bit.ly/richroll590 YouTube: bit.ly/juliepiatt590B Let’s take this wavelength higher, shall we? Peace + Plants, Rich

There is nothing more beautiful than a being that knows itself. There is nothing more intoxicating, inspiring, powerful than a being that is sitting inside of itself very authentically with a lot of truth. And so it's not about manifesting or grabbing or getting or competing. or grabbing or getting or competing. It's about aligning with the truth of who you are so that you can spontaneously interact with life in a way that is authentic to you, in alignment for you. And I feel that there's a great likelihood

that that will cause benefit. It will create benefit, not only to me or not only to whoever's on this journey, but to life itself in all its different forms. I'm Julie Pyatt, and this is The Rich Roll Podcast. What's up, spiritual seekers, mystical wanderers, citizens of podcastlandia, the podcast verse. It is I, your keeper, Rich Roll, safely sequestered in my studio space,

promulgating, as always, the high vibe wavelengths, courtesy of some of the world's best and brightest. Welcome. So it's been a minute, but today, keeper of the flame, prophetess of things metaphysical, Julie Pyatt, aka Srimati, Julie Pyatt, aka Srimati, returns to swim in the holy waters of the unworldly. For those new or newer to the show, real quick, Julie is my wife. She's my partner of 21 plus years. She's a bestselling vegan cookbook author. She's also the founder, CEO, and mother arc of Shreemu, the best plant-based cheese in the known multiverse.

She's the host of the For the Life of Me podcast. She's the ethereal matriarch of the online spiritual community, Water Tiger. She's also a musician, a yogi, a healer, an entrepreneur, a mother of four, basically all the things. And our microphone communion shall commence forthwith, but first. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts

and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com, who created an online

support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it. Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful. And recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one

need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. We're brought to you today by recovery.com. I've been in recovery for a long time. It's not hyperbolic to say that I owe everything good in my life to sobriety. And it all began with treatment and experience that I had that quite literally saved my life. And in the many years since, I've in turn helped many suffering addicts and their loved ones find treatment. And with that, I know all too well just how confusing and how overwhelming and how challenging it can be to find the right place and the right level of care, especially because, unfortunately, not all treatment resources adhere to ethical practices. It's a real problem. A problem I'm

now happy and proud to share has been solved by the people at recovery.com who created an online support portal designed to guide, to support, and empower you to find the ideal level of care tailored to your personal needs. They've partnered with the best global behavioral health providers to cover the full spectrum of behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, gambling addictions, and more. Navigating their site is simple. Search by insurance coverage, location, treatment type, you name it.

Plus, you can read reviews from former patients to help you decide. Whether you're a busy exec, a parent of a struggling teen, or battling addiction yourself, I feel you. I empathize with you. I really do. And they have treatment options for you. Life in recovery is wonderful, and recovery.com is your partner in starting that journey. When you or a loved one need help, go to recovery.com and take the first step towards recovery. To find the best treatment option for you or a loved one, again, go to recovery.com. Okay. Okay, Julie is back.

And this conversation is about many a thing, but I suppose the overarching theme orients itself around knowing thyself. It's about the importance, the courage, and the opportunity to face and work through that something you're hiding or hiding from. It's about your sacred relationship with yourself and holding vision and space for the best in others. It's about going within, meditation, ritual, but really most of all, it's about the transformative power of owning and standing in your truth. So here we go.

Well, welcome to the new studio. It's your first experience here. It feels so professional. I know, it's crazy, right? It's really beautiful. It's really beautiful. It's really amazing. Well, as the person who was there for episode one in the warehouse in Kauai, it's definitely come a long way.

There is a trajectory, definitely a profound journey. We're not gonna hear rain on the roof today. We might hear some construction next door. There's quite a bit of construction going on. I think we've worked it out. We got a detente happening so that we get some quiet time for recording, but that's just the reality.

That's great. It's super beautiful. Good to see you. Thank you for coming back. It's been a minute. It's been a while. We are now at the one year mark of the pandemic. It's true.

It's been a year, but we are in, when this airs, we will be in daylight savings, which is why we're my spring best for today. Are you just counting? To celebrate the sun. Counting the days to daylight savings. Until it's summer again. And here we are once again, creating a formal structure

so that we can actually communicate with each other, even though we cohabitate. It's the secret to a healthy and transformative marriage. Start a podcast and create a bunch of infrastructure around when you talk so that you can have some healthy communication. Hopefully we talk not on the podcast. communication. Hopefully we talk not on the podcast. Once in a while, but it's easy for life to get transactional. We have six people at our house right now. There's a lot of moving pieces and with young people, everybody's been dealing with the setbacks of this moment in different ways and it requires our full attention most of the time. So it's easy to not shine the spotlight on our relationship and go on autopilot. So we've probably had

intervals of autopilot in our relationship because of the other demands on our time and our energy with our children and our respective businesses. We're both super busy, but here we are. We can actually talk. How do you think we're doing? I always open these up. You always ask me. Well, give me a temperature check.

I think that marriages are living, breathing entities and they are moving and evolving and changing all the time. And so it's not about any static state of being. And yeah, I think we've had more, definitely more stretches of autopilot probably than ever before. But I think right now, all of us are going through huge,

huge levels of transformation. And it seems like every single person in our household and every single person that I know, this experience of forced sort of sequestration is providing a soil or an opportunity for us to be with ourselves and to maybe explore and reflect on certain things that I think we all hide from ourselves, from our relationships and from society. I certainly do. Well, it's a weird thing because on the one hand, we all feel static, like we can't move, we can't navigate the world the way that we're used to, we're stuck at home. And so it feels like we're revving the engine in park, but there is that opportunity,

whether we take advantage of that opportunity or not is up to us. But I do think that there's tremendous change happening in the context of being told to sit still, right? Which is so uncomfortable. It's so hard. Yeah, definitely. And also just amidst so much loss and turmoil and,

you know, the chaos of the world and the fact that you can't travel your way to escape the status quo, what's going on. So, I feel like, you know, it is a necessity, actually. It's a requirement if we're going to stay here. And transitioning and leaving your body is another form of evolution. It's another form of taking another fork in the road or another journey into more life, into more experience. But I feel like it is absolutely required of us to clear out anything that is not in alignment with who we are. Anything that we have been hiding,

we're gonna have to look at it. If we don't, I think the universe will knock a little harder until we pay attention. It tends to do that, annoyingly so. Yes. So just so people can get a visual, you're looking beautiful today, by the way. Aw, thank you.

One thing that I've noticed that you have done is you've really doubled down on your, not just your meditation practice, but your devotion to ritual. So much so that our bedroom has been transformed into one gigantic altar where you can't even actually walk in the room. You gotta tiptoe around various artifacts

and sacred objects that you've peppered all over the space. And as people know, I sleep in a tent and then I come up in the morning and then you're in your sacred moment and you're surrounded by, it continues to like metastasize. It's getting to the extent that I came in the other night and I tripped over, it was dark and I tripped over something

and it's like, I can't even move in here anymore. There's too many spiritual artifacts happening in here. And it seems like your practice has been elongated. Like it used to be maybe a half an hour, then it went to an hour, but you're up in your quiet moments now for sometimes the better part of an entire day, which I always find interesting and also confounding as the CEO and founder of a startup food company. Like how are you running your company when you're in basically in a silent meditation retreat ensconced in the bedroom?

It's a mystery, ah, the mystery. The mystery of working less than accomplishing more. Well, first of all- You're moving the tectonic plates of the universe with your spirit and your mind. Exactly, with really, okay, so there's a few things. First of all, I just need to say, it's not an all day retreat actually,

because I rise so much earlier. That might be from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. About seven, I have to move and get the girls up and be a mom. I woke up in the middle of the night the other night because the pungent smell of your sacred fire burning in the yard was so strong that it awakened me from a deep sleep.

I don't know what you were burning in there, but it was something very- It's speaking to you. Very strong. It's entering your smell. And so what are you doing specifically? Really, what I'm finding very, very amplified is the ability to embody presence and to really, you know, sit inside of my being in that feeling consciousness that animates this body with a level of presence that I haven't experienced. So it's more, I would say that if there is a focus, that's the focus. But along

with that are many ritual practices, which include receiving the body as sacred. So, for instance, if I get up, I might, before I'm going to chant, I would wash my mouth. I would wash my face, my hands, my feet. You know, maybe I would even, I could even bathe fully, but I don't often do all of that. and bathe fully, but I don't often do all of that. So, it's about this reverence for this instrument, this dress, or this vehicle that is housing the spirit. And I really feel that this time is about embodiment. I am a householder. I didn't incarnate. I'm not in a cave. I'm a mother of many children and a business entrepreneur and wife. And so, it's about being embodied with your spirit in this life, in this modern place. And I need those or I crave those or I receive nourishment from that kind of communion. And even now, more than ever, it is the thing that I can

count on. You know, life is changing. The only thing that we know is everything is going to change. Everything material will change. Every relationship, every career, every building, every single station of identity will shift. And the one thing that is constant is that consciousness that is animating this. And so I have a great desire to be closer to her, to really, really know her. And so that's what I'm doing. And so what have you learned over the course of the past year by really doubling down on this devotional commitment? Well, I think it is, you know, as is, you know, well shared in many spiritual seekers path and life experiences that we really know nothing. And so when people talk about their beliefs or they get very attached

to a certain intellectual idea or truth, I try not to believe. I try not to have a belief. And I try to exist in a state of being where I can spontaneously respond to life in a way that is in alignment for me. So for instance, like in my spiritual mentorship group that I lead called Water Tiger, you know, I'm not sharing about manifesting, about getting what you want. I'm sharing about aligning with who you are. And this brings me back to my sort of subject of hiding. I say this often, there is nothing more beautiful than a being that knows itself. There is nothing more intoxicating, inspiring, powerful than a being that is sitting inside of itself very authentically with a lot of truth. And so, it's not about manifesting or grabbing or getting or competing. It's about aligning

with the truth of who you are so that you can spontaneously interact with life in a way that is authentic to you, in alignment for you. And I feel that there's a great likelihood that that will cause benefit. It will create benefit, not only to me or not only to us, I mean, to whoever's on this journey, but to life itself in all its different forms. It's a becoming as opposed to a, what would be the antithesis of that?

I would say it's a being, it's a beingness instead of a gettingness, instead of an achieving. It is a powerful thing. When somebody walks into a room and that person is living their life in alignment with their values. There is like a palpable, like powerful aura around that person. Like, you know it immediately.

And I think it is, you know, I think that's the quest that we should all be on, right? we should all be on, right? I think that that process has become complicated by a wired culture in which we're so interconnected such that when an issue arises, rather than sitting with yourself to figure out how you truly feel about X, Y, or Z, you can go on Twitter and just canvas all these opinions of all these people and then decide, well, I kind of like that guy, so I guess I see it the way that he or she sees it, which is a short cutting of the real process of trying to understand like from first principles,

like, well, what is this really about? How does this sit with me? What are my values? Where does this align or not align with my basic disposition? And yes, agreed. And it also leads to, if you're going to agree with somebody's belief system, and so you're,

let's say you're scrolling through Twitter and you're like, you know, Rich said, you know, oak tree. So, I'm going to say oak tree. So, I'm going to go and I'm going to be oak tree with Rich. So, the second that Rich says something that is not oak tree now you villainized right rich because suddenly wait i don't you know rich is now saying oak tree and orange but i'm not saying oak tree and orange i think it's oak tree and apple so now let me cancel rich let me just cancel him and make him um you know And so, this is the sort of comedy I find in the culture of the human condition to seek this consensus. And I also find it very curious how willing humans are to annihilate another human so readily when we are so flawed.

so readily when we are so flawed, like all of us have had dark moments in our life, have made missteps. It touches me deeply. It feels very delicate to me, like very fragile and almost like it's a danger to really step into criticizing somebody or making fun of somebody. It's like we all at some aspect are one. We all have many different flavors, completely unique flavors that we're sharing. But can't we just let that go, let that consensus go and understand that everybody's different and find what is an alignment for us individually and live from that state, not having to make someone else wrong.

It doesn't make any sense. That's hard work though. It's much easier to say, listen, as human beings, we're hardwired. We like to celebrate certain people and build them up. And then we enjoy the schadenfreude of tearing them down. And this is the cycle that we're seeing accelerated across the board in every every camp and village and ideology. And it is disheartening. I too kind of look at it like, I've done all kinds of crazy stuff.

Like I don't wanna be judged in that way. And I don't feel it's incumbent upon me to judge anybody else in that regard. But I think like the question would be, why do we feel compelled to tear people down in such a villainous manner? And if I had to estimate, I think it has something to do with the fact that

if you haven't done that internal work to really know who you are, then your sense of identity is somewhat fragile. And it is sort of dependent upon this lattice work of these other people out there and what they think and how they see the world. And if that person changes their mind, that becomes a threat to your sense of self or identity

because that sense of self is fragile and not as robust as it would be if you engaged in that process of self-understanding. Yeah, definitely. And I mean, to me, it's all a question of spiritual connection. It's like, we're not feeding the spiritual connection as the first point of entry.

It's spiritual connection is not the 20th thing you do on the list. It's the first thing. It's the thing that informs everything else about your life. And so having been somebody who's been marginalized most of my life and labeled as crazy or cute or trite, or isn't that ridiculous that she has that view. To me, it's intelligent. I mean, I just want the least amount of suffering for myself and for humanity. And so, the place where that redemption lies or that solace or that care or that love and compassion is in spiritual connection, direct spiritual

connection, which we don't need a priest or an ism or a religion or anybody's permission to have it. We have it inherently. So how does somebody who is listening to this and is feeling some resonance with what you just said, but has no experience with any kind of spiritual connection, how do you translate that into something actionable for that individual?

Well, I think what's needed are techniques, okay? So there's a lot of conversations, like conversation we're having now and conversations can be really meaningful. And your show has literally been, it's been trans and transformative. You were gonna say transcendental. Transcendental. I was like, no, it's been trans and transformative. You were going to say transcendental. Transcendental. I was like, no, it hasn't quite been transcendental.

No, I think it definitely has been for many, many, many people. So I'm not saying the conversation isn't helpful. It is, but when you get down to it, you can't really know something that you read in a book or that you hear somebody else say. You have to experience it for yourself, which is why life experience is so valuable, all kinds of life experiences. But I think it's the techniques of meditation, of yoga nidra, of sitting in tea ceremony, of being present. It's the will, it's the calling to divine. It's the choosing to experience life as a divine journey that cultivates these energetic experiences that become a knowing inside of you. And then when you have the knowing, you know, you're really, there's a saying that truth doesn't defend, it simply is. So, here you are in the state of being, you know, a being who's rooted in being isn't going to go fight for peace or argue about which political party. really aligned with that, then you can really be effective in your actions, in your politics, in your love for planet earth,

in whatever you're doing. But if you've never taken the time to know yourself, you're not there. You're just spouting off what someone else says. You're retweeting something, thinking that you did something good. And, you know, and this is, you know, Water Tiger, this is my spiritual mentorship program, is a body of techniques. So, it's a way to know way. I'm not claiming to know what anybody's path

is. I've been down the road a few years and I've spent a lot of time in study in these areas in this lifetime and also in other lifetimes. So I offer some body of techniques that may help people. It is helping people. They are helping people to access a connection with themselves, which is a direct connection with source. So in the process of being engaged with this community on Water Tiger, and I know you do these sort of private sessions with lots of people,

what are the things that are coming up? Like what are the common themes? What are people struggling with and experiencing right now in this, you know, one year demarcation of the pandemic? Well, it's profound. I mean, I think I'll share, you know. And obviously you can't. Yeah, I can't share who it is, but I'll share generally about the last two sessions that I facilitated actually.

One is a Water Tiger member and one is on their way to becoming a Water Tiger member. There's real life happening to all of us right now. And one of the experiences is an individual whose friend hung himself and he's the one who went in and found him. So that was one experience that I facilitated an empowerment, a love, a blessing, a sort of reformatting perspective so that we can extract the treasure from such horror. So that's one. And I'll get into some of what I've gleaned from these is very profound right now and also connected to the essence of Shreemu and what that is to me is this is this opportunity to find beauty in all life. And you might be thinking,

well, how in the hell could you find beauty in such a horrific event for all individuals involved? That's somebody's child, that's somebody's brother, it's somebody's lover, it's somebody's friend. You know, it's so final, you can't change that. It's something that to me, in my experience, is the opportunity to render us on our knees. And for the very quality of that experience, it is a divine experience beyond measure because it's maybe one of the only experiences that we can't reason our way out of. We can't quantify it or say something positive or change it. It's so final in this realm. Another experience from a Water Tiger member

is an artist that has worked with me and we're exploring beauty as the first tenet of a spiritual life. So you may look at me from the outside and say, well, if she was really spiritual, why does she wear makeup? And why does she fix her hair? Why is she wearing a dress? Or why did she create Shreemu that's this big, beautiful, aesthetically developed product? And the reason is because beauty is the first tenet of a spiritual life. That is what makes us connected to life around us. And so, within my ritual, within my

practices of coaching people and helping people, I am helping us to remember that we have the power to find beauty in all life experiences. This other artist that I was working with, that I'm working with, she's been asking for a communication about her role as being a steward of sacred art. And we're talking about the ability to program art with intention, to be in ritual and communion before we start to create the art? And how could we use art as a vehicle of beauty being the first tenet of spirituality that can transform the planet, that can lift our experience of life here by healing us, of life here by healing us, by feeding us, by nourishing us. And she had a very visceral sort of transcendental experience using the water tiger techniques. And she had a complete, she was given a body of work exactly the way it looks and exactly the format and the date that she needs to do it by and all these kind of

things. And also very connected to some deep suffering in her journey that she had to face. That was very, probably the thing that was the hardest thing for her. So in my work, the greatest treasure is in the trauma. And so when I work with somebody, I'm looking for the thing they never told anybody. I may be the first person that they shared it with or the thing that is absolutely irreconcilable. And if I am lucky enough and blessed enough to serve my purpose, by the end of that session, they have a different perspective on the events.

Right, and that tracks back to this idea that we began this conversation with, which is this thing, everybody has something that they're hiding from or that they're hiding from the world or that they're hiding from themselves. And to the extent that you can muster the courage to actually look at that, to deconstruct that

and find the gem or the meaning or the beauty or the opportunity in that, that's where the crux of transformation begins. And this has always been your thing with me. And when we weathered all of our challenges and difficulties, it's like, how do we flip this and look at it from a perspective of opportunity rather than victimhood? Like, why is this happening to me?

Isn't this terrible? Instead, like, this is your divine moment. Like, this is the opportunity that you've been waiting for. And just that mental shift, as difficult as that might be, or as kind of counterintuitive or challenging to like inhabit that in your body. I've found that to be incredibly powerful. I've seen you do that in the context of our family.

And I've seen you do that with so many other people. And it is maybe the hardest thing you'll ever do, but also carries like that potential energy for the change that people are yearning for. Definitely, and let it be beautiful is sort of one of my mantras. It's like, let it be beautiful, whatever it is. It may be scary, It's not autopilot.

It's not acting like everything is the same. It's not getting to a place and saying, we're here and now we're here and we're gonna be a static form for the rest of our lives because we're here. It doesn't work that way. It's always changing. And no matter how difficult, whatever the evolution is,

whatever needs to be looked at, it has to be beautiful. It has to be beautiful because life is divine. It's sacred. This is a privilege. It's a divine privilege to be in a body at this time. And we are co-creating our experience with our life. And so, rather than hide from what is bubbling inside of you or what is beckoning your attention, why not face it and communicate with it and exchange with it and create something beautiful from it? One of the things, and we've talked about this before, that I think is powerful, but also challenging to me is this idea that you don't wanna rob someone of their divine moment, right? Like if somebody's going through a hard time, whether it's emotional or financial, or maybe they've experienced the death

of a loved one, or maybe they lost their job, they can't pay their bills, whatever flavor that shows up in, the idea of, we have this urge, like we want to step in, we want to intervene, we want to help, we want to alleviate the pain, we want to solve the problem. But that's also the opportunity to step back and allow that person that experience because there's some lesson that needs to be learned as a result of running that gauntlet. And so it's this tension between, it's a tension around like, how do you best love somebody? Like, do you opt out and is it more loving to let them have that experience without your interference? And at what point do you step in and try to course correct because you see something going horribly awry?

I think this is a really good question. And for me, it's less about what you do and more about the energy with which you are viewing the individual. So if my friend is bleeding, I'm gonna get them some bandages and I'm going to, you know, clean them off and make them safe and get them food and be like, are you okay? Like, you're good? Like, I'm here. I think the real power is in how I'm viewing that person. Am I choosing to view that person as a casualty? Or let's say the person was irresponsible

and created that. Let's say, I don't know what a good example. Let's say they caused that accident because they're using drugs and they got in a situation and the accident happened. got in a situation and the accident happened. I think as powerful healers and co-creators and beings of a version of a Christic form or what might be a Christ embodied, free from religion, free from isms, just from the very nature of being humane, of being human beings, we have the ability to hold that person in their highest vision and say it's okay man you got this i know you stubble i know you stumbled i see you as such a beautiful being you have so many amazing qualities you know i love this about you i love that about you and i know you're struggling and i'm i'm not going gonna solve your problem for you.

I'm not going to intervene with my judgment. I'm just gonna hold you in love, knowing that this force, God creation has you and that you're in your process. And how does that work for you with parenting? It gets a little bit trickier. Yeah, I mean, and this is a subject that is difficult to talk about

because we actually don't have permission to talk about it. Right, we're not gonna talk about our kids specifically. It's the same thing. But the general idea of like, when are you in the allowing? And when are you in the, I'm when are you in the, you know, I'm gonna intervene here. Well, trust me, I think it's a dance, right?

And I mean, there's many times I'll just go in to check on them to make sure they're there and they're not hurting themselves and they're fine. And, you know, I trust my mother's intuition. I mean, you know, trust me, a lot of people are considering they have suicidal thoughts. It's especially now, and especially in our youth.

So I think you have to keep a close eye, but I think when you come into judgment, thinking that that's gonna stop the action, nobody changes in a field of judgment. People change in a field of unconditional love and compassion. And that's not that hard with our kids because we all adore our kids.

Right, but I think what is happening is everybody's under duress. The anxiety levels are through the roof, people's economic situations are being challenged. And so parents are, you know, feeling a lot of anxiety, disproportionate to what they're used to. And without, you know, a level, a deep level of awareness,

it's very easy for that anxiety or stress to leak out onto the children. And the children are under their own level of duress with having to do their schooling from home. And like, it just becomes this soup of mental unfitness in which nobody's, you know, kind of acting as well as they would like to act. And it creates, you know, a lot of chaos and problems.

And I think we're seeing this epidemic now of children struggling with how to navigate this world where their entire life is on screens and they can't see their friends or go to school. Parents who are under stress, they're not happy that their kids are in this situation. They're trying to work from home. All of these things are unprecedented

and creating complications that we haven't developed, you know, tools for. Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, I would say there's always these opportunities in being a parent. You know, it's like, it's sort of part of the journey. You know, there's gonna come a point where your child just cancels you

and thinks you're completely like outdated and irrelevant. And that's part of the journey. I'm already there. Yeah, definitely. We're there. I always thought I was gonna be the cool dad. I was always hip to what's happening. And it's like, that is definitely not the case.

No one is the cool dad to their kids. No one is the cool mom. So, I mean, and I would say on the other side, there's a lot of benefits from being sequestered from, you know, quarantine that have, as I'm going to say, added five years onto our lives. I mean, possibly saved our children's lives. Maybe it kept, maybe they're unhappy and they're kicking dirt, but they're in a more contained space than they would have. You know, we aren't God. We can't see exactly what the journey is. But, you know, listen,

I think it's a great hilarity of the universe that as a mother, I give birth to a baby that needs me like for every single thing. Like it's this symbiotic union. And then at some point that being grows up and there's just like, fuck off. I mean, it's kind of funny because you're just like,

you're like, what is going on here? So that's kind of, I think a funny thing from the universe. But I think that in general, I think as a culture, we hold our kids back too long. I think they should go into their own living spaces with like communes at age 12, with their own living spaces with like communes at age 12 with their own, you know, bank accounts and they should be, they should be, you know, treated as adults much sooner because there's so much turmoil between them still being in the house. And, you know, like I said, we're cool parents and we have it too.

and we have it too. So yeah, I think the unconditional love part though, the more you can cultivate that within yourself and let's be clear, it doesn't mean that you don't have preferences. I can prefer chocolate over vanilla, but I can still have unconditional love for both flavors. So- Do you, where do you feel judgment flaring up in yourself?

Like where are the challenges? Like where do you draw the battle lines? Like where's the evolution that you need to experience for yourself showing up in your life? Or are you just completely evolved at this point? No. I mean, one of my big woundings is being judged and marginalized for being a spiritual being with the awareness and perspective that I have. It's been painful. You know, there's been times I haven't wanted to be here on this planet. You know, as human beings, we want to be

seen. We want to connect. And there's an aspect of me where I'm always the last one to know, like, I don't think I'm that weird at all. And so, you know, I could snuggle up real close to somebody thinking that, you know, we're good friends and then find out later that they think I'm completely insane. So, that has been definitely a theme. And I think that's a theme of, you know, anybody who comes in to create something new, you know, it's like it's lonely, feels lonely. You know, many, many kids, spectrum kids who have processes that fire completely different. I mean, look at Brian who wrote in red backwards his whole life. And, you know, there's many, many of us, there's many people, we're all unique. And we've been trying to fit into this school system or these structures that are in the society that say, this is what is a smart person, and this is what is a valued person, and this is what is an educated person.

And then when you really dive deep into all of those, we just find out that none of that's true and none of it's really working. And so, again, it brings me back to my spirituality. I've been known to say I can count on my devotion. It brings me a nourishment, a love for life. It allows me to expand my capacity to love. And I think that the key for my wounding has been to love myself more, to do my meditation practices in the mirror, to look at what I am, to receive what I am with everything that I've done. And I have another layer that I'm going to be going into around sexuality. And I've talked about this and I guess I was waiting for someone else to do it. And I

just came to my awareness that I'm going to be one of the ones that rewrites it. But it's like, for me, sexuality is the same thing as creativity, is the same thing as spirituality. And we are wasting our sexual energy with the darkest force. It is, it is like, think of it. Sexuality is our superpower to transcend. And it is used by demonic forces in such a bad way. And one of the tragedy, or one of the difficult things right now is that if you talk about child abuse, then suddenly I'm in a QAnon club. Right.

Which is really, that is the intention, right? And just so, just, you know, to set the record straight, I've never watched a QAnon video. I've never gone to a website. I don't, I've heard things on Twitter. I deleted my Twitter though about a month ago and I'm very happy. But my point is, is that sexual abuse is happening as an epidemic on this planet. How do I know? I know because probably 90% of my clients have been abused as children, men and women. So I'm dealing with it firsthand. So my thing is regarding to dealing with my head.

So a lot of you know that I've suffered from traumatic head pain for maybe going on 30 years. It is debilitating. Sometimes we refer to them as migraines, but they're not really migraines. I've been down every single road trying to unlock this mystery. And the last two episodes that I had over the last 10 weeks, I had two in 10 weeks.

I mean, I was sobbing from the pain. Like literally I'm exhausted from this trajectory. And what I'm learning is that not from this lifetime, from a past lifetime, I have a trauma that I need to go into to retrieve parts of myself. that I need to go into to retrieve parts of myself. And I have the feeling in the inkling that there are sexual aspects to that. And these are directly related to me reclaiming my power as a seer, as a being that has a more expanded sight than what I have in this capacity.

And that's gonna be really difficult to look at, you know? And I've been very open about my time of my life where I had very promiscuous sex when I was in my teens. I was trying to fulfill like this void of my father and this bad, this not bad, but a not good relationship with my dad. And I was trying to figure it out. I was trying to find that and I hurt myself terribly. And I think that there's more for me to resolve from that experience. So it's, you know, and the thing

is, is we can't be our own healers. Like I know how to do these processes, but you need someone else to hold space for that. And so it's kind of the last thing that I haven't looked at. And if I go through this and my headaches don't go away, I'm gonna just be like, I don't know what to do. Right, it's also your attachment to finding a solution that I think causes you additional suffering. No, maybe, and I would say no, probably no, honey.

I mean, yes, I had a point where I was, yes, this happened the last cycle. Well, there's been a couple of times where it's like, I think I'm on top of it. And then you get hit again. And that disappointment that you experienced. That's true. That's true.

And I just went through that to a great degree actually, cause I did this whole Ayurvedic cleanse and I was like tracking, like I was like, I was like, I'm on this. And then it came and I remember I was sobbing in your arms and I was saying, I'm so disappointed. I remember saying that. Yeah, you're right.

You're right. You know, and I appreciate like everyone who sends me, try this and try this and migraine. And I've tried all of it. Let me tell you most of it. I've tried it. This has been going on for decades. Well, anybody who has chronic pain

would know the frustration with that. But I just know for me, my lens of who I am, the answer is gonna be in this just know for me, my lens of who I am, the answer is going to be in this, in this mystical journey for me. And so, so anyway, getting back to sexuality is it's come back into my forefront, um, that I am, uh, you know, going to participate in rewriting the way that we experience sexuality, the way that we interact with that force because it is literally our treasure. And because of the nature of it,

it's also been reversed and infiltrated even in the sexual, like, honey, I didn't mean to just tell you on the therapist, I mean, on the podcast that I'm gonna be a sex therapist now, but no. It's sounding like that's where this is heading. It's kind of sounding like that. No, but a lot of it's been also manipulated because it's an easy place to manipulate if you don't know how to create the energetic boundaries. And I'm not talking about a promiscuous use of this power.

I'm talking about very responsible, guarded, devotional, sacred attunement with this power, whether you're single, whether you're in any variation of relationship in any preference with consenting adults. I love it. So I don't know, you weren't expecting that. No. See, we haven't talked.

We've talked a little bit about this. Like I'm not surprised to hear you talk about that. I'm interested to see where that goes. Yeah. Well, why don't we take a quick break and then we'll come back with lots more cool stuff. Okay, let's do it. So I went to the bathroom during the break

and then I came back and you said that you dropped the best pearls of the podcast while I was in the restroom. No, well, Jason was just saying that he got a few, he got a few pearls and he was saying that, let it be beautiful, that he really liked that. And I just think that's really, really beautiful actually, because wouldn't all of us like the permission

to experience a beautiful life and know that that is spiritual? to experience a beautiful life and know that that is spiritual. Well, whatever happens is a thing. It's all about the meaning that we attach to it and the perspective and the opinions that we form around it. Which when they're quote unquote, like things that aren't going well,

we then develop shame, we develop fear, we develop a low self-esteem or a sense that we're not good enough or all of these things begin to pile on. And then suddenly that event or whatever it is becomes this living breathing entity that is working at cross purposes with your own personal evolution.

When really you're the co-creator. So if you wanna create a beautiful life, you have the power to apply a perspective in any situation. It's not easy, it takes work. And I'm not saying you don't feel pain. I wasn't standing, sitting with this individual who came to me in the face of his friend's suicide and denying his grief.

I'm not doing that. We're fully going into it. We're fully sitting with it, but we're choosing to apply a higher meaning to it. And through that, there is transcendence and there is evolution. And something that was the most horrifying act could become the most beautiful act

because of what it catalyzes for the future. I just did a podcast with this woman the other day. I was a guest on her podcast. Her name is Alison Haddon. She was introduced to me by Andy Putacombe, the Headspace founder. And Alison is somebody who is suffering terribly from cancer at the moment.

Her body is riddled with cancer and she's had multiple bouts with it. And it's serious, like very serious. But rather than sit at home and feel sorry for herself, she started this thing called No Time to Waste. And she's got this podcast and she's like, I wanna talk to all these cool people that I respect or whatever.

And she reached out to me and it was an amazing conversation. But what I took away from that was just the choices that she's made And it was an amazing conversation. But what I took away from that was just the choices that she's made about how she's interpreting what has happened to her that, you know, she didn't ask for, and you could say like, oh, she co-created it because perhaps there's some

larger mystical purpose for her enduring this hardship. But, you know, it happened, you. But it did happen to her. Like it didn't happen because she did anything to- Her personality wasn't like, I want to have this. And she could very easily play the victim and she's not. She's like, she had like the most positive outlook on everything. And she's like, this is what I wanna do.

And I'm not gonna sit at home. And like, I'm doing this everything. And she's like, this is what I wanna do. And I'm not gonna sit at home and like, I'm doing this thing. And it was very inspiring and it really helped me kind of reframe it, put it, obviously somebody like that is gonna help you put things into perspective. And I just found it to be really powerful. Very inspiring and very beautiful. And yeah, I mean, all we have is this present moment.

So who knows? I mean, all we have is this present moment. So who knows? I mean, the world could blow up tomorrow or I could leave here and die in a car crash or anything can happen. It's a mystery, we don't know. So she could have a spontaneous healing and not die at all or she could transition and go into another realm where life is a different experience.

She told me, sorry to interrupt, but she emailed me a couple hours before we were supposed to record. And she said, I can't hear in either of my ears. I have to go to the hospital. There's a good chance that I'm gonna have to postpone the podcast because she thought she might have to go to the hospital. There's a good chance that I'm gonna have to postpone the podcast because she thought she might have to go

into emergency brain surgery, that she had another tumor in her brain that was pushing against her ear canals or something. It turned out to not be that, but she was fully expecting that. She's like apologizing for, you know, perhaps having to postpone scheduling this thing. And I was like, that's unbelievable.

So profound. Anyway, sorry. I did step on what you were trying to say. No, it doesn't matter. That's amazing. It's incredible. Let's talk about some other stuff. Okay.

You wanna bring us up to speed on Shreemu? You've got this beautiful presentation here of a feed of cheese. I have a pre-announcement. My team is maybe going to be really mad at me, but I feel really good about this. Well, we have worked very hard to refine our margins and to improve our shipping channels, our distribution. Our production is phenomenal. I am so proud of my sacred makers. As the mother arc. I'm the mother arc of my sacred makers.

It's just such an amazing product. I'm so honored to be the one to bring this through. And I've created really just this artisanal cheese, not cheese that rivals dairy cheese. And the reviews are just crazy. I mean, I actually brought one wheel from Air One Markets. I wanna give a shout out to Air One. They are the only retailer that I'm in right now.

And Victor, one of the managers at Calabasas was telling me that the customers raving about it is one of the most fun things that he's experiencing. So anyway, in Erewhon, we have three flavors, but we now have four different box offerings. One of the exciting things is later on in May, we're going to have a two wheel, which is gonna be a really great offering for a lot of people. We should just say for people that perhaps are newer to the show, that Shri Moo is your plant-based cheese company,

artisanal wheels of cheese that is the evolution of cheese. It's the next evolution of cheese. The next evolution of cheese. But if you like your camembert and your breeze, and you like that, like really fine aged wheel of cheese with your, you know, your, your wine or your bread or whatever, like this is the plant-based version of that. That's better than anything you could possibly imagine. But your business, Erewhon aside, is essentially a subscription box service. So people go to the website, srimu.com, S-R-I-M-U.com. And you launched with a large box that had,

I think four wheels and two balls. No, yeah, it had four wheels and then it had a jar of fresh mozzarella that's called a Cloud9, which is shipped in salted water, crystal salted waters. And then there was, um, there is a bonfire, which is a smoked almond cheddar. It's not your grandma's cheese ball. Um, so anyway, that's the big sacred box offering, which is this one. Um, but then we have a four wheel box, a three wheel box, and now a two wheel box of just the wheels. Can you pick which cheeses you want in the two-wheel? We're gonna have a little bit of customization

in a couple of the boxes. In general, no, you can't, but we allocate it really well so that you can choose which product you like. And you're shipping just domestic US right now? Well, that's kind of the pre sort of announcement. Canada people, it looks like we are going to be able to open up shipping to you very shortly.

So stay tuned. You guys have been amazing. I love the Canadian support and love for sure. We have a lot of support in Canada. It seems like all that energy is coming from Canada right now. Yeah, I really like it. Really, really like it. So anyway, we did it successfully. So anyway, we did it successfully. The boxes arrived. We figured out the customs processes and everything. And so it feels like it's gonna be a go. So anyway, that's a sort of a pre-announcement,

but stay tuned because we were looking forward to doing that. And then actually I wanted to mention, so Shreemu is aligning with different initiatives that support the planet, that celebrate the planet. And many of you know about my spiritual alignment with Damanhur, the spiritual community in Northern Italy near Turin. And if you haven't checked them out, please do check out Damanhur, D-A-M-A-N-H-U-R. And take a tour of the temples. They built temples to mankind inside a mountain in secret. And when you speak to them, they say it only took us 19 years. So it's this beautiful artistic offering that is energetically benefiting the planet. And the great mission of Shreemu is to collaborate with Damanhur.

So we have plans to produce Shreemu EU in Damanhur and have been working on that. The pandemic slowed us down a bit, but that's still moving forward. But the greater vision of Damanhur is to create the next evolution of the temples, which is this large living library that is to house all of the indigenous teachings on planet Earth. And if you understand spirituality and ceremony and ritual, you know how vital these practices are to the upliftment of humanity, the planet, nature, animals. And this project is massive. It's going to be 120 times larger than the 6,000 square meter

underground temple they have now. And Shreemu's global mission is to participate in building that with them. So that's the why behind Shreemu. And then recently, I met up with my friend, Natasha Severino, who is a makeup artist that I met from Lucy and Jan. Natasha did my makeup, I think twice, and had a very profound spiritual awakening. And she changed her whole life over like a two-year period. And she started working with a shaman who is very connected with the Hopi Nation. And recently we worked together and she reached out and just said, you know, Julie, Srimati, the Hopi are suffering terribly because of COVID. They are in an area that does not receive governmental support and they need clean water and they need compost toilets. 120 of their tribe have transitioned during this time. And there's only 12,000 Hopi that live, that are alive.

And so Shreemu is gonna align with them and we're going to help to get support for these very, very magnificent, sacred, sacred members of our human family. Yeah, that's very cool. I mean, I don't know a lot about the Hopi predicament, but if I'm not mistaken, they were not provided with reservation land, correct? That's what I understand. They ended up settling in the midst of the Navajo nation.

Yeah, it's like in the center. And as I understand it, and I'm not an expert in any way, center, and as I understand it, and I'm not an expert in any way, but there's a ring of Navajo or Diné is the correct term for that tribe. But they're in the center. And as I understand it, the reason they were not placed by the government is that they refused to allow mining on their land. So they've just been there, you know, sort of without governmental support. And now the runoff of the mining from the Diné land has contaminated all of their water supply. And so, you know, once again, we have these very dire conditions on planet earth due to our lifestyle and the things that we do and, you know and getting back to very basic human rights, human right to have clean water and food and shelter and land. And these in the spiritual

realms, the Hopi are very sacred beings that hold a certain coding and energetic. I don't know it. I haven't interacted with it in a great, you know, in a deep way. But I do know that they are valued, treasured, you know, indigenous frequencies that we need to care for. They also have the dopest traditional attire. Yeah. You have ever seen, you guys can see it. The water thing is real though. I mean, so many of them don't have clean water. Arsenic is a huge problem. I think there's something like 27% of them that don't even have complete plumbing,

18% with no running water. And some villages have no tap water at all. So it's quite a crisis. I think there are some, there is some assistance that's happening right now. I don't know the status of that. Well, Natasha works with a shaman, Marza, and she's on the ground and has interacted

with this particular tribe and many other indigenous all over the world. And so, she's there in communion with them. You can't just contact, you can't just call them up. They live in their sacred ways. Another thing that they're suffering from is that they have a very specific rights when somebody transitions and they're, and they're not able to do those rights now because of COVID. So there is a GoFundMe and, you know, we, we need support for anybody that also has, you know,

water solutions or compost toilet solutions, like, you know, any sustainability genius or anybody who feels called to support in this way. But, you know, money will help. And I think they're trying to raise initially like 50 grand to just get them the water that they need and the waste processing. All right. Well, I'll link up that GoFundMe in the show notes. Thank you for that, thank you. Also, if you've never heard of Dom and Her and you wanna learn a little bit more

about that wild, amazing place, I think the website is just domandher.it, right? Do domandher.foundations. Oh, Dom and Her. And there's a nonprofit link that you can donate there and you can take a little mini tour of the temple. It's quite extraordinary. Do we wanna talk about Lorcan a little bit?

We do, let's talk about Lorca. Lorca. We call him Lorca. So Lorcan O'Herlihy is a beautiful artist, architect, designer, fine artist, painter, professor of architecture. And he's the mastermind that designed our home, which we've gone into in the past on the podcast.

I don't know that we need to recount that whole story, but he's become a dear friend. And over the many years that have transpired since he built our house, his architecture firm, Loja, L-O-H-A, has matured from designing single family homes into large urban projects with a very socially conscious bent to them.

And he's got this new book out called "'Architecture as a Social Act." Of course, it's a beautiful book because he's a social act. It's a, of course, it's a beautiful book because he's a beautiful artist. And it's a very cool kind of primer on how the spaces we design are so influential in our lives, which is something we've talked about with our home that we're very blessed to live in.

But it's really about this direct connection between the development of consciously designed buildings and the wider impact of them and efforts to tackle issues that are relevant in our rapidly changing world. Definitely, and I mean, I think it ties right back to, you know, the first spiritual tenant, which is to live a beautiful life. And Lorcan was over a couple of days ago and I hadn't seen him

in a long time. You know, he brought the book and, you know, I just again, once again, acknowledged him for being the sort of unsung healer and influencer of our creative expressions in our family because his architecture has framed our experience of the world. And he looked at the containers that you have your office in and that we have there. And he was telling me about this container structure that he designed, which is for homeless. And it's like, you look at that and you say,

well, why shouldn't everybody be able to experience beauty in their space even if they're homeless you know we can still um we don't just have to leave it to haphazard and and and do it without intention you know if somebody had a a beautiful zen space you know even if it was very modest that might allow them the energy that they need or the experience or the influence that they need to find strength inside of themselves or remember that they have a creative thing to express

or lift them up. So we don't have to just let it go. And I think I didn't realize just what a privilege it was to have him design our house until we had lived in it for 15 years. Uh, but I think it's one of the most profound, impactful, and best decisions that we ever made was to, was to work with an architect. And I think architects should be revered as, because if you consider spaces as temples or as sanctuaries, it's the places where we become.

It's the places where we find ourselves. So this architecture is a very key part of our life. Yeah. I mean, it's, our home is the crucible from which we have created everything from our children to all of these expressions that we share with the world. Yeah. So, you know, that just on a very, you know, fundamental level is true. The podcast. But just the experience of, and the great, great privilege of living in a beautiful place

and how that, you know, impacts how you think about your life and, you know, pursue the things that are important to you. It is profound. And it's been beautiful to watch Lorcan, who from the get-go we knew was a genius, to see him embrace the social implications of his work and to scale up what he's doing to the betterment of society and culture at

large, like to reimagine what low-income housing can look like, right? It doesn't have to be the projects and uninspiring brick building that becomes a breeding ground for all kinds of unhealthy behaviors, but instead an uplifting and inspiring space that's built affordably, that can provide a refuse for so many people that are in need right now. I mean, he's done all kinds of,

I mean, I think he's done, has he done any museums yet? But he's done like bus stops, like simple things in Santa Monica, right? Like how can we make the bus stop cool and inspiring and uplifting as opposed to just a bench? Yeah, and he's, I mean, he's done, you know, commercial buildings and apartment buildings

and, you know, huge public buildings in China and also in Ireland. So he's a global architect and more like focused on the institution, on the culture, on the community. I think we were one of the last single family homes that he did. I think we might've been the last one. We might've been the last.

And our home is featured in this book on like page 36 or something. We have a nice spread. Cool, well, we love you Lorcan. Yeah, Lorcan, we love you. Architecture is a social act. Yeah, and he's the best. And we also wanted to shout out our friend, Tracy Stanley.

She's got this beautiful new book, Radiant Rest, which is really about yoga nidra. It is yoga nidra. So, okay, so if any of you guys have been on our retreats to Italy, you'll know that one of the most treasured workshops that I teach is one on yoga nidra. And it's always hilarious because certain people start snoring

and you're supposed to stay- I fall asleep every time. Instantly, Rich is asleep and snoring. And then, and so I usually do, I offer a yoga nidra program out of the foundational book on the subject, which is the Bihar School of Yoga, which is just an amazing, amazing series of yoga books if you're interested. And Tracy Stanley, who is this radiant goddess, we've known her for years. And Tracy Stanley, who is this radiant goddess, we've known her for years. She's such a beautiful yoga teacher and meditator.

And she has been studying and teaching yoga nidra for many, many years. And she wrote this beautiful book, sort of bringing it into modern day. And all of us should be practicing yoga nidra every single day. All of us should be practicing yoga nidra every single day. It's one of the most rejuvenative, restorative, nourishing, immunity building, stress reducing practices you could engage in. And for those of you that have a hard time sitting, you're lying down on the floor. So if you haven't learned about yoga nidra

or experienced it, I would check out Tracy Stanley and her book, Radiant Rest. And for those that are perhaps a little less spiritually inclined or for whom Julie is maybe a little bit more out there than you're used to, let me remind you that Yoga Nidra is something that I talked about with Dr. Andrew Huberman. Oh, cool. He was a neuroscientist speaking about the brain. See, even somebody legitimate like a neuroscientist.

Right. So if you need that to get your brain around, if I'm too weird, you could definitely do it with him. So what else is top of mind for you? Top of mind. Let's see. I think I've like, I've shared all my stuff. I mean, the main thing for me is just, that's really what's up for me right now.

Oh, you know what else? I'm really enjoying putting together a series of yoga practices. I'm gonna be doing some videos. I'm not sure who I'm gonna be doing them with yet. But I really, really just, you know, you're talking about my practices extending for hours during the day.

And I just don't know what I would do in life if I didn't have the tools and techniques to get me into that space, to allow me to commune with that energy. And really yoga practice, like asana yoga is at the foundation of everything that I've done in my life. I mean, it is the thing. I mean, I met you in a yoga class. So taking the need to get all into the lineage and just offering it for me, it's a way to get life force in the body, life force in the body.

Still a very deep practice. My practices are gonna bring you into an expanded presence. It's not about light or quick movements or I don't know. It's not light. But I really feel like we need practices to transform grief. Those of us that have said goodbye to our loved ones and especially during this time with so many restrictions and so many questions. We need a practice to process trauma. So what are the ancestral traumas that we have in our life that we don't wanna carry on?

And what I want to share is that what we fail to clear in our own beings, our children will have to process that for us. And I think that is a catalyzing moment, a defining moment for me. Right, like if you really think about that and embrace that, nobody wants to pass on to their kids something that has caused them pain,

but looking at that pain is so difficult. But if you can imagine the possibility that you can prevent your child from having to contend with whatever it is that you struggle with, that is extra motivation to take a look at. Yeah, definitely. And it's the responsibility again, like nobody's going to do it for you and you can't hide from yourself. You can't pretend that something isn't going on and just be like, oh, I'm never going to tell anybody and I'm just going to keep this quiet because you're just trying to fool yourself. You can't hide from yourself. It will come visit you somehow,

you know, in this life and another life. But it's like to not take responsibility for our own things. It just seems like is so irresponsible. It's like, if we were alive, we have the opportunity. We have to have the courage. We have to have the courage to go in and, and understand that no matter what happens, it can be beautiful. And it will be beautiful if you create it as such. I didn't tell my other, I was gonna.

Oh, go ahead. One, two, we need another practice to embody our best life, to really connect with that natural, authentic blueprint that is each one of us, only one of us in the entire omniverse, not another rich role anywhere. What's the difference between the omniverse and the multiverse? And every universe.

Okay. Every universe. But I mean, you gotta admit, like it's not that crazy when you go on NASA and they're just finding planets left and right. Like it's, and you know, humanity is so concerned over our political system and like nobody even pays attention.

They're just like, oh, a planet was discovered, no biggie. Anyway, I forgot what my other one was. But anyway, just light in the body, like communication between all of your organs. What if your body was communicating with itself completely functional all the time? And many of us, if I say, okay, close your eyes and imagine yourself, you might think of only your head. So how do we

embody all of us as a breathing organism, as a whole, as I say in yoga, whole body breathing, whole body breathe. Right. Right. Yeah, I mean, we have this notion that our consciousness resides in our mind, but actually that's an illusion. That's right. There's no evidence to suggest that it lives inside your mind. But the mind has told you that it lives inside your mind.

Or that it lives inside your cranium, right? Right. It's interesting to like, there's a book about this called, I forget what it's called. It's called something like, where's your head or something like that. I'm butchering it, but it goes into that subject matter.

Yeah, and just in this moment, I was speaking to somebody this week about the shift in awareness. So the truth of the matter is we are in a new age. So, that is true. We are in the Aquarian age now. And so, one way we can look at it is that everything that we did previous to now was the first life. And now everything that we're going to do now is the second life. And one of the qualities of this frequency that we're in is before we would maybe have a goal, define it, go out, grab it, conquer it and achieve it, right? It's like sort of a very

linear and masculine way of going about it. And where, you know, you were asking me at the beginning of this podcast, like, how do you run a company when you're just meditating? And the thing is, is that this frequency is more of a feminine process and it's one of magnetism. And so again, I'll repeat, there's nothing more powerful than a being that knows itself. And so, as you cultivate the ability to sit inside yourself, to embody all that you are, to take out everything you're hiding and look at it and deal with it and resolve it and love it and transform it or hold it, you naturally attract the synchronic events that are in alignment with the truth of who you are. And so, that allows you to not struggle in work. It's more of a relaxation into being, and you're the more I can relax and be who I am, then suddenly the universe just floats by with a silver platter. And you're like,

oh yes, I'll have that hors d'oeuvre. Thank you very much. Yeah. I've had a taste of that in my life, but it's so difficult for me because I exist under the delusion that, you know, if I don't suffer and feel pain in the pursuit of something that I either don't deserve it or I'm not working hard enough to get it. We gotta help you with that. It's like an addiction. It's like the idea like, what if it was easy? Like what if like writing that book was just easy?

Like I can't fathom that. You're like, no, you don't want it. Well, and also, yeah, if it did come easy, then I would say, well, that was too easy. It must not be good. Like I need to go back and like roll up my sleeves and just really connect with the pain body. Yeah, but I mean, the thing is,

is like even in that frequency, doesn't mean everything's easy. I mean, life still visits you. Right, but the idea of like the synchronic aspect of what you just shared, the idea being that you're in the flow and you're inviting these things into your life. It's more of an allowing as opposed to like a forcing.

Yes. Right. But I think you experienced that a lot in your life, especially now. Maybe you just don't know it. I still like to grind. You like it. Like there's a sense of satisfaction that comes with,

I left it all out on the field, right? There's nothing more I could have done to make that any better. Well, I mean, I could tell you that about Shreemu. I mean, I didn't leave anything on the table. I just did it in a different way. Right. I did it with a different bhava,

a different energy, I guess. And I think there's something about that, the differences that live and breathe between us that creates something powerful about our union. We had a joke the other day because it was like a Saturday morning and I was getting ready to go out on my bike and I'm in my cycling kit, my helmet and sunglasses

and the whole thing. And you came down from a meditation session and you had like sandalwood on your forehead. I had like ash on my forehead. And I was like, oh wow, we're both in our costumes. Different costumes, yeah. Yeah, and those costumes on some level are a manifestation of some truth within each of us, but they're still costumes.

Sure. Definitely. Right. Definitely. And listen, it's, again, it's about you being you. It's about you embodying who you are. And so, you know, your truth may be to really just be in that and that's natural for you. That's the way it is for you. And you can marvel at me, but you don't have to judge me and you don't have to want to be like anybody else except you. Right. I mean, you do the same to me. You're like, wow, look at you. You're in that, look at that get up you got on or whatever. It's like, you're never going to get in a cycling kit

and go ride with me. Exactly. So, and I don't expect you to, and I don't judge you for not wanting to do that. Yeah, exactly. But here we are 21 years later, 21 years into our relationship. It's crazy. Which makes us just by sheer time, makes us relationship experts.

That's right. You know, and our relationship, our marriage is surviving the pandemic. So for people, and maybe this is like a final thing, a thread that we can pull on for people that are, I mean, I can imagine if you're in a relationship and you're stuck in a living space with somebody and it's not going well, how painful that must be.

And I think that's a very common experience right now. What's the answer? So the, well, it's more like, what's the, like, what is, let's just talk about tools for navigating tricky relationships. Like for us, so much of it is about communication. I mean, we're well suited to each other. We've been, we were together forever before the pandemic.

So it's not like, oh, we just met and now we're in an apartment. But a lot of people are in that situation. Well, I mean, I think again, it's like, this is a moment, it's an opportunity. It's a great shift. Everybody's going through huge changes. Our cultures, our systems, our money, our art,

the way art is sold, our travel. We had a big conversation about NFTs with Mathis at dinner the other night. Like this is gonna, as an art student, like pay attention to this because this is gonna change the nature of art and how it's valued. Maybe you should explain that to the listeners.

Do you think they all know? No, it's too- You don't have time. If you don't know what that means, then we're just not gonna explain it to you. Yeah. So the thing is, it's a time of transformation. This is what it is.

And so I think many of you that are listening to this, you know this within yourselves. You know if you're at a crossroads or if there's a choice that's come up for your review. And I still maintain what I've always represented and what has been the foundation of our relationship. And that is, you're here to live your life. You're here to live what is inside of you. The treasures are inside your own heart. And so it just leads me back to the beginning is you got to look at whatever you're hiding from. What are you hiding from?

You can't hide from yourself. At some point, you're going to have to experience, interact with, reconcile. And no matter how scary it is, communication, first of all, with yourself is the first step. and then communication with those around you. And hopefully, it's not always easy for people because not everybody are great communicators, but if you can communicate what it is you're feeling and you have the possibility to rewrite the way relationships are, rewrite sexuality, rewrite what it means to be married. I mean, for goodness sakes, no one's straight anymore. One of my kids said to me the other day, he's like, mom, no one's straight. You know, so it's like, we have all this sexual identity,

everybody's pan fluid by whatever, you know, transgender, all this stuff's coming up. whatever, transgender, all this stuff's coming up. And so, it's like, we need to just love ourselves and understand that it's going to be okay and that everything must change. Everything has to go through a transformation. And so, because I don't like suffering, I want you to do it in the most gentle way possible. I don't like humans to suffer. you to do it in the most gentle way possible. I don't like humans to suffer. I also think we should refrain from an old idea of a patterning that means X when someone breaks up. You know, that we can do this, people make fun of it, you know, oh, I'm consciously uncoupling, like, oh, that's so funny. But it's actually, like, if you really love somebody and you really love them, then you would want what is best for them in all places, in all stages of their life. And, you know, you and I, our vows were to support each other to realize our greatest dreams.

That was what we said. And I think we've done that. I think we've, you know, we've held up to that. And every relationship is changing and moving. And, you know, it's not about where you were or the old story. It's about what, who are we today and what are we doing going forward? And what is left to be uncovered inside of me? What is left to be uncovered inside of you? And how can we support that? You know, so I think, you know, it's all about you and you. It's this deep communion with your own self. And when you learn to advocate for yourself, then you will make choices that are

considering yourself first, which is rather contrary to the way we've been raised. You know, we think it's spiritual to martyr yourself, but the martyr doesn't help anybody in the end. And, you know, so wouldn't it be better to just honor yourself? And you'll find out that if you start treating yourself with that kind of respect and love and celebration, that will be mirrored back to you. Right. You will then attract a like-minded partner who's

vibrating on that level. Or you'll just get energy that's supporting you. Yeah. I mean, the instinct is I feel uncomfortable with who I am. I'm gonna reach out and try to find somebody else and bring them into my world to solve my pain or my poor self-esteem or whatever it is that I'm contending with. And that's the upside down way of going about it. Like be the person, become the person, commit yourself to becoming the person

that the person you aspire to be with would wanna be with, right? And then figure out, and then that person will, if you do that, that person will find their way into your life without having to go on a dating app. And should you find yourself in that precious situation, it then becomes about honoring yourself and honoring the best of what that other person has to offer, which is very easy to say and very difficult to do. Very complicated.

We have a friend who, you told the story at dinner the other night about being told to not be on a dating app anymore. Oh, right, right, right. I won't say who it is, but well, I don't even know. I mean, dating apps, like we are totally the un-experts. I got a question on a roll on the other day about like that. I was like, I can't give any advice about dating. No, we can't even speak to that. We're too old.

We're like, you know, we're that generation. We didn't do that. Yeah, I don't know. Like, you know, we're that generation. We didn't do that. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, again, everything in my estimation, my best offering is it's all about building an absolutely devotional relationship with yourself

because there's nothing more beautiful than a being that knows itself. And there's no one else that is going to find that connection except you. No one's gonna do that work for you. So if you're compromising or if you bonded with somebody over pain and pain is the subject of your life,

you have the ability to transmute that, to learn from it, to bless it, to thank it. And if you've learned enough from it, if you haven't learned enough from it, then stay there. I mean, there's valuable lessons to be learned in all life experiences. And it's not just about one tone. But the main thing is, are you getting the lesson?

Are you transforming? Did you take away something from it? And then we have to make peace with our traumas. I think that's a good place to land the plane, as they say. Thanks for inviting me on. Beautifully eloquent and wise as always. Thank you. Beautiful Julie Pyatt, AKA Srimati.

If you wanna learn more about her multiverse, you should check out her podcast For the Life of Me. You can tap into her spiritual community, Water Tiger, and you can order her wonderful cheese at srimu.com.

But all things Srimati can be found at juliepiet.com. And that's really it, right? That's it. Check out the cheese. Check out the cheese, people. You'll be happy. All right. How was your first studio experience in the RRP?

I felt very loved and cared for. Okay, good. And I'm very in awe of what you have created in your life. It's truly a beautiful, beautiful experience to watch that. Thank you, but it doesn't happen without the support and the belief that you have demonstrated over the decades. So thank you for that. My honor.

Love you. Love you, babe. Peace. Namaste. Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed the show. To learn more about today's guest, including links and resources

related to everything discussed today, you can visit the episode page at richroll.com. And you can also find me on Instagram and Twitter at Rich Roll. If you'd like to support the podcast, the easiest and most impactful thing you can do is to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Sharing the show or your favorite episode with friends or on social media is, of course, awesome, and YouTube. Sharing the show or your favorite episode with friends or on social media is, of course, awesome and always appreciated. And finally, for podcast updates, special offers on books, The Meal Planner, and other subjects, subscribe to our newsletter, which you can find on the footer of any page at richroll.com. Today's show was produced and

engineered by Jason Camiolo. The video edition of the podcast was created by Blake Curtis. Portraits by Allie Rogers and Davey Greenberg. Graphic elements, courtesy of Jessica Miranda. Copywriting by Georgia Whaley. And of course, our theme music was created by Tyler Pyatt, Trapper Pyatt, and Harry Mathis. Appreciate the love. Love the support. See you back here soon.

Peace. Plants. Namaste. Thank you.