The Rich Roll Podcast - Julie Piatt: Wealth Is The Community You Keep

Episode Date: October 28, 2021

It’s time to once again transcend the mortal coil to reconnect with matters ethereal and divine, truths both big and small. Our prophetess for this spiritual trip is healer, mother, and creator Julie Piatt. Longtime listeners are well acquainted with the one who goes by SriMati—my in-house guru and better half. A human who is very good at many things, Julie is an accomplished yogi, 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 an unearthing of not only this podcast’s origin story, but also the catalyst that sparked the creation Julie’s cookbooks, SriMu, and the Water Tiger tribe. It’s a crash course in embracing neutrality and understanding the strength in letting go. And it’s an exploration of why suffering is the ultimate engine for growth. But most of all, this conversation is about the importance of relationships in all their forms. How to cultivate them. How to celebrate them. And most importantly, how to make them last. To read more click here. The visually inclined can watch the alchemy transpire on YouTube. And as always, the podcast streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Enjoy! Peace + Plants, Rich

Humans are amazing. I mean, there's so much beauty in humanity. We often hear narratives that are sort of highlighting all the horrible things that are going on in our world. And as we know, we are powerful creators and where we put our attention is what expands. And I think that there's wisdom and power and intelligence in highlighting the beauty of

humanity because there's a lot more beauty than what is considered. And I think it's human tendency to feel justified pointing out everything that's wrong. And so I just think we're all alive in a body. Hopefully if you're listening to this podcast and you're breathing, you have the privilege of being alive, the privilege of being connected to this podcast. And just to highlight the beauty of humanity and how all of us have something so meaningful to bring and offer and share. Yeah. Wealth is the company you keep. The Rich Roll Podcast. Hey, everybody, welcome to the podcast.

We have an amazing show on tap for you, 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,

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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 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, 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, Julie is back. So, here we go. Here we go. Greetings, Podcastlandia. Proud to let you guys know that we are back with the beautiful, the wise, the erudite, Julie Pia, Srimati, spiritualist, expert, vegan, cheese, impresario, entrepreneur, culinary genius, best-selling cookbook author, community leader, podcaster,

musician, mother arc, and my partner, not in crime, but in all things. How are you? Aw, thanks, Richel. I'm great. Thanks for- Did I cover the list? I'm in awe in your poetry and your ability to express me in new and expanded ways. Ooh, continue. Continue with that thought. It's so beautiful. Thank you so much.

When was the last time you were on? I don't know. It's been a while. It's been a minute, right? Yeah, it's about time. And actually the studio's kind of come around a little bit more since you were last year. It's incredible.

This is just such an amazing experience. I'm so, I feel so blessed and excited. It's very cool. Well, you kicked this whole thing off with episode one back in that cavernous warehouse in Kauai. It's come a long way since then, but in most respects, in the most important respects, I think the show has maintained the sensibility

that we initiated back then. And I'm happy to have you back to continue the conversation that started on this show in the fall of 2012. So we're actually like just weeks away from the nine year anniversary of this whole affair. That's crazy. I was remembering that this morning cause it's a rainy day finally in Southern California.

And I was wondering how long it's been. So nine years. Yeah, we started it in November. I don't remember the exact date. I think it was like mid-November. I think island fever had set in about week three. I was starting to get itchy and antsy and feeling disconnected from people and the universe and scratched the itch to try this thing out without any sense of where it would go.

And here we are. That's amazing. It really is amazing. I think it's also really profound that the spiritual energy of Kauai is within this podcast. It is the energy that created or participated in the manifestation as did all of the food journey as well. So we were landlocked without really friends.

We weren't really welcomed in Kauai by the community. And we found ourselves sort of staying in our three 30-foot yurts. And I had a test kitchen and then I just started creating food. And that's most of the recipes in the Plant Power way. And then you were like, I'm going to go crazy. We're starting a podcast. Yeah. You were saying. I know. I mean, shout out to Chris Jabe, who invited us to live on his incredible property, Common Ground. He's since sold that property.

But we were living, we've told the story many times, so I don't want to linger too long on it. But for those of you that are a little bit newer, we lived on this extraordinary property on the North shore of Kauai. It had been a mango farm and Chris who owned it was looking to figure out how to leverage this extraordinary place for broader purposes. And for some reason, he thought that we could be helpful in that regard.

Thank God he did. It was the first time. We were so broke at the time. He threw us a lifeline. He's like, come out to Kauai and live with me and we'll hang out and try to figure out what to do here. And we were like, okay. And before we knew it, like in a very short period of time, we had essentially relocated thinking that we were going to lose our house because we couldn't pay our bills and he kept us afloat. And that became the crucible, like the incubator for so many beautiful things. So really Chris Jay was very instrumental

in the direction, the trajectory of our lives. It's unbelievable what an influence he had in ways that I'm sure he can barely appreciate in terms of being a catalyst for everything that we've birthed. And I think the lesson in there is that you never know. Like there are people will come into your life and gently kind of nudge you in one direction or the other

that then over time, it only becomes evident like in the rear view mirror, like what an impact those people have. And I think we're all visited with some form or another of individuals like that. Makes a profound impact, but I think it's related to, I just wanna tell a little bit more about that story because it's very relevant to how I'm interacting with the creation of food right now.

And we, at the point in time that Chris came into our lives, our house had been put in foreclosure and I was sort of out of my ability to stall anymore. And I was very devastated, came home and told all you guys, we were always like, we're gonna lose the house in like 30 days, it's gonna be gone. So I came home and I was just, I had one of those moments of feeling sort of lost and disconnected from spirituality and God

and like, how could this be happening? And I remember Saul David Ray, who's an amazing yoga teacher in the LA area. He reached out and he hired me, said, Srimati, will you cook for my Thai yoga retreat? And he said, I can pay you pretty well. And so I remember leaving and I just told you, I said, there is no way that we are being moved out of this house without an opportunity. It's impossible with the amount of heart and presence and how much we had gone through and how bonded we were and committed to really serving our heart. And so I remember going up there just feeling completely in a state of, I don't know. Like, I just, I don't know anything.

Like, if this is happening, I just, I was doubting all of my instincts. And so I just decided to literally put all of my energy into preparing food for this Thai yoga retreat. And I, maybe one of the, you know, one of the few times that I was single focus because I do so many things, but I really stepped into this as a sort of seva or service. And the food became activated with something that was beyond my ability to create food. And I had people weeping when they were eating my pie and they were leaving Saul's retreat to stay with me in the kitchen. And he was joking with me saying like, what are you doing to my students? Like, they just want to be with you. And so I remember he was very generously said, please invite Rich and the kids up to the final dinner. And I remember you walked in, it was up at Bill's place up in Santa Barbara, Casa Barranca. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah, I remember that place.

It was like a really cool sort of art deco sort of place. Anyway, and you walked in and you said, have you read your emails? And I said, no. And you said, go read your email right now. And I went and read my email and Chris Jabe had replied to an email that I had sent him two years prior.

And he said, I want to speak to you and Rich. I'm halfway through the book and we want to meet. And 10 days later, he was sitting in our living room, having a meeting with all of us. So it was a very sort of profound demonstration about how, when you step into devotion at that level and abandon your personalities, ideas, and trajectories, just how beautiful life can be. Yeah, there's many layers to this idea of surrender, right? So one of the lines in Finding Ultra is that when your heart is true,

the universe will conspire to support you. And I believe that, and I've seen that play out in so many people's lives. And I felt like when I put finding Ultra out, that my heart was true and the universe would conspire to somehow figure out a way to support us in this mission. And nothing was happening, right? The phone was not ringing.

There was no money coming in. We were unable to pay our bills. And when Saul called you, it was like, yes, I will do that. Like I'll do anything. And when Chris said, come out to Kauai, we said, yes, we had no other options, but also it was like, okay,

we're just giving ourselves over to wherever and however we're being directed. And I just remember moving into those yurts on this farm and thinking like, we may never see our house again. And perhaps we're just gonna be living in these yurts now. Like that's it. Like now we live in Kauai. I don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow.

Like this sense of completely letting go of any idea or attachment to, you know, your sense of expectations or outcomes. But it is, that is a practice of devotion in and of itself, right? We could have never known that that would be a trigger point to lead us in these other directions. And certainly I would have preferred the timeline to look differently. And I had no, like, it wasn't my plan, I don't know about you, that we were gonna go live in yurts.

Like I had a whole other agenda and idea of how this would play out. But the letting go, which feels like a giving up, is really an act of strength. And so reframing how you approach setbacks and obstacles is I think a really instructive lesson that helps me even now when we face obstacles or things aren't going the way that we would like

to just be like present with what is happening and detached from the direction that we would like to just be like present with what is happening and detached from the direction that it's leading you because you simply do not know. Yeah, and when the adversity or the constriction, it's like you felt you were going crazy. You were like, I gotta get off this island. I'm gonna go crazy. Well, first of all, let me just say like,

it's beautiful and I love, there's a lot of great, like, I don't wanna be like panning Kauai, but- We love Kauai. It was challenging. Yes, because we were far away from our friends. We were in a new place. It is difficult. Like there's a big difference between visiting Hawaii on vacation and living there.

Complete. And there's a very heightened energy that exists on the North shore of Kauai. And I think it is fair to say that it's not exactly the most welcoming place in that the people that live there are very protective of it and protective of their kind of respective fiefdoms.

And there does tend to be a little bit of a zero sum perspective. Like, this is my thing. You're over here just so you know, like it was different, right? And I think you have to pay your dues and you have to really establish, like're over here, just so you know, like it was different, right? And I think you have to pay your dues and you have to really establish,

like we're here for the long term and we mean business. And I think we were coming from a place of relative uncertainty, but also with open hearts. And so it was like, hey, how come like it's so hard to make friends here? It was completely different than I imagined because Kauai is probably my dearest spiritual point on the planet.

I've had miraculous experiences on the beaches there and secret beach and been there like seven or eight times. So I thought it was gonna be shelter. I thought it was gonna be this embrace, this loving embrace. And the land did lovingly embrace us. It's just the community didn't. So it just was different.

But what I was- But it made us go, it turned, it was great because it forced us to turn inward and focus on the things that we can control and what we can create. So you went into this, there was one yurt that was a huge kitchen and you went in there and just said,

I'm gonna make recipes. And of course that led to the Plant Power Way and the Plant Power Way Italia, you know, ultimately after that, and also this Cheezus Nuts and Shreemu, which we have in front of us right here that we're gonna talk about, it all started there. And the podcast was a response to me feeling disconnected and feeling like I needed another creative project

to invest my time and energy in. So that's what happened. That's right. And so in the constriction, if you become present and engage in the present moment of what's in front of you, the constriction ends up not being the negative thing that you thought at the start, but it's in fact the alchemy or the friction that's needed to produce the expansion. Yeah, that's the lesson. Before we get too deep into this, I do have an announcement that I wanna make. This past year, I think it's fair to say,

has been a challenging year for everybody, more so for some than others, but also a magical year for this show, for myself, for our family. I've had some amazing guests on the podcast. I've gleaned a plethora of critical, important lessons from those conversations. But at the core, this show, the focus of this show is and has always been how to best serve you.

And by you, I mean the listener, the audience, how it benefits you, orientates you, meets your needs, how it inspires you to reframe your vision of family, of work, of sense of self, and how it can act as an agent of change in your own personal evolution. So with that, we had this idea here, my team, everybody at the studio,

to explore a bit of an experiment with you guys, the listeners, if you are willing to participate. And what that means is I'd like you to consider sharing with me your personal journey of transformation, how the podcast and its myriad of guests has inspired you, what you've learned, what you've practiced, what you've implemented or shared with others along the way. And my team and I will then take all of that and compile a portion of those submissions into a special future episode that we want to create. And the origin of this idea is really just the absolutely mind-bending quantity of emails that we receive every single day. You guys, the listeners, have been writing in to share your many empowering tales of perseverance through adversity and new beginnings and sobriety

and stepping into new identities, all the successes, the losses, the tears, the triumphs, the heartfelt stories of real life epiphanies and transformations. And I think there's something really potent and important about your journey that others can benefit from hearing. So the idea is that learning is a communal act.

It doesn't happen in isolation. And this podcast is really a conduit to that. So I'd like to share stories like yours with other listeners. If you guys are willing to call in and leave a voice message about your journey of transformation, because we wanna know about it.

So to do that, if you're up for it, and I'd love it if you would indulge me, leave a voicemail at 805-421-0057. And just share your story. It can be as long as you want, as well as the wisdom that you've gleaned along the way from the show, what you've built into your life from it. And I think your message could very well be aired

in this future episode that we're working on again. So the number is 805-421-0057. And I look forward to hearing from all you guys. What do you think of that idea? I just absolutely love that. It's gonna be extraordinary. So can't wait for that. Yeah, because humans are amazing.

That's right. Which is one of the things that we wanted to talk about today. Yeah, we wanted to just say very plainly, humans are amazing. Is that it? Expound. No, just because I really feel, and you really feel,

I mean, there's so much beauty in humanity. I mean, humans are just, you know, they're all individual and unique and resilient and creative and courageous and empathic and loving and feeling. And, you know, we often hear narratives that are tearing down the negative or sort of highlighting all the horrible things that are going on in our world. And as we know, we are powerful creators and where we put our attention is what expands. And so I feel that, you know, through this timeout that we've all gone through in the last couple of years, we've even come to appreciate our friends and our community even deeper, not only our close friends,

but also our extended communities, even on social media or through the podcast or through different mentorship groups or the community. And I think that there's wisdom and more beauty than what is brought up for review or to be considered. And I think it's sort of the human tendency to feel justified pointing out everything that's wrong. And then there's something within the personality or the ego that feels like, oh, you know, see, I'm right. How wrong is that? And this is so wrong. And this is so wrong. And so I just think it's a wonderful time. We're all alive in a body. Hopefully if you're listening to this podcast and you're breathing, you have the privilege of being alive, the privilege of being connected to this podcast. And just to highlight the beauty of humanity and how all of us have something so

meaningful to bring and offer and share. Yeah. Wealth is the company you keep and humans are amazing. And I think right now, if you're watching the news or you're scrolling on social media, you get the distinct impression that we are extraordinarily polarized, that there is this breakdown in our ability to communicate in a healthy way. There is this division that's being exacerbated by various narratives out there.

And we're rewarded for sharing our angst and our disagreement and for tearing people down rather than trying to rise each other up. Not to say that all of those things aren't true and they don't exist because that is part and parcel of our culture right now, which makes it confusing, I think. But in my experience, when I'm out in the world or when I travel or I'm walking down the street

or I call a friend, these are not the experiences that I'm having one-on-one or when I greet people. Like I am nourished by being in the world and sharing honestly with the people that I'm close with and meeting new people. Like there's such a gap between my lived experience and my digital experience. And I think it's a reminder to tip that scale a little bit and try to live your life a little bit more analog.

And I'm really, I'm really connecting with this in a bit of a more profound way than I have historically. And I think that's a result of the pandemic on some level and being forced to isolate for so long. And now that we're able to kind of be in the world a little bit more than we were six or eight or 12 months ago, I'm just much more appreciative of those interpersonal interactions and relationships that I have than perhaps I was prior to the pandemic.

I've always been somebody who is fine being alone. I like the silence. I need that quietude to recharge and never really appreciated how important being with other people is. And I went into the pandemic thinking I'm gonna be fine. And ultimately like so many, ended up profoundly kind of lonely in that isolation.

And so now that we can kind of be in the world a little bit more, I've made this commitment to myself to really engage my friendships a little bit better than I have in the past and to say yes to things that ordinarily I might say no to or shut off because I have my way of doing things like with training. Like I like to train alone and like, I don't really like wanna go with anyone else.

But now I'm saying yes to communal group kind of training activities. I've been going to Laird and Gabby's house and doing the pool workout, which isn't really, you know, sort of traditionally part of the way that I approach my physical routine or my training, but I've been so nourished just by doing physical things with other people.

And it's just made me a happier person to do that. And I think turning 55 is like my birthday the past week. Thank you. Have a few thoughts on that. Please share. Some of which I shared on Instagram the other day. I mean, mainly gratitude, you day. I mean, mainly gratitude. We talked earlier about a little bit about the arc

that we've been on. I mean, now we're in this very privileged place where I get to wake up every day and essentially do things that excite me. I never thought that my life would look like this and yet here we are. So I'm profoundly grateful to be able to have this vocation and to indulge like my curiosity

and to be able to share space and time with people that inspire me in so many ways and to leverage that for my own personal learning and then share it with the world. I mean, it's like the greatest thing ever. And as I shared on Instagram last week, like if this is it, people always say to me, like, what's next or what are you building or what's the vision or what's the dream?

And I have ambitions. And as I said on Instagram, there are roads that are still untraveled and things that I wanna express and do. But if it's never more than this, like it's good. And if I was to not wake up tomorrow morning, like it's a life well lived. So I feel very grateful.

But I also want to invest more deeply in my friendships. I think that's something that I've overlooked in the past and something I wanna pay more attention to because wealth is the company you keep. And I've been doing that and it's been great. And I feel like I'm in a much better place than I was last year at this time. So I feel good.

It's beautiful to see. What else about humans being amazing? What else about humans being amazing? I mean, I think one of the great opportunities that we have is to exercise the will to connect in the face of forced separation. When you see agendas that are operating in our world that are seeking to separate, we have a choice. We can find a neutrality and understanding that everything in life is sacred. Everything comes from divine, even the things that you consider dark or the things that you don't agree with. And if we can sort of relax into that direct connection with our own source consciousness, we can stop comparing and trying to analyze a situation into an intellectual place where we feel safe with it.

And so the work is, is in the face of separation, can we be neutral and open and in awe and wonder and open and in awe and wonder and just allow all things. And it's more of a not this or that or either or, it's about a yes and. Both things can be true from a certain perspective. And life is full of billions of different kinds of life forms that are completely unique. of different kinds of life forms that are completely unique. So how could one opinion or one lens know that it is the way for all things at all times? I think it's just the fear of the personality that wants to create a box that gives some certainty. And I think many of us know and realize now there is no certainty. And there really wasn't ever certainty in that way,

but we had things sort of in a place where we could be in that illusion. So it really is what you and I just described is in the constriction, coming into the present moment, activating neutrality, understanding that everything comes from a sacred place. It is all part of the play. And we can find a way into transformation by going into the separation rather than running away from it or turning away from it.

We can have the courage to go into the experience with that neutrality. And if we're lucky, we're probably gonna learn something have the courage to go into the experience with that neutrality. And if we're lucky, we're probably gonna learn something or expand or soften or experience something that maybe we never imagined. This has always been true, but everything feels so heightened right now.

And the stakes are high and people are on edge and practicing what you just spoke of becomes much more challenging. We're all very easily triggered and we all have our cognitive biases and our respective worldviews. And this has been a challenge for me. I mean, you mentioned like resisting the impulse to default to your intellectualization of an issue

based on past experiences or history. And I find myself doing that and we've had many conversations about that. Like how can I approach dissonance from a perspective of openness and empathy? And it requires a lot, like it is a very challenging practice to apply in real world scenarios.

That is true. And that is what is being asked of us right now, because it's not letting up. Like we are transforming. It's not going back to the way it was. And so we are being required to expand our ability and to do more than what we normally would do. And many of these patterns are just defaults.

It's not even the real you that's doing it. It's just a pattern of sort of a habit in a way. And so you can choose a different habit. You can choose a different act, a different emotion, a different state of being. And, you know, it always sort of is surprising to me with the way that we are in our humanity, you know, full of amazing things and full of faults

or things that, you know, sort of are not as expanded. And how does one person feel so justified judging another system? Like so absolutely. I mean, the more we know when we explore spirituality and the nature of life, the more we know we don't know. So can we be in a state of not knowing and be okay with it and then activate the natural deep human connection of unconditional love, just love and allowing all things and understanding like much in our experience of our relationship, when you were eating,

In-N-Out burger and in Starbucks with three ad shots in it, that catalytic point where I just realized that I had no right to impose my idea of your life into your experience. Even though from a perspective, you were less healthy, you were struggling, you weren't happy. Still, even in that experience, that's your choice of experience.

And this is really the moment that catalyzed this entire play that we're in right now. It was the release of me being attached to how you had to eat or live or be in order to be loved or even viewed as an emanation of God consciousness. Yeah. Another piece to that is this idea that you cannot and should not maybe,

well, should is a challenging word, but you really can't save someone from their suffering. And in certain situations you shouldn't because the suffering is the engine for growth ultimately. And that's a tricky thing to understand and embrace, particularly when you're a parent. I was just gonna say that. Yeah. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Definitely. Like we all wanna save our kids from hardship. Anything, anything that could hurt them. Or if you see your child suffering and you just wanna make it go away. And there's a powerlessness to that. But I think that powerlessness is also a reminder

that suffering is part of life. And it applies to this cultural moment is part of life. It applies to this cultural moment that we're in right now in a profound way in the sense that prior to the pandemic, things kind of went a certain way. And there was a sensibility that we're almost in this post-history phase where we're not gonna meet obstacles in our life and things are just gonna continue to go along

their merry way, but that's not how life is. And that's not how life has ever been. Like, and it's not about arriving at a place where you're gonna be liberated from hardship and obstacles. It's about how you develop the wherewithal and the strength and the fortitude and the perspective to be able to roll with all of that and learn from it. Because we're here to have those experiences,

to grow, to pass on the wisdom and ultimately, kind of transcend those past experiences to become more fully formed, integrated, authentic, actualized humans. Yeah, definitely. And I think that the want to stop someone from their demise or from something that they're experiencing is also mixing your energy in their life event.

And if you understand that, so now that we're parents sort of on the other spectrum and our kids are grown to, you know, pretty much grown up to a certain degree, you know, when they're young, you're creating this life. And I definitely think in this generation, I mean, we have parents who are very engaged, very present, very involved. I mean, people that just really have given their entire, you know, life and heart and soul to their children to make sure that they have a nurturing experience of life. And then what happens is

because the human wants the contrast, whatever it is that you provided, you're going to be rejected for what you provided. And that becomes the narrative. That becomes the constriction, the thing to push up against. And so if we can remember to, when we were going through our immense financial collapse,

it was really a nine year process, like a year down and then seven in the trenches and then a year out. I just wanted someone to tell me that they trusted me and they believed in me. There are very few people that could hold me in that light. Some very amazing individuals who were like, no, no, no, I see you. I see you in your expansion. I see it for you. But what we do normally is we point out everything that's wrong and we focus on the thing that we're worried about and then worrying is praying for what you don't want to happen. So you're in fact adding to the burden of that individual by being afraid of that individual's

trajectory. And so again, it's not easy, especially challenging as a parent, but we have to remember, or we have the opportunity to remember, what about providing a feeling, even if it's silent, even if it's in a prayer or in a ceremony or a moment, that you're just like, I trust you. I know you are a divine emanation of this sacred life and you're in your human experience. And so I'm just gonna hold that for you. And I'm gonna try to remove any drugs or knives. I mean, there's still another human element to that, but just this ultimate trust of really understanding that every human being will have their experience. And we've shared many times between us and on this show, you know, I mean,

it's a lot of what your show is. It's the adversity that catalyzes the trajectory. And oftentimes in life, the beings that really have a quite expansive journey have a very like extreme spectrum, you know, like taking like Charlie Chaplin, like, you know, he was an orphan on the streets and his mom was insane. And look at what that being did in his life. But usually when it's that big of a trajectory, there's an equal dark trajectory or intense trajectory that

creates this friction. creates this friction. It's challenging for me. I mean, I grew up, you know, you spoke about worry being, you know, a prayer for what you don't want to have happen. Like I grew up in a household where, you know, worry was like very in the forefront of my upbringing, along with, you know, a fair dose of enmeshment and expectations and things like that, that have created this sort of imprint on me and um, and programming that I see myself repeating at times when I'm not mindful and present.

And what's so interesting about that is despite all the work that I've done on myself and this tremendous amount of growth that I've experienced through really devoting myself to transcending past experiences, I still find myself repeating these patterns. Like, yes, the contrast, the child will want to define themselves

in opposition to whatever pain point they identify as a childhood trauma that reared up in their upbringing by dint of their parents. I'm no exception to that. I was raised in a certain way and I'm like, I'm not gonna be like that and I'm not gonna raise my kids like this.

And I love my parents, it's not about that. But despite all of that, now at 55, I'll find myself saying things that my mother would say or indulging in an emotional landscape that is very characteristic of her DNA. And it's you who will often say, you're doing that thing again, and it's very unconscious. So the point being like,

it doesn't matter how much work you've done, these things are so deeply imprinted on us that it requires like a tremendous amount of awareness and consciousness to catch it when it's happening and to have that moment of pause or repose to kind of course correct when it percolates up. Well, I mean, it's nothing,

there's nothing like a child's, you know, dark night journey that can catalyze more evolution within the parent. Yeah, right. And that's, you know, part of the, you know, one of the things that you always say is like, our kids are here, they're our teachers. We're here to, we're,

our evolution is being catalyzed by their experiences. Yeah, and just when you thought you had it all figured out and got really comfortable, then they start pushing those buttons and you're just like, what is going on? Yeah, because I'm like, I'm gonna be the cool parent. I'm gonna be hip to everything that's going on. We're not cool.

And it doesn't matter what you do. Like you will not be cool and you will not be tapped into whatever it is that they feel is interesting or important. And it should be that way and that's awesome. Yeah, exactly. I mean, they need to differentiate. That's just the way that it is. And it won't that way. And that's awesome. Yeah, exactly. I mean, they need to differentiate. That's just the way that it is.

And it won't be like that forever because I really do think it does matter all of the other present moments where as parents, we were there and really did care and we're really, you know, did, really did our best, you know, so I think- But holding that neutrality. Yeah, it's not for the weary.

I mean, it's intense. We definitely in the pandemic, we had some major stuff going on in our living spaces. I was like- I'm sure most families did. Well, and also, I just wanted to be sort of transparent also in your and my relationship as well. I mean, the narrative of the outer world

made its way into our relationship and there were patterns that were running and trying to separate us, you know? And this sort of like, you know, I don't know. I think it was just in the early sort of months or whatever when, you know, we were trying to get a handle on what was going on. And I also think that it's sort of a masculine tendency

to wanna handle things, you know? Like, I'm gonna get this handled and I'm gonna assess it and I'm gonna to want to handle things, you know, like let's, I'm going to get this handled and I'm going to assess it and I'm going to tell you what's up, you know, and that was really difficult and it was painful. And I think that, you know, speaking this in many, many families were split down the middle. And luckily in our case, we have a good enough foundation that we were, you know, in a lot of love and we were able to stay neutral until, you know, the landmines had been, you know, disarmed and we could come closer together, you know? But, you know, it's been a very, very intense moment for all of us. And so again, you know, I, you know, on your birthday, you and I went out for a date and, and we had some really beautiful time together. But the main communication

of that was, I wanted to speak to you. I didn't want to write you a card. I wanted to speak to you. And I wanted to tell you how I feel about our life and our relationship and about, you know, what we've experienced together, understanding that, you know, if either one of us transitioned at any point and we were no longer here, I didn't want to leave that, all of that unsaid. I wanted to make sure that I went deeper into you rather than moving away. Yeah, it was beautiful. It was needed and deeply appreciated.

And I think as a couple, we've been together since 2000, been together like almost 21 years at this point. I can't remember when we got married, but I always just think about when we first got together. 2003. I think, 2003, July 12th. Right, you were pregnant with Mathis. Yeah.

Right, so it was 2003. But 2000 is really, we've been together ever since then. That's a long time to be together, to maintain a level of intimacy, to keep things interesting. Amidst raising children, building businesses, all the like, most relationships don't make it. People drift apart and we're both here to grow.

And we have done that. We've both grown as individuals and as a community. And there are aspects of our respective growth trajectories that have moved us apart. Like when we first started this thing, we were doing a lot of stuff together. We made the cookbooks together. It was all about the food.

And not to say that that isn't still fundamental to kind of our mission, but we found our respective niches in different lanes and have supported each other in pursuing those things. And I think on some level, it's made our relationship a little bit healthier because we have things that we care about and we can support each other in. But because we're not as enmeshed or as integrated as we were before, it then requires a lot more attention and work to make sure that our relationship doesn't become transactional and just about logistics and what does the calendar say and who needs to go where and who needs to get picked up. And we've gone through extended phases of that.

Like I'm not saying that we're perfect in any regard with that. Like I think that our intimacy suffered, particularly through the pandemic as a result of survival instincts and just getting through the day and making sure that everyone was where they needed to be. But my birthday and the date that we had

has really been a powerful reminder to help us return to that special place. And remember that everything that we're doing is about our intimate relationship. It all comes from that. That is the crucible upon which, you know, we're able to kind of do what we do in the world. Yeah, and I had just come back

from teaching my sacred sexuality retreat in North Carolina. So it's a good pivot to like talking about sacred sexuality. Yeah, well, I mean, I talked about on the podcast a couple of times about the fact that, you know, we've been together all these years and that there has to be an evolution. Like we have to go to the next thing.

We're not gonna just be rich and Julie in the way that we were static and we were never static, but you know, in that version, it has to keep evolving. And I think what, the retreat was amazing. It was beautiful. We had a beautiful group of people and very profound experiences. And it's really a spiritual mission. It's a spiritual activation into the embod in your life, to create things, to heal the planet, to change the weather, to heal your body, to do all kinds of things.

And so it was a first off and it was really cool. It went extremely well. And one of the things that became clear to me as I wrapped up this amazing experience was that you and I are here for the evolution and that is the most important thing. And you have been and are and will always be one of the most profound

human experiences probably of all of my lifetimes. What we have done- Top five. Easily top five. Okay, five? Easily top five. Okay, good. Easily top five. What we've done together is profound and it's in spite of us.

I mean, you have two individuals who are extremely different, like just in our natural orientation. The fact that we got together, that I was, you were coming out of a marriage, I was coming out of a marriage with young kids and that we were able to go through this financial collapse, this extreme pressure. It was not a short amount of time. I mean, nine years is not, it's kind of interesting that it's nine years of the podcast. You always say nine years. And

in my mind, I'm like, I don't think it was nine years. Yeah, it was, I think it was. Well, 2007, maybe not, 2007 was the slide down. And then just beginning to poke ourselves out, the head out of the water was probably 2014. So how many days? I think that's about right. That's seven. So there was a slow slide down and a slow crawl out.

Exactly, but there's still wreckage and, you know, I mean, we're, yeah, exactly. But I guess I wanted to have said that to you. I wanted you, I wanted to have plainly experienced, you know, express that to you. And, you know, what I told you and what I asked of you And what I told you and what I asked of you was to support me and I gave you my support, unconditional support for your life experience,

whatever that is, regardless if it scares me, regardless if it's not conventional. It's what do you,'s now what do you need to evolve? What is next? And I think we have to be brave enough. If we're going to be together for this many years, we have to be brave enough to face what scares us, what might change in the relationship. But we don't have to let it die or we don't have to let it, you know, we don't have to let it die or we don't have to kill it or we don't have to, you know, we can breathe life into it in new ways and relationships are changing. I mean, we're on a completely new frontier and, you know,

I will be with you till the end of time for whatever it is that you are up for, even if it scares me. Yeah, I think that's a powerful idea and lesson that disabuses me and anyone who's listening from the idea that a relationship is ever static. You know, whether you've been together for six months or a year or five years or 21 years, everything is always changing.

Everything is always in flux. And the human mind is very good at certain things and very bad at other things. And what it's good at is pattern recognition. And it looks at a pattern and says, this is the way the world is. And there's an expectation built into that, that that pattern will perpetuate or continue.

And if the pattern gets interrupted or broken or meets an obstacle, that becomes a trigger for fear. So it's all about preserving the pattern. And in a relationship, preserving the pattern. And in a relationship, preserving the pattern may work for a certain period of time, but ultimately it sounds the death knell because you're never static. You're either moving towards greater intimacy

or away from that intimacy. And the more you move away from it, the more kind of cloistered and isolated you become from your partner. And then without that sharing piece, like you're going to drift apart, right? So it takes like constant pressure and constant attention to just maintain it, let alone evolve it

in a positive direction. And I say that as somebody who's traditionally not been great at this. Like I wanna just like, it's cool. Like, it's good. Like, what movie do you wanna see tonight? It's fine. You know, like, I don't wanna do the work.

I don't wanna always be exerting that pressure. You're very good at saying, okay, we need to like sit down and like, you know, figure out what's going on with us right now. You know, short of you calling attention to that, like I will allow it to sort of disintegrate. Yeah, exactly. And so thank you for that because it is uncomfortable

and those conversations are not easy to have, but ultimately if we're gonna make it and we're gonna stay together, we have to create that space for each other where we can be honest, even if it's uncomfortable and figure out ways to support our own respective evolutions. Particularly now that like we are doing different things.

Like you've got this whole entrepreneurial journey with SriMu and your teachings and all these various projects that you're working on that don't involve me at all. And it's very easy for you to just be immersed in that. And like, I don't even know what's going on. Meanwhile, I'm over here doing this thing. And it's individuated on a level that it wasn't historically in our relationship.

So it requires much more presence of mind and attention and care to detail in order to maintain the level of intimacy that's gonna keep us together, particularly as our kids grow up and ultimately fly the coop and go out into the world. Yeah, I mean, definitely. And I mean, I think as you mature along the journey, it gets harder because my default is to be in meditation,

doing some ritual, like in some, and your choice is to be like running up a mountain or doing a race or something like that. And that's one of the things that we talked about. I'm never going to be running a race with you. Like that's probably very unlikely event. And you're unlikely to be diving into ritual and ceremony the way that I do.

So how do we commune with each other and how do we go deeper into who the other person is? But it takes presence and attention and desire and a lot of love and a lot of unconditional neutrality to be in that space. and a lot of love and a lot of unconditional, you know, neutrality to be in that space. We joked the other day that, so when we go on this date and you're like, I have things I wanna tell you, right?

And we're sitting there and you're like, first of all, happy birthday. And then you're like, but there's this big buildup to like what's coming next. And I'm thinking, she gonna break up with me? She's gonna say happy birthday. And then you're like, but there's this big buildup to like what's coming next. And I'm thinking, she gonna break up with me? She's gonna say happy birthday and then tell me she wants to have a different life now? Like what's going on?

No, it was very emotional. I was very emotional because I hadn't been able to talk to you for a very long time in a very deep way, because of all the sort of narrative that is, that was literally, it infuses our life and seeks to separate us. It seeks to put a wedge right now. That is the agenda, is to separate us. And so, we have to dig deep to not do that. And at the end, it's like, you know, I know if I left my body, you would not feel to not do that. And at the end, it's like, I know if I left my body,

you would not feel that separation from me. And I know that if you left your body, I would not feel that. And so can we get to what's really real? Can we leave all this stuff to the side and can we get to what's really real? And just be that for each other. I mean, as soulmates or partners or lovers, if we aren't here for each other at that level,

then what is and who is? And we can make that choice. So you just taught this retreat on sacred sexuality. So the first question is like, how important is the sexual piece and kind of ancillary to that for somebody who's listening or watching who is in a relationship, perhaps a long-term relationship

that does feel stagnant, or they feel like they're struggling to have that intimate communication channel with their partner. Like how do you counsel somebody to, you know, reconfigure their relationship or take actions that can, you know, get the two people in better sync with each other. Well, I feel that it is entirely a solo journey in fact. And so I've renamed the word masturbation, one of the ugliest words in the English language.

It's not, the thing is it's your body, it's your force, right? And if we knew it was the most powerful force, the most sacred force, how would you treat it? If you really understood that, if you really understood. Our society treats it with pornography and violation and abuses against people. And it's been vibrating in a very low place for a very long time. But I also feel like it is a complete emergence of something we've never known before. And so the first thing is to get embodied in your own form.

Do you receive yourself as a divine being? Do you understand that you are consciousness? You're a fractal of this great mirror that's walking through life, expressing yourself. And can you receive yourself with that love? Because if you can't, you can't really receive another with that love. So the workshop kind of went like this. First of all, we're doing yoga. Again, I'm just going to take this opportunity to mention that I have the iFit series is coming out. There's four yoga programs that I've done. They were absolutely amazing to me. They treated me with such reverence and freedom and creative support. Blew my mind. I was very touched by this experience. But anyway, I've done four series. And so one is

about trauma into your treasure. One is about grief into awareness. One is about embodiment for immunity. And one is about living your most heroic life. So I'm going to say, I'm saying that because again, going back to the foundation, a core yoga practice is key to really being able to embody who you are. And it's just not the same as running. It's just not the same. It's a way to access yourself, to gain the awareness of the greater you

that is always there, that is observing what's going on in your life. And it is profound. So I would highly recommend finding a yoga practice and exploring through that. Then we went back to what's behind me too. So we just looked at thousands of years on the planet. Thousands of years ago, the feminine energy was literally ripped out of the spiritual history of our planet completely annihilated and i make the joke that i thought i was a modern woman because i read in cosmopolitan magazine that i could have any i could have an orgasm like when i was like 14

and it's whenever you want it's a joke i mean it's like we only women only got the right to vote like a minute ago. Like this has been the planetary setup, okay? The good news is that setup is over. So now we are in a different age. It's no one's fault. It's not about being mad at the masculine. It's about us recalling ourselves and re-imagining how we are in relationship and both masculine and feminine existing within us.

So balancing those two energies. We then did a holotropic breathing practice, which there's a little taste of this in the IFET series. We then walked a spiral that I, it was a technology that I had sent over from Dom and her that was activated with this very powerful energy. So we spiraled in and out of this form that was created. And then we had a fire ceremony in the evening. And then the next day was about bringing ritual back into our sexual spaces. So it was about processes and drawing energy up into your heart and infusing your body with the sexual energy and how to make it a beautiful thing and how to really take that moment to make sure that it's reverent and that it's beautiful. However, also remembering

that the human experience is the whole spectrum. So we're not just gonna have sexuality as an angel in a white robe type of thing. Like you're allowed to play in the spectrum of between consenting adults or with yourself, whatever that is. I'm not here to tell you what that is, but I'm saying the intention of going into it that this is a sacred force.

And so how will I use it? How will I treat it? How will I treat it? How will I cultivate it? How will I interact with it? And what does it really mean? And when I do share it with another, who and in what circumstance and in what way will I share that?

If I knew that it was so precious and so amazing. And then the final thing, we did a yoga nidra, which is taking your awareness around the body. Again, I have little snippets of this all in the iFit series. And then we did a journey into returning to a time when we all used ritual in our sexual experiences. And then we did an open eye meditation on the geometric form of the solar feminine, which is from the template, Jeeva and Juliet Carter.

It's a form that you spin with a light and you interact with it viscerally with your body. And the final step was a self-initiation of each person going in the mirror and meeting themselves and being blessed and just seeing yourself as divine. So it's really a spiritual activation of embodiment and this community, it was very beautiful.

They really got a lot out of it. And it's the beginning because we all have to rewrite the way that we're going to interact with this energy. How many dudes were there? Two. Two dudes. There were actually three, but one left. One left.

There was two. Yeah. Two beautiful men, brave, powerful men. Amazing. And we really gave them a lot of love at the very beginning for having the courage to come. And we really gave them a lot of love at the very beginning for having the courage to come and be there. Yeah, I mean, the reason I ask is because these modalities or this sensibility is inherently very feminine, right?

So I'm just imagining, you know, somebody who's listening to this, like a woman who's listening to this, and this is, I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna get my husband or my boyfriend or, you know, whoever it is and sit them down and I'm gonna try to create I'm gonna get my husband or my boyfriend or whoever and sit them down and I'm gonna try to create ceremony and ritual around this. And then imagining the guy being like, what is going on?

Like, I'm not like, what are you talking about? So there's a barrier there, I think, in a traditional sense with the kind of normal dude where even broaching this subject becomes challenging and trepidatious because it's uncharted territory for the average male. Definitely, but the thing is, is that the average dude

is in a state of awakening right now. And so things are really changing. And I had talked to a lot of people in various places where I've traveled. And I had a lot of people share with me that they were experiencing the same thing, that they were understanding that the sexuality that they had been experiencing

was not gonna work for them anymore. Like they were wanting more because none of us wants molestation and violation. and just, I mean, as I was saying, like 92% of my clients have been sexually molested as children, both men and women. So it's actually not that rare. So there's this tapestry of trauma that's like sprinkled, you know, on the lattice work of all of this

for a lot of people. And it's quite common. And then you have, you know, onto the lattice work of all of this for a lot of people. And it's quite common. And then you have, you know, then you have, you know, right now out in the, in the aftermath of Me Too, which thank God, you know, I have Me Too stories that, you know, would shock you. So there's no one more happy than I am

that that was brought out to light. And then you also have a lot of men and a lot of individuals who are just unclear about how to proceed. And then also like our boys were telling us that, this generation is the least sexual generation in like a hundred years or something like that. So it's, everything's up for transformation.

I mean, you got gender fluidity, it's not just heterosexual couples, it's for everyone. And the point for me is, I've been in a lot of relationships and I've been in love quite a few times. You're my favorite. I'm crestfallen to hear that. Top five.

I'm gonna judge you based on your past relationships. Top five, honey. Top five, honey. Top five. Yeah, top five. Top three? Well, you said top five all time, like throughout all timelines. I'm going for top three. You're so competitive.

That's the thing. You just, you wanna be number one. Of course. But my point of me sharing this is that I realized after about the fourth time, I think when we're young in love, we think that the person we're in love with is exuding the love to us,

and that is what we're feeling. But in my experience, the love is coming from you. So you own your love. You're just reflecting it off of another individual because you'll find when you're in love again, that you're like, oh, there's that love. It feels exactly the same way. And so, again, it's this cultivation of embodiment of understanding first that you are divine and

just worthy and cherished and loved and celebrated for who you are. And then that your sexual energy is yours and nothing and no one has the right to interfere with that. And it is also your greatest power. And if you knew that, how would you use it? How would you choose? It's your choice. I'm not telling you how to use it. Yeah, I think it's instructive to think about it as an exchange of energy and a powerful one at that, right?

So you are in relationship with another human being and there's gonna be this exchange of energy. Like, how do you want that directed? Because however you choose to direct it is going to have impact and power no matter what. So putting some intentionality and consideration into that, I think is a powerful exercise. Definitely.

Yeah. So welcome to the sacred sexuality chamber. I know and I'm excited for this iFit course to come out. We should say for people that don't know, iFit is like this digital platform subscription service for all manner of health, wellness, fitness programming. It's sort of like Peloton. You get the, they have like a treadmill and a bike

and stuff like that, that have these big screens. And when you subscribe, you're able to access like this library of stuff. And what's amazing about this company is the level of intentionality and production quality that they're bringing to this program. I mean, when they came to our house

to film this series with you, I mean, it was like we were filming a feature film. I mean, the crew, how many people were in this crew? I mean, there were multiple cameras and a crew of like 40 people and like a whole wardrobe. I mean, it was unbelievable. And then you went to Italy and filmed there as well. Like there were multiple locations, international,

they spared zero expense. And I can't wait to see the finished product because so much went into it and it's finally coming out. Yeah, it was a beautiful experience. I mean, they really, really, I just have to really emphasize how amazingly conscious they were and loving and creatively supportive. And, you know, I had like five cameras and, you know, when I began the series, they gave me a dozen roses. When I ended,

they had a dozen roses and I was in every shot. So I shot four series back to back, which is quite physically challenging. How many days? It was five days shoot. So there were five days. Five days at our house. Yeah, five days at our house.

And then we went to Damanhur and we filmed inside the temple. So I had a cinematographer, actually two who came and were with me and we filmed all in the temples of Damanhur and it'll be intercut with the temple. So I had a cinematographer, actually two who came and were with me and we filmed all in the temples of Damanhur and it'll be intercut with the pieces. And they have these mirrors where your instructor ends up in the mirror. And the thing that I, why I wanted to do it and why it was such a, so important to me was to be able to document these yoga practices that I teach on

retreat. And I know that they're transformational. They've been transformational for me. Just one of these series could shift your life like, you know, drastically. And they honored me. They said, do it exactly the way you wanna do it. They weren't trying to edit me at all. Right, and you're like, are you sure?

I'm like, are you sure? Because I have, you I have the spaceship coming. No, I did. Yeah, I really did it. I mean, it's really what I teach on retreat at Plant Power Italia for all of you who wouldn't have the opportunity to go there or just that just wouldn't work for you.

Check out the iFit series because it really is a full encompassing experience where you'll get a taste of like some Qigong, some yoga nidra, some holotropic breathing, definitely some activations and prayers and meditation like I do on my spiritual mentorship platform, Water Tiger, and then just really great asana. So again, they have the titles, which is what they're sort of designed around. And one of the things that many of us are facing are the exit and transitions of our loved ones.

And if we haven't been open to spirituality, often it is that kind of loss that if we're lucky may render us on our knees and allow us to seek what is beyond this life. And I spoke to a very dear friend of mine and an interior design client and dear friend of my mom's, my beautiful Rosie. And her daughter died suddenly recently and she's just devastated.

Like the grief is just crushing her. And this is a very real thing that we are going through right now. And I will tell you the yoga practice will give you shelter through that. It will help you and guide you through your own process. And as I said at the very first podcast at the beginning of the pandemic, what we can do in this very tender moment of many exiting is not waste their exit. So if they're providing you that experience of tenderness and of being really split open to your core, we can choose to dedicate that to the expansion

and use the gift that they've given you to really, really evolve and expand. And you will see them again. You will, if it and expand. And you will see them again. You will, if it's your desire, you will see them again. We are eternal life forms. So there is just a change of form. And we need to cultivate this connection to this truth. When you were sharing that,

I was thinking about those extraordinary photographs that our friend Magdalena was sharing on Instagram of her mother passing recently. Yeah, so Magdalena is the photographer that shot Rich and I for Human Shift, and she's from Poland, and she has a relationship with her mother that is just one of soulmate, like such a close, amazing

relationship and also with her father. But being this extraordinary photographer, she documented her mom's illness all the way up until her transition. And the photographs are powerful. transition. And the photographs are powerful. There's one photograph of Magdalena actually in the bathtub washing her mother. And it's this connection between child and mother and the lens of death and really becoming old and how Magdalena was able to just celebrate and embody and love her mom through all the phases. It is truly a beautiful, beautiful love story that she has documented. Yeah.

Magdalena Wozinska is her last name. She's an unbelievable photographer. She's super cool. You can find her on Instagram at Magda Wozinska Studio. Her photographs are amazing. Brilliant, amazing human. Yeah. All right, well, let's switch gears a little bit.

I do wanna talk about the latest happenings with Shreemu, but before we do that, we both have a couple of books that we wanted to share. You brought three books there. You go first. Yeah, well, I'll share, I'll go first. People always ask me like, what are you reading? What should I read?

To be a podcaster is to perpetually have homework and I'm always reading books for upcoming guests. So the vast majority of my reading, I had this impulse to say, unfortunately, not unfortunately, I have the good fortune of reading many books for authors that I'm hosting on the show, which is fantastic. It just doesn't leave a lot of room for reading other books.

But I do wanna share a couple because they have impacted me. And also because part of the thing with the podcast is always trying to kind of get ahead and bank episodes. A lot of guests make themselves available for publicity because they have a book coming out and they do that in the two or three weeks leading up to the book coming out.

But as we bank episodes, it means that oftentimes these episodes don't come out until quite a bit later. And so I wanted to share a little bit of love with some of these books because they've recently come out and perhaps it would be good if you read them before the guest appears on the show. The first of which being the book of hope, which was written by my friend, Douglas Abrams,

who was a classmate of mine at Stanford. And he wrote it in partnership with Jane Goodall. It's an unbelievable read. And the second in this global icon series that he's doing, where he shares space with amazing people and engages them in long form conversation and ends up creating a book out of it. The first of which being the book of joy,

which was the result of conversations that he had with Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. And that became this massive bestseller and he's made this documentary about it. That's hopefully coming out soon. The second being this book of hope, which is about Jane Goodall's life through the lens of hope and her fidelity

to this idea of hope being an engine for positive change as somebody who has lived as an activist and an advocate for change her entire life. And it's really powerful. We had a beautiful conversation, Doug and I the other day on the show, but the episode's not coming out for a little while. So I think it would be great if everybody picked up that

book and read it before Doug appears on the show. So that's my first recommendation. The second is the proof is in the plants by my buddy, Simon Hill. Simon is the host of the Plant Proof Podcast. I'm sure many of our listeners also enjoy his show. He has, I think, the best plant-based focused podcast in the space.

He lives in Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. So when I was in Australia a couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time with him. He also has a restaurant called Eden. So good. In in Australia a couple of years ago, I spent a lot of time with him. He also has a restaurant called Eden. So good. In Bondi, which is like the, I mean, it's the best plant-based restaurant in Sydney, arguably one of the best plant-based restaurants

in the world, at least that I've had the good fortune of eating at. He's also just a beautiful, very heart-centered guy who is steeped in the nutrition science and has a very, very kind of compelling but gentle way of talking about nutrition that I think is really helpful to a lot of people. And he put it all in this book,

"'The Proof is in the Plants," which is a very plant-centric, plant-forward take on why we should be eating more plants in our diet without getting into jingoistic kind of labeling about what you call your diet or don't call your diet. So for anybody who's interested in that kind of nutrition deep dive, definitely pick up the book.

It's been out in Australia for a while, but it just arrived on our shores more recently. So that's my second one. The third one is Forward by Andrew Yang. Andrew being of course, the guy who ran for president in the 2020 election and more recently had a mayoral bid in New York City. He came on the podcast last week.

And I think that episode's going up in two or three weeks or something like that. We had a really fun conversation. I think he's a really original thinker when it comes to politics and kind of shaking up the status quo with interesting creative ideas about how we could uproot some of our systems that aren't working. And I really enjoyed that conversation. I think his book is really fun, regardless of what your political affiliations are. It's really not about partisanship, it's really about ideas and I just found him to be really engaging and fresh.

So that might be another one to pick up. Awesome, love those. What do you got? What do I got? Something quite different. I wanted to give a shout out to Anita Kopetz for her debut book called Shallow Waters. Anita and her husband Sheldon and children Sadie, Tila, and Mayan were part of our homeschool experiment back in the day.

And they are just magical and full of light. And Anita is an amazing priestess and healer and shaman. And she was raised, her mom was connected to the mystical arts of life. And Anita is a light to the world. And she has just written this book about the African mysticism and connection to spirituality. Michael Beckwith says, Shallow Waters personifies the diasporic journey of African spirituality. This story is a powerful call for people to return to their roots.

And the little intro, it says, "'In this stirring and lyrical debut novel, "'the Yoruba, deity of the sea, "'Yemaya is brought to vivid life "'as she discovers the power of black resilience, "'love and feminine strength in antebellum America.'" So I'm really just so happy for Anita and love her so much. And this is a family that is very, very dear to us and very much a part of our journey through raising the kids. Then I have Lauren Duke's debut memoir, which is called Shit House. And I met Lauren-

It's the best title. Shit House. And I met Lauren. It's the best title. It's such a great title. I met Lauren actually at this Living Tea Retreat that I chefed for in Telluride. And we ended up traveling back together to LA, just met. And we had a very long time to talk because we flew and then we drove together in the car. And Lauren has just an amazing experience of being raised in a very, I would say, colorful, eccentric upbringing that is full of sort of shenanigans and her dad being in prison. And she told me a story where she actually stole cars with him when she was 15 years old. Lauren is unapologetically vibrant and has just gone on a journey through yoga. So she's the founder of Gather in Sanitas.

And she's an amazing Anusara yoga teacher and just a really real individual. And we, like I said, we had a long time together. And when she was describing the book to me, it reminded me of the memoir, Glass Castles. And I love that memoir. And I think I mentioned it before because like Rich and I were kind of similar to the characters, like if it had just been dial clicked, like a little more to the extreme. But they ended up making a movie of that book. And I have really high hopes for Shed House. I think it's an amazing, lively story of, you know, this extreme experience of life and the constriction and someone who really journeying her way into an evolution. And it's also sort of part self-help. So it's prescriptive where Glass Castles

was just more of a drama. So anyway, I'm excited for Lauren for that. And then I got to meet Joanne in real life. And she actually brought her book, The Korean Vegan. She is just such a dear human being, so much love and creativity. The photographs in this book are just exquisite. And I mean, just look at the cover image.

Like I just can't wait to dive into sort of learning how to create some of these Korean sauces and marinades and different processes. So anyway, it's a beautiful, beautiful book. And Joanne and I are gonna do some fun stuff together. Yeah. But she's just, she's a doll. She's incredible.

The book debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list. Only number three on the New York Times. How to like sort of self-help category, like behind atomic habits. And then some book about dogs that was number one. I don't get that, but I guess people love dogs. But congratulations to Joanne for that.

It really is a beautiful creation. And what's cool is that she is just at the beginning of this amazing journey. I mean, she only started her TikTok the beginning of the pandemic. That's crazy. She's in the starting gate of what is certain to be a brilliant career.

And I can't wait to see what she has in the works and what she's going to be creating. I mean, she only just walked away from her law firm job like a couple of weeks ago. It's very exciting. So now she has the bandwidth and the ability and the resources and the support and the time to create to her highest potential.

And I have no doubt that we're gonna be seeing a lot of her. Definitely, and I need to give her a shout out of just being my inspiration. She showed me how I could present some of my, just my awareness and the things that I care about spiritually combined with my food. So I've just done like a first series of little videos

inspired by the unbelievable Korean-Japan. Genre busting way of melding storytelling with food. So thank you, Joanne, you're beautiful. All right, well, speaking of food, what's going on with Shreemu? We have this beautiful presentation in front of us. Yeah, so it's the holidays, you guys. Amazing vegan cheese.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the main thing is just wanted to announce that we now have four products. So we have our sacred ultra box, which is four age wheels of cheese that come in this amazing box. And then we also have smoked almond cheddar, which is called bonfire. It's at the end of the board. It's that ball. It's not your grandma's cheese ball. And then we have fresh mozzarella that ships in salted water that comes in the jar. So this is an amazing, you know,

your amazing gift pack. We are doing one-time boxes for any of our offerings for the jar. So this is an amazing, you know, your amazing gift pack. We are doing one-time boxes for any of our offerings for the holidays. And we're doing a code on every single offering for Rich Roll podcast listeners. So it's just RRP22, and we're giving you 22% off on any product. Can I do that on your show? Yeah, I think so. You go to srimu.com, S-R-I-M-U.com, and then there's a coupon code RRP22, and then you get 22% off. Exactly. I like the one box thing. I mean, that's something I'm sure you guys hear a lot of like, why do I have to subscribe? Can't I just get a box? Yeah, yeah. No, you can do one-time boxes. The other thing that we have is the two-wheel is in that thin little amazing box there that's the perfect clutch size.

And you have two variations on that, so you can customize that box a little. And then in the third box over there by Rich, it's both a three-wheel and a four-wheel. So those are all age wheels. And remembering that you can freeze the wheels beautifully. You just have to take them out about an hour before you serve them. So if you're traveling and you want to keep your shimu in perfection, you can freeze. But anyway, yeah. So the other thing that I need to mention is for Thanksgiving, so we ship on November 15th because we're a perishable product. So we can't ship at the end.

We have to make sure that it makes it to you. So you have to get your orders in by November 15th for a Thanksgiving holiday spread. And then for Christmas and Hanukkah spread, you have to get your order in by, I think it's the 14th is the last ship date. Of December. Of December, yeah, yeah.

And will that code survive through the holidays? It will survive. We will look for you and we will make it survive. And does that apply for subscriptions also or just the one box? No, it applies for everything. I mean, and you can subscribe and also get 22% off as well.

And so how many different cheese products or flavors do you have now? Well, we're looking at there on the board, we have the Gold Alchemy, which is the turmeric pepper infused wheel that tastes like a ham cheese and mustard sandwich. It is crazy when you eat that. Like when I first had it, I was like,

what does this taste like? I know this taste and I couldn't place it. And who was it who figured that out? Becca. Yeah, and then you're like, I was like, what does this taste like? I know this taste and I couldn't place it. And who was it who figured that out? Becca. Yeah, and then you're like, once you hear, oh, it's like a ham and cheese sandwich with mustard, you can't unremember that. And when you eat it, you're like, it's crazy

how much it tastes like a ham and cheese sandwich. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, it's becoming in our tastings and events, it's becoming really one of the top flavors actually. Then right alongside of that, we have Spire, which is our spirulina infused, very lively. There's a lot of taste in this and it's kind of blue inspired, but better than blue. Blue cheese inspired. And then we have a Bertie, which is our Kevin Bear inspired. It's truffle infused, very French, very, very authentic tasting. And then the creamy wheel

underneath the spire is called Elder. And this is a really mild wheel. And one of the things that I also want to mention is we have quite an extensive recipe array on the Shreemu website. Also, it's going to be recipes that we're sharing throughout these videos over the holidays. But the wonderful thing about shimu is that it cuts your prep time down for an event or for Thanksgiving or for any holiday meal. It makes the cooking so easy because you're taking your dish to a five-star level by simply adding the cheese in at the end because it's already aged and already cured and already has this developed taste. So elder is really great to use in cheesecakes,

even in hot chocolate, in risotto. In hot chocolate? Yeah, can you imagine? I've never tried that. Well, it's cashew based. So if you're making a natural hot chocolate that's not with a milk, you might use some cashews. So you can use elder with a cacao and with vanilla and some kind of sweetener. And it's quite full-bodied and

beautiful. And then the other flavor that is really just neck and neck with the Gold Alchemy is the Dolce. And that has coconut in it. It's creamier and just has this pure flavor. And a lot of people really, really love that. So, but in the box, this is the only box that you can get the fresh mozzarella, which is really one of Shreemu's most profound creations. The larger box for people that are just listening. Yeah. And you know, it really encouraged you to try it because it's really next level. The mozzarella. Yeah.'s really next level. It is. The mozzarella. Yeah, it's next level.

Yeah, so it comes suspended in like a solution, right? In water, crystal salted waters. Yeah. And there are these balls, they're beautiful. And they're great. Like they're a perfect caprese salad, just fall down on the floor. Like it's better than mozzarella.

I'll just say it's better than mozzarella. I mean, a couple of things just from my, I mean, we eat tons of this stuff at home, obviously. Like we have a whole wine cooler next to our refrigerator. That's like six feet tall that normally you would put wine in and it's just has cheese wheels in it. So there's constant experimentation and how to use this. And the first thing I would say is that

on that prep time thing, like you see these wheels and you immediately think like crackers and wine or something like that. And certainly it has that purpose, but it can also, although it's not a sauce, it can be used almost as a sauce. Like you kind of weave it into pasta to make like a fettuccine or something like that.

Like it does have a melting point to it where it becomes like a creamy sauce when heated. And it just adds that like zing to anything that is unbelievable. And the second thing is for people that haven't tried it yet but have some experience with like vegan cheese or like plant-based cheese. I don't know about you, but like almost all,

if not, maybe not all, but like the vast majority of what's available to the public in this space is pretty fucking bland. And it all kind of tastes the same, even though there's like, oh, here's like Havarti and here's the, they all kind of taste the same. This is not that, like you really have outdone yourself. This is like art as food in so many ways.

And the flavors are like unbelievable. And it's always so fun when we have people over and you share it with them for the first time. Like they just, their heads explode. They cannot believe that there's no dairy in this cheese. It's very fun. Especially Europeans who have a lot of experience with like fine cheeses who go in and they're kind of like,

okay, Julie's gonna make me taste this thing. I'm gonna have to be nice. And I don't really wanna say anything, like that whole experience. And then turning the table on them is always super fun. It's been really a joy. I used it all in my temple food that I created food for 36 people for six nights in a row. And I made everything in prayer,

everything as a prayer. And the, you know, Shreemu was in every dish and it just elevated it, just like took it over the edge completely. And the other thing that I wanna mention is that we are launching wholesale. So we actually have a new line. Yeah, I tried a couple of the new flavors the other night.

What'd you think? Are we allowed to talk about that? Yeah, I think so. The peppercorn one? It is called Fire. It's a pepper jack inspired. Pepper jack, that's what I meant, yeah. Yes, uh-huh.

It has a real nice spicy flavor to it. I really enjoyed that one. And then- But I didn't try the blue one cause it got gobbled up. Oh, everybody was freaking out over the blue. And everybody seemed to love that one and I didn't even get to try it.

Yeah, actually, yeah. It's a- What is that one? It's called Imagine. I mean, it's literally royal blue. Yeah, it's very blue. It's beautiful. So what is in that?

It's butterfly pea powder. Butterfly pea powder. And the pea powder is what gives it its hue? That's just the color, yeah. What's the taste like? No taste. It's actually very pure. But what does the cheese taste like?

Very pure and sort of mild, but it's just the color people love it. Do we have any of that at home? We don't have any, and you guys can't get that in the subscription. So this is a future thing, just talking about the future. These are in development.

We're moving into wholesale. How many new recipes are currently in development that are not ready for prime time? Well, we're just doing three into wholesale. So we're doing everything, which is like an everything bagel blend. We're doing the pepper jack and we're doing this imagine. So we're launching with those three.

We have 50 in the wings waiting. So I've got, you know, they just have to keep a leash on me because we can't go forward. But the other thing is, so we're expanding it wholesale. And the other thing that I do need to mention, which I always am very free and open with sharing, you know, what I'm doing in the next expansion. So, uh, I am now doing a 3.3 million raise with Shreemu. It is a spiritual mission. I am calling for humanitarians who want to be part of this mission of global awakening. We are serving the big Y to help fund the expansion of the temples in Domino, Italy. It is an operation in devotion to all life on the

planet. And it is something magnificent. It's going to be an $88 million complex that houses the indigenous DNA of the planet. So I'm saying that because I just brought on a board member, founder member, Tom Lawrence, who is a podcast listener, who heard me mention this on the last podcast. And we've connected and become dear friends. And he's invested in Shreemu and come on the team. And so we are in the middle of that raise and just wanted to shout that out in case anybody feels that this is your calling

and that it is something that you would like to be a part of. I'm calling my cosmic family to me to join me in this next level experience of really creating a hundred million dollar company that will transform into a unicorn in Shreemu and will be used really for the upliftment of the planet in all ways. It's a beautiful, powerful mission you're on.

The vision is large, the intention even larger. So I love it. It's been really cool to watch you create this thing out of whole cloth and instructive and powerful for me, for you to hold that, hold that vision and execute on it. It's been really cool and you've built this incredible team. So it is full speed ahead for SriMu. So for people that wanna check out SriMu,

again, srimu.com and then code RRP22, yeah? Yes. And if you code RRP22, yeah? Yes. And if you're digging on Julie, you wanna learn more about her, you can check out her Water Tiger Spiritual Community. You can check out her podcast. When was the last time you recorded a podcast? It's not really, podcast is sort of like-

Your podcast is great, but you're like, you're not consistent with the uploads. I'm actually less than consistent right now. And the thing is too, is that I just, I also can't, I really can't have guests on, like, it's just not my thing. Like this is your thing. Yeah, but that's not what your podcast is. Your podcast is you doing your thing your way.

Yeah, so I mean, right now I have a little bit of an inkling and a vision. If I can craft these cooking videos and I can merge the message with the cooking videos, I'm going to focus in that direction. Because Shreemu is the big mission, right? And the other thing that I'm doing is I started writing music. So I worked with a producer in September and I have three new tracks for a future music project. So I don't really think, I think it's Instagram, Water Tiger, Shreemu. TikTok.

And TikTok, I am. Joanne's gonna mentor me. Yeah, she should. And just, you should just spend a day with her while she's creating her stuff and observe how she's doing it. Cause I think you have a lot to say and there's a way for you to blend

like the wisdom that you wanna share with the food in a really beautiful way. I sent you a Dropbox folder of my videos. I had Leah sent it to you. So check it out. I'll check them out. Yeah, so not really the podcast right now, sorry guys. And that's one of the sort of-

But there's an archive there that- Yeah, huge archive. People that are new. How many episodes do you have sitting there? I can't remember. Hundreds. In any event, you can find everything Julie Pyatt at juliepyatt.com.

That's true. And best to follow me on Instagram, Srimati, S-R-I-M-A-T-I. All right. I think we did it. Thanks, my love. How do you feel? I feel love. How do you feel? I feel good.

How do you feel? I feel good. Yeah. I feel like we had a good flow. Awesome. Do you think this worked? I think so. I hope so.

I am not one to judge. I'm not in the business. Are you in neutrality right now? I'm in, yeah, I'm in encouraged neutrality. Do you see me in my divine essence? I see all of you. You're sure. But do you see me in my divine essence? I see all of you. You're sure. But do you see me in my divine essence?

I don't know. Maybe not. I'm working on that. Okay. Give me time, patience. I'm here. I'm here. All right.

I love you. Plants. Namaste. That's it for today. Thank you for listening. I truly hope you enjoyed the conversation. To learn more about today's guest, including links and resources related to everything discussed today, visit the episode page at richroll.com, where you can find the entire podcast archive, as well as podcast merch, my books, Finding Ultra, Voicing Change in the Plant Power Way,

as well as the Plant Power Meal Planner at meals.richroll.com. 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, on Spotify, and on YouTube, and leave a review and or comment. Supporting the sponsors who support the show is also important and appreciated. And sharing the show or your favorite episode with friends or on social media is, of course, awesome and very helpful. or on social media is of course awesome and very helpful. And finally, for podcast updates, special offers on books, the meal planner, and other subjects, please 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 with additional audio engineering by Cale Curtis. The video edition of the podcast was created by Blake Curtis with assistance by our creative director, Dan Drake. Portraits by Davy Greenberg, graphic and social media assets, courtesy of Daniel Solis, Dan Drake, and AJ Akpodiete. Thank you, Georgia Whaley,

for copywriting and website management. 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.