Transcript #007 - Ayurveda

#007 - Suyogi Gessner - Healing with Ayurveda - Transcript

Amanda: [00:00:00] Welcome to Don't Step on the Bluebells, the podcast where personal healing and transformation take center stage. I'm your host, Amanda Parker, and I'm a fellow seeker on the journey of personal growth. Join me as I delve into the stories of gifted healers, guides, and everyday people who have experienced remarkable transformations.

Listen in as they share their practical wisdom to enrich your everyday life. And don't forget to hit subscribe and never miss a new episode. Welcome to today's episode of Don't Step on the Blue Bells. I'm here with the wonderful Helen Stetsenko, who is going to be talking to us about all things intuitive movement and dance, and sharing with us the incredible story of how she came to be doing this work, and what it is that she helps others with in order to help them heal.

So let's dive in.

Amanda (00:01.614)

Welcome to today's episode of Don't Step on the Blue Bells. I am here with the remarkable Suyogi Gessner, a woman who I have admired for many, many years. I'm so, so grateful that you've taken the time to be here with us today to talk to us about this incredible world of Ayurvedic healing and this incredible gift that you have an offer in the world. Thank you so much for being here, Suyogi.

Suyogi (00:28.98)

Thank you, Amanda. It's a real pleasure for me to be with you all, because I always feel it is so, so important to spread the message of these ancient secrets, which is more than 5,000 years old. So it's a real proven technology. And I'm working since nearly 25 years now, and I was in that extreme fortune that I could work together with one of the greatest master healers on earth, Dr. Pankaj Naram. Unfortunately, he left the earth in 2020, but it's from a living lineage. And with him together, I have seen over 100,000 patients all over the world from over 100 countries. And it was really the greatest gift if you can spread that message. And if you can inspire and help people healing in body, mind and soul in a holistic way. So thank you very much for giving me this beautiful opportunity.

Amanda (01:44.226)

Wow, I just have to say wow. I mean, how lucky for me that our paths crossed when I was living in Berlin. And it was a colleague of mine who had recommended highly for a couple of years actually that I go visit you. Anyone who listened to episode one of this podcast would have heard my story about this amazing Ayurvedic practitioner and that is you. So it's really a lucky chance that we were in the same city and I had the chance to really see some of that magic of what you do. So I cannot believe 100,000 people have been touched by your gifts in the world. And I'm sure many more that you don't even know about.

Suyogi (02:24.829)

Yeah, yeah, this is true because then you know what I from the beginning experienced is when people feel that you understand them and that you really give them some hope because many people they come to me when they went already to so many allopathic doctors they were on a journey of searching for help and then they come and when they really apply this incredible wisdom then they tell it to their friends and then more friends coming and it is really amazing because sometimes I would also like to give you later this some recipes because I get sent people from all over the world to say yeah look we know already about some of the remedies a friend of mine gave it to me and we tried it and it's already amazing, so we want to go deeper now into healing. So this is wonderful.

Amanda (03:33.782)

Well, I think it's also... Well, okay. Let's start at this place because many people will have heard the word Ayurveda or Ayurvedic medicine, but don't really know what that means or what that is. Could you give us some insight into what actually Ayurveda is?

Suyogi (03:50.888)

Yes, sure.

Look Ayurveda is actually a 5000 year old science. Ayur means life and Veda means science. So it's a science of life. And even at that time they were observing, it's actually a science of observing. You observe nature, how nature works. And if you see nature, when nature is in balance, then everything is wonderful. And if it's too dry, too wet, many things are getting out of balance. And they were, for example, observing animals. What are they doing when they are sick? Do they eat? Do they fast? What do they do? What do humans do? And out of this, they created a system because our nature exists of elements. And these elements actually, they fought, because it's such a complex system.

In Ayurveda, it's believed that, for example, our mind, our thoughts are affecting our health, our body, and vice versa. And they said everything belongs together. And the purpose, you need to know the purpose of life. You need to know what you really want. And in order to make this complex system a little bit more understandable, they actually found that there are three basic energies. They are called Vata, Pitta and Kapha. So to make it very simple, Vata is everything with air, everything where there's movement in the body, our thoughts are constantly moving, our emotions are moving, we are moving, our blood is flowing, our joints, everything where there is movement. Pitta is the fire element. It has to do with our metabolism.

Suyogi (05:50.633)

with our intelligence has to be very sharp, so it's very fiery. And then we consist of 60% out of water. And this is actually Kapha. And for example, right now, our lifestyle has changed totally than it was 5,000 years ago. So right now you can see in general that there is, you know, actually everyone is different, right?

It's a different DNA imprint. And in Ayurveda, you say you are born with a certain constitution, which was given by our parents. And it also mattered at that time, are they in balance or are they out of balance? And this is actually our blueprint. So this blueprint, we should always know. Many people nowadays, they are vata pitta or pitta vata. They are a mixture of this. And then... We should always try, look, there's our inner balance, right? For example, we have a constitution like a DNA imprint of Vata Pitta. So, but then everything, our age, our food, our stress, our relationships, if it's spring or summer or if it's cold, everything has, if there's a war or not, everything is of course affecting us.

And then our inner balance goes like this or like that. And usually I was trained in the science of seeing the pulse, right? And when you see the pulse, you can immediately make out the imbalances. And then what you do is when you find out, because Ayurveda is not treating the symptoms, Ayurveda is always treating the root cause.

Amanda (07:28.227)

Mm-hmm.

Suyogi (07:42.788)

And then when you see, for example, where are the imbalance? Are they in the emotions? Are they in the body? Are they in our digestive system or in our hormones or in our immune system? Then you can give very specific individual recommendations. You know what you should do with your diet, what you should do with your lifestyle, what you should do with your sleep, with your hormones. Everything together then will give an amazing plan. And the more the people they do try to apply this in their life, the more success and the faster success they will get for sure.

Amanda (08:26.978)

So what I'm hearing is that Ayurveda follows a very clear system of the different kinds of energies that we have within our body. There's a lot of factors that can come into play, meaning how your parents are doing in their own mental, spiritual, physical journey, how they were possibly at the time of conception, and what impact that would have had on you. Just the environmental surroundings around you can impact the way that you feel. So you have your own imprint and then there's all these other factors that come into play into who you are and how well your whole system is aligned. And that's what's going to impact how you feel or illness or disease or things that maybe are going wrong within your system.

Suyogi (09:15.676)

Yes, exactly. And it is sometimes, for example, maybe I just tell you an example from a woman I had in my practice, in my clinic. So look, she was beginning of 40, she had perimenopause, she was a workaholic, I would say, very stressful life.

Suyogi (09:41.38)

She was pretty desperate when she came to me. She saw already around 20 different doctors. She went to a rehab center because all over her body there was pain and no one could really understand where is the pain coming from. And she was a very active, sportive woman and she was not able because of the pain to do that anymore. Her emotions, everything was affected. And when I, for example, saw her pulse,

You know, and I went very deep. The first thing what I was asking her, I said, I feel a very deep, hidden sadness in your pulse. A very deep sadness. And then first she was, you know, she was very active woman. No, no, she said no. And then I said, okay, let me see again. So I saw it again and I said, look, it's very deeply hidden in your system.

and did you have some breakup or did you have some loss in your life? And the moment I asked that question, you know, she exploded, you know, she started to cry and then after more questions she was telling me that two and a half years ago she had a very painful breakup. But her strategy was to work more, to forget it.

and to put it on the side. And then actually we found out very fast that all, you know, her belief system of, I'm not enough, I'm not attractive, I'm not good enough, all this was triggered. And what was happening, and this is the beauty of Ayurveda, you can then see in the pulse.

look the higher your vata, vata goes often here. Yeah many people they have constantly thoughts and thinking and stress and all this and they don't know how to release so that woman did not release she did not let go and because of this everything went out of balance and her it's a in Ayurveda there's a very important thing it's called Agni. Agni is a digestifier that is like

Amanda (11:55.171)

Mm.

Suyogi (11:56.444)

you know, like the enzymes who are making sure that the food you are eating is digesting and metabolism that in a very fast way. And then it's transported to all ourselves and what we don't need has to be eliminated. And this elimination process of all the toxins, emotional and physical toxins, actually was totally blocked.

So everything, she had so many blocks and so many toxins in Ayurveda, you call this Ama. And this toxins was actually increasing her vata so much that she got pain all over the body. And what I was suggesting her is that we have to work if we want to get rid of the pain, we have to work also on the root cause. So I gave her some Marma techniques. Marma is a technology for transformation in Ayurveda. It's at certain points in the body, when you activate them and you really visualize what you actually want in your life. She wanted to be active, free, beautiful, free of pain, yeah? And then most people, they never ask this question, so if I achieve this, right?

Amanda (12:57.718)

Mm.

If I'm really free of pain, what would I like to do then? They don't ask them this question. So we were working on this and I gave her also a healing mantra to release emotional pain and to make the soul more powerful and the heart more powerful. And then I gave her herbs to remove the vata and the pitta, which was causing this pain also, and we did a detox. And if you believe it or not, but after two and a half months, this woman was totally transformed. She was free of pain and she felt so amazing, so light. And so she was so, I mean, the love could flow again. And she said, actually she felt for the first time in her life.

Amanda (13:52.308)

Mm-hmm.

Suyogi (14:16.844)

love is really flowing again from her heart or maybe for the first time really flowing. And right now she's pregnant and found the love of her life and she's totally happy and so it's an amazing thing. And I think it's beautiful to observe such women then how they've become so full of glow and shine and happiness.

Amanda (14:35.15)

Okay.

Suyogi (14:45.584)

And this is actually what Ayurveda wants. Look, even 125,000 years ago, they were saying, you can live up to 120, but now the longevity medicine is also finding out. If you understand how to balance yourself, if you understand to regular detox, and if you understand what you need that you stay vital and happy and joyful. And it's not about only, Ayurveda was saying, it's about that you are really, yes, that you have this vibrant health, you know, and not only that, okay, I'm working on some blocks and then everything is okay, but in full. And that was a beautiful example.

Amanda (15:36.214)

I mean, that's really amazing. And when you say whether, I don't know if you can believe this, like, of course I can believe it. I've experienced your magic. But for a lot of people that might seem really, you know, really unbelievable that first of all, it's possible to really heal these ailments that you've been feeling for so long. Like most of us have been carrying these things around for decades. And you don't even realize that this is really there.

Suyogi (15:42.193)

Hehehe

Suyogi (15:58.205)

Yes.

Amanda (16:05.734)

until you reach a point where it's untenable. I feel in my experience, that's usually the point that people seek out alternative practices and help aside from traditional medicine. I know that was my own journey that was, okay, every dermatologist under the sun, what's wrong with my skin? No one could help me. Then finally I said, okay, fine, hands up, I surrender. What do I need to do? You're probably getting a lot of people who come into your practice, it's almost like a Hail Mary. It's like, okay, I've done everything. What do I need to do? Then you actually, the potency of what you do is 10 times as strong because they're just ready to believe it and to feel it and experience it.

Suyogi (16:54.473)

Yes, exactly. I mean, look, many people, when I started, for example, Ayurveda over 20 years ago, right, people really seriously asked me, what are you doing? Aloe Vera? That's what they knew. And now, especially in Germany and all over the world, Ayurveda is getting acknowledged more and more.

But still people know more about treatments. You know, everyone maybe has heard about Shirodhara, for example, when the dropping of the oil, you know, which is helping. This Shirodhara is, you know, you are lying down and then you get some specific oils and they are dropping on your third eye.

Amanda (17:32.465)

I don't know that. What is that?

Amanda (17:42.19)

Mm.

Suyogi (17:42.984)

And this is extremely beautiful treatment to reducing stress, anxiety, to become more calm, to be more grounded, and all the Ayurvedic massages, right? Many people know this. But this wellness of Ayurveda is actually only one little part, because it is such a huge, like for example Ayurveda was the first medicine 2500 years ago already. There was an Ayurvedic practitioner, his name was Charaka and he performed the first surgeries, which was amazing. Of course, not with the modern tools which they have today, but if you see this, what they were understanding about deep healing already is amazing. And of course for many people this seems to be, oh my god, I have to do so many changes in my life. Because of course the diet is also very important, right? The lifestyle is important. But what I have seen is when people get experiences and then they slowly are getting a better understanding of their own body and emotions and mind and they see aha if I eat for example more according Ayurvedic principles I feel much more grounded and calm and I feel much better and then they do it more often and for many it's a...

Suyogi (19:35.76)

Yeah, even for me myself, I mean, I came to Ayurveda because I was, when I was 28, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. My mother and my grandmother had this. So it's, I was totally devastated. I thought my life is now over and my joints were swollen and I could not grasp anything and I could not walk properly. And I knew from the experiences from my grandmother and my mother that I don't think that allopathic medicine can help me. And that's why I heard about Ayurveda. I was in India and I was convinced that this is an amazing art. And then I went to see my later Ayurvedic teacher, Dr. Pankaj Naram.

And you know, no one gives you hope when you have such a disease. But he saw my pulse and the first thing what he asked, he said to me is, I think you're much too young for this. And I thought, what does he mean? And, and then he told me that I have this arthritis and he said, I can help you and you just have to follow. And then he prescribed me some herbs, some diet, they were very strict diet, and some treatments. And of course I was young and after six months I had some improvement, but not the improvements I wanted. And then I got tired of taking all these herbs and then I stopped. And after three months I realized, yeah, this is how it is. And I noticed, oh, that was not so wise.

Amanda (21:08.863)

Mm. I know that one.

Suyogi (21:24.868)

And then I flew again to Bombay and he said, okay, my dear friend, who is the doctor? You or me. Um, did I tell you to stop? And I said, uh, no, actually not. I said, you continue. And then I tell you when to stop. And then it took me another one and a half years and I was totally free. And I had no pain. And, and the amazing thing is until now I never had any issues and which is actually according to allopathic medicine it's not possible.

Amanda (22:01.902)

Can you just define what allopathic medicine is?

Suyogi (22:06.104)

It's a normal medicine like when you go look like when you study in Western countries, right? You go to the university and you study the normal medicine. Then this is about a symptomatic approach, meaning you have a headache and you get an aspirin for example. Or they try to fill in when your thyroid is in a hypo-thyroid, yeah, for example, then they give you the hormone.

So it's more this substitution or you have a high blood pressure and you take some pills that the blood pressure goes down. But the doctors will not be able to tell you why do you have a high blood pressure? Why do you have hypothyroid or whatever you have, right? And Ayurveda is actually looking for the root cause and see it more in the imbalancing. What is out of balance? Where do we have to work on? And then you get a much better and a much deeper understanding also of it.

Amanda (23:10.946)

It's really interesting just from what you've shared just in this short amount of time. A lot of the tools or techniques or practices that come from Ayurveda are now, I don't know how to even frame this, they're a part of so many different mystical or alternative practices as independent actions.

I heard you talking about, for example, visualization or diet and eating well to clear your system or using oils and everything else. Those are all individual practices on their own. It sounds like in Ayurveda, it's really combining all these different possibilities, all these different tools into one holistic practice.

Suyogi (23:48.126)

Yes.

Amanda (24:06.159)

Solution is not the right word, but...

Suyogi (24:06.169)

Exactly.

Suyogi (24:11.192)

Actually, there are solutions because look, they have different kinds of pillars, right? And it is a huge system and you need to practice quite a lot to understand it in the depths. But what the beauty is, if you understand the whole system, then you can play with the tools and you can apply them.

And what I found so magical also about Ayurveda is, look, we're all humans, right? We feel actually beautiful when we are connected and when our heart is open and when we receive and give love. And the actual thing about Ayurveda is that there is, you know, in India, everything is about mystic.

You know, and in India they were saying that there is a God actually for Ayurveda. His, the God is called Dhanvantari. And Dhanvantari was very kind and serving God. And this God Dhanvantari observed the humans, how is their lifestyle, with their wrong emotions, that they were hating each other, that they had all these egos and all the stubbornness and everything what we can see right now in the world. And he was seeing how much suffering this means for humans. Yeah. And then the body gets out of, uh, out of balance. The mind gets getting crazy. We get all these different kinds of emotional diseases, like anxiety, depression, and so on, psychosis. And he said he could not bear it out of love anymore.

And then he came on earth and he gave all this wisdom to human mankind as a kind of a gift to serve humanity. And everyone who is actually in Dr. Naram, for example, it's a very interesting story. His lineage goes back to Lord Buddha, Gautama Buddha. And Buddha was a revolutionary spiritual being.

Suyogi (26:29.428)

And he was looking for a doctor for himself who understands also spiritual principles, who understands everything, you know, also the universal principles. And the first Ayurvedic doctor from my lineage was actually Chivaka. And this Chivaka was an amazing doctor who gave so many healing principles which you need to learn, need to understand, and then you can slowly in your practice apply it. And from there, this Chivaka had also some students and he, the best student, became the holder of the lineage. So this went on 2,500 years until Dr. Pankaj Naram, he was the holder of the lineage.

So he had thousand year old scriptures with home remedies, amazing Marma techniques and everything. And now as he has left his body, he has a son who just last week, he was actually, he finished his Ayurvedic studies because in India you go to the university and then you study both in parallel, the normal medicine and the Ayurvedic medicine and then you decide which path you're going. So he became a doctor and I think by next year, there will be a huge inauguration ceremony where he will be held over the lineage. So this is also something very special because it's believed that when you are a part of a living lineage, then all the power and the energy of this healing is actually also coming to the patients. Whoever does anything in this lineage will have a blessing of healing.

And this is a very extremely beautiful and powerful thing. And I'm extremely grateful that I was, you know, when I decided, for example, after my own success, then I wanted to become a healer. And Dr. Naram said to me, then you have to come to the clinic, you have to study traditionally in the clinic.

And at that time we had, Dr. Naram had, 300 patients a day. Imagine that one person can have 300 patients. He was a magical man. Okay. He took your pulse. And within seconds, 30 seconds, he could understand your body, mind and emotion. And people, I have seen thousands of people who were starting to cry or looked at him like, what's happening? Yeah. What is, what is happening here?

And then he made a plan and so many amazing success stories I've never seen in my life. And then he told me to come to the clinic and I was allowed to sit with him on the table. And, you know, being a Western woman, being intellectually trained also, you know, I just could not grasp this magic because I tried to get some hold of some...

A pulse? Yes, okay, vata, pitta, kapha, I should see in the pulse and all. How can he see that someone has a block in the heart? How can he see that someone has cancer? I was so, you know, I always looked what he was writing and I didn't get it. And then one day I was so desperate that I cried and I said, I think I cannot learn this. This is too much.

And then he said, yeah, you cannot learn it because you're trying to figuring it out - you don't feel it from your heart. And then I thought he's absolutely right. I'm trying to figuring it out. I did not allow myself because look, when you take a pulse, you're connecting to the heart and soul of this person. And you really go, your energy and his energy will become one. And of course there are pulse pictures they are called, right? And after many experience, you can make it out, but you get a lot of information if you are totally focused on that person in front of you. And not always I will say all the information, but if you are here and having already, okay, what should I do then? Okay, I get this information. So, but then people always want to know, yes, and now what should I do? And if you are going into this like, okay, I am trying to figuring out what I should do - you are disconnected already from this energy. So you have to really train yourself.

Like we had to do so many meditation techniques and there is a Marmor technique where you have just a card with a black dot. It's, and you do a certain Marmor technique and you have to train yourself to look at this black dot without blinking of an eye. You cannot with your eyes. You cannot do that for a long time. You need a lot of training. That means you train your mind to be focused only on one thing. And only when you're focused on that one person, and totally without, no matter what is happening in your life, no matter what is happening in the world, this is a moment between two souls. Yeah, that's it.

And if you do that, then you get a lot of information if you're trained. And I remember it was maybe after 10, 15,000 patients where I didn't feel anything, just like a normal doctor. Okay, I could say, yeah, this part is beating maybe 70 minutes, at 70 beats a minute. That was it. I really didn't, I didn't understand anything.

And then I really went in like in deep meditation in my heart. And I still remember this one amazing the next day, you know, we were sitting again in the in the clinic and there was a woman, an Indian woman. And I was not looking at what he's doing. I was just taking her pulse and being totally with her. And then suddenly.

I felt and it was really a feeling, this is a kidney pulse. And then I said, I still remember, you know, Dr. Naram was always having many people in the room. India is very different from going to a German or a Western doctor. And usually Indians always bring their whole family. And it is always loud and many people. And I said, Pankaj Spai, it's...

Amanda (33:33.416)

Hahaha!

Suyogi (33:39.544)

It's a kidney pulse. And you know what he did? I will never forget this. He looked at me and then he said, finally, you got it. You stopped trying to figuring out. And then he said, so now you go out because you have to understand when there are 300 patients in a clinic, then they were, we were every day starting at 12 o'clock and he was finishing maybe at one or two o'clock at night.

And they were waiting, some people were waiting for hours to see him. And he said, now you go out and you see each and every patient's pulse. And you feel each and every patient's pulse. And then you, you tell other students what you have learned. And that's how the training started. And I think I'm still a student. I'm still getting so much, many beautiful informations from so many people.

And every patient is actually someone who you learn the miracle of life.

Amanda (34:44.582)

It's, I love this story. Thank you so much for sharing that. And it's so, I guess, enlightening and refreshing because it's at the start for most people that I've engaged with in the coaching world. And I noticed there's, there's certain trends with the clients that I see.

that are, I've now started calling it like in the spiritual closet because it's really like this beginning of an idea of something more. I'm not coaching them to become more spiritual or anything like that, but this is what ends up happening in a lot of the work. There's always that moment because I fight myself on this all the time and I'm constantly reminding just be present, be focused, be in the moment. Whenever I'm not, I feel it and they feel it.

Suyogi (35:09.473)

Yeah, yeah.

Amanda (35:32.83)

and the energy of our exchange just goes down. It's the same for them if they're not present or they're busy or their minds on, oh, okay, am I doing this right? Can I get that? Whatever. There's no connection. I can't even have the conversation because I'm so distracted, like, hello, look over here, what's happening?

Suyogi (35:36.078)

Exactly.

Suyogi (35:50.928)

Exactly, exactly. This is exactly what is happening. And I think this is humans, okay? We are like this. And you know, in the scriptures, there is one saying and it says, we have to learn to actually control our mind. And most people, they are the slaves of their minds.

And one key and one very important key to that is actually that we have to learn to focus and to really be absolutely present. In Ayurveda you say that the deepest state of presence is the state of being when you are connected with your heart and soul. And then you are in, then people you know they immediately trust you because when you are in the state of being. Then there's a connection between you and me, between your soul and my soul. Then, and this is something which I learned in this lineage so much, is that they give people distrust and hope. And look, you also will know in a coaching session, right? The moment a client is losing trust, you lose him. Yeah. He, then we...

do blah, but it doesn't really reach him. And when there is this deep connection and this connection has always to do with trust, then they continue because it's normal for us, you know, that we, okay, we want to eat what we want, we want to do what we want, and then we get in between, we get lost, and then, which is all normal.

Amanda (37:42.46)

Some of us for longer than others.

Suyogi (37:45.292)

Exactly. You know, the funny thing is I have some patients, you know, I see that always very positive. They come back after 10, 15 years. And then they say, you know, you have no idea how many times I remembered you. But then I was not able to come back because I thought you will immediately know what's going on. And then...

And then you will most probably tell me to do a detox first. They are very smart, you know. And I needed such a long time to get ready for this. But then when you hear them, when they are doing it, then they are so happy, you know, because it's very satisfying and it gives you many, many success also.

Amanda (38:38.422)

You've been sharing a lot of this journey, especially at the beginning of your first experience and exposure to Ayurveda, and then later when you actually started studying it. If you could take us back in time a little bit and see... Actually, the first thing would be if you were to speak to your five-year-old self and explain what it is that you're doing today, how would you explain that?

Suyogi (39:00.67)

Right.

Suyogi (39:04.403)

Yeah.

Suyogi (39:08.108)

Look, what I would explain to my five-year-old self. Yeah, I would say I found my passion and my love to help people to transform and heal. And I can serve these people through giving them so many, so many beautiful, sometimes miraculous recipes or hints or whatever. And it is so much fun to do this. And what you feel is that your heart is jumping full of joy when you do that. And when you see someone who was suffering and he's not suffering anymore or she, this is the most beautiful thing you can you can actually have in your life.

Amanda (40:04.558)

Hmm, that's amazing. I love this. How did it come to be that you started even in this track? What were you doing before? Because I'm always very curious to know how did the healers get here? Especially, I really admire you and have a lot of respect, so I'm always like, were you a regular person before? What were you doing?

Suyogi (40:19.482)

Of course.

Suyogi (40:31.661)

Like, okay, I was studying actually, look, from a very small age on when I was, I think when I was around five, yeah, I really always wanted to help people. My parents, they called me the sunshine child, yeah, because I made everyone laugh and I took care of everyone, if it was animals or...

if it was humans, I just had this very compassionate heart to help. So for me, it was very clear, either I study medicine or I study to become a social worker. And I always wanted to find out why people do cruel things. So finally, I ended up to study social work in re-socialization.

So I worked in prisons and I worked with murderers and stuff like this because I had this curiosity to figure out, will you be really able to transform someone who has murdered a woman, for example? And no one could at that time understand how I have this funny ideas to work with such people, or this homeless people or whatever. I always wanted to find out if it's possible.

And if it's possible, for example, for such people to bring them in a forgiveness process. Even the university was not teaching you forgiveness processes, but because on the other hand, I was also extremely interested in from a very young age in spirituality. And when I was 18 years old, I read this book, The Autobiography of a Yogi.

And I got so inspired. I was like, really, I said, wow, this is amazing. I was actually for many years brought up in a boarding school in a monastery with Christian nuns. And they were very strict. It was very tough. And what I learned there was definitely to go through certain processes to be more disciplined, but also they are wearing black, right? And they were sometimes also a little bit not so light energy.

And so what then late, late when after reading that book, I decided very early when not yet so many people were traveling to India to go to India, because I wanted to meet a spiritual master like Yogananda. And I traveled all over India and I went to so many ashrams, you know, and also this amazing thing is Dr. Pankaj Naram, for example, he was also the doctor of many, also very well-known people, spiritual people in Western countries like Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Yogi Bhajan and everything, right? And because of this, I went to so many places in search of this really deep spiritual wisdom. And then when in India, when I was traveling, meeting so many amazing people, getting so many amazing spiritual teachings, I also, I then felt that I have to bring everything together.

So as a social worker, of course, I was already trained to do coaching, to speak with people all the time, right? That was my job. And then when I found Ayurveda, then I decided to bring it all together. And then I studied this healing practitioner, medicine, and then the traditional way of Ayurveda. And then since then I'm in that.

Amanda (44:46.606)

Mm-hmm. I know there's more elements to what you do as well, right? I know Ayurveda is one piece of the puzzle, but it's also much more expansive. Can you share some of that work as well that you're doing?

Suyogi (44:56.062)

Yes.

Suyogi (45:01.736)

Yes, like for example when I was traveling in India, you know, because of my background being brought up also many years in a boarding school, look in a boarding school there were only women, right? And only nuns. So what I observed from a very young age is how difficult it sometimes can be for women to live together to be really united totally, you know, because then our emotions come up, our jealousy come up, our comparison comes up. And for some time I was really disappointed because I always felt, which is by the way, also in Ayurveda, that Ayurveda feels that women are the Shakti. The Shakti is the power, okay? The creative power, the power which can create anything great in the world.

And in my lineage is that a man, men are actually idiots, only they be transformed when they accept the Shakti of a woman. There's a beauty in this, right? When this comes together and it's actually very true. So what I noticed then when I was always interested, especially also to help women and to bring them more together that they really can lift this Shakti, this tremendous power which they have. But then I noticed, okay, there is quite a lot of emotional hurdles in that journey. Right? And then during my travelling, I came to an ashram where there was an ashram of the monks and the nuns, they were separated.

And at that time, my husband, I was traveling with my now husband, we were not yet married. So he went and we didn't want to separate, okay? Because it was all not so familiar. And he went to the monks and I went to the nuns. And first I had a little resistance and I said, let's see, yeah? And then when I came there, I thought, God, what is happening here? This is like an unknown planet or what is happening here? Because 250 women living together in total harmony with so much joy, with so much love, and with so much wisdom, I thought, wow, this is amazing. And then actually I even forgot my husband, yeah, because some hours later we were supposed to meet and at that time were no phones available, right? And he could not reach me because I was in the world of women power. And...

Amanda (48:02.722)

The intoxication of Shakti.

Suyogi (48:05.136)

Yeah, exactly. And then I felt like, wow, what is going on here? And there was, there were two nuns who were the spiritual leaders of this ashram. And I was just so fascinated. I could not stop looking at them and everything. And at that time, there were not many Westerners in this ashram, and it was in Gujarati, in Gujarat, and it's in West India. And I wanted to learn, I wanted to understand what they are saying, because they were saying so many amazing things, and the words I did not even understand. So, on the first day I decided to learn this language, just to, that I can understand that.

And out of this there became a lifelong connection and lifelong love. And since 31 years, I mean, this is not something which I decided because look, I had myself a total transformation. Because if you really, you cannot believe I know because now I'm very different, but we were traveling for one and a half year all over the world, me and my husband. And I hardly spoke with anyone because I was such a shy woman, I was so fearful, and I always made him talk and I was quiet, which no one believes, no one believes me, but it's really like this. And the interesting thing about this is that they said, they saw a potential in me, also a spiritual potential, and they said,

Amanda (49:39.474)

I wouldn't have guessed it, no.

Suyogi (50:00.677)

they want me to become, the word for it is Bhagavad Gita, it's like a spiritual mentor and to do spiritual mentoring that we actually there are different things which every human being has to overcome one is ego, one is stubbornness, one is jealousy, greediness, anger and if you know the techniques.

And what I learned also, what I found very interesting is that women have a totally different way in spirituality than men. And they need a different approach than a man. And this I definitely learned from them. And since 31 years I am helping women all over the world. Like they come, this is my second job, they come for advice, it's like a spiritual coaching session, but it has of course different approaches because these approaches are then not Ayurvedic, but they are spiritual.

Amanda (51:06.134)

It's so powerful because I think a lot of people get lost in this world of what I now call pop spirituality. You're looking for a way forward. You desperately want help. You want to find a way. And there's a lot of influencers on Instagram or Facebook or wherever telling you, oh, OK, close your eyes and visualize your future. And it will be true. And you don't even know what that means, right? So most people.

Suyogi (51:16.42)

Yeah.

Amanda (51:35.498)

Yeah, unless you have a recommendation or I don't know, a teacher that you're already connected to, it can be really hard to find that way forward and to find someone you can trust enough to help give guidance. I know in my own journey, I would often find teachers who had their own way and it didn't necessarily align with what felt right for me either. So that also is a challenge, just trying to find what works for me.

Suyogi (51:44.19)

Yes.

Amanda (52:04.246)

How can I actually take this forward if I want to?

Suyogi (52:08.184)

Look, for example, when I was on my journey of finding a path, it was also a challenge because at that time there was no YouTube, nothing. I still remember at the age of 20 I started doing yoga. At that time no one did yoga. Okay. And...

This my yoga teacher, she had a Xerox copy. You know, one has a Xerox copy nowadays. And it was a copy from a book from India, where all the ashrams were noted and where you could find the addresses. And there was one on the first page, it was written this Buddhist thing that when the disciple is ready,

Amanda (52:39.854)

Hahaha

Suyogi (53:02.972)

the right master will appear. Right? And I felt at that time, okay, you just have to go on the search and you should never give up, never ever give up. And you should really find, this is very, very important and authentic source. And because in the scriptures, by the way, it's written, when you are in search of a spiritual path you should always look for, look in India the word guru means only someone who leads you from darkness to light. It's any teacher and there are different hierarchies of gurus. Yeah. And they are, and I think this is happening in Western country now also an influencer cannot be a very high ranking guru. I'm sorry to say, according to my understanding. And because it's not like exhibiting your own self all the time, it's like a very deep path, right? And in the same way, I think it is so important that you look for someone who had already a teacher, who comes from any high, from a lineage, yeah? Or from...

Amanda (54:11.351)

Mm.

Suyogi (54:29.98)

some authentic sources. Because India, look in India, everyone has a guru. Okay, this is very natural. But also there you can feel a lot of differences. And you should never give up. And I believe in that, what was written in that book. When the disciple is ready, the right guru will appear. And he will definitely appear because look, I'm many people also in my clinic, they are coming now.

And they are saying, look, I'm in search of a deeper spiritual meaning. And then I asked them, what do you mean by deeper spiritual meaning? And I get the weirdest answer. You have no idea. Just two weeks ago, I go, yeah, I'm now on a very deep spiritual journey. And I said, may I ask what are you doing and what do you mean with it?

Suyogi (55:28.576)

I'm using essential oils now. You know, I was for a moment, to be honest, I was a little speechless. And, and but this is, but then I said, okay, this is very great for her. This is the first step. And it is the first step in an unknown world because spiritual world is very unknown for us. And everyone has their time and their process.

Amanda (55:54.123)

Yeah.

Suyogi (55:57.176)

and everything, right? And slowly, slowly in everything, in Ayurveda or in spirituality, it means to go deeper and deeper and deeper. And you can see the things from so many different angles. So this woman, for sure, she will go on a deeper path.

Amanda (56:17.138)

I think that's the point, right? And they find you or they find me or they find whoever that next teacher is that will take them on the next path. And honestly, that's the desire behind this podcast. For me, it's really, I didn't know where to look for those answers when I was looking for them. And I don't think I have the right answers. I have many, I have many ideas and a lot of practice or things I've studied or learned, but.

Suyogi (56:22.51)

Exactly., yeah. Mm-hmm.

Amanda (56:46.218)

I don't pretend that I am the expert in what everyone needs and just opening up that door that someone's gonna listen to this episode and hear you and go, oh my God, this is exactly what I've been missing. Or maybe it's a different kind of healer and they really connect and that's the next best path for them forward.

Suyogi (56:52.542)

Mm-hmm.

Suyogi (56:58.124)

Yeah, and just... yeah.

Suyogi (57:05.22)

I think it's amazing what you're doing because look, nowadays it's like a huge pot full of so many possibilities, opportunities, which is out there. And I think everyone who is in search, they will definitely find and through podcasts. Look, I wish

At my time there was podcasts which I could listen and get more inspiration from it. And I think you're doing an amazing service to human mankind because so many are in search and they just need to get inspired. And this little spark has to be opened up.

Amanda (57:44.482)

Thank you. I honestly, I wish that we had hours for this conversation because there's still so many things that I want to ask. But I really want to make sure a few things that people will be excited to hear. So one thing I'd love to ask from your wisdom for someone whose curiosity has peaked and they want to learn maybe more about Ayurveda or understand the scriptures or...

Suyogi (57:45.683)

Hehehe

Amanda (58:11.03)

You've given us a lot of terms and I'm going to define them all and put them in the show notes so that people can read them. But are there any resources or teachers or books that you might recommend that people look into?

Suyogi (58:25.32)

There's a beautiful book out there, which you know a university researcher, he actually met Dr. Naram. And before Dr. Naram left this earth, he was very skeptical, like many people if they don't know this Ayurveda, right? He was actually then for 10 years traveling with him all over the world.

interviewing all the patients, writing down, because he was a university researcher, he made everything very systematic, right? And he had also beautiful stories combined with very deep healing secrets. And there is this beautiful book, I can, you can write it then in the show notes. It's about the secrets of the real healing master.

Amanda (59:16.301)

Mm-hmm.

Suyogi (59:24.404)

And I think there are so many beautiful stories inside, also home remedies, also marmas. And then from there, there's lots of stuff also on YouTube about this. And, and of course, people can always connect to me or make a consultation or anything. And one thing I would really inspire, would like to inspire everyone, you know, in Ayurveda, it said that there is always…everyone, nearly everyone has some toxins. Yeah, in Ayurveda it's called arm. And this toxins causing blocks. So when you have a block, you cannot break through. And there are emotional, mental and physical blocks and toxins. And I think what would be for everyone, you know, I prepared a little three days program. You can also do it for five days.

Where I put some home remedies, the magic mung soup, which is really magic if you do it, and some advices how to do this. And if you don't know anything and you don't want to go deeper, it's also okay. But at least understand that everybody in our nowadays time needs from time to time a detox, needs to have a rebalance.

And this you can do by yourself. And then when you get some inspiration or some experience, you can go deeper. And then this is like what you can do at home. And then during the COVID, you know, in Ayurveda, there's also this Panchakarma. Pancha means five, Karma means five actions. And this is the deepest detox you can do.

But for this, you need usually three to four weeks and it's a really, really deep process. It's also very difficult to go through it and it's all amazing, but it's really tough. I just did my last Panchakarma in April and I'm going back in January 25 because I feel it's so good to do this. So when all the clinics, everything was closed during COVID.

Suyogi (01:01:43.72)

I'm working together with Dr. Naram's wife, Dr. Smita Naram. And she has many clinics in India. And then I pushed them like crazy. I said, okay, this is a unique time. This is COVID. We have to help the world. And let's create an amazing 28 days detox program with herbs.

Amanda (01:01:59.438)

Hahaha!

Suyogi (01:02:09.756)

and with an amazing plan from all our experiences. So all the doctors and everyone was working together and we created a 28, it's called Healthy Me detox program. And what I found amazing is that women, especially women, they benefit so much from that. Their hormones, their toxins, their emotions, the liver, the kidneys, everything is going in a reset.

Amanda (01:02:20.819)

Mm.

Suyogi (01:02:39.232)

And the body can always reset no matter what. And from a reset, you can actually rebuild because you cannot rebuild when there are toxins in the body. And many, many now have done this and I have seen amazing success. So they could also do this. They start with a little and then maybe they get interested and then they go deeper.

Or at a certain point maybe they go to India and do this Pancha Karma or go on a journey, whatever and there are so many beautiful people out there.

Amanda (01:03:18.681)

For everyone who is now nodding their head and saying, okay, I want to know how to get in touch with you, Suyogi, how can they do that?

Suyogi (01:03:25.044)

Yeah. Um, I have a website, it's suyogigesna.com, my name. And, um, there you can just download, um, this three days, uh, program, right? And I would really encourage many to just download, give it to your friends, just spread it, you know, because it is beautiful when you can also help your friends or your family members or anyone.

And if you want further information, you can email me. And the email is there on the website. And you can also book an appointment if you want. And I'm always there to help you.

Amanda (01:04:07.774)

And just to clarify, do you see people online as well as in Berlin?

Suyogi (01:04:12.324)

Yes, I have so many people all over the world. I have many patients also in America and India, everywhere. And during COVID, you know, we were actually also doing trainings. Like, for example, I cannot see a pulse, right? The pulse is, of course, a magic. When we are seeing on Zoom, I cannot see the pulse. But I can see still and perceive quite a lot. And also then I will ask very specific questions. If I see some imbalance in you, then I go immediately into this imbalance and they were super successful.

Amanda (01:04:59.042)

This is so amazing. This has been really just a masterclass in everything that you do. I'm so, so grateful for all the wisdom that you shared and taking this time out just to be here and share so generously this really beautiful work you've been doing for so long.

Suyogi (01:05:06.017)

Ha!

Suyogi (01:05:21.288)

Thank you. Thank you very much. I really want to thank you even more. First, that you called me, but I know it is a lot of dedication to create a podcast. And I think I really wish that hundreds of thousands of people are listening to you and the whole world feels it because what you're doing is very important during this time and it is very helpful for so many people. And you know, sometimes it's a glimpse of inspiration which can change your whole life. And that's why it is so beautiful to bring this to the world.

Amanda (01:06:07.214)

I'm going to visualize 100,000 people now. Well, thank you so much. And thank you to everyone who has tuned in and been listening to this whole conversation. Don't forget to check out the show notes. You'll have all the links and resources and keywords, all these things that Suyogi has been sharing with us. And please do go download that detox. It is incredibly powerful.

Suyogi (01:06:10.271)

Yeah, you should!

Amanda (01:06:35.554)

Thank you so, so much, Suyogi.

Suyogi (01:06:38.216)

Thank you also, it was my pleasure.

Amanda: Thank you. And thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to check out the show notes from this episode and download the pod sheets that you can take your own integration and knowledge of what we've talked about here today deeper. This has been an episode on healing with dance and movement. And of course, you can bring this into your own life in whatever way feels best for you.

So, thanks for tuning in [01:06:00] and see you next time. Thanks for joining us on this week's episode. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a future episode. To dive deeper into today's conversation, make sure to visit www.dontsteponthebluebells.com and grab your exclusive podsheet. It's packed with valuable takeaways that will enrich your listening experience.

Until next time, stay curious and keep exploring.