60: Neal Bakshi - Banking On Angels: From Wall Street To Spiritual Awakening

0:00 How does someone move from the Cutthroat always on World of investment banking at Goldman Sachs to become a spiritual life coach in Reiki energy? Healer what does the phrase? Everything is energy mean, how can we keep this simple? Yet, powerful Concept in mind to show up as the best version of ourselves. And what is the book banking on angels all about? How can it help us? Achieve a sustainable meditation, practice attain, higher States Of Consciousness, and appreciate the power of synchronicities in life. Stay tuned as we touch on these and many other topics on this week's episode of untether your life. Welcome To untether Your Life.

0:45 A show that empowers you to own your own health and break free of templates for managing physical and mental wellness. And looks at Key issues, impacting the South Asian diaspora. I am your host, a kilt or cigar and I'm passionate about power of conversation to catalyze change. I met this week's guest Neil bakshi on an Instagram live hosted by a mutual friend. Shawnee was also very much into solo breath the methodology developed by another previous guest on this show neeraj Nayak, his background aligns very closely with mine on many fronts. So I was delighted to have them on the show. Neil is a certified spiritual life coach Reiki, energy healer, Angel, medium and best-selling author. He specializes in guiding, highly driven motivated, and aspirational next-gen leaders.

1:29 Achieve inner peace, lasting success and energetic balance through the power of spirituality. He's a former Goldman Sachs investment banker and left. His vice president title to bring the benefits of spirituality and personal growth into the mainstream. Additionally, he's the author of the book banking on Angels, which discusses this transition and much more and with that. Let's get untethered. Yeah. No. That's that's all fantastic. I mean there's a number of other hats I wear. I co-own a yoga studio. Video, I teach breathwork and meditation. I host a number of Retreats around the country and around the world. And it's been a really fantastic Journey over the course of the last couple years just to see where life is really taking me and where I'm being directed. And as we currently speak, I'm also in the development phase of a product line for Spiritual products, and trying to bring various types of spiritual products into the mainstream, as you mentioned.

2:28 And that's something that Personally just find as a fun creative outlet and something that I just feel called to do to share spirituality in a more tangible way because it's often very metaphysical and very athira. Canned, how do we allow people to feel a little bit more of, okay. Like now we're carrying the symbols that are aligned with the things that we believe and those kinds of things. So it's a very multifaceted Journey that's been evolving over the past few years. Yeah. And it's been really incredible. Just to see on. I think we had connected because I had seen Mean whatever Instagram lives with a mutual friend of ours, Shawnee, who is a breath / coach. And I think we'll just Dive In by talking about one of the topics that you had addressed on that which is sort of this marrying and I think you're the title of your book does this so, well, is this marrying of these two different worlds, which is financial services, which is a very type, A driven type of place and the world of meditation breathwork spirituality and energy healing. No, but if we could just dive in and just maybe talk about how you made that, From Financial Services over to this more etheric hyper world.

3:34 The story and the journey actually starts way, far back and saw start at five years old, where I started to meditate and my parents raised me on a spiritual path, which was created by a an Indian Guru who came to United States in the 1920s, his name was parmesan, say Yogananda, he created a spiritual path called self-realization Fellowship, which is the pretenses self-realization through meditation and Scientific and ancient yogic techniques of meditation and over the course of my childhood and upbringing. I meditated, but it wasn't something that I was very intentional about. It was something that my parents wanted me to do that. I went with them to do that, but it wasn't something that really grew out of my own volition.

4:15 I saw close family friends and a number of sort of uncles in my life work in the world of Finance be extremely successful managing directors, hedge fund, Founders EC Partners. All of these amazing things. And I saw the things they were able to buy and afford as a result of that and I wanted all this material goodies. So I went to NYU majoring in economics and history and ultimately worked on Wall Street. For eight years became an investment banker in leveraged, finance and structured Finance at Goldman Sachs structured over a hundred billion dollars of high-yield bonds and leveraged loans and this switch from the material into the spiritual, really happened. When in June 2020, my mom went for a 30-minute outpatient Um surgery to fix a partially torn ligament in her thumb.

5:02 She what couldn't be aroused after the surgery was in a coma on life support for three weeks and that entire situation, then turned my life upside down. The first six months were spent triaging the material needs of my family. How do I keep credit cards? Bill payments, mortgage payments car payments, everything happening on time because she managed all of that. During that time period, we would go really deep. In meditation for those three weeks, she was in the hospital as a And we would send healing energy and I was very intentional because I wanted my mom to live and that was the real Catalyst for me going deep into spirituality. And the first three months of 2021, I started to receive a message that was you need to help people. You need to help people and I got that message every morning for 90 days straight and I was like, okay I have no idea what this means.

5:50 I'm going to need some help to decipher this, interestingly old friends from college came back into my life, who were business, coaches coaching certification scheme in my pathway. Clients immediately started coming and they saw a profound results in changes with people would tell me you changed my life and they were like, if I ever write a book, you will be in my book as someone who changed my life, and I was just humbled and in awe. And I thought maybe this is something I can do. Then this, is this fills me up out of a very deep level. I feel like this is very flowing for me. And from there, I started to explore and be called to things like, plant medicine therapy. I started to explore Reiki energy, healing breath. Work and go really deep into different modalities soul, audit courses, and all the. While in 2021, I had a calling to communicate with my mom. So I would talk to my mom, I would go into meditation. I would ask for guidance.

6:44 I would pray and meditate to her and simultaneously over that period of time. I also started to pick up on these small synchronicities, that started to really expand things, like angel numbers, things like, different symbols. I would ask for size. Signs and receive signs, and there was something broader happening. And so, as time went on, I started to communicate with what I call to be my angels and Spirit guides as well as my mom on the other side. And so over the course of the last about two years, this ability to communicate with these Spiritual Beings is really coming to the Forefront for me. I now do Angel Card Readings for people mediumship has interestingly grown as an offshoot of that completely unexpectedly for other people in these.

7:29 Meetings and coaching is just continue to expand and so it's been a really fascinating journey to see. Yes, I was very engrossed in the physical material of wanting the money, all of those fancy job titles cars, houses. And then life just having a way of saying, okay, well I know you want this but we're going to give you a pretty trying life situation and that may change the entire outcome of what you believe you are and what you want. Yeah, I know it's a fascinating journey and I think I love that title. Do banking on Angels because like I said, it did in Mary's two very different worlds. Now, the term angel, I think when people hear it, there tends to be this religious connotation.

8:09 But in terms of the classical sense of the word Angel, it's got a little bit of a different implication. Can you talk a little bit more about that? You talked about that in your book as well. But for people who are listening maybe just so they can get a little more nuanced and broader understanding of the of what exactly does that mean? When we talk about angels, the reason I Them Angels is because I started noticing these repeating number patterns incessantly and as Banker, all you do is work with numbers. And so it wasn't just at work but it was everywhere else. And I started to look up and try to understand what is this like what are these numbers? And so angel numbers were what came and I was like, okay, angel numbers. And then I started to ask and talk to my mom and I viewed, my mom as a guardian angel of mine.

8:58 I now know that. She wasn't necessarily a guardian angel. She was just another sort of spirit on the other side, Angels. However, are these Spirit guides you can call them. And I understand Angels definitely have a different religious connotation to them, but the way I view it is, yes, guardian. Angels are types of Spirit guides, their forms of Spirit guides. And then, when you think about archangels, as various other religions, refer to them, as I view those archangels, as part of the angels that I communicate, However, they are archetypes. So you'll have Raphael who's in angel of healing. You'll have Michael who's an angel of protection. But all of these things are just archetypes. If you even look at jungian Psychology, he talks about these various archetypes.

9:43 You have the warrior the magician, the lover, the king. So I view them as simply archetypes that you call upon for needing certain things. People who want to have a child call upon the Archangel Gabriel, all of these kinds of things. So there are symbols that you call in that have and Is a type of energy and so everything is energy as I talk about in my book. And so angels are just another form of Spirit guides, everyone comes into this world. With at least one spirit guide, they know you for lifetimes over and know you better than anyone else. And they can only act for your highest good. And the highest good of all they can never cause harm to people. They can never bring into being anything that you do not want to happen, and they will only act when called upon because they will never encroach upon your free will.

10:28 So it's Amazing. Intertwined relationship that I have with these Spirit guides and Angels but they are an integral part of my life and really an integral part of what I do is Angel medium to Cochin. But yeah, no, it's that's fascinating and, you know, being a parent and I'm helping my kids with their math homework and one of the things that I've come across that I haven't thought about it a long time as a Pythagorean theorem from from grades, which I'd, you know it's been years. But interestingly enough you talk about in the book. There was another contribution from Pythagoras Which is the theory that numbers have their own vibrational energies. Maybe if you could talk to me a little bit more about that because I find that fascinating, you know, you talk about angel numbers.

11:10 I'd like to understand a little bit more about numerology or just that notion about the significance of numbers. And what if what impact it's had on your life. I went to Egypt in 2012 last year, 2022, and I walked into a shop. It was a gem and Crystal shore store that my tour guide. Cousin actually owned and ran. And so, I started talking to him and even he started talking about numerology and the interpretation of the energy of numbers. And as you rightly referred to Pythagoras, 600 BC, very famous mathematician, he claims, and States, at every number, in the universe, carries a unique and distinct vibration. And when those numbers are, either put into specific sequences or patterns or put into repetitive patterns, they amplify.

11:59 The meaning of what that number means. And so, that's how I actually started to communicate with my angels, on the other side, I would start to see these patterns. I would start to First Google them because I was like, why am I seeing 444? Literally everywhere, license plates buildings, the stock market, like everywhere. I was looking and I would then see sort of a formula or a understanding of what these numbers mean as Amplified, and as singular numbers, and then in meditation, I would go in and ask my guides. Angels, my mom the universe, whatever you want to call it. What do these numbers specifically mean for me and just like any other language? It's easy to say, okay, this is what the specifically means, 444 is Angelic guidance and that's what that means and you're right.

12:44 You got it. However what what I've come to realize is that just like any other language? There's Slangin languages, there's different alliances. Yeah. It's very tough multi-layered. Yeah, exactly. There's like different tones or inflections different vernacular. Ocular, aways it evenly tations. Yeah, for me, thank you like Spanish. For example, you had catalonian Spanish, you have Mexican Spanish, you have Spanish from Guatemala and so like they have different tones inflection. Similarly, the language of numerology is unique to everyone. And so while there is a general blanket and overarching sense of what these numbers and patterns and sequences mean, right? It's ultimately unique to you. And so it's not once, it's not one size fits.

13:26 All right, right, right. Yeah. And Let me just ask you, you know, not to put you in the hot seat here, but 555, I'm just curious is what is the rule of thumb significance to that number, just curious. Yeah, that one is changes and New Beginnings. So when you see 555, you can expect that you are entering a period of change. You will be stepping into something that is going to be new. You're starting something new and it's a reminder that. Yep, you're stepping into something new. And when you see these aspects that unfold for you that are going to be, it doesn't necessarily need to To be a huge change. It doesn't need to be like, I'm leaving my job or yeah. I'm gonna be finding a new life partner or I'm moving a house. I can be small and simple changes, it can be small changes in your daily life.

14:11 Small changes in the way you go about your daily routines but who typically 555 what I've noticed with it is you'll tend to see something bigger than something smaller in terms of a new amplification of change or new beginning in your life. That's going to be. Starting the reason I asked that knee. It's just, I don't know if anyone, if people, you know, readers or friends or people who have come across your book. You talk about in the morning, you wake up at 333, is that that's your, I don't know how you do that by the way, but since reading your book, I started I've actually started getting up at five fifty five in the morning. The reason for that is partially because, you know, my kids need to get on the bus, I need to get them ready. So I need to have some buffer time there so I'm not just, you know, running around like a headless chicken. I want to have a little bit of that bumper time to meditate or just, you know, have a A cup of tea or whatever it is. So I'm just wondering if other people have come to you and said, hey, you know, I've changed my daily habit and I'm waking up at a certain time.

15:07 I love that you say this and I just got chills down the back of my head because one of the most beautiful things that I've found from writing this book and having multiple people read it and people come to me saying, I feel so much more in tune and aligned with noticing synchronicities happening. In my life, people will start to really pick up on Nuances either numbers that happen or relationships or conversations or meeting specific people or new people. I've gotten so many stories from people saying, I've had this amazing synchronicity, I just have to tell you about it after reading your book. And so, I think what it does is it helps you become more conscious of the smaller little things that we may normally overpass in our lives that then have actual deeper. Meaning, if we allow Ow ourselves to slow down and be more present.

16:01 Then the tell me more, I mean, look, it's like I said, 333 just seems like, you know, an ungodly hour to wake up. I'm just, I'm just curious. What is the significance of that if you could share with people and maybe, you know, we can start the Neil bakshi challenge where it's like, let's get up at three thirty three for a week and see, you know how how we feel. But curious, what is the significance of that specific time stamp? Yeah. So it actually started when I was working at Goldman and because of the incredibly long. Hours. I would only have my time in the morning to be the time that I could go to work out go to take care of myself, meditate, whatever, whatever it really was, and it started at 4:30. And then what happened is after I started to go deeper and deeper into meditation.

16:45 I started to realize that my 5 10 15 minutes of meditation just didn't feel like enough for me, wasn't cutting it. Yeah, I wanted more, it felt like I wanted to go deeper and so it's and then increased it. 30 40 and I was like, okay well I can't keep getting up at 4:30 like the time needs to change and then I started to incorporate these various types of energization exercises as well, which is consciously charging the muscles and parts of your body, with life, force energy. And so life force energy is the same thing that everyone talks about in terms of Reiki, energy, universal life force, Prana, same sort of concept, and even Chi, if you look at Chinese medicine, all of these ancient cultures talk about the same thing, which is life force energy. So that Incorporate all of these things and I said, okay, I need more time and then so is shifted up to 330 because I was still working at Goldman while going deeper into meditation and spirituality and building my coaching practice and then as in as kind of a nod to the fact that I was communicating with angels, on the other side, they would send me these numbers and I would say, okay well if I want to have that two-way form of communication, I will get up at 333 just as a nod of acknowledgement to the fact that yeah, I want to communicate. With you back and I want to create a level of deeper understanding with you.

18:03 Well you know the jury still out I guess it's too soon to tell if the 555 shift has made a complete change in my life but you know we'll see what happens. Give it a couple of months. So I want to touch more about, you know, you mentioned that you had had worked at Goldman Sachs and I think you had talked about this on one of your IG lives, but the fact is that meditation, I think is drifting away from the realm of the etheric, the wool kind of Meant to Corporate America, where companies are seeing the benefits of it, you know, they talked about among sure you're familiar with like Ray dalio Paul Tudor Jones. But I'm bringing all this up because there's always the press release version of reality and then there's you know what's actually happening in the trenches.

18:47 So I'd like to get your take on, you know, what the attitude towards mindfulness meditation was during your time at Goldman Sachs the attitude was Probably next to next to nothing and in the last couple of years on my way out, they converted a coat closet into a prayer and contemplation room and that was for your closet, a coat closet. I'm sorry, a coat closet, you said, yeah, it was like a coat closet like hallway that they like kind of blocked off and you they made it into a prayer and contemplation room, and I actually would go in there before client calls. And I would sit down and meditate even 45 minutes. And I remember very distinctly.

19:34 My boss are other people on my team would be like, hey, where you going with this? Cause like yeah, I'm just gonna go meditate for a couple minutes. I'll be right back and so I would say that even people at work on the desk would say Neil how are you? So calm and composed all the time, that would look at them. And I would say I meditate and they would just look at me and they would like roll their eyes and go back to the desk. And I think now what's happening is it's starting to be really Realized that. Okay, there's scientific proof as to. Why meditation is beneficial increases mortal? Thickness, it helps you sleep better. It helps you really be able to cognitively discern what's happening when you able to slow down the brain wave functions of your mind and it allows you to think more clearly in a less stressful intense State and it's amazing because my parents came to the US or 40 years ago and they would talk about yoga and people would look at them like they had nine different heads. And so now you Ride past the highway strip mall without seeing a yoga studio.

20:32 Similarly, I think that's exactly what's happening with breath, work with meditation, but energy healing, all of these modalities people realize there's something more happening. Why do I feel so much better after a Reiki energy? Healing session? Why do I feel incredibly relaxed? Clear? And like, I've released toxins from my body. Why does meditation make me feel so incredibly clear-headed? So Calm. So able to tackle difficult tasks and even handle stressful situations with Incredible composure. Why does breathwork help me really tap into higher States Of Consciousness? And again, I don't want people to take just my word for it. I think people need to first-hand experience and do these things.

21:16 And say, okay, this is something that I really find a benefit of, or this is what I feel when I do these things. And then from that point in perspective, they will then feel motivated to enact it, and put it into practice in their life. I always say the proof is in the pudding. Right. And you make a great point about, you know, don't just take my word for it. This is something actually since you and I last spoke. We actually have started doing it with our employees. We have started doing breathwork three times a week. People are saying, like, you can, you can even tell them the tone of their voice, they come into the session, they're very like, oh, you know, I've got a case of the Mondays or whatever the corporate Joe Curry is but then you know F at the end it's like the tone of their voice is very relaxed and there are behaviors that are different. There's a little bit.

21:59 More gratitude, you know, there's less reactionary responses on conference calls, it's sort of this contagious effect and that goes into what? One of the great quotes that you allude to in the book is, which is, you know, everything is energy. I'd love if you could talk a little bit more about that notion because that can be a very esoteric concept for people who live in this very like, kind of cut and dry, show me the data type of world. We always hear that phrase. And we always hear these quotes from Einstein All these other theoretical physicists. And what happened for me is I started to experience the world as energy forces and I started and I'll tell you that the real shift of one I experienced. This, it was, I was sitting in my Manhattan studio apartment and I looked across the street to the building next to me. And I started to see the bricks being comprised of these balls of energy and of the building next to me that I looked at the tree and then I saw the tree just Of all of these different balls of energy.

23:01 And that I looked at around my apartment, and I saw the same thing, and I looked at myself, and I saw the same thing, just all these tiny little balls of Just Energy and like the Quanto. Yeah, if that's if that's yeah, really truly that and I was like this is kind of weird but it like it wasn't like I was like hallucinating. I was just like it was here but like I could see deeper if that makes sense. I could like seeing a layer deeper than what was just on the facade. I can still see the facade but there were also these likes. All Balls of energy signal is like, that's crazy. Everything is created of the same little balls of energy and then I started to research and go deeper into quantum physics. And then I started to understand these different theories that have been placed by amazing physicist over the course, of mainly, the eighteen and nineteen hundreds, but it goes even further back.

23:48 If you talk about, people discovering atoms as the basic building blocks and then when you get even deeper, you start to understand that everything is simply these Molecules electrons and photons, primarily in constant vibration that are constantly moving, and constantly vibrating at the smallest level of quanta. If you look at the skin, for example, you see this very hard solid body of skin solid Mass, but then you get deeper and you put it under a microscope. And then you'll see all of these small cells moving around, and then you get even deeper. And then you'll see the mitochondria in the cell and you'll see all of the organelles and cells. And if you go even deeper on On an electron microscope, you'll start to see the atoms in the electrons, moving around. And then you really see if there's actually 99.999999% empty space around these atoms.

24:41 But these are just atoms and electrons and photons, and constant energetic vibration. There's something called exclusion Zone water, which is actually the water that we are, comprised of that, that actually makes the molecules of our body vibrate together and move together. Gether, which is why when you feel very dehydrated, you feel low energy because what happens is the molecules on the smallest, level of your body are enable to be filled enough with water to vibrate and bounce off each other, to create the electricity that you are actually made of. And so it's very interesting in terms of all of these scientists. And all of these incredible polymaths have really done the research.

25:21 And when you just get into it, you say okay this actually makes an incredible amount of sense. And then when you start to embody that and live from that perspective, Tip of everything being energy, you can then approach situations, even people in your life and relationships. What kind of energy do I want to show up to giving this talk to these high school students that I did earlier today? What kind of energy do I want to show up to going on a new date with someone? What kind of energy do? I want to show up when I have a meeting with a client, the ways, I can interact with my energy? The ways I can connect to someone and then you think about energy centers and you talk about the chakras, you connect to people on a chakra. Level. And so when I even interact with people one on one, sometimes I'll start to I learned this energy technique in terms of you connect with people at each chakra.

26:07 So you connect the room, connect the sacral connect the solar plexus and then you start to see people in a different light. You start to connect with them on a deeper energetic level, as opposed to just the physical interaction level. And then, you know, there's always that expression, you know, that person gives me Good Vibes or, you know, I Vibe well with that person, it's not just lip service. I mean, there is real Science to it. And I think I was very interested in reading about the David Hawkins is it? The map of Consciousness battle? If you could talk about that a little bit more? Yeah. So Hawkins has. He has it? This map of Consciousness that he refers to in terms of starting at these lower vibrational energies. And I interpret the map of Consciousness in a little bit different way, than how, he just purely explains it. But ultimately what, the way he explains it as he's able to measure the the frequency coming off of a human, in terms of how what is the energy?

27:04 It's measurable even emotions are measurable in hertz. Who'd when anyone is thinking or emoting or feeling, you can measure that energy and hurts. The heart is the largest electromagnetic field in the body and various emotions have various frequencies. Attach them. Gratitude is incredibly high frequency. Shame guilt. Fear are incredibly low frequencies and so you can actually map and see. Dr. Joe Enza talks about this a lot in his books and his research as well, you can actually see the level of energy and energetic vibration that is emitted off of a human body. When you raise your elevated, emotional state into a state of Joy love Bliss. Gratitude piece is a very different sense than anger, apathy, fear, shame resentment and you can then start to elevate the energy in the vibration that you carry with yourself.

27:56 It's a very conscious act because oftentimes Times, we may just immediately have a life situation happen that we get really pissed off. Like all. Can't believe this person totally blew off this call, and you get really angry, and then cut me off in traffic or something, you know, totally. And so, it's a conscious act and at, but the way I look at the Hawkins scale is, how can I continually move towards higher energies, and higher frequencies to lift my own State, and level of Consciousness? And I actually worked with a very, very interesting teacher. Jean-francois brow, who created a concept of the Soul audit. He utilizes the Hawkins scale in a way to understand where are my various energy centers right now on the Hawkins scale, as it relates to my own understanding of energetic vibration.

28:46 My own Taurus filled my own heart centered openness and my own potentially trapped emotions and how can I raise that to continually, just open the heart? Open the heart, open the heart. I want to go back. To something you talked about certifications because, you know, you have a good command on all these different topics whether its energy healing or neurology or breathwork, could you talk a little bit more about, you know, some of the items that you have in your tool kit? Like in terms of the practitioners that you've studied under or that you've gotten certifications? Just so just so people can anchor in their understanding sort of wear where you're coming from. It first started with Jay Shetty, certification school, For my life coaching certification.

29:31 It's a minimum of 120, our coursework plus live coaching h plus self-assessment and self-study and I tore through that in just a couple of months and I went Above and Beyond in terms of alive number of coaching hours. And then that was just, that was a really fantastic course to get Basics on coaching fundamentals and then Mindvalley is incredible. He learning platform where you basically self study a number of Courses, any course that you desire and it gives you micro learning in 5 to 20 minute segments on a daily basis that add up to deliver your course in anywhere between a week to a few months. Were there any specific quests in Mindvalley that resonated with you? Yeah.

30:14 So the ones that I really loved, there are a few Duality with Jeffrey Allen money EQ with Ken Honda. The Silva method is a fantastic one be extraordinary I believe is one of Visions which is That as well. And there were a couple others that I took 10 x, which is more physical fitness oriented. And then, as I mentioned, Kyle gray, who's an angel expertise from the UK, he became a medium, Angel, medium at the age of 15, so I studied through him and his course got attuned to the various angels and even after doing, Angel readings for two years, is actually when I found that he had a course on it, and then I explored that course, and so, he even went deeper into those skills.

30:57 And then breath, I work with Niraj Nike from Soma breath. It absolutely incredible. So I'm a certified breathwork instructor and Reiki energy from the Minka school in Brooklyn, New York. And so they they teach everything from Psychic awareness to Reiki energy, healing too low Hachi, 18th octave, various types of energy work. And what else? The soul audit course was jean-francois bra. It's kind of continuous learning, for me, and continuous development. The book A Course in Miracles. It is a fantastic book as well. I've kind of just been very interested in all of these things. And so it's been how I would spend some weekends. Sometimes, it's just reading or just learning about this stuff because it just fascinates me dr.

31:42 Bradley Nelson, the emotion. Code is another fantastic one that teaches techniques to release trapped emotions in the body parmesan. Tioga Ananda and the teachings of self-realization Fellowship have been invaluable to me, paramahansa, Yogananda. I think I talked to you about that. I think that book. Look it's been the clear example of synchronicity because there's so many different people that have come into my life. That have present company included for whom that book has been so pivotal you know whether it was the founders of our company Go star or it was Steve Jobs. You know that was his favorite book and then you know when you mentioned that you were pretty much raised on that book that was when that that's what sparked my interest and you know that was why I had had reached out to you.

32:24 But yeah, for anybody who's listening? I highly recommend reading that book. Look, just because what is really amazing to me kneel when I think about it is just the time frame of that because you have to remember, I think that book. Well, the srf I think was started in like the 20s or something like that. I don't. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I don't know when this specific book was written but you have to think about the perception of spirituality in the world, not just in the world, but in the United States, if for some one of indian-origin to come here and have that kind of impact is just it's truly mind-blowing. Interestingly today's actually permanency yogananda's Maja samadhi, which means it's the day that he consciously left his body. Yeah, correct.

33:08 So it's very interesting that we're having this conversation talking about is today, that is should that is wild. Well, okay, I did want to go back. Neil. When I was talking to you earlier, I think what I had told you was that one of the things that really impressed me about the work you're doing, is that? And a lot of the work you do is with people who are in these Very type, A sharp elbowed kind of environments, you know, our CFOs or entrepreneurs. Yeah, I know, you're right. It's people who are working in finance Consulting, starting their own businesses, entrepreneurs Tech Founders CFOs doctors bio Tech Executives, even therapists have come to me.

33:48 So these are kind of the core people. Could you tell me a little bit more, maybe about what you're seeing and maybe you know, how people in these environments can apply meditation and mindfulness. Illness in their practice just to get better outcomes and just live a better life. Not just from a squishy like, touchy-feely. Let's sing Kumbaya approach but also achieve their goals and everything like that for people that have no experience. And no idea doing this. The first is to Simply remove the distractions. So, before we even get into meditation, we need to understand what is happening in terms of. How are you distracting yourself right now? Is it Instagram? Is it? Is it? These dating apps? Is it just trying to constantly be busy at work.

34:29 Is it over working out at the gym because all of these signs are ways that I was personally distracting myself through energetic imbalance. And so first. It's removing distractions. Then it's consciously, doing nothing for just a couple minutes a day. Can you just sit with yourself to just be with you with no phone with no agenda and just be with yourself and Lucy. What happened? What? Thoughts come up, but what feelings arise? Because when you start to do that, you start to develop greater awareness and it all it is all A game of awareness, how or where can we be? Can we be aware of ourselves to the point where we can ultimately in meditation? Just expand into as ramdas calls it? The vast ocean of awareness where you become, no one, no thing, no place at no time. You it's just the essence of you in this entire quantity of The Happening, which sounds crazy to really think about and internalized because until you actually feel that and you allow yourself to be consistent with a meditation practice. It's hard to really conceptually ASP, just not not being there, that's further on down the line.

35:33 Once you are able to say, okay I can I can comfortably sit my sit with myself doing nothing, then we can go into. How can you do a two minute meditation practice. Maybe it's guided. Maybe we're listening to a YouTube meditation or something on insight timer or one of those days are there apps met mine, build the app or some other meditation, you know, calm forehead spaceship, headspace, great meditation apps and then how can we start to extend that maybe once we start to feel comfortable? Can we go into 25 minutes, 10 15. And then where I think the real magic happens is silent meditation. Silent meditation is the key to truly communing with the universe. God Source. Divine love is what I consider.

36:13 God to be the essence of just pure Divine love. And so, how can we just purely just expand into that? Where then you start to say? Okay, I feel like these intuitive downloads are starting to come to me. I feel very clear and open. I feel very light and vibrant because once Go into those deeper states of meditation. And if you read my book, I created a beginner's guide to meditation as well to help people sort of dive into silent meditation. Because that really is, at least for me personally has been one of the most incredible things. Just go into that quiet silence and Stillness. Because within those States, you realize, once you're able to sit with your thoughts and emotions you start to then see that you are actually not your thoughts and emotions, you are the Observer of the thoughts and emotions and you are R, just the essence of Consciousness. It's the Observer object relationship. And so that Michaels was that possessed Michael singer, who talked to Michael Singer.

37:06 Exactly, right. Yeah, he explains it really well. Because Dad's actually what it truly is you see that you are not your thoughts. Now, in terms of people you've worked with, is there any specific outcome that you can point to it? Just sort of shows, you know, some of the results that people can achieve by following a lot of these techniques that you've become very well versed in it. Mine who worked in the financial services industry, really had no background that they were of South Asian upbringing and descend. But they really didn't have any meditation practice raised in sort of the the typical religious sort of context as it relates to South Asians, they had the ritualistic aspect of it, but they didn't necessarily have the spiritual aspect of the rather going inside and intentionally.

37:54 And so, really just creating a meditation practice Even 45 minutes that they've carried then with them for. Now, multiple years since we first started working together and then that has actually expanded their own ability to go deeper into personal growth and then consciously seek out ways that they can grow in different ways and sort of videos that they can watch podcast that they can listen to really kick starting, someone's entire personal growth process. Another person went through a very difficult divorce and so from that experience I actually He helped guide them through a number of energy clearing techniques. A number of forgiveness exercises, a number of emotional Mastery techniques and it has led to them finding a brand new job that is extremely fulfilling.

38:44 They started to become interested in energy, healing as well, and have become certified and Reiki energy healing. After after we work together and have opened their own energy. Healing practice, which is a lot amazing. Another person that was going through a very difficult relationship time. But also we routed that back to their own personal growth stalling. So we help them completely rewire their morning routine and their personal growth practice so that they can take care of themselves and then fill the love tank of their significant other and their relationship has dramatically increased their. Now, in terms of Harmony, they are now exploring ways to be more conscious and more intentional with their own relationship on a deeper physical level as well.

39:25 Exploring Tantra, exploring various other way. Is to cultivate deeper senses of intimacy as a couple and then there's a number of other people who have gone through. Basically taking up yogananda's, book after we've worked together to deepening their own spiritual practice, reducing anger, that they held against family members for decades and had, they've completely healed wounds with family members and so it's just fascinating to see other people who are about to move cities into a totally different state. From our work together because their aspect was looking at. How can I find a place to put my roots down where I want to live? How can I get clear on that?

40:07 How can I also start to heal relationship patterns that have occurred in my life and continuously occur? So so all of these things are to say that the beauty of life is that there's no one right way to go about it. Everyone is unique and living their own experience and whatever that is, it's able to be. How can I guide people to the right questions? Teaching them the right techniques. Them release old trauma, that might be stored in the body to get them to where they want to be in a way that is conducive to their highest good and their highest learning that they resonate with most equally. The way I look at it. The way I look at your journey is just if you can take somebody who was in this type of environment, and this isn't something that you just went willy-nilly into because Mom and Dad told you, you actually as a twelve-year-old, you this was what your dream was was becoming an investment banker to go from somebody. Who literally had this very type, A Cutthroat sort of ethos embedded in them.

41:04 If they can adopt this type of practice, if they can adopt these habits, it shows that really it's available to anybody who's willing to open their mind. And, you know, obviously your story is a little bit different because you had grown up with the teachings of yoga and on the but at the same time, you know you did live in that very Cutthroat type of environment. So and I think it's also important to note that Even for a while, while I was working in banking at Goldman, my meditation practice fell off. It totally fell off. I became just like one of those. The machines in the wheel, I was like my life revolves around work. I need to always respond to my emails. Immediately, I need to always be on these calls on, so I always always be closing, right?

41:50 Like the the Mantra goes. Plenary Glen Ross, right? Yeah, it's true. And I was just like, no, like this is my life. I'm a banker. This is my personality. Like this is it and so I became it's kind of like it talks about the middle way loud. Sue about being too far to either end of the spectrum, right? If you're too far to the materialistic working, this is my identity side of the spectrum. You're just going to be preoccupied with the roles that we play as a Dharma in this material life. Similarly, if you're too far to the Spectrum on the spiritual side and you're just way out there in the clouds the entire time, you're not going to be able to be grounded in this moment to say, okay. I can have these tangible goals and move forward while still being aligned with spirit and higher Consciousness to help me on my path. It's his concept of how do we marry the two in a way that is so balanced that we are able to, then access the deepest parts of our energy in balance and really shine as bright as we possibly can.

42:49 I did want to Circle back knee on. We talked last time, you know, we talked about synchronicity when you and I had talked, I had just gone through a very difficult time, which is that the losing of my Father-in-law who I was very close to. And that's one of the many things that I was drawn to your story because I you had gone through the loss of your mother. You are very close to for listeners who are navigating this journey of loss. I'd love to hear, maybe if you can share with them. Maybe something that has helped you reframe this. I mean, I'll tell you for me personally in my case, you know, my father-in-law was very ill and he had gone through a lot of suffering Blitz just like with you. I mean, we had done a lot of these exercise, we had done meditation and breast work with Him while he was in the hospital and it's like, even though he was unable to speak he was very infirmed. We could feel the energy like, even if it was little things like his fingers moving or you know, when we would play this guided breathwork music to him.

43:43 So I'm grateful for that time that we had with him. But then also, I'm thinking about what's beyond, you know, after he's passed from from this world, you know, what is he doing? How is he guiding things from Beyond? But it's helped my wife and I get through this very difficult. Difficult Journey. But I would love to hear from you. If you could, maybe share some things that have helped. You navigate that journey of loss of your mother who you know, you were obviously very close to one is journaling and allowing yourself to feel what you're feeling in a very open and vulnerable way because it's very easy to bottle up The Feelings to distract ourselves to say.

44:24 Okay? This happened, I just need to move on. I need to move past it. But if you don't first completely acknowledge what you're feeling and going through, there's no way. You're then going to be able to do the other step which is then treating it with gratitude choosing to consciously release it so that the emotion can be released through the body. The heart again, large electromagnetic field in the body. Moving typically get trapped here. So we need to consciously release them and then choosing to repattern and reprogram into what we do want to happen to feel ultimately. So one is feeling journaling and allowing yourself to fully Express, what you feel in an open way, save space going to people who are able to hear you, your friends family.

45:08 If you want to talk, talk therapy, grief counseling. I'm all amazing sub. I didn't necessarily use grief counseling or those aspects. But journaling, really number one, for me as well as fantastic friend and family. Support system also is if you want to continue and this is what I say to people, this isn't the end of your relationship. Where the loved one I have been able to continue this conversation with my mom, on the other side on a near-daily basis. I'm able to contact her and speak to her at will now. And I've also it started with asking for signs from her on the other side, an amazing book to read for people who are going through. This journey is signed by Laurel in Jackson.

45:50 She's an amazing medium. And she talks about how you're able to cultivate sign for those on the other side and asking for specific signs of meaning. That you have with the loved one on their side and then they'll deliver it to you. And then that starts to develop your well of faith. And when that well of faith gets developed you can say, okay maybe I can communicate with them, maybe they're there to speak to me, maybe they there to show me more guidance because leaving the physical body isn't just the end of the life. It's actually you just go into another form which is why I call it passing on crossing over other side change is the form of matter. It's the nature of matter. Painless is the nature of spirit and so understanding that you are this Eternal Body of infinite, light energy that just transcends into a lighter density form, that is able to be at a higher frequency of light that we may not be able to perceive with our physical eyes just like we can have this bandwidth of visible light spectrum that we see but we don't see X-rays and gamma rays gamma rays and microwaves and radio waves but they're all there.

46:56 We just can't see it. Similarly There's other aspects that we can't see, but they're their Energy's all around us that pervades everything. I mean, I think for anybody who has gone through loss, I think your book is is definitely a must read just because again, as attached as you are to that physical body and the memories that you have, I mean, it is important to remember that if we really harnessed intuition, just a lot of this knowing that we have in our, in our DNA, in our in all of our cells, I Ink. You can extend that relationship beyond the passing from this Earth for sure. So you know I want to ask what is next for you.

47:38 I know that the the last time we spoke you were in Manhattan. Now you're in a different place, but it sounds like you are going through quite a transition. At the current time. I always thought I was going to be a New Yorker for, for quite a long time. And interestingly, I went to Ibiza last September to take part in something called the Him, which is short for unitedplanet game. And so they take the un's 2030 sustainable development goals. It was created by this wonderful fellow Lucy and turned house key and they revert. He reverse Engineers the thriving 2030 future that we live in from the perspective of now. So he calls it a time-traveling game. I personally consider it a game, a, the law of resonance, how can we vibrate at a resonant frequency of that, which we want to already call into being in the now there? Mike?

48:28 Creating that energy in the future by already being at energy in the now and magnetizing those beautiful aspects of the sustainable development goals, already being fulfilled. So, I met some really amazing people at the up game. And then after that, I finished, my breath, work certification with Niraj out and the island. And from the second, I landed, actually the first alien on the island on a Friday. I went to an event called The Garden of light, and it's like a live music event where these, hey, Local vendors from the island calm and you meet other people on the island all in this very spiritual conscious community. And I was like, wow, I'm going to move here. And then interestingly, the universe conspired to say, okay, well, you're about to leave Manhattan, just it just happened, that way, and go on this digital Nomad journey. And so, I'm actually going to Portugal first for a weekend to learn how to facilitate plant medicine, ceremony, from a PhD in transpersonal Psychology and plant. Edison therapy who has studied with 20 indigenous, tribes around the world.

49:32 So learning how to do that in a very ceremonial conscious way as the indigenous tribes, have done it. And then I had to Ibiza to continue to work but honestly just see what opens and explorers for me, ultimately through amazing connections at have been able to meet and make they're at. And we talked about synchronicity and and my favorite form of synchronicity is meeting people and I talk about this in my book, it's being guided along the path of meeting incredible. So, Was to help you grow in terms of your own personal development, relationships, business Partnerships guide. You along your way as a mentor, have some exciting New Opportunities be shown to you and seeing what unfolds for me out there. And then ultimately, from there, I'll be going to Morocco coming back to the US and seeing where things unfold. I'm very much in surrender mode.

50:23 I don't necessarily know what is best for me and that's kind of the beauty of it. Yes, I can have goals and be outcome. Oriented and I love doing that but how can I also release and say okay if I let go here and say I will do my best, for the whatever situation is presented to me in the moment and whatever's going to happen from there. As long as I do my best, I know is in my highest good and so that's kind of what I'm doing, I'm saying, okay, I will do my best with the Situation's you give me, but I'm surrendering into the flow here and knowing that wherever I'm supposed to be guided and led along, this pathway is exactly where I'm supposed to be. And there's a tremendous amount of Freedom within that a little bit scary, no doubt because I totally uprooted my life that I had 13 years in Manhattan, but it just feels very aligned.

51:08 It feels very right. Right now. No, it sounds very exciting. Now, where can people find you? If they like to learn more about you or work with you? So people can find me on my website, Neil bakshi.com and tal b. As in boy AKA Shi.com or my Instagram at kneel down. Actually I'm also on YouTube you can find me on LinkedIn. You can find me on medium with my blog posts and can find my book banking, on angels, on Amazon, I teach breathwork classes, which you can sign up for through my website or through Instagram. And there's just a number of ways you can, you can kind of explore and work with me in terms of the different modalities that I have to offer. So I'm always here, I'm always here to be of service and I'm excited for for the Next sort of group of where I'm meant to be led and the synchronicities in the people I meant to be introduced to anything else.

52:06 You want to say before we wrap up, I want people to know that it is easier than you think it is. We have a really fascinating and uncanny ability to make life, extraordinarily complicated and we add on all these layers of things that we need to do. And if they don't get done, then this is going to happen and this is gonna happen and we look nice. Nine to twenty steps down the line. But I just want to remember and have people recognize that this present moment is truly all we have. If we think about the past it's actually just a memory. It's not a moment, it's a memory of a moment. We had seen with the future, it's reception of a moment. What is actually real is right now and being able to come into a space of slowing down, consciously slowing down and allowing your vibration to elevate with gratitude, gratitude for everything.

52:57 The good and the bad. It all just is but the faster that we can come into a space of gratitude, the faster we're going to be able to open to receive whatever that situation or life situation or circumstance has to offer to us so it's easier than you think it is, it's perfectly stated. So thanks Neal so much. This was a great discussion, it was great. Great to have you on the show, I'm sure, it'll resonate with a lot of our listeners. Thanks for having me on pleasure to be here. Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoyed that episode four more of these types of conversations. Please visit us at untether, your life that Co you can also find us on Instagram at untether your life, as well as on Apple Spotify and other platforms by searching for untether, your life. And if you did enjoy this episode, please leave us a review or share it with someone who might also benefit. Thanks.

53:47 And until the next time we meet stay untethered. Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoyed that episode four more of these types of conversations. Please visit us at untether, your life that Co you can also find us on Instagram at untether your life, as well as on Apple Spotify and other platforms by searching for untether, your life. And if you did enjoy this episode, please leave us a review or share it with someone who might also benefit. Thanks. And until the next time we meet stay untethered.