From leaving her family behind at 19 to build an independent life in the United States to balancing a successful career in technology with her passion for yoga and wellness, Shalini's journey is one of courage, resilience, and reinvention. She joins Jaime and Stan to share how her mother's encouragement helped her challenge cultural expectations, how yoga and breathwork transformed her approach to stress, and why she's passionate about empowering women to overcome self-doubt and discover their potential. Through personal stories, cultural traditions, and plenty of laughs, this conversation reminds us that growth doesn't always require a dramatic change. Sometimes, it begins with one brave decision, one deep breath, or simply believing in yourself.
At just 19 years old, Shalini left behind everything familiar to pursue an education and an independent future in the United States. Born in Malaysia, raised in India, and later living in Dubai, her journey took her from a traditional upbringing to building a career in corporate technology, raising a family, and discovering an unexpected passion for yoga and wellness. In this episode of What's Your Story? with Jaime & Stan, Shalini shares how her mother's encouragement gave her the courage to challenge expectations, how simple breathing practices helped her navigate life's overwhelming moments, and how a personal wellness journey grew into a passion for teaching and empowering others. From arranged marriage traditions to overcoming self-doubt and embracing new opportunities, this conversation is a reminder that you can honor where you came from while creating a life that's uniquely yours.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-your-story/id1768048076
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Website: https://mindspacejourney.org
Let’s Talk Wellness with Shal: www.youtube.com/@letstalkwellnesswithshal
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shalini-thyagaraja-7941a418/
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Hello, listener, and welcome back to another episode of What's Your Story? Now, I think that we have quieted out the noise today, and I'm not just saying that because my book is Unfunk, Quiet the Noise, and Ignite the Light. Oh, that's set up. I know. But, Dad, there, I don't know if the listener can hear this, but we have to just keep rolling. Like, we have, you know, commitments. Nothing stops us. Nothing stops us. And we...
We want 24, you can call our hotline. Okay, no, but you can't do that. Not yet. Not yet. Maybe soon. Maybe soon. but I'm having construction out of my house today. It's a cold line right now. It's a cold line. Like a cold cut? Cold line?
Just don't cut the cold. Speaking of cold, you're fresh off the boat from, you just got back. I came to Ellis Island. I'm a citizenship now. I'm too young. I have to go back to the old country and come back. But you just got off the boat. You were just on a trip with mom and you went away and had an amazing, incredible time. Absolutely. Which cruise line This was the...
Yes? Yeah, go for it. Silver Seas. Everybody has silver hair. But Silver Seas. And you had an amazing time, right? Yes. We went primarily for the tattoo. If you don't know what the tattoo are covered in Scotland at the Edinburgh Castle every year, please look it up on YouTube.
The military tattoo. It's even a treat online. Military parades from all over the world. It's so cool. And I just think it's like such an incredible thing that you did. You got to go on this trip. And you guys are traveling a lot. And I think that's just so wonderful. That's what likes it about.
Clock is ticking down, baby. Come on. Tick tock. Don't say that. Don't say that. I don't really like you talking like that. So none of us really know when our clock is going to end up or what's going to happen, right? None of us know. But there is Valhalla out there.
Oh. Or Viking. What do you mean? Like, what is it? Valhalla was the afterlife for the Vikings. Do you believe in afterlife? I don't believe in this life.
We actually have a guest coming up in a few months who is going to talk to us about that. You're going to be in line for two months? This is a telethon. Send many of old people. Our guest today. Don't shoot your parents. Our guest today, the email is Coach with Shell. I do not know Shalini, and I'm excited to meet Shalini. Should we let Shalini in? She sounds like a magician.
No, we're going to find out. You said Shalini? Shalini. Shalini. Come on, Shalini. We're going to let Shalini in, and hopefully we're drowning out the noise of the mass construction that's happening in my house right now. So we don't know. Good morning. So come off mute.
And can you hear any of the crazy background noise happening over here? Amazing. Maybe we're the background noise.
So in full transparency, my house is like a war zone right now. We live in Florida and we're having all of the windows replaced. So I've tried to put on this, drown out the sound. But we might go crazy because it's like every room is being worked on and it's madness. This is Jamie's push. When you put these in, you guarantee there will be no hurricanes this season. Yes. But it is so nice to meet you. Hello. Thank you for being our guest.
I'm Jamie. This is my dad, Stan. We are pumped to have you on the show. And we are recording right now. So we are in the podcast. I'd like to disclose that. But I'd love to share with you a question that we ask all of our guests before we get started. You may have done your research and seen this. We like to ask you, what is your number today on a scale of one to 10? I thought it was weight.
No. Oh, my gosh. You know what? I don't tell you weight. You're going to apologize in advance. My dad, I never know what's going to come out of his mouth. But so 10 is a day that you are like having the best day ever. There's not a worry in the world. Two of one being a day that you probably shouldn't be peopling and talking with us today because you might be contagious of all that funk.
So what is your number today? However, fractions and decimals do count. 10. Ooh, look at that. Do you want to think about this? That was like instant reaction. We're going to bring her down. I love it. I think I just love to just have a good day. And maybe that's how I wake up every day.
There's a choice. I'm near the West Coast, so it is still early for us. Yeah, so listener, you may be listening to this at different times. So you're in California or where are you in the West Coast? I'm in Seattle. In Seattle. So you're literally like the furthest, I think, from us. Like we're all the way down in Florida. So we are. Thank you so much for getting up early and talking with us today.
We're so looking forward to this conversation. And a 10. Where, you know, listen, that does not happen for everybody. So where do the mindset of you being a 10 every day, or is it every day you're a 10? That's how I try to start the day. Okay. But life happens and we're all humans, right? We know how you start. It's how you finish. Okay. So we'll check in back with you down this evening. But you know, like that's a great mindset to have. And when did that mindset start for you that to have that? Because I imagine it wasn't your whole life like that, but something triggered. Oh boy. I think, where do I start? Maybe about 10 ish years ago when my journey got into whole yoga the you know wellness space and of course it's very busy raising two kids and you know that's it's not always fun it's a lot of hard work and uh trying to juggle work home kids and all of it uh so yeah if you'd maybe ask me 10 years ago not so much what happened 10 years ago what what was that switch 10 years ago that triggered that for you? I would say just my practice of yoga and breath work and just kind of getting into that meditative zone. I mean, it's taken a lot of, I would say years to kind of get to where I'm at.
And even today, I mean, there's going to be bad days. It's not always awesome, but I think it's just rewiring, manifesting, telling yourself, I mean, you have nothing to complain. I mean, you are doing so much better than like, gosh, I don't even know X percent of the population around the world right now. Who or what event puts you on that path? Who? What event, right? So like 10 years ago, like, you know, you probably, how long, how long have you been practicing yoga for? It is, it's been definitely over 10 years. Okay. So like what, so, you know, what in your life was like, you need to start going into yoga, doing breath work and gaining control of that. What believed that there is this universal flow of energy that has kind of put me in one place or the other at different points in time for reasons I probably have no idea about. So I kind of believe in that, you know, spiritual or the universal energy, you want to call it. But so for me, specifically, it was a friend who said, hey, you got to come and try this yoga thing, because I felt like I was just overwhelmed with raising kids, young kids, work, all of it. And she was like, just come and try this class with me and I'm not gonna lie the first class I went there I looked at everybody around me and they were in like the perfect poses and I felt like I was falling on my face and I said oh my god I don't think this is gonna help me and she said just stay with it just continue consistency all of that stuff so I really did I mean I stayed on for like a couple of months went through the classes all of that then I attended like a breathwork class a pranayama I mean, in Sanskrit, in the Indian language, a breathwork class, and something just ticked, something just felt good about it.
I felt like, wow, maybe I can use this as a tool. And again, just because of my technical corporate brain, which wants to analyze everything. And I'm like, maybe I can use this as a tool to just help me when I kind of feel, you know, shitty, but feeling low. And that's honestly how it started, like very small practice. Even if it was like two minutes, you know, the midst of all of this and dropping my kids or sitting in the car and I'm like, oh, my God, like, how's my day? I would just breathe that thing out. And I didn't even realize, but actually helped me feel better. And then over to that. You can do it anywhere.
Yeah, I love that. And it's free. And like, I don't need anything. I don't need some fancy thing. Right. So that's honestly how my small little thing started. And then it just grew as a practice. And of course, now I teach yoga. I've been teaching for many years. And so I feel like that just takes me to a different place.
I don't know how to explain, but I think somebody has to experience it. I love that. You know, my dad has done yoga for what? Like, I don't know, almost 70 years. Before anybody was doing it. Not anybody in the States. It was very low in the States to take hold. He's done yoga forever. And, you know, had always talked to me and my sister about, you know, you got to do yoga, you got to do yoga.
You got to make it happen. I did it, but then I did. And then it, yoga saved my life. Yoga really was, you know, when I turned 30 years old, I struggled with like where I was in life and what was that. And it's not my story, but I want to share with you. And I started doing yoga. So I can a hundred percent relate to what you're talking about. And I know that there's been some times where I've been in the, you know, in the studio and we're in Shavasana and I just stay in that position the entire time and just cry, but you're in that studio and you feel it and the release.
So I love that. So I want to get back to like where you are today, but I would love to know like, you know, so how long have you been in Seattle for? 23 years. So I kind of, yeah, think of this as home, but yes. You're a liper. Yeah. And where were you before Seattle? So, all right.
Oh boy. So I have to take a quick rewind because I've lived in different countries around. And so I was born in Malaysia because of course my dad was working there when I was born. Then very quickly, as almost like a one-year-old baby, I moved back to India. And that's where I grew up until I was about 16. Then my dad moved to the Middle East for work. So again, I moved there when I was 16. So I did part of my high schooling, started my college back in the Middle East.
Where in the Middle East? Oh, in Dubai. Dubai. Okay, got it. Yes. And then, yeah, and then, oh, God, then I can kind of go into this whole story. But it was very, you know, from a conservative Indian, Asian family. It was, I would say, something where I could break the rules to say at 19 that actually came here to the United States, you know, just to continue my education. I didn't really have anyone here. There was not really family.
It's a completely new country, completely new everything. And it was a very big deal for my dad to send, you know, a daughter, a girl so far away. And I have to say thanks to my mom who continued to advocate and, you know, push for me because she didn't really get the opportunities, what not to be, you know, financially independent, to be, you know, just kind of be her, I guess. Now I would say that because fast forward where I'm at in life. But she was really the force to say, nope, you got to just go, try, do your thing and just get on your own feet. Any siblings, brothers and sisters? I had two brothers. Old or younger? Actually, both. Well, one is older, one is younger.
So I'm the middle sandwiched one, yes. You were the breakout star then. Yes, but there's also a story to that. Because when I wanted to come here, my dad said, my older brother was applying for his master's. He was also, you know, applying to come to the United States. My dad said, well, I'll think about sending you if he gets his visa to get here, right? So, and of course, I mean, I don't know how much you kind of know about this, But in the traditional Indian kind of background, right, of course, for a boy, for a male, it was like, yeah, cool.
I mean, they can go, you know, do their thing and it's OK. But they think it's very hard when it's a woman, when it's a girl and like you've got to go do something completely out of. What an adventure. Wow. That is like we have a friend named Suad and she was from Morocco and very similar situation where she had brothers. She wanted to leave and it was a kind of similar thing. And it's just really interesting. So what was it in you? I mean, your mom obviously was supporting that. So she helped you light that fire. Did you go from Dubai to Seattle?
Is that where? Actually, I went from Dubai to Michigan. And I'd never seen snow in my life. And oh boy, it was a mix of everything. I had a real identity crisis. When I hear the word now, I'm like, oh my God, when did I actually feel this in my life? And it was that time. I didn't even know, but it was. Well, and there are, you know, there are women all around the world who listen to this podcast and other people that could be in similar situations.
You know, what was it that kept you going, moving to a new state, seeing new things, not knowing a soul? What were some of the things that helped you succeed to get to where you are today along that path? The only goal, honestly, I had was I had to just prove myself. I had to prove it to my parents for sending me all this way and like, you know, having me do the stuff. Most important thing, I just wanted to be independent. Just financially, everything, whatever, like build a life for myself. You came here primarily as a student.
Yes. Oh, yeah. I came here to study because- Are you at the University of Michigan or where? No, I actually went to this really small private college. It was called Baker College in Flint, Michigan. And yes, also because Dubai had this program where you can start your undergrad degree. and they had this association with a few colleges. Okay. So at that time, of course, I didn't even know that I was going to come to the United States.
But when that happened, they were like, oh, you can apply to these select few, whatever colleges we have this collaboration thing with. And so I said, okay, where am I going to go? Flint, Michigan. That's it. I had no idea. I just landed here. Yes. Wow.
And how long were you in Michigan for? Actually, I was only there for about a year and a half. So it wasn't too bad because I already done part of my undergrad and also finished my undergrad in about three years. So, yes, it was only about a year and a half. And then I went to Georgia State to Atlanta. So very different. But I went there to do my master's. Yes. Yeah. From the Midwest to the South. I mean, very different cultures, very different experiences. You know, I'm curious, you know, and I don't want to, you know, touch on anything too sensitive. But there are people in this world who probably wouldn't have appreciated you coming and doing those things. those are not my kind of people just for the record. But you know, you're on your own. Did you have to embrace some of that, some of that, you know, stereotypical hate that we see in parts around the world? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it's still a taboo. There's still so much in parts of the world. I still see, I think there's a lot of change that's needed. But again, I feel like one story at a time, one person at a time is this kind of how I think about it with impact. But, But yeah, I mean, for me, yeah, like, I mean, of course, it was hard. And I had to keep, you know, just reminding myself, nope, I have a goal, I got to keep going, I got to keep doing my thing. And, and, you know, it's funny now, when I think about it, I just maybe subconsciously, I mean, at the age of 19, what do I know, but I think I subconsciously still had something where, you know, I kept dreaming, or I kept thinking, wow, maybe someday, I want to do something, you know, where I really help women who kind of go through that same journey and they're doubting themselves. They have this imposter syndrome, people telling you that, yeah, maybe you're not good enough. Maybe you can't do this thing, all of that. Right. So somewhere I think I had that at the back of my head. And now I'm, I'm so glad I'm a big advocate in the community. I'm part of a lot of nonprofit groups, a lot of women groups, et cetera. I work in the community, et cetera, Just small changes.
Mas o que você foi a master's? It was in management information systems, which I say is
arranged marriage but yes we can get into that if we want to yeah so hold on yeah yeah yeah okay forget about what you your first job okay wait so from from india from dubai from like tell us about that a little bit sorry dubai prompt your question you did what no no don't say that word oh yeah no okay sorry so you said india to dubai well i mean like how it's arranged marriage like so when did that when did you know that you oh no no so the arranged marriage thing happened when i was doing my master's okay here in georgia like so your family told that from where and were they still living in jubai your parents at the time yes they were in jubai my husband's parents they were in india so yeah it's really weird when i tell this story because everybody's curious how this stuff works and i'm sure everybody has a different version of arranged marriage and whatnot based on kind of the religion and what whatever things they follow anyway for me uh yes my parents obviously were um you know in dubai and his parents were in india they looked up this matrimonial site i mean today of course we look at all these dating apps it was not really an app at that time but they looked up this it was called the hindu matrimony website so they would look up there do this whole search matchmaking look up you know the guys and the girls did you know this was going on i do yeah i did and And so, you know, it was so whatever they did their thing.
So they would do their first level of filtering, if you will. They would look at, OK, they followed something called astrology or horoscope matching, if you've ever heard of that. So they look at all these sun signs and whatnot, do their whole little thing. And then I still remember. And again, it's just a traditional thing. Of course, the girls are the parents are the ones who first reach out to the boy's side if they see a fit. And then they talk to them and they learn more about the whole family, all that stuff. And then my parents would send me the profiles of these guys. And of course, I mean, I did whatever, speak to a bunch of different guys. So my husband was not like the first person I spoke to. But yeah, so they do this whole vetting process.
Then they send us the detail. Then we connect with each other and then talk to each other on the phone. Oh, boy. And luckily, my husband is already here in New York. I mean, he did his master's in Syracuse and then he was working in Microsoft in Seattle when obviously we started this whole conversation. He was already here in Seattle. So that's why it was a no-brainer for me to move here. Had we dated at all before this happened? Like, were you allowed to date?
Or did, I mean, you were on your own. So did your parents, like, were you dating and like doing that at all? No. I mean, I just knew like, whatever, it was maybe a thing that was never going to work. So maybe I didn't quite put my energy into that because I didn't know where it was. the horoscope had two r's in it horror
did we have Facebook then could you see each other when you were talking could you really just talked on the phone could you see no luckily at least I feel I know there's various degrees of arranged marriage that's why I kind of put that you know kind of disclaimer out there but in my case yes I could we did meet at least I think yeah at least two or three times but it's kind of funny the parents did the whole engagement process we were not even there when we were here but they did this whole exchange of like you know like maybe taking a while like oh yeah I'm giving my daughter I'm giving my son blah they did that it's a traditional cultural way to do it right you know like that's just part of the culture yeah but we just met yeah a couple of times here and yeah I mean even my today my daughters asked me of course now they're adults but they asked me mom like how did you do this thing like how did you just agree and just get married to like, I mean, how do you even know? I said, Hey, you know what? I know a lot of people who have dated and have stayed together and live together and whatnot and get married. They're divorced in like a year. So tell me it's a gamble anyway. So yeah. Will you do the same thing for your daughters? No, I mean, of course I don't think I'm going to be sitting and kind of doing all this wedding process, but I mean, I would still tell them what we want them to do. Maybe, you know at least kind of think about this and you know think through some of the processes ahead of time before you just go you know think you fall in love you're just getting infatuated and just was an elaborate like two-week indian wedding thing we used to party for two weeks i don't know if it was two weeks but it was definitely a all-day thing gosh at least for three days which for me felt like a week yes it was a lot of changing your clothes changing your and going through all those traditions.
That is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. How long have you been married for now? 23 years. That's so amazing. I'm sorry for that total hijack conversation. But yeah, okay. So you moved to Seattle. You get a job for a startup. You're there in Seattle.
And then you work in that business for quite some time, but then something you decided to change. So tell us about that transition. No, I guess I was always in the tech corporate world. And that's what I've been doing. I mean, I've now, I mean, I am in Microsoft now and I've been here for about, gosh, 16 years. So it's a journey. And so, you know, and I feel like even within Microsoft, it's like various startups because, you know, I moved around different organizations, different teams, but each one is its kind of own different culture and its own little thing.
So I almost feel like I've moved companies even within a company. That's how it feels like. But yeah, I've always been in corporate tech, you know, just different roles and different places. But like I said, I also feel like my whole other journey with the wellness, you know, yoga and all of that has also been something that's been evolving, I would say more, obviously a part-time thing. But now I feel like with the kids growing up in their own little worlds, now I feel like I get to re-explore, re-invent myself is how I want to think about it. What's the unique issue went from high tech to ancient tech?
Seriously, seriously. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I love it. And I wouldn't even say I went to it because to me, I'm still pursuing two paths at the same time. And one has completely helped the other one in so many ways. And of course, motherhood added to all of that. And then you want to be the best daughter, the best wife, blah, put in all of that in the mix. But yoga started over from like your home country, right? So like yoga, didn't yoga start in India? oh yeah yeah yeah it's culturally like it's in your dna you know it's in your dna it's funny you say that because growing up and even now i joke with my mom about that because growing up i didn't even know like yeah i mean maybe yoga existed just as a thing but i honestly had never practiced i didn't even know so it's kind of very interesting when i think about it like living here how i actually not connected to yoga and rekindled maybe like some of those ancient roots which probably there was strains of that and i had no idea growing up like i didn't even know what yoga was i didn't even practice so it's very interesting how life connects was ishtar a celebrity then the famous guru it was ishtar was named ishtar who's ishtar they're my name confused i'm gonna research okay um so i I like to say that you turned your passion into a mission and you know, you're working in big tech, you know, Microsoft obviously has changed so much over the last year and let alone 16 years and just technology. You probably, when you went to school and I mean, things have tremendously changed.
And we don't even talk about that because this is really more about like you now, right? So you, your email is coach with shell. So tell us a little bit about like, what is it? You've mentioned you're helping women, you know, navigate that imposter syndrome. You're helping women get their confidence back. You know, tell us a little bit about like, what is that, I guess not side hustle, but like, what is that other part of your life that you're doing now? And you know, how does, how's that coming along? Tell us more about that. Yeah, sure. Honestly, you know, when I did my yoga teacher training, it was just as a student, me wanting to just learn what I was doing and, you know, just actually understand because Again, the rational analytical part of me is like, okay, why am I doing this?
What am I doing? Et cetera, et cetera. So that was really why. Honestly, I was not even thinking about teaching. But as part of my teacher training, we're supposed to teach a few free community classes. So I did that. And then I had a bunch of folks come up to me and say, hey, if you're actually going to start teaching, I would love to join your class. And I said, oh, wow, I never thought about that. And then I really just reached out a couple of places around me.
And there was a chiropractic studio. I just said, hey, can I rent your space for like an hour on like a Sunday just, you know, to try and teach yoga class and see how it goes. And I really started with like four people, like just friends and they just bought their friends. And trust me, in about like, gosh, I don't even know, like about six to seven months, I almost grew to like 50, 60 people. And yeah, I know, I didn't even expect or plan or think of any of the stuff. but it was different age groups because I just pulled my daughters to my classes as well. And so I started teaching the kids, teenagers or preteens, if you will, uh, then I had a bunch of like seniors. So it's kind of doing a little senior yoga. Then I had adults. So it just, yeah, just grew just out of passion. And I just enjoyed what I was doing. Like, I didn't even know that I would, but it's funny that I was a kid growing up. I used to do all this just role playing just for fun.
And I would just have my brothers just sit down and just act like I was a teacher and do my little whiteboarding thing. My daughter does that all the time, all the time in the back of the car. I just do that for fun. But who knew? But I always felt like there was something I liked in that thing. And now I'm like, oh, wow, I actually just enjoy this. And so, yeah, that's how the journey began. Amazing. Was Sad Guru. He was a celebrity.
Oh, Sad Guru. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He's part of it. It's a year when I found it. he's yeah yeah well okay so oh gosh i don't know where to start with this but yes there are a lot of gurus there are a lot of different he's incredible he's yeah i call well i think of these as more spiritual leaders right um yes guru takes a very different i don't know meaning depends on the person you talk to right um and so yes he is part of the sub guru foundation or sorry, Isha Foundation, which is his foundation.
And there's also somebody else who has an art of living foundation. I don't know if you've heard about it. Very similar, just like Isha Foundation. There's an art of living foundation. There's also a guru. And he does a lot, again, in the community. He teaches yoga. Of course, yoga is also part of all of these different, you know, foundations and teachers. What I found in Congress was when he was sick, he had a brain bleed.
But he still kept teaching. He put up going to the doctors for so long, it almost killed him. And one would have thought, was that committed to his commitments of teaching, not to care for his own health internally? Because he almost died. He did. And I can also talk about who I consider his guru. He is called Shirdi Sai Baba. I don't know if you've ever heard, but again, he lived thousands of years ago. He's not living anymore.
But it was the same thing. he literally had a near death experience and how his body came back so what i'm trying to say is yes there are some of these spiritual gurus they are completely connected and wired in in a very different way i don't even know if i'm anywhere close to explaining any of that because that's an experience that you feel you realize you go through in your own spiritual divine journey um It's not just about teaching yoga and why you feel that way. I feel like, oh my God, like I'm literally at this point, some 0% of where I am in this whole journey. But they are, they call them realized enlightened souls. So completely different, right?
I cannot talk much about Sadhguru because I mean, I just know him as yes, a person, you know, who teaches yoga and all of that. But to me, yeah, like guru is completely different or how I connect. When he talks about his own personal background in the States, we're consumed with success and attaining higher levels. He was good at nothing. He just sat in one spot and just observed, did nothing else. He built this foundation of just observing life and people. So diametrically opposed, but his success is great. Yes. So you know why people can relate to what Sadhguru is saying, obviously, because he's lived this corporate capitalistic society, the life, all of it. And then he kind of went and pivoted or re-pivoted, right? But if you read the stories of, again, gurus from thousands of years ago, like I just mentioned Shirdi Sai Baba, there's also Ramana Maharshi, like, oh my gosh, just hundreds of years ago, he talked all about who am I?
That was his sole question. And it sounds so simple. Even today, all of the spiritual gurus are continuing to ask the same question. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I doing? That's like the bigger picture of things. So this happened thousands of years ago. So yes, when I think about gurus, that's where I go. Nothing right or wrong.
I mean, everybody believes in different things. And, you know, of course, people, like I said, relate to Sadhguru or they relate to art of living that's there's also another group in that foundation uh people relate to that because it's it's just relatable they come from a very practical hey i lived your life i did what you did i chased what you call success and so now i can tell you to repivot your life so people just find it easy to relate but when i talk about these other gurus from like hundreds and thousands of years ago like they've been doing a lot of different you know things within the same spiritual journey it's it's, I just think of that as more from a root of everything. It's amazing. I think the only time that my brain actually like shuts off and I think about nothing else is when I'm in yoga. It's even when I'm reading a book, like I could be reading a book and there are thoughts going through my head that I'm like, Oh, you know, I'm thinking about this, whatever, like I'm reading, but I'm still thinking about something else. But when I'm in yoga, it's the only time that I, yeah, like I truly disconnect. It's amazing. So tell us a little bit more about what you're doing right now to, you know, coach others with that same mindset and how you're helping them?
Absolutely. Gosh, I feel like definitely with the yoga and teaching, that's one part of it. But I've also been a big mentor, like even at work, right? I mean, coaching just women in general, kind of stuck in their career, early in career, or they're trying to figure out how to repivot, move, change teams, change organizations, because again, I've done that a lot. So I think for me, it's just a mindset that just comes naturally. So I feel like coaching to me is almost part of just conversations that I just have with just women. And then, you know, some of them have helped get promoted. And it's, I feel so good.
Somebody sends a note and say, hey, you know what, actually got promoted. And so to me, just all the small little things, it just makes me feel like, wow. I mean, you make a difference in somebody's life. I love that, you know, with the art of AI today, and I don't want to call it art, maybe the science of AI, I feel like so many people are losing that personal touch of coaches, like human coaches, you know, so many friends are like, well, I was, you know, going to break up with this guy. And I went on to chat and I asked chat what they thought. And I'm like, you realize that, like, that is not a real person, you know, like, it's not, they're just pulling aggregating information from all over the internet, like kind of giving you advice. And we're seeing sometimes really bad advice given. How are you making people understand the importance of just really talking to a real human today? Like, what is the difference there?
Especially because you have a technology background, right? Like you are in technology, so you want to promote technology, but we're missing that human connection so often. So, you know, how are you doing that? That's a great question, and it's actually very timely, because next month I am actually invited to the MIT campus where I am part of this AI-powered women conference where we're talking about a lot of AI, of course, topics. I am specifically presenting on the human advantage in an AI era. And I am talking about a nervous system reset and why it's important.
So I'm trying to bring my pranayama, my breathwork world of all of that into why it is so important in this age of AI where it's so fast-paced. all just running, I don't know, from pillar to post, just trying to get to the next thing, because it's hard to keep up. I mean, that's a reality. Yeah, but kudos to MIT for sponsoring something like that. That's great. Yeah, yeah. I know. It's super exciting. At least I'm excited. It's my first time to go and talk about something like this, where I can bring my passion and my other side of learning to just come together with this whole tech world and what everybody's doing today so yeah i mean i i think again i don't know if there's an easy answer to your question because i feel like there are so many forums now there's so many different you know podcasts if you will or like talks like this where everybody's trying to talk about like how do you still keep that human connection alive yeah you walk on stage like a robot really freaking out are you doing that um as a microsoft team member are you doing that as you and your coaching capacity at MIT? I'm doing that as part of just my business, Mindspace. That's what I call it, or it is called. But again, obviously, I'm still representing Microsoft because I still bring the rest of my background with me, right? I mean, everywhere I go to have these conversations, there is still obviously the tech background that comes with me.
And that's like the real, you're doing the work, you're understanding it, so you're able to connect it as well too. So what would you say, and maybe you're not ready, I know it's next month, but what would you say would be like one or two tips that you could give to people that would help them live in a human world, but also utilize the resources of AI, right? Like, listen, it helps you be more productive. It helps you be more resourceful. Like there are some major, major positive things coming out of AI, but what would you say are some of your tips that you are able to bring out? And maybe that talk, not to give away your talk, but this is an airing for, you won't probably air after your talk anyway so oh no no absolutely I think uh so for me personally because I live in this world of tech and AI and I have this other side of the wellness balance or portion uh to kind of find that so I would say for me personally even at work I use AI all the time I mean I use you know co-pilot I mean I work with Microsoft so I use that all the time uh you know to just, and it's amazing how it has helped me find efficiency in just what I do. Because I come in, I just put a prompt, I say, read all my emails, read my team's chat, tell me what I need to do today.
Boom, boom, boom. It just gives me my priorities, what I need to do, what I need to focus on. So absolutely. Like, has it helped? Yes, for sure. Right? You still have to find that human connection because I still need to talk to people. I still need to have meetings. I still need to see where people are at with what they need to deliver, how they're feeling, what they're doing, because all of that's still important. The EQ part, emotional quotient is absolutely still important, right? Emotional intelligence for those that don't know EQ, emotional quotient, emotional intelligence. Yes, emotional intelligence. So I think it's so important. So yeah, I mean, has AI helped me scale my work and get more efficient? Absolutely. I mean, it has been a huge difference right for me for sure and when i think about the breath work or the nervous system reset and the human advantage still need that because you still need to have meetings i'm still talking to people we still have offsites we still have to go whiteboard we still you know do human stuff right we think about team morale and all of it so that still needs to happen yeah so there is the human part of it. And then I still feel like now there's more time to bring the whole other wellness quotient to all of this, which is what I will be talking about, which is how do you bring that nervous system reset? How do you find times or pockets of times when you're going through these rough days or these crazy days, how do you still find time to just disconnect, even if it's a few minutes to just find that reset within yourself in your nervous system through breathwork how do you just find that pause and it's also interesting you asked me this because the name of my business or company mind space it just came about one day when i was just thinking about all of this and what it really means is mind space it is the pause between the stimulus or a trigger situation circumstance to a response so it is that pause between so i want to think of that as mind space yeah so before you react to something if it's even those few seconds that you actually pause and learn how to respond and not just react.
That's where I came up with this mind space one day when I was just thinking about all of this. I love that. You know, yeah, we speak the same language. You know, I talk every day about like, you have to pause and then shift and then spark. Like you have to like, kind of like think about it. It is that time, you know, I have, you can't see on my desk, but you know, the box breathing, I have a sticker on my computer that says inhale, hold, exhale, hold, you know, like all those little things because we're all every day bombarded by so much noise, right? In our personal lives, you're talking about having young children. Some people don't have kids, but they're partners like a young child, right? Or like even just the noise of the world. And we all get caught up in that.
And, you know, I wish I would have found yoga sooner than my dad shared with me, you know, when it came to me, because it just, it really works. And I love that you're teaching and you're still teaching all generations. This is not a generational thing. This is like, everybody feels pressure. Everybody feels noise. And just the fact that you're connecting that is so beautiful. And I love that. What else would you like our listeners to know about who you are and what made you want to be on this podcast? Oh boy. I think, like I said, and actually you, you bought this out beautifully passion with a mission, which, which I think I've strongly believed in, which is like I said before, if it's even one person, one story at a time, I think it will make a difference. So today, just like how your dad has inspired you to go try yoga. Of course, I keep telling my girls, but there's only so much, you're never going to force anybody on any path or journey for that matter. And you know, one out of three success rate. And I believe that, you know, there's a path for each one of us. And, you know, it'll come to you, but it needs to come to you. And that's how it came into my life, honestly. Although this was something that was, you know, part of where I was growing up. I never knew about it till I came here, till I was overwhelmed, till I was a mom, I was doing all of that. So who knows, maybe there's always a point in time where, you know, something is going to tell you to just wake up and, and think about your human side, because I strongly believe, at least in the spiritual path that I'm at right now, that in the end, that's all you're going to have. You're only going to have your own body, your mind, your soul. That's all you got. I mean, all of this other stuff. Yeah. We live in a capitalist society. You need the money, you need the success, you need all of that. That's only going to take you so far. And that's not going to take you to the end. So, I mean, if there's anything I want to tell people on your podcast today is just listen to that inner voice. Yes, I know we're all running, chasing something today, but just maybe pause to think about the bigger picture and where you see yourself 20 years from now, because it's not going to be that job. It's not going to be that title because it's going to go.
It's not forever. You're not going to take that to your grave. You must have untold stories with people. People do not listen to their own instincts, their own, their own intuition. So I'm sure you stories where they're finally getting in touch with themselves and they discover maybe this marriage isn't terrific. Maybe my job is terrible. So people expect some serious life changes also. Any good stories for us? Oh boy, intuition. Wow. People tell me I'm very intuitive. I don't know. Like, geez, I mean, it's funny because, okay, now since you're asking me this, I've never thought about that question, but I would say maybe for me, one of those things was, I know probably my husband's going to hate me when he hears this, but when I was, you know, just really wanting to have a second child, because I mean, I grew up with a large, big family and whatnot. So I never wanted to just settle with one child. And, you know, I kept telling my husband like, oh my God, I really want to have a second kid. And I don't want to have this big age gap between them, blah, blah, blah. So I really wanted to, you know, have a second one. And my husband at that time, of course, was like, you know, gosh, you know, we still don't have our green card. And, you know, we were on this visa thing. And so, of course, we didn't know, like, what's going to happen. It was always this uncertainty. We're always out of pressure. And he was like, oh, my gosh, we still don't have our green card. And maybe we're not even going to stay here. We may have to move back to India. Like, what are we going to do with all of that? And you have a second kid and we're not even settled in life, etc. Right. And I don't know, call it intuition, call it something telling me in my head.
and so I told him I don't care which part of the world where we need to move but all I know is we need to have a second kid and it's going to happen and I just don't want to have this big age gap so we're just going to do this thing and you won't believe it gosh in like two months after that I basically conceived and whatever and that was it but yeah I mean call it intuition whatever but that's, that's a story that came to my head. I don't think I ever said that publicly, but anyway, that's just something that this podcast is in public, but I think that that's it. Like, I think that, you know, I love what you said there, right? Like, I think that the universe, and you, we started off this way. The universe hears you, it hears the thoughts in your head. It hears the thoughts out loud. It hears, it sees your actions and everyone looks at that differently, but be careful what you ask for because it will come true. You know, I truly believe in like the power of the secret, you know, like I'm pulling the parking lot and I'm like, I'm going to get the friend's spot. My husband laughs, but it works. Like it doesn't work. I haven't won the lottery yet, but it's because it's not what I need, right? Like the universe is like, you don't need to win the lottery. I've won the lottery and the family and all that stuff. And so I just think it's, you're so right. I think that when you like these gurus, like, who am I, who am I, what's my impact?
You know, I will not be remembered for the work that I did or the title that I had or the money in the bank or the house that I own, I'll be remembered for the person I was when I showed up. And that's what you're helping people do and find that for themselves. And I think it's beautiful. You know, I think one of the biggest problems with yoga, at least stateside here, is that there's hot yoga, right? And Bikram and, you know, there's yoga, but that is not traditional yoga. That is puppy yoga. There's God knows what. Right. But some people go to a class like that and they're like, I can't sweat. It's like, I can't do it. And it's, and believe me, I'm not a big fan of that either. Like I'm like, gosh, I'm like dying in this room, but yoga isn't about that. Yoga is about mind, body and soul and not about sweating. I mean, no offense, anyone that does hot yoga, I do it as well too. But if you're listening to this call and you're like, I'm going to try yoga, don't start with a hot yoga class, like start with a stretch class, start with a, you know, a breath work, start something small to start to get in touch with who you are. And, you know, a lot of people are afraid to be by themselves, right? Like there's a thing where people are afraid of those quiet moments, but it's in those moments that beauty arises and you start to understand who you are.
So I- Well, even what's come about recently is chair yoga. Chair yoga is fantastic. The people, they have the fear of, I can't do the posture. I can't hold this. Sit in there. Do some simple, something is better than nothing. Simple postures. It's the benefits. It's such a subjective feeling they will feel internally.
Yeah. Exactly. Yep. And you can't force that. And so again, I mean, people have to feel it. They will feel it when they feel it. But again, you've got to start somewhere. And yeah, and to your point, yeah, I've never, you know, I tried yoga, but that's not my thing. And so, you know, I feel like I just teach like the traditional yoga and I just sweat in just a traditional pose. And that's what I want.
I don't want to go artificially sweat myself. I would just sweat naturally in a pose if you do it right. And if you do it with the right intensity, you will just do that anyway. Like you just do sun salutations, like just super quick, you will sweat anyway. I don't need to go, you know, artificially heated, you know, in a room to sit there. Right. And so, and also I just want to say something. I know you said, you know, yoga again is the connection of the mind, body and spirit. Right. And the way I think about this, because I feel like people can relate to this as well more where I have thought about yoga just as something that teaches you to still stay resilient and pull yourself back up when life bends you backwards. Because it's never bed of roses. It's never going to be an awesome thing every day. But you have to show up for yourself. You just, you gotta just learn how to get through those situations and so I have felt personally that yoga has really helped me just face the situation you only control what you control there are things you don't but you got to learn to let that go and that's what I think honestly yoga has helped me do over the years and and you know as a caregiver to older parents uh at this point and just recently of course I went to help my dad and he's going through some, you know, health stuff. And it was really hard. It was very emotional because, you know, you know a person and then you see a person now. There's a huge difference and it's very hard to emotionally accept all of that. But, you know, I just realized, wow, all I can do is I could be there. I could help him through, you know, what we had to do and get through that situation and the surgery and all of that. But I realized that's all I can do.
I mean, there's nothing else. And every soul, every person has to kind of go through their own journey. And you can only help. You can only be there. I cannot walk that path. Are they here? Are your parents here now? No, they're back in India. They're back in India. Got it.
Okay. I mean, it's even filtered down to a lot of professional sports. They're yoga teachers. They're football players, basketball players, baseball players. The benefits are a multifold. Well, we have one. Thank you so much for being your guest, first of all. Thank you. Your story is beautiful. I love it.
let us know how that conference goes if there's way we can watch a video afterwards i'd love to hear it i just think that there's such a cool space there uh we have one last word we want to share with you before we say goodbye ready yeah one two three namaste so sweet namaste thank you yeah so no i really appreciate that um the power in you has reached the power in us and i'm grateful that there are souls like you in this world making an even better place so thank you i feel like i'm I know I've gone up like we always talk about like what would have you go up 0.25 and in full transparency when we started this conversation I was probably like uh three probably able to tell um because of all the crap that's going on my house you're such a faker I know no I'm not a faker I just show up with intention of not wanting to give you my funk uh but wow like I just feel reminded of the importance of you know it's not we can't always control everything it's a daily reminder, it's just how you react is what matters the most. And so thank you. How we respond, not react. Right. How we respond. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. We want to take that space before we just do that thing just instinctively. Yes. So thank you for that reminder. Thank you for that pause. And it's been so great getting to know you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate both of you and thank you for this conversation and continue doing yoga. And I'm so happy that your dad's your inspiration. And yes, I would love for you to continue doing yoga with him.
Yes. Well, if I'm ever in Seattle, I'm looking you up and come and taking a class. Yes, please, please email me. And yeah, more than happy to do that. And, and even for the listeners, I mean, if you just, you don't want to get started with breath work, which is basics, and you have no idea where to go, what to do, I am more than happy to, you know, do a complimentary session or whatnot. And, you know, just get you started with your journey or just listen to you. I mean, yeah. What is your website?
We'll post it. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm on Instagram. I don't know, you know, if you're going to share that, but yeah, we share it everywhere. On Instagram, it's Mindspace with Shaul, S-H-A-L. My website is
mindspacejourney.org So you can find me any of those places. Just send me a note. No worries. I'm going to try it. I'll give you a call. All right. Thank you so very much. We're so grateful.
And please stay in touch. And listener, if you'd like to get in contact with Shalini, is it Shalini, your official name? Shalini. Shalini. Please reach out. We'll post all of your information.
And yeah, keep changing the world. Make it an even better place. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Take care. Take care. Bye. My new yoga name is Stanley. Really?
Yes. No. No. But you know, it's true. It's like you tried to get me into yoga for so many years. And I think all three of us, you would always talk. We read Siddhartha. I gave you Siddhartha. No one ever read it. But let me ask you this question real fast.
What, for you, like you were obviously not raised in a family that did yoga. So what happened in your life that you started to embrace that type of mindset, that type of connection to theory of, you know, mind, body, and soul? What happened in your world? Beautiful part about getting older is I have no idea.
Oh, that's where you heard it. Oh, my gosh. My first class was at a YWCA. It wasn't normally taught. It was taught at Young Women's Christian Association, as opposed to YMCA. took some lessons and just got mostly self-taught if you're doing something audience, if you're doing something that you find is beneficial to you and you're getting substantial success you build on it, you do a little more, you do it here and even do it at work, you don't need I'm at work during a lunch break, it's better to take a 15 minute break and do a couple of stretches sun salutations, just easy stretches even skipping lunch sometimes you need to incorporate well don't skip lunch, you need to have fuel and food and all that kind of stuff, but yeah Well, you can't eat while you're stretching and stuff.
No, you should not. But I like what you were saying about bending forward and then bending back. I think that when you think of when you do cat-cow, that's kind of what you're doing. You're going in the motions. And a lot of yoga is you're going one direction and pulling back. And I really love that kind of mentality and that correlation. You have to understand also, when the practice was thousands of years ago, there were very few distractions. There was no TV. There was no internet. And what they did, a lot of the monks who started yoga, yoga itself means union, union of mind and body, that they would imitate animal posture, which is why they have names.
Be it the crane, be it the camel, be it the locust, the combination. Imitate those. But they would build incredible strength. Even the Japanese masters and Chinese men standing on stakes, standing in one spot and holding a position and not moving, builds incredible strength. It goes counter to what our American philosophy is. They were standing, I'm not saying an hour, almost six hours in one particular spot. It's incredible what the benefits are.
Even just try to take a sample, give yourself a taste. If you like it, go a little further. And chair yoga for older people or people just starting. It's so beneficial. It's so easy to do. You're sitting in a chair. On YouTube, the classes are phenomenal. Just find a teacher you find some simpatico with. And the benefits are great. Can you still do a headstand?
I have not tried, but I don't want to damage my neck at this age. Smart. Don't do it. I was going to say we could do one together, but yeah, don't do it. Okay. Listener, thank you so much for tuning in. We are so grateful. If you've noticed, we actually have gone back to videos. Some guests have said we want our video on YouTube. So it's up to the guests. We're either going to do the video or not the video.
So if you see it on YouTube, you see it there. We want to make our guests feel as comfortable as possible. But do your own makeup. We don't have facilities like that. You know what? We don't care. Like, listen, show up authentically you. Like, I have admittedly not showered yet today. So. Hold on.
All right, Lister. Thanks for being here. We're keeping it real. R-E-A-L, not R-E-A-L. Try something different and tell us how it's working out. I can't wait. Try anything different. I love it. Have a great day. Adios, muchachos.