In today’s solo episode, I recount the journey of recovering my voice—how I used to sing as a child and suddenly stopped, the emotional moment when I heard myself sing again, and how I realized I had to reintegrate the practice back into my life in order to truly reconnect with the healing power of my voice.

I also dive into the yogic paths, why singing mantras has become so important to me, and how healing and reconnecting with my own voice has been medicine for my work as a storyteller; one I’m now ready to share with others.

Corrections to this episode:

• While some sources say three, others say there are four yogic paths, or paths to self-realization: Karma (path of action), Jnana/Gyana (path of knowledge/wisdom), Bhakti (path of devotion), and Raja (“royal” path, path of self discipline; which is essentially the combination of all three previous paths).

Resources & sites mentioned in this episode:

• Listen to my episode with my voice coach & mantra teacher, Caro Pérez

• My yoga home in Mexico City, Atma Yoga & Energy Center

• A picture of the cenote where I really heard myself sing again for the first time

• Yoga Kul, a yoga studio in the south of Mexico City where I’ve attended kirtans

• Eddy Colibri, my very talented musician friend

• Ramon Basanta, my meditation teacher

• The episode of the podcast where I lead you in a loving light body scan (around the 13:00 minute mark)

• Jagadambika, one of my Bhakti teachers

• A picture of Gita, the beautiful harmonium that found me

• The Bhagavad Gita, one of my favorite books of all time

• My mantra playlist on YouTube Music

Today on the podcast I chat with my friend Tess Richardson, an Energy Optimization & Performance Coach. After training executives at various organizations, Tess discovered that many people (especially high performers) are systematically destroying their cellular energy through chronic stress, poor blood sugar management, and gut dysfunction.

In this episode, we discuss how Tess’s career in modeling destroyed her gut and her relationship with her body, and how that ultimately led her to her profession and passion: teaching others that health isn’t about weight or calories in, calories out, it’s about systems and cellular health. We also talk about leaky gut, opening up our detox pathways, how what we eat affects our brains, and the importance of listening to our bodies and understanding what our nervous systems are trying to say.

Resources & sites mentioned in this episode:

• Upgrade Labs, the Bulletproof-owned business where Tess kicked off her journey into gut health

• Tess’s recommended supplements: LMNT Zero Sugar Electrolytes, Bloom Colostrum & Collagen Peptides, Essential Stacks Gut L-Glutamine Powder, Enzymedica Digest Gold, and THORNE’s Methyl-Guard Plus (methylated B vitamin)

• Learn more about Vipassana

• Check out Tess’s website here

• Find Tess on Instagram (where you’ll find links to her free somatic exercise, symptom assessment, and more) and LinkedIn

This week on the podcast I sit down with my friend Tasha Prados, a Branding & Marketing Strategy Consultant, Freelance Strategist, and Digital Nomad. As you’ll hear in the episode, Tasha and I studied abroad in Madrid together back in 2009 and just reconnected last year in a Slack group!

Tasha went from working at one of the best advertising companies in the world to deciding to go into business for herself so she could be a digital nomad. She now helps other fellow freelancers find premium clients so they can work less and live more. In this episode, we chat about how to prevent scope creep with clients, why you need to start charging a “jerk tax,” and how to improve your relationship with control and productivity.

Resources & sites mentioned in this episode:

• IES Abroad, where Tasha and I met!

• Ogilvy, where Tasha used to work

• Duraca Strategic, Tasha’s consulting firm

• Tasha’s program for freelancers, Premium Clients Unlocked

• For aspiring digital nomads, check out Duraca Travels

• Find Tasha on Instagram and LinkedIn