Episode 188: Getting in touch with what's most important in life with Avanti Singh of My Prana Portal
What are your deepest desires? In today's episode, Fiona sits down and talks to Avanti Singh of My Prana Portal about being curious about yourself and your life choices, how to make decisions from our deepest self rather than our conditioning and so much more. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
On My Prana Portal
Avanti Singh's journey
On Ayurvedic healing
Best Practices of Avanti
Books & resources for Ayurvedic & healing
What's next for Avanti
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Avanti Singh
Natasha Ace
Lauryn Hill
Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Doshic system
Dr. Vasant Lad
Dr. Frawley
Thomas Yarema
Jean Houston
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Dr. Kelly Brogan
Qigong
Reiki
The first step is in noticing and being curious about yourself and your life choices. Building these gaps in life is key because it starts to facilitate conscious action. Ask yourself, “What are my deepest desires? Why am I here?” Pondering the deeper questions is important because we can start to make decisions from our deepest self rather than our conditioning.
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Welcome to episode 188 of The My Daily Business Coach podcast. In this episode, you are going to be reading an incredible interview I did with a beautiful, down-to-earth, spiritual, and interesting small business owner. Before we get stuck into this interview, I want to let you know that the Marketing For Your Small Business course and coaching program is now available. Marketing For Your Small Business is one of our biggest courses that is available anytime. It's a self-paced online course.
A couple of times a year, we run alongside it a nine-week live coaching program. You have access to the course, you do the first module, and then you come to a live one-hour session with myself and everybody else who's doing the course and coaching program. We talk through that module and you're able to ask any questions that you specifically have around your business and the work that you've gone through in the module. It allows you to connect with other business owners. It allows you to connect and get feedback from me. It also helps you not just buy a course and have it sitting there but buy a course and work through it.
At the end of the nine-week course and coaching program, you have the option of sharing your marketing strategy and plans with the rest of the group. That keeps you accountable because it's not just like, “I've got this course.” You're working through the course, building out your strategy, coming up with your twelve-month plan, and then you're sharing it with like-minded small business owners.
If you're interested in that, we’ll start that on the 26th of April 2022, Australian time. It'll run on Tuesday mornings, Australian time. It is open to people all over the world. We’ve had people from overseas do it before as well and we have plenty of them during the course. If you are interested, check out MyDailyBusinessCoach.com/marketing. You can find it at MarketingForYourSmallBusiness.com.
Before we get stuck into this interview, I want to pay my respects and acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which I live and record this podcast, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into this interview.
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My guest on this episode is Avanti Singh. She's the Founder of My Prana Portal. She has a whole list of qualifications. These are some of them, she is a psychologist, a Chopra meditation teacher, working and learning from Deepak Chopra, an Ayurvedic practitioner, and on and on. This woman that I'm talking to is a wealth of information.
I first interacted and connected with Avanti through Natasha Ace. Natasha Ace is one of my friends. She runs a business called Private Practice Alliance. Within that, she has a course called Build Your Passive Income where she works with psychologists and people in private practice and allied health to help them build passive income products online. Part of that is that those people then get a session with me to talk about branding and marketing.
I met Avanti at one of those sessions. From the get-go, I was intrigued by her story and what she was trying to build in the idea of holistic education and psychology. I've worked with many psychologists. I come from a family of health practitioners. I loved that she was bringing in east, west, science, spirituality, and creating this incredibly safe and nurturing space for people.
I had to ask her to come on to the podcast and explain what is Ayurvedic healing, what is Deepak Chopra's meditation, and what does it mean to study the Chopra way of doing things. I wanted her to come into the podcast and talk about how she has built this business. Even if you are in a business that has nothing to do with health, well-being, or anything like that, there are many lessons when Avanti talks about the challenges that she faced and how they led her to get curious as to, “What is my legacy? What do I want to do with my business and with my life in the bigger picture?”
In this episode, we talk about some of the challenges that Avanti has gone through and how she has utilized those and drawn on them for strength to create the business and life, in general, that she has as well. This is such a beautiful conversation. If anybody is out there and needs this right now, I hope the messages that you need to hear come through in this interview. After reading this, if you are keen to connect with Avanti, go and check out MyPranaPortal.com. Here is my interview with the founder of My Prana Portal, the wonderful Avanti Singh.
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Hello, Avanti. Welcome.
Hello, Fiona. Thank you for having me.
It is my pleasure. I cannot wait to hear all the wisdom. I know that you're going to help many people, myself included. It's probably a bit selfish of me to get you onto the podcast. I'm excited that you're here. How are you feeling? Are you in Sydney? Where are you joining us from?
I'm feeling okay, Fiona. Thank you. I'm joining you from Sydney.
Your business is My Prana Portal and you have been running this for a while. It has a variety of elements. Can you talk us through what My Prana Portal is, what is Prana if people don't know what that is, also, why and when you started it?
I will start with the significance of my business name. I have to say I labored over it. I finally decided to name my counseling and meditation business My Prana Portal. Prana is a Sanskrit word meaning breath or subtle life force that causes things to move. Portal means gateway. At the conception of my business, the one thing I was clear about was that I wanted to create a therapy business that had an integrated approach that of east and west, ancient and modern, science with spirituality.
The combination of Prana, being a Sanskrit word derived from the oldest wisdom tradition, with the word portal reflected this mix to me. I wanted the word My in front of Prana Portal because one of the core principles underpinning my business is that of empowerment and moving within for all the answers. The name My Prana Portal encapsulates the internal gateway or path, the life force within that can move us to more conscious evolution.
I love this. It’s beautiful. Thank you.
Why did I open my business? It wasn't the usual pathway that other business owners may go through. There was no looking at the market for niches, no looking at what other practitioners were doing, no real business plan. I don't say that proudly. No savings. The why of opening my business has more to do with an unfolding of my greater purpose and the experience I had several years prior.
There was a huge shift in me in about 2003 with the birth of my niece. Her arrival into this world was a catalyst of sorts for me. Her birth unleashed a deep desire to have a baby of my own. By this time, my husband and I had been together for some time. It had taken me a long time to decide to have children because of a neurological condition and scoliosis that I had battled with probably for most of my life.
I had a tough time, emotionally and physically, from childhood contending with these conditions. At the age of 29, I had major spinal fusion surgery with the insertion of thoracic rods and screws along my spine and that was to help the curve from getting worse. I also had the removal of part of my ribs. It was a long procedure. I even spent time in the ICU. The recovery took well over six months.
My journey has been challenging and beautiful all at the same time. When it came time to have a baby, it was daunting for me because I didn't want my child to end up with the same genetic conditions that had dominated my life. After many genetic tests and research, we decided to undergo pre-genetic diagnosis through IVF to have a baby. I did a lot of preparation before embarking on IVF, making sure I was in the best shape to have a baby.
In 2007 and 2008, we went through the IVF journey. It was a clinical process, full of needles, blood tests, ultrasounds, a lot of stuff. When each IVF round didn't work, it was devastating. In April 2008, we were about to have a transfer of our last frozen embryo but it did not make it through the defrosting process. By this time, I was numb that I did not even react to this. I was lost that I could not even connect to the disappointment, the sadness, the hurt, the inexplicable emotions. I broke down and I walked out on my marriage, a fifteen-year relationship in total.
As I knew it, my life unraveled. Everything seemed to fall away. From here, I went through a dark night of the soul, a spiritual crisis, a death, and a rebirth. There was such heaviness at this time. I was diagnosed with reactive depression. Although looking back on it, it was a big case of disconnection from my true self.
In April 2009, I reached my lowest point but it was also the time when my nephew came into the world. His birth was a real gift and it was after this time that I started to fully feel all of my emotions probably for the first time. I began to also become fully aware of my limiting beliefs and the stories I told myself, about myself, about others, and about life.
I began immersing myself in spiritual texts such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. I listened to Hindu devotional songs. I took a deep dive into studying ancient wisdom, particularly that of yogic philosophy and the complete healing system of Ayurveda as well as modern science. I studied at The Chopra Center in San Diego because I wanted to learn from Deepak Chopra and his colleagues there because of their science and spirituality approach. As well as the doing, I learned the importance of being. It was a sacred time for me.
After all the disconnection and the muck, I felt connected to God, which is hard to say in this modern world but that is the experience I had. After many painful years, I felt life had hit this incredible flow. It felt like a return home to the true self. In all religious systems, there is the deepest, darkest night before the dawning of the new and that is how my holistic counseling and meditation business came into being.
I opened My Prana Portal at 11:00 AM on the 11th of the 11th 2011. I call it my great birthing experience and it's a real labor of love. It's not just a business to me but it's my true calling. I feel heart-connected when I say that because I attract the most incredible people into my therapy. They come for many reasons like a baby-making journey, IVF, grief, trauma, chronic illness, relationship issues, stress, anxiety, depression, anger, work issues, lack of meaning and purpose, the list does go on. It’s the journey to home to their true self.
Yes, I do weave together a variety of elements from ancient wisdom and modern science. I'm a psychologist, Ayurvedic practitioner, and Chopra center meditation instructor but I feel much more of a teacher of modern mysticism. For me, integration is a key area of my business. There is a huge shift in human evolution right now. We're moving from the old paradigm of the toxic masculine, which is overrun and overstayed its welcome in my opinion.
The time of force, violence, destroying our environment, and killing people are nearing its end. The way forward is to increase the feminine and have a much more integrated way of life. The harmony of the forces of masculine and feminine. My business is there for people crossing the threshold from old to new, from death to rebirth. The short answer to why I opened up my business is that it is a way for me to uniquely contribute and be in service to this world.
Thank you for sharing your background and experience. I was crying listening to it. I also went through IVF. My heart breaks for you. Also, what kept coming to me as you were talking is I'm a huge Lauryn Hill fan. One of her lyrics is, “From the dark will arrive the sweet dawn.” I kept thinking about that over and over.
In the end, you said that that's an element of all religions and all spirituality and we all go through darkness. Look at what you've built, that is phenomenal because many people do go through darkness and not everybody chooses to then take that and utilize it for their own growth. What you're doing is helping many other people grow. Thank you for sharing that with us.
I always think it's important to have that backstory because it was a time of realizing how powerful that darkness can be, that time of real inner sacred time.
Also, such a teacher and an opportunity for education. You mentioned both of your niece and nephews’ births as well. We never know what's happening in our lives and how it impacts other people around us whether it's family or other people. I wanted to say thank you. I know that many people in your industry have been slammed in the last few years.
We forget that psychologists, healers, meditation teachers, are also going through a pandemic. It's not like they're immune to everything going on or that they don't feel the same thing. I wanted to say thank you for being in that industry and helping many people get through and still going through the pandemic and all the other issues that have come up as a result of that. Thank you for doing not just your work but your purpose.
We're arguably in one of the most important times in human history, a time of accelerated evolution. In the last few years, what is going on is a great deal of change with us and with nature. Humans have been misguided for a while now and have conducted life in an arrogant way, in my opinion, with the destruction of nature, which is the foundation that we rely on. We've had centuries of building things and destroying things, never-ending warring against each other, competition, a little understanding of ourselves and of each other, no respect for nature and its gifts. Also, the domination by patriarchal structures.
The last few years have not only been about COVID, it signals this great tipping point, a time of transformation and emergence of the new paradigm. New ways are being born and increasing of the feminine that is spending more time on more connectedness, more community, collaboration, systemic and holistic views on the world.
We have to move toward a balance between the forces of masculine and feminine and to start to create a world that serves all and not just a few and that's where we're headed. With the dawning of a new paradigm, this awakening is bringing more and more people to higher consciousness, more spiritual ways. We're waking to all parts of ourselves, thereby revealing all parts of the collective.
With this time, my business has grown, more clients, more sessions via video, more of a need for online programs. It's been an increase of work for me. Thank you for your thanks but I also think we all have a part to play in our well-being. I don't think that our health and well being it's up to mental health practitioners. The philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti, put it perfectly when he said, “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” That is what the majority of us have done, adjusted to society.
We now must realize that there is an interconnectedness between health, work, relationships, community, meaning and purpose in our lives, freedom, and truth. With this, our political, economic, social, legal, medical systems must undergo a breakdown and radical change if we are ever going to be truly healthy.
Healing is synonymous with wholeness and everything and everyone is connected. That is not mumbo-jumbo speak. We are not separate from each other. This illusion of separateness has caused so much suffering. We are inextricably linked and we must all start to take care of ourselves and each other and not wait for someone to come and save us, not even mental health practitioners. Although I do feel mental health practitioners at the moment and throughout the course of time have got an important job to do, we must all take responsibility for health and well-being.
I couldn't agree more. I loved that quote that you said from Krishnamurti about adjusting.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
That hits home. I agree with you, things do need to change massively. We were talking about integrated health and looking at east and west and all of that. I remember when my mom passed away, it was sudden. I saw a psychologist and she was like, “You’re going through grief.” She was talking about potentially adjustment disorder. I remember going home and looking at what's adjustment disorder, not being able to adjust to this huge thing that had happened.
A few weeks later, I met this lovely, old Greek woman. She was all in black. We were talking about things. She was talking about this cultural thing or it used to be that if your partner passed away, you would wear black for however long. She had been wearing black for years. Something horrible happens and there's this, “You may have an adjustment disorder,” soon after going through grief and death. On the other side, you have this beautiful culture that celebrates that person every single day. It was interesting for me. It came up in my mind when you were saying that quote. Thank you for sharing that. You could write 50 books on this.
I haven't tried to write any books.
You should after this podcast. I'm sure there will be people who’ll be like, “Does she have a book I can read?” What was your upbringing like? Were you brought up with a lot of discussion at home around spiritual, physical, and emotional well-being? Is that where your choice of work, career, and even going and investigating all this stuff when you went through the marriage breakdown, the birth IVF information? Did it come from your childhood? Is that where this has all come from? Is this something you've gone through as an adult?
I was born in Durban, South Africa. My lineage leads back to India. I'm part of this huge family. I'm lucky enough to have close connections to both my dad and mom’s side. I would describe my family as highly anxious, industrious, progressive, somewhat claustrophobic, loving, and nurturing people. I come from generations that have endured racial injustices.
Back in the day, my parents were what I would describe as meek and mild people. Somehow they had the tenacity and the courage to leave their families and their birth country and emigrate to Australia, a place where they had never been with $500 and two small children back in the 1970s. South Africa had the apartheid system in place then with its racial segregation policies and my parents did not want to raise their children in that society.
Even though I was 6 at the time of my departure from South Africa, I clearly remember how upsetting and depressing it was for all of us to leave our family and our homeland and try and carve out a new life in a new country. There were many challenges assimilating into a different culture. My parents were typical immigrants, working themselves to the bone, holding down multiple jobs to make ends meet. They cultivated a beautiful life in Australia and met amazing friends and family who eventually came to join us here.
We had a lovely childhood but, at the same time, I had a tough journey, especially in school and the feeling that I was not normal. I know that my story is not an unusual one. Many of you will be able to relate to this story of feeling not normal. At an early age, I remember being conscious about my body. It didn't seem to work like the other kids. My extreme sensitivity meant that from a young age, I was always acutely aware of my body's limitations and I was continuously comparing myself to other children. Primary and high school years felt isolating and lonely for the most part. Whenever there was a sport or physical education, anxiety overwhelmed me.
By the time my teen years came around, I was self-conscious, particularly about my spine. Teen years are tough for most. My years felt like there was this deep and raging anger, fear, this consistent feeling of anxiety, and many other emotions that seemed inaccessible to me. These tumultuous teen times seemed to be mostly about my twisting spine. My way of coping was watching lots of TV and movies, eating a lot, disconnection, hiding away, inability to fully express my feelings, refusal to wear a spinal brace, which upset and worried my family.
I had to give you that background. To answer your question, there was no real discussion around spiritual, physical, and mental health in my family growing up. However, my dad was a radiographer and worked in hospitals, and eventually had his own businesses and was happy every day of his working life. I’ve always had good, sound medical knowledge. Maybe I have continued his patterning.
There were many ways in which my family showed me what well-being was, especially in regards to the friends and family that were always over in the many gatherings. My parents’ place was that place that united everyone with food, music, and laughter. In particular, with her amazing cooking and hospitality, my mom made our home feel like home for all around her.
To be honest, I have always felt a real yearning for these discussions within my circle. Over the twenty years of immersing myself in healing modalities and especially in the decades working in my business, I have connected with like-minded people through the many mind, body, and spirit courses I have done. Also, through the practitioners I seek for my own health, that is where I have found like-minded people.
I have several cousins in the healing health business. I can finally have more discussions within my own circle. Throughout 2021, I'm finally meeting like-minded psychologists, which has been a gift during this time. Sometimes though I feel a bit sorry for my family because I consistently talk and I'm probably a bit flawed about my healing health, spirituality, truth topics, suggesting books, courses, practitioners, practices to them. I'm passionate and live and breathe it.
I had an interesting experience in 2021. After six months of the 2021 lockdown, the fear, and division in our community, I saw many clients heartbroken at the breakdown of relationships. Many of them weren't allowed at Christmas with their loved ones. On Christmas day with my extended family, it was a day of unity and love. It was a sobering moment for me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Why do I need to educate my family on spirituality? It’s because they live and breathe it. I've never felt more grateful for my family than in the last few months.
You must have a lot of those moments I would imagine as a psychologist and as somebody who's talking with people all the time about probably the hardest parts of their life. As a business coach, I see a tiny bit of that. Through my conversations with other people who have businesses, I'm always learning.
You then reflect on your own life and you reflect on different things. That must be something that comes up a bit for you. When you're talking to these people, does it make you reflect like how you had that moment at Christmas? It sounds beautiful, by the way. I love that realization, “I don't need to teach these people. They're fine.” Do you have that? Does it come up in your work? Is that something that you notice being in this industry for so long?
Are you talking about my clients? Do I notice?
Yes. If your clients are telling you about their family breakdown and then you go to your family and be like, “I'm lucky and fortunate.” Do other things come up that you might think, “Wow,” either good or bad?
I'm always reflecting on my own life as a consequence of the therapy that I give to my clients and the issues that come up there. I'm not always reflecting in a way that's like, “They’re going through a hard time,” or, “They’re going through a good time.” Sometimes it’s the opposite. To be a therapist of integrity, you've always got to be reflecting on what's going on for you. Whatever's coming up in that therapeutic session, you have to go away and say, “Where am I experiencing this? What can I do to shift change and deepen my self-awareness?”
I could imagine. I always joke that my brother's a psychologist and I'm always like, “Maybe I'll be a psychologist later in life.” I would love to but there's so much study involved. I don't know if I could go back and do that. You do different healing. You're a psychologist. You're also a meditation teacher. You also do Ayurvedic healing. What is this for people who haven't heard? How can it help people?
If we break down the word Ayurveda, Ayur equals life and Veda is knowledge. Ayurveda is the science of life and it's the oldest and most complete system of healing originating in India thousands of years ago. Today, it continues to be one of the most sophisticated and effective mind-body systems. Whilst the western model of health sees health as the absence of disease, the Ayurvedic model sees disease as the absence of vibrancy. This resonated with me on my healing journey because I would often go to the doctors when I didn't feel well and they would run all sorts of tests and then say, “You're fine.” I began to understand that Western medicine has tended to treat the symptoms of the disease only.
Ayurveda acknowledges the benefits of Western medicine and so do I. If you're in the throes of a heart attack accident in disease, Western medicine is essential. However, what I love about Ayurveda is it offers this body of wisdom that helps people stay vibrant and healthy while realizing their full human potential. Ayurveda teaches us that to be truly healthy, we cannot just take care of our physical body but we need to address the health of our mind, spirit, environment, lifestyle activities, diet, recent stressful events, beliefs, and mind-body constitution.
In conventional Western medicine, personalized medicine is relatively new. An individualized approach to healthcare has been the foundation of Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. One of the ways I use this scientific approach to health is by educating people on the five elements. Everything in the universe is made up of these elements. They're the building blocks of everything in the universe. At the time of conception, the five elements, space, air, fire, water, and earth combined to form energies called Doshas. Doshas are mind-body principles that govern the flow of intelligence throughout the physiology of your body.
Each of us is different, physically and mentally. Ayurveda uses the five elements of nature, which is a simple yet effective tool to help us recognize when we are in or out of balance. We then can apply the opposing forces to help balance us out. The Doshic system consists of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Vata contains the properties of space and air elements. Pitta, the properties of fire and water elements. Kapha, the properties of water and earth elements.
Our natural way can be 1 of these 3 or a combination of these or we can be Tri Doshic. I'm providing a simplistic explanation here but it is a system of helping you understand your own nature and then assess where your current imbalances are. Ideally, treatment plans can help you regain balance in your life. I'm always assessing the various areas of my client's life as well as considering their underlying Dosha.
If I see someone with a Vata imbalance for example, which is an excessive space and air element whose qualities are cold, dry, irregular, rough, moving, quick, changeable, which describes me because I'm a Vata person. I may recommend lifestyle and routine changes that focus on stability, regularity, warm diet for example. When I learned Ayurveda, I had become aware of how vast, complex, and deep the system is. I went into a bit of overwhelm and frustration because I thought to myself, “I'm going to need a few lifetimes to get this.”
I'm providing you with a basic understanding of it and what I do with it but there are eight branches to Ayurveda including rejuvenation, surgery, toxicology, aphrodisiacs, tantra, pediatric, and psychology. People can always read books by Deepak Chopra, Dr. Vasant Lad, Maya Tiwari, Dr. Frawley. There's a recipe book called Eat-Taste-Heal by Thomas Yarema and co, which is a great source for explaining Ayurveda and recommending recipes. I can go on and on about Ayurveda but we’d be here forever.
My in-laws are from India, my husband's parents. My aunt, who's passed away, was the most incredible woman. She used to swear by this type of healing. Why don't we know more about this? Yes, you know about it. She was born in India. She grew up with this around. For a lot of people, it's new.
I was talking to a friend and he started using shake therapy for trauma. He was telling me how great he feels. I was like, “Why don't we know that?” We've been in this Western medicine line. I love how you talked about Ayurvedic seeing disease as the absence of vibrancy. That hit a chord. That's what people are seeking, they're seeking vibrancy.
Growing up, I didn't realize that a lot of what we did was Ayurvedic. The food and lots of the things that we did naturally as a family was based in Ayurveda. That was interesting when I learned it. With a lot of modern approaches to health and healing, a lot of it has come from ancient wisdom and has been repackaged.
For example, shaking therapy for trauma, that's been used for thousands of years. You do suddenly get this modern take on it. We're going to call it trauma release TRE and we're going to bring it out as something new. They package it and sell it like it's something new. Everything comes from this ancient body of knowledge, not particularly the Vedas but ancient wisdom across a whole lot of cultures.
I remember my father-in-law when I was talking about some yoga person on Instagram and he was like, “That yoga, that new thing that's been practiced for 5,000 years.” He does yoga. He's been doing yoga for most of his life. He would get up and do yoga. I remember him laughing and being like, “This cool new thing that’s all the rage.” You have such a huge breadth of appealing knowledge from Eastern, Western, and everything else.
A lot of people that read this and a lot of people that I work with are in the design and creative space. I do feel that, in general, in small business, they’re seen as, “Struggle is part of it. Overwhelm is part of it. Comparison is part of it. Going down a spiral is part of it.” Especially in creative businesses where people are like, “This is part of the creative process.” In your opinion, where does it go from being, “I'm having a bad day,” or, “I'm feeling a bit flat,” or, “I'm feeling a bit deflated,” through to, “I should talk to somebody. I should get help, whether that's psychological help, Ayurvedic healing.” When does it cross over in your opinion?
I would suggest that people start with cultivating awareness in their day or their week. Set aside quiet time where you can ask yourself some questions like, “In my life, where are things feeling like a struggle?” Perhaps start journaling, noticing yourself, your life, your activities, your thoughts, and your feelings. Notice any patterns, thoughts, and feelings. Perhaps cultivate a time to be with the discomfort rather than the distraction. Moving away from discomfort causes more discomfort.
I'm a huge fan of getting people to go within and ask themselves some questions. Be curious. You can also ask yourselves, “Are there ways I can feel my energy bank?” What I'm saying is the first step is in noticing and being curious about yourself and your life choices. Building these gaps in life is key because it starts to facilitate conscious action. Ask yourself, “What are my deepest desires? Why am I here?” Pondering the deeper questions is important because we can start to make decisions from our deepest self rather than our conditioning.
From there, we can make decisions about whether we need to introduce some changes by well-being courses, practices, or practitioners. To me, there is no more important time than right now to deepen our connection to self and others and life. I feel everyone benefits from conscious personal and spiritual growth, whether that be via courses, podcasts, apps, well-being routines, or seeing healing and health practitioners. I'm not going to give a directive answer to that because I always like to get people to go within and ask themselves questions and notice and be in awareness first.
When you touched on going deep and, “Why am I here? What's my purpose?” In 2020, when the lockdowns first happened worldwide, people started going, “Who am I if I don't have a business identity? If I lose my business, what am I?” It’s outside of that. It's led to a lot of people. I was like, “What happens if I do need to quit everything and look after the kids full time?” It's something we don't ask ourselves enough because we go along with life, “This is who I am. This is my job.”
The “Who am I,” is wrapped up in more of an ego state, which is identified with the roles and the responsibilities. The real self is the true self, which is beyond all of that stuff, beyond thoughts and feelings. It's to be able to be in that state when we can so we understand that when things do fall away, the essential self is there.
You helped many people with their wellness. How do you look after your own? It sounds like you do a lot of practice yourself. Do you have some rituals? Do you journal? What are your practices for looking after your health and well-being as a small business owner as well as a healer for other people?
We would need a whole podcast dedicated to answering this question. The biggest financial investment in my life has been in learning and spiritual work. The way I look after my own health and wellness has changed a lot over the years. I've moved from working on my body to working with my body and being a lot more accepting of my body. I've shared with you all of the challenges that I've had with that.
Turning 50, going through menopause, the accelerated change that is taking place on the planet, it's moved me to deeper spiritual work but also a lot more self-compassion and a lot more trust in my body. I now see all my symptoms as messages. I find the beauty in fully embodying the emotions rather than getting away from the emotion of always self-soothing and always making myself feel better. I get into feeling the fear, the anger, or whatever that is through disconnecting from a real body perspective.
There are some key ways in which I look after myself. I have morning and evening routines. I'm not too rigid with it. I practice what the Buddhist calls Flexible Discipline. I do have some times that I set aside for morning and evening routines and that can consist of some type of movement whether it's yogic poses, walks, or functional exercises. I'm big on meditation being a teacher. Sitting in silence for me is one of the most healing things. When you sit in silence, particularly before dawn, it's healing because it's the most amount of pranic energy at that time. I‘m listening to calming music and reading my vision. I do a little bit of journaling as well.
With things like conscious eating, for me, that means whole foods. I do like a combination of paleo and Ayurvedic principles. I've always seen a lot of practitioners who I see depending on what I'm feeling and what I'm eating. I have a good integrative GP. I might do bodywork with a kinesiologist, a chiro, or a massage therapist. I love energetic healing like Ayurveda or Reiki. I might get into shamanic healing. I like going to shamanic healers and Ayurvedic treatments.
At the moment, I'm doing rebirthing, which involves a lot of deep breath work with a spiritual teacher. I do the usual stuff, which is making sure that I get the sleep that's quite sound, good water, herbs, and supplements. It's all of those basic things being consistent for me is key. Because I'm Vata and there's that irregularity to Vata people, for me, consistency is important. Grounding, putting my feet on the earth. I'm a person that loves seeing and communing with the moon. I love that practice.
We don't do enough things like this. We don't stand still. I remember talking to somebody and saying, “When do you have any stillness?” They were like, “Never.” I'm an introvert. I need stillness. I need my space to myself. I completely agree with you. As you're talking about things, I was like, “I am going to do more of that.” I remember I was in this mastermind and it was in the US. The calls were at 4:00 AM, 5:00 AM, and 6:00 AM. There was a whole healing section. We did all sorts of things, tapping, deep breathing, past life regression, all this stuff.
During one of the mornings, I got up and I did not feel like it. It was cold and dark. It was the middle of the day in the US and they said, “For this session, we're all going to go outside for the next 30 minutes and be with nature.” I was like, “It is pitch black. I will wake up the house.” I was like, “I got up for this.” I went as quietly as I could so the dogs wouldn't wake up. We've got a hammock outside and I brought a blanket with me. I lay in that hammock watching gum trees in the darkness and it was beautiful. I was like, “I don't do this ever.” I went from, “I'm pissed off that I'm up this early,” to, “That was what I needed, 30 minutes lying in nature with no distractions, no phone, no music.” It was lovely.
I love it. It’s so healing.
In terms of your business as well, have you had mantras? You've listed a whole bunch of books and resources for Ayurvedic and healing. Are there any books you've read for your business? Are there coaches you've worked with or mentors that have helped you with your actual business as well?
What's helped me build the business is all the study and life experience, doing the client work, and cultivating these spiritual practices in my own life. When I first opened my business, The Chopra Center was a huge influence and it continues to be because I'm a teacher with them. Learning Primordial Sound Meditation shifted my life.
Deepak Chopra has written over 80 books. I love How to Know God, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Super Brain, Metahuman, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga. They've impacted me. Also, a teacher called Jean Houston, who's a social artist. She spearheaded the human potential movement. Her teachings over the years had a profound impact on me. Also, feminine power teachers. I understand the difference between masculine and feminine energies. Claire Zammit, Katherine Woodward Thomas, Carolyn Myss’ Archetypes.
I love all the ancient texts like Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. I have a lot of support and encouragement from my family. It's more than usual in my family to be working for someone else. Having a family of mainly business owners helps. My sister and brother-in-law, in particular, are business owners in hospitality. They've gone through grueling stuff over the years. They inspire me. My dad was a business owner. There's a lot of relatedness in my family around running a business. That's helped me with my business.
I also love teachers like Dr. Kelly Brogan, the psychiatrist who deals a lot with more holistic ways of working. Also, Charles Eisenstein. I love modern science. Modern science teachers like Joe Dispenza and Bruce Lipton, I love learning from them. In terms of getting a coach, I've only had a business coach and that's been great. I don't know why I've gone and done things on my own besides the books and the courses. Enlisting a coach is going to help me a lot with the technology side, getting more into social media, and developing an online program. I’m working on that. That's the stuff that's helped me.
There are so many books and authors. Carolyn Myss, we love her in our house. I got my father-in-law and my husband tickets to see her when she came to Melbourne. I was like, “I should have gone myself.” I hadn't read the books and they were into it. My father-in-law was into that. There’s next time. I can imagine that your answer to this next question will be very long. What are you most proud of in your journey in business so far? What stands out for you?
It's the fact that I've felt the fears and moved through them anyway. The fear of, “Will my income get to that place of stability? What will that be like having that variable income?” The fear of, “Am I good enough?” All of those condition stuff that we're programmed with. Being able to go beyond that a little bit but also to step into the feelings and feel them.
I'm proud of the fact that I've trusted inner guidance. Also, I trust the co-creative process, which means that I'm a co-creator with my business, that there's myself and there's the universal God or whatever you want to call it. There is a partnership and I trust that whenever I want to create something new in my business, whether I'm coming to a problem or an issue. The blend of science and spirituality, I'm proud of that. I'm proud of authenticity or trying to be authentic. That's what I want to be. I don't think we're always like that. We're always putting on a persona of some sort. I want to be in my truth more and more. I'm proud of having that journey.
What a wonderful place to finish off on. Before we do, what is next for you? You mentioned this course. Where can people connect with you? If somebody is reading and thinking, “I need to get my life somehow connected with Avanti.” Where can they do that? What's next? What's coming up for you?
What's next is probably seeking a bit more truth in my life, living it, and having the courage to speak it. I'd like to expand my business with more online programs. I'm creating the Primordial Sound Meditation course, which I learned with The Chopra Center. It's going to be a ten-session online course. That's exciting. I would like to create more online Ayurvedic and yogic programs. Using social media more will be a great way to open up in the next little bit for me and do a lot more energetic work. Learning Qigong, Reiki, and sound therapy even if it's my own learning.
People can get in touch with me through my website, MyPranaProtal.com. They can email me through there or they can call me there's a 1-300 number if they want to chat about individual or couples counseling or meditation sessions. I have an interest in trauma work so they can also see a three-part mini docu that I'm featuring called Did I Choose My Trauma?.
I don't say this lightly, it's been my pleasure to have you on. Thank you for sharing so much of your journey and also sharing so much of the different lessons and guidance that you have been taught and that you are now teaching so many other people. Thank you so much for coming on.
I want to thank you so much, Fiona, for having me and thinking of me. I also love the work that you do. Thank you.
Thank you. Take care.
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What a delightful conversation. I don't know about you but when I listen back to that, I want to take some time for myself, sit down, and think about what I want out of life and how my business ties in with that. That's something I do probably pretty regularly anyway. Avanti reminds us to get in touch with what is most important in life.
I would love to know what you resonated with, what part of that conversation took hold for you, and what are you going to perhaps do differently or focus more on as a result of this interview episode. For me, there are two things. There are many others but I like to pinpoint two things from each of my interviews. Two things that stood out for me from that conversation with Avanti Singh of My Prana Portal is, number one, I love the idea when she talked about not waiting for somebody to save us. Take the initiative of our own health and well-being, dive into that, be curious about it, and not wait until everything hits the fan until we sit back and go, “I need to maybe look at this.”
For myself, I have been on a health journey since the start of the pandemic. 2020 was going to be my big year and then everything hit the fan a little bit in terms of the pandemic and many other things. In 2021, I decided to dive back into it and I saw all sorts of people. I saw tarot readers, energy healers, kinesiologists, all sorts of people that I thought could help me with a holistic health approach. I'm continuing that this 2022, seeing some incredibly pioneering doctors in terms of hormonal health.
I’m taking that time for myself to meditate, to go back to my end-of-day rituals, to listen to good music, to take time with family, to make an effort, to be more social with my friends now that we can in person. I appreciate that idea that she said. It’s not just waiting around for somebody to save us. Avanti is such an example of being curious and diving headfirst into, what can I do for myself right now? I love that idea.
The second thing that stood out to me is this idea of self-soothing, which goes with the first. It’s feeling the emotions. Particularly here in Australia, we have almost this fear of emotion. We have a huge issue with men not showing their emotions and being taught not to show their emotions. We've got all sorts of issues as a result of that. Also, for all genders, to feel the emotion and not always want to push it aside or get over it quickly or do something to distract ourselves.
Sit with it and be like, “This is how I feel. What can I do in connecting with my body to understand how am I going to work through this?” It's not necessarily a place that we have to be stuck in but it's also not a place that we avoid at all costs. A lot of people do avoid that. They avoid it by all sorts of coping mechanisms. I love that idea of sitting in that feeling, understanding it, and then looking at different rituals or different routines that you can set up.
Also, I love the idea that she talked about the Buddhist idea of Flexible Discipline. I'm all for that. That is such a great way of looking at everything that you do in life. It’s to be disciplined but not be rigid that then it becomes a stress in itself and negates any good that you're going to get from it. Many things stood out for me in that. I'd love to know what stood out for you. Don't be a stranger. You can email us, Hello@MyDailyBusinessCoach.com or you can send us a DM, @MyDailyBusinessCoach, on Instagram.
If you would like to get in touch with Avanti and learn more about her and the different offerings that she has, you can find all of that information over at MyPranaPortal.com. Avanti is wonderful and everyone should have a bit of Avanti in their life. Thank you so much, Avanti, for coming on and sharing your wisdom.
As a reminder, the Marketing For Your Small Business course and coaching program is now available for people to book in. You can do that at MarketingForYourSmallBusiness.com or you can find all the information at MyDailyBusinessCoach.com/marketing. It’s a nine-week live coaching program to dig deep into your marketing and come out with a marketing strategy and plan. We'll be starting on the 26th of April 2022 and running consecutively for nine weeks. I look forward to hearing from you about this episode and I'll see you next time.
Thanks for reading the My Daily Business Coach Podcast. If you want to get in touch you can do that at MyDailyBusinessCoach.com or hit me up on Instagram, @MyDailyBusinessCoach.
