Special Guest Expert - Chara Rodriguera: Video automatically transcribed by Sonix

Special Guest Expert - Chara Rodriguera: this mp4 video file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Daniel Aaron:
What does it take to create a vibrant, thriving life? First, the sad news is that Thoreau was right. Most people are leading quiet lives of desperation, lacking in meaning, fulfillment and vitality. But we choose more. We choose to create extraordinary lives. And the art of vibrant living show entertains you with inspiration, empowerment and education to create your life into a masterpiece. It's time. Let's vibe up. Aloha, y'all. Welcome to the show, The Art of Vibrant Living Show. I am Daniel Aaron, your host, and I'm so grateful that you are here, whether you are with us live or by rebroadcast. We have an amazing show today. Here's the thing. You know this and you're going to know it even better Now. Having a vibrant, thriving life, creating an extraordinary life does not typically happen by accident. There are a lot of forces in the world and inside ourselves sometimes that pull us back, pull us down. So we must, if we're dedicated to vibrant living, create ourselves on a regular daily basis in order to create and live that vibrancy. And I'm so thrilled for our guest today. It's a real treat for y'all. Tara is an amazing woman, a Yogi, an author, a poet. Not only is she going to share some powerful experience and information with y'all today, I'm excited to learn a lot from her. And we're going to get some actual experience of creating more vibrancy in the moment. So let's have some fun, y'all. Here we go. Tara, thank you so much for being with us.

Chara Rodriguera:
Hi, Daniel. Hi. Audience I'm so excited to be here.

Daniel Aaron:
Awesome. Well, since I have the blessing of knowing you a little bit already, but most people here don't know you yet, would you say a little bit about who you are and what brings you to the work that you do?

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes. Thank you. So my name is Tara, and since 1995, I have been a student and a teacher of yoga, meditation, mindfulness and inspired living and my specialty is really sharing practices and programs that help us to live with more awareness, more skill, more peace, more joy, more love, and of course, more vibrancy.

Daniel Aaron:
Right on. Well, that begs the question to me right away, what happened in 1995?

Chara Rodriguera:
Uh, in 1995, I almost had a nervous breakdown from stress. So I was 25 at the time. And I had really most of my life up until that point, suffered from extreme anxiety and depression. And. At the time I was working in the production field. Video production. Film production. And I loved that. That's what I went to school for. I wanted to do that, but it was a very high stress environment and I did not have the awareness. I did not have the tools. I did not have the practices. I didn't have the language or the resources to support the cultivation of peace and self care. So by the time I was 25, I had pains in my chest, I had pains in my stomach, and someone every now and then would say, you know, you need to take a deep breath. And I would go, Doesn't do anything. It doesn't help. And thank goodness somebody at the company I was working for said, you know, you should try yoga. And at the time in 1995, yoga was not mainstream like it was now. And I thought yoga was something very weird. I didn't know anything about it. But thank goodness I took my friend's advice and went to my local YMCA where I was a member. And we had some of the most amazing loving yoga teachers at that YMCA. And those classes changed my life. And I knew from like the second or third classes when I when I had tears streaming down my eyes that I was meant to share what I was learning. So that's what started this all. A near death, nearly having a heart attack at age 25.

Daniel Aaron:
Wow. Yeah, and that's thank you for sharing that. You know, and it's I love one of the things that I remember reading from Bhagwan Rajneesh, he was giving a commentary on the Yoga Sutras and he said, Yoga does not begin until one hits rock bottom. Right now, I would debate that in some ways because some people seem to just, you know, like they casually go to a yoga class or they, you know, somebody drags them along to one and they're like, oh, but like, you. For me, yoga came from from really like a heavy duty rock bottom. So 1995, do you remember the actual timing of it? The date, the month?

Chara Rodriguera:
Um, of the very first class. I have to say, I don't remember the exact day, but I know it was 1995. But here's the interesting thing. I've always been very, very intuitive and I didn't understand at the time how to trust my intuition and how to see that as a gift. But a few months before I took my first class, I felt energetically something was coming. I felt something really important, powerful and life changing was coming. I had no idea what it was. And. It turned out to be yoga. So all I remember it was definitely 1995, and that was the turning point of my life.

Daniel Aaron:
Wow, that's beautiful. Part of why I ask is because the 1995 was also the point for me where I had an experience that some would call breakdown, some would call breakthrough spiritual awakening, Kundalini arising. It's so much depends on one's perspective on it. And you know, and at the time it was super scary for me. But let me ask you this then, just since this is, I think, a really useful conversation in many ways because so many people I think, haven't gotten the information that that a breakdown could be a good thing. It could be what leads to a breakthrough. And it begs the question, well, what is being broken down? Would you be up for saying more of of what your experience was or, you know, how close you got to you know, was it scary how close you got to a breakdown?

Chara Rodriguera:
Um, sure, I can talk about that. And I absolutely agree with you that a breakdown is absolutely the opportunity for a breakthrough for your greatest discovery. And perhaps your your people listening in can relate that even when you have a broken heart. Um, and it feels like your heart is crumbling to pieces, that that opens up a space. For something divine to come in if we allow it. And thankfully in yoga it was my teacher guiding me to literally breathe new oxygen, new life, new energy into my heart. That's why tears started streaming down my face, because it was like my heart was breaking my. Um, paradigm of myself and my belief system was breaking down. And that opened up a space for not only new energy to come in, but parts of myself that were dormant or latent or that I hadn't met yet. It freed up that space for those parts of myself to start to speak and come forward. And yes, sometimes it's in our darkest hour where we are down on our knees sobbing and screaming and praying for help. And we might not feel that help or that support in that moment, but it absolutely starts to show up. It might show up in the way of a sign. It might show up in the way of an earth angel, a book or a show named The Art of Vibrant Living.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah, well, thank you. And it's Of course, we know that old expression. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Although as a yoga teacher, I also have found it useful in days gone by, if ever, as the teacher, I was late to class, which was very rare. But if I was ever late to class then I would also say when the teacher is ready, the teacher will appear to diffuse it. Put a little humor in sometimes.

Chara Rodriguera:
That's a good one too. May I say one more thing, though? And you touched on this, Daniel. That doesn't mean we can't step into a new level of our self. Um. Without going through a breakdown, like maybe someone who's listening today is just, you know, I'm just ready for the next chapter of my life. You can really start wherever you are right now. You don't have to be in in a pit of despair to step into your most vibrant, best life. It's just that a lot of times that is where a transition or a new world begins for somebody. But it doesn't have to be that. So don't think, oh my gosh, I'm not in that place. I can't, you know, have a life transformation. Yes, you can. If you're here today and you said yes to being here, then I feel we're all here for a reason. We're all here for that next level of our most vibrant life.

Daniel Aaron:
Hallelujah. I'm right there with you. And it's an important message because it is easy to think the grass is greener on the other side. Or Oh, for me to have what she experienced, well, then I have to have this kind of. No, there's you know, as the Rumi poem says, a million ways to Kneel and Kiss the ground. And I think the the flip side of what I said earlier about when when the when the student is ready, the teacher appears. The corollary is that whenever any of us is really ready to awaken or to let go of something that doesn't serve us or, as you said, meet some exalted or higher parts of our self that we haven't known yet. As soon as we are ready, the means will appear, whether it's you or the YMCA or a breakdown, if that's what we need. You know, there's a great saying, I remember this is wonderful speaking with you. It's reminding me a lot of my own yoga history. I'm not that involved in yoga asana these days, but I remember years ago hearing from. Oh, gosh. Who was that? Not Swami Vivekananda. It was a Swami. He'll come back to me. And he was talking about this concept of mula Bandha. Right. Mula Bandha. For those that don't know, it's like some would call it an energy lock or an energy manipulation thing that we use in yoga sometimes. And people say it's like it's when you lift up the floor of the pelvis or you squeeze the muscles around the anus, some of those kind of things. But what he said was, when your eyes are on God, nothing else matters. Right? And it's in that energetic movement was taking the energy of the physical and directing it upward, directing it to God or to awakening or whatever language we put on it. And if we if we have that focus, then the ways to awaken are around us all the time. So yeah, thank you for reminding us of that. Go ahead. You were about to say something else.

Chara Rodriguera:
I was just going to completely agree with you. We're on the same page with that. So I was just like nodding like, yes, Yes to everything you just said.

Daniel Aaron:
All right, cool. So let's, let's, let's do some quantum leaps. That was 1995, which was at least 2 or 3 years ago. Now. That was some time back. Your life changed around. You almost had a breakdown at 25. Holy moly. And then you discovered yoga at the YMCA. How beautiful is that, right? It wasn't you didn't you didn't have to go to India necessarily, or shave your head or start wearing mala beads. You went to the local YMCA and found like a new path there. And. And you awoke to it, right? You're like, this. This is my path. This is familiar. This is my destiny. And now here we are almost three decades later. And now you look like you're 28 years old, almost three decades later. And how how has it evolved? How are you working with it now?

Chara Rodriguera:
So great question. And it has been about 28 years. Right? So almost three decades. And here's something I want to share with the audience. So I started at age 25. You can start whatever age you are. It's never too late and it's never too early to start. Even with something simple like learning how to do breathing techniques or just learning how to enhance and optimize your posture. But if you are called to go to a full on yoga class, I can tell you you're starting on a path of, well, being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. You're starting on a path of personal evolution. So day by day, breath by breath, year by year, decade by decade, evolving into your best self, a more refined self, a more true self, a more authentic self. And everybody's path is different. But I can tell you that when I was 25 and I started, I was so wracked with tension you could see like even my fists are tightening. Like my whole body was tight. You even mentioned the pelvic floor. When I started yoga and we actually learned how to relax and release, I realized I was clenching my abdominal muscles. I was clenching my glute muscles. I was clenching my pelvic floor muscles, my jaw muscles, my hands every day of my life. And so even though I was 25, 28 years younger, I did not feel good in my body. I had aches and pains. I had chest pains, I had stomach aches. And now, 28 years later and two kids later, I'm not going to say my stomach looks exactly the same, so let's be real. It does not. But I feel better on every level. I feel amazing. And as you said, it's not an accident. It's because of what I've learned. It's because of my beloved teachers. It's because of my own commitment and my dedication to well-being. And part of that is not only for myself. I do love feeling good, but the other part of it is I have a responsibility to my family to take care of them, and I feel I have a responsibility to be of service to the world.

Chara Rodriguera:
So I need to be my best, most vibrant self in order to share what I've learned and help other people. I can't let myself spiral down or not take good care of myself. And a word that I wanted to mention is the word discipline. And when I first heard the word discipline or thought of discipline, I'm like, Oh, no, not more work. I don't need more work. I don't want to take out that whip and have to do something every day, have to make myself get motivated. I am too tired for discipline until I discovered that through the foundational principles of yoga, discipline is actually a form of love. And a form of self care. And so when you think about being disciplined with feeling good and being disciplined with making conscious choices that are supportive, it's because there is self love there. There is self respect there. And there's a sense that I have something important that I can offer somebody to be of service to help lift their spirit, to help, to help lessen someone else's suffering who may be feeling the way I felt and the way I suffered. So it's out of love that I stay focused on the things that are most important and most supportive and. Not only is discipline and important word today, but I also wanted to share the words softening the words ease. The word grace and the word yes. Because so many times. I love to listen to things that are inspirational, but it just sounds like more work, more to do. And I'm like. You can see my body language. It's like, Oh, I have to force myself. And so what I want to share today is the energy of. Being supportive, the energy of softening, the energy of ease. As I said, the energy of grace, the energy of saying yes to yourself, nourishing yourself, being kind to yourself, and knowing that by the end of this show. You don't have to do anything more. Then you've already been doing just being here. We're going to be planting some really beautiful new seeds, new beliefs, new intentions, new ways of thinking in a way that feels more aligned, more comfortable, and in a way that feels like yes, yes, yes, yes.

Chara Rodriguera:
That's the direction I want to go. So I'm a little different than than some people who are motivators. I definitely am an inspirer, but I want to inspire us to soften a bit today.

Daniel Aaron:
That's that's beautiful. Thank you for that. And you know, and I can so relate. And I'm a slow learner. I'm dense myself. When I started, there was a lot of, like, smack in myself. And I got to do this and I have to do this and pushing myself and and that was my understanding of discipline at the time was I thought it was doing the thing you don't want to do. Okay. So that you can have some other thing later on. But that didn't feel good and it was really hard and it was just such a struggle. Right. And you'll, you'll, you probably know this already, but I'm going to say it anyway. And one of the greatest breakthroughs I ever had around this was shortly after becoming a parent. Not I don't mean visible. I mean a parent. I had children. I read a book called Magical Child Magical Parent or Magical Parent, Magical Child. Joseph Chilton Pearce. And in that book and this is a book about parenting, right? Because when I got to be a parent, I was like, well, I don't know how to do this. I don't want to do what my parents did. And he broke down the word disciple and discipline in that book and described it as a joyful follower. Right? A disciple is a joyful follower. And and that fits so well with what you said, because it's like and at this point in my life, I know that if I want to have a great life, a vibrant life, then there are some things that I can do that will lead me there and breathing and moving my body and eating well and meditating like these things, They're joyous. Like I get excited about doing those things. So I love what you said. I love that you are bringing conscious language in. Let's review. So discipline from a higher elevation is yes, it was grace one of the words.

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes.

Daniel Aaron:
Yeah. Was there another one?

Chara Rodriguera:
Um, let's see. Softening, softening, softening. Ease. Grace. Yes. Um, and while you were talking, I wanted to add another one. What was that one? Oh, I know. Gentleness, gentleness and self. Compassion and. And simplicity. Mm. Simplicity.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. Well, go ahead. You were going to say something else?

Chara Rodriguera:
I'm going to no, I'm going to turn it over to you because you always have the the best questions.

Daniel Aaron:
So I am curious and I love I love words, I love awakening. I love these practices that contribute to us feeling better, gentleness and softening self forgiveness, compassion. This is actually, for me, recently been a whole new level to my own ongoing awakening practice, to my ongoing daily practice is compassionate self forgiveness. And I want to I do want to talk about breath with you in a minute, because I know that's an area we're both really passionate about, though. Let's pause that for a second. And when you say more, when you when you talk about compassion and self forgiveness, I'm not sure if you use that word self forgiveness. But when you say more about what you mean with it, how it works for you, what others might learn from you about it.

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes. Thank you so much for that question. So in the practice that I teach, you know, there's many different forms of yoga and many different styles of yoga, probably infinite ways to practice yoga, just like there's infinite ways to create a vibrant life. I call the practice that I teach that has developed itself through me, not because I set out to develop my own style of yoga. It's just what what sort of naturally came to me is so specific. I felt like it needed its own title. So I call it Soul Path Yoga, and the soul part is spelled s o l like solar, like illumination. So it's it's the illuminated path. The path that is illuminated from your soul's light. And what makes it distinct and unique is that each month we focus on one foundational principle. I did not make up these principles. They are the foundational principles of yoga. They're called the Yamas and Niyamas. There are ten of them and I added two so that we do one each month. So you have all these different ways to explore and experience these principles that work on the mat, but more importantly, we take off the mat into our vibrant life. Now this month happens to be the month of Svadhyaya, which is a Sanskrit word that means self awareness or, as you said, self compassion. And I actually like to describe it in this way. I call it the month of self understanding, because the word understanding has inherent with it self knowledge, self awareness, and also the quality of compassion. When when you're with somebody that you feel is very understanding, they understand you, there's that, that they're holding a space where they're honoring you. They're they're compassionate with you, they're gentle with you. So I call it the month of self understanding. And there's the two qualities. It's the self knowledge, self awareness, and then the self compassion or as you said, the self forgiveness. And Swami Kripalu said that one of the highest levels of mastery in yoga is self awareness with compassion. So as you said, we can start to develop that self awareness, but then we can get very judgmental and very self-critical and try to force ourselves to change.

Chara Rodriguera:
This is the energy that you and I were describing. This is with a sense of self honoring, self respect, self kindness, self forgiveness. So we do a whole month in soul path yoga of exploring self awareness with compassion in different ways. We do it through our breathing techniques. We do it through present moment awareness. We do it through gentle, meditative movements. We practice coming in and out of movements and poses, not with force and pushing, but with self honoring. We slow the process down so it feels safer and we do one simple action at a time so that you have the ability to feel as you're moving in and out of things as opposed to how we can tend to be off the mat, rushing, pushing, multitasking and not even paying attention to our own heart or the messages from our own body. So soul Path yoga in particular is a very heart centered. And meditative way to practice yoga. And it's a practice that cultivates a high level of awareness and self love. Self compassion.

Daniel Aaron:
Ha! Thank you. That's beautiful. I completely know the feeling of, like, I don't need to create a new style of yoga yet for someone like you. And this was the experience I had also of being really earnestly devoted to it and continuing to grow in it and assisting other people with it. Something naturally comes that is your your way of expressing these timeless truths. And I'm guessing tell me if this is true. Cha that for you, this concept of. Self understanding, self forgiveness, self compassion that that has. Come about because of a certain resonance for you or a certain importance for you. That's not something that everybody talks about. You know, I've got my own association to it that's quite powerful, and I use that a lot with my coaching clients. And it's such a rich, I would say, essential topic for vibrancy, for awakening, for having a great life. And yet in our culture that is so, you know, push, push, push type a aggressive it's kind of rare and often overlooked. Is there any more you can say about what what it's meant for you or why it's come to have the importance for you that it does?

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes, I love that question. Thank you. It's because exactly what you said, it's these principles that resonated with me personally. The most. So like you said, you're not going to hear about them that often. There's people who have been practicing yoga for years and years and never heard of the Yamas and Niyamas or never heard of Svadhyaya or never heard of Ishvara, Pradhana or Sukha or whatever it may be, these these foundational principles. But this was back at the YMCA. I had an amazing teacher who would weave them in every now and then. Now she didn't do one a month, but every now and then and not every class. She would mention one of these foundational principles. And I somehow, intuitively and through her amazing teaching, made the connection that, oh my gosh, this is not just an hour or an hour and 15 minute class. This is a way of being that translates off the mat. And I started feeling the shifts in my awareness, the shifts in my mind, the way the shifts in my thinking. And I started seeing the connection of how I was integrating these principles on the mat translated to how I was moving through life. And so as I became a full time teacher, I intuitively and naturally wanted to focus on these principles as the center point. And I started choreographing all of the techniques we were going to do, be it breathing, be it warmups, be it movement. And I started creating the class around that principle as the center point. Whereas a lot of times a teacher might use a pose as we're going to do this pose today. So we're going to do everything that supports moving into this pose or whatever it may be that the teacher is focused on. It was these principles, these foundational principles that. I felt intuitively in my heart I personally wanted to focus on and they were what were changing my life. So I wanted to spend more time on them. And then as I started learning about subconscious programing and neuroplasticity, we know through science that it takes about 21 days to a month to create a new belief or a new habit. So I'm like, This lines up so perfectly to do one principle for an entire month.

Chara Rodriguera:
And let's say in general, if somebody came once a week, they would have four opportunities to experience this in a new way to integrate it over the month, to think about it, to live it over the month, and to integrate it so that then when we move on, the next principle, they connect. They're there, they support one another, and by the end of the year, these principles create this like an interwoven, amazingly supportive foundation. In thought, in body, in in spirit. And how we move through life. They? Are so powerful in terms of. Our evolution. And in terms of helping us discover our divine self. And live as a divine self and live as a divine being. And then to create our life as a masterpiece, which is I love in your introduction that you say that that touches my heart so deeply as an artist and as a self as artist. What I intuitively do is I make art out of myself and out of my life. And our life truly is a creation. And when we think of it intentionally as a masterpiece that we are creating through our own thoughts, words, actions, practices and rituals, it literally becomes a masterpiece of our own creation. And that doesn't mean we can control everything or everyone but the principles in soul path yoga or I'll say just in yoga, because again, I did not create them. So I can't take I don't want to take credit for them. But these principles help us to become. More adept. More discerning, more skillful, and they help us to purify our thoughts, words and actions so that they become more aligned with who we truly are. And I'm going to guess a word that you love as much as I do is Dharma. And before I say anything else, I want to give you an opportunity to just address the word Dharma. Because fulfilling your Dharma is creating that masterpiece of our life.

Daniel Aaron:
Oh, my goodness, Charlie. You know, your words are music to my ears. So much of what you said is you're just illuminating in such a graceful and poetic way. Truth that is so powerful and you know so much of what you're saying. I'm saying yes. Right on. And and I flashed back to for me before 1995, before these these principles came into my life. The just. I had no idea. Right. So the value that you bring in so gracefully articulating these concepts is is infinite. And I'm very much like you. When I first got into yoga, you know, in the beginning, I just had this intuitive sense for me of like, Oh, this is good, this is important, I better do more of this, right? And I struggled through the first two years being fat and sweating like a pig and feeling horrible with it. But somehow I knew this is this is this is good. I'm going to keep with it. And then it seeped into me, these principles. And so when I started teaching, I always thought, well, the most. Okay, good. Yes, let's move the body, Let's breathe, let's stretch. That's valuable. Even more important is let's use that container to infuse the spirit and the mind with these elevated principles that can transform the way we see ourselves in the world. So I just love what you're saying on that level. And to to respond to what you said about Dharma. Yeah, well, you know, one of my favorite poems, which I can't say entirely, is a poem by Rumi called The One Thing You Must Do Right. And it's a it's one of his. So for those who don't know, Rumi is a mystic poet. A Sufi poet, has so many, and he's probably the most popular poet in the world when it comes to spirituality. Every yoga teacher, you know, has got like a Rumi tattoo or something like that, you know, being silly. But this one is not so well known of his. And it's a little bit off color. It's almost like a prose poem. And he talks about how in life people can do this and study this and do this and create this business and all these things.

Daniel Aaron:
But and there is one thing that you must do, and if you can do a thousand other things, but if you don't do the one thing that you're really here for, none of the rest matters. So that's often what I think of with Dharma. And and that's a tricky one, right? Because so many of us grow up with the influences of parents, religion, teachers, society and well-meaning as they might all be and usually are. They've got their own ideas of, you know, this is what you should do, Charlie. You should look like this, you should study like that. And never mind that most of the time they're not that happy themselves when they're doling out that advice, but. Right. But for each of us to have the bravery to look within, that's when we get back to svadhyaya right? Self study. Who am I really? And to then courageously live that forward like the Bhagavad Gita says, it's it's much better to imperfectly live your own path than to perfectly copy somebody else's. So and just to bring it back around Masterpiece thank you for, you know, striking on that chord some more because we are creative beings. We're doing it all the time. And the ultimate creation is our own lives, right? What we say, what we do, how we live. And for anybody that feels perhaps guilty or selfish about that at times like, Oh, I shouldn't focus so much on myself, please, please, please know that you doing that is a vibration that is affecting everybody around you. And when you are in your Dharma, when you are vibrating at your highest potential, you are the best influence and impact on others in the world. Good golly, You got me going on a rant there. Pardon me for that. So let me pause, though, and say I took the bait and ran with it. But what brought you to asking about Dharma specifically?

Chara Rodriguera:
So a couple things. First of all, same thing, we're speaking the same language. My heart was, like illuminating when you were talking. I was getting chills because there's a number of reasons why I think. Um. Instead of living our vibrant, best life. So many people, including myself, as we talked about, are living in this place of anxiety and suffering or quiet desperation, as I think you mentioned. And when I was just reflecting on our show today, I wrote down four things that I think helped me and can help anybody move from that place of stress, anxiety, depression and struggling toward peace and authenticity and. That ever new joy that you mentioned and vibrancy. And so many times we're sort of looking at the external things thinking, well, it's because. My job is stressful. It's because this it's because I have this pain. And I'm not saying those things don't trigger stress, but there are some underlying really big things that we that I know I wasn't aware of. And they relate to our Dharma. That's why I'm bringing them up. So, number one. Is not being present. As I mentioned earlier, we're multitasking. We're externally focused. We're focused on everything we have to do and everything that seems like it's happening to us. So when we can cultivate present moment awareness, cultivate that self awareness and start to become more discerning and conscious, making better, more supportive choices. That is going to uplift our spirit and that is going to help us more and more align with our dharma. And I define Dharma as really being and living who we are created to be and doing and creating what we were made to do and create. When we're in alignment with that, when we make that our path. That's when we start living our best life. That's when we start feeling empowered. We start experiencing that vibrant life. So if we're not aware, we don't have that self awareness, we don't have that self compassion, that is an underlying cause of extreme stress no matter what's going on externally. So that was number one. Number two, which is directly related to what I just said, it's being in alignment or not being in alignment with our Dharma.

Chara Rodriguera:
And sometimes I'll use the metaphor, I'm a poet, so I use a lot of metaphors. If you were to imagine a rose seed inside that seed. Is the blueprint, the divine blueprint for that rose in its fullest expression. And if that seed is planted and nourished and given sunlight and lovingly given water. That seed is going to grow and grow and grow. It's going to go through different stages, but all along its path it is fulfilling its dharma. It's being what it was created to be. Imagine if that seed, as you said, was trying to be. An apple tree or some other kind of plant, it would be in constant struggle and stress. So the practices that you and I are talking about and the things that we've learned help to bring us into alignment with that dharma, who we are created to be, what we are created to do. If we're not in alignment, it doesn't matter what is going on externally. We are going to have this inner turmoil. Number three, moving from a consciousness of seeking to becoming. Trying to find love. Trying to become financially free. Trying to acquire. Material goods, looking for whatever it is outside of ourself. And trying to manipulate and control everything around us to bring us the peace we are seeking or the love we are seeking, or both, and moving into a state of being that love. Being that peace being that goodness and that compassion. And being the blessing. Being the light. Being a vessel. I love your word. The vessel, the instrument for something greater. So if we're in a constant seeking mode, constantly trying to fulfill from an external source, it's going to be constant stress. When you fill up on the inside and intentionally. Become those qualities. Then whatever ebbs and flows, whatever comes and goes. You have this inner sense of strength and peace, knowing you embody peace, you embody love, you embody the creative power. So you always have the ability to use your thoughts, words and actions, your responses, your choices in the direction you want to go. Number four, last one. And this probably is the biggest one.

Chara Rodriguera:
I believe. What caused? The incredible amount of anxiety, stress and depression in my spirit. Was not being aware of my divine nature and not being aware of my divine capacities. And not being aware of how to connect to my higher self and to the higher power. Knowing that I have universal support at all times. When you're disconnected from that. When you're disconnected from source, you feel lost. You feel frightened. You feel disempowered? And you are more a product of your conditioning. And like a false sense of self as opposed to your true divine self. And if I could summarize what I feel that my journey has led to and why I feel I'm truly here, it's to help people connect to their higher self and the higher power, their divine nature. Without that, no matter what you do externally, no matter how much money you have in the bank, no matter how beautiful your home is, no matter how many cars you have, there is going to be a feeling of disconnect. And the great thing is, if you are listening, you can learn to connect anywhere at any time 24 over seven so easily. It like we can do that during the show and then you will always have that no matter where you are, no matter what's going on. And with that, you have everything.

Daniel Aaron:
Wow. That is beautiful. Thank you. You're welcome. There's so much we could say about all of that. And you expressed it. Those four principles keys so beautifully. Would would it be a good Segway then, to go from that into a little bit of what you could share with us about breath to give an experience?

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes. So let's let's do an exercise together. It's my favorite thing. Thank you for that opportunity, Daniel. Yeah. So we're going to keep it super, super simple. The first thing we're going to do is just be comfortable in your space. Maybe you want to sit up tall, maybe you want to broaden your shoulders, maybe you want to take a little stretch. And then we're going to bring our attention to our hands. And you're just going to circle your wrists and move them gently. It said that how you do one thing. Is how you do everything. So unclench your fists. Gently stretch out your fingers and just flow a bit. You can circle them. Or if you want to go like hardcore spiritual and just make the shape of the infinity sign. Just nice and easy. And then we're going to bring our palms together. When you bring your palms together, it's called a mudra. Any hand position is called a mudra. And this particular one, Anjali mudra, helps to create a sense of balance and wholeness. So you bring your palms together, bring them right over your heart, your center point. And then we're going to do an exercise breath and movement. So on your inhale, let your arms stretch up overhead and out to the sides. Kind of like you're making the shape of a letter y for yes, yes to all good things. And on your exhale, bring your hands back to your heart. Inhale. Stretch up and out. Exhale back to your heart. I'm not even going to get technical with the breath today. Just nice and easy. Inhale. Exhale. One more time. And then the next time the arms stretch out, we're going to hold them out. And from your heart, you're going to just imagine light, light coming from your heart in all directions and out through your arms, out through your hands. You're going to look forward and up. We're doing a seated version of five Pointed Star. This pose can actually be done standing, too. We're doing it seated if you're sitting. If you want to do it standing, just separate your feet a little wider than hip distance apart and you take up space and you imagine light.

Chara Rodriguera:
Light in every direction like you are a star. Or better yet, a supernova. And this pose has been scientifically studied to lift your spirits, to lift your vibration. Do this before going into a meeting. I did it before this show. Do it before your interviews. Do it before you have an important conversation. Do it at the beginning of every day or whenever. You just need to realign with your divine self. Take one more inhale. And on your exhale, bring your hands back to your heart. Soften or close your eyes. Imagine taking your breath into your heart. Breath to your heart and maybe even through your heart. Bring more oxygen, more light, more love, more grace, more ease, more vibrancy. To you and your heart. To you and your light. To you and your path. And know that as you come back to the center point, you touch, you connect, you commune with your own higher self. Your own divinity. And we're going to breathe a few qualities. If you like these qualities, imagine breathing them in, you know, breathe in the quality of divine nobility. As you breathe. Sit tall. Breathe into that nobility. How about Divine Majesty? How about divine integrity? Infusion. I love Daniel's word. Just imagine infusing your breath with these qualities and infusing your heart, your mind, your body with these qualities. How about divine humility? Divine generosity. Divine sovereignty. Divine intentionality. And for today's show. Most importantly. Divine vibrancy. This is how we embody. The qualities of what we want to become. What we want to experience. Take a moment and if there's any other qualities that feel important to you, you get to decide this is your conscious choice. Breathe them in, breathe them through your heart. Through your mind. Through your body. And now knowing this is what the energy is, that you shine out, everything you touch is now illuminated with this higher vibration that you created in a matter of two minutes. And then to just close. We'll bow our head to our heart as a symbol of aligning our mind with our heart, aligning our mind with our dharma, our deepest, purest truth.

Chara Rodriguera:
Then you can bring your head back to neutral. Let your eyes open and notice if colors seem brighter. Notice if your heart feels lighter. That was two minutes. Imagine what we could do in an hour. Imagine what we can do in a day. Imagine what we can do in a lifetime when we're committed to living our most vibrant life.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. Thank you. Well, that's you. It's such a great. Testament to. Making a commitment when we say, you know what, I'm committed to living my highest potential, then then I have to find a step, then I do something about it. And even if it's two minutes, it makes such a huge difference. And from that commitment, I'll do it again. And so on that note, then, how. How can people find you best? What other ways can they be in touch with you and take advantage of your wisdom and generous spirit?

Chara Rodriguera:
Thank you for that. I would love to support anybody who's listening in a number of ways. I'd love to invite you to Soul Path Yoga or my Life programs. I invite you to just give me a call and we can connect and chat and see what's best for you. My website is WW w three ws dot kare-tv like television and really that's the best place. All my social media links are there. My YouTube channel is there, my offerings are there, my contact information is there. And there's also a life changing complimentary gift for you there, which is a meditation entitled Breathe and Let the Magic Begin. That would be an amazing first step.

Daniel Aaron:
Beautiful. That's great. Thank you. And speaking of free gift, you kindly offered something special for our audience today. Do you want to say anything about that?

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes, yes, yes, yes. So wherever you are in the world, you can do Soul path yoga with me virtually. I do a weekly class that's recorded. And so wherever you are, you can do this class, you can show up live or just do the recording anytime you wish. When you register for classes, you own those classes, and if you choose to become a subscriber, you get the entire database. It's years of these amazingly inspirational, gentle, nourishing soul path yoga classes, so I would love to offer that to you and start you out with five classes as my gift to you. And if that sounds good, just send me an email and I'll send you a link for five classes. And another option, if you're like, You know what, I I'm not so much of a Yogi, or maybe you have an injury and just that practice isn't resonating with you right now. And but you want to spend time together. You want to do what I call a soul path session where we'll talk either over the phone or on Zoom. And I will spend a whole half hour with you and we will make sure by the end of that call you have some wonderful. Yes. Action steps, inspired steps that you're really excited to take. So that's another option. Either way, just go to WW Wsyr-tv, send me an email and let me know what gift you'd like and it's yours.

Daniel Aaron:
That is so generous, so cool. So go to Shatta's website, charter.tv and they can contact you directly through there. Yeah. Yes, perfect. All right. Well, here is the most depressing news of the entire day. We're almost out of time. Holy moly. So it's time for the final question to you. The big question, would it be okay that I ask you the big question?

Chara Rodriguera:
Yes.

Daniel Aaron:
Now, this is ridiculously impossible because you have so much wisdom. You've already shared so much today. And if you had the impossible task of boiling it all down to one thing, one thing you would advise people that they can do or not do in order to create their most vibrant, thriving life. What would be that one thing?

Chara Rodriguera:
Well. I want to say email me. That would be the first thing. But I have a feeling. That that wasn't what you were thinking of. So I will say this. You mentioned Rumi, and I'm a big fan of the Sufi poets. And there is a quote by Hafez. So I'm going to share this quote with you. And I'm going to guess if you are here today, maybe this not maybe this quote will have an impact. It changed my life. And it it says, how do we. Untie the knot of the minds suffering. Darling, be great. And in this case, we could say be vibrant. Your version of vibrant, your version of great in any situation, be great. Be your kindest, most respectful, most wise, most loving self no matter what is going on. Be great. Be your most vibrant self.

Daniel Aaron:
Well, that is awesome. I love that. It's. It's so simple and so true and so powerful. And what I love about that is everybody has access to that immediately. Hafez is absolutely one of my favorite poets as well. And soon enough when we'll be talking about Rumi and Hafez, we'll be talking about Chara and her poetry. Right. In the same book, Lament that we didn't get to talk more about the poet aspect of you, although we got to experience the poets that you are here. So Chara, what an awesome honor and privilege for me to have this time with you and for you to grace our audience with your, your beautiful bright spirit and all your wisdom. Thank you so much for being here.

Chara Rodriguera:
It's my honor. It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. And thank you to everyone who tuned in today. It's been such a gift to connect with you. And I wish you the best, best, best, most vibrant life.

Daniel Aaron:
Yes. Awesome. All right. So, my friends, thank you for tuning in again live or by rebroadcast? Definitely take care up. Send her an email. You've got some gifts waiting for you there. And my huge thanks to you for not just being interested in vibrant living. The fact that you've invested this time in yourself, upgrading your knowledge in these practices means you are one of the few that's really doing something about it. And again, that counts. That's important. That makes a difference in the world. I really appreciate you and I look forward to next week. Next show. We have some great stuff coming up. See you soon, y'all. Aloha. Mahalo for tuning in to the art of Vibrant Living show, y'all. I'm Daniel Aaron and may you live with great vibrancy.

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