Melyssa
Hello!

Sahara Rose
Hi, how are you?

Melyssa
I’m good. How are you?

Sahara Rose
Good. I’ve been loving your curly hair tutorial thing. I feel like my hair is more like wavy, but it’s also like if I just don’t do anything with it. It’s nothing. And I feel like it’s because I haven’t been like, you know, doing all the curl conditioning stuff like it could have more of a defined wave. So thanks for all the information.

Melyssa
Oh, you’re so welcome. And by the way, your place is so cute. I love all the things that you’ve been doing lately.

Sahara Rose
Uh, thank you. Yeah, I mean, it feels so good being here because we have so much more space. So like before, it was like, I have a one table. I ate there. I exercised there. I podcast there. I like live my life on this one table. And now I’m like, I have an office and like space to like, you know, kind of like make it as to how I am now. I feel like we just like end up holding on to things from our home from like, before that we just like hold on to so I’m like, like, I’m rebranding myself starting with my home. So bringing along like, I love like, just like the earthy African Elements. So there’s a lot of that happening.

Melyssa
Yeah, I love the jungle feel, too. There’s so many plants.

Sahara Rose
Yeah. And how are you feeling too with your loss?

Melyssa
Oh, thank you. I’m feeling a lot of peace now. It’s been a couple of weeks. And I just, I really just feel His Spirit so much. It’s given me such a different perspective on death itself. So I’m feeling so much different than I ever expected to feel after losing him. So

Sahara Rose
It’s hard. Yeah. It’s like who designed this? Why did they have 10 lives? Like, it’s just really like, give us this incredible heart based connection and be in that present moment experience without holding on.

Melyssa
Yes, yeah, it’s teaching me so much about just what does that even mean and how to cherish life in a different way, too. Using death as an expansion instead of an ending. So yeah, I feel like kind of this new deep interest in learning more about death from more perspectives, too, because it just seems like this thing that we’re also afraid of, but actually has so many gifts inside of it, and it’s piqued something in me. So still exploring that.

Sahara Rose
Yeah. Have you looked into death doula ship?

Melyssa
No.

Sahara Rose
I have a friend – two friends who are death doulas, so they actually help people with the transitioning into death and how to clear on anything that you’re holding on to to allow yourself also to let go some are medium Some are just more like just like helping you but in March my mom and brother got Coronavirus and for my mama was really bad so and my dad is like more elders almost seven years old. So I thought that he would probably die because in March everyone was like if you get Coronavirus, you will die. So I really went down the death… It’s like you can’t really fully understand spirituality without going into that rabbit hole. It’s really creates the completions what Tantra is all about as well. So yeah, I really recommend death doula ship, the Tibetan Book of the Dead has a lot of really great practices for honoring the deceased, and Tantra as well as really all about death.

Melyssa
Oh, I didn’t know that about Tantra. Actually. That’s

Sahara Rose
Oh, yeah. It’s like people think it’s sex. It’s really death.

Melyssa
Yeah, okay. Yeah. I’ve written all those down. Love this on a death doula ship to that’s really, really interesting. Thank you.

Sahara Rose
Yeah, I can connect you with my friend Jess, her Instagram is @thedeath.empath. And she’s just a great resource on all things death, but like [inaudible] light to it.

Melyssa
Oh, cool. I can’t wait. Check it out. Thank you. Yeah. Awesome. And by the way, I was reading through your book this morning, and it is so fucking good. It really is.

Sahara Rose
Thank you. I mean, it’s like, you know, have you written a book before? Have you done that?

Melyssa
No, I’m just starting the process now.

Sahara Rose
Okay. And it’s, you go through so many waves, but it’s like, right before it comes out. You’re like, “Oh, this was so much work. Why’d I do this? Like, it’s not the pre orders suck. Like, this sucks. That sucks.” And then I’m slowly hearing people reading the book and they’re like, “I really like this.” I’m like, “They like it!” But you’re not at the point that you’re getting feedback. So it’s just like, all of the work and nothing has come out of it yet.

Melyssa
Right. And I hear the work takes like two years to from start to finish to

Sahara Rose
Yeah, April of 2018. Or 2018. Yeah. 2019. So like, almost two years ago now was when I got the book deal.

Melyssa
That’s it’s a long time coming to just process. Yeah, I like it, though.

Sahara Rose
I’m so glad that I wrote it. And I’m like, “Okay, I’m gonna pause for a little bit,” because before I was just like – every year, write a new book. And now with this one, it’s just so much more of me and my story and stuff in there. That it’s harder than like writing a book on like ayurveda or concepts that already kind of exist that you’re adding your own spin to it. This is my own thoughts and my own story, so it’s much more difficult to share.

Melyssa
I bet. It’s very personal and vulnerable. So, I would love to hear more about that process of really discovering ayurveda and why it felt like a necessity at the time because you were going through this really deep period of healing and finding healing. So I would love if you could talk about that.

Sahara Rose
Growing up, I was an unhealthy kid. I was addicted to all the junk food and my mom would really try to give me healthy food, herbs, spices, etc. and, to me, it made me feel like an other. I just wanted to fit into the other “white kids who ate Lunchables and had their mac and cheese” and my food smelled bad, and they would make fun of it. I obviously look different, I didn’t even speak English when I started school, so the one thing that I could do was to figure out how I could eat like everyone else, because it’s one way that I could kind of buy my way into fitting into American culture. My mom was a refugee and my dad was an immigrant. So, coming to this country, there was still a lot of trauma that was there and it was more so just focused on that survival piece.

Sahara Rose
So, I ate a lot of junk food growing up which led to me having really bad asthma as a kid. Not being able to play outside because I would just get an asthma attack. I spent so many Mother’s Days in the emergency room, because it was the peak of the pollen season then. When I was in high school college, I became more interested in how to heal myself. Just learning about baseline nutrition, or whatever you can see in Cosmo magazine. I was like, “Okay, I’m just gonna eat salads, I’m just going to eat this.”

Sahara Rose
I started to actually feel better because I wasn’t eating all of that junk food, but I went into this more raw vegan way. Raw veganism to me, at the time, it made sense. If eating all the junk food is not good for you, then just eating raw food must be the best. And at the beginning, I felt really good. But after about eight months in, my body started to really shut down. At first, it was digestive issues – not being able to eat any food without being in severe pain. It was also feeling really dizzy all the time. Then I was losing a lot of weight and losing a lot of hair. I wasn’t getting my period, another year passed, and another year passed, I wasn’t getting my period. By then, I was going to different doctors to try to figure out what was going on. And they were like, “You don’t have any hormones in your body. Your body has gone into perimenopause,” and I was 21 years old.

Sahara Rose
So you know, with perimenopause, you have all of the symptoms as a menopausal woman, except when you get osteoporosis symptoms that young, you’re not gonna be able to walk by the time that you are older. Definitely never going to be able to have a child. Doctors just kept prescribing me different medications like antidepressants for my digestion and hormone replacement therapy and all of these different medications all which would contradict each other. And I just knew, intuitively, that there has to be a root cause to this, there has to be a deeper way of how I can heal myself. But I couldn’t figure it out. And that’s when I began my own journey of healing and trying to understand everything I could about different ancient health systems which brought me you know, back to ayurveda and kind of the same things my mom would tell me but looking at it now from this lens of these three different doshas and these archetypes and seeing myself so fully in one of the archetypes which was Vaca.

Sahara Rose
All of the symptoms that I had, from bloating, gas, constipation, amenorrhea, anxiety, insomnia – all of these things were related to one archetype. And I was like, what? I’m not this crazy, broken, fucked up thing. It’s all related to this one imbalance? Why hasn’t anyone told me this before? So I just want to learn everything I could about it and I started to research more and more and see that it was so much more than just my physical and even mental symptoms, but who I was on a deeper level was being described by this archetype. These people are creative, they’re idealistic, they love to travel, they think outside the box, they’re always on the move. They see the big picture perspective. I was like, “This is literally my autobiography right here in this dosha!”

Sahara Rose
So I feel like every healer first needed the healing themselves. It felt like relearning the language that my soul once learned and there were a lot of things in ayurveda that didn’t make sense to me from today’s lens and wanting to find a way to balance it with our modern busy lifestyles and the way that our food system has changed and wanting to be plant based ayurveda being really heavy with dairy products. It was also a journey of finding my way with it. I ended up studying ayurveda in India for two years becoming an Ayurvedic practitioner, and then naturally wanting to share that with other people knowing that so many people who are young girls like me had all of the same symptoms. It’s actually crazy how many young women aren’t getting their periods at all. So when I wanted to share this, that was when my parents were like, No, no, no. You can’t have a career doing this. This is a hobby. You’re not going to make money doing this. That really began my process of really finding my Dharma, finding my truth and wanting to share something so deeply, but also not knowing if it made sense, not knowing if I was really going to become a starving artist or homeless or a failure, like they would tell me I was. It was, in those years that I was really cultivating the courage and strength and embodiment all of the other areas that I needed to fully come into balance and now so much of what I do is looking at your purpose, from an ayurvedic lens, seeing it in relation to these different archetypes, and seeing the physical symptoms in your body as cues of what deeper is going on. And how your body is the manifestation of that and sharing that with you physically. So it’s not like your body’s out against you, it’s actually telling you exactly where to focus on. But the deeper reason of why is not just so you have like perfect digestion. It’s so you can use your health to live your purpose.

Melyssa
Wow, so beautifully said and there’s something you said about the doshas that I thought was really poetic. That you were relearning the language that your soul once knew. I love that. It’s really beautiful thinking about and I actually would love in a second for you to share what a dosha is for anybody who doesn’t know that word yet. But it is beautiful to think about once we discover this archetype of who we are, what our soul is, and how that actually can play into our dominant purpose and how we show up in the world and even heal yourself. You healed yourself physically, and such a dramatic way, too, because you had a lot of really gnarly symptoms that seem like you’re getting all these prescriptions and all the things and I mean, I’ve always really this holistic way that you can approach it too. So I guess for anybody who doesn’t know what a dosha is, could you describe what that is and share about the different ones that there are?

Sahara Rose
The word dosha means energy. They’re essentially the three main energy types or archetypes in ayurveda. Ayurveda is the world’s oldest health system, and it’s the sister of yoga based on the mind, body, connection. So, yoga really is a practice to yoke to become one with spirit. That’s really what it’s about. And ayurveda was like, “Okay, how are you going to become one with your highest self when you have a stomachache, and you’re anxious, and you have all of these physical and mental imbalances? You must get your physical and mental bodies in balance, so you can then transcend into who it is that you’re meant to be.” So they were really always meant to be practiced hand in hand, it’s just our modern world has kind of forgotten about the other aspects of it. And now we are collectively remembering.

Sahara Rose
Ayurveda really helps us see that our bodies are a reflection of the earth around us, and it sees it in the lens of these three doshas. To make it easy, I’ll just say the main element of each dosha. The Vata is the air type. When I say Vata just think air and qualities of the air. So if someone has a lot of air in their mind, they’re moving around, they’re coming up with ideas, the air, you can’t predict which direction it’s going to go to, it’s volatile, maybe. It’s something that can’t really be confined. You’re going to be creative, idealistic, think outside the box, visionary qualities. The shadow side of that is sometimes your thoughts can circle around and become a tornado. That’s the overwhelm, the overthinking, the anxiety, the panic. these are all kind of the shadow elements of what can happen when there’s too much, now, of that Vata archetype. In the body, also qualities of air: bloating, gas, constipation, feeling cold all the time, dry skin, not getting your period. These are all qualities of cold, dry air. So every aspect of your body is going to show it in its unique way. But it’s all related to this archetype of Vata air energy.

Sahara Rose
Now, the Pitta is fire. If someone has a really fiery mind, they’re fierce, they get what they want, they’re goal oriented, they’re ambitious. They set something up for themselves and they will do all of the steps needed to get there. That fiery person we can think about, that fire is the energy of transformation. They’ll take the idea and get it off the ground. They’ll say, “Hey, we’re going to do this thing. What are all of the steps for us to get there?” That’s really what that Pitta personality is like. It has more of a bit of a masculine energy to it. It’s action oriented. When that’s in the mind, you’re going to be someone who is very goal oriented and ambitious, but the shadow side of that when there’s too much fire, is you get impatient and you snap and sometimes life doesn’t go your way and that anger can really boil up in you like a volcano. So feeling like a hot headed person. That’s that Pitta energy and we can like think of the cartoon with like fire coming out of his head, like that’s Pitta. And then in the body, qualities of heat: acidity, heart burn, your heart is literally burning hot and bothered – like when you’re sweating at night, you’re just fucking irritated. Just feeling like you’re a really sweaty person, like you need the AC on all the time. Otherwise you get just bothered and frustrated. Just that feeling like your body is about to like burst out so physically that can manifest in the skin like rashes, hives, any type of like inflammation in the body is going to be related to excess Pitta or fire. So, a little example of that was when I was writing my first book, Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, I wanted to become a Pitta. I was like, “I want to be that type of person who sets a goal and does it. I don’t know what that’s like.” So I was listening to all the Gary Vee, I was going to a boxing class, hot yoga. I don’t even like spicy food. I was drinking all this soup, ginger soup to try to make myself hot, coffee. And then my body broke out into hives everywhere. And it was like, “No girl, you cannot handle this. This is not you.” Whereas, you know, a Gary Vee, that’s actually him being him. We’re not meant to shift into another dosha that we’re not. We’re meant to just have them into balance.

Sahara Rose
And then the third one is the Kapha, which is the earth energy. If we think about the earth – the Earth is slow moving, it is restorative, it’s nourishing, it gives, it’s grounded, anchored. So that’s what Kapha people will feel like. They’re calm, they’re peaceful. They just have a really soothing energy to them. They tend to talk more slow and just really just feel and ground and make a lot of eye contact. And sometimes it can feel really soothing and, “Oh, I need more of that.” And sometimes it can be like, “Oh my God, you’re so slow, like talk faster.” So, like Eckhart Tolle. I don’t know if you’ve ever gone to an Eckhart Tolle talk, but I mean, there were more pauses and there were words. And you either were like, “This is the best thing ever!” or “What the hell was that?” And that’s that Kapha – it is so grounded and so anchored. But that’s like an extreme example. Oprah energy is very Kapha. It’s a nurturing, it listens. It’s that coach. One of the archetypes I give it in the book is “The Nurturer.” The person to really sit with you and hold space and listen. So, the shadow aspect of that could be lack of boundaries, of feeling like you want to help everyone, hold space for everyone and not feeling like you can voice what’s going on with yourself. And then the body that leads to, again, Earth: heaviness, feeling stuck, feeling lethargic, like you’re gaining a lot of weight, you don’t have energy to exercise, you don’t have energy to get your email funnel going, you’re like, “That feels like a lot and I just, I just feel like I don’t have it in me.” And it’s just a feeling of stagnancy when it gets excess. And because Kapha’s often are taking in so much energy from other people, because they can’t give it out, they often end up emotional eating, because they’re needing to get the energy in from somewhere else. So oftentimes, Kaphas will have emotional eating, which leads to further weight gain, which leads to them feeling less likely to exercise or try new things and it creates this cycle that the cost of energy continues to build.

Sahara Rose
I love to look at these Doshas in terms of how it is related to your purpose, because so many people are like, “Oh, I want to be the other one,” or “I’m not sure which one I am,” and we’re all all three but in varying amounts, but you can look at which ones I’m the highest in, which is the one that maybe I am feeling a bit less of and how I can use these Doshas in relation to my purpose. Which one do you feel like you’re the most related to?

Melyssa
I was listening to your descriptions. I think I’m most Vata, but I also have Kapha, as well.

Sahara Rose
I feel a Kapha energy from you.

Melyssa
Thinking more about like the expression of it and the physical manifestations, I definitely relate more to Vata, but I do have that calm, peaceful energy, too.

Sahara Rose
Totally. Yes. And it can totally be related to how you show up. If you’re doing this podcast and listening and just like the nature in which you’re doing so, it’s really like, you’re here to listen, you’re here to dive deep, you’re here to ask the questions. Whereas like a super Pitta podcast may be like, “Hey, let’s get all these systems like out and going.” And there’s beauty to all of them and we need all of them.

Melyssa
Exactly. I was looking inside your book too. There’s like the combination of two of them were Vata Kapha is like the coach, the person who likes to be with people in a really intimate capacity, but also guiding them and now it’s like, just feels exactly like me. So yeah, totally get that. And what’s your Dosha by the way? I think I know what it is…

Sahara Rose
What do you think it is?

Melyssa
Well, I think I know what it is because I read it in the book, but are you Vata? Vata Pitta, I think…

Sahara Rose
Vata Pitta. I definitely have some qualities of Kava but it’s like I gotta tell myself to rest. It’s not like my go to of like, “Oh, I could just watch Netflix all day.” Like I actually sometimes wish I could do that, but I can’t because my Vata’s just like “Idea!” and my Pitta is like, “Go do the idea!” So for me my work comes into the sitting in the Kapha. But before I really began this journey, I was so Vata. My imbalances were all Vata, that I needed to get more Pitta. And then once I cultivated more of that, I found my balance and realize that I do have the side of me that does want to create and get things off the ground and be an entrepreneur. And it’s not like the main thing that I’m here to lead with.

Melyssa
Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Okay, so I actually have another question. Do you feel like because they are all earth elements that they relate to our astrological signs? Is that something or is it not really related?

Sahara Rose
Yeah, yeah, I just did a podcast episode on Finding your Dharma with Vedic Astrology. So, Vedic Astrology – Jyotish – is the sister science of Ayurveda, yoga, all of these principles. So it’s a different system. It’s based off the sidereal system, which is based off of where the planets actually are in the skies. So if you don’t really know the difference, but back in the times of Vedic astrology, which were the times that the original forms of astrology were created in Africa, as well, they accounted for the earth shift and it’s access, which shifts a tiny bit every single year, whereas in western astrology, created in the Greek times about 2000 years ago, they did not know about this. So when those Greeks were attributing where the planets are in the skies and the constellations since then it’s shifted 24 degrees. So that’s why it’s about one sign off for every person. So not saying that Western astrology is wrong, it can still help you in many different ways. It’s very season related, harvest related so it can really help you in those types of things. But for me, learning about my Vedic Astrology sign was like, “Oh, this makes sense.” And now I can dabble in both, but you can actually find the main doshas you are in, the Dharma, all of that with your Vedic Astrology.

Melyssa
Hmm, interesting. Okay. Yeah, I’ve looked that up before. And I feel like it didn’t seem very accurate. I’ll have to look it up again and do some more digging. So once you know your dosha how does that play into discovering your Dharma?

Sahara Rose
I like to look at any Dharma through the lens of all three doshas. So we all need all three. The Vata is the idea, it’s the big picture. It’s like when you’re walking down the street, and you’re like, “Oh, my goddess, I need to sell my crystals online and do it in this specific way, and infuse them with Reiki,” that’s your idea. So you could further break it down into “That’s the crown chakra.” This idea is landing through you. Then you begin to intuit it – third eye. Is this for me? Is it not for me? Is it for me now? Is it for me in 10 years from now, because sometimes we get an idea that’s for us, like way later down. So you begin to think of it – you know, what would the branding be? What would it look like? How would it show up? What are my experience[s] I can bring to the table, because essential concept is that no ideas come from you, they come through you. they landed in you because you are one of the ideal people who can bring it to manifestation. But that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily the only one, you’re going to bring it in through your unique lens should you choose to do it.

Sahara Rose
So it’s this concept that these ideas are going to exist, they are meant to happen, they are meant to come through to humanity. And they’re going to land upon the people who have the right archetypes and the experiences etc, to bring it to life. But again, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to or you’re even supposed to with every single idea that comes to you. So that’s why, you know, it’s interesting, because patents in different parts of the country are often filed at the exact same time by totally unrelated people, because that same download came through. So when people hear someone say, “I got a download,” that’s essentially what they’re referring to, and the idea drops down through them. So it drops down through your crown, you Intuit it through your third eye, and then you speak it. Maybe you write down your business plan, or you record yourself a voice note of you talking about it or you tell your friend about it. Now you’re giving it some context, you’re actually bringing it to life, you’re like, “Wow, this is possible for me.” And from that place of voicing it, the excitement builds. And that’s when you’re thinking about, “Wow, all of the people whose lives I could touch. All of the people who, you know, might need this, or could shift the entire trajectories of your life if they had this.” And then that passion begins to build and that’s like the ignition. You know, sometimes we’re like, “Why can’t I do other things?” but that heart needs to be turned on to ignite that fire.

Sahara Rose
And then when you’re so passionate about something, you can’t help, but to do it. And that’s when it’s like vomiting through you. You’re like, “I need to do this thing! It’s pouring, it’s oozing out of my cells!” And that’s the solar plexus and that’s the doing of it. And I think that sometimes with spirituality, we tried to like, “Oh, I just want to like manifest it, not do it.” And it’s like, no, this is like that process of the Pitta. Now it’s the energy, it’s the transformation. It’s the digestion, the assimilation. So this is when you’re actually full on, you’re writing your book, you’re getting your business off the ground, you’re working that job, you’re doing the damn thing.

Sahara Rose
So in this process, you know, so much comes to life. And it’s not the final step. We often get stuck there, we’re like, “Great, I have the job now, I should just keep doing it like this forever.” And then we can feel it’s no longer in alignment with us. But we keep holding on. “I worked so hard for this, I wanted this so bad, at some point, what’s wrong with me?” But you fundamentally shift so much as a person from this Vata to this Pitta stage, that there’s a next rendition of you waiting to come alive, but it takes you to now move into the sacral chakra, which is that pause, the stepping away. The seeing things from a bird’s eye perspective, maybe you go on vacation, maybe you just take some time off. I know you took a while off your work, maybe like last year or something. But it’s that stepping away of “Look, I have this business off the ground, I have clients, I have customers, it’s full on in the Pitta, but I’m trusting right now that something within me is telling me to step away because there’s a higher evolution waiting to come through.” And that’s that Sacral Chakra stage of finding your creativity and it finding your joy again in it. And then it’s from that stage, it lands into the root. And that’s when it becomes something greater than you. It bursts into a movement, it takes its own legs. And that may mean you’re stepping away from that thing that you just birthed. It may mean, “I just created this project and now it’s someone else’s Dharma to manage it or to take it to its next version,” or from that birthing, you may end up in the crown state again, of channeling a new vision forth and it continues to upgrade. So I love to break it down into these steps: Vata – idea, Pitta – execution, Kapha – reevaluation. It really helps you wherever you are in any project that you’re doing, “What stage am I in? What comes next?” And using that as a compass to continue to shift your energy with.

Melyssa
I had never thought about birthing an idea through the chakras. But I love thinking of it in that way. It makes so much sense.

Sahara Rose
There’s a whole chapter in the book that like breaks it down further, like practices and all the things

Melyssa
Oh, amazing. Okay. So in that case, so I really like thinking about birthing an idea in this way. In that case, if somebody has a block in a certain chakra, or they’re not connected to it, would that inhibit them from being able to birth an authentic idea?

Sahara Rose
Yes. So every chakra is a wheel of energy in the body, and it represents something that’s both psychological and somatic. So it’s both. And they can also be in excess or depleted. When there’s excess, there’s too much energy there and when it’s depleted, there’s not enough. For example, someone that has excess Solar Plexus energy, that’s the energy of doing, they’re just gonna want to keep do, do, do, do, do. They’re burning themselves out, they’re fully holding on to the fire, but they’re like, “I just got to keep doing,” because that energy is in excess.

Sahara Rose
Someone who has depleted with may feel like I’m never ready to do. They may just like never get themselves to take action, because they’re afraid. So those are both the two ends of the imbalance.

Sahara Rose
With the heart energy, if it’s excess, you may, “I just want to help everyone, I just want to be there. And I just want to support and I don’t know, like, everyone’s calling me in different directions, and I don’t know what to do.” And then when it’s closed up, it’s, yeah, “Fuck everyone else, I don’t really care what they need, like, I’m just going to do what I want to do.” And it’s just feels disassociated from the people that your Dharma is always meant to help other people. So it could be that disassociation.

Sahara Rose
The throat, if it’s excess, it could be the moment you have an idea, you call all five of your friends and tell them and, “Do you think this is a good idea, and you think we should do it?” And then, what can often happen is, depending on who you have around you, not everyone is the right person for you to tell your ideas with, especially when they’re still in their infancies. You know, we all have those people in our lives who are really great at finding all the flaws in an idea. And that could be great when the idea is off the ground to find the little holes that you may have been missing. But when you’re like nurturing this new thing that’s like still so precious, it’s this newborn, and you tell all these different people and they’re like, “Hey, I don’t really think that could work,” or “Yeah, it’s not a good use of your time or whatever,” that can actually prevent you from doing it. So that excess Throat Chakra energy, may be just the oversharing, not really sitting with it. And then the depleted is an inability to share it. An inability to put it on paper like that feeling of speakers block or writer’s block. So I mean, every single one has a manifestation of excess or diminish and you can actually do healing work on that chakra to bring it into balance.

Melyssa
I love that. So for anybody listening, if they have an idea, and they’re like, why isn’t it coming into fruition, yet? It’s like looking at…

Sahara Rose
Where is it? Yes, exactly. And I’m all about finding the nuances and the archetypes and the different ways. Because there’s really not a one size fits all. The reason why two different people aren’t living there Dharmas could be different chakras, different Doshas, like so many different factors. And that’s why it’s so important to realize, like all of this has so many textures and layers and versions. And the more and more you get to know about yourself, the more you can actually pinpoint where your unique healing is.

Melyssa
I think that’s why I was so impressed by your book, because I feel like it encompasses all of those things, but not in an overwhelming way, like you touch on everything and explain it really easily, but it doesn’t feel like, “Holy crap, I have to learn like all these different systems, and I’m so confused.” It’s really beautifully done. Definitely get her book to learn more about all of these different modalities and how to use them. And there’s something that you said earlier, too, about how you might get an idea and it will get the download. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re meant to do it right now. I think it’s actually such a beautiful point for people to take in, because we often will get an idea. And we’re like, “Well, I have to do it right now because there’s no other time in the world that I’m able to do it,” but actually, maybe you could give yourself some grace and some patience and see the full manifestation of your life instead of just thinking of it as right now.

Sahara Rose
Sometimes it’s something that you know is coming for you, but you need experiences to get there first. So, you know, your Dharma, every single person was born with a Dharma, everyone was born with a purpose. And your Dharma is really that overarching why. It’s the big reason why you’re here and it’s so much more than just one career, or one role, or one project or one job. But really, it’s the expression of who you are. It’s the frequency in which you carry through everything it is that you do. So it’s more so “how” you do than “what” you do. So it’s just that Melyssa energy that you can bring to your clients, or to your interior design, or to your friends and family, but it’s your unique essence. And it’s not something that’s outside of yourself, either. I think a lot of people are like, “I need to find my purpose, like, Where is it? Where are you?” It’s not like this… I thought so too. It’s like, “Where will I find it?” I would like ask everyone I’m like, “Do you know what my purpose is?” That’s how they make it feel. But really, it’s more like your purpose is your naked self. But we’ve grown up putting on a hat and a shawl, and a jacket, and socks, and pants, and all of these things, all of these layers, which are societal conditioning, limiting beliefs, family blocks, trauma, like all of these different things that we hold on to. And then we think that this is me, this must be just who I am this giant thing And who’s this purpose. So the more we can take off the hat and take off the socks and take off one layer and the next, the more we can decondition let go on Ravel, the more we naturally step into who it is we already are. And that’s what our Dharma is.

Melyssa
That’s beautiful and you mentioned, too, the frequency of how you do something or how you carry yourself in the world. I know in the book you talked about, are you a even a vibrational match for your Dharma? Can you talk more about that? I think that’s really interesting.

Sahara Rose
One thing I really found were people, they really wanted to find this purpose. Like, “Why haven’t I found this big why or this reason, I don’t feel the same passion that so many others do?” And then you look at how they’re showing up in terms of their own thoughts, their relationship with themselves, their relationship with people around them. And it’s oftentimes not in a vibrational match with that very thing it is that they want. So if you’re showing up in your life thinking that, you know, everyone is out to get me or everyone’s going to take my best ideas, or I’m not good enough for whatever it is that you look like that’s the frequency in which you’re going to carry and moving into alignment with your Dharma is probably going to require you to get into the highest vibration you’ve ever felt. And what that means is looking at those shadows, looking at those limiting beliefs and undoing them.

Sahara Rose
So I think a lot of people think it’s this ladder, like “I got to ascend, I got to like move up this ladder like into the 5D,” and it’s more so a further embodiment. It’s a further remembering, a further grounding and the more that you can go inwards, the more naturally the world around you is going to shift because you’ll find, “I can no longer have these types of friendships with people because it’s taking me away from my purpose or be in this relationship or live in this home,” or whatever it is that you look like. And slowly, all of these things that were not in alignment will shift, which will naturally bring up your frequency allow you to see more clearly and become more of a match for this Dharma.

Melyssa
I like that you mentioned embodiment, because I feel like so much of like you were saying with finding your purpose, that it’s something outside of yourself, or that ascending to the 5D is also something outside of yourself that you’re looking for. And what you’re saying is really just it’s about going deep within and discovering who you are, when you take off all those layers that you were talking about, and being that person and being in that frequency.

Sahara Rose
Yeah, which is often you know, the most counterintuitive thing because we’ve grown up in the school system that tells us, “Okay, you got to do kindergarten to grade 12, and then go to college, and then get this job. And here’s the linear progression for you to become worthy enough of sharing your ideas and your truth and for you to matter.” So we just think everything in life must be like this, it must always be hierarchial, when really, it’s more of a spiral. And I like to think of this spiral, like your Dharma being the center, but it’s like, it kind of never really ends. So you have an understanding of, you know, your childhood, and maybe relationships, etc. You continue, and then you go back to those exact same things, but with a further deepening, and then you come back with a further deepening, and you come back and it never ends, like you’re always going to be healing, you’re always going to be unraveling, you’re always going to be having new insights. Because there’s so much depth to the truth of your soul and who you are, you’ll never be able to – in your human mind – be consciously able to understand it. So instead of waiting until Okay, just if I can get my Dharma, then I’m done. See it like a mountain range that you get to one peak. And then there’s another and there’s another and there’s another and it’s that journey of consistently embodying who you are at this given moment. That is your Dharma.

Melyssa
I fucking love the spiral. That is so awesome. Yeah. And it’s so beautiful, too. Because thinking about it in terms of this hierarchy of like, you progress and you get better and better. It does this almost disservice to all the experiences you’ve had in your past, it feels like the spiral is an honoring of everything that you’ve experienced, and like you said, a deepening, too, and growth. I love that.

Sahara Rose
Totally. And it just lets us see that it’s not about this like one time journey or like a 123 dharma. It’s just a constant remembering of “Who am I right now? What feels in alignment? And how can I further shift to do that?” And one framework I have in the book, like when I was writing the book, I’m like, “How can I help every single person read this book find their Dharma? Like, how can I do this?” And I came up with these stages. And again, these stages are also not linear, but I think it really can help people see maybe where they’re at right now. And I’ve gone through all of these. And again, you can recycle them too. But that stage one is just the realization of, there’s some level of self awareness that something needs to change, right? Like, I see the way my life is going. Something needs to change. I don’t want to continue this. And again, not everyone even has that. But a lot I’m sure a lot of people listening to this have felt like okay, something is going to have to, you know, shift.

Sahara Rose
That stage two comes from the self improvement. How can I make myself better? How can I have less deconstructive thoughts or focus on my fitness schools or do self improvement work self help motivational speakers like the Tony Robbins seminars, all of these things like that are really focused on self improvement. This is a necessary step to work on the mind to work on the body. Like for me, the ayurveda, healing my physical body, it was so necessary, I couldn’t be doing this work if I was still sick, right? But from that place of self improvement, you reach this point that you realize that you’re not even a self to be improved, right? You’re not your mind, you’re not your body and nothing’s wrong with you. And the focus shifts from improving yourself to knowing yourself. And that it’s like, Wait, who am I like, what are my archetypes like? What am I gifted at? Like, who am I on this deeper soul level? And this is where it’s the spiritual awakening, which you know, sometimes I’m like, that can make it feel like it has to be this huge awakening moment. And it’s not. Sometimes it’s just this progression of “Hey, my interests are shifting, or maybe the reason why I’m meditating now is not to just like not be so anxious, but it’s also to feel the void within me, or the reason why I’m doing my fitness goals is just so I can feel more connected to my body,” and these little reasonings behind our why begin to shift and this is often when people want to learn about astrology and healing and Reiki and shamanism and all of these different practices. It can feel like a really lonely time for people. Because they might be the only people they know interested in this stuff. They may feel like they’re going crazy. Or having these, you know, people call it like Ascension symptoms or different things. Basically, it means that the world around you is no longer what you thought it was. And that can be really heavy. And you know, for myself when I was going through this in my early 20s, it was like this anger of like, “How am I gonna live in this world? Like, we’re just in a box all the time, our cars are a box, our cubicles are a box? Like what is this?” and it can feel really like me against the world and how am I going to live in this and like, I need to get out of here, right?

Sahara Rose
Then from this place, we find our practices. We find what serves us. We find maybe it is Buddhism for you, or yoga or shamanism, maybe it’s breath work, sound bath – you find the things that help you, your practices, your lineage, your frameworks, whatever that is, and you learn to be more at peace with the world around you. It’s no longer you against the world. But you’re like, “Hey, I can definitely see the world needs a lot of healing. And I’m able to still be a part of it.” So at this point, you feel a bit more grounded in who you are – a spiritual being having a human experience. But you may feel like you’re living a double life at this stage of you know who I am in my work day, and then who I am outside of it. And sometimes there can be a disconnect, depending on what it is that you do. Most people need jobs, right? Or have a business. So your career may not be in alignment with who you are at all that you may be like, “Hey, it feels really weird to me that I am bartending all the time when I’m deeply interested in knowing this soul. And I feel I’m living this double life, or I’m selling used cars. And it’s not really something I’m passionate about anymore.” So it’s this feeling of knowing that you have a Dharma, you have a deeper purpose, but you haven’t fully landed on what that is. And it’s in this stage that you begin to find your voice more, find your unique channel of expressing things based off of the things you’ve learned, but how am I here to really share this, and then that transitions into stage five, which is that stage of Dharma embodiment of you’re living in alignment with your purpose. And the main shift that happens here is that it moves from me to we [inaudible] needs to happen. How can I set boundaries? How can I do self care? How can I just love myself more all of these things that I need to do for me. But when it shifts into the Dharma embodiment, it no longer becomes with the focus of self soothing, but rather, it becomes “I’m going to do these practices because I’m here to be of service to humanity.” And the reasoning behind why becomes something so much greater than just you. And in this stage, you realize that all of those facets of your life must shift that are not in alignment, because that one shitty relationship or pending problem that’s always happening is keeping you from really being of service of why you’re here. So it’s in this stage that your entire life becomes in alignment and with the focus of your Dharma and you realize how impactful it is to not let anything hold you back. And realizing too, that your greatest form of joy is in alignment with your greatest form of service and connecting the two. So it doesn’t feel any more like, I have to sacrifice myself to be of service. But the greatest way in which I can share my gifts is how I am here to raise the vibration of the world. And that is possible for every single person. And in fact, every person’s birthright.

Melyssa
Hmm. Oh, yes, yes, it is. And I love the shift from thinking about it as we instead of me. I think it just releases so much of the shame and fear because now you’re not thinking about it as taking it personally. Now it’s about how can I actually use this expression as a force for good and to impact the world. And then it’s not about you, it’s really about the movement and the impact that you’re creating in the world. With the Dharma embodiment, so the stage five that you’re talking about, for me, it felt like almost the need to release the shame around it to be able to fully embody it to fully get this message and movement or whatever your Dharma is out into the world. Like, I think a lot of people go through this period of shame or like feeling like they’re not gonna belong, or people are gonna dislike them. And then it’s really just like you were saying, seeing the impact of the greater good, but it’s actually not about you that it’s about releasing all of the shame and the fear and the guilt to just be the expression of your dharma.

Sahara Rose
Mm hmm. Yes, in fact, the things that you are the most ashamed about, are often the very key indicators that are guiding you to your dharma. One thing I write about in the book is to list your five uncomfortable truths. The five things you do not want people to know about you, and how can you actually further include that into your Dharma. Maybe you’re a yoga teacher that was in jail for 10 years. And you don’t want people to know about that side of your life. But personally, I would actually more rather go to a yoga class of someone who found their practice in jail, and is covered in tattoos and plays Led Zeppelin – I may not have had that experience, but that, to me is authentic. That to me is like, “Wow, you’re really living this practice” And that makes people relate to you more.

Sahara Rose
For myself, you know, I’m teaching about spirituality and ayurveda. I work with Deepak Chopra. But I also love to twerk. And I DJ and I dance. And I have this whole other side of me that I was like, “Okay, no one can know about this. Hide it in the closet, keep it in the box.” And I started to share like the tiniest bit. One dance video that I did, a twerk class that I went to, and 10 seconds later, I would delete it because I was like, “Oh, my God, like, No, I can’t share this.” And then when I would share a little bit more, I would get such a response from people like, “Wow, that’s so cool. I love to do that too.” Or “I love seeing you this happy.” And I started to share about it more and more and more. And then there before I thought these were two sides of myself that were unrelated. And now I’m realizing more and more how actually interconnected they are. That it is my Dharma to show you that spirituality can look like fun and playful, and in this way that many people haven’t experienced it before. So maybe you have like a secret anime obsession, or you’re really into bondage, or you play computer games every night or whatever that thing is that you’re really ashamed about. Let your freak flag fly. Let people know because people love to feel that authenticity. And that authenticity comes when you share those things you’re the most ashamed about.

Melyssa
Yes. First of all, I just love your dancing videos. Like I think that’s one of the things I love most about the way that you talk about spirituality and fun and embodiment, and femininity, and just all the things. And what comes to me when you’re talking about that is like, we hear all the time that it has been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you with your unique experiences. And people hear that sometimes and it like goes in one ear and out the other because I think they’re not thinking about it in the way that you just talked about it – of embracing their entire wholeness. It’s like,

Sahara Rose
They’re like, I want to be authentic, but this is what its gonna look like.

Melyssa
Yeah, that’s not authentic. Like it has to be authentic in the way that everyone else is.

Sahara Rose
They’re like, “Okay, I’ll share that I secretly love noodles.” It’s like, no, that’s really gonna be the thing that and it’s interesting. There is a study from the People’s Research Institute, and they study all about human psychology. And they’re like, what is the number one thing you don’t like about someone else? And they were like, they’re flashy. they brag about themselves, they list of different things. And the number one thing, guess what it was.

Melyssa
That they don’t like about other people? Oh, man. That they’re inauthentic?

Sahara Rose
Yeah, a feeling that someone’s fake is the number one thing that will make us actually dislike someone. So here we are all trying to be perfect and fit the picture when the number one thing we don’t like about other people is feeling that. So why are we doing it?

Melyssa
Right. And the people that I love and respect the most are the people who I see this duality in like you where it’s like, you can talk about spirituality and ayurveda and dharma. But you also have twerking videos, and you love to laugh and create reels on Instagram. And it’s like, the merging of those two things that seem contrary are actually what makes people drawn to someone like you the most.

Sahara Rose
Yeah, because we’re all that, you know, each and every one of us. So the more that we can see, “Wow, this person is not a fragment. This person is whole,” the more we’re like that lets me be hold to and your Dharma is the integration of those different things. It is the thing that you’re the most excited about knowledge about and ashamed about and want no one to know about you. It’s bringing that all together and seeing how interconnected It really is. And then, you know, when you go so deep into the duality, you realize it’s actually full oneness, like the full oneness of that experience. And that is who you are.

Melyssa
Yes. oneness. I like that. Yeah, oneness, wholeness, that you’re all of it. You get to be everything. Yeah. Because that’s what the universe is, too. It’s, it’s everything. It’s not one, like you said fragment of a piece of who it is. It’s all of it. You talked about your parents in the beginning that they come from an immigrant and refugee background. Did you have – and as we’re talking about kind of playing down our Dharma for other people – did you have any experiences with them where you felt like you’re going in this direction, full force, you’re embodying your Dharma, and it wasn’t measuring up to their expectations or what they wanted for you?

Sahara Rose
What they wanted for me was to be safe. And what they knew about safety was someone who got married, someone who was taken care of by a man, or if they’re not getting married, you got to have a really stable job though no woman in my family has ever worked. So it was a huge, like, this girl’s just really breaking all the ancestral shit all at once and twerking doing it. So, you know, at the beginning, they were just like, why don’t you just become a real estate agent, you know, if you become a real estate agent, you can make money and then you could have some time to do these other things that you want to do. But, you got to make sure that you’re taken care of. You can have money. That’s really what they cared about. Whereas I’m like, no, that I would even try, like, I tried to study for the real estate exam. And I would literally start crying every time I read that book, because I was like, I don’t even believe in homes. Like, why am I becoming a real estate agent? Can you imagine?

Melyssa
I know, seriously. But what’s really interesting to me about that, I don’t mean to cut you off. But I feel like you would be a good real estate agent, if you didn’t have the mindset and just who you are as a person, I think you have the skills to be a good real estate agent, and so it makes me think that somebody listening, who has a job where they’re like, “Yeah, I did it, because I felt like I had to, but I don’t actually love it,” it’s like, look at your life now, you Sahara, of what you’re creating, and building and you’re using those skills in such a different way. And it’s so much more purposeful. But, for anyone who’s listening and thinking, “Well, I have this job that feels safe. But I don’t know if I could really be this full expression.” And I just think you’re a good example of that you could do something, maybe you would have been good at it. But it wouldn’t have been really your purpose or something that brought you life.

Sahara Rose
Yeah. And I think there are so many things that we could do, or we could be good at. And we can shift. I mean, as humans, we’re so versatile. We’ll kind of just make anything work. But it’s the fact that every time I would do it that I would feel like crying that showed that that was definitely not in alignment with me. And then my mom was like, “You know what, you got to suck it up. Like this is what being an adult is: doing things you don’t like to do. Like Welcome to adulthood,” because that’s what most people around us also agree with. So I was like, very caught into issue, right? Is this like a Santa Claus story? And I’m the only one still left believing in following your dreams, but you’re supposed to reach 18 and realize, “Oh, no, bitch, you are not supposed to follow any dreams.” Or is this something deeper in my soul that’s telling me to move forward? That was really difficult too. Because you know, with immigrants, the story of sacrifice is so embedded and like, I sacrifice so much for you. I gave everything for you. And this is how you’re repaying me? You only care about yourself, you’re such a selfish person. Immigrant cultures are much more tribal. Like it’s very, like, your family comes first. And then maybe your village and then you. You’re the last you know, so they were just like, and that’s what really hurt me the most too like, am I hurting other people by me living my Dharma, because they would tell me you’re ruining our lives, like we did all of this. And everything we risked our lives for has gone out the window, because this is who you are now. And it was a lot of shame and guilt being used to get me to change. Again, they wanted my protection, but their way of going about it were through shame and guilt tactics, which is, unfortunately, very commonly used in many different cultures around the world. So it was really hard because I didn’t want to be hurting other people by being myself. But I also knew by not listening to it, I was just further and further hurting myself.

Melyssa
It almost gets to a point where you’re like, I just can’t not follow my purpose. Because this is who I am.

Sahara Rose
I mean, for me, I share the story in the book. But it had to get to this point that my dad disowned me and said, I want nothing to do with you. I never want to speak to you again. You’re dead in my eyes. And it had to get to that point for me to be like, “Well, if I’m dead to him then I only have myself to live for now.”

Melyssa
Wow, wow. Yeah, that is a lot to move through.

Sahara Rose
Yeah. And for me, I had to get to that moment of letting go of people’s approval. You know, so many of us, we need our parents approval, teachers approval, bosses approval, someone’s approval for things, but it’s going to be really hard for you to show up as your fullest expression when you’re still wanting that. So my unique soul’s curriculum was to learn to not have the approval of the very people who created me, and still honor and trust the truth of who I was that now people can say whatever they want to me on social media. And that’s like, that’s like an ant game compared to what I’ve gone through to get to where I am now. So I had to share this with people because oftentimes, the thing that we are the most afraid of – our biggest fears, the worst thing that could ever happen to us – can sometimes be the best thing that can ever happen to us because it gives us freedom.

Melyssa
Yes, yes. And that if that didn’t happen to you, like how that could have manifested in you taking things more personally or people pleasing people more and then really, it just liberated you from all of those things that were holding you back.

Sahara Rose
100% and to think of all of the other people with important Dharma’s out there, which can be reaching many people or really deeply reaching some people but who aren’t doing it because they’re letting these stories continue to get in the way.

Melyssa
Mm hmm. Exactly. It’s like, just go for it. And then if something – shit hits the fan and something goes quote wrong, it actually could just be the biggest blessing. Maybe that’s exactly the lesson you needed to learn at that time.

Sahara Rose
Exactly. And I think that, you know, I have this practice of like, “Okay, if I do this, what’s the worst thing that can happen? Okay, if that happens, what’s the worst thing that can happen,” and to keep doing that, until you find that switch. So if I write this book on ayurveda, my parents will disown me. And the worst thing is, I won’t have a relationship with them, and I’ll never talk to them again. And I’ll basically live this life alone, and have to make my friends my family and I’ll get really close to friends who may inspire me and that will give me more strength to live my purpose and… and then it like has this Uturn of, wow, this could actually be the exact thing that I need. And also, I do want to flash forward to people now, my parents are looking for their dharmas. So the very thing that they told me to not do, etc. Now, like my mom was here for Thanksgiving, and I was helping her find her dharma. So even those things that they threatened, it’s like sometimes when people are just in fear, they say whatever they can to try to keep you safe, even though keeping you safe, keeps you confined. So I’m so blessed that I can have a relationship with them now. And I didn’t have to compromise who I was to do so.

Melyssa
Right, right. I love that they’re looking for their Dharma’s now, too. And yeah, what comes to me too, is the spiral that you were talking about. It’s like it just comes back around. And then it’s deeper. And now you’re helping them with their dharmas. And then who knows what part of that situation that you experienced with them you might be helping them with in the future.

Sahara Rose
And that’s the thing. It’s like we chose our parents for, you know, the experiences that they could give us, but they also chose us. And we’re both each other’s best teachers and best reflections. And it really comes both ways. And oftentimes, you know, the first part of our lives is our parents teaching us and then the second half is us teaching our parents.

Melyssa
Mm hmm. Yeah. bring so much peace to think of it that way. I love that. Well, I have one more question for you. You’re fucking fabulous. And I just love your wise brain and heart and just all of you. But I love to ask this to all of my guests because the podcast is called Limitless Life™. So what is one thing that you feel like our listeners could do if they want to live a life with no limits?

Sahara Rose
I would say to focus on the energy of expansiveness. Really feel what that feels like in your body. So Melyssa, for you, what does expansiveness feel like for you physically?

Melyssa
Hmm, like in my body when I’m expanding?

Sahara Rose
Yeah, like, what does that feel like? What comes up for you?

Melyssa
I feel free. I feel warm. I feel like dancing. I feel joyful.

Sahara Rose
I love that.

Melyssa
Yeah.

Sahara Rose
And what are some things that you do that make you feel that way?

Melyssa
Dancing is definitely one of them. Singing, really anything creative. Anything where I’m connecting, or even performing. Connecting with other people, performing in some way. Yeah, these are just like rolling right out of me.

Sahara Rose
Beautiful. It’s waiting. It’s like, “Hello, we want you to do more of this! We’ve been waiting for this question.” And what does contractive feel like in your body?

Melyssa
I feel like when I have too many obligations, too much expectation or not enough freedom.

Sahara Rose
And what does your body do?

Melyssa
Feels tight. Especially in my chest, my heart. Cold, stressed, tense.

Sahara Rose
So there is your compass right there for living your limitless life, for living your dharma. Find more of that expansive feeling in your body. Find the things that make you feel expansive, and step away more from those that make you feel contractive

Melyssa
Beautiful. Thank you. And where can people go to learn more about you and your beautiful book?

Sahara Rose
Yes, so they can find it over at iamsahararose.com/dharma. You can submit your receipt there, get the book, and receive all of these epic bonuses. And I also have a quiz the dharmaarchetypequiz.com to learn more about your Dharma archetype. My Instagram is @iamsahararose. So let me know any insights you got from this. I have a podcast as well called Highest Self Podcast and yeah, and you can find me anywhere on social and learn more in the book.

Melyssa
Awesome. Thank you so much Sahara. I appreciate you so much.

Sahara Rose
Thank you for having me.