- My two award-winning books:Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Womenin BusinessandOn the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take YourBusiness to New Heights
- Our website:Simon Associates ManagementConsultants
Read the transcript ofour podcast here
Andi Simon:Hi, welcome toOnthe Brink with Andi Simon. I’m Andi Simon, and as youknow, I’m your host and your guide, and you, our audience andlisteners, have made us among the top 5% of global podcasts. Ican’t thank you enough. My gratitude is extensive. It’s wonderfulto share. This is almost our 400th podcast hosting. Prettyimpressive. I am always intrigued because my job is to get you offthe brink, not to stick and get stuck, but to find ways to help yousee, feel, and think in new ways so you can change, and you knowthat you hate to change. So we’re going to help you do thattoday.
I have a wonderful woman here from the UK. Now remember, I’vehad people from South Africa and from Africa and from Europe, butthis is a very special woman because she’s going to talk to youabout something that’s very important to us. Smita, you’ll see, isfocused on entertaining interviews and conversations that helppeople see, feel, and think in new ways like I do. She’s anaward-winning author, an avid yogi and teacher, mentor and highperformance transformation coach. And she’s written a bestsellercalledKarma and Diamonds. It’s a trilogy, it’s ajourney of self-discovery across continents and lifetimes.
We have a wonderful multifaceted woman with us today. She had abusiness career spanning 25 years, working with technology giantsas well as startups. So she blends that wonderful business sidewith the personal side. But I think we’re going to focus more onyou as a person today, less on the business. And she has a YouTubechannel calledThe Self-Discovery Channel, which is her own YouTubechannel for you too. Self-discovery. Thank you so much for joiningme.
Smita Joshi:Andi, I’m so happy to be onthis podcast. I know you interviewed some amazing people. I’mreally, really happy to be on your show.
Andi Simon:Well, I’m happy we’re heretoo, since we had a few little technical stuff as we started. Thisis going to be fun. Tell the listener about your own journey,because you haven’t just popped out and arrived here. You’ve gonethrough some of your own changes and I think every time people telltheir personal story, the audience begins to see themselves thereand can begin to share their own story. Who are you and how are wetogether?
Smita Joshi:Who am I? That’s a very goodquestion. If I were to put it in one word, I’d probably say seeker,truly looking to integrate all the various facets of what makes ushuman. But, at the same time, I like that we are a spark of somesort of divinity consciousness. Rather, I’d like to put it asawareness in a human body. So how do we bring those two thingstogether? And I think that for me, the journey, there’s nothingwhich I feel is a coincidence in life.
I was born in India and we moved to the UK when I was 10. Andever since, I have found myself looking for ways to integrate theamazing cultures that I’ve had the privilege of being a part of.And both of those offer something really exquisite. If I were totake the Indian culture, the roots of the Indian culture go so fardeep and back to perhaps the ancient stages of India. I like tothink of them as philosopher scientists or scientist philosophers,because they were the early scientists. Today, we might look atthem as philosophers. We may look at them as spiritual adepts orhowever you may term it today.
But what they brought was incredible, and I believe so far mystudies have given me an unrivaled understanding of being human onthis planet at this time. But having the majority of who we are,perhaps 90% of our existence is in pure awareness, which isincapable of being housed in a tiny little human body and even atiny little mind. So to comprehend the vastness of who we are. Andso that’s what Indian culture has led me to be intrigued by andexplore very deeply in the Western culture, gives opportunities toexplore in the material external one.
Now, don’t get me wrong, of course India’s both of those things.And I wouldn’t want somebody who’s listening who’s an Indian tosay, Oh yeah, well, we have more than that. Of course we do. But Ithink the two bring unique things, they bring them in a differentway. And so the West calls you into being in the external world.The East calls you into being in the internal world. And forme, it’s not a coincidence that I was born there. And then I camehere when I was 10, and then a whole bunch of synchronicities andlife experiences took place that brought about more opportunitiesto explore and become more curious and say, Well, who am I thenactually? And what is this about?
And fundamentally, then we kind of come back to that higheressence of who we are. And then, you know, when we look at lifepurpose, of course you can have life purposes in so many differentlayers. Life purpose in terms of, what does my material being thatthe human humanity that I am, what does that want to accomplish?And then what about the deeper essence? And what is the deeperpurpose of all of us as human beings being on the planet? And, youknow, I really think we’re works in progress and we are like what Icall my book,Karma and Diamonds.
The diamond element has multiple meanings in the book. And oneof them is that we are indeed that inner essence, that awareness isso multifaceted that it to me occurs like a treasure that is a purediamond, absolutely pure untainted, untainted experience byanything external. And so for me, that is, you asked me who am I, Ithink for me that’s a more interesting exploration or anexplanation of how I see myself, is somebody who’s constantlylooking to one express various facets of my being, both in thematerial world externally, and to discover more and more facets ofwho I am internally, so that I can bring expression to those in theexternal world.
Andi Simon:This is so interesting. As Imentioned to you, I’ve been doing podcasts and I didn’t realizeuntil yours that the whole series of them are around similarthemes. It’s almost, you talked about synchronous as well asserendipity. You know, there is no intentionality here for mylisteners to bring you different perspectives on this inner voiceand the outer experience. But Smita has had a very differentpresentation of her journey, which is less about things she’s doneand more about discovering who she is. And I don’t know much abouther book, but I think I’m going to read it. It is probably a littlebit about that self-discovery as well.
And as we were talking, what would be the best thing to talkabout that trilogy, you tell the gripping story of how to overcomeadversity against all odds. Tell us about the book, which is oneexpression because you have one expression in the book, one inYouTube. And I want to make sure that we allow the listener toreally understand the wisdom that you’re bringing them because it’sa beautiful intersection here. So what is the book about?
Smita Joshi:So it’s really a book whichis very much rooted in the external world. A young woman who isabsolutely enthralled by life. I mean the passion for life kind ofled me to join corporate work very early on. In fact, I startedworking when I was 14 years old on Saturdays. In the UK, we wereallowed to do it in those days. It was absolutely fascinating forme to realize that I had skills which I couldn’t otherwise havediscovered so easily. So one of them was selling and in anotherway, just engaging people and having them see a possibility ofsomething that they previously hadn’t done and become so excited bythat they were happy to invest in that thing.
So I started out in clothes shops and then moved into shoe shopsand so on, and then managed them on my holidays and so on. But veryquickly I realized that I wasn’t patient enough to hang around toget a degree. I really wanted to hop in now. So I gave it a gowhile I was waiting on my year off between what we call a level inthis country. That’s advanced levels and we need that in order toqualify to get into university. So I took a year break and while Iwas figuring out if I should go the way of my grandfather and mymother and my aunt who were all lawyers, and my grandfather wasvery well recognized in Gujarat and so on. You know, he becamequite a figure untill the day he died at 92. I don’t think hestopped practicing.
And my mom and my aunt also in their day, they were well aheadof their time to have done that. So that was one obvious option forme. But I was really deeply interested in psychology and so manythings. Bottom line was, I got hooked into management and then Inever looked back since. Then joined my first sort of corporategroup, which happened to be in sales. And everything that kind ofcame to me was really about expressing talents that I actuallydidn’t know that I had. And it was just so much fun to do along theway that I realized that actually that whole world and other thingshappen in my life. I don’t want to go into that on this podcast inparticular because they’re all in the books. Very intense traumaticevents in my life that involve, that put in it a nutshell, werearound clashes of culture, Eastern and western.
And I was very, very clear about what I had to do in order forme to grow and to learn more about myself. So I chose to follow mypath, that inner voice that was so strong and that had me go intowork and so on, and I did very well with all of that. You know, Ibought my first property very early on, I think I was 21, justbefore I was 22, and so on. I realized that the more I got rootedinto work, the more I had to find some, there was something else.It wasn’t enough for me just to do that.
So that’s when I started to explore like, what else is it? And Ihappened to come from a background where I saw my dad, since I wasa little girl, standing on his head in Sukhasana, doing yoga almostevery day and then sitting in meditation for what seemed to me avery, very long time, every single day. So that was kind of in theback of my mind, it was in my imagery. That was where I turned towhen I started to explore like, what is missing? What is missing?And that was really just after I turned 25, 26. So it was veryearly on and I realized that when I did that, incredible thingshappened. Something was trying to talk to me when I wasn’t talkingto myself or being fascinated by my own thoughts. Thinking this is,what this is all real.
And then I realized, what is that? It’s so different. And I’vehad experience up to that point at other times in my life, butalways in moments of deep, deep trauma. And this all came out fromthe yoga and the meditation, but mostly the openness that you hadto begin to feel it. I think openness, definitely, but I wonderwhether it was more a young woman who was really looking foranswers.
I didn’t have anywhere I could go to get those answers formyself immediately in my surroundings because I’d left home andthat was already a really major leap and sort of upset a lot ofpeople along the way. So, I had to find my answers for myself.Something said to me to turn within and I was very fortunate tocome across the odd individuals who said, Read this book, read thatbook, go here, go do this. And so I just was like a sponge, and Iwas a sponge. So that all those little stepping stones led me togoing within. I’m very, very grateful for that because that’s why Iwrote the books because I realized that if it hadn’t been for, ofcourse today we have social media, we have a lot more content. Butback in the day we didn’t have that. Books were lifelines.
Andi Simon:Now you had a journey that hasled you to question. You said you’re a seeker. You know, I’ve beentold I’m an explorer. So we share this same curiosity about what wedon’t know. And we’re not quite sure where it’s going to take usbecause the future isn’t terribly predictable. But I do like toexplore options and see things. I do love to travel. I love toventure beyond my comfort zone. Most people don’t. It sounds likeyou have had to push yourself through all of that. Now you aredoing this today to begin to help other people do the same on theirjourney. How are you doing this? You’re coaching them, you’reteaching them yoga. What kind of tools do you bring to their livesto help them see and feel with a new freshness?
Smita Joshi:Coaching is a really powerfultool. I think sharing content, online writing, all of these arereally, they’re sort of different elements. So I don’t have onething that I do, of course. I will eventually bring out courses.I’ve got so much content out there right now or have created thatI’m putting out there right now. So bringing that together.
Andi, one of my challenges is that the more I learn and the moreI explore and the more I understand about life, the universe, theless I feel I know. And I must say I really do feel that and someof that holds me back a little bit because I think I’m just a baby.I said, I’m learning, I feel like it’s never enough. And I thinkthat’s perhaps a real mark of somebody who is genuinely seeking,because I think we’re in an age at the moment where we are so muchin a rush to teach other people before we’ve learned thingsourselves.
And I’ve spent, like now, 35 years on the journey, traveling,exploring. I’ve been diving, scuba diving for 25 years. That’s beenone aspect of me going deep in another business for like 30 yearsand so on. I’m just looking now what would be an appropriate way tobring it together. What would I want to share? For me, the onlything I think that’s really worth sharing, especially where we arein the information age and internet age and so on, and especiallywith AI coming, I feel more than ever that the one thing that if Iwere when I die, perhaps I could make a big impact with in people’slives is by truly getting them connected to that pure awarenessthat the ancient Indians calledĀtmanwhich is reallythat awareness, that consciousness that I mentioned earlier, whichis untouchable.
It’s pure in the sense that it is unchanging, and yet it’s whereeverything is generated. Everything is born from that. My focus nowis really looking at ways of bringing that to people at all levelswhere they can get an experience of that because it’s a zone, whichI can tell you what it is, but it’s so different for how it occursfor you as it does to me. I want to just give you the tools to beable to access it for yourself. And so, I mean, for example, I dothat in a very accessible way.
I’ve just put out one video on my channel. It’s called the FlowFormula. It’s really a six steps to getting in that zone. Whatsports people call The Zone. It’s getting into the flow and thatyou access the zone of awareness that we’re accessing when we’retalking about concentrating, when we’re talking about musicians,writers, even anybody that creates anything where they feel at onewith what they’re doing. So that’s one way. The other is, I’vecreated a whole bunch of meditations, which are guided meditationsto go along with the books and otherwise, which give you tinylittle snippets of getting into that space. So those are just a fewways that I’m doing it.
Andi Simon:What does it feel like whenyou’re in that space? Can you describe it for the listener? Theviewer?
Smita Joshi:I can tell you, for me, it’slike I’m in love. I’m in love, and that’s all I can say to you. Itfeels like I’m in love now. I like to think I’m in love with myhusband when I have that feeling, that’s what it feels like. It’sso lush and complete and it doesn’t beg for anything extra. I havea smile on my face when I was like, I probably looked crazy topeople because I had my headphones on. I was listening to musicthat got me into that space. And, then I’m just doing what I’m justout of my way, meaning my thoughts are out of my way. And I’mcurious as to what will come through if I were not interfering withmy mental processes.
Andi Simon:This is so wonderful. You’retalking about something we hear about, but don’t always findsomeone who can describe it or engage us in wanting to know moreabout it and begin to see how it could affect us. Because when youwrote up the comments for today, you talked about the inner voiceand the life that we’re living, that there’s a disconnect.
One of the questions I had asked you is, how do we getdisconnected? And you say, I’m not quite sure, but there’ssomething going on that needs to be brought back together, perhapsthrough methods like meditation or yoga. But, there’s somethingmissing that we need to find that inner hope, that silence thatgives us pleasure and this disconnect. Why are we disconnected? Idon’t think we know.
Smita Joshi:I’m not sure that we aredisconnected, to be honest, Andi. I don’t think we are. I thinkthat we like to think we are. My experience is simply that wehaven’t really focused enough on other elements of who we are.We’ve been in survival for way too long and now we’re in ourevolution, certainly in some parts of the world and not others, yetwhere we have had that experience of being satiated with, at leastmaterially, we are in a privileged position, many people and othersare not, who are still not very much in that survival mode.
So we are chasing. We’re still trying to bring in the money andto pay the bills. We don’t have time for going into the space thatI’m talking about because it means letting go a little bit. Lettinggo of what we think is what we know. And that’s actually a wholeother experience. That’s a whole other conversation. It’s like it’sa bit scary for people. They don’t know how to do it. They need tobe guided into it and so on. There’s a practice, it needs to bepracticed, but when they do it, they don’t ever want to do it. It’sreally true.
And I think that’s when we start to feel that conflict withinourselves, or we feel like something’s not right, or we feelannoyed with things. We feel stressed because we have had thatexperience along the way. Sometimes it’s so powerful that it is anepiphany, and maybe a series of epiphanies, and when we don’t thenstay true to ourselves, to expand that experience that altered usand touched us so deeply in some way, then that inner voice, thatpart of you is always present and you are feeling that conflict.It’s there and you are not going to it. You are there and you’renot paying attention. You’re not hearing it. And that’s where Ithink we experience that challenge. So it comes down to a choice inthe end. You know, at some point we have to say, will I or will Inot?
Andi Simon:One of the things that’s atheme among many of the folks that I work with and I know, is,Okay, we’re out of the pandemic period, but not completely. I justfinished my third book and I’m asking myself the question of,Congratulations, what’s next? Thank you, what is next? What comesnext for us?
And we’re at that important point in our lives where we reallyneed to be intentional about it, purposeful, meaningful, find thekind of inner voice that tells us what’s going to matter. Thepandemic showed us. We don’t live forever. And now the reality is,every day is a gift. How do we live it appropriately? Any wisdom toshare?
Smita Joshi:Yes. As you say, as you know,if you are asking that question, Andi, you are ready to reallyexplore the depth of who you are in other ways, because you’ve hadthat experience in the external world and you know, it’s neverenough. You can continue to have more experiences. You can continueto amass more money, you can do whatever, all those. And yet thatquestion you’re asking will creep back in. So the question perhapsis maybe a slightly different one. The question is, How am I goingto embrace a bigger experience, one which truly makes me feelcomplete and fulfilled.
Andi Simon:Well, but then that’s a veryinteresting question. We had to say goodbye to three friends in thelast month. And as we watch as they leave us and every day is agift, we become very reflective. And whether I’m looking for myinner voice or it’s already nagging at me, be careful that youdon’t waste your time. Be careful of what gives you pleasure,balance the work and the private life. Your family and your friendsmake it meaningful. And I have a hunch you are doing the same.
Smita Joshi:Yeah. I think that the onething that speaks to me so much from the Indian teachings is Vedas.It’s very simple. And yet it’s so incredibly profound. And that is:see if you can bring into yourself that sense of contentment withwherever you are. What else is there? This is it. Then we havenothing else to fight for, everything to play for and nothing tofight for. So that’s when we start to kind of embrace what we haveas being an absolute gift and whatever that might be, our health,our successes in life, our failures in life, the lessons in life,the opportunity to be on this journey.
And so I, myself, and in my yoga classes in particular, I reallyremind people every single class, to come into Savasana, which isthe last posture where we lie down and it’s a surrender posture.And why we practice yoga is for two reasons. One is to get intothat soma state, which is the highest state of connecting inmeditation to this inner realm, into this awareness. The boundariesfall away and you become one with the boundaries of ourhumanity.
And the other is, when you come into Savasana, you can’t comeinto Savasana unless you have practiced. The body has had certaindetoxifications and so on. But the point of Savasana is really toarrive into that. And, we go to bed every single night and I,myself, go into that state of Savasana. Savasana means a corpseactually. And it is to surrender into what? Surrender into all ofeverything and into the nothingness of everything but with acontentment in yourself.
Now there’s this whole movement, people talk about gratitude andso on, but that sense of appreciation, deeply appreciative of whathas gone before, today, yesterday, the day before, for all of it.And I think that for me, that is a lifelong journey to, it’s apractice and it transforms how everything arises in life and how itoccurs in our inner world.
Andi Simon:You know, you said that youare on many podcasts now, and I appreciate you having come today toours because you’ve opened up my mind and I have a hunch to whatour listeners are also paying attention to, which is, how am Ihearing myself? Where am I finding that peace? And how do I allowmyself to sleep? What’s keeping me from sleeping? Am I wanderingaround the house all night? There’s so many messages that you have.One or two things that you’d like them not to forget? Very oftenour audience remembers the end better than the beginning. Anythingin particular?
Smita Joshi:No, I come back to that. Ithink being receptive to what wants to come in, the gifts that wantto come into our lives, comes in through our awareness. It comes inthrough that higher consciousness that we’re talking about, Ātman.And in order to really be open to that, it is to bring ourselvesinto that state of peace and contentment. And we do have so manyresponsibilities, family and many others, financial and so on. Andthey can sometimes disturb our sleep at night because these thingsare intense. They’re very much real.
And so, the willingness to let go and to trust that the answersare there, but we are blocking them by not being receptive to them.And the sleep state at night is a really crucial state. And toarrive in the way we arrive, we don’t know how to come into oursleep state. And that’s partly why I think we are addicted to aculture across the world. There’s so many people taking medicinesand so on, to be able to sleep. But I think to myself, I justhave to trust that if I have a challenge in my life, there’s asolution to it.
And if I were only to get out of my own way by bringing myselfinto a state of contentment and peace and being okay with whereeverything is right now and where everything is not right now, justthat state of acceptance, surrender, and that leads us into peaceand contentment. Don’t be content if you don’t want to be, but atleast be at peace with the way things are and the way that they’renot. And that’s enough for Ātman, the higher consciousness to startgiving us the right way forward, the highest way forward.
Andi Simon:I think this has beenwonderful. I can’t thank you enough for coming. I’m so glad that wewere able to connect the books that you have.Karma and Diamondsis a trilogy. Wherecan people buy it?
Smita Joshi:They’re on Amazon and they’reon my website. So on Amazon, we have them in paperback. We havethem in additional format and audiobooks on Audible and Amazon,obviously. We have the books through mywebsite. If you’re in the UK and you would like toavail of the books through myself, you can go to mywebsites,SmitaJoshi.com,and you can buythem there. And I also have a package with meditation. There are 12guided meditations that people can engage a little bit deeper intothe books. So, even if people buy them on Amazon, they can just letme know, send me the order number and I will be happy to sharethose meditations. They can also get some other free gifts from mywebsite too.
Andi Simon:What are nice free gifts? I’mgoing to go explore, and I’m also going to thank our audience forjoining us today. And we’re just about ready to wrap up. I knowyou’ve been on many podcasts. I’m honored that you’ve chosen ours,and I’m delighted to listen to your passion. You have found yourown place, your purpose, and your heart is full of joy as you wantto share this. Am I right?
Smita Joshi:Absolutely. Such aprivilege.
Andi Simon:It is truly my honor. For ourguests who come, your audience, those who are viewers and those whoare listeners, thank you so much for coming. And as you’re thinkingabout your own experience, you can go exploring a little bit. It’sa time for you to make sure that every day is a gift, how you liveit matters. Find that inner peace, sleep well, and enjoy the daybecause the future is now. It’s all over us, so it’s time for us toenjoy it. Remember that people hate change, so you don’t have toworry about it. And it’s just part of it, but you can actuallychange for the better. So thanks for coming. I’m going to saygoodbye. Take care now. Bye-bye. Thank you.
Smita Joshi: Indeed. Thank you so much.
