64. The Truth About Intuition, Consciousness & Higher Awareness with Dr. Rashmi Schramm

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Welcome to The Authentic Path. I'm your host, Dr. Vanessa Calderon, Harvard-trained physician and healer. I integrate science and ancestral wisdom to support you in creating the success you desire in all areas of your life. What if the version of you that feels most peaceful, most clear, most yourself isn't actually something that you have to build? What if it's just something that you get to remember? I'm so glad you're here. Let's get started. Today's is one that I have been looking forward to for a while because I get to bring you my sweet, sweet friend, my dear colleague, ⁓ and someone that holds so much wisdom in lineage. bringing you something that we talk about a lot on the show, practices that sort of bring us home to ourselves in many different ways, really just honoring the sacred journey that we're all on. my guest today has been living this life with the intersection of rigorous evidence-based medicine and ancient spiritual wisdom. Dr. Sharam, is a board certified family physician with over 20 years of clinical experience. She's also a national board certified integrative wellness coach, ⁓ a Chopra certified primordial meditation teacher, Ayurvedic lifestyle teacher, ⁓ and a Duke certified health coach. Yes, she's a big nerd with a ton of certifications, which is totally my jam. And she is also certified in yoga nidra. I met her at a physician coaching conference a long time ago, and I totally bonded with her because I sat through one of her yoga nidra sessions and this woman was life changing. Her yoga nidra was incredible. it turned out that's exactly what I needed. I needed to slow down. and we bonded and we have been friends ever since. And I just love her so And I feel so grateful that I get her to bring her here to you. Okay, let's jump in. Dr. Rashmi Shram, welcome.

Rashmi Schramm: Gosh, what a deep honor to be here, Dr. Vanessa Calderon. Thank you.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: You're so welcome, sweet friend. I want to get started by maybe just talking about the very beginning. You know, I sort of list listed out all of your credentials when I introduced you. But I really want everyone to understand what's underneath those credentials. You were a practicing Western physician, but you also come from a long lineage of folks that have practiced meditation and Ayurveda just in your life. can you just share a little bit about what brought to where you are today.

Rashmi Schramm: Absolutely. So I'm an immigrant. was born in India and I lived there until I was 12. And those years were actually spent in a huge extended family setting, which is not uncommon, certainly in the 1970s when I was growing up in India. And amongst that was the head of that household was my grandmother, the matriarch, who held within her deep, deep ancestral wisdom, deep actual medical wisdom as well. Her father had been an Ayurvedic physician who also understood Western medicine and he lived to be very old as far as Indian standards go even back in the day to the point where I even remember my great grandfather. And so there was a lot of this deeply held knowledge and wisdom that throughout ⁓ my parents' lifetime had been actually wiped away by the British colonization. And so there was this sensation of something missing but something that's also already there and my grandmother was very open about sort of making sure that I understood some of the mysticism, some of the, you know, the understandings of who and what we are, even from like a really young age. And ⁓ so deeply grateful for that. It is so awe inspiring for me that she had the courage to do all of those things and ⁓ lived to be almost 90 ⁓ has this insane life story of where ⁓ had to, you know, she was widowed at 24, she had four kids, she had lost one of her kids, was pregnant with the fifth and had to flee her home for safety with the kids. But ultimately lived this very full life and focusing on education and entrepreneurship and all of these things. And so I grew up like this. And then interestingly, at age 12, we moved to the United States. We immigrated to the U.S., my nuclear family and I did. And we actually lived in a tiny coal mining town. in the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern Virginia. So the culture could not have been more different. Safety required assimilation into that culture very quickly. And 12-year-olds, it's hard to stand out anyway. so subconsciously, you don't really recognize it. But of course, you have to abandon all of the things that make you different and try to look the same or act the same or say the same things as all the other kids. And so I spent probably the next 15 years really assimilating and I did a great job at it ⁓ as we often can do we can adapt to some some pretty amazing things and I found myself in college actually was a kind of a closet meditator I found a group in college and we would get together on Sundays and meditate and I would ⁓ never any of my friends any of these things because I was applying to medical school and I didn't want to be seen as weak or whatever I thought you know the perception was and so idea this that's always felt like home, whether it's an Ayurvedic wisdom, this idea of yoga, which is also meditation, that has already always sort of been lit within me. And I think the arc of my life, which is probably similar to yours, is that at various points in our lives, we've had to abandon those particular knowings in order to assimilate and or get to the next level be safe in the world in which that we are functioning in at that time. And so it is such a great privilege that at some point we actually get to take a pause if we have enough resources and just say like, what do I want? Which is a huge privilege and to ask that question even though I was really scared to ask that question ⁓ probably maybe 20 years ago when my kids were little. And I was working a lot, my husband was working a lot, everyone around me, like most of my friends were physicians, they were all so burned out, they were all so unhappy, right, like I had the house, I had the cars, I had the husband, I had the kids, and I'm like, is this all there is? And I think that's a very ⁓ point for all of us to get to, is this all there is? ⁓ ⁓ I started to pay attention to that, I started to kind of look into, okay, well, Could I study Ayurveda? Like, what does that look like? Could I bring in some of that stuff? Like, know some of it, but I don't really understand it from an evidence-based point. And so I really started to sort of make that more formal. ⁓ And was my gateway drug, Ayurveda, into meditation, into yoga nidra, into yoga therapy, all of those things. ⁓ And ⁓ it a pretty linear ⁓ anything like that. It was a very curvy, where, you know, like a windy path. But it's the path that we all have to lead to some degree to kind of lead us here and truly today I feel like I'm at the beginning of the beginning.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: so powerful. So much of what you said, I just want to touch on. ⁓ is the beauty of having your grandmother as a matriarch of your family that was able to pass down that wisdom to you. ⁓ thing that I have been ⁓ on is the blessings of being an immigrant or first gen, you know, first generation in this country, because ⁓ that means is we can still be deeply connected to. ⁓ ancestral work from a lived experience from someone that was alive that can pass down stuff to us, which is really, really powerful. And I think about, you know, your kids or my kids that grew up or growing up as sort of second, your kids are growing up as first generation, my kids are growing up as second generation. And how do we ensure that we're passing down the wisdom, the stories and as a blessing, you know, we we since we've done a lot of our own healing work, we don't necessarily need to pass down the trauma, but. How do we make sure we pass down the wisdom and the healing and really just celebrating the matriarchs of our family and the matriarchs of all families across the world that have held so much medicine in their bodies, so much wisdom in their bodies? One of the things you mentioned how have sort of walked this path and hold ⁓ so in ⁓ like much wisdom, Western medicine, Ayurveda, yoga nidra, all of those things and kind of your journey there. I'm curious, as you were on that journey that brought you to where you are now, because the Rashmi that I know holds all of these things. in my, when I look at you, it feels seamless, like you're holding all of these things seamlessly. But I, my sense is that on the journey there was that there may have been some resistance, maybe some fear, maybe resistance from peers, maybe from yourself in sort of bridging these two worlds together. What was your experience with that?

Rashmi Schramm: There was definitely resistance. There was a long period of time during my first meditation teacher training that I didn't tell anyone. And it was like this 18 month program. And towards the last six months, was like contractual kind of, you know, like nobody would check, but it was like, you got to teach. Like if you want the certification, you've got to go out there and teach. And I was like, oh my God, I'm going to have to start talking about it and I'm going to have to tell everyone. And it was this really scary thing. And so I actually just started in my medical office at, know, I've always worked in an office and ⁓ And the staff loved it. So I would offer it in the morning, just like a quick five minute meditation. And then I would offer another meditation during lunch. And it started to really, words started to get around. And so people from neighboring offices would pop in. And it just was this wild thing. And then someone adjacent to that heard that I was looking for opportunities to teach. And so they invited me to go to my local YMCA to teach meditation there. ⁓ And so I was teaching there on Tuesday nights for, you know, completely free for many, many years, just kind of putting in the reps and like really starting to understand like, what is it that I need to be in order to hold the space? And it became like so clear to me that it doesn't matter what tone of voice I use, what words I use, anything like, nothing like that matters if I'm teaching, you know, just a mantra meditation or yoga nidra meditation. The only thing that matters is what is it that that I am experiencing in that moment. Like, am I in flow? Am I able to hold myself in a grounded state where I can also be expansive? that's the, and it's such a relief, right, to figure that out finally. I think I actually was getting a prescription for beta blockers the first couple of years that I was teaching at the Y. Oh, I forgot about that. Gosh, I haven't thought about that in so long. So that's how far we've come journey over the last 15 years where I just was so nervous to teach something that felt so ⁓ precious ⁓ gem-like me. ⁓ But also about putting in the reps and it's also about this idea of being witness to ourselves so that we can understand our own patterns, so we can let go of what's not working and we can ⁓ lean into ⁓ is really and aligned. And so I would say it was definitely not seamless. There were lots of times, there was even a doctor once who left a comment and I'm trying to think of exactly what this was on something. ⁓ But I still remember even though it was like eight years ago, was like, why don't you go hock your turmeric somewhere else? And so it took me a really long time to come back from that. And so yeah, people have lots and lots of thoughts and feelings when you go against kind of society or what is expected of you and that is okay.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: So fascinating because Tumorik is the best. Everyone's using it for anti-inflammatory properties now and people just don't know. So the fear that you're naming is so fascinating because I just want to let the audience in on one other thing. 15 years ago you had to take a beta blocker to teach this and now you're like ⁓ actively signing up for like improv classes because you want to get better at like, you know, like having fun and doing all these types of things. And so you're like actively choosing to do things that 15 years ago you were taking a beta blocker to do. I just want to like name that.

Rashmi Schramm: ⁓ yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's so interesting.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: You know, the thing that you said about the fear, was the fear a combination of is this to be that people laugh at? They judge me for talking about this. ⁓ Or was the fear more just like public speaking in general, or is it specifically that you were bringing something that was so reverent to you out into the world, something that you had guarded for so long because you were saying you were taking meditation classes in secret when you were playing in med school.

Rashmi Schramm: yeah, ⁓ was the second part of this. It was the latter part of ⁓ suggestion there. ⁓ had been speaking ⁓ and was presenting and teaching at Lens & Learns and all the different things and ⁓ necessarily felt very nervous about that, but it was this ⁓ space in which in my mind ⁓ thought meditation teachers ⁓ A, speak in a certain way. ⁓ be a certain way judged a certain way ⁓ or perceived in a certain way, right? Which, ⁓ yes, it the exact opposite of what we are supposed to be doing, ⁓ but that a subconscious pattern that had kept me safe over the years of making sure ⁓ that I fitting into other people's ⁓ expectations of I should behave. But I think had to go through that. I had to go through that. ⁓ be able to let it go. There was no other way to learn it.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Yeah, absolutely. It's sort of fascinating, right? Because you came into the United States into this small little village and somewhere deep inside you, your subconscious knew, or maybe it was your soul's contract to be a healer in this life. And the way to do it in a way that was safe was to go through the Western medicine route. And then along the way you're like, hold on a second, something is misaligned here. I'm missing something. And then you found your way back to the teachings of your grandmother, you know, the teachings of your ancestors, which is so beautiful that you now integrate that. And it sort of takes me to the next thing I kind of want to talk about, which is what you named about meditation. Teachers are supposed to look a certain way and speak a certain way. I think the field of consciousness and the field of meditation just honestly like ancient mysticism and was not necessarily like devoid of the systems. And when we normally look at a lot of those teachings, what we see is the same thing that we see across ⁓ all ancient cultures, which men teaching it in a very specific way. ⁓ And in our mind, like very stoic and like this and calm and this tone of voice. think it leaves so much where women can't see themselves in those teachers and so are they not supposed to be teachers? And I'm curious along your journey, I mean, you are someone that has so many more credentials than a lot of other people I know in this space and someone who holds this wisdom and teaches it so beautifully every time I've seen you, every time I've seen you speak or teach on this. It's so powerful and yet you're a woman. And so I'm curious on your journey through all of this, how have you sort of reconciled that?

Rashmi Schramm: you ⁓ what a great question. There is no recent history of women being ⁓ preeminent teachers. Even when you look at yoga, pathangeli, sage, or the set of sages ⁓ is as a male. ⁓ And one the things my grandmother would do ⁓ was teach me certain mantras that were only supposed to be passed down to boys, for example, ⁓ and wisdoms that were only supposed to be held by boys at certain ceremonies, for example. And so she was, you know, she was this, she had this idea of the, you know, the inequity that existed. And so my lived experience was vastly different than anyone else's, obviously. But my, my lived wisdom as an Indian, a little Indian girl was just different because of her lived experience. And, and therefore, like my father's lived experience. I always say my dad is the, you know, the first feminist I really ever met. He continues to be that way. He's in his 80s and he's always sort of a champion and an ally for women. so part of it, my lived experience, ⁓ really did not hit me until I started, like I went off to college and then I was like, wait, like ⁓ parents don't treat you the same as your brother? Like that's crazy. That's wild. And so ⁓ think historically ⁓ have ⁓ tried to be erased. ⁓ then my lived experience, how lucky am I that my My soul chose this family that my lived experience was one of equity with my brother and I didn't know any different at that time. And so it felt natural that I could be a leader. It was never questioned that I could be a leader. And yet I do know very much so that the patriarchy is alive and well in, you know, and certainly trying to make a comeback in this day and age.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Yeah, it's fascinating. It's such a blessing that you were raised with the sense of equity and what I always find so fascinating By the way, your dad and my dad should meet they'd become BFFs instantly They're both like super into this space and huge like huge advocates for women and women's rights I also agree with you that my dad is a huge feminist and I just find so fascinating is that even though we were born

Rashmi Schramm: Yes.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: your language, we chose parents who tended to support us. ⁓ fascinating is that there's still social programming. ⁓ the society still, you didn't see teachers that look like you, for example, whenever you were going through all of your teachings. And ⁓ ⁓ how colored the way you were able to show up and how, and your sense of like feeling like an actual authority in this space.

Rashmi Schramm: ⁓ gosh, big time. That's why I needed the beta blocker, right? Because I was like, who am I to go teach this? Like it was all the subconscious programming, of course. I mean, think you hit the nail on the head. You ⁓ I to sound a certain way. I need to have a certain cadence the way that I talk. ⁓ And was exactly what you mentioned, which is, you know, there were all these male figures. ⁓ And I was a woman in my thirties. I'm like, what am I doing? Like, guys, like, what am I doing? Like, am I way out of my league? And to a certain degree, I was. I mean, who am I to do that? And then when you can flip it to like, why not me? The energy changes.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: and think it's so beautiful. ⁓ I that just came up for me because ⁓ as was on my own journey, I realized maybe about 10 years ago that I was no longer like my soul was no longer being called towards teachers that ⁓ fit old kind of mold, like typical male. And this is no shade by any means ⁓ on men. was just looking for equity and diversity. And I I knew ⁓ in my body, I knew that there was no reason why women couldn't be teaching this. And so I remember starting to find people like Tara Brock, for example, and other incredible women that I just consider wisdom holders and just totally navigated towards them because think it's just ⁓ just a big piece of history that has been left out ⁓ we and you know, it's just like now whenever you advocate for equity in the workspace, when it comes to like gender equity, for example. ⁓ Why? Because we're relieving like the neurodiversity and we're leaving all of the wisdom of 50 % of the population, which is why it's so important to have so much diversity. And I think one of the reasons I've always been drawn to your teachings is because you bring in all of the teaching, all of this wisdom through your lens of lived experience of a mother, of a woman, of someone that had to navigate all of this space. And I think that's just a whole another layer of like experience and perspective that you're bringing into your teachings. Whether it's conscious or not, it's just present. And I just really value that.

Rashmi Schramm: I received that and I wanna honor you in that same way because I think, you your lived experience, we have parallel, we've lived some parallel lives, you're younger than me and yet there's some parallels in those lives that I think can't be lost on anyone who's listening to this conversation or have ever met you and I together. I think, you know, this idea of being allowed to... have this kind of ancient wisdom flow through you that you're worthy enough for it to flow through you and it's safe enough to be able to share it and to be able to teach it from not from a place of expertise, but from the place of like curiosity and beginner's mindset of like, what if ⁓ it all works out? What if this is something that's helpful to you, for example?

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Hmm, that's powerful. It's so true. You know, you've known me for a while now and you've sort of been witness to my my growth in all of this and me sort of coming home to my sort of inner authority. And what's so fascinating is what you're naming about who am I to sit and teach this. And I'll share my experience on another day. But I just I want to come back to well, actually, let me just share one thing now, which is the more and more I came home to myself and all of my own kind of the wisdom that lived in my body and the lineage, I didn't actually think that there was anything there to teach because it just felt like so, you know, it just felt so obvious to me. then when people were like, ⁓ my God, that's so interesting. Tell me more. Or what do you mean by that? Or the things that, you you grow up just learning like how we're connected to the earth or how to be in right relationship with the earth or how to reconnect to so many other ⁓ parts us. It was so fascinating to me because then I started thinking, ⁓ wow, I am the person that is now sharing the things that I used to learn from, from my elders, you know, like now I get to share those things. there was a moment where I was like, wait a second, am I ⁓ enough to do that? Am I, am I wise enough to do that? Am actually the person sharing that? ⁓ And back to a place of like, I don't know, I don't know the answer to that. And also ⁓ do I don't, I don't think I need to know the answer. If, if I can. share something that's going to be of service to somebody else, why the heck not? Because I think there's ego on both of those sides, right? Like the ego of like, ⁓ I know what's best. I'm the elder. And the ego of like, ⁓ but why me? Like ⁓ two of the same coin. ⁓ And you can release that and just come from a place of curiosity of like, ⁓ well, I can offer something that's of service, let's do it. You know, like I'm just passing down wisdom that's come through me. None of this is my own. It's all stuff that was, that comes from like thousands of years before me that I just get to pass down.

Rashmi Schramm: Ugh. So good, I am like vigorously nodding my head over here. I think that's exactly right. It's when we accept our role, you know? And I have this funny story that I share sometimes. It was like the thick of COVID and one of my college girlfriends who lived in Manhattan, she still lives in Manhattan, wrote me a text that was like, you gotta find me some kind of Ted Talk. My entire family is being such assholes right now. Like what kind of Ted Talk can I show them to make sure that they're not assholes? I sent her a yoga teacher recording. She was like, what the fuck is this? And two days later, ⁓ was like, she called and she was like, Rush, you have this in your back pocket and you're not sharing it. Do you not realize how much suffering is going on right now? ⁓ I was like, what do you mean? Like I didn't think Yoga Nidra even worked online. Like I don't know how that would even work, you know? And so she started to kind of get a group of people together. ⁓ And Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings, I would just do like these free Yoga Nidra sessions for a few weeks. Whenever I had time, I would do them. ⁓ And think it was like four or five weeks later, ⁓ were like, what's your Venmo? Like, I just want to Venmo you, you know? And I'm like, no, no, no, like that would take the meaning of this away, you know, all these different like ego based types of things. but they started Venmoing me and it just kind of took off from there, but it almost ⁓ never took because I had this sensation of like... It has to be in person. has to be in a certain way. It has to look a certain way. But, you know, whatever it was, it was very low stakes. I almost kind of think I did it to irk her a little bit, but I also was like, maybe it's not them is what I said. Maybe, maybe just look inside. it really, ⁓ changed the trajectory. And sometimes I think those people ⁓ into our lives for those kinds of reasons. mean, a variety of reasons, but ⁓ those are sliding door, know, glass door moments of like, ⁓ yeah, like I would never have shared this ⁓ publicly if hadn't been like, what do you mean? Why are you not doing this? And then she was a leader in a community, she still is, and she just started to get people together. ⁓ And I like, what is Zoom? I don't know what Zoom is. ⁓

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: ⁓ my gosh, that's powerful. talk a little bit about ⁓ actual work because you brought in yoga nidra and yoga nidra, a sort of a form of meditation that I've experienced through you. ⁓ ⁓ many of the other things that you do, it's like you, ⁓ think I may have read this on your website, which is you supercharged coaching with meditation. think you may have said that ⁓ you said it or not. That's what I think you do. But, of the things I want to talk about is ⁓ what

Rashmi Schramm: Yeah.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: the space of meditation allows us access to. You we use these terms of like consciousness, like you're able to access a different level of consciousness. And I'm curious for you, is that how you would define what meditation gives us access to? If not, how would you define it?

Rashmi Schramm: So ⁓ to very simple definition. ⁓ is a way, is a formal practice of mindfulness. And mindfulness to me is the practice of paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and without judgment, which is what you and I are doing right now. And it's actually kind of difficult to do most of the time. And so as a formal practice of mindfulness, meditation is simply moving from activity into stillness or from activity into silence, whatever you want to choose. And that stillness and that silence is where our true selves or our higher selves live. And so it's a way for us to access something that we can't access through the thinking mind, through the intellect alone. So that's a simple way of looking at it. I there's always all the physiological changes that happen. Now we have thousands of studies. But ultimately, if we can just jump into some of the woo stuff. from the yogic perspective, these ancient seers cognized, you know, four or five, six thousand years ago, consciousness was, ⁓ they created these hymns or these mantras ⁓ were very, very specific to ⁓ these higher states of consciousness ⁓ these very specific ⁓ ⁓ they would pass them down from teacher to student to teacher, just right. Like it was passed down for generations ⁓ about Maybe two, three thousand years ago, I've already mentioned Patanjali, Patanjali's yoga sutras, codified it. And the idea of all of yoga is to reach higher states of consciousness. mean, oftentimes in the West we think of it as just the postures or the asanas, and certainly it is a part of the eight-limbed part of yoga, but it is not limited to those asanas. It is a way for us to move into higher and higher states of consciousness, and it's a way of living. And so I kind of think of this as... how can we bring this knowing, this remembering of who and what we are into our daily lives? Because otherwise, what is even the point of it? Like if we become hermits, which I really want to do sometimes, I want to like withdraw completely and go into a cave. I do want that sometimes. And that's fine for a certain period of time, but if I didn't come out and actually live my life, I would have no growth.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: No. Yeah, you know, so what I'm hearing you say is base of yoga is to get into a point of stillness because in that place of stillness is where you connect to your highest self. ⁓ And you connect to your highest self, you're connecting to a higher level of consciousness. ⁓ And more you're practiced in this, ⁓ the higher levels of consciousness you can access. Is that right?

Rashmi Schramm: That's exactly right. Yeah. And it's a process, right? So if it's OK with you, I'll just kind of talk very briefly about the Yuga Sutras and kind of the eight-pronged approach Patanjali's yoga. So there's the Yamas and the Niyamas, which are ways of living, right? So certain abstinences, certain ways in which we observe ourselves. there's that. The third part is Asanas, which I think everyone listening probably is aware of. They've been to a yoga class or probably practice yoga very regularly. The fourth limb is Pranayama or breath work, which is incredibly important. And then you start going to these subtler and subtler states. And so then into pratyahara, which is withdrawal of the senses, like ⁓ where not constantly like the dopamine hits don't need to be there. Like you're practicing watching the hit need to come out. And then also you're practicing being OK without it. And then you even deeper and deeper and deeper. And then you've got dharana, which is ⁓ concentration. And then got dhyana, which is this meditative awareness. And then that final state. is samadhi, which is this like all-knowing blissful remembering of who and what we are.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: ⁓ can you get to ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ session the more you've practiced? Let's say you've been practicing for 20 years. Can you access that there?

Rashmi Schramm: 100%. You don't even need to know yoga. mean, that's the funny part is the British tried to wipe it out, right? Wipe it out completely. They burned down place that was teaching yoga. They banished it. They banished Ayurveda. They only allowed Western medicine to be taught or ⁓ kind of, you know, Eastern ⁓ were stupid and old and all of these things. And so yet ⁓ it is totally survived. And ⁓ truth is everyone listening, ⁓ has had that sensation of remembering who and what they are. Maybe when they looked into their dog's eyes, they looked at a sunset, they were on a run, they were, you know, they were they were on a roller coaster. we don't have to be in meditative states. ⁓ is just a very ⁓ of like, it's an engineered way. It's a whole system to get there ⁓ reliably, if you will. And so we naturally have ⁓ capacity to be in samadhi at any time. ⁓ one of the things my yoga teacher say you're gonna get a and you're gonna through curriculum that you need to through in this lifetime and you are going to ⁓ forget ⁓ everything ⁓ about this of being and you can it any

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Yeah. In fact, I think you've used the word remembering a couple of times. And I think that is so important for us just to spend some time there because especially that this last kind of example that you gave where our soul back into this world, ⁓ is This is one way to think about what's happening, right? One belief, and I'm not here to tell anybody what to believe, but this is one belief, your soul is choosing to come back into this world and has a human body because that's the only way that it can function in this planet, on this three-dimensional plane. then choose a 3D body, and when you come into that body, part of the curriculum is remembering again. So you forget everything that you once knew. However, that ⁓ wisdom lives your body somewhere. So when something when you read something and all of a sudden it resonates with you, that sense of resonance, I experienced that as a remembering. It's like, why does something resonate with me like that? ⁓ okay, maybe that's a remembering. And I just think that that's really important, you know, as an aside, I remember when I was a kid, my dad is a mystic and he had all these super cool books in his home And I remember when I was a kid, I would go in there by myself. ⁓ And I would just like stroll through the books. I was like six years old, seven years old. And like, I would just pull them out and start scrolling through them. Why was I interested in this stuff that like, I didn't even know, like I wouldn't even have had the, like I wouldn't even know what this word meant. I didn't have the vocabulary yet. I was like six years old, but there was something, some energetic frequency of the language of the books, the stuff that was being spoken in those books and being taught that called to me. And it's like the same thing with like, don't know if I've ever shared this with you, Rosh, but as young kid, I was really deeply drawn to Egyptian history, mythology, and hieroglyphics, ⁓ so so that I taught myself how to read hieroglyphics when I was like, ⁓ think the third grade. I was, ⁓ and when I look back, I'm like, ⁓ my gosh, hello, resonance, hello, remembering, like, I guess just that because the point of samadhi or experiencing this beautiful bliss or this elevated level of consciousness is available to everyone and we can do it at any time and i'm wondering what what what do think is the purpose like why why should we do that

Rashmi Schramm: Great question. So I think it's important to reiterate what you said. There are no gatekeepers. Yoga is a method. are so many other methods. There are no gatekeepers. This is who and what you are. So that's the first thing to remember that this is yours. Right. Anyone listening, this is yours. No one has to help you get there. There are always teachers. There are always helpers along the way. But we can get there. Like it's because that's that's our true nature. Right. Like so the why of it is such a great question. So, you know, in the West, we often think about self sort of like, you know, the self actualization is the highest of the pyramid. of how we can kind of get there. We're actually doing the work we want to do. We're totally aligned. But really in the East, it takes it one other way, which is like self-realization. And that is the ultimate reason that we are here on this planet living out this particular curriculum. And that is what helps us to live a more aligned, more blissful, more service-oriented life because the ego is looking for certain things. The ego is not bad. have to have an ego, at the same time if that is not what is leading the way, if there is a higher self and a higher purpose, ⁓ can create enormously more impact than we can if we ⁓ at it from an egoic perspective.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: you That's fascinating. And I'll tell you in the the pre-Columbian pre-Hispanic traditions, Masatec people, the Maya people, a belief every day was every year on your birthday, was like, ⁓ the wish was for to get to know yourself at a deeper level. It's like the concept of self-realization that you're naming because ⁓ the belief was you get to know yourself deep enough. you live and the deeper you get to know yourself, the more you get to release the parts of you that are not you, the more you get to remember who you are, and the more you get to be in service from that place. And it was always, this is so fascinating that you say that because I do think in the Western world is, you know, the top of the pyramid and we're talking about the pyramid is Maslow's pyramid, Maslow's hierarchy, right? It's like the very top of the pyramid is self-actualization. Where are you the happiest? And it's so, it's in, Western is very individualized, you know, and in the traditions that I come from, and it sounds like where you're coming from, and truthfully, it's many ancient traditions, not just ours, which is the top of the pyramid is not to be in service to you, it's to be in service to the world, it's to be in service to community. It's like you get to know yourself so deeply and you tap into this higher level of consciousness because guess what happens when you do? You realize, whoa, at this level, I understand that we are all connected. When we are at this level, And then it's like a deeper yearning to be in service. Because when you're in service to everyone, you're in service to yourself. And there's no disconnection.

Rashmi Schramm: Yeah, mic drop. Absolutely.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: So here we are about this and I think a lot of people listening are interested. Yes. I want to tap into that. How do I access? How do I access these higher levels of consciousness? ⁓ And we know, like you said, there's no gatekeepers. And just want to say that one more time because I come from, a background where there were, ⁓ there's a lot of religion, organized religion, and there were people at the top of that organized religion, and they're the people closest to quote unquote God, and the only way to get to God is to get through them. And that is an example of gatekeeping. So again, I'm not here to tell you what to believe or not believe. I ⁓ you to that you are your own authority. Everyone is their own authority. And the reason why the concept of resonance matters so much is because ⁓ And I say this all the time on my podcast, don't take my word for it. Go and practice and try it for yourself and see what you experience. I want to say the same thing about this higher consciousness, because I guess before we talk about that, let me ask you, what do you think gets in the way? ⁓ wants access to it. So what's getting in the way?

Rashmi Schramm: world, I mean the modern world, ⁓ know, hedonic treadmill, the world of achievements, the worlds of more, ⁓ always, I mean, there's always something else for us to do other than sit down to meditate. Like there even 15 years down the road, ⁓ it still, I'm like, ⁓ I could actually do. ⁓ X, Z. That thought will still pop up from time to time. And so it is the idea of giving it any amount of importance in this world because we live these really busy, hectic lives that are full lives. We need to live those kind of lives. But what amount of priority do we want to give to this? That's really the question here. And there's no right or wrong. But if we start to pay attention and we can start really small, like we can just decide we're to outside and look at the sky for five minutes. can decide we're going to, you know, kind of just look at a candle and not need to do anything else in a dark room for five minutes. Like all of these things are ways for us to practice some of these. very, very, very difficult to let go of wanting to do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, especially ⁓ from a lived experience of like you and I are very curious beings. We love to learn. And so there's always another podcast to listen to. There's always another book to listen to. There's always a book to hear. Like, you know, there's so many different things that we could be learning that sometimes we don't have time to actually reconnect back with ourselves.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Hmm. it's like we value doing so much that slowing down feels so invaluable that it's hard for us to prioritize slowing down. It's too, because here's something for all of you listening. ⁓ The invitation is again, don't our word for it, but just try, try one minute a day. ⁓ And after about seven days doing that, notice how you feel and then decide if you want to add onto that. or not, add on two minutes, add on three minutes and just notice how you feel. Notice how you show up for people. Notice how you show up for yourself. Notice how you shift the conversations, the little judgment that used to come in. Notice how you're now able to witness it and maybe you don't engage with it anymore. Just start to notice those things because, you know, like every time I teach mindfulness or meditation or anything like that, especially to the folks that I work with, which are high performers, really smart leaders, entrepreneurs. It always starts from a place of like, this is going to bring you more focus. This is going to bring you more. And it's true. It will bring you more focus. It will bring you more productivity. It will bring you all of those things, but it's also going to make you just feel better. And it's going to help you tap into something so much bigger than you. And, and for me, that's my biggest draw. I think it's the coolest thing to know that we are connected to something so much bigger. And one way to tap in is just to slow down.

Rashmi Schramm: ⁓ for sure. And that is what brought me in the door to meditation as well. And when I think back at all of my teachers and my teachers now, have this incredible body of wisdom and their way of teaching this kind of, ⁓ it's yoga, meditation, ⁓ they also have an MD or a PhD or something else. I needed to have that to understand that they could traverse both worlds for this way not one or the other, but being able to move in all the different ways that we need to move through life with ⁓ was important to me that point. so is kind of funny looking at all of my teachers, they all have many, degrees ⁓ I valued at that time.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Yeah, I feel you. It's like something to give both the right brain and the left brain a sense of safety. Like, OK, I will listen to you because you have these degrees. And honestly, my sense is that for both you and I, what attracts our audiences to us is the same thing. They can trust us because of our degrees, our credentials. also, we have this other level of training and teachings and just lived experience. So curious. So ⁓ how you tell someone who's kind of interested or curious about ⁓ doing work?

Rashmi Schramm: That's right.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: A super simple, easy way to start.

Rashmi Schramm: Yeah. You know, and not everyone needs to sit down or lie down, especially if they're in active trauma or they're in grief or something like that. So the first thing is just to acknowledge that and to start small. If this is something of interest, start small. And I think the fastest way for us to come into contact with our higher selves is in nature. And right now we're in the beginning of summer, so most of the Northern Hemisphere should be able to be accessible outdoors. And so go touch a tree, go walk on grass, don't, you know, look at trees, look at the sky. I'm sitting east facing and there's a forest right here. so reconnecting back with nature can bring us back to our essence very, very quickly. Because the thing about nature is that there is no hurry. Like it's just unfolding. I mean, even the birds, there's no hurry. They're just going from one place to the other. so like that rhythm can really be very mystically attractive if we let it be, if we let it be.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: So go outside for a walk, do it maybe without AirPods, without listening to a podcast, maybe just at least five minutes of your walk with nothing on and just observe what you hear, observe what you see and just be present to it.

Rashmi Schramm: That's it. That's it. That's it. And that's mindfulness, right? Or just choose to be device free for a certain period of time. There'll be dings and pings that you don't need to pay attention to. And then, you know, if you choose to do a meditation, I think the simplest one is just a breath meditation is to set your timer for three minutes and just follow your breath and notice what happens within the body when you're just following your breath. And then when that feels like it's not enough, you can move it to five to six to seven to eight. And then when you've kind of gone through all the apps and all that and you and you need a teacher, you turn to Vanessa and you start to explore some of those things.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: And you turned to Raj. So we are, ⁓ ⁓ need to wrap this up because we've been talking for a long time and I would love to just talk to you for another couple of hours, but I also want to be mindful of the fact that our folks have stuff that they get to do today. So ⁓ want to just deeply, deeply bow of gratitude. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for sharing all of your wisdom with us today, for showing up today. For those of you listening, this is ⁓ a part. ⁓ one of two episodes. You'll hear the second part which is Rashmi and I talking some more ⁓ next week. So if you're interested in this, keep an eye out for the next episode. And just thank you so much Dr. Rashmi Shram. Where can folks find you if they're interested?

Rashmi Schramm: Yeah, thank you for allowing me to be here, Vanessa. my name is my website, it's just RashmiSharam.com, and it's the same on all sort of social media platforms. And then of course my ⁓ is Inner Peace and Power, where ⁓ ⁓ rocked the stage ⁓ this last week, it was fantastic.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: And it's roshmishrammd.com. That's your website, right? Perfect.

Rashmi Schramm: It's actually just RashmiShram.com because there were three M's if you put the MD in there and it's very confusing.

Dr. Vanessa Calderón: Okay. ⁓ and I'm going to link all of this in the show notes, but thank you again, Rashmi. And thank you all so much for being here and for just being super curious and for being open. And I just want to remind all of you listening that skepticism was one of the healthiest things that we can hold as humans. And it's so important to be skeptical, but true skepticism requires a curiosity because the opposite of that is cynicism. And cynicism doesn't feel good in the body, but but curiosity does. And so I hope all of you continue to be incredibly open and curious and start accessing a lot of these tools and practices for yourself and just notice how they make you feel. Thank you again for being here. I will see you all next week. Adios.