How To Share Yoga & Meditation To The Mainstream & Heal Collective Ignorance | Patti Montella #135

Discover how to transform inner turmoil into profound peace, even in the most challenging environments. Join us for an enlightening conversation with Patti Montella, a best-selling author and senior faculty member of the Art of Living, as she shares her extraordinary journey of teaching yoga, meditation, and breathwork to over 10,000 people worldwide. 

From Navy SEALs to serious trauma victims, Patti's practices foster love and resilience, driving profound personal and societal change. Explore how meditation and mindfulness transcend socio-economic and geographical boundaries, fostering compassion, community, and personal growth across diverse communities, from conservative towns in North Carolina to conflict-ridden areas in the Philippines.

We delve into integrating these transformative practices into high-stress sectors like the corporate world and the military, where Patti shares compelling stories of improved performance across the board. 

IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS:
🧘 Importance of Knowing & Understanding Your Audience
🧘 Impact of Meditation & Breathwork on Various Professions
🧘 Faith, Compassion, and Community Healing
🧘 Challenges and Breakthroughs in High-Stress Environments
🧘 The Art of Living’s Global Impact
🧘 Practical Tips for Personal Growth

ABOUT OUR GUEST: Patti Montella

Patti is a best-selling author, international speaker and senior faculty member with the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values.

For over 25 years, she has had the honour of teaching tens of thousands of people proven techniques and tools that lead to dynamic personal and organizational transformation, and now it’s your turn.

She believes everyone deserves the opportunity to live life to their greatest human potential.

Her lifework is dedicated to the upliftment of humanity by sharing spiritual wisdom in a relatable, inspiring and practical manner.

Moving in integrity, leading with kindness and compassion and navigating this world with a light-heart, are among my core values.

I does not just believe it’s possible to be successful, fulfilled and authentically happy; I know it to be true.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This fortnight on the Vital Beta podcast. How many people have you taught yoga, meditation, breathing?

Speaker 2: 0:07

At least 10,000 or more, yeah, worldwide. Yeah, I started being in service when I was 14 and I never stopped. I've taught Navy SEALs, secret Service agents, us Marshals. When we work with gang members and police officers and people have had a really rough time in life you begin to see that that is our human nature. It is not our nature to contract, it is our nature to expand. With your practices. You begin to see oh, I am love, I don't need to beg for love.

Speaker 1: 0:47

Welcome to the Vital Vader podcast. I am your host, dylan Smith. I'm an A-rated practitioner and holistic health educator and someone who is experiencing great gratitude for you joining me on this podcast episode. If you're a regular listener or a subscriber to the Vital Vader podcast, well, you would notice we've slowed down a bit. We are doing less episodes than usual, but we're going to get back on that train and keep bringing to you. We got some exciting stuff. We got patty montella on today. We got some episodes about traveling india in a safe way coming up and we got some episodes about near-death experiences with some amazing and well-regarded neurologists, neuroscientists, rather neurosurgeon as well. So we've got stuff coming up. You wait, but today I sat down in Sydney with a beautiful woman, patti. We had a great connection almost instantly and we became kind of like brother and sister in a way. And patty's really interesting.

Speaker 1: 1:49

She is a best-selling author, an international speaker. She's senior faculty for art of living, this massive movement that is promoting human values and health consciousness and consciousness in general. Over 25 years she's had the honor of teaching tens of thousands of people these dynamic, personal and organizational transformational techniques of breathwork meditation. She does it in a very humanitarian way she teaches politicians and disaster zones, trauma zones, victims, so many different people. And this is what we speak about today. We speak about how to access and expand and influence yoga, meditation consciousness in these mainstreams, in these communities of darkness, and particularly if you're a healer in any way, a meditation teacher, yoga teacher, whatever work you do, psychologist, it doesn't matter. If you want to have a ripple effect of expanding bliss and happiness, then this episode is for you. If you want to reach more people in that regards, this is for you, and not just any people, but people who perhaps aren't going to necessarily investigate on themselves with great passion and great interest. I'm talking to people who are just quote unquote lay people who have never tried meditation before, never tried breathing or pranayama exercise.

Speaker 1: 3:24

So we speak about this in today's episode. We speak about a bunch of things, including the Uvalde school shooting and mass shooting in Texas which she experienced, which is one of the most profound experiences of her life, as in she went to recover. She went to help after that in this interesting town, some of the interesting places. She teaches, teaches. There's a lot of good stuff, patty, if you listen to this, on the ball she's touring australia. She's from june 20th till the 30th. She's in melbourne and sydney and you can check this information out on her website, pottymantellacom, or you can visit artoflivingaustraliacom.

Speaker 1: 4:01

And what I love about patty is rather out of living dot org, rather um slash au dash en, but out of living dot org you can find what patty's doing. But what I appreciate is that patty she's so accessible to the mainstream but also at the same time, she's very close with her guru, sri Sri Ravi Shankarji, who is a world-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian, and she has this very deep perception of those around her and connection and explores the subtle and the richness in life. So it's this beautiful dance between being really relatable in a mainstream way and also having this deep spiritual expansiveness and connection with other people who are, so being able to resonate with other people on different realms, whether it is the mainstream or it is someone who lives in india as a guru to literally millions of people, which is out of living. So so enjoy, paddy. I also want to mention that we are doing a couple of free events with Dr Raju, my mentor, and I in Auckland and Wellington. You can find those on Out of Living website, but we're doing other talks on prostate, kidneys and neurological disease. For all those, you can see our website, and Dr Raj will also be offering consultations around Australia and New Zealand June, july 2024, if you listen to this in time.

Speaker 1: 5:29

So enjoy this episode with Patti Montella. Much love, patti. Welcome to Australia, welcome to the Vital Vader podcast. I hope you're having a wonderful time here down under, and I'm gonna. You don't know the vital veda podcast so well, so you don't know. The first question which we ask every guest, and that question is what did you do this morning? What is your dinner charia? What is your sadhana, what is your morning routine? And you can give whatever details little details that you like.

Speaker 2: 6:05

Well, I always start the day with my breath work and meditation routine and some asanas. So we have on my path a nice flow called Padmasadana, and it's asanas, and Nadiadi shodhana alternate nostril breathing, and then I do the sky breath breathing technique that I teach around the world, and then meditation. So it's about 45 minutes to start the day and then I have a cup of tea what tea do you drink? I. I'm an Earl Grey person and Sky Breath is Sudarshan Kriya.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Is that right? Yeah, the.

Speaker 2: 6:47

Sudarshan Kriya, which means proper vision of oneself, and Sky is for Sudarshan Kriya, yoga. So it's a short acronym that works for people, because Sudarshan Kriya is a little longer. So Sky Breath meditation is exactly that Sudarshan Kriya.

Speaker 1: 7:06

And that's the main technical practice that you teach around the world.

Speaker 2: 7:09

Yeah, and that is the main technique. Art of Living has 57 personal development programs, something for everybody from every walk of life, but the cornerstone is the Sudarshan Kriya, the sky breath meditation. Cornerstone is the Sudarshan Kriya, the sky breath meditation. That is the most powerful first game changer you're going to experience and everybody's able to do it, and then from there there's advanced techniques and programs.

Speaker 1: 7:38

So I teach a myriad of programs.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Yeah, great, and I'd love to explore in this episode how the dynamics of all the different programs come together and practices, because it's like for me, for example, who has you know, my program in the morning can be two hours or three hours if I had the time. And it's like oh, another thing that I should add. So it's like how does one develop a morning routine in a way that suits them and that's not overwhelming and not? I think, as one evolves over the years they increase their sophistication and bring things in. And I see, for example, meditation. It's like very transcendent, transcendental, it's very baseline, but the kriyas, or the sky breaths, and those they're a bit more dynamic and activating and can be more, allow one to integrate more as well. Like I see meditators who just transcend all day and like or twice a day or whatever it is, but not not enough activity that is such a good point?

Speaker 2: 8:48

yeah, because you know we're most of us. We're not living up in the Himalaya mountains. We're here to be of service in society to at least I am, you are and many of the people who are listening to share the knowledge. Otherwise, if we keep it to ourselves, then we're not living one of those limbs of yoga which is seva to be of service to others. So what the Sudarshan Kriya does? It allows the restlessness which we all experience from the busyness of a household or life. It allows that restlessness in the body and the mind to settle down. It is such a complementary adjunct to meditation. It's facilitating a deeper, transcendent meditation. So, although I begin the day with that, I also meditate a second, 45 minutes in the day, every day, and I'm listening to knowledge and speaking knowledge throughout the day.

Speaker 1: 9:50

My life is dedicated to this how long does the Sudarshan Kriya take?

Speaker 2: 9:56

Well to learn it. It's just nine or 10 hours over three days, a few hours every day, and the Sudarshan Kriya itself is a 10-minute practice. So you begin with pranayamas, again for body, mind and spirit, and then it's like soaping up. If you're in the shower, you're soaping up, and then the 10-minute, what we teach the 10-minute Sudarshan Kriya, that's how long it takes, you're washing off and then so what is it? 15, 25 minutes, minimum, five minutes, if people don't have a meditation practice to just sit in that stillness. And we've got seven layers of existence body, breath, mind, intellect, memory, ego and self. When you begin the day rooted in the self, going within, all seven layers move together with so much greater harmony, so much greater balance. Usually what people do is they'll go into the self. When there's been some big happening in life, most people will do that as an exception, looking for solace. But the point is, when you do it each and every day, when the ups and downs of life come, your personal capacity is so much greater.

Speaker 1: 11:21

You already know how to go inward, to cultivate greater resilience and awareness and happiness one thing I want to speak about today for myself and for people listening who are practitioners of maybe meditation teachers, yoga teachers, whatever. There's so many people who are listening that want to spread wellness and consciousness with the world, and one thing I value about you is your ability to teach the quote-unquote mainstream and to share the knowledge with a lot of people, because how many people have you taught yoga, meditation, breathing?

Speaker 2: 12:00

at least 10 000 or more yeah, worldwide.

Speaker 1: 12:03

Yeah and you're, I believe you, successfully accessed different groups at different times, for example, in the texas shooting in the. Is it? Uvalde texas shooting, so getting like places and groups and communities that are really in deep need of enlightenment or deep need of illumination.

Speaker 2: 12:34

Yeah, that's a good word, Right.

Speaker 1: 12:36

And how. So perhaps because we give us a background of kind of some of the communities, some of the different types of people, some of the different circumstances in life where you felt a great call. It's very clear, you know. I asked you before we recorded like what do you want to speak about? Not, first thing was sever. It's like you're very much service. You're now in australia teaching people. You've come to a suburb of sydney which this type of yoga meditation is not very common here. I come from a place in sy Sydney where it's more common. So you're really going to the places to illuminate, where the darkness and the ignorance is. So tell us a bit about your journey and the different types of people and places you've spoken, taught.

Speaker 2: 13:16

You know I grew up in Buffalo, new York, upstate New York, and people there are considered salt of the earth, good people, working people and very hospitable people, and that's where I was born and raised and I started being in service when I was 14. And I never stopped. It is definitely not only my nature, but it's actually human nature to want to give. It creates a sense of expansion. It brings so much joy and I always tell people when you're volunteering the good thing is you can learn a new skill and nobody can fire you.

Speaker 2: 13:57

So it's a safe place. So it was a very natural fit, when I came to this path and met Gurudev, sri Sri Ravi Shankar, to be of service at a much greater scale than I could have ever imagined I'd hoped for. But I could never imagine it was possible. And what I find, dylan, is that people, regardless of their position in life, their lot in life, everybody wants the same thing. Everybody wants to be happier, from the homemaker in a small town to the college student, to the law enforcement officials to heads of state, everybody wants to be happier. Officials to heads of state, everybody wants to be happier. They don't know how. So by doing these breathing techniques and meditation and being in knowledge, that's helped me to live life to the best version of who I am, it becomes very natural to just be your authentic self, to just be your authentic self. So, for example, I just was in a small town in North Carolina, a very evangelical town, a very Christian, conservative town, and the art of living had never been brought there before. After our World Culture Festival that we had in Washington DC last year, when we had people from again, every walk of life, every culture, I thought why am I not bringing this to the small towns. Often we assume what we think people are thinking and feeling and we're usually wrong. And that was my experience. I just, over a cup of coffee, very authentically share what this path offers that there is no conflict with religion, that it is spirituality bringing forth a blossoming of human values, nonviolence which is such an issue, and violence is such an issue. We know in the US and I've started seeing what's happening here in Australia. It's all over the world and it comes at many different levels violence and compassion and friendliness and sincerity, and compassion and friendliness and sincerity. So a spiritual path transcends religion and I met the most interesting preacher who had been in prison himself for 25 years and he ended up becoming the chaplain at the prison for 30 years and we just chatted as two people and he serves people in recovery and who have been imprisoned and we ended up teaching a program for 15, as a first pilot for 15 young men and young women, and the greatest thing I ever heard was when they told me after our program I love myself again, I have that sense of belongingness with myself, and one of them immediately said I want to become a teacher and we're working with him now.

Speaker 2: 17:25

The transformation in three days was night and day and the executive director of that organization, reverend Reggie, said I have seen so many programs to help people but I've never seen anything rooted in the breath, and that is profoundly fulfilling. We also ended up teaching that same month city council leaders, the mayor, the chief of police, different members of law enforcement, different ministers. It's a very much a faith-based community and, I'll be honest, in the beginning it was people from so many different backgrounds. I thought how is this going to go? Because what I didn't know is Unitarians are not people who like to be around the police, they were telling me the closest I've ever been to a police officer was at a social justice protest. And here's the chief of police, the lieutenant, the deputy chief. Same thing happened. People are people and when our guards and our concepts and our false need for protection drops and we take that journey from head to heart, it was profound for all of us and now there's a much greater sense of community amongst the leaders in that small community.

Speaker 2: 18:54

So from there to, I've taught in the Philippines the office of the vice president and worked with their young staff because ISIS was coming into the Philippines and the poorest areas and recruiting high school and college students.

Speaker 2: 19:15

And we do this in Art of Living in the Middle East as well, where we go in and help kids be kids again, come back to the innocence again, bring that equanimity within the self, and then there's so much creativity and expansion and we begin to teach again the military, law enforcement, and you see that positive transformation.

Speaker 2: 19:44

When a young one, anyone, has seen death right before their eyes and is poor, you can see how much they can contribute to society and universities. You know I speak at business schools, I had a corporate background before I came to this path and so many leaders in business and politics. Because who doesn't want those who are leading us to be spiritual, to be leading the change, but from a centered place, a place, an inclusive place and a place of peace within themselves? So we can be very different is what I've learned. And yet we really have so much more in common and when you come from that still point, then you can lead, create and affect change at a much greater level and that inspires me every day beautiful, the town, the evangelic town.

Speaker 1: 20:50

When was that and how is?

Speaker 2: 20:51

it doing now. It was april this year so okay, so very recent.

Speaker 1: 20:55

It'd be interesting to see over the months of how they maintain it. Because what I find interesting is you're teaching these places, whether it's thick of ignorance or thick of suffering, in different ways. Maybe ignorance is a better word because, for example, the Middle East, and you mentioned politicians Like there's such a status quo and such a collective of a certain way in these circles, in these communities. So is it challenging for you to bring this, because you hear of politicians learning meditation or yoga and all these people in this company, but then the collective of the ignorance, whether it's political agenda, whether it's corrupt agenda, whether it's corporate, and obviously the, the primary is prophets over consciousness, where they just care about prophets and they'll destroy the earth. Okay, they learn meditation, but how hard is it to become face to face with that ignorance in these circles, where it can be really thick, and is it a challenge for you?

Speaker 2: 22:03

It's never been a challenge for me, because what you see is what you get. I don't need to explain or apologize or make myself small in any way. I am blessed to be very authentic and not everyone will come, but those who are ready are searching. Everybody is a seeker and so let's say, for example, I spend a lot of time in Congress. I was and am a congressional liaison in Washington DC for our foundation and whether we know right now in the US, the same thing is taking place that takes place all over the world. There is so much polarization and whether somebody is one party or the other, I am here, our foundation is here and means we care for you and we care for the world.

Speaker 2: 23:17

And when you are offering something that will give people relief and will also give relief and fulfillment to their constituents, they listen. Because, again, everybody wants the same thing. They want a peaceful, creative, joyful society. It's just even when I've taught former gangsters and gang members and I have from one spectrum of life to the other. They want the same thing. They want to be happy, they want to be fulfilled. They don't want the stress, they want the fulfillment in life and they want that be fulfilled. They don't want the stress, they want the fulfillment in life and they want that from for their family. So when you speak to people, I see them not as the roles that they play, but as people.

Speaker 1: 24:18

Yeah, that's beautiful. The question in that is not so much about your personal challenges but the challenge of if it's a gang group or if it's a prison collective. How much can that influence and what's the efficacy of this work which we're spreading amongst these communities to really make that turn from a dominance of ignorance to a dominance of love and compassion and kindness and friendliness, like even the evangelical community that you said. They were very conservative, like it'll be interesting to see when can we really see, okay, they're really opening up, they've dropped these boundaries and these ways that they relate with certain people. So that, I think, is an interesting thing to be a part of. And I guess you know by you seeing them as a people, an individual, and not bound to that collective consciousness of the group really, because I've seen that in corporate working in corporate I remember when I started seeing corporate people like they're also just people, you know.

Speaker 1: 25:20

Yes, they're in this rat race and really can get carried away with certain systems, but enlivening the individual.

Speaker 2: 25:30

It's a journey from head to heart, like when I'm teaching in a corporate environment and teaching titans of industry, teaching CEOs. Life may be looking great on paper, but they're in the middle of a divorce, they have alcoholism in the family, they have a child strung out, on drugs. Then people begin to reveal themselves when they feel safe. Everybody has struggles and ups and downs. It's the same thing with a gang member and we have seen it unfold in different parts of the world very well. I take my own country, for example. Leading up to our World Culture Festival that took place at the National Mall in Washington DC last year, we spent a year creating waves of peace. So, whether we were in the halls of Congress or we were in the toughest, most dangerous wards of which there are many in Washington DC, we were there teaching breath work, teaching meditation, and what you see is so much beauty when the individual begins to let go and be their true self and again, not that tough exterior that has been put up. You see a gang member with and I have seen it, I have been there with tears in their eyes about the love for their grandmother who may have raised them, about the love for their grandmother who may have raised them, or healing from the trauma of losing multiple family members from shootings, or the head of a particular political party may be doing well politically but hasn't healed from the grief of losing a child. People are people and I don't even want to bring this down to only letting go of stress or grief or trauma, because that's a beginning point. Beyond that, as you know, with your practices, you begin to see oh, I am love, I don't need to beg for love, I have. There is no dearth of love from within me and that, oh, I actually do like connecting with other people.

Speaker 2: 27:58

You know, through these techniques and this wisdom, authentic social cohesion begins to unfold and take place naturally. That's why, when we work with gang members and police officers and people have had a really rough time in life you begin to see that it that is our human nature. It is not our nature to contract, it is our nature to expand and everything is possible. And then different dimensions, through deep meditation again, as you well know, begin to unfold and possibility becomes a reality. Confidence goes up, perception improves, your observation improves and your ability to express, to communicate improves, particularly in young people, male or female, I see the self-confidence go up and then they're out there, they're in the world and they're connecting and no longer feeling small. They're.

Speaker 1: 29:02

They're experiencing these other dimensions of expansion and what is natural is when you share joy, it increases yeah, and that reciprocation of when you feel that you give it, you receive it, so that's the collective sharing it is.

Speaker 2: 29:23

I mean, if you see a child lost at the mall, you don't know their child, but you see a child crying and they're lost. Everybody's instinct is to help. It's there, within the people so a sense of belongingness is actually quite natural, and what the breath, work and meditation does is brings you back home to your truth.

Speaker 1: 29:48

You mentioned corporate. You've been in corporate yourself For all the corporate listeners of this episode. I feel. What is your advice to them who have a desire to upgrade their interaction with their corporate world? So it doesn't mean they have to leave corporate because they might. I think I see a lot of corporate patients who have a desire to just upgrade their corporate relationships. Maybe some want to leave corporate or they don't, but they, they just want to enhance their, their happiness and their, their, the way that they do business.

Speaker 2: 30:25

Absolutely, because, yeah, I have a 20 year corporate career. I was with American Airlines and the Sabre Corporation in particular the Sabre Corporation and I started taking the Art of Living program when I was at the height of my corporate career and what I saw was very powerful. I can remember this time I had a boss that was not a fun boss by any stretch of the imagination and I went to one of our quarterly sales meetings and, oh, he did not like me. There wasn't anything I could do right and my numbers were bad that quarter. And I gave a presentation and he stood up and applauded and said Patty is the most improved and everyone should clap. And I'm thinking I just gave you a report with really bad numbers. What is he talking about? And what I saw was nothing had changed in. My external world had shifted, was I had taken the art of living course. I had shifted internally and my presence was so much more powerful, so much more clear.

Speaker 2: 31:41

I also, on that trip, I used to take 7 am flights from Denver to Seattle, which nobody likes a 7 am flight and I'd be up to 3 am fine-tuning my presentation With the breath and meditation as a regular practice. I was in bed at a good hour. I woke, I was rested, I was clear I was getting more done in less time with fewer mistakes. So then I was better able to enjoy all aspects of my life. So, whether you're a corporate professional, you're a health care professional, whatever it may be, I no longer was losing my identity in it. And that's what I see when people take our corporate programs. It's letting the steam out. The teamwork improves, the leadership skills improve, you go from you move into inspired leadership, which being that in that servant leadership, and when you're in that and that's a way of life the productivity goes up and you're able to enjoy all aspects of life with greater balance.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Did you also enjoy the work more?

Speaker 2: 33:03

Oh, I enjoyed my corporate career but like many people in business, I was getting burned out and it was becoming. It was a push. Every day it was a push and the joy was going down and the struggle was real to get the paycheck and everything else that comes with that. And then at one point you become overly attached to the benefits that come with that lifestyle and it wasn't feeling good. And after I started this path and was still in the world, my creativity went up, my intuition got better, I was able to take the right decision at the right time. Because it's really, you know, when you look at those seven layers of existence, when you're in a business, as a business professional, you're hanging out your intellect a lot, but that's a lower level of existence. Actually, when you go higher into the self, then again intuitive ability, decision-making is better, creativity is more, innovation is more. So.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Even when I was teaching in the Middle East I've taught in the Middle East a lot I had met a number of CEOs and I remember one in particular. He had started a very successful tech company and he wanted to give it to his son. None of his vice presidents were getting along, so this subtle sabotage was happening at the highest level and he knew it and I really did my best to help him to understand how this program will help their stress to go down, the innovation to increase and when you're going through an economic struggle, from a business perspective, you can either fail or you can survive, and not only survive, or you can survive, and not only survive. You can thrive, and breathwork and meditation is the key to making that difference. They weren't getting along at all and so I laid out the benefits, drawing from my own personal experience and that of all the companies I've taught. This. One person didn't take the program and I found out two years later. The company continued to go down and what he wanted to give to his son, all the work he'd done, never happened. And then it has the ripple effect, doesn't it? Into your personal life.

Speaker 2: 35:44

But I've also seen. For example, I had taught a company in the Philippines, very, very well known company, and right in the middle of the busiest time, when the big bosses were coming from South America, they took our corporate program and at the time, to be honest, dylan, their managers and their directors thought what is my CEO doing? And the very first day of the program. I knew they didn't want to be there. They wanted to be at their desks. That was a little tricky Within. By the next day they were relaxing, ideas were bubbling up, and by the third day, when we finished and they gave the big presentation, so much had happened for the better and they thanked their CEO and said this wouldn't have been possible without you. So I have seen both ends of the spectrum.

Speaker 1: 36:43

And do you find the corporate people who teach this program too? They maintain these practices.

Speaker 2: 36:48

Yes, they do. They may not get on a spiritual path, and that's okay, but at least they have this 30-minute home practice that again helps them to let out the steam, come back to your center. And who comes up with innovative ideas, who is able to lead teams and be a team player, who is able to have good productivity. When you're coming into the office or the business from a diminished state, nobody is. If your mind is in the past or it's worried in the future and you're not in the present, you're not coming from a place of your optimum performance. I've taught many of my corporate friends who have gone on in fact, they've all gone on to be very, very successful. Well, I took the spiritual path after that life. They stayed and they regularly tell me patty, thank you. It wouldn't have been possible. Their marriages are better, their relationships with the kids are better, everything's better, and they're quite creative and successful people as a result.

Speaker 1: 37:57

What's your advice to meditation teachers, yoga teachers, healers, people who want to share their knowledge more, with corporate, with political parties, with these groups which at first may not be so interested or open to these vedic practices? That's a good question because that's the ultimate challenge. How do we tap into the people who are eating mcdonald's and drinking beer most nights? How do we tap into the people who just care about money and happy to do get profits at the expense of the environment and even of other living beings?

Speaker 2: 38:40

Well, I would say corporate is no different than me talking to a gang member, a congressman, a woman, than me talking to a gang member, a congressman, a woman or a faith leader. I agree, you want to know your audience. What are their challenges, what are their needs? Do they need leadership, agility? Do what's going on in the community that they're living? When you can meet, know your audience, I mean, take the time to know your audience and speak to that need, that interest, and also show the evidence-based research. So for our techniques, we have research from Yale, from Stanford, from Harvard, from truly prestigious universities. When I began we didn't have any of that, and so it's. That's it. Know your audience today, for whether it's yoga and we're only speaking, hatha yoga and asanas, whether it's breathwork, meditation, healing, sound, that's it. Know your audience and meet them where they're at and provide the evidence-based research. I'll give you a very real example.

Speaker 2: 40:05

The head of cardiology at Harvard was my student, dr Mayra, just a very special soul, and when he first met me his family had done this program. I said what do you do for a living? I didn't know he was a cardiologist and often when I teach I don't want to know what people do for a living. I didn't know he was a cardiologist and often when I teach I don't know. I don't want to know what people do for a living.

Speaker 1: 40:31

I just want to meet them at the people level right, because then I guess, whether you call it ego or identification is that is that why I feel that create concepts and then they have to live.

Speaker 2: 40:45

That way I can't.

Speaker 1: 40:46

I have to be my professional self in front of patty, I can't be my vulnerable human to human as much.

Speaker 2: 40:52

And that's only one role you could be father mother, sister, brother, whatever it may be, that's only one role. So dr mayra said to me, I fix failed hearts. And I looked at him. I said I do too, do it in a different way and at the time, in cardiology, you know, a cardiology unit is as high pressure, stressful, pretty much as you can get. The nurses are a special kind of nurse and it's a very intense unit.

Speaker 2: 41:29

But back then and this I don't know how many years ago it was, but he was so evolved and beginning to bring and it was starting to come into cardiology and different healing modalities that could be silence on the floor. They were beginning to practice for a certain period of time and meditation, aromatherapy back then, and they were beginning to see the effect not only on the patient but on the nurses. And so you had that merging of peacefulness from within. I've taught navy seals, secret service agents, us marshals I mean hardcore military that medicine and I did this yoga nidra, where you go through the body and in one presentation and deep relaxation nobody wanted to get up.

Speaker 2: 42:39

You know, and these are people who are saving lives each and every day. But again, if you are under constant, chronic stress, whether we speak about it or not, we know that it's having an impact on our health and well-being. It's impacting our heart. It's the body even if you have a strong mind that can carry a weak body for a long time, but you start as you well know as an Ayurvedic practitioner you start taking advantage of that and you get out of balance with the body and the mind and the spirit complex. There will be a price to pay. So it's very, very fulfilling to be able to speak with these people and this role that they play and provide them some relief and solace as well.

Speaker 1: 43:34

And the evidence-based scientific studies which, out of living, have been tremendously conducting, that a big help as well to convince living in this today age when people are quite intellectual and want the science.

Speaker 2: 43:47

Yeah, that intellect needs to be satisfied. So even when I was speaking in front of a group of medical professions, military leaders and people who carry guns for a living to serve and protect, serve and protect, I had to. In speaking to the other practitioners you're talking about, I really needed to present the medical evidence and it's there. It's there to show how the sudarshan kriya, the sky breath meditations, lowers cortisol, the stress hormone, and not only does it do that, but it's increasing prolactin, the well being hormone, which antidepressants don't do, they just suppress. We have opioid crisis in our country, I don't know. I think in australia there's not as bad.

Speaker 2: 44:45

But alcohol is a very real issue here, and what this particular breathing technique does that we have shown in the science, is reduce the cravings. Now, that's significant, because when somebody's hooked on drugs, it's really the pain of detoxing from those drugs that makes it so unbearable they want to go back. So through these techniques and this wisdom, you're creating a heightened state of awareness, and with that heightened state of awareness we can make better decisions, whether it's alcohol, food, sex addiction, drugs, whatever it may be.

Speaker 1: 45:30

Am I right that Art of Living is the biggest spiritual movement in the world?

Speaker 2: 45:36

I know that we are the largest volunteer-based organization in the world. I don't know about spiritual movement. It seems like that to me. We're in 186 countries and continuing to grow and expand because Gurudev's mission is to truly bring a smile to every face. And he does not stop. He sleeps just a few hours a night because the body must have some rest. Hours a night, because the body must have some rest. He has some magic wand.

Speaker 2: 46:08

I don't know how he does it, but he does it and the commitment to uplifting society is real and we have teachers throughout Australia, throughout the world, and volunteers, and that you know. Going back to corporate, I brought a number of professors from different business colleges to some of our corporate events before and one of them from the University of Texas said to me how does it work, patty, how does it work that these people are so busy in the world with their careers, with their family and they're still here volunteering?

Speaker 2: 46:45

I mean, this is the dream of anyone. How do you mobilize so many? But when you're in truth and you're helping people and people are walking the talk, that inspired leadership kicks in. And it's not difficult you answered my question.

Speaker 1: 47:04

I think you answered it in regards to how is it such a large volunteer-based organization so successful? Because when I think of volunteer systems in spiritual groups as well, a lot what I've seen is the volunteers are not having the abundance that they want. They complain about not enough money, even if they're teaching meditation or teaching something, and they have to give a certain percentage to the movement, like they're struggling financially and they're overall. It's not. It doesn't. There's lax abundance in that and but it seems you just said a lot of them are still working and they're volunteering oh yeah and like, because also it can be.

Speaker 1: 47:49

There can be a thing of over volunteering like is the, are they getting? Is it? Is it so reciprocal between the volunteers and who they're volunteering for? Because some other organizations can. That balance may not be there. So how is it? How is it speak about Seva? Selfless service, and clearly that's a core foundation of Art of Living, because it is such large volunteer-based. How does this all flow?

Speaker 2: 48:16

and circulate. Well, that's a big question. One is to have this philosophy of its faith and you know, guru Dev is my teacher and when I came, especially from the corporate world, it was what there was, because I'd always been a volunteer and I spent many a year couch surfing, living with other people. At 40 years old from this very professional life and honestly, dylan, one of the greatest gifts Gurudev has given me is to really bring up the faith that we are not alone, that there is an unseen hand and this path comes from abundance, not lack, and there is lack consciousness.

Speaker 2: 49:23

So it is so prevalent in the world today and that's just on baseless fears, not seeing what's possible, but coming from a place of fear and not having that faith. So there have been times myself in the beginning where I had to decide am I going to buy pajamas or new underwear? Because I still live on a stipend to this day, all my needs are taken care of and I live a wonderful life. But I did take that as a full-time volunteer, that commitment time volunteer, that commitment, and as my faith grew and that connection to the divinity expanded, I began to see abundance flowing everywhere. I no longer had the lack consciousness. Now, most of our volunteers. They have their lives, you know, and they have their careers, but it's the same thing. It's coming back to a yes mind. Yes brings peace and no brings conflict.

Speaker 1: 50:39

So the faith is that there's a divine intelligence organizing this, and it's going to take care of me.

Speaker 1: 50:44

And then did that, does that faith or did it for you eventually turn into a knowing Like? At first, I need a bit of a faith. I need to trust the divine. I feel a bit insecure. I've got hardly any money in my bank but I'm going to keep going. But then, when you really experience, yes, this is really true, the divine does look after me. This is not faith or belief, I know it. I directly experience the abundance that yeah, absolutely, you said it beautifully.

Speaker 2: 51:10

It's a knowingness. For example, let's go back to Uvalde.

Speaker 1: 51:15

Yes, I want to hear more about that as well, because I don't know about that specifically. Of course we hear in Australia about all the mass shootings.

Speaker 2: 51:22

Yeah, so at the time my elderly parents had just moved into a nursing home, and so you can imagine personally it was a really crushing time for our family.

Speaker 1: 51:39

That's nursing home, where they're not independent anymore.

Speaker 2: 51:42

My father could no longer walk, my mother had dementia. They were married 69 years and to see the body begin to do its thing when it's time to leave the earth it's difficult and there was a lot to take care of physically and emotionally for them. And if ever my breathwork and meditation practices were an anchor. That was the time. And I get a call from Gurudev from India, seeing what's what had unfolded in Uvalde, which was three hours away, where we ironically have an art of living Center in Texas, and he asked me to go there and work with the teachers in training and to simply give solace to people.

Speaker 2: 52:36

Now, this is a very Mexican it's right on the border of Mexico community not a well-off community and a very Catholic community. Their faith is so great. So I walked in with my team to the mayor's office and to the city leaders, and then I walked into the hospital and immediately met one of the nurses who had been on the scene when the injured and deceased children and teachers were brought in. So you, honestly, I have never felt so much grief in my life. It was almost bring you to your knees at the memorial in the center of town, because in a smaller town like that everybody knows everybody. So there wasn't anybody who wasn't affected. And while that is when faith comes in, often we say I lost faith because of a tragedy. But that is exactly when your faith will serve you. And if you're not rooted in it, then the struggle will be so much worse than it needs to be. So I sat, in particular, the first day at the hospital with a revolving door, myself and another teacher of, nurse after nurse after nurse, who had been in the trauma and were still very much in the trauma it was only, I think at that time, not even a week old and did some breathing techniques to immediately give them some solace, some relief and help them to sleep. It wasn't about a spiritual path, it wasn't about a course, it was just provide relief so they could sleep and they could function and they could be there for their children.

Speaker 2: 54:43

And then we did more and more in the community. And then we did more and more in the community, and what I saw was there was this strong faith in their religion that helped their community be able to put one foot in front of the other. But the connection to the self might have been missing or cloudy because of the trauma and through the breath, work and meditation. Once that equanimity and stillness began to unfold from within in body, mind and spirit, then their religion was no longer words. It became their knowingness, their experience and I'm speaking a little slower because I'm I'm recalling what was happening during that time. And we're still there today teaching and doing what we do to uplift the community. But I would say that experience was just something I could never forget never forget how many people passed away in that shooting.

Speaker 2: 56:02

21 two teachers and 19 children, huge, yeah, so it. You know, even if it's a tragedy like that, it's the nth degree of the anger and the violence in a society. The child who did the kilting? He was a child who had mental illness, you can see from his upbringing. People weren't there for him and then the anger festers. I was also on the scene in Columbine, another shooting in America, and so much has happened since then. But again, that's the antithesis of it.

Speaker 2: 56:44

But the anger can be flipping somebody off in the car, shoving your grocery cart forward and not giving space for somebody who has a few items. Because I need it, I want it and this I me, mine, I see as a disease in the world today. It doesn't have to take the tragic death of children and teachers, does it? It doesn't have to take the terrorism for us to know what's really going on. It happens. We can be terrorists in our own home with our word and our and our state of mind. So that's why the breath work, the meditation. It's something we weren't taught in school, we weren't taught at home. We are teaching it now in schools all over the world and it's such an essential part of becoming blossoming into full consciousness as a human being beautiful.

Speaker 1: 57:47

You mentioned something about religion with that community in Uvalde. That made me think of, for example, what I can see now the Jewish community going through, with the amount of people going on to them and kind of anti-Semitism abuse, with what's going on with the Israel, gaza. And what I got from you and what I see as well, it's the religion. One thing they get from that when it is getting to the nth degree is community and support. But I see a lot of quote-unquote mainstream or conventional religions lacking that connection to self, like true experience of self, and I love how, when these religions or conventional religious people learn these practices yoga, meditation, breathing they can really integrate that, the essence of their religion with that's absolutely right and you know you can look at religion as the banana peel, with the rituals and whatever dogma.

Speaker 2: 58:57

But the essence of any religion or any sense of boundaries or identification is we are on this planet as part of the divine. Whether you have a religion, you don't have a religion, whatever it may be, we are part of one divinity. Then we are human beings and then we can get into those limited identifications of nationality, religion, gender, whatever it may be. But in the world today and it's changing Don't you see that it is changing those limited identifications. We had it upside down, we were holding on to that and not seeing that we're part of one divinity. So, human values, compassion, sincerity, friendliness, service, a sense of belongingness, uh, all of that honesty that is in every religion.

Speaker 2: 1:00:09

In every person, Everywhere and every place. So whether I'm teaching a Methodist minister, a rabbi, an atheist Episcopal, any religion, it doesn't matter. When you come back to the human values, we can all agree.

Speaker 1: 1:00:28

So I think, to summarize this podcast and and actions to take is make sure you have a regular practice yeah spread it with your communities in a way that's relevant, that's suitable and it's really back to these fundamental human qualities it, is it absolutely seems so when you mentioned, when you listed those qualities of friendliness, compassion, service. It seems so far off in some ways when I think of the collective and some communities.

Speaker 2: 1:01:03

You know, I don't see it that way. I see what's going on in the world and, as I said in the beginning of the podcast, everyone's a seeker, everyone wants happiness, everyone wants peace. It's just that sometimes we go about it in a way that is harmful to ourselves or others. But when we strengthen the individual, we strengthen the family, we strengthen the community and then we strengthen nations. And one thing we all have to do is breathe. We breathe in and we're energized. We breathe out, we let go and one day we'll fully let go. So our, I would ask your listeners to consider am I really living life to my highest human potential? Am I taking risk instead of worrying about what everybody else is doing?

Speaker 2: 1:01:57

first start with you yeah are you taking care of your mind and emotions? If not, take this program. Take a program that helps you to do that and it's really practical, and then you'll see you begin to shift your perception and we can all become beacons of light and not get so caught up in the news and the sensationalism and the stories that we're told. When we go out and connect heart to heart, we see a very different world than what is projected through the media that's it.

Speaker 1: 1:02:31

That's, I think, what I've taken away from. This is really like each individual heart, they have that and that spark is within everyone and that's where we should be connecting, not looking on a collective of oh, they're all this like within that collective that seems like dark ignorance. There are beautiful hearts everywhere, every single one of them.

Speaker 2: 1:02:53

And I had the same question of guru dev when I was a new full-time teacher years ago and I just wasn't getting it that we have so much joy here on this path and yet I I felt like how are we going to really transform society?

Speaker 2: 1:03:15

It's just so big and there's so much and the need is great. And when was this? 25 years ago. He said to me then what he says today one by one, patty, one by one. And that's what's happening. And now look at how big the art of living is as a movement all around the world to unite as one world family. It is possible, but it begins with us.

Speaker 1: 1:03:45

Absolutely. Thanks, patti. So if people want to learn more about art of living or programs that you offer, how can they do that?

Speaker 2: 1:03:53

you can come to my website at pattymontellacom p-a-t-t-i, montella, m-o-n-t-e-l-l-a. Or you could look up art of living australia.

Speaker 1: 1:04:05

Just google art of living australia and all the programs will be there all around the world all around the world and here at home australia yeah, and great, and you, you travel a lot I do you know 20 years with an airline.

Speaker 2: 1:04:20

It's in my my mother used to, and then I'm almost 30 years with art of living now. My mother used to say you have sand in your shoes. Um, it's my nature to travel and I'm a storyteller, and so meeting people from every walk of life is very satisfying, and I find amazing people in every corner of the world I love how you just really see the beauty in everyone and you, you love it, I do, I do and then when you know I need that quiet time, I live up in the blue ridge mountains of north carolina and I'll go deep in the forest and and take a nice long silent hike and do a lot of meditation.

Speaker 2: 1:05:10

So the silence brings out so much in us. Once we get that deep rest.

Speaker 1: 1:05:17

And for someone who's traveling a lot and doing a lot and really teaching, I'm similar and for me it definitely. I need my few days in the bush. No cell phones.

Speaker 2: 1:05:28

No talking, that's kind of you really need that balance. Yeah, thank you, pattity thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:05:38

Thank you for listening. If you appreciate what you heard, share on instagram. Let me know how you feel, let patty know how you feel, connect with patty through out of livingorg or patty montellacom and if you want to leave a review, that would be much appreciated, reciprocating the energy which we bring. And if you are in Australia or New Zealand, I'll be touring with my teacher, medya Krishna Raju, dr Raju, in June, july we're going to be hitting Perth, sydney and New Zealand and in fact in New Zealand you'll also find on outoflivingorg. We're doing a couple of free events, one in Auckland, one in Wellington. We'll be offering health consultations and for those online this is the main thing we're doing Everyone online.

Speaker 1: 1:06:17

We're doing a talk on dementia and neurological disease. It's one of Dr Raju's specialties ways to prevent quite an in-depth masterclass and that is to really understand the pathology of neurological disease Alzheimer's, dementia, parkinson's and so on. Understand the pathology, understand the causes, understand how to prevent it and understand how to treat it. From things you can be doing at home by yourself, from different treatment options and different two and a half hour masterclass. So we're really going to go quite. We want to cover a lot of ground. So especially for health practitioners or health students or Ayurveda students, ayurveda practitioners this is particularly designed for them, but also anyone who is wanting to optimize their neurological health, heal their neurological disease and or prevent. This is what we're about in Ayurveda. So we're going to be speaking about prevention as well as treatment.

Speaker 1: 1:07:08

We have a second online masterclass on another specific topic of pathology and that is the same thing, but on the prostate and the kidneys. We're talking kidney failure, dialysis, prostate enlargement, prostate cancer and urinary genitory disorders such as urinary tract infections all these things of the pelvis, the urinary tract, the kidneys, the prostate. We're going to be exploring again Pathology causes, treatments, preventative measures, remedies, how to not fall into these statistics of whether it's the neurological disease or it's the prostate. The second biggest cancer cases after skin cancer is prostate. There's more prostate cancer than breast cancer in the world. So we really and the rates of prostate enlargement is staggering for men once they hit start getting to their 60s and beyond, or 50s and beyond it's becoming younger and younger.

Speaker 1: 1:08:07

So we really need to be proactive in a way that's integrated into our lifestyle, in a way that's easy. Just like you brush your teeth, what are the things you can do for your prostate and for your kidneys and for your urinary tract. This is for all genders Again practitioner-based, student-based, but also for people who want to heal. So you can see all that information on the Vital Veda website and if you go on to the Raju Tour 2024, if you're listening to this after June, july and you miss this, these events will be in Perth and Sydney, but also online. But if you've missed this, and this is after July 2024, these will be available on our website to explore and expand your knowledge in these areas of health. And until next time, much love.