Meditation Without Borders – Being the Change Podcast Kristen Vandivier

Thirty years ago, the world stood by as over 800,000 people were brutally killed in Rwanda over a period of three and a half months. The aftermath seemed insurmountable, yet today, Rwanda stands as one of Africa's safest destinations, boasting a stable political environment. This remarkable transformation is indebted, in large part, to resilient individuals like Mary Kalikungeri.
We are so honored to have Mary as this month’s guest. She is the director of the Rwanda Women’s Network, as well as a member of the UN Women VAW – Peace and Security Reference Team, who has been at the vanguard of rebuilding and restoring Rwanda since 1995. 
 
Beyond her fascinating personal story, Mary illuminates how she and other trailblazers recognized that women, as givers of life, held the key to rejuvenating their homeland. She created safe spaces for women who endured violence and empowering them to turn inward and recognize their inherent value. Mary's vision was transformative, cultivating women as leaders and catalysts for change within their communities and the nation at large.
 
The journey she and her counterparts undertook to turn their vision of a peaceful Rwanda into reality serves as a blueprint not only for regions entrenched in conflict worldwide but also as inspiration for individuals navigating their way out of profound darkness towards the light
 
In a collaborative effort, our non-profit organization, Meditation Without Borders, and Mary's organization, the Rwanda Women’s Network are joining forces to introduce Vedic Meditation to women in Rwanda. Together, we will host a four-day meditation retreat for women community leaders and changemakers, as well as going into the safe spaces to teach women who are victims of gender-based violence. For more information on this project or to contribute to this cause, please visit our page.
Show Notes:
2.18 Mary’s background 
“Everything around us is about love. It´s about caring, it´s about welcoming people into the home. And it’s about giving yourself to others. Growing up feeling that way, it has accompanied me all my life all the way through.”  Mary Balikungeri
 6.30 All about family
 9.00 Safe Spaces and the Journey of Women beyond the Genocide  “We came up with such an innovative idea of creating the safe spaces for women which allows the women to converge and eventually find each other; go through the process of healing. At the same time be able to rebuild the new communities, build the solidarity among themselves, and at the same time identify actual critical needs and beginning to plan their lives based on their priorities. And from that journey onwards we really have seen the lives of women transformed. Transformed in their own homes, taking leadership in their own communities. At the same time, also daring to take up leadership at the national level where we now see most of our women becoming women parliamentarians and even serving in the government.” Mary Balikungeri
 11.50 Reconstructing the family – reconstructing the country “The first cohort group of women started coming to the safe space. There were women who were looking sad. And the journey we took them through helped them to look inwardly and be able to think through on how to live in a better and a new Rwanda we were all yearning for.” Mary Balikungeri
 
14.00 The vision and journey of the women
“In putting the vision of what we are looking women to be for the future helped them also to accelerate and to get out of that bitterness, sadness; to really make them see themselves as women who are going to transform what has been impossible.” Mary Balikungeri
 
20.00 Emerging from the darkest darkness
 
26.00 Promoting gender equality through women empowerment
“We make sure that the women understood the power in herself.” Mary Balikungeri 
 
30.00 Victimhood as a state of consciousness 
 
32.00 Replicating this project in other countries
 
40.00 Othering 
 
45.00 How

The world has been a witness to one of the deadliest conflicts in recent memory this fall with the Isreali/Palestinian conflict, and so many of us are feeling an urgency to help with no clear direction as to how. 
 
In this episode, we interview our colleagues, David Lahav and Emily McCarthy, two Vedic Meditation teachers based in Colorado who have recently started an organization called Meditate For World Peace as a response to the current strife in Isreal and Gaza. Lahav, formerly an Isreali military officer, and McCarthy are looking to teach thousands of people in Isreal in the next couple of years Vedic Meditation as a way to cool the collective in the area. 
 
We are very grateful to David and Emily for discussing this very sensitive topic with us as we discuss everything from the political minefield of the situation to how collective peace is established on the individual level of consciousness to the ripple healing effect of meditation. 
 
If you are interested in supporting Meditate for World Peace, you learn more about their mission and donate to their cause via their website: https://www.meditateforworldpeace.org/
Show Notes:Meditate for World Peace Notes 
 
1.24 Mission: What is it that we can do to actually help the current situation, apart from being on social media and talking to people about it and wanting to do something.  
“There is a big need to bring Vedic Meditation and teach many people in Israel to help individuals with the stress and grief that is happening. And also, me teaching many many people to create a collective effect that happens in the community, a coherence effect that’s happening when a larger percent of the population begins meditating.” David 
 
3.00 How does a big change in a region happen?
4.00 Maharishi effect: 1% of the population meditating creates a change in a specific region.   5.30 Meditators feeling the effects of what is happening in the world  “When something is happening on the other side of the ocean, all the waves feel it.” Kristen 7.00 Meditation deexcites and organizes. 8.30 The land of Israel as a focal point of conscious awareness. 10.30 The world as a body – all the cells feel it. We want to go to the axe wound. “No one is going to be safe if a conflict of this level is left unchecked.” Kristen 14.20 Political minefield 17.00 Ripple effect: Meditating for world peace is starting in Israel but it is not just about Israel. “The mission is not about us. We have a technique that we know how to teach, that we know creates change and the first project is beginning in Israel.” Emily  19.10 We want the bad guy meditating (it doesn´t matter who it is).
 
“No matter what you believe, even if you think of Israel as the aggressor, they´re the bad guy in this whole scenario, well you want the bad guy meditating. You want their consciousness pulled. Or if you think the Palestinian´s are the bad guys. First of all, there is no bad guy in the Vedic view. It doesn´t matter what your stance is, this is going to help.” Kristen
 
20.26 Mission is teaching 1% of the population of Israel. In 2024 teaching 10,000 people. 
21.23 Every $100 USD donated to the cause sponsors a meditation course for someone in Israel.  22.40
 
“Even for students in Israel who are not ready to talk about peace because there is so much emotion and feeling and trauma around this, then even for someone that´s not ready for that, it´s about healing on the individual layer. And all of the trauma that has occurred from the day-to-day life that is happening there and just healing yourself. We don’t even need to talk about peace and world peace if people aren’t ready for that right now. And that’s okay. Meditation is here to reduce anxiety and bring greater happiness.” Emily
 
23.30 Peace comes from the individual 24.00 Leaders represent their people 25.00 With meditation everyone becomes extended self 26.00 David in the military experiencing unit

We’re taught from when we are little to be ambitious in order to achieve what we want, but what if what we want is to strive for something that is already within us, enlightenment? In a teaching that expounds not looking to the future for happiness, where does something like ambition fit into such a philosophy? And is enlightenment envy a thing? 
In this episode, Kristen and Isabel get personal about their own experience with feeling ambition in the spiritual sphere and how they have found ways of not letting it get in the way of their paths. 
Show Notes: 1.30 Pitta dosha personality 
5:00 Santosha 
5.55 “Suffering is wanting a different experience than what you are having right now.” Kristen
6.30 Enlightenment impatience
7.00 Flower blooming process 
7.41 “We want to have that destination in our mind while also realizing that there is a journey that’s happening. And that we don’t want to rush the journey. We want to have the full unfolding.” Kristen
8.20 Enlightenment envy
10.00 Vulnerability
10.50 Nature is never always in bloom
14.26 The trick is to feel sad without being sad
14.46 “At your core you are always fine, but you are still allowing yourself to feel humanity. It’s like being in the big ocean of self while simultaneously being in the wave of self. The wave of self, feeling sad and the ocean of self, the being, is always fine.” Kristen
17.00 It’s about the how
19.50 Status – “True status is something you just experience.” Kristen
24.20 Punya – Spiritual merit 
27.15 Karma and Kriya
33.40 “To what extent are you enjoying and experiencing whatever point in the storyline you are in right now. It’s not the how it’s the what.” Kristen
37.00 The characters we play
39.00 Big Self goals 
43.54 “Spiritual ambition - Once you get there, it won’t matter to you. The unfolding is happening with that. The river is moving, you don’t have to push it. You just have to listen and do the practice and do those spontaneous actions and watch the whole thing.” Kristen

Two years ago, we spoke with Tracee Stanley, founder of the Empowered Life Circle, about her book "Radiant Rest," and it was one of the most memorable interviews we’ve hosted on this podcast. We are honored to have her on again to talk about her new book, "The Luminous Self," which comes out in October. Tracee’s new book paints from a palette of her decades of study of the traditions of the Himalayan Masters and Sri Vidya Tantra as well as from personal stories that make the knowledge both practical and relatable. 
In this episode, we get the hear Tracee tell some of these stories firsthand as well as hear her describe some of the practices she outlines in her book for reconnecting to our deepest selves. We discuss all the ways in which thinking of life as a sacred ritual infuses life with intention and purpose. 
There are so many incredible gems of wisdom from Tracee in this episode. And for those who preorder her book at Shambhala.com before the launch date of October 9, you get 30% off with the code LUM30 as well as free entry into her book club with live group sessions, practices, Q&A and sacred community.  
Show Notes:
 
1.15 Rituals
2.15 “If we want to think about life as a sacred ritual, if we want to be able to weave our practices and our devotion throughout our days. Then we have to become more intentional with the things that we do and why we do them. Because a ritual is really meant to mark a moment in time when you take a pause, you do something intentionally to create an effect or an opening for something new to emerge.” Tracee
7.45 Timeline practice
11.00 How The Luminous Self came about 
14.27 “I am deeply listening to what needs to come through.” Tracee 
16.50 Opening up the humanity
18.00 Sanskara : The moments we think hold us back propels us to our own growth
 “The crack is where the light comes through. This idea of discomfort is the portal to your healing. And it’s sometimes the very thing we want to avoid. Whether it’s because we don’t have the support, or we don’t have the practices or we don’t have the trust or the faith that it’s even possible. And so, I really wanted people to be able to see through my lens that it absolutely is possible.” Tracee 
19.30 The Yoga Sutras
25.00 Internal Practices
 
“This idea of internal practice is a strengthening of the remembering. Because we have so much beautiful memory from our spiritual lineages, our ancestor lineages that live in our DNA. When we are in a place of deep rest and deep listening that that remembering rises to the surface as well”. Tracee
 
27.00 The elements and our connection to them 
 
“When we think about this idea of returning to our true nature, our true nature is not separate from nature. The more we are separate from it, the more we are separated from ourselves. As above, so below. What is in the macrocosm is in the microcosm, there is a universe inside of us. There is a sun, there is a moon.” Tracee
 
31.00 “There is not a reciprocal relationship with nature. And once we are in that reciprocity with nature, that is when the healing starts to begin.” Tracee
 
31.30 The connected roots exercise  Ted Talk: Suzanne Simard 36.00 Yoga is not a feel-good practice – it’s a face your truth practice
 
“When I first started practicing yoga it was like -oh I want to feel better, I want to look better, I want to be stronger, I want to be more peaceful and then when I started reading that first translation of the yoga sutras, it was like oh there’s a place in my that is beyond all sorrow. Then that means there is sorrow that I am not acknowledging, I am bypassing the sorrow so that I can be in the feel-good.” Tracee 
 
37.00 Bhakti – Devotion
39.00 Upgrades in consciousness
 
“I needed that upgrade. It was excruciatingly painful until I realized what was happening. And then it was like -oh, let me be in the lila, and let me watch and let me experience. And it took on a completel

You deserve the best.
Never feel unworthy or 
    not justified in having the best.
I tell you, this is your heritage;
but, you have to accept it.
You have to expect it; 
you have to claim it.
To do so is not demanding too much.
 
These powerful words come from Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, better known as Guru Deva, the master of our tradition from which Vedic Meditation comes. This is one of his most quoted phrases, but also, in the current climate of “manifest your dreams” gurus, it one of his most misunderstood. What does it mean to deserve the best? What is the best? Are some more worthy of the best than others? 
In this episode, Isabel and Kristen go line by line to unpack the hidden meaning behind the words. They unravel some of the misconceptions around the phrase “deserving power” or punya and reveal how the best is in reach of everyone.  
Episode Notes:
2.46 Deserving Power
“Your deserving power is to what extent are you aware of your own true identity.” Kristen
3.20 Punya 
5.25 “What is the best? The best is a state of consciousness.” Kristen
11.00 Expectations
“We expect what we are used to. This is where meditation comes in. Because when we start meditating, and innocently let our awareness go to that layer, that consciousness state comes spontaneously from that, so we start living the best and then the expectation for the best comes from the fact that we already have it.” Kristen
12.30 Support of Nature – the support of yourself
16.00 Releasing attachments to specific outcomes and timings
18.00 Self-doubt and suffering
20.30 Who are you?
“If your concept of self is little you you´re are going to struggle with this, but if you are the universe, if that is your status there is no hesitance with that at all.” Kristen
25.35 Having the best and not feeling the best. 
26.00 Projectors of our state of consciousness
29.00 Millionaires and happiness
33.00 Claiming the best
“To me the claiming is easier when I think of myself as a servant (of the universe).” Kristen
33.45 Heritage
“Heritage implies this is what youve had before. This is your heritage because, at a certain layer, you are already here, you already have it, you are already living it.” Kristen
34.55 Heritage – Inheritance – it´s coming your way. 
36.00 Acceptance  “To the extent you perceive everything as a gift, you accept everything. There is no rejecting of what is, this is where suffering comes.” Kristen
39.00 Suka Deva story
43.00 Self-doubt in the feminine consciousness 
45.00 Joy is the baseline 
46.00 Moving to the best
47.00 Pride in misery 
53.00 Acting when there is a better deal
54.00 “You get what you expect, and you get what you accept.” Kristen
55.00 Hanuman 
56.00 “Ask yourself to what degree does this feel frictionless inside.” Kristen
58.00 Exploring what the best is for you
 

As teachers of meditation, we’re always talking about the journey inward. But what about the outer journey, is there a spiritual value in traveling the world? 
In this episode, we have a delightful conversation with fellow Vedic Meditation teacher and avid world traveler Théo Burkhardt about why we yearn to see far off lands and how the exploration of the globe is also an expansion for the soul. Theo brings his knowledge of Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) into the discussion as well as fascinating anecdotes of his many adventures to the remotest of places.
If you’d like to travel with Théo (he leads retreats in Bali and expeditions in India) or if you’d like to learn meditation from him, you can reach him at theoburkhardt.com. You can also hear more of his relatable brand of sharing Vedic knowledge on his podcast Slouching Towards Enlightenment. 
Show Notes: 
3.20 Traveling and teaching
5.40 Nivar tatvam
7.40 “The body wants to get in on the action of what it is experiencing inside.” Theo
8.15 “You want to take this new consciousness around. You want to take the show on the road.” Theo
9.50 The Comfort Zone “The safest place is being on the cusp of the unknown.” Kristen
11.30 Jyotish and Travel
16.00 Equanimity and traveling
19.00 Adaptability
20.00 Everywhere is home
22.00 Homogenizing 
26.00 Pilgrimage to India
29.00 Finding unity in difference
30.00 Varanasi
31.50 Naga babas
37.00 Breakthrough cosmic experiences while traveling
42.00 The importance of a teacher
45.00 No cultural appropriation
46.00 The call to teach in the west
47.00 Preservation of knowledge
49.00 Giving the student what they need
50.00 Dharma
52.00 Surprises and people
56.00 Knowing ourselves without our surroundings
57.00 Plot vs Story
58.00 The elixir