¶ Intro
There's so many different ways that people pray. For some people it's very spontaneous. Some people have a very ritualized way of placing their body in a certain position or doing certain actions. I think all of those things are designed to bring us into a certain state of mind and of being that allows can allow you to express some of these deepest sentiments that are otherwise quite hard to access.
Hey, everyone, welcome back to on Purpose, the place you come to become the happier, healthier, and more healed. Today's guest is one of my dearest friends of the last twenty years. But she's also one of the most talented musicians. She uses music not just to entertain, but to heal. Joanavi is a devotional singer, writer, and artist whose voice has become a refuge for people searching for peace and
spiritual grounding. Through her performances, recordings, and global workshops, Joanavi has devoted her life life to helping people experience the power of mantra, meditation and sacred sound. Her work invites us to pause, breathe, and reconnect with our inner life, and she's also been nominated for her very first Grammy. If you're part of the Academy. This is my personal request, go and vote for her. I'm so excited to welcome
to Omburburse my dear friend, Janavi Harrison Janevie. Is so wonderful to have you here.
I just got a massive confidence boost you.
I mean, I just want to let people know. So I've known you now for like twenty years, and i met you through our temple and Spiritual community in London, which is where we first met, and we would have both been at college or something like that. And I am so fortunate and so excited about this because sometimes I post these pictures of me on the on social media which are like how it started, how it's going, and all of those how it started, so many of
them were with you. So me and Janavie for everyone who doesn't know, what we would do is we would do events together where I would speak and Janavie would lead Montreal meditation and we would like that was like our duo tag team, yeah exactly, and we travel all over England. We did events in London, we did events in Weymouth, we did events Cambridge, Cambridge, we did events in maybe Oxford. We would do events and we've done this for years together and that's always what we did.
It was always our due. And then since I moved to La Jehanevie comes to my house every single year and we do an event where rather you will organize this beautiful gathering of all of our friends and Ghanavie will lead a meditation and people are always so moved and just it's pretty amazing, Like thinking about being friends for twenty years and seeing our relationship has always been service based of wanting to give spiritual experiences to others. But at the same time, you lived with us during
the pandemic. I do for a few months, I think. Yeah, So I'm really excited because rarely do I get to sit with someone that I've known for twenty years on the show. Yeah, and I'm so excited you've been nominated for a Grammy. It's like thank you when you mentor historical occasion for you know, our whole tradition. Yeah, and to really see that just how far you've taken spiritual montra music to help people, and it's such a How does it feel, I mean.
It's it's a huge honor and like you said, it's it feels like an honor, not you know, it's it's part of our training. And I think that the spiritual tradition that I've grown up in that you know, you get an honor and it might have your name attached to it, but you think about how many people have brought you to that moment, how many hands and hearts and minds have all collaborated to you know, whether it's creating something or whatever it is. It's such a collective endeavor.
So I feel honored personally, but feel honored on behalf of everybody. And yeah, it's incredible.
It's amazing. I mean, you've you know what, It's really
¶ What Truly Defines Who You Are
interesting because obviously I've seen you grow and you know, you tour the world, you do retreats. You know, you made an album with our dear friend Willow, who came on the podcast with last time. It's been amazing to watch. But I almost this is really exciting for me because even when you know someone, when I get to sit in the interview with them, I'm always thinking I'm actually going to get to know them in a way that I don't before. Yeah, So I want to go back
to your childhood. Yeah, and I want to ask you what is a childhood memory that you have that you feel defines who you are today or embodies who you are today.
Wow. Well, I know with these kind of things you should you're supposed to say the very first thing that comes into your head, and I'm seeing myself in a field near my house. You know, I grew up outside of London, but it's not that far from the city, but it's an area that there's a lot of protected farmland and stuff, so there's a lot of fields and forests and it really feels quite rural. And these fields were close to my house, so I used to love
walking cycling there and just being in nature. And yeah, they would rotate the crops and the things that were grown in the field, and certain years there would be these incredible yellow flowers. Rape seed flowers are sometimes called mustard flowers, and you could just kind of walk amongst them and be completely engulfed by these yellow flowers, yellow as far as I could see. So I don't know why that came to my head, but yeah, I guess
that's something that's defined who I am. Connection to nature and just yeah, finding a lot of inspiration in that.
Do you still spend a lot of time in nature?
I try to, Yeah, Yeah, I do.
In Where is it where you are when you go back home, because I know you don't live in London. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean for the last you know, almost three years,
¶ Are You Actively Seeking Truth?
we've been living in the Bay Area, so that's famous around the world for the incredible nature. So now we've got the redwood trees and you know, the incredible California coast. So yeah, we tried to be out in that environment as much as possible. But I love to, like, you know, I consider myself a bit of a tree nerd, So wherever I go in the world, I'm always trying to learn about what trees are around. And yeah, it's just something that inspires me a lot.
Yeah. I mean, I obviously know your parents. Your dad actually was our wedding priest for me and yeah, yeah, and so he actually did our wedding ceremony. And I've known your parents for two years now as well, and they've always been just so wonderful and you know, they're so loved by our community. Yeah, and everyone has such
an affinity for them. Like what what do you think each of them gave you growing up that you carry with yourself today, Like what quality or a value or a belief or even mindset that you think has really stayed with you for all these years.
They're both truth seekers. That's something that I think brought them together. I mean they both joined the spiritual community for I think around a decade before they got married. So they came from their respective religious traditions that they were brought up with and even countries. You know, my mum's from Canada, and both of them went on a personal odyssey of a sort, you know, searching for truth
and meaning purpose in life. So I think that courage to depart from the script that's being given, which I know a lot of people had in the you know, the sixties seventies, a lot of young people felt emboldened to take some unconventional steps. But not only did they sort of try that on, but they've committed to that life and to deepening I think with every year. And to have parents that are, yeah, they're so committed to
a life of service and devotion and community. I think both of them in their own way, my mom's the one. I mean, actually, both of them are very people people. You know, they know a lot of people, they remember people's names, but they really care about people as well. I think in our community. If they walk from point A to point B, you know, like a five minute walk, they'll be stopping constantly with every person and care about
what's going on in their life at the moment. So I think that's something that's made a deep impression on me. It's hard to follow in their footsteps, you know, in my life, and I guess in the life of all
¶ Where a Love for Music First Began
of us who have grown up with the Internet and social media, we have the ability to be connected to so many more peopleeople than ever before, and it's difficult to bring that same quality of presence and attention and care to all of our interactions. But it's a kind of a gold standard that I have in my mind. Yeah, so much. It's hard to measure all the things you received from your pigeons.
Did you always know that you wanted to create music? Did you always know that?
I didn't know that I wanted to create music in a formal way, but I was always I think I was always doing it without consciously realizing that was a thing. Like I just when I was home recently, my mom had some cassette tapes from that I used to record myself, you know, like probably seven, eight, nine years old and I had one of those keyboards, Cassio keyboard, and I would just put on a drum beat and I would just play. I didn't know how to play board, but
I had total lack of, you know, inhibition. I just record myself spontaneously and I would sing a bit, tell a story, make up the story as I went along, and they were just meant for my sister to hear, like bedtime stories and stuff like that. But when I listened back, I was like, oh, I guess I was kind of making up songs and things like that. But yeah, it.
Wasn't you any good now when you listen back, Like, no, it was embarrassing.
I was really embarrassing.
We need to hear them. I need to hear this.
I think I'm gonna I'm going to digitize them just
¶ Understanding Devotional Mantra Music
so I can listen back and be like, wow, I've come a long way. But I mean, I love to sing, you know. I grew up surrounded by music. My dad and mom both love singing. My dad was really well known for his voice, and yeah, we we sung as a family together. So I think it was just always around me. But I'm you know, quite introverted by nature, so I was never like I want to be a singer.
Yeah, what do you what do you think what's the difference for someone who doesn't know, Yeah, what's the difference between devotional mantra music yeah, and popular music or music in general? Like, how would you differentiate them?
I think there's a few key differences. One is one is the most obvious, which is which is the lyrics with with mantra music. Specifically, a mantra is you know, a sacred word or phrase, often containing names that refer to to the supreme being, and it's repeated, so you know, people's first reaction is like often what oh, why is that? Why are you saying the same thing over and over again? But the idea is that it's a type of purifying
Like I always think of a washing machine. You know, if you had clothes that were really dirty, you put them in the washing machine a few times or something like that. So it's it's sound vibration that is intended to clarify pure orfy the heart and mind. But I think the other key difference is the intention of the music. So the intention, as often prayer, is to connect, like you were saying at the beginning, to that sacred space within whereas I think, you know, music can have all
kinds of intentions. There can be the intention of the artists just to express something, just to connect with the listener, or just to entertain. I don't mean just in a you know, to minimize what that is. But yeah, the quality of it is different. You can you can encounter that, you can feel it.
Yeah, no, it's I remember when I first got exposed to it, it was addictive and intoxicating in a way that was something I hadn't experienced before. I remember my friends and I would love going out to parties and clubs and things like that. And then when I heard devotional music for the first time, I was I was like, wait,
why do I like this? You know? But it felt familiar and it felt it felt like it, I don't know, connected with a part of me that had been buried for some time or or not, you know, not awakened. And yeah, it has a really special quality. And now obviously years later, it's it's one of my favorite things to experience, especially when when you were charing.
But did you feel that straight away? Do you remember if you did it take a while to appreciate it or immediately.
Film on one of the first retreats I went on, Like I felt it immediately. It was there was a part of it that was just fun because there's so much you know, there's dancing, there's like it's yeah, it's
¶ Growing Up With an Unconventional Education
such a celebration.
Yeah, it's not always just sitting meditation exactly.
It's so festive. Yeah, so I think there's a part of that. But there were there were certain people and yeah, i'll tell you later who specifically, but like, yeah, there were just they were just specific. There were definitely experiences I had very early on that made me very convinced that the practice made sense. And yeah, beautiful and and special.
But but yeah, how so if you were so you were always artistics and you're always playing around, Yeah, talk to me about the discovery because so much of our community and our audience is always in the pursuit of their passion. And obviously you're doing something you love, you're doing something that's more niche. You're also doing extremely successfully. This is what you do, it's what you offer to
the world. And I think often we live in a world today where we think, oh, if I'm not doing something that's really mainstream, and if I'm not doing something that has millions of followers and has then I can't do it, and then it can't be successful if it can't take care of me and my family. And I think there are people like yourself and others I know that have found something you love that serves other people, makes them happy, is able to get nominated for a Grammy.
Talk to me about the discovery, the early discovery of this passion or maybe it's not, maybe it was always a passion, but the discovery of mastery of it. What did you study at college? What did you think you actually, let's go backwards. What did you think you were going to be when you were like eleven years old? Because we all get asked that question? What did you What did you write? I'm intrigued?
What did I remember? So? I went to school at the Temple in the Temple community till I was about ten years old, and then I went to you know, a bigger regular.
School and what was that transition?
Like? That was hard? It was really hard.
Talked to me about the different So I didn't go to a school like that. I only ever went to public schools and grammar schools in England, and I ever went to school. So talk to me about what that means, and then the transition from.
Yeah, so the school at the temple. So the place where I went to school is called buckdivid unto Manor, and you know, it's in many ways an idyllic environment. There's you know, it's kind of eighty acres of beautiful country land. There's cows there, there's a beautiful lake. It was a very special environment to grow up in. The school was very small, so we had very individu dual
attention from the teachers. There was a lot of singing, drama, art, you know, in addition to the usual things we studied. And also we we would lead the chanting in the temple once a week as a whole school.
So we were doing learning the National curriculum.
Yes, we were doing the National curriculum, so we're doing all the regular subjects, but we would also have time where we would study texts like the Bagavat Gita. We would learn you know, versus and things even from four or five years old. So it's a very unique way to grow up. Like for me, it was all I knew, but we used to have There would be schools that would visit the temple as part of their religious education.
You know, I think some people might not know. In the UK religious education it's compulsory in school, so you go out to places of worship and see how, you know, how other people live. So we would have these kids looking through the window, like pressing their nose against the window, looking at us. So we'd be like, we're not we're not zoo animals. But they were curious and and we
also didn't know what their school experience was like. But yeah, for me, it was normal, And I didn't realize when I went out to you know, a more kind of conventional school that most kids don't learn, you know, songs in ancient Sanskrit when they're young and talk about death and reincarnation from a young age and the soul and things like that. You know, it kind of makes you a bit weird to other kids. And I also didn't have that much exposure to tipop culture, you know, So.
You only realized that when I transitioned. Yeah, yeah, you didn't know that until then.
I didn't know that there was a bit of a rude awakening anyway, tell me about it, Like, yeah, I mean I was I was confident in my world, but coming out of my world I felt extremely vulnerable. And you know, sometimes people say, oh, when did you give yourself the name Jenevie. I'm like, no, I was given the same when I was born, you know, and I chose to keep that as my name when I went
to regular school. So then anyone who has an unusual name knows the embarrassment of, like the teacher pausing when they get to your name, and the kids all laugh or whatever. Those things kind of things are. Even being vegetarian at that time was quite unusual. I think it's much more common now. I just wanted to disappear. I didn't want to be comment worthy in any way. And yeah, that was really hard because I was trying to erase.
I was trying to erase myself in a way so that no one would have anything to say or make fun of.
Because you were coming with a different name, a different culture.
Different name. Yeah, why do you have white skin? But you say you're Hindu? Your name is weird, We just call you something else. Why do you eat that? You know it's They're pretty innocuous questions in one sense, but kids can everyone knows kids can be really mean as well.
I didn't even grow up, you know, with that, Like, I didn't grow up around that many kids, so suddenly being in a class of thirty kids, it can be quite a sensory overload also if you're sensitive, and it's just I think it's about also having the confidence as a young person to speak about why did you grow up in this way? What are the things that you believe in? You know, sometimes you don't kind of have
that experience till you're a bit older. And yeah, I just didn't have the words to describe it, so I'd rather become silent. So that was really difficult. I felt like I'd been kicked out of the nest, you know, the baby bird kicked out of the nest, and I couldn't get back to the nest. Because you change through those difficult experiences, you're no longer. I remember I did wear a school uniform at the Temple school, but it was a different kind of school uniform when I went
to the other schools. And I remember my parents were saying, oh, why don't you come. You know that there's a worship service at the temple every morning, and they were saying, why don't we go before school? You can go in the temple, And I was like, well, I'll have to wear my uniform and they were like, that's okay. You can just come in your uniform and come for you know, ten minutes, then we'll go to school. And I was like,
I can't, And I said why can't you? And I was trying to describe it, but I was trying to say that when I put that uniform on, I have to become someone else. Can't. It's almost like I felt like I would implode or something if I tried to be that person at the temple. It was just like two different masks I had to wear, or characters roles that I was playing. So learning how to integrate and just be yourself in all environments that was a real journey.
Going back into the world of work was a culture shop, yeah, and it was very, very different. It was almost easier to go into the monastery than it was to get out, because getting out felt like, wait a minute, I've been practicing all these things for three years. Yeah, now I have to go to a wine and pizza tasting networking event and I don't drink, and there's certain things that don't eat anymore and things like that, and just having
to adjust and so it's embarrassing. It it's hard. And I did that as an adult, so to me, it was hard, but it was so much easier. It was somewhat easier. Yeah, but to do that as a teenager, it's, like,
¶ Navigating Identity and Belonging
you know, is super hard? Did it? What actually helped to integrate? How did you integrate these two seemingly opposite lives that seemed to contradict themselves. What did you do to integrate? What did that look like?
Yeah? I think in my school the school school years, like you know, till eighteen or so, I just really struggled. It kind of felt like a dark tunnel those years, because not not that every day was dark, but it just I just didn't feel like I could find that confidence and that self assurance to feel yeah, grounded in who I am. And I kind of went back and forth in and out of you know, I'd go to a regular school for a year, and then I would actually, I mean several times I kind of made myself sick
actually with anxiety. I started developing stomach issues and I get headaches every single day. I wouldn't eat at school. I wouldn't, you know, I'd just save my lunch and eat it on the bus on the way home, just like all these behaviors that were not I don't know why I was doing those things. So then I'd tell my parents, Okay, I want to do like homeschooling for
a while, and I'd do that. But then you know, I could tell myself that I have It's not like I'm like super academic, but I need to be stretched a bit. Like when you're in that comfort zone of home, or you're just with friends or your parents telling you to do things you don't, you don't always push yourself. So I would kind of yearn for that environment again and go back into it and then feel like, oh,
I don't think I can do this. And I think things really change when I started to feel like I could take agency for myself and start to take have a bit more confidence in choosing the direction of my education, which I think maybe for many people comes around university and you're kind of starting to hone in on you know what you want to do. But I was going to say, you were saying, you know, when you were eleven, what did you want to do with your life? And
I remember sitting on the school bus and writing. I remember like three long lists on the page, and they were just all these different artistic things, and I would keep going back to the list, and every time I would learn something more about each of those creative careers, I might cross one off and it was like florist and special effects makeup artists. And my dad would sometimes take me to like, do you know work shadowing with different people, just to just to try and see what
it was all about. But yeah, I had no idea where my journey.
Would Did you have a narrow down to one or no?
No, I never know.
¶ Learning to Trust Your Inner Confidence
That's so funny.
I'm still working on that.
Was it hard to go from secondary school or high school to college, like to university? Was that hard that transition? Or was university not that hard?
That was easier? That was easier because by that time, I think I'd developed some confidence. I did my A levels very unconventionally through evening classes, which I was with older people that I found easier to be around, because I don't know, I just think I'd also grown up around a lot of older people, and I found I did really well doing studying int dependently a lot, and so I think that gave me a lot of confidence,
like choosing how I was going to study. You know, then I finished the A levels in a year instead of two years. It's like a different way of approaching it. And then I started to feel like, okay, you know, I just yeah, felt different in myself. I mean, you grow up, so I think university college also people are a lot more open minded. I found. You start realizing
¶ When Parents Are Doing Their Best
that it can be cool to be different rather than just something to be made fun of.
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seven hundred families out of poverty. Join us at GiveDirectly dot org, forward slash on Purpose. Did you have any wisdom from the spiritual traditional community that you carried through with you that helped you through those tough times or do you feel it was You're trying to keep it out so much that it didn't really even have a chance. Like I really felt that when I went back into the world of work, the thing that I held on
to the most that really changed my life. I genuinely mean it was the diverse that says, when you protect your purpose, your purpose protects you. And I'm translating dharma's purpose in that regard that originally is when you protect your dharma, your dharma protects you.
Yeah.
And when I heard that verse, that was just profound to me, and I started to want to protect what I believed my dharma was rather than neglect it and reject it to move toward what the world was trying to get me to focus on. Yeah, And that acted as a real compass for me when I was feeling unsure. Was there anything for you I'm just intrigued or was it so like you were like this is so alien, I have to keep it separate that you were just trying to avoid it.
That's such a great question. I don't think I've thought about it in that way before. I don't remember actually taking strength from the spiritual tradition like independently. I think my parents would try to help me with that, and
¶ Questioning Life Within a Spiritual Community
I know for sure, I think on an emotional level, my mum was trying to care for me in every way possible. I mean, I really gave my parents a hard time. I'm also the eldest, so I was the first of the children to go out to school, and what do.
You mean to give them a hard time?
I would cry every day I beg not to go to school. I think they were just you know, parents are just trying to do the best for you. They wanted me to have opportunity, They wanted me to grow intellectually, to you know, to do well in studies and everything. And I think they were really confused about, like, how can we make her be happy and just embrace this with confidence and not just be kind of yeah, stressed and anxious all the time. So yeah, I feel really
sorry for what, you know, putting them through that. But they were definitely really trying to help. Also from a spiritual perspective always, and you know, in simple and digestible ways. But I think, yeah, it was it was difficult for me to really integrate that at the time.
Did you so many kids who grew up in religious and spiritual communities end up leaving did you ever consider.
It, not at the time, not at the time, And people would always ask me that, and I would It was like a very common question, especially from people outside of the tradition. They'd always be like, so, did you ever want to just rebel and just sleep? And I would always very confidently say no, No, I never really
had that inclination. One of the reasons I think with that is that my parents have been always very broad minded, very open to talking about anything, and I would have a lot of conversations, especially with my dad, about any you know, any theological questions, philosophical things, doubts that would come to my mind. We would always talk about it. And he's very well read, very extensively in many different traditions, so he'll always have some great insight to offer. So
I didn't feel that pull. But I think what I didn't know was that, you know, doubt and crisis of faith or looking at your tradition from a different lens, it doesn't necessarily always happen in those normative teen times. Sometimes it can come later on, or sometimes comes multiple
times through your life. So it's not that I ever felt the strong urge to leave, but I definitely went through some difficult times at a later phase, I think when I really started to Yeah, it's almost like with every step further out into the wider world, it kind of demands of me to go deeper in what I practice and believe because it's being kind of butted up against just these intense currents of everything that's going on in the world.
Yeah. I often think about that because you know, and Radi and I talk about like thinking about having children or whatever it is, and like how we want to raise them where they have good spiritual values, but at the same time they have choice. Yeah, and it's always hard because you're kind of like I always think. I always believe that people who choose what they follow, and someone who's grown up in a tradition also gets that opportunity as they get older to keep choosing. And I
¶ From Curiosity to Creative Mastery
also feel like when you choose what you follow, it you're more confident about it, it generally has more power generally speaking. But when you're raised in something, you have to choose as you get older, because you choose whether this value is still yours. And the interesting thing about that is that also just applies to anyone who grew up in the normal system because you grow up with certain beliefs your parents have, and at one point you
pause and you go, wait, do I even believe exactly? So, your parents might have believed that you shouldn't work that hard, or you should marry a man who works hard, or your parents may have had the belief that you should always do what you love, or you should never do what you love. You should do what is safe and is reliable. And I think we all go through our twenties and thirties and have reflection points where we say, well, yeah,
my parents believe that, but I didn't. And so it applies to all of life, but obviously, very specifically a lines to someone who's grown up in a specific tradition, in a specific path. When did music go from being passion, exploration, curiosity to mastery? Because I think this is such an important part. I think I hear a lot of people who say, follow your passion, and I think that's okay, you know, but if you're going to turn it into something you do professionally, the passion at one point has
to turn in to proficiency and mastery. When did you start to actually master your art and craft? What did that look like?
I don't identify with the word master in any way. And I don't mean that in a falsely humble way. I just yeah, I feel like I'm very much scratching the surface. But I think that I think that it happened very organically. I started to, you know, when I was eighteen, I started to develop more of an independent interest in art in my own tradition and really engage
with the muntor meditation practice kirtan. And also, you know, I'd been studying the violin since I was about ten years old, and that was always something I did basically in my bedroom and in my room with the teacher. I never really used my instrument in a public placed. I did one time one day in an orchestra and I got bullied and then I was like, I'm not going back. So it was very like I got to a point and I was like, why am I even
learning this instrument. So it was only when I started playing it at the temple in the kirtan and trying to improvise, I realized that, you know, aside from just participating in this activity musically, there's something I can offer, something I can develop and refine. And initially that was my connection through the violin. That was my voice, you know,
I was too shy to sing. But I think everything actually stemmed from there because through the violin, I ended up joining a montra music group that was forming at the time, right as I was finishing my undergraduate degree and I did not know what was I was going to do next. You know, I studied English and creative writing linguistics. It was like very interesting to me, but I had no idea what to do with it. And this opportunity came like a month before my graduation to
tour all over America and all around the world. It ended up being so I was just it was a no brainer. I was like, yeah, I want to do that, and I thought that it would just be I still felt like, well, I'll have to get a regular job. I didn't know what that was. I actually then I
¶ Experiencing the Divine Through Sound
did get a job as a magazine editor.
But I.
Got the job and then write when I was meant to go back and take it, I was doing this touring beforehand, and then I just wrote to them. I said, I'm sorry, I can't. I think I need to keep doing what I'm doing. It was, yeah, speaking to my soul. I guess so it's been very organic. I think I have struggled with a lot of doubt along the way, because anyone who does anything creative or artistic knows there's no assurance of any kind of ability to maintain yourself
have a livelihood with that activity. And so it's a real act of I think faith and courage to sort of just keep going with it a year upon year. And so I was many times constantly questioning myself, Okay, so is now the point when I should get a quote unquote regular job or something that's more predictable and stable.
Do you think you experience divinity when you sing and make music in a way that you don't access through any other practice.
I would say, yes, yeah, I do. I think it's an incredibly deep idea that you can access divinity through sound, sound being so subtle, not requiring any instrument, any tool, just your own voice, and it just requires presence and it's very esoteric, but I feel like anyone can experience it also, like we have ears to hear, you know, a voice to use. And yeah, I remember first starting
¶ Creating Space for Others to Feel Free
to become aware of that around I mean, I had many incredible moments when I was a child, you know, sometimes people ask me what some of my earliest memories of kirtane, And there's so many incredible times, Like there was a festival that would happen every year. We would walk in procession through London to this huge park, Battersea Park, and there would be a festival, many tents there till late at night and the kirtan would be going all
afternoon into the evening. And I just remember feeling so joyful, so exhausted, but like so filled by that experience. I think I started to really notice that, Wow, there's something really special here around sixteen seventeen eighteen and feel like I want to come back to this. You know how you feel when you I guess there's so many things you could liken that too, but you just, yeah, you want to keep doing it.
What have you found when people are because I think singing out loud can feel so nervous for people because it's this call and response where you're chanting and people
are responding back, especially when you're live. Yeah, what have you seen like the transformation people have had where they start off because you do retreats, et cetera, where they start really nervous and anxious and then what have you seen that turn into Even for people who think like I can't sing to say my life, or you don't like the sound of your voice or whatever it may be my singing voice. I'm very confident speaking.
But I've heard you saying I think, yeah, it's terrible. Now I think you can say now I know you're lying for sure.
Now I have proved that last night right now we were talking about that thing. You were lying. But what yeah, what is that for you?
Like?
What have you seen? I'm intrigued for people, anyone who's listening right now. Anyone who's listening right now, I hope you're going to go to Spotify or you know, Apple and type in Johannavie Harrison and you know, I'm looking. You've got like one hundred and thirty four thousand monthly
listeners right now. And if someone was listening to this music or they were going to come and see you live, and you'd say, hey, everyone sing along with me, which is very common at these events if someone's nervous in the beginning or doesn't quite get it. How have you seen people transform over time through retreats and events.
Yeah, I think it's really normal to feel nervous. I think many people, or even I would say most people have some level of insecurity about singing out loud. I think the beautiful thing about it is that you're singing with other people, so you're not even there's no demand that you even sing really loud. You know, you can sing very quietly. But feeling that togetherness, I mean we experience we all can experience that if we go to a concert or I don't know, a football match, everyone's
singing the same thing together. It's empowering and it's connecting in a way that few things are of that nature.
¶ When Music Becomes Healing
So I would even say that, you know, some people, some people that lead this type of music are more strident or commanding and like, come on, everyone sing, you know. I think I, being a more shy nature, I really empathize and understand how that feels to feel so nervous. So I don't I don't don't expect people to, you know, push themselves in a way that feels just too uncomfortable. I always tell people if you want to sing internally, because you have we have an internal voice as well,
you can sing back in your heart. I do that on the plane if I'm stressed I listen to something and then I sing back with my inner voice. But it's incredibly freeing, and I've seen people relax and become free in a way that they didn't expect by letting go and letting their voice out. You know, everything that feels uncomfortable initially usually feels you feel a great sense of achievement afterwards as well.
Yeah, what do you think? What do you think people turn to your music for? Like when you're finding people discovering your music? Yeah, who are not from the tradition, who don't aren't familiar with it? What are they? I mean, like you were? You were Rady's I think number one artist on Spotify rat this year. What do you think people? Yeah? What are people seeking? What have you found?
I can say what people tell me, which is I think people say that they find a sense of peace, a sense of shelter and comfort. A lot of people tell me that they listen to their music to my music in difficult times. You know, so many people say, yeah, you know, I was studying for exams, my parent was unwell, someone in my family was dying, or you know, I was getting ready to get married, and then I played
¶ Turning Personal Prayer Into Shared Experience
your music on my wedding day as I was coming in these kind of transitional and very meaningful moments in life. A lot of people talk about playing my music first thing in the morning or last thing at night when they want to connect to a place of deep prayer or a sacred space. Yeah. I think that's what people find.
And I'm always blown away by people's stories, you know, because ultimately you as a person or I speak for myself, like, we're so aware of our humanness and our flaws and everything that we bring to you know, we bring all of it to every endeavor. So it's really incredible for me that I can do something that allows someone to enter into that space where they feel so deeply connected,
because I know that that's not it. It's me because I'm allowing myself to be used in that way, but I know that there's something a lot deeper that's happening.
Yeah. Every time, I mean every time I'm in one of your sessions, I'm like just to the back, to the whole background too.
I've seen that.
Like it. It's strange though, because you can't really explain it. Yeah, it's so hard to put into words where you just got to be in one I've had like my team has come to sessions obviously, we have friends here, have come to events home, and it's amazing how you don't need to know the language. You don't really you don't even need to know to some degree. I know, you always explain what it means, but even if someone doesn't know what it means, it's it's It's so interesting how
and sound has that potential. I think, you know, if you look at even music right now, like Latin music, is you know so global. Yeah, you know you've got bad Bunnies, Puerto Rican and that style of music has taken over and you've got and that's what's so beautiful about music in generalist, it's so beyond language and so beyond where you grew up.
It transmits transmit I really feel.
It, Yeah, which is which is so special. And I definitely feel that in you know, in in Montra music in an unexpected way.
Yeah, although I would say, you know, I've started to also experiment with or not experiment, but part of my creative journey in the last few years has been to to write original songs also and incorporate that into especially when I do concerts. You know, I kind of distinguish
certain settings for certain offerings. I think, you know, there's a lot of times I'll lead meditation sessions with Kirtan in a very traditional sense, and it has a very it can have a very intimate feeling, especially if people are they know what to do, you know they're ready.
But in a more maybe I don't know if theatrical setting is the right word to use, But in an auditorium where there may be people who have never done this before, I've started to weave together these traditional chants with sometimes original songs in English, because it's not only just a tool for making a connection point for someone else with a language of prayer, but for me also, I've found it to be something that brings a certain vulnerability and personalism to which I think in some ways,
growing up, I would have thought that that was taboo, because the practice of Caretena is very much not about you putting yourself there. It's really being a vessel, being a channel to just give this pure sound. But I think that there's some value as well in sharing, yeah, a personal a personal prayer, a personal reflection on just being someone trying to go through life and be connected
¶ The Biggest Misconceptions About Spiritual People
to truth and faith and beauty.
Yeah, if someone was to start with one of your albums, Yeah, where would you like them to start? Like, if someone was like, I want to check this out, I don't really know much about it, what would you recommend?
I think if someone's curious in the just mostly the traditional songs and mantras. My first album, Like a River to the Sea, is a great one. But I think a lot of people connect with the album that I did with Willow called Rise, and then my recent album Into the Forest. I think Rise and Into the Forest are similar in that they incorporate both mantras and and some original lyrics.
Yeah. Yeah, that's great if anyone who's starting out there journey of wanting to you know, move into devotional music and I've never had the experience of it.
Or they should check out Rady's playlist. So many people tell me, oh, I found your music through Raddy. She's got a great collection there of also many other wonderful artists.
I love that love. That's what's a misconception you think people have about spiritual people.
I think people tend to project a lot onto spiritual people that they're like, you're so divine and you must float around your house all day, you know, spouting like wisdom quotes, and.
That's exactly what I do.
I've seen you in your robes.
Yeah.
I think a misconception is that spiritual people don't have doubts, don't have material desires, don't make mistakes, or all of those things obviously are true, or that spiritual people have
all the answers. I think to try to pursue a life connected to a spiritual core is courageous because there is a level of faith that's required where there's not always a hard answer, there's very good answers, but you also still have to be very open hearted and constantly open to learning and surrender, which is very very difficult.
Yeah, such a great answer, know what I expected, But yes, such a great answer. It's a Yeah, everyone's human, and everyone's trying, and everyone's failing, and everyone's making mistakes. And I think the problem is when you think that a spiritual person is perfect, then you don't feel spiritual internally, Yeah, because you don't feel like you've reached what other people have reached or what you should have reached, and that
can actually deter you from the path. Yeah, because you think, oh, well, I'm not like that. And they have it all together, and therefore I must not be spiritual, not realizing that we all already are inherently and perfection may be the goal and the aspiration, but the journey towards it is far more incremental and step by step than it is this enlightened day. I think, you know, I think that's a misconception. I always think is people always like, what was the day you've realized?
Right?
I have not had that came down from the car, And it's again it's how media's portrayed it where it feels like you have this day of enlightenment. I've had really special meditations, I've had really special experiences, but it's three steps forward, one step back, two steps forwards, three steps forward, you.
Know, ten steps back. You're like, what am I doing wrong?
And that's what's meant to be?
Yeah, yeah, I do find that, you know, I encountered that the more that I became publicly known for doing muntter meditation and devotion sacred music, I would start to encounter more and more people coming to me like with you know, shining eyes. I could feel and sometimes it's very obvious by the words they say that they they
¶ Growing Up Surrounded by Spiritual Validation
are for want of a better phrase, putting me on a pedestal, or thinking that there's some kind of perfection, you know, happening, which I know is not true. And I think part of that is, you know, anyone that's kind of facilitating us to go into a spiritual practice or experience, we may you know, associate that person with the feeling and the and the the real, the very real experience that we get. But I think, yeah, I think as you get older, especially just accepting both your
own being patient with your own flaws. I've definitely had to learn to be very patient with myself because yeah, I mean, we're blessed to have as well, you know, we're blessed to know so many people who truly are exemplary in their life and their actions. And yeah, I mean I identify without looking at someone thinking, God, you know, I'm never going to be I'm never going to be spiritual.
What's something that you used to believe to be true spiritually and now you don't agree with it?
I think I think growing up in a particular spiritual tradition you can have, you're surrounded by constant affirmation and validation of that tradition. You know, if you're immersed in a community, You're sur surrounded by people who believe in that path, in those practices, And I think the more that I've grown and encountered people from all different walks of life, who've had all different kinds of experiences, I
¶ Holding a Safe Space for Spiritual Exploration
don't know if it's so much something that I don't believe anymore, but it challenges a lot of things that I've heard, things that I've just accepted because everyone around me was saying yes, yes, And I really value that. I feel that's necessary. But it's not always easy because sometimes there's not an easy resolution or answer.
To.
Yeah, conflicting worldviews and opinions about things. So that's something that I've encountered a lot on my journey. Sometimes it's even people that are within the same broad category of a religion or a faith tradition, but you know, different strands of specific beliefs. There's so much nuance, and yeah, I think I've found it harder to be like this is the answer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's I agree. I think it's a healthy thing. And it's also the brain just doesn't like it. For simplicity's sake. It's just easier for the brain to have it set of beliefs and move with them even if they're not health And so when you allow yourself to be in a paradox, yeah, it's challenging. Yeah, and that's why we avoid it. That's why we prefer left or right, or black or white, or binary thinking. And so I find that in my own self. I
try and live it like that. I try and live in the middle of the Venn diagram always like trying not to be binary. But it's hard because you're it's so much easier to pick a place to live and say, yeah, I'm going to go all in and believe this is the truth, or I'm going to refute it. And it's like, well, no, there's things that make sense and there's things that don't make sense. I was just saying to someone this morning.
I was like, it's how we've always talked about how whether the glass is half full or half empty, and I'm like, it's both, yeah, Like it's always both. Like that's just a stupid question because did you see it?
Could you see it too? Like could one I have one lens and.
The other have the other earlier?
And it's like both things.
Yeah, and both things are true if a glass is half full, it is therefore half empty. Yeah, And so therefore the right answer is I see both. And if you see both, it means I can fill the glass up. Yeah, and it also means I have more to drink. And so this idea of do you see the glass is half full of half empty? The answer is both, But it's the brain doesn't want that answer. The brain just
wants to choose one or the others. So we either become positive or you know, evangelists of our beliefs, or we become negative and pessimists of that belief and we don't recognize that most things have lots of good in them and lots of things that they could improve and yeah, and grow. But it's the brain, for simplicity's sake, prefers one or the other.
And yeah, and sometimes it's hard to feel, you know, it's difficult because you also don't want to be Sometimes you have to choose a specific direction or you know, there is specificity to the choices we make. And sometimes you know, for integrity, you need to kind of define things, you know, is it this or is it that? But anyway, it's yeah, it's very context based as well. I find
¶ Navigating a Crisis of Faith
but I don't know. I don't know if it's because of me also trying to connect with that space, but I know a lot of people have told me that, you know, there's so many people who have grown up in religious environments who have experienced a lot of heavy judgment or trauma. Even it seems more common than not sometimes, or at least maybe I just encounter people who speak
about that. And I've felt encouraged that people have said when they've come to my events or gatherings that they feel it's a safe space to to to be in a spiritual space but not have something imposed upon them, And I feel happy about that. You know, I want to try to hold that tension, and I don't know if it's tension, but it's like, you know, walking a path of integrity and specificity oneself, but being able to create space that feels very inclusive and welcoming for everyone.
Has there ever been anything that's really difficult that you've gone through in life that you feel your faith has been integral to moving through.
I don't think there's been a life event like you know, some of the huge things that happen or you know, losing a love one, things like that that are often the cause of a you know, a deep grief and sorrow that you know, it sometimes leads to a spiritual search. But I think I have experienced crisis of faith which required faith to come out.
That's good.
Yeah, yeah, which, yeah, it took me by surprise, you know. I think the experience, especially if you're used to being someone who who, that's something that you do feel sure of, and then when it's suddenly not there, it can feel like rug is pulled out from under your feet. And I felt like I'm not quite sure who I am. You know, you're like like like in a coloring book.
¶ What It Feels Like to Lose Faith
You know, you've got the lines and that's like the defined color within the lines. But imagine if the lines just disappeared and you're just color, Like who am I? Without that? I have experienced that a couple of times.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's it's an interesting answer because yeah, it's like how I hosted the Variety Faith and Spirituality on his last week, and I was talking about how the people who are being awarded and honored they've showed different types of faith, and I was saying it showed having faith, messy faith, losing faith, and that's
what makes it so real. Where I think faith based content or people sometimes have always been shown as one note, where like this is who you are, or like this is the kind of person you should be. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And now I think we're showing these variegated depictions of what faith can look like, it's spirituality can look like, and it's just so much more real because relata relatable and grounded and accessible and yeah, just truly trying to
spar because that's what it can look like. And I think if anyone is a person of how did faith help you rEFInd faith when there was a crisis of faith?
I think there was a period of time and it wasn't that long, but because of the disorientation that I felt, it felt a lot longer than it was. I think of feeling like the faith had just totally evaporated, and you know, it feels like a type of it feels like a type of darkness because something that had previously given you a lot of light and internal support and nourishment just seems to disappear or no, it seems like
vapor that is was that actually real? And I think I think faith almost it felt like it seeped in almost like a you know, through a pin hole where you get light that just comes through a tiny crack and it gradually grows. But initially there had to be a speck of faith for me to think that faith could even return in a way, I had to be
open to that. And I found through that experience I connected more to prayer spontaneously and personally versus more ritual type of worship or a set you know, practice or routine,
¶ Using Meditation to Access Stillness
more spontaneously, more expressively in English. And it's funny because I grew up, you know, completely steeped in prayer, like throughout the day, because that's just the environment I was in. I was thinking about the soundscape of my life growing up. There was always bells ringing, and you know, in my tradition we blow this conch shell. There's these kind of spiritual sounds around and ancient Mantra's Sanskrit was a very
familiar language for me. But what I didn't have confidence and ease with was praying in the language that I speak and actually being that personal to just be alone and speak those words whatever was coming up. And I think that was a really transformative experience and time for me and actually led to some of the songs that I've recorded because eventually I thought, you know, you don't always think like that I should record this because it's
so personal and specific. But I did feel that I bet there are others who go through these times or who feel these these emotions, who may it may enable them to express words that they can't find the words to say.
Do you think we all need to talk to God more one?
Yeah. I was thinking about this ahead of our chat because I was thinking about how much you know, in the last I don't know if it's the last decade, but of course mindfulness is a word that we've heard so much. Meditation has become something that is so in many ways integrated into you know, it's not that everyone does it, but if you say it, no one's going to probably look at you funny. You might see people
doing in an ad or you know. I always remember walking into I think it was gap or something, you know, on a high street, and there were these mannequins sitting like this in the lotus position, and I was like, oh, interesting, this is like filtering into just everyday you know, culture and fashion. But I was thinking about how meditation can bring us into this space of stillness and internal connection.
But what am I meditating on and the difference between just coming to a place of groundedness, stillness, calming the mind, and prayer, to me is quite distinct. That's my personal
take on it. You know, someone may use those terms differently and describe it differently, but I feel like, yeah, if prayer is not something that you've ever done, or even if it is something that's familiar that you did grow up with, I feel like, you know, sometimes they say I'll just try doing something with your left hand or your non dominant hand because it will reveal something to you, or you'll feel a different way of looking
at something and doing something. I think, yeah, it might be something that listeners would like to try, you know, to either approach it for the first time or approach it through a different pathway, like.
What you've been used to, take a new neural pathway. Almost yeah, yeah, why not?
Yeah, yeah, sometimes it sometimes it involves you know, there's so many different ways that people pray. For some people it's very spontaneous. Some people have a very ritualized way
¶ Asking Yourself, "Am I Being of Service?"
of placing their body in a certain position or doing certain actions. And I think all of those things are designed to bring us into a certain state of mind and of being that allows can allow you to express some of these deepest, these deepest sentiments that are otherwise quite hard to access in a natural way.
Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. Yeah. I for me, like, I find I love talking to God when I'm driving.
I do that, I do.
That's my favorite. Yeah.
In one of the hardest times I experienced, that was the time you just reminded me of that. I would just talk. Yeah, driving by myself, cry speak sing.
I find driving to be so therapeutic in a place to share streams of Yeah, and I always love it. I think it also reminds me of that Bruce Almighty scene where he's like asking God for a sign. Yeah, God keeps sending him loads of signs and ignoring them, and then his car goes off the bridge or whatever it is, and I'm like, yeah, I'm always looking around for signs, and I'm driving and connecting billboards to God's
message to me. And it's just like this fun idea that that there's some you know, there's some power in what I'm reading and seeing. So I love that last question before the final five, what's a question you ask yourself when you feel lost.
M Am I connected with my Am I am I being of service? Am I actually connected with service in this moment.
Because you believe that if you're connected to service, then you'll have found where you belong.
Yeah. I feel like it's a state of being which is protective because it's protective of the experience of being totally lost because you're focusing on giving. It's hard being embodied human. You know, it's so easy to feel lost for so many different reasons. But when you're thinking about how you can serve someone else, whatever that may look like, I find that that really helps me.
It's such a great answer, and I could agree more. And I think it's I think it's one of the biggest losses of modern education and modern space, where everything to solve you is all about you and not about anyone else. And there's been studies on this too, like if you have depression and you help people who have depression, your depression goes down. And so even in a really difficult state, the active service can still be helpful to yourself.
What to speak of when things are not that bad? Yeah, and Yeah, it's fascinating to me how we always think Oh, if I have more than I'll be able to give more. But actually, wherever you are just now, you already may have a little more than someone else. And if you can help and support in whatever way, time, energy, money, if that is your way of helping. Yeah, I love that answer. It is such a good answer.
It's something I've been I've been trying to to say this this prayer every day and it's it's it's a traditional Sanskrit prayer. I won't say all the words, but it ends with the phrase das anudas and that means, you know, servant of the servant. And it's funny when when I when I was growing up, and you know, this is one of those things that in a in a religious community, a certain thing becomes a way that people do things which from the outside can seem a
bit weird. Yeah, so everybody would sign a letter or a message your servant. And I can't remember when it happened, but maybe we were visiting some relatives or something. But I just saw that through a different lens and I thought that must sound so funny because the idea of being a servant is not something that we would regard very highly, you know, in a sort of like regular world. But it's a really profound spiritual idea that to identify as a servant as like an essential identity keeps you
always looking for ways to contribute and give. So, yeah, I find that really helps me a lot.
Yeah, it's yeah, I think if you it's really interesting because I think the misconception of that is when we think, oh, that means I have to stay small.
Yeah, or that means I'm going to be exploited.
Correct, correct, And it's almost like there's been the servant leadership movement and even the idea of oh, you could be the SEO of a company and see yourself in service of others. Yeah, Like it's not based on your position in society. It's based on the mood and intention that you do that act with. So someone could be the coach of the biggest soccer team in the world and see themselves as serving their team, and someone can be the best player in the world and see themselves
as serving their team. Or you could be all those things and think you're the best thing in the world and no one else is important, and so it's got nothing to do with your external position. And I think the problem we think is, Oh, my external position has to match that. Yeah, so therefore I want to be small. Yeah, I've got to be small and play small. And it doesn't make any sense because.
Yeah, I'd like to understand. I'd like to to understand and grasp that more deeply, because I think I still struggle with that. Like you've always, you know, in our friendship, You've always encouraged me to embrace what I'm doing and be you know, unafraid to to I guess, grow and broadcast out what I'm doing, you know, bigger and bigger
as a service. But it's so difficult when you're you're you're more visible or more in a position of leadership to continue to kind of, yeah, harmonize that that idea that I'm serving, but also have to kind of have the things that go along with being more in a leadership position. I don't know, for me, I find it challenging.
Yeah, no, I don't disagree. I think that the more closer you get to your unique service, the less you see it as big and small, and the more you see it as just yours, and so there is no it kind of fades away because it's so clearly what
¶ Jahnavi on Final Five
you were meant to do that. Then you don't see it as big or expansive or small or not. It's just is. And therefore I find that people who know their purpose and their drama are less envious, and less comparative and less all of those things because they just found their thing.
You know, you can't be or do what someone else is doing because correct, you know yourself so well and correct, and you feel aligned in what you're doing. I guess I guess I'm coming to that. I'm coming to that now. I think I've finally accepted myself as doing what I'm doing. And this is why I an't taken a long time.
Yeah, we'll got in the universe. Had to nominate you for a dammy to get you to understand that.
I mean, he knows that I need a big push, you know.
Yeah, I love it, Janney. This has been so nice getting to know you this way. Like I know, we've we've had so many conversations. I mean, whenever you're over at the house and you come up and will like you know, stay up and talk for hours and hours and hours. You know, I love having these conversations. But I film so glad I get to share you with the community. And I know you've been on before a few years back. Now that was twenty twenty twenty, was it twenty twenty.
That was in your old place.
Yeah, yeah, so amazing to have you back on.
Thank you. And I'm a fan of the podcast, so this is like very cool for me.
It's awesome to have you here. And we end every episode, as you know as a fan of the podcast, with a final five.
Yeah.
These questions have to be answered in one word to one sentence maximum Wow, everyone does one sentence and no one okay, okay, So Johannavie Harrison, these are your final five thank you. Question one, what is the best advice you've ever heard or received?
Don't be afraid?
He told you that, do you remember.
I've heard it from many different people, but I think my parents' mentors. Yeah, and it's there in the bugger with Gita. Don't be afraid, have trust and courage and keep walking forward. Yes, purpose yes. Question number two, what is the worst advice you've ever heard or received? Anything related to what will other people think?
Definitely? Definitely. It's when you say you want to do something and goes what will they say? What will Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, it's a good answer.
Question number three, is there a decision you made that didn't make any logical sense but was the right one for you?
The decision I made to on purpose miss a plane home to get to take up this job as a magazine editor. I've never I'm always like a real rule follower, and the fact that I had a flight book is and that I intentionally missed it and just said I'm going to drop that. That didn't make any sense at the time, and the next morning when I woke up, I was like, what did I do? But I think I was trying to follow a deeper intuition and it turned out to lead me to this and many other moments,
but that it took a long time for me to realize. Yeah, I had to have confidence in that decision along the way.
Yeah, I'm so glad you did that question of before, what's something that you used to value that you don't value anymore.
I think I used to put a lot more value on other people's opinions, and that doesn't mean that I don't now, but it's something I've actively worked on because I've realized how how damaging it can be to place that much weight and concern on what other people are thinking and saying I don't know if I could have come to that point any earlier. Yeah, part of growing up for sure.
So yeah, it's the biggest one. It's it's a weird one. You want to It's almost like you want to choose which opinions you listen to from which people. Yeah, because we all have to listen to someone like yeah, and you know, as we talk about in spirituality, there has to be some sense of authority and the challenges when you give everyone an authority of yeah, and all of a sudden, now you listen to everyone with equal You listen to everyone with equal attention despite their lack of
authority or competence or character. Weight to give weight when it doesn't have any value. Yeah, that's what I think is the issue. We all have to listen to someone, but we give too much weight and value to people who don't know anything about that or us.
Yeah. I think I used to do that to the extreme, probably because of also growing up in an environment where you're expected to, you know, respectfully hear from anyone who's older than you or you know, knows more than you. But yeah, it's I'm a work in progress for sure.
No, I came up with a system whenever I thinks like a monk to make it easier because I struggled with that so much. Inspiritual circles, for sure, but in general, and I came up with something that I call the four season, which is character, care, consistency, and competence. And so I think about the problem that I have and then I figure out who I'm speaking to based on
one of those four. So if it's a morality question, I have to ask the person of high character, because if I just ask the person who cares about me, they may bend morality in my favor. Or if I am worried about my health, I've got to talk to the person who cares about me but is also competent, whereas the person who might have who might consistently be around me, they may not have the best insight and advice.
Or like, for example, if I talk to my mom, she just cares if I've eaten well, but she won't give me the best work advice because she'd prefer I take care of myself then do something good for work.
And so do they all four have to be there or it's different things for different stuff.
I believe no one has all four Oh and there are different things for different decisions. Yeah, and they just care about you. Yeah, so there's advice is skewed, but their opinion is also. One of my favorite quotes says, don't take directions from someone who's never been to where you're going. And we all do that. We all take someone's opinion and they've not even been there, they've never they've never reached that or achieved that, and we're sitting
here taking their word as gospel. Yeah, and so yeah, those four sees have kind of really helped me.
That is really helpful.
Yeah, tough.
It's tough one to learn because you may have people that are very close to you and you assume that by intimacy, by the fact that they know you so deeply, that they will have all or at least most of those. But yeah, it's necessarily the case.
Yeah, even even my mom, Like my mom has a very good character. She cares about me, she's consistent, but she's not competent in every She's competent in some are is there some things my mom has great insight on you, but she's not competent in every area of my life and therefore it's not you know then anyway, all right, Fifth and final question. We asked this every guest who's ever been on the show. If you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be.
I would love everyone to talk to God more. I feel like I feel like a lot of you know, like a domino effect, a lot of things would shift. And I know it sounds like a cliche, but to truly have this mood of being in service to others, to each other. Imagine if that was like a compulsory thing just to be a citizen of the world. I think it would be a beautiful world.
It's a great answer. How do you know if you're talking to God or talking to yourself?
You know it's intention. You might it might look like you're talking to yourself, but I think you it's. Yeah, it's purely about your intention. If you address God, I mean, if you are familiar with any spiritual tradition, most most will agree that God is everywhere, in everything, everything is coming from Him her, and so there's so many different ways to do that. And yeah, you can do it in your own way, or you can get guidance on
how to do it. But I think if you've if you've not experienced it before, it's just it's it's so worth it, and it's not worth it's not worth missing out on what you may find through that experience, to you know, to kind of leave it aside.
Everyone. The album is called Into the Forest. Jenevie Harrison just got nominated for a Grammy. I'm so excited. I'll be the game key. Yeah, the thing has crossed.
Hoping see you in two months, hoping for the way. Yeah.
For any of you don't already, please follow Janavi Arrison on Instagram. You can subscribe to your music on Spotify and listen along to the album she's mentioned today. And Johnavian, thank you so much for being such a dear friend, for doing this interview, and so proud of you, so excited for this really big moment in your amazing career. And thank you just you doing something based on service and devotion and it being recognized at this level. It's so exciting you.
I want to say thank you to you because you've been such an encouraging friend. But also I think so many of these very meaningful moments in my journey have been somehow connected to you through through serving together, I've learned so much and I recognize that a lot of significant growth that I've had has been through your encouragement. So I really feel that. So I share the Grammy nom with you.
Well yeah, and everyone add that to my bio. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, it's really a privilege. I'm so grateful to be here.
No, you're so kind and honestly, it's been such a joy. Like it's fun looking back at those pictures of the last twenty years.
Did you mention Weymouth?
Yeah? Yeah, do you know the funny thing about that picture is I'm actually sitting behind a pillar, so you can't even see me in it. But it's like, yeah, we drove to Weymouth, which I can't remember how father is from London.
I think it was about three hours, three.
Hours, We stayed the night, We did an event as like ten people came.
Yeah, and like, I mean it's a beautiful event.
It was a beautiful event. But that's the kind of you know, it's fun talking about these things because it's easy to sit here now and you know, you nominate for Grammy and all the rest of it. But it's like, no, it's like we used to drive three hours and I would do a talk and you would chant and lead meditations and we would do that for free, just wanting to do our surveys. And we do it all the time. We did our universities. We did it and it was
just for free all the time. Yeah, together, and it's fun looking back, and you know, we still do so many things for the community and yeah, you're and there, but it's just so yeah, it's fun. It's fun too, came back.
Yeah, and how to change channel and hold on to that same spirit even though the form, you know, the vessel of it may change, it may have more kind of image of material success, but the intention that yes, I want to be there and I want to I want to show up with everything that I can give, how to kind of yeah, hold on to that. I know.
There was a magic about those times.
Yeah, yeah, I remember doing these meditation sessions at Soas University. Remember running from the tube station across Russell Square and it would be like three students would be there and we do that for an hour. But yeah, there's precious times. Anytime you get those kind of opportunities, I think so yeah, absolutely.
Well, thank you so much.
Thank you.
If you love this episode, you'll enjoy my interview with doctor Daniel Ahman on how to change your life by changing your brain.
If we want a healthy mind, it actually starts with a healthy brain.
You know.
I've had the blessing or the curse to scan over a thousand convicted felons and over one hundred murderers, and their brains are very damaged.