The Mindful Living

Most of us aren't struggling with a lack of information. We're struggling with a lack of steadiness. In a world that feels louder and more uncertain than ever, this episode asks the question many of us quietly carry: what does it actually mean to live a spiritual life in real, everyday human terms?In this conversation, Sana sits down with Kevin Roth, renowned dulcimer artist, author, cancer survivor, and spiritual life coach, who shares how a stage 3 melanoma diagnosis in 2015 became the wake-up call that transformed everything. Together, they explore practical spirituality, the difference between information and inner clarity, and why the slow, consistent path is the only one that truly holds.About the Guest:Kevin Roth is a world-renowned dulcimer artist, singer, songwriter, and author who has recorded 65 albums and sang the beloved theme to the PBS show Shining Time Station. After being diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma in 2015 and given only a few years to live, Kevin chose a radically different path. He is now a spiritual life coach, the creator of the Dulcimeditation practice, and the author of Between the Notes. He teaches what he calls practical spirituality, grounded in lived experience, non-duality, and the simple question: Who am I?Key Takeaways:You are not the world, you are you. The chaos around you does not define your inner state. Practical spirituality means learning to stay rooted in yourself even when everything outside is spinning.Health is your greatest asset, and it runs four ways: mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Without it, nothing else, not money, not success, not achievement, truly holds.Clarity is a practice, not a destination. Ask yourself what really matters, why it matters, and what you're going to do about it. These three questions, explored honestly, can quietly change your life.Spirituality is not a magic wand. It won't fix everything or bypass real struggle. What it offers is a slower, more grounded way of being with what is, which makes more room for genuine healing.The slow drip process works. Just like building strength in a gym, meaningful inner growth starts small and stays consistent. Quick fixes don't hold; steadiness over time does.Stop stepping in it. When you see people, places, and patterns that don't serve you, you don't have to engage. Learning to walk around what drains you is not avoidance, it is wisdom.Connect With Kevin Roth:Website: https://kevinroth.orgLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-roth-founder-speaker-musician-author-601b931aa/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIHtnBM5QzQ5-RienozI2-QEpisode Chapters:[00:00] Welcome to The Mindful Living — Sana opens with the question of what it really means to live spiritually in today's world[10:23] Meet Kevin Roth — his musical legacy, the melanoma diagnosis, and why he chose to get busy living[13:50] Practical Spirituality — Kevin introduces the concept and the three things you need to know in this life[19:30] The Wake-Up Call — how facing mortality led Kevin toward non-duality, Ramana Maharshi, and a new kind of clarity[21:50] The Movie Screen — why the mind and ego don't physically exist, and what that means for how we suffer[26:10] Choosing a Simpler Life — how Kevin walked away from toxic patterns, debt, and Kansas for California and a bohemian beginning[30:50] Spirituality Is Not a Magic Wand — the honest conversation about what inner work does and doesn't fix🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speak

You are functioning, you are doing life, but your nervous system is always braced, always waiting. And stillness, when it finally shows up, feels like a foreign language your body doesn't quite trust yet.In this episode of The Mindful Living, host Sana sits down with Cindy Costley, a Mast Cell Wellness Coach, author, and creator of the Electromagnetic Body Desensitization Technique (EBDT), to explore what it really means to move from survival mode to stillness. Not by forcing calm, but by learning to listen. If you have ever wondered why your body keeps reacting, why symptoms appear out of nowhere, or why peace feels so hard to hold, this conversation offers a different, gentler way of understanding yourself.About the Guest:Cindy Costley is a Mast Cell Wellness Coach, author, trauma survivor, and the creator of Electromagnetic Body Desensitization Technique (EBDT). For 34 years, Cindy lived with severe chronic illness rooted in early trauma, which she describes as her body's way of communicating rather than betraying her. Her healing journey led her to develop EBDT, a method that weaves together science, Eastern practices, spirituality, and scripture to support healing at a root level. She works with clients at theunderlyinganswers.com.Key Takeaways:Your symptoms are a message, not a betrayal. Asking "what is my body trying to tell me?" is the first act of healing, and one of the most powerful shifts you can make.Trauma is a biological event first. Stress hormones, the sympathetic nervous system, inflammatory responses, all of it happens in the body before the mind catches up. Healing often has to happen there too.The nervous system creates protective patterns to keep us safe, and those patterns can become self-fulfilling over time. Understanding the origin of your patterns is the beginning of releasing them.Stillness is not always what we need. Curiosity is. Whether it shows up through meditation, a walk in nature, art, music, or simply pausing for two minutes, what matters is the willingness to ask and listen.A purposeful pause does not require a whole day. Even 2 to 5 minutes of genuine curiosity about what your body is feeling can begin to shift the patterns that trauma has built over years.Mindfulness is not about running away from your challenges. It is the practice of navigating them without losing yourself in the process. Sometimes that looks like sitting still. Sometimes it looks like a state shift, reaching for a friend, going for a walk, or simply stepping away from the noise.Connect with Cindy Costley:Website: https://theunderlyinganswers.com/ Instagram Facebook TikTokEpisode Chapters:[00:00] The Quiet Kind of Survival — Sana opens with an honest portrait of what it looks like to function while braced[00:40] Meeting Cindy — A warm check-in and introduction to Cindy's healing journey [03:26] When the Body Becomes the Messenger — Cindy shares 34 years of chronic illness rooted in early trauma[08:02] Labels, Misunderstanding, and the Body We Live In — On being seen only through a physical trait, and the human cost of that[11:38] Symptoms as Signals, Not Betrayals — The turning point: learning to ask "what is my body trying to tell me?" [18:02] The Purposeful Pause — Cindy's approach to mindfulness as curiosity, not forced calm[26:36] From Survival to Stillness — What actually changes first, and why curiosity matters more than stillness🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qualified professional before making any decisions. Listeners are encouraged to engage critically and independently with all content do not consume blindly. Use this content as a starting point for your own reflection and research, not as a substitute for professional guidance. Third-party content is referenced under fair use for informational purposes only. Guest speakers are solely responsible for their ow

Birth is one of the most powerful transitions a human being can go through. And yet most families walk into it prepared for the medical event, and underprepared for the emotional one. In this episode of The Mindful Living, host Sana sits down with Suzzie Vehrs, a certified birth doula, childbirth educator, and founder of She Births Bravely, to explore what changes when parents bring mindfulness into the birth experience, not as a way to escape pain, but as a way to change their relationship with it.Research suggests that just eight weeks of mindfulness training can reduce labor pain by up to 40 percent. But beyond that statistic, Suzzie shares what she has seen at hundreds of births: the difference between a nervous system in fear and one that is grounded, the way a mother's calm directly reaches her baby, and why the six-week postpartum window is just the beginning of a season that deserves far more care than we give it. This is a warm, honest conversation for anyone who has ever thought about birth as something to get through, rather than something to move through with awareness.About the Guest:Suzzie Vehrs is a Birth Arts International certified birth doula, childbirth educator, and the founder of She Births Bravely, an organization supporting expectant and new parents through pregnancy, birth, and the first months of postpartum life. Based in Seattle, Washington, she has attended more than 200 births and has personally experienced both a difficult first birth and a deeply empowering water birth second time around. She is also the author of Divine Birth, a resource to help mothers work through fear and step into birth with confidence.Key TakeawaysMost parents prepare for birth as a medical event and miss the emotional one entirely. Birth is also a moment of bonding, change, and personal evolution. When families focus only on what can go wrong, they lose access to what can go right.Mindfulness in birth is not about removing pain, it is about changing your relationship to it. When a mother can be present with contractions rather than afraid of them, the fear-tension-pain cycle begins to soften, not because the intensity disappears, but because the meaning of it shifts.Research shows that eight weeks of mindfulness training can reduce labor pain by up to 40 percent. But the skill has to be practiced before it is needed. Mindfulness read about is not the same as mindfulness developed.When a mother is grounded, her baby benefits too. Deeper breathing brings more oxygen to both the uterus and the baby. And Suzzie's belief, rooted in her experience, is that babies feel everything their mothers feel, including calm.A difficult birth is never a mother's fault. Mindfulness is a key that can unlock a different experience, but a mother who struggled did not fail. She did the best she had with what she had.The six-week postpartum mark measures one organ returning to its former size. It does not measure the whole person. Postpartum is a season, not a countdown, and it deserves continuous support from partners, family, professionals, and community.Connect With Suzzie Vehrs:Website: shebirthsbravely.comInstagram: @shebirthsbravelyBook: Divine Birth Episode Chapters:[00:00] Birth As More Than Medicine: Why most families walk in underprepared emotionally[04:55] What Mindfulness Actually Does in the Birth Room: The fear-tension-pain cycle explained[09:45] The 40% Statistic: What eight weeks of mindfulness training can change in labor[14:30] Grounded vs. Fearful: What Suzzie has witnessed at hundreds of births[19:25] No Mother Can Fail: Holding mindfulness without turning it into pressure[25:00] The Postpartum Season: Why six weeks is just the beginning, and what real support looks like[32:50] The 4-7-8 Breath: One simple practice any parent can start this week🎙️ Want to Be a Guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?Send me a direct message on PodMatch.👉 DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik🌱 About Healthy Mind By Avik™️Healthy Mind By Avik™️ Global Mental Wellness Podcast Network - focused, credible, no more identity clutter.👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.Refer a GuestKnow someone who would be a great fit for one of our podcast shows? Email us at [email protected] with the subject line “Refer a Guest.” Requests without this subject line cannot be catered to.Support Our Podcast: Support this Podcast📬 Contact & LinksBrand: Healthy Mind By Avik™️Contact UsBased in: India & USA🎧 All Podcast Shows🤝 Be a Guest📩 Newsletter Substack👉 Join the LinkedIn Community📌 Disclaimer - This episode is produced for educational and informational purposes only. All views expressed by the guest are their personal opinions alone and do not represent the views of the host or Healthy Mind by Avik™. The Network does not verify, endorse, or assume responsibility for any guest statements. Nothing in this episode constitutes medical, legal, financial, or professional advice, please consult a qua