In this milestone 100th episode of Untether Your Life, we revisit a wide-ranging and timely conversation with Mas Vidal Maheshananda - teacher, author, and founder of Dancing Shiva.

In today's climate of intense geopolitical unrest around the globe, this conversation is exactly what is needed in 2026. Mas brings a grounded, integrative perspective on yoga, Ayurveda, and spiritual practice - not as lifestyle accessories, but as practical frameworks for living with clarity, resilience, and balance.

The episode is being reshared around January 5, the birthday of Paramahansa Yogananda, whose teachings - and the broader Self-Realization Fellowship lineage - have deeply influenced Mas's approach and worldview.

Mas also appears in Awake: The Life of Yogananda, and in The Natural Law, a film by documentary filmmaker Amish Shah, who has also been a guest on Untether Your Life.

In this episode, we explore:

• What actually drives human evolution: competition or cooperation
• Why "dog eat dog" thinking may be effective to a point - but increasingly outdated
• The concept of prana (life force) and why vitality goes beyond calories and macros
• Yoga as a system for managing the mind, not just the body
• Ayurveda as a living framework for diet, lifestyle, and longevity
• The rise of "soft power" culture and why gentler approaches may be more durable
• The role of discipline, simplicity, and environment in spiritual growth
• Why technology can function as a modern stimulant - and how to relate to it more consciously
• The importance of community (sangha) and culture in personal evolution
• How ancient wisdom traditions can remain practical without becoming rigid or dogmatic

About the Guest

Mas Vidal Maheshananda is the founder and director of Dancing Shiva, an integrative school blending yoga, Ayurveda, Vedanta, and Vedic astrology. He is the author of Sun, Moon & Earth and The Evolution Revolution, and the creator of More Life Market, an Ayurvedic superfoods platform.

Mas has spent decades teaching internationally, working with students, practitioners, and seekers interested in applying Eastern wisdom traditions in grounded, real-world ways.

Links & Resources

• Dancing Shiva School: dancingshiva.com
• More Life Market: morelifemarket.com
• Awake: The Life of Yogananda (Documentary)
• The Natural Law (Documentary by Amish Shah)

A Note of Thanks

This episode also marks the 100th episode of Untether Your Life.

A huge thank you to the guests, listeners, and everyone who's been a vital part of this template-shattering journey.

Want to learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Untether Your Life⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other projects? Let's connect!

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode originally aired in March 2023 and is being resurfaced now with added context.

Robert Pardi reached out to me on LinkedIn after listening to a previous conversation I'd had on the show with Prison Break author and leadership coach Jason Goldberg. His message arrived during a pivotal moment in my life - the final days we spent with my beloved father-in-law, who was my mentor and north star in fatherhood.

That timing mattered. Not because of coincidence, but because Rob was reaching out from lived experience. He had already walked alongside his wife through a long journey with cancer and profound loss. What followed was a conversation rooted not in theory or performance, but in meaning, impermanence, and how people actually live through change.

In this episode, we explore Rob's life philosophy, Possibility in Action™, and the experiences that shaped it - from his life in New York City, to working in the Middle East, to building a life in a small mountain village in Abruzzo, Italy.

This is a cross-cultural, deeply personal conversation about grief, imagination, identity, and the courage to act on possibility rather than remain tethered to fear or expectation.

Topics we cover:

• Grief, caregiving, and identity after profound loss
• Impermanence and meaning drawn from lived experience
• Possibility in Action™ as a life philosophy, not a slogan
• Letting go of inherited templates and "shoulds"
• Daydreaming, imagination, and action as catalysts for change
• Redefining success and living intentionally across cultures

About Robert Pardi

Robert Pardi is a three-time bestselling author, life coach, speaker, and retreat facilitator. His work focuses on helping people move from possibility into action through clarity of values, imagination, and consistent, grounded steps. He currently lives in Abruzzo, Italy.

Learn more at robertpardi.com

Books available on Amazon, including Chasing Life, and Possibility in Action

This episode is a rebroadcast of a conversation originally released in August 2023. I'm bringing it back because the themes feel even more relevant today.

My guest is Neelu Kaur, author of Be Your Own Cheerleader, speaker, and organizational psychologist. Neelu works closely with South Asian and Asian women who are navigating burnout, self-advocacy, and cultural expectations in corporate America.

In this conversation, we explore the tension many high performers feel between a collectivist "we" mindset and a workplace culture that rewards individual visibility. Neelu introduces her "I-We speedometer" framework, offering a practical way to move between collaboration and self-promotion without losing your sense of self.

We also get into:

• Why the "your work will speak for itself" mantra often falls short
• How cultural conditioning can shape burnout and perfectionism
• Practical concepts like fit for purpose, reverse classroom, and time confetti
• How tools from NLP, yoga, and Ayurveda can help change not just how we communicate with others, but how we speak to ourselves
• What it really means to become your own cheerleader - at work and at home

This is a conversation about speaking up with integrity, managing energy in a nonstop work culture, and untethering from inherited templates that no longer serve us. Hope you enjoy it.

To learn more about how you can "Be Your Own Cheerleader," visit ⁠neelukaur.com⁠ or connect with Neelu on ⁠Instagram ⁠or ⁠LinkedIn⁠. Her book is also available on ⁠Amazon⁠.

Connect with Nikhil to learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Untether Your Life⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other projects:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode is Part 2 of my conversation with Shyambo, founder of The Brighter Mindset.

This week, we explore how practices labeled as biohacks (i.e., cold plunges) can double as powerful tools for spiritual discipline. Shyambo shares why challenging comfort through the body can translate into patience, clarity, and emotional steadiness in everyday life.

We also unpack a powerful analogy about mental health: if your "basement is flooded," you can’t just keep scooping water out; you have to plug the hole. In other words, cultivating a calmer mind requires being intentional about content we watch, conversations we engage in, and calories we consume.

In this episode, we cover:

Cold exposure as a practice for training the mind, not just the body

• Challenging the five senses to build resilience and self-control
• Why constant comfort can quietly run our lives
• The "plug the hole" metaphor - and how unfiltered inputs overwhelm the mind
• How curating sensory inputs can shift emotional tone and mental clarity

To explore more of Shyambo's work, please visit ⁠thebrightermindset.com⁠, or check him out on ⁠Instagram⁠. You can also sign up for his 2026 Sedona Immersive Wellness Retreat ⁠here⁠.

To connect with Nikhil and learn more about Untether Your Life and related projects:

⁠Instagram⁠ | ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Website

This episode explores how spiritual mentorship, emotional equanimity, and intentional social media use can transform an anxious, approval-seeking mind into what my guest calls a brighter mindset. On a day honoring Guru Nanak’s birth and the guru tradition, it felt especially fitting to sit down with Shyambo, a spiritual mentor, founder of The Brighter Mindset, and content creator whose work has reached over 10 million people.

Shyambo shares how his life was shaped by his guru, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, and how trying to "perform" wisdom online led him into depression, imposter syndrome, and a deep misalignment between his outer persona and inner reality.

He opens up about his time in a mindfulness-based recovery program in Sedona, the shift from chasing likes to praying before every post, and why practices like prapti (nothing left to attain), emotional equanimity, and samp (unity) have changed the way he relates to success, comparison, and conflict – especially during tense cultural and political moments.

In Part 1, we touch on:

• What a guru really is, and how modeling a teacher’s inner state is different from just consuming their ideas.
• Shyambo's journey from pre-med tennis kid to spiritual mentor, and how early bullying and cultural barriers shaped his inner search.
• How social media became a "casino of validation" for him – and what finally forced him to step away.
• The role of mindfulness-based recovery in helping him separate ego from service.
• Why he now prays before every post, and how that single intention protects him from FOMO and metrics obsession.
• The concepts of prapti, emotional equanimity, and samp (unity) as antidotes to comparison, division, and reactivity in a post-election landscape.

Note: This is Part One of a two-part series. Part Two airs next week.

To explore more of Shyambo's work, please visit thebrightermindset.com, or check him out on Instagram. You can also sign up for his 2026 Sedona Immersive Wellness Retreat here.

To connect with Nikhil and learn more about Untether Your Life and related projects:

Instagram | LinkedIn | Website

This episode explores one of the most overlooked drivers of mental health: the quality of our relationships. With a former Surgeon General warning that chronic loneliness can impact the body the same way as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, the stakes have never been higher. So it felt fitting to sit down with someone who has been a guiding voice in this space since the earliest days of this podcast: Dr. Jyothsna Bhat.

Jyothsna S. Bhat, Psy.D. CMIP is a clinical psychologist, writer, and one of the most respected voices in South Asian mental health. She writes a monthly column for Psychology Today that explores cultural nuance, family dynamics, and emotional well-being. Jyothsna was also the first official guest of Untether Your Life when we launched in early 2022. And in a full-circle moment, she and I originally met nearly thirty years ago as undergrads at Washington University in St. Louis before reconnecting in 2022 through her writing.

We touched on so many topics in this discussion, including:

• Why relationship quality acts like medicine, and how loneliness can silently erode mental and physical health.
• The emotional load carried by caregivers, and simple ways they can protect their well-being without abandoning the people they love.
• Cultural dynamics in South Asian families, and how shame, comparison, and unspoken expectations shape empathy and boundaries.
• The art of asking for space, why it is not rejection, and how creating a healing bubble can accelerate recovery.
• The importance of curating your inputs, including Jim Rohn’s reminder to “stand guard at the door of your mind.”
• Social media as a tool rather than a trap, and how to find your tribe instead of feeding comparison.
• The enduring impact of a single supportive relationship, including how Shelly helped me reconnect with my core essence during a difficult season.
• Practical ways to choose quality over quantity, bring a trusted ally into challenging social situations, and rebuild community with intention.

To connect with Dr. Bhat and learn more about her writing, clinical work, and advocacy, visit her Psychology Today profile or connect with her on LinkedIn and Instagram.

Connect with Nikhil to learn more about Untether Your Life and other projects:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Website

EPISODE SUMMARY

In today’s episode, I talk about where I’ve been over the past year, why the show went on pause, and what I’ve learned along the way. From navigating the 2024 US presidential election to rediscovering the spark that started this podcast in the first place, I share the real story behind the hiatus - and what’s aheadfor the next season.

I also honor the people and moments that shaped thisjourney, and reflect on the rise of AI, the changing podcast landscape, and the power of community.

KEY TOPICS

• Welcome back and why it’s been a while
• The serendipitous origin story of Untether Your Life
• Various feathers in my cap: cracking the top 5 percent of Listen Notes + Signal Award reflections
• Listener impact and a quick request
• The election, déjà vu, and rewriting old narratives
• Three major November milestones
• Tech roots + the rise of AI
• Shoutouts to BroBots, Happy & Human, and Yoga in the Therapy Room podcasts
• Family, legacy, and a personal dedication
• What’s next for the podcast

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• Dr. Jyothsna Bhat (early guest IG live collaborator)
• BroBots Podcast
• Happy and Human Podcast
• Yoga in the Therapy Room Podcast
• Practicing Mindfulness on the Go by Shelly Sood
• Signal Awards

• 
  

WANT MORE?

Connect with me to learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Untether Your Life⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other projects:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This episode was released on the heels of perhaps the most dramatic election of our time—one that will have a serious impact on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and leadership initiatives in corporations throughout the United States. So I felt very fortunate to speak to one of the most compelling and dynamic authorities in this space—Dr. Priya Nalkur.

Priya Nalkur, Ed.D. is the President of The RoundTable Institute, where she leads a global group of coaches and facilitators to help companies build more inclusive leaders and workplaces. She is a professional speaker, coach and facilitator and has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Heller School for Social Policy and has several courses on Udemy for Business. She is the author of the book Stumbling Towards Inclusion: Finding Grace in Imperfect Leadership.

We touched on so many topics in this discussion, including:

• Priya's innovative framework of JEDI for Leaders and JEDI for Coaches; how the notions of justice and belonging are often overlooked in many well-intentioned DEI intiatives in corporate America.
• How Stumbling Towards Inclusion evolved from a "manual" to accompany the JEDI training to also include her journey—from a child of South Asian immigrants who struggled to fit in, to her time at leading universities in the US (Harvard, Yale), to her current role as an authority on DEI and executive leadership coach.
• The genesis of The Roundtable Institute as a leadership development platform to focus on women and marginialized people, launched in the wake of the tumultuous 2016 election.
• Joseph Campbell's quote about "going into the abyss to recover the treasures of life and stumbling"—and how the notion of stumbling (as well as biking up steep hills in Southern California) plays into leadership.
• The relationship between the activity of dance—in all its forms—and the dynamics of effective leadership.
• Concepts discussed in Stumbling Towards Inclusion, including "lowering the waterline," allyship, and the notion of headwinds and tailwinds in leadership.
• Priya's experience as the child of Indian immigrants in Ontario, Canada, and how that shaped her lifelong mission for inclusion.
• Struggles that we as South Asian parents face in juggling the tasks of assimilating, succeeding in corporate America, while passing our cultural heritage (culinary, dance, musical) to our children.

To connect with Priya and learn more about JEDI, The Roundtable Institute, and her many other initiatives, visit priyanalkur.com or theroundtableinstitute.com. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Connect with Nikhil to learn more about ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Untether Your Life⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and other projects:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠