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Ep. 149 How to Listen (and be heard) Better

This is a picture of Katie Silcox. The text reads, "Spirit Sessions: Find your true spiritual home with Katie Silcox."

Katie speaks to the Harvard studies on listening. We may think we are great listeners, but most of us could use some tips! Learn why being a great listener is also good for you, as well as techniques and meditative embodied methods that help you become a great listener. It truly is the medicine we need now in our polarized world!

In this episode you’ll hear: 

~ The power of listening to connect with others

~ How social media could be hindering our ability to be truly seen and heard

~ Tangible benefits of being a good listener, backed up by studies from Harvard

~ Katie shares some personal anecdotes as it relates to listening 

~ Great listening involves being present in your own body

~ How nonverbal communication matters for both listening and speaking 

~ Actionable ways we can practice better listening

~ Katie teaches an energy practice for intentional capacity building and deep listening

~ Join Katie and The Shakti School for the Embodied Ayurveda + Mystical Mind live in-person and virtual retreat May 6th and 7th. Live spaces are filling up fast, so register now to get in! Payment plan options available.

This episode is brought to you by PAAVANI Ayurveda. Use discount code SHAKTI15 at checkout for 15% off a one time purchase on paavaniayurveda.com

Female founded PAAVANI Ayurveda is an artisan line of small-batch, pure, organic health & skincare products formulated in Northern California. 

Handcrafted with the wisdom of Ayurveda, these gals seek to raise conscious awareness of the whole by practicing the philosophy of ahimsa or nonviolence in making their products. This means that their offerings are certified cruelty free and vegan and that PAAVANI carefully selects herbal ingredients that are sustainable, ensuring that plant medicine is abundant for future generations. 

In addition to mindful formulations, PAAVANI Ayurveda packages their products in glass to maintain the integrity of their herbal ingredients. Additionally, their labels are printed on recycled paper stock, using water-based inks that generate little to no paper waste & no harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 

With every purchase made with PAAVANI Ayurveda, you are supporting a female founded, small business that strives to maintain the health of not only your skin, but also our earth. 

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From my heart to your screen,

Katie

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🍁 In the spirit of the giving season we are off 🍁 In the spirit of the giving season we are offering a limited Gratitude Sale this weekend only for Level 1 Ayurveda School.⁠
⁠
Why? Because we are grateful for this program, this community, our team….and for YOU.⁠
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We believe you deserve to deepen your soul’s calling in 2026.⁠
⁠
Now through December 1st only, we are bringing back earlybird pricing ONLY for the next few days! ⁠
⁠
💛 Comment GRATITUDE for the special sign-up link which gets you $500+ off tuition only through December 1st.⁠
⁠
Don't miss out – get in with the Gratitude Sale only through Monday night at midnight Eastern time honey-mama!
I’ve been thinking about this phrase we toss aro I’ve been thinking about this phrase we toss around facetiously: “Thanks for nothing.” 

We lace our voice with resentment and the subtle (or not so subtle) middle finger to whatever didn’t go our way. 

But lately, I’ve been reclaiming it. Sanctifying it. 

Turning it into a quiet little prayer: Thank you. I am here. I am grateful for no reason. 

Science keeps confirming what the mystics have whispered for millennia: gratitude literally changes us.

Studies from UCLA and Harvard show that consistent gratitude practices calm the amygdala, boost dopamine and serotonin, expand heart-rate variability and even strengthen immune function. 

In other words: saying “thank you” rewires the nervous system and ushers the whole body into a different frequency. 

But here’s where it gets counter-intuitive: 

Most of us only practice gratitude for the shiny things - the wins at work, blessings in our bank account, the relationships feeling good… 

But what about the heartbreaks? 
The long nights in the dark? 
The relationships that stretched us, cracked us and forced us to grow? 
The strange, sacred mandala of our lives — the shadowy petals included? 

This is where “Thanks for nothing” becomes a holy prayer. 

Because sometimes the “nothings” (the thing that didn’t happen, the door that didn’t open, the expectation that didn’t get met) is the quiet architecture of our becoming something GREATER. 

More heartful. More real. 

Sometimes what appears as an absence is actually a deep cosmic protection. The chaos is the curriculum. 

So today, I’m practicing a new kind of gratitude: 

Thanks for the heartbreak that humbled me. 
Thanks for the silence that made me listen deeper. 
Thanks for the plans that fell apart, so I could fall into myself. 
Thanks for the nothing that was actually everything. 

This isn’t spiritual bypass. It’s radical spiritual bravery. 

It’s choosing to bow to the full freaking thing. The yummy parts and the ones with biting teeth. 

It’s remembering that we don’t need perfect circumstances to cultivate a loving, grounded physiology. 

So, friend…Happy Thanksgiving. 

Thanks for nothing. 
And thanks for everything.
These acts may seem small, but they are powerful A These acts may seem small, but they are powerful Ayurvedic rituals for dropping into your heart and cultivating gratitude for the Earth, our relationships and our food. 🌿 ⁠
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🤲🏼 Offer gratitude. Give thanks to Big Mama Nature and feel that She is providing you with nourishment through the sacrifice of other plants and animals.⁠
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🍲 Feed someone else first. First feeding others is a sign of our gratitude to the Big Mama who is feeding us. If you are single, make some extra food for a neighbor, water the plants or feed the birds.⁠
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🍽️ Set the table. Even if you are eating alone, laying down a beautiful tablecloth, placemats and cloth napkins tells your unconscious, "Eating is sacred."⁠
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📵 Be present. Eating while web-surfing, watching TV, texting or driving dampens the digestive fire.⁠
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🥄 Chew slowly. Chew mindfully. Feel grateful for where you are now in your life.⁠
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🧘🏼‍♀️ Eat in a good mood: Our mood carries power into the food we eat. If we eat while we are angry or sad, or any other negative mood state, that mood will be transmitted into the food we eat, and deeper into the body and mind.⁠
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Save for your quick reminders on how to ritualize eating this week. 🍽💗🍂
You know you are feeling GOOD with Ayurveda when y You know you are feeling GOOD with Ayurveda when you are snapping selfies on I-81 in a roadside gas station somewhere down in Tennessee…😂🪷😂🪐🐯🪐🌋 @sohumhealingresort hosted me for a week. Get ready for more exciting collaborations between us in the future! Who wants a Shakti Tantra + cooking retreat with Chef Sean!?!
In deep reverence for our Crone Mama Fall (+ Winte In deep reverence for our Crone Mama Fall (+ Winter), I am bowing before the altar of all things spicy, warm, orange, yellow and brown. (South hemisphere ladies, we see you in your bikinis!)⁠
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I am also owning the heck out of my basic self. That means:⁠
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1. Yoga pants⁠
2. Furry Boots⁠
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and…⁠
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3. Pumpkin Spice⁠
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Our team member Eva over here at Team Shakti came up with this RIDICULOUSLY yummy, Ayurveda-inspired Pumpkin Spice Latte. With warming ginger, black pepper and nutmeg to help kindle your agni plus some grounding pumpkin and optional ashwagandha, what more could the vata in each of us need!? 😉☕⁠
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🍁 Comment “PSL” below for the recipe. 👇🏼💌

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