What if the power you've been looking for outside yourself has been inside you all along?
My guest today is Maya Tiwari — a spiritual teacher, humanitarian, and the pioneer who brought Ayurveda to North America. But before any of that, she was an 18-year-old given a death sentence: six months to live. What happened next changed the entire trajectory of her life.
Maya walked away from a career, then years later walked away from 25 years as a Vedic monk, to write her new book "I Am Shakti" — a manifesto for reclaiming the divine feminine power she says has been trampled for 2,000 years, and a challenge to men to rediscover the divine masculine alongside it.
In this conversation, you'll hear why Maya believes healing — personal and collective — depends on restoring that balance.
✨ Maya's journey from a cancer diagnosis at 18 to six months of solitude in the Vermont woods
✨ What Shakti (divine feminine power) actually is, and why it's been suppressed for millennia
✨ Why she walked away from monastic robes to reclaim her femininity
✨ How Christianity and other patriarchal traditions erased the divine feminine — and what that costs us
✨ Practical first steps for reclaiming your own inner power, starting today
If you've ever asked why the world feels so unbalanced right now, this episode is for you.
If you've ever wondered what it would mean to stop identifying with your body and remember who you really are, this episode is for you.
If you've ever felt disconnected from your own power — even carrying grief, fear, or loss — Maya would tell you it's still there. It always was.
🎧 If you want to continue this conversation after listening, head over to grief2growth.substack.com — you'll find an article there where you can comment and connect with me and other listeners.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 🌱 Opening: Planted, Not Buried
00:45 🎙️ Welcome & Meet Maya Tiwari
03:13 ⚖️ Shakti & Shiva: Divine Feminine and Masculine
05:12 💔 Cancer Diagnosis & a Death Sentence at 18
06:48 ❄️ Six Months of Solitude in Vermont
08:47 🕉️ The Path to India, Ayurveda & Becoming a Monk
10:29 👗 Why She Dropped the Robes
12:13 ⛪ Patriarchy, Christianity & the Missing Divine Feminine
18:22 🔥 What Is Shakti, Really?
20:01 💗 Choosing Forgiveness Over Mourning
23:06 ⚡ Balancing Masculine and Feminine Within
28:53 🧘 Letting Go of Body Identification
45:19 🌹 The Fear of the Feminine — and Reclaiming It
48:12 🪞 Shadow Work & Becoming the Observer
53:12 🕊️ On Grief, Loss & Her Daughter's Photo
56:49 ✝️ One True Religion: Universal Law
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