Can Somatic Breathwork Support Stress Relief & Resilience? with Sepideh Eivazi

Susan Sly: 00:00

Hey there. I want to welcome you to this episode of The Menopause Health Podcast, and I have a question for you.

Susan Sly: 00:06

If you took a deep breath now, just a really deep breath, like—

Susan Sly: 00:12

In through your nose and held it, and then—

Susan Sly: 00:17

Out through your mouth—do you feel as though there's something just taking up some space in your body? And for a lot of women, 40-plus, they have that. It's—it's whether it's holding on to past hurts, resentment, shame. And when we're holding on to these things, they do make manifest in our health. It affects our central nervous system.

And my guest today is a practitioner in somatic breathing, and we're going to get pretty deep. We're going to talk about her personal journey, coming out of Iran and coming first to Las Vegas. What a—what a—just a dichotomy right there. And then how she learned to heal herself, and how she's serving others.

And you are going to leave with actionable insights in terms of things you can do right now, in this moment, to begin to feel better. And that's what really excites me.

If you haven't downloaded thePause™ app, I'm going to ask you to do that for me. And the reason I'm asking you to do that is because we have been very slowly rolling the app out to our early beta testers to get feedback. And we're not a product. We are an experience and a community. And what we're looking for is to really grow and scale this experience so that it is tailored to every single woman, individually. And it is such a big undertaking.

And in our platform, yes, we have AI, we have machine learning, we have gamification, and we're really just getting started. And we're building in flight.

And so, you can download it in the App Store for $3.99.

Susan Sly: 02:08

I do my daily check-in every day. I will tell you that thanks to our Dry 21, I have consumed much less wine than I normally would. In fact, it's significant. I'm feeling better. I'm sleeping better. I use our Harmoni™ AI agent to ask her questions.

And so, you can get it in the App Store—thePause™ Menopause App—or just go to www.thepause.ai

Susan Sly: 02:34

And there's a direct link to download it. And if you aren't signed up for our community newsletter, definitely do. We have weekly recipes, fitness tips—you name it. It's amazing, empowering. We had one woman who even cried when she first read it.

So, check it out at www.thepause.ai

Susan Sly: 02:53

And let's get into this episode with the amazing founder of Dawn of the Earth, which is a wellness platform dedicated to really inspiring and helping people with complementary ways—and the one and only Sepideh Eivazi.

Voiceover: 03:13

The opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the show or its hosts.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding your specific health needs.

Voiceover: 03:39

Welcome to The Menopause Health Podcast—your go-to resource for practical advice, brought to you by credentialed health professionals and industry experts.

Here is your host, Susan Sly.

Susan Sly: 03:54

Well, Sepi, welcome to The Menopause Health Podcast! And to everyone listening all over the world, Sepi and I were chatting, and I said, "Oh my gosh, we've got a show to do, girlfriend!"

Susan Sly: 04:06

I—you know, I want to jump in. We've had physicians, we've had PhDs, we've had different people talking about everything from HRT to cardiovascular health to—you name it.

And we're gonna—we're gonna have a deep discussion today about really identifying pain and what women can do in the moment to take back their power.

But I want to start with your journey. Sepi, you were born in Iran, came to the United States, and of all places—Las Vegas, which is the complete opposite.

Susan Sly: 04:42

How did you end up in Las Vegas?

Sepideh Eivazi: 04:47

My uncle was living in Vegas at the time, and my sister—she was 17, and I was 20. So I was born and raised in Iran, and I was really struggling, living in Iran in a—

Sepideh Eivazi: 05:00

Suppressed community, male-dominated society, where women don't really have a voice. And I just knew from a very young age that that was not a place that I wanted to live.

I had big dreams. I had—you know, I wanted to do all these big things in the world. I wanted to impact humanity, and I could feel the suppression and limitations that I was facing as a woman.

And that was the only family that I had in the United States, and we ended up moving from Iran to the States, and Vegas became my first home, which I'm very grateful for.

And I resigned at the end of: 2018

Susan Sly: 05:52

I want to go back for a moment because you and I were talking. I have a lot of friends who are Persian, and it depends on how old they are—the Iran they remember.

When you talk about suppression, especially when we look at the percentage of people in the U.S., as an example alone, who don't even have passports, who've never even left—can you describe that?

As a young woman living in Iran, what did suppression look like?

Sepideh Eivazi: 06:23

Suppression looked like—you have no will of your own. Every decision that I needed to make had to go through my dad or my grandfather or people that were in that state.

It does make sense in a sense that—you think, you're a young child, and your parents are, you know, making decisions for you. But decisions have different degrees.

You know, sometimes it comes to not having a voice. Like, I love writing, I love reading, I love poetry, I love dancing. But women in Iran are not able to sing.

That's one of the—you know, laws that—you know, the government applied. That's true suppression.

Or, like, just exposing and expressing yourself as a human—just simply being a human.

When you're a teenager, which was, I would say, the most impactful time for me living there—it was during my teenage years when you're trying to fit in, when you're trying to build your confidence, when you're trying to know who you are as a woman, as a person, and you feel all these judgments.

As a woman—that a woman doesn't speak, or you don't have a voice at the table, you have to work so hard to get to X places. It was just challenging to just live—to be alive.

And I remember there were many moments in my life that I didn't want to be alive. I just didn't want to be alive.

And I was so young. Thinking about it now that I'm 39 years old and going back to that space—it breaks my heart, how I was experiencing those emotions and not knowing what was really happening internally for me.

But at the same time, I am very proud of myself—that I stayed resilient, and I did not give up. I never gave up on my dreams. I never gave up on the things that I wanted to do in my life.

And I'm really proud that I was born in that country, as much as I had so many painful moments—just leaving your community, leaving your parents, your family.

My mom—I had a very close relationship with my mother. I really struggled at the time that I left Iran.

And it was me and my sister in the States. And, you know, my uncle just helped us for a very short period—for a few weeks—and we were on our own.

So imagine that. Two girls who are brand new in a new country.

I didn't know how to open up a bank account. I didn't know how to rent an apartment. I didn't know how the credit card worked.

Like, there were so many things that we needed to navigate.

But there was one thing that kept us together, and it was the sense of freedom—that I was able to make those choices for me.

And I paid the price for that, you know. And I was very grateful that I had the opportunity to be here and learn and grow—with all the pain that I had in my heart.

But I knew that in order for me to grow and expand and follow my dreams, I needed to be in a different place.

And just talking to a lot of people in Iran—because I'm still in touch with a lot of women and family and friends—and I hear the same exact stories.

Like, even from, like, covering your hair—like, simple things.

Making decisions like—what to wear today.

The fact that I can wear whatever I want to wear today, and I can go out, and no one can say anything to me.

That's a basic human right.

And women in Iran struggle with that—for the size of their pants, the length of their pants, how they cover their bodies, how they cover their hair.

I mean, the stress that—stressors that existed in that environment for basic survival—it was just beyond.

Sepideh Eivazi: 10:00

That we had to fight through basic rights, basically

.

Susan Sly: 10:04

And when I think about it, you know, what I'm reminded of too is how set back the women in Afghanistan were.

Yes, because when the U.S. left, the—you know, women were able to go to university, they were able to be out in cafes without their brother or their father or their husband, and that all changed just in a heartbeat.

And to not have—you mentioned you can wear what you want. I mean, there, you can't go anywhere without your father, brother, husband, right?

And so, thinking about that and that suppression, and then coming here, and suddenly you're in Las Vegas, right? Sin City. So this is the complete opposite.

And tell—tell everyone about what is an early memory you had where you went, Oh my gosh, this is really blowing my mind.

Sepideh Eivazi: 10:58

I remember the first time I walked into Bellagio. I was with my sister, and I looked at her, and I said, "I'm gonna work here."

I was mesmerized—like, that's the word for it. I was just in awe of everything around me.

And fast-forward three years in, I started working at Bellagio.

And I was just—I'm a big dreamer, you know. I really believe that you can dream, and if you stay committed in your journey and you keep going, you can achieve those dreams.

You can feel them, you can live them, you can embody them.

But the environment plays a role in that also. I could dream all these things while I was sitting in Iran, but the environment was not supporting my dreams.

And these hurdles that I experienced—it felt like a block.

I wanted to work. I graduated from high school. The first thing I wanted to do was gain my independence. I wanted to work.

I recognized at a young age that in order for me to be able to have my independence, I needed financial independence.

And no matter what my dad was saying, and no matter what society was saying, I got my first job—first interview, first job.

I started working at a kindergarten and teaching English to all these kids that were coming from different embassies.

And from the age of 18 to 20, I had been saving up money because I knew my goal was to leave the country.

So I was just saving up all my money, knowing that I'm just saving up for my next chapter.

There is a lot more to that, you know. There is a lot more in the sense of—your identity gets questioned all the time.

You know, you're—you're constantly living in this self-doubt because you know something within you.

You hear that voice internally, but then the reflection and the projection that you're getting from the external world is not validating you.

So it was just this mental battle that I constantly had—Do I need to trust this voice?

And I was so young and naive. I had zero life experience.

I was trying to find myself in this world—Who is Sepi?

And I think that really—that was a catalyst in my life to just really take the leap.

Just leaving and listening to that voice—listening to my internal voice—that this is not the place you want to stay.

Susan Sly: 13:40

Yeah, we're going to talk about manifestation, and we're going to talk about this concept of being intentional, right?

And the question I have for you is—you come to Las Vegas, and suddenly, you know, your uncle, as you said, your uncle is like, Okay, girls, you're on your own, right?

And you have a younger sister to take care of, and so now you're working.

You don't even really have time to process being in this new environment where you've gone from ultimate suppression to—you can, for anyone listening who's never been to Las Vegas, you can literally do anything anytime of day.

It's not my favorite place, but it's where Sepi and I met, and I have to go there for business often, so I just make the best of it.

But you essentially get to the place where at one point, you realize that you've been suppressing pain.

And you realize that this pain is—if you don't deal with it, it's going to essentially create a tear in your soul.

How did you begin to find your path in terms of healing?

Sepideh Eivazi: 14:40

Well, at the very beginning, I was not realizing what was happening.

I was young. I was in my 20s. You know, I had access to everything, and I was numbing the pain through partying, drinking, alcohol—blah, blah, blah, blah, blah—all the things that we do, right?

So I was just like a human. I was trying to escape the life that I had, but you can never escape that.

As I grew and I got older, I just learned that the only way to be able to fully heal and feel yourself is just accepting every part of you with no judgments.

And that's how the journey really began.

I went through a really heartbreaking breakup. I think that's how the journey began for me—to really look within.

And the guy that I was dating—he was identical to my father.

So it was shadow work that needed to happen in that space. I attracted somebody identical to my father.

And I was devastated when the relationship ended—which I ended the relationship myself—but still, there was so much trauma and pain.

And that was the—that was the point for me that I started really going within and sitting with the pain.

And stopping numbing it—owning it instead of numbing it.

And that's how the journey began.

So I'm always grateful for him because of that breakup.

I always say, I had a breakthrough.

My heart, like—you know, opened up to different possibilities, and that's how my healing journey began.

And I was so devastated, in so much pain, that I just started trying different modalities and learning how I could get myself out of this pain.

And I started going to Kundalini yoga and Kundalini meditations and Reiki.

And I tried past-life regressions, and I tried so many different things.

Until I found—and I learned—that everything is within us.

It's not outside of us. It's within us.

And that's where I really felt whole and empowered.

Because since I've been living in that space, I feel myself.

I respect myself.

I allow myself to be fully human—with all the flaws that I have.

And I offer that safe space to others.

I accept them, I see them where they are, and I honor where they are, instead of wanting to change them or fix them.

And it wasn't just a one-day practice.

It's been a life journey for me that I started and just kept growing and expanding.

And I fell flat on my face, and I had my dark nights of the soul.

And, you know, you just learn.

You just grow.

And you build the community that you can lean on and that you can trust.

And I'm very grateful for my community—that they held space for me.

Susan Sly: 17:35

And I love what you said about accepting yourself without judgment and then sitting with the pain, right?

And for years, I did speaking events. So we, you and I spoke about this.

You know, 20,000 people in Vegas, and then Tony Robbins would be speaking, and Mel Robbins would be speaking, you know, all these—Pitbull and different people.

And one of the common pieces about anyone who transcends to this place where they're helping others heal is that they've gone through that journey of the soul and looking at the pain without judgment—judgment of self, judgment of who inflicted the pain.

And I know some of you are listening and going, Wait a minute, Susan, usually you're talking about hormone replacement therapy or cardiovascular health.

But here's the thing, and I'll just say this—I had the privilege of meeting Louise Hay, but I also had the privilege of knowing Wayne Dyer and calling him a friend.

And what both Louise and Wayne used to say is, Whatever is suppressed is going to be expressed in another way.

And often, as women, when we suppress it, it can come in many forms.

It can be, you know, weight gain. It could be disease states. It could be all sorts of physical pain.

Because when we suppress that pain, it's going to come out and express, right?

Yeah.

And one of the things we spoke about when we first met was somatic breathing, and I had shared with you that I had experienced with somatic breathing.

When my best friend passed, I couldn't even breathe.

I remember, Sepi, being at his funeral, and I just couldn't breathe.

And it was this grief that shook me, and I was crying and crying, but I knew I hadn't released it from my body.

And I was in Palm Springs, and I was at—often, I'll go to this place called We Care, and it's—I'll go and fast for a week.

And there was a somatic breath practitioner there, and I did some sessions with him, and I was able to release it.

And I didn't realize how it was so up in my chest, like, just breathing, you know—like up here—as opposed to actually breathing.

And so, how did you discover somatic breathing?

And then, I want to go into, for our listeners, what your tips are for people listening, just to even get started.

Sepideh Eivazi: 19:56

Well, I love Louise Hay, right?

And my journey of healing began with her.

I was heartbroken. My friend sent me her book.

I read the book. Two weeks after, she was having a conference in Vegas.

I went to the conference by myself. I sat in the back. I cried the whole time.

I went home, I grabbed that book, and that became my Bible.

And I'm so grateful that you mentioned her name because she served humanity in so many different ways, and her work is the blueprint of what we speak about.

So, somatic breathing.

For me, it began when I was having all these meditations and the healing work that I've been doing, and I had these severe shakes in my body that they had no idea what it was.

All these practitioners that I've been working with, they were just labeling me with different things.

Like, You have entities, you have this, you have that—blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I was just so scared to embrace these body movements because it was pretty intense.

And I was just watching a video, and in that video, I saw these people just like me laying on the ground, and their body goes like crazy.

And I messaged the person, and I said, What is this? I want to learn about that again.

Like, I'm a very curious learner. I'm constantly learning.

And I signed up for their program, and throughout that program, I experienced this massive transformation in my body from every level that you can imagine.

When I started doing the breathwork, my body had so much resistance that sometimes I felt like I wanted to vomit.

My body did not want to let go.

My body was living in fight, flight, or freeze.

My body was living in so many survival patterns, and putting that much oxygen in my body—my body was completely panicked and freaking out, like, What's happening here?

And somatic breathwork became something that I truly connected with for multiple reasons.

Number one, I started my wellness platform when I left Vegas, Dawn of the Earth, and it started as a tea company.

It's purpose-driven, eco-conscious, and I work with local farmers from different parts of the world.

But my vision was not only focusing on tea.

The tea came from my heritage. I wanted to bridge the gap between East and West.

But I'm like, What's next?

What is something that really resonates with me, that I can bring this to the world and support others and curate experiences for them?

With the tea, and somatic breathwork became the thing.

Because I started feeling it and experiencing it in my daily life.

And also, I started feeling how much space I have in my body.

There's not, like, so much clutter in my body.

It's more space for me to be creative.

It's more space for me to feel myself.

And I always go back to this space, people.

And when I introduce myself, I tell people, I'm not a healer. I'm not a guru. I'm just here to hold space.

And like I mentioned, we have all the answers within us.

And our breath is our inner compass.

It's our inner medicine.

We all have it equally, regardless of our title, our bank statements, where we live, race, color, gender—like, none of that matters.

Just going back within and connecting to ourselves, and just seeing how much information our body holds on to, and our breath can translate all of that in different forms and shapes—that's so powerful to me.

And just seeing that by holding space, I was able to empower others—that they can go back and connect with themselves.

It was just so inspiring and moving.

I used to cry—like, I still do cry—when I do my sessions.

And people are like, Oh my God, Sepi, I didn't know how much I've been holding on to.

Or I see, like, their faces start changing.

They just relax into their body.

I teach them how to really own and connect with their body.

And through my sessions, I always tell them, Your body is so intelligent.

Because our body is very intelligent.

Our body holds everything.

All the memories are just imprinted in our body's cells.

And when I was releasing those traumas from my body, it was all the memories from my past.

It was nothing that was happening at the present moment for me.

It was my experiences from the past that I never knew how to release and let go of, and it was showing up in the form of those intense body movements and shakes.

And breathing, and somatic breathing, helped me to release them.

And soma is a Greek word, and it means body.

So it's a combination of connecting with the body—being more present to our body.

Because we use so many different things to numb our body.

Our body has its own nervous system and brain.

So when we are just, like, feeling a certain way, we always use different things to just numb our emotions.

It can be smoking weed or doing cannabis or emotional eating or drinking alcohol.

And I'm not shaming anyone for making those choices.

I'm just saying, like, when you're making those choices, just be present.

Ask yourself, Does this serve me? Is this really what I need at the moment?

Just be conscious, and that's the choice that you can make for yourself.

Susan Sly: 25:29

And that piece around taking up space, right?

I was—I was sharing, I was doing a show. I was a guest on a show.

I have to remember—there's a lot of them that happen during the week.

And I was talking about how that, you know, even for me, drinking red wine was taking up a lot of space in my life.

And when I went to CES, I decided not to drink.

Like, I don't drink every day. But I was like—then, you know, you were there.

So, you know, especially in technology, right? The bar opens at three, and there's this reception, and five receptions, and open bar and stuff.

I just decided not to drink.

Wow.

And then suddenly, there was this space. Because I didn't have—like, because before, what I would do, I would be like, Well, you know, firstly, I do there, I don't drink a lot of different things.

So there's that, right? And I have my different pieces.

So because I didn't even have to think about it, it suddenly meant there was just all this space—which was fabulous.

And I think that—to your point—whether we're holding on to a story, a judgment, something in the past, it is taking up so much space.

And when we're holding on to that much space, there's no room for anything else to flow—for the healing to flow, for financial prosperity to flow.

And for women listening, you know—especially our listeners, right?

They're going through perimenopause and menopause.

A lot of the things that you might be holding on to—the disappointment, the resentment—the science knows that anything you're holding on to like that can exacerbate your symptoms.

Because it's leading to stress. It's affecting your central nervous system.

So let's—let's pretend for a minute that we're going to go through a session.

Like, can you give an example?

So someone listening, or they're watching on YouTube, like—what could they do right now?

And they're going, Sepi, I so get what you're saying. I want to do something right now.

Sepideh Eivazi: 27:32

The sessions that I normally start—again, like, I'm a very intentional person.

I always ask them before the session to set an intention for their session and not really think and overanalyze it.

Because sometimes—it's so funny—people come with a list of things, and they're like, I don't know if I have to focus on my bills or I have to focus on my husband or—

And I'm like, What does your heart say? Let's get to the heart.

Because we live in our brain, and we're overanalyzing and overthinking.

And when we really tap into our heart, we receive a different message.

So, decisions always start with an intention—where you are in your life, and how you want to feel at the end of the session.

Do you want to—what feeling do you want to really embody?

And then I start with a guided meditation, just to ground them.

There's so much going on in our day-to-day.

You know, it's busy. We're running, we're calling, we're on Zoom calls, etc., etc.

So just grounding them in their body.

And then, in the first half of the session, we do mouth breathing.

And the reason we do mouth breathing is because this is how the body starts expressing.

The breath knows exactly where the trauma is sitting in your body.

The breath knows. I don't know that.

No doctors know that. You know. And your body knows.

And your breath—this is how powerful we are as individuals.

But we're not tapping into that because we're just so attached to that prescription, or to that doctor, or to that healer, or to that ex-person.

We have it all within us.

So through the first half, we're doing mouth breathing.

And the reason is because we allow the breath to go through those areas where we feel trapped emotions.

When there are trapped emotions, there is clutter. There is no clarity.

And the more we live in fight, flight, or freeze, the cells in the body start changing and shifting.

The only way that the body starts healing is when the body is in a regulated state of emotions—calmness and relaxation.

So when the body is expressing, some people want to cry.

Some people don't want to do anything. They're just doing their mouth breathing.

But it's not like people are laying down and I ask them to breathe.

There's so much—like, I'm actively working with them.

Where do you hold your tension? They're constantly talking to me.

It's in my chest.

A lot of women—they hold it in their shoulders, in their neck, in their hips, in their stomach, in their chest.

So, like—I'm getting information.

I'm just bringing them to that space so they can connect with their body.

And you have no idea how many times I hear, I don't know.

And it's okay if you don't know.

Because you've never done this before.

You've never sat with your body and really listened to see what your body is communicating.

I create that space for them to connect with their body.

And then the information starts coming to the surface, and they start giving me more info.

I always ask them through my work, Is your body willing to let go and release?

We have so much resistance in our body.

And especially when we live with so much trauma and our body has been alerted for so long, the feeling of safety is so important.

So it's so important to create that safe environment where the body feels safe in order to work with us and release this information from the body’s cells.

Because our body saves all these memories.

So, you can think about a lemon right now, and the more you think about it, you can start feeling your saliva.

It's the same thing when you're thinking about a memory.

The same hormones—if it's negative or you really got impacted—the same hormones can start producing in your body.

Stress hormones can be produced in your body.

Your body can go into fight, flight, or freeze.

You can really experience an event without being in that environment.

And your body can just really react as if it's really happening for you.

So, creating that safe environment for the body to start communicating.

I ask them so many questions in my sessions.

Where do you feel suppressed in your life?

Where do you feel repressed in your life?

Do you feel safe?

You know, it's very interactive.

And then, as we get through that, we switch the mouth breathing to nose breathing.

And that's where we embody the emotions.

So, we teach the body how to break the automatic and get out of fight, flight, or freeze.

And experience, and really, truly embody how the body can feel when you're really feeling relaxed.

Because the body doesn't know any other way.

We never teach our body how to feel fully relaxed unless we're being forced into that.

I mean, this is the problem with modern society.

We're dealing with real mental health—anxiety, panic attacks, all of that.

You know, it's the reality. And I'm speaking to that.

Because the more we practice calmness and relaxation, the more we're able to break the automatic and teach the body how to operate from calmness.

So I take them to a place of gratitude.

I take them to a place of love, which has the highest frequency that we can tap into.

I take them back to their hearts.

And at the very end of the session, I always ask them, What message does your heart have for you?

And I'm just getting chills even talking about it.

Because it's so beautiful—the things that people share with me when they're really feeling safe and just allowing their body to release.

Susan Sly: 34:41

Yeah, as you're—as you're sharing that, and thank you for walking through that client journey.

Because one of the many things I love about somatic breathwork is—you said it.

Everyone breathes. Everyone can do this, right?

You can be listening to this right now—wow—and just be present.

How—when was the last time you took a breath? Right?

And on average, I believe the number, Sepi—and correct me if I'm wrong—is about—

We're using—we're only breathing about, like, 15% of our lung capacity throughout the day.

Or less.

Or less.

And—and just to breathe.

And sometimes, what I'll—I'll do in the morning—my morning routine is, I get up, and I spend an hour in prayer, meditation, and I'm very conscious about my breath.

Because I realized—as I go through the day—that I am up in my chest, right?

I'm not, like, fully breathing into my body.

When we're not doing that, we're not in our power.

And we see a lot of people, a lot of men and women, who are so disconnected from their heart down.

Men—you know, they'll have those big, round bellies. Sometimes women as well.

And when we—you know, all the work that I've done in the past, and taking women through the work—the work, the work—you know, the weekends I used to run, that just having them breathe—

And it's so foreign.

And some women will start coughing because they realize they haven't, you know, actually been breathing.

They've been getting a little bit of oxygen, but they're not getting the breath.

I want to ask you—we were talking about this concept of being intentional.

Intentional with your day, intentional with your routine.

And just share with the listeners those—those strategies that you give to your clients, but also that you incorporate for yourself.

Sepideh Eivazi: 36:42

I love this question because I worked so hard to create and curate these rituals for myself.

And it's a form of self-respect.

It's a form of self-care.

It's a form of, like, unplugging from the busyness of the world and just being present to who you are as a human.

And again, Louise Hay actually played a role in this creation years ago.

I used to listen to her affirmations when I was getting ready to go to work.

But now, I definitely have a different approach.

So, I start my day sharp at 5 a.m. I'm a 5 a.m.-er.

Like, I wake up early, and the first thing that I do—I don't touch my phone.

I have a letter right next to my bed that I wrote to my future self, and I read that letter out loud to myself.

And automatically, my body—instead of thinking about the problems—it goes back to that, How can this future be exciting?

It's like—it shifts my energy.

This is a gift that I give to myself.

And that letter is all about my dreams and my curations and collaborations and the impact that I want to make.

And my TEDx, and all of the things that I really want to do and leave my mark on this planet.

And right after that, I start my meditation.

I do—I meditate for about an hour.

And I have a journal.

I write about three things that I'm grateful for, and I write about three things that I want to accomplish that day.

Very clear.

It's not a thousand things. It's not a list of a billion things that I look at and freak out, and my body freezes.

It's three things that I make a priority.

It can be a simple phone call that you've been postponing.

It can be paying a bill that you've been postponing and you were procrastinating.

Just clearing my space by offering and creating clarity.

And then, I normally go on a hike. I watch the sunrise.

I think it's so powerful when we start the day in nature.

And just putting ourselves in that space—that all the great things that we're doing—at the end of the day, it's not a big deal.

You know, like, just being in this awe—that this is nature.

The day started again.

The birds are singing.

We're okay.

We're okay, you know?

And I start my day.

Body movement is big throughout the day for me.

I either do my Pilates, boxing—whatever I feel that day.

If I'm just getting close to my period and my body's not willing to do anything intense, I normally do some yoga.

Like, I just check in with me.

And at night, I go to bed around, like, 8:30.

And I don't go to bed to sleep.

At 8:30, I unplug from social media, texting—everything.

Like, my phone is on Do Not Disturb.

And I normally put my phone outside of my room.

Because we all have the tendency to grab it for a second, and then we get stuck scrolling for three hours.

So, it's all these commitments.

It's discipline. It's commitment. It's integrity.

Keeping my words and promises to myself.

Honoring myself.

Learning how to respect me and what really, truly serves me.

And then, I write in my journal—whatever I needed to release.

Or, like, sometimes I write only about gratitude—like, three things that I'm grateful for—if there's something on my chest.

And I am an EFT practitioner also.

So, one thing I do before I go to bed—I forgive people.

I really do forgive people radically.

I don't hold on to that for ten years.

I start tapping on my heart, and I just say their names, and I just simply forgive them.

And I just breathe into my heart, tap, and forgive.

Because I always give people the chance—we're all human.

At the end of the day, we say the wrong things.

We hurt each other.

It can be your family members, it can be your spouse, it can be your partner, it can be your best friend, it can be your colleague.

At the end of the day, we're all trying.

And I always give people the benefit of the doubt.

That I don't know what they're going through.

I just don't know what they're going through.

I don't know why this person reacted this way.

It's not personal.

But my job is to release that from my body.

Because when I hold on to that—knowing somatic—it creates inflammation in my body.

Yes.

And I don't want that.

I don't want that in my heart.

I don't want that in my body.

So I release and let go.

And when I see them the next time, I don't show up grumpy.

Everything is cleared in my mind.

I just show up fresh—like I just met them.

As excited.

And I do my meditation before I go to bed.

And I have this thing about reading.

Because I think reading is so important.

Just being present.

It brings us to this present moment.

I love to feel the book.

I am—I'm working on writing my book.

So, like, I start writing about the things that I want to write in my book.

And yeah.

And I just end the night with so much gratitude.

And not every day is perfect.

And not every day is, like, as easy to sink in.

I wanted to say that it's a practice.

It's a commitment.

If you choose your mental health, if you choose yourself, and that's a decision that you make—it comes with commitment and integrity.

Keeping your words and promises to yourself is the number one priority—my non-negotiable.

So if I say I'm gonna go to bed at 8:30, and these are the things that I would do, I keep myself accountable.

To be able to stay in action.

Because I see the result the next day—how free I feel.

And how I'm able to serve better as a leader, as a practitioner.

When I pour into my own cup, I can be a better human to my neighbor next door.

As simple as that.

Susan Sly: 42:58

Which is beautiful because—you can't give from a well that's empty, right?

And I love—we have very similar rituals.

I go to—I also get up at five.

This morning, I was earlier, but I go to bed at—I'm—I'm in bed between eight and 8:30.

And then I have a wind-down ritual. It's about 30 minutes.

I do not take my phone into the bedroom either, because that is my sacred space.

So it's—yeah, there's not—it's not happening.

I love—I'm so—

Sepideh Eivazi: 43:30

Proud of you, by the way, for doing that. That's powerful.

Susan Sly: 43:34

Thank you.

Yeah, this is—this is work I was teaching for decades, and people thought it was crazy.

I'm like, Don't have a television in your bedroom, right?

I got—

Sepideh Eivazi: 43:45

I haven't had a TV in my house since 2012.

Susan Sly: 43:51

Yeah, don't—and that—and that—to that point, right?

And then—people say, Wow, that takes a lot of discipline.

My—my prayer list is 72 people every morning.

And why would I pray something for myself that I wouldn't pray over others?

Healing—I have a whole list, right?

And then recently, I saw someone with whom there had been a conflict, and I had nothing but loving neutrality.

Because, like you, I was like, Okay, when we were in it, you know, every night I was still praying for that person—praying for them in the morning that way.

Because then—it—then you just release yourself from that piece, right?

And again, it goes back to—what is taking up space in your life?

So, Sepi, I absolutely love that.

I could talk to you for hours.

How do people find you?

What's the best way for them to find you?

Sepideh Eivazi: 44:46

You can go on dawnoftheearth.com—D-A-W-N-O-F-T-H-E-E-A-R-T-H dot com.

And by the way, my full name is Sepideh, and in—

Sepideh Eivazi: 45:00

English, it translates as Dawn.

That's why I named my company Dawn of the Earth.

And my sister is an artist in France, so she designed my logo.

You can just check it out—it has all these earthy, herby flowers.

And there is a flower on top of my logo, which is a saffron flower, which comes from Iran.

So that's where it came from.

And you can get on my Instagram—same handle, Dawn of the Earth.

And I check my messages.

And you can also email me on my website.

Susan Sly: 45:29

Amazing.

Well, thank you, Sepi, so much.

It has been wonderful.

And for everyone listening—if this show has helped you, we would love a five-star review.

We'd love for you to share the show—tag Sepi and me on social media.

She is very active on Instagram, on LinkedIn—wherever you found out about the show.

And make sure you subscribe to the show—because we are really—this show is just getting started.

We're in season two, and we have a lot of amazing things to come.

So, Sepi, thank you again for being on The Menopause Health Podcast.

Sepideh Eivazi: 46:00

And thank you for having me.

And I'm so grateful that divine timing brought us together.

I'm grateful for your friendship.

I'm grateful for the woman that you are.

I watched you speaking, and I was in awe.

That's why I approached you.

And thank you for creating this space and educating others on how they can be better for themselves.

You're awesome.

Susan Sly: 46:30

Oh, thank you.

I am receiving that, my friend—with a full body and open mind.

And thank you.

And for everyone listening, I just want to wish you an incredible, remarkable journey.

I look forward to seeing you in future episodes.

And if you haven't gone through the library to check out past episodes, make sure you do.

And with that, I will see you in the next episode.

Voiceover: 46:49

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This transcript has been generated using AI technology. There may be errors or discrepancies in the text.

The opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the show or its hosts. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional regarding your specific health needs.