The YAM Podcast

Spiritual Intelligence, Dreams & the Soul: Rethinking Human Nature with Dr. Azin Nasseri Part I EP28 | The YAM Podcast

In this profound and thought-provoking episode, I sit down with Dr. Azin Nasseri — International Psychologist, Author, and Licensed Clinician — to explore the emerging concept of spiritual intelligence and what it reveals about the nature of the human being. At the heart of this conversation is a powerful origin story. Dr. Nasseri shares a vivid dream from 1994—an experience so real it felt like crossing into another world. Yet as he reflects, the dream itself was not the meaning… but what unfolded in the years that followed.  This insight becomes central to the episode: 👉 Not every spiritual experience is meant to be interpreted literally— 👉 But every experience can shape our development 🧠 Spiritual Intelligence: A New Frontier Dr. Nasseri introduces spiritual intelligence as a developing framework in psychology—one that integrates science, lived experience, and spiritual wisdom. Just as emotional intelligence reshaped modern psychology, spiritual intelligence invites us to explore: meaning purpose growth and the deeper dimensions of human experience ⚖️ Two Models of Human Nature A key distinction explored in this episode: Bipartite Model Human experience = brain + body Consciousness is a product of neurochemistry Tripartite Model Human being = body + mind + soul The soul is a non-material reality Illness may affect the brain and consciousness—but not the soul itself This shift changes how we understand identity, suffering, and healing. 🌿 Dreams, Intuition & Discernment How do we interpret powerful inner experiences without being misled? Dr. Nasseri emphasizes: Dreams can be meaningful—but not always literal Intuition can be influenced by wishful thinking or past experience True clarity requires balance He introduces four pathways of knowing: Senses Intellect Sacred teachings Spiritual insight Together, these form a grounded process of search and discovery. 📖 A Guide for the Journey Throughout the episode, we reflect on The Seven Valleys and its expanded form, The Call of the Divine Beloved by Baha'u'llah. These writings serve as a guide for human development—mapping stages of growth, transformation, and ultimately, alignment with a higher purpose. 📖 Read here: https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/call-divine-beloved/4#474041477 [https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/call-divine-beloved/4#474041477] In This Episode, We Explore: 🔹 The dream that sparked a lifetime of inquiry 🔹 Why not all spiritual experiences should be taken literally 🔹 Bipartite vs. Tripartite models of human nature 🔹 Why the soul remains untouched by illness 🔹 How to distinguish intuition from projection 🔹 The four pathways of knowing 🔹 Spiritual intelligence as a practical, lived framework 💬 This episode is for anyone navigating spiritual experiences and seeking clarity, grounding, and deeper understanding. 🎧 Listen Now Episode 28 is now available on: Spotify YouTube The YAM Blog (on my website) 📚 Explore the Work Spiritual Intelligence: A New Frontier — Cultivating Seven Core Capacities for a Flourishing and Meaningful Life Order the book to follow along with the conversation 🤝 Connect with Dr. Azin Nasseri Instagram: @azinnasseri YouTube: @transformativepsychology LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-azin-nasseri-5628b7a6 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-azin-nasseri-5628b7a6] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18k4WGBXGP/?mibextid=wwXIfr [https://www.facebook.com/share/18k4WGBXGP/?mibextid=wwXIfr] 📌 Connect With Us 📸 Instagram: @the_yampodcast | @yogaavecmoi ▶️ YouTube: Yoga Avec Moi Channel 🌐 https://www.yogaavecmoi.com/yampodcast [https://www.yogaavecmoi.com/yampodcast]

Virtues, Pregnancy, and the Power of Resetting: A Conversation with Megna Mystery EP27 | The YAM Podcast

🎙️ Embracing Virtue and Resetting During Pregnancy: A Conversation with Megna Mystery — Episode 27 of The YAM Podcast In this intimate and healing episode, I sit down with Megna Mystery — writer, mother, and community storyteller — to explore how pregnancy’s intense challenges can become portals to deeper self-reflection and transformation. Megna bravely shares her personal journey through hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe and often isolating condition that challenged her sense of identity and well-being. She describes how this experience pushed her to embrace daily practices of self-forgiveness, spiritual reset, and aligning with virtues that nourish the soul. We reflect on the power of using tools like the Virtues Project — a character education initiative that inspires the daily practice of moral excellence — to cultivate a sense of grounded purpose, especially during times of upheaval. Megna’s vivid image of “third-eye resets” becomes a metaphor for pausing, breathing, and stepping into each new moment with clarity and grace. In This Episode, We Explore: 🔹 Megna’s journey with hyperemesis gravidarum and the lessons it revealed 🔹 The role of daily virtues-based reflections in navigating overwhelming seasons 🔹 How visualizing a “third-eye reset” can help shift energy and open new possibilities 🔹 The difference between resetting and forgetting: integrating reflection with self-compassion 🔹 Why virtue — moral excellence — is a foundation for healing and community-building 🔹 How to carry the message of virtues into homes, communities, and workplaces 💬 This episode is for anyone who has faced a season of profound challenge — whether in pregnancy, parenting, or simply in life — and seeks a gentle reminder that you can begin again, at any moment. 📺 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube:🔔 Episode 27 — Embracing Virtue and Resetting During Pregnancy with Megna Mystery📍Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms 🧘‍♀️ Want to learn more about The Virtues Project? Visit: www.virtuesproject.com [http://www.virtuesproject.com/] 🔮 Interested in Integrative Yoga Therapy or Human Design readings with Nahal?📍Book through East Van Integrated Health – Nahal Haghbin ✨ Throughout the episode, Nahal wears handmade earrings from @yamstudiox — jewelry designed to align beauty with intention and energy. Follow @yamstudiox for pieces that support your unique path. 📌 Connect With Us: 📸 Instagram: @the_yampodcast | @yamstudiox | @yogaavecmoi ▶️ YouTube: Yoga Avec Moi Channel 🌐 Full episode guide — including Episode 26 with Chloe Mohajeer — available at:👉 https://www.yogaavecmoi.com/yampodcast [https://www.yogaavecmoi.com/yampodcast]

Bridging Worlds: Human Design & the Sacred Art of Community with Chloe Muhajeer EP26 | The YAM Podcast

🎙️ Centered Identity in an Uncentered World with Dr. Elena Mustakova — Episode 25 of The YAM Podcast In this soul-stretching conversation, I sit down with Dr. Elena Mustakova — scholar, spiritual psychologist, and author — to explore what it means to stay centered in an increasingly fragmented world. As systems crumble, ideologies clash, and anxiety grows — how do we hold onto a sense of deep purpose, identity, and inner stillness? Dr. Elena invites us into a deeper inquiry: What if this turbulence is not just chaos, but a call to conscious evolution? Drawing on decades of integrative research in moral psychology, collective healing, and the evolution of consciousness, Dr. Elena offers a profound reframe of our inner lives. We talk about the power of spiritual coherence — that quiet alignment between what you believe and how you live. We explore the muscle of self-observation, the sacred pause between trigger and response, and how this awareness helps us reclaim our agency in the most disorienting times. 💬 This episode is less about fixing the outer world — and more about transforming the inner lens through which we meet it. In This Episode, We Explore: 🔹 What it means to cultivate a centered identity in a turbulent world 🔹 How modern society fragments our sense of self — and how to reclaim wholeness 🔹 The importance of spiritual coherence as a foundation for personal and collective healing 🔹 Why awareness and witnessing consciousness are essential for resilience 🔹 How to parent, lead, and love from a place of clarity and spiritual presence 🔹 Why self-observation is the true muscle of transformation — and how to strengthen it Dr. Elena’s wisdom is both scholarly and soul-deep. She bridges psychology, spirituality, and social healing in a way that grounds you — and calls you forward. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the noise of the world, this episode offers a luminous path inward. 📺 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube: 🔔 Episode 25 — Centered Identity in an Uncentered World with Dr. Elena Mustakova 📍Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. 📚 Books by Dr. Elena Mustakova: Here are Elena's published works, for those who want to dive deeper into her powerful frameworks and research: Critical Consciousness: Study of Morality in Global Historical Context Towards a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Era (co-editor) Toward a New Psychology: The Spiritual Challenge of the 21st Century Purpose Beyond Self: Reflections on a Life of Service and Higher Learning ✨ Connect & Follow: 📸 Dr. Elena Mustakova — @dr.elenamustakova [https://www.instagram.com/dr.elenamustakova] 🎙️ The YAM Podcast — @the_yampodcast [https://www.instagram.com/the_yampodcast] 🎥 Jewelry featured in this episode by @yamstudiox [https://www.instagram.com/yamstudiox] Why This Conversation Matters In a culture obsessed with hustle, fear, and surface-level healing — Dr. Elena reminds us that true power lies in spiritual coherence. In remembering who we are beneath the noise. In witnessing our thoughts without judgment. In choosing presence over panic. This isn’t just a conversation. It’s a compass. 📌 Share this with anyone who’s yearning for deeper clarity, purpose, and peace in chaotic times. It might be exactly what they need.

Centered Identity in an Uncentered World with Dr. Elena Mustakova EP25 | The YAM Podcast

🎙️ Centered Identity in an Uncentered World with Dr. Elena Mustakova — Episode 25 of The YAM Podcast In this soul-stretching conversation, I sit down with Dr. Elena Mustakova — scholar, spiritual psychologist, and author — to explore what it means to stay centered in an increasingly fragmented world. As systems crumble, ideologies clash, and anxiety grows — how do we hold onto a sense of deep purpose, identity, and inner stillness? Dr. Elena invites us into a deeper inquiry: What if this turbulence is not just chaos, but a call to conscious evolution? Drawing on decades of integrative research in moral psychology, collective healing, and the evolution of consciousness, Dr. Elena offers a profound reframe of our inner lives. We talk about the power of spiritual coherence — that quiet alignment between what you believe and how you live. We explore the muscle of self-observation, the sacred pause between trigger and response, and how this awareness helps us reclaim our agency in the most disorienting times. 💬 This episode is less about fixing the outer world — and more about transforming the inner lens through which we meet it. In This Episode, We Explore: 🔹 What it means to cultivate a centered identity in a turbulent world 🔹 How modern society fragments our sense of self — and how to reclaim wholeness 🔹 The importance of spiritual coherence as a foundation for personal and collective healing 🔹 Why awareness and witnessing consciousness are essential for resilience 🔹 How to parent, lead, and love from a place of clarity and spiritual presence 🔹 Why self-observation is the true muscle of transformation — and how to strengthen it Dr. Elena’s wisdom is both scholarly and soul-deep. She bridges psychology, spirituality, and social healing in a way that grounds you — and calls you forward. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the noise of the world, this episode offers a luminous path inward. 📺 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube: 🔔 Episode 25 — Centered Identity in an Uncentered World with Dr. Elena Mustakova 📍Also available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms. 📚 Books by Dr. Elena Mustakova: Here are Elena's published works, for those who want to dive deeper into her powerful frameworks and research: Critical Consciousness: Study of Morality in Global Historical Context Towards a Socially Responsible Psychology for a Global Era (co-editor) Toward a New Psychology: The Spiritual Challenge of the 21st Century Purpose Beyond Self: Reflections on a Life of Service and Higher Learning ✨ Connect & Follow: 📸 Dr. Elena Mustakova — @dr.elenamustakova [https://www.instagram.com/dr.elenamustakova] 🎙️ The YAM Podcast — @the_yampodcast [https://www.instagram.com/the_yampodcast] 🎥 Jewelry featured in this episode by @yamstudiox [https://www.instagram.com/yamstudiox] Why This Conversation Matters In a culture obsessed with hustle, fear, and surface-level healing — Dr. Elena reminds us that true power lies in spiritual coherence. In remembering who we are beneath the noise. In witnessing our thoughts without judgment. In choosing presence over panic. This isn’t just a conversation. It’s a compass. 📌 Share this with anyone who’s yearning for deeper clarity, purpose, and peace in chaotic times. It might be exactly what they need.

Intuitive Eating & Emotional Healing: Navigating Food, Culture, and Motherhood with Raz Grammar EP24 | The YAM Podcast

🎙️ Episode 24: Intuitive Eating & Emotional Healing — Navigating Food, Culture, and Motherhood with Raz Grammer In this soulful and thought-provoking episode of The YAM Podcast, I sit down with registered dietitian Raz Grammer to explore the nuanced intersections of food, identity, emotional health, and motherhood. While Raz’s formal training centers around nutrition science (her thesis explored the effects of apples and plums on bone density), her real-life relationship with food is anything but clinical. It’s intuitive, cultural, tender — and deeply human. In this conversation, she invites us into the heart of her kitchen, her motherhood, and her healing. We talk about the emotional layers that live in our relationship with food — especially as mothers. How grief and control can show up on our plates. How children have a deep wisdom when it comes to food, and how we as parents can create a supportive environment that honours both body and soul. Raz also opens up about her personal evolution — from being the kind of person who needed a plan, to becoming someone who could lean into flow, trust, and deep listening. It’s a shift many of us are craving… and she models it with such grace. 💬 This episode is less about food rules, and more about food wisdom. Less about doing it “right,” and more about doing it real. In This Episode, We Explore: 🔹 Why intuitive eating is more than just a method — it’s a mindset 🔹 How motherhood reshapes our relationship to control, nourishment, and rest 🔹 The invisible stories we carry around food, especially in different cultures 🔹 Science and intuition — and how they can coexist at the table 🔹 The grief that sometimes underlies our food patterns 🔹 Creating connection, permission, and healing through how we feed ourselves and our children Raz brings curiosity, depth, and calm — plus a book list you’ll want to dive into immediately (scroll down for that!). Whether you’re navigating your own healing, raising intuitive eaters, or just craving a more grounded relationship with food — this episode offers a warm, thoughtful pause. 🎥 Watch the Full Episode on YouTube: 📺 Yoga Avec Moi Global Nutrition Conference — Day 5 with Raz Grammer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMrby_eHalI&list=PLUJPhvvJGOeQ8uArAczueI_e28z7-Ir75&index=14&t=3525s] 📺 Alternate YouTube Link: Watch Episode 24 here [https://youtu.be/PHztNwB9bKs] 🎧 Full podcast episode also available on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | and all your favorite platforms 📚 Books Raz Mentions: Breakthrough Intuition by Rosemary Ellen Guiley The Intuitive Way by Penney Peirce Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch Mindfulness: The Power of Mindful Learning by Ellen J. Langer Conscious Parenting by Dr. Shefali Tsabary Emotional Healing Through Mindful Meditation by Barbara Miller Fisherman ✨ Connect with Raz: 📸 Instagram: @razgrammer [https://www.instagram.com/razgrammer] ✨ Follow The YAM Podcast: 📸 Instagram: @yogaavecmoi [https://www.instagram.com/yogaavecmoi] | @the_yampodcast [https://www.instagram.com/the_yampodcast] 📘 Facebook: @yogiavecmoi [https://www.facebook.com/yogiavecmoi] | @theyampodcast [https://www.facebook.com/theyampodcast] ▶️ YouTube: Yoga Avec Moi (Explore the full Global Nutrition Conference Playlist [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUJPhvvJGOeQ8uArAczueI_e28z7-Ir75&si=_3HJQ5XMjxeM5JBx]) Why This Conversation Matters So often, we’re handed either a strict diet or complete disconnection — especially in motherhood. But what if food could be intuitive? Healing? Emotional? Spiritual? This episode is your reminder that nourishment is more than nutrients. It’s about how we feel. How we feed ourselves and our families with presence. How we release control, welcome grace, and honor what’s true for us in each season. 📌 Know someone navigating their food story or looking to raise intuitive eaters? Share this episode. It just might be the medicine they need.