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What if you could get more of what you want in life? But not through pushing, forcing, or pressure.
You can.
When it comes to money, time, and energy, no one’s gonna turn away more.
And Kate Northrup, Bestselling Author of Money: A Love Story and Do Less and host of Plenty, is here to help you expand your capacity to receive all of the best.
As a Money Empowerment OG who’s been at it for nearly 2 decades, Kate’s the abundance-oriented best friend you may not even know you’ve always needed.
Pull up a chair every week with top thought leaders, luminaries, and adventurers to learn how to have more abundance with ease.
[00:00:00] Kate: Welcome to Plenty. I have an amazing guest for you today. Her name is Sahara Rose. Sahara and I met a couple years ago when I first moved to Miami and today she is telling us the incredible story of her own transformation through a very difficult dark night of the soul and how she has come out on the other side as a more powerful, more clear, more creatively expressed woman.
Sahara runs, is the host of the number one spirituality podcast on on the podcast listening apps called High Highest Self. And she is the author of three incredible books. She is the co founder of the Dharma, Dharma Coaching Institute. And she really inspires women to use movement, embodiment and all sorts of different practices in their own spirituality practice.
that give them options outside of only meditation to connect more deeply with themselves, soul, and spirit. Sahar is funny, she's a great storyteller, and in this episode, beyond telling us about her own dark night of the soul, she is sharing about her money lineage, how she overcame the challenges of limitation, trying to sell a book that was rejected by 30 publishers, how it came to be published after all, living in a hut with Rats.
I mean her stories are wild and you are just gonna love her. She's adorable. She's funny. She's wise She is a badass businesswoman and mostly she's an incredible artist So I can't wait for you to listen to this episode with Sahara Rose. Enjoy
[00:01:34] Kate: Welcome to Plenty. I'm your host, Kate Northrup, and together we are going on a journey to help you have an incredible relationship with money, time, and energy. And to have abundance on every level. Every week, we're going to dive in with experts and insights to help you unlock a life of plenty. Let's go fill our cups.
Hello! Thanks for being here.
[00:02:03] Sahara: Aw, thank you so much for having me in this beautiful fairy forest. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so happy. I feel like I'm in Glastonbury right now. It's
[00:02:10] Kate: Glastonbury in Miami. Of course. Why not?
[00:02:14] Sahara: I love it.
[00:02:14] Kate: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay. So, I want to start with... You are in a very different place than when we met.
You and I met in March of 2021. I, too, am in a very different place than when we met, but today is about you. So I would like to know there, you know, you've gone through something, things that have awakened you, have, you know, you can talk about whatever details you want to share with our crew. But one of the things that I have witnessed in you is an explosion.
of creative energy. And for me, creative energy is super connected to abundance energy. And so, can you tell me a little bit about what's been happening behind the scenes over the last year in your life in this like massive phoenix moment you've been having? And then I'll ask some follow up questions.
[00:03:07] Sahara: Yeah, so you know, the beautiful glow up happened from a painful divorce and I see so many people right now are going through relational transitions, whether they are breakups, divorces and separations. And for myself, it happened December of 2022 and it was a situation that I learned about that I had to leave the marriage and you know, it was.
the hardest thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life, hands down, and you know, I've been a content creator, I've written three books, I have my Dharma Coaching Institute, so I would speak about my Dark Night of the Soul moment, which I thought was when my family disowned me for stepping into my purpose and going through health challenges, like, I've had my share of them, but this was on another level.
And it's interesting to be awake within the dream of, like, Having the tools and the awareness and knowing how trauma shows up and like having something like this happen and I just knew that I was going to make this the Opportunity for me to become the person that I always wanted to become and for me that was stepping into my artistry You know, I feel so many of us we come into entrepreneurship because we are creative And then we lose ourselves in the launches and the funnels and the team and the systems and the this and the that and it's like I fucking get it, you know, like you have to figure this shit out, but I didn't step into this so I could do a call to action at the end of my things, you know, it's like I want to create content that inspires and that is a vessel for who I am at this moment of my life and, you know, I realized so much about myself through that divorce of just, like, all of the ways that I had put myself into a cage.
Like, from how a wife is supposed to be, how a person on the internet, an entrepreneur is supposed to be, like, all these self imposed cages and limitations that now, you know, when you have moments like this that just break you, like, I fully died. And then, you know, and there was, I mean, there were dark moments in it, too.
Like, there were moments where I'm like, Oh, I'm never gonna dance again. I'm never gonna like bright colors again. Like, the old me is done. And, and, but I knew, even while I was in it, I'm like, I will stay in this and die as long as it takes. And I won't bypass the death to, like, come into the rebirth and be the shiny new version of me and, like, come out with the lesson and, like, be on the podcast.
Like, I will stay here as long as it takes, and even if I never create content. For the next five, even if I just decide to like turn to another, I will do, I will follow this and it was a blessing because I got to go so deep into my childhood, into my ancestry, into all of these things that were like underneath the surface that I just wouldn't have looked at and I kind of put my business on the side.
It just wasn't important to me right now. I needed to dive into my healing. You know, now me really stepping into my artistry, producing five songs. My first song is coming out in two weeks. Yeah, like, I mean, it's just so I'm creating a spoken word poetry album, but also even I think I told you I did this launch for a course I did called Speak with Soul that I literally had recorded on my computer, like just me speaking because a lot of people compliment me on my speaking from doing my podcast for seven plus years.
And so at this point, you know, I was like, This was like February, so it's like two months after my divorce and had to let go of a team member because I'm like, I'm not, I don't want to have to launch and create that. I can't even afford your salary and stuff right now. I had to like majorly reduce everyone.
And then I, but I had this course and I'm like, okay, let me just like do this launch like by myself and do it in the most easy way. No funnel, no anything. And I ended up having like the big is like 300, 000 plus In like three weeks like from and and it was a low ticket course too. I know this is about this podcast about money So it's time to talk it up But it showed me that like all of these things that we even think we need in a launch is bullshit You know like at the end of the day People resonate with vibration, they resonate with frequency, they can, they can feel, and like we think it's the copy, we think it's the video, and the that, like no one's ever bought because of Goody Milk Coffee.
They buy because of you, and I feel that because of this divorce, I just took off this mask that I was wearing of just like, yo, this realness,
Just resonated with people so like without even like trying I remember I was like with my friend I'm like processing and I like check my stripe. I'm like, what is happening? And I'm like, I think this is God telling me just keep focusing on your healing Like don't go back into your business. Like we got you girl.
Like Go in and yeah, I mean, if anyone's gone through a divorce, it will rock you to your core. But, when you take it as the fertile soil to become your, and I know you love farm analogies.
[00:08:04] Kate: You know I love a fertile soil metaphor.
[00:08:07] Sahara: It ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me and it hasn't even been a year which is so fucking crazy And I'm like a different person Everything about me has shifted and while I can't say oh now I have this perfect relationship and love like I've been single since I've just been like diving into myself I can say that I fell in love with me more than I ever have before.
[00:08:27] Kate: Well, it's really obvious. I've, I've seen you, now this is my second time seeing you since then. And while obviously I don't see everything you do online, there has been a marked difference. And there is a dramatic difference in your energy and how you show up. And loved you already. So it's not like a better than, worse than, but it's definitely like you are far more available.
And it's really interesting to just be like, wow! So, and, and you shared something about running a live event and feeling different. Can you talk about the difference that you felt when you did that big event for your company?
[00:09:07] Sahara: Yeah, so we had this event that we had planned like two years before in June called High Self Weekend.
Like 300 people, three days like a big production and I, I mean, all I could think about was divorce and processing and this and that. Like, I was just like, I didn't have time to even think about like what I was going to wear, you know? And then like the event pulls up and I'm just like, just still in my own process.
And I just was my full self, the same version of me that was like, first of all. We often see speakers, like, do their thing behind stage. They're like, huff, huff, huff, like, giving themselves a pep talk, and like, they're bruddling with their team and this, and like, I used to think you needed to do all of that before you got on stage.
You had to, like, prepare yourself to get on stage. And this time I was like, yo, fuck it. Like, I was just sitting in the I watched every single talk. I did every single thing. I talked to every single person. And I would just walk on stage and be the exact same self as me sitting on the chair as me on the stage.
And so because of that, I was not tired. At the end of the three day event, I was just like, okay, like I'm guessing I'm going to go to watch Little Mermaid now. Like it was. There was no difference in my energy whatsoever because I wasn't putting on a mask. Whereas I had done an event with my company in October before, which was right before my divorce, and I was like in that like, I have to protect my energy, I have to be in my own field, I have to like be in this channeled state to do my talk, and it made it, it like hyped it up so much in my mind that that like makes you get tired, you know?
And then you have like this come down, but it's all mental. And, you know, I didn't plan for this one. I didn't plan what I was going to say. I just showed up as my most vulnerable, authentic self. And we say that so much, but like, what that actually looks like is for this conversation to not look different than, like, this is a conversation me and you would just be having.
Like, there's no difference in my voice or my anything right now. And like, we just, I feel because of the way I realize I had a mask on in my marriage, it helps me see, like, all the masks I had on in all these different areas of my life. And I'm just like, it sets you up for failure. You know, because then you end up only being liked for that version of you.
And that's not what I want to be in my business, in my friendship, in my relationships, in my anything. So I just stopped. And if people don't resonate with it, then it's better for me to know that sooner than later. And the event ended up being such a beautiful success because it gave people that permission as well.
[00:11:25] Kate: What you're speaking to, I want to highlight two things. One, you said, I'm just going to do this launch. With this thing I recorded by myself on my, you know, on my computer. I'm gonna do the launch on my own without all the bells and whistles. Just see what happens. Like, very do less. You know, I love that.
It worked so well because you were telling the truth. The truth is incredibly magnetic. People cannot stay away from it. And because we can feel it in our bodies. It's true resonance. And then you just spoke about this event where you were like, I'm going to fully be here as myself and When we are able to do that, we're very relaxed.
You know, one of my favorite phrases, and I, it's not really like a quote, but is the most relaxed person in the room is the most powerful room, person in the room. Because we really do conserve a tremendous amount of energy when we're not, like, doing a show. Now, I am a performer. You are also a performer and an artist in a certain way, but those are expressions of our souls.
It doesn't, it's just like not, we're not like trying. on a whole thing. So I love this so much. It's just two very poignant examples of the power of doing less to have more. So thank you for being a living example of that. Also, you're so fresh out of this divorce. I'm like so excited for you in terms of what's gonna happen next when already You are allowing yourself to transform in dramatic ways.
Now, most people, it is very scary to feel like old selves, old selves are dying. I know for myself, through my various times when my old self has died, it it does feel like you're dying. Like, it kind of feels pretty awful. What were some of your... You know, I hate to say like the word strategies, but like like how did you in a practical way?
continue to Call yourself forward Even when you felt like you were dying because you were like, how did you have the courage?
[00:13:34] Sahara: Yeah, so you know the first part of it was just really grieving and like really like taking off any of the masks like And even the roles, like, even the being of the performer, even being the anything, and just like, letting myself be a ghoul.
Like, that was honestly stage one. And then from there, it was just like, I couldn't even get into womb healing or anything until first, I just really needed to like, first just stabilize my heart, you know? And something like this that's very shocking happens. I couldn't breathe out of my diaphragm for, like, at least the first month.
I couldn't fully breathe. I couldn't eat. You know, your nervous system is in such a state of shock because, you know, with situations like this, you don't know where you're going to live. You have so many decisions. You have lawyers you have to deal with. Like, there's so much. And then this person that you just loved has, like, become, like, your enemy.
And it's so, like, mind boggling, you know? And I can't imagine what it's like with children. I was involved as well. Just having the dog was a lot. And also being a content creator, too, of like, instantly going into, how am I gonna share this? What do I share about this? And like feeling like you owe it to your audience.
And that was a huge part of this process. Super tricky. Like, what, like, you know, My whole life I've shared my experience, but now there's this other person involved who doesn't want their experience being shared. And that was a whole other thing that's still being navigated, you know? So, there was a lot of confusion, and I think the strategy was surrender, you know?
Like, I never fully understood the word surrender before. There's this song that's like, Spirit lead me then, my feet. It's like a Christian song, but I remember hearing it a few months before that, and as soon as this happened, like, that just became my mantra, and I would just like, go. To random places whether I was in like Sedona doing this like healing thing or wherever and I would just sing that song I'm just like spirit lead me spirit lead me because there's so much that we don't know and that's really what this journey has taught me that like I don't know is the ultimate mantra and Yeah, and and that we will be guided and just to trust that the the right next step will show up when you're ready For it because there is so much of me trying to like Figure out like what's gonna happen then and this and that and it's just like and that just sends you into a spiral So, you know another affirmation of mine that I turned into my song was trust flow surrender Let go and I would just tell that to myself again again trust flow surrender.
Let go so that Becoming friends with the unknown not fearing it anymore becoming friends with pain. I used to fear pain so much Like, I never wanted to do these cold plunges and things, I was just like, That hurts, why the hell would I want to do that? And, I don't do them anymore, but for a while I was going into cold plunges because it was teaching me semantically, This too shall pass.
It's, pain is just sensation, I would just tell myself, it's just sensation. And then there was a lot of purging that needed to happen as well, a lot of like, disgust, a lot of anger, a lot of like, shame, a lot of shame that we hold onto as women of like, Oh, now I'm divorced. What will people think about me?
Especially me being Persian, being Middle Eastern, where like, I was raised, Oh, divorced women are, they're failures. They gave up on their marriage. And we still do, like, you see memes all the time of like, Why are there so many divorced people? It's like, I don't think most of us wanted that, you know? So many people are leaving abusive situations, infidelity, all sorts of things that it's like, to divorce is the bravest choice that you can make.
But our society looks down on you like you're a quitter or a failure, as if staying in an abusive or toxic situation is any better. But, I recognize how someone's shame becomes your shame, and then you hold on to it, and how this has passed like this toxic sludge, intergenerationally. So there was a lot of purging and lots of voice memoing myself, just like talking things out constantly.
Like, I would just voice mem I mean, I have thousands of hours probably at this point just recording myself going on walks and just talking things out.
[00:17:52] Kate: That's amazing. And you saved them? Mm hmm. This is such a logistical question. What app do you use for that?
[00:17:57] Sahara: Just the voice memo app on your phone.
Okay, love it. And do you title them?
Sometimes. Yeah. And then also at first, I was voice memoing my friends, but then I would always send them to myself. So now I have them all. I mean, I still haven't went back and listen to them. Great for your memoirs. Yeah, exactly. Whenever I'm I'm maybe or not. Well, it's an interesting thing because I've gone through life and I think a lot of us go through life of like, we learned the lesson.
We share it. We read a book about it, you know? And with this, I'm like, I also don't want to be a martyr of the story, you know, of like, you know, Oh, this happened and sometimes when you write a book, you have to keep retelling the story again and again and it becomes your identity like brand yourself with it and it's almost like you market yourself.
[00:18:38] Kate: Totally because then you've written the book and as you and I both know by the time the book comes out, that's like a long time after you wrote the book and then you're doing all the media about the book and you're still freaking talking about the same thing.
I hear you exactly. And I'm like, even though I'm so grateful to be able to do that for a career, so it's not right,
[00:18:55] Sahara: but a big message that came through me like was You know, I've always been a very musical person. I started DJing and I was a dancer. That, I saw this vision of my future self. You know, I never smoked marijuana, like, at all.
But some reason in Trinidad I just decided to try it. And this future self of mine came through. And she showed me that your books are going to be albums in the future. Because they're going to be transmissions of frequency. So instead of writing and through the mind telling someone how to become sensual.
Step one, step two, step three, do this, do that. It's like... An album of the frequency of sensuality that one feels. So, and I saw, like, my future self, like, home in these, like, plaques that I had from this music I created, and I thought that, that was gonna be, like, a very long term vision of mine. And then this summer, just, melody started coming through, and I started to just like, on my voice memo app, I would be like, Na na na na na na na, and like record it, and I would find samples, and I started producing music that the Sensuality album is coming out in February.
Wow! So, yeah, so, it's almost like I had to go through my biggest nightmare to have everything I ever wanted. Well, look at that. Yeah, and, you know, I remember when I was, I was like, what would Byron carry Katie say about this? Like, I don't see like the turnaround of it. And it was so hard for me at that point to realize.
And now I can see that it's like, we often don't get ourselves out of situations that like God needs to come through. And then we're like, wow, I would have never had the courage or the awareness to, to even. Want a better life for myself because like our lives are good. You know, like I had a good life in Miami I didn't say I had the best marriage.
I didn't have a worst one either. I had friends. I had this I had that But God was like, oh we have so much more in store for you, but you just can't see it yet So we need to take you out of the situation and put you into the abyss in the unknown To open your heart so you can feel like I can feel so much more than I ever could before Like I have so much more empathy Aliveness and just the spectrum that I mean I start crying a lot easier But I like to have like at the beach or just cry and but then I can laugh easier, too And it's like that's why we're here And it's so
[00:21:12] Kate: beautiful.
So we were talking before the episode started about You know what you have going on promotionally speaking and you said you were like actually I don't know When this particular launches and you were like, I'm so grateful
[00:21:28] Sahara: to be in a place where like I have a team running that and
[00:21:31] Kate: I don't know what is happening with this launch.
So between when you went into a conscious contraction, you know, in January, February, cause you knew you didn't want to be like hustling your buns so that you could pay somebody's salary. Like that's ridiculous. And all of us entrepreneurs have been there at one point or another. So super smart move to like.
Bring it, simplify, right? Between this, between then and now, what has shifted for you in your relationship to your business? And, you know, maybe those were two different arms of your business, whatever, but whatever you want to share, so that now you could be sitting down here with me in nearly October, being like, there's this launch happening, but I don't actually even know the date because you don't have to.
[00:22:13] Sahara: Yeah. Yeah, so I really gave myself time to heal and grieve, and I took like two... Full months off of work completely, and then starting the end of January, I started to facilitate and then. Like, I would get these, like, nuggets of creativity, and I would, like, do a lot in that period of time, such as the Speak with Soul launch.
And then I would, like, go back into a healing vortex of just, like, focusing on that. And then, you know, with deeper I also want to say that yoni mapping and womb healing also was a huge part of the healing process of this, which also opens up your creativity. So, then I would just like, in these nuggets of hours, just like, channel, like, I created a whole new certification, filmed it, launched it, the embodiment certification, and that's been out, like, you know, created a new parent company, just like, came through, that this, I mean, it was like, everything that I, all the tools that I had been using on myself from healing with this divorce, and I'm like, oh wow, like, This really works.
If I was able to transform, like really so quickly in the grand scheme of being with someone for seven and a half years in, in a period of months, which again, grieving is an ongoing process. Sure. But I'm like this, I can't just talk about Dharma when this is really the work that has healed me at this point.
So the embodiment certification came out and then, you know, this idea that I've had for a while of creating the highest self institute and the rebranding for that. So, I would say some of, so then it would be these bursts of creativity and it still kind of is like that. Now the reason why I don't even know when the launches are was I just took our students that were stars and I hired them.
So everyone on my team is a former student who's gone through Dharma Coaching Institute themselves. And with that, like, They I used to just like find people on like different websites and hires and like none of those ever ended up working out for me because it was just like often people who saw it as a job and like these are people who, you know, they have seen how Dharma Coaching Institute has impacted their lives.
And so I give them like the. The throne, I'm like, you tell us when you think we should launch like you tell us this and I like really give them so much leadership, which they also love as well. So they run the whole calendar and they're like, okay, you're showing up for this like call and I'm like, okay, great.
And I just like come and I like preach and then I'm here, you know, like we did one today and it's so beautiful. And, you know, a big part of this divorce was like, I realized how controlling I was in so many things. And often it was because I was very alone in my marriage because we had very separate lives.
So it was almost like I had to just like. have something so I would just work all the time so like if the copy was off or an email wasn't working it would like really get to me and Then I think that also kind of like scared my team of like let me not try because she's probably gonna redo it anyways So let me not You know take ownership or share an idea whereas when you have to majorly step back in a divorce it causes people to rise up and then I'm like I just like don't like that bothering like when some things still go wrong in the business, you know, like the replays don't go out blah blah blah And it just I think when you've gone through something so big these things just don't bother you anymore And then you're more relaxed your teams were relaxed and then like more gets done.
Yes
[00:25:20] Kate: Yes Relaxation is a prerequisite for fluff. Yes It just is. It's how it works in, you know, when it comes to all of the vasculature in our bodies, which is always a great metaphor for everything. And it's how the universe works. Like, we can't, you know, like, if you're all sphincter energy, stuff can't come through.
So. I love this so much. Now, are you, so you have these bursts of creative energy, and then, and, and I, I want to know more about you working with your own creative rhythms, because I think we all create in different ways, but we've been taught that the way to create is in, in this super consistent, linear way, and if you're not showing up and writing a thousand words a day, or, you know, recording in your studio for an hour a day at the same time, or whatever it is, right?
Which, by the way, if that's how you work, that's also wonderful. But if you don't, doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, right? So, how have you been in relationship? Talk to me about your relationship with your creativity during these recent months. How are you making space for it? Are you canceling plans when that creative flow shows up?
Are you working all night? Like, just tell me more about it.
[00:26:31] Sahara: Yeah, so, I recognize my best ideas often come after conversations with people. So like when, so that's why for me when I start podcasting, I get more energy from it. Like after this, I'm probably going to at dinner be like, you know, I get, it gets me rolling.
Whereas I feel like for some people they need like a lot of alone time and then create. I feel like when I'm like alone and silent, I'm just very introspective. On those days, I also kind of schedule my days with the doshas. So the doshas are the Ayurvedic archetypes, which is like what my first two books were about.
So I have my vata, my more creative days. So whatever my creative project is at that time, whether I'm writing a book or producing or whatever it is, I'm, I'm just focused on that. So I'm being in that muse like energy. So I'm not kicking myself of why didn't I reply to the emails? Why didn't I do the Zoom calls?
There's nothing on my calendar. Time wise, time doesn't exist on those days. Then I have my Pitta days, which are getting through all of the emails, and doing the Zoom calls, and sending things back, and going through the markup, blah, blah, blah. And those are the days that I do that, and then I'm not kicking myself, why didn't I write my book, why didn't I da, da, da, that's just what I'm doing.
And then I'll have, like, my Kaffa day, or days. Which are to chill and relax and just to not, to not be in either of those energies. So I feel like that gives me so much permission because before I did that I was always like guilting myself of why, why was I more creative or why was I more productive? And it's just you, you just can't be at the same time.
[00:27:56] Kate: And it's all productive in its own, in its own way. Exactly. Do you do those days based on what's going on with your body or what's going on with the projects? Is it planned in advance? You know, I love scheduling minutiae, so we're getting into it.
[00:28:10] Sahara: Yeah, it's more like if I have something that's on the calendar, then that will take precedence of like, okay, then that's going to be the pit today just because that's the thing.
[00:28:19] Kate: Yeah, because then it's already there, so you'll just work around it.
[00:28:21] Sahara: Exactly. Yeah. And I'll also have, like, bigger seasons, so, like, for example, this summer I had a little bit more space, so it was, like, a lot more creativity, whereas then, kind of, coming into September, I launched my mastermind, so it was a lot more, like, I had Zoom calls and, and scheduled meetings, so I, I wasn't really making music and creative projects, so there'll also be flows like that.
But, yeah, in terms of like, how, so I've noticed conversation going on walks, you know, just movement, anything with movement for me, going into nature the medicine hape has been a very big healer for me, like just getting a lot of downloads from that dancing. So yeah, anything where there's like that Vata movement energy for me is really how my creativity comes online.
Whereas like a seated meditation, like no, that's never how I get my creative ideas. I get much more like kind of in words when I do things like that.
[00:29:17] Kate: Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Do you write on your Google calendar or whatever calendar you use, like this is a Pitta day, this is a Vata day, this is a Kapha day, or is it just more of an inner consciousness?
[00:29:26] Sahara: It's more of an inner consciousness. Yeah.
[00:29:27] Kate: Cool. I love that. Okay, so you have some business partners, and I'm curious, what were some of the things you thought about? I know a lot of folks want to collaborate with people, business partnerships, whatever. I'm in, you know, business partnership with my husband.
We've been through our stuff and it's working great right now, but I'm curious I know it works really great for you guys and what were the some of the things that you thought about ahead of time? What were some of the agreements you knew you needed to put in place some of the conversations and just anything you would want to?
Share around moving into a business partnership. So people go into it with their eyes open
[00:30:00] Sahara: Wow. I would say people don't recognize going into a business partnership is going into a marriage. Yes. You know, you really don't realize it. I didn't realize it. I was like, these people are cool. Let's work together.
It was like through an email and like, that's it. And I'm so grateful. But yeah, I would say, of course, working people with complimentary skill sets as you so this is for my Dharma Coaching Institute business. So, for example, they're a married couple who you know, Nita. Her background is really in operations and managing team, which are things that I really dislike doing.
And then for Ajit, it's much more on like marketing, but. Like, not creative marketing, but more like email marketing and like click through rates. And like, I never checked those things, you know, like that's his thing. So it was perfect because that's bringing in a skill set that I would have had to either do or hire for, and they also had the experience of certifications that I knew that I would just get there faster.
And, you know, we spend so much time. I've spent so much time in my career, just being someone to try to figure everything out myself. And I'm like, wow, like had I just like known or hired or partner with someone, I would have gone there faster now again, they've partnered with me because I was able to create so much on my own.
I think it's also important to not rely on someone to like do your business for you. And also people who are good at what they do, they want to partner with people that they know it's going to go somewhere. So now it's, it's interesting because now we're on the opposite that now. With our new company, highest self Institute and creating certifications in a broad range of spiritual programs, such as human design, sensuality, astro cartography and working with different visiting teachers.
Now I'm on the side of like being the supporter for different visionaries and bringing their certifications to life. So so it's been very interesting for me as like now that provider. of like, what, who are the types of people that I want, that I would want to work with. So, if you are someone that's listening to this and you're like, I would love to work with a company that would like, help me get my certification or whatever it is out there, I would look at the certifications or programs that they've done before or marketing that they've done before.
Ask people who've worked with them. And also know that it's going to have its bumps and challenges. You know, there was a good two year. Process for us of figuring out how we can actually work together with many bumps along the way, you know, many like, can we do this or can we not? And because we continue to lean in now, it's like super harmonious, super flowy.
We're all in our zones of genius. Like no one's bumping on each other's toes, but it took time, especially when you're all people who run your own personal brands and have done everything yourself that you're just like, well, this is how I do my operations is how I do my marketing. This is how I do this.
And But I would say that now it's helpful because it allows us to know where we each shine. And of course, the way that no hire is going to do anything the way that you would do things, but that's the whole point of partnering with people as well. It's the ultimate process of letting go. Yeah.
[00:32:57] Kate: Yeah.
Surrender.
[00:32:58] Sahara: Yes. And letting go means you're not always going to like it, but that's the only way to let go. It's not let go and it's exactly how you want. That doesn't exist.
[00:33:09] Kate: Thank you for that reality check. Yes. That is so important. And like you said, when you've been through things like you've been through and also like I've been through, you do realize It doesn't matter that much if the replay doesn't go out on time, like it just doesn't
[00:33:24] Sahara: matter.
Whereas the old me would have been like, it needs to go out directly after, we can't keep people waiting, and now I'm just like, yeah, it's all good. I'd rather keep my team happy.
[00:33:32] Kate: Yeah, of course, like we, we aim for excellence. Yeah, and we allow for humanity. Mm hmm. Yeah, so beautiful. Okay. You are a creator.
You put out a tremendous amount of content online. And I'm just curious, like, Especially after this intensity in your personal life was there, did you just like, give yourself permission to stop putting stuff out online? I personally, I'm just gonna be, you know, fully calling myself out, sometimes I can feel like I am sort of on the hook for creation.
And I'm curious, do you ever feel like you're on the hook? And if so, what do you do about that? And if not, what do you do to prevent that?
[00:34:15] Sahara: You know, I was kind of the opposite of when I'm in times of stress, like I am a sharer. I want to share everything. Okay. So like, I was like, I want to share everything I'm going through right now.
And I started blogging. I was 19 years old. Like I've been a content creator my entire career. I don't know a world without, it's just, it's like my journal and that was the hardest thing because I couldn't share what I was going through, legally I couldn't share what I was going through. And so it was like, I would like write these poems of like trying to get people to understand without really saying it.
So I would say that was the, a big learning for me is like, what do I keep sacred to myself? You know? Even when I was like, deep in my despair in Egypt, like, I brought my photographer, I got a photographer there, I brought him with me, like, I am just a through and through, like, I love, I love it, I love to be able to create art out of everything in life, and even, like, my communication with my ex husband, I was just sending him poems of how I felt, like, yeah, it's just like who I am, yeah, and now those poems, I eventually, after this Sensuality album, I want to make a Heartbreak album.
Yeah, so, and it helps me, too, to get out of my own story, to transmute it into art. Because then I'm like, wow, there's something so beautiful about this. It's like the kintsugi, the broken glass that they put with the gold. So I would say I'm not someone that ever wants to like, I'm a merger. I could be in conversation forever, I lose myself in it.
But I've had to really learn, like, okay. Yeah, like, some things you need to take time for before you share.
[00:35:52] Kate: Mm hmm. So great. So great. Have you read Alicia Keys memoir, More Myself? So, I highly recommend it. And when you spoke about that your, you know, your future self, your books will be albums and then instead of being like, you know, here are five steps to experience more sensuality or whatever, like, It will be a frequency that they receive through the album.
It made me think a lot about Alicia Keys and how she speaks about her different albums and those different chapters in her life and how much of herself are in them. Because when we do, you know, I know that I have particular albums that I have listened to at a particular moment in my life and they have healed me.
Or, they have shifted me, or they have helped me, like one particular song, like the song you mentioned, the, you know, the spirit, whatever it is, we'll put it in the show notes. I love that song so much. My husband listens to that song all the time. That, like, they, they're very medicinal and we don't need to be told the steps.
Our bodies, our souls know on an energetic level and, and I, I just really love that you're going there. So great. Okay. Kind of taking a hard left now. You have created a large platform you know, you, how old were you when you came out with your first book?
[00:37:12] Sahara: Maybe 26.
[00:37:12] Kate: Okay, 26. Okay, so you know, you've got, you've got, had your three books, like a relatively early success in terms of platform building, you know, financial success, whatever.
Did you have models for entrepreneurship growing up? Or did you just like come out like this?
[00:37:32] Sahara: How did you get into this? My dad was an entrepreneur, a very different kind of entrepreneur, computer software, but but my, but him and my grandfather were entrepreneurs. So I do feel like I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit of like you make something yourself.
However, as a woman, I was raised to be a housewife and I was told that my greatest ambition would be who I would marry. And I was, I actually never thought I was going to work. I thought I would marry a man, and I would get married and do some non profit. Like everyone, no woman in my family has ever worked before.
So I was never raised to even look at myself in business. It was seen as something that only men do. Wow.
[00:38:08] Kate: Yeah. And you hinted at that you're one of the first dark nights of the soul was when your family disowned you for really going and following your dharma. Yes. What... Version of that story. Would you like to tell today?
[00:38:21] Sahara: Yeah. So I mean, it started with a health challenge that I went through when I was 21 years old, my body began shutting down, going into paramenopause. So that brought me on a journey of self healing, which brought me to Ayurveda. Through Ayurveda I was able to regain my period and heal myself and I wanted so deeply to share this wisdom with others In my like modern approach of how I was able to integrate Ayurveda with modern nutritional science And I decided I would write a book, but I had no idea anything about the book writing process So my family seeing that I was you know now had graduated college.
I'm just like writing a book. They're like You need to get either a normal job or you need to get married. Like, which one are you doing? And I'm like, no, I'm gonna live in India and write this book. And they're like, they were just very scared. You know, and when parents are scared, as you know, like, They'll say whatever they can to try to get you to stop and for them.
They had never seen anyone living there My parent my mom escaped from the war on foot from Iran like a refugee My dad was an immigrant like no one in my family had the opportunity to like ask themselves what their higher purpose is It's about survival so for them they were like we gave you everything and this is how you repay us by like going to going to India and Listening to these hippies like they thought I was delusional They actually want to send me to a mental hospital from the things that I was saying, and they were just really worried for me.
And that was really hard because they did sacrifice for me so much, and I did feel like I owed them. And there were many times I'm like, you know what, maybe I'll just... Become a real estate agent and make them just to make them happy, you know, just to get them off my back. Can you imagine you selling real estate?
I'm like, hey guys, I don't believe in a home, but I think you should buy one for me. But every time I would even study for that real estate exam, I would like cry because my body knew it wasn't for me. But it was like this constant battle of like and this thing for them? And maybe they're right. You know, maybe these are a bunch of delusional hippies telling me to follow my dreams, and it's a bunch of bullshit and like it doesn't work.
I thought maybe this works for people who grew up in these. He's like white, modern hippie families. It's not going to I've never seen the Iranian person do this before. So it was a time of a lot of confusion and, and then eventually there was a fight that I got into with my dad that he called me a loser.
He called me a failure, like a scum of the earth, like all of the things that. You know, you would never want to hear from the person that you always looked up to. But that became my freedom. Because I realized how badly I was waiting for his approval my whole life. And here I was dead to him. So I'm like, okay, well, if I have no one left to live for, then I'm just going to live for myself.
And stop explaining myself like I spent so much energy on trying to explain and get them to understand me that if I just put that energy towards my Dharma, it would have happened, you know, so I basically met this girl who said you can co host a retreat with me in India will get you enough money for a flight back.
I was like, Okay, I'm in. I went back to India. I stayed in a 2 a night hut that had rats in it. Like when I say rats in it, I'm not joking. Like every night I would go to sleep. It's a tin hut in South India that I was staying in. And I would hear the rats in my tin hut all the time. And I remember I would always see my underwear in the wall, like halfway through the wall.
And I'm like, And I had like a padlock on my hut. How is my underwear in the wall all the time? I realized the rats were going into my bag and they were trying to take my underwear to make their homes with it. So I'm like, ugh, these stupid rats. Like, that's just where I lived though. And I remember one night I woke up and like my mosquito net was like, like inches away from my face because the rat had fallen on it.
And it was like trying to scurry off. And it was like so close to me. And I, like, took my sandal and, like, tried to throw it at a rat to get it off. Like, those are the conditions I lived in, and I was willing to live in that for as long as it took for me to be able to get this book off the ground somehow, and that didn't happen for two years.
You know, it wasn't easy. I got rejected by 30 publishers. They said the same thing my parents told me. No one cares about Ayurveda. You're not an author. You're too young. This is never going to happen. And so like that all those would have been good times to quit. But I just knew like, you know, like one day this book's gonna be on the shelves of Barnes and Noble.
I don't know how, but it's just gonna happen. And, you know, I was ecstatic dancing a lot. That was a huge practice for me of transmuting a lot of this anxiety and confusion and guilt and overwhelm that I had. And then eventually the agent who I got rejected with all those publishers with was approached by the Idiot's Guide group and they were looking for someone to write the Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda and the author they had hired was like four months into the six months and it was just too much because it's like a 400 Plus page Ayurvedic textbook for, like, the American masses.
So they were looking for someone to start to finish to write this textbook in two months. So I applied, which means, like, first you write the first chapter. I went to Barnes and Nobles. I read every Idiot's Guide book they had. Like, what's their tone? How do they talk? You know, they're like, fun fact for you, da da da.
I was like, okay, I got this. Stayed up all night, wrote that first chapter. They're like, okay, this is good. What would the table of contents be? And this is, like, detailed, 16 page table of contents. Like, everything. book. detail you would have in there. Stayed up all night, did that. And they're like, Okay, you're hired.
You have two months to write this. I'm like, Okay, shit. Now I have to write a brand new Ayurveda book in two months and another tone like, you know, and there was kind of this resentment of like I don't even want to write this book. I want to write my Ayurveda book. But then I realized like and that was making it harder for me to write the book because I'm like, Like, the thing that helped me was I might die next year, so if this is the only book I ever write, let me just give my all to it.
Like, let me put my best information, my best content in there. And so I did, and I wrote that book, and and then right before it was about to get published, I was at a conference, and Deepak Chopra happened to be there, and I walked up to him, and, you know, he gave me his email, and I sent him the PDF of the book, and a whole story there.
I don't think we have time for it, but he ended up writing the foreword of the book, and I was like, what the hell? Like, I just went from, like, sleep I was living at my grandma's house, had no money, I was selling pants at music festivals on Venice Beach. To like now all of a sudden Deepak Chopra wrote the foreword of my book.
I was like, what? You know, like moments like that, but it's almost like you don't want to get excited because you're like, this might be taken away from me at any moment. So I was just like, and it's like, this is too much to be true. Like, brace yourself. And I remember he would do these Facebook lives every day.
And he did this live about like, How Kriya is living in the flow and when you're living in flow, there's you're always in alignment with your Dharma There's always more and I remember I wrote him an email. I'm like Hey, dr. Chopra Do you think that one could actually always live in flow or like do you think that like, you know?
You need to have periods of inertia to like balance it out and he's like Sahara if life is not always lived in flow Then something's wrong And I was like, what? Like, this could be my new normal of like, synchronicities and this and a book and the, this, this could be my new normal. Like, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and I just, you know, kept leaning into it and then I took that opportunity when Idiot's Guide came out, like, Getting on podcast, doing everything I could like as if this was like my major book launch, it's like, it's an idiot's guidebook.
But I just treated it like that, you know, and I gave it my all and they were so amazed by like, I got like the most sales for an idiot's guidebook like that year, you know? And then that led to me getting the book deal for my own iorveda book, which was eat, feel fresh. And I now realized I needed to write my textbook on iorveda and like, kind of like pay my dues and like.
Like, really honor the science for what it was, before putting my own twist to it. I love that so much.
[00:46:16] Kate: Like, louder for the people in the back. There is so much value. You know, I'm the do less girl. And, we're from New England. Yes. Like, gotta pay your dues. There is value in devotion. There is value in showing up.
And like, I don't think you have to work hard for everything. I don't think that suffering has inherent value. And also, there's something about showing up and giving something your all. I love that story so much, I've never heard it before. Thank you so much for sharing it. Okay, as we kind of land this plane can you talk to me about, so it sounds like you grew up in well I don't, I don't want to assume.
I'm, I'm curious, what was the environment, what did you learn about money in your household growing up? You, you did have an entrepreneurial father. So obviously there was some lesson about, like, you can create money to some degree. And what have you decided to carry forward from your money lineage that you learned, and what have you decided to not carry forward in terms of what you learned?
[00:47:17] Sahara: Yeah, so growing up, my dad was a serial entrepreneur, and he was also the most frugal person I've ever met. Like he would give us allowance of 5 a week and we had like the spreadsheet and we had to write down like every dollar every how we spent it and he was like, I remember me and my brother would go to an ice cream store.
I wanted vanilla. My brother wanted chocolate. My dad would be like, well, it costs 70 cents more if we get two smalls. So you guys have to agree on a flavor so we can get one medium, which is the same amount of scoop. So me and my brother were like fighting like no vanilla, no chocolate. And then he would just get his and be like, Okay, I guess you're just not going to have any.
Okay. So like that level, which I, of course, as a child, like hated, but then it showed me like he was just, you know, when you grow up in a country like Iran, where overnight there's revolution, everything's taken away from you. You count every single penny. And yes, there was a level of massive scarcity there too, but there was this beauty of like, you never live above your means.
And you're. Conscious of every and he would always tell us be so conscious of how you spend money and go through your books and know where every dollar is going to do that. No, but it was good to be around and somewhere it's in your d. I think it showed it showed me like because I'm I'm never someone that buys designer things.
I don't buy bags or you know, I like like re wearing the same things. And I think that's what it instilled in me that whereas I feel like a lot of times people who, you know, Because now my business makes like multiple seven figures. I could be doing the Chanel shit, but I don't want to. I think because I realize the value of money.
Interestingly enough, what showed up for me in my money story was in my medicine ceremony. It showed me my grandfather, my dad's dad. You know, I don't know how much time we have for this story, but it was pretty crazy. So. My medicine experience was really about, like, as a child, I was misunderstood. I'm like, why was I misunderstood?
Well, because my dad didn't have, like, a great childhood because his father was absent. So my dad always had to strive to be the best to get validation. So I'm like, well, how could we heal my dad's inner child? Heal my grandfather. He showed me my grandfather when he was, he was six years old. He was, he walked into the market stand where his parents worked and his mom was about to die from opium.
Opium was very heavily used in Iran back then. And seeing his mom about to die, his dad was like, you need to run the market stand for you to, you know, be able to afford for your mom getting medicine. So he was like, working, working, working, and then eventually became successful with that market stand. And then the neighbors would see, and then he made more money, and that became more successful.
And then before he knew it, like, he became this entrepreneur. But underneath that was this fear of if I'm not always making money, I will lose the people that I love. So my grandfather died when he was in his early 40s from heart attacks, from strokes, from working so hard. So he, of course, wasn't able to be there for my father because he was in a wheelchair and, you know, and died very young.
And so my dad never had, and so it just showed me like this ancestral trauma of the way that we Have prioritized our work over family, thinking that to be a good father and even for me, like I, I kind of became the provider even in my marriage, you know, of like, Okay, well, I can do this. So so let me do that.
And like at what at what stake? So a huge thing that I'm learning and something that I don't want to repeat is like not being in another dynamic where money is prioritized over connection and family, because at the end of the day, that's what and you remember and, you know, at the end of the day to like money is a tool and I'm so grateful for it.
It's providing me so many experiences and it's allowed me to have the time to heal in my marriage and having a sense of Dharma and a sense of purpose, especially as a woman is so important, but when it just becomes just about the money, which I see majorly happening in the coaching industry and makes me so sad, it's like, what are we really doing this for?
Our bigger why and again, like to continue to sit with our mortality, you know, at any moment we could die and like is the thing that we want to put out into the world like just about money, you know, but really seeing money as a tool for us to share our full expression. Thank you for that.
[00:51:44] Kate: Final question, maybe an extension of the answer you so beautifully just gave, which is, if you could go back and tell Sahara In your early 20s, like maybe, you know, right in that transition from leaving your home to going out on your own, and you could tell her a piece of wisdom about money, a piece of advice or information you would want to pass along, what would that piece of information or wisdom be?
[00:52:10] Sahara: Hmm. Focus on your dharma and the money will come. You know, From living your dharma, and when I say dharma, your soul's purpose, only what you can do, the thing that is irreplaceable from you, that's coming from your soul, that's coming from like, it's like birthing through your heart consciousness, and wants so deeply to be expressed through you, that you're like, I, I would forever regret not sharing this.
That's where your greatest abundance is going to come from. And like, thank God I didn't become the real estate agent, you know, because I actually, first of all, probably wouldn't have made as much money, Anyways, because I would have sucked at it, you know, and there's some people that love it, you know, And it just shows it's like, you know, they say do what you love and the money will come And it takes time, you know, it wasn't it wasn't overnight.
It was like I was okay with just Having enough money to live And being able to be an author. That would have been enough for me. And then I just kept following the Muse and kept following the Muse and even with my music, I don't make any money doing it, you know? But I'm doing it because it makes me come alive.
And who knows, maybe one day I'll be sharing with you, Oh, I won these Grammys! And maybe I won't, but that doesn't matter. It's totally irrelevant. It's the creative expression. Yeah.
[00:53:24] Kate: So good. Thank you for being here. Thank you for
[00:53:27] Sahara: coming to see me and being on my show. I really appreciate you. Of course.
Being in Fairyland, what an opportunity. I feel like I'm back in England.
[00:53:37] Kate: So if people want to learn more about you, connect, where should they go?
[00:53:41] Sahara: So everything is on my website, my social, I am Sahara Rose and you can learn more about Dharma Coaching Institute at dharmacoachinginstitute. com and my podcast as well where we discuss spiritual topics, sensuality which is Highest Self Podcast.
So yeah, thank you so much for having me and I'm just so grateful to be here. I remember when you moved to Miami and you know, it's like, it's so interesting. Life takes us on such a journey, but I'm so grateful that we are able to continue to connect and support one another. Absolutely.
[00:54:12] Kate: Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode with the amazing Sahara.
She has incredible stories. Her gumption. really blows me away, blew me away with her stories. I hope you loved it as much as I did. If you liked this episode, of course, screenshot it, tag us, share it on your Instagram stories, text a friend, tell them to listen. If you're enjoying the show, make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss any episodes.
Give us a rating, leave us a review so that more people can experience plenty. Thank you so much for being here and we'll see you next time.
Woohoo! You made it to the end of an episode of Plenty!
[00:54:53] Kate: Don't you feel expanded already? So if you liked this episode, go ahead and leave us a review. Subscribe to the podcast, text a friend, and let them know they need to listen in.
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