One of my first and favorite-ever spiritual teachers is Jeannie Zandi, who teaches people to discover the deepest and highest aspects of themselves and live them every day. She’s been a huge support for my own path to spiritual alignment.
In fact, Jeannie inspired me to start a podcast, because I really wanted to share the transmission of her wisdom and words in a tangible way. If you find yourself ready to learn to see the world as a benevolent place, to live as your true essence, to embrace the yin, alongside the yang energies of this planet, and to create and manifest from a surrendered place of wisdom, you’ll love what Jeannie shares in our conversation. Listen to our podcast conversation HERE and read the summary below for a great recap of our conversation, along with some linked resources to explore her work further.
How does the state of our nervous system impact our ability to be loving in this world?
Jeannie Zandi: In the last five years, we’ve become increasingly aware of trauma and its effects on us spiritually. In my experience, people with trauma are some of the most sincere spiritual seekers, because they’re challenged by suffering to seek answers. When our nervous system is hijacked by trauma, it’s incredibly hard to come from love. The challenge for all of us is to translate our awakening into daily living, and to meet our triggered places with mercy for our humanity.
How do you teach people to navigate our changing states, from moments of awakening to those moments when we’re triggered and ‘terrible’?
JZ: We feel it all in our bodies, and so we need to go to our bodies to resolve what’s stuck and unprocessed, to tune into our felt sensations of being alive and learn to move through this world in our skin suits, with compassion for our humanness. Just because we’re agitated doesn’t mean our equanimity goes out the window. It means we need to invite awareness, compassion, and the space to process our human experience. We, as humans, want to rush this but it can’t be rushed. We do have the potential to function from our highest and deepest, and that’s very different from functioning out of survival. The process of integrating these two invites reverence for all that arises.
Can you share some supports to help people with the journey to living in a more spiritual aligned way?
JZ One of the fundamental aspects of my teaching is to restore the human capacity to be in touch with the creature of the body. When our body feels soothed, it’s able to access generosity, benevolence, and all the divine qualities. Of course, sharing trauma resources is key; it’s important for anyone with trauma to know how to meet their emotional states. In my teaching, I help people understand the value of noticing the benevolence of the moment, of taking a breath, and of their sense of existence beyond the mind to the aspect of us that’s not affected by external things.
To learn to connect with the ground of the benevolent moment is the doorway to peace, and to what you call alignment. The thing is, we’re all affected by the energetics around us. Think about the way we feel collective energies like Covid anxiety or the stress/anger of a family member when they walk into the room. In the same way, being in a supported spiritual container can act as a set of training wheels to help people tap into a new way of being, supported by the work, and that’s a big part of what I offer.
Here’s a beautiful guided meditation for Spiritual Alignment by Jeannie.
For those on the path of spiritual alignment who want to know how to discover their greatest gifts in this world, what do you teach people?
JZ: To the degree that we can ground in our simple being, we allow ourselves to be fed by our true nature, and from this place, it becomes clear how to move in each moment. Yes, we all have different patterns of beliefs, and fears, however, when we ground ourselves into our natural spirituality, we are clearing ourselves so that whatever we manifest, comes from a place of truth. Many of us have known what we loved from birth, while some are so confused about how to trust ourselves, or what our real capacities for work are, even into adulthood. There are so many places on this spectrum, and all of these need the attention of presence and supportive methods to be able to dance with the critical mind, or our innate lack of trust. To unfold into the beauty of our highest potential, we have to allow the Holy to lead, which really means living from the unknown, not the known.
What are your thoughts on Manifestation and spiritual alignment?
JZ: I have a really different take on manifestation, becauseI’m interested in serving the Holy no matter what that might mean for me. There are a lot of programs that are about getting the car or lover you want, but I’m more interested in what the Holy wants of me than what I personally crave. Sometimes our dreams contain seeds, but sometimes what we think of as our dreams, are really our conditioning speaking – we think two kids and a picket fence will make us happy and then it doesn’t. I’m more interested in removing the blocks of limitation, so that we can discover our wild, beautiful, supportive benevolent connection with the divine. It’s like going into a garden and telling the flowers how to grow, instead of caring for the plant, and allowing it to flower as it’s naturally meant to. Yes, we have the power to manifest things AND, to the degree that we’re a clear instrument, the results will be SO much greater if we allow the Holy to lead. In my own life, I would never have dreamed of what I’m doing now, and by following what’s been most alive for me, via surrendering to the Holy, I have been led to places beyond my expectations. So I recommend the surrendered path.
Do you think we’re in a new era, one of the feminine rising on the planet right now? What do you teach on embracing the yin aspects of life?
JZ: The energies of yin and yang are those that move in nature and in human nature. Yang is the seed sprouting and growing, while yin is the falling, and decomposing, and resting before growth is possible again. Our culture, no surprise, is in love with the yang energies. However, being *only* in yang has led to over consumerism, climate change, overeating, over doing, massive anxiety and exhaustion. We aren’t comfortable with death, or decay, or dependence. These are bad words in our culture. However, there’s a beauty to allowing ourselves to lean, to soften, and surrender, and to notice that we’re human. We are not Superman, and we need to learn to rest, to be soft, and to embrace the wisdom of stopping, of being emotional, and being unable for a time. This is incredibly important because reclaiming and feeling comfortable in the unknown of yin allows our embodiment of life to become more fertile. We’ve been taught to mistrust the unknown but what I’ve learned from yin is that it’s time to learn to trust the unknown. Embracing yin is our future, and we need them both and for them to integrate.
Sometimes being unable is our humanness calling, and it’s the deepest wisdom to learn to be tender with ourselves. – Jeannie Zandi.
Dive into powerful embodiment work, via Jeannie’s upcoming Holy Work Challenge or explore this beautiful self-guided program on Yin Strength + Power. Take a peek at free gifts she offers, including these guided meditations I’ve done again and again. The Holy Work is a transformational program I highly recommend, and have personally taken and loved. If you want to learn to plug into benevolence and open to what is possible, you’ll love Jeannie’s work. And if you’re not sure which of these options is best, this Intuition Test is a great way to get some clarity.
Human beings are unpredictably amazing in our ability to walk on this planet as Love. – Jeannie Zandi.
Written by Monica Krake, Founder of Head + Heart, your guide to living aligned. Get our email guide for monthly inspiration.
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