Mahala: 0:00
You can have multiple orgasms. You can have full body orgasms. I’ve even experienced throat orgasms and laughing orgasms and nipple orgasms and throat orgasms and food orgasms.

Ella: 0:12
Yeah, literally yeah.

Mahala: 0:14
so yeah, definitely. So what I love about Tantra is that Tantra works with our energetic body. Hey there, and welcome to.

Ella: 0:24
Rise and Thrive with me, ella Majors. I created this high vibe podcast from a place of profound curiosity, fierce compassion and the deep desire to connect you with the wisdom of inspirational wellness, health, fitness and conscious leaders and changemakers. Here’s to discovering our blind spots and embracing life as the adventure it is. The time is now. Let’s do this, hey, hey, everyone, ella here and I was thinking about how I wanted to introduce today’s episode, and what I want to say is that I have the wish for you, rise and Thrive listener, that you have a friend in your life that is as full of life and love as my dear friend and today’s guest, mahala Nervano. I swear you guys, when I call her, I always get this squeal of delight on the other end of the line and it makes me laugh out loud, no matter what kind of mood I’m in. Mahala is a long time vegan, even longer than me, believe it or not. An animal and nature advocate. She’s been a wellness entrepreneur for over two decades and is passionate about all things that bring pleasure into one’s life. An international tantra and somatic facilitator, she loves to celebrate life and shares the keys to more pleasure love, joy and abundance. And in this episode, she introduces a new container that’s a coaching program of sorts that she’s co-hosting and it’s called the Pleasure Path and it launches this month, in just a couple weeks. So if you feel called after you listen to this episode, check out the show notes to learn more and enroll the link is there. And also make sure to let her know, if you do enroll, that you heard about it through this podcast and also if Mahala touches you in this episode and you want more Mahala, I don’t know about you, but I get addicted to this woman. Feel free to listen to the episode we did together for the Vegan Life Coach podcast just a couple years ago. We talk about different things in there, more about veganism and her journey. So that link is also in the show notes. Check it out. And last, before we dive in, I want to give a shout out to one of our listeners who happens to also be a former coaching client of mine. Her name is Mary Beth and she wrote on Apple Podcasts a review and it says I found Ella when listening to her being interviewed on a podcast. In February. After listening to her being interviewed, I began listening to her Vegan Life Coach podcast. In May I emailed Ella sharing about the reasons why her podcast resonated with me. I am so thrilled I can listen to Ella on Rise and Thrive. I love listening to her and all of the people she interviews. The in-depth interviews and hearing their stories has really helped me on my journey in becoming vegan. Thank you, ella, for your voice and the voices of everyone you interview that have helped me take this journey and provide me with resources and inspiration to have an amazing and positive impact on my life. Sincerely, mary Beth. Thank you so much, mary Beth, and for those of you listening, if you could take 30 seconds to leave us a rating and review, it would mean so much. It helps us to be able to spread these messages of compassion, of health, of growth, to more people through the podcast platforms that we’re on. So thank you again, and let’s do this. Mahala, my friend, how are you? Welcome?

Mahala: 4:25
I’m so excited. Thank you for having me.

Ella: 4:30
Thank you for being here and thank you again. I just want to mention here on the air thank you for leading the ceremony for my beloved shy the other day. That was really beautiful and it was such a wonderful experience. I mean, it was tough and beautiful at the same time. So thank you.

Mahala: 4:49
It was such an honor that you asked me really For you guys listening.

Ella: 4:54
Mahala led the ceremony for her shy as my beloved rescue chihuahua’s memorial service that we had and we had such a great group of people come and we held hands at the beginning and chanted shy’s name and I read out my story, which is in my blog as well, and it was a long story, but I couldn’t have thought of anybody that I would have rather been there and done that than you. Yeah, speaking from another long term, long time vegan. And now, how many years have we been friends? We’re nearing the double decades, oh my gosh, I want to get into your story first, because you told me that really there are two things that have shifted your life, and those two things are veganism and Tantra.

Mahala: 5:49
Yeah, yes, those two yeah.

Ella: 5:53
And so let’s start, because I think the bulk of this conversation is going to actually be about the Tantra side of things, because we don’t have a lot of people on the show yet who have been talking about that and the pleasure path and pleasure, and I’m going to just be really vulnerable in this conversation, okay, because I know I want to do some of your workshops and retreats and there’s a lot in that area that I very much have to work on, so I’m going to kind of let us explore that, if that’s cool with you.

Mahala: 6:25
Yes, of course, and you always have a home wherever I am.

Ella: 6:30
Thank you, but let’s start with the veganism first. You say that that was something that was incredibly important and powerful in your life. How did you get to be vegan for how many years now?

Mahala: 6:44
Yes, so can you believe it? I’ve been vegan for 37 years 37 years I officially turned 50 in 2023. I’ll be turning 51 in May. So when I was 13, my mom made shake and bake. I don’t know if you guys all know what that is. You go to the grocery store, you buy a box. It has a bag and spices and you put whatever meat in there and you shake it and then you bake it. So my mom made a chicken drumstick and I took a bite of it and I saw like the little bones and veins and I was like mom, is this a bird? And she’s like no, it’s chicken. And I was like I just felt the spirit of the bird, like enter the room and, you know, sit with me at the dinner table. And I couldn’t comprehend how something that was once alive was now like baked onto my plate and it was my dinner. And so the very next day she baked a whole fish with the eyeball and the head and the fish tail and I couldn’t understand why this fish, was once free in the ocean, was now on my plate. So after that, I had this deep connection with animals. I actually feel their soul’s essence whenever I’m near an animal and, you know, have conversations with them. So that’s why, at Ella’s Memorial for Shy. I had a meditation in the morning and I was actually really be able to tune into Shy’s spirit and she had me share what came through for me that day with her friends and family at the memorial. So that was really special for me.

Ella: 8:22
Were you able to voice that and tell people about that? I mean, I think it’s so much, maybe more accepted in the mainstream now, or at least in my circles, but this was a long, you know quite a long time ago.

Mahala: 8:34
Yeah, you know, actually when I was younger I had this ability to really tune into things. I love being in nature, so I would place my hands onto like objects or pets or anything in nature and I was really able to tap into their messages and basically I would tune into the sole essence of the object and I could hear the messages that they wanted to share with me. So when I was growing up I didn’t really realize that it was a gift, but it really is to be able to connect with the God source that was coming through the animal or the piece of nature. So yeah, so now as I’ve gotten older, it’s become kind of like my sixth sense. You know, yeah, yeah. And especially if I’m in a decision indecisive moment, I’m like, okay, what is it that I really need to tune into to hear the message?

Ella: 9:29
So kind of tapping into a higher source, a higher self or and others.

Mahala: 9:35
Yeah, so I feel that we’ll have guides, and my spiritual posse up there is always looking down on me and I’ve been very, very blessed to have the guidance that I’ve had and I’ve always had this deep knowing that I’m always well taken care of and that it’s working out for my highest good. So I try to really embody that and live from that space and help people when I can, wherever I can.

Ella: 10:01
Yeah, so what you do a lot and we’re going to get into that. But first that path with the veganism. At what point did you know that that was your calling or part of your purpose and in terms of career wise, and opening your vegan restaurants and all of that?

Mahala: 10:17
Yeah. So I became vegan when I was 13. And then at 15, I had this idea. I’m like, oh, why don’t I just open up a vegan restaurant? You know, just had no idea. I never owned a restaurant at 15. I didn’t have any money. I think I maybe had $20 in allowance every week. So when I moved to Miami, I was a concierge at a hotel on Ocean Drive and I met a fellow vegan who happened to be a stockbroker and he was passionate about veganism and he was the first person that funded my first restaurant adventure and I opened up my first place in 1994. It was called Naked Earth Natural Foods and, yeah, I’ve been in that industry since 1994.

Ella: 11:04
Yeah, talk about being in the right place at the right time. Yeah, I have a feeling that’s happened a lot in your life.

Mahala: 11:11
You know it’s really about. It’s a cross between serendipity and supranicity, because you know, when you say, well, it’s all by luck, part of me wants to believe that it’s not just luck.

Ella: 11:22
It’s actually my soul’s purpose and higher destiny, you know so yeah, and then how many restaurants have you opened over the years? I guess it’s a number.

Mahala: 11:33
I’ll let you see. I had Naked Earth, and then I was in partnership with Art of Food, and then Thrive, and then my last baby that I had was called Plant Theory Creative Cuisine, which I’ve now passed on the ownership to a lovely couple and now it’s being run by a husband and wife team. So yeah, and so now the reason why I’ve been was that now I could dedicate myself into the second part of my life and it’s like my way of serving community has transitioned into that, and that has where Tantra has come in for me. And how were you introduced to Tantra? Oh, my goodness, this is a great story. So my restaurant was called for catering for this event this weekend intensive immersion in Miami and so we got prepared and everything and went to deliver it. And at the last moment, the organizer said to me, would you like to participate? And me, being curious and always wanting to try things out, I said yes, of course, sure, I’ll try it. So, me and my partner at the time, we took the retreat immersion and I’ve never looked back since. It actually brought me back to myself, like the connection with my higher self, the embodiment, to be actually fully present in my body. And let me tell you it’s a work in progress. I mean, the practices is a daily practice to have that embodiment and to be in my emotional feeling. Body is, you know, we have a society that creates this culture of like disconnection and instant this and fast that, and so it actually helped me to come back to my body and to slow things down, although it still feels like sometimes I’m on fast forward. But I just get so excited about all the amazing things that life has to offer.

Ella: 13:29
I have never met someone so excited about life as you. When you call me sometimes, or if I call you, and the answer on the other end of that phone is like this scream of delight and it makes me I mean. It’s just so beautiful and so I can’t not talk to you and just feel so full of joy just to see it. It’s so wonderful. That first experience, mahala yeah, tell me what surprised you. Was there anything shocking like this? Was a new experience for you, for those who don’t know what an event like that would be like.

Mahala: 14:06
My biggest takeaway was that I was a human doing. I was stuck in this like I was a corporate chaser. You know, I was like this robot just going through the motions and, you know, kind of like barking out orders and not even connecting with my staff, or yeah, it was just kind of like I had a body but my soul wasn’t in my body. You know, this beautiful vessel that we get gifted of is this body, and our spirit and our soul live in it, and the way our environment has been made is not been really to connect with our feelings, and I want to share that. The path of Tantra is really the path towards yourself and also the path of self-love, you know, and self-acceptance. And that for me, was like my aha moment. It was the light bulb that is like flickering that you see now, because it’s possible to remember once to essence. And it’s not all about working, it’s not about what you achieve. You know it came from a very hyper overachiever family where it was like, okay, what is it that you do and what are the letters behind your name? You know, like, what did you achieve and what diplomas and all that stuff, and you know what? At the end of the day, if you are not happy, if you don’t have pleasure, if you don’t have play and if you’re not passionate about something, the number of my bank account doesn’t really mean so much, you know. And also friends and family. You know, like I wasn’t really building connections, especially with women. I was like I wanted more women friendships and I didn’t have so many back then and so I wanted to come back to that.

Ella: 15:51
Got it Okay, you’re good, all right. So I guess my next question the perception of Tantra, I think from the outsider’s view. You know, you hear Tantra, or at least. I did and I thought sex right. All positions all you know Okay.

Mahala: 16:09
You know it’s so funny. I just was at a taunt retreat and my friends would see me. Well, how many men are you gonna sleep with? And I just said what I said zero. You know the funny thing that it got associated with it being like a sex cult. But you know what? You could consider it a sex cult, meaning the fact that it’s about self-love, you know. So if you want the cult to be you, yes, then I am definitely for that. But it’s really about self-love and acceptance. It’s the path of the heart, you know. It’s really about the connection that you have with yourself, connections that you have with others, your authenticity, whether or not you’re willing to be vulnerable. And, yeah, and it’s just been a beautiful adventure and a journey for myself, yeah, Did you know you were as disconnected as you discovered?

Ella: 17:02
Yes, in terms of your body.

Mahala: 17:04
Yeah, because, well, we do some very deep practices in Tantra and I remember just falling my eyes out, not just like the heaving, like guttural, like oh my God, I can’t believe I’m having this experience right now, because I was so connected to my pain of being disconnected to my body. You know, I didn’t always have the greatest relationship with my body. I sought a lot of external validation for myself and that was like the road down to never accepting myself for who I am and looking at others and I had this comparison thing. I was always comparing myself to others and that’s like the path to self-loathing and self-hate. And the beautiful practices of Tantra include vocal activation, somatic movement, mirror work so many beautiful, delicious practices that really drop you into your body and allow you to be free and appreciate who you are. Your unique imprint that you have for the world and for yourself is your own signature. You know we all have this beautiful medicine that we get to share with other people. Yeah, and Tantra really helps you to connect to that.

Ella: 18:21
So a lot of the women that I have worked with over the years, I mean, and what I went through with having a very unhealthy relationship with my body and a lot of the women I’ve worked with this, you know a lot of beating themselves up, looking in the mirror, negative self-talk, all of this. Now, at this point, I’ve got this great relationship with my body. However, I don’t feel like I’m super connected to it. I’ve got a healthy relationship, but talk about what it means to really be embodied and to then take that down a path of actual pleasure, if that makes sense.

Mahala: 19:00
Yeah. So for me, pleasure doesn’t just relate to sexual pleasure. Pleasure to me is finding the joy and happiness in the moment, because you can find pleasure in everything that you’re doing, like, for example, eating. You know, I don’t know how many times I’ve sat down to eat while I’m on my computer, you know, shoveling food down, multitasking, and then I’m like, oh my God, I just ate that. Did I even taste the food? What flavors were they? You know? Yeah, so for me, pleasure in that would be turning off my computer, taking out my favorite dish set and silverware and serving myself up as if I was serving my lover or my partner. You know, like that, my importance to myself was number one, so it helped me to slow down and to tune into where I am at the moment. And then also another thing was finding pleasure in food, meaning giving myself the highest nutritious bio available to me, meaning that I would take the time to read what’s on the ingredient list, to buy organic as possible, to not have so much processed food and make the choice for myself to live and eat. And pleasure, yeah, and food is so much pleasure. Like, have you ever eaten in a mango and tasted something that just fell off a tree. When I’m in Europe or in Asia traveling, they have so many fruits that just are picked off the tree and it’s so pleasurable eating those pieces of fresh, ripe fruit.

Ella: 20:41
Yeah, so I think also one of the other barriers, especially for women, is aging and things that come along with aging, that you know some of those we can, and I was going to talk about aging gracefully or aging powerfully, and then you said, oh, I am pro aging. What the hell? What do you mean by aging? Because that sounds off.

Mahala: 21:05
Everything that I see is like anti aging right, anti aging serum, anti aging cream, anti aging so anti aging toothpaste you know what I mean yes. So I’m actually pro aging, meaning like everything that I’m doing in my life right now is to celebrate my wisdom and my age. It’s coming because you can’t avoid it. You know it’s inevitable. And I’m like look at my gray, salt and pepper hair. You know I fought it for a long time, to the point where dying my hair actually made me sick. So every time I would get my hair died. Every three to four weeks I would actually have to lie down afterwards because the chemicals would actually seep into my brain and it was not healthy and I thought to myself. My partner at the time was like you know, you try to do everything so organic and healthy, but you’re killing yourself with chemicals. And I was like I was going to be so, slowly by slowly, I actually let my hair grow out and I even had the most incredible people come up to me and give me these double handed compliments. For example, I had this woman approach me and say you know, you would be so much more beautiful if you dyed your hair Like that. Yes, yeah. And I realized like where it’s not acceptable in our Western society to actually grow more youthful with age, and that means accepting the transition of your hair color. You know these beautiful laugh lines and I laugh a lot.

Ella: 22:42
Yes, you do.

Mahala: 22:44
Actually, you know, it was even more funny. I went to my annual dentist checkup and while we were getting my x-rays done, she looks at me and she says you know you need Botox. And I just said you’re kidding. She’s like we do Botox now. And I’m like I’m with the dentist office and she’s talking to me about Botox, wow, and she was convinced that I needed it and I was like you know what I actually like? To see my last lines. You know, I actually like to see my face laugh along with me, you know, and that my eyes are expressing my joy and my pleasure, and you know. So why would I want to prevent that? So, who you like going to the dentist? I never heard of that. I can go get you know anything happens in South Beach.

Ella: 23:30
It’s South Beach, so I’m not surprised. And I’m still a little surprised because, yeah, I wouldn’t expect that. And did you have to coach yourself, like growing the hair out and embracing that? Was that an effortful kind of reprogramming that you went through? Or was it the tantra exercises and community that really was helpful in having you really embody that? You know what I mean? Yeah, not just say it, but actually feel it.

Mahala: 23:57
Yeah, actually I think it was a combination of both. So as I started to let go of societal norms and dive deeper into tantra and allow the self acceptance and self love to grow Like I remember I think for the first six months I didn’t look in the mirror as my roots were growing out, you know. And then, of course, and then I would have to have those weird comments from women of all people, you know. Instead of another woman coming up to me and actually celebrating that, I would get those backhanded comments. But now I’m on the other side and now I’m like a walking beacon for freedom, and women and men come up to me and actually say that they’re thanking me for allowing myself to grow and being an inspiration for them. I see that, yeah.

Ella: 24:47
All right, so I want to get into sexuality and sensuality and the difference between those two things and I know you talk about it as a recipe for you thing and longevity, which I never heard the word. You think I like this word, I’m going to use this word, but can you talk about sensuality, sexuality, what those two words mean to you and the difference?

Mahala: 25:11
Yeah, so sensuality for me is actually being my personal reality with all my senses, so being in the present, feeling in my body what experience I am using all my five senses. You know sensuality is a combination of your sensual being and of your reality that you experience at the moment and the sexuality part is one. First for me is self love and self acceptance and because celebrating my divine feminine. You know we’re so disconnected from our sexuality in that aspect that looking at my mom, she doesn’t talk about her sexuality or her sensuality. I realize that it’s been a constant topic and issue for women, that the disconnection with their bodies and sexuality meaning all the ways that our bodies can experience our sexuality. You know that’s what sexuality and sensuality mean to me.

Ella: 26:08
Okay, and what are all the ways?

Mahala: 26:09
Oh, wow.

Ella: 26:10
So what are some of the ways that you focus on, maybe in your upcoming workshop and retreats? Pleasure path.

Mahala: 26:19
Sure. So some of the keys of Tantra are based on breath, sound movement, presence, touch and those. With that recipe you can really transform your state of being and state of mind. So we use those practices and incorporate those pillars into actually shifting your experience.

Ella: 26:42
And when you say your experience, is this everyday experience? Is this a sexual experience? And where does the sex come in? Because we keep kind of moving around it. But is sex involved in this pleasure path?

Mahala: 26:54
Well, in the pleasure path, we guide you on self-pleasure practices. So we teach you about using the yoni wand and also the yoni egg practices, so those are included. But it’s also actually reconnecting with your body and our sensuality as a body and having that connection. For example, when I was sharing with you earlier that I had really no connection with my body, I was really mean to myself. You know, I couldn’t accept parts of myself. So what happens is that if there are parts of yourself that you just own, that’s not a way of pleasure. So it was about learning to like love every part of me. And we do self-love practices, we do a lot of mirror work that help you reconnect to your divine essence. And we also connect with beauty and helping look at things in a beautiful way, not just like aesthetic beauty but the inner beauty that we all hold.

Ella: 27:52
I think one thing that’s challenging for a lot of people probably a lot of people listening so many people feel a lot of anxiety, right, anxiety about their own situations, sometimes finances, family relationships, the state of the world. I feel like that’s such a barrier to even kind of saying, okay, I’m going to commit time and energy to learning how to experience pleasure, when really all I can think about is wanting to escape pain or escape anxiety. Do you know what I mean? I’m kind of wanting to address those people out there that are like you know, like I can’t even think about going that end and pleasure. Can I just get out of this anxiety? I feel like I’m in that fight or flight place.

Mahala: 28:39
Yeah so Tantra also address any traumas and triggers that live in your body, and so, through somatic practices, meditation, breath work, these address this because when you’re in anxiety, anxiety means that your central nervous system is dysregulated, so your body is always trying to come back into balance, and so we take you through a journey with practices that help you regulate yourself. Through breath work, through somatic practices, through vocal activations, through self pleasure practices, they help you to come back into your parasympathetic, where you’re not in flight or flight and you’re in like rest and digest. Those are the two parts of your central nervous system.

Ella: 29:23
Okay, so there are some things that you could maybe recommend. Before we really dive a little deeper into the pleasure path which is your mentorship container, your women’s mentorship container, Can we maybe also give people who are just not knowing where to get started maybe a few things that they can do on a daily basis to just start the journey?

Mahala: 29:45
Yeah, so one of the most impactful practices I had was actually one in front of a mirror. So, folks, everyone out there in Ella’s world, I want you to go find preferably a full length mirror, okay, and then get down a piece of paper and a pen and make two columns. Write down what I love about my body and then, like, write a body part and then on the other column, you write down what I don’t love about my body. Okay, so you make those two columns and then take a moment and actually look in the mirror, connect with your eyes and drink yourself in the mirror, naked yes, naked. That means no clothes, zero clothing, zero clothing. You’re actually taking this time for yourself and actually looking at this beautiful vessel that God has gifted you. So when you’re ready and you’re looking in the mirror, take the column that is what I don’t love about myself and you’re going to alchemize this and transform this. So, for example, when I was growing up, I didn’t like my feet. Imagine, my family came from a family with wide feet, so all my whole life everyone said we had ugly feet and I learned to not like my feet. So I went in this practice I looked in the mirror and I just held my feet as if it was somebody that I cared about my child’s feet, my lover’s feet, and I actually transformed it and said what I love about my feet is that my feet have taken me to so many beautiful countries and I get to experience different cultures. What I love about my feet is that I get to ground into the earth and feel Mother Nature in the soil. I’m actually doing that right now you are demonstrating. I’m demonstrating, because that’s what embodiment is, because we could read all the books about Tantra and these wellness practices, but if you’re not actually doing it and you’re not actually connecting to yourself, there’s just beautiful practices that somebody told you about that I’m sharing with you, but you really take the time for yourself and do it and really celebrate and alchemize the things that you didn’t like about yourself and actually the beautiful things that they’ve gifted to you. So, for example, I also didn’t like my nose. I didn’t like my nose, imagine. So now I actually love my nose. It’s actually like this perfect shape, and I really had this like hate affair with my nose. I thought it was too round, I didn’t have a bridge. In fact, my mother, when I was growing up, used to tell me to rub my nose so I would have a bridge, you know, like all these crazy things. Yeah, so I am looking in the mirror and I’m just gazing at myself and I’m just so grateful for my nose. And so what I love about my nose is that it allows me to have this profound relationship with sense and perfumance, mother nature and my lover, and being able to smell things and have this glorious Sense through my nose, you know, and it also allows me to Use my nose as a sense, for me to be able to like, really, really connect with my breath. You know, using my breath as a practice and using the inhale through the nose as a way to regulate my nervous system, you know. So it’s a beautiful thing. So you need to find the gift, that whatever that you did not Honor or like about you in the mirror, you need to find the gift, and that is the medicine. That is the medicine that you Can connect with right away and also another practice that I love to do is called the lotion dance. So put on your favorite song that you love to dance to, then get your favorite lotion and put some in your hands, put on the music and just Just explore and cover yourself with all this lotion and just feel like look at the landscape of your body and all the Valleys and the shapes that your body makes, and really just take a moment to feel the Texture and the scent of yourself, you know, and really be fully present with yourself. It’s such a glorious because, you know, I’m used to get out of the shower. Okay, I gotta put the clothes on, I just put lotion on. Yes, you know that’s me really slow down, connect with your breath, connect to the music and put that lotion on and just Spread it all over you and it’s just the most profound experience. That’s one of two most favorite ways of connecting with your body.

Ella: 34:47
Thank you for sharing those, and I think you hit the nail on the head too when you talked about and I talk about this quite a bit it’s like, okay, there’s a lot of people out there who know about things, right, because there’s so much information, right, there’s so many podcasts, there’s so many books, there’s so many, so much information out there and it’s great information, but if we don’t actually do the practices, they actually apply them. So it’s silly. You know some people might be thinking, huh, you know, sure, that’s great in theory, but I’m not gonna actually do that. Like, that’s where the medicine is, is in the actually doing the practices and being there and being present. That’s the important part. And so, yeah, you just gave me an idea to every time I get out of the shower to do Because we could do that every time. We get out of the shower, right, we have to get out of the shower, anyway. We get to get out of the shower, anyway. I stopped using it. We get to get out of the shower, we get to put on lotion. We might as well be connecting with our bodies when we’re doing that.

Mahala: 35:46
Yeah, you know, and like this is a wonderful practice to really connect with yourself and Find ways that you could slow down and take a moment. So, for example, when I’m feeling like I’m in a rush and I’m about to eat, I actually put the silverware down between every bite yes, and chew at least 20 times. Yes, you know, because If not, I’ll be chewing so fast. While chewing, food particles are not even fully, you know, yep, masticated in our mouth and the enzymes, you know, are not fully digesting it. So you really really need to slow down and really really need to connect to your breath, connect to the experience, and I also love to remember the vitality that the food that I’m about to eat is what becomes ourselves and our bones in my hair, you know, and how that gets Alchemized and transformed in your body and how the systems in your body work in conjunction To give you the highest wealth possible, you know.

Ella: 36:49
Yeah, any of my clients listening right now know about the chewing your food, because that’s one of the first things that we do when we’re talking about building healthy relationships right, building a healthy relationship. So let’s talk now about I have you give a little more information about the pleasure path. I’m trying to. I think I mean orgasms. Can we just talk for a minute about orgasms before we get there? Is that something that, like, I think people want to know about orgasms?

Mahala: 37:17
Yes, you can have multiple orgasms. You can have full body orgasms. I’ve even experienced throat orgasms and laughing gazzams and nipple orgasms and troll gazzams and food gazzams.

Ella: 37:30
Yeah, literally yes, so really.

Mahala: 37:32
Yeah, definitely. So what I love about tantra is that tantra works with our energetic body, so the energetic body. We work directly with our chakra system. So the chakra system is our map of our energy body and energy anatomy. So that is our energy field. So we work by opening and activating and unblocking anything or anything that a barrier to the chakras. So the chakras are wheels of light, energy vortexes that the nadis are the highways of our body. They stop and connect in our energy centers called the chakras. So by opening this up, we’re able to To have our energetic body flow so you can have full body orgasms.

Ella: 38:16
I love it. Thank you for explaining that that’s very helpful.

Mahala: 38:19
And I do want to say the beautiful path about turn orgasms and lovemaking is that there is no goal, like there’s no rush to the finish line. There’s no rush, it’s really taking the time and pleasure to connect in the heart and spirit space with your partner, like it’s the most profound experience, actually my first experience with Tantra. My friends said to me you know, tantra is going to ruin your sex life and I said, oh, come on, what are you talking about? I thought it’s supposed to help my sex life. It’s both a catch 22, because it did transform my sex life, but it also made me realize, like, what the potential of Tantra, lovemaking is and being in a conscious relationship and the person. So it does elevate that. It also makes you not settle for red crumbs, mm.

Ella: 39:16
Okay, got it. That makes sense. So does that mean for you finding partner, like, do they need to be into Tantra already? Or is this something like, if somebody’s in a relationship and they start down the Tantra path, that they need to get their partner on board? You know what I’m saying? Like, how should people look at that?

Mahala: 39:34
No, I mean, I think it’s a beautiful invitation. So Tantra is about invitation and invitation of trying something different, the way that we’ve been trained. We’ve been trained on fast sex, on porn, on like multiple relationships, on instant access to many things. So Tantra teaches you about a different way of loving loving yourself and another partner and also there’s so many beautiful practices that actually connect you to the spirit and soul of your partner. That is completely not taught in any sex education class you know. So conscious relating is really what Tantra is about. Can you imagine?

Ella: 40:14
if they start teaching, this world would be such a different place.

Mahala: 40:18
I just wanted to say one of my first Tantra experiences with my partner. I was asked to soul gaze and I said soul gaze. Oh my God, I got to look at your soul Really. And my partner asked me to gaze in his left eye. So we’re gazing at each other’s left eye, the receptive eye, and for 11 minutes I could not get past maybe 20 seconds. Wow, I would be so uncomfortable, I would start giggling, I would completely disconnected from my body. So now you asked me that and I’m like, yeah, go ahead, I see 11 minutes I got to, you know. So because I was able to connect with my higher self, connect with my body, connect with my soul, my spirit, and actually see the person in front of me, you know, and connect to their soul essence, and I could see that clearly and for the longest time. It would bring me to tears, you know, and I actually even remember after graduating in my Tantra trainings I thought to myself oh my God, am I ever going to be able to share in public and to teach without actually crying? You know, because it brought me to tears how much it’s transformed my life and I wanted to share that with others. Yeah, Amazing.

Ella: 41:31
All right, so tell us about Pleasure Path and where people can learn more about it and get signed up.

Mahala: 41:38
Oh my gosh. So we have so many amazing things coming up from 2024. So one thing I’m really passionate about is called the Pleasure Path. So the Pleasure Path is an eight session container for women’s mentorship. And why I wanted to focus on women? Because, number one, I’m a woman. And number two. I never had this information growing up and how much it could have allowed me to heal myself much more in a fully forgiving way. And I didn’t have that growing up. I didn’t have that role model and also my mother was a young mother, so she also didn’t have these tools and practices that can help her. So myself and Yulia Rose were on a mission to share this, and the invitation is for all women, all sisters, all mothers, all grandmothers, all daughters, and it’s the greatest path and greatest gift that you can give yourself to come on this adventurous journey with us. It launches in February and it meets every Wednesday at 730 Eastern time, and we take you on this adventure with yourself and it heals the generational trauma between women, between your own matriarchal lineage, with your ancestors and your mother, your daughter, your granddaughters. And it’s a really beautiful path that I’m inviting. It’s a call to women, call to action for us to come together. So I’m really excited that Ella’s going to join us, hoping to get Ella’s sister and her mother to join us. It’s really a profound experience.

Ella: 43:13
It’s like you give yourself amazing. I’m so excited about it and just encourage everybody. And how do people sign up?

Mahala: 43:22
Yeah, so you could sign up on my Instagram link. It’s in my bio.

Ella: 43:27
It’s in the Instagram.

Mahala: 43:28
Okay, we’re putting that in the show notes, of course, yeah, okay, and also another profound training that we have coming up is called Awakened as Love Not awaken to love, but awaken us love. So I want to make that distinction, because we already profoundly love beings and we forget the connection that we are love beings. And so Awakened as Love is a beautiful container. It’s also a seven day retreat and we have festivals and retreats all over the world. So we have a beautiful retreat coming up in Vegas and we also have one coming up in Miami, and we have a beautiful festival in Tulum, mexico, and it’s a beautiful blend of the pillars of shamanism, contra integral theory and consciousness, and also somatic movement and dance. So, with those four pillars, it’s a beautiful journey of transformation. So that’s also on my Instagram link as well. So, yeah, I would love for you to join me in one of those experiences or just connect with me. I’m always doing events in Miami wherever I’m traveling. Yeah, it’s really my heart’s passion and desire now that I’m no longer in the food retail business.

Ella: 44:40
Yeah, but you’re still making connections between food and, you know, it seems like this is kind of this umbrella of your calling in your evolution, this umbrella that the veganism fits right into it.

Mahala: 44:54
Yeah, so one of my containers that I have with my private clients is called eat, breathe, love, magic. And so, of those four things, so eat is about wellness and nutrition and veganism, and cleaning out your cupboards and what it means like to really care for yourself. Breathe connecting to your breath and to your body through breath, work, love, the path of Tantra and magic how you can alchemy yourself so you can have the life that you’re really meant to live, which is a free life. You’re able to create the most ecstatic life that you can possibly dream of. It’s all possible.

Ella: 45:29
I know, because I’m like walking embodiment of that.

Mahala: 45:33
I was like a robot and I was like what this is? My whole life it’s just passing by me, and then I was able to redefine and recreate a new life for myself.

Ella: 45:44
So yeah, Thank you so much for being here, for sharing your light in my own life and in the world and on this podcast. I love you, I appreciate you.

Mahala: 45:57
I love you. I love you so much and I overflow with so much love and I just want you all to know that this is possible. Reach out to Alar to me. I would love to connect in any which way possible. Yay, yay, this is called a heart cathem.

Ella: 46:19
We will in there. I love you, I love you. Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of Rise and Thrive with me, ella Majors. I truly hope you found it inspiring and, if you did, please help me spread the word by leaving a rating and review on your favorite podcast player and by sharing the show with your friends. As you probably know by now, my life’s purpose is to use my voice to make this world a more conscious and compassionate place, and your reviews and shares make a huge impact. And last, I’m getting a ton of insanely positive feedback about my short and sweet monthly newsletter called the Way Short for the Way Out Is Through. I give my top five latest badass discoveries, insights and explorations, like vegan products and recipes. I’m obsessed with books and shows I’m loving and workouts that have me fired up. Head on over to my website, ellamajorscom, to sign up and check out all the other awesome resources I have for you and projects I’m involved with, including Hogs and Kisses Farm Sanctuary, where our mission is to create the best life for farm animals while inspiring compassion for all living beings. Thanks a lot, and I’ll see you on the next one.