Ancestral Healing, Shadow Work & Energy Healing with Farah Siddiq

Today we're talking with Farah Siddiq, an Afghan American cross disciplined reiki master who specializes in healing all forms of trauma. A master in Usui and Angelic Reiki, she created her own form of reiki called Cosmic Reiki where she combines both energy medicine & astrology. 

Farah merges the worlds of psychology, astrology and energy medicine. Her own journey was to be alchemized and turned into healing medicine for this world, and she created The Alchemist Circle Workshops to create sacred spaces based on a combination of ancient Afghan mysticism aligned with the Socratic method of teaching. 

She also co-founded: an app called @iascendapp - a space for transformative wellness which is raising an Angel funding round currently and @beydarsho which is the revival of Central Asian spirituality, healing arts and creativity. 

In this episode, we talk about...

• Ancestral healing
• shadow work
• collective world shadow and individual shadow + links between them
• energy healing / reiki 
• WOC in the wellness / tech space

Farah says:
The intention of my page and work has always been two words: 

Alchemy and Activation.

It is in everything I do. 

It is everything I am.

My goal is to help activate and alchemize as many of you as possible so you can align with your soul’s purpose. To live a life in alignment with your heart and thrive. 

farahsiddiq.com / Instagram @farahmsiddiq

Books mentioned in this episode:
Shamanism and Islam
The Prophet

Additional Resources

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

Because you, at the individual level, you send a vibration out through your heart space. So if your heart is open and you're sending out that frequency and all this chaos, don't you think it's gonna have an impact?

Speaker 2 0:13

You are listening to the Self-Worth Edit the podcast, inspiring South Asian women and beyond to quit playing small and start trusting the power and wisdom within. Join me Noshin on Mondays as I share insightful conversations, tips for healthier ways of thinking and lessons in healing our relationships with ourselves. Thanks for tuning in to the Self-Worth edit. Here we go. Happy November. Wow. Today's episode is an interview with Bara Sadik , who is an Afghan American cross discipline, reiki master specializing in healing all forms of trauma. This conversation is, wow. Before I tell you more, I want to remind you that the best place to keep up with me and the show in between episodes is on Instagram. So click on over to your Instagram app, find at the self-worth edit and hit follow. I've been working on some new reels, so more entertainment and inspiration to come. All right , have you done it? Are you following me on Instagram now? Have you liked a few posts? Go ahead and slide into my dms with a hello, if you wanna take it a step further. Now, back to today's conversation with Farrah . We get into ancestral healing, what it means, how it happens. We talk about the individual and collective shadows and how to navigate. This is especially interesting considering the year we've had and are having in 2020, and on the brink of election night, how our individual healing and care can contribute to the greater good. We talk about energy healing and Farah shares about cosmic reiki, which she created and vetted. Farah is all about merging the worlds of psychology, astrology, and energy medicine, and you can read more about her and her various offerings in the form of an app. I Ascend App, community spaces, workshops, and more in the show notes. So definitely check those out for more information and access to Fara . Now, I'm going to give you the heads up that in this conversation we get into the mystical. This is a little different from previous episodes. We get into some topics and stories that maybe quite new to you may or may not be in line with your beliefs to date. Everyone is on their own journey, and that's okay. Wherever you are, I know you'll learn something from this conversation. So without further ado, here is Farrah .

Speaker 1 3:06

I'm Farrah Sadik . I'm a cross disciplined reiki master, and I also am a co-founder and a startup called I Ascend. And we're creating an app that is gonna be a social marketplace for healing experiences that help people transform themselves. So it's kind of like an extension of the work that I'm doing. But on a , the digital level and a little bit more expanded, more reach, my core practices and like what I help people work through is shadow and transformation through ancestral healing , uh, inner child work. You know, things like reparenting yourself and , um, breaking through conditioning because that's really what the essence of shadow work is. It's like everything that was conditioned onto us and what was hidden in our subconscious mind. And what happens is, is that when the shadow is unconscious, it manifests in our reality. And until we turn around and we look at ourselves, it's gonna manifest into chaotic situations. Or it could turn into like chaotic relationships with family members , chaotic relationships on a romantic level. And what it is, is that these points of connection are actually mirrors to your subconscious. And so it's like, you know, there's some people that they go through relationships and they go, oh my God. Like if I hadn't been through this relationship, or I hadn't met this person, I wouldn't have gone back to myself. I wouldn't have looked at myself, I wouldn't have looked at my shadow. So it's so important that this understanding and also these skills that I teach people in my workshops and in my sessions like that, people start to learn how to do these skills, that people learn how to start to recognize their shadow and how to tame their shadow. And because that is the way to inner peace, because you can be somebody that meditates every single day, but if you're not getting like to the deep root of your suffering, it's just gonna , it's just, it's just there. So like we're talking about like really sitting with yourself if you're doing meditation, not being like, okay, I'm just meditating to clear my mind, because that's not what meditation really is. Meditation is so that you can be a witness to your thoughts. That's why it's so important to look at shadow work as a way as like, okay, we're cutting through all of the spiritual materialism, we're cutting through all the love and light stuff. Like let's really get to it. And that's what I feel like the core of my work is. I sit with people, I sit in my workshops and I call everything out as it's, I can call out the shadow as it is . And it's about you being able to look at it with compassion. It's about you being like, you know what? That shadow was created because my mom was this way, or my dad was this way, or this is in my ancestral lineage. And you know, south Asia, I mean, we're talking about heaps of shadow work that has to be done on an ancestral level, right? So the ancestral healing is done through us, through our conditioning. So whatever our parents gave us was given generations and generations and generations before that. And so that's why this time right now is really unique because we are able to see it in real time and we're able to free ourselves from it .

Speaker 3 6:34

So I've seen that line about when a woman heals herself, she heals backwards and forwards in her lineage, right? Mm-Hmm , <affirmative> , she heals her grandmother, her great-grandmother, her mother, her children. How does that work?

Speaker 1 6:50

What happens is that when I look at DNA healing, so they would say ancestral healing is DNA healing because the DNA carries trauma. It's also scientifically proven when you're healing DNA, it has to do with energy. So you can have actually DNA that's dormant and blocked because of trauma. And so when we do ancestral healing, we can actually open them up. And what that does is it opens up energy for us, like in the physical body, and then whatever me soul memories are, were trapped in there, they open up. So there's that idea that your ancestral power can be opened up when you energetically free it. Let's say , um, if I have a grandparent, a great-grandfather that was very, let's say, poor, and then like in this life, I realize like that I can't hold onto money. There's an energy, right? And then I have my son, and then my son has this aversion with it. But it would stop with me. If I do the work, it loses its charge. So whoever is carrying the genetics, the DNA from me down, is not going to have to heal that because I'm breaking that pattern. And from an energetic standpoint, does that make sense?

Speaker 3 8:10

Yeah. And also that's heavy. That's kind of a heavy task, right? <laugh>. Oh , yeah. Like once you realize that, you know, hey, the buck kind of stops with me if I so choose it.

Speaker 1 8:26

Yeah. And I call , um, I call these people that I work with. I call 'em the breakers. And usually there is one in each family system that there's a breaker, that there's somebody that everything is dumped on them energetically. All the bad luck, all the shadow, all like, there's, it's literally like they were chosen by the ancestors in a , in the lineage. Like, this is the spiritual warrior.

Speaker 3 8:53

Okay, say more because <laugh>, okay , like it was already heavier and now it's heavier because it's before it's, you might have the idea that okay, bit by bit, like, you know, people are healing things along the way, but then it's like, no wait , it's usually one person. How is that one person really determined, really even woken up to know that they are that person?

Speaker 1 9:19

I think it's , um, a matter of circumstance. I think that also if this person comes into this life carrying a lot of karma, which can be seen in like their astrology, it can also just be seen in their life. I'm sure that you've known that There's certain people that you're like, why do all these bad things happen to this person? Like, why it , like why don't things align for this person? And what happens is that it's because that person is notal in alignment with their soul's purpose because that person is supposed to turn all of that into something. They're supposed to transform all of that into healing medicine for the world. It's like alchemy. And that gets determined at the individual level that will come to that person where like, they may have a psychedelic experience, they may have a, you know, a sound healing experience. Maybe they're visited by their ancestors, even as basic as ancestors coming to your dreams. They are communicated with in some way that, you know, this is your purpose. This is, you know, that there is something on the other end of this that, that your suffering is not done in vain. That's your gift is beyond all of this.

Speaker 3 10:34

So I wanna pause for a moment here, because I will tell you that a lot of what you're sharing here, this is going to feel very new to some people who are tuning in. 'cause we have not gone here yet on the podcast <laugh> . So I'm so excited to have you and for people to hear this. And tell us about what has been your journey to all of this, to this way of thinking, to the work that you do. All of it, especially coming from a South Asian background.

Speaker 1 11:05

So for me, I was so connected to, you know, my Afghan lineage. I was , um, also born during like, the astrology of the time of my birth was actually, I was born during the Soviet invasion. So there was a lot of energy ancestrally, there was a lot of energy of, like, when I, that time that I was born, there was a lot of chaos, a lot of like pain. And it's like when you're in the womb, you're picking all that up because when you're in the womb, you're collected, you're connected to the universe, you're connected to the energy outside because obviously your mother is picking up information, picking up energy about everything that's happening. And I very much knew that there was a reason that I was so connected to Afghanistan is because of that. It's because of the time that I was actually being created, right? Every cell, every part of my spirit, everything with every, like, I wanna say like all my DNA , right? And then I went through a, a really painful journey, really painful journey. And like , I got to a point where I feel like my soul said to me like, I've had enough of this and I wanna find out why everything happened. Like, and I also, I made the commitment to myself and I said, I'm gonna make myself strong, mind, body , and spirit. And I'm gonna find out the reason why everything aligned the way that it did. And six years of relentless work and shedding and everything, you know, through all kinds of medium psychedelic work, breath work , yoga, past life, work. I mean, you name it, I did it, you know? Now here we are, full circle. I'm teaching people how to do it. And that was the thing. It , what I was talking about is that I was like, there was a point where I got the message in the beginning of the journey that was like, oh, you are supposed to handle <laugh> all of this. And I used to, I used to have nights where I was crying, I was cursing out my, my, my angels, my guides, whatever. I was like, like, no, I like, I I don't wanna do this like <laugh> , you know , why are you making me do this by me? And now I'm on the other end of it. And I see like everything aligning in the way that it all makes sense now for me. I think that right now we're in a time where people who understand shadow work, who know how to move that energy and who know how to face that energy, those are the people that are very active right now. Because what's happening outside in the world right now is these, this fall of this patriarchal energy, this fall of this power greed and oppression. And as far as like South Asia is concerned, when we talk about like the oppression of women, we talk about the oppression of the , not just the women, but the people itself and you know, control and greed. And basically what's happening is that consciousness wise , we are all rebirthing consciousness wise because I'm sitting in California, right? And you're in another state in America, and how grateful are we that we can actually do this work because we could be sitting there. And that's the thing is that I say the rebirth of these, this I want , I always say, I call it the new ancestors, the rebirth of this birthing of the new ancestors that are not carrying all that past pain. That is what's taking place right now. And it's in the middle of a dying world. Wow. That it's being reborn.

Speaker 3 15:01

Wow. Wow, wow. So, so it seems like you can view the shadow and the healing of the shadow at the individual level than with how it seeps into your immediate relationships and then even as a collective society or world. Is that right?

Speaker 1 15:24

Yeah. And the thing is, is that we are moving towards non separateness. That's what the consciousness shift is. And it's called unity consciousness, where like you and I are not separate from each other. We mirror wounds, we mirror, we mirror joy, we mirror the same things. And what's happening in the world is like we, now what's happening is like we look at what happened in Lebanon, we don't feel separate from it. We're seeing what's happening in another country, or we're seeing an , and what's happening is we're finding these parallels like, oh, America's like this, and then this is like this, this is really similar to what we're going through. And that's what is creating the unity. It's the separateness that destroyed this world. It's the separateness of race, it's the separateness of sex, it's the separateness of everything. And that's why, like I said, this world is in the state that it's, that it's in. But as far as like the shadow, there's a collective shadow. So whatever's happening in the collective shadow is happening in you. It's happening in me. This destruction that we're seeing right now is the destruction of the ego of within all of us.

Speaker 3 16:37

Let's talk ego. Please define ego. I wanna hang on that as you bring it up, because there's the traditional definition of ego, which is arrogance and overconfidence, but that is not what you mean here. Correct.

Speaker 1 16:50

I would say that ego. See, when we talk about the ego, we can talk about the shadow because the shadow's insecure, right? But I think that when I talk about the ego, I talk about it's, it does like, I wanna say parallel with the shadow. So it's a projection of insecurity, it's a projection of wanting to dominate. It's a projection of wanting to control. And what it is, is it also creates what I said, the separateness that no, no, no, I'm better or I'm bigger, or I need to be dominant, which is what the patriarchal energy has been for hundreds of years. And what we're moving towards now is creating balance with the feminine energy that is coming in and being basically freed. Because what's happening is that not the feminine energy is coming up and feeling safe to express and to create a new world, you're going to need empathy. You're gonna need energy from the heart space , you're gonna need calm, you're gonna need intuition. You're gonna need that very like nurturing energy to create a new world because we're destroying a world that was created from the shadow ego self that was just all about dominance and power and greed.

Speaker 3 18:06

What would you say to someone who doesn't feel like we're moving away from that dark shadow? Who feels like, everywhere I look, all I see is hate and separation?

Speaker 1 18:19

Well, I think that, I think what it is is everything has come up to the surface. So what's happening in the world is like big shadow work. <laugh> , like this is like the biggest shadow work of all time, of any lifetime. That's why I said we are in such a unique time where we're literally watching the destruction of the world. We're watching the destruction of consciousness. Because what's happening is that it's not like, oh, there's these governments and they're doing these things and stuff. It's like, it's actually a manifestation of the collective shadow coming up and we're facing it.

Speaker 3 18:55

So what's the way out of this? <laugh>? Gimme the answers, please. <laugh>

Speaker 1 19:01

Girl. I was like, you're gonna do a podcast interview with me, you know, it's gonna be deep <laugh>

Speaker 3 19:06

<laugh> , let's go there.

Speaker 1 19:08

Hey, if I had the answers, would I be president? I dunno . But , um, the answer

Speaker 3 19:12

Is I think you have to not have the answers. And that's how you get elected. <laugh>.

Speaker 1 19:15

There you go. Yeah. We, we know how people get elected, right? Well, I think what it is, it's like, what we have to do is we really have to go inwards. We really have to look at ourselves. We have to call ourselves out. Because even the best people, even people who think, oh, I'm good and this and this, that they've still got work to do, I tell people, I say, you know what? I consider myself a shadow and transformation expert , but I'm doing this work every day . So it , you know, it's, I'm not exempt from it. It's gonna take everybody to really look at themselves, to really have compassion for themselves. And I know with the astrology and everything that, you know, men are gonna get hit really hard with , um, awakening energy when Mars retrograde hits, and it's the last portion of Saturn and Capricorn. So basically what's happening is that the sacred masculine energy needs to come in basically the feminine and the men feel safe that they can be nurturing, that they can be grounding, that they can provide a safe space for women. This is, this is gonna be the hard part of it, but it's , but it's happening very slowly. It's going to be a process, but it, it is needed because it's not just about the women being empowered and, you know, creating and everything like that. It has to be a co-creation. The men have to also shift to create this harmony. So I think just everybody doing what they can with, especially like, I mean, every day there's something and it's, it's overwhelming. So right now, the best thing people can do is just up their self care , keep their vibration calm, keep themselves grounded, do the work when you can do it. No one's asking you to be the Buddha tomorrow, like <laugh> , you know it . And that's how this, I feel like that's also like how our transformation happens with ease, is when we look at it as a process and not a destination.

Speaker 3 21:19

I want to really, this is probably going to feel super elementary to you, but for someone listening, I really, I wanna make this line or this circle or whatever the diagram is, that it looks like very, very clear for someone who is thinking, who's sitting there and thinking, how can my personal self-care and my going inward through all my have an impact on everything that's going on in the world. Like, why is the role that you're asking me to play one of self-care? How does my taking care of myself and doing my inner work play a role in the greater picture?

Speaker 1 21:58

Because you, at the individual level, you send a vibration out through your heart space. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> . And , and the heart is , has the highest vibration energetically. So if you're sitting and in meditation and your heart is open and you're sending out that frequency and all this chaos, don't you think it's gonna have an impact? Someone's gonna feel it. They are. And also, I guess it's like also like understanding the impact of one individual in this world, whether it's good or bad, how one person can impact the world. And if anything at the individual level, you shouldn't even be thinking about the collective it should be for you. And having that self-care, having that energy of like self-worth in this moment, that is what is needed.

Speaker 3 22:52

I really, I love that too. And the piece you just said about why are you thinking about everyone else? And we do that, right? We avoid our own inner work. We avoid sitting down and being quiet with ourselves. And the world gives us plenty of reasons to hold onto , well , I can't sit here quietly and take care of myself because look at what's happening out there. Mm-Hmm . <affirmative> . And that's, to a degree , it's counterintuitive. Now that doesn't mean be in a cave at home and you know, don't do anything to help fellow mankind. Yeah . But it does mean place more value on self-worth and self-care than you might otherwise because you're busy playing martyr. I said it

Speaker 1 23:31

<laugh> . And you're talking about the number one pattern for women in South Asia is we call , I call , I teach it in one of my workshops, the mother wound workshop. And it's about the martyr mother and the martyr mother who is self-sacrificing, who is basically like holding herself hostage, not doing any self-care, but is is like, I am doing it because I am sacrificing for you. I'm sacrificing, if anything, their growth and them not being stagnant would've been more helpful for the children. Yes.

Speaker 3 24:11

Versus

Speaker 1 24:13

Them sitting and being like, I'm the martyr. I live for your father. I live for the family. And that's it. And because what happens with the martyr mother, the martyr daughter comes and the martyr daughter ends up attracting toxic masculine control, power, play dynamic relationships. And it's the narcissist empath. Fun . I know you're shaking your ear <laugh> .

Speaker 3 24:37

I feel like uncomfortably seen right now. <laugh>.

Speaker 1 24:40

Hey, and then this is what I was talking about you at the individual level. This is not just you, this is a world thing. This is basically gender roles.

Speaker 3 24:55

Who , what has

Speaker 1 24:58

That is a big

Speaker 3 24:59

<laugh> . It's what has your, I'm just gonna ask this question. You don't have to answer it.

Speaker 1 25:05

I'll probably answer it.

Speaker 3 25:06

Okay. What is the darkest shadow that you have worked through yourself? Ooh ,

Speaker 1 25:17

I like this question. I'm gonna need a minute for that one.

Speaker 3 25:20

<laugh> . Take it <laugh> .

Speaker 1 25:22

Um , it has to be the work that I did about my great-grandmother. That was probably the, that was the most painful work that I had to do, which is also very relevant to the audience probably too. My great-grandmother was married. She was actually taken from northern Afghanistan to Kabul to the city. She was a teenager young girl. And this was my great-grandfather's second wife. And he was in his, I wanna say he was in his fifties. And working through her stuff was very painful because it was like, you know, a child being kidnapped and it was, you know, and then she bore children really young and she was widowed very young and the way she was treated and everything as a second wife, if you know about like how second wives are treated in those societies. I, I mean she's, she was one , she's one of my really, my main guides. She's come to me in dreams . She's come to me in sound healings. She's very present with me. She's like a guardian angel of mine . And working through that whole violation of innocence, that violation, that whole having to reframe what a marriage is or what a relationship is from that, that was probably the most painful thing that I had to, to really work through. And it had to do with this, it was almost like she was forced into this like, martyr type. Like she had no value. She wasn't even the first wife. She was the second wife. She was young, she was a child. And you know, in that region, we know about the child brides. And I feel like being a mother myself, like, I can't even imagine that happening to a child of mine or being myself and being that age and going through something like that and the violations of women and looking at them as just these breeding animals, basically. Like animals are probably treated better than the women have been treated in our region. It's stuff like that that I karmically I saw in my life, in my relationship that I was manifesting it karmically I was manifesting these really painful relationships where I was not being valued. And it was, again, it's the , that's the shadow is that like, it comes back to you. It's like go deeper. Until I really went deep on that, I couldn't break the pattern. I couldn't see the pattern and saw that, you know, time is cyclical. And so that was something that I had to unlock because that's in my genetics. That pain and trauma that she went through was locked in me. And I had to energetically I had to go deep and I had to relive it in certain situation . I , and , and through really deep, deep work, I had to relive it so that I could release it.

Speaker 3 28:27

Did you know that it was her work that you were taking on when you first started feeling it?

Speaker 1 28:33

Yeah, I mean, my mom had had told me briefly like, oh, you know, she was this young when she got married, but it was very surface like information. But until I really, like, I, I always tell people that looking at pictures really activates, like when you look at old pictures of your family, like ancestors and stuff that really activates the work. And so like, I was looking at pictures of her and there's this one picture of her and the other wife and all the kids, and then my great-grandfather sitting in front and I see her holding my grandfather as a baby. That picture was it for me. Like I felt all the energy of what was taking place. Like that was enough for me. But I think the first time that she came to me was , um, there was one time where I said, oh, it's Mother's Day. I'm gonna do something for myself for the first time. I'm gonna do something for myself. And it was always like Mother's Day, I would tell my son, where do you wanna go eat? And this ? And it was the first time that I said, no, no , I'm gonna do something with my son during the day. And then in the evening I'll do something for myself. So I went to a sound healing. There was a mother's day like sound healing. And I'm thinking, oh, I'm gonna get relaxed and it's gonna be peaceful <laugh> . And as soon as like the gongs and everything starts going up, I see like, like 10 ancestors around me, and I see fire and I'm like, oh my God. I was like, this is not Mother's Day relaxing

Speaker 3 30:04

<laugh> . Wow. You're like, this is not what I signed up for <laugh> . I

Speaker 1 30:07

Was like , I was like this . I was like, like I literally went in there like, oh, I'm gonna be so peaceful after this and everything. And it was like, and it was her at the end. Like she was in it. And then we had a full blown conversation. And, and it was cool because I was in a, I'm able to, when I'm do sound healings or meditations, I'm able to like go into another like the spirit realm, right? Like we can astral project and that's a whole other can of worms. But , um, I was in this like, I would say that like every, I feel like every culture, every country like has its own like kind of spiritual realm, like outside of the physical. And I feel like that's where I was. I was like in Afghanistan, but I was like in kind of like the spiritual Afghanistan, the spirit realm of Afghanistan. And my point is, is that like, it's not crazy. That's the thing. I think people, like, people are like, dude, what is she talking about? Like, how is that even happening? It sounds make believe and it's actually not because you, if you look at it from the viewpoint that you're carrying the DNA , you're carrying the soul memories. You know? There is, so there is logic to that, but it's like, how do you reprogram your mind enough? How do you make the space to hold space to receive that information? Because it will not appear to you until you're ready to receive it. Because they're loud, these ancestors. I mean, when you start saying, Hey, I wanna listen, they're gonna

Speaker 3 31:42

So interesting. Wow. Yeah . So, so to take it to, we've talked a lot about like the very

Speaker 1 31:50

Mystical

Speaker 3 31:51

Yes. Side of things. So, and like the really like big ways that this can all show up and take place in your life, right? Mm-Hmm , <affirmative> . So I guess my question is, does everyone have shadow and shadow work to do? And what are the different, what ways it might show up for someone?

Speaker 1 32:08

I think everybody does because the shadow is formed when you're young by your conditioning, it's whatever is projected onto you, whatever you pick up, you know, subconsciously. Because when you come into this world, you're a sponge. So if everybody in your house is an alcoholic, you got that shadow and you're subconscious, and then later on you're gonna be like, why am I an alcoholic? Why am I manifesting men that don't value me? It's like, it's these kind of things, right? Everything happens because it's supposed to wake you . It's supposed to wake you up. And sometimes it has to get, so the lesson has to get so painful. The pattern has to get so painful until you crack. They say, the universe shakes you to awake , you. And this world's got a big shake up , right? <laugh> right

Speaker 3 32:56

Now . Yeah , for sure. This is the first one. It's like, yeah, I mean I'm, as you say that, I'm just kind of breathing through it. <laugh>.

Speaker 1 33:03

Yeah, I know. Got a breath. Work is right now. Breath work . Everyone's doing breath work right now. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . I think the thing about, you know, us talking about the mystical, why it was so important is because it is the power of our region is the mysticism, it's the shamanism, it's the, you know, a lot of people don't look at our region like that.

Speaker 3 33:27

Yeah. Including us. Like why is that? Why is that? And also how can you start to have these conversations and these beliefs more openly?

Speaker 1 33:38

Well it's because, you know, when Islam came in, Islam came in later, but thousands of viewers before that, you know, there was a lot of mysticism that was created. There was a lot of shamanism. There's actually a book called Shamanism in Islam, and it goes through all the countries. I forgot the author's name. But , um, I guess my point is, is that there was a , a way of spirituality that was more ancient than Islam. And that I think is the core of like what it's all, I feel like mysticism comes from that era. And so what's happening is that it's kind of going through a bur rebirthing process right now, is that we are all channeling back into our ancient wisdom. And that also the women are now becoming free. The women are healing themselves. There's a big awakening when it comes to the women in our region right now when it comes to consciousness, when it comes to healing. And it's very powerful right now, I would say. Like Sufism kept it alive. Yeah,

Speaker 3 34:48

That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense as well. When I think about the distinction between religion and spirituality , uh, I wanna touch a little bit on the connection between shadow work and manifestation. How do you describe to someone who's maybe only ever vaguely heard of the secret, what manifestation is and what you mean by it?

Speaker 1 35:10

The thing about the shadow work, what it is, it's about transforming. That's what shadow work is. It's transforming the dark into creation about manifestation. It's like if your shadow is not integrated, you're not aligned with your true self, you don't understand yourself. And also what happens is that the shadow manifests basically whatever is in the back of your mind. And I always tell people, I say, universe responds to you always. You're a strong co-creator. If you say, I have bad self-worth, the universe is gonna be like, okay, here's a crappy boyfriend. But if you tell universe, Hey, I have an integrated shadow. I've accepted myself fully. I'm giving myself a lot of self-love. I'm working on my self-worth universe is gonna give you someone a little bit better. And that's how it works. And until you're in full alignment with yourself, until you've given yourself that love and acceptance and you are not looking for validation outside of yourself, that everything is coming within you, that you are your own source of energy and love, that's when you manifest. Because you're not supposed to manifest from your hurt self. You're supposed to manifest from your empowered self. You're supposed to manifest from your full self, the self that you fully accepted, mind, body and spirit.

Speaker 3 36:39

That's beautiful. Thank you. That's beautiful. You are also an energy healer. Yeah. So be , before I get into my question on this, can you explain, I know I'm asking you for like all the definitions, <laugh> , <laugh> , can you explain at a high level what is reiki and then what is cosmic reiki, which is something of your own creation?

Speaker 1 37:01

So when I talk about reiki, reiki was made many years ago by Mastery sui Japanese. But when I talk about reiki, I tell people, I say every culture or every region has its own name for it. Like I think in India they have Piana and you know, everybody is naming it their own thing. But at the end of the day, it's this life force energy . It's being connected to this life force energy where you have basically created yourself into like a conduit to hold space to hold that energy, which is cosmic energy, it's life force energy, and it's through life force energy that people get healed. And it's what I said about the DNA when I said that they can be dormant and everything. It's this energy that comes through that can open it because that heals it and unlocks it. And so, I don't know if you've had a reiki session before, but um ,

Speaker 3 37:59

I've had a group reiki session.

Speaker 1 38:01

Okay. But like, so my hands get really extremely hot and they get like buzzy and everything like that . Like right now they're <laugh>. Um , because I'm talking about it. And what it does is it lifts, it lifts a lot of heavy, stagnant energy. Like let's say somebody went through like a traumatic car accident. Their body is holding the energy of the impact. They're traumatized and stuff. And maybe, you know, you put your hand, like I would put my hands on their heart. I would put my hand on their head so that they can like come back into their body. Because a lot of people, what happens when they go through traumatic things, their spirit leaves their body. And sometimes I have to do a soul retrieval. I have to literally like pull people , pull their spirit back into their body. Um, there's people that I've worked on that literally their heart is not beating, but they're alive because they're so heartbroken. I had somebody that, you know, I worked , I remember one time I worked on him and his heart. I literally had to have my hand on his heart for 45 minutes. And after I said, I said, do you know that like, your heart is literally not like, there's no energy in it. Like is are you? I said, are you heartbroken? And he was like, he is like, my wife cheated on me. And he was, he is . It was just too much for him. And this is what I'm talking about is that so many people right now are walking around with that same energy in their heart. And it's what I said before, it's, we need the heart energy to create the new world. But you know, reiki itself is just, I feel like that's what ama like in the west, that's what people associate with life force energy healing, which is very collective. It's all indigenous, all shamans ev everyone has their own name for it. But I would say the west would call it reiki. And then that's the most popular form of it. So when I created Cosmic Reiki, what I did was I saw that I was able to do a combination of different things, which was I was mixing, I was seeing the patterns in the astrology. I was able to move basically energy that was heavy in the chart. And then it was a mix of like mediumship, like picking up messages for the person, whether it's from like an ancestral guide or, or another type of spirit. But I made it my own. I tested it out. I remember when I came up with it, I was like, oh, I was like, I , I'll offer it to like 10 healers, 10 spiritual healers. And, and then after they , you know, I got such a good response and I was like, okay. I was like, I'm onto something <laugh> . But the thing is, is that that's what all this shadow work is about is that I did so much of the shadow work and then cosmic reiki was born and then I ascend was born, and then it's just I'm birthing, I'm doing so much shadow work, and then when I'm teaching it and everything, I'm still doing it. So I'm just birthing in creating all this stuff. So this is where, this is where the shadow work comes in for manifestation, is that the more shadow work you do, the more you're transforming that into creation that with things that are in alignment with who you really are. And that's what's really important.

Speaker 3 41:15

Is there a way that energy healing and shadow work connect? Are there situations where you opt for one over the other? Or how do those two work together?

Speaker 1 41:25

I think that, I think it's how you receive it. If you're doing like reiki, the shadow work is done by unblocking heavy energy. When you're specifically from a mental standpoint, you're reading a book about shadow work or you're journaling and you are sitting with your shadow through meditation and you're like, okay, you're observing your connections with people, which is the best way to do shadow work is really to observe how you communicate with people because they are the mirror, because they respond to what's happening in your subconscious mind. And so it's like, have you ever had a moment where you're like, wow, that like triggered me and I don't know why that triggered me. That's your little red flag. Like, I need to do shadow work around this. Like, why did that trigger me? It's all in the triggers. The healing is always in the triggers. Oh, it's because, you know, my dad treated me like this and my mom had this one incident that was kind of similar to that and it made me remember that like, it's, it's about being that present. And until you do shadow work, you will always be in like basically your hurt self, which is your past self. And until you're healing all of that, until you're recognizing it and being like, okay, this is what it is, this is what pattern it's set, then what happens is that the pattern repeats itself until you really break it and know it. And sometimes you're like, oh my God, like I'm never gonna break this pattern <laugh> . But you will . It's just you. Maybe this pattern is like we're talking about generations.

Speaker 3 43:05

Yeah. Something else I've talked about on the podcast is we do, we operate on autopilot, right? Because majority of our behaviors and our actions and our words are coming from the subconscious. And if we're not taking the time to, like you said, become present and become aware of that , become , then we're gonna continue to do those same things and live a very surface level life.

Speaker 1 43:30

Exactly.

Speaker 3 43:32

What has been your experience as a woman of color in the wellness space? This is a conversation that is like happening everywhere you look.

Speaker 1 43:41

I actually made a post about it sort of, not really, but it kind of touched on it today. But I don't even call it wellness. I think what we try to call it is transformative wellness. I think that what's really exciting is I'm seeing so many indigenous healers coming up and I'm seeing so many , um, people reclaiming their ancestral power. A lot of things were whitewashed and people are owning it. And um, I think that when I look at wellness, I think I have a co-founder. He's um, he's Filipino American. And when we talk about it, we talk about how wellness is just putting a bandaid on. You go to your yoga class and you know, you go get your green smoothie and you're good, right ? What we wanna promote is taking off the bandaid, looking at it, and then finding the healing medicine for it.

Speaker 3 44:41

That's so well put. Yeah. That's the point of everything you've said <laugh> .

Speaker 1 44:45

Yeah. See, <laugh> authenticity is important, but being in Silicon Valley, being an Afghan American woman for the past couple years, it was extremely frustrating. Uh , now we are under, under, they're called underrepresented followers or fund founders, underrepresented founders. That's the new thing we're called now. You get a

Speaker 3 45:07

Special grant for that or anything

Speaker 1 45:09

<laugh>? Yeah. Now, now all these , uh, you know, well the thing is that 2% of women get funding and now with, you know, everything that's happened now it's like everyone's hunting underrepresented founders because they wanna look diversified and they wanna look like, Hey, we're okay. Like, you know, it's very performative. It's not really genuine. And obviously I can see through it, it's just like, it's shadow ego death of Silicon Valley. And our app is, you know, hopefully by the end of the year we'll be ready, but we're just kind of sitting and watching like all these venture capital firms and just really watching like who's really genuine, who isn't. And there's, there's so much restructuring happening, like in these big venture capital companies. And it's not gonna be the same. It's not gonna be the same. Uh, there's a new diff it's a different type of world. I was told one time , uh, I was sitting with someone who's a big, pretty big shot in , um, in the , in the valley. He looked at me and he said, yeah, I don't think an Afghan American woman is gonna be able like to get like funding. Like how do you feel about that? Like he , he asked me and I said, actually being an Afghan American woman is actually my superpower. I'm not going from a place of privilege. I show people my product, I show what I'm creating and that's everything for me. That is a reflection of who I am. It's not about, if anything the Afghan American makes it even more better because it's just 98% white male. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . And when he saw that, he was like, okay,

Speaker 3 46:51

Yeah, I was gonna say, what was his reaction? <laugh> .

Speaker 1 46:54

But I feel like he asked me, he was, he, the whole conversation, he was trying to see if I have the skin Mm , if I have the thick skin. Because Silicon Valley's a shark tank. It's, it's a , it's a dog eat dog. And if you don't have the thick skin, you can't be in it, you'll drown. That's why so many startups fail. And it's literally, I was given advice from this really great guy who is a , also a tech tech executive. And the only thing he told me was, just keep going. That's it. Just keep going. He's like, that's what makes people successful is that they just keep going. And there's a lot of shadow work in the valley. There's so many people that a venture capitalists will come and rip them to shreds and they can't. They're just like, I'm done. I can't do this. But I would get like in these meetings with these people projecting, but I would face them . I would be like, what are you talking about? I remember one time this woman told me, she's like, why do you need this money? She's like, you should suffer. And I was like, and this is from one of the top venture capital firms that funds women. And I told her, I looked her straight in the eye, said, why should I suffer? Because it was a projection of whatever she went through, whatever glass ceiling crap that she has

Speaker 3 48:08

To go through . Wow. Wow.

Speaker 1 48:10

Yeah. So that's my experience as a space girl. <laugh>

Speaker 3 48:14

<laugh> , my goodness. So what does that look like for you now in terms of being able to balance who's being performative, who's being genuine, and at what point do you just take the funding because you know that what you're creating is going to help people?

Speaker 1 48:30

I think that all my shadow work ha what it did was it created a resilient spirit that whoever is meant to fund this is going to align with me. That's where my comfort lies. But it took so much work to get there. Self-worth had to do with all my self-worth work. And so, you know, right now we are, we're actually right now we're in the last round of funding that we have to raise. And I've never been more calm in my life about it because I know that this is divine timing. It's going to come and I don't have to, like I said, go outside of myself perform or anything like that to get it.

Speaker 3 49:12

Your vibration is aligned with what you're manifesting.

Speaker 1 49:15

Exactly.

Speaker 3 49:15

Amazing. Um, I do have five rapid fire questions, but before I get there, <laugh> , um, this is your time to mentally prepare. Before I get there , um, I want you to share where people can find you, connect with you if you wanna, I know you do alchemist circles and you have something called Reiki rave, which is No , I , that's cool .

Speaker 1 49:36

When I DJ and I I DJ when there's those certain alignments. Um , yeah,

Speaker 3 49:41

Yeah . You have a lot going on. So tell us where you want us to connect with you and what we should check out . I'm always creating

Speaker 1 49:46

Something. I'm always creating something. Um , it's, it's fun. I love it. Um, well the easy thing is that everything is in my bio. The link in my bio has all my workshops. It has like where you wanna book your se if you wanna book a session, it's there. Um, all the podcasts I've done, are there everything you need to know about me? Everything You want the reiki raves are there. Everything is in that link tree . That link tree . The

Speaker 3 50:12

Instagram?

Speaker 1 50:13

Yeah . What's your

Speaker 3 50:13

Instagram?

Speaker 1 50:14

My Instagram is at Fara m Sidique . So we'll

Speaker 3 50:18

Link it.

Speaker 1 50:18

Yeah . You gonna rapid fire me now? <laugh>

Speaker 3 50:21

<laugh> . Here we go. Are you an early bird or night owl?

Speaker 1 50:26

Early bird.

Speaker 3 50:28

What's one book you think everyone should read?

Speaker 1 50:31

The Prophet by Khalil Giran .

Speaker 3 50:34

One way you show yourself Love

Speaker 1 50:36

Cooking. I cook for myself.

Speaker 3 50:39

<laugh> <laugh> and your son probably <laugh> .

Speaker 1 50:42

Yeah, whenever he wants it . <laugh> , you know , the kids , the kids these days , they're princes. So <laugh>

Speaker 3 50:48

<laugh> . When you're feeling down on yourself, how do you turn it around?

Speaker 1 50:53

Usually like I do like a facial or I listen to a meditation or bath. Crystal bath.

Speaker 3 51:00

That sounds so luxurious. <laugh> .

Speaker 1 51:03

I was like, girl, you can buy crystals and just throw 'em in your bathtub.

Speaker 3 51:06

<laugh> done. <laugh> . Um, and then finally, what's one unpopular opinion? You have

Speaker 1 51:12

Unpopular opinion. Hmm . To think about that one. That's not so rapid.

Speaker 3 51:19

I know's. Okay, <laugh>

Speaker 1 51:22

That's saying no is okay because saying no gets you out of self-sacrifice. It , it gets you out of situations where you know, you are inviting yourself into being in discomfort and that is a form of self-love. No is a form of self-love.

Speaker 3 51:40

100%. Yeah . Thank you so much. This has been, thank you . Such a great fun conversation.

Speaker 2 51:48

That's a wrap on another episode of the Self-Worth Edit podcast. What did you think of this one? Remember, come find and follow me on Instagram at the self-worth edit and let me know what you thought. If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot, share it, and tag me on Instagram so I can reshare your post. Until next time, bye.