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Nearly Enlightened
Join Nearly Enlightened's host Giana Giarrusso and discover the body, mind and spirit connection! The Nearly Enlightened Podcast is for the soul-centered seeker who is on the path of personal growth and spiritual development. This podcast takes a light-hearted approach exploring topics rooted in themes of mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
Nearly Enlightened
Week Two Deepen Your Practice: Go Within
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What if one hour of true presence could change everything?
In this week’s episode of the Deepen Your Practice Challenge, Dee and Giana unpack the powerful (and often misunderstood) concept of discipline—not as punishment, but as devotion. Through the lens of the Niyamas, yoga’s personal observances, they explore how small, intentional rituals can lead to big inner shifts.
✨ Saucha (Cleanliness): Discover how morning practices like tongue scraping and slow, tech-free time aren’t just Ayurvedic hygiene hacks—they’re energetic resets for the soul.
🧘♀️ Santosha (Contentment): Tired of the “I’ll be happy when...” trap? Learn how to make peace with the present moment—without bypassing life’s messiness.
🔥 Tapas (Discipline): Hear Gianna’s raw take on phones in yoga class and how showing up with intention (not perfection) is the real key to growth.
🪞 Svadhyaya (Self-Study): From Break Method journaling to quiet reflection, discover tools for spotting patterns, breaking cycles, and taking radical responsibility.
🌌 Ishvara Pranidhana (Surrender or Devotion): What does it really mean to let go? Explore how faith in something greater can help you meet the unknown with grace instead of fear.
Whether you’re new to the Niyamas or looking to embody them more deeply, this episode is your invitation to transform discipline into devotion—and create space for clarity, contentment, and self-trust.
🎧 Listen now and visit nearlyenlightened.com or tap into the Meditate to Elevate portal for guided practices that bring these teachings to life.
👉 Next week: We dive into the physical layers of practice with Asana and Pranayama. You won’t want to miss it.
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Welcome to the Nearly Enlightened podcast, a high vibe toolbox designed to help you connect to your body, mind and spirit. I'm your host, gianna Girusso, and I'm here to share tools, conversations and insights to help you on your journey of self-discovery. This podcast is all about exploring what it means to live a conscious, connected and nearly enlightened life, because the truth is, the answers aren't outside of us, they're already within. Let's dive in. I'm joined again by Dee and we are diving in further week two of our deepen your practice challenge. Hi Dee, hello, week two. Here we go. It is so crazy I can't believe we're already in week two.
Speaker 1:I know Feels good. We have just wrapped up the yamas and we are heading into the niyamas, which are more of like personal observances.
Speaker 2:Yes, like guides. Get that. The niyamas are kind of like it helps guide us towards cultivating more balance and discipline in the inner world, I would say like the connection to ourself.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I love that we keep bringing up discipline. It's funny I talked about this in my yoga classes yesterday because it was kind of on a tirade. People have been texting in my yoga classes and I'm like what the fuck, whoa, really, yes, lots of phones in my yoga classes. And I'm like what the fuck, whoa, really, yes, lots of phones in the yoga room um, would that's so interesting to me?
Speaker 2:I would, I would it's so layered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so layered because both studios have signs that are like please leave your phone outside of here, um. But I think it's like sometimes I think it's a little bit of a generational thing, because it's usually more of like the college girlies not to call them out, but I'm calling them out, um. So yeah, yesterday in my three classes I kind of went on a tirade of just like you can unplug for 60 fucking minutes yes, yeah, you can, you should you.
Speaker 2:I don't want to should on anybody, but you should.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's just 60 minutes like you will survive. And, like I said, if it's an emergency or you're waiting for an important phone call, like absolutely pull me aside and tell me. But for, like, the majority of life, things like if the mom next to you can leave her phone in the cubby or the locker outside, so can you yeah, I don't know if I that that, how I like I don't even know what to say, because that, just like, well, it, it blows my mind.
Speaker 1:I think we just lack discipline as a society and like I love bringing this conversation back into the yoga world, because when I first started yoga, way back when, um, discipline was something that we talked about all the time and yoga is a practice of discipline and we kind of kind of um have like this negative connotation about what discipline means. We think of it as like a consequence or, like you know, an outcome of doing something bad, but discipline that we've lost.
Speaker 2:we've lost the meaning of this yeah, and we're going to come to this when we talk about the meaning of this one. Yeah, and we're going to come to this when we talk about the niyamas.
Speaker 1:This is actually one of the niyamas. So let's dive in. Yes, let's dive in. So day six, that's well, depends on when you're listening, but it's today and we're talking about Saucha cleanliness, and there's so many different ways you can think of this. You can think of it as like physical cleanliness, of course, like physical cleanliness of space, of personal hygiene, which are great things, um and. But today, for me, it was kind of like taking a moment to have a slow morning and to like mentally detox more than anything, like I sat in bed and read with my kitty and that just felt like so detoxifying and cleansing. So sometimes it can, you know, it can be like the physical, and with anything in yoga it could be physical or it can be intangible. And so for me, today that was kind of like taking that moment, like have an energy detox.
Speaker 2:Yeah, an emotional detox and just things that help foster inner peace. You, whether, as you said, there's like this with a lot of what we're talking about, with both the niyamas and the the yamas, there's like this pendulum right where you can take it from something that is tangible or or or it's not. Um, for me, this morning I shared a little bit about my morning routine as well and a few things that I do physically, a little bit about my morning routine as well, and a few things that I do.
Speaker 1:Physically, your post was fire, like everyone go look at these posts.
Speaker 2:It was so beautiful, it was so inspiring. I loved it, thank you. Well, I just felt. I just feel like, as a gut health practitioner, it's important to put to you know this is a big piece of gut health too, is you know, just simply starting with like tongue scraping is I don't know what it is, but piece of gut health too, is you know, just simply, starting with like tongue scraping is I don't know what it is, but it's I just I have to, I can't, I can't leave my house unless I do it.
Speaker 1:I love that we both had like cause tongue. Tongue scraping is an Ayurvedic practice, Um, and then I had some CCFT, which is cumin, coriander and fennel seed, which is also really detoxifying for the lymphatic system. But these are two Ayurvedic practices, so Ayurveda is the sister science to yoga, and so I love that we both talked about Ayurvedic practices today.
Speaker 2:I know I was giggling when I saw your post, because that's exactly where my mind was too. And then I just I, when I have the time, as you were saying, like you had a slow morning, I also had a slow morning and I was able to make myself a fresh, cold, pressed green juice and sit in the morning sun, which, you know, it sometimes is not possible for me where I am in my life and at this time and phase where I am. But when I do those things, it's, you know, it's a nice, it's like giving back to my body and doing like allowing the inner, the inners, uh, of myself to take a deep breath, and I think that that's, you know, such a purity east. That's what I think of, um, you know, obviously, you know taking a shower is great, um, yes, and that's a big part of my cleansing practice too.
Speaker 1:Like I will not get in bed at night unless I shower.
Speaker 2:I can't. It feels weird yeah and it's.
Speaker 1:It's also like, yeah, it's a physical cleansing, but also like I feel like it's an energetic cleansing of just like washing the day off oh for sure, even when I was in my like party deep, I couldn't.
Speaker 2:I would come home at three in the morning and I would have to take a shower, didn't matter, I had to do it. Um so yes.
Speaker 1:So then we're moving into day seven, which is santosha contentment um, which I love, because we've kind of like talked about this, we've like foreshadowed this in some of the other posts, because I feel like all of the yamas and the niyamas leading up to this is kind of like it's it's kind of like not pushing us to get there, but it's um inspiring us to find contentment in what is the right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, the here and the now and you know I think sometimes for me I talk about this a lot is where you know you'll be going through something that might be challenging. And you know I feel like sometimes it's some people that you speak to or confide in, like one of the things that really is an ick for me is toxic positivity.
Speaker 1:So I think anyone who's listened to the podcast before knows this.
Speaker 2:So I think, like, yes, it is so important to find that happiness or that contentment in the present moment and to always be searching for that, but allow space for both, and like just know, you have the wisdom and the capacity to hold both hard things and happy things at the same time, and I think that that's kind of like for me. That's what Santosha means for me.
Speaker 1:Yes, and for me, like I was one of those people who, like I, would see the big picture goal and like if I wasn't get and still sometimes I can be this way and if I'm not getting to that big picture goal fast enough or on the timeline that I think it should be on, like it does disrupt that, that present moment contentment. And, yes, you want to keep that big goal in mind, but it shouldn't sway you one way or another from feeling like present or happy and content with where you are right now. And and I think this is a good reminder because so many of us are like, oh, I'll be happy when X Y Z, I'll feel more at peace when X Y Z. And it's like no, like, even if you're in your busiest season, like you can find that present, that contentment in the right now, like there's a reason you're in this space yeah, totally and then we move into day eight tapas discipline yes, here we are, we've arrived so discipline is so important in the yoga practice.
Speaker 1:It's its own, it's its own thing it is its own thing.
Speaker 2:It's I think it's a lot of it, too is like this personal dedication to your own growth and you know if you feel like you're falling off course. Yeah, you like that. Perseverance that's a word that comes to mind when I think about tapas is, you know, how can you push through challenges and maintain your commitment? You know, and this one can also too you can, you can even bring this onto the mat. This is a good one.
Speaker 1:Yes, good one, I know on and off the mat, like I think I talked about it in our last episode, but you know I have the same students late every time, like 10 minutes late every single time. It's like you're 10 minutes late for a 60 minute class. Now you've cut your practice down to 50 minutes. You're disrupting the class which, yes, the practice. The other practitioners should be practicing yoga and shouldn't be swayed by that. But it's a respect thing for the people around you. It's honoring other people's time, which we talked about in the yamas um and just having that discipline of like I'm management, like if you're, if you're one of those people who are always consistently late, it's like it's not a thing that holds you in one direction. It's like you are always late.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a time management problem there yes, I have a lot to work on with this one especially.
Speaker 1:This is something I work on too, because, you know, I come from an Italian European family who, it's like what is time, which like, yes, what is time, but like also having integrity and honoring other people's time exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:I that's. I feel very similar because I live in Panama and here it's called Latino time, like if you you can say, come over to my house for coffee at 10 am and anywhere between 9, 30 and 2 pm, you've got to have the kettle on because you just, you never know Like I remember when I would run meetings, I would tell people to get there two hours before I would actually even show up because I just knew. So it's like honoring not just your own time and energy, but the people around you.
Speaker 2:Yes, and even just having the discipline to make the time and space for the practice, like you know, taking it just back to the physical practice, which obviously we want to go beyond that, but like, if you don't make time for that physical practice and being there, being present, like that is part of discipline too yeah, and you this is like I was saying, like this is a good one to take on and off the mat, like if you're working towards a specific asana that you want to, you know, be able to practice more often, you have to keep practicing. You have to be disciplined enough to keep practicing and to have that make to make the time to practice physically and you will get there. It's like riding a bike.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're not just gonna like get up on two wheels one day.
Speaker 2:No, so discipline tapa, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Day nine we're coming into Svadhyaya, which I love. This is self-study and like this could be part of like. If the physical practice of yoga is not for you, you can still practice yoga by observing and participating in self-study.
Speaker 1:And this one is a big one for me because obviously, as you know, like I did the self-study through break method, which I think is an amazing tool. It's like another 30 day kind of guided journaling journey, and I think that's a great way, like if you're curious about just diving deeper into self-awareness and how you show up in the world and being the best version of yourself. Like I think self-study is such a great place to start.
Speaker 2:It's huge. It's for me too. I feel very, very strongly about this as well and I think the reason why I obviously I heard about break method through you and I went through it and I think the reason why I was very dedicated to go through it was because I was an amount of time and place where I need to take personal risk. You know, radical personal responsibility for myself, recognizing the patterns like there might be some patterns in your life that you don't even recognize and to be able to have someone to guide you through it, to be like holy shit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a deep look inward and sometimes like that's really hard to look at, like the not so pretty parts of yourself, yeah, and, but it's okay, and I think that that's part of the process.
Speaker 2:You know, if you can't take an honest look at yourself in the mirror, then what are you doing? You know? I think that that's it's only going to make you a better person, I think, you know. And just continuing that introspection and that study and self-reflection, yeah, it's one thing, of course, to write in a journal, but, like, can you take action on those patterns that you keep repeating, that are holding you back or keeping you, you know, in fear?
Speaker 2:Stop satire yeah, yeah, and I think too, like, if that is there, I think there's also too another way to look at this self-study. You know, you don't have to necessarily be so. I mean you can also use this. You can use maybe like sacred texts to also help you. You know, like for the Bible bible it might be for some people, um, a course in miracles is another great book to help through. You know, just just texts that help you. Aid in self-discovery, I think, is another way you could practice this niyama for sure.
Speaker 1:And then that moves us into day 10, surrender. I am going. I'm so sorry I'm gonna absolutely butcher the Sanskrit on this one. It is such a long word. Um, it's Ishvara Pranidhana. Yeah, that's great. I've heard it pronounced like a bunch of different ways.
Speaker 1:That is like how it's spelled, so if I'm wrong, please like correct me um but this is just surrender, trusting the divine, trusting the flow, and I think this is just such an important life lesson that I think all humans learn, whether they practice yoga or not, whether they're spiritual or not. Like you, have to learn to surrender, um knowing that sometimes there's a bigger plan at play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is really hard. Yeah, it's really hard. I feel like there's, you know, sometimes there's a, there's this pendulum where you can swing from fear to faith, and sometimes I kind of, just when I fall into the trap of not being able to commit to that surrender, I'm like, okay, where am I operating here on this pendulum, and how can I get closer to the faith side in surrendering side and surrendering um, just aligning your actions with knowing that there's a bigger, a higher power of your, of your understanding.
Speaker 1:And this always reminds me of, like you know, going back to my religious roots. I guess um of like giving your fear to God, giving your angst and anxiety to god, like this, is always a reminder of that, because not everything is in our control and when we worry and stress about things that aren't in our control, we're like just prolonging and, um, like deepening our suffering. So sometimes, instead of the worry, the fear, you have to just surrender and and trust yes, yeah and yes, ma'am I think that's pretty much where we can wrap it up today, unless you want.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else you want to say about the niyamas?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I think that the niyamas are quite I don't want to say self-explanatory, but I feel like they're. You know, I'm I feel, I feel good about that.
Speaker 1:I feel about what we shared and for people to take what we shared into their own interpretation and then take this into the challenge or into your daily life, off the mat onto the mat yes, I'm excited to see how everyone, um, how everyone's perspective is on on these topics, like I think it's really interesting to see because, like we said in the last episode, like this is a 5 000 year old practice, and like it's fun to see how people bring it into the modern world teachers and students alike yeah, yeah, because we all have different perspectives, we all have different lives, and I love seeing how it's showing up for different, for different people and participants and, yeah, I keep it going.
Speaker 1:I'm excited, thank you so this is week two, the Niyamas, and then next week we'll be sliding into Asana and Pranayama, which, um, that's what, uh, we, we talk about the most when we talk about modern yoga or like in in the modern yoga world. So, um, that will be next week and, yeah, I can't believe we're already like halfway through this challenge. It's so crazy. I know it feels good, it feels great. I'm so glad we decided to do this. Me too. It's a good reminder for myself, like to come back to these practices where they kind of like you've been practicing for so long, sometimes they um, not that they slip your mind, like you get into these grooves and it just it does become a way of life, but just a little reminder of like why we do these things.
Speaker 2:Is is nice yeah, yeah, I agree, I think just kind of bringing it back to the surface, bringing it, you know it's there, it's there for sure, especially after going through a YTT, you know, or just continuously practicing, it's good to bring it back up to the surface and have it, you know, on the front burner, if you will, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I think, even even for asana. You know, I talked about this in my yoga classes yesterday. Like, I think, most people who have been practicing for a long time, like they even lose it in the asana. I know that personally. Like you tend to rest in your flexibility. You're just like flowing through mindlessly, You're just like not fully present. So it's nice to have these reminders of like oh yeah, bring it back to the beginning.
Speaker 2:Totally yeah, and just always be a student. I think both you and I agree on that and I think that there's, you know, always room for improvement and learning. So yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for joining me today and, um, stay tuned for next week. We'll go through next week's practice, so there'll be two more episodes that coincide with the challenge. You don't have to be in the challenge to listen to them, but it's a good. It's a good reminder and if you're yoga curious, this is a great way to dive in.
Speaker 2:Totally.
Speaker 1:Thank you, d, for joining me and thank you all so much for tuning into today's episode of the nearly enlightened podcast. If this conversation resonated with you, I would love it if you shared it. Leave a review or reach out and let me know your thoughts. And if you're looking for more ways to deepen your connection to body, mind and spirit, check out my Meditate to Elevate portal, my guided meditation portal, or visit nearlyenlightenedcom for more resources. Until next time, stay curious, stay connected and remember the answers already lie within.