The Uplifted Yoga Podcast

What happens when your hips can no longer do what your yoga practice asks of them?
In this deeply honest conversation, Uplifted alum Cyndi Stewart shares her journey toward hip replacement surgery — and the identity crisis that followed. As a longtime yoga teacher, intuitive healer, and movement lover, she opens up about navigating chronic hip pain, reduced mobility, and the emotional spiral that can come when your body no longer "performs."
We talk candidly about:
🔹 Early signs of hip degeneration and what yoga teachers often miss
🔹 Why strengthening matters more than stretching for long-term hip health
🔹 How overstretching can accelerate instability
🔹 What hip replacement surgery and recovery are actually like (timeline, pain, mobility, surprises)
🔹 Supporting students with hip replacements in class
🔹 The grief, ego, and surrender that accompany physical limitation
🔹 Somatic tools and meditations that helped regulate pain and fear
This episode is for yoga teachers worried about their own hips… for students navigating osteoarthritis or labral tears… and for anyone facing surgery and wondering what it means spiritually when your body says "enough."
Your body's breakdown is not your failure. Sometimes it's an initiation.
🌈 Sign Up For The Live Chakra Challenge https://www.brettlarkin.com/chakralive/ 
 
GUEST EXPERT: Cyndi P Stewart, PhD. | @stewartcyndi
Root Cause Health Solutions' founder, Cyndi Stewart, PhD, uses a unique "Mystics approach" to get to the heart of chronic health issues. Through her own healing journey, Cyndi discovered that physical symptoms are often the body's way of calling for attention. Her process integrates intuitive eating, bioenergetics, kinesiology, and the Akashic Records to uncover the root causes of dis-ease. A Kundalini and Uplifted Yoga teacher, she also uses yoga and meditation to ground her energy. To learn more about her work, including classes on Emotions & Metaphysical Kinesiology, you can visit rootcausehealthsolutions.com 
Connect with Cyndi: https://rootcausehealthsolutions.com/ 
Read about surgery and recovery on Cyndi's website here: https://rootcausehealthsolutions.com/body-mind-spirit-my-transformational-journey-through-hip-surgery/ 
 
FREE Practice: MORNING YOGA FOR TIGHT HIPS & LOWER BACK | Stretches for Flexibility - Unleash Your Creative Energy✨
Relevant Blog: 10 Yoga Poses For Hip Pain That Anyone Can Do
 
Relevant to Today's Episode:
📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book 
✅ 200-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🌀 Somatic Yoga Life Coaching 
💫 Somatic Certification
🎧 Also Listen to:
#285 – Is Yoga Enough…? with Dr. Jen Fraboni
#300 – Unraveling the Mystery of Chronic Pain for Yoga Teachers & Practitioners with Kim Patel
#369 – Nervous System Masterclass with Kristin Leal
 
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

Are you collecting yogic wisdom… or in a relationship with Divine mystery? Today we're opening into Chapter 7 of the Bhagavad Gita, and it's a true turning point. The first six chapters have been so much about discipline, self-mastery, and effort… but here, we pivot into the bhakti arc: relationship with the divine.
Before we drop into the verses, I frame the big shift this chapter is asking of us — and I weave it through a distinction that changes everything: jnana (intellectual knowing) vs vijnana (realized, embodied knowing).
Here are the 5 biggest takeaways from this episode:
🔹 The pivot from self-effort to reverence + relationship (and why this is such good news if you're tired of over-efforting)
🔹 Jnana vs vijnana: reading about truth vs living it in your nervous system, your body, your actual life
🔹 Krishna's reveal: not "worship me as a personality," but recognize the animating intelligence of reality (taste in water, light in sun + moon, Om…)
🔹 The gunas as weather patterns — and bhakti as remembering the "sky" behind them
🔹 The radical reframe: awakening isn't a solo achievement… it's participatory — you're being met
If you're loving this deeper dive into yogic texts, come join me inside the Uplifted Membership for the Yoga Sutras Book Club — it's where we keep studying together (with prompts, practices, and community) so the teachings move from your head into your life. 
💖 Join the membership today and get all the details on our next call → https://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=uplifted 
 
FREE Practice: The Healing Power of Divine Love | VINYASA FLOW HEART OPENING
Relevant Blog: What Are The Gunas In Yoga? A Complete Overview
 
Relevant to Today's Episode:
✅ History of Yoga
📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book 
🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery
🌀 Somatic Yoga Life Coaching 
💫 Somatic Certification
🎧 Also Listen to:
#297 – What is Samkhya Philosophy and How is it Different from Yoga?
#364 – Dissecting The 8 Limbs and Their Origins
#404 – What If I Fail? Krishna's Answer to Your Inner Critic (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6)
 
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

I recently went on live television — and it reminded me how much intentionality goes into both getting these opportunities and preparing for them.
In this episode, I share how media invitations actually happened for me (spoiler: it wasn't cold pitching networks)… and how I prep so live TV doesn't fry my nervous system. If you have a book, retreat, teacher training, or offering you want to grow, this is the real behind-the-scenes.
In this conversation, I cover:
🔹 The two-part strategy that builds visibility over time
🔹 Why doing "three uncomfortable things a day" changed my business
🔹 How local relationships led to magazine covers and TV invites
🔹 Why credibility and backlinks matter in the age of AI
🔹 My exact rehearsal process for live segments (so I don't freeze)
This episode is about outreach, alignment, nervous system awareness — and building momentum without overriding yourself.
Because visibility should feel expansive, not depleting.
📘 Want to explore the work I referenced in this episode? Grab Healing with Somatic Yoga here → https://amzn.to/3WGulGG 
 
FREE Practice: 30 Minute Morning Vinyasa Yoga Flow for a Boost of Energy | WAKE UP & STRETCH
Relevant Blog: Exploring the Five Human Design Types: A Guide to Self-Discovery
 
Relevant to Today's Episode:
📖 Yoga Life Book
📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book 
🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery
✨ AI Training Course
🎧 Also Listen to:
#291 – How to Get an Agent, Write Your Wellness Book and Make a Bigger Impact
#326 – How To Plan The Ultimate Yoga Photoshoot
#386 – Stop Selling Products—Start Selling YOU: Human Design for Visibility & Flow with Juliette Stapleton
#396 – Rewire Your Nervous System + My New Somatic Healing Book is HERE!
 
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

Let's talk about something a little controversial today… the forces of evil. 👀
How do different wisdom traditions frame temptation, demons, and the dark forces that often appear right before a spiritual breakthrough?
I'll explore the story of Eve in the garden, Jesus in the desert, and Buddha under the Bodhi tree, comparing how each figure faces illusion, doubt, and distraction—and what we can learn from them in our own practice.
I'll also break down how yogic philosophy (and Hinduism more broadly) defines the "enemy" very differently—from the ego as adversary to karmic patterns of desire and delusion. We'll explore:
🔹 Why the darkest moments often come before awakening
🔹 Jesus vs. Mara: how two traditions handle temptation
🔹 The serpent's tactic: twist truth, create doubt
🔹 Why contentment (Santosha) is spiritual protection
🔹 Vedanta's view: ego, craving, and identification as the true 'enemy'
🔹 How to tell if you're in a "spiritual setup" moment
This is part one of a two-part conversation exploring temptation, truth, and the psychological and spiritual forces we encounter on the path. Whether you're deep into the Gita or just navigating your own spiritual uplevel, this one's for you.
💖 Ready to deepen your practice and live from your true nature? Explore the Uplifted Membership here => https://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=uplifted
 
Book mentioned: Deceived No More by Doreen Virtue
FREE Practice: 10 Min Kundalini Kriya For Awakening For Beginners | GUIDED KUNDALINI MEDITATION
Relevant Blog: What Is Santosha? Yoga's Philosophy of Happiness.
 
Relevant to Today's Episode:
✅ History of Yoga
📖 Yoga Life Book 
🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery
💖 Uplifted Membership
🎧 Also Listen to:
#362 – Somatics, Catholicism & Tantra – A Big Picture Inquiry
#395 – The Role of "God" in Yoga + Tantric Shadow Work w/ Katie Silcox
#408 - Aparigraha vs. Hustle Culture: I Quit Maximizing. Here's What Happened
 
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com

What if your chakra "block" isn't a block — but your nervous system doing its job?
In this bonus episode, I go deeper into your most advanced chakra questions: from how the polyvagal ladder maps onto the energy body, to why certain life patterns keep repeating. We'll explore how trauma, somatics, and subtle anatomy intersect — and why your healing path isn't linear (and was never meant to be). We'll explore:
🔹 Are chakras sequential or cyclical?
🔹 Why trauma theory transforms how we understand energy centers
🔹 How the koshas and gunas make chakra work more precise
🔹 Why you keep facing the same life lessons — and what to do about it
🔹 How each chakra reflects your nervous system's state (fight/flight/freeze)
This is a practical, somatic deep-dive into energy anatomy, grounded in compassion, science, and lived experience. If you've ever said "I feel stuck," this one's for you.
🌈  Discover your dominant chakra with my FREE dominant chakra test => https://www.brettlarkin.com/chakra-test/
🎁 Grab my new book: Healing with Somatic Yoga: A 6-Week Journey to Release Emotions, Rewire Your Nervous System, and Reclaim Your Body → https://amzn.to/3WGulGG
 
FREE Practice: 30 Min Somatic Yoga Flow through Somatic Movement for Hips, Lower Back, Sacral Chakra
Relevant Blog: Opening Root Chakra Symptoms And How To Balance Muladhara
 
Relevant to Today's Episode:
📚 Healing with Somatic Yoga Book 
🔮 300-hour Online Yoga Teacher Training
🐍 Yoga for Self Mastery
💖 Uplifted Membership
🎧 Also Listen to:
#303 – The 7 Chakras as a Tool for Personal Growth
#324 – The Importance of Emotional Processing and Regulation: DENT Model Trauma
#390 – The Koshas Decoded: Energy Layers, Leadership + Financial Flow with Carla Cline Thomas
 
© 2026 Uplifted Yoga | BrettLarkin.com