Half-Dead & Fully Alive: Dissolving the Ego at Midlife with Elena Brower
Release Date: 02/11/2026
How the Divine Speaks: The Neuroscience of Sacred Storytelling (Part 2)
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
Why do the world’s great spiritual traditions teach through stories, imagery, and metaphor instead of simple instructions? In this episode, I’ll explore why metaphor changes us in a way facts alone cannot and how imagery bypasses the analytical mind to speak directly to the nervous system, imagination, memory, and body. Building on Part 1, we’ll dive deeper into Tantra’s vision of awakening as a love story between Shiva and Shakti: awareness and energy, stillness and sensation, consciousness and embodiment. I’ll explore: 🔹 Why metaphor activates the nervous system differently than...
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My Yogic Decision-Making Framework: How to Find Real Clarity
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
How do you make a big decision… yogically? In this episode, I explore what happens when you deeply desire something — a new job, a baby, a retreat, a training, a relationship — but don’t actually have the capacity to hold it right now. This is a conversation about desire, capacity, and the real conditions for clarity. Because so often we think we’re confused, when really what’s happening is that one part of us wants something badly, and another part of us knows we don’t have the bandwidth. In this episode, I explore: 🔹 The difference between desire and capacity and why both...
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Somatic Coaching to Break Family Patterns with Amy Hunter
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
What if the patterns running your life didn’t start with you? In this conversation, I sit down with Uplifted alum Amy Hunter to talk about the deeper work of somatic coaching, recovery, and healing family-of-origin patterns. Amy has taken multiple trainings inside the Uplifted ecosystem — including 200-hour, 300-hour, Kundalini, Embodied Yoga Life Coaching, and most recently the AI course — and now brings all of that into her own coaching practice. Together, we explore what it looks like to move from self-awareness into real change. In this episode, we cover: 🔹 How somatic coaching...
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What Is Bhakti Yoga? Krishna’s Most Confidential Teaching (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9)
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
What if the deepest spiritual secret wasn’t hidden somewhere far away, but woven into your ordinary life right now? In Chapter 9 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna reveals what he calls the “king of knowledge” and the “most confidential secret”. A teaching so simple and intimate that most people overlook it completely. This episode explores the heart of bhakti yoga: devotion, relationship with the divine, and the radical idea that the sacred permeates everything. We explore: 🔹 Why Krishna says the divine is both everywhere and beyond everything 🔹 The paradox at the center of yoga...
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Stop Trying to Be Calm: Kali & the Stress Cycle
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
What if stress isn’t actually the problem? What if the real issue is that your body never got to finish the stress response? In this episode, we revisit one of the most powerful conversations we’ve ever had on the podcast: why healing isn’t about becoming calm all the time and how sacred rage, movement, and emotional expression may actually be the missing piece to your healing. Using the archetype of the Hindu goddess Kali, we explore the difference between suppression and regulation, why so many yogis get stuck in spiritual bypassing, and how somatic practices help the body finally...
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How the Divine Speaks: Sacred Symbolism in the Gita, Bible & Upanishads Part 1
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
Have you ever noticed that when humans try to talk about God, awakening, truth, or the divine we almost never explain it directly? Instead, we tell stories. We say life is a battlefield. God is a shepherd. The soul is a river returning to the sea. The self is two birds sitting in the same tree. Across cultures, centuries, and spiritual traditions, mystics don’t simply define the divine, they paint it. In this episode, I take you on a kind of devotional poetry slam through sacred metaphor. We’ll explore passages from the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Psalms, and yogic philosophy to see...
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What Makes a Great Yoga Teacher Training? Your Questions Answered
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
Thinking about doing a yoga teacher training—but not sure how to choose the right one? In this bonus FAQ-style episode, I’m breaking down the questions I hear all the time—from “Will I actually finish?” to “Do I have to want to teach?”—and giving you a grounded, honest framework to make the best decision for YOU. Because not all trainings are created equal… and the difference isn’t just curriculum—it’s support, structure, and how you’re held through the experience. We’ll explore: 🔹 Why most people don’t finish yoga teacher training 🔹 The biggest mistake...
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7 Ways To Cultivate a Yoga Practice That Sticks
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
If your yoga practice keeps falling off… you’re not the problem. In this episode, I share 7 simple, realistic ways to create a yoga practice that actually sticks—even in busy seasons of life. We explore how to: 🔹 Redefine what “counts” as yoga 🔹 Build consistency without perfectionism 🔹 Create anchor practices you can rely on 🔹 Eliminate decision fatigue (so you actually show up) 🔹 Make your practice feel good again Whether you're short on time, energy, or motivation—this episode will help you reconnect to a practice that supports you. ✨ Make your yoga practice 2x...
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What Happens When You Die Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Explained
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
What will your final thought be? In Chapter 8 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna gives a surprising answer: your last thought isn’t something you can control in the moment — it’s the result of what you’ve practiced thinking about your entire life. So this chapter isn’t really about death — It’s about attention. In this episode, I explore: 🔹 Why your final thought reflects your lifelong mental patterns 🔹 The powerful teaching: “Remember me and fight” — spiritual awareness inside real life 🔹 How attention shapes your consciousness and future trajectory 🔹 The meaning of...
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Yoga Doesn’t Have a Devil. So What’s the Enemy? Part 2
The Uplifted Yoga Podcast
If yoga doesn’t really have a Satan figure…what’s the enemy? In this second part of my comparative theology series, I explore what Hindu philosophy names as the real obstacle on the spiritual path: ego, desire, delusion, and ignorance. We continue tracing parallels between Jesus, Buddha, and Hindu mythology — but here the focus sharpens around one big idea: the deepest danger isn’t pleasure or power. It’s misidentification. In this episode, I explore: 🔹 Why the “enemy” in yoga often sounds like self-doubt, ego, and identity insecurity 🔹 What Hindu myths reveal about...
info_outlineWhat if thinking about death wasn't morbid—but liberating?
In this conversation, Elena Brower (author of "Hold Nothing") and I get real about turning 40, 50, and beyond. We talk about why ego dissolution might be the greatest gift of aging, how meditation is actually an act of service to others, and why certainty is killing your relationships.
Elena shares why she's ready to let all her accomplishments dissolve, the difference between prayer and meditation (spoiler: maybe there isn't one), and a simple exhale practice that serves humanity.
This isn't your typical "graceful aging" conversation. It's about ruthlessly re-prioritizing, slowing down radically, and preparing for death in the most relaxed way possible.
In this episode:
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Why "I'm half-dead" is the most freeing thought you can have
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The invisible gift your meditation practice gives everyone around you
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How sitting still helps your kids solve their own problems
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Why knowing everything makes you terrible company
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A breathing practice you can do right now to serve humanity
💖 Ready to ‘DO LESS’ in your practice? Explore the Uplifted Membership here => https://www.brettlarkin.com/uplifted/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=uplifted
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GUEST EXPERT: Elena Brower | https://elenabrower.com/
Mother, mentor, poet, artist, volunteer, bestselling author, and podcast host, Elena Brower is a celebrated international yoga and meditation teacher on Glo, guiding transformative practices since 1999. Her new book, Hold Nothing, was published by Shambhala Publications in November 2025. Her column on Substack by the same name, Hold Nothing, supports girls and women, through On The Inside, Girls on Fire Leaders, Women for Women, and Free Food Kitchen.
FREE Practice: 60 Min Restorative Yoga | RESTORATIVE YOGA FOR TIGHT HIPS
Relevant Blog: Somatic Meditation: A Body-Based Approach to Healing Stress, Anxiety, and Trauma
Relevant to Today’s Episode:
🎧 Also Listen to:
#320 – Less Is More: How To Honor Yourself & Your Students with Elena Brower
#397 – How to Live Smartphone Free (From a 20 Year Old) with Yunus M.
#401 – Who Has Your Attention? Attention Economy vs the Ancient Path
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