Maasai Wisdom & Spiritual Awakening - Silvia Resnik

Silvia Resnik, Austrian coach and guide, has been shaped by a single thread: the deep human need for self-understanding and authentic connection. Silvia shares her lifelong struggle with depression and inner void, her late discovery that she was a vanishing twin, and how a chance encounter with the Maasai people of Tanzania cracked her wide open and gave her back her joy. She reflects on the contrast between Western culture's obsession with achievement and possessions and the Maasai's rich communal life, discusses her project to end FGM and bring education to indigenous communities, and speaks candidly about women's unique challenge of unlearning the roles imposed on them from birth. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Hello everyone, welcome back to a new episode of the Spiritual Inspired show. I am your host, uh Claudio Morgan. For older episodes, uh please uh visit Oraverse Network, our YouTube channel, or spiritualinspired.ca. My uh guest uh today comes from Austria, and she is Sylvia Resnick. Sylvia, thank you for accepting my invitation.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Thank you so much for uh for having me here. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

You know, you are um a professional, or you were a professional uh that went from kindergarten teacher to HR professional to entrepreneur and certified coach. Looking back, was there a thread connecting all those roles, or did each feel like a completely new beginning for you?

SPEAKER_02 0:57

I would say it there is a red thread because uh it's it has all to do with human behavior. So kindergarten teaching, so you have to take care that the kids um uh develop in a good way, you have to support them. Then in the human resource management, again, you have to work with people. Um, you have to see I my role was also always to see where can they develop, where they do they have their strength, where can I support them? And now as a coach, it's the same. I support people, I guide them. I don't really like the the term coaching so much anymore because I feel like coaches they tend to present um solutions, and I don't do that because I figured through my own journey, if you have somebody who's telling you what you should do, it takes away this um finding out yourself, finding your own way, and experiencing this finding uh yourself. So you take away a lot of uh experience from the people. So this is why I see myself more like a guide. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

And I like to call myself a mirror for those I'm talking to because when they talk, I reflect that energy back to them, and their thoughts will clarify much faster.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

Yes, exactly. And that's the point. Because when you're alone, you don't see specific things, you the mirror is missing, and the guide who's asking questions, maybe, but it's never about giving you a solution. And uh that's why, yeah, I don't like the coaching term so much.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yes, and I know, like most of us, uh, you had the chance to check all the boxes, you know, a fulfilling career, marriage, uh, marriage, beautiful home, yet filling an inner void. How long did you live with that void before you began to act on it? And what gave you the courage to act on it?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Actually, I always had this void in myself, uh, this feeling of void in myself. And um, yeah, in the beginning, you just you you try to do things, you try to go to university, and then you think, okay, and when I have my degree, and then everything is fine, and when I have the job, everything's fine. But in 2020, I couldn't, I couldn't really do that anymore. Um, so I was always also struggling with depression, with melancholy. So it was always a little bit, yeah, on the darker side, I would say. And in 2020, my mom, she uh yeah, we went to this woman. Um, uh she is a spiritual woman, and she told me that I'm an alone-born twin. And I was like, that's crazy. I mean, hello, why could she look at me and say that to me? And my mom, she went quiet, and I was like, Mom, what's wrong with you? And she told me that there was indeed in the beginning of the pregnancy, there was a second dot uh on the ultrasound, and it vanished at one point. And you know, in the 80s, nobody was talking about those kind of things. So she said she always had the feeling there were supposed to be two, but you know what? Could she say? So, yeah, and later on it it just developed, and I went more into it. Uh, I yeah, found out more about what was missing. So it was my sister, then the purpose, and you know, then you you get there at one point.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

I mean, your story gave me goosebumps. I knew about uh your sister throughout my uh research, but I wasn't aware, and I wanted to ask you at what age did you find out that you just shared that with us. So it's very late, or not very late, but late in life that you uh had this uh discovery about yourself and your family. And now that you are on the spiritual path much more deeper, have you had the chance or have you tried to connect with that lost soul of your sister?

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yes, uh, I did that immediately to be honest. I also went through um to a hypnotherapist and I wanted to connect with her, but that did not work. Only uh last year, throughout um my my really big spiritual awakening, I would say, I I really connected with her. I I was talking to her basically. I mean, before that I felt her presence. And um how can I say that? I yeah, had you know these uh inner child work um journeys where I met her, but it was not really like last year where I really was face to face to her. I could or I could see her energy, and uh yeah, I realized that she's been with me all along, and I was basically always looking outside. She was always here with me inside, and I think that's also um very, very common in in a lot of people. They always look outside when actually what you have to do is turn inwards and and focus on what's inside.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

And do you have the feeling that you missed out on all these years without knowing her? Did she try to reach out to you before and you're not paying attention?

SPEAKER_02 5:55

I'm sure that she did that because I always had this magnetic drawing to to uh twins, and I always was looking for a friend or somebody who can who can um take this role, but it's in it's impossible. So I think she was sending me signals, but I didn't realize them, to be honest. And um now it's like yeah, she's always with me, so uh we are we are connected, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

And how did your mother react to this type of um spiritual uh connection? Is she aware? Is she connecting with her as well?

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Yeah, my mom is also spiritual. I would say not as spiritual as I, but um she she immediately felt that this is true, and so she told me, yeah, she there's no doubt that this is true. Um you could test it by the way, nowadays. Um, maybe I do that one day, but for me it's just a reality because for me, I I felt this. Um, how can I say I felt the consequences all my life, you know, even as a child? I remember there was something, yeah, I didn't feel whole basically.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Interesting. And also your uh life change again uh when you went to Zanzibar, you had that connection with the uh Maasai. And uh, how do you see that connection uh looking back after a number of years?

SPEAKER_02 7:22

It's again a next step of awakening, I would say. So this this twin um that I had my found my twin sister, that was the first part, and then the second part was really this um the meeting the Maasai because again I was so devastated, I was having depression again when I went there. And then after a few days, I met the first Maasai and um who are still friends, and they opened up a new, a whole new world to me, you know. They showed me how their life is that they they shared with me their we went to local restaurants, so they shared everything with me. And then in the last three years, I really went a lot to the Bomas, I spent time with them, I I learned from them, and also this connection. I mean, it's a completely different language, and I don't speak it so far. Um, but you know, this this human connection without even speaking the same language is so intense and so um touching, and I still get goosebumps when I think about it. So uh yeah, they they cracked something open in me, they they gave me back my my happiness, and I'm forever thankful for that, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah, yes, and their um style of living is very basic, they are very close to nature, and I know that other tribes uh throughout Africa have various um uh ceremonies and customs to take their uh young ones from um childhood or early age to manhood or womanhood. Do they have something similar that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Yes, actually, this year there were some celebrations. Um, if I'm not wrong, it's called Ainuta, and it's basically um again a transition from childhood to adulthood, and they they do circumcise circumcision from the boys but also from the girls. And this is um also something that maybe maybe or not not maybe, this is one of the most important things that I don't really uh enjoy about this this culture because I think it's just very cruel to to circumcise a woman, and they slowly, slowly stop uh doing this, and they they slowly slowly start to to uh introduce different different practices or a different ritual. Um, but it's still very common, yes. And this is really the only thing that I that breaks my heart, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah, and I know all these practices uh were on display in the uh 2005 movie The White Maasai that describe um the story of Corinne Hoffman who visited Kenya in the 80s and 90s, and she lived there, she had a daughter, and she tried to protect her daughter from uh going through this type of um initiation, let's call it.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Yeah, it's so she was, as you say, in Kenya, she was with a Samburu, um which is basically almost the same, not completely like Maasai. And um yeah, it is indeed. So nowadays they start to do it with the very young girls because uh it is forbidden in Tanzania. Um, but some some in some areas they still try to do it, and um but the awareness is still coming, you know, you have to come with education, and I do understand it in a in a way why they are doing these kinds of things, because um they have to endure this pain without any painkillers, without any medication. So they just prepare mentally. And when you think about where they are living in the bush, you know, and uh for example, the man they have to fight a lion. If if the lion attacks them or attacks the cattle, they have to protect them. Um if and if they get injured or whatever, they cannot just say, Oh my god, now I'm injured and now I give up, because then their life is, you know, it's over. So they have to endure pain, they have to go through this, and they have to still um yeah, be able to protect themselves. So I do understand the the pain part of it, you know. But again, for the guys, it's just skin. And for the for the women, it's really a very important organ, a very important part of our um of our womanhood, you know, and it's not just something, some some skin.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, exactly. It's not it's not easy. I don't think it's easy even for for men is still pain involved, but uh, I'm sure they have uh various modalities to um mental modalities, in fact, to suppress that uh pain, but overall it's still something that um can go into our or our body and get stuck in a different form that later on can become a disease. Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yes. So with them, it's for example, they prepare, they start very early with uh burning um marks. For example, I don't know if you have seen the the circum circles and here in the middle, or they also take out the teeth, uh one one teeth, because um they say in when you have a medical emergency, then you can feed the people uh through this um hole in the teeth. And so this is how they prepare step by step to get there, and they it's true, they are really they they can control their emotions very well, but again, with the women, maybe they find something else, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

And I know that you know, before tourism was uh a source of revenue for them, they had to live off the land uh completely. Have that balance uh changed in the last, let's say, 10 years? Do you see them uh relying more on uh tourists coming to their um neighborhoods and their tribes, or are they still uh that component is still a small source of revenue for them?

SPEAKER_02 13:14

So it depends on the area, but it's getting more and more difficult also because the government in Tanzania they want to um yeah, to uh get rid of them. They want last year or two years ago, uh, President Samiya she wanted to take away their right to vote. So she's trying to get them out to push them out of Ngorongoro um area. And uh it's it's difficult for them, to be honest. They face a lot of backlash uh in within the country, although the country depends heavily on them because the Maasai are the most famous tribes, you know. I mean, every uh advertiser you see from Zanzibar, you see the red people on this on the beach, the Maasai. Um, although it is not their so they they they usually don't live on Zanzibar, so they are also foreigners there. And um, there are also tensions between the Zanzibaris and the uh and the Maasai and other people from the mainland. So it is not so easy for them because also no education, you know. Um then Samiya, she also takes away not only the schools, she also takes away the hospitals from the areas where she doesn't like uh the Maasai to live anymore. So it's it's it's a very difficult situation for them. And my goal is also a part so I I started this project to stop FTM, and a big part of it will also be education. And I'm not talking about another school putting the system that we have onto them. So it's just more about teaching them the basic skills, you know, like reading, writing, English, uh what what happens when I sign a contract? So they are able to do the important things in life, how to do a business, you know, how to calculate everything, those kind of stuff. So they have the abilities to survive in this new environment. Yeah, that's the goal.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Indeed, very helpful. And I'm going to ask you a rhetorical um question. Do you know why this worldwide uh obsession with the governments to destroy the natives? Have you found an explanation?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

No, I have not found it, but it's everywhere, literally everywhere. And I feel like uh it has a lot to do with the urge to control, to make everything the same, uh, and uh unify everything. And this is maybe also something why I'm so drawn to the Maasai, because uh to a very um high degree they they are so resilient, you know, they don't take anything for for granted, they don't absorb everything, so they stick to their culture, and this is what I love about them. And I don't know because our planet could be so diverse, we could have so many interesting cultures to look at if we hadn't done all these um yeah, stupid things, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah, destruction, uh destruction and atrocities all over the world, indeed.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Yeah, and everyone has to be Christian or or Muslim, and everyone, and this is something I mean, when when you look at Africa, for example, or even South America, they had so many indigenous tribes, so many interesting cultures. They were they were developed. I mean, in Africa, they I I just saw a video recently um that says that they had c-sections even long before we started to do that. So they they were developed. Maybe it just looked a little bit different, and it the behavior is a little bit different, but that doesn't mean it's less worthy or less yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah, I don't consider us evolving over the years. I consider devolving because at least at the mentality level and psychological level and spiritual level, we are way behind uh those uh of our ancestors, pretty much, because they look at the world from a different perspective. Yes, at one point they went through destruction themselves, but um at least they were much more advanced uh from various uh perspectives.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Yeah, what I see also is that uh in the Western world it's all about possessions, all about I have this, and my my car is like this, and then the neighbor buys a bigger car, and then I need a bigger car, and it's all all about we optimize everything, ourselves, our faces, everything. And what we lose is connection. I mean, how many people are isolated, how many people are really alone all the time, they have no contact anymore. We think we have social media and we are connected with the whole world. When in reality, as soon as the camera is off, everyone is lonely. And this is something also that I love about the Maasai, this connection. And uh yeah, my best example is always the greeting, you know. When you meet uh a Maasai, then you say so by when it's a guy, and when it's a lot of Maasai, you say so by Morani, and then they have to answer apa, and they always do it together, and you it doesn't matter if it's four or it's 20, 20, or 30, it's always you know, and they have this connection with each other, and I love it, I love it really.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yes, and uh they still have that um custom where the children are being raised by the whole village.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Yes, that's also so. For example, when a mother is giving birth, um the women they support her for three months. She is not, she doesn't have to do anything, she doesn't have to cook, she doesn't have to clean, nothing. The people are coming, they help her, and she just can take care of the baby. And this is so beautiful because it the this support is is just yeah, and also afterwards, you know, they all do it together. I mean the Maasai have multiple wives usually, so that's that's in their in their uh culture. And when you talk to them and you ask about jealousy and everything, then you realize very fast that it's also very practical because they they share the workload, you know. And so I don't I don't judge them. You know, when you when you would have asked me five years or ten years before, I would have told you, oh my goodness, and uh one man and one woman and blah blah blah. Um, but nowadays I feel like who who tells us what is right and what is wrong? As long as it works for them, it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yes, and it's the same uh with um religion. We had no business, uh the Western uh culture and uh the Catholic religion had no business into uh going to Africa or South America trying to um Christianize um those tribes and um those cultures which are also advanced from uh our perspective looking back now, but they had to destroy to make it uh uniform to uh abide to the Western uh customs. So that's very, very sad.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

And I think also to use them better, you know. So they had they had to form their labors, their labor forces, and now they can abuse them much more easily. They can take all the money, they can rob them. And um they did it on multiple levels. I I was also just thinking about the names. I mean, the Maasai, they have names like Jacob, like uh Thomas, and and things like that. Um, those are the Christian names, and then they have a Maasai name like like Lapani, like Lemuya, or something like that, and it's so sad. And then I saw this video the other day where the same happened in Nigeria. So we we also take away their names just to give them our boring Western names, you know, and I don't like it. And but they did it really on every level, and that's so sad.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yes, and it happened in uh Burkina Faso because I read about the story of uh Malidona Somme, which um has transitioned to the other side. Amazing um stories and um personal uh trauma he went through when he was kidnapped uh by the Jesuits from his own uh family and his own village. So um, yeah, these are just you know a few examples, but I'm sure that there are thousands upon thousands of uh children who suffered all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Uh this type of America where they took them also into the into the schools away from their uh from their homes, forbid them to talk in their language, etc. etc. So this colonization uh um that we did, and it did not stop actually, because I still see um hospitals being made in the uh from Christian societies, and then when you enter there, you have To either have a Christian name or you have to be baptized or you have to do this. And then I'm asking, where is the help? Where is the humanity? Why do I have to put the label on somebody in order to help them? I mean, if I'm a humanitarian, then I help people, not Christians, you know. So yeah, it's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, I mean, we don't have to look more than you know six years ago when the doctors will not uh see a pregnant woman if she wasn't uh you know uh vaccinated against uh COVID-19 when you know she was totally fine and uh healthy. So those doctors to me are not doctors, and uh you know it's between them and their conscience, but uh I I leave it there for now, you know.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

I'm I'm on the same page with you. And um uh what happened during COVID is just was a huge, huge criminal attack against humanity, uh in my opinion. And I'm not vaccinated, and I'm so happy I didn't do it actually. Yes. And uh also during the time in Tanzania, there was the president Mago Fooly, who was killed afterwards. Um, or he died, but we think every everyone knows that he was killed actually. Um, and he also was against the vaccine. He said, nope, not our people. And I love it.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Yes, in fact, all the presidents who were against uh killed themselves suddenly. Yeah, they had a mishap, an accident, and they all disappeared for sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yes, it's it's a miracle, really. Yeah, but yeah, that's that's that's our time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Sylvia, did you have the chance while in uh Tanzania with a Maasai to meet their elders and sit into a very powerful ceremony?

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Um I was uh there for ceremonies, yes, and I was meeting elders all the time because uh when you go to a Boma, then you always have to say hello to the to the head of the of the family, that which is the father. And I was also receiving some blessings, which was so emotional. I did not understand at all what they were telling me or what they were blessing me with. Uh, but I I remember I was starting to cry because it was so emotional. So uh yes, and I have to say, going to a Boma is for me the most exciting thing. I love the simplicity there, and I enjoy being with the ceremonies, being being with them, or you know, going to take water, whatever. Uh I just love it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

Oh, you are saying that they don't have running water through pipes that come into their huts.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Oh my god, they have no electricity. Some some of them have solar panels, so they can charge their phones or uh, you know, so for most important things, but they are still living in these in these uh small little houses um made of cow dung and um yeah, no, as I said, no electricity. You so you wake up with the sun and you go sleeping with the when the sun goes down, and it's um yeah, I I just love it.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

And for those who are interested in taking a trip with you to that beautiful location, can you take us through the whole process and uh what will be the main um attraction points and how they should interact with uh the Maasai?

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Oh, the Maasai are very funny people and very cool people. So when you go to Tanzania, to Zanziba, uh you will see them everywhere. So you can just talk to them. And I recommend going to parties with the Maasai because it's just the most fun. Uh they are the best for that, really. Um, and when you want to go to a Boma, it's the best. So everyone can contact me and I can organize it because I um I have friends in in different areas, and it's just important to go with a friend, uh somebody who knows um the culture, somebody who knows everything. So it should be a Maasai. And then uh yeah, just go there, be open and enjoy it because they are really not um not difficult to get along with, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

And let's say they have visitors from abroad, and if they they like a woman, is there any risk they will propose and be rejected?

SPEAKER_02 26:27

Oh yes, you will get a lot of proposals. So I was I was visiting um my best friend La Pani in the last um the last time I was there, so two months ago. And uh when I was there, his brother, um, who already has a Maasai wife and two really adorable kids. So he had some some sort of injury, and I have this dragon blood, it's called dragon blood, and I told him, Oh, put this uh on your wound, then it's protecting and everything. So I did that, and he was like telling uh my friend, oh, I want to marry her, she's a good woman. So that was the first one, and then another cousin, and here and there.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

So it gets they that you get proposed to a lot, but they don't get offended if you say no, right? No, no, and if you say yes, can you uh write down your conditions? You know?

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Oh, the conditions. If you are a Maasai woman, then the conditions would be like 15 or 20 cows. In my case, I uh it's difficult because uh I'm cheap, you know, because I'm I'm just uh Muzungu, so they don't have to pay cows. Because to who? Who will get the cows? That's the question. No, but yeah, um, there are a lot of relationships already between Maasai and Muzungu. Oh, by the way, we are the Muzungu. Uh so we foreigners, white ones, we are the Muzungu. So there are a lot of relationships already. I have friends who already have children together, so yeah, it happens a lot, especially in Zanziba. It's also a little bit tricky because sex tourism is a very big problem, to be honest, um, along Africa as well, but also in for the Maasai or in Tanzania, which means older women go there and buy the new young boys and you know have them under control. And it's it's difficult, it's it's also a very difficult part, and um, yeah, but this this is uh this world, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Yes, we have to move along and see what you know the future brings to us from that perspective as well. So going back to coaching, um, your coaching focuses specifically on uh women who, despite outward success, feel inwardly misaligned. Why women do you think um have this common thread running to their stories?

SPEAKER_02 28:52

I think especially women, we are taught from the get-go how we have to be, uh what we have to do in order to be a good woman. So there are so many um yeah, ideas and hats we have to put on. We have there are so many roles we have to take on. And so I think we are predestined to to question ourselves, to not love ourselves and everything. Um but since last year, I have also changed or adapted my coaching perspective a little bit because I went again through through depression myself, and then I went into this. Um I took some psychedelics to get to get deep down and to find out what it is and everything. And then I had my spiritual awakening. So I'm I'm much more into this awakening now, um, but which matches still the problem of the women because it's always about going inwards, it's always about loving yourself and getting over the traumas from your childhood, and yeah, so that's it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Because you mentioned uh psychedelics, may I ask you what exactly you took for what medicine you took for your journey?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Yeah, so I took the magic mushrooms, uh, the golden teachers, and um, I didn't take a very big dose. Um, I put an intention, I did a lot of research, and then I decided I can do it myself. And for me it worked, but I would not recommend this for um other people. I would always recommend having a tripsitter. And I came, it brought me back to my childhood, and I could um dissolve basically or find out what what the root was. And when I thought it's over, and when all the crying was over, it brought me to this other realm where I had then my spiritual awakening, and um yeah, that was really profound and changed my life completely. So I can just recommend it, and also the microdosing for afterwards if you had depression or anxiety, because it just helps you in a natural way without these antidepressant um drugs that you get. And it has basically no side effects because the magic mushrooms, the psilocybin is not um uh hurting or or erasing any brain cells. In the contrary, it helped it's helps to grow and it's it's helping to expand. So I can highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

Yes, and do the Maasai use any specific uh medicine for their um journeys and ceremonies?

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Um what I have observed the last time is through their rhythm dancing they get into these trance things, and about the about the substances, um they have some sort of beer that they they do themselves. I never tried it, and but I don't know which other substances they use uh because I didn't get the chance to get those this deep into into the the speaking. But I have a friend uh who is an elder, and I told him that I want to talk about this uh also one day because it's so interesting to understand, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, because I know in that part of the world they use uh Iboga, the route, which is very powerful, and uh is brought to the West by people who know how to handle it. It's it's quite powerful.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

It's very powerful, and again, you have to really be careful. So, after my first trip, I had some other trips as well, and I had also my bad trips where you are caught in these loop thoughts, and because I knew, or because I was able, how can I explain that? I I have the control over my mind a little bit more than maybe other people. Um, I realized that this is just my ego who wants to kick in, and I just let go and I just observed it, and this this helped me also now to observe my thoughts because the most important thing that I've learned back then is really we are not our thoughts, we are not our emotions. We we can observe it, and you can get there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Yeah, beautiful. And since you've been commuting between uh Austria and uh Tanzania, have your definition of um happiness changed?

SPEAKER_02 33:09

Yes, so much. I I I don't give a damn about possessions anymore. I know I I mean I buy stuff like like clothes, so basic clothes or or uh what you need, yeah. But I don't know when I have bought my my the the last time some shoes or other stuff or bags or whatever. I just don't do that anymore. And for me, really the the most peaceful place is being in the Boma. So in two in one and a half months, I want to go back and really stay there for three months in the Boma, which is very new for me. And I'm so excited because uh yeah, just being here in Austria and seeing my friends sending me videos from all the celebrations that they have now, you know, makes me go crazy and I just want to go back.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

And uh, have you uh taken your uh children there uh as well or not yet?

SPEAKER_02 34:06

I don't have children as of now, I just have dogs, and I could not take them with me because the oldest one is too old, and maybe the youngest one I want to take uh when I when I have my forever home there, then I want to take her. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Oh, so the future plans are to to move there.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

Yeah, definitely. So because I think um just a feeling that Europe is not how can I say that it's going down, let's put it like that. It I don't think it's going to be a very good place to live. And uh, my plan is really to have uh a land there with somebody because I cannot own something there, build maybe a small lodge, so live out targ as possible, as much as possible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Interesting. Yes, I know other people who uh moved there. I have friends who uh went to um uh where did they go to Kenya, in fact. They they stayed in Kenya for a couple of weeks uh close to Mount Kenya. They also know the elders there, they held a ceremony, and I couldn't go, but it was a beautiful uh trip. They came back totally changed, fully uh embracing light, and uh they are still um you know looking back and uh decompressing from that tree because it was very powerful.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

It is so crazy after six months spending in Tanzania, and I came home around November, so shortly before Christmas time, and I don't know how it is in Canada, but here in Austria, it's crazy. So the the shops are full with this um Christmas stuff and everything, and I was overwhelmed. I didn't know what to do. I was really going to the supermarket, and I was thinking, like, oh my goodness, we are all so stupid. There you go, and you have these small shops, and you get everything there, and here we have so many things, and it's never enough, and everyone is just angry and complaining, and I just wanted to turn around and go back, really.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Yes, and I know they the Maasai leave off the land, but they cannot produce everything because the the land is quite arid. What they buy, do you think has that uh nurturing quality? Do they buy the right products or do they have to go with what's on the market being imported from uh other countries?

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Yeah, so they basically, I mean, when you're in the mainland, um they basically buy what's there, a lot of Chinese um plastic things, or not Chinese Asian plant uh plastic things. Um but regarding the food, they always use what's what's seasonal. So this is something that I like. I also, when I'm there, I'm always losing weight, and I live much healthier than here in Austria because you just don't get as much, you get no processed food. I mean, only maybe in Dar Salam or in Arusha, but I'm not spending a lot of time there. So everything is freshly cooked, and they basically what they always produce is maize, and they make this ugali, so they they uh grind it and they have ugali which they they make with water, which is like um polenta, I think polenta it's called yes, polenta, yes, yeah. Yeah, and what else do they produce? Yeah, so stuff like that. So that the Maasai itself they don't really have a lot of other stuff that they produce themselves, but they go to the markets and then they get tomatoes and whatever is there, um, yeah, potatoes, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

And is that true that the color of their skin is because, especially for the women, is because they um rub themselves with uh that red um soil, or that's just uh a tail?

SPEAKER_02 38:00

No, no, that's just a tail. The red soil they put on for celebrations. So, for example, now um there were two celebrations: this oinuto where they do the circumcision, they make um something, then then they put this red color on, or afterwards, something like that. Um, and then I also had one friend um who was doing the transition from becoming from being a warrior, from being a Murani to becoming an elder. And they have to wear these funny um things with the with the lion mane and everything. And he also put on the red swell, but it has nothing to do with their skin. And to be honest, the skin for me, I was always saying, yeah, they are black people, you know, because for me it's it's just uh brown. But now that I live with them and I know more and more, it's really they vary from a lighter brown to very dark brown. So sometimes it's so funny when a friend refers to as the tall black guy, and I'm like, You guys are all black for me, so who do you mean? You know? Um, but yeah, it's it's it's very funny. It's so funny. But they make the jokes with me as well. When I come back, for example, they say, Oh, you look so new when I'm completely white, and then when I get a little bit tanned, they say, Oh, now you're cappuccino, or when I have a red uh sunburn, then they say, Oh, today you look like tomato or Fanta. And it as uh yeah, it's it's totally funny with them.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Yeah, beautiful. Sylvia, we're at the end of our uh beautiful conversation. Any final uh words about your uh programs and uh your next steps?

SPEAKER_02 39:39

Um, yeah, so whoever feels um the connection to work with me, I'm very happy. Uh I just opened up a new program uh regarding the uh integration coaching after taking psychedelic experiences, or not only psychedelic after awakening experiences, basically, because I feel that the integration is a very important part because otherwise you lose all the things that you that you um saw and everything. And uh yeah, one message just um respect each other and love each other. Love is so important, and I don't talk about romantic love, I'm really talking about love, yourself and and and the world, and yeah, be more open to different cultures, and then that's it.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

Thank you very much, and uh visit Tanzania, you'll have an amazing experience with uh the Maasai, immerse in your in their culture, and uh come back uh humble.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yes, yes, and happier.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

And happier. Silvia, thank you very much for your presence today.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

Thank you so much for this uh discussion or for this this talk and for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Thank you. And to my viewers, thank you for watching, share it, leave a comment, and until next time, love and gratitude.