Show Notes
Today, Michael speaks with Deborah Santana. Deborah is an author, activist, philanthropist, and spiritual seeker whose life journey bridges music, service, and deep personal transformation. In her memoir, Loving the Fire: Choosing Me, Finding Freedom, she shares the path of leaving a 34-year marriage to music legend Carlos Santana, reclaiming her authentic self, and walking through life's challenges with courage, faith, and spiritual practice. Through her foundation, Do A Little, whose name is based on the Bishop Desmond Tutu's aphorism, "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world," Deborah supports women, girls, and communities through education, healing, and empowerment. Conversation Highlights Include: -What it means to "love the fire," and how life's challenges can become a doorway into real spiritual growth and transformation. -The moment of choosing yourself, and what it takes to step into a more authentic and purpose-aligned life. -How a lifelong spiritual foundation and meditation practice can anchor you through major life transitions. -Recognizing when you've outgrown certain relationships or roles, and allowing yourself to evolve with honesty and compassion. -A clear and practical way to begin claiming your truth through stillness, self-inquiry, and reflection. -Why fear can keep you stuck in familiar patterns, even when you know something in your life needs to change. -How to stay engaged in the world while remaining grounded in a deeper spiritual awareness. -A simple daily practice that strengthens intuition and helps you stay centered and connected throughout the day. -The importance of listening inward instead of being guided by external expectations or validation. -How living with courage, service, and intention creates deeper fulfillment and a meaningful impact on others. Next, Michael closes with a guided meditation that invites you to remember your true identity beyond conditions and reconnect with your inner awareness. 🪷 Get Deborah's memoir, Loving The Fire, here - https://deborahsantana.com/ and across social media. Explore her philanthropic work here - https://deborahsantana.com/do-a-little. ✨ What's your Life Question? Have questions about your relationships, finances, life purpose, or how to understand world events through a spiritual lens? Submit your Life Question to [email protected] — your question could be featured in an upcoming episode to inspire others on their journey! ✍️Love Take Back Your Mind? This podcast grows through your support. If you've been inspired by an episode, we'd love to hear from you! Consider leaving a 5-star review or drop a comment. It helps others join this journey of growth and connection. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Be sure to Subscribe or Follow the show and turn on notifications so you're the first to know when new episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up to receive occasional inspiration and updates—and as a gift, you'll receive his powerful guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Explore even more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael on social media for daily wisdom: Facebook: @Michael.B.Beckwith https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith IG: @michaelbbeckwith https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith/ TikTok: @officialmichaelbeckwith https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is brought to you by more than just great conversations—it's powered by purpose! Our primary sponsor is the Agape International Spiritual Center. Founded in 1986, Agape is committed to individual transformation and to being a beneficial presence on the planet. Discover more here: https://agapelive.com/. If this show uplifts your spirit, please he
More from Take Back Your Mind
🌿 Begin your new year with Michael in Costa Rica! Sign up for his New Year's Meditation Retreat: https://events.agapelive.com/new-year-retreat/ Our first letter comes from Kamal R.: Kamal has two questions: How do we know what we're being called to forgive versus what we're being called to surrender? And if our perceptions and projections shape our experience, can we consciously project something positive toward others—even those with difficult energy? Our next letter comes from Derin in Pismo Beach: After his wife was excluded from her own father's funeral, Derin is struggling to forgive the family members responsible, especially as old wounds resurface. He asks where to draw the line between forgiveness and distance—and how to remain open-hearted without allowing further hurt. Next, Michael leads a guided meditation. ✨ Got a question about life, love, money, or spiritual growth? Ask Michael at [email protected]. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode! ✍️ Love Take Back Your Mind? Help the podcast grow by leaving a 5-star review or comment. Your support helps more people discover the show. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe or Follow and turn on notifications for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up for inspiration and updates. You'll also receive his guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Discover more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is sponsored by the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community dedicated to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. 💖 Donate at https://agapelive.com/ and mention "podcast" 📱 Or text GIVE to 424-321-6243 with "podcast" in the message Your generosity helps us continue sharing conversations that uplift and transform! 🌿 Our secondary sponsor is NutriRise, the maker of Michael's AdaptoZen nutrition and supplement line. Explore the collection at https://nutririse.com/collections/adaptozen.
🌿 Begin your new year with Michael in Costa Rica! Sign up for his New Year's Meditation Retreat: https://events.agapelive.com/new-year-retreat/ Discover what becomes possible when fear is no longer a stop sign, but an invitation to move beyond the familiar, reclaim your potential, and become more of who you are here to be. Today Michael welcomes Monica Berg. Monica is an author, speaker, spiritual teacher, and co-director of the Kabbalah Center, a global nonprofit dedicated to making ancient spiritual wisdom practical and accessible. She is the bestselling author of Fear Is Not an Option and Rethink Love, and co-hosts the Spiritually Hungry podcast with her husband, Michael Berg. Through her books, teachings, masterclasses, and speaking, Monica helps people navigate fear, relationships, purpose, personal growth, and emotional resilience with greater awareness and compassion. See details below on Monica's new Fear Masterclass starting Oct. 27th! Conversation Highlights Include: -Why fear is not something to hide from or suppress, but something we can understand, face, and ultimately change our relationship with. -How staying in the comfort zone can quietly shrink our desires, limit our potential, and keep us from discovering who we are still becoming. -Monica shares how the birth of her son with Down syndrome forced her to confront one of her deepest fears and ask the empowering question, "If fear is not an option, what is an option?" -Why fear can function as a guidepost, pointing us toward the places where our greatest growth, possibility, and becoming may be waiting. -The difference between real fear, healthy fear, and illogical fear—and why learning to identify which one we are experiencing can change how we respond. -How naming our fears, questioning them, and taking small, consistent steps can help us stop giving fear the power to steal our potential. -Why certainty is not about knowing exactly what will happen, but developing a deeper trust that whatever unfolds can serve our growth. Next, Michael closes with a guided meditation on conscious evolution, asking what gift we are here to contribute and inviting us to become active participants in our own unfolding. 🪷 Sign up for Monica's new Fear Masterclass launching on 10/27.* This masterclass will unpack how to recognize fear in its many forms, and most importantly, how to overcome it and begin to live fearlessly; plus get her books, listen to her podcast, and more at https://rethinklife.today/. ✨ Got a question about life, love, money, or spiritual growth? Ask Michael at [email protected]. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode! ✍️ Love Take Back Your Mind? Help the podcast grow by leaving a 5-star review or comment. Your support helps more people discover the show. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe or Follow and turn on notifications for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up for inspiration and updates. You'll also receive his guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Discover more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is sponsored by the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community dedicated to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. 💖 Donate at https://agapelive.com/ and mention "podcast" 📱 Or text GIVE to 424-321-6243 with "podcast" in the message Your generosity helps us continue sharing conversations that uplift and transform! 🌿 Our secondary sponsor is NutriRise, the maker of Michael's AdaptoZen nutrition and supplement line. Explore the collection at https://nutririse.com/collec
🌿 Begin your new year with Michael in Costa Rica! Sign up for his New Year's Meditation Retreat: https://events.agapelive.com/new-year-retreat/. Our first letter comes from Tina in Switzerland: Tina's daughter has been repeatedly harassed by a fellow university student who refuses to respect her requests for no contact, leaving her anxious about her safety. Tina asks what can be done on a spiritual level to help her daughter feel protected and sever any energetic connection to this person. Our next letter comes from Ekua: What began as six months of helping care for her parents has become six years, leaving Ekua depleted and watching her own health, finances, career, and relationships suffer. As she begins to lose hope that there's a life beyond caregiving and struggle, she asks how to reframe this season, forgive herself, and find her way forward. Next, Michael leads a guided meditation. ✨ What's your Life Question? Submit your questions about relationships, finances, life purpose, or understanding world events through a spiritual lens to [email protected]. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode! ✍️ Love Take Back Your Mind? Help the podcast grow by leaving a 5-star review or comment. Your support helps more people discover the show. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe or Follow and turn on notifications for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up for inspiration and updates. You'll also receive his guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Discover more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is sponsored by the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community dedicated to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. 💖 Donate at https://agapelive.com/ and mention "podcast" 📱 Or text GIVE to 424-321-6243 with "podcast" in the message Your generosity helps us continue sharing conversations that uplift and transform! 🌿 Our secondary sponsor is NutriRise, the maker of Michael's AdaptoZen nutrition and supplement line. Explore the collection at https://nutririse.com/collections/adaptozen.
🌿 Begin your new year with Michael in Costa Rica! Sign up for his New Year's Meditation Retreat: https://events.agapelive.com/new-year-retreat/. Explore how heart-brain coherence can help us move through stress with greater clarity, reconnect with the intelligence of the heart, and cultivate a more resilient way of meeting a rapidly changing world. Today, Michael welcomes Howard Martin. Howard is Executive Vice President of HeartMath, where he has spent decades helping individuals, leaders, organizations, and high-performance teams apply the science of heart-brain coherence in everyday life. His work bridges science and practical application, helping people understand how stress affects the nervous system and how greater coherence can support emotional balance, cognitive clarity, resilience, and more conscious responses under pressure. Conversation Highlights Include -Why burnout is not inevitable, and how the nervous system can be retrained even after long periods of chronic stress. -How stress is shaped not only by what happens around us, but by our perceptions, emotional responses, and the meaning we give our experiences. -What happens physiologically when the nervous system becomes overloaded, and why chronic stress can narrow our perception, diminish hope, and affect our overall quality of life. -How heart-brain coherence can help bring the nervous system back into balance, opening greater clarity, emotional steadiness, and access to a bigger-picture perspective. -Why intuition may be one of our most important forms of intelligence in a world filled with noise, uncertainty, and difficulty discerning what is real. -How the inner shifts we make toward compassion, empathy, and nonjudgment can influence the people and environments around us. -A simple daily practice of pausing, noticing what we are feeling, choosing what we would rather feel, and breathing that new feeling through the area of the heart. Next, Michael closes with a guided meditation on shifting perception, remembering our real nature, and moving into greater coherence through stillness, gratitude, and conscious intention. 🪷 Learn more about HeartMath's evidence-based stress reduction system and check out their many offerings—books, coaching, certification programs, and products including Inner Balance Coherence Plus—and receive a 10% discount when you use this link: https://www.heartmath.com/beckwith. ✨ What's your Life Question? Submit your questions about relationships, finances, life purpose, or understanding world events through a spiritual lens to [email protected]. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode! ✍️ Love Take Back Your Mind? Help the podcast grow by leaving a 5-star review or comment. Your support helps more people discover the show. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe or Follow and turn on notifications for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up for inspiration and updates. You'll also receive his guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Discover more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is sponsored by the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community dedicated to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. 💖 Donate at https://agapelive.com/ and mention "podcast" 📱 Or text GIVE to 424-321-6243 with "podcast" in the message Your generosity helps us continue sharing conversations that uplift and transform! 🌿 Our secondary sponsor is NutriRise, the maker of Michael's AdaptoZen nutrition and supplement line. Explore the collection at https://nutririse.com/collections/a
Our first letter comes from Shawn T.: Shawn is grateful for a creative career she worked hard to build, but finds herself surrounded by cynicism, sarcasm, and negativity that can pull down her own energy. She asks how to stay true to her gratitude and purpose without being recruited into the energy of the room—and when it's appropriate to confront it directly. Our next letter comes from Ruben: Ruben has come to deeply love the person he is in this lifetime, which raises a profound question: when he transitions, what happens to the self he knows as "Ruben"? He asks whether that identity continues in some form—or dissolves into something greater. Finally, Michael leads a guided meditation. ✨ What's your Life Question? Submit your questions about relationships, finances, life purpose, or understanding world events through a spiritual lens to [email protected]. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode! ✍️ Love Take Back Your Mind? Help the podcast grow by leaving a 5-star review or comment. Your support helps more people discover the show. 🎧 Never miss an episode! Subscribe or Follow and turn on notifications for new episodes every Wednesday and Friday. 🌐 Stay connected with Michael: Visit https://michaelbeckwith.com/ and sign up for inspiration and updates. You'll also receive his guided meditation, "Raise Your Vibration and Be Untouchable." Discover more at https://agapelive.com/. 📱 Follow Michael: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael.B.Beckwith Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelbbeckwith TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@officialmichaelbeckwith YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMWuqEKXLY4m60gNDsw61w 🌟 Support the podcast by supporting Agape! Take Back Your Mind is sponsored by the Agape International Spiritual Center, a community dedicated to individual transformation and being a beneficial presence on the planet. 💖 Donate at https://agapelive.com/ and mention "podcast" 📱 Or text GIVE to 424-321-6243 with "podcast" in the message Your generosity helps us continue sharing conversations that uplift and transform! 🌿 Our secondary sponsor is NutriRise, the maker of Michael's AdaptoZen nutrition and supplement line. Explore the collection at https://nutririse.com/collections/adaptozen.