by Neelam Nanwani | Nov 27, 2025 | Soul Words
Ahmedabad has recently been declared the centre for hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2030.
For many, this announcement is a symbol of progress, opportunity and global recognition.
But for me, it has stirred a very different set of thoughts.
We call it development. But is it really development if a city cannot even provide fresh air to breathe?
I call it durgati, collapse.
Because with every so-called milestone of progress, I see:
- More and more trees being cut
- More heat rising from the expanding concrete jungle
- Less fresh air, more respiratory and lung issues
- Increasing allergies and stress
- More illness, more noise, more smoke
- More traffic and more chaos
If this is the price of progress, then what exactly are we progressing towards?
A city struggling to offer clean air is not progressing. It is silently suffocating.
And like always, if the imbalance becomes too much, nature will find its own way of restoring equilibrium. We saw it during Covid: a forced pause that allowed the earth to breathe again. But once life resumed, we found ourselves rushing back to the same destructive patterns. How long can this cycle continue?
The Earth has its own intelligence. It has lived for billions of years – died, reborn, evolved, transformed. It will continue to do so.
It is not the Earth that is at risk of extinction. It is us, the human race, that is walking steadily toward its own downfall.
We often believe that more money, more construction, and more capitalism equals progress. But in reality, this blind race for “growth” is creating deeper imbalance and paving the way for our own destruction.
Shamanism: A Forgotten Way of Relating to the Earth
Shamanism, on the other hand, teaches us an entirely different way of living – a relationship of reciprocity with the Earth.
It reminds us that the Earth is not a commodity to be used and exploited, but a sentient being that is alive, conscious and responsive. A mother who nurtures us, and whom we must also nourish. A partner with whom we must maintain a healthy, respectful exchange.
Shamanic teachings compel us to pause and ask:
- What am I doing to my own home?
- What am I doing to my own mother?
- How am I contributing to the Earth’s wellbeing and therefore my own survival?
Instead of indulging in mindless growth and capitalist pursuits, Shamanism invites us to walk a path of awareness, balance, and responsibility.
In Shamanism, we explore these deeper issues – our role, our responsibility, and our sacred relationship with the Earth. It becomes a journey of introspection, healing, and reconnection – not just with nature, but with ourselves.
Maybe it’s time to redefine what development truly means. Maybe it’s time to choose sustainability over spectacle, reciprocity over exploitation, and conscious living over endless consumption.
Because without clean air, clean water, shade, silence, and sanity a city is not progressing. It is simply accelerating its own suffering.
And only when we return to a respectful partnership with the Earth can we truly thrive.
Basic Shamanism Workshop returns in January 2026, stay tuned for more details.
Header Image by freepik
by Neelam Nanwani | Aug 1, 2025 | Soul Words
We all carry within us—and are surrounded by—two primary energies: masculine and feminine. These energies are often referred to as yin and yang, Shiv and Shakti, or Purush and Prakriti across various traditions.
The foundational principle of Shamanism—and life itself—is balance.
Consider the natural world:
- Spring and summer represent masculine energy—expansive, outward, and active.
- Autumn and winter represent feminine energy—receptive, inward, and reflective.
- Day and night, light and dark, even our own bodies reflect this dynamic.
In Chinese medicine, organs are categorized as yin (feminine) or yang (masculine) based on their functions and energies.
When these two forces are in harmony—within individuals and in society—we experience: health, growth, creativity, joy, and deep connection.
The feminine energy
Feminine energy is vast, inclusive, and nurturing. It is:
- Embracing, loving, kind, and compassionate
- Deeply intuitive, spontaneous, and creative
- Raw, wild, untamed—and yet interconnected and interdependent
- Associated with rest, reflection, contraction, and gestation—a necessary pause before rebirth and expansion
It invites us to be, rather than do.
The masculine energy
Masculine energy is outward and action-driven. It is:
- Focused on structure, direction, logic, willpower, and movement
- Determined, courageous, and result-oriented
- Meant to channel and support the fluid nature of the feminine, not suppress it
While the feminine flows and creates, the masculine provides the container and direction.
The imbalance
When the feminine energy is disowned or suppressed, we see this manifest as:
Individually:
- Burnout and fatigue
- Health issues (physical, emotional, and mental)
- Creative and financial blocks
- Fertility issues and womb-related disorders
- Disconnection from intuition and heart space
- Restlessness, emotional repression, and constant “doing”
- Unhealthy competition, aggression, and low self-worth
Collectively and culturally:
- Control, domination, and systemic violence
- Exploitation of nature and Mother Earth
- Wars, greed, and widespread disconnection
- Breakdown of relationships, family, and societal structures
We live in a world dominated by the wounded masculine—a culture of overdrive, logic, and control—where the sacred feminine has been suppressed across societies.
The call to rebalance
To restore harmony and holistic wellbeing, we must ask ourselves:
- Where have I disowned my feminine energy?
- In what ways do I reject softness, stillness, or intuition?
- How can I allow more flow, rest, and receptivity into my life?
This inner inquiry marks the beginning of healing and integration—where the feminine can rise in harmony with the healthy masculine.
Introducing: The Sacred Feminine Leadership Circle
A sacred space to:
- Reconnect with the feminine energy within
- Reflect, share, and introspect
- Explore where the feminine has been suppressed or unexpressed
- Bring balance between being and doing
- Awaken the creative, intuitive, and nurturing aspects of self
Each gathering will focus on one unique facet of feminine energy. This is not a space for structured learning or rigid goals—rather, it invites being over doing, flow over force, and presence over performance.
Common questions you might ask
- What will I learn?
- What are the outcomes?
- How long is the program?
These are valid—but they arise from a conditioned masculine framework. If you’re ready to step into the unknown, to embrace spontaneity, depth, and flow—this circle is for you.
Details
🌀 Start Date: August 13th (13 is an auspicious number in feminine traditions)
🕖 Time: 7 PM IST
🌗 Open to All Genders—Men and Women
🌱 No pre-requisites. Just an open heart and mind.
If the mystery excites you…
If chaos feels creative…
If unstructured space feels sacred…
Then welcome. You belong here.
Please ping Neelam on 9979901933 for the energy exchange and to join the circle.
Header Photo by 岳 趙
by Neelam Nanwani | Jul 25, 2025 | Soul Words
In 2015, when I started teaching about the divine feminine, I started this journey with women.
The feminine teachings since then have spilled over almost in all my workshops whether it is shamanism or dreams or ascension or emotional healing or ancestral work or retreats in nature.
For several years now, I have wanted to bring the feminine teachings to the doorstep of men and I did try once in 2020 by birthing the program called, “Invitation to the Conscious Man.”
Since then, I have been guided to bring both men and women together in a sacred circle to share these teachings.
The Divine Feminine is an entire dimension and I have been sitting with the realisation that a mere 2-day workshop does not and cannot do justice to what the feminine energy is, let alone embodying it in partnership with one’s masculine energy.
The Divine Feminine is a lot more than the popular notions of being soft, tender, loving, nurturing and motherly. These are some stereotypical ways of understanding the feminine.
The Feminine Energy is not a gender. It is an entire dimension.
While the ultimate purpose of life is to have BALANCE, we often begin with the energy which is the most abused, violated, suppressed and denied within an individual and the collective. With this vision and mission, I once again bring to your doorstep the Divine Feminine Teachings.
This will be a monthly immersion and an ongoing monthly circle. How long will the circle last? What will I teach? What’s the duration? For a change, I am allowing the flow without worrying about the rules, the structure, the hows, etc. I will let HER decide.
All I know is that I am once again being called to BE in service to HER. Ideally, I would love to see men AND women in this circle. That’s my desire and my vision. And I will let HER guide the way.
The circle begins in August. Exact date to be decided. Please ping Neelam on 9979901933 for the energy exchange/fees per month, etc.
Header Photo by Egor Kamelev
by Neelam Nanwani | Jul 18, 2025 | Soul Words
We have just wrapped up our Basic Shamanism course which was a 1-month mentorship this time and I noticed that a lot of the participants seemed impatient and desperate to heal certain core wounds.
The enthusiasm is understandable. Putting our learning into action and “fixing” ourselves is why we learn healing modalities. But I also want to remind everyone that healing does not happen in one day.
We have to remember that we have carried these core wounds for 30/40/50 years now and perhaps even across lifetimes.
These wounds have become our identity.
Hence, the shedding of the skin, peeling of these layers, the journey of UNBECOMING will take time.
Some of us have been working on some core wounds and their different layers for the past 5/10/15/20 years. Every time we dig a different facet/layer shows up.
So it is important to be patient and while some of you are becoming aware of some of your core wounds, it is important to pace out your journey.
Expect miracles but don’t forget to be realistic.
What has taken hundreds of years to be, will take SOME TIME to be UNDONE.
Sometimes this journey of self love or unbecoming takes lifetimes.
If you are in despair and are desperate, are you being a hollow bone?
Could you rather ask, show me the first step – what is it that I need to do right now to transform/transmute this pattern?
What is the lesson that I am ready to embody right now?
And what baby steps can I take to integrate this lesson.
Then focus your energy on integration of these steps in the physical reality.
We all want to heal an issue energetically but we don’t want to feel the pain, process the emotions, change the beliefs, work on learning those lessons and taking ACTIONS IN THE PHYSICAL REALITY.
Not doing the above is like living in a fool’s paradise.
SITTING WITH YOUR PAIN, feeling it fully and processing it is as crucial as desiring to heal it energetically.
Healing has NO SHORTCUTS.
Not everything is about doing a shamanic journey.
Feel it to heal it.
Feeling the call to walk this warrior’s path?
You can reach out to Neelam on 9979901933 for 1-on-1 mentorship. Let’s walk this journey together, consciously and powerfully.
Or, join our WhatsApp group, Empowerment Circles, to stay updated on upcoming free webinars, workshops, and retreats that support your healing and growth.
Don’t forget to choose yourself. Again and again. And the world will follow.
Header Photo by Mikhail Nilov
by Neelam Nanwani | Jul 11, 2025 | Soul Words
If you feel that going to a healer, therapist or coach once a week – or even twice a month – will resolve all your problems, think again.
Healing is an everyday process. In fact, it is an every MOMENT process.
The healer or facilitator’s role is only 50%. If you cannot take responsibility for your healing on a day to day, moment to moment basis, then no healing will work. It is not the healing method that is the problem, or the coach/facilitator that is the problem.
Only and only YOU ARE.
Until you make yourself a priority, nothing will change.
For example, no journey to heal abandonment will do anything if you choose to continue to abandon yourself in small ways every day.
If we cannot say no to events – even when we have paid for a workshop or have prior commitments – chances are self-love, self-priority and self-honour are zero.
• Abandonment of self WILL attract abandonment from outside.
• Betrayal of self WILL lead to betrayal by others.
• Lack of loyalty to self WILL attract lack of loyalty to you from outside.
Becoming aware of how you unknowingly betray yourself is the first step. Self-loyalty is a conscious choice we have to make daily, every moment. over and over and over again.
If you don’t choose YOU, no one ever will. It’s as simple as that. Most importantly your children will also learn to abandon themselves. And since we are the ancestors of our future, we create an ancestral pattern and affect 7 future generations.
Every choice matters. Every lack of action is also a choice.
We all are learning to choose ourselves slowly and surely. What matters is the awareness around this. What is important is to be aware of the words that we say. Saying I did not want to go, but HAD to go clearly reflects that we have a fear of being judged, shamed, isolated, ostracised and being alone.
Until we deal with this fear, all spiritual teachings are a waste. Because the spiritual journey WILL put us into situations where we will be tested – to choose ourselves or to abandon ourselves.
When we begin our healing journeys, often, we face situations that deter us from the inner work. We either get distracted or the outer chaos increases.
This happens because our deep-rooted inner resistance shows up in disguise, resisting the very change we say we desire.
When we commit, intend and be in a space of allowance, things begin to align. The work becomes easier and the outer world starts to support us.
Outer challenges are often a projection of our own resistance and shadow. They act as initiations, provoking us to choose ourselves again and again.
When we start digging, gunk gets stirred up and rises to the surface. Issues we thought we had made peace with resurface – to be felt and released.
That’s why healing is not for the faint of heart. It is the path of a warrior.
The question I must ask myself:
• Why am I choosing to abandon myself?
• Why am I choosing entanglements, distractions and confusion over clarity and self?
• Why am I NOT choosing myself?
Feeling the call to walk this warrior’s path?
You can reach out to Neelam on 9979901933 for 1-on-1 mentorship. Let’s walk this journey together, consciously and powerfully.
Or, join our WhatsApp group, Empowerment Circles, to stay updated on upcoming free webinars, workshops, and retreats that support your healing and growth.
Don’t forget to choose yourself. Again and again. And the world will follow.
Header Photo by Silver Works.
