My Story
My name is Aditya Jaykumar Iyer, and welcome to my blog!
I started my podcast back in 2015 and we’ve garnered over 6.3 million downloads from listeners in over 150 countries since then. According to Listennotes.com, our podcast is one of the top 0.5% most popular shows out of 2,917,229 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score (the estimated popularity score).
We’ve also been sponsored by some top wellness brands such as Headspace, Hello Fresh, Four Sigmatic, Blinkist and Audible.
Here’s my story – I hope it gives you a glimpse into who I really am..
How It All Started
I was born on June 8th 1987 in the city of Mumbai (Western part of India) into a loving home – my Mom was a Christian and my father is a Hindu.
They named me Aditya, a Sanskrit name for one of the Solar Gods – which makes sense because I dislike the rains!
My parents told me that I had a deep love and passion for drawing and coloring as a child, and I would find every opportunity to use my imagination and child-like wonder. In 2nd grade, I also won an award as part of a national level drawing competition. The best part was that I didn’t compete to outdo someone else, I created art because I truly love expression and creativity because it allowed me to tap into my imagination.
My father was an entrepreneur in the outdoor advertising business, and seeing him grow his business, set his own schedule and not have to report to a “boss” somehow instilled in me the desire to someday launch and run my own venture.
My initial experiences in consciousness exploration was during my class yoga sessions in school. My absolute favorite part of the Yoga session was the Shavasana (Corpse pose) at the very end, and I always felt that this portion was too short.
Moving my awareness from one part of my body to another was such a magical discovery, and I was fascinated by the prospects of being able to project my awareness anywhere in my body…and that gave me a very strange, ticklish experience.
Maybe these were some of the formative seeds that led to me starting a spiritual podcast years down the line!
Another thing I was really passionate about was recording my own voice on the Windows 95 desktop that my father had purchased us. Along with the desktop came a mini microphone, and somehow I had the passion and curiosity to experiment with my voice, mix music on a software called Audacity and develop a knack for talking in different accents from around the world such as English, Scottish, African, Persian and American (recording sound was where I could just be myself without fearing judgment or criticism).
I didn’t know how I could ever turn this little passion of mine into a career – who knew I’d become a podcaster more than 15 years later.
The obstacle…
In 2008, during my 2nd year of undergraduate school, I had a road accident that would change my life. I was on my motorcycle, as usual, making my way towards my college to attend classes. I usually wore my helmet, but for some reason, that specific day, I forgot to put it on. At an intersection, within the blink of an eye, I collided with a van that broke the signal and I was sent flying into the air. The only thing I remember after that is waking up in the hospital the next day with bandages on my face and my mom and dad on my sides.
This experience was so devastating because I had always prided myself on my chocolate boy looks and perfect skin, and this accident means scars on my face, stitches on lips and a deviated septum. I wasn’t so worried about the physical trauma but what worried me was having to live the rest of my life with my best facial features and attractiveness.
I receive 2 important spiritual lessons at that stage – (1) My mom assured me that everything would be alright and that “time” always heals all wounds (2) The Universe invited me to embark on a journey of discovering the true, indestructible nature of myself beyond the physical appearance.
So with an open heart, I embraced my new facial feature with scars and all, and whole heartedly waited for spiritual lessons to arrive.
…and arrive they did….
About Aditya
I’m a certified breathwork instructor and top ranked podcast host based in beautiful Vancouver, Canada.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I’d one day be hosting a podcast with over 6.4 million downloads and listeners across the globe.
My main goal now is to document my learnings and findings from the interviews I conduct and the knowledge I come across on my spiritual adventures.
Exploration into Consciousness…
In my undergraduate school, I had some friends who were into the herb of marijuana. Out of curiosity and my soul-level yearning to explore my consciousness, I tried it myself and felt the “mind expansion” that the herb was able to provide. Luckily, my friends and I never abused the herb and always consumed it in a respectful, almost ceremonial-like setting at home or even outdoors (in a forest or under a tree). The music was also carefully hand selected – lots and lots of Pink Floyd, as you would imagine.
These experiences further made me realize the true vastness of the human mind and our ability to tune into higher and higher realms of consciousness. I also found out that our own pantheon of Gods in India had a deep connection with plant medicine whether it was Marijuana, Bhang or the primordial, almost mythical nectar of Soma.
Once my undergraduate program got over, reality hit me and I was back in the “corporate world”, and got my first ever job as a retail salesperson at Bose Corporation, the global audio brand.
While the 1st year at this job was good (with a lot of learning and discovering), by the time my second year hit, I began feeling bored of my dead-end job. I loved the products, but that fact that I had to stand all day, work during weekends, eat at odd hours and commute across the city in some of the most crowded trains made me detest my job and question my purpose in life. This felt like a spiritual crisis and I was looking for a sign from the Universe on what I should do next.
As destiny would have it, I actually exceeded my annual sale goals at my work and was awarded an all expense paid trip to the USA, and this first trip, my friends, opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunities.
Seeing places like New York, Los Angeles and Boston made me realize the how much opportunity there existed and the importance of travelling, seeing new places, learning about different cultures and most importantly experiencing new things. While this was a short trip and I would have to come back to India, I knew, deep down, that my life’s work lay in the Western hemisphere (USA or Canada).
During my first trip to USA, I also got to visit the magnificent Bose sound research center at Massachusetts. Seeing all the different experiments being conducted made me realize just how powerful sound really is. Pure sound can move people emotionally through music and nostalgia and can also move and lift things physically due to the waves that it created – it’s fascinating! This made delve deeper into the therapeutic and transformative effects of carefully crafted soundscapes.
A Divine Intervention…
When I came back home after all that travelling, I fell back into a state of what I would define as “Spiritual Angst”. I knew there was so much out there and I had so much potential and ability to contribute, and yet being stuck to my job and doing something that didn’t really light me up made me feel “stuck” and a little depressed.
Through some form of synchronicity I came across a 7 chakras meditation online, and because it promised that I would feel better and more relaxed after that, I gave it a try.
So I lied down, closed my eyes, relaxed and simply followed the guided voice through a visualization journey, and when I woke up, I felt renewed, recharged and more relaxed than ever before. I was hooked!
The Chakra system introduced me to a whole new world of possibilities. The immense amount of energy and healing power available through building awareness on our energy centers seemed really promising. Ddeep down, I knew that they’d play a role in my journey somehow.
In 2014, I arrived in Canada to pursue my MBA (Masters in Business Administration) degree and immigrate to Canada. In addition to studying for my degree and doing a summer internship, I decided to take my first step towards an online spiritual business – I started a podcast!
I thought, I’d give it a try by doing atleast 60 podcast episodes. If I dont see any growth or interest, I’d give up and stop doing the podcast, but as it turns out, people actually started listening.
A brand New Path….
Within the first few weeks itself, iTunes picked up my podcast for the “New and Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot” lists and within a few months, I had already crossed 100k downloads. I couldn’t stop now! I knew I was onto something magical.
Apart from the quick podcast growth and astronomical download numbers, what I was most grateful for was the education and exposure I was getting to some of the more transformational topics in the world such as Breathwork, Spiritual awakenings, Cold Plunges, Tantra and Ayurveda.
I was coming across and making friends with some of the most influential authors, visionaries, coaches and teachers from around the world, which was worth more than anything money could buy.
Listen To My Podcast
Come discover why our listeners chose to press play 6.4 million times. With over 500 episodes, I’m sure you’ll land on one that sparks your soul!
Of all the modalities and practices I’ve come across, the most powerful practices I’ve experienced is Breathwork, which is an umbrella term for a range of breathing techniques (some ancient and some more modern) that influence the nervous system and help you access non ordinary states of consciousness. I’m a certified SOMA Breathwork instructors, and I see myself as a student of the breath, experimenting, exploring and sharing what I come across on my journey. I’ve guided over 200 group breathwork journeys, countless 1:1 sessions, and I’ve also been invited by companies to conduct breathwork sessions for their employees.
Breathwork combined with ice cold showers have been a lifesaver for me as I went though multiple traumatic experiences such as getting laid off, breaking up with my girlfriend and losing my Mom from this physical world. Letting go of trauma, grief and pain is a process and can take years, but I cannot imagine what I would have done without tools such as breathwork, cold exposure and meditation.
That’s why after receiving over 6.3 million downloads for my podcast, My Seven Chakras, I have decided to document my learnings and finding in writing on this blog and introduce you to courses, products and services that can genuinely help you on your wellness + spiritual journey.
What we Intend to Cover…
Breathwork & meditation
Breathwork is by far the most powerful and practical tool to calm the mind and experience non ordinary states of consciousness. Breathwork can help you let go of limiting beliefs and re-connect with your divine intuition, helping you feeling centered and happy whenever you choose.
Cold Plunging & Cold Showers
Regular exposure to cold is linked to numerous health benefits including reduced inflammation, increased metabolism, improved resilience and stronger immune response. Some areas we intend to cover…
Energy Healing & the Chakras
For over 3000 years, civilizations around the world have been using subtle energy practices and techniques to unclog blockages and optimize healing. Prana, Chi and Ki are just some of the names our ancestors used to refer to this primordial energy that flows through you and me. Let’s learn to heal our chakras and clear our auras!
