Lisa Marie Rankin [00:00:05]:

Welcome to The Goddess School Podcast, where Eastern wisdom meets Western mysticism. I'm your host, Lisa Marie Rankine, author, teacher, and Ayurvedic wellness coach, here to help you reclaim your feminine superpowers, and I am so glad you're here. Listen, women are magical. They are intuitive, creative, wise, and magnetic. However, in today's fast paced world, these gifts often get buried under a more masculine way of life. Together, we'll awaken those powers. In each episode, I'll take you through sacred teachings like Ayurveda, shadow work, and the mysteries of archetypes and rituals so you can live with more clarity, synchronicity, and joy in all realms of life, like relationships, health, money, and more. So let's dive in so you can make the most of your one mythic life, the veil is parting.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:00:59]:

Let's begin. Hello, beautiful wild woman, and welcome. I am very excited for today's topic where we're gonna be talking about embracing the face of the forest dweller. But first, let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel restless in midlife? Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the constant pressure of doing, doing, producing, busyness, you know, all of these tasks that we have to do every day. But deep inside, you're really yearning to take a slower, maybe a more thoughtful approach. Or maybe you dream of having this beautiful little cabin in the woods by yourself where you can spend your days tending to your apothecary, pulling cards, drinking tea, and reading books. I know that's definitely a fantasy of mine.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:01:51]:

Well, what if I was to tell you that this was perfectly normal? In fact, the reason that you might be experiencing midlife malaise, which I use that term to categorize the symptoms such as anxiety, low libido, dryness, depression, is simply because you're not honoring these natural desires to slow down. Now luckily, ancient wisdom holds the key for us to understand a very profound moment in life where we are making a shift, a shift from the phase of the householder to the phase of the forest dweller. And once we start to honor this phase and we start to transition into a new way of experiencing the world, our symptoms all but disappear. And instead of feeling burnt out, tired, we feel energized and inspired. So today, I wanna talk about the 4 ashramas or the 4 phases of life in the Vedic tradition. Now, even though this tradition is over 5000 years old, I think when you hear of these 4 phases, it's going to be like a light bulb has went off in your head, and you're gonna be like, oh, that makes so much sense, and that's why I failed this way. I'm gonna talk about a specific transition within the 4 phases, which is really the householder phase, that phase of busyness to the vani prostha phase or the forest dweller phase where it's a little bit more of being in the spiritual realm. So let me give you a quick overview of the 4 phases.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:03:26]:

Now, the first phase is called brahmacharya. And this is approximately when we're about 0 to 25 years old. And we can also think of this as the student phase. And this is where we are just figuring out how to get along in the world. So we're really understanding what our dharma is, what our purpose is, how to get along with our family. We might be getting an education. Again, this is the student phase, and we're just figuring things out. Now the second phase is the grihasta phase.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:03:52]:

This is approximately 25 to 50 years old, and this is also known as the householder phase. And this is when our energy is very much externally focused. So we are likely establishing our careers. Maybe we're raising a family, so we need to make money. We need to have a house and food. So everything is about like creation and really almost looking at external benchmarks for success. We're building. And it's a fiery time.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:04:19]:

It's when we're very busy and we're getting a lot of stuff done, and you might recognize this time where you had a lot of energy. The 3rd phase is divanoprostophase, or we could say the forest dweller phase. And this is from 50 to 75 years old. And this is where we still have about 1 foot in the householder, so one foot in this very earthly realm. We have 1 foot in the spiritual realm as well. We're being beckoned or called to start slow down and to start turning inwards, to start rediscovering, like, what turns us on, what lights us up, and how we want to share our wisdom. And then the final phase is the sannyasa phase. And this is from 75 to 100, and this is really the renunciate phase.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:05:02]:

This is when we are making peace with our lives. We might be giving away our worldly possessions, and we're really seeking spiritual liberation. So those are the 4 phases. Now each phase represents a different time in our life and our different goals that we have. And it's a beautiful transition when we can move on from one phase to the next. In our modern culture, though, it's really hard sometimes to move from grahastha, and we can even really think of grahastha as like the grip, being in the grip of it, to the vani prasta, to the forest dweller. So again, the grahastha is approximately, and again, these ages are approximate, 25 to 50 years old, and the is 50 to 75. And whereas the grahastha phase is very much focused on external measures of success, the vanaprostha phase is more interested in inner benchmarks of contentment and what we are really being called to do from a more soulful perspective.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:06:03]:

For many of us, we are staying in the Grihasa phase longer and longer, and that's because often our culture requires us to do that. You know, children aren't moving out of the home, and if they do, they often move back. We're still working to pay mortgage, to pay student loans for our children, but we're still very busy. And I'm pretty much convinced that one of the reasons we see so much malaise in midlife, whether it's hormonal symptoms, anxiety, the sense of ennui, ennui is just like that lack of boredom where we don't really have a lot of passion or inspiration to do things, is because we are still very much in the grihasta phase, and we're doing, doing, doing, but we're not turning inward to see what it is that our soul is calling us to do, how we want to experience the world. These symptoms that we may be experiencing, especially our physical symptoms, like when we think of dryness or our metabolism slowing down, the lack of libido, anxiety. Sometimes in midlife, we can really start to feel like, oh my goodness. My body is malfunctioning. My body is breaking down.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:07:09]:

My hormones need to be fixed. What's happening to me? Now I really would love to encourage you to shift that way of thinking that your body is broken and needs to be fixed. But, really, as your body is communicating for you or inviting you to experience the world in a new way, to slow down, to turn inward, to remember the things that light you up. You might look back to what you did as a child, whether it was drawing or sewing or hiking, and start to bring those aspects of yourself alive again. So this is a natural tendency that so many women are being called to, but instead of thinking of this as an invitation or as a rite of passage into a new phase of life, instead of looking at it that way, we feel like something's wrong with us, that we just can't do the same things that we used to do. Let's change the narrative right now, right here, and start thinking, what does this new phase bring to me? What do I want it to look like? How do I wanna fail? What is the wisdom that I want to share with others? And when we start to take this perspective, you know, aging isn't something to be feared. We're not gonna get out of it anyways. But instead, it's something that we can look forward to because it's a culmination of all of our years of experience, which now we get to sew and we get to share our wisdom.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:08:38]:

We also get to pivot as well too. And I wanna talk a bit about that. This summer, I turned 49 years old. So I am very much in it during this forest dweller phase of life. Now I would have to say though, the calling, the beckoning to experience the world in a new way started much earlier, maybe even at the beginning of my forties. And at this time, I had a really great job. I was working full time in the corporate world, but, you know, I was working with great people and I made good money, but I started to feel suffocated. I started to feel it was a prison.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:09:16]:

It almost seemed surreal to me that I was spending so much time in an office building with fluorescent lighting, staring at a screen. And keep in mind, this was a job that I really loved and I was really proud of for most of my thirties. But as soon as I turned 40, there was something that really started to shift. I longed for an opportunity to take back my time, spend more time with my children, with my dog. I wanted to be out in nature more, pursue my interest in Ayurveda, spirituality, and psychology. But yet, here I was working full time, you know, supporting my children and being really, really busy. You know, the day almost never ended. I got up really early so I could get to a yoga class in the morning.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:10:02]:

I would then go travel. Took about an hour. It was only about 10 miles away into Boston from my full time job. Come home, drive the kids to their activities, make dinner, get everyone ready for bed, and do it again. And starting at 40, I think I started getting tired. I wanted to start doing different things. I didn't immediately just get up and walk away from my job, but what I did do is start to honor these nudges that I was having, these calls. And I think that's really important, and we're gonna be doing another episode on desire.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:10:34]:

These little nudges or inklings of inspiration that we get, I like to think of them as gifts from the divine. They are clues of where we need to go to either enter that next phase or become that next version of ourselves. Now, sometimes, we dismiss them because we don't think they're practical or probably even more often, we just don't have time to follow them. But when we really start to think of them as these little gifts from the divine of where we need to go next, these breadcrumbs, they open up a world of opportunity to us. So even though I was still very busy, I started listening to these nudges. I became a certified yoga teacher. I started to dive into Ayurveda. And I also started a blog on how modern women could take inspiration from ancient goddesses, which eventually led to my book, The Goddess Solution.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:11:27]:

And instead of always focusing on external milestones, so there's a little bit of, oh, do I need to get a promotion? Do I need to climb up the corporate ladder? I started to dial that back and really started to focus on the things that I wanted to focus. Eventually, this did lead to me leaving my job and leading me to where I am today, but I was starting to be driven by inner desires, not the external milestones of success. Again, not looking outward anymore like I did for a good portion of my twenties thirties as far as how do I climb up the corporate ladder, how do I get the stuff, you know, and do all the things that I'm supposed to be doing to, hey, what is it that I really want to do? And once I started to do that, my energy really increased because I was no longer doing the things that I felt I had to do, but doing the things that I actually wanted to do. During this time, I also noticed a lot of shifts in my body. Now I have drank alcohol, not excessively, but habitually, and I will do another podcast for sure on that. But I started to notice in my forties where I once, you know, would have a glass of wine to start to ease my anxiety, it would actually start to increase my anxiety. Foods, which I was accustomed to eating, and I've always ate pretty healthy, were no longer really working for me, and the waistband of my pants started to get tighter and tighter. And I also needed more alone time.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:12:54]:

Now I realized these shifts that I needed to make to reduce my anxiety, to ignite my metabolism, and also to honor this need for solitude, but they weren't evidence of something is wrong and I was malfunctioning. It was more of a direction of let's do things a little bit differently because you're older now. You have more wisdom to share. This is a new phase of life that you're entering. And again, this is new phase where really joy in the sense of, like, inner contentment reign much over the sense of busyness and consumption that we often find ourselves in in our twenties thirties. So it's really a beautiful new way of changing the narrative that we have on aging where, you know, of course, our culture tries to keep us young forever. Right? Like, we're not gonna get old, which, you know, is a big pet peeve of mine. Would love to start working on revisiting that.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:13:50]:

But actually recognizing that as we do age and as we go through these different phases of life, it's really a beautiful opportunity. And I'll also say this is this is the divine feminine. The divine feminine is not static. The divine feminine does not stay the same. That's why when we look at the Moon and understand the Moon phases and the Moon cycles, which is very much associated with the divine feminine, we recognize that we are changing all of the time. So when we try to hold on to particular period of life, of course, there's going to be a symptom. So of course, we're gonna feel disenchanted from a spiritual perspective and our body might be malfunctioning as well too. Because rather than stay stagnant, we need to remember that we are always evolving.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:14:37]:

We are always changing. And this is not a bad thing. This is not a curse. This is an opportunity for expansion. Let's talk a little bit about how you can start to move into this vinoprazia phase without completely upending your life. I know you might wanna move into that beautiful little cabin in the woods, but now might not be the time. But maybe, maybe at some point, but there's still things that you can do to start honoring these phases and starting to slow down and starting to really become the forest dweller. Now, one of the first things is to reclaim your time.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:15:12]:

I know you probably feel that you have a 1,000,000 things to do and you can't possibly possibly add more white space into your day or more time to reflect for contemplation or, you know, self enhancing practices like journaling, meditation, taking walks. But I assure you that you do. Again, this is a time where we are less externally driven, we're less focused on the needs of others, and we're really more focused on what it is that our soul really wants. So schedule it in. And I know sometimes when I say schedule it, that can seem a little counterintuitive because we're supposed to be following our intuition or it seems maybe a little bit too much of a productivity hack. But once we schedule time for ourselves, we are so much more likely to do it. On my Google Calendar, I definitely have spots where I'm going to exercise, where I'm going to meditate. So start to reclaim your time by putting that time in your calendar.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:16:10]:

And I assure you, the more you think you don't have the time, the more important it is for you to actually do do this exercise. The next thing is to prioritize what lights you up. And I know I have worked with so many women, and they'll be like, you know what, Lisa? I don't even really remember what lights me up. I've just been so busy for so long just trying to survive, trying to keep things afloat that I don't even know what it is. And this is a great opportunity to experiment and take those little ideas that drop into your mind seriously. Maybe you wanna learn how to salsa dance. Maybe you look wanna learn to make sushi. Maybe it's something that you used to do that you put on the back burner, again, because it didn't seem as important as some of the worldly tasks that you had.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:16:58]:

But really taking the time to explore what it is that you want to do. And I know a big one for me over the years has been, like, if I wanted to do something, I would literally say to myself, like, well, what's the ROI on that, the return on investment? Like, does it really make sense to start a sewing project? It's gonna take so much time, and what will I get? But stop thinking of things as the ROI. Again, that's a very masculine way of looking at it. Not that there is anything wrong with a masculine way of doing things, but I think for many of us here listening to this podcast, we're looking to approach life with a more feminine way. And the feminine way doesn't need an ROI on their return of investment for what they're doing. They just need to enjoy it during the time. So again, starting to prioritize what lights you up. And then the last is reconnect with spirituality.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:17:48]:

And this is different for all of us, and it doesn't really matter who you worship, God, goddess, Jesus, but reconnect with your higher power, whoever that is for you. Spend some time each day in devotion, whether that's meditation or prayer or journaling or being in nature, but remembering that you're not just this mere individual, but they are actually guided by a divine life force. The shift that we're making from the grihasta to the vanaprastha phase is really a sacred one where we're moving more intentionally in the world, and the focus is on creativity, our inner pursuits, and the sense of inner peace as well. So make it matter, and remember that symptoms that you might be experiencing, again, is not your body, is not your mind malfunctioning. It's an invitation. It's an invitation to explore the world in a whole new way, reconnect with the natural rhythms of life, with the seasons of nature, and really tap into this innate wisdom as well. I would love to know what you're going to do even today to explore the vanaprostaphase and honor this time of life. You can send me a DM or share on Instagram, tag me, and let me know.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:19:10]:

So I hope this conversation has sparked something in you to help you change the narrative of aging, maybe look at your symptoms a little bit differently, and also have permission to slow down and reignite with what you truly want to do. Alright. That's it for now, beautiful ones. Thank you. I will see you in our next episode. Don't forget to subscribe. Be well. Thanks for tuning in to The Goddess School Podcast.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:19:39]:

I hope today's episode inspired you to reclaim your feminine magic. Now don't forget to subscribe to the show, and if you've enjoyed the podcast, please leave us a review on Apple. If you wanna dive deeper into divine feminine archetypes and reconnect with your power, check out my book, The Goddess Solution. It's packed with ancient goddess wisdom for the modern woman. You can find the book on Amazon, and the link is in the show notes. And if you are ready to embrace these practices alongside a global sisterhood, I invite you to join my Divine Feminine Mystery School, Enlivened. It's a supportive space to embody these teachings with a fantastic community of like minded women. You'll find the link in the show notes.

Lisa Marie Rankin [00:20:19]:

Remember, the Goddess isn't a deity outside of you. She's an aspect of your highest self. You are the Goddess. Until next time, my friend.