Swaady (00:00)

Prayer for me is an inner disposition and I aspire for my life to be a prayer. It means what is the type of energy that I move, I create as I show up in the world. What are the words I say? There is never a moment prayer ceases. I'm always in prayer, even in this moment.

Alexia (00:15)

Welcome to Elevate Daily, the podcast for those ready to elevate their life one intentional day at a time. I'm your host, Alexia Usgaard, here to give you a permission slip to unapologetically savor the beauty and richness of life. Join me as we explore modern rituals, self-leadership, the gene keys, and the art of elevating your health, wealth, love, and leadership. It's time to elevate. Let's dive in.

Hello, hello, my loves, and welcome back to Elevate Daily. I'm Alexia Usgaard, and I am so enthused, always, for today's conversation with the divine Swaady Martin. Swaady is a consciousness activist, spiritual director, and the founder of Divine Indwelling, an institute dedicated to exploring the world's spiritual traditions in pursuit of inner peace and global harmony.

She spent a decade as a corporate executive at General Electric, leading businesses across Africa. She also has been named to Oprah's O Power List and is an Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow. But what I treasure most about Swaady is how I've personally experienced the way she holds faith, not as dogma, but as devotion, as lived relationship with the divine.

So in this episode, we explore what it means to walk with God in a multi-faith world. What it means when your entire life becomes a prayer, how to honor lineage with reverence, and how to find belonging to the divine without needing to belong to a single structure. I also share Swaady's mission code, GENKEY62, which beautifully mirrors her journey from intellect to heart-centered impeccability. And I want to name something.

Before every guest interview, I guide a ritual of prayer and intention setting. I've never kept this in an episode before, but today felt like the moment to let you in, to experience how we hold sacred space together before we speak in our full conversations. So Swaady is incredibly wise and deeply reverent. I know you're going to love her as much as I do. So without further ado, let's dive in.

Okay, so we'll just come into our bodies. And I'll invite us both to take the deepest breath we've taken thus far today.

And as we exhale, just invite ourselves to exhale off anything that doesn't feel of highest service to hold, to carry, walk with from this moment forward.

On our next inhale, I'll invite us both to really honor the breath of life that moves us, that walks with us.

hold it for just a moment longer in our heart space and then on the exhale again to just be invited to melt. We soften into this moment, soften into our channel, soften into the divine intelligence that wants to come through us in this conversation.

Then on our next inhale, I'll just invite us both to take a moment to shake off anything that just wants to be moved, released as we come into this present moment, into this space.

And on the exhale to just really exhale off any distortions, illusions, projections, anything that keeps us from the truth of our soul, of our bodies, of our beings.

And as we set the space, I take a moment to honor you Swaady for being here, for being in conversation today, for your truth, for your wisdom, for your years of devotion to what we're gonna speak about today, for your story, for all of the moments that I've left you to come into this space now.

And may anyone who listens and receives this transmission receive the divine love. May it open their hearts. May it let them feel a deeper connection to their own truth and may them feel a sense of belonging. So if there's anything you feel called to share or bring forward, I'd be so open to hearing your prayer because I know that is your absolute magic.

Swaady (05:09)

Thank

you so much, Lexi, for this beautiful prayer, whole and complete.

Alexia (05:17)

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah. Here we are. So it's so beautiful to have you here, to have the beautiful Swaady in the space where in my home, on my comfy cozy couch, drinking some tea. just in that very calm energy that I think you and I really enjoy together. Yeah. That and we have a lot of cheeky, fun love of dancing too. So there's multiple facets to us, of course. The divine likes to channel through us in many ways.

But this conversation feels really potent for me, I'll say. This is the first time I said this to you before we clicked record. it's the first time I've really felt called to speak about God, faith, religion, relationship to prayer on the podcast. And I felt like there was no one I would rather have this conversation with than the woman I genuinely text and have called on my journey of my own contemplation.

And I think I just want to open because something I really want to name about this conversation and something I really value about you, Swaady, is I think this is a conversation that's so open for anyone who, if you're someone who does walk in a specific faith, that you're welcome. If you're someone who has mixed faith, you're welcome. If you're someone who's curious, who's going, I'm feeling this longing to connect with God and I don't even know what that looks or feels like, you're welcome.

This is really a space for us just to not say that there's any prescription, there's any one way. This is our own curiosities. In a world that loves to say that there's one way, we're like, okay, the only thing that we know that's true is love and a sense of really seeing each other. So for a little context to just kind of open into the juiciness of this, what has sparked me many times to reach out to you is that I come from a multi-religious background.

was raised in that environment. My husband also was raised in a multi-religious, what do you call it, inner faith, right? An inner faith background. And so now with us thinking about family, us thinking about raising kids, I mean, I remember our wedding time was also a big question of how do we set up our lives to walk in faith, to honor tradition, to honor our sacred principles in a way that does allow for all of our lineages.

be honored with reverence. And so that's the context that we'll get to dive into. But I think I always like to start with a fun little juicy question for you, which is in today's moment right now, Swaady, how do you feel in your connection to your life and your body and your relationship with faith in God?

Swaady (08:07)

Thank you, first of all, Lexi, for having me today and in this moment and having this conversation. ⁓ I know the episode will be aired a little bit later, but we are just a few days away from Christmas. And ⁓ it's such a perfect timing to have this conversation because really what Christmas is, is the celebration of ⁓

of the divine incarnated in the creation. so it is really also ⁓ what you're going through at the moment as this spirit is growing into you and materialized. And so for so many reasons, it's just the perfect ⁓ moment to have this conversation to really, you in the context of the bigger meaning. ⁓

Yeah, thank you for being inspired to talk about God in this moment and our relationship with faith. And ⁓ I feel so much gratitude, ⁓ so much gratitude because my faith is really the foundation of my life. I say that God, know, whatever God is for me, of course, God is different things to different people. So in my own definition of God, God is the framework of my life.

So my entire life's framework is God. And so I'm grateful that it came to me in that way and that's what it means to me today. It gives so much meaning and purpose to all I do and everything I am. So gratitude is the word.

Alexia (09:54)

That doesn't surprise me with you. I'm like, you walking in gratitude. I feel like these days where everyone talks about gratitude journals and gratitude lists, I really feel you embody that and bring that forward and how you see the world and show up in the world. And I'm curious, because I think probably a big question, because I mean, I love, you've gone and studied the theology of so many different religious texts, backgrounds.

So you really walk in the world with this awareness of interfaith. That's how I perceive it.

Swaady (10:30)

I literally bought a book two hours ago on, ⁓ literally two hours ago, I just bought this big book, a secondhand book on ⁓ all the spiritualities of the East. And I was like, do I need another book? I've already read so much, but you these topics, you endlessly discover them. And so I decided, you know what? There's always new facets. There's never a moment where I feel I know. So.

Alexia (10:57)

Another book. No surprise. feel like there's that thing in all of our lives, this curiosity. I feel like we're all driven to show up for, especially usually in our missions. look at what we will just perpetually be like, I'm a constant student on this topic. And you've definitely walked that talk in this one. I think for a little bit of context for anyone listening, what was your religious context growing up?

Swaady (11:25)

was very fortunate I was not raised into any religious context. And I truly feel that has been one of the greatest blessings because I didn't have any dogma that was ⁓ taught to me. We didn't have any religious books in the home. But what was very beautiful, I would say, of my mother ⁓ in her upbringing is that although she didn't ⁓ push any religion,

on us, but she articulated very clearly that spirituality was something important and that it was a very conscious choice on her part not to raise us in any religion so we could choose. And so that awareness has been there from when I was a child for me and my brother. So actually both of us went deeply studied into religions because it was not

What happens often today is that religion is just simply not talked about. And so what happens is that people turn away from it and then go through life and, you know, at some moment are looking for this connection to God because God has just not been named at all. In our case, my brother and I and my mom, was you have to, in the same way you have to...

to decide at some point what job you're going to do, what you're going to study, you will have to decide what is your spirituality. So it was as important as that. And that I find was so beautiful. And ⁓ you're talking about upbringing. I can share that that has been just a very wise way to do things. It was, you are going, it's as important as your job.

You know, we put so much pressure on children at some point, you when you're in your late teens about to finish high school, what are you going to study? What job are you going to have? And that is important. But in my family, my mom insisted that what is also important is what is going to be your spirituality? What are you going to choose? What is going to be your relationship to that?

And so that then led both my brother on different path, but definitely on path of studying in depth ⁓ religion.

Alexia (13:49)

It's so interesting because when I hear you, what I feel and this was a curiosity I had actually going into this conversation is an invitation I notice is rather than a lot of the societal conversation, which is finding your relationship to religion, I you really focus on what is your relationship to God and that's the center. ⁓

Swaady (14:07)

Absolutely. And also insisting that you need to have a relationship in the same way, again, your parents want you to have a best friend and to nurture friendships, you know. ⁓ It was important to have a relationship with God, but also to find who that God is for you in the same way that as you grow up, you meet your best friend, you choose your best friend.

And then you go deep into this relationship with your best friend and you nurture this relationship. And so it was the same as that you have to find your God. You have, once you've met your God and that resonates and speaks to you, you have to develop this relationship as a long term, lifelong relationship. And it's a committed one. And so that I think has just been a really beautiful way to.

approach it versus you have to go to church or to the mosque or to the synagogue and you have to perform this and to perform that. It's been very focused on a relationship. really, actually, that is originally, you know, the principles of, I would say, the deeper principle of spiritual life is what is your relationship with God. And so religions came

after in that context of ⁓ creating a container so people could feel some sense of belonging. Because once you add certain rituals, a place, you know, of course, so a lot of different structures, the structure is helpful when you maybe don't have the energy to pray, maybe you need the support, but like with everything, there is the light and the shadow. And so the shadow part is that then these structures of belonging of

community of welcoming, of holding space in their shadow expression became like control and dogma and politics. And then in the end, you know, what we find a lot of people just became wounded and just have what I call like a God wound. And ⁓ a lot of people have just been wounded by religions. And so it's that healing work that needs to happen because with the wound you throw everything.

You cut the relationship. You're like, I don't want it.

and something is missing and you keep searching for it somewhere. In other people, in distraction, in lots of things. Again, in the same way you want to have that best friend, the relationship with God is something that is in us.

And until we really find it, we're always looking for it.

Alexia (17:00)

It's so potent to your point, like how natural it is where if you feel wounded in any capacity, how it's almost just like you want to completely lose trust. Let it all go instead of getting really curious about like which parts are not resonating and which parts do. Which parts feel true to me. And I always feel like the way I know, at least for me, usually what feels true in my body, not in my mind, but what in my body feels true.

I think it's so beautiful you named the belonging piece. Because I think when I look back at little Lex and her struggle coming from a background that I did was feeling like I never quite, like I had the friends who were going to their church groups and then the friends that were having their bat mitzvahs and then the friends that had like there was all these different traditions and we kind of celebrated a mixture of different traditions across my family's lineages, but it didn't, it's kind of like you never felt like you just had like the one place.

And I think it's just so interesting, like what it really means to find that deeper belonging and what I feel like your invitation is, that it's not just about the structures that create the actual belonging. There's actually really only one universal belonging, which is through your relationship with God.

Swaady (18:17)

I think the other distortion came is that we forgot that religions are all about transformation. wanted to talk about the difference, because I'm thinking of the question you ask about the interfaith. And ⁓ I like to make a distinction between interfaith and interspiritual.

Interfaith is what you, for me, you named in the sense of different faith traditions coming together. And what's ⁓ more alive for me, of course, interfaith harmony is important, but within myself is inter-spirituality, meaning that in my case, I do have a dominant tradition I follow, but it is infused with the wisdom of other faith traditions.

So my own practice is inter-spiritual. You find also that inter-spirituality, there are also cases where people don't have a dominant practice and then literally create, ⁓ you do have an infusion of different traditions. But again, the shadow side of that is some kind of syncretism where you're like now doing a melting pot of different things without following anything.

To come to a word that you mentioned a few times before we started this conversation is the word devotion. There needs to be an element of devotion and there needs to be an element of devotion in all the things that matter in what we do. So you have devotion to ⁓ your relationships, your spouse, your friends, your family in some way, know, the relationships that say you choose. ⁓ You have devotion to your

purpose, devotion to. ⁓

to all the things that you feel called to. And so what does devotion looks like in the context of your spirituality, which is really an important part of our ⁓ makeup. And so devotion doesn't look like ⁓ doing in a very mechanical way the same thing every day. We associate often devotion with that. It's more ⁓ in a posture.

It can look like that, that let's say I'm going to church every day. It can look on the outside as just the going to, but actually the inner posture that drives the going to church, let's say every day, is really the devotion. And so what does devotion look like when you apply devotion to your spiritual life, to your relationship with God, ⁓ to your inter-spirituality?

different things resonate for you, you know, and to be very ⁓ deliberate about these practices. So ⁓ you were asking about ⁓ how do we do it with children is really to start with your own work is like what is really important and maybe come include certain rituals. I think it's important because in a world that is really changing constantly and that's very, very difficult.

You can be, I find, blessed to have naturally a connection to God, but maybe you don't have initially. And I find also parents bringing that awareness and making it part of the upbringing. I feel it really helps to create, again, some ⁓ meaning. For the moment, you don't have meaning.

because there are those moments where you look at life and you're like, wow, this doesn't make sense. Where do I turn to? You know, what do I do? And so that's this wisdom from the different faith traditions. really scriptures are really about human life and human experience. And you find a lot of wisdom there. And so introducing that gives ⁓ somewhere to turn to when you don't know how to make sense of what you're experiencing.

And that for me is one of the values of scriptures, for example. I'm very big on scriptures. I just published a book on how to read scriptures last September, just a few months ago, to also rehabilitate the practice of reading scriptures, because there is just a lot of wisdom there. And so again, in throwing the baby in the water, you know, like everything.

⁓ And these really ⁓ wounds of religion, whenever you hear the Quran, ⁓ it's for extremists and the Bible, my God, I don't want to be saved, or the Torah, what's happening in Israel, people right, center, and left, and Hinduism, or the caste system, just right, center, and left, these religions have just been operating.

on their light, but also so much on their dark. But the dark side has been so violent that, you know, it really antagonized people and people are even afraid to even touch these books and don't even understand how to read them. And so I feel it's there's so much there and so much beauty. So one needs to really understand like, OK, what are really these books about? How do we read them?

And how do we extract the wisdom that helps to center the heart? Because that's really what scriptures do. They help you to center your heart.

Alexia (24:22)

I love it because I feel like you're inviting, it's an important conversation, is what is, how do we connect with these texts, these sacred texts, without worry about the dogma. I think it's like the dogma and the text, like there's like that classic dynamic of it's this or it's that, that plays out a lot of times. So if someone is curious, I mean, you have your book, so we'll make sure we link in the show notes. But if someone is curious, they're like, yes, I've been wanting to trust and get curious.

about where I can explore different sacred texts that I feel naturally an affinity towards. Because I think that's also a dynamic is you might have been raised in one particular religion or faith background, but maybe there's actually a real affinity towards another and following that. And that's what I really feel in that inner spirituality that you're naming. And that's something I think something I've always noticed with you is you have, can see your sacred structure of your devotion and you're very open hearted.

You're always connecting with different faiths. I've witnessed you in many conversations. I've seen you in many situations where you're hearing someone share, it might not even be exactly what you believe in, but it's just an opening to go, hmm, I'm curious about that. There's a curiosity.

Swaady (25:36)

Yeah, and I think what ⁓ maybe I can share is because initially you were asking me what has been my context. So I haven't been, as I shared just previously, I haven't been raised in any religion, but I had to choose. And so maybe I'll share how I chose my faith path because that could also help people to think about if they're curious about where to start, maybe they could find what resonates with them.

It actually started from a kind of self-knowledge. And it was, who am I? What kind of life I have? And how can the spirituality I am going to ⁓ explore further, because first was an exploration, how it could support my own path.

And so what I knew about myself is that I am someone of the world, but I'm also ⁓ deeply contemplative. like prayer. I've always liked prayer, even before religion. And I like having these moments. But I'm someone I could witness that I'm someone who has a role in society and community and activates places.

And so it was very clear for me that, I'm also a very ⁓ independent woman. So it was very clear that the faith path I would choose was an empowering one for women. Not to say that some are less than others. It's a combination of factors. That was not the most important, but it was a factor that it had to be empowering for me as a woman. It needed to be.

⁓ an environment in which I could exist and where I could find also some role models as women that resonates with me with also my feminine, but also the masculine in me, this both integrated. ⁓ I wanted a path that would support me in what I had chosen as a life as a corporate, you know, then executive and entrepreneur and you know, all these

these ways of being in the world. And so I was very inspired by ⁓ the life of Jesus because one could have thought, you know, I'm a very contemplative, I could have gone towards more Buddhism, for example. But what I liked about Jesus and my approach to it was not a belief that Jesus is the son of God or so it was not that at all. I was very inspired just by his story. And I liked the fact that Jesus was someone in the world.

always in the world. was never in a monastery, he was never in the cave, he was there with everyone, with the people, with the tax collector, with the prostitutes, in the temple. He was like an action man, so that resonated with me. And while he was an action man, he was so deeply connected with God. One could say, well, whether you see him as the son of God, of the incarnation of God, or whatever,

You know, that means whatever you believe at the end of the day, one thing for sure is that he had like such a deep anchored connection, direct relationship with God all the while being in the world. ⁓ I also liked that. ⁓ Yeah, I also liked that his spirituality was just part of his everyday life.

You know, was other people called him teacher and all, but really most of the time he was just kind of there, like with everyone, you know, he was not part of a particular religious community or so. He was just, you know, with people, his disciples were normal people, you know, he was just there in the world. And so that really resonated ⁓ with me. And then.

What he did most of the time, he was just healing people. And that's what he was doing. You know, the three years of his known ministry, that's what he was doing everywhere he was going was healing. And so all of these aspects really resonated with me. And so I came to that faith tradition more from an angle of, okay, that is very similar to my own path. And I feel that this is a role model teacher.

I would like to emulate and I know that there will be a lot of wisdom for me on my life trajectory because I could find that in his stories and his life, I would find the wisdom to support me on my own journey, which is really all about being in the world, but not being of the world. Really that was Jesus was he was in the world, but not of the world. And that's also my, I would say that's my anchoring is in life.

fully here, but I'm ⁓ not of here. And so that's how I came to Christianity. But then in Christianity, it's actually the religion with the most ⁓ different denomination. There are like, I think about 40,000 different denominations. So, you know, we always like to look at things in a very monolithic way, whereas there is so much diversity. So I did have to find my own flavor, which in my case was not necessarily

you know, kind of going full steam into a community and adopting that. It was like, okay, I'm going to rebuild it from the ground up. And only once I was very secure in what my Christianity looked like, very interestingly, and only last year, you know, after 30 years of practice, I actually found like a name and a community for what is it that I practice, which is called the new monasticism.

It's called inter-spiritual trinity new monasticism. So it's a combination of contemplative life in the world, which is some kind of new monasticism and inter-spirituality, as I mentioned before, which is the embrace of the wisdom of other religion, but all that being like a Christian contemplative. so, but it took all these years for me to articulate it.

And I was so able to articulate it because, you know, I've just completed two years of spiritual direction where we were really asked to write a lot about our faith, where we are, et cetera. So I had to really very precisely articulate everything. Who is God for me? What I practice? What is prayer? What is, I mean, all of the elements of my faith. And once I've done all of that, I laid it down. There it appeared. That's your community.

So that was my own path. I think for other people, sometimes actually it feels good just to find a community that embraces you because you need that sense of belonging and grow from there. But I feel like even from there, you always have to keep a certain sense of independence. Again, I take the analogy of your relationship with your best friend. It's always good not to let people tell you who your best friend is. know, she did this, she said that, she's like this. No, just, just.

Find out for yourself, you know?

Alexia (33:22)

⁓ I love it because I feel like you really invite a relational context instead of a conceptual beliefs fixated perspective. And it's actually, I feel like a perfect segue to actually share with you your first gene key. ⁓ Because I'm going, okay, with what you just shared. Because I think one thing I want to name before I say it though, is I think something that's so important to double click on about your story is that it didn't happen overnight.

Swaady (33:29)

Yeah.

Go ahead.

⁓ totally. That's very, very important.

Alexia (33:54)

Right, because I think so many people feel so much pressure that, why haven't I figured this out? Am I behind? Why do other people seem to have it all figured out? I should just, I just need to choose something and like stick to it. Or if they question that there's something wrong, like there's just all of those pieces. And I think you bring this beautiful invitation of, it's okay not to know. It's to be in the curiosity of the relationship and not to have even identified anything specifically.

Swaady (34:22)

Curiosity,

the key words, you absolutely name it. It's curiosity and paradox. You have to be able to hold paradox and you have to be able to remain in curiosity. And it's true, I want to share and it's very important what you just said. I've been on this journey ⁓ for almost 30 years, devoted. I've read probably by now, I must have read more than 5,000 books.

on religion because I also part of my devotion is since age 20, I only read spiritual books. I have not read a book that is not spiritual and that was a very ⁓ deliberated like decision that anything I would read from that time to this day is related to faith traditions. Just because

I do so many other things that are not of my spiritual life that it needed to have a space that was a non-negotiable space. And that was a devoted space where my attention would be there. And even with that, I never have a destination. I think, you know, 30 years almost later, and you know, I was, I'm still like a baby, you know, and my relationship with God evolves constantly. And so,

That's the one thing I want to name. And the other thing is that you don't actually need to have peak experiences because there is also this idea that, you know, if you're transported to other realms and you have all these experiences that are kind of extra ordinary, ⁓ you've accessed God. But you know, the beauty of God is that it is everywhere, everywhere. And I mean, you look at

just these plants, they're extraordinary. And so we have become so numb at the extraordinary in the ordinary that we are looking for God in places where God is all around, the divine is indwelling everywhere. Everywhere. You're having a beautiful relationship with your dog. Here is an expression of pure love.

Alexia (36:46)

Mm-hmm.

Swaady (36:50)

It is there. you feel like God's incarnation in that? Can you feel God's incarnation in color? I mean, Color. Isn't color extraordinary?

Alexia (37:02)

Mm-hmm.

I mean, you look at sunset and you go, how, what, what, how? Yeah. Well, and you'll laugh because I'll never forget the day I first discovered that God spelled backwards is dog. And it just makes me chuckle because, you know, we all know I'm quite playful that way. But I just laugh because if there's ever been a space and it's funny that you even brought in bubbles, we're thinking about my little pup who was just running around here earlier.

Swaady (37:10)

Yeah.

Alexia (37:35)

And I laugh, but if there's ever a being in my life who connects me to the divine, it's my dog. That pure, absolute, just love that he emits. And I remember another statement someone once said that's always stuck with me since. They said, God is in the gutter. So it's also in all the messy. Like, I think there can be this idealized conversation on its

Swaady (37:42)

absolutely.

Alexia (38:01)

only in the parts that we, inside of our perspective, think are beautiful or extraordinary in that way, but it's also in the messiness of life and those pieces as well.

Swaady (38:11)

100 %

Yeah, and then the dark nights of the soul. Yeah, and so the practice really is to, mean, a simple practice also, you know, for people who are listening is that, ⁓ yeah, find God, everything that, find God in the ordinary, and then what God can be for you. it could be, and start talking to God, actually, you know, even if you don't, sometimes, you you don't know, just,

you how people are into manifestation, then you can manifest God too. People want to manifest money, a partner, a house, a thing. Why don't you try to manifest God? And meaning what you mean by manifesting God is calling the energy in. The energy is already there. That's also what manifestation says. Manifestation says, you know, I'm not a big person on manifestation, but this is something that is so popular.

that people say, if you start aligning with the energy of what it is that you want and you start calling in, then it comes. So then if you do the exact same with God.

Alexia (39:20)

Yeah.

Swaady (39:21)

do the same, start calling, start having a relationship, start calling in and it will just naturally so unfold and all of a sudden you'll just realize it's everywhere.

Alexia (39:32)

I love it because it's so simple. A beautiful ritual, right? You might be someone, like I named my dog. You might be like me, where animals are a really powerful way that you connect. You might be someone who feel like walks in a forest. Exactly. Like nature is always a really big, I know it's quite a big way people start to open that conversation. Or you might be just like, yeah, walking next to the ocean. You know, there's something about that energy too. So I love this invitation for all of us to really connect with and realize actually it doesn't have to be

some perfect way. And if we got rid of all the right or wrong concepts and we just said the only way is what's true for you.

Swaady (40:11)

Absolutely. And it could be, you know, another way could be also to, you know, this imaginary friend we have when we're a child. Yes. And you can also talk to this imaginary friend. And the more you talk to this imaginary friend, that friend also is going to reveal, you know, is in this moment is just feel, okay, I have my friend, you know, I call and it's interesting because in my, at the beginning of my, of my relationship with God, I mean,

of the awareness of the me wanting a relationship with God, was in that, you know, super fast-paced corporate career and all. And so what God was for me, I was, you know, 20, ⁓ God was my boss. And so people who know me, like they always hear me mentioning the boss. And so that helped me.

Alexia (41:05)

I know this with

you because this woman makes very to know Swaady is to know she makes very intuitive choices and they can be quite significant sometimes. And she says, what the boss told me so. And I go, okay.

Swaady (41:23)

You know what helped me when I started my career, literally as I went out of university and knowing that this was my boss, it made me really know what I was not chasing, but what it meant for me that God was my boss is that God was the decision. And that was my way again. I'm not saying that is a way, but again, I'm talking about a relationship.

I decided that one of my relationship with God is that God would be my boss. And so what it meant is that there is no one who's in charge of my career progression, of my networking, of what I need to do or so but God. And so it gave me so much freedom because actually I never had to compromise on anything.

And I never had to be scared of anything because I just felt my boss is bigger than the CEO. And so if God is my boss, then, you know, like there's no one under, I report directly to the CEO of the world. That was my attitude. And this gave me such a fearlessness actually in the corporate world that in the end it's really interesting because someone eventually named it.

That was one of the reason I was promoted so fast and I got to being, you know, running this big business at such a young age because actually one of the CEOs said, this girl has such a strong faith in God, it feels like she's so fearless and they had rarely experienced that of a young person. And that fearlessness came from the fact that, you know, I'm reporting to the boss of the world, you know.

And as that, what was also interesting, you know, of course you're young and I was very passionate in that relationship. I felt that everywhere I was sent to was to pray for people and not without, without even them knowing, because I felt like, okay, God has sent me in this job. Of course I'm going to do the job to the best of my abilities, but I was always tuned into what is it that people want, need, what are they going through?

And so I never was bored or self-centered in my job. You I think a lot of the times people, I hate my job. And so I never hate my job. I loved my corporate life because I was working for God. I was there. And when you're actually tuned into ⁓ what people are going through, you you realize, wow, we can do so much and prayer is so powerful.

And I used to pray for my boss. Like literally, you know, I would see that my boss, something was happening and that developed also so much trust because all of a sudden I'm so many levels below my real physical boss. But because I had this attitude of I'm there for you, I'm here for you, I want you to succeed. I'm on your team in my mind because God sent me to support you. That's what I was thinking always. And so my attitude was so different.

My boss actually were always so, you know, ⁓ trust full, ⁓ supportive at first they were a little bit surprised. And then after they were like, okay, this girl is really walking the talk. And it's true. Like she's operating somewhere else. And that made beautiful. And, I can say like one of the most beautiful, ⁓

testimony of what I'm sharing is that ⁓ one of my boss was a big CEO, ⁓ just asked me recently to write the forwards of his biography. it's such an honor. And I've prayed for this boss and for all my other bosses. And it makes work so fun. And it doesn't matter what work you do.

Because even if you're cleaning the streets, always say if you're cleaning the streets, cleaning the toilets, it doesn't matter because wherever, for me, wherever I was, that's, you know, I'm here to do God's work. And God's work is what, in my mind at the time was praying for people for whatever they're carrying that's heavy. It's just to help people, you know, release any burden.

is to bring joy to places and playfulness and camaraderie and harmony and healing. At the time, I was not in my healing practice, healing meant different things at the time for me. And it was like, yeah, that's what the boss wants. And so that's what I'm going to do. And my actual work is, I'm doing it well because that's my...

Alexia (46:08)

Yeah.

Swaady (46:32)

what says my right to entry to be even in that space is to deliver on the job, but it's just an accessory. And I was like, God bless me with the gift to be doing this job in terms of the skills, mental capacity and so, and I did feel also sometimes, but the times I failed, there was so much compassion for me because I was bringing these other things. And so that's also an invitation I can give for anyone listening is that,

If you're focused why you're doing what you're doing instead of thinking, ⁓ I hate my job. You know, there's so much of these stories of you need to live your nine to five and pursue your freedom. you know, there's always this longing for something that you don't have, but you are where you are for a reason. And wherever you are, you have so much agency and so much power to make real change.

and even just by praying for people, just even if you're not praying for people, smiling, bringing joy, like making change where you are. And it doesn't matter. And if you go in that posture, any job that you will do, you will have the most fun. And I've had the best, most fun, extraordinary corporate career. People always think, you know, when I became an entrepreneur, you...

You left corporate to follow your dream as an entrepreneur. I said, no, I had the best life ever. And people are so surprised. I loved my job. I loved my colleagues. I loved my boss. I loved everything about it. I was working like crazy, but ⁓ it was so blessed.

Alexia (48:16)

It's such a beautiful way to see the world and to see anything someone's navigating right now. Because it can be so easy to fixate on if there's, to your point, if it feels like there's an area of your life that's feeling heavier to hold, that isn't feeling exactly fulfilling the way you want. It's like, okay, so your invitation is, okay, how do you connect to God and see what is your way?

of relating to also that experience differently. Is it the question for some it might be to exit? For others, it might be, oh no, you're meant to be in this space. How about we look at it a different way? Can you pray for certain people? Can you connect in a different way? And so I love that invitation and it's just, it's so aligned. I told you before we clicked record, I always find it so fun, of course, to look at people's gene keys and just thinking about what you just shared and tuning into. So for anyone new to the gene keys,

The gene keys offer you a map to understand who you are on a soul level. And every gene key in our blueprint has three frequencies. It has the shadow, so your struggle that you're here to alchemize, your gift, what you're here to open your heart to in your truth, and then your city, your highest frequency that you're here to embody in full wholeness. And for you, your mission code is the one I felt called to bring forward because your mission code shows what you're here to do.

how you're here to be known as a leader. If we think about your corporate career and also everything you do now, it didn't surprise me when I saw that you had Gene Key 62, which the shadow is intellect, not intelligence, intellect, which is a lot of that duality thinking. It's this or it's that, it's facts. It's getting very fixated in mental models. The gift that you embody in so many ways is precision.

But what people don't get about precision is it's not intellectual precision. It's the precision of letting your head and your heart come into coherence to keep your heart open to truth. And then your city is impeccability. It's to just walk in the world in deep trust of divine intelligence. And when I think about everything we've spoken about so far, when I think about your entire journey, the way you were learning this and embodying it in all the different facets of your journey.

I went, of course. So do you relate? How does this land?

Swaady (50:51)

Yeah, I it's really interesting because it has been a journey, meaning that I did start indeed in the intellect because I wanted to understand God. I could feel God, but I wanted to understand. And I thought, where do I go to understand God? And that's what led me to my comparative religion studies. And so I wanted to ⁓ explore God from the vantage point of everyone who has said something about God.

And so that was very, very much the intellect. And then it moved. Now it's not in the intellect at all. It literally moved from that intellect in the moment to actually really met God within. Then it became that relationship. then now it's beyond a relationship, it's emerging. It's me and God are one. So it does relate.

And I have to say ⁓ for everyone who's listening, the Gene Keys is so powerful. ⁓ The first time I came across ⁓ the Gene Keys, literally, Lex, I cried. ⁓ It was so profound. ⁓ So profound. And so if you haven't done your Gene Keys profile, yeah, I mean, you have an expert here, basically. ⁓

It's not, I ⁓ have to say, it's not a practice a lot of people know. And so I feel also very honored to know you because you're one of actually the two people I know, and I know a lot of people in the space. Obviously, that's been my space for many years. ⁓ What I mean, the spiritual space and consciousness, et cetera. And you're actually one of the two people I know who

actually really can ⁓ properly talk about Gene Keys. And of course on that, know, on the human design, you're like, she breathes human design. It's like. ⁓

Alexia (53:04)

I

think people forget about that because I speak so much about jean keys but they don't realize that I studied a lot of human design before so I'm always like, looking at both.

Swaady (53:13)

Yeah, yeah. I think it's an incredible combination. Of course, you know a lot about astrology as well and all of more than even that and the mind and so, but the Ginkis, I find everything else, you have people who know one of those things, but the Ginkis is actually a really complex material in the...

explanation. think for example the human design is complex in the makeup of it but once you have your profile the explanations are pretty you know comprehensive and easy you can find them easily. The gene keys is much more difficult to interpret so when you find people who actually can interpret the gene keys it's really a gift and it's very very powerful because it it really gives a map of

you know, what is your full potential? You know, if you're operating at your CDs, which is really the Ascension journey, you what does it look like? But also where you are in your shadows, ⁓ how can you graduate to at least be operating as much as possible in your gift? But doing all that with grace, you know, it's a journey. So I'm very grateful and also very happy to know you and know someone who...

has received the gift of being able to read the Ginkgo keys.

Alexia (54:43)

Well, thank you first and foremost. I'm receiving that deeply and I resonate with it being such a powerful system. And I think I've shared this in other podcast episodes, but it's also been a decade, almost a decade of me in the contemplation of the Gene Keys, which I feel like goes into your piece earlier of I think in our very...

dopamine, quick hit culture. Everyone thinks they're supposed to be an expert at something so fast. And with Jinkies, wouldn't say I'm an, you know, I think other people will tell me I'm an expert at it. Yet I always sit in that energy of I'm just a really, really amazing student of it. that every day it teaches me so much.

Swaady (55:29)

you

know what the image I just had as you were saying that and I imagine if you know in the conversation with God and I imagine God as your friend and I'm like basically it's very cheeky is you and God looking at the makeup of people and being like yeah because you know Jim Keys human designs and all you know they really talk about our kind of archetypal

know, character and, you know, how we've come to embody and the lessons and also it speaks about something that's very, that speaks about the makeup of our being in a way at an archetypal way. so, so in a way, this is also the work of the divine. And so you being there, I literally had this vision of you sitting with God and just having this chit chat on, know, how do you support, ⁓ together.

people in the embodiment of their highest selves. And that is a relationship with the divine because in participating in the work, co-creating, supporting the divine mission, that is the work. So God may be your colleague.

Alexia (56:41)

No, no, no, definitely.

There's no denying that. There's no denying that. I always think of it in my way as like, there's been chapters of my life where Alexia was trying to move everything. And then there was chapters where I finally let myself be moved. And that's what the relationship with God has created. And so,

And having these sources of curiosity, what I love about the Gene Keys, as you know, you've always told me, I'm fascinated by language, which is a great way to go into actually, but I also wanted to talk to you about what you've already given a little sprinkle of, which is prayer. I love the Gene Keys because I think language is so powerful. We've all seen it be used to hurt, to create division, to create separation. And there's a lot of opportunity for language to connect.

to love, to really see each other and feel belonging. And that's what I feel like the Gene Keys has always offered me and those I've supported and guided with it is language to ask ourselves the deeper questions and get curious and even our beautiful divine shadows. Go, okay, how is the divine in me shining in this frequency too? And I think about a big question I know on my journey, I know many others experiences this desire to pray.

But also I think a lot of the projected experience of prayer is usually when you're asking for something or in a very particular way that way. What does prayer mean to you? And then of course, how would you recommend if someone's like, I would really like to cultivate a connection with prayer? What would you recommend as a way someone can do so?

Swaady (58:24)

So, prayer, let's start. Thank you for asking that. The first question, what is prayer for me?

Prayer for me is an inner disposition and ⁓

I aspire for my life to be a prayer. And that's how I live life, is everything I do is prayer. And it means for me what I ⁓ would like to see more in the world. What is the type of energy that I move, I create as I show up in the world.

What are the things I create? What are the words I say? ⁓

And there's definitely this meditation of, Swaady, if you look at your whole life and that is your prayer, what does your life look like? And that's how I live my life. Not in a perfect way, but giving myself grace, but it is the aspiration.

⁓ So it's an inner posture, it's an intention, and it's an alignment with that intention in everything that I do. So there is never a moment prayer ceases. I'm always in prayer, even in this moment. The prayer in this moment is connection between you and I. It's sharing with everyone who's

listening and here with us, but also connection. It's reverence. It's presence. You know, we're present to one another. It's beauty. We're in this beautiful environment that you've created. It smells good. It's everything has been curated with so much love. ⁓ It's sisterhood. It's showing up for one another. It's

prioritizing what is important. So it's so many things in one moment. so applying that idea of prayer, of life becoming a prayer, means like in every moment trying to show up as, know, what is my prayer for the world? And my prayer for the world is, and for myself, you know, I'm part of the world, is more love, more peace, more.

harmony and that comes with forgiveness, presence, connection, focusing on what's important, freeing ourselves from fear, reducing the ego and moving into more selflessness with so many things. And so that's the first part of what is prayer for me, pray is my life. How do we pray? I think we pray differently at different moments.

Alexia (1:01:31)

Mm-hmm.

Swaady (1:01:38)

And it's good to have almost like a toolbox of ways of praying. And the most traditional prayer, the one, the petition one, you people think of prayer as petition. So that would be praying for something you want or so. ⁓ I always feel that God knows me, the world, everything.

much better than I do. And so even when I pray for a certain outcome, I always add that most importantly, that God's will be done. And my prayer also is that at some point I am never praying for anything but God's will. That is my prayer every day. Actually, it's been my prayer for 30 years. I'm not there yet because I feel like ⁓

When I have people I love who are sick or going through hardship, I do pray that the hardship is removed, that they are healed or that they be granted prosperity when I meet people in really difficult ⁓ economic situations or different things. I still have those petitions, but I know that the CD expression of my prayer is the not wanting.

and the trusting. But it's okay, you I am on the journey. And I've seen the evolution. The other form of prayer is what we call also intercessory prayer. And so that is when you're praying for others. And so ⁓ I will pray that you have a beautiful delivery. And so I pray for you, like when we pray for the people we carry in our prayers.

And this can take a different form. It can be a once-off moment. It can be a series. Right now we're doing a 21 days prayer for ⁓ your husband, present or future, with a group of women. And so that is an intercessory type of prayer where we're praying for the husbands, their, you know, everything that is helping them to be whole, fully.

in their bodies, their spirituality, in their mind. So that's a different part of prayer. There's so many different, I'll just share a few. ⁓ There is communal prayer, so people getting together to pray together. And that is also a beautiful form of prayer because we need community and I always find that ⁓ when people get together, the field we create is stronger.

So that is a form of prayer. You can pray on your own or you can pray in a bigger community, in some kind of community, faith community. That's also a form of prayer. ⁓ There is silence. It can be in nature and that is your prayer just to be still and just say nothing. That's also a form ⁓ of prayer. So what I would say

for people who looking to have a connection is to start always with the discipline of the practice ⁓ before the form. I do want to say that I don't have all the wisdom. There are different ways of doing. I'm just sharing my experience, which is just one experience. ⁓ I find like the discipline is good, is to say, every day I'm going to pray.

Alexia (1:05:10)

Hmm. ⁓

Swaady (1:05:30)

And that prayer can take different forms. Maybe sometimes it's a meditation, sometimes it's a journaling, which is also ⁓ sometimes is reading because reading also, but reading in a spiritual way, not just reading to read, but with always some reflection on the text, but to have like very specific moments where that time is dedicated to prayer and to start with that.

Because like with everything, practice makes the master. And the more you practice, the more it becomes a habit. And once it becomes a habit, it starts to fully transform your life and the life of others around you. And so that's what I would say is not to focus so much on the form, but to establish a rhythm and a discipline and then let that then evolve and change. ⁓

and then see how that transforms. And then you will discover also what you like. ⁓ I personally like ⁓ intercessory prayers. I've always liked doing novenas. So these are like nine days or now I do the 21 days. So that's always been a practice I resonated with. I like praying with beads. I prayed a rosary. So I prayed less now. I used to pray it like every single day. That was also beautiful.

meditative practice. ⁓ Yeah, I do have my prayer practice in the morning and in the evening, and then different moments of the day. I love, for example, like in the Muslim tradition, the five prayers a day, that moment where you stop and then you bring the remembrance of God and then you pray. And that, for example, is something that I've tried to have to incorporate more in my life.

I haven't been yet able to do it in a consistent way, but I have friends who do it very consistently. And I don't want to do it in a mechanical way. I wanted to do it in a really fully present where I feel it and I feel that moment where the prayer is also changing my feel, transforming what's happening in the moment, not just like, oh, I have to do the prayer because at three it's five or so.

So I'm on the journey too, I'm on the prayer journey. It evolves, you know, different phases of life. You know, it can be fasting, it can be so many different ways. So stick to a rhythm, stick to a rhythm, a discipline and see what it evolves.

Alexia (1:08:13)

I love that you give us that invitation in so much of this conversation about what it really means to live from devotion. Which you know is something that I care so deeply about and I feel like I bring forward and I think the part that people struggle to really honor about devotion is commitment. It says, cause there's things about ourselves that can be total saboteur patterns that we're committed to and we're devoted to.

Swaady (1:08:30)

Yes. Yes.

Alexia (1:08:40)

But to choose intentionally the path of devotion, to choose relationship with God, to choose relationship to faith, sometimes it asks you to have a lot of restraint on certain things. Like even what you shared in the earlier part of this conversation about only reading certain texts. And I name that too because sometimes you receive the message, and where we sometimes don't think we have the relationship with God, it's like...

That can't possibly be what I need to do right about now. Yet what I've seen is those who are really in however they pray and however they connect to their faith to God in their way, there is this commitment to doing it from the way that is like very guided for them. And a lot of times it's yes, you're saying yes to certain things and also you're having to say no.

Swaady (1:09:19)

.

Alexia (1:09:30)

to certain things, but not from a place of necessarily putting other people down for their way, which was like an important thing to nuance about it. It's more just because it's their particular path. And I think you bring it forward. I just feel like as we come into our closing.

Swaady (1:09:44)

Just before we close, I want to say something about that, which was actually a beautiful friend of mine shared that yesterday we're having a conversation on devotion. And he said, I said to him, I struggle with the word devotion a little bit. I can see something in my body is uncomfortable. And when I tune into it, the part of devotion that scares me is sacrifice, which is just name.

And he said to me, ⁓ I've been ⁓ reflecting on devotion for so many years and he lives a life of devotion. And he said to me, ⁓ reframed the word sacrifice because what does, if we look at the etymology of sacrifice, what does sacrifice mean? It means making something sacred. And so if you have on the altar ⁓ what you want to

create and you are offering in a way the sacrifice. The offering is to make something sacred. So you are it's an offering. It's so versus something that is painful or so, you know, like how in all traditions people are doing an offering of flowers, of incense, of, you know, holy water, of what have you of an offering. Well, I'm offering this so I can make this sacred.

And I thought that was just beautiful to think about commitment, discipline, that is the offering to make what is coming out of that sacred.

Alexia (1:11:29)

Yep, there we go. Mic drop. What a good reminder of also you leaning into the curiosity of going, hmm, this word is giving me a little something to explore and then look at how then you were in that conversation and through that, then you got to open your own heart to a new way of feeling into it and seeing it in a way that truly does align with you. So a beautiful invitation for all of us in those ways that life presents itself. I feel like the most aligned way

Swaady (1:11:55)

Yes.

Alexia (1:11:59)

for us to close this conversation. Actually before I do that, because I feel like actually I'm just very intuitively knowing how we're gonna close this. How can people connect with you Swaady?

Swaady (1:12:10)

Thank you so much for, first of all, for even being with us in this moment and for, yeah, just creating this field. You can connect with me on Instagram at swady underscore martin. It's S-W-A-A-D-Y underscore martin. And then you'll see all the different things, offerings and sharings and yeah, I have. But yeah, thank you Lex for this moment.

My first time actually speaking about God on a podcast or even really with people. write about it, but actually I've never been asked about it. So it's really my first conversation with someone like this in this format. So thank you for ⁓ inviting me for this beautiful conversation.

to speak about what I call the love of my life. That's the other name I have for God. God is the love of my life. And so.

Alexia (1:13:15)

my goodness, well, I didn't know that, but also thank you for trusting me in that. Thank you. And thank you for being here and sharing your wisdom so deeply, for opening all of our hearts. Because what I love about this conversation is there's no answers. There's just curiosities, there's invitations, there's really tuning into what's your way. How do you make your life a prayer?

How do you connect with what's sacred to you? And so I just felt like if this aligns for you, in our final close-out, it felt like it would be most aligned if you would just share a simple prayer for what you desire for anyone who's listening, the world, the collective at this time. And then we will just lovingly tune out of the episode. Thank you, Swaady. I love and appreciate you so dearly.

Swaady (1:14:06)

Thank you. I have one prayer, only one. May the whole world know peace. That is my prayer. That peace that surpasses all understanding. That is my prayer.

Alexia (1:14:26)

We all inhale that and just really feel that in our hearts and just exhale into the melt.

And again, thank you, Swaady. Thank you. And thank you to all of you who listened.

Swaady (1:14:40)

Thank you, Lex.

Alexia (1:14:48)

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