00:00:07 Nazish: Does it quiet ache? So many people carry the sense that no matter how much they achieve, something inside feels unsettled. We chase success, productivity, recognition. But peace. Peace feels postponed. What if inner peace isn't the reward at the end of success, but the foundation of it?

00:00:28 Nazish: Welcome to inner peace, better health. A space where we explore the connection between emotional balance, spiritual alignment, and true well-being. I am Nazish and today we are joined by someone known nationally as the Internal Peace Revolutionist. Regina. Also known as Rosa Celeste, she is a best selling author, conscious entrepreneur, Yogi, and transformational speaker who blends spirituality with strategy to help individuals and organizations create radical inner peace while achieving external success. Today, we are exploring what it really means to live in an internal peace revolutionist, and why that might be the most important movement of our time. Welcome to the show, Regina. It's a gift to have you here.

00:01:18 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Thank you for having me. I'm very, very excited for the conversation.

00:01:22 Nazish: Wonderful. So, Regina, before we get into the philosophy behind it, I am curious when you say internal peace revolutionist, what does that phrase feel like in your body? Like, what does it mean to you personally?

00:01:36 Regena (Rosa Celeste): MM. So to me, internal peace revolutionist signifies somebody that really takes on the leadership role within themselves of accountability, of respect and reverence for themselves as well as other people. And it's choosing peace over. Everything else, sometimes enough that are not enough, but so much that, um, everything else falls away.

00:02:15 Nazish: Absolutely. That sounds like a simple but yet effective reframe. And you know, that is a, you know, there's a belief that peace mean passivity, even if there is that even even if you are peaceful, you are not ambitious, not driven. And I'm curious, what is the biggest misconception people have about inner peace?

00:02:38 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Mhm. So I think the biggest misconception that people have about inner peace. I know I have this was that I had to be peaceful all the time, and peace meant I wouldn't get upset, I wouldn't get mad. I wouldn't lose my marbles, as I like to say. And I remember one time I was sitting with a mentor of mine, and I got very upset about something we were chatting about. And, um, in that moment, we were actually, I remember we were online and there was a third person on the Zoom with us, and she could feel my frustration coming through because she's worked with me for many years, on and off, and she put in the chat. Regina, where's the peace? Just between she and I. And it made me stop and really ask myself what this question meant. And at that time, I thought it meant that I had to always be peaceful, and I couldn't, um. I couldn't show up in the world without feeling like an imposter if I wasn't peaceful all the time. And I felt like it was impossible, like, how could you be peaceful all the time? And so I really started discovering and asking myself that question and slowly started to be revealed to me what this meant. And I found that for me, it's not about not having or not. It's not about being peaceful all the time. It's about knowing how to come back to it, how to choose it, and how to. Create it in my life consistently and from a place of empowerment and choice. And it doesn't mean that I'm never going to have a bad day, or that I'm never going to be upset, or that I'm never going to get angry. That that is impossible. It's just like saying it's never going to rain. Like, I can't control that. But what I can control is my response. I can control my choice to be upset, to be angry. Um, and so that's where I am these days, which is being in a state of conscious awareness of peace within myself. And even when the world is crazy and the world is chaotic and the world is painful, or my expression or my, I should say interpretation of it is x, Y, z. That's an indicator to me. That's a signal that I get to choose. AM I choosing to see the world as dangerous in that moment? Yeah, maybe. And then maybe five minutes later, I'm choosing that it's a beautiful place because it's both. It's polarity. And, um, I think this is the work we all have right now to revisit often.

00:05:41 Nazish: Absolutely. And, you know, there is this belief that peace means passivity and that if you are peaceful, you are like, just like what I said. And so what tends to happen inside a person when they realize that peace and power aren't opposite, but partners?

00:06:01 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Mhm. I love how you said that. Um, I think it is. It's it's a pivot. It's knowing that I can utilize peace and I can utilize harmony as a power move and as a very powerful position in leading by example and leading with integrity and leading from a space of clarity, knowing that we are all one. And I don't have anything if if in fact, which I believe is true, if in fact I have nothing to prove because I'm in peace with myself. If another person chooses to harm themselves, they have the right to do that. They can be angry with themselves. They can be angry with the world. Now where it gets a little bit, you know, complicated is when when I, if I come from a place of entitlement or that the world owes me something because I haven't healed my wounds, then I'm coming out outwardly with a sense of like anger, the sense of entitlement or unhealed self. And this is where I think this work is so valuable and so important because it it requires for each one of us to take responsibility for all the things happening in our life. And even if it's a health scare or an illness or a marriage that's broken up or a job, like whatever it is, um, we become stewards of our own suffering. And if we're stewards of our own suffering, that means we have a choice to suffer or not suffer. So if I continue to choose suffering, I'm making a choice. And a lot of times that's very painful to hear. That's very painful to sit with. But this is what I think true inner peace requires is sitting with the choice, whether it's suffering or peace in that moment and asking, which do I choose? And, um, I sat in suffering for a long time, a very long time, because I didn't yet have the maturity and the emotional fortitude to make a different choice. And I think it's really, it's, it's very, um, it's very interesting when we break down the science, so to speak, of this work, it's, you know, nobody ever said that life was going to be a piece of cake, but yet we all expect that, you know, when people say life is so hard, who said it wouldn't be like, I don't remember a sign when I came down from, you know, from the heavens that it was going to be easy, and yet I didn't. Also, you know, some moments I find that it's harder than other times, and sometimes it's easier than other times. So if that's the case, maybe it's something within me that is creating that experience. And so that's when I started to really learn these tools more deeply and with more respect and, um, and really honor my suffering as a tool to take me back to peace and freedom. And so that's what I do these days is every time, any time that I remember that I'm anything but peaceful, it's an invitation to come back to peace. It's like breathing. Like how do we breathe? By remembering, by choosing. And I love your question because it's very it's a very mature question is, how do we, you know, how do we use them as allies? Because they are they're not they're not to harm one another. But if a person doesn't take that option, they will always see them as enemies. And and that's also a choice to see it as, as an enemy versus an ally.

00:10:24 Nazish: Or to see it as an as an enemy, not as an ally. It is absolutely. Very well said. And you know that it is so powerful that peace isn't isn't withdrawal from life. It is alignment within it. And when alignment is missing, we start compensating externally. That brings me to something deeper that if someone feels constantly restless, achieving but not fulfilled, what usually happens underneath?

00:10:54 Regena (Rosa Celeste): I think, um, what happens is people lose hope in. In not just humanity, but sometimes in themselves. And I think this. For me at least, I can't speak for anyone else, but I know for me, it's been a real. Um. How would I say it's a journey back to faith, back to trust and remembering that I am here. I'm here not just to have. Everything I want for the sake of having what I want, but actually growth like my, one of my biggest, um, values in life is contribution and growth. So when a person understands their values and they understand what's important to them, then we make different choices. We make choices from a place of. Like how you said, you know, the word you said was alignment. It's a really good word because it brings everything into balance, and anything that's not balanced shows up as a contrast to show us what's not balanced. So like someone, for example, if they get sick, that's a perfect example. There's something out of alignment. Maybe their their eating is out of alignment. Maybe their mind is out of alignment, you know, their, their emotions, right? Um, I had a very long period where my mind was not totally aligned. I was making certain choices out of, uh, out of, how would I say, feeling obligated to do certain things for family members and for my community. And so I was always feeling guilty because I didn't want to do it, but I would do it anyway. And it cost me, it cost me my mental health. It cost me my physical health. I started losing my hair, I started losing weight, I gained weight, I had really bad skin problems. Um. My gut was a mess. There was so many things. And so now I look back at that time multiple times, those things happened. And so now I use my body and my mind as, um, checkpoints to help support me. So when I start to notice that I'm thinking negatively, I notice and I say to myself, okay, Regina, take inventory as if it was a job. You know, what is it that I'm not doing that I should be doing? Maybe I'm not meditating as much. Maybe I'm eating, you know, foods that are not supportive to my body. Maybe I'm staying up too late. Um, or I'm listening to music that's not giving me good messages or I'm watching the news too much or whatever it is. And just noticing, like, how can I be more responsible with my choices as small or as big as they as they are. And I think that's really, really an important piece of the puzzle for all of us is to know what are our habits, what is it that we're doing to create these imbalances inside of our mind, inside of our bodies, inside of our relationships, and really pay attention and really take inventory? Who, who am I being in my life to cause the mirror of what I'm experiencing? If I don't like it, I have to change something.

00:14:27 Nazish: Absolutely. That is so well said that if I don't like it, I have to change something. And you know, it is put absolutely nicely. And do you find that this restlessness is often rooted in identity, in who we think we need to be versus who we actually are?

00:14:47 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Yeah. And I think, um, I think that's part of what happens is most people, I believe that they, you know, they, they don't want to be, um, somebody else. But I think most people wear masks because they think they should, because they think that their mom or their dad wants them to have this career or that they should be married by a certain age or, you know, we should be in certain jobs or in certain relationships or driving certain cars or whatever, like worried about what other people think. And the truth is, is who cares what anybody thinks? Like it's none of my business what anybody thinks about me, whether it's good or bad. And the minute I think like the minute I'm concerned about what someone else thinks about me is the minute my ego is already taken over and hijacked my decision because not not hijacked, but the potential of hijacking my choices. And I think it comes back to authenticity. If I'm really, really in alignment with myself and I'm in integrity with myself, I get to be responsible for my choices, whether they are good or not good. And sometimes we have to learn the hard way what we don't want. Like one of the things I love about yoga, and this is why I'm so grateful for the work of yoga, is we talk about the edges and in life there are so many edges. And just like in a yoga pose, when we're in asana and I, you know, tell my students, remember your edges go to the edge, but also know when there is an edge because if you don't, you will be pummeled through life. People will take advantage of you and you will likely be taken advantage of as well. You will take advantage of people because you have no boundaries. You don't know where you start, where they stop, where they start, where you stop. Right? So, um, the teachings of yoga for me have been. The gateway of this work and really taught me so much about myself. And really, I think that's, that's truly the journey of life is to get to know the self, to get to know deeply and intimately who I am, what I am, so that I can really remember. It's a remembrance. We are all, I believe, divine beings of light, and we are from, you know, whatever the word is. Some people say God, some people say spirit, some people say universe, Lord, um, to me it's all oneness and it's the illusion of anything separate from that that creates the distortion that creates the um. I think I would say even the confusion that were anything less than whole and complete. You know, when people say I'm too, I'm too much, I'm too, I'm too this. I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too big. I'm too small. Um. We're perfect. And yes. Do we have things we can improve? Of course. You know, I, I could probably have more muscles. I could probably have more money. I could probably have less money. I could have, you know, less curly hair, less straight hair, whatever. The two, two not enough, too much, whatever. Um, it's all just the mind making noise. So who am I at my core? Who is my soul? What is my soul? Not who, but what is my soul? My soul is love and light. And so if I'm love and light, I believe that's the work of a human being is to. Be in the embodiment of love and light as much as possible in the midst of all the chaos and all the noise. And that's to me, what true inner peace really is. It's understanding and knowing that I am. That even in the moments when I forget, I can always come back. And this, I think is, is the work, you know, this is what it means to be enlightened. This is what it means to be on the path of spirituality, is to. Have compassion with oneself and with others. And, um, you know, to really love, love being a human being because that is truly a gift. It's not. It's not something to take for granted. And it's easy to do when we're in the suffering, when we're in the paying the bills and the, you know, broken relationships and broken jobs and breakdowns, as they say in the misalignment. So the invitation is to come back to alignment each and every moment.

00:19:59 Nazish: And it is so it sounds like so much of our stress isn't about workload. It is about misalignment. And when we are misaligned long enough, it begins to affect our health both emotionally and physically.

00:20:16 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Yeah, one hundred percent.

00:20:20 Nazish: Yeah. So in your work with leaders and organization, how does absence of inner peace actually show up? Like, what are the symptoms? Not just internally but outwardly as well?

00:20:33 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Mhm. Um, I think there's a lot. I think the biggest thing is, you know, at least for myself, I remember when I started learning kind of what was my misalignment, what was my signals? Um, I noticed that I was very, I would start to get irritable. I would start to judge. I would start to, I still, you know, find myself in those moments. Um, sometimes when I'm overwhelmed with life, when I feel burnt out, when I feel stressed, uh, I think the biggest category is just stress in general. And that looks different for everybody. You know, some people, they start to maybe take on more substance. You know, sometimes it can move into substance abuse, whether it's alcohol or, um, you know, different drugs, um, different escapes, you know, could be sex, could be food, could be, uh, avoidance, you know, So this is where some of the work that I do with what's called attachment theory really comes in and understanding why do we do certain things that we do? Um, also the other, one of the other main modalities that I work with that is really, really powerful. It's called psychosynthesis. And it's all about synthesizing with all parts. So the dark, the light, the too muchness or the not enoughness, you know, really understanding what is that? Where does that come from? And when somebody understands, you know, a simple one that I use is like when someone bites their nails, why am I biting my nails? Well, that's a stress response. It's a habit, but it's a habit because of something when they're stressed, when there's anxiety, maybe they're biting their nails because that's a response to the stress. So when we first have, we get to identify what is the stress and then what is happening When we feel the tension in our bodies, when we feel the tightness in the throat. You know, when it's time for to have a conversation with someone and there's a perception, like a fear of having a conversation, all of a sudden the throat gets tight. Well what happened? Why is the throat tight? Maybe something happened when the person was five years old. An experience happened. And so they're taking that memory from a five year old child that is now in the in the body of a grown woman or man who is still operating from a five year old. So there's a lot of psychology to it. There's a lot of science, um, and a lot of somatic work, you know, understanding what are the signals and working with those signals as a communication, um. To healing and to discovering where the breakdowns are and then transforming them one at a time.

00:23:36 Nazish: I couldn't agree more with you. And you know, inner peace isn't an abstract. It is practical. It affects how we speak, how we lead and how we sleep. And that is such an important connection for our listeners.

00:23:50 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Absolutely. I agree one thousand percent.

00:23:53 Nazish: Yeah. So for someone listening in right now who feels overwhelmed, what is the one starting point? Not a dramatic overhaul, but a gentle, grounded first step towards becoming their own internal peace revolutionist.

00:24:07 Regena (Rosa Celeste): MM, I think so. I call it internal peace renegades because I think it's it's a fun play on words. And also it's, uh, it's a movement, right? Uh, that we all get to carry this torch of inner peace and refinement within ourselves to change the landscape. And yes, of course we can go and we can live on the mountain tops and we can, you know, do the Buddha like steps. But the reality is, is not everybody can have the luxury of quitting their job and going to live in the forest and meditating for the rest of their life, right? So I think, I think it's a metaphor for being the Buddha inside of our own lives and being Buddha like. Or some would say Jesus like, right? Having the consciousness of Buddha, having the consciousness of Jesus and other ascended masters who've been here perhaps before, right? And whether they have or haven't, uh, I believe personally that there are beings that were here way before us who carried these teachings with them, and hence why we get to learn about them now. Um, but they're really just messengers to remind us how to live in the world together, how to live with peace and harmony and reverence for ourselves and for each other, for this earth, for nature, for the animals, the trees, the moon, the oceans. It's. It's all. It's all for us to celebrate life. And you know, in the moments when we forget, it's really easy to forget because there's so much noise. There's so much chaos happening around everywhere. So. In my little space, right? If I can be the light and I can be the torch of light for my community or for even myself. Let's start with that, right? Be grateful for what I do have. Be grateful that I have ten toes and you know, and feet, right? Um, there might be somebody listening on this Podcast who doesn't have feet and they have something to be grateful for. So if they can be grateful, I sure as heck should be grateful. And when I break it down that way, it is very simple. You know, I have water, I have food, I have a roof over my head. Yeah, maybe things are not perfect, far from perfect. But I have more than many people have. And I think that's one of the things that I love about podcasting, is that it reminds me that there are people in other parts of the world who don't have even a quarter of what I have. So really, really looking at where is the focus? Where is my attention? And this is what I think meditation offers, is quieting the mind and using these beautiful, sacred, very ancient tools. To bring us back to balance, back to alignment and remembrance of how lucky we truly are to be alive.

00:27:33 Nazish: Absolutely. It is so true, and I love that it is about returning to yourself again and again. Revolution doesn't always look loud, but sometimes it looks like choosing calm in a reactive world.

00:27:50 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Definitely.

00:27:52 Nazish: Yeah. You know, if one thing that I am going to take or if if I could summarize this today's conversation in one sentence, it would be, you know, peace isn't about opposite of ambition. It is the alignment that makes ambition sustainable.

00:28:11 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Yes, I would.

00:28:14 Nazish: Yeah. For those who want to explore your work, your teaching and to connect with you, where can they find you?

00:28:22 Regena (Rosa Celeste): The best place. Thank you so much for asking. The best place is on online. Um, I have a, I think a very easy and simple quiz that's available for those that want to learn more. And it's a very interactive quiz. It's five questions. Um, just to find out how stressed a person is and where we can eliminate the stress or reduce it. Um, and that's internal peace dot com. And it's a really simple resource. Great place to start. And I have a lot of free resources on there and I look forward to hearing from anybody any questions they have. I'm so grateful for this time together and this opportunity to connect with your community as well, and serve in this way.

00:29:08 Nazish: Wonderful. I will make sure to include all these details into the show notes so that a lot of people can join you and learn more about your work. Regina, thank you so much for joining us today on NLP is Better Health. It has been an absolutely wonderful conversation with you.

00:29:24 Regena (Rosa Celeste): Thank you so much. Likewise. Thank you.

00:29:27 Nazish: Yeah. And to everyone listening, remember that better health doesn't begin in the gym or in Plano. It begins within. Peace is not something you earn after you have proven yourself. It is something you choose again and again in how you think, how you respond, and how you return to yourself. Thank you all for joining us today on Inner Peace, better health. Take a breath, be gentle with yourself and we'll see you in the next episode.