We recently connected with Neal Bakshi and have shared our conversation below.

Neal, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?

As I’ve seen from my sister becoming a mom of two, parenting is a tall task. Sleepless nights (which turn into years), a schedule which fully revolves around your children’s extracurriculars and nap times, and the added responsibility of being a primary provider seems all-consuming. I grew up outside of Princeton, New Jersey and my parents, both immigrants from India, worked full time. My mom commuted an hour and a half each way to work, while my dad lived away from the home Monday through Friday as a merchant marine engineer.

While nanny’s picked me up from school and took me to karate classes, my mom was there every night beside me as I would do my homework. Her presence even while managing dozens of obligations was one of the greatest gifts my parents offered me.

Outside of being selfless caretakers, giving my sister and I the greatest lives possible while making their American Dream come to reality, what both of my parents did right was teaching me to meditate from the age of five.

As a child, I was restless, easily excitable, and had massive mood swings (classic Cancer sun astrology sign). My parents brought me on the spiritual path of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), which an Indian Yogi named Paramahansa Yogananda founded when he came to the United States in 1920.

The teachings of SRF are non-dogmatic and teach that self-realization is attainable through ancient yogic and scientific techniques of meditation passed down for millennia. As a small child, I would attend weekly group meditation services at the SRF chapel along with Sunday school, where I would learn about saints and sages of all cultures, how to still my body, not respond to every itch or sensation, calm my thoughts, and focus my attention and willpower.

In the early days, I was less than enthused by attending these services. I found it extremely hard to sit still and not make noise, doing my best to not disturb the other meditators. As time progressed, I gradually became more and more calm.

27 years later, I can firmly say that my parent’s dedication to mindfulness for my sister and I – through being embodied examples themselves – has been the greatest thing they’ve done in raising us. I practice the ancient psychophysiological technique known as Kriya Yoga daily, and it has changed my life.

We are all searching for something in life, with few really knowing what that “something” actually is. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to discover that something is inner peace. From that state of centeredness, you can ride the emotional waves of whatever life brings you without getting pulled asunder.

Meditation is more than the doorway to inner peace, for it is also the master key to accessing higher states of consciousness, unlocking profound spiritual and intuitive gifts, and the opportunity to regularly experience yourself at One with everything in the Universe – using nothing but your own breath and stillness.

As life gets busy with work obligations, optimizing your health, family responsibilities, or even caring for your own children, what I’ve discovered is that meditation has become a non-negotiable in my daily routine. It’s as crucial as brushing my teeth in the morning.

If we care for our body through exercise, our emotions through therapy, and our minds though reading, work, or personal development, then why would we not also care for our energetic or spiritual body through a simple technique of sitting in meditation?

Teaching me meditation as a child is what my parents definitely did right, and it is something which has served me greater than anything else imaginable.

Neal, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

For those who haven’t met me before, my name is Neal Bakshi. I am an author, speaker, and entrepreneur who primarily serves the world through channeling angelic guidance, providing spiritual healing, and creating experiential activations to skyrocket leaders of all industries into their new paradigm of consciousness.

Through nearly a dozen wellness modalities I’m certified in, ranging from energy healing, to bodywork, breathwork, life coaching, ritualistic ceremonies, and more, I create personalized programs and global transformational retreats infusing science, psychology, and spirituality to shift people’s entire perspectives on the reality they live in.

I believe we are each individual fractals of a singular infinite consciousness. Through tangible techniques and first-hand experiences, I help people realize their true nature, their soul self.

I am a former Goldman Sachs investment banking vice president who has closed over $100 billion of transactions. Following my mom’s sudden and unexpected death, my spiritual awakening journey began.

Over the years that followed, I created a channel of communication with the angelic realm, and shortly thereafter, the ability of mediumship opened to me. I went on a personal healing journey around the world which you can read more about in my best-selling book, Banking on Angels, or watch in my TEDx talk, Your Suitcase Can Cure An Epidemic.

Meditation, conscious living, intentionality, and spiritualizing my daily life have been core tenets which allow me to show up from a space of creativity, love, and service every day.

I am a world traveler who spends most of my time as an author, speaker, spiritual guide & healer, retreat host, creator of DNA activation experiences/ceremonies in ancient sacred sites, president of a non-profit, angel investor, and business advisor.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience is one of the greatest qualities any individual or leader can embody. We often try to find all the mechanisms under the sun to control life around us so we can feel as safe as possible. However, much of life is drastically outside of our control.

In 2020, my mom went in for a 30-minute outpatient thumb surgery to fix a partially torn ligament. Unable to be aroused after the surgery, she was intubated and rushed to the ER. In the weeks that followed, my mom spent nearly three weeks on life support in the Neuro-ICU before passing on. In the wake of my mom’s sudden and unexpected death, I had to pick up the pieces for my family. I found dozens of log-in passwords, kept credit card bills and mortgage payments running on time, and provided death certificates to countless providers. My mom was my greatest supporter, confidant, and teacher. She loved me more than I loved myself at the time.

The months that followed proved to be some of the most challenging in my life. I would wake up in the middle of the night with my pillow soaked with tears. I would go for morning runs only to break down crying in the middle of them. It is only years later that I learned grief is a journey that arguably never ends, but only continues to evolve. I know many for whom the death of a loved one leaves a black hole in their heart for years or even decades. As time passed, I found ways to turn my pain into purpose.

One day at a time, I began to turn inward while tuning into the signs around me through extreme presence. I decided to find ways in which I could first fill myself with love, and then serve others from a place of wholeness. While the death of my mom showed me firsthand that we don’t have control over what will happen along our life’s journey, it also taught me that each of us contain the ability to alchemize and transmute the energies in our life. What we do have control of in every situation that allows us to do this, is our mind. It may take weeks, months, years, or decades, but when you can begin to shift your perspective into one that involves the energy of gratitude, resilience then begins to shine through. It allows us to realize that it is not about what happens to us, but rather how we choose to respond, that dictates the outcome.

How’d you meet your business partner?

At the turn of the new year in 2024, I found myself on the trip of a lifetime hiking through Chilean Patagonia before embarking on a three week expedition to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. As a solo traveler, I booked a week-long excursion through the W-Trek with a guided group before heading to my last and final continent, Antarctica. Our motley crew of eight ranged in age from the late teens to the late fifties. As there’s not much else to do out in the rugged wilderness without cellphone service, we simply talked; and our group gradually became closer by the end of the week. During the last few days, in the shadow of the famed Torres del Paine granite rock mountains, I delved into some deep conversations with one of my fellow mountaineers, Spencer. For nearly seven hours, we ended up in a conversation about complex structured finance solutions, natural resources, renewable energy, and cryptocurrency. Along with some existential philosophy and discussions on plant medicines along the way, we started to connect on an authentic level. At one stop for snacks, he turned to me and said, “hey you’re pretty knowledgeable about this stuff.” I smiled as I simply said, “I specialized in this for years at Goldman Sachs, specifically covering natural resources and power companies.”

Spencer then told me about how his company, Sangha Renewables, was raising capital and looking for a new General Partner (GP). Sangha works with distressed renewable energy companies to co-locate data centers behind the meter on their sites. In very simple terms, the company buys the excess power in order to lift the floor of potential losses for the power company, and guarantee them a greater duration of profitability.

The fascinating thing that Sangha does, is then mine bitcoin using that power generated from renewable sources, like solar and wind. In essence, the company helps save renewable energy sites while converting electrons from the sun into a globally traded commodity.

Spencer gave me nearly half a dozen legal documents, pitch decks, and models to review during my expedition to Antarctica. After a few calls when I got back, I decided this was an innovative and impactful business making a real change in the world. Shortly thereafter, I became a GP of the business. Something to this day also keeps telling me that this synchronistic encounter was a gift from my mom on the Other Side. In one of the most unlikely places to meet a business partner, I met Spencer at the end of the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nealbakshi.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/neal.bakshi
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealbakshi/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nealbakshi
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/author/nealbakshi