Dear Friends,

What if Snakes and Ladders was never meant to be a children’s game?

In this episode of Gateways to Awakening, Yasmeen Turayhi sits down with Polina Rud, art historian, therapist, and guide of the ancient Indian oracle gyān caupar (also known as Snakes and Arrows). Polina shares the little-known origin story behind the board we all remember: an archetypal map of consciousness designed to reveal patterns in the psyche, karmic loops, and the hidden forces shaping our choices.

Together, they explore how this “theater of fate” becomes a real-time mirror for your inner world: the role of intention (and why you have to get radically honest to enter the game), what it means when you keep landing on the same squares, and how “snakes” symbolize shadow—not as punishment, but as an invitation to integration and transformation.

They also go deeper into why ancient cultures encoded spiritual wisdom into play, how randomness can soften the ego’s grip, and why intuition must be trained—especially in a world flooded with noise, misinformation, and external authority.

This is a conversation about destiny, discernment, shadow work, compassion, and the profound spiritual intelligence hidden inside a simple board game.

In this episode, we cover:

• The ancient origins of Snakes and Ladders as gyān caupar / Snakes and Arrows

• How to use the game as an oracle (and why intention matters)

• Why repeating squares reveals repeating life patterns

• “Good company” vs. “bad company” and the psychology of truth-telling

• What snakes symbolize: shadow, projection, compassion, and growth

• Why play is foundational for mental health (and how it helps metabolize trauma)

• How to strengthen intuition without outsourcing your authority to divination tools

• Why compassion can take you further than “service” alone
  

About Polina Rud Polina Rud is a doctoral candidate in art history, an art curator and lecturer, and a therapist with training in mental health and suicide risk. She specializes in cross-cultural symbolic systems including runic oracles, theosophy, and Hindu astrology, and she guides clients through gyān caupar as a tool for self-knowledge, decision-making, and transformation.

Connect with Polina

• Website: polinarud.com (as mentioned in the episode)

• Social: “It’s Not the End”

• NGO: theworldhurts.com (free psychosocial support and resources, including support for activists)

Tune in to Gateways to Awakening for more conversations with leading thinkers, creators, and spiritual pioneers shaping the future of consciousness. For more from me: follow my writing on Substack (substack.com/@therealyasmeent), find me on Instagram @TheRealYasmeenT, or visit InnerKnowingSchool.com.

Dear Gateways Community - What if the foundation of your self-worth was shaped long before you had the awareness to question it?

In this deeply moving and expansive conversation on Gateways to Awakening, Yasmeen Turayhi sits down with Sean Smith, actor, author, and master neurotransformational coach, to explore one of the most profound and often overlooked dynamics in human development: the father-daughter relationship.

He is the author of the book, Daddy, Are You Proud of Me? What Daughters Need to Hear, See, and Know From Their Dads.

Through years of coaching tens of thousands of women, Sean uncovered a powerful throughline—self-worth is not just shaped by whether a father was present or loving, but by a single, formative question: “Was he proud of me?”

We explore how this dynamic quietly influences everything—from career success and burnout to romantic relationships and patterns of validation. We also unpack the difference between performance-based approval and unconditional worth, and why so many high-achieving women are still left feeling unfulfilled.

“Self-worth is not just shaped by whether a father was present or loving, but by whether a daughter felt: Was he proud of me?” - Sean Smith

This conversation is not about blame. It’s about awareness, healing, and reclaiming your relationship with yourself.

We also discuss:

• How childhood patterns around approval shape adult identity

• Why silence from a parent can be more impactful than criticism

• The hidden link between self-esteem and romantic dynamics

• What healthy, “vulnerable masculinity” actually looks like

• How healing can occur—even without direct resolution with a parent

There is a tenderness to this conversation—one that opens the door to both grief and possibility. Because once something becomes conscious, it can change.

This episode is for anyone seeking deeper self-understanding, more aligned relationships, and a new way of relating to their own inner world.

Tune in to Gateways to Awakening for more conversations with leading thinkers, creators, and spiritual pioneers shaping the future of consciousness.

We would love to hear from you! What did you take away from this episode? Tag us and let us know. We love reviews!

For more from me: follow my writing on Substack (substack.com/@therealyasmeent), find me on Instagram @TheRealYasmeenT, or visit InnerKnowingSchool.com.

I recently wrote the book A Glitch In The Matrix: 10 Energy Codes to Become The Main Character of Your Life which is available in print, kindle and Audible (in my own voice).

This show is sponsored by VastuFengShuiHarmony.com

In this episode of Gateways to Awakening, Yasmeen Turayhi sits down with her friend Natalie Levy, Managing Partner of She’s Independent Investments, a women-first angel investment group making investing more accessible through action and education.

Natalie is an engineer and mathematician by training and a former Wall Street trader and private equity professional who now blends analytical rigor with values-based, heart-led investing. They explore Natalie’s new book, Cash Is Queen: A Conscious Journey in Angel Investing, and the deeper shift it represents in how we relate to money, power, and feminine leadership.

“The business is not just numbers and data points. The business is people. It’s energy.” - Natalie Levy

Key takeaways from this conversation:

• Why Natalie chose the title “Cash Is Queen” and how changing language can change culture, identity, and access.

• What a feminine approach to wealth-building looks like, including magnetizing and flowing versus forcing and grasping.

• Why investing is not just numbers and spreadsheets, but also people, energy, and values, and how that changes what you choose to fund.

• A candid look at unconscious bias in finance, including how privilege can create blind spots and why contrast often sharpens self-awareness.

• How to start redefining your relationship with money by recognizing that money is energy, and that nearly everyone carries some form of money trauma, whether they have wealth or not.

• Why “conscious capital” is often reduced to marketing language, and what it looks like when it is real, embodied, and practiced.

• Practical advice for founders, especially women and diverse founders, on how to think about funding, including why not every business needs venture capital and how to use accessible education tools to understand your options.

• The idea that the most powerful fundraising strategy is building something so aligned that it becomes magnetic, and support arrives through relationship and trust rather than panic and pressure.
  

Tune in to Gateways to Awakening for more conversations with leading thinkers, creators, and spiritual pioneers shaping the future of consciousness.

For more from me: follow my writing on Substack (substack.com/@therealyasmeent), find me on Instagram @TheRealYasmeenT, or visit InnerKnowingSchool.com.