The Sacred Conversation

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Hello Soul Family,

If you’re connected with me on Linkedin, you may have seen that I just released a new podcast episode I’ve been preparing for quietly and deeply for the past four years.

In this episode, I host Ali Reza Yawari, a Hazara young man from Afghanistan who fled at the age of 15, unaccompanied (An”unaccompanied minor” is a refugee under 18 years old, separated from both parents and not under the care of a legally responsible adult).

He has now been in Indonesia for over a decade, still awaiting resettlement — still without legal status, still in limbo.

No, he didn’t know it would take this long.
No, he didn’t know he’d be separated from his family for this many years.
No, he didn’t know he would experience and witness such profound darkness.
No, he didn’t know that living in a “transit country” would mean being safe from immediate danger… but also forbidden from truly living.

This is his 11th year in that in-between.

Every time I spoke with Ali since the early years of our Youth Lead: Youth Change mentoring program, I felt like I was talking to a 75-year-old man in a 25-year-old body. There is an immense depth to him and his words.

I spent four weeks in Indonesia in the summer of 2024 — much of that time with Ali and Muna, the co-founders of the Emplace Initiative. I was with them as a facilitator, a mentor, and a friend. I listened. I held space. I laughed. My heart wept, too, silently.

Ali shared much more with me than in this episode — and I was grateful he trusted me enough to do so.

So many things Ali has lived through are beyond imagination.
And yet, he speaks of them not from bitterness but from a place of contemplative, composure, and resilient grace.

But I was also grateful that I had three years to prepare to receive his sharing with an open heart:

Three years of facilitating healing for these young freedom fighters.
Three years of healing my own heart in the process of supporting these young fighters.

Their healing helped mine. Mine helped theirs. That is how this journey has worked.

Muna once gently whispered to me in one of these shares, “Are you okay? That was a lot.”

At that moment, I was — but my body was processing more than I could speak.

I don’t listen with just my ears.
I listen with my heart.
With my nervous system.
With my soul.

And when I flew back to Zurich, during a stopover at Doha airport, my body began to release.
Holding a cup, I sat at Costa Coffee as my tears streamed for hours.
Not out of despair — but because something was being integrated. My soul was stretching. My heart was expanding.

It was in early March 2025 that I finally felt ready to ask Ali to speak with me on the podcast.

Not from a place of despair, or grief, or even anger — but from a place of love.

I wanted to honour him.
I wanted to honour his messages.
I wanted to honour the voices of many he carries in his heart and his stories.

It took me four years to become ready to hold that kind of conversation with my heart open. And I was thrilled — deeply, soulfully — when he said yes.

We’ve both grown in the four years we’ve known each other.

This conversation reflects our growth — a weaving of love, resilience, compassion and hope, even as we speak about the darkest parts of our collective humanity.

Ali has a potent message at the end of this episode — I ask you to listen to it with care. Let it reach you.

As for me…
There is something I didn’t say in the podcast that I want to tell you now:

Please claim your freedom.
In whatever form that takes for you.
Free yourself from all that makes you feel you don’t belong;
From every lie that says you are not enough;
From every doubt that says you cannot live differently.

Please, live. Please, love.
Live fully. Live freely. Love fully. Love freely.
Because you can.

Thank you for watching or listening to this episode.

Be mindful, this episode includes discussions of war, forced displacement, trauma, etc. Please listen with care and pause if you need to. Your well-being matters.

Take what you need from it — and let it help you choose something uplifting for your life.

If you feel called, connect with Ali directly. Support his message. Let his words ripple.

With love,

Astuti

Click here for a free discovery call with me: https://astuti-martosudirdjo.youcanbook.me/

Go here to find out more about my self-paced online programs: https://embodiment.upliftmylife.today/

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