The Kaya Ramjee Show

Hosted by Kaya Ramjee

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134

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Welcome to The Kaya Ramjee Show. I’m Kaya — Executive Mental Fitness Coach to ambitious individuals who want to reach the top 1% of their industry… and stay there. I’m also a woman who’s walked through grief, growth, reinvention, and the beautiful, messy business of building a life I truly love. This show is where I share what I’ve learned — from coaching exceptional clients, studying the mind and body for over a decade, and living through the kind of heartbreak that cracks you open. Here, we don’t chase perfection. We choose presence. We explore the patterns that hold us back — and the practices that set us free. If you’re ready to do work that actually matters… you’re in the right place, my friend.

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June 12, 202623 min

Spaciousness: The Exact Process I'm Using To Prepare For Two Weeks Off Ep: 133

I’m about to take two full weeks completely off technology and work while I attend a 10-day advanced meditation training with Dr Joe Dispenza in Mexico.No WhatsApp.No emails.No LinkedIn.No Instagram.No being reachable.Full stop.In this episode, I’m walking you through the exact planning process I used in the two weeks before leaving.Not because everyone needs to disappear to Mexico for a meditation retreat, but because the principles behind this process have changed the way I move through pressure.This episode is about planning from spaciousness instead of panic.I share how I brain dumped everything I needed to prepare, separated creative tasks from production tasks, mapped my actual capacity day by day, and created a simple, flexible plan that allowed me to execute without feeling rushed, fried, or overwhelmed.I also talk about why spaciousness is not just about having space in your calendar.It’s about feeling spacious.Space to think.Space to connect.Space to create.Space to actually live your life while still getting important things done.If you’ve ever:• Left everything until the last minute and called it “pressure”• Felt overwhelmed because you didn’t have clarity on what actually mattered• Wanted time off but spent the lead-up exhausted, overstimulated, and resentful• Struggled to balance execution with actually living your lifeIn this episode, we cover:• The difference between planning from panic and planning from spaciousness• Why clarity immediately reduces emotional overwhelm• How to break down large commitments into manageable priorities• How planning supports presence, connection, and spaciousnessThis is not about doing more.It is about creating clarity and clearing enough space to actually live your life.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

June 5, 202621 min

What's Wrong With Me? Ep: 132

Trauma is not just something that happens in your mind.It changes your body. Your nervous system. Your sense of safety. Your emotional patterns. Your identity.In this episode, I’m talking about how the body remembers trauma and grief, and why what you’re experiencing emotionally is not a sign that you are weak, broken, or failing.I share my own experience of PTSD after the death of my son Luca, including the flashbacks, the physiological shock, and what helped me begin to interrupt that trauma response and create a different reality for myself.I also talk about older trauma, the kind that can sit in the subconscious for decades and quietly shape the way you feel in present-day moments, even when logically you know you are safe.This episode explores the difference between grief and trauma, why traumatic grief exists, and how the nervous system can become conditioned around survival.I also share why healing is not about denying what happened, forcing positive thoughts, or “moving on.” It is about emotional reprocessing, nervous system safety, compassion, and understanding that your body adapted to protect you.If you’ve ever:• Felt unsafe in your body even when logically you knew you were safe• Experienced grief that felt traumatic, shocking, or physiologically overwhelming• Wondered why certain emotions or reactions seem to take over your body• Thought there was something wrong with you because you couldn’t just “move on”In this episode, we cover:• How trauma creates physiological changes in the body and nervous system• The distinction between grief and trauma• What PTSD felt like for me after losing my son Luca• Why traumatic images and flashbacks can keep shocking the nervous system• How emotional reprocessing can begin to change the body’s response• Why healing starts with compassion rather than self-judgmentHealing begins when we stop asking, “What’s wrong with me?” and start asking, “What happened to me, and how did it affect me?”You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

May 30, 202623 min

Is Depression Your Body Remembering Grief Or Trauma? Ep 131

I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between grief and depression.From lived experience and from working closely with clients, I've noticed the very real confusion that can happen when emotional pain resurfaces years after loss.In this episode, I’m exploring the distinction between grief and depression, and why they can look so similar while not being exactly the same thing either physiologically or psychologically.I share my own recent experience of navigating something that felt like depression, and how it made me question what was different about that experience compared to grief. I also talk about what I’ve witnessed in high-performing, highly functional clients who have moved through very low periods without necessarily using the word depression.This episode goes into how grief evolves as life changes, why old loss can resurface in new ways, and how unresolved grief and trauma can dysregulate the nervous system. I also share how Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work, meditation, hypnotherapy, subconscious programming, and nervous system regulation have helped me understand what happens when the body memorises emotional states.So many people are judging themselves for emotional experiences they do not fully understand. And sometimes what looks like failure, numbness, heaviness or low self-worth is actually the body re-experiencing grief and trauma.If you’ve ever:felt depressed but been afraid to use the wordexperienced grief coming back years after the original losswondered why you feel emotionally flat when your life looks “fine”judged yourself for not being further along in your healingfelt like something is wrong with you when old pain resurfacesIn this episode, we cover:the traditional distinction between grief and depressionwhy grief can evolve as you move through lifehow traumatic loss can live in the bodywhy the body can become conditioned into emotional stateshow meditation and hypnotherapy can help interrupt unconscious emotional loopsWhatever you are going through, I promise you, you are not failing. And maybe the most healing thing you can do is stop judging the way you actually feel.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

May 22, 202622 min

I Was Terrified To Admit I Felt Depressed Ep: 130

A few weeks after my son’s birthday, I found myself waking up every morning feeling exhausted, fearful, hopeless, and overwhelmed by an emotion I was terrified to name.In this episode, I’m sharing what shifted when I finally stopped resisting my emotional experience and stopped turning it into my identity.This episode is about the difference between experiencing an emotion and becoming it.I talk openly about what it was like moving through the emotions of grief, depression, anxiety and hopelessness. I explore how fear of difficult emotions can create even more suffering, and why so many high performers unconsciously believe that acknowledging pain means becoming consumed by it.I also share the role the Judge saboteur was playing for me, the stories I was telling myself about what my emotions meant, and the practical ways I had to start supporting myself through one of the hardest emotional periods of my life.So many people are silently fighting their emotional experience instead of allowing themselves to feel and move through it. And often the suffering is not just the emotion itself, it’s the judgment layered on top of it.If you’ve ever:felt afraid of your own emotionsbelieved acknowledging depression would make it permanenttried to “fix” yourself instead of feeling what you're feelingused overworking, scrolling, or staying busy to avoid difficult emotionsstruggled to separate what you feel from who you are…this episode is for you.In this episode, I cover:the difference between “I am depressed” and “I am experiencing depression”how the Judge saboteur turns emotions into identitywhy resisting emotions creates more sufferingthe role of self-pity and self-sabotage during difficult periodshow sleep, boundaries, and honest self-support became essential for mewhy healing can begin when we stop being so afraid of our emotional experienceChanging your relationship with what you feel is different to changing how you feel.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

May 15, 202623 min

Everyone Thinks You’re Unstoppable. You’re Running On Empty Ep: 129

Most people don’t realise they’re trying to outrun themselves.What can look like ambition, discipline, optimisation and productivity on the outside can actually be emotional avoidance underneath.In this episode, I’m talking about the hyper achiever pattern and the way so many high performers respond to pain, grief, anxiety and uncertainty by doing more. More planning. More work. More goals. More movement. More pressure.I share my own experiences of becoming compulsively productive during emotionally difficult periods, and the difference between creating from alignment versus creating from avoidance.I also explore:why emotional suppression often disguises itself as resiliencehow judgment and resistance amplify sufferinghow hyper achiever pattern can become a socially rewarded coping mechanismIf you’ve ever:thrown yourself into work during difficult periodsfelt compulsively productive when emotionally overwhelmedbelieved slowing down would make you lazy or weaktied your worth to achievement and external validation…this episode will probably feel very familiar.Emotional health is not about being positive all the time.It’s being able to experience the full range of human emotions. FULL STOP.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

May 8, 202628 min

The Number One Thing Smart People Do To Outsmart Themselves: Ep 128

What if the voice you think is helping you stay strong is actually teaching you to abandon yourself emotionally?In today’s episode, I’m talking about the hyper-rational saboteur. The part of us that uses logic, perspective, realism and “maturity” to bypass difficult emotions instead of actually feeling them.This conversation became deeply personal for me after an experience on my son Luca’s birthday last weekend. While visiting the tree my family planted for him after he passed away unexpectedly in 2023, I found myself overwhelmed with grief. And in that moment, when I said out loud, “It’s just so unfair,” I immediately heard another voice inside my head respond:“Life is unfair.”For years, I believed that voice was wisdom. Resilience. Strength. Grounded realism.But what I recognised was that it wasn’t helping me process grief. It was shutting my grief down.In this episode, I explore the difference between being grounded in reality and emotionally abandoning yourself.I talk about why so many thoughtful, capable, high-achieving people mistake emotional suppression for strength, and how logic can quietly become a defence against sadness, grief, disappointment, injustice and vulnerability.I also explore:The cost of emotional suppression on the nervous systemThe difference between self-empathy and self-pityWhat true mental fitness actually looks like during difficult emotional experiencesIf you’ve ever:Told yourself “other people have it worse”Dismissed your pain because “you need to move on”Struggled to offer yourself the compassion you would instantly give somebody else…then this episode is for you.The essence of mental fitness is increasing our capacity to stay emotionally present with ourselves, even in the middle of grief, pain, sadness and uncertainty.It is not about never experiencing negative emotions.You do not need to earn empathy by proving your pain is valid.Your emotions are worthy of compassion simply because you are human.You can find out more about working with me at KayaRamjee.com

May 1, 202621 min

Under the Surface of Finding Everyone Annoying | Ep. 127

This is a personal episode, recorded the day before my son Luca’s birthday.I’m sharing a story from a family holiday in Italy where, despite being in a beautiful place with people I love, I found myself reactive and irritated.It wasn’t really about them. It was about what I hadn’t acknowledged in myself.When something painful is present, whether that’s grief, stress, or something unresolved, it doesn’t stay contained. It starts shaping how you interpret everything.Small interactions feel loaded. Neutral moments feel personal. You start noticing what people aren’t doing, how they’re getting it wrong, how they’re not showing up for you.Before you realise it, you’re in a mental loop where everyone else feels like the problem.In this episode, I break down what’s actually happening in those moments.We look at the difference between feeling an emotion and building a story around it, how self-pity shows up as grievance and injustice, and why this pattern often looks like self-care when it isn’t.If you’ve ever:Found yourself irritated by people you normally care aboutFelt like others aren’t showing up for you in the way you wantBuilt mental lists of what people are doing wrongFelt more sensitive or reactive than usualThought “no one really cares about how I feel”In this episode, we cover:What’s actually happening when everyone feels annoyingThe grievance and injustice pattern (victim saboteur)How unprocessed emotion shows up in your relationshipsThe shift from self-pity to self-empathyWhat it looks like to interrupt the pattern in real timeIt’s rarely about other people.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

April 24, 202620 min

You Already Know What You’re Avoiding | Ep 126

Understanding despondency, high performer stagnation, and how to rebuild agency through focused action.You’re still performing. You don’t feel sad.But somewhere underneath it all… you’ve stopped believing it will change.This episode breaks down despondency — a quiet, often invisible pattern sitting underneath high performance.It’s different to burnout or giving up.It’s the insidious whisper: “what’s the point?”In this episode, we explore the psychology behind despondency — how it forms through repeated expectation → disappointment → meaning loops, and how high performers unknowingly reinforce it through hyper-rational thinking.This pattern shows up in:staying in roles you’ve outgrownavoiding difficult conversationscontinuing to perform… but without convictionI introduce the One Thing Framework.Because you don’t think your way out of despondency.You act your way out of it.If you’ve ever:felt successful on the outside but internally stuckavoided something you know would move you forwardtold yourself “I’m just being realistic”stayed busy while avoiding what actually matterslost belief without ever fully giving upIn this episode, we cover:what despondency actually is (and why it’s often missed)the expectation → disappointment → meaning loophow high performers reinforce this pattern without realisingwhy “being realistic” is often disguised resignationthe One Thing Framework and how to apply it immediatelyDespondency is continuing… without belief.And you don’t think your way out of it.You act your way out of it.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

April 17, 202617 min

Why Smart, Positive People Stay Stuck (Even When They Know What To Do) Ep 125

Understanding despondency, hyper-rational thinking, and why high performers stop taking actionWhat if you don’t feel stuck because you’re overwhelmed? What if you feel stuck because, somewhere underneath it all, you’ve stopped believing your actions will actually change anything.This episode breaks down a subtle but powerful pattern: despondency and how it shows up in people who are positive, self-aware, and deeply invested in personal growth.This is about a quiet loss of belief that effort will lead to results.You’ll learn how hyper-rational thinking disguises itself as “being realistic,” and how it quietly shuts down action even while you stay busy, productive, and consuming more information.This is the pattern that keeps high-performing people stuck for years.Not failing...just not moving. If you’ve ever:Felt like you know exactly what to do but still aren’t doing itConsumed endless personal development without real changeTold yourself “now isn’t the right time” or “I need more clarity”Stayed busy but felt like you weren’t actually moving forwardConsidered yourself positive… but quietly doubted what’s possible for youIn this episode, we cover:What despondency actually is (and why most people miss it)The hyper-rational thinking pattern that fuels itThe hidden belief driving inactionOnce you see it, you can’t unsee it.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com

April 10, 202622 min

The 70% Rule: How I Doubled My Output in Half the Time Ep 124

How lowering your standards unlocks consistency, execution, and real results.Most people think higher standards create better results. I’ve found the opposite to be true.In this episode, I’m sharing the one habit I committed to for 30 days that completely changed how I work, think, and show up.This is about something most people resist...lowering your standards in a strategic way so you can actually become consistent.I break down how perfectionism was quietly keeping me stuck in overthinking and inaction, and what shifted when I started operating at around 70% instead. As a result, I got more done, made more money, created more time, and felt significantly more aligned in my day-to-day life.If you’re someone who holds yourself to high standards but finds yourself delaying, refining, or not executing as much as you know you could—this episode will challenge the way you’re approaching your work and your results.If you’ve ever:Spent hours refining something and still not sent itFelt like you need to “get it right” before taking actionBeen busy all day but not actually moved anything forwardStruggled to stay consistent despite wanting to beKnown exactly what to do, but not followed throughIn this episode, I cover:The real reason you’re not executing (and it’s not discipline)Why frequency matters more than quality when it comes to resultsThe simple daily habit I used to drive focused executionHow the “70% rule” created more time, money, and alignment for meFor me, the shift wasn’t about doing more. It was about removing the pressure to be perfect so I could actually move.Execution creates momentum. Momentum creates results. And those results compound over time.You can find out more about working with me at www.kayaramjee.com