You’re Not Crazy, You’re Just Awakening – An Interview with Anistara Ma Ka

What if the life you thought was falling apart was actually asking you to become someone new?

Spiritual awakening can feel inspiring, but it can also disrupt your identity, relationships, work, and sense of reality. In this conversation, Anistara Ma Ka shares the dramatic Kundalini awakening that changed the direction of her life and eventually led her to become an Ascension Integration Mentor, transformational speaker, author, and creator of the Ascension Integration Technique. Her story shows how spiritual awakening can become a path toward releasing old patterns, taking responsibility for your choices, and learning to trust the person you are becoming.

Whether you are moving through an awakening of your own or simply questioning what comes next, this dialogue offers a grounded way to understand change. It invites you to stop asking why life is happening to you and begin exploring what it may be revealing, awakening, and preparing you to share with the world.

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From your perspective, what do you sense is unfolding on our planet right now? We have a lot of good things happening, and a lot that I would perhaps call not so good. What do you sense is unfolding?

Anistara Ma Ka: I believe that we’re in the birth canal of creating our new Earth. It can be sticky, squishy, and really constricting. Humanity is moving through an extraordinary time right now. Humanity is waking up, our planetary ascension is occurring, and all eyes are on us—on what we’re going to do with planet Earth and what we’re going to create for all of humanity, as well as Mothership Earth herself.

It can be chaotic as old structures crumble, old ways of living no longer apply, and new structures and paradigms are created. At the same time, I believe a lot of people might be questioning, “What’s going on here? The world isn’t making any sense. My life isn’t making sense. My work doesn’t make sense anymore.” They’re stepping into a place of asking: What is the deeper meaning of our lives? What is our purpose? What is our mission? How can I be of service to this new co-creation that we’re moving into and creating right now?

This collective awakening is really a time to step into personal responsibility for how we hold ourselves, our frequency, and our vibration, because that ripples out into humanity. All of us can make an impact.

I want to hear about your own journey of awakening to consciousness, mindfulness, spirituality—however you would describe it. Where did you grow up? Did you grow up with some sort of faith experience, or did that come later in life?

Anistara Ma Ka: I was mostly raised here in California, in the United States, and my mother was a Christian—a Baptist, actually. I grew up going to church every Sunday, attending Sunday school, going to church camps, and all of those things. When I was about eleven years old, I started questioning some of the stories. If God created the world in seven days, where were the dinosaurs? When did that fit into the timeline? She didn’t appreciate a lot of my questions.

I came to realize that Christianity was only one path to Source, God, Creator—whatever name you want to give this benevolent energy. There are so many different cultures and religions in the world. How can you say that one path is the way and everybody else is going to hell?

I really started studying other cultures and traveling internationally in my early to mid-twenties. I came to cultivate an understanding of and compassion for all the peoples of the world. That’s when my spirituality really began to come online.

Was there a particular experience, person, or teacher who helped you at that time?

Anistara Ma Ka: I would say Joe Dispenza has been a big influence—meditation, learning the science behind meditation, how it benefits us, and how we can create our own reality. That also connects with many of the teachings I share: When you want to create a new life, your old identity won’t do it. You need to create a whole new self. That has been a huge part of my awakening process.

At what point did you feel a massive shift? Was there one pivotal experience, or was it more of a gradual process over time? How did that unfold for you?

Anistara Ma Ka: It was definitely gradual at first. Then I had a full Kundalini awakening on the evening that my husband and I eloped twenty years ago. We had a fire ceremony on the beach in Santa Barbara, and the Hindu priest said, “Are you sure you want to do this? Because it can change you. It can change people.” We said, “Okay, yes. That’s what we want in our lives—change.”

How did you make the choice to have a Hindu priest for your wedding ceremony?

Anistara Ma Ka: We had already visited Bali and resonated with the culture, the belief system, and the devotion surrounding it. This particular person was my roommate’s partner at the time, so it was easy because he said, “I’ll officiate your wedding. You’re eloping, and you’re going to be by yourselves. Let’s do something special.”

Later that evening, I became violently ill. For several days, I stayed awake and didn’t need to eat, sleep, or drink anything. I just channeled and received lightning-fast downloads. My husband said, “Kandice, what’s going on?” I said, “I’m not Kandice. I am Anistara” (a name that was given to me years earlier by a psychic.

What happened for me was that my higher self entered my body. I don’t like the word walk-in, but I definitely became somebody new. Becoming ill felt like a physical reaction of my multidimensional self condensing down into physical form.

In that moment, I connected to my Akashic records, the Universe, God, and everything all at once. Trying to verbalize this to my husband was really challenging. He said, “Anistara, if you start telling people all these things, they’re going to think you’re crazy.” I said, “No, honey, I’m not crazy.”, I knew something powerful was happening for me.

Years later, a mentor asked me, “What did you wish somebody had said to you during this time?”  I said, “You’re not crazy, you’re just awakening”.  That phrase eventually became one of my taglines and the title of one of my masterclasses.

Ultimately, it was that instantaneous Kundalini awakening—and the progression that has unfolded in my life since then—that became my journey of awakening.

That was twenty years ago, and you’re just getting ready to celebrate twenty years together. He stayed with you. He didn’t say, “Hey, this is not the woman I married.”

Anistara Ma Ka: It was a really interesting moment because he eventually asked, “What do you need right now?” I said, “I need to be alone.” He rented me a cabin on a mountain overlooking the ocean, and I spent three months channeling, writing, drawing, meditating, walking in nature, and connecting with the wisdom that was coming through. He would come up to visit me, bring me food, and check on me.

Eventually, he would say, “Honey, can you please come home? We had plans. I married Kandice. Who are you?” Finally, I said yes and came home. That’s when the integration process began.

I took all the wisdom and information I had been channeling as Anistara and brought it into my business at the time, Holistic Hooping. I created an entirely new modality around chakra clearing using the flow arts. He is such a gem, and I’m so grateful to this man because he really did say, “If we weren’t married, I probably wouldn’t have made it through that with you.”

My goodness. Without speaking for him, did he follow a similar path soon afterward?

Anistara Ma Ka: Yes, he is definitely on his path, and he is willing to do the work with me. We’ve attended several Joe Dispenza retreats and Tony Robbins events, and we’ve worked with other mentors. He watches Gaia.com with me periodically, and he has a daily meditation practice.

He is also my grounding rod. He is very technical—a builder, engineer, handyman, and inventor. He’s the one who tethers me to Earth and says, “Come back here for a moment, please, and share this with me.” He has definitely been such a blessing in my life.

His name is Andrew. He was dressed like an angel when I met him, and a psychic had actually told me about him three months before we met. He said, “You will meet someone new; his name is Andy or Andrew, and he looks like an angel.” We were destined to be together.

What does Anistara Ma Ka mean?

Anistara Ma Ka: Anistara was originally given to me by a gentleman who lives in Glastonbury. He came to visit us and brought us a piece of grass from a crop circle. We did a psychic reading with him in which he drew our spirit guides. Mine was a blond, Pleiadian-looking man named Aringard. Andrew’s was a dark-haired, almost Native American-looking woman named Anistara, and he wrote the name on the drawing.

We loved that name and said, “Someday, if we have a daughter, we’re going to call her Anistara.” Fast-forward to the evening when we eloped: She came in, and her mission and purpose were very clear. Then, when I called Kandice back in, I began the arduous integration process.

It wasn’t until about five years ago that I started asking people to call me Anistara.  When I was on a writing retreat at Mount Shasta, I asked Creator, “What is the surname? What is the last name?” The wind caught my hair, and I heard, “Ma Ka.” So I started writing it down.

Later, I went to Egypt, and all the men were calling me Stara. I asked my tour guide, “Why is everyone calling me Stara?” He explained that ani means “I am” in Egyptian Arabic. When they asked, “What do we call you?” they thought I was saying, “I am Stara.”

The translation, in my embodiment and through what has come to me, is: “I am star.” Ra is the masculine sun god, Ma is the feminine mother, and Ka is spirit or soul. The name contains the Holy Trinity.

You had a business called Holistic Hooping before your Kundalini awakening. Were you doing performances?

Anistara Ma Ka: Yes. Since around 2000, I had been immersed in the flow arts. I performed and taught as a fire dancer and circus performer. I would go to different festivals and teach classes, and we would create what’s called a flow zone. After class, people might purchase hula hoops from us. My husband made the LED hoops and fire hoops.

When Anistara came in, I began channeling information about the energetics of the spiral. Even Nassim Haramein says that “everything in the universe is based on spin”, I called it spiral dynamics. I studied the hoop and how moving it through different areas of the body could clear the Sushumna channel and the chakras.

I created a modality called Kundalini Hoop Dance. I taught at many retreats, including Kripalu Yoga, and in different places around the world, such as Costa Rica and Bali. That was my passion for a very long time.

Then the COVID lockdown happened, and suddenly there were no more live events. There was nowhere for me to go, teach, and share this art form. That’s when Anistara really stepped back in. She said, “Actually, it’s time. I’m not going to wait around to be your daughter. We have some work to do, and we’re going to do it now.” She came back, and she was insistent.

What did that begin to look like five or six years ago?

Anistara Ma Ka: At first, I was confused. I was going through what I like to call a dark night of the ego rather than a dark night of the soul, because I believe the soul is already pure and whole. I needed to turn inward again, and because it was lockdown, I had every opportunity to do that.

I studied, read books, took courses, and found a mentor and coach who believed in me. I really started focusing on my main purpose and mission in life. It has always been to serve the transformation of others, but this time it didn’t involve the hula hoop.

That’s when our 11.11 vision really began to launch. My husband and I had already been hosting 11.11 gatherings for ten years by that point. They started in our home, moved to a larger home, and then expanded into retreat centers.

I received a full transmission that we were meant to go online. We created a virtual event in 2020 with help from Unify.org and other organizations, and almost 2,000 people registered. That’s when 11.11 really started to take off.

What does the fullest expression of that look like in your life now?

Anistara Ma Ka: During the first two or three years of 11.11 Unified events, I hosted these beautiful summits with teachers, thought leaders, and changemakers. Then I realized that they all had an offering at the end of their presentations, and I didn’t quite have one yet.

I went back to the drawing board and began envisioning what could come next. That’s when 11.11 Ascension University was born, along with my online course. Originally, it was called You’re Not Crazy, You’re Just Awakening, but now it’s called Awakened Leadership Initiation. That is what was birthed through that portal.

I want to talk about the awakening process, especially because you’re leading a workshop at the Awakened Lifestyle Expo called “You’re Not Crazy, You’re Just Awakening: Discovering the Hidden Gifts in Your Ascension Symptoms”. What are ascension symptoms? What might people be wrestling with?

Anistara Ma Ka: They can include waking up in the middle of the night, receiving channeled downloads, and seeing or hearing things. Your psychic abilities may start coming online. You may experience a loss of identity as old ways of being and lower-frequency things no longer serve you. Certain places, foods, films, or music may no longer resonate because you are shifting into a higher vibration.

When that happens, there can sometimes be a loss of friends and family because they don’t understand who you’re becoming. Many people experiencing ascension symptoms tend to feel lonely and confused. They feel like nobody understands them. They might be the black sheep of the family—or, as I like to say, the rainbow sheep.

They’re looking for community. They’re looking for others who can validate what they’re going through and accept them for who they’re becoming.

How would you differentiate between awakening and ascension?

Anistara Ma Ka: I feel like they’re one and the same. Ascension is happening collectively on a planetary level, whereas awakening can be more personal. They go hand in hand. The more people who awaken, the more our planet ascends to a higher frequency, as more high-frequency beings on the planet affect the field.

One of the things you mentioned was the need for support and community—having somebody say, “Okay, you get me.” When you work with individuals, what kind of transformation do you see? Everyone is obviously at a different point in their journey, but what are people feeling or experiencing as they work with you?

Anistara Ma Ka: One of the first things that happens is that they stop asking, “Why is this happening to me?”—as though they have no control over their lives or choices. They begin to take responsibility for their own energy, their boundaries, and all the things that shape their reality. They start asking deeper questions: What is this showing me? Why is this happening FOR me? What is this here to reveal to me? What is this here to awaken within me?

Whatever they’re struggling with—whatever those challenges or ascension symptoms may be—when they begin working through the different processes and formulas I share in my Ascension Integration Technique, they start to see more clearly who they’re becoming. They recognize the old patterns, thoughts, ways of being, and actions that created the personality they’re living in. Then they can create a whole new identity that is already whole and healed.

Through that process, they might go from being in a very abusive relationship to getting a divorce. They might go from being unhappy in their job to asking for a raise, leaving the job entirely, or creating their own soul-led offering. There are many different results depending on the person and where they are in life. Ultimately, the biggest result is that they come home to themselves and develop a deeper connection to who they are here to be and how they can be of service.

I’m curious about that season of life because, for most people, I imagine the transformation isn’t as drastic as your experience. For many others, it seems to be a more gradual process.

How do you help people take that next step and embrace the new identity that you say is already whole and healed? What does stepping across that line look like for people?

Anistara Ma Ka: At first, it can be scary, especially if they’re doing it alone. When they have support, community, and others around them who are on the same path of becoming their new selves, it becomes so much easier. They have people who can reflect things back to them and offer what I like to call “feed-forward” instead of feedback.

When you’re in a sacred container where you’re held in the highest vision of who you are—and you’re claiming who you are, and we see you as that person—it becomes easier to become that person. For instance, when I started saying, “I would really like to be called Anistara,” there was a period when even hearing the name Kandice would trigger me. Certain traumas would arise, and I would feel pain in my body that I no longer have as Anistara.

It is a fine line, and it’s also a dance. We’re still living in this 3D world. We still have bills, work, and all of these other things while wanting to live in that 5D frequency. It really is a balancing act. That’s why my modality is called the Ascension Integration Technique—because we are integrating our ascended selves.

Whether you adopt a new name is completely up to you. Some people simply receive one, as I did. Others don’t know that they want a new name; they’re just blossoming into who they fully are.

There is definitely a period when things feel wonky, and we can be confused. At 11.11 Ascension University, we begin to unveil and unravel so much. We look at old programs and collective traumas and process those things. Eventually, we reach a point where we can say, “Okay, I feel much freer and clearer of those things. Now I can move forward. Who am I stepping into? Who am I being? What frequency and vibration am I holding?”

Then they claim that identity. We see them as that person and witness them as that person, which confirms it for them. It’s a really powerful process.

I’m curious about the last twelve months of your life. Have you experienced a transformation, change, or lesson that has taken you down a slightly different path? Was there a breakthrough or something you really learned in the last year?

Anistara Ma Ka: One of those experiences would be hosting an 11.11 pilgrimage to Egypt last year. It was a huge learning curve. I’ve hosted retreats before, but they’ve always involved going to one place and staying there. This was a journey—a pilgrimage through different cities, sacred sites, and places.

We had five months of Zoom calls leading up to the trip, so when we arrived, we were already friends, beloveds, and a community. The collective field we created was so powerful. I personally grew so much within that container because of others’ reflections and the experience itself.

Ultimately, I did something I had never done before, and now I know I can do it. That was definitely a huge learning experience for me.

If you could speak to Anistara six years ago, when she was first transitioning out of the flow arts and into becoming more of a thought leader, speaker, coach, and guide, what advice would you give her? Is there something you wish you had known then?

Anistara Ma Ka: Beloved, it has already happened. You’re already there. All your dreams, all the visions you’ve had, and everything you want to create in your life have already happened—and you can draw them closer to you.

You know your path. You know who you are. Don’t let anyone else sway you from it, because you are being guided from on high. If you continue seeking out the signs, synchronicities, alignments, and open doors of opportunity, that path will be illuminated before you.

What are your hopes for the future? Without revealing anything you’re not ready to share, is there something you’re excited to see unfold in your life—a dream or a hope that comes to mind?

Anistara Ma Ka: One of my wishes and desires is to have a collective—a family, a global community—visiting different sacred sites, ley lines, power points, and vortices around the planet on 11:11 at the same time. That is such a strong wish and desire for me.

Within this vision, my husband and I have thought about filming at the different sacred sites, with each group having a film crew and using 360-degree cameras. People at home could wear VR goggles and feel as though they were right there. They could create avatars for themselves and stand at the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza, at Machu Picchu, or at Stonehenge. We could all reactivate the planetary grid together on that potent, powerful portal day.

This might sound like a silly question, but what is the significance of 11.11?

Anistara Ma Ka: When we see 11:11 on the clock, which happens twice a day, a lot of people pause, take a breath, make a wish, or say a prayer. It becomes a moment to pause, reflect, and tune in with Source energy. I like to call it an awakening code. Sequences such as 88 and 555 are also awakening codes.

When people see these number sequences often, it is the universe—God, Creator, Source Energy—speaking to us through symbology, mathematics, and sacred geometry. It is an opportunity to focus on what you want to create.

When we first hosted our 11.11 gatherings in our home, we had a very simple ceremony with four gates. The first was: What is the prayer for yourself? Then: What is the prayer for your family? What is the prayer for your community? What is your prayer for the world? I found that when we are in a collective container and place those prayers and intentions into it, they are amplified and magnified on 11/11 and at 11:11.

This has always been dear to my heart. I was born at 11:12 p.m. into this incarnation, so I entered through the 11.11 portal into this body. It means something different to everyone, but for me, it is an awakening code. I’m actually writing a book about it, so I want to talk with you about that, David.

You were in the birth canal at 11:11, saying, “Get me out of here! I want to be on time.”

I’m curious about the business side of serving the world. I hear loud and clear that you are here to serve humanity, yet there is also organization, administration, marketing, sales, communication, and the energy exchange. How do you approach that side of your work? You bring a lot of energy to your business. You’re proud of what you’re doing, excited about it, and fully committed. How do you approach the “business” side of serving the world?

Anistara Ma Ka: First, I had to clear the old energy that said I wasn’t worthy, wasn’t enough, and didn’t have value. That was something I even had to work through within my relationship. My husband is a builder, so he can hold something and say, “This is what it is, and this is what it’s worth.” My work is more ethereal and spiritual. It isn’t tangible, and you can’t hold it in your hands.

I needed to go through the process of purging that old programming. Many of us also carry the witch wound—the belief that it is unsafe to share our magic and ask for something in exchange for it. That was another program I was running that I needed to process and purge.

Once I did that and stepped into other mentorship containers with a business coach and guide, I began sitting with the idea that sales are sacred service. If I don’t offer what I have to offer, I’m not helping the people I’m here to help.

Putting the marketing out there and handling everything else has really taken a team and collaboration with my beloved assistants. Now I also have someone helping with social media. This work is bigger than me. Within 11.11 Ascension University, we now have certified mentors and apprentices. It’s growing because I can’t hold the whole thing—we’re going to grow it together.

For me, the invitation is: Come be part of a community. You can be part of this. You can become a certified mentor and make money doing this work, too. It’s an ongoing process, and that’s the best way I can answer it right now.

As I mentioned, you have a workshop coming up at the Awakened Lifestyle Expo on August 22-23, 2026, in Costa Mesa, California. It’s called “You’re Not Crazy, You’re Just Awakening: Discovering the Hidden Gifts in Your Ascension Symptoms”. You’re also one of the eighteen featured authors in The Awakened Healer. You have a chapter in the book. Tell me about the workshop and what people can anticipate.

Anistara Ma Ka: It will be slightly experiential. I’ll guide participants through the same practice I share in my chapter, “Discover Your Superpowers.” It’s a practice in which we explore the hidden wisdom within our challenges, reclaim our personal power, and turn difficult experiences into purpose, embodiment, and service.

I’ll guide them through the practice, and they’ll have a worksheet to complete so they can experience tangible results by the end of the talk. I have a beautiful slideshow planned. Ultimately, I want them to walk away feeling that they received something from it—that they feel inspired and have a tool they can take home.

They can begin transforming difficult things in their lives that they’ve been resisting or judging. Instead, they can say, “This is a learning experience. My soul called this in. I’m going to look at it from a new perspective and decide that this will be a gift rather than something I’m simply challenged by and unable to overcome.” That is ultimately what the workshop will offer.

This fall, you have a new cohort of the Awakened Leadership Initiation, as you mentioned earlier. Who is it for? Is it for someone who is just awakening or somebody who is already a lightworker? What do you go through together?

Anistara Ma Ka: We actually have a broad spectrum of participants. This particular container will be for women only. Typically, they’re women going through some kind of transition, whether they’re leaving a relationship, needing a new home or job, or wanting to leave a corporate job and create a soul-led offering that is more aligned.

I like to say it helps you align your work, offering, and service with who you are spiritually becoming. It takes participants through the Ascension Integration Technique in its entirety. “Discover Your Superpowers” is just one small part of that technique.

It’s a three-and-a-half-month online container, with Zoom calls every other week. It ends with a live retreat here at Joy Oasis in Northern California. It serves those who are ready to stop feeling confused, lost, and alone and transform those feelings into confidence and empowerment.

You mentioned your pilgrimage to Egypt. You have another pilgrimage to Egypt coming up, as well as one in Bali. People can find the information on your website, but would you tell us more about those trips and the dates?

Anistara Ma Ka: The 4.4 Bali Mystic Initiation and Sacred Pilgrimage will take place March 25 to April 11, 2027, so we’ll be there for the 4.4 portal day. It is a journey through the sacred elements of Bali. Unlike other retreats where you stay in one place for a week, we’ll spend seventeen days traveling to five different locations.

We’ll have an incredible elemental ceremony in each location—earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. It will be an amazing conscious community experience for those who feel the beautiful devotion of the Balinese people and are drawn to the island. Mount Agung is one of the power points on the planet, and we’ll have our fire ceremony at an ashram on the volcano. It’s going to be a very powerful pilgrimage.

The Egypt pilgrimage will take place from July 26 to August 6, with the total solar eclipse in Luxor on Aug. 2, 2027.  The eclipse will reach totality in Luxor for six minutes and twenty-two seconds. We will have sixteen people on our dahabiya. We’ll be part of a larger group with another boat, but there will be only sixteen of us on our boat.

We’ll have a private ceremony during the total solar eclipse, along with private access to the Sekhmet Chamber, the Temple of Isis, Edfu, Dendera and the Paws of the Sphinx. It’s going to be an incredible pilgrimage because Egypt alone changes you. Egypt combined with a total solar eclipse—oh my goodness! We’re calling that pilgrimage Divine Union.

That sounds amazing. I think there will be a few people in Egypt on those days.

Anistara Ma Ka: Just a few? It’s going to be really packed and booked up.

Where can people learn about everything you offer?

Anistara Ma Ka: Anistara.com. If you go to the Events section, you’ll find the Egypt and Bali pilgrimages. On the website, you can get a free Quick Start Guide for “Discover Your Superpowers.”  It’s also available through the QR code at the end of my chapter in the Awakened Healer book.

Here’s a random question: What is something you have purchased for under $100 that has made a big difference in your life? It doesn’t have to be spiritual—it could be an onion chopper for the kitchen. What is something under $100 that could change our lives?

Anistara Ma Ka: I really appreciate tuning forks. I recently got a small set of three forks from Acutonics. They’re all Earth Ohm tuning forks, but they’re different sizes, and I love them. I use tuning forks and singing bowls in many of my ceremonies and rituals.

Anistara will be at the AwakenedLifestyleExpo on August 22 and 23, sharing her wisdom. You can stop by her booth, connect with her, and learn about everything she offers. Thank you for being here and sharing your story and wisdom. I really appreciate it.

Anistara Ma Ka: It was such a pleasure. Thank you, David, for the opportunity.