Sunny Banana

Subscribe for exclusive content and 10% off Biltong at https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429544/subscribe The Sunny Banana, is a play upon the Zulu greeting, Sanibonani, meaning I see you. As tech wrenches us from real life, we are not seeing each other. The Greek word 'idea' means to see. It is as if we have lost the idea of what it means to be human; social, communal, relational. The same word, to see, in Old English is 'seon' which has connotations of understanding. Let's start seeing each other again, listening, respecting, and understanding each other and ourselves. After all, we are people through other people.

Sunny Banana is a religion podcast hosted by Jarvah Biltong, with 53 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jarvah Biltong hosts Sunny Banana, a religion show with 53 episodes published.

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  Sunny Banana

  #53 Anastasia Reborn I Why The Universe Is Not Your Therapist

  Aug 25, 20261h 10m

  Self-help can be genuinely helpful, so why do so many of us end up back at the same pain, just wearing a different mask? We sit down with Anastasia Girali, a mental health and spiritual mentor, to talk about what she learned after a decade inside the personal development and manifestation world, and why the results she saw never truly lasted until faith moved from a vague spirituality to a direct relationship with Jesus Christ. We get into the real tension between neuroscience and the soul: yes, habits and addictions carve pathways in the brain, and yes, therapy can name patterns and reduce symptoms. But we also explore what gets missed when healing becomes self-centred management rather than true transformation. Anastasia shares her journey from cultural Greek Orthodoxy to lived communion, how repentance changes the mind, and why prayer is not positive thinking with religious language but an actual encounter that reshapes desire, attention and behaviour. The conversation also tackles New Age spirituality, “the universe” language, and the hidden cost of seeking power apart from God. We talk spiritual warfare, deliverance, forgiveness, the role of images in shaping lust and addiction, and why short prayers like the Jesus Prayer can carry you when willpower fails. If you’re looking for faith-based healing, Orthodox Christianity, addiction recovery support, or a grounded alternative to manifestation culture, this one offers a clear path and plenty to wrestle with. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with someone who needs hope, and leave us a review with the one line that stayed with you. Drop us a line Support the show

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  Sunny Banana

  Joan Part 2 I From New Age Seeking To The Faith

  Aug 21, 202635 min

  A single moment can cut through years of noise: a quiet nudge that says, go to church because you cannot do it by yourself. Joan from Primal Thrive joins us for a wide-ranging conversation on Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Orthodox masculinity, and what it looks like to move from private spiritual seeking to an ancient, communal way of life. He shares how childhood glimpses of Russian churches and icons stayed in the background, then resurfaced after a long stretch of New Age spirituality that left him with more confusion than answers. We talk honestly about the first liturgy experience: incense, vestments, the shared communion spoon, and the feeling of being out of place. Then something shifts. Joan describes the surprising sense of coming home, and how one small act of hospitality after the service can be the difference between walking away and staying. From there we explore why Orthodoxy does not rush you, why humility is so hard for modern people, and why prayer and fasting are not self-improvement tricks but a steady battle to reorient the heart towards God and neighbour. One of the strongest themes is forgiveness. Joan argues that bitterness and bad thoughts can fester into stress and even psychosomatic illness, while forgiveness can bring real lightness, peace, and healing. We also push into the paradoxes of Christian life: strength and gentleness, boundaries and mercy, physical weakness and spiritual beauty. If you’ve been searching for meaning, struggling with isolation, or tired of spiritual content that loops back to “me”, this will give you language, direction, and a practical next step. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Drop us a line Support the show

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  Sunny Banana

  #52 Joan Part 1 | Raising Testosterone Naturally

  Aug 12, 202620 min

  Consider supporting the Sunny Banana with all proceeds going to our new church building fund. We are the Orthodox Church of the Mother of God of the Sign in Hastings, England. Sunny Banana (Sunny Banana + Jarvah Biltong) Not only will your support go towards the church, but all supporters can also access discounts on all Jarvah Biltong products! Biltong UK supporters only. All products | Jarvah Biltong Low energy, low drive and a constant sense of being “off” have become oddly normal for a lot of men, but Joan isn’t buying the idea that we should just accept it. We talk about his personal turnaround from moderate testosterone levels to feeling genuinely stable and masculine again, and how that shift came from changing the inputs rather than chasing quick fixes. If you care about men’s health, natural testosterone support and building a life with more resilience, this conversation gives you a grounded place to start. We get practical about what raises testosterone naturally: eating a nutrient-dense diet with enough healthy fats, reconsidering missing foods like organs, and looking for hidden root causes such as gut issues, hypothyroidism and the long drag of chronic stress. Joan also makes the case for friction: heavy lifting, physical challenge and real recovery. He explains why a sedentary desk life can quietly erode hormonal health unless we deliberately bring movement and strain back into the week. Then we widen the lens to the social side. Technology, smaller families and constant digital contact can leave men isolated, and Joan argues that brotherhood and purpose are not “nice extras” but part of the health equation. We also cover Shilajit, including where it comes from and why people commonly report more energy, better focus and improved libido, with notes on how women use it too. If you want to support what we’re building in Hastings and hear more conversations like this, subscribe, share the episode and leave us a review. Drop us a line Support the show

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  Episode #50

  #50 Fr Aleksandr Groves | Orthodoxy reveals our true humanity

  Jul 14, 202651 minS1

  Please support or subscribe to help us raise funds to buy our new Church Building - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429544/subscribe We are an Orthodox Church in St Leonard's-on-Sea, Hastings in Albany Road. Check out the awesome Bed and Breakfast run by Fr Aleksandr and Paul - St Benedict - Victorian Bed and Breakfast, Hastings (updated prices 2026) Join the Jarvah Founders Club and get a discount on Biltong for a whole year! https://www.jarvahbiltong.com/jarvah-founder-s-page Something strange happens when you step into an Orthodox church: the room is full, yet nobody is performing for anybody else. Attention stops being stolen and starts being trained. We’re joined by our own Father Alexander Groves to talk about Orthodox Christianity as the work of becoming fully human. We dig into why the Orthodox life involves effort and sacrifice, why that struggle is worth it, and how the Church heals us through prayer, confession, and the Eucharist. Father Alexander also shares his personal journey from an Anglican choirboy with a sense of vocation, to a Church of England priest, to Roman Catholic lay life, and finally to what he describes as a joyful homecoming into the Orthodox Church. We go deep on Russian Orthodoxy, not as an idea but as lived history: the persecution under communism, the witness of martyrs, and the quiet heroism of grandparents who kept the faith alive when the state tried to crush it. From there we turn to the saints, veneration, and the startling closeness of holiness, including Father Alexander’s own patron, Saint Alexander of Svir, and the story of relics rediscovered after 1989. Finally, we bring it home to Hastings and St Leonards in East Sussex: a tiny chapel built on a sliver of land, a growing parish, and the surprising chain of events that led to renting a larger building while we work towards buying it, including a visit from the myrrh-streaming Hawaiian icon of the Mother of God. If you care about Orthodox liturgy, Christian tradition, spiritual discipline, and building a real local community, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the Sunny Banana. Drop us a line Support the show

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  Sunny Banana

  #49 | The Afrikaans Greek Orthodox continues - Saints and Worship lead us to God PART 2

  Jul 8, 202627 min

  The saints are not a chapter in a history book for us, they are part of the Church’s present tense. We talk about the startling intimacy of Orthodox Christianity: speaking to the Panagia like family, kissing an icon beside a stranger and feeling a real bond, and remembering that holiness is not reserved for monks or martyrs. Along the way we touch on incorrupt relics and the living memory of saints in places like the Ionian Islands, where faith was defended not with clever arguments but with a simple, practical confidence in God’s work among real people. We then move into what many newcomers notice first: the Divine Liturgy. We reflect on how Orthodox worship is not built around a long talk, but around prayer, beauty, attention, and Holy Communion. The priest is not there to perform; he disappears into the work of worship. Icons, incense, chanting, posture, and silence become a kind of embodied catechesis, the “message” delivered through what you step into and participate in. If you have ever felt worn out by faith as a purely rational exercise, this conversation offers a more grounded path from the head into the heart. Finally, we share concrete guidance for anyone curious about the Eastern Orthodox Church or trying to deepen their spiritual life: start with the lives of the saints, return to prayer, seek humility, and find wise spiritual guidance. We mention beloved reads like Everyday Saints and the writings of Saint Paisios, and we speak honestly about the struggle of keeping a prayer rule, especially in modern life far from traditional Orthodox cultures. We also share why we’re moving to a subscription model to help support our Orthodox parish in Hastings. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the beauty and truth of Orthodoxy. Drop us a line Support the show

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