Embodying Reverent Relationship with Marika Heinrichs   What a pleasure to speak with Marika Heinrichs of Wildbody.ca about somatics, lineages, respect and repair - and what a delight to have such a rich and tender conversation in Rumi’s field that sits outside of any rigid and fixed ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing.    I hope you enjoy this important conversation.      Marika Heinrichs is the granddaughter of German Mennonite, British, and Irish settlers to the part of Turtle Island colonially know as Canada. She is a queer, femme, somatics practitioner and facilitator whose work focuses on the recovery of ancestral wisdom through body-based ways of knowing, and challenging the appropriation and erasure of Indigenous knowledge in the field of somatics. Marika resides on Attawandaron, Haudenosaunee and Anishinabe territory (a.k.a. Guelph, Ontario). She is grateful for the nourishment and support of her peers, mentors, and more-than-human kin.    Links: website: wildbdoy.ca IG: @wildbodysomatics Courses: wildbody.ca/embodied-ethics     Here is a link to a beautiful and important piece written by Marika which I referred to in our conversation - On White People Building Belonging Together in our Movements for Liberation. https://wildbody.ca/blog/on-building-belonging-as-white-people-within-our-movements   Some powerful quotes from Marika’s writings and teachings:     "I believe that building healing communities is just as important as having access to individualized healing supports such as therapy.       Divesting from appropriation is about both surrendering entitlement and feeling into the truth of our own peoples. I believe we are all capable of appropriation, and as a white bodied person I don't feel it's my work to tell Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour how to engage with their practices. I can share from what I know through my own journey into these questions, which includes feeling how intimately connected extraction, violence, and severance from the natural world are to the projects of white supremacy and Christian hegemony.   Lack of acknowledgment and consent, spiritual bypassing, claiming ownership and superiority, prohibitive costs, lack of access for the descendants of the very peoples from whom practices emerged, no sense of connection or accountability to our own peoples, normalizing cis, straight, thin, white, able bodies… the list goes on.    I want to envision a methodology of somatics that is invested in liberation right down to the roots of the lineages and histories of our practices. If we are not tending to the ways that this field has been shaped by supremacy, we are missing a core component of embodied liberation.    Practices emerge from culture, they are shaped by time, place, and cosmology. All of our peoples had practices and ways of working with the body towards healing. Even if we engage in the most consent-based, ethical, values-driven protocols with practices from outside our own cultures, we miss the crucial work of facing into the grief and joy of our own lineages and peoples. I believe that the unwillingness to do this is one way that the field of somatics can perpetuate white supremacy, and I envision new/old practices that reconnect us with our ancestors and carry us through mourning, accountability, and repair as white people. As practitioners, we hold power around shaping these conversations in our field, and in supporting these conditions with these we serve.        All those years practicing yoga are part of what shaped me and helped me to grow the capacity to release it for a practice that feels more aligned, more liberatory. It’s not for me to decide who should or shouldn’t practice yoga, or whether or not something is appropriation. Those questions can serve as distractions, virtue signalling that keeps us from the work of divesting from the roots of whiteness that lead to appropriation in the first place. I do know that the space that was left when I quit yoga made room for a new kind of connection to emerge that feels much more rooted in my values, and my lineage. I am not sure how we can approach practices such as yoga as white people without having something to share in return. A practice entails a relationship, if we don’t know who we are or where we come from, how can we really engage in mutual connection?"  

Sophie Strand is a writer from the Hudson Valley, blending spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. In this engaging discussion, she explores how trauma and identity shape our connection to the world. She redefines gender through ecological perspectives and challenges traditional roles, offering insights into sacred masculinity and the divine feminine. Sophie highlights the power of storytelling rooted in the land and emphasizes the importance of communal narratives and interconnected healing, urging a collective responsibility for environmental sustainability.

Animal Body, Deep Time and The Thing We All Long For: A Conversation with Josh Schrei Friends, we are delighted to share this recent conversation with Josh Schrei. Joshua Michael Schrei is the founder and host of The Emerald podcast. The Emerald combines evocative narrative, soul-stirring music, and interviews with award-winning authors and luminaries to explore the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination. The Emerald draws from a deep well of poetry, lore, and mythos to challenge conventional narratives on politics and public discourse, meditation and mindfulness, art, science, literature, and more.  A writer, teacher, and a lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world — in particular the Indian subcontinent — Josh has sought to navigate the living, animate space of the imagination and advocate for a world that prioritizes imaginative vision. Josh has taught intensive courses in mythology and somatic disciplines for nearly 20 years.   In our conversation, we cover some good terrain. We explore some pithy some essential Zen teachings, we look into what is the experience of our animal body, what does it mean to living an animate universe? Throughout the conversation, we weave in the image of deep time, of the long arc of human evolution, and the profound inheritance that each of us carries. We speak of elements of the teacher-student relationship, and what supports learning, unfolding, and embodying what we all long for.  May you enjoy the conversation, and we always love to hear your reflections. You can find out more information on the Emerald Podcasr, and Josh’s teachings wherever you listen to podcasts.

Tipping The Scales Toward Love & Goodness In this beautiful conversation with poet, writer, and teacher Mark Nepo, we begin exploring Mark’s beautiful take on what it means to be embodied. Throughout the conversation, we were blessed with Mark’s soulful readings of several of our favorites of his poems. We discuss how care can erase the walls we keep building between us, and how using our imagination in service of a more beautiful world is so needed in a time of polarized divisiveness. It’s our generation’s turn - are we going to make a world rooted in love or rooted in fear and violence? Mark talks about the spiritual journey through the metaphor of a flower - not getting anywhere, but unfolding from the inside out. Mark speaks to a quote from William Blake: “Straight is the road to improvement. Crooked is the road to genius,” as well as looking at the original definition of genius, and affirming that we each carry genius. Mark shares many stories from his book More Together than Alone, about the power of building community. Mark also shares a potent story about literacy in the Dark Ages in Europe - only 10% of the population was literate. 10% of the people kept literacy alive! What if we commit to being and nourishing the 10% who keep literacy of the heart and soul alive during these challenging times? We hope you find deep nourishment in this beautiful conversation. Mark Nepo is a poet and spiritual teacher who has taught in the fields of poetry and spirituality for over 40 years. With over a million copies sold, Mark has moved and inspired readers and seekers all over the world with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. A beloved poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.” His work is widely accessible and used by many and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. A bestselling author, Mark has published twenty-two books and recorded fifteen audio projects. Recent work includes The Book of Soul (St. Martin’s Essentials, 2020), Drinking from the River of Light (Sounds True, 2019); More Together Than Alone (Atria, 2018) cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2018; and Things That Join the Sea and the Sky (Sounds True, 2017), a Nautilus Book Award Winner. Mark was given a Life- Achievement Award by AgeNation in 2015; in 2016 he was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People, and was also chosen as one of OWN’s SuperSoul 100, a group of inspired leaders using their gifts and voices to elevate humanity. In 2014 Mark was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour, and has appeared several times on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. Mark is a regular columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine. In his 30s Mark was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, a struggle which helped to form his philosophy of experiencing life fully while staying in relationship to an unknowable future. Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. He continues to offer readings, lectures, and retreats. Please visit him at: www.MarkNepo.com, http://threeintentions.com and http://wmespeakers.com/speaker/mark-nepo In February 2022, Mark will be teaching in Salt Lake City, Utah through the Jung Society of Utah Friday, Feb 25th, 7pm: Heartwork: Being a Spirit in the World Saturday, Feb 26th, 9am-1pm: Reclaiming Our Humanity: Being Fierce and Tender in Our Call to Love  You can find out more about these events, and register at jungutah.com  

Embodying Prayer and Soul Activism In this beautiful conversation, I speak to poet, facilitator and soul activist Nan Seymour, who also happens to be one of my dearest friends. We take as a springboard for our conversation Nan’s recently published book of poems called prayers not meant for heaven. Nan weaves several of her poems throughout the conversation and they’re beautiful. We talk about bio-cultural restoration, about the importance of writing and reading during these times, about the importance of praise and noticing the ways in which we’re awestruck. We also share a very candid discussion about Nan’s love of Jesus as her first radical social justice teacher. There’s so much goodness and inspiration here and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did! You can order Nan’s book here https://www.toadhalleditions.ink/prayers-not-meant You can read and/or participate in Nan’s poetic project in support of Great Salt Lake here  https://nanseymour.com/blog/item/141-irreplaceable-a-1700-line-praise-poem-in-the-making You can learn more and sign up for a session of River Writing here https://riverwriting.com/ And you’ll find much more inspiration at Nan’s website here https://nanseymour.com/ Nan mentions our shared mentor Deena Metzger http://deenametzger.net/ And our recent podcast with her https://embodimentmatters.com/i-wish-you-heartbreak-an-exploration-of-the-19-ways-with-deena-metzger/ You can take a virtual tour of the church we talked about here - watch the video showing you all the radical dancing saints! https://www.saintgregorys.org/the-dancing-saints.html A little more about Nan in her own words: “I provide narrative encouragement. In 2015 I created River Writing to foster voice and authentic connection. I delight in how this practice challenges the tyranny of perfectionism and breaks through walls of isolation. I've led scores of oral storytelling workshops for people from all walks of life. Everyone has stories no one else can tell. I'm devoted to helping folks find, shine, and share them. We never know who our stories are for. I believe in saying the truest things we can say. My debut poetry collection, prayers not meant for heaven has recently been published by Toad Hall Editions. The poems, written primarily during the pandemic, are prayers meant for the earth and for each other. I hope they will vine around us here on the ground, leaving us more knowingly and gladly intertwined. Count me deeply smitten with life in all forms including scrub oak forests, vultures, and wild violets. I'm currently writing about the imperiled ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake, my near neighbor. I'm deeply concerned about the future life of stromatolites, brine shrimp, brine flies, and the entire feathered citizenry of the Pacific Coast flyway. I'm praying with my pen, writing about the lake with the hope that we will cease diverting her waters in time. The chambers of my heart are occupied by my daughter Beatrice, my love Mustafa, River Writers, and Sophie, my border collie/lab companion. I'm devoted to community and dare to hope that our collective participation in human evolution is tipping the balance of the cosmos towards kindness and even love.”

Liam Bowler is a teacher, writer, father, bodyworker and hosts the Body Awake Podcast.    He is the author of A Creator’s Companion, a beautiful book that explores the many elements of the process of creativity.    In our conversation, we speak about embodiment, and embodiment as relationship, and how each of our understandings of embodiment has evolved over the years.    We reflect together about creativity, and the necessity of courtship with the creative process. We speak about how creativity is not limited to those who are identified as artists, but how becoming truly becoming yourself, finding your voice is an act of creation.    We speak of intimacy and not knowing, and what feels most important in the times in which we live.    You can find out more about Liam, and his work and teaching at thebodyawake.com

Ariella is a beekeeper, writer, teacher, musician and mother living in Northern California. Her work with honey bees came through a lifelong interest in human connection with the non-human world.  She is a graduate of the Lyceum, a European shamanic pathway with the bee and the serpent as its central motifs.  Within this tradition, she is trained in the healing and seership modality known as the Pollen Method.  Her work is a fusion of her love for the natural world and embodied, womb-centric practices.     Ariella seeks to foster a deeper relationship between humans and the natural world through honey bees, seeing the bee as a bridge species between our domestic lives and the wild, both within and around us. She is a lover of wild places, liminal spaces and the song of the land.  She teaches shamanic dreamwork, natural beekeeping, and women's retreats all guided by the honeyed wisdom of the serpent and the bee.   You can find more about her work at www.honeybeewild.com and on instagram at beekeepinginskirts.    Below is the text of a beautiful post of hers I read from a recent Instagram post. You’ll see why I and many others are so enamored with her writings.    “It's not really about beekeeping. This love affair. This devotion to doing it better. To listening. To finding another route that gives and heals, instead of takes. We can call it beekeeping, because, surely, there are some tricks of the trade, some caring for the bees in their boxes that we can learn. But really, it's about your roots comingling with the mycelia. Really it's about your tears dripping into the river. Really it's about the moon dipping into your dreams and curling around a whispered tune you think you remember from long ago. It's not even about saving, unless the saving is you and you are the forest, and the forest is the sea, and the sea is the stars.⠀ ⠀ What it's about, is Weaving. ⠀ Reweaving. Rewilding. Restoring. Revivifying. ⠀ It's about Listening. ⠀ Ear to the hive. Womb to the earth. ⠀ It's about Grief and Exaltation. ⠀ Sting in your heart, honey on your lips.⠀ It's about Remembering.”   References:    In our conversation we spoke about the work of mythologist Martin Shaw and specifically this trailer for his book Scatterlings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0T7UP1U1Ts https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57195435-scatterlings   And Ari also referred to the writings of Joanna Macy. I recommend any of her work (or my classes where we dive into it!) including Active Hope,  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13235686-active-hope World as Lover World as Self, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/536524.World_as_Lover_World_as_Self A Wild Love for the World. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51551987-a-wild-love-for-the-world   I also love this video with Joanna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzmjF1jE2K0    I also referred to the book, Native Science, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1049116.Native_Science   You can find more about the Lyceum in which Ariella studied for a decade here: https://sacredtrust.org/workshops/pollen/

We Were Made For These Times: A conversation with Kaira Jewel Lingo   In this conversation with Kaira, we explore many rich topics including:   embodiment and mindfulness as not separate her new book We Were Made For These Times the practice of coming home to ourselves applying these teachings in the mess of real life rather than just a monastic situation social justice and mindfulness and how each of these need each other the mantras of True Love from Thich Nhat Hanh powerful teachings from 2 monks from Plum Village who attended COP26 the powerful practice of kissing the earth with your feet layered mindfulness and so much more   Kaira Jewel Lingo began practicing mindfulness in 1997 and teaches Buddhist meditation, secular mindfulness, and compassion internationally. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, Kaira Jewel teaches in the Zen lineage and the Vipassana tradition, at the intersection of racial, climate and social justice with a focus on activists, Black/Indigenous/People of Color, artists, educators, families, and youth. Now based in New York, she offers spiritual mentoring to individuals and groups. She is author of the just released We Were Made for These Times: Skilfully Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption from Parallax Press. Visit kairajewel.com to learn more.    Kaira is offering a retreat Dec 4 and 5, 2021, through Spirit Rock, on the same title as my new book: https://spirit-rock.secure.retreat.guru/program/we-were-made-for-these-times-kj1m21/?_ga=2.185343337.1993561752.1633760566-881770598.1633760566&lang=en   Along with her partner who is an Episcopal priest, she is offering a new Buddhist Christian community of study, practice and action that meets monthly. People can sign up here if they'd like more info. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftoybrmY3MixFXo2qrFxGajc2p3bn82WPeqbuRoRWKhwkNcg/viewform  

    In this rich conversation with wise woman Pat McCabe we explore many topics including    embodiment as a core practice of decolonization and her trouble with the word “decolonizing”  healing after cultural severance through Indian boarding schools in family history and the power of growing a multi-faceted identity the importance of including the body in prayer (in her case through sweat lodge ceremony) The question: How do human beings live in such a way that we can support other life to thrive - as do other members in the web of life?  How thinking 7 generations ahead slows us down in our decision making Preparing ourselves to meet the times. Grappling with this question: “Is it too late and what should we be doing?” Pat’s hope for the emergence of the sacred masculine and its role in supporting the sacred feminine eros to emerge. Both are such powerful forces!  the need for radical self love and radical self trust stepping out of the power over paradigm.  The importance of encouraging the behavior we want to see more of - rather than nitpicking each other’s imperfections.  The recognition that we can’t eat money, as Chief Seattle said - and Pat’s work to support folks in returning money to the flow of life to support earth healing. How would it be to have zeros in your bank account while the earth is dying? To realize in retrospect that you could have done something about it.      https://www.patmccabe.net/    Her primary work at the moment is: • The reconciliation between the masculine and feminine, Men's Nation and Women's Nation • Remembering, recreating or creating anew a narrative for the Sacred Masculine • Addressing the Archetypal Wounding that occurred in our misunderstanding and abuse of technology in prayer, ceremony and science

Embodying Spontaneity: A Conversation With Jozef Frucek of Fighting Monkey   In conversation, I had the great pleasure of speaking with Jozef Frucek. He and Linda Kapetanea are the creators of Fighting Monkey, which is a beautiful system that weaves together movement, learning, communication, creativity, improvisation and a re-imagination of the process and experience of aging.    Jozef has studied deeply in Chinese medicine and martial arts along with having advanced degrees in voice and movement. He and Linda teach at Universities and dance and performance companies around the world.    I had followed Fighting Monkey for many years in the natural movement world, and was able take some classes with Jozef when they began teaching online during the pandemic. I was reminded of a line from one of our Feldenkrais teachers, Ruthy Alon, who coined the term “the grammar of spontaneity.” I find that Fighting Monkey helps to grow a grammar of spontaneous, natural, dynamic movement that weaves together essential principles from many movement traditions.     In our conversation, Jozef and I speak about how growing our spontaneity and creativity in movement increases our sense of creativity and spontaneity in how we live, how we think, how we speak, and express ourselves. We also discuss how essential new ways of thinking and participating in the world are, given the immense challenges we face in these times. We speak of the importance of systems based practice when it comes to movement and to life. We discuss the importance of play in learning, and how many adults forget how to learn and play as we age. We also look at the aging process, and how the manner in which we approach our movement shapes how we approach our aging process. You can find more about Jozef, Linda and Fighting Monkey at fightingmonkey.net