Belonging: Conversations about rites of passage, meaningful community, and seasonal living

In today’s episode, I am joined by my friend Gemma Brady of ‘Sister Stories’ to explore our mutual passion of sharing circle work. One of Gemma’s mission is to make going to circle as common as going to yoga class and in this conversation, she shares how she approaches circle as a living, breathing art form. She shares vulnerably about how she experienced her second pregnancy and how circle, both...

In today’s episode, I am joined by Johannah Reimer to talk about holding circle for our girls and the female-bodied youth that are in our lives. Johannah is a soulcentric educator, ceremonialist, teen mentor, and an artist of many trades. Trained as a Waldorf teacher, Johannah has been working with children of all ages for over 20 years and holds a particular passion for tweens/teens striving to m...

In today’s episode, I am answering listener questions. Topics range from sharing my personal viewpoint on religion and spirituality, navigating different roles and jobs during my day and in my life and dive deep into circle-related questions too. Tune in to hear more from me on: The role religion and spirituality played during my upbringing and today The journey from my old-school DIY blogging day...

In today’s episode, I am joined by my friend Amelia Hruby. Amelia is a feminist author, educator, podcaster and founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio (who used to edit this podcast too!). I brought her onto the podcast today specifically because of her amazing podcast ‘Off the Grid’, which is a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients. Even if...

It takes a deep initiation of need for care to get you to shed the layers of hyper individualism and show up as the village. In today’s episode, I get fired up about why the ones who are showing up and arriving on the doorstep with the soup are often the caregivers with a limited capacity themselves. I talk about my own journey with asking for and receiving support, experiencing the power of circl...

In today’s episode, I am joined by my dear friend Ginny Muir to talk about the longing for deep intimacy, the importance of healing in relationships, navigating rupture and repair in community and circle specifically. Ginny is an incredible spaceholder, medicine woman, witch, tantrika and so much more. Specifically, she has an incredible way of supporting relational conflict. Rupture and repair is...

A year ago, I almost completely gave up on my work. Emerging from the early years of motherhood and feeling my creative spark again, I felt motivated to get back into the deeper aspects of my sacred work. So, in a flash of creative impulse, I announced a new program to the world in the place we announce things these days: on Instagram. It was received mostly with a good deal of excitement and inte...

In today’s episode, I am joined by Becca Rich - a trauma-sensitive, certified holistic coach with a background in engineering and mindfulness, who teaches Holistic Time Management. In today’s episode, she shares with us her wisdom on the meaning of time, the role of control, how we can honor the cyclical nature of our bodies within our digital calendars and so much more. She also coaches me on the...

A lot has occurred for me in 2023 - as I think is true for every year, but perhaps this time around it is a little more visible and this is probably why I received the beautiful question of the lessons I’ve learned this past year. So, I am using the reflective energy of the outer and inner season of Winter I’m currently finding myself in and sharing with you, in this episode, the three lessons I h...

In today’s episode, our guest, Hillarie Maddox, interviews me (Becca) to get some personal updates on the journey of rewilding and all that unfolds when we take the steps that brought us from the dream to buying and living on our land. I open up to vulnerably reveal some of the grief, the questioning and the spiral of regret that happened when we initially landed on the farm and how we had to real...

In today’s episode, I give you updates from my new life on the farm (here in Hudson Valley, New York) and share both the challenges and joys of renovating an old house. I share the resources and learnings I have gathered in creating and tending community from the perspective of someone who has just moved to a new place. Tune in to hear more from me on: - Living on a farm and renovating an old farm...

Sweet podcast listeners, I’ve been missing you. I’m not quite ready to be back on the mic yet but wanted to drop in here with a little update from my life (moving across the country is a whole thing) and an opportunity to work with me this autumn if you’ve been curious about holding a circle in your community.  The link to join us is beccapiastrelli.com/circle-craft

Summer feels like a ripe tomato — the peak fullness of the season where so much is revealed as the light of the sun shines down on us all. In this episode, I complete my series of ancestral rituals for each season, with reflections on summer. I share why summer is a season of work and rest, how this time teaches us the lessons of the Mother, ways to honor our inner wild creatures, and the power of...

If you’re curious about what village life is like beyond the picture-perfect cottage-core images on Instagram, today’s conversation is for you. In this episode, Sarah Wildeman and I delve into a topic near and dear to my heart — revillaging and community-centered living. Sarah is a leadership & relationship dynamics coach, community-builder, and founder of Our Common — a coaching and consultin...

Living in capitalism while not being consumed by it can feel overwhelming and confusing. Today, I’m joined by Bear Hebert (they/them), a feminist and anti-capitalist business coach who helps small business people (and other beloved weirdos) figure out how to build the world-yet-to-come inside the world-that-currently-is. Together, we discuss making space for grieving our own and others’ participat...

If you want more powerful, matriarchal-inspired, healing community in your life, this episode is for you. I’ve been circling for over a decade, but it’s been a while since I’ve talked about the practice of Circle on the podcast. So in this episode, I share what it means to practice Circle — including what it is, how it works, some challenging but important historical context, and how it has shaped...

If you daydream about purchasing land and relocating to a tiny town far from city life, this episode is the gentle invitation and reality-check you need before taking the leap. Today I’m joined by Alissa Hessler, an author, podcast host, and former corporate tech employee who left the big city to move to a rural community for love. In this episode, we discuss common reasons people choose to leave...

If you’ve ever felt disconnected from or unworthy in your body, this episode is for you. Today, I’m joined by Hannah Husband for a discussion on our relationships to our bodies and movement. Together we channel childlike curiosity about the ways we like to move. And we unpack how diet culture and the wellness industry disguise anti-fat bias as concern for “health,” as well as how we often outsourc...

We’ve all inherited beliefs — those sayings, lessons, and ways of being passed down through the generations and permeate the culture we live in. Often they’re so deeply rooted that we don’t even realize how much they’re affecting us and our ability to weave in with the natural world. In this episode, I delve into some of my own inherited beliefs. And I share my most cherished tools for releasing t...

This week I’m thrilled to have Mara Glatzel back on Belonging to celebrate her upcoming book, Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs and Claim Your Sovereignty. In this conversation, we discuss how to to connect with our needs, respect our wants, and let go of the fear that having needs makes us undesirable. We also dive deep into attachment styles, parenting, and learning to communicate our needs...

Winter is upon us again in the Northern hemisphere, so this week I’m resharing my episode on rituals for winter. First, I invite you to notice what winter looks and feels like where you live. Because many of us don’t celebrate a “white” Christmas and not everywhere looks like a Bavarian ski village in December. Then, I invite you to notice what winter feels like energetically in your body. Do you...

If you crave or cherish brave connection with your community, your ancestors, and yourself, this episode is for you. Trevia Woods is a mixed-race woman with Indigenous ancestors who has two decades of experience in bodywork, education and community-building. She has roots in the Midwest and Colorado, after traveling the world finds herself back in America finding her roots and how she belongs in t...

If you have a long-held dream (or even the quietest whisper of a thought) that you want to live on and with the land, this episode is for you. Hillarie Maddox is the founder of Black Girl Country Living and creator of Rewilding Workshops. In 2020, she and her family left the city for the country without knowing what they were getting into. Along the way, she fell in love with nature and discovered...

Waverly Davis a multidimensional twin mama, facilitator of sacred spaces + sounds, artist, and podcaster residing outside of Charlottesville, Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains on unceded Monacan territory. In this episode, we discuss how we incorporate the sacred into motherhood by embedding rituals into our daily lives and threshold moments. Waverly also shares her birth story and how a plant...

In today’s episode, I reflect on the role community plays in our lives and the stories we share with each other about our yearnings for connection. Tune to hear me reflect on what community looks like in my life right now and my dreams for how community might gather on my new farm home in the years to come. I also explore the challenges of reaching out for support and connection when our energy is...