Curious Hearts

This episode was a big deal for me: it was the first time I interviewed someone I had never met before. I launched Curious Hearts to learn how people from all backgrounds, walks of life, and beliefs live a spiritual life. To me, it is especially important to talk to people I don’t know — because they are more likely to have a different experience than I do. In this episode, Lee and I had a wide-ra...

In a world that is clamoring and competing for your precious attention, learning to direct and re-direct our attention is a powerful skills. In an “attention economy,” your focus is the currency. Are you spending it wisely? Like most things other that are simple and powerful, mastering our attention is not easy. But learning to redirect our focus when it’s been hijacked is at the core of every oth...

Thirteen years ago, I sat at the Downtown Wild Lotus Yoga studio, deep in the Marigny, to listen to an information session about a yoga teacher training. My boyfriend at the time joked that we should “weld me up a tall bike.” I was used to being CBD-downtown, not downtown-downtown. To say I was out of my element was an understatement. I got there, and was surprised how beautiful and warm the studi...

“The divine is in the space between us.” The lessons of community have been so much harder for me than I think they should be. If many hands make light work, then why is it so hard to reach out for help? Do I really want to work so hard all the time? Being with other people doesn’t always feel “light,” and our modern lives make isolation very tempting. We have to choose to being with others most o...

Isabelle Guzman is a medicine woman, an artist, a dancer, a photographer, and a retired body worker. Our spiritual paths have crossed and interwoven for years, and I’m so delighted to share this conversation with you. A lot of Isabelle’s work focuses on celebration of the magic in every day life, but also on creating the freedom we’re all seeking. We talk about her background growing up across and...

Listening is as sacred a spiritual practice as anything else I know. It gives us a framework for how to witness the world without needing to act immediately, training us to be responsive and not reactive. It’s also a direct portal into deep appreciation of everything that already here for us — you’ll never be bored again. Listening practice is one of the ways we train ourselves to be “more sensiti...

Like many of my guests, Priya is a bit of a paradox: she is both pipeline engineer and a bhatki yoga teacher, an energy business executive and Vedic astrologer. She describes her own childhood spiritual life as “chaotic” and “unorthodox.” Growing us as the child of Bengali immigrants, she had neither a traditional American experience nor a traditional Indian one. What she did have was initiation i...

🌀 Making Meaning is more than a spiritual principle — it might be the spiritual principle. In this episode, we dive into the human instinct to ask, “Why am I here?” and trace how our stories — inherited, imagined, and evolving — shape our personal purpose, and how our meaning shapes our choices along the path. From existential dread to ancestral discovery, from societal myth-making to the quiet c...

Welcome back, curious hearts — This week’s episode is a tender, smart, and surprisingly funny conversation with my longtime friend Sam Brandao — a law professor, musician, and someone I’ve known since we were awkward, opinionated teenagers trying to make sense of the world. (Spoiler alert: we're still trying.) Sam is one of those people who might surprise people with the depth of his spiritual lif...

Ok, Curious Hearts. It’s time. We can’t just talk about practice. We can’t only read about it, study, or think about it. Thinking is great, but it has never brought me the same deep peace that practice does. Because I know how hard it can be to just sit down and do it , these practice episodes are here to keep us all honest. Today’s practice is one of the most simple - but difficult - practices I...

Welcome back, Curious Hearts. Renee Blanchard is so smart, wise, and funny. If you knew her from Church Alley Coffee, the deeply soulful little shop she ran for over a decade in New Orleans, you know she’s a natural hostess. But you might not know about her incredibly deep spiritual life. She’s navigating a brave transition right now — after going back to school in her 40s, she’s closed her busine...

We’ve been sold the myth that time moves in a straight line—that if we just keep going, we’ll eventually “get there.” But anyone who’s done real healing work, grieved deeply, practiced anything with devotion, or simply paid attention knows that’s not how it works. I’m excited to share this episode — its the first of the spiritual principles. It’s foundational, because it’s underneath everything we...

Practice is the non-negotiable anchor and safety net to help us survive this world on fire. In this episode I share a little of my own history of practice, what elements make up a spiritual practice, and why it is such an essential lifeline. Have any insights that come up during the episode? Let me know — comment below, or send me a message. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this...

 I am really excited to share with you my first interview episode today with Becca Rich. Becca and I have known each other for many years, and have watched each other grow personally and spiritually along the way. Her wisdom is truly beyond her years. She works as a holistic time coach and she really helps people to understand the way that our external understanding of time really gets in the way...

Welcome Curious Hearts! This is the inaugural episode of "Curious Hearts: Making Meaning in a World on Fire". I created this podcast out of a deep curiosity I have about non-traditional spiritual journeys, and the everyday spiritual practices that help us get through the day. In this episode, I share a little about my intentions for the podcast, and my own spiritual life. Have Questions? Want to s...

The audio companion of the story of Annie & Peter Goetzen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit veralester.substack.com/subscribe