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

In this episode of the Belonging podcast, I am joined by Asha Frost, an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Medicine Woman (member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation), Healer, and Spiritual Mentor. Asha wrote an article titled "Dear White Woman who wants to be like me," which went viral for many of the same reasons why it caught my attention: it's a powerful calling in around cultural approp...

I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with Ayana Young, a fierce warrior for the earth and fellow podcaster. I have learned so much from Ayana over the years about what it means to be alive in the Anthropocene (the Age of Man) and how to find hope in action. Ayana specializes in intersectional environmental and social justice, deep ecology and land-based restoration, and was a co-founder o...

Mimi Young is a shamanic practitioner and founder of Ceremonie, a shamanic and ritual-based brand, and although we scheduled this conversation before any of us knew the extent of where we would be during this COVID 19 outbreak, what we had planned to talk about is very timely during these moments of Physical Distancing. Mimi shares her experience of having a five-month bedrest when she was pregnan...

Lisa Olivera, a writer and therapist, joins me in this episode of Belonging to talk about showing up as yourself to make meaningful connection. This conversation weaves together what it really means to be human in these times and why it's so important to vulnerably share all sides of ourselves. Through her therapy work and writing, Lisa helps others realize that they can repair abandonment or...

I invited Constanza Eliana Chinea, a Latinx certified yoga instructor, on the Belonging podcast to open up a bigger conversation happening in the wellness and yoga industry about decolonization, access, and privilege. Constanza Eliana not only teaches yoga, but she specifically works with yogis and entrepreneurs to decolonize their yoga practice, create equity for teachers of color, and build incl...

I’ve got something to share with you... As the sunlight grows, so does the little soul inside of me. This is so tender for me to share with you. I feel the fragility of life itself at all times right now. I feel the potential for life and death in every cell. I am intimately living inside of myself and so vulnerable when I am out in the world. I'm pregnant. And with hope in our hearts, our li...

Anxiety is something that feels so pervasive and yet still carries so much stigma. In this technology-obsessed age of loneliness, it seems as if everyone is experiencing anxiety—at least a little bit—but still feels so alone in the struggle. Anxiety can bring about a lot of shame and prevent us from feeling a true, deep sense of belonging—particularly within community. So in this episode of Belong...

If you're here, listening to this podcast, part of you probably really wants to re-village or come back into community with each other. Part of circling in community is finding intergenerational spaces and that includes making space for our teens. So I invited Eliza Reynolds on the show. Eliza is the founder of Badass Girls, is a bestselling author, speaker, workshop facilitator, and professi...

I've been waiting to do an episode on this topic because it's a practice that I engage in every month: yoni steaming. Not long ago, I shared on my Instagram stories my practice of yoni steaming, and I have gotten so many questions since then, so I invited the lovely Kit Murray Maloney who is not only my friend and a Vaginal Steam Practitioner, but she is also the creator of the steam sto...

I've been longing to have a conversation about food and body and fatness and fat-phobia and healthism, and I'm so excited to introduce my guest to you today. Hilary Kinavey is a professional counselor, facilitator, educator, speaker, writer, and activist working to bring more awareness to eight-inclusive approaches, weight bias, body trust, and the intersections of activism and therapy....

The amazing Ariella Daly, aka Beekeeping in Skirts, joins me for this first episode of 2020. Ariella is a beekeeper, which isn't a title that fully encompasses all of her work—she works with the bees in a seer and healership capacity with embodied womb-centric practices. So in this conversation, we talk about the esoteric realm of the bees with ancient way of the Melissae (the oracular bee pr...

This is a special bonus audio for my Belonging podcast feed because I was interviewed about the Omen Days for my friend and team member, Caitlin Brehm's podcast Roots of Lore. The bulk of my interview will be in her January 1st Roost of Lore episode, but because the Omen Days start today (December 26th), we thought it would be fun to share my portion of the episode here today. Roots of Lore i...

I chose this time of year — the winter, waning time of year — to talk about something that I have experienced a lot of in my life: burnout. When we go against the energies of the season, especially in this productivity-focused culture, we experience a lot of burnout — and some of us don't even realize that's what we're experiencing or we resist identifying with being burnt out becau...

I took one of Morena Cardoso's Danza Medicina workshops for embodying the sacred feminine at Spirit Weavers a couple years ago and it was a profound experience in my relationship with my own body. Then, when I found myself circling with Morena for a Samhain gathering this year, I had to pull her aside to interview her for the Belonging podcast. This conversation goes deep. We talk about her e...

Natalie Ross of Earth Speak joins me on the Belonging Podcast today. As the title of her podcast suggests, Natalie is intimately in relationship with the earth and is in regular communication with the land through her intuition and the senses that we normally don't pay attention to or place value on in our modern world. So in this conversation, we talk about tapping into those senses, finding...

Rachael Alaia joins me on the Belonging podcast for a potent and important conversation about facing an uncertain future in the midst of eco collapse, ecocide, and the grief and anxiety that comes with it. Many of us across the globe are experiencing more extreme weather and natural disasters (the fires here in California being just one example), and Rachael helps folx engage in body awareness, ec...

We're here in the witchy time of year—of thin veils, of the Great Hunt, Season of the Witch, and of the beginning of the darkening times here in the northern hemisphere. So in this episode of Belonging, I'm talking about Samhain and what this time of year meant for the ancestors. I'm digging into what it means to embrace the dark side of the year, I'm sharing some folkloric ori...

My dear friend Lorena Aguirre joins me on the podcast today. Lorena has a very popular podcast in the Spanish-speaking world called Con Amor, Carajo! in which she addresses those living within a deeply Catholic, patriarchal existence to spread messages of feminism and empowerment to those who do not benefit from these systems. Together, we talk about what Lorena's experience was like as a wom...

In this episode of Belonging, Sarah Durham Wilson (aka The Mother Spirit) joins me to talk about moving for the archetype of Maiden to Mother. We get stuck in idealizing the Maiden as a result of many things—including the Patriarchy and beauty industrial complex—and many of us struggle to rise into the wisdom of the Mother archetype (which doesn't necessarily mean literally having children).S...

Today's episode of Belonging is a solo episode where I'm sharing my meditation journey! Meditation is something that has come in and out of my life throughout my journey of belonging. I don't consider myself a "master meditator" by any means, but lately, it's something that's felt really strong in my practice. So, I'm sharing the meditation practices and too...

Today I am so excited to have Erica Feldmann join me on the Belonging Podcast. Erica is the owner of HausWitch, a modern metaphysical shop in Salem, MA that blends magic, activism, and deep community. Erica and I talk about how capitalism wants to keep us out of close community (and so how circling closely with other folx is a form of resistance), how using the word "witch" serves histor...

I asked Nisha to join me today to talk about belonging in community. It's a big topic, but Nisha and I are in the same community. We used to live down the street from each other and we are in a circle of women that gather each month under the new moon. We’ve seen each other grow and change over the years, but have both been committed to creating meaningful and lasting community—no matter how...

I'm taking a turn as the one being interviewed in this episode of Belonging! I asked my friend, Julie Santiago, to interview me about my very recent decisions about social media and the role of Facebook and Instagram—particularly as it relates to my work. We talk about my recent decision to close a program I’ve been running for the past four years and what that has taught me and given way to...

I’m so pleased to be sharing a conversation on the Belonging podcast with one of my all-time favorite writers, Sylvia Linsteadt. Sylvia's words have been a deep salve to my heart and sense of wonderment in this work of re-enchantment with the wild. She has such a deep understanding of the living land, a term I really appreciate. Because for so much of my life, I couldn’t see nature as alive a...

This episode covers such an important topic that so many womxn have confided in me about on my retreats and in our work together: a complicated relationship with patriarchal Christianity and a fear of engaging with spirit in a different way. I asked Barbara Erochina to come on the podcast with me to talk this out because she is a real deal expert on this. Barbara used to be an Evangelical Christia...