Light Forest

We talk about finding peace and peace building, as individuals and as a planet. What does peace really mean? What are the conditions that it may arise? In this episode we go on a long walk and a yarn about Peace from many dimensions: inner, social, and global, and the role of education in fostering it. Q has been an educator, a ‘physics geek’, and guitarist for many decades specialising in educati...

What if we understood the future as an open space, co-created by us in this moment. A reality that we actively shape, but driven by myths and metaphors we unconsciously hold about ourselves and the world. To live your authentic future, to help guide policy change, uncover the existing story and metaphor, and find a new one. From Dark Forest to Light Forest. We are joined by Sohail Inayatullah, a f...

We’ve been told a story that human society evolved from primitive barter to superior modern money. That linear story flattens thousands of years of value exchanged through reciprocity, mutual aid, and gift economies. Systems that nourished people and ecological relationships. Modern (fiat) money and its associated systems have a valuable role to play but it has become a de-stabalising force in our...

60+ years of industrial farming has left us with degraded soil, farmers on the brink of ruin, nutritionally hollow food, and a disconnection from how our food arrives to our homes. Here lie the roots of the health crises we experience today. In this conversation we get a root-level understanding of this picture from Avika & Abhi, co-founders of Living Roots, on a mission to help regenerate the...

Your passport determines where you can live, work, and travel—based purely on where you were born. The document is only 100 years old, and someone’s actually redesigning it from the root up. Lauren Razavi is working with tech companies and Web3, UN, and governments worldwide to build alternatives to the passport, and in this conversation, she reveals how it’s happening. Lauren is the Executive Dir...

The meta-crises is a concept that is growing in usage around the world It is developed in the western context with a Global North audience in mind, although in sync with Asian & indigenous wisdom traditions. The ingredients are coherent. But for an Asian audience it can seem dry, bland, and not very relatable. Like it’s missing a burst of flavour that animates your being. So it was really refr...

Over the course of Season 0 we've heard about intuition and the intuitive mind, inner wisdom, sixth sense, inner voice, and authentic selves. Many words, all pointing in a similar direction. This is a big part of what I mean by Light in Light Forest. We yearn for it. But we don't always know what it really is, and how to form a stable connection to it. Today we're going to take a long...

How do we pretend not to be whole people? How can we learn to embrace the full spectrum of our emotions, intellect, and intuition, to be fully embodied in the present moment? In this episode, we journey deep into the Light Forest with William Wait, a musician, psychologist, and psychedelic elder, who shares many stories, insight, and techniques from his long life that started in California in 1941...

Why despite decades of climate summits and sustainable goals, and our smartest minds working on solutions, our Climate reality worsens? Yes, we can blame our leaders and corporations, but, why do we also struggle make changes in how we consume? Where does the roots of our climate crises lie? In this episode, we go on a long walk in the Light Forest with Dr. Naresh Singh, who shares a master-class...

In this episode I hosted Jules Yim 芊文 at Light Forest HQ in Chiang Mai. Jules is a senior consultant with the Cynefin Co (formerly Cognitive Edge),where she has spent the past 15+ years advising MNCs and SMEs around the world using bespoke complexity frameworks. She is also the voice behind Contrapuntal Substack where she distills her interests in policy, complexity, linguistics, narrative resea...

In this episode of Light Forest I speak to Neel ⵣ. An artist and technologist, exploring the possibility of technology as a medium for expanding consciousness and interacting with our inner worlds. Neel shares stories from his journey as an artist experimenting with spatial sound installations called ‘ HOLO S', a technological framework in which every contributing individual integrates into a...

Faye Shapiro is a master vocalist, independent therapist, and introvert activist. She is the creatrix of Plexus Voice —a psycho-somatic technology for self-discovery and expressive empowerment, designed to weave a new sound reality for personal and collective healing. In this conversation, we explore sound as a lens for understanding and experiencing life . Faye draws from a deep well of spiritual...

What if policymaking wasn’t just about data, efficiency, and institutional logic—but also about presence, inner clarity, and connection with nature? Dr. Ora-orn Poocharoen is a pioneering Thai academic and the founding Director of the School of Public Policy at Chiang Mai University. She brings a deeply grounded, embodied, and fresh approach to how public institutions do policy. From bringing in g...

IIn this episode of Light Forest we explore the nation of Myanmar through Burmese Buddhism and learn about how Buddhist values are bringing light into the resistance movement against the Junta. Taking us on this journey we have Joah McGee: a trainer, podcaster, and humanitarian advocate with a deep connection to Myanmar as a longtime practitioner and researcher of Burmese Buddhism. You may recogni...

We live in polarised times. Institutions are breaking and paradigms are being challenged. Life can feel like one big ‘Manthan’ (churn). How do we find our balance and come through this churn of ideas and values? In this episode, we journey with Rajni Bakshi, a Mumbai-based author, journalist, and activist who has spent three decades chronicling the struggles for more humane and ecologically sound...

The declining health of our planet is a decline in your own health. I cannot be healthy unless you are healthy. This is Planetary health. Dr. Geordan Shannon is a medical doctor, founder, and global health specialist. She brings a critical approach to understanding and acting on global challenges including social inequity, globalization, health systems, and environmental crises. Her current work s...

This is the 2nd part of my conversation with Gregory Pettys. You can check back to episode 6 to tune in to Part 1 on Seed and Living in Right Relation. In this part of the conversation with Gregory Pettys, we yarn on: • Eco Villages as Spaces of Initiation : The role of ecovillages in helping people reconnect with land, community, and ancestral wisdom. (00:05:47) • The Necessity of Soil Interactio...

Our planet is sick. Where do the roots of this sickness lie? We have to start with Seed. The source of life starts with a seed. Seeds hold within them nutrition, genetic history, ancient memory. Today we live in a world where 95% of our seed diversity has been systemically killed off by industrial farming over the past few decades. Do we know what this means for our bodies and minds? Most of us, c...

Light Forest Podcast: Episode with Cat Lau It’s been a longer interlude than expected, but I’m excited to hop back on the podcast bike! In this episode of the Light Forest Podcast, we journey with Cat Lau, a healer and heritage journalist from Bangkok, Thailand. I first met Cat in Chiang Mai during a Light Forest workshop I hosted as part of one of the Pop-Up Cities. Cat participated in the SEA Pu...

In part 2 of this conversation with Michel Bauwens, founder and director of the P2P Foundation, we cover: Historical perspective on how belief systems and worldviews interplay with civilisation-level system transitions. Crypto as a social elite in the creation of new open infrastructure and institutions. a Cosmolocal view on how crypto can play a role in the pulsation of the commons. [43:00] Miche...

Rage, despair, anger, sadness, disbelief…these emotions define our moment. In times of war, violence, and environmental disasters, how else can we feel? Is this what it means to be civilised" It's clear that our institutions are fundamentally misaligned with addressing these problems. Michel Bauwens writes: “Corporations and states are competitive entities, geared towards extraction to se...

In this episode of the Light Forest we dive into the emerging concepts around Regeneration and its intersections with Web3/Crypto communities. You will notice ‘regeneration’ within Light Forest’s mission. According to the American Heritage and Cambridge dictionaries, definitions of ‘regeneration’ include: a change or improving through renewal, spiritual revival, rebirth, and retaining a sense of b...

In this episode I speak to Andrea Farias, a digital researcher, strategist, and storyteller on a mission to support the transition to a regenerative civilisation. In this conversation we touch on the following themes: Andrea's vision for a regenerative civilisation looks through the layers of cultural materialism and how this framework can help us understand change. We unpack the concept of re...

Welcome to the Light Forest Podcast, a journey of exploration to bring more Light into how we live and regenerate our planet. I'm your host, Dev, and in Season 0 join me for conversations with change makers from around the world as we dive deep into areas such as Asian Philosophy, Indigenous knowledge, regenerative economics, Spirituality, and more, searching for the interconnected roots to th...