Soul + Practice: Raw Conversations & Real Practices with Kathy Escobar & Phyllis Mathis

Beyond all the basic talking about left brain being logical and the right brain being creative is an expansive body of work that can help us also better understand what's happening not only in our own stories and experience but also in the wider one that's imploding right now. In this episode we process some of the ideas in the neuroscience book (600 pages!) by Ian McGilchrist called The Master an...

It's been a rough week in the USA and even though we pretty much say that every week we record, this past week has been extra bad with assassinations, school shootings, and social media awful. This episode we share what we needed most this morning--getting back to basic skills and guiding principles that will help us survive these really rough times. We felt better when we finished and hope you do...

We’re back! We always take a break in the Summer and re-group, decide if we’re going to keep on keeping on or not, and in these wild times, the answer is YES! This space helps us and we hope it helps anyone listening in whatever ways are needed. This episode is just a look-back at the Summer and what’s sustaining us right now. Looking forward to the season ahead!

It’s a wrap, friends! We had a great run of guests and topics from February-May centered on resourcing during these extra tumultuous times, and now it’s time for a Summer break! We loved looking back at our conversations and amazing friends who offered their time and wisdom to be part of Soul + Practice. We love having out with you each week and will look forward to being back in the Fall. Meanwhi...

Julie-Anne Malette-Mauno is a French Canadian settler living on Treaty 9 territory in Northeastern Ontario, Canada with her family. She has 7 children. She writes poetry and her love for the boreal forest is reflected in her writing. She is a Registered Social Worker and is working as a therapist and researcher. Her work centers on perinatal mental health and wellbeing, and grief and loss. She is...

The Subversive Soul: The Gentle Revolution Every Soul Needs—Phyllis’ new book-- is coming out July 22nd! In this episode we process some of the key ideas in the book and are reminded on why soul and practice go together so well. Published by Quoir Publishing, this book is going to help so many discover, honor, and live into what’s already in us. More at phyllismathis.com

It’s always fun to learn from new friends and realize how connected we all are in different ways. David Artman is a retired minister, author, podcaster, and a leading voice in Christian Universalism over the years. With the rise of this 2.0 administration, he’s sharing more about the dangerous reality we’re living in as we slide toward fascism, with evangelicals locked in on this kind of leadershi...

Oh, we needed this! Spending time with Dr. Lisa Pettit--who has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh for 20+ years and is a kindred and community leader in the Compassionate Dharma Cloud Monastery in Morrison, Colorado,—is always so good for our souls. There are countless beautiful gems in this episode to draw back on, along with tangible ways to keep practicing human-ing both personally and together...

In this episode, Kathy’s awesome husband, Jose joins us to share a little bit about his life as a pilot, military lawyer, and pro-bono attorney at a legal aid clinic during these wild times—what helps, what’s hard, and the power of seeking joy (and McDonalds). We had fun in the middle of so much hard. More about the incredible work of the Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Center at jamlac.org.

We loved our conversation with our friend Melvin Bray—Atlanta-based author, educator, dad, husband, and creator of the 12 Steps Truth and Transformation Model that are modified 12 steps for equity work in community. Melvin’s work in untangling from supremacist logic and the life-long practice of equity has helped us in more ways than we can say, and his reminder of our need for simple and meaningf...

Weaving webs of community, healing, mutual aid, earth wisdom, and other practices that help us make it in this harsh world are needed now more than ever. Angie Fadel joins us this week, sharing some of what she’s learning and practicing in this season of her story and how small contributions—what can feel like just a drop—matter. Angie’s based in Portland and is a spiritual director, meditative ar...

We love making new friends, and Amanda Udis-Kessler, author, former sociology professor, songwriter, and anti-oppression trainer, helped us gain some clarity and hope around living out ethics of flourishing despite the complete lack of ethics at the highest level of our land right now. With practical, honest, and clear ways to stay connected to our truest values and live them out despite the pull...

There’s so much more going on in the sky than most of us are aware of! In this fun and eye-opening episode our friend Polly Baker, who’s a spiritual director who integrates astrology in an incredibly unique and grounding way, brings some incredible knowledge to the forces at work in the sky right now that we’re feeling collectively while also offering some clear and tangible practices to consider...

In this check-in episode, we process how we can stay grounded and clear when we’re constantly being gaslit with alternate facts and realities. While this is happening on a national level right now, many of us have experienced it in relationship with others, too; yeah, it’s exhausting.

When we were thinking about this season and what we needed, one of the first people that came to mind was our friend Nikki Kennedy. A trauma-therapist and community builder, she is a wise kindred and leader and we loved this conversation so much. So many gems for how we navigate these wild times, own the reality of this story, and grow in our capacity to care for ourselves and one another in simpl...

100 Episodes of Soul + Practice, what?!? What better way to honor it than with an amazing conversation with our friend Tara Taylor, who is a volunteer docent at Armstrong Woods in Northern California and incredible nature-based facilitator and guide. As we center this season on resourcing, there’s so much we can learn from the redwoods and we hope everyone listening grabs something we need right n...

Whoa, can you say 2025 and what unhealthy unchecked destructive power looks like in action? What we are experiencing right now in the US is an age-old story but it is illuminated in new and horridly painful ways. In this episode, Kathy shares a little bit about her newest book “Turning Over Tables: A Lenten Call to Disrupting Power” that released a week before the Inauguration and we process some...

We need all the help we can get and some consistent, clear practices for our mental health really matter right now. In this episode, Phyllis fleshes out some of what she wrote in a recent substack, and it’s packed with all kinds of tangible and much-needed practices and reminders.

Well, we're back. A lot of horrid has happened since we were last together at the end of 2024 and we feel clear we need as much resourcing as we can. In this episode we process something Phyllis wrote on her Substack about the Existential Flu, a reality that can overtake us in these unprecedented, tumultuous, traumatic times. So many gems in there! Looking forward to being together more as we tend...

Our last episode of 2024 is about 2024! Remembering, celebrating, grieving, laughing through 6 simple questions we both reflect on and hope that others maybe consider, too! It's good to pause and look back before moving forward.

The world sure feels weary right now and in this episode we process through some of the main themes in Kathy's book "A Weary World: Reflection for a Blue Christmas"--Honoring Reality, Practicing Honesty, Embracing Paradox, and Borrowing Hope--for 2024. We hope it's nourishing somehow--we realized how much we needed it when we were done recording it!

Well, folks, here are--a second Trump presidency is coming and so many of us are reeling. In this episode we try to honestly acknowledge what we're up against and how we need to be careful of not feeding the futile that will keep us spinning and weakened and instead consider tangible practices that will help us be as healthy and connected as we can in the weeks and months to come.

Well, it's been a terrible ride, and here we are--the day before one of the most crucial elections in our lifetimes so far. We are holding everyone close in our hearts and know that no matter the outcome, it's a bumpy ride today. In this episode we process some things to remember as we tend to our souls and embody our values in tangible ways.

The fallacy of false equivalencies and "whataboutisms" can really mess with us when it comes to not only the US election but so many other areas of our lives. In this episode we explore that a little more (or, um, ramble about it) along with the importance of "breaking up with knowing" and a false sense of control that comes with trying to predict outcomes and find a way to perceived safety. Oh, a...

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are 5 seasons, not 4. This fifth season is "Late Summer", which starts in mid-August and goes through Fall Equinox and is a place to pause, ground, celebrate, and honor the energy and fruits of Summer intentionally before just barreling into Fall. In the wild season we're living in right now with US politics and the wider world--combined with our own personal...