“Will my culture thank me if I disrupt its complacency?” Zhenevere Sophia Dao asks some of the most piercing, identity-deconstructing and soul-generating questions of our time, while she also embodies the answers with deep, poetic presence and humility. In this episode, we speak to this rare teacher, philosopher, embodiment artist, poetess, and transgender woman,  about the mysteries and the politics of gender, and about what she calls “the transgender necessity”. Zhenevere takes us on an...

What does it take for one to feel an utter and lasting sense of belonging––belonging to one's family, communities, and culture, belonging in one's body, belonging with a partner, and to one's own self? In this conversation with Canadian writer, teacher, and dreamworker Toko-pa Turner who authored the award-winning book Belonging, we contemplate the distinction between fitting-in and belonging, the reasons why non-belonging  is the silent pandemic of our times, the two lovers we must introduce...

A brief and unprecedented episode, in which host Stefana Serafina discusses the coronavirus outbreak as a movement of archetypal  universal intelligence, a "raising of the voice of the the Wild Earth that is surging to make herself understood: Pressing pause now is only the start...." "Sit down together–but a new kind of together", Corona seems to be saying,  "Pause and come still,  as a global organization that now gets a chance to meditate on its impact on the much vaster organization of...

Long before social injustice becomes obvious and explicit, our bodies  experience it, internalize it, and embody it as non-verbal patterns. In this conversation with Dr. Rae Johnson, a scholar working at the intersection of somatic studies and social justice, we expose the mostly unconscious behaviors that perpetuate oppression in an embodied way,  how oppression is experienced as a bodily felt sense,  and how we can learn to undo oppression through the body–– both as we experience it and as...

On the importance of creating a culture of emotionally aware and expressed people, and the significance of allowing our bodies to express in a primal and liberated way, as an example of nature and its many states, storms, colors and changes. We speak with somatic healer, dancer, and embodiment facilitator, BERNADETTE PLEASANT, the founder of FEMME!, a modality for all genders. Tune in for this vibrant conversation about  how to harness the primal power and vulnerability of our emotions...

Crossing the Threshold: Body and Dance in Rites of Passage, with Dr. Melissa Michaels How does one know that they are standing at a threshold whose crossing is a promise that life will never be the same?  What gives us the power to move through the toughest, the biggest, or the most influential turning points of our lives? And why are the body and the heart, dance and community our best allies in both personal and collective rites of passage? Listen to Dr. Melissa Michaels weigh in on these...

This conversation with Zhen Dao, creator of the Mogadao Institute tradition, is a mythopoetic, down-to-earth, and sensuous contemplation on rediscovering the true erotic nature of being as a return to our vulnerability and our need for each other. We speak about Eros beyond the impoverished cultural perceptions and modern exploits, and bring the erotic back  into the context of making full-body contact with one another and the living world, taking the great risk of  becoming spiritually naked...

MAKING SOUL FOR A TROUBLED WORLD, with Michael Meade   How to make more soul for a world that seems to be falling apart?  “What you love is the cure”, reminds us mythologist Michael Meade.  In this conversation with the renowned storyteller, author, and scholar, we speak about why it’s of the essence to get closer to what you  love and do more of it, so you can be in conversation with your own soul, harvesting its timeless resources for living a meaningful life and making more soul for the...

Deya Dova is a ground breaking vocalist, electronic music producer and an international touring artist from Australia, who records her music live at sacred sites. We speak about the experience of merging body and earth and blending into the landscape as a way of giving voice to the land, and singing  the ancient human myths that can unite modern humans in new ways. Tune in for some live singing, newly released tunes, and this in-depth conversation with Deya Dova and co-producer Hamilton...

On following the body's internal and evolutionary wisdom to generate new life. We speak to Tina Stromsted, PhD about the body as an intelligent orchestra always organizing for  healing and growth, movement as the language of the soul, and bringing light into the dark places of the psyche by using the body's guidance. A guided practice is offered at the end of the conversation.  ----- Tina Stromsted, Ph.D. is a Jungian psychoanalyst, dance therapist, and somatics educator.  She was a...

When You Are Ready, Horses Will Find You: Discovering in The Common Body, with Paula Josa Jones PAULA JOSA-JONES, an author, choreographer, dancer, educator, and equestrian, in conversation with Stefana Serafina about the common body, the shared physical and nonphysical field of emotion, sense, communication, and love between all species. ABOUT PAULA PAULA JOSA-JONES, a choreographer, dancer, educator,  and equestrian, known for her visually rich, emotionally charged dance theater.   Her...

Vinn Arjuna Martí, award-winning choreographer, performer, master teacher, and  founder of  Soul Motion, in conversation with Stefana Serafina about the value of pausing amidst the moving moment, the exploration of self,  relationship, and the psyche through the shapes, energy, and movements of the body in motion,  and on the power of bringing dance to "the citizens", people from all backgrounds who find medicine in practicing one of the most ancient expressive arts.

On restoring the balance, flow, and creativity in a woman’s life by reconnecting to the “feminine root” of our bodies and the power inherent in the female anatomy, with Tami Lynn Kent, author of Wild Feminine: Finding Power, Spirit & Joy in the Female Body.

On intuition and sensitivity as  higher intelligence and the power of embodied daydreaming and imagination as creative forces. We speak to Penney Pierce, author of 10 books on intuition and perception, about the importance of honoring one's body not only as the soul's only home, but also as the  powerful, intelligent system tapped into the unified field and capable of dreaming our desired realities into physical form– if given a chance.  Penney Peirce is one of the pioneers of the intuition...

On the importance of staying in our bodies, slowing down to be with our own body's living systems and sensitivity, and getting to know the deeper life of our anatomy as an antidote to the fast-paced, electronic world that is evolutionary new to the human body. Guest Andrea Olsen is a pioneering embodiment educator and expert on experiential anatomy, the author of  a triad of books on the human body and its creative and intuitive expression. For the last three decades  Andrea  has been a...

On taking back the  definition of "witch" and rewriting the myth of the women's power, with Judika Illes, an independent scholar, educator, and author of several books and encyclopedias, including the Encyclopedia of  Witchcraft, published by Harper Collins.  THIS EPISODE'S WISDOM QUOTES  Reclaiming “witch” cannot really be done without reclaiming women’s power in general. Witches are defiant, in their power, and take pride in women’s power… They are not beholden, they are independent in...

OUR BODIES AND EARTH: ON WHY NATURE IS OUR PRIMARY RELATIONSHIP  A conversation about our bodies as aspects of Earth and nature as a human's primary relationship. On the need- and the luxury!- of attuning our bodies'  ecosystems to the wakeful intelligence of our natural world and romancing our inner and outer nature as a way of self-knowing. Host Stefana Serafina speaks to Jamie McHugh, an embodiment educator who has been on faculty at the Tamalpa Institute and JFK University for over 25...

On this episode of the Women's Edition, host Stefana Serafina speaks to Shakti Malan, PhD about sexuality as a vital life force and the need to rediscover and embody its fluid, undirected flow in the female body as way of reconnecting to Earth, rebalancing the feminine principle, and liberating consciousness.  Tune in for a rich conversation on the body as a resource and an ally, the female sexual organs and the nature of sexual energy, Lilith and Eve, releasing sexual trauma and trusting...

Host Stefana Serafina speaks to Ruby Gibson, PhD, about our bodies as record keepers and storytellers. According to Dr.Ruby's research and the  Somatic Archeology technique she developed, our bodies are much like archeological sites that hold the artifacts of our personal and multigenerational past– and through that, the capacity to "remember" the stories of our lineage and forgotten past and bring them to resolution and reconciliation.  Dr. Ruby Gibson is  an international educator,...

In this episode of the Women’s Edition, host Stefana Serafina speaks to Chameli Ardagh, founder of the Awakening Women Institute, about women and their bodies’ inherent wisdom as the bringers of a new dawn for the world. Chameli Ardagh is a leading pioneer in contemporary feminine spirituality, and has inspired thousands of women around the world with her breakthrough methods for living and embodying  feminine awakening. This Episodes Wisdom Quote: “A woman’s body is a vessel for evolution....

Host Stefana Serafina speaks to Canadian author and teacher Philip Shepherd about sensitivity as intelligence, being in the world through our bodies,  and  why we can’t live intelligently without returning to our body’s capacity for deep knowing and presence. Philip Shepherd is an international expert on embodiment, and is the author of  New Self, New World: Recovering our Senses in the Twenty-first Century. He teaches his unique embodiment techniques around the world through his Embodied...