140 avsnitt • Längd: 50 min • Månadsvis
Welcome to Belonging, a podcast that explores being alive in the age of loneliness. Becca Piastrelli is your host and guide on a journey of courageous reconnection as we explore topics like rites of passage, cultivating meaningful community, seasonal and cyclical living, and what it means to be a good ancestor in these times. She has thought provoking conversations with friends, teachers, elders, and ancestral medicine keepers to help support you in bringing more meaning and connection to your life. She also pops in here and there to share updates and learnings from her own story because we were meant to do this together – cosmically holding hands as we walk the spiral of life. You can expect to be challenged by new (or old) ideas, face your beliefs and what systems informed them, get curious and brave to tell the truth about the deeper, harder things, and feel comforted in the knowing that you don’t have to navigate it all alone.
The podcast Belonging: Conversations about rites of passage, meaningful community, and seasonal living is created by Becca Piastrelli. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
In today’s episode, I am joined by Carmen Spagnola - a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef turned trauma recovery practitioner, clinical hypnotherapist, and kitchen witch. She first appeared on the Belonging podcast two years ago for the release of her first book. Now, she’s back to celebrate her second book coming out: ‘Spells for the Apocalypse: Practical Magic for Turbulent Times’, which offers practical tools for navigating turbulent times and emphasizes the importance of community and resilience in the face of overwhelming challenges. As a chef, author, and facilitator, Carmen holds space for renewal amidst turmoil. Her work is an invitation to re-enchantment, soul nourishment, and a deeper and more animistic relationship to the natural world.
In our conversation, we reflect on the significant life changes we both have experienced in this past two years. We re-explore the concept of collapse and its emotional and psychological impacts on individuals and communities. We discuss the importance of surrendering to change, cultivating satisfaction in the present and the art of navigating grief and beauty in life’s challenges.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introduction: Life Changes and New Beginnings
[20:29] Understanding Collapse and Its Impacts
[24:36] Navigating the Apocalypse: Tools and Practices
[37:48] Surrendering to Change: Cultivating Resilience
[40:25] Acknowledging Poignance: Between Pain and Beauty
[42:44] Dystopian Narratives: Reflections on Society and Collapse
[48:22] Reimagining the Future: Plastics and Sustainability
[50:06] Regenerative Farming in the Eye of Collapse and Gardening as a Reflection of Empire
Today’s episode is a rerelease of the beautiful conversation I had earlier this year with Becca Rich, in celebration of her hosting the 2025 ‘Living in Sync Roundtable’, during which I will be a guest speaker. You can find more details below.
Becca Rich is a trauma-sensitive, certified holistic coach with a background in engineering and mindfulness, who teaches Holistic Time Management. In this episode, she shares with us her wisdom on the meaning of time, the role of control, how we can honor the cyclical nature of our bodies within our digital calendars and so much more. She also coaches me on the part that grief plays in experiencing loss of time and freedom, especially with having a child.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introducing Becca Rich and her work
[10:56] Understanding & shifting our relationship with the concept of time
[15:10] Navigating time in different life seasons
[22:24] Finding satisfaction at the end of the day
[24:06] Chasing productivity and overcoming disappointment
[32:04] Embracing a digital calendar liberation practice
[39:00] Creating a weekly template
[41:01] Calibrating the calendar with menstrual cycle
[46:01] Dealing with overcommitment and overwhelm
[48:11] Respecting the cycle
[49:09] Different Levels of time privilege
[49:39] Divesting from productivity hustle culture
[50:26] Healing ancestral stories for the future
[52:53] Life is short, but life is also long
[53:16] The spiritual component of time
[53:35] The simplicity of taking a breath
In today’s episode, I am joined by Jessie Harrold, a coach, doula and author of ‘Mothershift: Reclaiming Motherhood as a Rite of Passage’. A couple of years ago, I followed Jessie’s course by the same name and it held me deeply in the depths of my postpartum identity shift. This conversation dives deep in the process of matrescence, the part community plays in this and how, as mothers, we can learn to become recipients of care in ways we don’t always see portrayed online.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] The Mothershift and Matrescence
[16:14] Navigating Postpartum Emotions: Rage and Acceptance
[19:10] Social Media's Role in Motherhood Narratives
[20:11] Cultural Expectations and the Reality of Motherhood
[30:37] The Importance of Community in Motherhood
[44:42] Navigating Under-Resourced Care & The Nourishment Barrier
[50:10] The Impact of Parenthood on Relationships
In today’s episode, I am joined by Stevie Storck, founder of the Cross Quarter Club, a creative seasonal living community focused on gardening and nature connection. When Stevie and I first connected through my circle facilitation training Circle Craft, she introduced me to the concept of the Sharing Table, a tradition that encourages community members to share resources and foster connections. We both share our experiences with this meaningful way of community building and also explore what it means to right-size creative ambitions to fit personal responsibilities.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Stevie is an alumni of Circle Craft, my circle facilitation training, which as of now is available on demand. If you want to bring your vision of circling and facilitation to life and would like me to walk alongside you in that process, visit my website to learn more and join Circle Craft today.
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introduction to Cross Quarter Club and Community Building
[12:50] The Sharing Table: Origins, Intentions and Experiences
[26:58] Reviving Ancestral Traditions in Modern Communities
[34:17] Evolving Plans for Cross Quarter Club
[41:13] Navigating Burnout and Creative Ambitions
[43:58] Right-Sizing Creative Work and Responsibilities
Immersing myself deeply in the season of Summer here on the East coast has meant that I went on a little hiatus when it comes to sharing about my journey with moving my whole family across the country, purchasing land, learning farming, building community, and everything else. So, for this episode, I asked my friend Sarah Wildeman, who’s been a beloved guest on the podcast before, to interview me about what has been present in my life in this season. I’m on the cusp of the anniversary of our move from the West coast to our farm in the Hudson Valley and my relationship with this land and the community around me is ever evolving, changing, sometimes challenging and very much deepening.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[3:51] Longing for the East Coast and Connection to the Land
[10:40] Building Community and Navigating Tensions
[16:29] Slowing Down in Work and Choosing a Different Way of Life
[20:29] Letting Go and Finding New Purpose
[27:30] The Ongoing Journey of Grappling and Growth
[32:22] Living Life Through the Lens of the Farm
[34:04] Reconnecting with the Land and Trusting Intuition
[37:27] Supporting Each Other Through Transitions and Embracing Different Roles in Partnership
[42:47] Feeling Satiated and Accepting What Is
[48:48] Embodying Generosity and Celebrating Differences in Partnership
In today’s episode, I am joined by Lara Vesta, author of ‘The Year of the Dark Goddess’ and ‘The Moon Divas Guidebook’ (among other titles). In this conversation, we explore navigating difficult rites of passage, learning its culture through myths, fairytales and other symbolism and calling in our webs of support - whether they be human, spiritual, animal, plant or otherwise.
Lara offers us tools and insights how we can empower and transform ourselves through the processes of grief and fear, drawing from ancestral traditions and the wisdom of the Dark Goddess.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[5:46] Navigating Rites of Passage
[8:11] Learning How to Cope with Challenges through Myths and Fairytales
[11:38] Developing our Internal Knowing and Webs of Support
[13:16] Becoming Sovereign in your own Process
[15:58] The Transformative Power of a Daily Ritual and Recording it
[19:32] Introducing the Dark Goddess and her Many Forms
[23:23] Our Culture’s Separation from Death and Discomfort with Grief
[27:26] Seasonal Awareness, Ritual and Self Care for Rites of Passage
[32:48] The Time it Takes to Integrate a Rite of Passage
[36:09] The Garden as a Mirror for Life and Navigating its Hardships
[35:37] The Purpose of Challenges
In today’s episode, I am joined by my friend Gemma Brady of ‘Sister Stories’ to explore our mutual passion of sharing circle work. One of Gemma’s mission is to make going to circle as common as going to yoga class and in this conversation, she shares how she approaches circle as a living, breathing art form. She shares vulnerably about how she experienced her second pregnancy and how circle, both as a participant and a facilitator, sustained her most through that time. Above all, this conversation is an invitation to everyone who feels the call to do circle work to explore their own unique expression and what it means to them to devote themselves to the heart of the practice.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction and The High Lady Workshop on Facilitating the Circle of your Dreams
[5:39] Introducing Gemma Brady and our Personal Connection
[11:40] Gemma’s Background in Spaceholding and the Creation of ‘Sister Stories’
[17:23] The Power of Deep Speaking and Listening
[19:03] The Essence of Circle Beyond the Aesthetic + Unbranding Circle
[23:04] Circle as a Philosophy
[24:49] Spreading the Word of Circle
[27:44] Marketing Circle Work and Claiming your Unique Expression
[33:41] Shifted Assumptions around Circle
[37:57] Preserving Integrity and Allowing Evolution and Creativity in our Offerings
[40:49] Humanity and Imperfection in Circle
[42:39] Circle as Medicine for the Facilitator too
[51:33] Offering Circle Facilitation
In today’s episode, I am joined by Johannah Reimer to talk about holding circle for our girls and the female-bodied youth that are in our lives. Johannah is a soulcentric educator, ceremonialist, teen mentor, and an artist of many trades. Trained as a Waldorf teacher, Johannah has been working with children of all ages for over 20 years and holds a particular passion for tweens/teens striving to meet their developmental needs for mentorship and initiation in a culture that has forgotten how to do so. Johannah founded Wakeful Nature & Girls Group as a means to fill the initiatory void for girls crossing the threshold of childhood into adolescence with guidance, ceremony, and community.
Johannah and I share our passion for the healing that can happen through circling and ceremony and in this conversation I get the change to get nosey about her incredible work facilitating girls groups, the impact this work has on her as a space holder and so much more. Above all, Johannah calls for the ‘village aunties’ to step up, cultivating more awareness around what today’s generation of girls is moving through and weaving together multi-generational embodied wisdom.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[09:43] Remembering How to be Village Aunties
[12:17] Challenges Faced by Girls in Today's Society
[18:00] Creating Safe Spaces for Girls through Long-Term and Ongoing Support
[26:48] Social Media Use by Teens and Navigating Belonging and Connection
[34:32] Ritualising & Normalising the First Bleed through Ceremony + Ritual
[40:22] Being a Girls Group Facilitator
[43:47] Moving into a Post-Patriarchal Society
In today’s episode, I am answering listener questions. Topics range from sharing my personal viewpoint on religion and spirituality, navigating different roles and jobs during my day and in my life and dive deep into circle-related questions too.
Tune in to hear more from me on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[01:00] Do you practice any religions or spirituality?
[06:23] Your work used to be more focused on hands on elements and literal making. How do you still integrate that into your day to day life?
[11:24] How do you juggle/hold all of your different jobs and roles? Both big picture and like a “day in the life” type thing.
[14:55] How to know when to let a friendship go or how do you do it?
[18:23] Is it possible to start a successful circle with non-circley friends?
[22:05] Does it always have to be everyone shares? Other prompts for shyer or younger?
In today’s episode, I am joined by my friend Amelia Hruby. Amelia is a feminist author, educator, podcaster and founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio (who used to edit this podcast too!). I brought her onto the podcast today specifically because of her amazing podcast ‘Off the Grid’, which is a podcast for small business owners who want to leave social media without losing their clients.
Even if you don’t identify as a small business owner - there’s something about what Amelia shares about leaving social media in this episode that transcends it all and will leave you feeling inspired to explore your virtual presence.
Amelia opens up about the impact that leaving social media has had on her life and makes the beautiful connection between her patterns of anxious attachment and how that showed up in her virtual presence too.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction [11:01] The Decision to Leave Social Media [13:16] Anxious Attachment to the Online Sphere [16:37] Life after Leaving Social Media [19:56] Creativity in Business w/o Social Media [20:56] Loneliness and Virtual Community [24:34] Running a Business outside of Social Media [27:27] Finding Community outside of Social Media [29:00] The Need to Feel Seen [36:44] Curation Online [40:40] Aggravation of Wounds of Belonging by Social Media [48:36] The Harmful Ways the Algorithm Preys Upon Vulnerabilities [52:46] The Impact of Culture and the Joy of the Internet [53:41] Bringing Intention, Awareness and Agency to the Virtual Landscape [54:16] Choosing a Different Path and Finding Liberation [54:55] Main Takeaways [56:36] Amelia’s Work and Offerings
It takes a deep initiation of need for care to get you to shed the layers of hyper individualism and show up as the village. In today’s episode, I get fired up about why the ones who are showing up and arriving on the doorstep with the soup are often the caregivers with a limited capacity themselves. I talk about my own journey with asking for and receiving support, experiencing the power of circle and council and navigating anger and cynicism along the way.
Tune in to hear more from me on:
– Caregivers with less capacity being the ones who show up
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction
[5:41] Initiation into Caregiving and Kinkeeping
[7:35] The Myth of Hyper Individualism
[8:36] Those Who Show Up for the Village are the Ones with the Least Capacity
[9:56] The Bottomless Pit of Need
[12:12] Creating Community and Circle
[16:48] Replenishing Yourself as Keeper of the Well
[18:26] Navigating Cynicism and Anger when Feeling Unsupported
[20:52] Weaving Yourself into the Mission
[21:20] Beheld Council Invitation
[23:05] Next Episode Preview
In today’s episode, I am joined by my dear friend Ginny Muir to talk about the longing for deep intimacy, the importance of healing in relationships, navigating rupture and repair in community and circle specifically. Ginny is an incredible spaceholder, medicine woman, witch, tantrika and so much more. Specifically, she has an incredible way of supporting relational conflict.
Rupture and repair is an innate way of being in community, and yet to so many of us this is absolutely terrifying. In this conversation, Ginny shows her amazing skills at supporting others through navigating conflict and we give real-life examples as to how we navigated conflict in circle before - and the tools that helped us work though it.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introducing Ginny Muir
[07:25] Longing for Deep Intimacy
[09:45] Healing in Relationships
[11:33] Wounds and Attachment
[14:29] The Process of Rupture and Repair
[15:55] Conflict in Friendship vs Romantic Relationships
[19:55] Embracing Polarity and Diversity in All Relationships
[24:37] Triggers as an Opportunity for Self Love
[25:51] Turning Conflict into Deeper Intimacy
[27:07] Navigating conflict through the Lens of the Nervous System
[28:11] Rupture and Repair in a Retreat
[38:29] Finding Safety in Circle
[41:35] Consciously created circles and communities
[43:05] The experience of Holding Space and Trusting the Unfolding of Ceremony
[46:40] Using Circle Technologies
[52:49] Learning from Experienced Teachers
[54:32] Receiving Support through Microdosing 🍄
[56:17] Journey to Scotland & Reconnecting with the Earth Ways on the Ancestral Land
A year ago, I almost completely gave up on my work. Emerging from the early years of motherhood and feeling my creative spark again, I felt motivated to get back into the deeper aspects of my sacred work.
So, in a flash of creative impulse, I announced a new program to the world in the place we announce things these days: on Instagram. It was received mostly with a good deal of excitement and interest, and…it was also received with some intense criticism - primarily in the form of snarky comments and DMs from complete strangers who were making a lot of assumptions about me. Assumptions without curiosity. Assumptions wrapped in judgment. Over a period of 72 hours, I received wave after wave of comments that felt challenging to hold on my own.
In this episode, I tell the story of grief, shame and how being in sacred council helped me heal and grow through this experience.
Tune in to hear more from me on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[0:00] Introduction [2:45] Sharing the story of almost giving up my sacred work after receiving criticism [9:23] The divine timing of an in-person retreat weekend [9:50] Unfurling during the cacao ceremony [12:06] The power of sacred councils [15:31] Continuing despite challenges and feeling tender [16:02] The offering it all started with and hosting it again [17:16] Join BEHELD - a sacred council for space holders
In today’s episode, I am joined by Becca Rich - a trauma-sensitive, certified holistic coach with a background in engineering and mindfulness, who teaches Holistic Time Management. In today’s episode, she shares with us her wisdom on the meaning of time, the role of control, how we can honor the cyclical nature of our bodies within our digital calendars and so much more. She also coaches me on the part that grief plays in experiencing loss of time and freedom, especially with having a child.
Tune in to hear more from us on:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introducing Becca Rich and her work
[07:40] Understanding & shifting our relationship with the concept of time
[11:54] Navigating time in different life seasons
[19:08] Finding satisfaction at the end of the day
[20:50] Chasing productivity and overcoming disappointment
[28:48] Embracing a digital calendar liberation practice
[35:44] Creating a weekly template
[37:45] Calibrating the calendar with menstrual cycle
[42:45] Dealing with overcommitment and overwhelm
[44:55] Respecting the cycle
[45:53] Different Levels of time privilege
[46:23] Divesting from productivity hustle culture
[47:10] Healing ancestral stories for the future
[49:37] Life is short, but life is also long
[50:00] The spiritual component of time
[50:19] The simplicity of taking a breath
A lot has occurred for me in 2023 - as I think is true for every year, but perhaps this time around it is a little more visible and this is probably why I received the beautiful question of the lessons I’ve learned this past year. So, I am using the reflective energy of the outer and inner season of Winter I’m currently finding myself in and sharing with you, in this episode, the three lessons I have learned over the course of 2023.
Tune in to hear more from me on the three lessons I’ve learned this past year:
Resources + Links
Timestamps
[00:00] Introducing the question of what lessons I’ve learned over the past year
[5:00] How a deer carcass is showing me the real deal of somatic embodiment of the wild experience and the winter medicine in that
[07:30] The analogy of the ascending spiral and revisiting inner work when I’m well resourced
[08:30] Lesson 1: I can do anything, but I can't do everything
[11:00] I have a much more limited capacity since I had my child and the pandemic
[18:58] Lesson 2: The big vision takes time
[24:00] How nature is teaching me to be patient with our renovation
[25:41] Lesson 3: Get slow and quiet so I can get clear on my highest priorities
[30:15] The impact of celebrating my health wins
In today’s episode, our guest, Hillarie Maddox, interviews me (Becca) to get some personal updates on the journey of rewilding and all that unfolds when we take the steps that brought us from the dream to buying and living on our land. I open up to vulnerably reveal some of the grief, the questioning and the spiral of regret that happened when we initially landed on the farm and how we had to really speak the dream alive again each night so that we could move through that resistance. Both Hillarie and I share the trials and triumphs that our rewilding journeys have brought us thus far and the importance of holding a steadfast dedication to the tending of community along the way.
Tune in to hear more from me on:
The deep truths and feelings that surfaced as a result of our move to the farm
RESOURCES + LINKS:
Hillarie other Belonging episode: Slow Homesteading & Land Stewardship
Hillarie’s podcast: Black Girl Country Living
Follow Hillarie on instagram: @blackgirl.countryliving
Follow Becca on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Becca’s book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
https://www.amazon.com/Root-Ritual-Timeless-Connect-Community/dp/1683647726
TIMESTAMPS
[0:00] Becca introduces today’s guest (Hillarie Maddox) who will be interviewing Becca for today’s special episode.
[1:40] Hillarie shares her excitements for having this rewilding, homesteading and community building conversation.
[2:55] Hillarie shares her own rewilding story (departing the city with her family to answer the call for rural homesteading)
[5:40] Becca touches on living in the dream state (the fresh eggs, the farm, the connection to the land) and how that blends with the reality of the pace of modern times and how we attempt recalibration.
[7:15] Becca shares the details of transition from past life (California) to Hudson Valley, NY.
[15:10] “What was it really like landing in your dream?” Becca gets real about the experience of arriving on the farm after making the move from California.
[24:13] The shifts in community and connection and what Becca has noticed about relationships in her more rural area.
[29:13] What felt hard for Hillarie during her phased move from the city to her homestead.
[32:10] Mindset shifts and learnings from the physical labor, handwork and the embodiment that comes with homesteading.
[41:50] How Becca is finding her people at the right time.
[48:20] Trusting ourselves and learning skills that solve problems and sustain the land and our home.
[52:28] Slowing down to really listen and deepen connections in the community
[54:10] Observance, presence and how this is foundational in rewilding
[55:20] Closing and conclusion with an invitation for continued connection
In today’s episode, I give you updates from my new life on the farm (here in Hudson Valley, New York) and share both the challenges and joys of renovating an old house.
I share the resources and learnings I have gathered in creating and tending community from the perspective of someone who has just moved to a new place.
Tune in to hear more from me on:
- Living on a farm and renovating an old farmhouse
- Why community is an important value and a vital need
- How transitions in life, such as becoming a parent, can lead to a deeper understanding of the leaderships that calls to us
- How creating community in a new place requires consistent effort and prioritizing low-pressure, low-stakes interactions
- How challenges and moments of rejection can be overcome by resourcing oneself and seeking support
Resources + Links
-Sarah Wildeman @ Our Common
-My book, Root and Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self
-Connect with me on Instagram @beccapiastrelli
Timestamps
[0:00] Welcome back to the podcast
[4:22] Life updates and the joys & challenges of farm life and living in our caretaker cottage during renovations
[9:03] How I am starting over in community creation (and why it's a big priority for me)
[12:17] The deep desire for leadership and community tending that emerges in becoming a parent and in becoming a mother
[13:17] Yearnings for council, sacred connection and co-regulation, a pull to circle (yes, even amidst the busyness)
[14:24] Cultivating connection and community in the age of loneliness (in a culture that tells us it's not possible)
[16:27] How to create and go forth in creating community in a new place
[19:22] Overcoming the resistance and the challenges in community creation and trusting that we are resourced and supported
[20:21] Where to continue this connection together
Sweet podcast listeners, I’ve been missing you. I’m not quite ready to be back on the mic yet but wanted to drop in here with a little update from my life (moving across the country is a whole thing) and an opportunity to work with me this autumn if you’ve been curious about holding a circle in your community.
The link to join us is beccapiastrelli.com/circle-craft
Summer feels like a ripe tomato — the peak fullness of the season where so much is revealed as the light of the sun shines down on us all.
In this episode, I complete my series of ancestral rituals for each season, with reflections on summer.
I share why summer is a season of work and rest, how this time teaches us the lessons of the Mother, ways to honor our inner wild creatures, and the power of garden time.
I also offer ideas for summer rituals, including my favorite herbal tinctures, fire practices, and embodiment practices for the season.
Resources
If you’re curious about what village life is like beyond the picture-perfect cottage-core images on Instagram, today’s conversation is for you.
In this episode, Sarah Wildeman and I delve into a topic near and dear to my heart — revillaging and community-centered living.
Sarah is a leadership & relationship dynamics coach, community-builder, and founder of Our Common — a coaching and consulting practice serving community seekers, community builders, and existing communities.
Together, we discuss her experiences with intentional communal living and the many forms in which community can take shape. She also shares her whole-systems approach to relationships—in her family, communities, and workplace— and we have a vulnerable conversation about how to address conflict.
More from Sarah
Living in capitalism while not being consumed by it can feel overwhelming and confusing.
Today, I’m joined by Bear Hebert (they/them), a feminist and anti-capitalist business coach who helps small business people (and other beloved weirdos) figure out how to build the world-yet-to-come inside the world-that-currently-is.
Together, we discuss making space for grieving our own and others’ participation in capitalism, the ways we internalize capitalism and exploit ourselves in our own businesses, and how white supremacy’s penchant for perfectionism plays a big role in it all.
More from Bear Hebert
Resources
If you want more powerful, matriarchal-inspired, healing community in your life, this episode is for you.
I’ve been circling for over a decade, but it’s been a while since I’ve talked about the practice of Circle on the podcast. So in this episode, I share what it means to practice Circle — including what it is, how it works, some challenging but important historical context, and how it has shaped my own life.
I truly believe that Circling has the power to connect us to each other, heal centuries-old wounds, help us restructure our hierarchical thinking, and affect long-term sustainable change in the world. Join me to circle up and go deeper.
Resources
If you daydream about purchasing land and relocating to a tiny town far from city life, this episode is the gentle invitation and reality-check you need before taking the leap.
Today I’m joined by Alissa Hessler, an author, podcast host, and former corporate tech employee who left the big city to move to a rural community for love.
In this episode, we discuss common reasons people choose to leave cities, the importance of being as prepared as possible before moving, and some things to expect if you’re thinking of relocating.
We also unpack how the idealized country life we see on Instagram is actually damaging rural communities. And we emphasize the importance of seeking out the communities we enter (even when it feels uncomfortable) and honoring the histories of the lands we inhabit.
More from Alissa Hessler
Resources
If you’ve ever felt disconnected from or unworthy in your body, this episode is for you.
Today, I’m joined by Hannah Husband for a discussion on our relationships to our bodies and movement. Together we channel childlike curiosity about the ways we like to move. And we unpack how diet culture and the wellness industry disguise anti-fat bias as concern for “health,” as well as how we often outsource our connection with our bodies.
Hannah is a body liberation coach committed to supporting folks who feel left out of, or harmed by, mainstream fitness offerings. She is deeply passionate about re-claiming movement as a way to help regulate our nervous systems, put self-love into practice, and cultivate an internal feeling of power & strength.
Join us to learn how to tend to the ecosystem of your body.
Links:
Subscribe to Hannah’s Body Liberation Love Notes & Newsletter
We’ve all inherited beliefs — those sayings, lessons, and ways of being passed down through the generations and permeate the culture we live in. Often they’re so deeply rooted that we don’t even realize how much they’re affecting us and our ability to weave in with the natural world.
In this episode, I delve into some of my own inherited beliefs. And I share my most cherished tools for releasing the ones that don’t serve me. I also explore how the simplest practices like going outside, moving our bodies, cooking our foods, and talking to beloveds can help us heal our nervous systems and reconnect to the earth.
I also discuss my upcoming virtual retreat Rewilding the Self happening on March 12th. Join me for ritual, conversation, connection and celebration to reclaim your rooted sense of self. I hope to see you there.
Resources:
This week I’m thrilled to have Mara Glatzel back on Belonging to celebrate her upcoming book, Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs and Claim Your Sovereignty.
In this conversation, we discuss how to to connect with our needs, respect our wants, and let go of the fear that having needs makes us undesirable. We also dive deep into attachment styles, parenting, and learning to communicate our needs to our partners and friends.
Listening to this episode will help you get one step closer to acknowledging your own needs. And make sure to stick around to the end for a special reading of a blessing for belonging from Mara’s book, Needy.
Content warning— We discuss postpartum anxiety and rage from 47:30 - 50:30. And there’s a brief mention of suicidal ideation at 48:50.
More from Mara
Winter is upon us again in the Northern hemisphere, so this week I’m resharing my episode on rituals for winter.
First, I invite you to notice what winter looks and feels like where you live. Because many of us don’t celebrate a “white” Christmas and not everywhere looks like a Bavarian ski village in December.
Then, I invite you to notice what winter feels like energetically in your body. Do you feel exhausted and need to hibernate? Or do you experience a deep permission to turn inward and tend to yourself?
For me, winter is the Dream Time. And during this period of less light, I embrace the fertile void and doing less.
In this episode, I also share my rituals of dream-journalling, being with fire or flame, working with pine essence, winter kitchen magic, sauna or bathing magic, tracking the sunlight, and easeful intention setting.
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If you crave or cherish brave connection with your community, your ancestors, and yourself, this episode is for you.
Trevia Woods is a mixed-race woman with Indigenous ancestors who has two decades of experience in bodywork, education and community-building. She has roots in the Midwest and Colorado, after traveling the world finds herself back in America finding her roots and how she belongs in the world. Trevia supports people in unpacking cultural appropriation, community building, as well as helping Culture Makers gift the world with their knowledge, lived experience and wisdom so not only they, but their clients can thrive.
In this episode, we discuss the differences between cultural appreciation and appropriation, the challenges of building community amidst all the messiness we bring, and the time it takes to know and trust people.
We also unpack how hard it is to release urgency, and Trevia shares more about her ancestral history and how she’s crafting local community right now — with the devotional practice of a Buy Nothing group.
More from Trevia
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If you have a long-held dream (or even the quietest whisper of a thought) that you want to live on and with the land, this episode is for you.
Hillarie Maddox is the founder of Black Girl Country Living and creator of Rewilding Workshops. In 2020, she and her family left the city for the country without knowing what they were getting into. Along the way, she fell in love with nature and discovered the healing powers it has for individuals, communities, and the earth. She also believes deeply in the importance of access to the outdoors for BIPOC people and centers them in the experiences she creates.
In this episode, we discuss our journeys leaving cities and tech careers for slower lives in deep relationship with the land. We unpack what it means to own land, to cultivate it, and to respect its wisdom.
Hillarie also shares the challenges of her first two years on her farm, the many things Nature’s been teaching her, and the Rewilding Workshops she’s creating for her BIPOC community. Then we swap stories of the trees where we live, and the joy and grief that comes from tending to them.
More from Hillarie
Waverly Davis a multidimensional twin mama, facilitator of sacred spaces + sounds, artist, and podcaster residing outside of Charlottesville, Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains on unceded Monacan territory.
In this episode, we discuss how we incorporate the sacred into motherhood by embedding rituals into our daily lives and threshold moments.
Waverly also shares her birth story and how a plant ceremony called her to a more sacred life. Then we journey through her rituals & practices for tending to her nervous system in challenging moments and how she co-creates sacred space with her kids.
More from Waverly
In today’s episode, I reflect on the role community plays in our lives and the stories we share with each other about our yearnings for connection.
Tune to hear me reflect on what community looks like in my life right now and my dreams for how community might gather on my new farm home in the years to come.
I also explore the challenges of reaching out for support and connection when our energy is low, the art of a nervous system soothing invitation, and the practical and sacred sides of community tending.
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Carmen Spagnola is a wilderness guide, podcast host, Le Cordon Bleu-trained Chef, rose and vegetable gardener, collapse-aware coach, and witch of no particular affiliation.
In this episode, we discuss the ongoing saga of her 300+ lb. TikTok-famous pumpkin and explore the term “collapse” as it relates to being collapse aware as an individual and as a collective.
We wind through her journey from being a latchkey kid to attending Le Cordon Bleu in France to working on mega yachts — learning the depths of hospitality and writing her new cookbook, Spirited Kitchen. We also explore the practice of feeding memory as a way to connect with and honor our ancestors, even if they weren’t always the most honorable.
Together, Carmen and I look at the large, societal problems that inevitably cause grief. And Carmen shares ways to soothe ourselves and move out of a freeze state in the face of such big issues and feelings.
More from Carmen
In today’s episode, I invite us fireside to connect with our ancestors — the humans, plants, animals, and stardust we come from.
Tune to hear me reflect on how wild and perfect it is that we’re all here. And how profoundly we’re connected by our shared planet.
I also explore our chosen and affinity ancestors. And I share my journey of connecting with my lineage and a few specific ways that you can connect with yours.
I hope you’ll listen and then join me for the live cohort of Tending the Flame: Lineage, beginning on October 31st.
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Erin Claire Jones uses Human Design to help thousands of individuals and companies step into their work and their lives as their truest selves and to their highest potential.
In this episode, we have conversation about how Human Design can give us permission to be ourselves and help us live with greater ease and authenticity every day.
We discuss Human Design basics including types (generator, manifestor, manifesting generator projector & reflector) and authorities (sacral, emotional, splenic, and more). Then we go deeper to explore how we incorporate Human Design into parenting and partnership, so we can affirm our partners’ and our children’s experiences of the world, especially when they’re different than our own.
More from Erin
💫 Join me on December 11 for Basking in Your Glow: Rituals from the Ancestral Hearth Fire with Seagrape Apothecary. Learn more here & use the code BELONGING for a discount on registration.
Clare Foale is a Mum, a creator, a space holder, a brink walker and an ocean lover, living on Garigal Country in Australia.
Together, Clare and I have an open and vulnerable conversation about our experiences with delayed postpartum depression. We share the moments beloved practitioners finally helped us see we weren’t okay. The strength it took to acknowledge our pain when so many people dismissed it. The ways our depression was separate from our love of our children. And the power of letting your family witness how you take care of yourself.
This conversation is medicine, and I hope you’ll listen to it, especially if you enjoyed my solo episode on postpartum depression.
More from Claire:
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So much has changed since I last had my husband Tim on the podcast. We became parents. We decided to leave California. We bought a house in upstate New York.
It feels like almost everything is different since that last episode three years ago. So this week I’ve invited Tim to come back to the show for an open conversation about our family and how we navigate change.
Together we discuss why having our daughter was a catalyst to slow down, how we handle the tension between his tech-paced career and our earth-paced life, and the many challenges of facing sleep deprivation & postpartum depression together.
Tim also shares about his experience with men’s work and men’s retreats, and how his relationship with Atlas has evolved since she was born. And we both open up about how we return to each other when we feel distant or disconnected.
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Marysia Miernowska is a teacher, author, Earth activist, green witch, folk herbalist and healer rooted in the Wise Woman Tradition of Healing. She has spent her life traveling, learning and sharing different regenerative ways of tending to the Earth, healing land, and healing people. She is the Director of the School of the Sacred Wild and author of The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary.
Together, we have conversation about our beloved crystals, particularly how to be with our stones and how to return them to the Earth.
We discuss how the mining industry harms the planet, how to make gem essences, and why rituals for embodied Earth healing are always available to us.
This conversation invites us all into deeper relationship with the Earth, not by collecting crystals to keep for ourselves but by returning them to receive earthly wisdom.
More from Marysia:
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🍄 Sign up for Passagecraft — a workshop to help you reclaim the meaningful moments of your life and craft the ritual you crave to honor them — on September 18th.
While I often talk about mothering on the podcast, it’s been a few seasons since I shared a personal reflection on being a mother. So this episode of Belonging is a solo episode where I open up about my journey with delayed postpartum depression.
In this episode, I talk about struggling with anxiety and rage, realizing that I was taking out my anger on my partner, being diagnosed with PPD, trying meds that helped and then didn’t help, microdosing psilocybin to support extended breastfeeding, and finding my way forward with as many questions as answers.
This episode was really vulnerable to record and share. My hope is that it helps mamas in a situation like this feel less alone. Whatever you need to do to feel better, I’m with you.
“Turns out you can pay for support but the village is something different. It really is.“
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Anoushka Florence is a teacher, an author, a circle-tender, and a mother. She is the Keeper of the Mama’s Village, the Mama of The Goddess Space, and the author of The Women’s Circle. Her work is based on ancient spiritual feminine practices that are grounded in the belief that the power to heal comes from within.
Together, we begin with the question what is circle? and spiral out to the importance of women’s circles, rituals, cleaning as clearing, ancestral lineages and more. We also discuss common questions about circle, such as— how do I find a circle near me? what if I’m an introvert? and what if I feel uncomfortable or unsafe in circle?
At its center, this conversation is about how circles can serve us all well. And it’s an invitation to hear if circle is calling you.
More from Anoushka:
Tracy Benjamin is a food photographer, stylist & blogger based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode, we have a tender conversation about grief, and all the ways she’s experienced it since her mom’s sudden death in 2017.
Together we explore how loss can encompass our full range of emotions and impact every area of our life. Tracy shares what it feels like to be the only woman left in her family and the joys and struggles of becoming her family’s keeper — hosting their gatherings, their values, and their grief stories.
We also talk about parenting our children and our selves, normalizing death in our society, grieving our dreams, letting our creative work evolve, and keeping grief weird through it all.
Our conversation is hard, heartbreaking, and so, so honest. If you’ve lost a parent or someone close to you, what Tracy says will resonate deeply. And if you haven’t felt that specific grief, this episode is also a balm for the collective grief the past few years have brought us all.
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Nicole Antoinette is a writer, podcast host, and community-builder who is super into long-distance hiking. In this conversation, she tells us the story of how long solo hikes have become her spiritual & devotional practice.
Together we explore the power of facing fear and discomfort, the lessons gained from embracing loneliness, and the self-trust that comes when there’s no one else to ask for answers.
Our conversation is an invitation for the hikers and non-hikers among us to consider how we can deepen our devotional connections with the land and ourselves. The lessons Nicole shares support us all in being honest with ourselves and facing scary things.
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Asha Frost is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) Medicine Woman (member of the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation), Healer, and Spiritual Mentor. Last time she was on the podcast we discussed her viral article “Dear White Woman who wants to be like me,” and today she returns to share her new book You Are the Medicine with us.
Together we explore the medicine of publishing a book. We discuss why we felt called to write, how books can be like babies, and the ways releasing our books made us more resilient. We also talk about how both our books are invitations to move at a slower, earth-pace.
Our conversation is a call to recognize the postpartum grief that comes when you release a creative work. And it’s an opportunity to embrace the end of the extended winter we’ve been undergoing and to craft rites of passage for ourselves that acknowledge a new season.
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More from Asha Frost:
Dacy Gillespie is a personal stylist who intuitively guides us to discover the clothes we feel best in — uncovering and releasing what society says we “should” wear in the process.
Together we explore the question “what do you want to wear?” and we talk about how pausing before purchasing can help us make more ethical decisions and find clothes we love. Dacy also shares why “flattering” is a fatphobic concept, how to approach your clothes when your body changes, and her advice for online shopping and creating a capsule wardrobe.
Our conversation is an invitation to stop settling for clothes you don’t really like. It’s also a reminder that you have a right to feel good in what you wear. Enjoy.
Links & Resources—
More from Dacy Gillespie—
Lisa Olivera is a writer, therapist, and creative who shares work centered around radical acceptance, cultivating compassion, and integrating our stories and full humanity. She is also a new mother, just five months postpartum at the time we recorded this episode.
Together we talk about the pressures and expectations of motherhood, the deep joy and grief of becoming a parent, and how having two tiny eyes on you all the time invites you to embody your values and step into your integrity. We also share our experiences of how becoming a mom made us change plans, say no, and honor our energetic capacities — even if it means disappointing people or ourselves in the process.
Our conversation is an invitation to love your life, grieve your dreams, feel the depth of each moment, and be fully human. Listen as we rewrite the story of motherhood together.
Resources
More from Lisa Olivera:
Belonging is back! After my winter hibernation, I find myself craving a little vernal worship. So this episode is all about ancestral rituals and practices for spring.
First, I share lessons I learned while wintering, including my stepping away from social media, making my life small, and my seasonal self-care wheel. Then we dive into the pleasure of seeds, greens, flowers, eggs, honey, and milk. I offer my favorite practices for planting, cooking, nourishing yourself, and connecting with ancestral rituals for spring.
“You are the seed. I am the seed. We are encoded with the DNA of all that came before us. We are the heirloom seed. What needs to be activated in us now? “
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En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.