Earth and Spirit Podcast

Inward Bound Mindfulness is a nonprofit organization offering intensive mindfulness retreats to youth across the country. In this episode, Inward Bound Executive Director Erik Osugi, and Nikki Cistac, the lead for programs and community engagement, talk about the transformative power of mindfulness for a richly diverse community of young people. Resources: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Inward Bound Mindfulness website: https://inwardboundmind.org/ Contact Erik Osugi: erik@inwardboundmind.org Contact Nikki Cistac: nikki@inwardboundmind.org

Louisville Collegiate School is an independent school committed to whole-child education. In this episode, Head of School Rob Macrae and Assistant Head of School Jim McGuire describe how they are introducing spiritual practices and principles in a secular educational context, as a way to cultivate kids with self-awareness, a sense of community, resilience, and a commitment to the common good of people and planet. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Louisville Collegiate School: https://louisvillecollegiate.org/ Collaborative for Spirituality in Education: https://spiritualityineducation.org/ Awakened Schools Institute: https://spiritualityineducation.org/awakened-schools/

Shelly Sowell is a therapist and well-being coach who integrates mindfulness and self-compassion into her work with individuals and organizations. In this episode, we reflect on how mindfulness provides a helpful path of healing, integration, and hope for individuals and communities in the wake of the 2024 elections. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Shelly's website: shellysowell.com Shelly’s Instagram: @buildamindfullife Shelly’s blog page: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog Blog Post on Fear: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/buildamindfullife-workingwithfear Blog Post on Supporting Kids: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/buildamindfullife-electionanxiety Blog Post from last year on Prepping for Holidays: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/mindfullyprepfamilyholidays

David Gershon is the co-founder and CEO of Empowerment Institute, author of a dozen books, and is one of the foremost social change experts in the world. In this conversation, David shares his vision of world peace by 2030 and the inspired and inspiring way he is helping create the means to achieve it. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Registration link for World Building Workshop in Louisville on September 7, 2024: https://poe.earth/POEWBWorkshop Learn more about the Peace on Earth by 2030 Movement: https://peace2030.earth Learn more about the Peace Game and the Peace Game App: https://peacegame.earth https://docs.google.com/document/d/1arS7L8fkp2DgKgfuD3GOAxykugYm3TwGusaZ8Zw5ZA4/edit?usp=sharing https://poe.earth/app Learn more about David’s work and writing: https://empowermentinstitute.net

John Gage is a Louisville-based folk singer-songwriter and a former public radio host. For over six decades, his music has engaged deeply with spirituality, social justice, and care for the Earth. John brought his beloved old Martin guitar with him to the Earth & Spirit Center to add a few live songs to this wide-ranging conversation about music as a force for good in the world. His most recent album, Circles of Our Lives, features several Wendell Berry poems that John set to music, one of which he performed during this conversation. John teaches music for the Camp Odyssey summer programs at the Earth & Spirit Center, so since our summer camps are in full swing, we are re-airing this episode, which originally aired in 2021. Resources: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center website: www.earthandspiritcenter.org John Gage on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/26zYYPXePtVOO7hHjieUGj

In honor of the Earth & Spirit Center’s upcoming summer camps, we’re replaying an episode from the archives, about the importance of nature-based free play. Claude Stephens is the Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design for Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. He’s also the director of Bernheim’s Children at Play Network, an initiative that helps connect children to nature through free play. This conversation explores the importance of free play in nature as an engine of inspiration and imagination, empowerment, equity, and efforts to sustain healthy communities and landscapes. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center: https://earthandspiritcenter.org/ Bernheim Research Forest and Arboretum: https://bernheim.org/ Children At Play Network: https://childrenatplaynetwork.com/

Rebecca and Pete Davis are a sister-and-brother filmmaking team who have created “Join or Die,” a documentary film about the decline of civic life in America and the importance of joining clubs and other associations as a way to restore the health of our democracy. This episode explores how we are all made for belonging and how we can lean into the profoundly joyful work of becoming more deeply connected to our places and to each other. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Join or Die film: https://putnamdoc.com/

Tom Williams is a Louisville-based labor relations attorney with a deep commitment to the contemplative path, with the wild idea that a lawyer’s vocation may ultimately be to serve as a healer. In this conversation, Tom shares how he puts spiritual principles and insights into action as a tireless advocate for radical compassion, restorative justice, equity, and inclusion. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Learn more about Restorative Justice: https://www.voamid.org/services/restorative-justice/ Learn more about Tom’s legal practice: https://www.skofirm.com/attorney/thomas-m-williams/ Compassion Games International: https://www.compassiongames.org/

Dr. Michael Hollifield is a psychiatrist and general practitioner who serves as the Founder, President, and CEO of the War Survivors Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to restoring health to civilians and soldiers who have been harmed by war, as well as mitigating the causes of violent conflicts. In this conversation, Michael reflects on the causes of war, its devasting effects, and how mindfulness and other spiritual practices and insights can bring peace in troubled hearts and troubled times. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ War Survivors Institute: https://warsurvivors.org/ War Survivors Institute Virtual Walkathon: https://givebutter.com/2024onewalkathon Upcoming WSI Events in Louisville, KY: WSI will be in the military section all day at Thunder Over Louisville (April 20, 2024): https://thunderoverlouisville.org/ WSI Healing Hearts Evening Event: May 16, 2024 at the Muhammad Ali Center: https://warsurvivors.org/event/healing-horizons-event-at-the-muhammad-ali-center-louisville-ky/

Stephanie Barnett is a healthcare consultant, spiritual director, and nonprofit leader who understands her work as accompanying those on the margins, including young mothers who are in active recovery from substance abuse. In this conversation, Stephanie shares how compassion is the spiritual thread woven throughout all her work, knitting together communities of kinship and belonging, where all can know their own worth and belovedness. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Stephanie’s nonprofit, iAccompany/ChooseWell Communities: https://www.choose-well.org/ Homeboy Industries: https://homeboyindustries.org/

Andy Loving is the founder of Just Money Advisors, a financial advising firm that specializes in working with clients who have strong interests in socially responsible and ecologically sustainable investing. This conversation delves into the complicated role that money plays in our lives and how spiritual values can inspire us to use money and investing as tools for bringing about the more beautiful world that our hearts know is possible. RESOURCES AND LINKS: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Just Money Advisors Inc.: https://www.justmoneyadvisors.com/ Hope Credit Union: https://hopecu.org/ Faith and Money Network: https://faithandmoneynetwork.org/ Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC: https://inwardoutward.org/ Koinonia Farm: https://www.koinoniafarm.org/

After successful careers in business, Di Anne and Tom Kerrigan have become deeply involved in sharing mindfulness with those who need its practical benefits but may have barriers to access. This episode is the second half of a conversation with them about the democratization of mindfulness and the role mindfulness and compassion can play not only in improving the lives of individuals, but also in changing the systems that perpetuate inequity. RESOURCES: Please donate to help cover the costs of this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Learn more about the nonprofit Earth & Spirit Center: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Earth & Spirit Center’s Mindfulness Mentors program, bringing free mindfulness instruction to those with barriers to access: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/learn-to-meditate/mindfulness-mentors/ Register for our free Listen, Learn, Act Meet and Greet event, December 7, 2023, 6 – 7:30 EST: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/class/meet-and-greet/

Scott Russell Sanders is a Cambridge-educated novelist, essayist, conservationist, and a distinguished professor of English, emeritus, at Indiana University. He wrote and taught for decades about nature and place, family and community, and the concerns of social justice and ecology, woven together with a spirituality that is rooted in awe and wonder. This conversation, from our archives, explores the joys and disciplines of spiritual imagination, writing, and a well-lived life, in communion with others and within our one shared world. RESOURCES:Earth & Spirit Center website: www.earthandspiritcenter.orgDonate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Scott’s website: https://scottrussellsanders.com/ Some of Scott’s books: Small Marvels: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/small_marvels.html The Way of Imagination: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/way_of_imagination.html The Engineer of Beasts: A Novel: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/engineer_of_beasts.html A Conservationist Manifesto: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/conservationist_manifesto.html A Private History of Awe: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/private_history_of_awe.html Hunting for Hope: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/hunting_for_hope.html Writing from the Center: https://scottrussellsanders.com/book_pages/writing_from_the_center.html--