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

For more information, Peggy recommends Healing Dementia, by Kyrie S. Carpenter: https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Dementia-Kyri%C3%A9-S-Carpenter/dp/1986619923 As well as a couple of websites: https://contenteddementiatrust.org/ and https://teepasnow.com/ Also if people want more information, feel free to contact Peggy at peggybudai31@gmail.com.

We love the Enneagram and our friend Terra Lenihan, Enneagram coach and catalyzer for healthier systems and teams, had so much fun processing some simple hacks that we can draw from as tools, reminders, skills, and reminders for our souls that can help us practice healthier ways of moving in the world. You can connect with Terra at terralenihan.wordpress.com. Learn more about the tri-types she mentioned at: katherinefauvre.com/enneagramtritypetest

All roads do lead to power and in this episode we process power and Kathy's newest book project called...."All Roads Lead to Power: A Redemptive Challenge for Lent" that is releasing January 2025 in an accessible weekly reflection with practices format. Oh, we need more honest reflection about power and practices that help develop a healthier kind.

In this episode, we process faith deconstruction in some different ways than before-- exploring how language limits, faith is not the same as "faith systems" and how to nurture what supersedes all of the containers to get to the simple truths and practices that help us become healthier humans.

Why is the world such a mess and what can we do about it? The answer--we need more healthy living systems and it starts with us. In this episode we learn from the wise and amazing Pam Wilhelms Johnston whose work as an organizational development consultant, executive coach, and healthier systems catalyzer is what we need more of in the world. Healthier people make healthier systems and healthier systems make a better world. Our future, literally, depends on it.

It was so fun to play with our friend Dr. Tiffany Yecke Brooks, author of multiple books including her newest, Holy Ghosted: Spiritual Anxiety, Religious Trauma, and the Language of Abuse. We laughed and swore and shared about finding peace, freedom, and healing after being in a culture that unfortunately doesn't promote any of those things very well. You can learn more about her work at tiffanyyeckebrooks.com

Hand in hand with last week on faith beyond beliefs, in this episode we process the power of healing in nature. It opens us in ways our souls need without a lot of effort. In the words of Jared Escobar, "everything is better outside."

In this episode we chat about faith being far beyond belief, and that's why it's so scary and foreign. Practicing this is no small thing but our soul can hold unknowns a heck of a lot better than our heads.

While all our efforts for self-improvement and healing can be helpful, we can also become stuck in endless loops of trying to do better, be better, figure things out. In this episode we process how sometimes the solution is the problem. What if nothing is "wrong" with us?

In this episode we chat with our friend Eric Jepsen, who is the founder of Beautifully MAID (beautifullyMAID.org) and a passionate advocate for end of life options for people with terminal illnesses. We need to integrate conversations about death into the regular rhythms of our lives and we're grateful for spaces like to learn, listen, and expand our awareness together. More on Medical Aid in Dying at compassionandchoices.org and Eric's organization at beautifullyMAID.org.

We love having interesting conversations with our friends, finding hope and healing and resonance in hard places. Mary Rader catalyzed our 12 Steps for Anti-Racism group at The Refuge and we just all got back from our 2nd Civil Rights Learning Trip to Alabama a few weeks ago. In this episode Mary shares more about what happens when we are confronted with truth about our history, white supremacy, and supremacist logic and how it's all a mix of soul work and practice. More on the Truth and Transformation 12 Steps by Melvin Bray at collabyrinthconsulting.com and Equal Justice Institute at eji.org.

For President's Day this year in the US we decided just to ramble a bit about what we're learning about the truth of our history and what that's doing inside of us as we grow and change. It's all a hot mess. Happy $*!^$&!()% Presidents Day!

We love playing with friends and in this episode Ryan Taylor joins us for a fun conversation about the power of simple, unplugged, wild, and free spirituality that looks nothing like what a lot of the shiny we have been sold. Ryan's a mystic, person of presence, spirituality director, author of Awkward Spirituality: The Divinity of Ordinary Life and someone who brings us hope. It's always in the underground.

Yeah, we decided to mix it up this week and just have a light and easy convo about the Oscars. Even though at the time of recording Phyllis had only watched 3 of the movies (ha!) we had a lot to talk about. If you're an avid movie fan, don't be too annoyed with us!

We always love talking about the 4 Gateways (we did 5 episodes on it several seasons ago)--Lover, Magician, Warrior, Sovereign or Feeling, Thinking, Doing, Being. As we enter into a new year, it's a great time to consider how we can nourish our Sovereign and this episode is focused on its 4 Food Groups--Validation, Support, Inspiration, Blessing. Eat as much of that as we can!

We've talked a lot about the lies of white supremacy, Christian supremacy, male supremacy, and a lot of other supremacies over the last few years, but this episode is about one of them that doesn't get much play--"a certain kind of family supremacy." What's baked into our cultures and systems about what's better than others that's seeped into how we feel about ourselves and others? As culture changes, we're trying to let go of old entanglements that get in the way of freedom (and love!).

We love playing with kindreds and in this episode we interview Amber Cantorna-Wylde, author of several books including her most recent--Out of Focus: my story of shame, sexuality, and toxic evangelicalism. An LGBTQ+ advocate and community cultivator, Amber brings so much wisdom, honesty, and challenge to the table and we feel so grateful to have her voice here. More on her work at ambercantornawylde.com.

Sometimes, thinking about the human condition and the reality of suffering in the world is just too overwhelming, especially when the stories we rely on to keep our balance no longer hold up. How do we create lives worth living in the face of suffering, horror, and the very real threats to humanity and our earth right now? And why should we bother? Welcome to this raw conversation about how to be a non-delusional human being in the midst of all the mess.

Oh, the holidays stir up so much for so many. In this last episode of 2023 we process some ways we can all find our way in as healthy of ways as possible as we keep practicing, together.

We loved hanging out and learning from our friend Joanna Douglas, who nurtures soul care and spiritual formation at The Refuge and facilitates workshops, groups, and teams using non-violent communication/mindful communication/compassionate communication tools (along with a lot of others, too!). This episode is filled with so many gems and we are grateful to have it in our archives to come back to as an extremely helpful resource.