Spirit of Leadership with Megan Chaskey

Megan Chaskey
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Listen in as we speak with innovative thought leaders creating positive change in communities for the sake of ecology, the arts, spiritual consciousness and social change for the good of all.

  1. The Way Around - author Nicholas Triolo interviewed by Scott Chaskey

    7 FEB

    The Way Around - author Nicholas Triolo interviewed by Scott Chaskey

    In this episode we have a special guest, Scott Chaskey, interviewing Nick Triolo highlighting Nick’s new book, The Way Around, A Field Guide to Going Nowhere. They met as fellow authors both published by Milkweed Editions – an independent publisher committed to ecological stewardship, with a mission to publish transformative literature – at an event in the autumn of 2025 celebrating the work of Milkweed in Minneapolis. Then and there Scott and Nick exchanged books—kindling a new friendship. Scott was especially delighted when reading the prologue to Nick’s book, to find the line, “I live my life in widening circles,” by the poet he has long loved, Rainer Maria Rilke. Here is a conversation between two writers, a few decades apart in experience and age, simpatico in spirit. The Way Around, A Field Guide to Going Nowhere by Nicholas Triolo, published by Milkweed Editions, 2025 https://milkweed.org/book/the-way-around “The Way Around is the kind of book my soul perpetually yearns for. It reshaped how I see the world.”—Robert Moor, author of On Trails: An Exploration Growing up in northern California, in a family of high-achieving athletes, Nicholas Triolo was imbued with a particularly acute form of our intensely goal-oriented culture. “Do the reps,” he internalized. “Commit to the work. Grind for your dreams.” Shortly after graduating from college, he embarked on a solo circumnavigation of the globe. And then after returning to the States, he threw himself into ultrarunning, all to combat a deepening discontent. While traveling around the world, it was in Kathmandu that Triolo first encountered kora, a form of moving prayer in which pilgrims walk in circles around a sacred site or object—a kind of “ritualized remembering” birthed by place. Unable to shake this initial encounter with circumambulation, he sets out here on three such extended walks. First, he completes the sacred thirty-two-mile revolution around Tibet’s Mount Kailash, in search of a cultural counter to Western linearity. Then, following his mother’s diagnosis with breast cancer, he returns home to California and takes part in an annual circuit of Mount Tamalpais, tracing a route made famous by Beat poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Allen Ginsberg. And then finally, he meets up with a quirky hydrogeologist in Butte, Montana, and joins his walk around the Berkeley Pit Complex, the largest Superfund site in the country. At once uncommonly humble and thrillingly transcendent, blurring the boundaries of inner and outer landscapes, The Way Around models what it means to experience a true revolution of heart and home—for the flourishing of all.

    32 min
  2. The Practice of Presence - A Sacred Season Conversation with Sandra Walter

    20/12/2025

    The Practice of Presence - A Sacred Season Conversation with Sandra Walter

    Join Megan in conversation with Sandra Walter on Sacred Season — especially potent from 12/12 through January and the Solstice gateway — as this time ushers in an ancient passage of rebirth that amplifies energies for transformation and invites a turning inward toward the heart, zero point, and presence with Source, Gaia, and LoveLight Intelligence — allowing old narratives to dissolve as you simply rest in Presence. There is a great outpouring of light and support during this time, and as Sandra inspires us, with no other outcome but Ascension — for the collective, for Gaia, for each of us in our own hearts and for all realms. Listeners are invited to tap in during the Sunday Unity meditations (see ,https://www.ascensionpath.com/) including Solstice, and join with others in the field to be Peace, Unity, and Freedom on behalf of all. Sandra shares key moments from her path, including the decision she made in early 2011 to walk away from her life and follow guidance to Mount Shasta, where she lived outside on the mountain for seven years. Reflecting on that time, she speaks about how it brought “…a freedom there… a lightening of the heart…”, and how those experiences continue to inform her work of “…showing people what’s possible…”. Throughout the conversation, Sandra speaks about presence in practical terms — what happens “…when you really free your heart…” and begin “…allowing yourself to just let everything fall into place… or fall away…”. She describes how this relates to her ongoing offerings, including weekly Unity meditations and her Light Letter, and to the way she supports people through periods of change. She also returns repeatedly to the stabilizing quality of Presence itself, noting that “…the presence does take care of things…” and that it is possible “…to feel so held through the process…”, even amid uncertainty and transition. Connect with Sandra Walter, and visit https://www.ascensionpath.com/ to learn more about Sandra’s offerings, free Unity meditations, and to sign up for her free weekly Light Letter and courses. Connect with Megan Chaskey: https://meganchaskey.com/

    1 hr
  3. Moving Music: Bringing Joy into Work and Life with Bennett Konesni

    01/12/2025

    Moving Music: Bringing Joy into Work and Life with Bennett Konesni

    In this enlivening conversation, Megan sits down with Bennett Konesni—a musician and garlic farmer based in Maine. He directs Bagaduce Music, a music library, performance and educational center, runs The Worksong Project, and tours internationally performing and teaching musical labor, the songs and tunes of Maine, and his original compositions. Together they explore the joyful space where work and play meet. Bennett shares how his younger years aboard Maine’s schooners awakened him to the power of music as a unifying, energizing force—one that transforms physical labor, community gatherings, and even staff meetings into experiences of coherence, creativity, and vitality. As he says, “There’s a space in between work and play… and the music is just a direct path into that space.” They reflect on the interplay of essential elements such as rhythm, structure, and playfulness as pathways to belonging. Bennett describes how rhythm itself becomes an entryway: “If you have a body, you have a rhythmic element… we are rhythmic beings.” They explore the subtle communication that emerges in group song—beyond what words can hold. “Music gets people through the divisions that words create,” he says. He also explains how bringing a sense of playfulness into the workplace offers a powerful lens for leaders seeking to bring more ease, connection, and coherence into meetings, strategy, and collaboration. Bennett shares his evolving vision, Moving Music, and his desire to pass on this ages-old practice through workshops, books, rowing and farming projects, and everyday acts of shared song. “It’s our birthright,” he reminds us. “Music is there for us—whether we’re rowing, planting garlic, or cleaning the kitchen.” An uplifting exploration of what becomes possible when we let music move our work—and our lives—inviting us into what Bennett calls “the Way… the place where you’re getting something done and having a great time doing it.” Bennett Konesni is a musician and garlic farmer based in Maine. He directs Bagaduce Music, runs The Worksong Project, and tours internationally performing and teaching musical labor, the songs and tunes of Maine, and his original compositions. Links: Bagaduce Music Music and Garlic: bennettkonesni.com Library of Congress: Homegrown Series - Bennett Konesni Profile Concert Washington Post: Sea shanties are having a moment NY Times: City Slickers Take to the Crops, With Song NPR: Mainers Are Working To Give Historical Sea Chanties New Life TEDxFruitvale: Transforming Work into Joy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TRANSCRIPT: Moving Music: Bringing Joy into Work and Life with Bennett Konesni Megan: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Spirit of Leadership Podcast. Listen in as we talk with emerging as well as seasoned leaders, change makers, and visionaries, and hear their stories—how they have overcome challenges, how they cultivate inspired vision as stewards and mentors shining their light to uplift and empower others, reconnecting us through a sense of belonging to the natural world and to the interweaving circles of just and vital communities. Hey Bennett. Bennett: Hi Megan. Megan: It's so great to have you on the Spirit of Leadership Podcast. Bennett: Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Megan: So I'm gonna let you introduce yourself because you have so many things that you engage in and you are passionate about, and so I'd like you to just jump right in and introduce yourself to our listeners. Bennett: Okay. My name's Bennett Konesni. I grew up in Maine and have been either in Maine or the East End of Long Island, Shelter Island, New York, for most of my adult life, working on farms, starting farms, making music happen—whether it's for contra dancing or singing while working or writing my own songs. And I guess if you could boil down a lot of my work, it's getting people to do stuff and have some fun while they're doing it. I think maybe the key idea that unites my work is that there's a space in between work and play—or what we think of as work and play—and I'm looking for any way or every way, basically the musical way, of getting people to occupy that space. Mostly it's the music that gets us there, but then I think there's also a mindset thing that works for me and helps work for other people. The music is just a direct path into that space. Megan: And how did you come to this? Bennett: It started on schooners on the coast of Maine. These are tall ships that take out tourists these days, but it was a big part of Maine's culture in Penobscot Bay and along the coast of Maine—bringing food and timber and granite and ice all over the world. And to raise the sails and bring up the anchor, music became a thing that was a big part of how people operated the boats. It was actually all along the East Coast and even down in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a major part of how boats moved and how teams worked together for hundreds of years in American maritime trades. But Maine really kept it going. When I was a teenager in the 1990s, I worked as a deckhand aboard these boats, and we sang while bringing up the anchor and putting up the sails—historic vessels using historic songs and techniques to put up thousands of pounds of canvas and bring up thousands of pounds of old-fashioned anchor every day. I didn't really realize it, but that was the foundation of what's become a life’s work of singing while jogging or singing while planting garlic or singing while rowing, singing while tipping spruce boughs to make wreaths—all kinds of community work projects that music helps facilitate. And that's, I would say, at the core of my work and what I'm up to. And then all of the other projects—more organizational leadership type stuff—starting Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, executive director of Bagaduce Music (one of the world's largest music lending libraries) in Blue Hill, Maine, and Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. Those have been two major community projects, but I try to exhibit leadership through the same principle that we have while we're hauling up the anchor, which is that there's a space in between work and play. We can find that edge where you're really getting something done and you're having a great time doing it. And I would say even if you're in a meeting, a staff meeting or a strategy session, that concept is really powerful. I try to get people there. I'm just always trying to find that spot. And when I'm not in that spot, I'm not very happy. So I'm always trying to get back to that feeling that I get. If we're singing and rowing, I have more energy when we finish. We could row for an hour and a half hard and sing the whole time, and I have more energy when we get back to the dock. Or we could plant 5,000 heads of garlic in a morning and I'll have more energy at the end than I did when I started, which isn't how we normally think of those sorts of activities. So if I've ended a staff meeting and I have more energy than we had when we started, I know that I found that spot. Megan: Yes. And it's interesting that you began with this as a teenager—you came to this with your own openness to it. Bennett: Yeah. Megan: And to experience. I think as teenagers we're looking for that sense of community and finding that with other people. But it's interesting that something that's very hard to do, like the weight of the sails and the anchor, actually energizes you. Do you think it's also the communion with the other people so you don't have to be using words to communicate what needs to happen? Bennett: Absolutely. Megan: There’s some other kind of communication. Bennett: Yeah, you nailed it. The division between work and play is a false dichotomy, I think. And we use words because they help us communicate— we live in a world where words are used all the time and they help us understand what's going on. And they have a fundamental flaw, which is that every word takes the full variety and diversity and complexity of any concept and starts to build walls around it so that you can say, “This is the difference between red and green.” You build walls around the concepts. But when it comes to things like work and play, in the effort to simplify communication about these ideas, we create a division that doesn't fully capture the nuance of what's going on. And so when we're singing—especially if we're doing wordless songs—we neatly sidestep that issue with words. And even if we are singing with words, they often take a back seat to the type of communication which is happening, which is around rhythm, which is around melody and harmony—around other musical concepts that seem to have… they probably have different pitfalls to communication around perceived skill. People think, “I can't sing. I can't carry a tune in a bucket,” people will say—which is about a technical ability to deliver a melody, which does get in the way of communication. But ultimately the division that happens around words is really a big one to get over, and music gets people through it in a really nice way. Megan: One of the wonderful things about you, and being with you when you're leading songs—I haven't actually rowed a boat with you doing the songs—but some of the ones that I've done with you and witnessed, that energy that you generate… Everyone belongs. It's a place of belonging. Bennett: Right! Megan: And so it doesn't matter what anybody's skill level is—everyone feels this togetherness. Bennett: Yeah. Megan: And it generates that happiness. Bennett: Yeah. Megan: And so I'm curious about those aspects—like the rhythm. The rhythm must be really important when you're doing the work. Bennett: Yeah. Yeah. The rhythm is so key because if you have a body, you have a rhythmic element. Your heart is beating. The way you move your arms—your kinesthetics—define a sense of rhythm as you're moving through space. So

    34 min
  4. Rhythms of the Soul: The Art of Self-Leadership w/ Giu Bergamo

    03/11/2025

    Rhythms of the Soul: The Art of Self-Leadership w/ Giu Bergamo

    In this luminous conversation, Brazilian teacher and soul-leader Giu Bergamo joins Megan to explore self-leadership through rhythm, imagination, and embodied awareness. Giu traces a life of movement—from childhood dance to Naam Yoga and Vedic astrology—and invites us to experience our bodies as a temple, a lived practice that opens perception and presence. In her classes, imagination leads the way: “imagination is a leadership for creativity,” she says—so much so that you might “touch the rainbow” as you move, because “you are the water, you are the sun… you are the rainbow with all your colors.” They reflect on leadership as resonance—“we don’t need to force anything”—and how it “begins with self-leadership… with consciousness, with coherence and awareness,” aligning with nature’s cadence: “when my mind, my heart, my body move [with] the same rhythm, in the rhythm of all things…” Giu shares tender passages of challenge and renewal: rebuilding taste and smell after illness (“Brain, please register”), meeting menopause as initiation, and welcoming change as devotion to life—“What an opportunity to be reborn.” ✨ Connect with Giu Instagram: @giu_bergamo Online classes in English at Giving Naam: givingnaamwellness.org In-person classes in Portuguese at Naam Yoga São Paulo Giu’s app with classes in Portuguese: ritmosbemestar.com FULL TRANSCRIPTMegan: Hello. I'm so happy to be talking with you today. Giu: Oh, Megan, I'm happy to be here with you. Thank you for inviting me. Megan: Yes, Giu: It's a blessing to be here. Megan: Yes, for all of our listeners, this is Giu Bergamo and she is in Brazil and she is one of my favorite people and teachers. And so I am so excited to have you here on the Spirit of Leadership Podcast. Giu: Thank you, Megan. I'm so glad. I'm glad to be here. Yes, I'm from Brazil and my accent is special. Megan: Yes, definitely. And can you tell people about yourself, who you are in yourself and what you do? Giu: I want to begin saying that I'm a soul. And as a soul, I inspire myself to act with movement, teaching people to move their bodies as a temple because our bodies are our temple. And then since the beginning, I started to dance when I was very little. I'm little in weight, but it is a way of living to move the body. And I start very soon when I was seven. So this gave me the special relationship with my soul because my soul could feel the movement and then I start to, to dance and then teach dancing, teaching ballet. Then I became a publicist in my studies and then I said, okay, I don't need this in my life, but I like, and I just move again to the body. And then I studied Pilates and Gyrotonics and then yoga, and then I came to Naam Yoga that changes my life completely because Naam Yoga is the yoga for the soul. And I say, okay, this is my tribe. I like this. And then I study everything about Naam yoga, all the teacher trainings. And I'm a leader here in Brazil, I think is a soul leader in Brazil because we connect to the souls. And I continued teaching and then I teach the kinds of yoga therapy, hormone yoga. And also I'm an astrologer, Vedic astrologer, which gives me this soul path. The soul path that aligned me to the stars, to the cycles, to the nature. And I love to be in nature. And then I want to guide everyone who I meet, and it's like when we move our body, I want to express this combination of many energies that we are getting in touch with. Not only the movement itself, but the sensation, the environment and then we are together. So I like to say that I'm a teacher that inspires you to guide, to be guided through your soul, your soul guidance. And then I can help you to move your body to, to feel this, the soul. Like - how can I say? - soul class and then you know what I'm talking about because you do my classes and then you can share some that you feel in my classes. Megan: Yes. It's so wonderful to hear you talk about how you came to this and that you came through dance from early on, which is also how I came to yoga - through dance. And I think it's one of the reasons that I really love your classes, but also you bring that, you definitely bring that soulfulness through. Your imagination - when you're talking - and I remember one time when you were teaching and you were saying imagine that there are rainbows coming out of your fingers. And I'm just like a little child like, oh, that's so wonderful. I’m imagining rainbows coming out of my fingers while I'm moving and breathing. And so it's that combination of feeling, the sensation of being in the body. So the soul embodied, so the soul can express itself through our physical sensations. And there's a kind of sensuality about it that is soulful.  Giu: It is, it's perfect. I remember this class and I - my imagination is very fertile - how can I say this as… Megan: fertile, Giu: fertile. And I can imagine since I was little, I could imagine many things. And then my mom inspired me to do okay, you can build the whole city by your imagination, so keep going. And then I said, okay. And then after 50 years, I've just imagined, with my clients, with my students. It is so wonderful. Thank you for sharing about this, rainbows. And then yes, when we go to imagination, because imagination is a leadership for creativity. So when you get your mind going while you move your body, you have mind and spirit because the imagination is the spiritual realm, right? You can imagine. And then you can feel the imagination. So you bring to your body, this non-reality to the reality. So when you do this movement, imagining the fingertips like rainbows, you can touch the rainbow itself. Because we only see the rainbow very far from us when we see it when it's raining and then there's the sun. And then you are the water, you are the sun, and then you are the rainbow with all your colors. So it's beautiful. Thank you for remembering this. Yes. Megan: Yes. And it's interesting when you talked about - that's the leadership - the soul and the imagination being the leadership of the life force and your expression in life.  How do you experience being and becoming a leader? How have you experienced it in your life and in your community? Giu: I think leadership for me… When I began, I had no idea I was a leader in Pilates. I was a leader in Gyrotonics. I was a leader. I am a leader in Naam Yoga because it is how I'm working nowadays, but for me, begins with self-leadership. This ability to self-knowledge to lead yourself with consciousness, with coherence and awareness. Because to be a leader, we have to lead ourselves. When my mind, my heart, my body move the same rhythm, in the rhythm of all things - that is happening with my presence. And then I can turn my presence itself in leadership, in a leader is the, is the truth?  I like the teachings from Naam Yoga because leadership, the teachings lead us to the truth. And then you don't need to command, I don't need to command, it is like flowing naturally. I'm inspired by the rhythms of the nature. I love nature. I just came from the Amazon rainforest, from this past weekend. And yes. The rhythms of nature are like, we don't need to force anything. It's like it's real. And then the way I live, by the way I live and then I inspire others, I think is the true leadership. So it radiates from this alignment, from this work that we do every day, not from, I think it's not an effort. I think it's like my body aligns. And I speak and then people follow me. so naturally, and I think it's the altar of consciousness. Yeah. Megan: Beautifully said. Beautifully said. Giu: Yes, because, as a Rosicrucian, I just lead very early, in the temple, as the columba, the name of the girl very young, from 12 to 14. I decided to be a columba. I don't know the name in English, but is the one who represents the consciousness in the temple. It's like a, it's like a pomba. The name is the bird… Megan: Dove.  Giu: Yes. The dove. The dove. It represents the consciousness of the temple. So as a columba, as a dove, I had to incense the temple and then the four corners, and then in the altar, the Shekinah inside the temple was a triangle. I lit the light, the candles like doing a prayer. And then as a consciousness I light this candle as love, as, truth as life. And then I began very early. So it is like when we lead the light of consciousness for others. I had no idea what I was doing at 12, 14 years old, but now I know it was a path in life, of consciousness, of the altar - is the altar of consciousness, altar of the soul. And then we can lead, we can lead others to do the same. Not inside the temple, the building, but inside our own temple. Because the Shekinah represents our heart where the true light, the true wisdom, the true life can shine. So our body is the temple, and I love to teach classes so that we can enter this temple. Megan: And that's exactly how I feel when I'm taking your classes. Even though it's online, I feel… Giu: Good, good. Megan: We're right there in that beautiful space. Yes. Giu: You know what you are saying about online classes... I don’t know if you remember when we entered the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Levry said, “I can reach you through online. Please feel your heart, feel your energy.” That class, I said, okay, I will. You go from this. I will give, I will send the energy out through the space, through the wifi, through the corners of the earth so we can share energy, so we can feel each other. Otherwise,we couldn't stand online. I'm feeling your energy right now and I'm shining with you, so it's beautiful. I think. Yeah, we can all do the same. Megan: And that's one of the reasons too, that I'm doing this podcast series is because it's so wonderful to have a conversation and then be able to share it with others, so we're not limited by time and space. Giu: Yeah. It is an illusion. I don't know. I'm just repeating this,

    22 min
  5. Here Comes the Sun with Bill McKibben

    06/09/2025

    Here Comes the Sun with Bill McKibben

    What if the solution to the climate crisis has always been shining above us? Bill McKibben—legendary environmentalist and author of Here Comes the Sun—joins Spirit of Leadership to reveal the swift global surge in solar and wind energy and the hope it ushers in. In this inspiring episode, host Megan Chaskey and McKibben explore how renewable power transforms lives worldwide—from California’s solar-charged batteries to Pakistani farmers replacing diesel pumps with solar panels to power irrigation. One especially moving story: in just eight months, communities in Pakistan—guided largely by TikTok tutorials—installed the equivalent of half the nation’s electric grid with solar, slashing fuel costs and bringing new resilience to daily life. Together, they dive into the climate crisis through the lens of this surprising upsurge in renewable technology, grassroots activism, and the deeper spiritual connection humans share with the sun—our omni-present source of light, warmth, and now, limitless clean energy. Amid global challenges, McKibben offers a powerful reminder that we stand at a turning point: a moment when optimism and action can rise together. If the links are not clickable, copy and paste them into a browser. McKIBBEN'S BOOK: Here Comes the Sun A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization https://billmckibben.com/books/here-comes-the-sun/ CLIMATE ACTION ORGANIZATION https://thirdact.org/ JOIN US FOR SUN DAY - DAY OF ACTION, SEPT 21, 2025: https://sunday.earth/ THE MATTHIESSEN TALKS: BILL McKIBBEN, A LAST CHANCE FOR THE CLIMATE AND A FRESH CHANCE FOR CIVILIZATION https://www.matthiessencenter.org/bill-mckibben Sunday, September 28, 2025 - 4:00 PM–5:30PM GUILD HALL, East Hampton, NY Presented with The Peter Matthiessen Center https://www.guildhall.org/events/the-matthiessen-talks-bill-mckibben/ Transcript of interview with important links: https://bit.ly/transcript-here-comes-the-sun

    30 min
  6. Owen Ó Súilleabháin - On Visionary Leadership through the Lens of Celtic Wisdom

    25/06/2025

    Owen Ó Súilleabháin - On Visionary Leadership through the Lens of Celtic Wisdom

    Visionary Leadership through the Lens of Celtic Wisdom with Owen Ó Súilleabháin What does it mean to lead from the unseen? In this soul-rich conversation, Owen Ó Súilleabháin joins host Megan Chaskey to explore leadership from a place of reverence, imagination, and deep attunement to natural cycles. Drawing from his lineage, artistic practice, and work in leadership development, Owen speaks to the Celtic understanding of seasonality, the power of visionary leadership in times of change, and the vital role of synchronicity and story. From the oak forests of Ireland to the shifting seasons of Western New York, he brings a perspective both ancient and timely — offering a path of leadership rooted in humility, relational intelligence, and love. This episode touches on: Visionary leadershipOrganizational dynamics and cultural renewalThe wisdom of Celtic awareness of cycles of changeSynchronicity, art, and the symbolic dimension of transformationLeadership as a tender, sacred responsibility shaped by inner truth We close with a Shaker song Owen sings — a reminder that love is both the guide and the pull of the unknown. In this episode, teacher, and leadership guide Owen Ó Súilleabháin invites us into a deeper rhythm of leadership—one rooted in ancestral wisdom, nature’s cycles, and the call of the unseen horizon. Owen shares stories of his father’s visionary impact on Irish cultural education, the soul of Celtic timekeeping, and the courage it takes to create something the world cannot yet see. “A visionary leader takes an organization somewhere no one can see—it doesn’t exist yet. It's over a horizon. Nobody knows exactly where it’s going.” Through myth, metaphor, and synchronicity, Owen draws connections between nature’s timing and our inner seasons—offering a vision of leadership that is relational, intuitive, and attuned. “Trying to harvest in winter won’t work. Each season has its wisdom. The work of the leader is to know what time it is.” We explore the sacred pulse of life through Celtic eyes, where love and mystery guide action, and silence itself can hold a leadership role. “Love doesn’t know where it’s going. That doesn’t mean it’s not real—it means it’s humble, tender, and true.” This is a rich conversation for those longing to lead with presence, precision, and poetic vision. “Let yourself be drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” — Rumi Thank you so much for listening. I trust something in Owen’s words opened insights for you. When he spoke of the oak tree—“rising in the darkness before the world can see,” and of visionary leadership that “roots in stillness, in what the world cannot yet see”— we can hear a deeper wisdom in that timing. A rhythm already alive in us, often unnoticed. I’d love to invite you to explore further through a short private audio I created: Hidden in Plain Sight: Your Luminous Timing. To help you begin feeling into that rhythm in your own life— by tuning into natural cycles—subtle, ancient, deeply supportive— and discovering how they can guide your choices, especially in times of change. 🎧 You can listen for free by signing up at https://bit.ly/4jITf1x Or, ready to go deeper on a regular rhythm? Let’s take the next step together—an opening to a new way of listening. The rhythm continues in Your Luminous Timing—a private podcast guiding you every two weeks with lunar insights and timing cues to help you move through your life with clarity, creativity, and intuitive precision. I invite you to join my series here https://bit.ly/your-luminous-timing ✨ Listen your way: in your favorite podcast player. You'll receive instructions once you sign up. 🌙 What You’ll Receive Inside Your Luminous Timing: 🌿 Lunar Listener — $11/month A steady rhythm to support clarity and momentum. Includes: A private podcast episode every two weeksGuidance for workflow, planning, self-care, and more—grounded in the current lunar phase, cycle, and intricate patternsInsightful stories and real-life reflectionsA special welcome episode when you join🌌 Celestial Seeker — $33/month For those ready to go deeper. Includes everything in Lunar Listener, plus:Monthly celestial timing overview episodes—covering lunar phases, cycles, solstices, equinoxes, and eclipsesIn‑depth timing cues (including ideal windows for launching, signing contracts, and when not to!)Guidance on optimal times for self-care, gardening, and seasonal alignmentBonus Q&A or spontaneous insight dropsPriority access to workshops and future events🎁 Bonus for New Subscribers Join today and receive a special bonus episode to help you sync with this week’s lunar energy—right away.

    45 min
  7. Ulla Suokko - Signs of the Universe

    24/04/2025

    Ulla Suokko - Signs of the Universe

    Ulla Suokko is a transformational mentor, author, speaker, and artist with a fascinating global journey. She holds a doctoral degree from The Juilliard School and has traveled the world as a performer and inspirer — sharing her message of authentic alignment, intuitive guidance, and personal transformation. Her TEDx talk, Do You See the Signs of the Universe?, has reached over 3.3 million views, and she is the author of a book on signs and how to elevate your vision and transform the story of your life. Through her WiseWoman Energetics one-on-one mentorship, her writings and meditations, and her international Zoom wisdom circles, Ulla invites you into a sacred space where luxury meets wisdom — and every step is a creative dance with the Universe. She guides and empowers her clients to awaken their inner knowing, align with the energy and essence of their dreams, and lead with presence, purpose, and love. https://wisewomanenergetics.com/ https://wisewomanenergetics.com/book/ Signs of the Universe by Ulla Suokko https://youtu.be/c_X_sPNUDes?feature=shared Do You See the Signs of the Universe? | Ulla Suokko | TEDxBigSky  TRANSCRIPT Ulla Suokko - Signs of the Universe ​[00:00:00]  Megan Chaskey: Welcome to the Spirit of Leadership Podcast. Listen in as we talk with emerging as well as seasoned leaders, change makers and visionaries. And hear their stories, how they have overcome challenges, how they cultivate inspired vision as stewards and mentors shining their light to uplift and empower others, reconnecting us through a sense of belonging to the natural world and to the interweaving circles of just and vital communities.   [00:01:00] Hello, Ulla. I am so happy to have you here today in this conversation. I know that it's going to be very inspiring, heartwarming also. So welcome.  Ulla Suokko: Thank you so much. I am so happy to have this conversation with you as well and extend it to all those who are listening to us.  Megan Chaskey: So I'd like to introduce. Ulla Suokko, and she's a transformational mentor and author and speaker and artist. She wears a lot of hats, which is a beautiful side of her sacred personality, and she has a fascinating global journey, which I hope we can touch on a bit during this conversation. And she holds a doctoral degree from Julliard. So there's this wonderful aspect of her musical being that she brings to [00:02:00] all of her teachings, and she's traveled the whole world as a performer and as a person who inspires. And her message is about authentic alignment and intuitive guidance and personal transformation. For example, she has a TEDx talk, Do You See the Signs of the Universe? And we'll put a link to that in the show notes because I highly recommend watching that. And she's the author of the book, Signs of the Universe, A Practical Guide to Shift Your Story. One of the phrases that I want to bring out here in your introduction is how you said you inspire the people you work with to awaken inner knowing and align with the energy and essence of dreams and lead with presence, purpose, and love, [00:03:00] and that phrase, leading with presence and purpose and love inspired me to reach out to you and invite you to be on this podcast interview. I'm so grateful that you're here. Tell us where you're speaking from.  Ulla Suokko: I am currently in Finland, in the northern part of our beautiful planet, and we are still in these beautiful full moon energies as well, bathing in the energies that just keep being very strong for us and supporting us to exactly invoke the essence and energy of our dreams and embody it. And I feel that there's a certain urgency for all of us to embrace the spirit of leadership [00:04:00] in our own unique way and find that leadership of love that I call it within us so that we can truly be part of the shift and transformation on a personal level, but also on a global level altogether. Megan Chaskey: It's just so beautiful that you're bringing it to this moment too, where we are as humanity and being part of this shift that is happening. I am really appreciating your voice in expressing that. When I was coming up with the idea of the essence of this podcast series, being a poet, I received the phrase spirit of leadership. So it's led me on an exploration of what that means and [00:05:00] why it's come to me, and also sensing into what are the conversations that need to happen. Intimate conversations, but also that we can share with people to inspire them. When I was reading your book, you talked about leading with love, a verb. Spirit of leadership, yes, is a state and it's a presence. When you said lead with love, it brought up a whole new thing for me, so I would love to hear you speak on that.  Ulla Suokko: I feel that we are on a beautiful and powerful threshold where the old way of leadership, somewhere out there that we follow is now to turn within and really understand that we all have amazing power [00:06:00] to generate change, and it's not necessarily the kind of change in the old way of thinking where we go to the barricades and change things out there again. But when we do learn to use the miraculous power that is within each and every one of us we can generate these incredible shifts that absolutely makes a difference because when more and more of us are really awakening different parts of the amazing layers of the universe that we are investing our own energy into the bank where the change that we want to see is happening instead of opposing something out there, we find the yes within ourselves and we find the power of true leadership [00:07:00] of love and the spirit of leadership that needs to be on the individual level. We are not anymore just a herd. We can find that kind of leadership and be inspired by it because it's always present, but instead of fighting something that we don't like, I really want to invite all of us to follow what we want to empower because as the saying goes, where your attention goes, energy flows. So we are powerful beyond our current understanding, and little by little we can awaken that power in a very organic and authentic and safe way. I think that I, many of us also that are spiritual change makers, we've had to [00:08:00] deal with even the word power because it has been maybe something that we haven't wanted because we were burned at stake. So now it's time to actually understand that true power is really love and true power is blossoming and true power is creative and supportive. And the other stuff that we've talked about as power has not really been power. It has been something else that has been disguised behind the definition of power, and that's one thing that I really invite all of us to do is to examine the words that we use so that we can feel the energy of the words like spells. And the more we awaken and [00:09:00] more powerful we become, the faster those spells also bear fruit. And so let's take that beautiful responsibility of defining the words anew and allowing us to even change their energy in the world. Many words that have been misused, love included, love, power, money, so that we can absolutely redefine them and reembody them within this spirit of leadership, and I would say spiritual leadership or holistic leadership, where it's not against something, but it's all inclusive. Not exclusive, but inclusive. So [00:10:00] really to pay with the idea and play with what does this mean to me and how can I look at it in an empowering way? What is the story that I tell about anything really in my life? And is the story supporting me or is it weakening me? Is it making me feel light and confident and happy? Or is it making me heavy or limited? And we have that power. We really, truly are ready to use that power and step into a new era of leadership and new era of taking responsibility of the change.  Megan Chaskey: Yes.  Ulla Suokko: And transformation in this world.  Megan Chaskey: Yes. So beautifully said. I love how you weave [00:11:00] together the inner experience with how we perceive what is happening around us, and the sense of, yes, it's our individual inner experience, but it's how do we connect with that unified sense of empowerment that is happening in the broader field, people's awareness. Do you see that happening?  Ulla Suokko: Absolutely, and I choose to see that happening because the other stuff is also happening, but I choose to put my focus, my attention to all the powerful stuff and good stuff and stuff that I want to support in this world, and that "we" thing happens also when we authentically align with the truth of who we are. Because [00:12:00] ultimately each one of us is the universe, and at the same time, there's no separation at that level. So to harness the individual power is really harnessing the universal love when we do it in an authentic and aligned way. And of course our mind is like, what? It's okay. I always say, let's have our mind do some Sudoku or something. We honor you. You are brilliant, you're great. But right now I want to travel the universe. Right now I'm going to spiral into the galaxies and sorry you can't follow here. So let's get back to you as a later moment.  Megan Chaskey: Can you tell a story of when you followed that thread yourself? Because you have some very inspiring stories that you've told in your book and in your TEDx talk, [00:13:00] and I feel that it's the way you express those moments when you were at that threshold and you needed to find your way. To be given that sense from the universe. I love the intimacy of your stories because you bring us into that moment of not knowing. Tell us a story, a specific story. Yes. What comes to mind or what comes to heart  Ulla Suokko: Really, because I've been writing about this, I have so many stories, but I think the one that is also in my  TEDx talk when I was a student at Julliard and I felt really insecure about my future. It is even now a good story

    39 min
  8. Interconnection: A Journey Through 'Soil and Spirit' with Scott Chaskey

    24/05/2023

    Interconnection: A Journey Through 'Soil and Spirit' with Scott Chaskey

    On this episode of Spirit of Leadership with Megan Chaskey, we dive into the interconnectedness through the worlds of soil and spirit and the magic that can be found in these connections between people, plants and place. Our guest, Scott Chaskey, farmer/poet, speaker and author, discusses his latest book, Soil and Spirit, based on his travels and encounters inspired by his exploration of the unseen below ground and in the spirit of perception and ways of perceiving. We also hear about the origins of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement and how it gained traction in China. The author shares how poetry and mentors have influenced his life and leadership roles.  Scott Chaskey is a lifelong writer who has built the spirit of community and tilled the soil at Quail Hill Farm for 30 years for the Peconic Land Trust. With a desire to have more time for writing, he decided to “graduate” from the farm and focus on his passion. This led to the creation of Soil and Spirit, a series of interconnected essays, inspired by an epigraph from John Hay that appeared in his previous book, Seedtime: "To what useful end could I use my eyes without acknowledging that they are only one of the earth's inexhaustible ways of seeing?" Join us for this episode woven with hope, magical connections and the importance of caring for the community. UPCOMING READINGS BY SCOTT CHASKEY FROM HIS BOOK SOIL & SPRIT: Scrawl Books, Reston, VA, Wednesday May 24, 7pmFlying Cloud Bookstore, Easton, MD., Friday May 26, 5pm TRANSCRIPT Megan Chaskey [00:00:55]: Welcome to this episode of Spirit of Leadership, and I am so happy to be speaking with you, Scott, and celebrating the publication of your new book, Soil and Spirit, and I look forward to your sharing with our audience some of the things that led up to your writing this book and in the process of writing this book the aspects that relate to leadership and your leadership in the CSA movement and the influences of those who've inspired you in the writing of this book. Scott Chaskey [00:01:48]: Thank you. I'm excited about talking about it. Megan Chaskey [00:01:52]: So tell us a little bit more about the conception of the book and how it evolved as you were writing it. Scott Chaskey [00:02:03]: Yeah, so I've always been writing. It's a lifelong affair for me, but I wanted to have more time to write. And so the timing just seemed to be right to graduate (your words) from Quail Hill Farm, where I pursued community through soil, tilling the soil, and through building community through the members of the farm for 30 years for the Peconic Land Trust. But I wanted to have more time to write. So that led to this book. Actually, the seeds of it came from the book that I wrote before, which was called Seed time. And there was a particular epigraph that I used in the end of that book and feel that that was the beginning of this book. So Seed time ended with this epigraph from the wonderful writer John Hay. "To what useful end could I use my eyes without acknowledging that they are only one of the earth's inexhaustible ways of seeing?" And so that was really the end of Seed time, but the beginning of Soil and Spirit. And I guess I like S's because the titles all have S's. But I conceived of the book quite differently because it's really a series of interconnected essays and I planned on traveling quite a bit. Various chapters were going to be built on my travels, but along came COVID and so there was no more traveling. So the book turns out to be quite different than the way I'd planned it and the proposal that I submitted originally to Milkweed, the publisher. But maybe it's a better book because of that. Megan Chaskey [00:03:56]: In what ways would you say that? Scott Chaskey [00:03:59]: I was interviewed not long ago. Someone said it was a journey inward and it had to be because I wasn't traveling outward. But at the same time, instead of actual traveling, I went back to travels that I had taken many, many years ago. And it was fascinating to realize that, because I never thought I would write about some of these subjects that turn up in this book in a way that is not separate at all from the original conception of the book, but is totally interwoven. So that actually I've now given a few readings from the books, and I feel it's so interconnected. So I sort of joked when I gave a reading and said that, "well, I really have to read you the whole book." But of course that would take 3 or 4 hours. That's not going to happen. Megan Chaskey [00:04:54]: Well, it is going to happen because we're going to make an audio version. Everyone will enjoy hearing the full book. Beautiful voice. Scott Chaskey [00:05:07]: Okay. It will happen. Megan Chaskey [00:05:09]: Yes, it will happen. So what's interesting is that I had that sense in reading one of your chapters that it was very important to actually go back and read it again right away because of how everything is interconnected. And you'll say a phrase or quote a phrase from somewhere and then take us on a whole series of connections that bring us back to that phrase, that brings more depth of meaning to it by having made that little internal journey in that one chapter. So the same thing is going on in the book. And do you feel that there are certain stories that carry that thread through the book? Scott Chaskey [00:06:09]: Yeah, I'm actually really glad that you mentioned just the word "story", because at the beginning of writing this book, I wrote notes to myself over and over again that what I was doing was telling stories. And I suppose a writer does that in one way or another, but more directly, it can be heard more directly by the reader. And so therefore, I really focused on a narrative within each chapter and the chapter that you're talking about, which has to do with a trip across Ireland, which I actually took 50 years ago, but which has been with me for 50 years. And it has to do with riding an old bicycle across Ireland and discovering a branch of white heather among all the purple heather, placing that on my bicycle. And that's a symbol of good fortune and luck in Irish lore. And it was that for me because it led me to a village called Kilkenny, where Seamus Heaney was appearing at an arts festival. And I had no idea that I would be meeting Seamus Heaney, despite the fact that we exchanged letters. And there's a whole story, a longer story to that. But that's part of the interconnection that you're talking about, it's very strong in that particular chapter because it was magical traveling across Ireland. Megan Chaskey [00:07:41]: Yes. And the magical part of that is because it has to do with a plant, it has to do with that white heather. And then you bring that attention to plants, their names, their characteristics to that particular moment. And then also tell us the story about what you found in the attic. Scott Chaskey [00:08:10]: What I found in the attic? Megan Chaskey [00:08:12]: While you were writing that - the letter. Scott Chaskey [00:08:15]: Was it the letter from Seamus Heaney? Megan Chaskey [00:08:18]: Yes. Scott Chaskey [00:08:19]: Yeah. Otherwise, probably that chapter would not exist. So I wrote a letter at the urging of a teacher, Robert Morgan, a wonderful poet, who, when he read my poems, he was a professor at Cornell, and he said, "Have you read Seamus Heaney?" And this was before many people had heard of Seamus Heaney, long before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, which I'm so happy that he won. So well deserved. So I wrote him a letter, and believe it or not, that letter still existed. And I had no idea. I mean, having traveled back and forth across the ocean a number of times and lived in England for ten years, and somehow, in a box, in a random box, this letter that Seamus Heaney wrote back to me in let's call it 1976 still existed in his red pen, and he was teaching at Berkeley at the time. And he wrote back, and the origin of the letter really was because we had come upon the same words, we had written the same line. And I wrote to him in amazement as a young poet, and he wrote back, saying how he loved the language of the poem, which I'm still up in a cloud about. Megan Chaskey [00:09:42]: "Both our weights." Scott Chaskey [00:09:44]: Yeah, "in both our weights", yes. Megan Chaskey [00:09:48]: Beautiful line. So that was amazing, too, that you wrote him that letter and then sent it to his address in Ireland. Scott Chaskey [00:10:02]: In Ireland, teaching in California. He sent the letter to me in my dwelling in Massachusetts, but meanwhile, I had enrolled in a program in Ireland, and the letter was forwarded to me in Ireland while he was in California. Yeah, it was an amazing story. Megan Chaskey [00:10:21]: Amazing. Scott Chaskey [00:10:22]: And it continued, and I suppose that's why I had to write about it, because of actually meeting him there, in Kilkenny in this Art s Week. Yeah, it was an amazing, magical happening. Megan Chaskey [00:10:35]: And then you found that letter in the attic while you were writing the book. Scott Chaskey [00:10:39]: Right. Megan Chaskey [00:10:40]: So there's definitely a lot of magic, that story. Scott Chaskey [00:10:45]: Yeah, well, that's the spirit, I guess. So the book is called Soil and Spirit, and there's the spirit part of it. The soil is obviously what I've sifted through my hands and what I've used with shovel and fork and by tractor with tiller and all that for 40 years. So the soil is very obvious. The spirit is unseen, as it should be. Megan Chaskey [00:11:11]: And in relation to the spirit of leadership, how do you feel about this connection with Seamus Heaney as a poet and that connection with the land? Scott Chaskey [00:11:31]: So, actually, the first poem in Seamus Heaney's first book is called Digging. So there you go. There you've got it. He grew up in a farm, and there you've got that connection.

    19 min
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