Stoking the Fire

nicole eliza araujo

Stoking the Fire is a podcast that explores practices of wellness and spirituality from a nuanced perspective. With different guests on the show each week sharing their own experiences, we discuss practices that stoke the fire within, those that extinguish it, and the mysterious phenomena along the way. Themes include: cultural and social structures, trauma, Eastern medicine, addiction, cults, bodily autonomy, sexuality, abuses of power, feminist spirituality, the wounded masculine, the prison industrial complex, psychedelics, and more. Patreon.com/opalnea Instagram: @nicoleelizaaraujo Tiktok: @opalnea

Episodes

  1. 08/12/2025

    Freedom from the grind: Somatic therapy and breathwork with Adam Tanous

    Adam Tanous is a somatic therapist who incorporates breathwork, core belief healing, and a variety of other practices into his treatment offerings. He specializes in working with over-achievers or people stressed out from the corporate grind who are trying to find peace and contentment. He is based out of Florianópolis, Brazil, and works with clients one-on-one, both in person and virtually, as well as holding group healing events. (Plus- scroll to the bottom of the notes for a free guided meditation recorded by Adam!) Things we discuss: How Adam left his career as a computer engineer where he suffered from poor health and chronic fatigue and started out on his healing journey (3:58)Adam’s experience in Osho Centers, a modern iteration of the group formerly known as the Rajneesh Movement, or as some call it, The Rajneesh Cult, as depicted in the Netflix documentary, “Wild, Wild Country” (7:15)When some people in a group experience amazing healing and transformation while others in the same group experience harmful trauma- what do we make of this? (16:55) How childhood experiences can impact our suffering as adults in ways we don’t normally think about (28:16)Core beliefs and speaking with our inner child selves (35:24)The 3 bottom chakras: why they are so important (29:11) Nicole’s experience doing breathwork and discovering she needed to somatically heal from her heroin overdoses of 9 years ago (45:42)Cows versus chaos ;) (61:05)What exactly is somatic therapy? (64:59)The external gifts we get from healing are just extras - the real benefit is something else (70:22)Notes: Adam's contact info: Instagram & his website & his YoutubeGene KeysHuman DesignCult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan, episode with Sarito CarrollA free Inner Child Meditation that Adam is sharing with us

    1h 14m
  2. 06/28/2025

    Tuning the guitar of our consciousness with Edu Ara (Part 1)

    Edu Ara is a consciousness musician and a director of the NGO, Aldeia do Futuro, (Village of the Future), a group that empowers the Huni Kuin people, an indigenous group out of Acre, Brazil, by cultivating autonomy and safety from the effects of deforestation, and preserving Huni Kuin culture. Edu is a bridge between the Huni Kuin and non-indigenous people, helping facilitate retreats in the Amazon rainforest that offer healing ceremonies and other ancestral wisdom teachings and offerings. In this episode, we talk about: What is consciousness music? (5:36)Health crisis of the modern world: disconnection from nature (6:51)The role that music plays in returning to ourselves: tuning the guitar of our consciousness (14:26)Mythology: where did the gods hide the secret of life? (20:26)The Americas are the spinal cord of the world (25:58)Colonization of the Americas and the oppression of its peoples (29:12)Coca leaves vs. pearls: we’ve been in trouble for the past 500 years… BUT we are finally at a global awakening (30:15)Listening to the gift of pain (35:10)Listening to the message of traditional medicines like ayahuasca and tobacco (43:25)Edu’s origin story- how he entered the world of healing (46:10)Links: Edu's insta: @edu_aramusic Aldeia do Futuro's insta: @aldeia.dofuturo Aldeia do Futuro pamphlet Edu's Patreon, a portion of which goes to indigenous tribes and protecting the Amazon rainforest

    50 min
  3. 06/22/2025

    The Celluloid Bordello: Depictions of sex work in film with Juliana Piccillo

    Juliana Piccillo is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and sex worker rights activist. She is the producer of “I was a Teenage Prostitute” and “The Celluloid Bordello,” and was a story consultant for Sean Baker on "Red Rocket,” a Palme d’or-nominated film. As a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona for ten years, she taught film, video and television production. In this episode, we talk about: Juliana’s recent documentary, “Celluloid Bordello” about depictions of sex work in film (3:12)The old motion picture rating system, which only allowed sex work, homosexuality, and mixed race relationships if those depicted were shown being punished (4:14)Nicole’s BA thesis, “Le Fille Publique: Depictions of Sex Work in 19th-Ccentury French literature” (12:32)How the patriarchy puts men into a box (16:57)Juliana’s experience as a sex worker: in her teens vs. returning in her 40’s and 50’s (30:12)How Juliana created an uproar by hosting a sex worker film festival while teaching at the University of Arizona and ended up on O’Reily and CNN (33:52)Born into Brothels: A horrible white savior complex documentary (that somehow won an Academy Award) about a sex worker community in Calcutta, India (40:54)How stereotypical depictions of trafficking victims satisfies the revenge-rescue fantasy in awful men. (43:34)What growing our own food and sex work have in common (56:48)Juliana-approved sex work movies (throughout- see show notes for list) Show notes: www.whoresonfilm.com IG: @whoresonfilm I was a Teenage Prostitute and The Celluloid Bordello are available on Prime, Apple TV and PinkLabel.tv.  Conor Habib podcast Sex work movies that Juliana loves: Sweet Charity, Gypsy, Pretty Baby, Lizzie Borden’s Working Girls, Tangerine, Angel, Red Rocket

    1h 9m
5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Stoking the Fire is a podcast that explores practices of wellness and spirituality from a nuanced perspective. With different guests on the show each week sharing their own experiences, we discuss practices that stoke the fire within, those that extinguish it, and the mysterious phenomena along the way. Themes include: cultural and social structures, trauma, Eastern medicine, addiction, cults, bodily autonomy, sexuality, abuses of power, feminist spirituality, the wounded masculine, the prison industrial complex, psychedelics, and more. Patreon.com/opalnea Instagram: @nicoleelizaaraujo Tiktok: @opalnea