The Wild and Wise Ashley Newton and Mallika Bush

Ep 35 : 
Eliza’s work helping babies sleep, move, and feel better revolves around her respect for babies and toddlers as whole people who enter the world aware, desiring to communicate and learn, and with the ability to process and self-heal within relationship. 

Her Conscious Baby practice employs unique approaches to non-cry-it-out sleep, baby-led milestone development, healing birth trauma, and parental attunement to non-verbal cues and crying.   

As a certified Aware Parenting Instructor, Infant Developmental Movement Educator, Body-Mind Centering® Practitioner, and trained Feldenkrais® practitioner, Eliza’s life-changing perspectives and respectful solutions toward common parenting challenges transcend “typical” parenting advice.  
In this conversation you will hear us talk about: 
The emotionally charged nature of sleep in the family system The connection of sleep and emotions "Sleep is a state, not a skill" Pent up feelings as stress as most common problem that interferes with sleep Crying as a natural way to release stress How learned habits of emotional expression can feel like instinct The connection of parents early childhood experiences and patterns with their babies Getting beyond the right or wrong of comfort nursing Exploring the underlying needs connected to sleep : emotional expression, closeness Crying in arms as a bonding experience Potential of crying becoming a pathway for communication The potential impact of cranial alignment and tongue tie on nursing, crying, and sleepingCheck out Eliza's website for free guides to helping Baby sleep and to stay in touch : https://www.consciousbaby.com/sleep/ 

FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/consciousbaby 
IG @consciousbabyeliza 
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ep # 34 
Mallika and Ashley have a conversation on raising children inspired by topics from the book Hunt, Gather, Parent by Michaeleen Doucleff. 


You'll here us talk about: 
The lack of meaningful work that children have the opportunity to engage in culturally The pressure that comes from an expectation of parents always enjoying their kids Finding a balance between focus on self and community The potential benefits of inviting children to work on family needs from a young age Shifting our internal orientation to acts of caretaking home as a sacred  Link to Kim John Payne's Simplicity Parenting The power of presence in tantrums Simplifying the way we ask for kids participation is daily tasks Letting go of expectations that child will change behaviors quickly Raising children to be embraced by life that's bigger then them The importance of children integrating the needs of others 
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ep. #33 
If you've dipped your toe in the waters of yogic practice or philosophy, and you have if you've ever even googled "mindfulness", this conversation will deepen and clarify some of the common mistranslations and misunderstandings of how to live our lives while also walking a spiritual path. We especially explore the ways being a parent can often feel "in the way" of our spiritual goals and practices. The difficult distance between our ideals and reality. Kaya speaks so beautifully to the gift we can give ourselves and our children when we practice and live our spiritual journey as family. 
In this episode, I share about my own personal upbringing, raised in a yogic intentional community. Kaya also has a deep and meaningful relationship with this community, and we both hold so much love and respect for the teachings, the people and the beauty that is present there. While I do speak to some of my personal experiences and interpretations, I am sure they were unique to my own experience, my own family system and the projecting we as humans do onto others. So I ask you to hold what you hear with the awareness of both being true: reality and projection. 
Things we touch on: 
The misconceptions of practicing non-attachment 
The absolute and the relative realities we exist in 
Spiritual bypass 
Splitting of life into spiritual life and the rest 
The four stages of life 
How not to sacrifice your spiritual life 
Accepting or rejecting mental/emotional reactions 
We can model our humanity for our kids 
What family spiritual practice can look like 
Clarifying karma yoga and selfless service 
I do my work so you can do yours 
Where to start 


Kaya Mindlin is a Yoga therapist and educator who has been teaching the “softer side of yoga” for 19 years.
Learn more about Kaya's work at YogawithKaya.com  
Kaya's Instagram

Use the code "wildandwise20"for 20% off this ONLINE program: The Nectar of Action
Explore the most essential teachings for householders seeking true spiritual growth amidst the responsibilities of life.
BEGINS JULY 15 2021
Mallika's website: https://www.thewildandwise.com/
Mallika's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thewildandwise/
If you have enjoyed the show, please rate, review and subscribe in iTunes. 
You can also check out some of our other older episodes: 
Episode 2 - Baba Yaga and Our Wild Woman Intuition
Episode 3 - Exploring Our Inner Knowing with Kadhi Bo
Episode 4  - Earth Magick and Regenerative Ways of Living with Marysia Miernowska
Upcoming Offerings:
Want to join a F R E E virtual New Moon Circle? Click here 
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ep # 32 
John Wolfstone is back for another conversation with Ashley! They dive deep into the exploration of adult initiation, its function and its presence as a missing link to a more integrated and meaningful life. 

John is a storyteller, filmmaker, community organizer and a mentor for Rites of Passage work. John is a curious explorer and question asker.

You'll here us talk about:
The loneliness of modern adulthoodAlmost all indigenous culture have rites of passage ceremonies into adulthoodThe functions of rites of passage : 1. Connecting people to their purpose in community 2. to mature the person so that they can become a generative adultJohns personal path of creating adult initiation for himself Johns purpose of "help make human beings capable of being in service to the great turning"Bill Plotkins concept of moving from egocentric to ecocentricThe shift to adulthood as the death of the heroCultural practices of childrearing that interfere with the development of a sense of interconnection and humilityLife phases and rites of passage through out the lifespanVillage as a side effect of people tending cultureA complete adult initiation requires mentors, elders, and youngers"That's what adulthood is, someone who is giving forth to a culture, and that culture is feeding the wheel of life."Acknowledging that we are living in an ecocide, creating space for griefMeeting "the river of grief" in the transition into adulthoodCreating healthy containers to build our capacity to feel fully Creating a "cultural basket" that is woven by strands of containership that are organic, and help you come back to your intelligence and the intelligence of lifeThe importance of ancestry in adult initiation
To get to know John more and look into his offerings, connect with him on Facebook!

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ep. #31  
This conversation and episode is truly one of Mallika's favorite of all time. Lara Veleda Vesta is an author and illistrator, exploring  dís-ability, rites of passage, ancestral mythology, folklore and the sacred creative.  She lives with Myalgic Encephalomeylitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a disease caused by viruses and inflammation with an infectious trigger.  Prior to her illness, Lara was a university professor teaching classes in English and writing and a PhD student in Philosophy and Religion. 
Lara's deep work and knowledge of integrating difficult initiatory experiences, expanded by her use of ritual, research and linguistics, help her blend a beautiful weaving of return to old ways, old knowing and the deep peace that is available to us all. 


Explored in this episode:  
Why narrative is so important to healing Stages of initiation and rite of passage Finding the joy available in healing Reorienting our job/to-dos to come from spirit and ancestors Sacred life is available to any one of us Collective rite of passage this past year Redefining our values and letting things go How do we know when we are on a "return" Ritualizing every aspect of the passage Grief is part of the return and integration of the passage Silence is integral for sacred work The potency of being together in a ceremonial frame Illness and disability were hallmarks of initiation in historic stories The opportunity and communication that comes through as symptoms of illness How to stay out of resistance to pain and other difficult symptoms The power and potential of the millions of people who are ill or living with disability What is your super power?
Quotes from Lara:
"We need each other's stories so we can know what's survivable."

"What I have found useful is ritualizing every aspect of the process."



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Ep. #30
In today's episode, Mallika invites her friend, Elanne Kresser, to share a deep exploration of cultural healing and the hope for education that teaches our children to live within and honor the beautiful space we occupy, birthing a new paradigm of partnership, of tending and  of caring for all beings. 

Mallika and Elanne have been friends since 2013 and have been in conversation with each other about many topics, from conscious parenting and healthy relating styles, to the current paradigm of "compulsory schooling" and examining or shifting cultural constructs.

Elanne Kresser is devoted to the labor of birthing a world in which all voices, both human and otherwise, are honored. She has practiced in the Ordinary Mind School of Zen for two decades and directed The Dharma School for children for eight years, and her adult life has been dedicated to community-based, culturally-generative, earth-honoring education. She is a practitioner of ancestral and cultural healing and loves supporting others to reclaim their self-worth, life purpose, and sense of belonging. Her people hail from Bavaria, Bohemia, Jämtland, Sweden and England.

Elanne Kresser's Website

Peter Grey
John Taylor Gatto
"Weapons of Mass Instruction" By John Taylor Gatto

Things we touch on in this episode: 
Feeling belonging with place Personal wellness = "how able am I to meet the changing conditions of life" Wellness is relational Animism, at it's foundation, is relationshipHow teaching in today's system that is devoid of meaningful workThe ancestors are who hands us our cultureDepth of cultural healing available through getting right with our ancestorsTending ancestral connection through education A new paradigm of relating and tending and caringThe natural friction when shifting from an old to a new paradigmDistinguishing between education and compulsory schooling and the values at the base of the current schooling structureWays that we can each play a role in starting this shiftThe possibility that we re-imagine schooling is hereHomeschooling, free-schooling, unschooling, democratic schooling, and the movement for self-directed educationWhat practical ways can this be implemented in a schooling settingThe clarity that can come from ancestral involvement in these projects
Quotes from Elanne: 
Wellness requires relationally (12 min)
The ancestors are who hands us our culture (24)
Education is ultimately the transmission of culture (25)

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