Turning Season: Conversations with Changemakers in Our Adventure Toward a Life-Sustaining Society

Leilani Navar
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  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Turning Season Podcast is here to hearten you with regular doses of Active Hope in this uncertain, perilous, beautiful adventure we call The Great Turning. We bring you enlivening conversations with people rising to their own unique roles in our worldwide shift to life-sustaining societies. This show is for every one of you who's aware of our multiple crises, feels your love for life on Earth, and chooses to participate in cultivating ways of life we can believe in. Show notes: www.turningseason.com Music by East Forest. (Episodes 1-35 are The Dreamers' Den Series, where I dive deep with experienced dreamworkers. We help you engage your dreams for insight, inspiration, and connection with community.)

  1. 12/05/2024

    Summoned by the Earth (with Cynthia Jurs)

    I'll be honest with you: the "great unraveling" is as real as the "great turning." They're happening at the same time, and have been for decades. The unraveling was already accelerating, and now (late 2024) to see a democratic election process choose a path of more, worse, faster harm to our planet and our fellow human and more-than-human beings? It's been... deeply discouraging. For many I know, it's been devastating. And at the same time - always at the same time - I feel so blessed to have had a conversation with Cynthia Jurs about this. We spoke about that devastation, and our bewilderment, and how we keep going. We also talk miracles, activism, practice, awakening, and so much more. Cynthia's life has been devoted to embodied, engaged, sacred activism for the healing and protection of Mother Earth for decades. She is a spiritual teacher who doesn't introduce herself as one, and I love learning from her. Interviewing Cynthia with me in this conversation are Erin Geesaman Rabke and Carl Rabke, of Embodiment Matters. We talk about  Cynthia's stunning new book, Summoned by the Earth: Becoming a Holy Vessel for Healing Our WorldU.S. politics and the question: "Is this the flaming end of the patriarchy?"the interconnectedness of all lifecultural polarizationthe 4 sections of Cynthia's book: "answering the call," "hearing the cries of the world," "becoming a holy vessel," and "collective awakening"reactivity and activismpeacebuilding, and choosing not to fan the flames of blame, separation, and violencecomments from astrologers on this historical momentand Cynthia's profound experience in Greece at the Oracle of Delphi As much as I enjoyed hearing everything Cynthia had to say on these topics, I valued hearing the way she spoke about it all. I hope you do too. May this conversation serve your healing and the healing of our world. Note: There are a number of times when Cynthia, Carl, Erin or I reference teachers and teachings, ideas and terms, that might not be familiar to you. (Many of them I've heard of for the first time in the last few years!) So, I've compiled some links with more info in the show notes. If you hear a name or a term and you're wondering who or what that is - or if you simply want to take an internet wander down some of our favorite paths related to indigenous wisdom, ecological belonging, spiritual growth, global healing, etc. - come to the show notes at turningseason.com/episode44 and find my bulleted list of teachers and terms that we mention in this conversation. You're invited to… Take Heart: Embodying the Great Turning | A 10-week course facilitated by Leilani Navar and Erin Geesaman Rabke, with special guests Cynthia Jurs, Francis Weller, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, and Lydia Violet Harutoonian This series is for you if you're looking for helpful teachings and tools, a place for beauty and for grief, and a kind community. We'll be looking to Joanna Macy's teachings about the "Five Vows of the Great Turning" to help us orient, navigate, and stay heartened in these times, giving our lives to the Great Turning while also living in the Great Unraveling. We're so excited about it and we'd love for you to check it out if you're curious. More about Cynthia Jurs: Cynthia Jurs has immersed herself deeply in the study and practice of Buddhism for over three decades, annually spending time in solitary retreat and receiving teachings from many great masters. In 1994 she was given dharma transmission from her root teacher, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh and became a Dharmacharya in the Order of Interbeing. In 2018 in recognition for her many years of study and practice in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and her devotion in carrying out the Earth Treasure Vases, she was recognized as an Honorary Lama at the root temple of Kushok Mangden Rinpoche, Tolu Tharling Gompa, in Nepal. Cynthia says that she holds these titles and dharma affiliations lightly. She shares that her true source of refuge and spiritual inspiration is Mother Earth; Gaia. Inspired by her thirty years of pilgrimage into diverse communities and ecosystems, today Cynthia is forging a new path of dharma, connected to the Earth, in service to Gaia, deeply rooted in the feminine, honoring indigenous traditions, and teaching an embodied, engaged, sacred activism through meditation and prayer, ceremony and ritual, pilgrimage and council. About Turning Season Podcast: Serving up heartening doses of Active Hope in this Great Turning toward life-honoring, life-sustaining ways of being human. This is a series of deep conversations with people who are rising to their own unique roles in this worldwide shift. This show is for every one of you who's aware of our multiple crises, feels your love for life on earth, and is finding your way to participate in cultivating ways of life we can believe in, making a life honoring present, even in the face of an uncertain future.

    1h 13m

  2. 10/30/2024

    Beauty as Ballast, Grief as Guide, Body as Sacred Land (with Erin Geesaman Rabke and Leilani Navar)

    A conversation between Leilani and Erin Geesaman Rabke about sustaining our tender hearts and our dedication to showing up for the web of life on Earth, through all the heartbreak, overwhelm, and discouragement that can happen when we care deeply about our world. We talk about taking beauty as ballast, turning to our grief as a guide, and attending to our bodies as sacred landscapes. We share the "five vows of the great turning," or the "five commitments of active hope," and how they help us orient, steer, stay steady, and keep wholeheartedly, imperfectly carrying on. Read more about our upcoming workshops on 3 Sundays in November: Beauty as Ballast, Grief as Guide, and Body as Sacred Land. You can join us for 1, 2, or all 3! Find all the other links mentioned in this episode on the show notes page: turningseason.com/episode43

    1h 2m

  3. 08/29/2024

    Resilience and Mental Health in Humanitarian Response (with Paula Ramírez)

    "How is it that those individuals who are in the front line, in the first response, can bring that awareness, that connection to their own selves through their own nervous system, owning again a quality of spaciousness in their body?" My wonderful guest for this episode, Paula Ramírez, supports mental health in contexts of war and displacement. In this work, she has learned a lot about that process of reconnection and nervous system regulation, and about the spaciousness that can become accessible even in difficult situations. It's clear that Paula has cultivated her own spaciousness and presence, practicing what she has been teaching in humanitarian contexts around the world. Our conversation moved me deeply. Click Play to hear about: Paula's commitment to supporting the mental health of first responders in humanitarian aid contexts, and especially her dedication to introducing connection with the body as part of that mental health supportA powerful story about working with men digging graves in south Sudan, and what becomes possible when we slow down and become more presentHow all of us - whether in a conflict zone or in a place of currently more peace and privilege - can navigate the two extremes of being overwhelmed by intense emotion, or being disconnected from emotion. (Paula gives some beautiful guidance and tools during the conversation. I really enjoyed feeling the shift in myself as she spoke, and I think you will too.)Paula's own story, from growing up in Colombia in the 1980s when there was an intensification of armed conflict and drug trafficking, through health challenges and healing, and questions she had about violence and war, which led her to study anthropology, peacebuilding and conflict transformation, and Somatic ExperiencingI'm so happy to bring Paula's voice to you. There's a lot she's very clear about, in a powerfully helpful way - and she also invites me into the truth of how much we don't know. We don't know yet how to handle the situations humanity faces right now - and I invite you into that with us, into this conversation with a beautiful fellow human being in these times. Paula Ramírez Diazgranados is Co-Director of Emerge International, formerly called Breathe International, an organization which combines peacebuilding and mental health driven by the restoration of human resilience. Working with humanitarian teams deployed around the globe, with a focus in mindfulness and somatic (body-based) perspectives, Paula bridges traditional understandings of the human and more-than-human world with contemporary crisis work and trauma integration. This has brought her into work with organizations including the UN and the Tibetan Government in exile, supporting populations in contexts of war and displacement. Paula´s guiding vision is the embodied and universal dignity of all beings.  Turning Season Podcast brings you heartening doses of Active Hope in this Great Turning toward life-honoring, life-sustaining ways of being human. This is a series of deep conversations with people who are rising to their own unique roles in this worldwide shift. It's for every one of you who's aware of our multiple crises, feels your love for life on earth, and is finding your way to participate in cultivating ways of life we can believe in, making a life honoring present, even in the face of an uncertain future. Show notes with links to connect with Paula: turningseason.com/episode42

    1h 5m

  4. 06/30/2024

    Accounting Alchemy for the Great Turning (with Ingrid Edstrom)

    My guest Ingrid Edstrom founded the "Accounting Alchemy Network," and in this episode, we talk accounting, and we talk alchemy. "Alchemy" as in transformation. Practical transformation, which of course is necessary in this great turning toward a life-sustaining society, along with transformation in the ways we think, and the ways we ask questions. These are necessary too. Listen in to hear us talk about how the accounting profession can change the world, Ingrid's journey with giving "rights of nature" to the land she calls home,how we change the way we think,finding your zone of genius in your work and play and more! It was great fun and so inspiring to talk with Ingrid. She has such a sharp and creative mind, and a powerful drive in her big heart. More about Ingrid: Ingrid Edstrom is a Certified Business Coach through the Woodard Institute, a Certified PQ Mental Fitness Coach through Positive Intelligence, and a certified Working Genius consultant. She is also working with her local chapter of the Pachamama Alliance and Oregon Water League to develop rights of nature for the Rogue River and surrounding local watershed, and working to use some of the education from that experience to develop rights of nature for the 2 acres she stewards where she grows most of her own food, including goats and chix. When Ingrid is not actively working to heal the world, she is usually playing Irish music, doing a Joe Dispenza meditation, or having a deep conversation about quantum physics & chaos magick. Ingrid Edstrom is a total nerd with a hungry mind and a passion for helping others be their best selves in service to our beautiful world. Her superpowers are manifestation and positive change, even (especially) when change is scary. She loves asking the big questions that confront people with their own personal freedom, and really enjoys developing collaborative relationships with people who are brilliant, grounded in spirituality, and also working to save the world. She is a founder of the Accounting Alchemy Network, volunteers as a course moderator for the Pachamama Alliance, and participates in several other org communities, such as YesWorld Jams, School for the Great Turning, New and Ancient Story, Humane Leadership Institute, and others. Show notes with links to connect with Ingrid: turningseason.com/episode41 Fundraiser to support Oasis Organization's poultry farm at Nakivale Refugee Settlement - Every dollar will help this refugee-led project feed hungry children. They've survived displacement and we can help thrive in their new lives.

    51 min

  5. 04/29/2024

    We Are the Great Turning (with Joanna Macy and Jess Serrante)

    What a joy to introduce you to We Are the Great Turning, a new podcast series featuring kitchen-table conversations between Joanna Macy, in her 95th year of life, and her friend and student, activist Jess Serrante. Click Play to hear a brief visit between me and Jess about what's on her mind now that this extraordinary project has come out into the world, and then you'll hear the beautiful first episode of We Are the Great Turning, called Love and Loss. About We Are the Great Turning: We welcome you to the kitchen table of the legendary eco-spiritual teacher Joanna Macy, where we’ll dive into what it takes to live with our hearts and integrity intact in this time of global crisis. You’ll be guided into these conversations by Jess Serrante, a longtime activist and student of Joanna’s. Together, we’ll discover abiding wisdom that can help us stay joyful and energized as we work toward a more just and life-sustaining world. Episode 1 - Love and Loss: As Joanna Macy approaches the end of a long life dedicated to healing our imperiled planet, she begins the conversation with Jessica Serrante, her student and dear friend, “standing afresh with what it’s like to live on Earth at this moment.” As we look into the face of the climate crisis, injustice, and war, difficult feelings arise; all are welcomed. You are invited to join them at Joanna’s kitchen table, and invited into a deeper sense of your belonging and love for our world. In this episode: How to connect with the great possibilities that still exist for us even in these precarious timesJoanna reflects on her awakening of environmental consciousnessJess reflects on how meeting Joanna changed her lifeLove, laughter, heartbreak, and the Work That Reconnects Bonus Exercise: “Open Sentences”—a practice for partners We recommend starting a podcast club with friends or family to do these practices together. Links and assets to help prompt reflection and build community can be found with every episode on WeAreTheGreatTurning.com Turning Season Podcast brings you heartening doses of Active Hope in this Great Turning toward life-honoring, life-sustaining ways of being human. Each episode, get to know the how, the why, and the heart of someone who is participating in the Great Turning in their own unique way. This show is for you if you're aware of our multiple crises, feel your love for life on earth, and care about cultivating ways of life we can believe in, making a life-honoring present, even in the face of an uncertain future. Hosted by Leilani Navar, facilitator of the Work that Reconnects, acupuncturist, herbalist and dreamworker. turningseason.com

    45 min

  6. 03/09/2024

    The Earth Caretaker Way (with Tim Corcoran)

    How to become an Earth Caretaker? If you can, "get off your butt and get out in the woods," as Tim Corcoran has been known to say, and his young students love to quote. Hear about many other good starting places and ways to walk the path in this conversation.  It's a fun and rich one, including Tim's own fascinating life story of connecting with nature and with Earth Caretaking people, closeness with animals, and 30 years of running Headwaters Outdoor School, where Tim teaches nature connection, wilderness skills, and earth philosophy. You'll hear about: The Earth Caretaker Way, a life-changing, wise, comprehensive new book written by Tim Corcoran and Julie BoettlerTim's story of finding the land that would become Headwaters Outdoor School (it's truly multidimensional)the diverse groups of young people who've come to HeadwatersTim's take on ancestors of place, and our biological ancestors who were Earth Caretakerswhy he believes humans are supposed to be here, and why he has hope right now. Turning Season Podcast brings you heartening doses of Active Hope in this Great Turning toward life-honoring, life-sustaining ways of being human. Each episode invites you into conversation with someone who is participating in the Great Turning in their own unique way. You'll hear about what they do, why they do it, and how they're relating to these times we're in. This show is for you if you're aware of our multiple crises, feel your love for life on earth, and care about cultivating ways of life we can believe in, making a life-honoring present, even in the face of an uncertain future. Hosted by Leilani Navar, facilitator of the Work that Reconnects, acupuncturist, herbalist and dreamworker. Today's conversation is with Tim Corcoran, who runs Headwaters Outdoor School in Mt. Shasta, California. Tim has been helping transform lives for 30 years, by bringing children and adults to the camp there, teaching nature awareness, wilderness skills, and earth philosophy. He's written a new book called The Earth Caretaker Way, co-written with Julie Boettler. Tim traces his own connection to Earth peoples philosophy to his Irish heritage, as taught to him by his uncle and grandfather. He knew at 6 years old that the woods were his home, and at seventeen he spent four months alone in the Canadian Wilderness practicing Earth living skills. Tim began a career teaching wildlife conservation in 1974. During this time, he learned how to communicate with the spirits of the animals he worked with, enhancing his abilities to connect on an intimate level with them. He has worked at the Alberta Game Farm in Alberta, Canada as an animal caretaker, the Crandon Park Zoo in Miami Florida as an animal relocation director, and Marine World Africa U.S.A. as a chimpanzee and elephant trainer. (You may have glimpsed Tim and his elephant in Star Wars, where he was a Tuskan raider on the back of his elephant, costumed as a bantha.) Tim co-founded the Native Animal Rescue in Santa Cruz, California, rescuing and releasing injured wildlife. He created Headwaters Outdoor School in Mount Shasta, California in 1992, to realize his lifelong vision of sharing what he has learned from nature, and to inspire people to discover their own personal relationship with nature. Tim teaches outdoor living skills, and Earth Philosophy to kids and adults. Tim is also an accomplished professional nature photographer and has published a series of nature photography books highlighting sacred places in nature. Tim has recently founded The Earth Caretaker Way Movement LLC, with the intention of uniting a global community of Earth Caretakers to save wild spaces, and create wildlife refuge within every environment, including urban settings. Tim lives with his wife, Jean, and their pack of dogs on an amazing refuge of wooded land in Mount Shasta, California where he runs Headwaters Outdoor School and The Earth Caretaker Way Movement. Get the book: The Earth Caretaker Way Show notes: turningseason.com/episode39

    1 hr

  7. 02/05/2024

    Holistic Climate Action and the Stories in Our Bones (with Osprey Orielle Lake)

    "I bow to Osprey in deepest respect and gratitude for her years of inspired activism and this brilliant book." - Joanna Macy Once again, I agree wholeheartedly with Joanna Macy, this time about Osprey Orielle Lake and her new book, The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis. The book is packed with so much to learn from - stories, insights, strategies - and so is the conversation Osprey and I had. Click Play to hear us dive into: Osprey's experience working with indigenous communities, global leaders, systems thinkers, and climate justice activiststhe importance of nonviolent direct action, and the ways it is becoming increasingly dangerous - specifically for land defenders in Latin Americathe "time riddle" we're in: how do we change things as fast as possible, AND slow down enough to make the changes deep and lasting?the worldviews that need to be dismantled, and the worldviews that we need to revive and strengthen, if we're to have a life-enhancing societythe Kawsak Sacha, or Living Forest Declaration, a vision, a worldview, a strategy, a demand, by the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazonthe loss of identity and belonging we experience when we don't have a healthy connection to long-ago ancestors, who were in right relationship with the land and within the web of life plus more - and even then, just beginning to explore what Osprey shares in her book. Listen in, let me know what you think, and get a copy of The Story is in Our Bones for yourself and for someone else you know whose heart is with us in the Great Turning. Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), where she works internationally with grassroots, BIPOC and Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and diverse coalitions to build climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized clean-energy future. She sits on the executive committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and on the steering committee for the Fossil Free Non-ProliferationTreaty. Osprey’s writing about climate justice, relationships with nature, women in leadership, and other topics has been featured in The Guardian, Earth Island Journal, The Ecologist, Ms. Magazine and many other publications. Osprey holds an MA in Culture and Environmental Studies from Holy Names University in Oakland and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area on Coast Miwok lands. Learn more: Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN International) the Women Speak section of the WECAN website Kawsak Sacha: The Living Forest Declaration Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature Show notes: turningseason.com/episode38.

    56 min

  8. 10/14/2023

    How Restoring the Water Web Relieves Drought, Fire and Flood (with Alpha Lo)

    Alpha Lo caught my attention when I heard him say, "All we have to do is…" and then lay out a sweeping plan for how California can effectively restore rain, prevent both wildfires and floods, and regenerate the water cycle. He explained how we could reverse the negative effects on the water cycle caused by how we've built our cities, treated our forests, and run our agriculture. This plan clearly would take many years, and plenty of political will and resources, but he said, "All we have to do…"  I loved that, because he helped me see that it's all possible. As he described it, I could see it happening.  With a background in physics, and experience working in different permaculture farms and eco-restoration projects, Alpha is now in the water restoration field. He's been researching the connection of climate, water and ecology, and publishes the Climate Water Project newsletter and podcast. He co-founded a network of water land managers, watershed restorers, and people interested in understanding the connection of water, climate and ecology. He is the co-author and editor of the "Open Collaboration Encyclopedia," and has utilized those collaborative skillsets in emerging a water network. Alpha has opened my eyes to how crucial the way we handle water is to addressing our ecological and climate emergencies. It's at least as important as carbon - but, as he explains in this conversation, water is getting less attention because the science on water hasn't been made as clear to the public as the science on carbon. So, I hope that after you listen you'll join us in spreading the word, and bringing water into your conversations about climate. In this conversation, you'll hear about: how pavement, channelization of rivers, and cutting down trees lead to less rain, and more vulnerability to drought and firehow improving soil and vegetation help prevent floods, with examples from California and Australiahow animals are key players in the "water web" - from wildebeest to dung beetles to wolvesthe role regenerative water practices play (or might play) in local and global coolingpractical changes we can make in small homes and gardens, and on large areas of land - like permeable pavement, curb cuts, swales, terraces, greywater systems, and (of course!) bringing back beaverswhy there are hundreds of climate scientists working on the "small water cycle," but there's very little public awareness and policy discussion around itthe idea of international collaboration in "precipitation recycling watershed networks," because rivers and rain cross all political bordersand one of my topics of greatest fascination: the insights we can get from seeing the Earth as a body, and our bodies as landscapes This episode is rich with information and I'm excited to hear what sparks your curiosity, your hands-on actions, your conversations. Visit the shownotes at turningseason.com/episode37 for links to: Alpha Lo's newsletter, podcast, and networkthe work of the scientists he mentionsand to contact me or subscribe to email updates on new Turning Season episodes.  Thanks for being here, and for all the ways you play your part in the Great Turning. Show notes: turningseason.com/episode37 Music by East Forest

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About

Turning Season Podcast is here to hearten you with regular doses of Active Hope in this uncertain, perilous, beautiful adventure we call The Great Turning. We bring you enlivening conversations with people rising to their own unique roles in our worldwide shift to life-sustaining societies. This show is for every one of you who's aware of our multiple crises, feels your love for life on Earth, and chooses to participate in cultivating ways of life we can believe in. Show notes: www.turningseason.com Music by East Forest. (Episodes 1-35 are The Dreamers' Den Series, where I dive deep with experienced dreamworkers. We help you engage your dreams for insight, inspiration, and connection with community.)

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