Inward Bound Mindfulness is a nonprofit organization offering intensive mindfulness retreats to youth across the country. In this episode, Inward Bound Executive Director Erik Osugi, and Nikki Cistac, the lead for programs and community engagement, talk about the transformative power of mindfulness for a richly diverse community of young people. Resources: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Inward Bound Mindfulness website: https://inwardboundmind.org/ Contact Erik Osugi: erik@inwardboundmind.org Contact Nikki Cistac: nikki@inwardboundmind.org

Matt Weir is a Louisville-based sculptor and stonecarver who has been commissioned to create an outdoor sculpture for the Earth & Spirit Center. In this episode, Matt reflects on his creative process, including the cosmic humility and contemplative practice entailed in working slowly with ancient natural materials. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Learn more about the Earth & Spirit Center: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Falls Art Foundry: https://fallsartfoundry.com/ Matt Weir’s website: https://mweirworks.com/ Louisville Visual Art: https://www.louisvillevisualart.org/ Information about the Louisville Visual Art’s Curate, Purchase, Inspire program, which is funding the installation of Matt’s sculpture on the Earth & Spirit Center campus: https://www.louisvillevisualart.org/cpi

Louisville Collegiate School is an independent school committed to whole-child education. In this episode, Head of School Rob Macrae and Assistant Head of School Jim McGuire describe how they are introducing spiritual practices and principles in a secular educational context, as a way to cultivate kids with self-awareness, a sense of community, resilience, and a commitment to the common good of people and planet. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Louisville Collegiate School: https://louisvillecollegiate.org/ Collaborative for Spirituality in Education: https://spiritualityineducation.org/ Awakened Schools Institute: https://spiritualityineducation.org/awakened-schools/

Will Hunter is a former monk, hermit, and wilderness therapy guide, who currently serves as the retreat director for the Earth & Spirit Center in Louisville, KY. In this episode, Will and I talk about the evolution of monastic life and how the desert or wilderness spirituality of monastic practice is possible – and even essential – for all of us, even in the midst of our built environments and our busy lives. Resources: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Will’s upcoming three-week course on Wilderness Spirituality (in-person and online via Zoom): https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/class/wilderness-spirituality/

Shelly Sowell is a therapist and well-being coach who integrates mindfulness and self-compassion into her work with individuals and organizations. In this episode, we reflect on how mindfulness provides a helpful path of healing, integration, and hope for individuals and communities in the wake of the 2024 elections. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Shelly's website: shellysowell.com Shelly’s Instagram: @buildamindfullife Shelly’s blog page: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog Blog Post on Fear: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/buildamindfullife-workingwithfear Blog Post on Supporting Kids: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/buildamindfullife-electionanxiety Blog Post from last year on Prepping for Holidays: https://www.shellysowell.com/blog/mindfullyprepfamilyholidays

In this brief episode, Earth & Spirit Podcast host and producer Kyle Kramer gives some background on why the podcast feed has been dark for a bit, and what the future holds for the podcast moving forward.

David Gershon is the co-founder and CEO of Empowerment Institute, author of a dozen books, and is one of the foremost social change experts in the world. In this conversation, David shares his vision of world peace by 2030 and the inspired and inspiring way he is helping create the means to achieve it. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Registration link for World Building Workshop in Louisville on September 7, 2024: https://poe.earth/POEWBWorkshop Learn more about the Peace on Earth by 2030 Movement: https://peace2030.earth Learn more about the Peace Game and the Peace Game App: https://peacegame.earth https://docs.google.com/document/d/1arS7L8fkp2DgKgfuD3GOAxykugYm3TwGusaZ8Zw5ZA4/edit?usp=sharing https://poe.earth/app Learn more about David’s work and writing: https://empowermentinstitute.net

Brayton Bowen is an organizational consultant, author, educator, and speaker, who served as a senior human resources officer for Fortune 500 companies. He’s also a fierce advocate for compassion in the workplace. In this episode, we explore the benefits compassion can bring in organizational life and beyond. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Brayton’s website: https://buildingbetterworldsofwork.com/ Brayton’s books: https://buildingbetterworldsofwork.com/success-resources/

John Gage is a Louisville-based folk singer-songwriter and a former public radio host. For over six decades, his music has engaged deeply with spirituality, social justice, and care for the Earth. John brought his beloved old Martin guitar with him to the Earth & Spirit Center to add a few live songs to this wide-ranging conversation about music as a force for good in the world. His most recent album, Circles of Our Lives, features several Wendell Berry poems that John set to music, one of which he performed during this conversation. John teaches music for the Camp Odyssey summer programs at the Earth & Spirit Center, so since our summer camps are in full swing, we are re-airing this episode, which originally aired in 2021. Resources: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center website: www.earthandspiritcenter.org John Gage on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/26zYYPXePtVOO7hHjieUGj

Mat McDermott is Senior Director of Communications for the Hindu American Foundation, a non-profit advocacy organization for the Hindu American community, and an author and contributor for many Hindu American Foundation policy positions on environmental care and the ethical treatment of animals. This conversation explores how Hindu spirituality, and especially the various forms of yoga, help cultivate an ethic of love and care for the sacred world we all share. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Hindu American Foundation: https://www.hinduamerican.org/ Learn more about the June 21 International Day of Yoga

In honor of the Earth & Spirit Center’s upcoming summer camps, we’re replaying an episode from the archives, about the importance of nature-based free play. Claude Stephens is the Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design for Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest. He’s also the director of Bernheim’s Children at Play Network, an initiative that helps connect children to nature through free play. This conversation explores the importance of free play in nature as an engine of inspiration and imagination, empowerment, equity, and efforts to sustain healthy communities and landscapes. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center: https://earthandspiritcenter.org/ Bernheim Research Forest and Arboretum: https://bernheim.org/ Children At Play Network: https://childrenatplaynetwork.com/

Reverend Seifu Anil Singh-Molares is a priest in the Rinzai Zen Buddhist tradition and serves as the executive director of Spiritual Directors International, an interfaith non-profit that provides resources for spiritual guidance and counsel. This conversation explores what spiritual direction is and how important it is for discerning wisdom and divine presence in all aspects of our life. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Spiritual Directors International: https://www.sdicompanions.org/ Contact Rev. Seifu: anilsm@sdiworld.org

Rebecca and Pete Davis are a sister-and-brother filmmaking team who have created “Join or Die,” a documentary film about the decline of civic life in America and the importance of joining clubs and other associations as a way to restore the health of our democracy. This episode explores how we are all made for belonging and how we can lean into the profoundly joyful work of becoming more deeply connected to our places and to each other. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Join or Die film: https://putnamdoc.com/

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder executive director of WECAN, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, and the author of The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis. In this episode, we explore how embracing a different story about our belonging in a living, animate world can transform our self-understanding and can help to heal our relationship with ourselves, each other, and the rest of the living Earth. RESOURCES: Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Osprey’s organization, Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network: https://www.wecaninternational.org/ Osprey’s new book, The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis

Tom Williams is a Louisville-based labor relations attorney with a deep commitment to the contemplative path, with the wild idea that a lawyer’s vocation may ultimately be to serve as a healer. In this conversation, Tom shares how he puts spiritual principles and insights into action as a tireless advocate for radical compassion, restorative justice, equity, and inclusion. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Learn more about Restorative Justice: https://www.voamid.org/services/restorative-justice/ Learn more about Tom’s legal practice: https://www.skofirm.com/attorney/thomas-m-williams/ Compassion Games International: https://www.compassiongames.org/

Dr. Susan Taylor is a PhD economist who has given her life to weaving together commitments of religious faith and commitments to a more just economy. In this episode, we reflect on the central and complicated role that money plays in human life. As an alternative to bare-knuckled capitalism, Susan offers the idea of Sabbath Economics – a radical vision of abundance and economic justice for people and our planet – a vision that each of us and all of us can start living toward right here and right now. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Susan’s financial advising firm, Just Money Advisors: https://www.justmoneyadvisors.com/ Faith and Money Network: https://faithandmoneynetwork.org/ OneEarth Jubilee: https://oneearthjubilee.com/

Dr. Michael Hollifield is a psychiatrist and general practitioner who serves as the Founder, President, and CEO of the War Survivors Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to restoring health to civilians and soldiers who have been harmed by war, as well as mitigating the causes of violent conflicts. In this conversation, Michael reflects on the causes of war, its devasting effects, and how mindfulness and other spiritual practices and insights can bring peace in troubled hearts and troubled times. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ War Survivors Institute: https://warsurvivors.org/ War Survivors Institute Virtual Walkathon: https://givebutter.com/2024onewalkathon Upcoming WSI Events in Louisville, KY: WSI will be in the military section all day at Thunder Over Louisville (April 20, 2024): https://thunderoverlouisville.org/ WSI Healing Hearts Evening Event: May 16, 2024 at the Muhammad Ali Center: https://warsurvivors.org/event/healing-horizons-event-at-the-muhammad-ali-center-louisville-ky/

Denise Davis taught writing for decades and is deeply committed to the spiritual journey and to journaling as a particular avenue of spiritual practice. In this conversation, Denise describes journaling as a chance to create what Howard Thurman called an Isle of Peace, where it’s safe to reflect on our experience, cultivate compassion for others, and seek the imprint of the divine in our lives. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Learn more about Denise’s Earth & Spirit Center course, “Journaling as a Spiritual Practice” (begins March 4, 2024): https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/class/journaling-as-a-spiritual-practice/

Stephanie Barnett is a healthcare consultant, spiritual director, and nonprofit leader who understands her work as accompanying those on the margins, including young mothers who are in active recovery from substance abuse. In this conversation, Stephanie shares how compassion is the spiritual thread woven throughout all her work, knitting together communities of kinship and belonging, where all can know their own worth and belovedness. RESOURCES: Donate to support the Earth & Spirit Center and this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Visit the Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Stephanie’s nonprofit, iAccompany/ChooseWell Communities: https://www.choose-well.org/ Homeboy Industries: https://homeboyindustries.org/

Matthew Fox is an author, theologian, and activist Episcopal priest whose radical interfaith work attempts to reawaken us to the sacredness of the created world. In this conversation, originally released in October 2022, Matthew reflects on how creation-centered spirituality, and the marriage of the divine feminine and sacred masculine, can help us respond with hope to the troubles of our apocalyptic times. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Donate to support this podcast: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/donate/ Websites related to Matthew’s work: http://www.matthewfox.org http://www.thecosmicmass.com http://www.orderofthesacredearth.org http://www.dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org