Vegetation: Meditation in Community

We are grateful to have you at our virtual table where we center food as connection, storytelling as medicine, and pleasure as resistance! Grab a plate because we are diving right in!

This episode features Eric Abel Esquivel-Gutierrez (any pronoun with respect). Eric is an Actor, Teaching Artist and Health Educator reborn and currently based in Oakland, CA. He is knowledgeable in creating safe, nonjudgmental and fun spaces where human beings of all ages can connect and learn from one another. For the past eleven years Eric has worked with various Bay Area youth-centered organizations using theatre arts and music creation to engage students in a myriad of health-related topics. He is also passionate about using himself to bring stories to life onstage.

Pull up a seat and grab a plate! At this virtual table we center food as connection, storytelling as medicine, and pleasure as resistance! We hope you are hungry.

We are grateful to have D. Anaya as our special guest on this episode of This American Rice. She is the Founder and Creative Grief Guide at Adventures of Grief Girl, Co-host of Grief after Dark Podcast, and Indie Publisher,  AGGink.  As a Grief Guide, D. uses over 35 years of performance arts research and experience in visual arts, storytelling, poetry, puppetry, physical theatre, painting, photography, book making and journaling to encourage bereaved (mothers) to consider “play” as a healing experience. She is a true innovator, creator, and healer. Through multisensory installations, live performances, and grief talks, D inspires creativity and a passion for surviving crisis through creative means.

D. shares a recipe that is simple, spicy, and warming - The Mystic Fireball. This drink is perfect as we head into shorter days, darkness, and coldness. Whether enjoyed hot or iced, with whiskey or without, the spicy notes and delicate cream of The Mystic Fireball help us find a good excuse to slow the F down and breathe.

Grief is truly complex and in this conversation with D. we explore its many dimensions. D. shares insight on her practices and rituals that help to uplift and empower individuals (and herself) to take ownership of their human experiences, create play and pleasure as a ritual practice, and to share their own stories with others in solidarity.

About this podcast: Each episode of This American Rice features one of our favorite co-conspirators who will share personal stories about the (sometimes messy) intersections of culture and identity, personal practices, and a delicious recipe we can all enjoy together. By sharing these simplest of pleasures we are weeding out the legacy of manifest destiny.

Resources

We are so glad you have joined us to convene around the virtual table where we center food as connection, storytelling as medicine, and pleasure as resistance!

This episode features Certified Professional Men’s Coach, facilitator, and teacher, Mike Sagun. Mike facilitates EVRYMAN's FUNDAMENTALS program -- a monthly virtual experiential intensive program that helps men develop and strengthen emotional intelligence and he leads men's retreats all over the United States. His work is simple: he helps men feel. Mike is currently launching a brand new retreat in Mexico in February 2023! This exclusive experience will be an opportunity for men to let go of energetic weight and reset their nervous systems. The impact of Mike’s work has a ripple effect well beyond his clients -his work truly impacts families, friendships, and communities.

Mike shares his special Golden Milk Smoothie recipe with us. This recipe is inspired by the traditional Indian drink made with tumeric, cinnamon, ginger, and other spices. These spices come together to soothe the gut and reduce inflammation. Mike transforms golden milk into a smoothie that can be enjoyed as a meal or after a workout.

Mike also shares stories and history about his Filipino ancestry, learnings from his immigrant family,  and what it was like growing up in the US and discovering the many facets of Self. Mike currently lives in the iconic little town of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico with his husband and pitbull rescue. When he's not working with men, he's probably tending to his plants and garden, moving his body, watching the Golden State Warriors, or in the kitchen cooking a meal.

About this podcast: Each episode of This American Rice features one of our favorite co-conspirators who will share personal stories about the (sometimes messy) intersections of culture and identity, personal practices, and a delicious recipe we can all enjoy together. By sharing these simplest of pleasures we are weeding out the legacy of manifest destiny.

Resources

Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Vegetation podcast. This is episode 2 of the Winter Solstice Vegetation session with our magical co-conspirator, Jen.

Our introspection on (re)generation continues and we begin to explore the connections among grief, eldership, and the shadow self. Can we challenge ourselves to begin to see grief as a medicine that can hold us? What if we believed that grief could be an expansive space where we could allow for a deeper understanding and connection to love and humanity?

We know these are some deep questions and we do not have answers for you, but we have a comfy seat waiting here for you to listen in and ponder alongside us. We can't wait to see what sparks for you after listening to this episode!

Resources

Annnnnnd we are back! We have been on sabbatical for the past two months and we are so excited to share an all new series of the Vegetation podcast. In this series we travel back to 2021 Winter Solstice and our Vegetation session with one of our favorite co-conspirators, Jen (she/her). 

Jen is a speech therapist by trade and a deep feeler by inheritance. She is interested in seeing the world through a lens of emotions, loves a ritual, and cherishes the ever-growing connections to the Grandcestors.

Together, we begin to explore (re)generation: the continual cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Life is constant regeneration, yet we move too quickly or are too focused on the many “what ifs” of the future to acknowledge or recognize our incremental evolution and growth in this continual cycle of (re)generation.

Join us as we pause to (re)connect with the love and magic that surround us, helping to guide us with every step of our own (re)generation. 

Stay in conversation

This episode feature’s Tharavada Yoga’s own Hannah (she/her/ella). Hannah Cordero Chen is a daughter to Mexican immigrants, public health leader, philanthropist, and is an aspiring curandera and community healer. During the pandemic she has been exploring what the concept of “(w)holistic care” really means, especially for herSelf. Through the sharing of personal stories we learn how Hannah has transformed her goal  of ‘trying to be happy all the time’  to just letting herSelf feel whatever comes up. . . and learning that light and darkness can coexist. Hannah believes that by allowing more curiosity and ease into her life, she is actively working to dismantle ancestral shame and heal not only herSelf, but also her lineage.

This is a new flavor of the Vegetation podcast: This American Rice! We are so glad you have joined us to convene around the virtual table where we center food as connection, storytelling as medicine, and pleasure as resistance.

Each episode features one of our favorite co-conspirators who will share personal stories about the (sometimes messy) intersections of culture and identity, personal practices, and a delicious recipe we can all enjoy together. By sharing these simplest of pleasures we are weeding out the legacy of manifest destiny.

To kick off This American Rice, we have a very special guest. Our very own Jamie Asdorian (she/her). You may know her as the founder of Tharavada Yoga and the co-host and co-creator of the Vegetation: Meditation in Community podcast, and she is also a first generation daughter of Indian immigrants, a teaching artist, yoga instructor, actor, director, and health educator. In this interview you will learn more about Jamie’s journey to re-indigenize herself, and how her passion for helping people connect to their own wisdom and power makes her a prime example of what it looks like to be an ancestor-in-training.

Welcome back to part 4, the last episode of the Love Beyond The Romantic series.  In episode 1, Love Beyond the Romantic, we explored the connections between our own Self-love and the intimacy in our relationships. Episode 2–Authenticity and the Discovery of Self–had us diving deeper into what it feels and looks like to be a “caregiver” instead of a “caretaker” in relationships. And we hope you enjoyed and were nourished by last episode’s meditation guidance.

Last week’s meditation episode was the recording of our “dhyana”--silent, absorbed meditation; and this week, we re-join our past Selves to listen to what came for them during that part of the Vegetation journey.  We hear ourSelves identify our own self-sabotage and then school ourselves on how to move forward with grace and power–if we dare to take our own advice.

RESOURCES and LINKS from this episode

Welcome back to episode 3 of the Love Beyond The Romantic Vegetation series. In this episode, we are sharing the guided meditation channeled by Jamie during our Vegetation practice on December 31st, 2021.

We offer this to you, our Digital Village, as a support in your spiritual practices or sadhanas; and perhaps in your own Vegetation practice!

The guidance is approximately 22 minutes, with about 8 minutes of soft background music.

Time Stamps

1:40  - Vegetation Lead in

4:15  - Vegetation recording begins

5:00  - Meditation Guidance begins

11:16 - Pause in guidance, soft music continues

24:05 - Silence

24:50 - Guidance resumes

Vegetation Themes

Honoring our desires

Connection - self, earth, life, ancestors, expansion/universe

Being part of the great cycles

Looking for trust in the in-betweens of the somatic body

Sahasrara (crown) chakra

Ajna (third eye) chakra

Svadistana (sacral) chakra

Muladhara (root) chakra

RESOURCES and LINKS from this episode

Welcome back to part 2 of the Love Beyond The Romantic Vegetation series, Authenticity and the Discovery of Self.

In episode 1 we explored the connections between our own Self-love and the intimacy in our relationships, and why we may not be experiencing the deep friendships we long for.  We also began to explore what it feels like to be a care”giver” instead of a care”taker” in relationships.

In this episode, we go deeper into what it feels and looks like to be a “caregiver” instead of a “caretaker” in relationships. For us, caregiving includes ensuring that we are whole, centered, and energized and then helping others from a place of self love and cup overflow. For us, caretaking is when we try to share energy from a deficit, which often ends up serving our own ego instead of the person we want to help.

Our past Selves also inspire us to believe that we do not need to prove our worthiness or suffer through pain in order to form strong bonds or feel intense love or intimacy with others and ourSelves, it can be easeful. They remind us that we have tools at our disposal like Human Design, adornment, and rituals to help us honor our authentic selves; and that we can get better at recognizing when we need to rest, feel unsafe, or when we carry feelings that are not truly ours.  This acceptance and rebalance of the Self allows us to show up more fully and be ready to receive and give love.

RESOURCES and LINKS from this episode

We welcome you to our inaugural episode! The pilot! The first iteration of Vegetation: Meditation in Community. We have put all of ourSelves into creating this for our Digital Village and it means so much to us that you are reading these words right now.

In honor of February we wanted to talk about love beyond the romantic – all different kinds of love. In this episode we explore the connections between our own Self-love and the intimacy in our relationships. We talk about creating intimate friendships and why we may not be experiencing the deep friendships we long for.

We also begin to explore what it feels like to be a caregiver instead of a caretaker in relationships. For us, caregiving includes ensuring that we are whole, centered, and energized; and then helping others from an abundance of energy.  Caretaking is when we try to share energy from a deficit, which often ends up serving our own ego instead of the person we want to help.  This is something that has been so important as we have learned to care for others while trying to stay centered and tethered to ourselves.

RESOURCES and LINKS from this episode