Follow the golden thread / Center of this universe is / In my own heart / Divided by dark caves / Flooded by roaring rivers…

Urana Heart joins the podcast to share her journey to wholeness, following golden threads that led to her own heart. Urana, originally born in Mongolia, is a CPA, poet, healer, and artist. Our conversation explores how to recognize the calling of the Soul and guidance of Spirits to discover unclaimed parts of ourselves, and how to integrate the gifts through Nature-based creativity and spiritual practices.

She shares poems from “Golden Thread” and plays an original song. I loved how each piece she shares adds a yet new thread to the intricate and organic art we weave together, and the podcast has a sacred quality that can only come from a heart-centered presence. We recorded the podcast on the one-year anniversary of the publication of her book “Golden Threads.”

Visit Urana’s website at: www.uranaheart.com

Get autographed copy of “Golden Threads”:  www.uranbilegbatjargal.com

Listen to Urana’s music: http://uranaheart.bandcamp.com/

“Cultivate Yourself in 2022” Event https://www.fourgardenspodcast.com/event-details/cultivate-yourself-in-2022

Full Bio: Uranbileg Batjargal (Urana Heart) was born in Mongolia. It is the country of horsemen, warriors, conquerors, nomads who travel camelback, shamans who communicate with worlds and dimensions beyond the ordinary reality. As a young person, she loved climbing barefoot on the rocky hills, gathering wild berries, conversing with small birds, and singing out loud in the open summer sky.

Urana left Mongolia when she was 19 to study in Japan, where she became immersed in the contemplative arts. She graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Master’s degree in Economics and moved to the United States to pursue a career at the World Bank.

Today, Urana walks in two worlds. As an economist and a certified public accountant, she makes a living by managing budgets and solving business problems. Urana is also a poet, a certified mindful meditation teacher, Reiki Master, and a practitioner of shamanic healing and sound healing. Her healing methods integrate her native lineage of Mongolian shamanism, years of devotional practice of Bhakti yoga with Sanskrit chanting, her connections to plant medicines, and deep apprenticeship with Nature following the native American medicine wheel, four shields, and vision fasts. She offers an alchemy of practices that help clients remember who they are, heal themselves, and succeed in their endeavors.

Urana completed three vision quests informed by the Native American tradition of celebrating the coming of age and starting of a new life. Those vision quests changed her life and continue to guide her work today. Urana’s poetry is filled with rebellion against the ordinary, longing for freedom and love, and returning to roots. She invites us to investigate what in our lives is ready to die; how we can make a companion of patience as we witness the old gradually giving way to the new; and ways we may embrace rebirth with the love and strength that all newborns need and deserve to receive. Urana’s music is heart-felt, grounding, and delightfully joyful.

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My friend Tristan Montoya and I have a vulnerable and authentic conversation integrating our experiences from the International Tantra Festival in Tepoztlan, Mexico. This was the first tantra festival for both of us, and we discuss its powerful impact and the possibilities it has opened up in our lives.  We share about how each of us followed our highest excitement to attend & how our intentions helped deliver a potent experience.

We consider what it takes to stay grounded in intense experiences like this one where bliss, feeling rejected, and a whole range of emotions can occur. Both of us received a powerful tantric massage session from Karolina Karwan (@elfbless on instagram) and we speak about this profound experience surrendering to the feminine and learning how to soften the layers around our hearts.

Tristan is a writer & intuitive coach who helps creative entrepreneurs complete their vision by connecting to their GENIUS in a way that feels deeply fulfilling. Stay tuned for a follow up episode with Tristan on how his healing journey from a brain injury has given him a new life, clarity around his mission, and the inner strength from which he can now guide others.

Check out his website: www.tristanmontoya.com and download a free copy of his book The 8 Secrets of the Heart.

Follow him on Instagram: @artofallowance

Read his Medium article about his recovery from a brain injury: https://tristanmontoya.medium.com/living-life-with-a-brain-injury-a2a61a2ea527

Signup for the free Four Gardens event online: “Cultivate Yourself in 2022” https://www.fourgardenspodcast.com/event

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My friend Nil Akselioglu is a Sex, Love, and Relationships Coach who supports people to “reclaim their joy, pleasure, love and safety.” We discuss her new coaching practice, self-pleasuring, how to raise teenage boys in the age of internet pornography, approaching sexuality from a service mindset, consent, and how she works with people with different gender experiences and sexual orientations.

Follow Nil on Instagram: @kyssmyblyss

Nil’s Bio: I believe that our greatest power is LOVE, that joy and pleasure are our birthright. I guide the seeker to uncover their own true essence, to bring to consciousness the innate wisdom and truth within their very being.  To reclaim the joy, pleasure, love and safety that has been there all along. By harnessing this deep inner knowing and wisdom, we are able to unfold and integrate stories, conditioning, traumas  and limiting beliefs that have been with us all our lives.

I hold a strong container rooted in safety, love and compassion. I infuse our sessions together with my grounded presence, playfulness and aliveness.

Through the pathway of becoming a Sex, Love and Relationship Coach (SLRC) with the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, I’ve had the opportunity to dive into the deepest parts of myself. I  look forward to sharing these powerful practices with my beloved community and 1:1 coaching clients as a pathway to empower, reclaim and live in our full aliveness around love and sexuality.

I am a single mama of 3 teens—my greatest teachers, have been practicing yoga and meditation for over 20 years, am 200 YTT certified, and am excited to weave these lineages of mindfulness together through my coaching practice. My experience has been that all paths lead us back to LOVE, always asking, how deeply can we love ourselves in this very moment?

In a year of uncertainty and fear, it's more important now than ever to connect back into community, to integrate and heal our wounds, and to empower ourselves with practices that will allow us to rediscover our original essence.

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Ari Rubens recently returned from a 65-day Outward Bound Outdoor Leadership Semester in Costa Rica that pushed his edges, grew his skillset, and helped him overcome life-long fears. He joins the podcast for the second time to unpack this powerful experience with me and share his highlights and lessons from the journey. He regales me with tales of encountering jaguars, deadly snakes, scuba diving, rafting, surfing and more. Ari is an inspiring friend and I am grateful to be collaborating with him on this podcast and on our nature connection business Engaged Ecology.  

Listen to Ari’s first episode on the podcast here: https://bit.ly/3phMLMM

Learn more about him at https://www.arirubens.com 

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Comedian Myq Kaplan shares about the origins of his career in stand-up comedy and in podcasting. He reflects on the intentions behind his comedy and how his approach and form has evolved over the years. As a fan of Myq as well as his friend, I enjoyed learning about his journey and the lessons along the way.

About Myq: Myq has appeared on the Tonight Show, Conan, Letterman, James Corden, Seth Meyers, Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, and America’s Got Talent. He has a one-hour standup special on Amazon, “Small, Dork, and Handsome,” and two podcasts, The Faucet and Broccoli and Ice Cream. His first album, “Vegan Mind Meld,” was one of iTunes’ top 10 comedy albums of the year, and his newest album, “A.K.A.,” debuted at #1. The NY Times called it “invigoratingly funny” and included it among its five “coronavirus best new comedy specials”… “to remind you of the old normal.” And now, here we are in the new weird!

website: myqkaplan.com

latest album (AKA): https://www.blondemedicine.com/aka

newsletter: https://myqkaplan.substack.com/

broccoli and ice cream: https://broccoliandicecream.libsyn.com/

the faucet: https://faucet.libsyn.com/

social media: @myqkaplan everywhere or more specifically

https://twitter.com/myqkaplan

https://www.instagram.com/myqkaplan

https://www.facebook.com/myqkaplan

Link for our friend Liz Glazer’s website: https://www.dearlizglazer.com/

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Lauren Hershey joins the show in the middle of an adventure in the UK. I enjoy how many of my conversations with Lauren explore the power of words to shape our reality. This conversation continues that inquiry, as Lauren shares her thoughtful and creative approach to conflict resolution, storytelling, gender, astrology, and nature connection. Later in the conversation we share about what poetry has meant to each of us and our writing process.

Bio:

Lauren Hershey, Founder of The Unconventional Plutonian

Lauren Hershey is a word witch, storyteller, conflict resolution practitioner, and astrologer who founded The Unconventional Plutonian (UP). She is a writer of speculative fiction and poetry; lover of mythology and all that is archetypal and fantastical; and a practitioner who weaves creativity from the unseen realms into practical everyday use.

Since 2012, Lauren has worked in international conflict transformation & peacebuilding, inter-personal conflict resolution, education, and storytelling. She is passionate about equipping individuals and communities with resources for self-discovery and empowerment.

Lauren creates conflict resolution, astrology, and storytelling workshops and tools to empower folks to navigate and transform and re-wild their lives with courage and empathy.

Lauren brings her curiosity, inquisitiveness, and whimsical nature to all she is passionate about. She loves nature, travel, and exploring hidden realms. She loves gardening and adores working with plants and their healing magic. She loves animals and feels very much at home by the forest and by the ocean. Lauren is a proud queer nerd and perpetual student of life.

My website: https://the-unconventional-plutonian.teachable.com/

Resources for gender and supporting LGBTQ+ trans & nonbinary

Alok V. Menon: https://www.alokvmenon.com/

Local org needing support: https://casaruby.org/

Mental health support: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/donate/?gclid=CjwKCAiA1aiMBhAUEiwACw25MeXW8nvqjxWcPzyf3tKIjfjVMBaCs8GL0iAcur5rEuiJ_bR5ChUNShoCMB4QAvD_BwE

Marsha P. Johnson Institute: https://marshap.org/

Link to ALOK episode on For the Wild Podcast: https://forthewild.world/listen/alok-on-unruly-beauty-245

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Sasha Bugler joins the show and we have a lively conversation about permaculture and her work managing a flower farm. We each offer our definition of permaculture and relate our permaculture background and studies. Sasha shares an overview on how to practice no till farming. Later in the conversation she shares about her mental health journey with bipolar disorder and we reflect on what we can learn from our own natural cycles and how that relates to the Four Gardens.

Sasha’s Links:

Sweet Piedmont on fb

sweetpiedmont.com

sweet_piedmont on IG

4 the Soil VA https://www.4thesoil.org/

Never sink farm https://www.neversinkfarm.com/

tools https://www.neversinktools.com/

mutineer hoe  neversinktools.com/collections/mutineer

Also Broadforks are available from many sources. I recommend an all metal one

Heifer International - https://www.heifer.org/

Heifer Village and Urban Farm  - https://www.heifer.org/visit-heifer/index.html

Lost Valley Events and Educational Center - https://lostvalley.org/

Holistic Sustainability Semester - https://lostvalley.org/sustainability-semester/

National Alliance on Mental Illness - https://www.nami.org/Home

New Culture - https://www.cfnc.us/new-culture/

Aquanimous: https://www.aquanimous.com/

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Kevin Hauber joins the podcast again to lead me through the positive intent process. This is a two person practice where one person guides the other through an internal reflection.  Kevin leads me through the process with the goal of understanding and transforming my inner critic that has come up around making this podcast.

In the episode, Kevin describes the positive intent process as, “The way we take things we’ve ignored or pushed off for a long time and to look at them and create an entirely different relationship with that part of us. And to harvest the negative energy of the negative judgments that were there and to bring that in a good way that helps us with our missions in life.”

You can find the Omega Point Program script for free for the positive intent process on Day #14 of the Phase 0 program at https://omegapointprogram.com/phase-0-11-20

Listen to my interview with Kevin Hauber here: https://bit.ly/3CQbEoq

Kevin’s Website: https://www.abundanthealthslo.org/

If you are interested in joining our men’s group, email Kevin at [email protected]

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For years I tried many different meditations programs without ever establishing a steady long-term practice. Learning and practicing meditation and breathwork with Mallory Combemale changed that, and for the past two years the practices she taught me have consistently improved my mental and emotional states.  Mallory is the creator of Breath Connection, the co-founder of Inheritance Project, and one of my closest friends. In this conversation Mallory defines breathwork, we marvel at the amazing power of our breath, and explore the world-changing implications of expanding spiritual awareness.

Mallory’s links:

www.inheritanceproject.org

www.breathconnection.co

Follow Mallory and her businesses on IG:

@mallorytransforms

@breath_connection

@inheritanceproject

Mallory’s full bio

A Singaporean-French-American citizen raised in London, Mallory has always been fascinated with identity and facilitating cross-cultural understanding.

In her 10+ years of consulting and facilitation experience she has worked with C-Suite executives from Fortune 100 companies, non-profits, city government agencies, public schools and start-up founders.

As a co-founder of the Inheritance Project*, she leads transformative experiences for groups to bridge divides, build trust, and create communities of belonging. The Inheritance Project's unique methodology focuses on inviting understanding and dialogue about our own and others' unique inheritances.

Mallory also has deep experience guiding personal healing and transformation. She is a 500-Hr certified yoga teacher specializing in breathwork and meditation, and has extensively studied trauma-informed approaches to healing. Through Breath Connection, she empowers leaders with scientifically supported breath practices to improve leadership skills such as emotional intelligence, creativity, collaboration and resilience.

*Inheritance (n) - a new definition: ancestry, culture, beliefs, values, stories, social conditions, traits, and perspectives received from past generations

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Omar Aena is the creator of Dance Lab and one of my favorite DJs. Music and dance are just one dimension of Omar. I’ve experienced him as a thoughtful and heart-centered community organizer and friend. In our conversation, Omar shares his journey of healing and cultural re-connection following a traumatic incident in Guatemala. Omar’s recovery process led him to go back to his Iraqi roots. He learned Arabic, studied Islam and history, and just recently made a trip to the Middle East where he led Ecstatic Dances, reconnected with his family in Iraq, and created beautiful bridges across different cultures.

Links for Omar’s soundcloud and for Dance Lab

https://soundcloud.com/omaraena

https://www.facebook.com/DanceLabCommunity/

Follow Dance Lab @dancelab_nyc

The 47soul song we referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0aPuIpOAoc

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