In Episode 10, we explore the deep wisdom of mycelium (the largest organism on earth), and how we can mirror our embodied collective healing from its brilliant networks. You’ll receive delightful and insightful downloads about how we can move with the authentic pace of our nervous systems, and co-create an embodied relationship with our mycelial potential. Plus, you’ll get to drop in with the existing & emerging work of Mycelial Movement Network- you can find out more on IG @mycelial_movement_network).

In Episode 9, we are graced by the incomparable burlesque icon Mx Pucks A’Plenty. We begin by musing on the queer history of burlesque, including evolutions in body diversity on burlesque stages that more inclusively represent BIPOC & queer/trans folks (who have always been here). We also share about each of our own burlesque journeys, the vulnerability and power of burlesque, and why burlesque is a liberatory practice.  

In Episode 8, Bex & Morgan explore the practical magic of breath and song as foundational tools for embodied awareness and liberation. Drop into the wisdom of your body with a guided breath practice from Morgan and an original song from Bex. 

In Episode 7, we have the joy of interviewing Aaron Johnson, one of the co-founders of Holistic Resistance. Together we co-weave a conversation of lineage, disrupting oppression at every level, land-based trauma healing/grief work, nutritional & life-saving connection through touch activism, the ancestral healing technology of song, & relationship building for holistic resistance and collective liberation. 

In Episode 6 we have the honor of interviewing Grace Towers, a powerful Chicanx dragtivist, creatrix, community builder and long time chosen fam of Morgan, who is based in San Francisco. We explore coming home to our queerness, radical family healing, investing in intergenerational relationships & so much more. Happy Pride month y’all & welcome homo!

In episode 5, we weave a thread in the tapestry of collective liberation, one of the foundational topics of this podcast. We consider some big questions: How do we opt out of individualism and centering comfort? How do we opt into our inherent belonging to the earth and to each other? Entwining together brilliant wisdom from some of our most inspiring teachers with our own personal musings, we explore rest as resistance, grief & gratitude, and a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. The episode closes with a mindful breath practice.

References:

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Climbing PoeTree

Oppression & the Body (book) - The Trauma of Oppression (chapter) by Merlin Fryie

Liberated to the Bone by Susan Raffo

Coming Back to Life by Joanna Macy & Molly Brown

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” —Angela Davis

In episode 4, we dive headfirst into the pleasure pool! We go deep into the waters of pleasure & eroticism as a path to liberation (thank you, adrienne maree brown & Audre Lorde), what holds us back from being in our fully embodied pleasure, undoing internalized shame around sex and sexuality, differentiating between pleasure and sex, the relationship between pain and pleasure, and much more. We also give secret insight into the future that queer&trans people want (hint: no hierarchy of holes) and share some of the ways we are queering our pleasure. Grab a towel, we're gonna get wet!

"All the power to the pleasure that brings us our aliveness." —Morgan

References:

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

The Uses of the Erotic by Audre Lorde

 In episode 3, we begin to explore one of the foundational questions of the podcast: what does it mean to queer our healing? We start by mapping the terrain of what we’re healing from, digging deeper into neurotypicality & neurodivergence, and sharing our own journeys through chaotic systems in search of healing for ourselves and others. We also discuss zombies receiving therapy for neurophobia and the power of taking silly little walks for our silly little mental health. 

References:

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters

Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy if Injustice by Rupa Marya & Raj Patel

“It is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society” —Jiddu Krishnamurti

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown (Emergent Strategy Series)

In episode 2, Bex & Morgan share about the origin stories of their names, (some of) the teachers who have helped shape their lives, and the unique magic they each bring to the podcast and their work in the world. 

A few of the teachers named in this episode: 

Aaron Johnson 

adrienne maree brown 

Joanna Macy

Dolores Huerta

Pema Chodron

Thich Nhat Hanh

We’d like to thank the many teachers of all shapes, sizes, and species who teach us how to be in this world with compassion and courage.

 In the first episode of Queerly Forward, co-hosts Bex Lipps (they/she) and Morgan Vanderpool (they/them) muse on the origins of the podcast and discuss the endless possibilities for how to move queerly forward towards healing and collective liberation. There’s also gay mushrooms and lots of laughter.

Teachers mentioned in this episode:

adrienne maree brown - Pleasure Activism

Joanna Macy - Active Hope

Link to transcript