Rebel Buddhist

In this week’s Episode, we’re going to jam on how to disagree... because we humans kind of suck at it. I’ll talk about the art of disagreeing, including two great questions you can ask yourself and others when you’re involved in a disagreement. Plus, I’ll get into the importance of staying curious in all of this, and how we can use these tips to help make our interactions with other humans a little more compassionate and kind – which is something we could all use these days.

// Check out these related episodes:

Episode 2: How to Not Care What Other People Think of You

Episode 16: How to Improve Any Relationship

Episode 19: On Anger

Episode 28: Practical Emptiness

Episode 87: The Problem with Being Right

Episode 107: Equanimity in Everyday Life

// Sherry Turkle’s Ted Talk about social media’s impact on the art of conversation: “Connected But Alone”  https://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_connected_but_alone

// If you’re looking for ways to find deep, genuine connection with other like-minded humans, join me in the Adventure Mastermind – a small group of inclusive, self-identified womyn who get way behind the bullshit and embark on a 6-month adventure together, inward, and outward.

Registration is officially open. So head on over to AdventureMastermind.com and grab your spot now!

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there! 

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com

. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

This week’s episode is a word of encouragement for those of us who are highly sensitive… and love letter for all they do for us. I’ll open up about my own experiences as a sensitive person and how I’ve learned to love and care for that part of me. Plus we’ll dive into how we can support those who are more sensitive than us, not only for their own good, but for the good of all of us.

// Episode 152: Sensitivity and Addiction

// Episode 179: Medicine for These Times

// If you’re looking for ways to find deep, genuine connection with other like-minded humans, join me in the Adventure Mastermind – a small group of inclusive, self-identified womyn who get way behind the bullshit and embark on a 6-month adventure together, inward, and outward. 

Early-bird registration is officially open. So head on over to AdventureMastermind.com and grab your spot now… plus get in on some seriously sweet early registration bonuses like saving $2k and getting private sessions with Ana! 

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there! 

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

In this week’s episode we’ll talk about the medicine we can use for these times of intense suffering in the world. Our planet is literally - and figuratively - on fire, and the current crisis in Israel and Gaza, as well as other parts of the world with ongoing war and displaced peoples and genocide, has heightened this awareness. While our natural instinct might be to harden our hearts, numb out / dissociate, or spiral into a state of hopelessness, this episode dives into what we can do to soften our hearts toward moments of fear and anger so we can stay present with the wholeness of reality, including the achingly beautiful parts. I’ll open up about my recent journey in Oregon and my realizations that an armored heart doesn't protect us like we think it does. Plus, I’ll discuss what we can do to access true internal refuge instead. 

// Episode 83: Vulnerability & Lovingkindness

// Episode 173: A Hidden Superpower of Trauma

// If you’re looking for ways to find deep, genuine connection with other like-minded humans, join me in the Adventure Mastermind - a small group of inclusive, self-identified womyn who get way behind the bullshit and embark on a 6-month adventure together, inward, and outward.

Early-bird registration is officially open. Head on over to AdventureMastermind.com and grab your spot now… plus get in on some seriously sweet early registration bonuses!

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

For me, a lot of my adventures and career shifts came while wandering, being open to what the universe showed me and the serendipitous events that arose.

Some of you know I was a climbing guide for a decade, and that would have never crossed my mind as an option I’d come up with thinking about careers in my head! I was on track to get my degree in psychology then go to grad school for my PhD.

But one day, a guy I was teaching a beginner’s rock climbing course with said, “Hey, you should apply to Outward Bound.”

I never thought I could do that, but I applied and got the job. The youngest woman ever hired by that branch at the time. And that led to more jobs. Then, voila! Climbing guide.

Or like when I did an ice climbing clinic in Ouray, Colorado and wandered into a group of women who signed up for a program with a life coach and I was like, what’s that? And I called the coach up and asked where she studied to be a coach and voila! Life coach!

So yeah. Wandering is the shit!

One of the things that I was introduced to during my yearlong apprenticeship with Bill Plotkin and Sage Magdalene is ETCs, or “experiential threshold crossings.” 

ETCs are practices for embodying our mythopoetic identity before we’re ready to choose a delivery system for our unique Soul purpose. This could be a career, a practice for creativity, a free offering to your community…

These practices reshape our Ego to be a channel for that identity. They bridge the transcendental experience we had and this future delivery system to embody your Soul as a gift to others.

I’ve found that most of the time we need to get clear through action - get out of our heads and stop thinking that we can think our way to clarity and instead get out there and DO shit to get more clear.

Wander.

The gift of wandering really need to be embraced, because one of the most profound and enriching gifts we can give ourselves is the freedom to explore, question, and navigate the myriad options that shape our purpose.

That word - purpose - carries a lot of weight for many of us. We long for it because until it’s clear, we often feel untethered, searching for direction.

And because modern industrialized society isn’t set up to help us discover it, it’s elusive. It would rather we stay obedient cogs in the corporate wheel. This environment makes seeking our purpose both an inspiring adventure AND a potential source of seep suffering and frustration.

It’s in this kind of labyrinth of choices that I really started to resonate with a quote from poet Ranier Maria Rilke, “Live the question.” Rilke encourages us to embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty of this epic adventure!

When we’re exploring our purpose, it’s essential that we start asking lots of questions - deep ones that do more than just keep us on the surface. And instead of rushing to answers, we want to try to savor the questions themselves, because that is true exploration.

This gives us the gift of curiosity. We learn to view uncertainty and not knowing as an opportunity for growth and discovery.

But here’s the paradox: when we see a bunch of paths to walk down, the pressure to choose one can be overwhelming.

What if, instead of being restricted to a single destiny, we allowed ourselves to explore all the things? What if we took the time to wander and explore?

But there’s resistance to this, right? We sort of judge wandering as purposeless meandering through life. It suggests a lack of direction.

What if we reconsidered wandering as a form of purpose in itself? What if the act of exploring without a predetermined destination held its own value?

This doesn’t mean wandering has to be aimless. It can be more of a dance, be open to what arises, which can often lead us to the unexpected - and surprisingly delightful - discoveries.

As for getting clear about our purpose, it’s good to have a beginner’s mind and be willing to adapt and shift with the skandas of life, the ebb and flow of our evolving purpose. This helps us not get stuck in some box of rigid goals.

It helps us discover the inability to reinvent ourselves and our purpose as new things are revealed to us. It helps us discover our authentic selves.

I found this was - actually, IS -  so true for me as I peel away layers of conditioning to discover even more layers of authenticity that lie deeper than I ever imagined. It’s a really cool process.

Another important piece to this is being patient - with both our wandering and our perspective about our purpose. This frees us from comparison and expectation. We also no longer seek to fulfill the dreams of others but to live authentically.

In the end, I’ve found that our purpose unfolds over time, weaving together the threads of our life’s journey. Like what I did always seemed to take some threads from what I did before (and now).

This process gives us permission to evolve, to make mistakes, and to grow. We learn to appreciate the imperfections and detours, recognizing that they are integral to our journey.

Finding a balance between action and patience allows us to navigate our purpose with intention and commitment. We learn to discern when to pause and when to move forward.

So how can we begin to incorporate the wisdom of living the question into our daily lives? I could go on and on about this, but here are some suggestions to start:

Consider shadowing someone in a field you’re interested in.

Plan time to adventure and meet new people and have conversations - you never know what will arise!

Allow quiet time for reflection and insight. Either through daily time or a solo camping trip or even a longer-term program like the Adventure Mastermind.

(Be sure to check out the full Episode for more ways we can “live the question” daily)

No matter what you choose to do, get out there and wander - remember not all who wander are lost! AND if you’re feeling lost, that’s totally cool too because the goal is to live the question and get comfortable with not knowing the answers, right?

// How wandering helps us connect with our Soul Purpose

// Why we should lean in to the unknown

// The truth about the gift of wandering

// How adjusting our expectations can help us receive these gifts

// Ways we can begin to “live the question” in our daily lives

// Episode 42: Being Multi-Passionate

// Episode 71: How to Find Your Purpose

// Episode 99: Rebel Purpose

// If you want to engage and commit to this path for a longer term experience, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics. 

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

This week’s episode is about why we fall back into our old ways, even after experiencing potent transformation and growth. We’ll chat on what many types of spiritual regression signifies, why it happens (to ALL of us), and why it’s important we see that it’s a normal part of ANY transformational process. This is essential to help us prevent falling into hopelessness on our path. Plus, I’ll give you some steps we can take to make those moments easier when they happen… because they WILL happen!

// Why we regress or fall back whenever we experience any kind of growth

// What regression really signifies and why we should stop fighting it

// Steps we can take BEFORE we revert to help us through the process

// Ways to practice surrendering to the present moment (wu wei). 

// Episode 100: How to Know You’re Making Progress

// Episode 113: The One Thing

// Episode 126: How to Know if Your Making Spiritual Progress

// Episode 175: The Two Wings of Freedom

// If you want to engage and commit to this path for a longer term experience, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

This episode is all about MDMA-assisted couples therapy. We’ll demystify MDMA and how it works on a biochemical level to help us change our ways of thinking. I’ll explain how its therapeutic potential can help us address past traumas that affect our current relationships, and we’ll chat about what the future holds for MDMA-assisted couples therapy. Plus, I’ll go over the most important step to see lasting results.

// The three common areas challenged in a relationship, and what happens when any of them breaks down

// The truth about MDMA and its therapeutic potential - in addressing the three areas above, too!

// The importance of using MDMA in the correct context and structure

// How MDMA can help address past traumas that affect our current relationships

// What the future holds for MDMA-assisted couples therapy

// The most important step in MDMA- assisted couples therapy for lasting results  

// Episode 97: Psychedelics and Spiritual Practice  

// Episode 153: Psychedelic Exceptionalism

// If you want to dive into this level of healing with a small group of self-identified womyn, having plant medicine retreats in Alaska and Hawaii, adventures in nature and learning more about your mind and your deeper Soul Purpose, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!) 

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to wisdom and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

In this episode we talk about the two wings of freedom: wisdom and compassion. I’ll explain the importance of cultivating a balance of both, and what can happen when we are practicing one without the other (HINT: often, more harm than good). We will also go over some tips to help us cultivate both wisdom and compassion in our daily lives.

//To cultivate compassion, try this guided Tonglen Meditation audio (30min)

// Episode 28: Practical Emptiness

// Episode 51: Self-compassion

// Episode 106: Empathy vs Compassion

// If you want to dive into this level of healing with a small group of self-identified womyn, having plant medicine retreats in Alaska and Hawaii, adventures in nature, and learning more about your mind and deeper Soul Purpose, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist and be the first to hear about the next dates and locations and special deals. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics. 

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and coaching calls, where you can get coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Plus, we have entire months devoted to different wisdom topics and compassion. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

This week, I want to share a story about my mom and me. How I misunderstood her dreams for me… and the joy of lifting an intergenerational burden that wasn’t just mine. How I began to decolonize my mind. I’ll share a recent experience that showed me that I had been secretly feeding into my fears all along, and the moment of realization which helped me break free. Plus I’ll help you begin to change your own mindset from one of fear, unsafety, and unworthiness to one of love, protection, and FREEDOM.

// You can continue to donate to the Hawai’i Community Foundation that spreads out the funds to different organizations: https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/

// If you want to dive into this level of healing with a small group of self-identified womyn, having altered states retreats in Alaska and Hawaii, adventures in nature and learning more about your mind and your deeper Soul Purpose, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

This week’s episode is all about the hidden superpowers we can find in our trauma. We’ll talk about our ability to dissociate, and why it’s so critical to our development as children and our ability to survive. I’ll also dive into how our left and right brain communicate and how they can help - or hurt - us in moments of trauma or activation. I’ll give you some good tips on how to heal from our self-alienation and show ourselves more love and compassion.

// Episode 51: Self-Compassion

// Episode 166: No Bad Parts

// You can continue to donate to the Hawai’i Community Foundation that spreads out the funds to different organizations: https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/

// Check out more of Janina Fisher’s work with trauma and healing at janinafisher.com

// If you want to dive into this level of healing with a small group of self-identified womyn, having plant medicine retreats in Alaska and Hawaii, adventures in nature and learning more about your mind and your deeper Soul Purpose, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!

This episode is all about the myth of there being anything remotely “normal.” We’ll talk about How modern industrialized society has created the concept of “normal” and how that’s hurt the way we view others and ourselves. Plus, I’ll dive into where mental health issues often stem from in the first place (hint: it’s not in our biology), and how changing our mindset can help us begin the healing process as individuals and as a society.

// Episode 50: When Someone You Love Has a Mental Illness

// Episode 97: Psychedelics and Spiritual Practice

// Learn more about “The Myth of Normal” in Gabor Mate’s book

// If you want to dive into this level of healing with a small group of self-identified womyn, having plant medicine retreats in Alaska and Hawaii, adventures in nature and learning more about your mind and your deeper Soul Purpose, visit AdventureMastermind.com to get on the waitlist to be the first to hear about the next dates and locations. (P.S. If you’ve already done the mastermind, stay tuned for a special alumni retreat. We’ll pick up right where we left off and dive even deeper!)

// If you’re new to the squad, grab the Rebel Buddhist Toolkit I created at RebelBuddhist.com. It has all you need to start creating a life of more freedom, adventure, and purpose. You’ll also get access to the Rebel Buddhist private group, and tune in every Wednesday as I go live with new inspiration and topics.

// Want something more self-paced with access to weekly group support and getting coached by yours truly? Check out Freedom School – the community for ALL things related to freedom, inside and out. Learn more at JoinFreedomSchool.com. I can’t wait to see you there!