Shaping Sapiens

Over the last ten years, Alyson Atma Simms has gone through more than her fair share of loss. With each passing of a loved one, Alyson explains that every experience is different, and grief is never linear. As a yoga teacher, Alyson is intimately familiar with the internal mind/body connection — and when combined with her gift for writing, she is able to turn her pain into extraordinary teachings. In this special Dia de Los Muertos episode, Alyson helps to normalize bereavement, offering practical advice for those inside and outside the “Grief Club” and the ways we can support each other when our loved ones have crossed over.

As a Kripalu Yoga instructor and somatic movement therapist, Janet Farnsworth is no stranger to the on-going war we have with our bodies — the constant barrage of voices that berate our imperfections, damning our “flaws” and holding us to the impossible societal standards of beauty and perfection. In her new book, Love Your Body, Janet shares how a sexual assault at an early age caused her to detach from her body for over 30 years, and how when she finally learned to come back to it, she discovered that in the very flesh we are taught to hate — resides the deepest truths of our humanity, and by rebelling against those voices in our heads, we can win the war and finally arrive home in ourselves once again.

Growing up the daughter of a Japanese American mother and a father of French-Canadian descent, Fran Tatu was raised with an immense capacity for compassion for others. Her parents were human rights activists, her father a U.S. diplomat, and between the ages of 6 months and 16 years, Fran lived in over nine different countries, mostly in Southeast Asia. What her parents taught her was to never judge another because of what they looked like or what they didn’t have, but rather to love them and meet them where they are. This foundation is what fuels Fran to travel across the country today and fight against injustice, especially on behalf of the families being separated at the border. Fran teaches that a little kindness goes a long way, and ultimately, when we are called to do what is right, we are never alone on the journey.

For centuries, our species has used storytelling for entertainment, to document our history, to heal our hearts, and even to survive. Without it, our world would be less colorful, more binary, and certainly less magical. As a novelist and playwright, Josh Wagner is no stranger to the power of a story, and in this episode, he reminds us that life is unpredictable and sometimes inconceivable. Yet, if we can hold on and trust the story, we might find the ending to be more extraordinary than we could have ever imagined.

So much of our lives is spent in transit that it's easy to take for granted the road underneath us, always assuming it’ll be there to get us where we need to go. Imagine the stories we could learn if roads could talk. In her new book of poetry, Failure to Merge, Micah Ruelle personifies Interstate 35, giving it a voice that is hard, edgy and wise. I-35 is the only highway to cross the U.S. from north to south, and Micah credits it as the highway that raised her. Her book is a series of letters that address the differences between its borders, its infamous exits, and how the changes we desperately need to make as a nation must first begin with ourselves.

So much of our lives is spent in transit that it's easy to take for granted the road underneath us, always assuming it’ll be there to get us where we need to go. Imagine the stories we could learn if roads could talk. In her new book of poetry, Failure to Merge, Micah Ruelle personifies Interstate 35, giving it a voice that is hard, edgy and wise. I-35 is the only highway to cross the U.S. from north to south, and Micah credits it as the highway that raised her. Her book is a series of letters that address the differences between its borders, its infamous exits, and how the changes we desperately need to make as a nation must first begin with ourselves.

For much of her life, Simone Allmen was no stranger to dangerous situations. Having lived on a commune in New Mexico and hopping all over the world, she eventually found herself in L.A. falling in love with documentary filmmaking. In 2005, she travelled to Kurdistan and Iraq for what was supposed to be a short 3-week film project but what turned into an epic 4-year odyssey of trying to help tell the stories of the Kurdish people. Simone’s story is raw with no wrinkles smoothed out. Full of darkness and light, she teaches that no matter how many lifetimes you survive, there is always room for more, if you are audacious enough to show up for it.

For much of her life, Simone Allmen was no stranger to dangerous situations. Having lived on a commune in New Mexico and hopping all over the world, she eventually found herself in L.A. falling in love with documentary filmmaking. In 2005, she travelled to Kurdistan and Iraq for what was supposed to be a short 3-week film project but what turned into an epic 4-year odyssey of trying to help tell the stories of the Kurdish people. Simone’s story is raw with no wrinkles smoothed out. Full of darkness and light, she teaches that no matter how many lifetimes you survive, there is always room for more, if you are audacious enough to show up for it.

What do you do when you are called to change the world? In 1969, the answer for Mrs. Pamela Stanescu was, “I guess I’ll teach!” For 45 years, Mrs. Stanescu remained a constant in the halls of Warner Robins High School, teaching everything from English to AP Government to AP Art History. She was our Google before we had Google! In the span of 10 minutes, she can take you from Palladio’s architecture to the depths of Van Gogh, then onto poverty in Middle Georgia and finally wrapping up with the inspirational work of Vygotsky. Most of all, she would always address us as “Great and Glorious Human Beings!” and we believed her, because what she saw in us, we saw in her.

What do you do when you are called to change the world? In 1969, the answer for Mrs. Pamela Stanescu was, “I guess I’ll teach!” For 45 years, Mrs. Stanescu remained a constant in the halls of Warner Robins High School, teaching everything from English to AP Government to AP Art History. She was our Google before we had Google! In the span of 10 minutes, she can take you from Palladio’s architecture to the depths of Van Gogh, then onto poverty in Middle Georgia and finally wrapping up with the inspirational work of Vygotsky. Most of all, she would always address us as “Great and Glorious Human Beings!” and we believed her, because what she saw in us, we saw in her.