Voices on the Side

Yuval is an Israeli, anti-zionist Jew, an artist, a writer, a dancer but most importantly — a human. He hosts the Emergent Wisdom podcast, which explores current events and the challenges of being human through the lens of ecology and mysticism. He is dedicated to the liberation of love, land, and Eros — which we talk about in this episode.

Hearing Yuval speak is at once grounding and uplifting. As we acknowledge the horrors of colonialism and genocide, Yuval invites us to stay connected to our souls, each other, and the Earth. I love that he describes the inherently contradictory nature of being human as a cosmic dance, a dance that can and will bring us all to collective liberation.

Yuval’s experience growing up in Israel and serving in the Israeli military provides unique insight into Zionism and his path to liberation from Zionism. He gives me hope that we as humanity can keep joining together until we are all free.

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Liz is the president of AAP(I belong), a nonprofit organization that aims to raise greater awareness on Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander discrimination and cultural challenges. Liz created AAP(I belong) after her mother was attacked — for being Asian.

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I am very excited to welcome Michelle back on the podcast. In this conversation, we talk about making room for multiple feelings, self-erasure, and pressure testing our values. 

Since her last visit, Michelle went back to our shared motherland of Korea. I loved hearing about how it felt like it was her first time returning home.

We also address the institution-wide repression when it comes to liberating Palestine, the weaponization of feminism, and the need to abandon binary thinking. 

Michelle leaves us with the actionable advice to commit to any issue that we feel called to, as all of our issues our connected. 

Please enjoy, again, the lovely and inspiring — Michelle.

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Michelle’s book

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Amanda is a Jewish, queer, anti-zionist writer and poet. Her words have been clarifying, educational, and ultimately — liberating. Witnessing the genocide in Gaza, where the population is over 1 million children, I personally have unearthed a courage that I haven’t ever felt as a woman of color in this country. It’s felt scary at times, especially as people I had considered friends yelled at me and called me antisemitic. I am so grateful for voices like Amanda’s that remind me that it is right to align with oppressed people globally. 

Our conversation is — as Amanda encourages us all to be — unapologetic in telling the truth. Amanda’s linguistic clarity and pointedness are a powerful call for all of us to understand and speak what we know to be true, even — or perhaps especially — as it goes against the mainstream narrative. 

We talk about the weaponization of Jewish trauma, the whitewashing of colonialism, and the importance of listening to and learning from Palestinians. On that note, I wanted to share a couple resources recommended by Amanda: a lecture by Abdaljawad Omar and an essay by Mohammed El-Kurd.

Due to the deep-seated anti-Palestinian racism here in the west, we also recognize that sometimes it takes non-Palestinian voices like ours to bring people into the conversation.

So, welcome. I’m so glad you’re here and I hope you will enjoy the radically honest — Amanda.

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Mo is a Palestinian artist, author, digital creator, and father. He has been tireless in educating all of us on what is and has been happening in Palestine for 76+ years. 

Mo shares with us how it was to visit Palestine for the first time last September, from standing outside his grandfather’s ancestral home to the guilt he felt that he was able to set foot on his homeland when most of his extended family cannot. He talks about being Palestinian in the diaspora, and how much has changed from once having avoided conflict to now being so proudly Palestinian.

We talk about the hope that the college students give us, the harmful weaponization of antisemitism, and how so many of us throughout the world are waking up from indoctrination.

Please enjoy the very cool and very inspiring — Mo.  

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Jemarc is a trauma recovery coach and wellness consultant supporting Queer, BIPOC, and neurodivergent beings. They are a speaker and lead workshops including the upcoming master class — Reclaiming Your Compassion — on May 18. (Details pinned on their profile.)

In our conversation, Jemarc shares their personal story of identity, trauma, and healing. They emphasize the absolutely powerful force of unhealed trauma as our greatest existential threat. They explain the differences between short term relief versus the long view of true healing, how decolonizing the self is innately about healing, and what it looks like when our self-care is ego-centric. 

Jemarc also talks about Buddhist principles, meditation, and the concept of ReActivism.

The extended version of our conversation is available on my new Patreon, along with a growing collection of bonus content.

Please enjoy the unapologetically authentic — Jemarc.
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We are back with one of our most beloved guests, Sasha. Sasha is an ancestral healing practitioner and death doula who has been a truly incredible voice of collective liberation and dismantling supremacy culture and thinking. Since her last visit to the podcast, Sasha has launched Phoenix Rising — a community for healers of the resistance. 

This conversation is fuel for the soul. We talk about what it means to embody liberation, the incredible mobilization of the student encampments, and the way we are literally seeing how we are taking care of us. Sasha’s message is to keep going, keep rising up. 

Sasha tells us about her recent visit back to Egypt and we share stories about how we feel the presence of our ancestors and the land. 

As a heads up — there’s a bit of spicy language! We keep things real in this space. 

Because our conversation went long, I’ve made an extended version available on my new Patreon. Come and check us out over there.

Welcoming back our favorite fierce healer — Sasha. 

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Tejal is an Indian American yoga teacher, writer, podcaster, and community organizer. She advocates for yoga through a social justice lens through her online studio, the abcdyogi global community, and the Yoga is Dead podcast.

We talk about our respective journeys to becoming yoga teachers and the issues we see in the yoga and wellness world. From spiritual bypassing to centering physical movement to the co-opting of words like namaste, what is presented as yoga here in the west is an extracted and appropriated version of a spiritual practice. 

Tejal shares with us that creating community has always been a part of her life, and that the point of yoga is to care for the collective and for those who are most at risk. She encourages us to go beyond living a life that is simply fine and to do what we are passionate about. She also reminds us of the importance of rest — of finding the savasana in our day. 

Tejal is an example of what it means to be a true yogi.

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Judy is a Boundary Coach, speaker, and author of The Boundary Revolution. With two decades of clinical experience as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Judy expertly journeys with individuals and groups towards boundary healing and collective liberation.

In our conversation, we share our personal stories around growing up in an immigrant family, parenting our children, and being committed to breaking cycles of trauma.

Judy is so real in talking about how hard life can be, but that in choosing authenticity, anything that is hard is ultimately worth it. I love the way she runs narratives and ideas through her body, recognizing what feels good and true in her body. I also really appreciated how she — very compassionately — showed me where my thinking was stuck in the binary.

This episode is at once healing, illuminating, and heartwarming — just like Judy herself.

And, if you would like to dive further in with Judy, check out her upcoming weekend intensive on May 18-19. She will be talking about the impact of generational trauma in the context of making sense of what is happening around us.

A free digital copy of Judy’s book.

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Sole is a social justice educator, writer, speaker, and the founder of Nectar, which provides political education and healing justice to support communities and movements. She is currently an Activist-in-Residence at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Starting with her own immigration story, Sole teaches us about the rules of whiteness, the fact that white supremacy is not about the actual color of your skin, and the way all oppressive systems are connected.

We talk about the journey we are all on as we wake up to truths we had not been aware of, and that not everyone wakes up at the same time. Sole emphasizes the need to be compassionate to those that are not there yet, while also recognizing that sometimes friendships dissolve when having these hard conversations. 

Sole’s work is rooted in her love of humanity, which is how I think she is able to maintain such joy and hope.

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