WeBeTheChange: Conversations with Evolutionaries

What does it mean to walk the Red Road—and how does it begin?

In this episode of We Be the Change, Colleen Akiko opens the series A RED HEART, with shamanic elder, musical edu-tainer and Certified Heartmath trainer, Jim Eaglesmith (aka Jimi Ji).

Jimi shares his journey of walking away from the spotlight to a heart-purifying sweat lodge, pivoting his path to the Red Road.

Enjoy Colleen and Jimi’s rich conversation about choosing integrity over ambition, third ear listening, humbling himself to indigenous wisdom, and awakening to the calling of a red heart.

Can a single moment of clarity change the entire course of your life? Jimi shares how one moment of surrender redefined his path—and may inspire yours.

Feel free to bless us and others with your comments. Also, if you’d like a complimentary micro eBook and Guide, we’d be delighted to email it to you. It’s called, Embracing Your Evolutionary Luminary, an autobiographical story with Yoda that explores the question: what if the change you seek... is already here?

Touch back at SongRise.LIVE

In honor of Memorial Day and all who have valiantly served for "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness," may this song, Let Freedom Ring, help keep the dream kindled in this storm.

This song came through me shortly after Election Day. Recording it was like riding a bronco--its meter made abrupt turns with math equation time signatures. I released it quickly, with its faint echoes of familiar patriotic music.

On post Election Day evening, I had scanned my Facebook feed and saw an image that a dear friend shared of a roaring red tsunami. My eyes couldn't look away. My stomach queased, my heart constricted, and my DNA screamed.

Images of traumatized people resembling my birth family flashed on the life-sized screen of my mind. The Manzanaar Internment Camp monument is two hours down the road, with its glossy museum of visual assurances that such an atrocity would never happen again.

I remember standing in the drafty wood-planked quarters where families who’d been seized were forced to live in the high desert's windy subzero temperatures.

These were my tribe--the Japanese Americans. Allowed to fight for a country that stripped them of their dignity.

I feel sadness and gratitude welling up around my Japanese mom, who passed in 2017. Though she'd worked many years for a bank in the United States, her green card had long expired. The thought that she could have been among those deported and treated inhumanely is too painful to hold. I think of the many dear ones who now anxiously live in this reality, breath by breath.

Seeing the red wave image back in November brought forth whole-body tears for the horrific devastation it signaled for so many. Out of that sorrow, the song Let Freedom Ring emerged. This song chronicles my heart navigating through the valley of the shadow of death, led by an angel's message to be awake in this surreal, tragic dream.

May we dig deep and reach high, drawing from the Wellspring that nourishes us through change into true freedom.

--Colleen Akiko

P.S. You can click HERE for my song discography and other musical resources. Thank you! 🙏🏽💕

My Country ’Tis of Thee

Cried in a dream to me

For Thee I sing

Migrants were runnin' hard

Chased with guns near and far

Families were grieving

Dearest ones were leaving

While tidal waves of blood

Broke in an angry flood

Frightened and betraying

Then I heard an angel saying:

"The life you see is more than what it seems

Find yourself awake inside the dream

See yourself awake

Feel yourself awake

Be yourself awakened in this dream”

In Truth forever stand

Breathing Grace with the land

Healing wounds with kindness

Loving through the blindness

My Country ’Tis of Thee

Whispered in hope to me:

Let freedom ring

Let freedom ring

copyright © 2024 by Colleen Akiko

What if the sacred practice of surrender isn’t just giving up—but tuning in?

In this intimate closing episode, we enter the labyrinth of surrender—guided by supportive ancestral presence, the body’s wisdom, and nature’s quiet invitations.

Join this final segment of the series Individuality of Universality, where Colleen Akiko and Matthew Hara discuss somatic listening, support systems, and releasing control.

What topics would you like to hear about in future WBTC episodes? Colleen and Matthew mentioned a few possibilities--such as, how to connect with the right mentor for you, music as a vessel for holistic integration, and taking care of the temple of the body.

May this episode be a connection point. May you feel supported on the path.

For more resources and the FREE eGuide, Out of Your Head, Into Your Light, please reach out to Colleen at Songrise.LIVE And check out what Matthew has cooking at MatthewHara.com.

Enjoy one of Matthew's songs at the end.

What if your feet could teach you how to come home to yourself?

This is the third segment of the series, Individuality and Universality with spiritual teacher and yogi, Matthew Hara. In The Wisdom of Embodiment we unpack the illusion of spiritual ego and the temptation to "dress up the mind" with spiritual words, as we more fully appreciate the profundity of the feet and becoming like a little child.

Listen and reflect with us on how spiritual depth isn't found in escape—but in grounding, unlearning, and the simple act of showing up in your own body.

Enjoy mining conversational gems around the essence of yoga, honoring the descent of the Universal into body, and reclaiming how being in non-resistance transforms everyday life into sacred practice.

For related Bonus Content and your invitation into the WBTC community, visit SongRise.LIVE.

"How can I trust my body’s wisdom over my mind’s story?"

In Part 2 of Individuality & Universality we explore the mystical nature of being in the body without identifying with the mind, which leads to suffering.

We hear how non-resistance and practices like Yoga ultimately reconnect us to truth, our heart, and awakening--as embodied Presence.

Relish this animated conversation with Matthew Hara and host Colleen Akiko, titled, "Come Home to the Body."

For related bonus content and your invitation into the WBTC community, visit SongRise.LIVE.

After years of depression and addiction, Matthew Hara went from being “Oscar the Grouch” to a globally recognized spiritual guide, songwriter and yoga teacher.

In this episode of We Be the Change, Matthew talks with host Colleen Akiko about the pivotal moments that sparked his awakening—beginning with an unexpected meditation on a San Diego beach.

Matthew’s raw journey through fear, darkness and rejection offers gleaming insights on maintaining compassion, sensitivity and living from the heart.

In a murky world resistant to change, enjoy this series with Matthew Hara for wondrous clarity into your own transformation.

Bonus Content available at SongRise.LIVE

Inspired by the timeless words of Saint Francis of Assisi, I offer this song as a musical healing balm in the earthly loss of Pope Francis. May his radiant example of kindness, compassion and true leadership continue lighting our way through the volatility of our times.

Yesterday was my Aunt Bernice's last earthly day of life. She was 95 years young; a beautiful artist and the matriarch of our family. A lifelong Catholic believer, Bernice was blessed in her last hours to receive the Pope's Easter Blessing through the mass on her hospital room TV. The poignant, sacred timing holds my heart in awe.

May we honor the Christ-ness of Pope Francis by embodying his Easter blessing's words of peace, freedom and compassion. May we live in utter gratefulness as instruments of God's peace.

I Am Thy instrument of peace

Where there is hatred, I sow love

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith

Where there’s despair, hope

Where there is darkness, light

Where there is sadness, Joy

O Divine may I not so much seek

To be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love

To be love, to be Love

For it is in giving we receive

It’s in pardoning we are pardoned

And it is in dying we are born

to eternal, eternal

Life

adapted from the Prayer of St. Francis

copyright © 2024 by Colleen Akiko

This is part five of the five part series Connecting with Donna Apidone. In this episode, Fear: A Stop Sign or a Doorway?, you'll hear encouraging stories for navigating life's volatility with presence, humor, and real hope.

From fear to freedom, and identifications to reinvention, this conversation with Donna Apidone and Colleen Akiko reminds us that the heartful stories we carry—and the ones we choose to create, can guide us through even the most unpredictable chapters.

When was the last time you asked: What’s next for me?

In this 4th segment of the series, Making Connections with Donna Apidone, we explore TransForMission—a five-step framework for personal transformation that Donna began in the wake of loss. This class and book have been guiding seekers and lifelong learners toward meaning and purpose for over 20 years.

Discover what can happen when a room full of people commit to the sacred work of becoming who they really are.

We also learn about the uncanny evolution of the popular book and podcast, Drive-Time Meditations--perfect for setting a centering tone during commutes.

This conversation is about transformation that lasts—what it takes, what it gives, and why it never stops deepening. If you’ve ever wondered what your life is here to say, this episode will speak to you.

 This is part three of the five part series Connecting with Donna Apidone. In this conversation, you'll hear how Donna cultivated real connections with her many NPR Morning Edition guests--even when she thought she didn't like them!

The purposeful compassion beneath these connections also infuses how and why she still listens to a LOT of news--every day! Her stories and perspective show us how we can hear news stories with an empathetic heart--which brings about more change than we may realize.

Hear valuable tips towards the end for finding the most reliable news sources.