In The Spirit of Business

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Baba Dez Nichols who has been weaving the worlds of spirituality, business, and shamanism for many years. He shares about his first encounter with meditation at age 16, how he later taught about sacred sexuality on weekends, founded a health-food company in the US, and ten years later opened a temple in Arizona, later followed by founding the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA).
We talk about sex magic, his approach to integrated sexuality and love as well as money, and power.
Dez has been part of the sacred sexuality community for many years. He is an Internationally renowned speaker and teacher, Daka, author, singer-songwriter, and transformational guide who has been featured on numerous TV and Radio shows for his contribution in the Healing Arts and evolving human consciousness.
He is the founder of the International Schools of Temple Arts (ISTA) and the Annual Sexuality and Consciousness Festivals and Conferences.
Today he mainly supports other educators, therapists, councilors, and guides to deepen their skill, presence, and mastery in the areas of healthy living, relationships, and sexuality.
This episode was recorded at Highden Temple, a mystery school in New Zealand, a very special place.
Show Notes & Links
- More about Baba Dez - https://ista.life/profile/baba-dez-nichols
- Highden Temple - https://www.highdentemple.org
- International School of Temple Arts - https://ista.life
- Caroline Muir (https://divine-feminine.com) and Charles Muir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Muir)
- River and Diamond Jameson - http://livingfreedom.info
- The Huna way - http://www.huna.org/html/teaching.html
- Osho - https://www.osho.com
- Elizabeth Clare Prophet - https://www.elizabethclareprophet.org

Songyi Lee welcomed me into her house near Wellington in New Zealand on a beautifully rainy afternoon. We talked about her journey from working at an NGO to becoming a Silicon Valley crypto startup CEO - until she chose to leave the company during what she calls the "The dark tunnel” (we all go through it at some point).
From there she discovered meditation and mindfulness to support herself and started teaching that to others. She integrated mindfulness into her everyday life and work and founded Weave, a Korea-based purpose-driven collective that has mindfulness, income-sharing, and values that support the connection between all the members and customers at its core.
We talk about the importance of autonomy in community, and how disconnection from the true self is at the core of many crises.
Songyi is currently is a chief weaver of Weave as well as a strong advocate for the use of blockchain in disrupting the status quo. Prior to founding Weave, Songyi co-founded 37coins, a Silicon Valley startup, to empower the world’s unbanked population by providing access to payments through bitcoin and a decentralized SMS network. She is also a founder of Zentrepreneurs, a mindfulness education program for entrepreneurs and businesses and is an active member of communities like Enspiral, Edmund Hillary Fellowship, or Nonce.
Then there are all the small things she does and doesn’t even mention, for example after our interview, she said “I have to get ready for a presentation in a bit” when I asked about what, she casually said, “Well, we are helping North-Korean defectors to integrate into society and start their own businesses and teach them about entrepreneurship”. That was a normal afternoon for her :)
Episode Links
Weave Collective: http://weave.work
Books Songyi Recommends
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan
- The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
- A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Apps Songyi Recommends
- Headspace (for beginner)
- Insight Timer (for self-practitioner)
Meditation
Vipassana - https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index

In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Jessica Schmeiss. We spoke about her path from working at Google when her soul’s voice said: “Get out! Now!”. How she left that all behind, met her spiritual teacher and community and finally, went full circle. Now she’s back at a big tech giant - Facebook - weaving the different worlds. We talk about her spiritual practices and how she brings them to her work. We touch on her experience channeling her Ph.D. and the re-discovery of her spirit guides that she shut out as a child to fit in better, as well as the importance of her support networks (inside and outside of Facebook) while integrating the different worlds.

Jessica worked at Google, was a Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute covering projects at the intersection of social innovation, platform design, and emerging technologies.

She didn’t only write, but channeled, her Ph.D. about governance mechanisms and blockchain.

Now, she works at Facebook, where she supports the organizers of key communities who use the Facebook platform for their groups.

She worked with her teachers Anjuna Saran and Za Rah Kumara over the last five years, diving deep into the practices of yoga, chanting, energy, and light work. She organized events and trainings and has her own unique practice of embodiment and meditation that she shares with her community.

During the recording of this episode, I was in a loghouse in the New Zealand countryside shortly after the Coronavirus lockdown restrictions got lifted, while Jessica dialed in from her shared office in Berlin.

Here the links to the mentioned people and resources:

Agape Zoe Festival

https://agapezoe.com/en/agape-zoe-2/

Za Rah Kumara

https://www.zarahkumara.com/

The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield

https://jackkornfield.com/the-wise-heart-2/

Autobiorgraphy of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

https://www.ananda.org/free-inspiration/books/autobiography-of-a-yogi/

Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza

http://www.becomingsupernatural.com/

Deepak Chopra

https://chopra.com/

In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Makatu Roni about his journey from growing up in Israel to moving and building his company in the USA. How he ended up leaving his businesses in the US behind, started producing dance events in Israel, became part of the International School of Temple Arts (ISTA), and now produces festivals, and recently started a tech-startup focused on conscious-community..
We talk about topics like what happens when one’s gifts are recognized by life, how to combine forces with others instead of being in competition (he calls it "being polyamorous in business"), “dragoning ideas” (which means manifesting them), how he interfaces with the world outside the conscious community when doing business, and the need to let things die.
Besides producing many conscious, dance, and sacred sexuality events, Makatu is currently the CEO of Lua, an app that brings together members of conscious communities. He started Ecstatic Dance in Israel, holds ceremonies for groups, produces the largest tantra online festival with more than 1600 participants. He is also an apprentice faculty at the International School of Temple Arts and holds initiation temples for young adults.
This episode was recorded while Makatu was traveling New Zealand's South Island with his van - giving thanks to the 4g-phone connection gods, we had a stable connection almost all the way through that allowed us to record this conversation.
Links to the mentioned resources

Makatu Creations
https://www.makatu.co.il/

International School of Temple Arts
https://ista.life/

The Huna Way
https://www.livinginhawaii.com/hawaii/hawaiian-philosophy-of-life-part-1-the-7-principles-of-huna/

The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
https://www.thesecret.tv/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Science-of-Getting-Rich.pdf

In this short introduction of "In the Spirit of Business" my dear friend Ellowen (https://www.ellowen.life/music) sat me down to answer questions like "Why are you doing this podcast anyways?!?! And what is it about?!".
Listen to the episode to get a feeling for what the show is about and the upcoming Episode #1.