Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
Alyssa Benjamin
All episodes
Best episodes
Seasons
Top 10 Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Each One, Teach One: Inclusive Communities for the Modern Nature Enthusiast with Michael Washington of Usal Project
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
05/17/23 • 84 min
For this week's episode, I’m speaking with Michael Washington. Michael is the founder of Usal Project, an LA-based community offering experiences and goods for the modern nature enthusiast. Usal hosts over 20 monthly experiences that (in addition to forest therapy) include: foraging and herb walks, falconry, oceanic species dives, incense-making workshops, flower arranging classes, community hikes, and more. In this conversation, Michael and I talk about the importance of cultivating community in a world where people are struggling with loneliness. We also discuss his relationship with nature growing up in Texas, how the music industry shaped his path, the origin story of Usal, why diverse perspectives and voices are essential in the outdoor space, and Michael’s perspective on failure, self-doubt and building a rapidly growing business.
Resources:
- Usal Project
- Article: How Loneliness is Damaging Our Health
- Subscribe to the Our Nature Monthly Newsletter - full of special announcements, resources, recommendations and tools and practices for your expansion
Show Notes:
- Michael’s relationship to nature growing up as a child in San Antonio “the biggest little city”
- How being in the music industry planted the seed for Michael’s current path
- Michael shares the insight and opportunity that inspired him to create Usal Project
- Michael’s invitation to listeners that will fundamentally improve your life
- The common barriers that prevent people from exploring the outdoors
- Michael’s intention when it comes to the curation of nature-based classes for Usal
- Life lessons that come from trying new activities
- The unconventional way Michael structures his business and what it means to be “Usal”
- Michael Washington gets real about perfectionism, self-doubt, creative output, growing a business
- Failure as the greatest gift - “I’m more happy failing with something I really liked than failing with something I really tried to make other people like...because then you’re just lost.”
- What people may be surprised to learn about Michael
EP 19: (Season 1 Finale!) Going all in, with Homesteader David Sleininger
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
12/19/19 • 70 min
Welcome to the Season 1 finale of Our Nature! This week’s guest is a very special one to me because he happens to be my boyfriend. David Sleininger is a former jazz musician turned homesteader turned energy healer. His story is one of both devastating injury and immense healing. I don’t want to give too much away because I think it’s important for him to share his story in his own voice, but I will say that after years of darkness and suffering, he turned to nature for support...and it was instrumental in helping him heal from chronic pain. His journey is so inspiring to anyone dealing with chronic pain or injury, anyone who is interested in learning more about homesteading or simply being more self reliant, and anyone who is looking to witness someone who has followed their intuition even when the path seemed uncertain.
In this episode, we talk about what homesteading is, why there has been a recent resurgence in homesteading, what David’s homestead looks like, his journey from music to bread baking to homesteading to energy healing and what each shift has taught him along the way, why he can’t use power tools and how that affected his building project, what nature taught him about himself, the balance of feminine and masculine and so much more. It was vulnerable and fun for me to record this podcast with David. We’re very real with each other as you’ll hear. David doesn’t have social media at all and I don’t put him on my social media, so it feels really special to use this platform to share his story. I hope you enjoy it and I’ll see you in 2020!
“I tend to think about things like - am I moving away from something, or am I moving towards something?” - David Sleininger
“I have had a few dramatic shifts in my life and I have found that when my intuitive voice is loud enough, if I follow it, those transitions are actually much smoother and more settled than you’d think.” - David Sleininger
“Being with nature is a dance.” - David Sleininger
RESOURCES:
- Holisticism
- Birth Chart Tool
- Seth Godin's Akimbo: Episode about sunk costs
- Biggest Little Farm Movie
- Helen + Scott Nearing
- Back to the land movement
- The Good Life Center
- Living The Good Life Book
- David's Homesteading Apprenticeship
- EP 08: A Pain Free Existence With Alexander Technique Practitioner Alan Katz
- David’s email
SHOW NOTES:
- What homesteading is
- Why there has been a recent resurgence in homesteading
- A description of David’s homestead
- The devastating injury that caused David to give up playing music permanently
- David’s journey from a bread baker and homestead apprentice to purchasing his land in rural Maine
- What it was like for David to transition from an urban to a rural place
- Why David couldn’t use power tools and what that meant for his homesteading project
- How David got through his darkest moments
- What nature taught David about himself
- David’s newest chapter in New York City
- The Last 5 Questions
Connect with David:
- Email: [email protected]
Connect with The Our Nature Podcast:
- Follow Our Nature on Instagram
- Sign up for the Our Nature Newsletter: www.ournaturepodcast.com
- Email me at: [email protected]
Gratitude List: This podcast would not be possible without the group of talented individuals below. I offer them my sincerest thanks and love.
- Graphics by: Tim LaSalle
- Music by: Nick Ceglia
THE LAST 5 QUESTIONS:
1. What is your favorite place in nature? Anywhere that can wake me up despite myself.
2. What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most? I have always felt deeply connected to trees.
3. What is one thing we can do right now to conn...
EP 35: (Season 2 Finale) How Simple Can Be Sacred With Jenn Tardif of 3rd Ritual
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
10/21/20 • 86 min
“A hammer is just a hammer. But it’s you, by way of your intention, that either uses it to build something or destroy something.”
“We’re always surrounded by natural patterns, but when there’s a moment of tension, it means that there’s resistance at play, and that might or might not be conscious. It’s really a resistance to the flow of movement that’s occurring around us and within us.”
“A tree isn’t always sprouting new leaves. There’s a time in which it almost looks dead. And, it’s going to come back to life, and that’s exactly as it should be, because nothing is permanent, it’s in constant flux.”
“When we view our lives through this binary lens of good or bad, or good or evil, then we can lose sight of that constant ebb and flow that’s actually much more nuanced and impermanent.”
“I think of rituals as way of remembering because ultimately the state that we aspire to access isn’t something new, it’s not something foreign. It’s not taking ourselves somewhere we’ve never been. It’s a returning to.”
RESOURCES:
- 3rd Ritual
- 3rd Ritual Retreat
- Staying Healthy With the Seasons
- The Hidden Life of Trees
- Ode to Dirt by Sharon Olds
SHOW NOTES:
- 3rd Ritual’s tools and techniques that bring people into greater harmony with the natural world
- All about the Bel
- The origin story of 3rd Ritual
- What inspired Jenn to create the 3rd Ritual Retreat
- The seasons according to Chinese medicine and the meaning of fall
- The difference between knowing and doing and why that’s ok
- What nature teaches us about binary thinking
- How Jenn aligns 3rd Ritual with nature while existing within a capitalist system
- The business “no-no” that Jenn purposefully. ignores
- Why we have an epidemic of loneliness
- Why Jenn calls 3rd Ritual a collective and not a company
- From intention to practice: ways to connect with nature from wherever you are
- The difference between "ritual” and “routine”
- Jenn’s rituals for these times
- The Last Five Questions
- A guided breathwork practice for the fall season
For full show notes and resources, please visit www.ournaturepodcast.com
The Universe and You with Vedic Astrologer Blaine Watson (Part Two)
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
09/15/21 • 50 min
This week is the second part of an interview I had with Vedic astrologer Blaine Watson. In this final part of my conversation with Blaine, we discuss: How Blaine’s interpretation of a chart changes over the years as that person evolves and transcend, What it means to live a successful life from a Jyotish perspective, how often Blaine looks at his chart, why knowing when to have Yagyas done helps create a better and brighter future, Jyotish for our dog friends :), what Blaine would say to those who are skeptical of Jyotish, how someone would know if they’re ready for a reading from Blaine, and what happens to your chart when you reach enlightenment.
Blaine has a level of consciousness that is powerful and we talk about pretty advanced subject matter in this conversation. If you are a seeker, which I know many of you are, and are interested in being a catalyst for your own evolution, this conversation is definitely for you.
Resources:
- Our Nature Instagram
- Register for Our Nature x Good Move Mini Retreat
- EP 29: Movement for Every(body) with Jules Bakshi of Good Move
- EP 47: The Universe and You with Vedic Astrologer Blaine Watson (Part One)
- Ramana Maharshi
To book a session with Blaine, email: [email protected]
For full show notes, please head to: www.ournaturepodcast.com/episodes
The Relationship Series Part 1: Planting the Seeds of a Conscious Partnership Featuring Alyssa Benjamin and David Sleininger
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
04/19/23 • 72 min
This week, my partner David and I are chatting about....drumroll, relationships! Specifically romantic relationships. This episode is very different from the type of content I usually have on this podcast, but when I started this show in 2019, my intention was to uncover how each of us could live in harmony with the natural world and thus be able to care for ourselves, our communities and ultimately, the earth. The dynamics that surface in romantic relationships are often a mirror, and therefore, a catalyst for our personal growth and evolving consciousness. So in the spirit of believing that we can transform the world by first transforming ourselves, I thought it would be interesting to explore this topic.
Resources:
- Tickets for Project Utopia at The Line Hotel in LA
- David’s episode about healing for Our Nature
- David’s somatic healing episode
- Tara Brach podcast
- Chances With Wolves
- Subscribe to the Our Nature newsletter!
Show Notes:
- David reveals the patterns that shaped his past romantic relationships
- Alyssa shares some of her [many] romantic relationship patterns that caused her to fear commitment
- How chronic illness and relationships can co-create and perpetuate a cycle of stress and challenge
- David’s period of celibacy - his intentions for this period of time and what he learned as result
- Alyssa’s biggest heartbreak that became a breakthrough
- The surprising relationship that transformed and healed Alyssa’s experience of romantic partnerships
- The story of how David and I met, and how a loaf of bread brought us together
- What we were able to recognize in each other when we met that helped us turn towards one another
- In praise of the slow burn and how to recognize it for yourself
- Why it’s ok to feel unsure at the beginning of a relationship
- How I manifested David ;)
For additional resources, quotes and information about this episode, head to www.ournaturepodcast.com/episodes
EP 13: Mushrooms, Mycelium and More with Andrew Carter, Co-founder and CEO of Smallhold
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
09/25/19 • 60 min
Mushrooms may be one of nature’s true mysteries, which is probably why we can’t get enough of them. In this episode, I talk to Andrew Carter, co-founder and CEO of Smallhold, the only mushroom farm and organic farm in New York City. His company installs mini farms, or space-like growing units – in grocery stores such as Whole Foods, restaurants like Mission Chinese, and hotels like The Standard Hotel – that grow mushrooms in controlled climates from bags of sawdust so they can be harvested at their freshest moment. Smallhold's mushrooms look like organisms from another world - some resembling pine cones, others flowers, some look like heads of cauliflower. And, not only do they appear extra terrestrial, they have names like deer butt (aka Lion’s mane), hairy nuts disco, and cinnamon jellybaby. Their spores can survive extreme temperatures, radiation, even outer space. And, scientists have yet to fully understand how to mimic nature enough to cultivate some varieties. While we may never fully understand mushrooms, in this episode we try to get to the bottom of what’s going on with these wild fungi.
RESOURCES:
- Will Bonsall
- Smallhold Instagram
- Paul Stamets
- Mycelium Running Book
- Joe Rogan Podcast with Paul Stamets
- New York Mycological Society
- Gary Lincoff
Connect with Andrew Carter:
Connect with The Our Nature Podcast:
- Follow Our Nature on Instagram
- Sign up for the Our Nature Newsletter: www.ournaturepodcast.com
SHOW NOTES:
- What Smallhold does and why it’s incredibly unique in the growing space
- The ins and outs of organic farming in New York State
- How Andrew’s background in permaculture prepared him to work with mushrooms
- Why ayurveda doesn’t support the consumption of mushrooms
- Why people don’t like mushrooms and how Smallhold encourages people to give mushrooms a second chance
- The mushroom craze - why now?
- What are mushrooms tho?
- The process of growing mushrooms the Smallhold way
- Mycelium explained
- The function of mushrooms in the natural world
- How Smallhold curates their eleven varieties of mushrooms
- Mushrooms - wild vs. cultivated, which are better?
- Andrew’s favorite type of mushrooms
- How Smallhold addresses the reality of accessability when it comes to fresh, organic produce
- The future of Smallhold
- Where to learn more about the mysterious world of mushrooms
- Mushrooms powders - why knowing your dose matters
- Why should you know your source if you’re taking Chaga
- Where to find Smallhold mini farms in New York City
- The Last 5 Questions
THE LAST 5 QUESTIONS:
- What is your favorite place in nature? Ocean.
- What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most? Citrus Trees.
- What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives? Go outside. Turn off your phone. Try to disconnect. There’s so much more to look at.
- What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you? There’s no real way to control it or understand it, and you don’t really have to.
- Nature brings me...Everything. It is everything.
QUOTES:
“I like to understand ecology enough to try to imitate it, but it doesn’t have to be for us. It’s not made for us. I don’t know if we need to figure it out.” - Andrew Carter
“I think that anyone farming anything that says: this type of production is the way that everyone’s going to be farming in the future, just doesn’t understand how it’s going to work.” - Andrew Carter
Gratitude List: This podcast would not be possible without the group of talented individuals below. I offer them my sincerest thanks and love.
- Graphics by: Tim LaSalle
- Music by: Nick Ceglia
EP 12: How To Sleep Better With Buffy Co-founder and CEO Leo Wang
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
09/18/19 • 70 min
Each of us, at some point or another, has struggled to fall asleep, to stay asleep, or to feel rested after sleeping through the night. This week, we talk all things sleep with Buffy co-founder and CEO Leo Wang. Leo shares his personal journey of dealing with insomnia and the surprising way he resolved his sleep troubles (it’s not what you might think). You’ll learn some practical tips for how to get a restful sleep, how the teachings of Daoism can help us sleep better, Leo’s rituals for getting more rest, and the biggest misconception about sleep according to Leo. This episode is so incredibly rich and unexpectedly profound. I know you’ll take away universal lessons for how to live your life in a more harmonious way regardless of your relationship with sleep at this moment in time.
Resources:
Connect with Leo Wang:
Connect with The Our Nature Podcast:
- Follow Our Nature on Instagram
- Get Our Nature in your inbox!: www.ournaturepodcast.com
- Say hi! [email protected]
“The consumer is not even aware that they’re just bringing synthetic and chemical dyes into their bedroom and wrapping and cocooning themselves into them every night. What if those dyes were made from things like walnut peel or geranium husk or other things that you wouldn’t mind bringing into your kitchen?” - Leo Wang
“It is a belief that we have a natural programming that will correct for imbalance those things that need to be fixed, without the help of melatonin, without the help of binging on sleep, without the help of spending hours and hours into the night reading about sleep on Web MD...” - Leo Wang
“We are very busy, we live fast paced lives, we’re all highly educated and we think a lot, we’re in our heads a lot...try to contact your body a bit more. Whether that means sitting down and feeling what your body sensations are telling you or meditating or dance or yoga...” - Leo Wang
“In Daoism, or most Eastern thought, everything is about balance. It takes darkness to see the light and light to see the dark. A candle lit is a shadow cast, and the origin of everything is in its opposite.” - Leo Wang
“Sleep, and your quality of sleep, is nothing more than a manifestation of your overall health.” - Leo Wang
SHOW NOTES:
- What Buffy does and why it’s changing the sustainability industry
- Why Buffy uses Eucalyptus in its comforters
- Why what you sleep in matters
- How Leo’s childhood shaped his personal and career trajectory
- How a common case of insomnia brought Leo to a surprising discovery
- The Daoist concept that says “do not doing” or “wu wei,” which means achieving without achieving
- Ying and Yang and why they matter when it comes to sleep
- The different elements in traditional Chinese medicine and how they can help you sleep better
- Why doing less helps us return to ourselves
- How acupuncture can help resolve sleep issues
- Why diet matters when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep
- How eating late at night inhibits the restorative state that the body needs to be in to rest
- How to create more Ying (calm) energy in your bedroom
- Leo’s rituals for great sleep
- The biggest misconception about sleep
- The Last Five Questions
THE LAST 5 QUESTIONS:
- What is your favorite place in nature? A cornfield.
- What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most? Dogs!
- What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives? Embrace the fact that everything is part of the natural world and stop looking for it. Even us – man, and the ugliest inventions of man, are part of nature. Everything is nature, and we can try and accept that more I think.
- What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you? The most valuable thing in existence is life.
- Nature brings me... Nature is trying to bring me, me. Nature is trying to bring you, you.
EP 18: How To Live In Support of Your Microbiome With Seed Co-founder and Co-CEO Ara Katz
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
12/04/19 • 97 min
Probiotics are everywhere. But what’s the deal with these strains of bacteria that are supposed to work wonders for our guts and – therefore – our overall health? This week on Our Nature, Ara Katz, the co-founder and co-CEO of Seed is on the show to demystify the microbiome. Seed is a life science and consumer health company focused on the microbiome and its undeniable potential in shaping the future of human and planetary health. Before founding Seed, Ara co-founded the mobile commerce company Spring and was named in Marie Claire’s The New Guard: The 50 Most Influential Women in the US. Being someone who has studied digestion through the Ayurvedic perspective, I thought I already knew a lot about the microbiome and our gut bacteria, but Ara brings a wealth of fascinating and lesser-known information to this episode in a way that is easy to understand and assimilate. Seed empowers their customers to learn about gut health first so they can then make informed decisions. Wait until you hear this episode – you’ll be so much more thoughtful about your daily practices after hearing what Ara has to say about the bacteria inside our bodies. In this episode we talk about: what the microbiome is and what it does for us, how the microbiome has shifted as we’ve evolved (or as Ara called it - the climate change of our insides), why big pharma and science are very different and why this distinction is so important, the multiple microbiomes that live in areas other than our gut, why not all probiotics are the same, the myths and misunderstandings about probiotics and what’s actually true, what you can do to increase your microbial diversity (the answer isn’t just take probiotics), how to know if the probiotics you are taking are “working,” and so much more. Get ready to go deep!
QUOTES:
When it comes to your microbiome - “Help them, help you.” - Ara Katz
“We’re actually learning about our bodies through marketing campaigns and through products that claim to do something and I’m not sure that that serves us.” - Ara Katz
“The greatest marker of health is resilience. It’s the idea that under some antagonism, how soon (and in what way) can you return to that place of stasis.” - Ara Katz
“People need a door to walk through and they need someone to extend a hand to walk them through it.” - Ara Katz
“The only way that I believe people can get better is by being empowered with the truths of the things that they can do – or choose not to do – that don’t cost them anything.” - Ara Katz
RESOURCES:
SHOW NOTES:
- Why people are so invested in the microbiome right now?
- How our microbiome has become a symbol for the marriage of eastern and western health philosophies
- What is the microbiome and what it does for us
- Our multiple microbiomes and what we know about them so far
- How the microbiome has shifted as we’ve evolved
- The climate change of our insides - what has caused the microbiome to shift over multiple generations
- What has supported our microbiome in the past
- What menstruation does to our microbiome
- The story of why Ara founded Seed
- How big pharma and science are different and why that’s such an important distinction to make
- What probiotics are and why Seed probiotics are different
- All about allostasis
- How Seed probiotics account for the fact that every person’s microbiome is different
- Why SEED probiotics need to be refrigerated
- How long before Seed probiotics start working and how to determine whether they are working
- Seed’s new research on developing a revolutionary treatment for UTI’s that don’t involve antibiotics
- 99% of bacteria are neutral or good
- Why Kimchi and Kombuchas don’t have probiotic impact
- How sex disrupts our microbiome
- The relationship between science and spirituality
- The Last 5 Questions!
THE LAST 5 QUESTIONS:
What is your favorite place in nature? Anywhere where I’m surrounded and can’t see the built environment.
What is the animal, mineral or plant that resonates with you the most? I could never pick a favorite in nature. We’d be sitting here for hours if we tried.
What is one thing we can do right now to connect with the natural world and bring more harmony into our lives? Be in it.
What’s the greatest lesson nature has taught you? That we are of it.
Nature brings me...Breath.
Connect with Seed:
Connect with The Our Nature Pod...
The Universe and You with Vedic Astrologer Blaine Watson (Part One)
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
08/25/21 • 53 min
This week on the podcast, I’m speaking with my Vedic astrologer - Blaine Watson.
Blaine has been a life-long student of astrology, having studied it since childhood. In 1980, on a trip to India, he became specifically interested in Vedic astrology and after almost 9 years of self-study, the Dean of the Department of Sanskrit at Benares Hindu University in Varanasi, India certified him as an expert in Jyotish. He’s been a personal astrologer for the past 30 years, seeing over 30,000 clients in over 30 countries. And because the Vedic tradition prohibits him from advertising, clients find him only via word of mouth, which is a true testament to his expertise.
This episode is part one of a two-part series on Vedic astrology, karma and transcendence. In this conversation, we discuss: Blaine’s relationship to nature as a child growing up on a farm, what led him to seek out astrology when he was very young, the role of past life karma in a person’s present life, all about Jyotish: what it is, its purpose, the difference between eastern and western astrology, what speeds up the process of our evolution, the incredible thing that astrologers in India do to gain trust from their clients, why there is no such thing as free will, and why it’s almost impossible to miss your dharma (which is your life’s purpose). Enjoy!
Resources:
- Book an exploratory call for Homecoming
- Our Nature EP 16: The Architecture of Nature With Vaastu Consultant Hunter Cressman
To book a session with Blaine, email: [email protected]
EP: 23 Embracing Water to Know Ourselves, Featuring Water Healer Jobi Manson
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being
04/22/20 • 99 min
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being have?
Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being currently has 66 episodes available.
What topics does Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being cover?
The podcast is about Alternative Medicine, Health & Fitness, Vegan, Gardening, Natural Medicine, Alternative Health, Foraging, Holistic Health, Environment, Natural Sciences, Ayurveda, Nature, Earth, Outdoors, Podcasts, Science, Herbalism, Astrology, Sustainability and New Age.
What is the most popular episode on Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being?
The episode title 'EP 33: Three Practices for Grounding with Grace This Fall (solo episode)' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being?
The average episode length on Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being is 68 minutes.
How often are episodes of Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being released?
Episodes of Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being?
The first episode of Our Nature: Conversations about the relationship between nature, spirituality, and well-being was released on Jun 24, 2019.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ