The Dandelion Effect
Feathered Pipe Foundation - Andy Vantrease
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Top 10 The Dandelion Effect Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Dandelion Effect episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Dandelion Effect 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 The Dandelion Effect episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Mindful Resilience & Healing Beyond Trauma with Dr. Daniel J. Libby
The Dandelion Effect
10/29/20 • 82 min
Dan Libby is a licensed clinical psychologist, yoga teacher and the Executive Director of Veterans Yoga Project, a national nonprofit based out of Northern California.
Dan specializes in the integration of evidence-based psychotherapies and complementary and alternative medicine practices for the treatment of PTS(D) and other psychological and emotional distress in active-duty military and veterans.
As a Postdoctoral Fellow with Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry and the VA’s Mental Illness Research and Education Clinical Center, Dan conducted research investigating the physiological effects of mindfulness meditation as well as the first epidemiological investigation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in VA PTSD treatment programs. He is also former Director of Clinical Services for the Starlight Military Rehabilitation Program and has taught mindfulness and yoga to hundreds of veterans and active-duty service members.
All that said, Dan claims to have learned everything he ever needed to know at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, the renowned nonprofit educational foundation and yoga retreat center.
In this episode, we discuss the clinical conditions of stress: lack of safety, predictability and control; how to create S.P.A.C.E. for healing to occur; the importance of evidence-informed yoga; and the five pillars of VYP's Mindful Resilience programs: breath, meditation, movement, rest and gratitude. Dan shares his excitement for VYP's new Mindful Resilience for Compassion Fatigue program, created to equip healthcare, frontline workers and caregivers with tools to prevent the effects of burnout, fatigue and vicarious trauma.
We also spread awareness for the organization's largest annual fundraiser—Veterans Gratitude Week, November 6-16th—which culminates in a weekend online series featuring a dozen of today's most prolific health and wellness professionals.
Dan's background in yoga, massage and spirituality married with his extensive training in psychology provide a unique window into holistic healing, and this conversation is a worthwhile listen for veterans, their loved ones and anyone interested in reaching deeper levels of mental, emotional and physical resilience.
For more information visit: https://veteransyogaproject.org
Since 1975, Feathered Pipe Foundation has been focused on inspiring positive change in the world.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Beyond Bulimia with Lauren Lewis
The Dandelion Effect
01/01/23 • 65 min
Lauren Lewis is a CO-based yoga teacher, plant-based chef and culinary educator. She headed west from Pennsylvania in 1999 to attend The University of Colorado, Boulder, and quickly fell in love with the mountains, the community and the lifestyle. After college, Lauren attended the School of Natural Cookery, where she discovered the inherent spirit of food, recipes and skills that she’s used in her own healing journey as well as in her service to others.
This conversation is setting the bar high for the third season of the podcast. Lauren and I get very personal, making space for her to tell her story about her 15-year battle with bulimia, an eating disorder characterized by periods of binging and purging. This is the first time she has shared publicly about bulimia and the role it’s played in her life, as well as the first time I share about my relationship to food, body image and a period of undiagnosed anorexia or food controlling.
We talk about honoring the journey towards loving the bodies we have, the challenges we face in today’s society with comparison to unattainable ideals, the long and winding path we take to cherish the forms we are in, to respect them, to love them, and above all, to recognize that each and every one of us is sacred.
While we are not professionals or experts in this field, we are in fact experts of our own bodies and the stories that these bodies live through. I believe that sharing our experiences helps to de-stigmatize and de-shame topics that are otherwise taboo, and that’s what we’re doing today. None of it is medical advice or recovery advice. We are simply two women swapping stories and imagining into a better world where children and teens are supported on their paths.
Lauren Lewis Website
Lauren Lewis 2023 Feathered Pipe Retreat
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A New Narrative for Healing Autism with Kara Ware
The Dandelion Effect
01/14/23 • 69 min
Kara Ware has been on a 17-year journey with her son Zachary, who was diagnosed with Autism just before his third birthday. With this news came the advice from the doctor: “There is no treatment for Autism. Medicate him to help with tantrums, sign him up for speech therapy, take him home and keep him safe.” Suggestions like these are what more and more parents are hearing as Autism diagnoses skyrocket.
But, why?
This question became a beacon for Kara as she sat with her toddler, who was hitting his development milestones for 14 months then one day began regressing into pain, confusion and chaos that nobody could explain. She traveled the country, seeking out specialists and alternative practitioners, learning about the root causes of inflammation and toxicity that can lead to a person presenting with Autism symptoms. She was not ready to accept the status quo, and the long path she has walked with her son has resulted in not only the remission of Zachary’s Autism symptoms, but a greater sense of health, joy and purpose in her own life as well.
Her family is living proof that there is another way to approach this diagnosis–and that there’s a bigger red flag in our lifestyles and environment that is begging to be noticed. Our changing planet is having drastic effects on human health and our species is facing unprecedented challenges. Autism is the canary in the coal mine. An invitation to look deeper into our history, our food, water, air, stress. When it’s in the home, it’s an invitation to explore the entire family ecosystem, rather than view the situation as an isolated issue for one person.
Using the functional medicine model that she adopted, Kara outlines the steps to slowly and deliberately remove toxins from the body and home, deepen into family values and spiritual practices to pour energy into thoughts, words and emotions that are creating the environment for healing; and take simple steps with nutrition, supplementation, genetic testing and necessary medical interventions.
Personally, Kara is the healthiest and clearest she's ever been—and so is Zach. Professionally, she’s using what she’s learned to help doctors shift their conventional practices into functional medicine models and partner with patients for greater health education and lasting outcomes. She is also a board certified health coach, yoga teacher and host and producer of Good Medicine on the Go Podcast. And her new venture this year brings her full circle to helping families use their time, energy and resources wisely on the long journey of healing and living with autism.
The information in this episode is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice. Please always direct questions about your health to your professional health care provider.
Kara Ware Website
Hope for Healing Family Pediatrics
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Creating Connection in the Workplace with Don Rheem
The Dandelion Effect
01/28/23 • 68 min
The landscape of work has shifted dramatically in the last several years. From layoffs and furloughs during the pandemic to record numbers of people quitting jobs in the United States—to the tune of 4 million people per month—people are engaging with employment differently than ever before. And many people have seemed to reach a threshold, saying enough is enough when it comes to low pay, poor treatment and unfair conditions. They’re seeking meaning and purpose, flexibility, mutual respect and safety, and they’re paying attention to how they feel at work, rather than just collecting a paycheck.
It’s a new era, and today’s guest Don Rheem sees this shift as an opportunity to bring more love and relationality into the workplace, to teach leaders and managers how to provide safe and secure work environments where employees can thrive, and as a result, business can thrive. After all, most of us in the western world do spend a majority of our waking hours engaging with work in some shape or form. Wouldn’t it be nice if that time was spent feeling valued, appreciated and celebrated?
Don draws on research based in attachment theory to understand human behavior, making the case that humans are biologically hardwired to connect with other humans. He explains how our limbic system, the system that detects threat, is always searching for safe and secure attachments, a mechanism built deep within our brains since the days of hunting in groups and helping raise children with the support of small villages. It’s not that we want these connections; we need them in order to function and thrive.
Translated to the workplace, employees will never be able to produce at optimal levels if their primal instincts perceive danger, which can happen with inconsistent bosses, unfair treatment, cliquiness, and many other situations common in workplaces around the world.
In this conversation, we hear how Don’s company E3 Solutions assesses businesses for “employee engagement” rather than “satisfaction,” we discuss the conditions that support trust, fairness and emotional safety in the workplace, and we ponder the personal awareness process that helps managers provide consistent and predictable environments where our brains can relax and focus.
Don is the author of The Neuroscience that Drives High-Performance Cultures, and has done two TedTalks: How Can Work Save Our Relationships? and How to Stay Ahead of the Future of Work. He’s been involved in this engagement process around the world for 20 years, and is passionate about helping more people feel seen, heard and connected.
E3 Solutions/ CultureID Website
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Reclaiming Indigenous Food Systems with Danielle Antelope
The Dandelion Effect
02/11/23 • 59 min
Danielle Antelope is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and Eastern Shoshone (shu-show-nee) Nation. Born and raised in Browning, MT, she graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Food & Bioenergy Systems, where she deeply studied indigenous food systems relating to her own people as well as other communities around the country.
While in college, she served on the board of Food Access and Sustainability Team Blackfeet, known as FAST Blackfeet, and at only 26 years old, is now the organization’s Executive Director. FAST Blackfeet provides access to healthy and culturally relevant foods, nutrition education, and gardening/wild harvesting opportunities within the Blackfeet Nation.
In this conversation, we dive into Native American history through the lens of the different generations of her family, beginning with her great grandmother, who was the last generation to be born in tipis, live off the land and eat a traditional diet. Her grandmother was the generation of strict reservation boundaries, when ceremonies and gardens were made illegal, and the government introduced commodity rations after killing off their main food source: the buffalo.
Her mother’s generation is what she calls the “survival foods” era, when the diet shifts to dishes like fry bread and other recipes made from colonial ingredients like wheat, oil and sugar. And now Danielle's generation, the ones who have inherited food insecurity, chronic disease and generational trauma—but who also have a unique opportunity to heal, to reclaim indigenous knowledge and wisdom, and grow from what’s been done to their communities.
FAST Blackfeet programs like the Food Pantry, Food Pharmacy, and Growing Health Program are reclaiming traditional Blackfeet foods like organ meats, wild berries, loose leaf teas, and bone broths, while inviting tribal members to reconnect with their ancestral roots and build back stronger than ever.
FAST Blackfeet Website
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Prioritizing Joy with Dr. Edie Resto
The Dandelion Effect
02/26/23 • 59 min
Dr. Edie Resto is a distinguished Chiropractor, Naturopathic Doctor and bodyworker. She is a graduate of the Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing, and she got her start as a massage therapist at the Feathered Pipe Ranch before heading off to an additional decade of schooling at Life Chiropractic College West and Bastyr University. She has had her private holistic health practice for 23 years in Ojai, California, though she sees patients all over the world.
She is well-known and respected by people from all walks of life for her compassionate heart, wisdom and desire to help others heal. She travels more than anyone I know, and at 70 years young, credits her energizer-bunny buzz to the fact that she prioritizes fun and genuinely enjoys her life.
In this conversation, we talk about her early life challenges and the angels who swooped in teach her about service and unconditional love. We discuss her coming out story at age 28, her desire to remain free and detached from labels, the importance of mentoring her nieces and nephews, and the death experience after a motorcycle accident that showed her when all the categories are stripped down—sexual identity, gender, socio economic class, race—we are just light, energy, and pure love.
This accident was the first major injury of her life, and with a broken back, she was forced into a long rest and rehab, learning how to listen to her body and be in relationship with her mind, which of course wanted her to bounce back right away. She took three years off work to fully heal, and she reveals how this experience has helped her more deeply relate to patients and to practice what she preaches when it comes to committing to physical health.
Edie has been a friend to me for four years now, teaching me about openheartedness and energetic reciprocation. About adventure and fulfillment. About true health and happiness. She’s the OG of abundance mindset, and those who know her can attest that she has full faith in the universe’s ability to provide everything she ever needs—her job is just to keep giving from her heart and the rest will come.
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The Mystically Untamed Within Us with Stefanie Tovar
The Dandelion Effect
03/11/23 • 64 min
Stefanie visited the Feathered Pipe Ranch this past summer and quickly settled into life at the Ranch during Sonia Azaad’s workshop group. She attended Crystal’s going away party and played singing bowls with our Tibetan friend Tsering Lodoe during collective prayers. She was always blowing bubbles on the lawn and was even part of a group of ladies who did a wild woman moonlit dance on the nature deck then cold plunged in the lake after. She became a close friend in a very short period of time, and I’m so excited to bring this conversation to you.
In this recording, she tells me about her upbringing in Texas, the deep connection she had with singing and nature at such a young age, and the realization that her voice was a gift that she could share to effect change in the world. We talk about the ways that we humans are always receiving messages—what Stefanie calls “scripts”—about who and how to be. Although these messages can feel limiting at times, one of the beautiful aspects of life is that we can choose which scripts we want to follow. Which role we want to take. Which song we want to sing. And writing our own scripts is an option too!
Stefanie’s life experiences have led her to working in wellness, with a mission to lovingly disrupt the status quo of what it’s “supposed to” look like to be a part of this growing industry. As a Latina, she speaks of the importance of diversity in all healing spaces—diversity of race, socioeconomics, religions, belief systems, sexual orientation, abilities and functions. Her work truly highlights the intersection between wellness and social justice, and it’s only growing for here, as she was recently selected as one of 40 cohorts across the nation to be a part of the Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing.
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Rising from the Segregated South with Dr. Helen Benjamin
The Dandelion Effect
03/25/23 • 56 min
Dr. Helen Benjamin is the president of HSV Consulting, a company that provides board and management development, strategic planning, and equity, diversity and inclusion services to community colleges. She’s had a long career in education: With a master’s degree and doctorate from Texas Woman’s University, Helen began as a teacher, and has also held positions as a professor, dean, chancellor and president during her more than 30 years in administration for community colleges in Texas and California. She retired in 2016 and is living in Dallas, TX, though retirement for her looks like sitting on the board of several organizations, serving through HSV Consulting, and writing and editing books.
Helen and I met at the Feathered Pipe Ranch in summer 2022, where she attended a retreat hosted by San Diego-based yoga teachers Lanita Varshell and Diane Ambrosini. She signed up hoping to find peace and respite, and as she shares in this conversation, she was able to access it—in the innate beauty and tranquility of the Ranch, the movement classes, and the like-minded people she met.
Born in 1950, Helen grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, in the heart of the segregated South, when African Americans were forbidden by law to attend certain schools, restaurants, churches, shops and other public places. Of course we learn about slavery and racial segregation in history books, but how often do you have the chance to hear from someone whose early life was so directly affected by the fear that upheld these beliefs?
This history isn’t as old as we might imagine, and at age 73, Helen speaks of her upbringing, how she found inspiration, community and love despite the bigotry that surrounded her family and friends. She’s a similar age to many in the founding group at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, but her reality during the “hippie era” we speak of so mystically and magically was drastically different than that of our founders—and that’s why we want to highlight this story.
I ask her about her inner process of alchemizing the feelings that can stem from injustice, her spiritual path and ability to find peace and freedom within, and the importance of documenting the stories of her community and preserving history in order to move forward.
We talk about her recent book, How We Got Over: Growing up in the Segregated South— a memoir of 24 personal accounts from African Americans who graduated from Peabody High School in Alexandria, LA in 1968. This book captures the essence of Black life in the Deep South during Jim Crow laws and was born out of an epiphany Helen had while attending a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop. She realized that where she grew up, between the railroad tracks, was systematically set up through redlining, and that her rise to where she sat now—in a leadership role for a college in New York—defied all odds. The stories of her and her classmates, who also went on to live full and accomplished lives, had to be told.
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Nature as the Antidote with Adam Schumaker
The Dandelion Effect
04/08/23 • 69 min
Adam Schumaker is co-founder of Gray Bear Lodge, a rustic retreat center in Hohenwald, TN, 80 miles southwest of Nashville, that hosts experiential workshops to promote growth, fulfillment and the joy of learning. He’s a certified Watsu aquatic bodywork practitioner, lifelong yogi and potentially one of the kindest people on the planet.
Gray Bear opened in 1996, and the Feathered Pipe Ranch was a big influence on its beginnings, as Adam considered the Ranch one of the “grandfathers of this movement, one of the holders of the seeds.” When he and his partner Diann visited Helena in 1999, India Supera welcomed them with open arms, sharing everything she had learned about running a retreat center—kitchen and cooking details, employee structure, accounting, lodging and more. Adam recalls her saying, “We need places like Gray Bear and the Feathered Pipe. If you’re the generation bringing this up, all the wisdom and all the experience I have, I want to share it with you. Feel free to call any time.” And, he did.
It’s hard to pinpoint themes in this conversation, as we meander gently through many topics. We weave stories with conscious teachings and personal experience with the memories that touch our hearts and open our perspectives. Adam believes stories are integral to learning—he calls it “life teaching life,” the ability to connect with each other outside of the boundaries of any structured tradition or discipline. We talk about the power of nature to remind us what’s important, the necessity of digital detoxing and breaking the modern habit of immediate availability, and how building Gray Bear over the last 30 years has actually built him as the person he is today, a process that has invited in the opportunity for profound personal development, accountability and reflection.
There are many gems in this interview, but one that really sticks with me is a quote from one of his teachers: Live life as if one foot is in the presence of the almighty divine god being imaginable, and your right foot is in a fresh cow patty that you’ve accidentally stepped in. All that to say - don’t take life too seriously. Don’t forget to laugh, and find the lightness in the miracle of being alive.
Gray Bear Lodge Retreat Center
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True Resilience in the Pandemic with Sarah Bergakker
The Dandelion Effect
11/14/20 • 49 min
Sarah Bergakker is a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) and the founder of Mooxli, a company dedicated to providing self-care resources and continuing education for healthcare workers.
Mooxli is an acronym for 'MOve your mindset, OXygenate your soul, and LIve life differently'. It was born out of Sarah’s personal experience in the healthcare industry for the last quarter century, navigating through emotional, mental and physical challenges that her professional training didn’t at all prepare her for.
We talk about the prevalence of burnout, substance abuse and suicide among nurses and physicians and uncover the hidden feelings that many in this field keep bottled up for fear of going against the industry’s “There’s no crying in the ER” culture.
Inspired by her personal and professional contemplation, Sarah has created a safe and supportive community where healthcare professionals can learn how to care for themselves first, because it’s impossible to pour from an empty cup--even when running on empty has been historically rewarded.
Her team helps people process emotions, release the stories that they carry and navigate the moral dilemma of being asked to constantly choose the wellbeing of others over your own. Mooxli provides the tools of yoga, purpose practices and true resilience training through its online community, book clubs, retreats and continuing education workshops.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Dandelion Effect have?
The Dandelion Effect currently has 48 episodes available.
What topics does The Dandelion Effect cover?
The podcast is about Peace, Meditation, Yoga, Health & Fitness, Community, Holistic Health, Nature, Podcasts, Self-Improvement, Education, Conscious Living, Wellbeing and Mindfulness.
What is the most popular episode on The Dandelion Effect?
The episode title 'Self-Healing with Energy Medicine with Donna Eden' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Dandelion Effect?
The average episode length on The Dandelion Effect is 61 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Dandelion Effect released?
Episodes of The Dandelion Effect are typically released every 14 days, 2 hours.
When was the first episode of The Dandelion Effect?
The first episode of The Dandelion Effect was released on Oct 29, 2020.
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