Be Here Now Network Guest Podcast

Exploring Zen practice, service, and self-discovery, Daisy Lin invites listeners to notice the inner wisdom they have carried all along.

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“The jewel, the wellspring, is part of your DNA. It is right there. The work is to try to discover yourself, discover the wellspring, discover your birthright. You are already complete; you just need to find it.” —Daisy Lin

In this episode, Daisy Lin and Vincent explore:

• Service, equanimity, and Zen koans
• Supporting the development of girls’ schools in Guatemala
• Finding Buddhism during a time of personal crisis
• Learning how to tend to oneself at the Los Angeles Compassionate Heart Sangha
• The impact of finding a teacher at Mountain Cloud Zen Center
• Accepting and loving your ‘knot’ rather than trying to get rid of it
• Acknowledging your ancestors within your practice
• The importance of looking inside to find the ‘jewels in your jacket’
• Discovering that you are a wellspring

“People are going everywhere outside of themselves and their bodies to get happiness, to get meaning, to feel okay about themselves. It’s leading to great disasters really when the wellspring is already in you. That is why I meditate, I need to get in touch with that. If I don’t meditate for a while it’s like this gauze covers me and I lose my way. That’s why I keep going back to meditation, you need to get in touch with that wellspring. From that wellspring you can see more clearly what actually will bring you joy.” —Daisy Lin

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Daisy Lin

Daisy Lin is an Emmy Award–winning journalist whose work has been published by NBC News, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, and more. She is a longtime member of the Caretaking Council of Los Angeles Compassionate Heart Sangha and a student at the Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Check out the following link for Daisy's blog, Dharma Diaries.

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Master's in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

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From psychedelic medicine to the art of deep listening, East Forest explores how creativity can inspire meaningful change.

Today's episode dives into Music for Mushrooms is a narrative feature film on the transformative potential of art and introspection in a world aching for healing and connection. It features interviews with artists, academics, and cultural experts in psychedelics, science, music, and beyond, with voices like Ram Dass, Hanifo Nayo Washington, Jon Hopkins, and more.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, East and Jackie explore:

• The collaborative process of filmmaking
• Creating something that inspires people
• Music as the language of emotion
• Healing from the inside out
• How psychedelic medicine can stimulate us to change our actions in everyday life?
• Training ourselves to listen deeply
• Profound spiritual experiences through nature, plant medicine, and sound
• How music becomes a doorway to the non-dual, opened by our attention to the experience
• Playing with mantra-like experiences through looping in music
• Navigating information sickness and burnout
• Following bliss through the things you’re curious about

“The first of your senses that comes online in the womb is hearing. The first thing you sense is your mother’s heartbeat resonating continuously. That’s why the drum or four-on-the-floor dance music rhythm in general can entrain our brain because it goes way back to our sense memory of safety, the original womb, of source.” –East Forest

About East Forest:

East Forest is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and ceremony guide. Since 2008, East Forest’s “lush” (Rolling Stone) and “blissful” (NPR) music has blended ambient, neoclassical, electronic, and avant-pop to explore sound as a tool for inner journeys and consciousness expansion. Known as the first musician to collaborate with Ram Dass, he's now working on the feature-length film Music for Mushrooms, a narrative documentary showcasing the transformative power of psychedelics, music, and community.

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director who brings two decades of mystical studies and 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

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Exploring the path to samadhi, Gil Fronsdal reflects on how we can stop being at war with ourselves and develop a more unified awareness.

In this episode, Gil Fronsdal offers a talk on:

• The process of becoming whole
• Holding compassion for the self and others
• Feeling at ease and not being in conflict with the self
• Unification as a function of samadhi
• Composing ourselves on what is happening in the moment
• Learning to be alert while relaxing
• The problem with too much thinking
• How defining ourselves physically limits the quality of awareness
• Including it all, the difficult and the wonderful

“I believe that the earlier stages before samadhi are stages that are to help us become whole and not to be divided with ourselves or fragmented. Part of the process of entering samadhi is becoming whole, at least samadhi is healthier the more whole we become, when we are not at war with ourselves.” –Gil Fronsdal

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

“When the mind is stable and equanimous, you have a much better situation to be able to see clearly without the filter of your conditioning, the filter of your likes and dislikes, the filter of your emotional reaction to what is going on.” –Gil Fronsdal

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Through the Buddhist precepts, Trudy Goodman leads us to Pabhassara Citta, the innate radiance and clarity of our own minds.

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In this episode, Trudy Goodman talks about:

• Sila and the courage to follow what we love
• Wholeness and having an undivided heart
• Pabhassara Citta: the radiant mind and heart
• How thoughts and ideas can be a thief
• Telling the truth, no matter what
• The liberating jewel of being honest with yourself
• Relating to all experiences with steadiness of heart

This recording was originally published onDharmaseed.

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at https://www.trudygoodman.com/

“It’s the truth that frees each one of us. So when you’re sitting there, retched and overwhelmed, anxious, in whatever tormenting state may be present when you’re just certain that there won’t be any end to the pain, then, just to see that ‘oh, I can be aware of this, I can tell myself the truth of how this is, it doesn’t matter that this is my experience’. It doesn’t matter whether we’re retched or soaring with insight and spiritual strength. What really matters is the relationship that we have with each experience.” –Trudy Goodman

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Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez introduces us to Pure Land Buddhism, an accessible, living practice that people can easily incorporate into their lives.

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In this episode, Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez and Vincent discuss:

• The ever-changing nature of the past
• How Rev. Dr. Enrique initially took refuge within the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition
• Finding a “livable” practice in Jōdo Shinshū (Pure Land Buddhism)
• Diversity of rituals within different Jōdo Shinshū sanghas
• Commitment through devotion rather than excessive time and effort
• How contemplating impermanence can lead to both distress and hope
• Realizing that practice may not work in the way we want it to, but it will work the way we need it to

“I was thinking, ‘there must be another way of living Buddhism that doesn’t involve long retreats and intensive practice everyday’ That’s when Jōdo Shinshū started appearing on the horizon somehow.” –Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez:

Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez is a professor of Humanities and Digital Society at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja-UNIR. He is also a Jōdo Shinshū priest that serves Jinen-Kō, an online community of Portuguese and Spanish speaking folk who are interested in learning and practicing the Dharma, or teachings, of Pure Land Buddhism. For more information about Jinen-Kō, click HERE.

“The more I practiced, the more I realized my self-centeredness, the more I realized how bound I am by my own desires, dislikes, things that annoy me, and so on. The practice was working.” –Rev. Dr. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Master's in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

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In this heartfelt conversation, Sharon Salzberg and Mirabai Bush explore how mindfulness, forgiveness, and loving-kindness can transform the way we relate to ourselves and others.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

Live from the 2015 Open Your Heart in Paradise Retreat, Mirabai and Sharon discuss:

• The relationship between loving everyone and personal practice
• Mirabai’s work with SEVA foundation in Guatemala
• Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity
• The interconnectedness of all life
• An audience Q&A with Sharon and Mirabai
• Forgiveness and breaking down defensive behavior
• Mindfulness in how we relate to thoughts of ourselves and others

Join us for the 2026 Open Your Heart in Paradise Retreat in Maui or virtually!

About Mirabai Bush:

Mirabai is an author, social entrepreneur, teacher, and spiritual leader. She is recognized for her pioneering role in integrating mindfulness and contemplative practices into secular sectors of American life, including business, higher education, law, and social activism. Mirabai’s contributions include co-founding influential organizations such as theCenter for Contemplative Mind in Societyand the Seva Foundation and co-developing Google’s Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. She is also a longtime board member of theLove Serve Remember Foundation. Her latest book, Almost Home, is a memoir published in 2025.

“One of the most important things we need to do in order to love each other is to really listen to each other, to come to know each other so we can be present in a loving way. The Dalai Lama when he listens to someone he sits way on the edge of his chair, listening with his whole body. When you share something with Ram Dass, you never think he’s thinking about something else. That’s what we need to be for each other. We need to be here now.” –Mirabai Bush

About Sharon Salzberg:

Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is one of the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture over 45 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers. Sharon is co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and the author of twelve books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindness. Her podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed five million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond. Learn more about Sharon and her books at http://www.sharonsalzberg.com/ and check out Insight Meditation Society.

“We don’t deny the hurt or regret we may feel if it is our own action, but we don’t need to build on that and solidify it. Sometimes we do that so much that our whole sense of who we are and all that we’ll ever be collapses around some comment. That’s what I meant when I said loving-kindness is like a stretch, it’s like asking yourself, ‘anything else happen today? What’s the good within me?’”–Sharon Salzberg

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Outlining the seven factors of awakening in Buddhism, Gil Fronsdal offers an accessible perspective on the glory of the dharma.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal shares:

• Seeing the glory of the dharma in all experiences
• Mindfulness: the simple offering of presence for what’s happening right now
• Being present for our emotions rather than for or against them
• Mindfulness as the bridge between the five hindrances and the seven factors of awakening
• How differentiation gives rise to wisdom and understanding
• The choice between being caught up and letting go
• Persisting in our effort to practice, moment by moment
• Witnessing when our mind wanders off during meditation
• Having an equanimous mind, being both tranquil and alert

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

“With mindfulness we’re just trying to be present, and in that, find a certain kind of freedom. So, if it’s not simple, it’s not mindfulness.” –Gil Fronsdal

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Vipassana teacher Trudy Goodman shares stories and teachings about the Buddha's one fortunate attachment: sacred longing.

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In this episode, Trudy Goodman gives a lecture on:

• Getting ‘everything’ when sitting in meditation practice
• Learning how to be present with the experience of suffering
• Growing from the mud: the metaphor of the lotus flower
• The deadly process of applying ideals of perfection to ourselves
• Finding the source of happiness in our own hearts
• Looking at grief as another form of desire
• Trudy’s explanation of what she calls ‘crooked grief’
• Attachment as addressed by Buddhist psychology
• The world that opens to us when are not caught in anything

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at https://www.trudygoodman.com/

This recording was originally published onDharmaseed.

“Don’t be deceived by any others that claim they will bring you lasting love and happiness. Understand that the source of love and happiness is in your own heart, in your own ability to be present, in your own mind. This is what transforms our wants and our longings—the ability to shine this light of presence.” –Trudy Goodman

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Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin of the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order, explores how she has cultivated community and diversity through interfaith dialogue, spiritual practice, and a commitment to making Buddhist teachings accessible while honoring tradition.

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This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin and Vincent chat about:

• Being grateful for the good in our lives
• Finding support in spiritual community
• The emotional process of shaving one’s head for the priesthood
• Being a female in a male-dominated spiritual world
• Creating community and diversity in Houston, Texas
• Working to make Buddhist teachings accessible while preserving the integrity of traditions
• Addressing trauma in the prison system and learning how to support each other
• Hope for the future and finding common ground in the intersection of faith traditions
• The great change that naturally arises from a dedication to practice
• Lessons from the Lotus Sutra on respect
• Finding the purpose and benefit in all that happens to us

“Everything about us is perfect, whole, and complete for the path that we’re walking. It may be horrible, some of the things that have happened to us, but they’re a preparation for us to walk the path in the way we need to walk it. We have to be able to look at everything that happens to us as a benefit. There is a purpose to this happening to us. We can be a gateway for others to walk a better path for themselves. We are perfectly gifted by the experiences we have had.” –Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin

About Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin:

Myokei Caine-Barrett, Shonin, stands as a beacon of pioneering spirit, being the first American woman and the first of African Japanese descent to attain full ordination as a Nichiren priest. She holds the esteemed position of bishop for the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America, the first woman and Westerner to do so. Her guidance emanates from Houston, where she leads as the principal teacher of Myoken-ji Temple. She is among the few westerners, specifically one of three, to undertake and complete the rigorous Aragyo [ascetic practice] at Saijo Inari in Okayama, Japan.

Passionate about bringing Buddhism beyond temple walls, Myokei Shonin actively supports three prison sanghas within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system. Her interfaith endeavors have seen her as a Fellow with Interfaith America, championing dialogue between Buddhists and Muslims in incarceration. Her roles extend to being a board member of Lion’s Roar Magazine and Dharma Relief 2: Healing Racial Trauma.

She's actively engaged in programs such as Healing Warrior Hearts, Texas for Heroes, The Gathering, and the International Western Dharma Teachers Gathering. Beyond these, her contributions span across various socio-religious platforms, underlining her commitment to spreading compassionate teachings. As a writer, her voice echoes through publications in Lion’s Roar and Tricycle magazines, and she has made notable contributions to The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women.

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Master's in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app!

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Joined by long-time friends Nina Rao, Krishna Das, and Sunanda Markus, Mirabai Bush shares stories from her memoir Almost Home.

Pick up your copy of Almost Home over on the Ram Dass Shop today: Click Here To Learn More

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Mirabai, Nina, Krishna Das, and Sunanda discuss:

• Mirabai’s catholic upbringing and working to understand her place in the world
• How Mirabai became the only woman to work on the Saturn Apollo project
• Mirabai’s meditation studies with Goenka
• When Krishna Das, Mirabai, and Sunanda met Maharaj-ji
• Learning about the grace in suffering
• Knowing that love is real and available to us all

“That hard childhood creates that longing for belonging; with Maharaj-ji I felt like at last I belonged—in this moment, in this body, in this world, because I was so totally loved. He changed my idea of what this life could be. I had such a small idea of who we could be in this world, and it just became vastly expanded with him.” –Mirabai Bush

About Mirabai Bush:

Mirabai is an author, social entrepreneur, teacher, and spiritual leader. She is recognized for her pioneering role in integrating mindfulness and contemplative practices into secular sectors of American life, including business, higher education, law, and social activism. Mirabai’s contributions include co-founding influential organizations such as theCenter for Contemplative Mind in Society and the Seva Foundation and co-developing Google’sSearch Inside Yourself Leadership Institute. She is also a longtime board member of theLove Serve Remember Foundation. Her latest book, Almost Home, is a memoir published in 2025.

About Nina Rao:

Nina Rao is a devotional singer. She tours with Krishna Das, singing and accompanying musically, and is also his business manager. Nina has recorded three solo albums, “Antarayaami – Knower of All Hearts”, “Anubhav”, and "Bhumi Devi” . Nina regularly leads kirtan, workshops, and retreats in her home state of New York and around the world. Together with Chandra Easton and Genevieve Walker, the trio released 21 Taras Collective Mantra Mala Vol 1. You can keep up with Nina on her website and find her on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook @NinaRaoChant

About Krishna Das:

Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Grammy nominee Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD – has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time. His album ‘Live Ananda’ (released January 2012) was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Age album category. KD spent the late ’60s traveling across the country as a student of Ram Dass, and in August 1970, he finally made the journey to India, which led him to Ram Dass’ own beloved guru, Neem Karoli Baba, known to most as Maharaj-ji. Krishna Das now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and wonderful stories of his life, of Maharaji-ji, of his life on the Path and discusses bringing chanting into our lives through retreats and workshops. To date, KD has released 15 well-received albums, most recently Trust in the Heart released in October 2017.

MORE INFORMATION and OFFERINGS VISIT:https://krishnadas.com/ KRISHNA DAS ON SOCIAL: FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/KrishnaDasMusic INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/krishnadasmusic YOUTUBE:/ krishnadasmusic X: @krishnadas #KrishnaDas

About Sunanda Markus:

In India in 1972, Sunanda met her guru, Neem Karoli Baba, as well as studied meditation with Theravada Buddhism teacher Shri S.N. Goenka. She has continued her practice of Vipassana meditation since that time, along with actively practicing yoga.

Currently the finance and operations director for the Love Serve Remember Foundation, Sunanda spent decades as the finance director of a small publishing company, while also being involved in the field of contemplative studies. She spent a dozen years as the program coordinator for the Academic Program of the Center for Contemplative Mind, and then managed the grants program for the Mind & Life Institute. As part of the nonprofit world, Sunanda has served on the boards of the Insight Meditation Society and the Seva Foundation, chairing the foundation for three years. She was an active member of the Seva Guatemala Project, supporting integrated community development.

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From nature’s patterns to the creative process, filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg explores how beauty, awe, and wonder can help us truly “be here now.”

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This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Louie and Jackie explore:

• Becoming a creative conduit and aligning with the vibrations of the universe
• The movement from reaction, to judgment, to feeling, to devotion, to love
• Opening our minds and hearts to experience beauty, wonder, and awe
• Redefining the concept of beauty across cultures
• Witnessing interconnectedness through presence
• Louie’s time-lapse cinematography and Moving Art
• Sharing the sacred energy of rhythms, patterns, and colors
• Staying present while creating

About Louie Schwartzberg:

Louie Schwartzberg is an award-winning cinematographer, director, and producer recognized as a pioneer of high-end time-lapse cinematography. Schwartzberg explores the connections between humans and the subtleties of nature and the environment. He directed the 2019 film, Fantastic Fungi, and the 2014 Netflix series, Moving Art. Schwartzberg's recent theatrical releases include the 3D IMAX film, Mysteries of the Unseen World with National Geographic, narrated by Forest Whitaker, and the documentary Wings of Life for Disneynature, narrated by Meryl Streep. Check out Louie’s breathtaking streaming library of nature films HERE and keep up with him on Facebook.

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

“If beauty activities you and you go to wonder and awe, that means it makes you present. There you are, amazed by something and one with it, you finally become present, which is really the goal of most practices and certainly the essence of ‘be here now.” –Louie Schwartzberg

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Gil Fronsdal explores how Vipassana practice helps us embrace change and release attachment, transforming the way we experience ourselves and the world.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal shares:

• Change as the heart of Vipassana practice
• Delusions of permanence and having an ‘upside down’ perception of reality
• The freedom in holding things more lightly
• The juxtaposition of perfection with room for improvement
• Breaking down our attachment to the way things are supposed to be
• Being challenged in the dharma and questioning our identity
• Individual culture versus collective culture
• Watching thoughts arise and pass away
• The problem with retrospective thinking

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

“People tend to see permanence in what is impermanent. They tend to find self in what is not self. They tend to find happiness in things that are not really that happy. The path of practice is to perceive things in a way that things aren’t distorted. The task of mindfulness practice is to break through distortions so we can see more directly.” –Gil Fronsdal

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In a culture that values productivity over wellness, lawyer and teacher Gullu Singh explores how to navigate stress and high-pressure careers with mindfulness.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gullu and Vincent chat about:

• Living in Los Angeles during times of unrest
• The power of awareness and befriending our emotions
• The RAIN technique, a 4-step mindfulness practice for difficult emotions
• How lawyers and other professionals in high-stakes fields can benefit from mindfulness
• Shifting our society and creating a culture of wellness versus productivity
• The importance of making the space to maintain your practice
• Gullu’s auspicious experiences with Jack Kornfield & Spirit Rock
• Finding your own voice and playing your “music” out in the world

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world. Learn more on Vincent’s website HERE.

About Gullu Singh:

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a mindfulness and Dharma teacher who also practices corporate real estate law. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice after law school when he found himself working at high-powered law firms where the job was extremely stressful. Gullu completed the four-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Gullu is core faculty in the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training, the Spirit Rock Dedicated Practitioner Program, and a mentor for the Sounds True Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He is also a core teacher and board member for Sacred Mountain Sangha, a senior teacher at InsightLA, and a member of the guiding teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Gullu is deeply inspired to share meditation as an antidote to stress, a path to well-being, and a way to inject more sanity, compassion, and wisdom into this world. For more information, please visit http://gullusingh.com/.

“I don’t think we as human animals were designed for the kind of professions that we’ve created where people work 14-16 hours a day on stop. We end up being in a state of constant adrenaline which has all kinds of negative health impacts.” –Gullu Singh

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jackie Dobrinska speaks with devotional musician Benjy Wertheimer about dharmic shifts, discovering how our unique gifts can evolve into deeper forms of selfless service.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Benjy and Jackie explore:

• Benjy’s unconventional journey from music and technology to spiritual service
• The idea of a “dharmic shift” and how life can redirect our path
• Ram Dass’s influence on Benjy’s music and spiritual calling
• Using our unique gifts in service of something larger than ourselves
• Walt Whitman’s shift from poet to Civil War nurse
• Deep practice as a form of service and connection
• Balancing personal gifts with humility and non-attachment
• Listening, finding common ground, and navigating disagreement
• Grief, anger, self-care, and “healing the healer”
• Service as an evolving practice of love and compassion

“The Dharmic shift that I went through from that point, somebody who was maybe helping a lot of people with computer systems, and I was maybe pretty good at it, but I never would have been great because my heart wasn't there, was suddenly called into service with music and with the practice of kirtan, using whatever gifts I could bring to honor something bigger than myself.” –Benjy Wertheimer

About Benjy Wertheimer:

Benjy Wertheimer is an award-winning devotional musician, composer, vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist equally accomplished on tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards. Benjy’s connection to Ram Dass predates his birth. His father, Professor Michael Wertheimer, was Richard Alpert’s Masters Thesis adviser at Wesleyan in the early 1950s. Some half a century later, Benjy joined Ram Dass and Krishna Das in Berkeley for a joint program in 2002, and since 2003 Benjy - along with his wife Heather - has often provided music and kirtan for Ram Dass pilgrimages and retreats in Maui. Keep up with Benjy on Instagram.

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With compassion and presence, Trudy Goodman teaches listeners how to bear the unbearable through our own willingness to hold it.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

https://youtu.be/TwYZlCsBKnc

In this episode, Trudy Goodman offers her perspective on:

• Learning to be present and okay with our strong emotions
• Recognizing our emotions as the first step in working with them
• Allowing difficult emotions without being swept away
• Surrounding our pain with compassion
• Noticing the bodily sensations that arise with strong emotions
• Self-regulation and soothing the startled heart
• The powerful statement “it’s like this”
• Merging with the world of intuitive wisdom

This was recorded at Spirit Rock and was originally published on Dharmaseed

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at https://www.trudygoodman.com/

“By allowing reality to be as it is, since it is that way anyways, we’re making a relationship with it that’s based on clarity. It is a paradox that I think most therapists know: that by allowing something and accepting something and even by positively connoting what needs to change, not struggling with it, surrounding it with metta and compassion, we actually stop our war with reality. When we stop resisting what’s true, we aren’t fixating on it, and it’s free to move and change. This is called radical acceptance.” –Trudy Goodman

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Sharing meaningful stories from a life of practice, Gil Fronsdal chats about the impact of spiritual community, simplicity, and generosity.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Gil Fronsdal outlines:

• Honesty, communication, and understanding as an alternative to LSD
• The impact of reading Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and going to the San Francisco Zen Center
• The importance of doing spiritual practice with other people and finding community
• Finding freedom within simplicity and generosity
• The practice of working through fear and becoming relaxed
• Gil’s mindful founding of the Insight Meditation Center, balancing the commercial forces of society
• How growing up in wartime inspired Gil’s interest in nonviolence and civil disobedience

About Gil Fronsdal:

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed

“When I went to the Zen center, people didn’t participate; they didn’t pick up the cues and act accordingly. They became a mirror for me, and I said, ‘This is fantastic’, to be able to see myself clearly through other people. I wanted that mirroring to be seen. In that time of living at Zen Center, I am very confident that I couldn’t have practiced as much as I have done over the years without the support of the community that I was with.” –Gil Fronsdal

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Expressive artist & healer Phoenix Song explores the voice as a path to freedom and a means of releasing trauma.

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This week on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Phoenix and Vincent chat about:

• Connecting to our full emotional life via voice work
• The preciousness (and difficulties) of being born into this incarnation
• How breath impacts your speaking voice and your singing voice
• Phoenix’s profound experience during an ancestral healing ritual at Plum Village
• Focusing on voice work after recovering from dengue fever in India
• The journey to reclaim and inhabit our own bodies
• The invitation to ask yourself “what season am I in?”
• Crafting rituals for others and for yourself
• The importance of taking your time and healing at your own pace

This conversation was originally recorded on the Paths of Practice Podcast. Listen to more episodes HERE.

About Vincent Moore:

Vincent Moore is a creative and creative consultant living in San Francisco, California, with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry and holds a graduate degree in Buddhist Studies. For years, he performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv and sketch comedy theatre based in New York and Los Angeles. As an actor, Vincent performed on Comedy Central, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Seth Meyers, Above Average, and The UCB Show on Seeso. As a writer, he developed for television as well as stage, including work with the Blue Man Group, and his own written projects have been featured on websites such as Funny or Die. Additionally, he received a Masters of Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies with a Certificate in Soto Zen Studies and engages in a personal Buddhist practice within the Soto Zen tradition. Vincent is also the creator and host of the podcast, Paths of Practice, which features interviews with Buddhists from all over the world.

About Phoenix Song:

Phoenix Song is a queer, nonbinary Korean American adoptee teacher, performer, writer, and healer featured in SF Magazine’s Best of the Bay for yoga music. Phoenix was initiated on the spiritual path at Plum Village with Thich Nhat Hanh and is a dharma teacher at East Bay Meditation Center and Spirit Rock. They believe that everyone can sing and love to help people free their voices and rhythm in private and group classes.

Much of Phoenix’s life has been about exploring identity issues and healing ancestral, racial, sexual, and gender wounds. They offer tools that have helped them by leading ancestral healing, grief, and diversity/solidarity workshops and trainings that use expressive arts and somatic processes. To learn more about their sound healing offerings, classes, and performances, please visit http://phoenixsongmusic.com/.

“By doing more voice work, people start to shake up their breath, their emotions, their body instruments so more of their colors, emotions, personality, what’s happening with them, can come through their voice, you start to hear a more expressive, free, emotional voice. It starts to feel like more colors are coming out than just a few.” –Phoenix Song

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Duncan Trussell joins Raghu Markus and Kelly Rego for a heartfelt conversation on Ram Dass’s enduring legacy and the auspicious experiences that brought the Be Here Now Network team together.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here:BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode, Duncan, Raghu, & Kelly discuss:

• Duncan’s introduction to Ram Dass: swimming, playing, and seeing the light again
• How Ram Dass helped Duncan process the loss of his mother
• Spreading Ram Dass’s love and legacy through the Be Here Now Network
• How the universe guides us right to where we need to be
• Moving through a dark night of the soul
• The lasting love we have for those we have lost
• The profound generosity of giving our full attention to another

About Duncan Trussell:

Duncan Trussell is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, and actor. His popular podcast, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, has been downloaded over 25 million times and is known for its blend of humor, fringe ideas, eclectic guests, and great interviews. The DTFH is the foundation for Duncan’s Netflix animated series, The Midnight Gospel, which he co-created with Pendleton Ward in 2020. To learn more about Duncan’s work, visit his website at https://www.duncantrussell.com/.

“An ex-Ivy League acid-head runs into a guru in India, and now we’re at the point where that convergence of minds is being technologically amplified around the planet. We live in an algorithmically controlled world. My algorithm, oh my god, the horror that I have seen. The more of Ram Dass’s lectures, the more Kornfield, more of the people in this community that you signal boost out onto the world, I don’t think there’s any way to quantify the benefit of that, what that’s doing for the world.” –Duncan Trussell

About Kelly Rego:

Kelly Rego is an Integrated Marketing & Media Specialist. An Emerson College alumni, Kelly has over 15 years experience of facilitating projects into reality. She has worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer with women’s groups and dairy cooperatives in Costa Rica, a media strategist and buyer in New York City, and has produced a full-length documentary.

Kelly is the Marketing Director for Ram Dass’s Love Serve Remember Foundation, as well as the project manager of Be Here Now Network, a podcast network dedicated to spirituality, mindfulness, and personal growth.

“Ram Dass had this ability to listen on such a deep, deep level, that is how he was able to reflect such interesting things. He was so much in his heart space that whatever you were expressing with your words, he was able to go down deeper to where your heart was coming from. It’s rare to feel so listened to these days; people can be so distracted. He was so one-pointed with that attention. That was part of the magic of being next to Ram Dass.” –Kelly Rego

About Raghu Markus:

Raghu Markus spent 18 months in India with Neem Karoli Baba and Ram Dass. He has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s, when he was program director of CKGM-FM in Montreal.

In 1974, he collaborated with Ram Dass on the box set Love Serve Remember. In 1990, he launched Triloka Records, which established itself as a critical leader in the development of world music. For 17 years, Triloka was home to such artists as Krishna Das, Hugh Masekela, Walela, Jai Uttal and transformational media projects that featured Ram Dass, Deepak Chopra, and Les Nubians.

Raghu lives in Ojai, California, and is the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation. In 2016, he co-founded the Be Here Now Network, where he hosts the Ram Dass Here & Now podcast, as well as his own Mindrolling podcast. He is the producer of Becoming Nobody, a Ram Dass documentary feature film that was released in 2019.

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Followed by spoken-word poetry from Dreaming Bear, Ram Dass and Uma Reed explore how the union of Bhakti and Vedanta leads to unchanging bliss and eternal awareness.

Recorded in 2008 at Studio Maui, this mini-series features Ram Dass and guests from his satsang. Check out the first two episodes of this mini-series on episodes 245 and 255 of the Be Here Now Network's Guest Podcast.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode, Uma Reed and Ram Dass share insights on:

• Weaving together the paths of Bhakti and Vedanta
• Connecting to our blissful nature and a joy that is unchanging
• Ram Dass’s mushroom trip at Tim Leary’s house: seeing the roles vs. the soul
• Stripping everything away until you are pure awareness and love
• Spoken word with Dreaming Bear
• Loving all of each other the way we love our beloved
• Giving yourself permission to become wild and undomesticated

About Uma Reed:

Uma was first exposed to Hindu devotional chanting in the early 1970s, while studying meditation and spiritual practices with Ram Dass and various other teachers. Kirtan was a practice that touched her deeply, and as a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba, she often participated in kirtan gatherings with fellow devotees, as well as in other ashrams and spiritual communities. For years she held kirtan in her home, and for the past dozen years or so, she has led kirtan formally in yoga studios, spiritual centers, and retreat settings. She has taught workshops and led kirtan on numerous retreats and in satsang with Ram Dass and other spiritual teachers in the U.S. and abroad.

About Dreaming Bear:

Dreaming Bear is a master word-smith delivering his fervent message with extraordinary verbal dexterity and relevance. He's a nomadic bard, a hip mystic and modern-language Sufic style philosopher-poet. If you'd like to experience a living combination of Spaulding Gray, Rumi, Jack Kerouac, Robin Williams, Shel Silverstein, Michael Talbot and Thich Nhat Hanh, you owe it to yourself to see Dreaming Bear. The foundation for Dreaming Bear’s work as a transformational epic orator and poetic storyteller is deeply attuned to the natural world. His work as a university teacher/researcher was further defined by years spent living 'off the grid'. While in a deep communion with what the Hawaiians call the a'ina, or life force of the land, he began to take his artistry to a new level and developed many of the works that have proven to be inspiring to so many. Find out more about Nature’s Poet Laureate by reading a book of his poetry.

“You will always exist. Isn’t that reassuring? You always exist.” –Ram Dass

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With humor and wisdom, Duncan Trussell shares how the ego can turn spirituality into another achievement, and why freedom comes from realizing there's nothing to prove.

Help us celebrate 10 years of Be Here Now Network and support the next chapter of Ram Dass Here and Now. Gifts are matched dollar for dollar through June 30. Learn more and give here: BHNN 10th Birthday Fundraiser

Today’s podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/beherenow and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on the BHNN Guest Podcast, Duncan chats about:

• Lessons on spiritual materialism from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
• Staying connected to everyday life while being spiritual
• Transcendental common sense vs. getting puffed up in the ego
• Staying connected to everyday life while being spiritual
• The trouble with actively ignoring parts of ourselves
• Reconciling higher consciousness with everyday affairs
• Surrendering to all of it and becoming ‘normal’ again
• Hyperfixating on suffering rather than the end of suffering

About Duncan Trussell:

Duncan Trussell is a stand-up comedian, podcaster, and actor. His popular podcast, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, has been downloaded over 25 million times and is known for its blend of humor, fringe ideas, eclectic guests, and great interviews. The DTFH is the foundation for Duncan’s Netflix animated series, The Midnight Gospel, which he co-created with Pendleton Ward in 2020. To learn more about Duncan’s work, visit his website at https://www.duncantrussell.com/.

“It’s a very frustrating thing to our ego to imagine that you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to learn Sanskrit, know about your chakras, have those scars on your arm from frog venom, do 90 ayahuasca retreats, go to the Ram Dass retreats, listen to Alan Watts lectures. You don’t have to do anything because you’re already there.” –Duncan Trussell

About The Host, Jackie Dobrinska:

Jackie Dobrinska is the Director of Education, Community & Inclusion for Ram Dass’ Love, Serve, Remember Foundation and the current host of Ram Dass’ Here & Now podcast. She is also a teacher, coach, and spiritual director with the privilege of marrying two decades of mystical studies with 15 years of expertise in holistic wellness. As an inter-spiritual minister, Jackie was ordained in Creation Spirituality in 2016 and has also studied extensively in several other lineages – the plant-medicine-based Pachakuti Mesa Tradition, Sri Vidya Tantra, Western European Shamanism, Christian Mysticism, the Wise Woman Tradition, and others. Today, in addition to building courses and community for LSRF, she leads workshops and coaches individuals to discover, nourish and live from their most authentic selves.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.