Talk and Tea with Amanda

In this episode, Esha shares the radical changes she's making in her life and the importance of building an intimate living relationship with oneself to experience a full and embodied life. In carving out time to listen to your heart, dreams, and what lights you up from within. There is no waiting. Living is done in the now.

In this episode, Esha shares the need for the body to be part of the whole human story. The body is the keeper of all human stories, past, present, and future. Leaning into the body's wisdom during grief is an opportunity to connect body, feelings, emotions, with the spirit and the soul. This coherence between these three brings a unitive effect to all that we are and all that we are experiencing. Nothing is left behind. Esha also shares a body meditation to help you connect with your body. 

In this episode, Esha shares the power of bringing grief into the sacred heart and the magnetizing effects feeling and allowing has once we bring it all to the heart. She shares her wisdom of how we are growing deeper into a more mature humanity through grief and that grief is actually the catalyst that wakes us up to love more, become ever present to what is, and to live fully. 

In this episode, Esha shares wisdom of being broken open rather than broken. The rebirthing process begins when the old self you use to know is in pieces from loss. Being broken open is a reorganization of the way of life, where divine love can pour in and restructure a new way of being and living. By allowing what is and meeting oneself in that space, one can dare to embrace the fullness of one's humanity.

In this episode Esha share shifting the language of moving on from grief to moving with grief. This is the integration period of walking with grief differently, embodying its wisdom and stepping into living with more presence, kindness, and intention.

In this episode, Esha interviews Vicki Leventhal, a dear friend who lost her husband David to cancer. Vicki shares her love story with David, his battle with diabetes, getting Covid, and then receiving the heartbreaking news of being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Vicki talks about the transition from a "we," to a "me," after a loved one passes and the challenges of a brand-new life.  

In this special Easter Sunday episode, Esha shares her wisdom of what resurrected love looks like after loss. She shares that life is here and now waiting for all and we are called to say "yes," to the fullness of it. 

In this episode, Esha explores vulnerability in grief and how leaning into that vulnerability can guide one deeper into the human experience and into the healing process. 

In this episode, Esha interviews Karen Myers from Australia as she shares her vulnerable and poignant story of losing her husband to pancreatic cancer fourteen years ago. Karen guides us on her personal journey of losing someone to cancer on the grief journey and the self that emerged by giving life an opportunity to be part of the whole story. Her courageous story of living is inspirational.

In this episode, Esha brings to light the need for radical honesty in our grieving process. She shares the wisdom of the Tao te Ching written by Lao Tzu and how we can be in the flow with what is to bring about the greatest sense of effortless being, being with the all.  By allowing what is, we can make room to come to our full humanity, to heal, and become harmonious with the nature that we are.

In this episode, Esha interviews Pat Phelps who recently lost her husband to cancer eleven months ago. Pat talks about the challenges she confronted in the grieving process and the inner strength she is witnessing within herself to do new things as she continues in the grief journey. Grief and participating fully in the new life are happening simultaneously. 

In episode 17, Esha interviews Lara Fass, a Goddess whose husband transitioned three years ago. Lara talks about how reframing our grief stories can help us make room for deep inner growth by opening our hearts to feel and by being truly transparent and compassionate with ourselves. By changing the perspective of how we see not just death but loss, we can meet grief somewhere in the middle to make room for healing and peace. 

In this episode, Esha shares why allowing is so important in our spiritual journey and in the healing process. By allowing, we bring ourselves closer to living out the fullness of our humanity. It becomes a sacred practice of not resisting life but receiving life which in turns sets us up for not attaching to what is which in and of itself, can reduce our suffering. 

In this podcast Esha welcomes the new year and shares the new direction and change of "Talk and Tea with Esha" to "Not a Widow...But a Goddess. Esha shares her views on widowhood and how society caps women who have lost husbands into a stigma label of "widow." Esha talks about becoming the Goddess in the grief journey and bringing forth the deep wisdom born of grief. 

In this episode Esha talks about how we can embrace suffering with a different perspective. To see all our experiences as a holy encounter to be met with holy love and to consummate that experience in holy matrimony within our very own hearts.  

In this episode, Esha talks about the importance of reimagining being human in today's world and the cost of staying in the old way. How can we reimagine how we see, think? How can we reimagine relationships, suffering, grief, and our connection with each other?

In this episode, Esha talks about what uncovering joy looks like for her as someone who has experienced deep grief and has undergone loss and change not just as a widow but as a mother. What does true joy look like for us and how can joy be reimagined in our lives?

In this episode, Esha explores the concept of awakening during suffering. She invites the listener to reflect on their own experiences to see challenging experiences that invites them to a deep place of transformation. She calls this shift an alchemical process that is available to everyone that can guide us to a place of deepening compassion and inclusion of self and others. We move closer to being in solidarity with each other through felt compassion of our own sufferings.  

In this episode, Esha talks about the importance now more than ever on being fully human, giving ourselves permission to feel, acknowledging what is, and having the courage to be here now in the middle of discomfort.In a time when things feel unsafe, when we come face to face that life is uncertain, we come back to what it means to be human during times of unrest.

In this episode Esha talks about the need for seeing our griefs not as a burden but as a holy experience that can transform and shift us into a deepening experience of our humanity. 

Linda Serepca, is the director of the Charlotte Spirituality Center where she trains prospective students to become spiritual directors. She talks about what spiritual direction is and the gift it can serve in one's life as the navigate all the different unfolding stories taking place. 

In this episode, Esha talks about being in love with life and how the grief experience has allowed her to see life with different lenses which has open and expanded a new awareness not just of who she is but of life itself. She shares her wisdom of how uncertainty can guide us into trusting the process of our evolution and unfolding to embrace the new waiting for us to claim with joy.

In this first podcast of 2021, Esha talks about the innocence of our collective grief and how its ancestral roots can help us grow closer together in community to heal and connect. To open ourselves not just to our own suffering but the suffering of others as well. She also talks about how we can navigate and make room for some of the intense emotional energies being felt right now.

In this episode, Amanda recaps what 2020 has meant to her. She shares her three big lessons she's learned during this year and shares a poem and a blessing for all. Thank you all for sharing your time with me, it's been such an honor to hold space for each of you. May you be blessed.

In this episode, Amanda interviews Pamela Hempstead, a recent breast cancer survivor on her journey of a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy in the midst of a pandemic, and the role faith and trust in God has had for her in the process. Pam opens up on her fears, how unprocessed grief affected her, and how being intentional, fearless, and actionable can save your life.

The grief story can unpack many feelings, old wounds, and traumas. It can also reveal many gifts to grow and encourage our human story towards greater love. In this episode, Amanda guides her listeners to some of the gifts she has received and why giving yourself permission to walk through the process is so important.

Amanda takes you through the journey of how cleaning can extend into the emotional realm of our internal self through her own personal journey. Through journeys like grief we have an opportunity to say yes to the invitation of cleaning the traumas of the past that comes up when we experience life events that rocks our center. Everything she says is an opportunity to clean what has been left undone or unexpressed.

In today's episode guest Licensed Therapist Bill Wilder of Wilder Wellness Center in Mooresville, NC talks about the need for a primitive reset (connection with our ancestral roots) within humanity to bring about greater wholeness to the mind, body, and spirit.

Grief can be like poetry. It has a cadence that flows up and down and side to side. It is not a linear process. Opening yourself to become available to the fullness of the grief experience perhaps is the key to becoming more human, to feel, express, and honor the inner ache. To feel is to be human. Listen to Amanda as she guides and leads you into an another episode with poetry from the heart.

Now more than ever self-care is of paramount importance. Amanda takes the listener through why self-care is needed now more than ever, her own story of self-care, and the different ways self-care might looks like. There are subtle acts of self care that many may not connect with such as being still, saying no, crying, choosing not to fix other people's problems for them, etc. Join Amanda as she guides you to journey on the topic of how to take loving care of yourself.

Grief can be difficult to process and navigate. It differs from person to person and there's no magic bullet that's a cure. In this episode Amanda takes the listener on her personal story of grief and also how they can honor their own grief process in a way that is right for them. Through story sharing, she guides the listeners to use the power of sharing their story as medicine for healing. She gives listeners affirmations they can use to ground in their experiences and some useful tips on how they can approach grief from a more mindful place. Looking at grief as a transformative experience rather than an experience of suffering can help to change the healing landscape for those on the grief journey. Being gentle, kind, and compassionate during grief can be great allies towards acceptance.

In this first inaugural episode of Talk and Tea with Amanda, Amanda introduces myself, her story, and why she has chosen to create conversations for the mind, heart, and soul centered around grief, death, dying, and starting over. "I hope you can join me explore the deeper dimensions of our humanity together with a nice cup of hot tea." - Amanda Brutus-Phillips