The Werk

Hello beautiful community, this is our last episode of The Werk Podcast. We want to thank you for supporting our passion project. We've learned so much from the guests we've interviewed and also from you. We are looking forward to integrating everything we've learned to co-create and re-imagine a better future for all. We believe that the dismantling and deconstructing work still needs to be done but we are both in a season of our lives when we want to take some rest, imagine, lean into pleasure, and play. Please keep in touch with us through our personal social media platforms. We wish you all the best that this life has to offer you. Much love, Laura and Brittany.    ABOUT THIS EPISODE: Brittany and Laura discuss their expectations and intentions for the year 2023. What they've learned from The Werk Podcast as a project. How they've invited in healing by transmuting their sacred anger. Laura and Britt share their favorite episodes and what they've learned. The reclamation that people of the global majority must do to heal ourselves.  The ways that U.S. citizens should consider our freedoms and privileges. Full Show Notes:  Link to Gen Z Historian  Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

In this Episode: Kelley shares her origins story and what led her to do this work in the yoga space. How Kelley is building and co-creating a post-colonial paradigm. Kelley shares how we can acknowledge what is but also have hope and manifest and create a better future.  Kelley's reimagining workshop is more about questioning what you value outside of a reality tied to capitalism. Kelley speaks about wholeness and why that's the goal in manifestation. Kelley defines the term Whiteness. Kelley shares about her non-profit The Sanctuary In The City. The importance of prioritizing joy. Full Show Notes: Kelley Palmer's Website Kelley Palmer's Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Dr. Chandler Puritty is an intersectional climate scientist and mystic. She received her doctorate from UC San Diego in Biology. She now teaches classes on how climate science, environmental science, capitalism, white supremacy, and race issues intersect and all contribute to our climate crisis. Dr. Chandler creates content and teaches on Tik Tok.    In This Episode: Dr. Chandler shares her origins story on how she became a scientist and then eventually, a doctor in biology with a concentration in plant community ecology. Dr. Chandler shares how through colonization, the invasive plant species introduced by the settlers were the contributing factor to the ongoing climate crisis in Southern California.  How humans are a part of nature's ecosystems but are often taught not to interfere with it and that ideology further harms our planet.  Dr. Chandler talks about speciesism and hierarchies that distort our relationship with each other and the planet.  Dr. Chandler compares the climate crisis and its potential cure to the three-headed dog from Harry Potter. Dr. Chandler explains why capitalism is the root of all evil. The antidote to capitalism is a community and Dr. Chandler explains the necessity of community to combat the effects of capitalism. The narrative around the urgency of the climate crisis.  Full Show Notes: Dr Chandler's Tik Tok Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Anita Kopacz is the author of the Simon & Schuster fiction novel, Shallow Waters . It is the second title that Charlemagne tha God released on his imprint, Black Privilege Publishing. Anita is the former Editor-in-Chief of Heart & Soul Magazine and Managing Editor of BeautyCents Magazine . She is an award winning writer, a Spiritual Psychologist and a certified Tantra coach with a passion to see people thrive. Anita also created the nonprofit, Zero F's Given to raise awareness and help victimized and disenfranchised populations heal from sexual trauma, find their voice, and reclaim their power. She has helped thousands of victims through her work with Zero F's Given and being on the board for the Center for Safety and Change. Through leading retreats around the world with The Goddess Wisdom Council, working with private clients and storytelling, Anita fulfills her intention to awaken the divine simplicity, pleasure and joy in her life and others.   In This Episode: Anita discusses how Shallow Waters came to be. The importance of inclusion of Black people in fantasy and myth and the effects therein. Anit on the possibility of Shallow Waters added to school curriculums as American history and the often excluded African cultural studies. On the importance of learning from different pantheons and mythologies beyond just Greco-Roman.  Anita talks about the history Black and Afro peoples have with water; and the ways novels like this can inspire healing. Anita's creative process and what she does to get ready to channel.      Full Show Notes: Anita Kopacz Instagram Goddess Wisdom Council Shallow Waters Book Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Dr. Nicole Truesdell is an anthropologist and abolitionist scholar and teacher. Dr. Truesdell's previous experience includes being an administrator and faculty member at Brown University and Beloit College, working with students who are underserved and underrepresented in higher education. At Brown, she founded the Institute for Transformative Practice, which housed 7 student-focused identity centers, and worked to create collaborative, cooperative, and coalition based programming and research around collective liberation.  At Beloit College, she created the Office of Academic Diversity and Inclusiveness which housed all programs that worked with underserved and underrepresented students in higher education. Dr. Truesdell obtained her Ph.D. in 2011 from Michigan State University in Anthropology, with a focus on race, racism, citizenship, and the nation-state. Her work continues to push the boundaries around the concept of the human and humanity by using a Black decolonial lens to imagine what is and can be possible for a liberatory humanity. She connects with people without the systems of institutes through her Patreon, TikTok, podcasts, speaking engagements and salon-style dinners. Her goal is to empower and equip the next generation of abolitionists.   In This Episode: How Dr. Nicole Truesdale began her journey towards abolitionist based work, and what continues to drive her forward. How her revelations during the pandemic led Dr. Nicole to start teaching to the public on Tik Tok. Why Dr. Nicole doesn't believe in allyship and instead advocates for abolitionsism. The relationship between white femininity and white patriarchy and how these feed the destructive contract that is the perception of whiteness. How to approach and understand decolonial work while remaining connected to/or rediscovering our humanity. Dr. Nicole suggests that group study in history is the key to abolitionism. The effects of religion and the ways it has pushed forward the violent colonial agenda.  If people connect back to their ancestral ways, It's going to help us do the abolitionism work. Why understanding different pantheons and cosmologies are so important in our understanding of spirituality. Dr. Truesdell's connections to the Orishas and how these spiritual practices and cosmologies teach us how to live with reciprocity.   Full Show Notes: Dr Nicole's Tik Tok Dr Nicole's Patreon To support my work: Cashapp: $drnicoletruesdell Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Buki Fadipe is a Nigerian and British certified Professional Psychedelic Medicine Facilitator, Trauma informed 200-hr YTT Hatha Yoga practitioner, Decolonized Educator, Seer & Spiritualist. She is passionate about reclaiming ancient earth/indigenous wisdom practices to act as a basis for Earth centred integrative healing. Using a decolonized lens in her practice, Buki fuses her knowledge of the science of the physiological & neurobiological effects of trauma with indigenous and traditional perspectives on healing with sacred medicines. Her specialisms include but are not limited to the healing of intergenerational & ancestral trauma, Traditional African spirituality, Rites of Passage Rituals and Spiritual Emergence. Buki facilitates healing ceremonies, retreats, workshops, classes and one-on-one coaching sessions for preparation, ceremony and integration. Find out more about her work via www.adventuresinom.com and on IG @adventures.in.om!   In This Episode: Buki's origins story, how she started learning about plant medicines from a scientific method approach, and then to sacred medicine healing. us to reclaim our birthrights.  The challenges of growing up in a nation at the start of its emancipation from colonial powers. Buki shares how sacred medicines can help us to heal ancestral wounds Buki talks about the effects of returning to one's lineage and ancestral practices.  Bridging science and ancestral practices together for healing and empowerment. Buki shares about the BIPOC integration circles she leads. Buki shares her own personal experience on why sacred medicines are taboo in the church and in religious institutions. Buki speaks about how she's been able to transmute rage when doing the decolonizing work. Buki shares about her personal experience with assimilation and erasure in being a Black woman in the UK. Full Show Notes: Buki Fadape's Website Buki's Instagram (@Adventures in Om) Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Leah Thomas, Founder of Intersectional Environmentalist & Author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet   Leah Thomas is a celebrated environmentalist based in Santa Barbara, CA. Coining the term ‘eco-communicator' to describe her style of environmental activism, Leah uses her passion for writing and creativity to explore and advocate for the critical yet often overlooked relationship between social justice and environmentalism. With this intersection in mind, Leah founded and launched Intersectional Environmentalist in 2020, a resource hub and platform that aims to advocate for environmental justice, provide educational resources surrounding intersectional environmentalism, and promote inclusivity and accessibility within environmental education and movements.    Leah, who is also the founder of eco-lifestyle blog @greengirlleah, uses her multiple years of eco-focused educational and work experience to inform her ever-expanding list of projects, as well as her audience of more than 400k followers across channels. A graduate of Chapman University with a B.S. in Environmental Science & Policy and a cluster in Comparative World Religions, Leah has interned twice with the National Park Service and has worked at leading green companies, including eco-friendly soap company Ecos and most recently, Patagonia. A fundamental optimist and opportunity-maker, Leah used her time after being furloughed during the pandemic to create Intersectional Environmentalist.    Leah is the author of The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet, and her writing has also appeared in a variety of publications, including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Highsnobiety. She has been featured in Harper's Bazaar, W Magazine, Domino, GOOP, and numerous podcasts.    In This Episode: Leah shares her origins story. How Leah found intersectional environmentalism through her connection to the land, farming, and her ancestral roots.  She defines intersectional environmentalism and also speaks about lateral oppression. Leah shares how she's able to share about the intersections of environmentalism and meet people where they are. Leah shares her views on why Indigenous and POC are not included in environmental education and why Leah is excited about the future. The importance of local policy and climate reparations. The importance of finding joy when working in social justice. Full Show Notes: Green Girl Leah Website Green Girl Leah's Instagram Twitter: @Leahtommi Leah's book The Intersectional Environmentalist Intersectional Environmentalist Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson's Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Shante is a Black & Indigenous psilocybin advocate and educator. She has a background in Eastern Woodlands edible and medicinal plants as well as entheogenic plants and fungi. She combines the two studies to explore the synergistic relationships and effects of herbal medicine. Shante also serves as a DEI consultant who specializes in integrating considerations for BIPOC and working class into entheogenic medicine and psychedelic healing.   In This Episode: Shante shares her origins story from being a professional track and field athlete to being an educator and now a psilocybin advocate. Shante speaks about her Abenaki and Creole ancestry and how finding out about her indigenous roots helped her connect deeper to herself and the land.  How her curiosity for nature, plants, and the world around her has led to her becoming an herbalist. How her connection to plants and deep personal shadow work, led her to explore psilocybin and entheogenic mushrooms. Shante's personal entheogenic practice and how she creates a safe container for her personal journey. How BIPOC and other marginalized groups exist within the entheogenic space, and how to make this form of healing accessible.   The stigma and stereotype within BIPOC communities have led the industry to use entheogens versus psychedelics.  How the conversations around entheogen that celebrities are having with the public influence mainstream opinion, inclusivity, and access.  Do mushrooms have an affiliation with a lineage?  How you can begin your healing journey by microdosing. Full Show Notes: Shante Little Instagram Recommended Reading for Plant Medicine & Entheogens Psilocybin Gardens, free grow guide Intentional Microdosing: a processing + integration workbook Upcoming Event: Microdosing Summit September 2022 Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Join our book club where we can learn in the community!! Visit us at https://www.thewerkpodcast.com/bookclub for details. Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Syntyché Francella is a medicine woman and yoga therapist. Through Dehya Yoga, she offers group yoga therapy classes for BIPOC bodies.   A trained diplomat and educator with over two decades in the field, she believes in the healing power of intuition, movement and community. Syntyché is trained in a range of modalities; from kundalini and yin yoga to trauma-informed therapies and practices which empower folks to embody freedom daily.   In This Episode: Syntyché shares the significance of the year 1999 and the intuitive hits that led her toward her self-discovery and healing journey.  How the pandemic helped her to slow down and listen to her inner guidance which eventually led her to create BIPOC only yoga spaces. The signs and synchronicities that led Syntyché to know that yoga and healing were a part of her purpose and path.  Understanding BIPOC only healing spaces. Why healing spaces where BIPOC can show up as themselves are necessary  Syntyché recommends books that helped her in healing intergenerational and racialized trauma.  Syntyché describes "freedom feelings." How the practice of sitting with discomfort can create greater ease in everyday life She shares her ongoing journey towards liberating herself and living in her own sovereignty.  Part of her journey towards herself was finding out about her ancestry in Africa.    Full Show Notes: Syntyché Instagram Syntyché Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Join our book club where we can learn in the community!! Visit us at https://www.thewerkpodcast.com/bookclub for details. Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.  

Ericka Jones is a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion professional for over 12 years. In her current role, she collaborates with key stakeholders to develop comprehensive strategies that will increase diversity, build and sustain inclusive behaviors to generate equitable outcomes.    Founder of the Yoga Coalition, an alliance for combined action bringing inclusion, equity, and diversity to the yoga community. Ericka is a 200-hr yoga teacher and lululemon brand ambassador. Bringing diversity, mindfulness, and inclusion into spaces is her purpose and passion.     In This Episode: How co-host Brittany Simone and Ericka met and connected in a moment of discussion about the need for more inclusive athleisure. Ericka spoke up about swim caps at the Olympics during a Lululemon onboarding meeting as a way to call-in athletic and athleisure brands to be more inclusive to create a new norm. The ways that anti-blackness affect athletes with afro-textured hair. Self-inquiry and curiosity as a way to do the work. How the principles of yoga such as self-study and non-harming, can support anti-racism work. Calling people out versus calling people in and the necessity for both in anti-racism and social justice work. Ericka shares about The Yoga Coalition as a way to create more equitable spaces in the yoga industry.  Cultural appropriation in yoga and wellness spaces and her suggestions on how to not perpetuate appropriation, tokenism, and causing more harm.  Erika's hopes that we must understand that while anti-racism and decolonization may be challenging in the beginning, we must persevere and trust we will figure it out.  Ericka's hopes and dreams for an equitable future. Full Show Notes: Ericka Jones Instagram Yoga Coalition Instagram Yoga Coalition Website Michelle Johnson Episode Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Join our book club where we can learn in the community!! Visit us at https://www.thewerkpodcast.com/bookclub for details. Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @TheWerkPodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Felipe Gonzalez came to the practice 14 years ago when he first moved to New York City. After several years of practice, he took a leap of faith and completed his 200 hour teacher training at Laughing Lotus, NYC.  His devotion to music, movement, story telling, and spirituality are embedded in all of his classes. Using the techniques of mythology, mantra, yogic philosophy, asana, and Katonah Yoga® theory, he guides practitioners through an experience of breath, vibration, movement, and reflection.  Felipe is a 500 hour ERYT and Katonah Yoga® teacher based in Santa Monica, CA. He is a founding teacher at GaneshSpace, a community lead organization uplifting marginalized voices and experiences by offering resources and education at the intersections of mindfulness and social justice. He is also an Ambassador for lululemon Santa Monica Store. He is also the co-owner of the LA based Empowered Yoga Studio is open in Venice, CA. Felipe leads workshops, retreats, and trainings internationally. Drawn to the disciplines of Vinyasa, Bhakti Yoga and Katonah Yoga® theory,  he devotes his practice and teaching with an artist's soul and a healer's heart.  In This Episode: Felipe shares what brought him to the practice of yoga and how upon connecting with yoga as a complete practice, he was able to see the connection between personal and collective liberation. The intersections of Felipe's identity and how it led to him finding the practice of yoga.  Felipe shares some of the red flags he observed in the yoga community that was not aligned with the ethos of yoga. What can people do to support the culture without appropriation? How the yoga industry breeds spiritual narcissism. Felipe shares his experience in opening Empowered yoga studio without any Venture Capitalists and run entirely by teachers. How to build a healthy, safe and supportive yoga studio.  Why Felipe believes affinity groups are the way to unpack harmful experiences. Felipe's perspective on Guru culture in the yoga space. Full Show Notes: Felipe Gonzalez's Website Felipe Gonzalez's Instagram Empowered Yoga Instagram Empowered Yoga Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Join our book club where we can learn in the community!! Visit us at https://www.thewerkpodcast.com/bookclub for details. Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Jesal Parikh (she/they) is an Indian-American yoga teacher, movement educator, podcaster, author and disrupter working on creative solutions for equity in Yoga. She's co-host of the Yoga is Dead podcast and offers movement education through the lens of social justice. Through her work, Jesal aims to uplift those of us who are feeling isolated and marginalized by the yoga industry.    Jesal is co-leading the Functional Anatomy course at Prema Yoga Institute this fall- November 1- December 10th. Jesal has co-authored a book for Yoga is Dead called "Original Godmothers of Yoga" that is available for purchase now.     In This Episode:   The events that prompted Jesal and Tejal to start the Yoga is Dead Podcast. How Jesal began teaching yoga. Sanskrit names if you're not Indian/ South Asian and/or practice the practice of Hinduism.   Understanding cultural appropriation. Jesal's views on entrepreneurship in the United States as the basis of colonialism.  How white-bodied wellness practitioners can show up and create a culture that centers BIPOC. How Jesal reconciled sharing their popular podcast. The advice she gives to other creatives.  Whiteness, colorism, and the intersections of privilege and power.  Jesal shares what she believes we have to do collectively to do the work.      FULL SHOW NOTES Jesal Parikh Website Jesal Parikh Instagram Yoga Is Dead Podcast Yoga is Dead Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Join our book club where we can learn in community!! Visit us at https://www.thewerkpodcast.com/bookclub for details. Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Zainab Salbi is a celebrated humanitarian, author, and journalist. Oprah Winfrey identified her as one of the 25 women changing the world; People Magazine and Foreign Policy Magazine called Zainab one of “100 Top Global Thinkers”. Zainab is the co-founder for DaughtersforEarth.com, Chief Awareness Officer at FindCenter.com, and host of Redefined podcast. Zainab is also the author of a few books, including the national bestseller Between Two Worlds and her latest Freedom Is an Inside Job. She is also the creator and host of several shows, including #MeToo, Now What? on PBS, and Through Her Eyes with Zainab Salbi at Yahoo News. Zainab started her career when she was 23 years old as the founder and former CEO of Women for Women International, an organization to help women survivors of conflicts. She built the group from helping 30 women to reaching nearly half a million women and raising 146 million dollars in aids and microloans to help them and their families rebuild their lives. In This Episode: Zainab's origin story and the things that shaped her life: war and fear. Zainab's family's proximity to Saddam Hussein and the events that led her to leave her home in Iraq to come to the United States. Leaving her arranged marriage and the vow she made to help women around the world.  How she started Women For Women International. The journey Zainab took to connect to the Divine and deepen her spiritual practices.  The importance of spiritual practices.  Why we need to begin owning our shadow while advocating for others. How Zainab has hard conversations with people who need to do the work.  Leading with feminine values and Zainab's vision for the future. The intention for starting Find Center. Full Show Notes: Zainab Salbi's Website Zainab Salbi's Instagram Zainab Salbi on Oprah's Super Soul Zainab Salbi on Ted Talk Zainab's Book Freedom Is An Inside Job Redefined Podcast With Zainab Salbi Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Divine Harmony is a mother, mystic, astrologer, mythologist, writer and teacher. With her background in Depth Psychology and Spirituality, she works to weave together the Dark and the Light, the mundane and the sacred, the depths and the heights in order to support personal awakening, healing and wholeness. She sees astrology as an amazing alchemical tool for self-understanding and living a more conscious, integrated life.  Her work includes teaching at yoga and consciousness festivals, teaching beginner and intermediate astrology classes online, writing extensively and consulting with clients.  She has a special interest in the Divine Feminine, the Dark Feminine, Shadow Work, Conscious Relationship and learning how to raise the new children incarnating on the planet today.     In This Episode:   Divine Harmony is an expert on Eris, a new celestial body discovered in 2005. Eris led to the demotion of Pluto and promoted Ceres. Eris is the Goddess of discord and chaos.  Eris is a feminine archetype, activist, and guide for the 21st century.  The mythology of Eris and how her story represents the discord that reveals the shadow work. The relationship between Pluto and Eris and the shadows that are revealed when they have an activation.   What Eris in Aries teaches us about our sacred anger and how to use it with intention and purpose. How Eris is connected to the Me Too movement.  The USA Pluto return and the undigested shadows that this country was built upon.  Working with anger, heart anger, and why it's a powerful and necessary emotion for change.  The ways our western culture keeps us disembodied and how it hinders out spiritual growth. Divine Harmony's predictions on America's Pluto return. The first one occurs on February 20, 2022. The importance of shadow work during these times of change.  How the energy of the divine feminine archetypes will heal the world. The timeline for our astrological reckoning. Divine Harmony's suggestions on how to move through the discord in the collective unconscious right now.  The star cycles are 26,000. These are the cycles that mystical traditions have been paying attention to. How, across cultures, there have been predictions of this age of darkness, but that we are growing closer to the light. The royal fixed stars and regulus the star of leadership.  The 2 spiritual practices that helped with Divine Harmony's awakening.    Full Show Notes:   Divine Harmony Website Divine Harmoney Facebook Divine Harmony Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel   Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Anita Kopacz is the author of the Simon & Schuster fiction novel, Shallow Waters . It is the second title that Charlemagne tha God released on his imprint, Black Privilege Publishing. Anita is the former Editor-in-Chief of Heart & Soul Magazine and Managing Editor of BeautyCents Magazine . She is an award winning writer, a Spiritual Psychologist and a certified Tantra coach with a passion to see people thrive. Anita also created the nonprofit, Zero F's Given to raise awareness and help victimized and disenfranchised populations heal from sexual trauma, find their voice, and reclaim their power. She has helped thousands of victims through her work with Zero F's Given and being on the board for the Center for Safety and Change. Through leading retreats around the world with The Goddess Wisdom Council, working with private clients and storytelling, Anita fulfills her intention to awaken the divine simplicity, pleasure and joy in her life and others. We are giving away 5 signed copies of Shallow Waters books to 5 different winners! Make sure to follow @thewerkpodcast @anitakopacz and @shallowwatersbook and comment on @thewerkpodcast the one thing you're doing to do The Werk. The winners will be announced on January 31, 2022.  In This Episode: How Anita's upbringing around empowered Black women informed her worldview and how her experience changed when she stepped into a world that reflected something different to her.  Anita's experience as Editor and Chief of Heart and Soul magazine which was a platform for wellness for Black women.  Her metaphysical experiences that led to her getting her Masters in Spiritual Psychology. Anita's book Shallow Waters about Yemaya, the Yoruba diety of the sea.    Connecting with water, Black people's fear of water, and the ancestry of the middle passage.  The element of water and its healing properties and Anita's intentional usage of water in the book.  The process of writing her book and how getting it published was Divine timing.  What Black privilege means to her.  The work that White folx need to do and the work that BIPOC need to do.  Full Show Notes: Anita Kopacz Instagram Goddess Wisdom Council Shallow Waters Book Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

YK Hong has been working with organizations around anti-oppression, learning, leadership, and organizational culture shift for over 20 years. Through talks, workshops, writing and coaching, YK works with organizations and companies across the globe to facilitate processes in strategic planning, organization development, and anti-oppression.  They also specialize in digital security and machine learning, using algorithms and data to show compelling paths for transformation at all levels of organizational growth. More at ykhong.com.   In This Episode:  YK talks about their experience as a Korean immigrant moving to the Southern US.  How protest culture within Korea and the LA riots shaped their view of the world; specifically, how Anti-Blackness was prevalent in both cultures. How their anti-oppression work was informed by their experiences both living in South Korea and the Southern US.  How the concept of race and racism differs based on country and culture. YK's perspective on Koreans' collective intergenerational trauma, identity and culture. How the US lacks a unified voice due to colonization. The violence that is depicted in films, is the manifestation of the violence of capitalism. How defensiveness is built into white supremacy. YK's advice on how to call people out if they are causing harm - in an effective manner.   For some large companies, particularly in the wellness space, the conversations have begun to shift and evolve towards liberation. The meaning of collective liberation as they see it.  How anti-oppression work exists to free everyone who is affected: BIPOC, Non-Binary + LGBTQIA+, and Disabled.  Full Show Notes: YK's Website YK's Instagram YK's Twitter Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

This episode is supported by The Class a cathartic workout experience that guides you to strengthen the body and notice the mind to restore balance. The listeners of The Werk Podcast are welcome to try The Class for ONE MONTH FREE. Click the link in the show notes. Soeuraya Wilson is a teacher of The Class. She also lends her experience to The Class's teacher training and their in-house podcast. Soeuraya's class is described as a returning to the self. You will move through resistance, create contraction, and feel the release in expression as you engage in dialogue with your body and mind. Soeuraya's class is a direct reflection of how she uses her social media platform for her activism. In This Episode: Soeuraya shares her origins story, her ancestral lineage, and how that shaped her worldview.  Her journey towards working in the wellness industry and the circumstances that led to her teaching at Soul Cycle, a boutique cycling studio in NYC. Her experience as a multi-racial woman living and working in an industry that is not represented by BIPOC.  The need for the wellness and fitness industries to support the mental, emotional, and physical health of BIPOC communities. How she found purpose through teaching.  When a parent company acquires a boutique business and how that changes the corporate culture.  The lack of care that many group fitness instructors experience, particularly BIPOC, when social challenges arise and when corporations are asked to take a stand. How she found herself standing against a big corporation who she felt didn't provide care and compassion for its employees during the pandemic nor during the BLM resurgence. How we as consumers can protest effectively through the power of choice in friends, in how we spend our money, and through the conversations, we choose to have.  How many boutique brands can create an abundant and luxurious experience that many of their employees don't have access to. How The Class stepped up in the wake of being called in and lost some of their original clientele in the process. How we can change the system from the inside. The steps that The Class is taking towards being more inclusive.  Wellness versus Well-being  Full Show Notes: THE CLASS FREE ONE MONTH TRIAL Soeuraya's Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Le Labo  Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it, and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Ayesha Khan, Ph.D., (she/ they) is a neurodivergent Infectious Diseases Scientist, Germ doctor, grassroots organizer, writer, educator and abolitionist decoding the science of social justice, collectivism, neurodiversity & trauma. Dr. Khan is building the foundations of a novel field of study- Abolitionist Science, to use evidence-based science to drive anti-capitalist grassroots movement strategy and shape daily praxis (i.e. the application of revolutionary political theory in our daily life and relationships). A glimpse of her art activism is on instagram @wokescientist   Ayesha also studies the impact of capitalism and systemic intergenerational oppression on ecological and community health outcomes. As an educator, she crafts unique, creative educational pedagogy to break down complex scientific or political concepts to make them accessible to everyone. Her activism focuses on Palestinian liberation, prison & police abolition, dismantling internalized capitalism, neurodivergence advocacy, decolonizing psychology & medicine, South Asian minority rights and immigrant or migrant worker rights. Her specialty is outreach, cross-community coalition and solidarity building, community education, and anti-capitalism organizing.   To support Dr. Khan's work and sustain community mutual aid efforts: Venmo: Ayesha-Khan-4 or Cashapp $ayeshakhan4 or Paypal.me/ayeshakhan4   Dr. Khan is a Siddi (Afro-Indian), Queer, Muslim, immigrant born in Bangalore, India, and grew up in several countries from Russia to Saudi Arabia, spending most of her childhood in the Middle East. She received her Bachelor's in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and Global Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015 and her Ph.D. in Infectious Diseases from the University of Texas Health Science Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2020. Dr. Khan is currently a visiting faculty in infectious diseases at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile.  Her medical research focuses on the development of infectious diseases diagnostics and novel treatment strategies to combat antibiotic resistant superbugs in low-resource settings.  In This Episode: Dr. Ayesha's impressions on America versus her experiences in other parts of the world regarding health and healthcare. American privilege, supremacy + medical apartheid. Why doing the work requires critical thinking, discernment and taking the time to learn. For people who mistrust the government, how they can navigate through making decisions about their health. The anti-vaxx industry Ayesha's observations on the spiritual and wellness influencers on anti-vaxx misinformation and their end-game. Ayesha shares that knowing we are all complicit in the systems of oppression is actually liberating. Ayesha shares what we all have to do for revolution. The harmful impacts of capitalism on all aspects of our lives. Full Show Notes: Dr. Ayesha Kahn Linktree Dr. Ayesha Kahn Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram Laura Chung Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Milagros Phillips is a keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, four times author, and certified coach. She designs strategic learning programs for organizations seeking to enhance their Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiatives through race literacy. Her programs use history, science, research, and storytelling to create compelling, life-transforming experiences. For more than 35 years Milagros has consulted, designed, and facilitated programs across many industries. She is an artist, a Reiki Master and Teacher, a Sound Therapist, Teacher of A Course in Miracles, and the creator of Race Demystified, a compassionate approach to healing from racial conditioning. Her latest book, CRACKING THE HEALER'S CODE - A Prescription for Healing Racism & Finding Wholeness. Milagros is a recipient of the 2021 NEW THOUGHT WALDEN AWARD for Interfaith/Intercultural Understanding. She serves on the American Ballet Theater (ABT) RISE Advisory Council   In This Episode: How she got the calling to do “The Werk” at the age of 13, in response to the death of Dr. King. How her healing and spiritual journey brought her to do race work.  How the understanding of frequency helps us tap into the frequency of racism in order to transform through race work. The different modalities Milagros uses in her healing and race work.  On our racial caste systems. How racism is the part of our human history that people don't speak of which is similar to a family secret and why learning about history helps you fill in the missing pieces. How the concept of “specialness” has led to White privilege and why it is so challenging for White folks to give up. How personal and global belief of supremacy-based expertise makes us feel we can enforce what has worked for us on others. How the "cold weather" people see abundance vs the "warm weather" people.  How White supremacy infantilizes us and perpetuates supremacy.  How and why humans have shifted into a state of denial in order to make sense of our paradigm. How racism follows the same pathology as alcoholism and drug abuse. How shame and blame do not lead to healing the world of White supremacy. The difference between anti-racism work and healing racism work.  Full Show Notes: Milagros Philips Website Race Demystified Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel   Connect with The Werk:   If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Lily Diamond is a writer, educator, and advocate harnessing the power of storytelling to democratize wellness and empower women through accessible practices for inner and outer nourishment, and revolutionary acts of self-care for our earth and human communities.    She is co-creator of What's Your Story? alongside bestselling author and lifelong activist Rebecca Walker. Together they co-authored What's Your Story?: A Journal for Everyday Evolution. Lily is also creator of internationally beloved blog Kale & Caramel and author of bestselling memoir-cookbook Kale & Caramel: Recipes for Body, Heart, and Table, celebrated as one of the top cookbooks of 2017 by the New York Times, The Independent, Cooking Light, mindbodygreen, and more. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Healthyish, the Huffington Post, Better Homes & Gardens, Refinery29, EatingWell, and more. Her work is informed by two decades of study, certification, and international teaching in the art and practice of meditation, yoga, and psychosomatic therapies. She is a devoted co-conspirator to organizations decolonizing food and wellness for all, and one of the originators of the Influencer Inclusion Rider. Lily has spoken, taught, and appeared on tv, at conferences, and at bookstores nationwide, including for Goop, Summit Series, Well + Good, Yale University, Cameron Diaz's Tuning In, Hallmark Home & Family, Sounds True, Food Network, Museum of the African Diaspora, Busboys and Poets, and many more. She graduated magna cum laude, phi beta kappa from Yale University and lives in Maui, Hawai‘i, where she grew up, on occupied native Hawaiian land. She is currently the consulting director of the Maui Sustainability Initiative, working towards food sovereignty and self-sufficiency for the island. In This Episode:  Lily references "Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono" which is Hawaii's state motto in Native Hawaiian; translated to English means, "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness."  Lily's perspective on wellness and how it's our birthright that we don't just opt into.  How Lily's childhood upbringing on Maui formed her connection to the land and her viewpoint on capitalism and plantation culture. Lily's personal observations of the effects of the pandemic-induced mass exodus to Hawaii by wealthy Americans. The lack of self-consciousness around race in Hawaii is paired with a false narrative that it is a utopic melting pot. Her personal journey with the work, and knowing her place, and how to show up as a White woman in a way that makes her a true ally. The harm caused by spiritual bypassing and ignoring real pain and harm and how this damages liberation movements by denying the truth. Lily's career in blogging was the gateway for her influencer career on Instagram so why did she want to leave it? How she created the inclusion rider for BIPOC influencers. How doing the work is quite similar to confronting oneself as one done in therapy. Her intention with the What's Your Story journal that she co-created with Rebecca Walker and how journaling can be the pathway for transformation.  How acknowledging our interconnectedness is the beginning of our healing. How this is the only hope to heal the planet socially, politically, and in the wake of climate change. FULL SHOW NOTES Lily Diamond Website Lily Diamond Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Troy is a Husband, father, respected wellness professional, entrepreneur, and content creator named “best instructor in NYC 2019” Via class pass. Troy combines mindset, movement, and behavior change strategies focusing on a three-dimensional approach to wellness. He has coached high-profile clients and elite athletes. Now he focuses on content creation and wellness consulting, establishing partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world.   In This Episode: Troy shares his origin story and how being raised by strong Black women groomed him to be who is today. Troy discusses his wellness and spiritual roots and how he uses his platform to uplift and make space for BIPOC in places of power. Troy shares with us his chosen form of activism: Black joy  We learn about the moment Troy realized that he could do anything. How traveling is the best form of education The importance of leaving generational wealth, and what that truly means Resilience in life and in doing this work. As a content creator, how he asks for what he's worth from big companies.  Troy talks about toxic masculinity. FULL SHOW NOTES Troy Brooks Instagram Troy Brooks Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel   Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza, is a Xicana/Mexicana Indigenous women in diaspora. She is a Seer, initiated medicine woman, on the ñusta paqo path in the Q'ero Inca lineage, & is a Counseling Psychology Ph.D. She is also an unschooling mama to a 5 year old child who also holds supernatural gifts. Dra. Rocio's path is that of a medicine woman, she is not a Licensed Psychologist, as she is not aligned with the colonial Eurocentric field of today. She honors the traditional path, her ancestral medicine. She comes from a long line of healers on both her maternal and paternal lineages and was born with psychic, channeling, and mediumship gifts.   Dra. Rocio's work has had a global impact to evolve the collective consciousness. Dra. Rocio's work is deeply rooted in Indigenous wisdom, medicine, and worldview. While she is highly sought after, she only works with those she feels a deep resonance with and those that align with and understand the work we are tasked with at this prophetic time. Dra. Rocio believes in the prophecies of many Indigenous nations, including the Condor and Eagle prophecy of the Q'ero nation which names this time as the time that humanity must evolve and shift into sacred reciprocity with Mother Earth and all of Creation to end the times of chaos and harm.   Dra. Rocio's work is at the intersections of decolonizing, spirituality, and wellness. She walks and works in between the earthly and spiritual realms. Dra. Rocio is able to see beyond this ordinary reality to bring forth the highest timelines and visions into our earthly reality. She is grateful to her teachers, Pampamesayoq Don Alejandro Apaza and medicine woman Marilu Shinn for helping her REMEMBER.   Dra. Rocio practices energy medicine & “Shamanic” earth based medicine. While she does decolonial work, that is only part of her work. Dra. Rocio views her decolonial work as the passageway to restore harmony and balance and integrates energy & earth based medicine through her offerings as she believes it provides the deep roots that are needed to dive into this intense work or it can become destructive.   At the core, Dra. Rocio's work is about healing from humanity's collective shadow, colonization and remembering we are all peoples of the Earth carrying medicine that will help us to remember the sacred ways. She deeply believes in dismantling the oppressive colonial paradigm as it is this very system that has made us unwell, that has uprooted, fragmented, and disconnected us from Spirit in all things, from our Great Mother, from self, and each other. As a medicine woman, Dra. Rocio knows that collective healing and liberation begins with healing self and unlearning harmful programming so that we can then act in ways to restore the times of harmony and balance.    Dra. Rocio's work can be described as decolonial healing and decolonial shadow work™ as it addresses layers at both the conscious and unconscious levels. Her work also weaves somatic work, energy work, and deep healing at the levels of the spirit and psyche Dra. Rocio offers group guidance, self-paced teachings, weekend intensives and facilitates healing to all peoples that believe a better world is possible and feel called to doing their part to co-create it.   Dra. Rocio can be found @dr.rosalesmeza on Instagram, @drrosalesmeza on Facebook, and on www.drrosalesmeza.com. If you feel called to the work, you are invited to join her weekly newsletter on her website to receive weekly decolonial healing messages, channeled messages, journal prompts, and to be amongst the first to learn when her offerings become available. Whte spiritual, anti-racist, empathic folx that are ready & deeply called to do the deeper decolonial shadow work™ are invited to the unlearning and healing from the white colonial mind weekend intensive, www.whitecolonialmind.com . May we heal together and get free.   In This Episode: Dra Rocio comes back on for part 2 in continuation of our first conversation because she has noticed the colonizer shapeshifting. She gives examples of how it shows up and what she has been witnessing. Getting to the root of new age spirituality and the ways in which it causes harm. What she means by "The Good White People" and why they are committing the most harm. Dra Rocio shares why decolonial work is spiritual and different from anti-racism work.  From her Q'ero Inca lineage, what are the prophecies of the New Earth? How folx of color also uphold the colonial paradigm.  We have to be able to do both the decolonial and spiritual work to create the New Earth. FULL SHOW NOTES Dra Rocio Rosales Meza Instagram Dra Rocio Rosales Meza's Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram The Werk Podcast Website YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza, is a Xicana/Mexicana Indigenous women in diaspora. She is a Seer, initiated medicine woman, on the ñusta paqo path in the Q'ero Inca lineage, & is a Counseling Psychology Ph.D. She is also an unschooling mama to a 5 year old child who also holds supernatural gifts. Dra. Rocio's path is that of a medicine woman, she is not a Licensed Psychologist, as she is not aligned with the colonial Eurocentric field of today. She honors the traditional path, her ancestral medicine. She comes from a long line of healers on both her maternal and paternal lineages and was born with psychic, channeling, and mediumship gifts. Dra. Rocio's work has had a global impact to evolve the collective consciousness. Dra. Rocio's work is deeply rooted in Indigenous wisdom, medicine, and worldview. While she is highly sought after, she only works with those she feels a deep resonance with and those that align with and understand the work we are tasked with at this prophetic time. Dra. Rocio believes in the prophecies of many Indigenous nations, including the Condor and Eagle prophecy of the Q'ero nation which names this time as the time that humanity must evolve and shift into sacred reciprocity with Mother Earth and all of Creation to end the times of chaos and harm. Dra. Rocio's work is at the intersections of decolonizing, spirituality, and wellness. She walks and works in between the earthly and spiritual realms. Dra. Rocio is able to see beyond this ordinary reality to bring forth the highest timelines and visions into our earthly reality. She is grateful to her teachers, Pampamesayoq Don Alejandro Apaza and medicine woman Marilu Shinn for helping her REMEMBER. Dra. Rocio practices energy medicine & “Shamanic” earth based medicine. While she does decolonial work, that is only part of her work. Dra. Rocio views her decolonial work as the passageway to restore harmony and balance and integrates energy & earth based medicine through her offerings as she believes it provides the deep roots that are needed to dive into this intense work or it can become destructive. At the core, Dra. Rocio's work is about healing from humanity's collective shadow, colonization and remembering we are all peoples of the Earth carrying medicine that will help us to remember the sacred ways. She deeply believes in dismantling the oppressive colonial paradigm as it is this very system that has made us unwell, that has uprooted, fragmented, and disconnected us from Spirit in all things, from our Great Mother, from self, and each other. As a medicine woman, Dra. Rocio knows that collective healing and liberation begins with healing self and unlearning harmful programming so that we can then act in ways to restore the times of harmony and balance.  Dra. Rocio's work can be described as decolonial healing and decolonial shadow work™ as it addresses layers at both the conscious and unconscious levels. Her work also weaves somatic work, energy work, and deep healing at the levels of the spirit and psyche Dra. Rocio offers group guidance, self-paced teachings, weekend intensives and facilitates healing to all peoples that believe a better world is possible and feel called to doing their part to co-create it. In This Episode: Dra Rocio shares her origins story, ancestry, and how being a Seer helps her in her decolonial work.  She also shares that she comes from “peoples of the earth”and her abuelita was a plant medicine woman. Dra Rocio defines decolonial shadow work and why it's imperative to include spirituality in this work. The ways in which the new age movement is a part of the colonial paradigm. How we are all harmed by White supremacy and colonization including White Folx. White Folx must heal the perpetual shame and guilt that they feel which prevents them from moving forward in this work. How activism is spiritual and political. How being rooted in compassion is absolutely necessary for decolonial work. This is spiritual warfare which is why we need to do the work spiritually. How POC can get stuck in and perpetuate the collective pain. How colonization is an agreed upon reality. Why understanding multiple timelines and realities is crucial to simultaneously healing and also creating a New Earth. Being able to access higher timelines will be necessary to do this work. The true meaning of harmony and balance and how to use the principles of harmony and balance. The ways people run from the discomfort of being triggered, aka fear the shadow and the discomfort of the shadow work. FULL SHOW NOTES Dra Rocio Rosales Meza Instagram Dra Rocio Rosales Meza's Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram YouTube Channel Connect with The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

In This Episode: How Brittany and Laura met. Brittany and Laura's intention for starting The Werk Podcast. Our experiences in the wellness and spiritual industries and why speaking out against microaggressions, appropriation, and other harmful practices is a part of the work. The work that white people and BIPOC have to do in order to heal and evolve. How American history glosses over the contributions of BIPOC and important moments in history. The different types of privilege we all experience and why conversations regarding power and privilege need to include intersectionality.  Fetishization and mysognoir that BIPOC women experience.  The work that Brittany and Laura believe White-bodied and BIPOC folks need to do FULL SHOW NOTES Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align & The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an activist, social justice warrior, author, anti-racism consultant and trainer, intuitive healer, and yoga teacher and practitioner. She has led dismantling racism work in many settings for over two decades and has a background and two decades of practice as a clinical social worker. Michelle's work centers on healing from individual and collective trauma, coming back into wholeness and aligning the mind, body, spirit, and heart.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She has worked in several non-profits and served as an elected official and on many non-profit boards of directors. She has led Dismantling Racism Trainings with large corporations, small non-profits, and community groups, including the ACLU-WA, Duke University, Google, This American Life, The Center for Equity and Inclusion, Auburn Seminary, Kripalu, Yoga Alliance, and Lululemon, and many others. Michelle published Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017 and her newest book, Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief was published by Shambhala Publications in 2021. She teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide and is on the faculty of Off the Mat, Into the World. She was a Tedx speaker at Wake Forest University in 2019 and has been interviewed on several podcasts in which she explores the premise and foundation of Skill in Action, along with embodied approaches to racial equity work, creating ritual in justice spaces, our divine connection with nature and Spirit, and how we as a culture can heal. In 2020 she created her own podcast, Finding Refuge, which explores collective grief and liberation and serves as a reminder about all the ways we can find refuge during unsettling and uncertain times and of the resilience and joy that comes from allowing ourselves to find refuge. In This Episode:  The awareness that comes with awakening and how this relates to social justice. Why embodiment is the key to healing racism.  If White bodied folks don't have the resiliency to do this work, what will it take? Rest as a necessary tool for activism. The work that White bodied people have to do. The work that the BIPOC community has to do.  The practice of remembering and how we can have grace and compassion for those who are remembering. FULL SHOW NOTES Skill In Action Instagram Skill In Action Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align & The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

Marilu Shinn has held a private practice as  a Shamanic Practitioner since 2012  Her formal training includes the Four Winds Society  as well as an ongoing apprenticeship with the Nusta Medicine Women of Peru.  Her own healing journey and reclamation of her Ancestral Wisdom brought her to embody the Ancient Wisdom Traditions of Peru and  to share the Medicine and Beauty of this Lineage as a path towards Empowerment and Embodied living.  Her mission and passion are to reconnect Women with their Authentic Selves; to awaken their somatic awareness through Shamanistic practices and to reconnect them with their innate Sacred Womb Wisdom as the foundations for leading fulfilling, whole lives.  Marilu holds international retreats and Earth Based Ceremonies  in the Santa Cruz mountains and anywhere where Medicine is needed. She works privately with both men and women.  In This Episode:  Marilu defines decolonization as a process of remembrance and reclaiming our knowledge and wisdom from the lands our ancestors came from.  Reclamation as a way of healing. Purging the ways in which we were conditioned by Whiteness. Integrate and call back which belongs to our ancestors. Is there ever an appropriate time for White and White passing people to practice indigenous ways? Marilu's views on calling out on social media. Is the responsibility on BIPOC to call-in, out, forward? Spirituality and social justice go hand in hand. True spirituality is acknowledging shadow aspects. Reparations includes speaking up and giving back. The sacred medicines lose their groundedness and power through non-indigenous practitioners. Grandmother ayahuasca has a symbiotic relationship with indigenous people. The work that BIPOC have to do which includes speaking our truth and reclaiming our abundance. The work that White-bodied people have to do. Marilu explains why the New Earth is not the new age. Decolonizing starts with what you put your energy towards, how are you colluding? Why 5D living is bypassing.  FULL SHOW NOTES Mujer Medicine Instagram Kawak Energy Medicine Website Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align & The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests.

As CEO and Co-Founder of The Cosmos, she creates experiences and content to help Asian women care for themselves, their community, and their world. Their work at the intersection of AAPI identity, somatic healing, and women's empowerment has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Bustle, Paper Mag, and more. Cassandra's teachings are informed by 9 years of practice in the healing arts, 300+ hours of training, and a lifelong commitment to social justice and decolonization. She has completed trainings in yoga, trauma-informed mindfulness, reiki, and activism movement trauma healing. In March 2021, Cassandra created Collective Rest, a virtual 1-hour guided relaxation practice. This healing space was birthed in direct response to spikes in anti-Asian hate crimes, including the Atlanta shooting, and ongoing violence towards BIPOC communities. Collective Rest has since helped over 1,000 people around the world to slow down, process our collective trauma in the community, and sleep better. In This Episode: How Sailor Moon activated her as a young child. Her first experience of injustice and how it ran through her body and why it made her focus on reading books and being in her mind. How she started awakening to the injustices of the world by way of the BLM movement. In 2018, she realized that she wanted to divest from White-dominated spaces and start her own to create a space for Asian Women. If BIPOC creates its own spaces, does it create echo chambers? White fragility and building resilience on their nervous system The model minority myth. As an Asian person and doing her own anti-Blackness work The reason why storytelling is so important; especially non-White ones because BIPOC stereotypes are perpetuated. Whiteness as a construct. FULL SHOW NOTES Cassandra Lam Instagram The Cosmos Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align & The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests

Sara Clark began teaching yoga 11 years ago in New York City after leaving the world of television post production. She has had the honor of leading workshops and retreats globally, teaming up with top fitness brands and gracing covers of wellness magazines all while sharing tools to support healing the mind and the body. Sara views vinyasa yoga as a moving meditation, an act of resistance against the system and a salve for the soul. Her teachings weave together the practices of meditation, mindfulness and manifestation to support uplifting the spirit and awakening to one's limitless potential.  In This Episode: How Sara's experience as a Black child in a predominantly White space helped her prepare for wellness spaces.  How Black women are set to a different standard.  Sara's experience with White fragility and how she's navigated through microaggressions.  How epigenetics and empathy play a factor in this work with White people. Why safe spaces are crucial for the well-being of POC.  Unlearning: Her life in Grenada during the quarantine, slowing down, and what it has taught her about life. How rest is a form of resistance as a Black woman.  Balancing mindfulness and peace with speaking up.  Energy and the laws of the universe in relation to how we can create the future we want to live.  Her advice for the werk POC have to do and white people.  FULL SHOW NOTES Sara Clark Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align & The Werk: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag us! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign @thewerkpodcast Let us know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests

Amanda Michelle is a Spiritual and Holistic Wellness Practitioner currently based in Palm Springs, California. As a direct descendent of the Guarani people in Paraguay, Amanda has spent the majority of her life working with several Indigenous modalities including dream weaving, plant medicine and Indigenous Cosmology. As a transracial adoptee in the early 90's, it was a long and sometimes difficult process in understanding her Ancestral roots which ultimately created a deeper appreciation and connection to the Spirit realms. In 2015, Amanda created Activated Living and is focused on sharing her work in several formats (writing, visual, and audio) to help weave the Mind, Body, Soul/ Spirit connection with Indigenous Wisdom. The depth of her work in the Spiritual and wellness space is to assist and guide others to find their medicine from within.  In This Episode, We Talk About: Amanda's experience growing up with White parents and how that led to her learning more about her ancestral indigenous roots as a Guarani. How lucid dreaming at a young age helped Amanda to connect to her Guarani ancestry. Amanda shares about the Guarani people. What does it mean to break down toxic paradigms? The reason why self-awareness is the first step towards breaking down toxic systems and paradigms. The Spirit of supremacy. Amanda's observation of the connection with ancestors, being a spiritual orphan, and the manifestation of supremacy. Amanda's views on appropriation, gatekeeping, and is there a right way to practice indigenous practices? Her thoughts on cancel culture. FULL SHOW NOTES Activated Living Instagram Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram The Werk Podcast Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag me! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign Let me know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests

We are the duo behind our passion project, The Werk, a podcast and web series to inspire people to do the necessary work. As women of color in the spiritual and wellness spaces, we aim to create a safe space to learn and unlearn. In the first season, there will be 6 episodes airing every Tuesday starting September 7, 2021.  Intention: Decolonizing spirituality and wellness for a more equitable future. In each episode, we will share wisdom, education, and storytelling to raise awareness of the harm placed on indigenous and people of color. With this awareness, we are better equipped to incite change and collective evolution. The goal of The Werk is to create and share thoughts that will expand the minds and hearts of the listeners.    FULL SHOW NOTES Laura Chung Instagram Brittany Simone Anderson Instagram Awaken and Align Instagram Awaken and Align Website YouTube Channel Connect with Awaken and Align: If you enjoyed the podcast and you feel called, please share it and tag me! Subscribe, rate, and review the show wherever you get your podcasts. Your rating and review help more people discover it! Follow on Instagram @awakenandalign Let me know your favorite guests, lessons, or any topic requests