In It Together

Update: freddie launched a coaching practice! It's founded on the understanding that we can show up for everything we love only as much as we are willing to show up for our own healing. Follow @freddieblooms on IG to learn more, or book a free consult directly at bit.ly/bookblooms. GOD IS THE GROUND originally aired on Adorning the Void. Madison Abdallah (@radiantsomatics) and activist, writer, artist, coach freddie blooms get into the somatics of activism, embodiment in the recovery process, and writing as a way to heal.

In the final episode of this podcast you’ll hear Freddie on the other side of the interview process with his friend SK Kerastas. Freddie shares about the learning processes in bringing this podcast to life, which has a lot to do with taking up space, sonically and otherwise, and trying to hold all the things with levity and self-compassion. They reflect on the irony of Freddie doing the labor for this show, In It Together, all by their lonesome. What can we say, all things in process.  SK Kerastas is an organizer producer facilitator artist jock spiritualist, newly based in Chicago after 8 years in the SF Bay Area. They love tennis, they love writing, they love dancing, they love trans people, and while they may not love meditation, they do it all the time. Freddie Blooms lives in the woods in Sonoma County, California. Freddie is a person and an artist and an organizer and a lover and a fighter and recovery nerd and really grateful to be here! You can follow Freddie on instagram @freddieblooms and check out more of their offerings on http://freddieblooms.com. Thanks for listening!Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

In the second to last episode of this series, Jodie talks about her journey of transforming not-enough-ness to humble confidence. After sunsetting an organization she poured so much of herself into, she is taking risks to be more fully herself and follow her joy, taking guidance from the phrase, “What you yearn for, yearns for you, too.” Freddie resonates with this mentality and practices generally and is also personally terrified of the goal Jodie set for herself at the top of the year: receiving at least 30 rejections. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Jodie Tonita is a coach, strategist and aspiring waterwoman. She partners with people who want to evolve themselves to transform the world – people who strive to be brave enough to shape the future. You can learn more about her at www.tonita.pro and @tonitaish on Instagram. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

As a couple of white transmasculine people in recovery, Mud (aka Dusty) and Freddie have a lot to talk about. Dusty shares about the process of finding balance between the beautiful intention to live a life of service, and the utmost importance of learning and leaning into our worth beyond what he offers to others. Dusty talks about his journey of embracing masculinity as a member of a queer culture where the verdict on masculinity is generally... not great! They also discuss limits versus boundaries, the false binary of choosing one’s relationship or oneself, and practicing compassion without self sacrifice. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Mud (Dusty) Howard is a trans masc boxer, poet, and cultural alchemist. He is a writer & a fighter who builds worlds with words. He is following his dreams in Los Angeles, making perfume, and writing his first novel filled with lies. You can follow him on instagram at @transsexualdreamboat or find more of his writing at mudhoward.com.  Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

My friend, abolitionist co-conspirator, and podcast guest (episode 4) April Grayson lost her home in a fire earlier this week. Please consider contributing to the mutual aid fund organized by the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition: https://gofund.me/71abef7c None of us are free until all of us are free 🤍

Olivia talks about their shift from a life of learning through action and adventure, toward instead learning at a deeper level and slower pace, in large part influenced by their chronic illness and disability. She talks about the feeling of her life being stripped down to the bare essentials of being human, becoming more self reliant for better and for worse, and the interesting dynamics of gender and sexuality that have emerged in this shift. Freddie shares about how the wisdom in this interview supported him while recovering from covid. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Olivia Pepper is a writer, theorist and nondenominational artist who currently resides in rural New Mexico. Olivia has dabbled abundantly in life and has been at times a film producer, a medicinal herb farmer, an astrologer, a journalist, a labor organizer, an experimental theatre maker, a line cook, and all kinds of other things. Mostly, though, Olivia is a collection of exhausted cells, weary bones, good stories, bad jokes and oddly sentimental pieces of pop culture trivia, mostly about Star Trek or queer poets of the 1920s. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Lorelle talks about her experience grappling with the tension between rest and capitalism. In spite of her daily reminders to her patients and loved ones to practice rest and self-care, she often struggles to extend the same generosity to herself. Lorelle articulates the question: who am I when I’m not in service? Freddie empathizes with this question and – spoiler alert – together they come to the conclusion that finding balance in capitalism is literally impossible. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Lorelle Saxena is a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, a parent doing her best to break cycles, and a committed member of a two-person ukulele band. She would like to remind you to drink more water. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Qui talks about what it means to reparent their inner child as a trans person, exploring the gendered complexities of leaning to accept and embrace iterations of themself they’d previously rejected. Qui recalls how being forced to be alone during the first couple of years of the pandemic is ultimately what made space for their big ass feelings and begin to repair the ruptures in their relationship with themself. Freddie, unshockingly, resonates with all of this. This is a beautiful conversation of trans connection, joy, and healing. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Qui Alexander is a queer, trans, Black Puerto Rican, scholar, educator and organizer currently based in Tkaronto (Toronto, Ontario). Believing education is a practice of freedom, they strive to center healing, transformation and care in every education space they have the honor to hold and co-create. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Ash shares about how their path toward becoming a death doula means re-orienting their relationship to capitalism. While they didn't have adequate support in preparing for and processing their dad’s death as a child, in grieving their Bubbe who died in 2020, they were able to retroactively show up for all of their grief and themself, and begin answering the call to show up for others’ end-of-life processes as well. This episode is about death and it’s also about following your dreams! ABOUT OUR GUEST: Ash Hay is an Artist, Caregiver and Death Educator living in Santa Rosa. They love soup, karaoke, and hanging with their animals (dog, sheep, chickens). You can follow their doula IG @portal_pal and see their current art offerings @ashhayart. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Rachel describes how she relates to the loss and disappointment she experiences as a sports fan as a practicing ground for navigating challenges in her relationships. Some of the forms this practice takes for Rachel include actually FEELING difficult emotions, learning to live with the un-fixed, and compartmentalizing in ways that support connection.  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Rachel Goldman is a mama, partner, writer and yoga teacher living in Oakland, California. She is exploring how to come home to herself while in the wilderness of motherhood. Freddie suggests you check out her amazing offerings @ReverenceYoga on Instagram and at http://reverenceyoga.studio Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Gave myself a break this week.  Thanks for tuning in; be back next Thursday! xo fb Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Lo talks about their move back to Paris, France in the wake of their father's death, and what it's like to return as a grown-ass trans person to a homeland that wasn't so kind to them as a young queer person. In emerging from deep isolation and grief, they are exploring their values around sexuality and building community, and here commiserate with Freddie around how people pleasing can tie into these things in challenging ways. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Lo pretends to be a himbo most of the time but they’re nerd with a big heart. They now live in Paris after 17 years in the Bay Area. They love Totoro and their dog, Bruno. For capitalistic purposes, they work in journalism but would much rather do absolutely nothing. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Alison talks about learning to let go of her agenda and be in the flow, both as a facilitator/coach in movement spaces as well as a parent to a young child. This practice is long in the making for Alison, who has found learning to be emergent a necessary part of living in a world of complexity. Freddie reflects on his gratitude to benefit from Alison's coaching offerings & shares his intentions for his own path of purpose. There is also a really cute clip of Alison's child Jerome 🥺 ABOUT OUR GUEST: Alison Lin is a queer single mama of Chinese and white Scottish-German descent.  She is a coach and consultant at Change Elemental and currently lives on unceded Lenni Lenape land, aka Philadelphia. Consuming less and building interdependent community fills her heart and schedule. She cultivates wholeness through her connection to spirit and the earth. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Caity and Freddie talk about the evergreen challenges to release control and abandon the quest for perfectionism, and how what's at the core of the struggles is so often trust in our selves.  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Caity Rogowski is a Type 1 Wing 2, ENFJ, recently-discovered Scorpio moon rising Gemini who tries to deflect her innate tendencies to seek and strive for perfection by filling up her non-law school, non-fitness teaching time with plants, crochet, outdoor walks, and Spotify playlist curation. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Thanh talks about his homecoming to the free world after 10 years behind bars, and all the (un)learning that comes along with that: undoing patterns of selling himself short, drowning in cycles of punishment, and ending unneccessary suffering. Freddie and Thanh also talk about how Thanh is the way he is in spite of his time in prison, not because of it. Thanh is a golden ray of sunshine and there's no getting around it!  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Thanh is a dad, freedom fighter, formerly incarcerated, Vietnamese & Black, organizer, podcaster, and director of ‘Finding Ma’ the documentary.  LISTEN TO UNCUFFED: https://open.spotify.com/show/1p0cNCUK5h0Df8TcNfC0fh WATCH THE FINDING MA TRAILER: http://FindingMaFilm.com. Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms. https://freddieblooms.com/

Sandra and Freddie talk about how staying open to love means staying open to grief, and vice versa. They discuss dream magic, how relationships live on after death, and a light sprinkling of astrology talk (shoutout to Scorpio + Leo vibes). Somehow, and much to Freddie's delight, Sandra organically brings up Carly Rae Jepsen. In case anyone forgot, Freddie loves talking about grief.  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Sandra is a painfully aware queer femme living in Los Angeles. She is a writer with a Venus in Leo and a big fan of sapphic sad girl pop.  LISTEN TO INTO THE QUEER OF IT (Co-hosted by Sandra, Leanna Augustus & Lauren Manalo): https://open.spotify.com/show/0SrEqRhM6NMC6Vjk4rvrgK?si=758e9d8a567e4305.  Theme music is "HEATWAVE HEARTBREAK" by freddie blooms.  https://freddieblooms.com/

April shares about her practice of letting go of anger for the purpose of her own peace and happiness, how other people's actions have nothing to do with us, and how self-love is the right place to put your energy when you're hurting. Freddie reflects on how this self-love thing keeps coming up, and how it continues to connect to the inner child stuff... ABOUT OUR GUEST: April Grayson is on the forefront of helping pass legislation that ensures women and girls get treated equally and without impartiality. She lives and loves what she does and will continue to fight until the system changes the way it treats our incarcerated women and young girls. WATCH "LITTLE APRIL": https://www.representjustice.org/campaigns/little-april/ The In It Together theme is "Heatwave Heartbreak" by Freddie Blooms. www.freddieblooms.com

We discuss the cyclical nature of life's lessons from someone who's been around the block a few times, the life-saving quality of self-love, and how you can't make chicken salad outta chicken shit. Marylee turns her attention to Freddie's own learning processes which inspires Freddie's efforts to deepen in vulnerability moving forward in this space.  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Marylee Guinon is a Cal Berkeley graduate, a scientist and habitat restorationist. She sold her environmental consulting firm, retired and is living in bucolic Sonoma County, where she actively volunteers for environmental causes, the local fire council and is co-founder of State Alliance for Firesafe Road Regulations. Marylee loves to share adventure travel with her husband Scott, and she is an adoring mother of her adult children Mackenzie and Cole. The In It Together theme is "Heatwave Heartbreak" by Freddie Blooms. www.freddieblooms.com

We discuss becoming un-numb, what it looks like to give and receive support, and learning to embody one's dignity. Freddie reflects on the timeliness of this conversation in the wake of the Club Q shooting.  ABOUT OUR GUEST: Imogen Pink is a mom and a student. She spends a lot of her time watching scary movies, listening to podcasts, and repeating the practices that bring her joy! She's committed to disrupting carceral mental health systems and paradigms <3 The In It Together theme is "Heatwave Heartbreak" by Freddie Blooms. www.freddieblooms.com

We discuss the mind-body connection as connected to chronic pain, making incremental progress, and recovering from perfectionism. ABOUT OUR GUEST: Dani Martínez is a crybaby water sign. She fundraises and distributes money for movements, and learns from plantitas on her off time. The theme song is "Heatwave Heartbreak" by Freddie Blooms.  www.freddieblooms.com