The Bridge: w/ Jared Michaels & Chris Searles

Damiana took us on a journey. By the end of it, we knew a lot more about the biological body, had insight into the direct connection between having a soft body and having clear awareness of our interconnected nature, felt awe for these bodies and these lives of ours, and realized the power and goodness that spontaneously comes from this place of clarity. About DamianaTo book a massage with Damiana: artful-massage.comReferencesTo learn about Esalen Massage: esalen.orgTo learn about Cranial Sacral Massage: integrativehealthcare.orgTo learn about Somatic Coaching: madelinewade.com/what_is_somatic_coachingTo learn about John Chitty: energyschool.comQuotes The body is the topography of the unconscious.We have to unwind the imprint into the blueprint.Doing our own work is necessary for collective healing.We must come back to the awe of what we have now.If we just thought about what it took to create these bodies … for those atoms to come together and create these molecules, and on and on, and then on a more macro level, that we have to be at this particular distance from the sun for life to be possible, you know it’s like — It’s All So Incredible! — like, why aren’t we in complete awe and reverence of existence all the time?Harmony, walking on this planet and knowing that life is a gift and that embodiment is a gift and, as one of my yoga teachers used to say, “The universe has gone through all this trouble for centuries and millennia to create you in this form, right now, and that’s the gift.” And I don’t think it’s that complicated. I think that just walking, just being on this planet, connected to the sacredness of life and the gift of living in this body that’s such a sophisticated instrument that allows us to hug and taste and move and think and speak; coming back to the awe, to the awe of what we have now and also to the gratitude for it. “Enjoy every sandwich.” It’s simple. From realizing the preciousness, so much comes, so much giving and truly living comes. ###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

Professor Deborah Lawrence is a pioneer in tropical forest ecology, but also in integrating a broad variety of academics and real world experiences to better understand environmental problems and solutions. In this episode we talk from the theme of "de-fragmentation" as a fundamental solution for people, socially and environmentally. We divide the interview into three sections. In part 1 Dr. Lawrence shares an overview of her scientific work distinguishing tropical forests as having greater influence over global climate than other ecosystems. In part 2 she talks about her “awakening” to animals and rainforests and the Indigenous people in them, during college, which led to roughly six years of research in remote Borneo. That experience had a tragic end, but 15 years later a beautiful resolution. She shares about that journey and its value today. In the third segment, Dr. Lawrence talks about her vision for an optimal future for everyone. About Deborah LawrenceDeborah Lawrence, Ph.D., is Director of the Environmental Thought & Practice program and Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Her extensive research focuses on nutrient cycling, Indigenous peoples, the links between tropical deforestation and climate change, and the impacts of forest conversion on our climate around the globe. She is an adviser to the US Forest Service and US AID. She has spent more than twenty-five years doing field-based research in Indonesia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Cameroon. She and her students work with partners in hydrology, atmospheric science, economics, anthropology, ethics, engineering, law, and more, to understand the drivers and consequences of issues related to ecosystem destruction. Dr. Lawrence has earned numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Academy of Sciences fellowship, and a Fulbright Scholarship. She earned her undergrad at Harvard, her Ph.D. at Duke, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard. Learn more about Dr. Lawrence's work here and here. Notes -- This episode explores its topics under the theme of De-Fragmentation.Section 1: Tropical Forest “Teleconnections”. We begin by discussing Dr. Lawrence’s breakthrough 2014 study on Tropical Forest teleconnections: AKA, tropical forests' influence on global moisture cycles. Tropical rainforests are better at stabilizing global climate than any other land-based ecosystem. Dr. Lawrence shares: Definition of tropical forest teleconnectionsHer biggest takeaways from that study, today How trees' leaves serve the whole planet. “Leaves are tiny pumps.” (Chris)Whether or not tropical re-forestation can reduce heat and drought around the worldThe power of thoughtful reforestation and deforestationTwo recommendations for how to protect tropical rainforests. Section 2: Lessons learned in Borneo. Dr. Lawrence tells us how she ended up living and working in a remote village in Borneo for roughly six years until “getting kicked out.” She shares general as well as very profound, personal lessons learned from that time. Check "Quotes" below for some takeaways. Section 3: Envisioning an Optimal Future. Professor Lawrence expands on her earlier statements from this interview: that we need to work to be connected to each other and the planet, know all we can about how to protect the rainforests, change our economy, recognize the environment as our life-support system, feel the miraculousness of photosynthesis, conserve more, and help more because we care more. See Quotes for takeaways. Quotes“Tree cover stabilizes climate.""There are certain scale effects of deforestation. Scale matters. If you can think through the local climate and the local atmospheric dynamics you can figure out how to manage rainfall through deforestation.""The atmosphere is all connected. Forests move a lot of moisture through their leaves... That sets up a bunch of dynamics in the atmosphere that come out of the Tropics and ultimately have ripple effects across the globe... We need to protect large, large patches of forest.""Know all you can about the products you consume. Address climate through the political system. We need to act.""Work together. Try to be connected.""The first thing that struck me from almost the get go, is that people are the same everywhere. They wanted to eat, a decent house, schooling for their kids, care for their family when they were sick, and enough money to throw a great wedding for their kids. That was it! I’m pretty sure that’s what I want, as a parent, I mean, it’s pretty much the same thing. So, stunning to me. I mean, maybe not stunning — of course, we’re all the same. Maybe you just don’t get that if you don’t actually go somewhere else and discover they just want the same things.”“Water keepers are everywhere. The water is a big thing everywhere.”“Working together is how you do it when things are hard. You pull together for planting, for healing, for parties… We can work together and we can find a path.” “When making big decisions, it’s important to be thoughtful and move a bit slowly, especially when those decisions have to do with the land. . . You cannot walk back decisions to deforest the planet. The better thing to do is just to not do it in the first place. . . Our planet depends on leaving these forests alone. . . It is simple, hard and utterly important.”“And I thought, “Oh my goodness, it wasn’t all me…” I had spent 15 years blaming myself, and I knew in fact I was to blame, I had plenty of blame, but to know that I was forgiven, and that these people were sorry, and that it wasn’t all lost… Aside from my kids — the other best thing that’s ever happened to me was to get this back, to feel like it wasn’t lost; I wasn’t lost to them and they weren’t lost to me.”“I hope we ALL have a chance in less than 15 years to go back to whoever we hurt or whoever we failed and to get some clarity or some forgiveness. I think a really important message is that you shouldn’t give up on people, and that people make mistakes, big ones. We’re all human. These sound like cliches, but it’s the truth. We do make mistakes. It’s important to try hard to stay connected. Try hard to stay connected and if you get disconnected try even harder to get reconnected. When I think about my deepest failure, it was a failure to listen and a failure to maybe ask for more… I think the best thing you can do is actually discuss your feelings, and for me now, the message now, is that this extends to the way i feel about our planet and our future… and the fact that we have to work together, and if we don’t we stand to lose a lot. We stand to lose not only our connection to the planet, which sustains us, but our connection to each other… So I think trying to be connected is the way we get through this.”“We should be skeptical of our own stories because we don’t actually know it all.”“This fragmented world that we live in is something we have got to come to grips with... Our country was built on slavery... Our country was inhabited before we got here, and we took that land... The other acknowledgment that we need is that we are living in this lifeboat called, “the planet Earth,” and it is our life-support system, it’s the only one we have, and we depend o...

If the whole planet is a village, Sheri Herndon is a village elder. In this conversation, she draws on her decades of experience as an extraordinarily successful activist and gives us a real sense of the beautiful and joyful future that's possible. She does so with great energy, deep kindness, and sheer brilliance.   About SheriSheri Herndon cofounded IndyMedia.org, a global grassroots media network, 20 years ago. She is now cofounding MetaTao and Awakening Together to serve awakening to our greatest personal and social potential, synergistic and co-creative sense-making and movement building toward greater freedom and wisdom, and co-creating foundations for an enlightened civilization. MetaTao is a trim tab agency for the foundations for new culture. ContactListen to Sheri’s meditation, Deepening Into Essence. Contact Sheri / learn more about her work via SheriHerndon.com or facebook.com/SheriHerndon.ReferencesDonella Meadows, Dancing with Living SystemsJoseph Chilton Pierce, The Magical Child — On passionate intent and unconflicted behavior Tikkun OlamBarbara Marx HubbardTrim tab The Queen Mary’s rudder Jesus’ Aramaic translationsBe like the lilies of the Valley Ask body and deeply for your greatest heart’s desire, for coded in that desire is the blueprint of your evolutionary potentialWake Up, Grow up, Clean up (do the trauma work), Show upElisabet Sahtouris, evolutionary biologist Richard Rudd the shift PranaChiWe are electromagnetic beingsWe are the body electric Original sinOriginal blessingMatthew Foxheretic Paul Ray, The Cultural Creatives, “we are not alone”The Supreme Satijinanda - the supreme infinite nowZack Stein, Education in a Time Between WorldsJoanna Macy, Work That Reconnects Rugged IndividualismGestaltInterdependence Living Systems, the Internet, and the Human Future (Sahtouris, 2000)Waste = Food Cradle to Cradle Closed loop systems Mycelial webA Few Quotes“The core break is: we put ourselves above nature.” “We have been sitting inside dissonant structures our entire lives.”'It starts with trusting yourself so deeply. Know that you can't make any mistakes. You're only going to learn and be guided." "We forget to ask for help. Ask for help and listen."“Feedback is so important in human relationships because it means you’re growing. And in a living system, like trees —they know! (They) get the resources where they need to go, that’s the intelligence of a living system.”###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

Crystal clear at the end of his career as founder/CEO of “Resolution Gardens", Randy Jewart, talks about his journey from gymnast to academic, artist to activist, and community builder to urban farmer. He shares wisdoms and truths on the rewards of "getting outside and doing some work together," reflections on the challenges of expanding the local food paradigm, and his best idea for global positive change. In Randy's 20+ years based in Austin, TX, he created numerous communities and community events connecting art, ecological literacy, local food, social justice, people in recovery, and more. Randy also shares his feelings about the wonders of a 4x4 foot garden and the breakthrough of establishing non-performance-based self-esteem. A positive energy generator and "all around Bodhisattva," Randy inspires. Jared sums this one up: "We have to become gardeners of all life." About RandyRandy Jewart is founder/director of Austin Green Art, founder/ceo of Resolution Gardens, and co-founder of  The GIFT (Grow Inspire Feed Teach). Visit The GIFT on Facebook and Instagram.TopicsHow to do local community solutions and how to grow food locally. What does the future look like if we get it right? ReferencesWhat’s a “koan”? Soil mega biodiversityTerrence Real, New Rules for Marriage Re: "the turnip farmer points the way," here’s a similar haiku by Kobyashi Issa Randy’s Bridge SolutionCreate NFTs and other digital currency incentives that reward people for virtuous acts. Select quotes“I’ve gravitated into food because the failing and the testing and the engagement is most rewarding and challenging and meaningful to me in a garden, because it’s a living system. So going from training in gymnastics and art and literature and academics, there’s creativity, there’s relationships, there’s complexity dealing with big issues — but all of that pales to a small, four foot by four foot garden.""When you think of soil — a good handful of soil supposedly has more creatures than there are stars in the universe. In one 4x4 foot garden you have 1,000 lbs of soil."“How does the opportunity to create an urban food system that’s sustainable and healthy connect to these other social challenges? You can start to pile-up a lot of potential.”“Of course we have to use language to communicate with each other and talk about what we’re doing. But our language is so limited compared to what it is that we’re trying to describe, these living things we should be in relation with.""Food and food production connects to this idea of core health: individual, family, and social, that also includes your mental health, your spiritual health, your economic stability. And so, can food be a surprising piece of some other kinds of programs that help people to be healthy and help the community be healthy? There’s lots of great examples.""The last few months, I’ve been focusing on my need to care for myself." "Do you love and honor and take care of yourself, whether you perform or not? You have a responsibility, if you want to be a healthy person, to connect with that aspect of yourself that doesn’t have to perform."“What the turnip does is a gift. It doesn’t own a character or skills or abilities, it’s living through what it is to provide abundance. All of these living processes, they come back to this word 'love,' the feeling that you get to when you really understand it right. That should be the way we talk to each other.”"You don't have to build a barn, you can build a little garden, or move a chicken coop. When you have that time together, there's time to talk personally and share some things.""A healthy economy requires constant circulation — it's a living system just like our bloodstream, or the nutrient cycle of a good functioning farm or biosphere... My hope is that there's a potential technical innovation, which would be to use this computing power to create a stimulus, or a "payment" where we can value these things we know we need in a healthy society. The way I think it could work: We create a NFT that's connected to behaviors and values and actions  we DO want to have happening, and we're willing to put a value on them. It could be reading a book, planting a tree, giving somebody food, it could be a million things... And tie that to economic circulation that rewards people for doing those things. And that, potentially, wouldn't have to end.""There's a lot of money on the sidelines right now from regular people of good heart that could go into regenerative projects.""We just call it the simpler way, or whatever, and we find ways to just let go of these systems that are so destructive and start to rebuild the kinds of things we want to see in our neighborhoods and be a part of — because of the way it makes us feel and the richness our lives get from spending that time with each other and producing healthy food and meeting new people and teaching somebody how to help. I think we can do it..."###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

“These are insights i will think about and integrate over time.” (—Jared) In this masterclass of an interview with Daniel Lavelle, U.S. Director for Survival International, Daniel explains his organization's courageous work and why indigenous sovereignty and human rights are priority one for the global environmental solution. It's an eye-opening session we recommend to every listener. Be sure to check out Daniel's organization as well. About DanielDaniel earned his PhD in Philosophy and Environmental Science, Policy and Management from UC Berkeley. He's been US Director of Survival International since 2018. Audio CaveatWe apologize for some of the audio quality. Yes, it gets a bit noisy at times, but Daniel was so “on” we didn’t want to stop. Please bear with the pops and purrs, it's more than worth it. Also, special bonus: Daniel's dog joins us at a few key moments! Questions AskedTell us why Indigenous Peoples are so important to the global environmental solution? What woke you up to Indigenous rights as a focal issue for human advancement?What have you learned from Indigenous Peoples after working with them in the field? Is “indigenous wisdom” (stewardship of the earth) a real thing?What are the best ways to help indigenous people now? What does the future look like if and after we achieve the Indigenous Peoples’ Solution? (Ubiquitous empowerment of land occupation rights, self-determination, basic safety and human rights, and respect for all traditional peoples. NotedSurvivalInternational.orgStephen Corry's blog series exploring the worldview behind today's conservationSurvival International's page about Uncontacted TribesSurvival International's petitions page80% of Earth's biodiversity lives on Indigenous lands today (IUCN)Indigenous peoples are putting their lives on the line (Mongabay, NYTimes)Indigenous Peoples are also under threat from some of the solutions proposed by the global north (Mongabay, Survival International)Daniel's Bridge solution"The optimal future would be a world based on justice."Select quotes"Indigenous peoples are on the frontlines of resistance to destructive forces, putting their lives on the line; it’s very dangerous doing environmental work.""80% of the biodiversity we still have left on the planet is in Indigenous territories, even though Indigenous peoples control maybe 20% of the globe. Within that territory you have this amazing repository of extremely important biodiversity.""Indigenous Peoples are also under threat from some of the solutions proposed by institutions and governments in the global north to address the environmental crisis."###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

Travis Ben Robinson is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, psychotherapist, and co-director of the Marina Counseling Center in San Francisco. He joins us for a light-hearted, deep, kind of folksy conversation that shines a light on our way forward. He says (and we agree) that the way forward is through discovering and rediscovering that everything is sacred. He offers some excellent tools to help us along the way such as following what feels warm in the moment, waking up our body's consciousness, and finding safety. This last tool feels especially fresh, as safety is not usually talked about in spiritual circles. In this episode he also references neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor. We are including a link to her Ted page. About TravisTravis has been practicing Tibetan meditation for more than 15 years. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2016, speaks three languages, and has been a practicing psychotherapist since 2010. Visit http://travisbenrobinson.com and https://marinacounseling.com to connect to Travis and learn more about his work. NotesWikipedia on "Yeshe”, a Tibetan Buddhist word that means before knowing (i.e. pure awareness that is free from concepts)Wikipedia on "the Dakinis" Lon Jinpa (Tibetan teacher, coming soon) Jill Bolte Taylor's TED talkChögyam Trungpa Rinpoche Travis' Bridge solution"I already think we're living in a perfect world. We just don't recognize it. Remembering this transforms the world."  Quotes“A deep recognition of our true nature, that’s what’s sacred. This sort of self-knowing - that the self is so much bigger than you can imagine - it’s beyond the word “self.” The re-recognizing of the sacred, that’s the practice. To return to the environmental question, when we start to recognize the sacred again we really honor it, protect it, become the dance of it, and know that we’re killing ourselves."  "Trust yourself. Trust your own guidance. Try to feel what's right for you, and not what someone else is telling you to do. That's the right thing to do." "How do we wake up? Through the body. Through our cells, we wake up to the infinite and this knowing extends out into the environment in subtle ways. In this way we find the sacred, and the sacred comes to us."    "If we don't have safety - our home, good relationships, the basics - we can't move on spiritually."  "I already think we're living in a perfect world. We just don't recognize it. Remembering this transforms the world."  ###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

According to Lea Seigen Shinraku, psychotherapist and founder of the San Francisco Center for Self-Compassion, negative self-talk is like wearing a virtual-reality headset. It can be crippling and derail us from doing what really matters, like helping to make the world a better place. In this episode, she offers wise and cutting-edge guidance for transforming negative self-talk and becoming optimal agents of positive change. Usually we think the way forward is external. Lea helps us see otherwise. About LeaLea Seigen Shinraku is founder of the San Francisco Center for Self Compassion. Visit sfcenterforselfcompassion.com for meditations, newsletters, and more of her work. Visit SF Center for Self Compassion on Instagram or Facebook. NotedDr. Kristen Neff, self-compassion pioneer https://self-compassion.org/Chris Germer, Founder of Mindful Self-Compassion https://chrisgermer.com/Adrienne Maree Brown, author of Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism http://adriennemareebrown.net/Diagram of a cell https://gaelmcgill.artstation.com/projects/Pm0JL1, and this: https://www.digizyme.com/cst_landscapes.html, and on Lea's "More David Bowies!" statement, this is fun: https://www.thinkpositiveprints.com/2014/04/psychedelic-cellsLea's Bridge solution"We need to be super creative and we all need to do it so we can meet today’s challenges. We need our full selves to be brought to bear."Select quotesThe reality is everybody feels shame sometimes... To transform it, you have to notice it... Coping with negative self-talk through self-compassion is a resource for dealing with all kinds of difficult truths about being alive right now.To get people involved, i think, there has to be some spirit of aliveness and creativity and a desire to want to do things, not from a place of shame and fear, but from a place of wanting to support life and co-create with other humans the world that we want.We need to be super creative and we all need to do it so we can meet today’s challenges. We need our full selves to be brought to bear.Learning is trying, making a mistake, reflecting, and trying again. Pay Attention. Assess. Try Again.###Thanks for listening! Check out more episodes of The Bridge here.MusicThanks so much to Alice Spencer for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," our theme. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here. 

The Science Is In. The world needs radical, inclusive, constructive change if it is to win the climate challenge, the species extinction crisis, the refugee challenge, and so much more. How do we build the bridge out of today's mounting environmental crises and prevent all of the things they incur? Chris and Jared come at the solution from different, but complimentary directions. Jared, a psychotherapist and Zen Buddhist priest in California and Chris, a globally-strategic conservation advocate in Texas, share their thoughts on how rescuing our shared future requires all of us to do both inner (Jared's focus) and outer (Chris' focus) work. "I've seen how much of the problem is mental and emotional. It's not just about the ecosystem." -- Jared"Seizing the biodiversity solution most beneficially effects the majority of challenges today and prevents environmental collapse." -- Chris*Listen to "The Interconnectedness interview" referred to in this conversation: here.Visual synopses1) Infinity symbol, Jared's main idea, "Activism"left loop: "Inner" spiritual, psychologicalright loop: "Outer" right actions2) Planet Earth, Chris' main idea, "Biosphere""Rescue & regrow the bio-physical life support system"CitationsKey studies supporting Chris' "brass tacks" vision: Global Priority Areas for Ecosystem Restoration. (Strassburg, et al. Nature, 2020)Connecting Habitats to Prevent Species Extinctions. (Pimm, Jenkins. American Scientist, 2019)A Global Deal for Nature. (Dinerstein, et al. Science, 2019)Primary Production of the Biosphere. (Field, Behrenfeld, Randerson, Falkowski. Science, 1998)How to protect half of Earth to be sure it protects sufficient biodiversity. (Pimm, Jenkins, Li, 2018)Trees, Forests and Water: Cool Insights for a Hot World. (Ellison, et al. Global Environmental Change, 2017)The Systemic Climate Solution. (Searles, 2016)Study #1 shows where the greatest productivity gains can be made from restoration on lands. Study #2 explains the need to prioritize corridorization. Study #3 is the UN's current focus, "30x30." The map in #4, "Fig. 1, Global Annual NPP", published 1998, shows global biospheric productivity; i.e. that tropical forests and lands are the most productive ecosystems on Earth, followed by temperate rainforests.  Note that ocean productivity is concentrated along coastlines, around the Equator and in high northern and southern regions (mostly). Compare the map from study #4 with the map in #5, "Fig. 1, Protected areas (green)," to get a sense of how well Earth's most productive ecosystems are protected today. Study #6 gives the best synopsis of the significance of land-based, physical life-support system's most powerful infrastructure, forests, to the global climate system. Forests offer the most concentrated suite of climate stabilization services. Study #7 is Chris's synopsis on the value of tropical forests to the global climate and biodiversity solutions. WebsitesLearn more about Jared's work: jaredmichaels.comLearn more about Chris's work: biointegrity.netMusicThanks so much to the beautiful and wonderful, Alice Spencer, Chris' wife, for her song, "I Wanna Be a Buddhist," heard as our theme at the beginning and end of this episode. Enjoy Alice's full performance of the song here.