Irresistible (fka Healing Justice Podcast)

Within the constant violence of the systems of oppression that structure our lives, there are infinite reasons for us to be enraged. As we recorded this conversation, hundreds of thousands of us were (and still are) taking our rage to the streets and to the page, protesting police violence and white supremacy around the world. Our righteous anger, as we can see clearly in this historical moment, exists as a sacred and necessary ingredient to our power and collective liberation. In this episode, we take a closer look at anger with Buddhist teacher Lama Rod Owens, kicking off a deeper season of study with his new book, “Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger,” as our summer 2020 Irresistible Book Club selection! We discussed ways in which anger pierces through to the truth of our reality, acting as a mirror, source of clarity, and catalyst for change. We also talked about how to consume anger rather than letting it consume us; Black rage; and the loving care we must also offer the wounds beneath it.  Transcript & full show notes at http://www.irresistible.org/podcast/68 ------- Join IRRESISTIBLE BOOK CLUB to read Lama Rod's new book, Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger, with others all over the world. You'll also get access to a discussion guide, a live conversation with Lama Rod this fall, and a 35% discount from North Atlantic Books. ------- Check out the following episode to engage in an Anger Offering practice with Lama Rod. ------- Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

EXCITING NEWS! Irresistible is welcoming its first-ever Co-Director, the inimitable BJSTAR. We are so excited for you to get to know them in this episode & beyond! BJ joins Co-Director Kate Werning for a conversation about sharing leadership, what brought them into movement and healing work, their political homes, why lowering expectations is awesome, and putting their favorite foods on their resume. Transcript & more info at www.irresistible.org/podcast/67 ---- Become a sustaining member on Patreon at any level to join us for the Irresistible Kick-Back with BJ & Kate, and other members-only events: https://www.patreon.com/posts/38050572 ---- Thank you to Zach Meyer for production, Alyson Thompson for social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

In participation with the week of action In Defense of Black Lives, we’re republishing a practice that was shared under our previous name, Healing Justice, in April 2018. Kandace Montgomery and Miski Noor of Black Visions Collective in Minneapolis took time to share some reflections with us about how to practice incorporating healing and wellbeing into the preparation for action, during direct action itself, and in aftercare. You’ll hear stories, examples, and important questions to ask ourselves. We desperately wish this episode wasn’t so timely right now. For so many of our movements, times like now -- the moments when we are experiencing the most direct, deep racialized trauma, emergency, and injustice, when we really need to slow down for our own well-being -- are often the very moments that we also need to give the most, to escalate, to organize actions, hone our message, and fight back. We hope this wisdom-sharing from the past helps support you in taking the most grounded and sustainable action we can right now. For up to date trustworthy calls to action and places to donate, please see Black Visions Collective & the Movement for Black Lives. Transcript & all links to listen at www.irresistible.org/podcast/66p Our corresponding conversation, Sustaining Ourselves When Confronting Violence, is findable at http://www.irresistible.org/podcast/66 For more healing resources for BIPOC organizers & allies taking action for Black lives, visit https://medium.com/@irresistiblemovements/healing-resources-for-bipoc-organizers-allies-taking-action-for-black-lives-f55067486690 ---- Thanks to Alyson Thompson for social media and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

In participation with the week of action In Defense of Black Lives, we’re republishing a critical conversation that was shared under our previous name, Healing Justice, in April 2018. Kandace Montgomery and Miski Noor of Black Visions Collective in Minneapolis took time to share with us about the 18-day police station occupation that followed the police murder of Jamar Clark in Minneapolis in 2015, and how healing, escalation, and direct action need to go hand-in-hand. We desperately wish this episode wasn’t so timely right now. For so many of our movements, times like now -- the moments when we are experiencing the most direct, deep racialized trauma, emergency, and injustice, when we really need to slow down for our own well-being -- are often the very moments that we also need to give the most, to escalate, to organize actions, hone our message, and fight back. We hope this wisdom-sharing from the past helps support you in navigating this time. For up to date trustworthy calls to action and places to donate, please see Black Visions Collective & the Movement for Black Lives. Transcript & links to listen at www.irresistible.org/podcast/66 Check out the corresponding practice called Healing in Direct Action at http://www.irresistible.org/podcast/66p For more Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers and Allies Taking Action for Black Lives, visit https://medium.com/@irresistiblemovements/healing-resources-for-bipoc-organizers-allies-taking-action-for-black-lives-f55067486690 ---- Thanks to Alyson Thompson for social media and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

In a time when many of our biggest visions for 2020 feel turned upside down, we're hungry for some inspiration. Enter youth voices Athina Amanor, Daniel Cook, Sary Barrios, & Theo Cooksey. In this episode, we hear four winning essays read by their authors from the YES! Magazine student essay contest this spring. The prompt was about students' Wildest Dreams for 2020, inspired by our New Years Practice with Alicia Garza here on the podcast. 1,342 students submitted essays, and these were some of the most powerful. Feel free to share with the young people in your life! Transcript, text of the student essays, and links to listen at www.irresistible.org/65 ---- Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, Ana Cecilia for music, and Jing Fong & Zenobia Jeffries Warfield at YES! Magazine for your amazing work. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic create the conditions for accelerated political realignments. This creates an enormous threat for bold moves toward authoritarianism, but also creates major opportunity for our movements to put forward our vision for the future and shape a new common sense about what we deserve. In this episode, we face the reality of what is happening politically. We engage with how our power building strategies need to adapt to our current conditions, and also pace with our needs and limitations as humans living in a traumatizing time. You'll hear from Ejeris Dixon, an organizer and political strategist who founded Vision Change Win Consulting; and Dove Kent, Senior Strategy Officer at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. They have 4 decades of combined experience in grassroots organizing, political education, and movement building, and this conversation was partially inspired by Ejeris' recent article titled "Fascists are Using COVID-19 to Advance Their Agenda. It's Up to Us to Stop Them." Transcript, further resources, & link to read Ejeris' article at www.irresistible.org/podcast/64 ---- Thanks to Jacob White & Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

This week we are diving into the grief, loss, intimacy, and possibility available in the unknown - all the time, and especially now in this moment of pandemic forcing great transition. How may we engage with this time as a rite of passage? You'll hear from Roshi Joan Halifax; a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care; along with Reverend Jennifer Bailey & Carinne Luck of Faith Matters Network. Transcript, further resources, & full show notes at www.irresistible.org/podcast/63 ---- Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Stimulus checks from the US government are starting to hit bank accounts for qualifying citizens this week. What is going on with those checks, and if we don't need them for our own immediate survival, how can we think about redistributing for justice & mutual aid right now? We spoke with Yahya Alazrak (Campaign Director at Resource Generation) and Dara Marquez (volunteer field organizer with Movimiento Cosecha) about the #ShareMyCheck campaigns they're leading. They share with us some amazing opportunities to move money to mutual aid funds and grassroots movement organizations during this crisis, especially to undocumented workers who are on the frontlines of essential work right now but did not qualify for any stimulus support. Donate directly to undocumented immigrants facing financial hardship from COVID-19: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/cosechamutualaid Sign the pledge to #ShareMyCheck: https://www.sharemycheck.org Transcript, further resources from Dara & Yahya, & full show notes at www.irresistible.org/podcast/62 ---- Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing real and significant disruptions to our lives, our communities, and our organizing. The scale of this shift in our social fabric is new, but these are challenges that disability justice organizers have always faced. How can we organize in a state of constant uncertainty and limitations on physical movement? How can we protect people with compromised immune systems as we work to build people power? How do we get the work done while leaving no one behind? This episode shares stories and insights from disability justice organizers that all of us can learn from and apply to organizing in our current conditions. Thank you to JOIN for Justice, the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network, for organizing this call & working with us to turn the recording into a podcast episode. You'll hear featured voices Patty Berne, Lydia X. Z. Brown, & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, moderated by Allegra Heath-Stout. Transcript, further resources, & full show notes at www.irresistible.org/podcast/61 ---- Thanks to Myra Al-Rahim & Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Kazu Haga of East Point Peace Academy leads us through a Metta Meditation, as part of our spiritual training for nonviolent discipline. Join Book Club to read Kazu's new book, "Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm," with others all over the world. You'll also get further resources, including a live conversation with Kazu this May, at http://www.irresistible.org/BookClub Buy the book from Parallax Press with code PODCAST for 15% off Transcript and full show notes with sources & thank yous at www.irresistible.org/podcast/60p Listen to the previous episode to hear Kazu talk with Carlos Saavedra about Kingian nonviolence, spiritual discipline, restorative justice, and healing for the long haul. ---- Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Organizing trainers & practitioners Kazu Haga (East Point Peace Academy) and Carlos Saavedra (Ayni Institute) join us to talk about Kingian nonviolence, spiritual discipline, restorative justice, and healing for the long haul. (And a little bit about food.) Join Book Club to read Kazu's new book, "Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm," with others all over the world. You'll also get further resources, including a live conversation with Kazu this May, at http://www.irresistible.org/BookClub Buy the book from Parallax Press with code PODCAST for 15% off Transcript and full show notes with sources & thank yous at www.irresistible.org/podcast/60 Check out the following episode to practice Metta Meditation with Kazu. ---- Thanks to Jacob White & Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning & Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

How you holding up? We're joined by facilitator & circle keeper BJ Star to check in about the ways we can support each other in community during this intense time. Sign up for an Irresistible Care Circle (Thursdays 8p ET) at www.irresistible.org/circle Transcript and full show notes with sources & thank yous at www.irresistible.org/podcast/59 Sign up as a sustainer before 3/31 to get a gorgeous Irresistible sticker and postcard in the mail! http://www.patreon.com/irresistible Join us for a virtual community altar build on March 29th, with ceremony anchored by past podcast guest Bea Anderson. Details & save your spot in the circle at http://www.TinyURL.com/OurAltar Check out our new website & sign up for the email list at http://www.irresistible.org Follow our updated social media handles: Instagram @irresistible_movements / Twitter @heyirresistible / Facebook fb.me/irresistiblemovements Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning and Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

It's here - our new name for Healing Justice Podcast! We are Irresistible -- a community of practice in collective healing and social change. In this episode, hear founder Kate Werning & Advisory Circle member and past guest Ilana Lerman talk all about our name change process, inspirations, and sources for this new name. Transcript and full show notes with sources & thank yous at www.irresistible.org/podcast/58 Sign up as a sustainer before 3/31 to get a gorgeous Irresistible sticker and postcard in the mail! http://www.patreon.com/irresistible Join us for a virtual community altar build on March 29th, with ceremony anchored by past podcast guest Bea Anderson. Details & save your spot in the circle at http://www.TinyURL.com/OurAltar Check out our new website & sign up for the email list at http://www.irresistible.org Follow our updated social media handles: Instagram @irresistible_movements / Twitter @heyirresistible / Facebook fb.me/irresistiblemovements Thanks to Zach Meyer for production, Josiah Werning and Alyson Thompson for design and social media, and Ana Cecilia for our new theme music. Irresistible is sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

It's here - our new name for Healing Justice Podcast! We are Irresistible -- a community of practice in collective healing and social change. Together, we celebrate the many traditions of movement leaders, cultural workers, and spiritual teachers who remind us to embody the liberation we are pursuing and who show us that our movements for justice can and must be expansive, vibrant, and fully alive. Because we are so much more than resistance. We are irresistible. Check out our new website & sign up for the email list at http://www.irresistible.org Follow our updated social media handles: Instagram @irresistible_movements / Twitter @heyirresistible / Facebook fb.me/irresistiblemovements Support this work as a member: http://www.patreon.com/irresistible Listen to the next episode, "Becoming Irresistible," to hear the story and meaning behind our new name. All quotes heard are from past episodes of Healing Justice Podcast. Thank you to our incredible guests and featured voices: Kate Werning, Jamie Laurie, Alice Wong, Tricia Hersey, adrienne maree brown, Phillip Agnew, Rhiana Anthony, Ije Ude, Eroc Arroyo Montano, Dori Midnight, & Bea Anderson. Thanks to Jacob White & Zach Meyer for production, and Ana Cecilia for our new theme music. Sponsored by Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org Transcript and full show notes at www.irresistible.org/podcast/trailer

Should we be cancelling our events and travel due to COVID-19? In this mini bonus feature, we expand upon our previous episode "Coronavirus: Wisdom from a Social Justice Lens" to bring you advice about how to adapt your travel and gatherings. We share from the perspective of organizers and folks participating in social justice movements, and the decisions we need to make about our own plans and plans for our groups, teams, and campaigns. Host Kate Werning is joined by Maryse Mitchell-Brody to hear their recommendations about how we move responsibly and with care during this time.  Access Maryse's guide for considerations for event planners and organizers, our full list of social justice Coronavirus resources, a transcript of this conversation, and our previous episode at http://www.healingjustice.org/podcast/corona

In this bonus episode, we bring you timely medical information, invocations, grounding practices and reflections from the March 7, 2020 webinar: COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Preparation for People Living with Chronic Illnesses in the United States.  Unlike much of what we’re seeing in the media and public discussion, this virtual gathering centered the wisdom and life experiences of people who live with chronic illnesses and disability.  The voices you'll hear are: - JD Davids, strategist and storyteller, The Cranky Queer - Evvie Ormon, a healer, facilitator and generative coach from Emergent Phoenix Consulting - Crissaris Sarnelli, MD,  a primary care/family doctor and healer from Harlem, NY - Elandria Williams, Executive Director and trainer, PeoplesHub - The words of Dori Midnight (read by Crissaris) *** Access the full list of resources, more information, and a full transcript at http://www.healingjustice.org/podcast/corona *** Thank you to our sound engineer Zach Meyer at the COALROOM; and to Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Kate drops in to share stories from the community, and updates about what's coming next.   This is our last episode under the name "Healing Justice Podcast." The next time you tune in, you'll see our NEW name, which is launching on March 16, 2020. The library will remain connected, so if you subscribe now and join our email list at http://www.healingjustice.org , you won't miss a thing.   To get in on the *first run of swag* from our new name, join our Patreon at at http://www.patreon.com/healingjustice - if you join at $5/month or more before the end of March 2020, we'll mail you a postcard and 2 limited-edition stickers to say thank you. -------- BOOK CLUB Join us in Book Club as we read Healing Resistance, a Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga. Parallax Press (Thich Nhat Hanh's publishing house!) is graciously offering 15% off using the code PODCAST. Join us to connect with other listeners via our self-organizing map, access resources from past book club selections Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good & Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, and more at www.patreon.com/healingjustice -------- GET CONNECTED WITH US Everything you need to know to join the community lives at www.healingjustice.org/community Help sustain this work: http://www.patreon.com/healingjustice  -------- Thank you to Zach Meyer at the COALROOM for mixing & mastering. Show us some love! Leave us a positive rating & review in Apple Podcasts, or whichever podcast platform you listen to most. Thank you!

Alicia Garza, principal at Black Futures Lab and co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter, offers a visioning practice to guide us through the transition from 2019 into 2020 with focused personal & political power.   You'll need 30 minutes, and ideally a printed version of the accompanying visual guide (though it also works with a piece of paper and something to write with). This practice can be done alone or in a group.    Download the visual guide, read Alicia's full bio, and access the transcript at http://healingjustice.org/podcast/2020 -------- BOOK CLUB We are so happy to announce our next Book Club selection: Healing Resistance, a Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga. Parallax Press (Thich Nhat Hanh's publishing house) is graciously offering 15% off using the code PODCAST. Join us to connect with other listeners via our self-organizing map, access resources from past book club selections Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good & Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, and more at www.patreon.com/healingjustice -------- GET CONNECTED WITH US Everything you need to know to join the community lives at www.healingjustice.org/community Help sustain this work: http://www.patreon.com/healingjustice  -------- Thank you to Zach Meyer at the COALROOM for mixing & mastering, Danny O'Brien & Unicorn Heads for music, Josiah Werning for cover art, and Siana Sonoquie for design and illustration on the visual guide that accompanies this practice. Thank you to our sponsor, Kalliopeia Foundation: Dedicated to reconnecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. Learn more at kalliopeia.org

Podcast founder & host Kate Werning shares an update on our project's internal life, the lengthening timeline of our name change process, and our upcoming healing & hibernation season.   You'll also hear about our upcoming Book Club selection & a preview of our special New Years Practice from Alicia Garza, coming your way on 12/30!   Find all show notes & access the transcript of this episode at http://healingjustice.org/podcast/53   To send us ideas, encouragement, stories, and love during our healing & hibernation time, email healingjusticepodcast@gmail.com -------- BOOK CLUB We are so happy to announce our next Book Club selection: Healing Resistance, a Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga. Parallax Press (Thich Nhat Hanh's publishing house!) is graciously offering 15% off using the code PODCAST. Join us to connect with other listeners via our self-organizing map, access resources from past book club selections Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good & Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture, and more at www.patreon.com/healingjustice -------- GET CONNECTED WITH US Everything you need to know to join the community lives at www.healingjustice.org/community Help sustain this work: http://www.patreon.com/healingjustice  -------- Thank you to Zach Meyer at the COALROOM for mixing & mastering, Josiah Werning for graphic design, and our Advisory Circle [most pictured in the episode art] for their participation in shaping the decisions mentioned in this episode.

As the Generation Transformation Series draws to a close, our series host Taj James offers an original poem as a love letter to young leadership. May our young leaders continue to inspire and bring forth a world rooted in justice. For the full text of the poem, visit http://healingjustice.org/podcast/generation4 -------- This series is in partnership with the Next Gen Fund, a response to a growing call from frontline organizers to learn from restorative & transformative practices in order to support a rising generation of social justice leaders and nurture sustainable approaches to organizing and community building. To see the full series, visit www.healingjustice.org/generation -------- GET CONNECTED WITH US Everything you need to know to join the community lives at www.healingjustice.org/community Help sustain this work: http://www.patreon.com/healingjustice  -------- Thank you to our production team on this episode: our Producer Jhaleh Akhavan, Zach Meyer at the COALROOM for mixing and mastering, and Josiah Werning for graphic design.