Bethany Gonyea is the founder of Numinous, a nonprofit that facilitates interfaith spiritual practices to reduce human suffering. In this conversation, Bethany shares about her work in creating mass meditation events aimed at reducing crime and violence in specific geographic areas (in statistically verifiable ways), as well as bringing benefits to the meditators themselves. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Numinous homepage: https://numinousonline.com/ Global Peaceful Cities Project: https://www.peacefulcities.org/ Bethany’s book, Become a Consciousness Athlete: A Step by Step Program to Heighten Consciousness for Daily Happiness

Justin Magnuson is a Zen Buddhist who works with the elderly and terminally ill. In this episode, Justin reflects on how approaching death and dying with intention can be an invitation to a fuller way of living. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ University of Louisville Trager Institute and Republic Bank Foundation Optimal Aging Clinic: https://www.tragerinstitute.org/

Peter Mayer is a singer and songwriter whose music reflects a profound love of the world, as we’re coming to understand it through the new story science tells us about our place in the 14-billion-year-unfolding of our universe. This conversation reflects on science, spiritual practice, social justice, and environmental care, all animated by a sense of our belonging to deep history, to each other, and to the entire cosmos.

Jeanette Prince-Cherry had careers in the Air Force and as an industrial engineer before dedicating her life to Zen Buddhism. A Zen priest and instructor, she divides her time between the Louisville Zen Center and the Rochester Zen Center in New York. In this episode, Jeanette explains the basics of Zen, how it is similar to and different from secular mindfulness, and how it provides tools and resources for mental health, resilience, and the strengthening of communities, especially in a post-pandemic world. This episode is from the archives and was originally released July 31, 2021. Earth & Spirit Center homepage: www.earthandspiritcenter.org Louisville Zen Center homepage: https://www.louisvillezen.org/ Rochester Zen Center homepage: https://www.rzc.org/

Once a farmer in rural Kentucky, Chris Isgrigg is now a practicing psychotherapist in Louisville, KY. He’s thought deeply about the relationships that weave each of us to each other and to the more-than-human world and has integrated the natural world meaningfully into his therapeutic approach. This conversation explores how a deeper spiritual connection to our places can help heal and mature us as individuals and as a culture. RESOURCES: Earth and Spirit Center website: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ Chris Isgrigg’s counseling practice, Deeply Rooted Counseling: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/chris-isgrigg-louisville-ky/156084 Bill Plotkin’s Animas Valley Institute: https://www.animas.org/

Over the past year, the Earth & Spirit Center, with funding from the Kalliopeia Foundation, has collaborated with Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest to create two documentary films featuring environmental activists working on climate change and watershed health. In this episode of the podcast, we’ve taken audio clips from some of the interviews we conducted and have woven them together to present the perspectives of several activists of various ages, races, and backgrounds, united by their common concern about our changing climate. Resources: Earth & Spirit Center homepage: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/ “Grounded” film: https://youtu.be/fL_rHzS3rcQ “Reflections on Water” film: https://youtu.be/LwgJZPmQugE Dr. Justin Mog’s “Sustainability Now” program on Forward Radio: https://www.forwardradio.org/sustainabilitynow Renewable Energy Alliance of Louisville: https://renewableenergylouisville.org/ Outdoor Afro: https://outdoorafro.org/ Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, office of ecological sustainability: https://nazareth.org/office-of-ecological-sustainability/ Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest: https://bernheim.org/ Kalliopeia Foundation: https://kalliopeia.org/

Phyllis SanAngelo is a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother with decades of experience from a long career in spiritual formation and hospice work. She also facilitates a “Conscious Eldering” course at the Earth & Spirit Center. This conversation is a reflection on what it means to age with grace, dignity, and active intentionality, claiming the great spiritual gifts of elderhood. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center website: www.earthandspiritcenter.org Phyllis’s course on Becoming a Conscious Elder: https://www.earthandspiritcenter.org/class/becoming-a-conscious-elder/

Deryl Sweeney is an entrepreneur, business coach, and the co-founder of Cure CF, a nonprofit that raises funds to support cystic fibrosis research. In this episode, Deryl and host Kyle Kramer reflect on how mindful curiosity and intentional commitment to core values can help all of us show up as leaders, deeply rooted in love and connection.

Sr. Kathleen Deignan is a Sister of the Congregation of Notre-Dame and a professor emerita of religious studies at Iona College. She’s also an accomplished composer and singer. In this episode, which weaves in music that she wrote and performed, Kathleen shares the wisdom of the Shaker community, Thomas Merton, Thomas Berry, and other spiritual exemplars of courageous, contemplative creativity, who invite us into new ways of being together and embracing the beautiful dance of our evolving world. Resources: Passionist Earth & Spirit Center: www.earthandspiritcenter.org Kathleen Deignan, CND Institute for Earth and Spirit at Iona College: https://www.iona.edu/academics/schools-institutes/kathleen-deignan-cnd-institute-earth-and-spirit Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona College: https://www.iona.edu/academics/schools-institutes/kathleen-deignan-cnd-institute-earth-and-spirit/thomas-berry-forum American Teilhard Society: https://teilharddechardin.org/ Kathleen Deignan’s music on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyGG2o20TkjWxpDiE9up_g

Sr. Caroljean Willie, who goes by CJ, is a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati. With a doctorate in multicultural education, she has worked in 48 countries as an environmental educator, teacher-trainer, and cultural diversity consultant. She has also served as an NGO representative at the United Nations, working on social development, education, environmental sustainability, human trafficking, interfaith dialogue and poverty eradication. In this podcast, Sr. Caroljean shares her insights about how we might lean into interconnection and step out into what she calls our grace margin, where we can truly learn from and care about those whose lives are very different from our own. RESOURCES: Earth & Spirit Center website: www.earthandspiritcenter.org EarthConnection, a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and run by Sr. Caroljean, is a center for learning and reflection about living lightly on Earth: https://www.scearthconnection.org/ Sr. Caroljean’s June 24-26 2022 retreat at the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth retreat center: “Called to Hope: Catholic Social Teaching and the Environment” https://nazarethretreatcenterky.org/retreat/called-to-hope/ Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati: https://www.srcharitycinti.org/ United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals United Nations Millennium Development Goals: https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Microfinancing Partners in Africa: https://microfinancingafrica.org/who-we-are/