Maanarak of Grey on artivism and playfulness in international development

In a culture that inhibits adult creative integration, how can grounding community development work in play, creativity, vulnerability and inner child healing help materialise knowledges into transformative development practice? This month, we invite to the space Maanarak of Grey, the artistic alias of Radinka Ustasia, a multidisciplinary artist from the Caribbean island of Bonaire. From 2010-2023 Maanarak has lived, studied, and worked in the Netherlands, with the highest qualification she obtained there being a Bachelors of Science in International Development Management, majoring in Rural Development and Innovation, at Van Hall Larenstein in Velp. During her study program, she minored in Art and Creativity at work and this is where she started an exploration of combining her competing passions. In this episode, we discuss the place that artivism holds in sustainable development and the ways in which art and science can be interwoven to make the development sector more accessible, fluid and equitable through the powerful tool of play. By getting in touch with our inner child and the playful modes of creation we once had access to as children, Maanarak guides us in exploring the deeply healing forces of art that invite opportunities to be vulnerable and in touch with ourselves, our communities and our ecosystems to bring about long-lasting systemic change. Visit mindfullofeverything.com to access full episode resources and archives. Connect with Maanarak on Instagram (@maanarak.art). Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything).

In a world of co-optation, violent othering and systemic oppression, how can tracing the histories of resistance and collective resilience of communities (including those we are not from) liberate and expand imaginations beyond the confines of sociopolitical structures? What can life look like if we, as humans, abide again by nature’s laws of interconnectedness, cyclical healing and symbiotic living? In this month’s episode, we are joined by Hajar Yazdiha, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California and faculty affiliate of the USC Equity Research Institute. Hajar researches the politics of inclusion and exclusion, examining the forces that bring us together and keep us apart as we work to forge collective futures. She is author of the book, The Struggle for the People’s King: How Politics Transforms the Memory of the Civil Rights Movement with Princeton University Press. She is also a public scholar whose writing and research has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, Time Magazine, LA Times, ABC News, The Hill, and The Grio. In this wonderfully inspiring conversation, Hajar dismantles the politics of togetherness and othering by interweaving her lived experiences, the collective memory of the Civil Rights Movement and the innate creative abilities of the human being to illustrate how systems have historically oppressed and violated certain groups, but also how these groups have resisted and transformed these systems of harm. It is in these stories of struggle and resilience that hope emerges, a sense of shared hope and relief that we can remake the liberation created and experienced by generations before us. Visit mindfullofeverything.com for all episode resources and archives. Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything).

Why is it crucial that we open up the individualised clinical model of therapy so that it incorporates the multidimensionality of intergenerational trauma healing? In what ways can we begin to shift therapy narratives to ancestral joy and resilience to restore balance and hope in community efforts of system resistance and reimagination? Today we are joined by Katya Lovejoy, a clinical hypnotherapist, trauma coach, and mental health educator who supports highly sensitive people to reclaim a sense of wholeness and empowerment after trauma. Katya holds degrees in neuroscience and social work, as well as esoteric trainings from lineages around the world. She approaches trauma healing from an individual, ancestral, and collective lens, and utilises subconscious, somatic, and spiritual approaches to finding release and resolution. Katya is committed to the liberation and empowerment of all people, and is on a mission to end the transmission of intergenerational trauma in families and communities by sharing the most effective modalities for sustainable transformation.  In this beautifully inspiring episode, Katya explores with us the power of tapping into our ancestral bodies and lineages to draw out deep inspiration and joy from the rituals and ways of being of previous generations, human and more-than-human. Katya steps out of the linearity of the conventional therapy model to invite opportunities to open up the therapy space for stories and nostalgic remembering of a time which preserved the dynamism and animacy of connected living, whilst also holding space for accountability and remediation of ancestral practices which no longer serve our time. Biggest thank you to Katya for holding space for Agrita during this difficult period of mourning for her and her family after the recent passing away of her grandfather. We hope this conversation reaches the hearts of everyone who has, or currently is experiencing, grief over the passing of a loved one, particularly elders who have taken position as ancestors, and that the compassion and love that is tied to intergenerational trauma healing holds space for you to process your emotions and move forward. Visit mindfullofeverything.com to connect with Katya and access full episode resources. Connect with the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything).

How can the emulation of nature’s processes of regeneration seed hopeful inspiration into new beginnings? In what ways can we tap into the regenerative capacities and energies of our material bodies to engage in reparative changemaking that feeds imaginations of a reality that break cycles of internalised scarcity and overconsumption to nurture cultures of care, mutuality and rest? In our first episode of 2024, we are joined by the host Agrita Dandriyal to explore the ways in which we engage in the complex regeneration of our material and non-material capacities with the beginning of each new year. Being deeply inspired by the microcosms of her family’s gardens and the political space of her body, Agrita calls for a remembering of the eco-cultural roots of regeneration in values of reciprocal care and resilience so that we can reclaim the reparative power of the age-old concept and materialise our dreams of equitable and restful realities. Visit mindfullofeverything.com to access full episode resources, shownotes and archives. Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything).

How can we deepen our understanding of the ways of being of our more-than-human kin through the art of heart-led communication and embodiment practice? In what ways can decentering the human experience equip both our animal companions and ourselves with the necessary energy healing tools for smoother life transitions? For our final episode of the year, we welcome onto the show Maribeth Decker, an intuitive animal communicator, medical intuitive, and energy healer, is the founder of SacredGrove.com, where People and Pets Heal and Connect. She works with people to help their animal companions move gracefully through transitions - into the family, into a new family, or onto the next life. A retired Navy officer, Maribeth’s rich personal life experiences have enabled her to bring a wealth of heart-centered wisdom to her work with each client, and her unyielding intention is to consistently bring forth the maximum benefit for all concerned in the most benevolent manner possible. In this heart-felt and deeply emotional conversation, Maribeth walks us through her beautiful journey of animal communication and energy healing, and how her gift of telepathically connecting to any beloved more-than-human, as well as wildlife, has equipped both carers and their animal companions with tools to understand each other on a deeper spiritual and emotional level and move through more difficult phases in life, particularly as more-than-human kin transition to the spirit world. Maribeth envisions her work inspiring a shift in consciousness in homes and families where people ‘see’ their animal companions, and other more-than-human beings, as having experiences, standpoints and decision-making abilities that are indeed ‘more-than-human’, and she hopes this will induce greater consciousness-level shifts at the macro-scale. Connect with Maribeth and find out more about her work at SacredGrove.com. Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for all episode resources.

How can the intimacies of human relationships with the more-than-human help inform and reshape environmental and development policy at the global scale? What power does awakening a collective ecological consciousness have in remediating our moral and political systems which have grossly failed in building and sustaining unity and integrity in wider community? Today we are joined by Rebekah Shaman, a plant medicine shaman inspiring conscious change in the urban jungle by bringing nature and humanity back into balance through working intimately with the Master Plant medicines Ayahuasca, Cacao and Cannabis over the past 25 years. Through her work, Rebekah has inspired and urban dwellers to live shamanically by reconnecting to the rhythms of life through the Master Plant ceremonies she offers under the guidance of indigenous shamans in the Amazon. Rebekah is the managing director of the British Hemp Alliance which promotes hemp as an environmental tool to reaching Net Zero, and she also CEO of Ritual Cacao, one of the largest suppliers of ceremonial grade cacao in the UK. In this episode, Rebekah guides us through the wonderfully complex and deeply inspiring stories of the Peruvian Amazon, and how the teachings of the rainforest enriched her journey as a plant medicine shaman working for radical system change in the urban jungle. Challenging the divide between bottom-up and top-down approaches to addressing our ecological crises, Rebekah particularly emphasises on the need for consciousness shifts at the individual and community level to feed and stabilise decision-making at the macro-level, which requires the integration of indigenous, local and more-than-human knowledges into policy which have been successful in preserving cultures of care and stewardship. Connect with Rebekah at rebekahshaman.com and Instagram (@rebekahshaman_). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for full episode resources. Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything).

How can we mainstream relational and care-based environmental policy paradigms as a way to radically transform and heal our moral and political systems which control environmental decision-making in overly legalistic and abstract ways? What power does using the care-informed gift economic framing to conceptualise volunteer-led citizen science hold for locals, who have deeply intimate and often generational relationships with the land, for bringing them to the centre of decision-making for their environment? Today we are joined by the host Agrita Dandriyal to explore the wonderful research she got to conduct over the summer on the gift in volunteer-led citizen science as part of her MSc in Environment, Politics and Society. By using the moral framing of the gift economy and a case study example of a London wildlife group, Agrita demonstrates to us how the embodied experiences, situated biographies and moral responsibilities of stewardship of volunteers intermesh to form the fabric of environmental caregiving that provides the space for bottom-up initiatives to thrive and empower local knowledge and agency, for both the human and more-than-human. Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for resources for this episode and all previous episodes. Rate the podcast on iTunes so that we can reach other wonderful humans like you!

How can immigrants, or children of immigrants, resist the colonial tendency to homogenise their identities into quantifiable and qualifiable categories? What power does repoliticising languages having histories of linguistic and cultural genocide hold for communities working to preserve the sacrality of their ancestral tongue within a dominant culture which centers Eurowestern language ideologies? Today we reunite with Chesline Pierre-Paul to continue on the conversation from the previous episode on decolonising our relationship with money as a means to build multidirectional wealth, specifically focusing on the liberatory practices of repoliticising language and identity. In this intricately layered episode, Ches beautifully walks us through their journey of reclamation and rematriation of their Haitian identity as a child of political refugees. By embedding their life experiences, Ches guides us through the anti-colonial practices of retranslation and decentering western language ideologies as we mindfully honour the stories, cultures and identities of our ancestors who pre-dated the dominant languages in concern. Ches is a multi-award-winning DEI expert and global thought leader. Their mission is to help the most disenfranchised humans on Earth go from generational debt and poverty to multi-generational wealth and healing. They run © Chesline Inc., the most innovative and transformational DEI consulting firm and digital global edtech company in the world, and they use low-cost online education to help Queer, BIPOC, Gen Z, and Millennial college and university dropouts live amazing 6-figure lives and careers without ever going back to school. Ches shows them how to thrive, not survive, in a White man's world without selling out, giving up, or settling. Connect to the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for full episode resources and shownotes.

How can we begin to decolonise our relationship to money as a means to heal intergenerational poverty that perpetuates cycles of survivorship and struggle for disenfranchised peoples? In what ways can we use our privilege to transform capitalist and colonial economic paradigms to ones which promote the multidirectional use of money as an instrument to true freedom? In today’s episode, we are joined Chesline Pierre-Paul, an multi-award-winning DEI expert and global thought leader. Their mission is to help the most disenfranchised humans on Earth go from generational debt and poverty to multi-generational wealth and healing. They run © Chesline Inc., the most innovative and transformational DEI consulting firm and digital global edtech company in the world, and they use low-cost online education to help Queer, BIPOC, Gen Z, and Millennial college and university dropouts live amazing 6-figure lives and careers without ever going back to school. Ches shows them how to thrive, not survive, in a White man's world without selling out, giving up, or settling. Connect with Ches on Instagram (@cheslinepp). Connect with the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for all episode resources and archives. Support the show by giving a rating on iTunes.

Why is it important that we integrate relational work in environmental conservation and restoration work to shift away from colonial and anthropocentric practices of managing the land to move to a more regenerative and caring paradigm which serve the emotional and spiritual needs of all? What power does decentering and deprivileging the human experience hold in building meaningful relationships with the more-than-human when the conservation community has internalised self-centrism and extractivism? On today's episode, we reshare the conversation Agrita got to be a part of as a guest on the wonderful Ximena Garcia’s podcast Traditional Medicine with Shamaflora. In this episode, Ximena provides her the space to share her story and journey into grounding healing in her work within environmental science and policy and the ways in which embodied, lived experiences have guided her in creating space for deep healing work in social and environmental fields through the Mind Full of Everything podcast. NOTE: The structure of the episode has been kept the same as how Ximena’s podcast team has produced it so there has been no editing involved in this release, which also means the breathing exercise is not included so please feel free to pause the recording now to do it now.  Follow the podcast on Instagram (@mindfullofeverything_pod) and Facebook (@mindfullofeverything). Visit mindfullofeverything.com for episode resources and archives.