solocast: the stories that make up my song

srimati is one of my heroines and i do not use that word lightly. i look to her often as a model of how to live a courageous, honest, spirit-led life. it was a tremendous honor to have this conversation with her.srimati “has spent decades seeking the divine in all of her life experiences. living from a deep place of devotion, srimati is a living spiritual guide devoted to reminding others of their spiritual nature so that they too can experience the full presence of their existence.”srimati is the author of the best-selling cookbooks, this cheese is nuts!, the plantpower way; italia and the plantpower way. she is also host to her own internationally acclaimed podcast, for the life of me with over 1,000,000 downloads in just two years. she is the founder of srimu artisanal not cheese and the spiritual community, water tiger.“srimati is a mystic, mother, musician, artist, author and healer who is a powerful living example of how to love ourselves more so that we can live our unique design in full and expansive self-expression. when we live in this frequency, we bless all life around us.”some things we talk about: how to live from the heart instead of the mindliving as a sovereign beinghow srimati begins and ends each dayour most important role in lifehow to live all of life as a devotional journeya gorgeous guided meditation andour greatest superpowermay this conversation inspire you to go within: to the raw, wild, expanse of mystery that is your beating heart, vibrating body, pulsing life in order to go beyond to utter the sacred: your words, dance, painting, art.to listen to past episodes go to daphnecohn.com

nina lombardo is a woman devoted.it’s in the way she speaks and the way she moves, in what she teaches and what she lives. it’s in her body, her heart and her whole being.“nina is a yogic intimacy teacher and wisdom keeper of the sacred feminine arts. she supports women in embodying their most authentic spiritual and sexual expressions so they can experience the soul-ravishing unions they crave with life, with their lovers, and with the divine” through her online programs, her one-on-one client work and in person-retreats.all of her work is “informed through her unwavering devotion to her own inner practice” and her work in the world.you will hear her devotion when you listen. you will feel her devotion in your body. and her devotion will awaken yours.some things we talk aboutthe difference between romantic love and the love of the universeher journey into free, unbridled self expressiondevotion as the main driving force, as the anchorhow to meet the outer world while staying devoted to one’s inner truthwhere physical desire meets spiritual desirehow we bring awareness into the body andthe marriage between discipline and surrendermay this conversation inspire you to go within: to the raw, wild, expanse of mystery that is your beating heart, vibrating body, pulsing life in order to go beyond to utter the sacred: your words, dance, painting, art.to listen to past episodes go here.to read my most intimate writings on living a sensual, body-based life go here.to receive weekly embodiment practices go here.  

i first met allana pratt over 13 years ago when i interviewed her for a summit i was hosting on pleasure and sensuality. i loved her candor, kindness and deep devotion to her work.allana is an intimacy expert, the podcast host of intimate conversations, and author of six books. she has interviewed whoopi goldberg and alanis morrisette, coached leeza gibbons on dancing with the stars and been featured on huffington post, people magazine, forbes, CBS, ABC, FOX, TLC, iHeartRadio, the GoodMenProject and more.“for the past 20 yrs, allana’s brave willingness to heal her own heart and come home to herself makes her authentic, relatable and credible in her proven coaching programs and intimacy retreats. her wisdom, exuberance and raw transparency inspire the deep soul work required to create a solid intimate relationship with one’s self first, which naturally attracts and enhances an ideal open-hearted partnership that lasts. she’s a small town canadian girl living in rural wyoming who is honored to love the sh** out of humanity.”some of the things we talk about in this conversation are:creating an intimate relationship with the universehow to choose joy in the face of pain and sufferingthe portal back into the bodyhow allana healed herself after a very painful crisisthe first step to manifestingthe most potent vibration to send out to the universeyou can learn more about alana and her work at allanapratt.com and you can catch up on all past episodes at daphnecohn.com  

when i began reading radical wholeness by philip shepherd i cried. these words, this man. how did he put into words what was lining the insides of my soul? how did he know the answers to questions i’d held on to for years?philip teaches embodiment but “unlike the prevailing view of embodiment which involves sitting in the head and ‘listening to your body,’ philip’s approach helps you listen to the world through the body. what the body most deeply understands is that it belongs to the world. what the body most deeply feels is the present. when we join its intelligence, we discover companionship in the world rather than alienation; we recognize guidance where before we saw only obstacles; and we ground ourselves in the security of being, rather than seeking to build security for ourselves with symbols of external value. ultimately, it’s about coming home to yourself.”philip is the author of three books, new self new, new world, radical wholeness and deep fitness. he is the creator of the embodied present process which he teaches online and in workshops around the world.philip is gently and powerfully shifting the way we are in the world. through practices and processes, he is teaching us how to be radically whole and live free.he is one of the most masterful teachers i’ve encountered and it is a great honor to share my conversation with him.some of the things we talk about how to fill your emptiness foreverthe center of stillness in the bodythe only real security in lifewhat lies at the core of our sufferinghow to know your purpose andan extremely powerful yet simple tool for coming into the body and the presentto learn more about philip go here.to catch up on past episodes of the BEYOND podcast go here.

i don’t know how i found rachel rossitto but a handful of words on her website changed the way i understood myself in this world.i had to know more.rachel is a teacher, guide, mystic, and fairy of rose medicine. having devoted the last 16 years of her life to “studying temple arts, earth-based feminine wisdom, eastern spiritual philosophy and practice, plant medicine, energy healing, the way of tea, women’s holistic health and masculine and feminine healing and integration,” rachel has cultivated a deep practice of alchemizing pain into beauty and igniting women’s wisdom, creativity, sensuality, and power.she practices a new paradigm of leadership that holds both softness and strength, born of the body and the breath, connected to the earth, inspired by the rose. her truth arises from a life lived in devotion, expressed through love and offerings.this conversation with her continues to make ripples in my life. it has brought me a new morning practice and emboldened a new way of leading within me.some of the things we talk about are:leading in contrast to the culture – how to root in one’s own truththe story of rachel’s spiritual awakening following 40 days of meditationrachel’s morning tea practicehow to become a magnetic being that radiates beautythe many facets and faces of the femininemay this conversation inspire you to go within: to the raw, wild, expanse of mystery that is 
your beating heart, vibrating body, pulsing life in order to go beyond to utter the sacred: your words, dance, painting, art.you can learn more about rachel at rachelrossitto.comyou can learn more about daphne and all find all past episodes at daphnecohn.com

nadia is the author of three new york times bestselling memoirs, pastrix:the cranky, beautiful faith of a sinner and saint; accidental saints: finding god in all the wrong people, and more recently shameless: a sexual reformation. she is an ordained lutheran pastor and the founder of house for all sinners and saints in denver, colorado, a quirky congregation she served for over 10 years.nadia travels domestically and internationally as a speaker and has been featured on NPR’s morning edition, on being with krista tippett, fresh air, CNN and in the washington post, bitch magazine, the new yorker and the atlantic. international media coverage includes BBC world service, the guardian and magazine features in germany, poland, and switzerland.some things we talk about:  having grace and compassion inside of the pain, the need to be seen as good, the amazingness and the limits of social media, making space for ambiguity, being a leader by going first and never doing it alone.*this episode is a rebroadcast from the art & activism series in 2020for all past episodes go to daphnecohn.com

when i think of daje, i think of power. wide-eyed, full-bodied power. the kind of power born of tension and tightness, emergence and transcendence. power that roots in the earth and spreads, like tendrils, through their poetry, song and space holding.daje is “a storyteller, flower essence practitioner, and space-holder for wild-hearted leaders and creative entrepreneurs. she supports creatives in coming home to their true nature and self-initiating themselves into dharmic creative flow while boldly sharing their medicine with the world.”daje is the founder of “brave school: an institute of dreaming,” creator of “wildboy apothecary” and author at “the story doula.”may this conversation inspire you to go within: to the raw, wild, expanse of mystery that is 
your beating heart, vibrating body, pulsing life in order to go beyond to utter the sacred: your words, dance, painting, art.some things we talk about: how to use creative courage to cultivate belongingessence liberation and how we create wholenessthe catalytic moment that led to daje’s deep connection with spirit and self3 questions for creating a new relationship with moneyregenerative mysticism as a tool for awakeningfor all past episodes go to daphnecohn.com

in this episode i share my stories: the stories that make up my song. stories that defy logic, go beyond rational thinking, and yet were the exact experiences i needed to understand my place on this earth and my work in this world. this is my most personal solocast. i hope you enjoy it.  you can listen to all past episodes with beautiful, amazing folks like lisa congdon, valarie kaur, david whyte, rob bell, michael franti, laura horn, and many more at daphnecohn.com

in some way i am changed by every interview but then there are the ones that uproot my knowing and shift the soil below me. this is one of those interviews.mandy is a poet, peace advocate and public speaker. her list of accolades and accomplishments is long. in brief (but hardly complete), mandy is the author of two collections of poetry, glenn gould’s chair and math, heaven, time, writer-in-residence at the philosophical research society, subject of a feature-length documentary, “peace piece: the immersive poems of mandy kahn,” and recipient of the 2018 shakespeare prize in poetry–other recipients include tom stoppard, ray bradbury and dana gioia.mandy has given readings around the world, collaborates to make works that combine poetry and classical music, and offers a free weekly online class on the nature of peace.mandy is a mystic and intuitive whose divine wisdom can truly change this world.some things we talked about:the world-altering power of peacemandy’s health breakdown and how it led to surrender, god and a life of miraclesher earliest experiences as a mysticwhat it looks like to live a life led by intuitionhope as a holy elevatormandy’s exact process for writing poetry and how she maintains her connection to creativitymay this conversation inspire you to go within: to the raw, wild, expanse of mystery that is 
your beating heart, vibrating body, pulsing life in order to go beyond to utter the sacred: your words, dance, painting, art.you can listen to past episodes at daphnecohn.com 

in this episode i talk about the hardest thing when crafting your own life, singing your own song: fear. as elizabeth gilbert says, "creativity is a path for the brave, but it is not a path for the fearless. bravery means doing something scary." i talk about the fear i live with every daythe truth of this journeyhow to let your life speakthe terror, and freedom, in being vulnerable andstaying close to the way we are madeyou can listen to previous episodes with amazing artists and makers at daphnecohn.com