I'm Curious with Ashley Asti

What if poetry could unlock our potential to heal? Jim Elsaesser, a healing poetry guide who has facilitated workshops for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, for girls at the School for Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA), and more, joins me to talk about the connective, spirit-opening power of sharing and writing poetry in community. He insists that, whether you’ve ever written a poem or not, poetry is in you and it can walk you back home to yourself. Learn more about SOLA in this recent 60 Minutes segment, “Daring to Educate Afghanistan’s Girls.”

Jason Bryant, the Director of Restorative Programs at CROP Organization, shares what it’s like to experience marriage and fatherhood from across a prison visiting room table. He talks openly about personal responsibility and how it was his commitment to serve that transformed his relationship to himself and his community, and propelled him to the governor’s attention, who ordered his immediate release in 2020 for his life-changing work while incarcerated. Everyday, Jason takes new steps to build his and our collective “unprecedented future.” It’s impossible to not be moved and inspired by his energy. Learn more about CROP: croporganization.org Check out CROP’s Prison Post Podcast. 

After hitting rock bottom repeatedly, Michael Hoffner discovered the secret to his healing that he had been missing: deep spiritual communion and belonging. Today, he is the founder and Executive Director of the Community Growth Center in Long Island, NY, a non-profit center for spiritual and personal growth. Our conversation explores disconnection as the source of our discontent, our inherent worthiness, and the root of healing. Learn more about Michael’s work on the Community Growth Center website: communitygrowthcenter.org

Time. Urgency. Purpose. This episode with psychic medium Denise Correll will make you want to seize the day: as she says, it’s never too late to release the past and step into the fullness of who you’re becoming. Denise invites us to embrace pleasure and the sensual joys of being in this body—taste, touch, smell, communing with nature. We talk about dying regrets and how to wake up to your one precious life while you’re still here. What happens when we don’t hold back? Connect with Denise: Website: https://www.thegratefulmessenger.com Enlightened Empaths Podcast

Richard Mireles didn’t know if he’d ever come home from prison. Serving 25 years-to-life and faced with the possibility of dying in prison, he knew he had to make a choice: “I had to take a stand and say, I’m going to be committed to loving all people.” Today, three years home from prison, Richard embodies compassion, committed public service, and determination to live meaningfully while he still has time. His words and story will move you and surprise you—and remind you of the power of courage, faith, and love. Connect with Richard: The Prison Post Podcast CROP Organization

“Every single human being experiences trauma…it’s part of the human experience.” Somatic coach Marina Yanay-Triner and I deep-dive into trauma’s roots in the body. She insists that healing from trauma cannot happen with talk therapy alone: we need to heal from within, on the level of the nervous system. We talk about building our capacity to connect with our feelings after trauma and Marina gets personal, sharing her own healing journey, with trauma extending back generationally to her grandmother who was imprisoned in a labor camp during the Holocaust. Connect with Marina: Website: https://marinayt.com Instagram: @marina.y.t Take Marina's latest course, Treasure's in the Trigger: Regulating, Healing, and Living Fully Alive!

Kayra Martinez, the founder of Love Without Borders for Refugees in Need, joins me one year after our first on-air conversation. Kayra has been working with individuals in refugee camps in Greece since 2015, providing the healing power of art as well as other empowering opportunities. In this conversation, we explore not only her work and life in the camps during COVID-19, but our interconnectedness and her calling to serve. Website: http://lovewithoutborders4refugees.com/ Etsy Shop (to purchase art created by refugees). Listen back to my first conversation with Kayra in early 2021 here.

Serena Liguori, the Executive Director of New Hour for Women and Children—Long Island, is an activist and a force—a woman living from her power who’s equipping other women to emerge after incarceration knowing their power as the leaders of their own lives and in their communities. She unpacks her story, from growing up poor but filled with joy and love, to the women she met behind bars, to her depth as an activist and her intentions as a mother. Website: https://www.newhourli.org Instagram: @newhourforwomen Twitter: @NewHOUR_LI Facebook: @NewHOURforWomenandChildren

Dionne Ybarra is invigorating! After entering her 50th year, Dionne chose to embrace her wisdom, her passion, and her curiosity and say an even greater yes to life. She is a birth doula, is training to be a death doula, and the Executive Director of The Wahine Project, an organization that connects people who otherwise wouldn’t have the resources to access the ocean, build a relationship with it, and learn to surf. Together, we explore fear, birth, death, resilience, and being on the precipice. The Wahine Project: https://www.thewahineproject.org Instagram: @thewahineproject  Facebook: @wahineproject

Gloria Araya is a modern day Renaissance woman—a dancer and movement teacher, photographer, and social activist. Her life is a masterclass in generous listening—the ways she listens to her body, her neighbors and companion creatures, and the world. Together, we explore sensuality, death, projection, love and more.  Connect with Gloria: Ayun Movement: https://ayunmovement.com/ Photography: https://www.gloriaarayaphotography.com Instagram: @glorialight and gloriarayaphotography