While I’ve always loved having a documentation of the books I’m reading, podcasts have been a notable force shaping my consciousness for years. This year I want to capture the listens in a post, a bookmark of sorts, that I can look back on and remember a texture of this year.

And, while it doesn’t need to be said, I will make it visible that books and podcasts (easily tracked, measured) were not the main weather system of my year. I spent 5 juicy hours each month in four gatherings with my story/somatics community, plus many more hours interacting on our loamy Mighty Network. (The Loam is a large part of my year.) Alya Nereo albums were the only music that accompanied me on my drive east. A blessed Fairy Friendship with nearly-daily Marco Polos. The Mountain Lion. The story of Root Living. Relationships with the more-than-human world. Connection with my widest, most loving self (also, The Great Mother). Etc.

Reflections on My Podcast Listening

I joyfully use Pocket Casts as my podcast app.

I listened to some episodes twice last year, and want to continue that practice—the episodes that really resonate, to really soak in their essences. When I’m especially moved, I’ll pause and jot down quotes in my notebook—another practice I will continue.

I noticed it got easier throughout the year for my system to immediately archive episodes I wasn’t interested in on podcasts where I had previously tended to listen all of the episodes (ie We Can Do Hard Things, a podcast where I used to listen to every single episode, and now I find myself moving away from more and more, archiving most episodes, listening to a select few).

And, I still have hours and hours of podcast episodes I’ve downloaded but not yet listened to. (A habit I got into during my years w/o internet: to download more episodes than I needed while using library wifi, “just in case,” so that when the mood arose, I could listen to what I wanted.)

As someone eternally exploring/playing with attention and intention—who finds value in continually taking stock of what’s around me at home, discerning what is essential and truly nourishing my roots/joy/soul, what is excess / not nourishing my Spirit, what does it feel like in my body when the desire for something ‘new’ arises, noticing my nervous system’s capacity for new information/content, etc.—I have been noticing these threads for years.

I know that my body physically cannot listen to all of the episodes that are currently downloaded, considering the amount of space/time my body needs to integrate/digest after receiving new input from anywhere (esp. shows with new episodes coming each week). [Side note: Let me say here, for the record, that I LOVE podcasts that come out monthly, or who take sabbaticals or whose seasons are just that, seasons. Life cycles have one spring of new life, then summer, then fall, winter. It does not make sense in my body that a show makes a new episode Every Single Week. Week after week after week after week of production. The nervous system needs integration. Nature needs death, a fallow period. End side bar.)

I did remove a bunch of podcasts earlier in the year—which means all of the downloaded episodes were deleted as well, and the podcast itself is gone from the ‘home’ screen. (This allowed space for new interests and juicy energy bubbles, which came in Right Timing later in the year. I play around from time to time, reorganizing the placement of podcast icons on the home page and noticing how it feels in my body.) And, I kept some (ie Lyla June’s Nihizhí, Our Voices: An Indigenous Solutions Podcast, for the wild) and their downloaded episodes, which I still haven’t felt pulled to listen to, and now it’s a new year. What are the sensations that arise when I imagine deleting them? I’ll continue noticing and playing with this in 2025; am simply noting here for my personal documentation purposes.

I heard a writer once share that she only gets a book when that’s what she’s going to read right now. And then she passes it along. (Woah!) So I explore this a lot with books. In that regard, the frequent moving has helped my “keep” pile stay slim. And, while podcast episodes take up less (apparent) physical space (digital stuff takes a lot of physical space and energy/power to store! “The Cloud” is not an etherial being, there are huge buildings of servers/computer tech using a huge ton of electricity to run. Hah, I should find the podcast episode I listened to early last year which taught me this; the speaker had the details, my mind retains the main idea), their presence in my awareness, even back of mind, takes up mental/energetic space.

The Short Story That Stayed with Me

As someone who loves books, I’ve especially been enjoying the experience of hearing tales (there is probably an Emerald episode about this; Sophie Strand has definitely talked about this articulately in interviews—what changed when written systems began). I simply know that hearing people’s stories and lived experiences through their own voices is something I want to keep experiencing.

I listened to a short story via podcast this year which has stayed with me. The listening transported me. I didn’t know where we were headed. I was present for each word, as the scene expanded in my imagination. I’ve listened to it 4-5 times since my first listen in January 2024. It’s called Healing: A Ghost Story by Sophie Strand. I went in not knowing what to expect, so I’ll gift you that same experience. It got me delightfully awaiting her next book (a memoir!) The Body Is a Doorway, whose release is now not so far away.

(Perhaps folks who listen to fiction/story podcasts experience this delight all the time…)

Early 2024 Podcasts – Hat Tip

While there are some podcasts that felt right all year, some podcasts had very distinct seasons. There were a slew of podcasts which we could roughly categorize as divine feminine -esque content, which my body was eagerly soaking up last winter. And then, at some point in the spring, one day my body was full. Message internalized. Flame is out. The juice went elsewhere, and I always follow those flames. Here are those podcasts—which I don’t have energy to do write-ups about today—because now is not then:

• Home to Her
• Living the New Science with Lynne McTaggart
• Rooted Healing
• Revelation Radio
• The Numinous Podcast
• for the Wild

At some point during the year, I returned to Lee Harris’s monthly Energy Updates on his podcast Impact the World, which come out at the start of the month.

All. The. Interviews.

These were some of the folks with whom I went on a podcast deep-dive at some point last year, searching for all the podcast interviews they’ve done and then soaking them in a Right Timing season:

• Sophie Strand
• Dra. Rocío Rosales Meza
• Irene Lyon
• Kelly Brogan
• Lorca Smetana

Gender

At the start of 2024 (and the years prior), my listening was heavily female voices. Vast majority. My Pocket Casts listening history tells me I began to dip into Luis Mojica (below) as early as January, so while I was seeped in divine feminine, it was not solely women’s voices.

I found it interesting, while pulling this post together, to note how many male voices I’m listening to currently. I think this is wonderful! I celebrate men. I celebrate non-binary folks. I think toxic masculinity and living in a colonial capitalistic patriarchy have had many people demonizing men. This hurts all of us. I’m delighted to have found males whose conversations are expanding my consciousness, engaging my curiosity, and so on.

2024: My Year in Podcasts

The Emerald

With Joshua Michael Schrei

In my words: I’ve only listened to 8 episodes so far (so a new relationship for me), yet that’s easily a year’s listening. It’s immediately evident the time that goes into creating each episode (recent episodes run anywhere from 1-3 hrs; it seems earlier episodes ~2019 were 30 min). The words are carefully chosen, each episode crafted and poetic, sounds and music added with intention. This affects how I listen. It’s not something I put on in the background while I’m cooking. The podcast is the main event, like a movie. I lay down, I get comfy. I turn off the lights, close my eyes, and listen. Episodes come out monthly, at maximum. The content is alive and deep and juicy, intersecting so many different realms I’m interested in. I have a feeling this could grow to become a beloved podcast for me in 2025.

In their words: “The Emerald explores the human experience through a vibrant lens of myth, story, and imagination. Brought to life through the wise, wild, and humorous vision of Joshua Michael Schrei—a teacher and lifelong student of the cosmologies and mythologies of the world—the podcast draws from a deep well of poetry, lore, and mythos to challenge conventional narratives on politics and public discourse, meditation and mindfulness, art, science, literature, and more. At the heart of the podcast is the premise that the imaginative, poetic, animate heart of human experience—elucidated by so many cultures over so many thousands of years—is missing in modern discourse and is urgently needed at a time when humanity is facing unprecedented problems. The Emerald advocates for an imaginative vision of human life and human discourse as it questions deep underlying assumptions about societal progress.”

Dip in with: Ep. 45 – Animism Is Normative Consciousness or, wherever you are drawn!

Holistic Life Navigation Podcast

With Luis Mojica

In my words: I wouldn’t have been pulled in by the podcast name if that’s all I’d seen (& after a year of listening, with a deeper sense of Luis’s work and offerings, that name still doesn’t feel right for the level of depth/nuance Luis brings.) So if you’re turned off by the name, perhaps stay a moment longer. Many friends in my story/somatics group (& teacher Molly Caro May) have mentioned his name, so I finally dipped in early this year (perhaps when I was looking for Every Interview Ever with Sophie Strand, and found Ep. 163 Identity Is Such a Drag: Letting Ourselves Compost w/ Sophie Strand ?) and have appreciated the nuance/depth he brings to topics, through a somatic lens. For example, Ep. 196 Why I’m No Longer Vegan w/ Luis Mojica & the HLN Team.

This is a podcast where I’ve been dipping into random episodes as the topics appeal to me, not listening to each episode that comes out. Especially if you’re new to somatics, I’d go back to some of the earlier episodes (2020) and see what peeks your interest.

I will note, this is the only content I’ve dipped into re: nutrition/food. I’m grateful for learning about Beans from Luis’s interviews with Karen Hurd (fascinating story!). A readiness is emerging in me to learn more about what my choc-chip cookies w/ all that sugar are doing to my system.

In their words: “This podcast explores holistic stress and trauma recovery. I am your host, Luis Mojica. My work, Holistic Life Navigation, was modeled after my own journey in healing myself from chronic illness and PTSD. I share this podcast with many brilliant minds who, like me, healed themselves through unique, unusual, and unorthodox ways.”

How to Survive the End of the World

With adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown

In my words: This is another show whose name initially turned me off; the content is not what I was expecting based on the name and image above. I don’t remember what year I began listening, 2023? These sisters’ somatic awareness and deep roots show in the fact that there are seasons! Their current season (8), Solidarity Is Love, kicked off in October of last year and is currently on sabbatical/hiatus (yay!) until March 2025. Thank you!

Season 7 was Witch School, which adrienne created solo with interviewees while Autumn was on sabbatical for the year (2023-24). (Another yay! Thank you for listening to your body and doing what’s right for you!)

I’ve also listened to their season All About Love, which began April 2022. This is not a podcast that I’ll listen to in its entirety (they began making it in 2017!), though I would like to listen to the Sibling Miniseries of 2022 at some point—episodes which have been downloaded for a while…

Although the content could be classified as serious, this podcast feels “light” to me, as I love the laughter and jokes between the sisters. I love that they can be light and very full of joy; these two Know joy and rest and imagining are essential. I archive episodes that I don’t want to dip into (I skipped most of the election-time episodes, for example), so what I do listen to are delicious listens which nurture my Spirit. (There is laughter, and this is not fluff. There’s so much depth/wisdom/visioning in these two sisters; I’ve been supporting this show on Patreon.)

In their words: “Join Autumn Brown and adrienne maree brown, two sisters who share many identities, as writers, activists, facilitators, and inheritors of multiracial diasporic lineages, as well as a particular interest in the question of survival, as we embark on a podcast that delves into the practices we need as a community, to move through endings and to come out whole on the other side, whatever that might be.”

Medicine Stories

With Amber Magnolia Hill

In my words: I think I also learned of this podcast when I was searching for every interview ever of Sophie Strand last winter (her mycelial magic continues to nourish!). The host is an herbalist, and I loved listening to these longer conversations (1-2 hrs) because Amber is human, connecting with the guest as a  fellow human—not seeking answers like in a promotional interview—and her beautiful loving spirit really comes through. For example, Ep. 82 – What I’d Be Without You: My Mother’s Life, Death, & Legacy of Love in which Amber reflects and shares 5 years after her mother’s sudden death, and 84 – Our Complex Humanity Cannot Be Cancelled. You’ll find deep-explorations into true health/nourishment w/ a rooted base in Love and the Mythic.

I found Amber’s podcast when I was deepening roots in my spiritual life, so it was refreshing to hear someone whose spirituality/animism/whatever words you want to call it were so present. Yes, I want to nourish this. I’ve been on a bit of listening pause from this show since summer (during which I listened to ep. 91 twice, so curious about the content presented), and I’m grateful to have many episodes I can return to in Right Timing. Episodes now come out monthly (yay!).

In their words: “Remembering what it is to be human upon the earth.”

Episodes that have stayed with me:

91. The Mineral Matrix & the Motherline That Made You – Hamid Jabbar

57. Own Your Self: Radical Healing, Rooted Health – Dr. Kelly Brogan

105. Synchronicity Reveals Our Ecological Niche – Sophie Strand

Reclamation Radio

With Kelly Brogan MD

In my words: If you’re totally new to Kelly’s work and curious, I’d honestly recommend an interview with her on someone else’s podcast (Like ep. 101 of The Way Forward, mentioned in the next and final podcast). Kelly is great at explaining all of the nuance behind her lens. And, after soaking that in through many other interviews, someone’s own podcast is a place where they don’t need to explain themselves — like how we talk with our closer friends. For me, her podcast is a place to go if you’re into what she’s saying and want to go deeper.

Kelly’s work felt like a beautiful compliment to my story/somatics learning with Molly Caro May, nervous system learning with Irene Lyon, and lifelong learning of intuitive healing (& clear harms/dysfunction of Western “health system”), and recent personal dark night of the soul / spiritual awakening. She wove it all together! I understood where she was coming from, thanks to Right Timing and having already been in these realms.

From all of those threads, one that likely drew me in deeper to Kelly’s work earlier last year is that I know how hard it is to experience a paradigm shift. A change where up becomes down, and down becomes up, and all your friends are still in the old paradigm. I feel I’ve lived many lives, been many people, in my short 35 years, as does Kelly—becoming someone I had previously judged, over and over, thus each change expanding my love for others. This shows in her very first episode, “25 Ways I’ve Become That Which I Judged.” I appreciate Kelly’s critical & nuanced look at the harms of feminism—how culture has been teaching us to reject “traditional” gender roles how that has negatively impacted us all (End the War with Men is the title of Ep 3, for a taste). I also appreciate the sentiment in “Ep 6. Embodiment as Activism,” that exploring our fears and nervous systems (& expanding capacity to be in parasympathetic) is a powerful way to turn the volume up on intuition and be the change we need in this world—as opposed to fighting against powers that be, out collecting signatures. (There’s so much nuance here that I don’t have the energy to write; I’m not teaching on it. It’s an idea I’ve been learning about and which resonates deeply in my body and soul, yet which is seemingly absent from cultural narratives. It’s why I feel so rooted in my daily purpose of following sensations and listening to my body (who is the Earth, who is The Great Mother).

In their words: “It hurts to have unmet needs. And it sucks to scurry after crumbs when you’re starving. Join Kelly Brogan MD, as she teaches us how our pain points are portals. She’ll help you discover a world where every seeming challenge is a new chapter in your most audacious story. Plot twists, body symptoms, and heartbreak each represent an opportunity to own ourselves and learn to better wield the power of choice. Kelly will take you on a reclamation journey from the battlefield of victim consciousness to the sovereignty of self-devoted pleasure and expose every surprising place you’ve given your power away. Explore the tools you’ll need to find out what you want, how to ask for it and how to stand in fierce alignment with yourself.

Kelly Brogan is a soul alchemist and threshold guardian devoted to the transformation of collective consciousness. As a young know-it-all atheist, candy-addict, straight-A MIT neuroscience major and Ivy-league trained psychiatrist, she specialized in feeding women, herself included, straight into the mouth of the medicated beast. After a Hashimoto’s healing journey inspired her to sound the alarm on the bait and switch of big pharma, she became a renegade activist—authoring the New York Times bestseller, A Mind of Your Own, and its follow-up, Own Your Self; co-editing the landmark textbook Integrative Therapies for Depression; and eventually becoming an honorary member of the Disinformation Dozen. She is the creatrix of Vital Mind Reset, the online health reclamation program, and the membership community Vital Life Project. She’s a human, cat, and chicken mom.”  

An episode I’ll relisten to: 61. The Truth About Mental Illness with Teal Swan

The Way Forward

With Alec Zeck

In my words: This is one of my newest listens, as of the fall. I appreciate Alec’s curiosity and heart. It is refreshing to hear people who are open and curious, who will say “I don’t know!” and “this is how I feel right now, it will likely change.” And very refreshing/hopeful to hear a man who embraces his heart and emotions. These episodes are Long. I love that there’s time to go deep and to be human — not an interviewee delivering a pitch. And, there are over 200 to date. So, I go where my interests pull. My system does not have the capacity to intake as much as Alec’s system can output!

In their words: “Established in 2022, The Way Forward’s mission is to educate, empower, and unite men and women from all walks of life on their journey to health, freedom, and coherence.

On our podcast, Alec engages in cutting-edge conversations with visionaries and thought leaders on life-affirming topics, including terrain-based and metaphysical health, voluntaryism and common-law, panentheist concepts, spirituality, the nature of reality, permaculture and homesteading, hidden history, and more.

Driven by Alec’s passion and leadership, our episodes empower listeners to connect with their inherent divinity, natural healing capacity, and innate freedom, while dissolving societal conditioning and seeking truth, fostering a deeper sense of coherence with themselves and the world.”

Some eps I especially enjoyed:

Ep 139: Nervous System 101 with Irene Lyon

Ep 101: Reclaim All the Parts of You with Dr. Kelly Brogan

Ep 133: Beyond Death’s Door: Mediumship, Life, Death & the Nature of Existence with Suzanne Giesemann

^^ As someone who has read tons of psychic memoirs, Suzanne Giesemann was new to me; I felt her voice and personal story here are awesome for people who are doubtful of this ability (as I once was!)

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A screen shot of my Pocket Casts home screen, as of today (some new ones this year already!):

If you listen to podcasts, may there be episodes that are delightful to listen to this year.

May you trust Right Timing, and your discernment of what’s right for you.

May there be much joy in how you choose to experience the world,

joy in hitting “archive,” joy in hitting “delete,” joy in unsubscribing,

joy in creating your environment.

Trust what feels aligned & delicious for you, in podcasts and beyond.

Joyful listening! (Or not listening!)