036 Spring Washam – Medicine for the Heart When the World Needs Our Courage

Gracious meditation teacher, author, shamanic practitioner, and community leader Spring Washam joins Terry to offers compassionate guidance and insight for how all of us can be authentic allies to people of color and the more-than-human world. She encourages everyone to be guided by our conscious heart intelligence and she effortlessly expresses a spacious generosity of heart even while firmly calling us into the urgent and challenging work of standing in the truth, however uncomfortable.   Spring Washam is a meditation teacher, author, and pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founders and core teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in Oakland, CA and the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom. Spring received extensive training from Jack Kornfield, is a member of the teacher's council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California, and has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism for the last 20 years. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices for over a decade. She travels and teaches meditation retreats, workshops and classes worldwide, and is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment. Spring is currently offering an online teaching series called The Dharma of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Here are some of the questions we discuss in the episode:  Who is watching and learning from us when we stay silent?  Might our most challenging conversations with our family members and neighbors also be our most significant opportunities to be of benefit? How can Harriet Tubman's strength and commitment be a source of strength to us in the work ahead? What arises if you speak the words "Black Lives Matter" aloud, in an authentic, embodied feeling way? For more information on Spring Washam and Terry Patten, check out the following resources: Spring Washam's website Spring's Book, A Fierce Heart Lotus Vine Journeys East Bay Meditation Center Spring's current course, The Dharma of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad Terry Patten's website Learn more and join our social experiment at A New Republic of the Heart, visit BeingofBenefit.com. Visit BeingofBenefit.com Join Our Community of Listeners and Supporters If you haven't yet, we welcome you to join us as a monthly contributor here and become part of our community of listeners dedicated to uplifting our public discourse.