Ways 2 Wellness Podcast

Josh Traub is a grandfather who grew up in West Marin surrounded by one of Earth's greatest creations: trees. At age five he recalls his first introduction to what it meant for a tree to belong to a forest community. As Josh grew from boy to man, he deepened his relationship with the trees of Marin: the old-growth Coastal Redwoods of Roy's Redwoods, the sprawling Valley Oaks of San Geronimo Valley, and the thousands of second-growth Redwoods in Samuel P. Taylor Park. Working his first job on a trail crew at Point Reyes National Seashore, he met ancient California Bay Laurels, sacred Elderberry trees, and streamside Willows that welcomed spawning salmon home. Josh joined the ranks of tree care professionals, learning to climb 150-foot Blue Gum Eucalyptus with chainsaws and arm-thick ropes—dangerous work that sometimes claimed lives. He mastered the gentler craft of pruning American Elms along Ross's Shady Lane, only to witness their demise from Dutch Elm disease. Later, he observed the emergence of Sudden Oak Death threatening California Tan Oaks—possibly another species extinction event. Transitioning from the woods to farming, Josh raised his two daughters while working an organic farm at the base of Mount Barnabe. He became a school gardener, planting his first tree—a California Buckeye—alongside elementary students. Eventually moving into carpentry to support his growing teenage daughters, Josh discovered an intimate new relationship with trees through wood itself: milling Monterey Cypress, harvesting Bishop Pine logs, building with old-growth timbers that revealed wood's exquisite beauty. Though carpentry provided good livelihood, Josh carried an unrealized dream that would eventually call him toward his next chapter.   To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

Tamara speaks with Gary Muszynski, an award-winning percussionist and composer, discussing his journey in music, focusing on the handpan, its origins, and its role in creating meditative experiences. He emphasizes the healing power of music, its ability to unlock memories, and the importance of improvisation in creating emotional connections. Gary also shares insights into his personal journey and the influences that shaped his music, highlighting the cultural significance of global music.  Gary Muszynski is an award-winning percussionist, composer, bandleader, recording artist, and producer. He creates genre-defying, original music that combines world folk traditions, infused with an improvisational sensibility with a healing vibe. He refers to his music as global medicine music. Gary has performed and recorded with some of the great musical luminaries of our times, including Bobby McFerrin, legendary Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, virtuoso cellist and co-founder of the Turtle Island Quartet Mark Summer, Brazilian guitar master Romero Lubambo, world-funk-jazz bassist Kai Eckhardt (John McLaughlin) and pianist Frank Martin (Sting). Bay Area venues include the Freight and Salvage, SF Jazz, the Zellerbach stage for TEDxBerkeley, and Peri Park in Fairfax.  Gary's last album, Roots & Wings (Medicine Music), won the top honor at the prestigious Global Music Awards in 2021 and can be accessed through Gary's website, oneworldmusic.com. Gary's new album, The Journey Home (Songs of Longing & Belonging) is now avilable on all streaming platforms and won the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in Sept 2024.   To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

Tamara discusses resilience with coach Emily Schafer, head women's basketball coach at College of Marin.  Schaefer previously served as the assistant coach for the women's basketball program at Norte Dame de Namur University for four seasons. In that role, she was the recruiting and academic coordinator. She was instrumental in the Argonauts success during the 2016-17 season, which led to the first Pacific West Conference post-season tournament appearance in program history. During her tenure at NDNU, Schaefer created curriculum and served as an instructor for Kinesiology department and was the Director of Compliance and Student Services.    To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

China Galland, M.A., is the award-winning author of several non-fiction works including Galland's non-fiction work, The Bond Between Women, A Journey to Fierce Compassion (Riverhead/Penguin), was chosen as one of the best five books on Spirituality by the annual "Books For a Better Life Award" when it was published in 1999. Race has been an abiding concern in Galland's work since she published her first non-fiction piece in 1977 on the kidnapping of an African American gardener by a white woman in the middle of one of the wealthiest neighborhood in Dallas, Highland Park. The police brought the gardener down out of her attic where he had been blindfolded and kept in chains. That was 1939. Galland also teaches and lectures nationally and internationally. She has been a Professor in Residence at the Center for the Arts, Religion, and Education at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, the largest consortium of Christian schools of theology in the U.S, as well as a Research Associate at the Center for Women and Religion. New curriculum in theology grew out of her graduate level intensive course, "Art, Darkness, and the Womb of God." Her book and curriculum grew out of her pioneering work on images of the Divine Feminine cross-culturally, especially the forms that are dark and/or black. She has been affiliated with the Graduate Theological Union for over 20 years. CARE/GTU initially sponsored her Keepers of Love work as a project of the Center for Art, Religion, and Education. Galland also created the Images of Divinity Research Project at the GTU's Center for Women and Religion in the 1990s. A riveting storyteller and public speaker, Galland has lectured at Harvard University, Columbia, Cornell, Bowling Green University, and Prescott College among others. She's led pilgrimages to the Divine Feminine in Nepal, India, France and Spain, appeared on "Good Morning America," Bloomberg TV, PBS, NPR, and PRI's "To the Best of Our Knowledge." She's also written for the Washington Post, Outside Magazine, and a host of other non-fiction venues nationally. She's the author of six award-winning non-fiction books. Galland has been awarded a Hedgebrook Women Writer's Residency by the Hedgebrook Institute on Whidbey Island, WA. as well as prizes for both non-fiction and fiction by the California Arts Council. She was given the national "Courage of Conscience Award" by the Peace Abbey of Sherburne, MA, in 2010 at the Harvard Foundation where she was presenting excerpts from the documentary film, Resurrecting Love, and reading from her book, Love Cemetery, Unburying the Secret History of Slaves for the Harvard Foundation's annual Writers and Film series. A former river guide, Galland also co-founded the national non-profit organization, "Women in the Wilderness," dedicated to growing women's leadership through outdoor experiences. Her first non-fiction book, Women in the Wilderness, was published by Harper & Row (New York). Galland was also the first woman Assistant to the City Manager in Dallas, Texas, and ran the Citizen Assistance office for the City of Dallas. Prior to her work with the city of Dallas, she taught English Literature at Boston College. Galland was married to the playwright, performer, and co-founder of the former Traveling Jewish Theater, Corey Fischer. She has three children, the youngest of whom, Ben Galland, she just produced the documentary film RESURRECTING LOVE. The 76-minute documentary grew out of her most recent book, Love Cemetery, which Bill Moyers described as "Riveting!" Sue Monk Kidd said that Galland introduced her to the Black Madonna. Resurrecting Love has been invited to participate in the Morehouse College 6th Annual Human Rights Film Festival in Atlanta, GA, September 17th-21st. Galland will be joined there by her son, Ben Galland, the director, and co-producers Barry Opper and Alexis Yancey. Opper is also known for his work in Africa on the documentary film, Slingshot, as well as his years of work in feature films. Yancey has just been inducted into the Black Journalists Hall of Fame in Chicago. To learn more about China's work: https://www.chinagalland.org   To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

Julie Motz is an internationally known healer, author, and teacher who pioneered the practice of energy healing in the operating room. She shares her journey from being a documentary filmmaker to becoming an energy healer and working alongside surgeons in heart transplant surgery. Julie discusses the power of emotions and how they are stored in different organs of the body. She also shares two of her poems that capture the essence of her work and the healing process.   To learn more about Tamara and her work, visit: https://tamarawolfson.com

Marianne describes herself as an eclectic and experiential practitioner in the field of learning. Her academic studies include master's degrees in transpersonal psychology and mindfulness-based psychotherapy and a doctoral degree in transformative learning and change in human systems. Integral to her work has been her training with Stanislav Grof – she completed the Grof Transpersonal Training in 2001, is a certified Grof® Breathwork facilitator, and has facilitated holotropic breathwork in the US, UK, Europe, Kenya, and India. She is certified as a facilitator of Bert Hellinger's systemic constellation work and is also trained as a massage therapist. Marianne is a member of the faculty at the Academy for the Love of Learning where, for the past 22 years she has been intimately involved with the development of the core curriculum and helping to establish the Academy's pedagogy. To learn more about Grof® Breathwork: https://grof-legacy-training-usa.mykajabi.com To learn more about Tamara and her work, visit: https://tamarawolfson.com

Judy Tuwaletstiwa is a visual artist, writer and teacher. Her work resides in private and museum collections nationally and internationally. After earning Degrees in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley and Harvard University, she discovered the power of visual art to connect us to the deepest part of ourselves. She has spent her life exploring and expressing this, using different media. Her work has been presented in exhibitions around the U.S., and is held in several permanent collections, including that of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She has held residencies at Pilchuck Glass School, Bullseye Glass Resource Center in Santa Fe , the Corning Museum of Glass and the Tamarind Institute. She is the author of Mapping Water published in 2008, and more recently the artist book Glass.  Pilchuck Glass School: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilchuck_Glass_School Corning Museum of Glass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corning_Museum_of_Glass Tamarind Institute: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarind_Institute Mapping Water: https://www.radiusbooks.org/all-books/p/judy-tuwaletstiwa-mapping-water Glass: https://www.radiusbooks.org/all-books/p/judy-tuwaletstiwa-glass   To learn more about Tamara and her work, visit: https://tamarawolfson.com    

In this episode, Tamara speaks with Rebekah Wheeler, RN, CNM, MPH, a practicing hospital birth midwife and a birth trauma specialist. She has worked as a birth professional for almost 20 years, supporting people through fertility, pregnancy, birth and postpartum.  Tamara also interviews two women who share their experiences with maternal trauma during birth. These interviews are examples of real-life trauma and Rebekah offers a global, comprehensive overview of the issues and strategies for addressing these crisis.  To learn more about Rebekah's work or schedule a consultation, visit: https://www.rebekahwheelerhealing.com   To learn more about Tamara work, visit: https://tamarawolfson.com

Art Granoff practices and teaches the Holotropoic World View, moving towards wholeness.  He focuses on Stan Grof's consciousness research blended with archetypal astrology, providing a framework for self realization and healing. He's a professional archetypal astrologer. To learn more about Art's work and schedule a reading: www.referenceastrology.com   To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

Mindee Jeffery spent 15 years educating staff, customers, and vendors on the importance and benefits of organic certification at Good Earth Natural Foods in Marin County, California. She was pivotal to the process of evolving food standards for Good Earth. During that time, she was active and influential in the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association (INFRA). She delivered presentations on organic fundamentals, labeling attribute systems and developments in GMO technology to retailers from all over the country at INFRA's annual conferences. Mindee Jeffery represented Retailers to the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (COPAC) for five years. During her tenure as the Chairperson, Mindee Jeffery worked with the California Department of Food and Agriculture to re-imagine COPAC's relationship to the State Organic Program, brought about by significant change to the regulatory framework. Over the past couple of years, Mindee worked directly with INFRA and Eastside Food Co-op in Minneapolis, Minnesota, gaining perspective on the natural foods retail business landscape. Mindee has returned to Good Earth and is currently working as the Organic Activism and Education Coordinator. She also manages a joint venture compost program for Good Earth and Tara Firma Farms. Mindee Jeffery graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in Literature with an emphasis in Critical Theory. She spent many years in the San Geronimo Valley coaching young women's basketball teams.   To learn more about Tamara's work visit: tamarawolfson.com

Dr. Darby Bonomi is a Sport and Performance Psychologist who works with equestrians and other high performance individuals in sports and business. Darby's mission is to elevate performance, increase satisfaction, and support mental wellness in every aspect of her clients' lives--in and out of the show ring. Darby consults with riders of all disciplines, from elite professionals to young juniors and their families, as well as business owners in the industry. Darby has a deep understanding of the equestrian athlete and is a competitor herself in the hunter and equitation divisions on west coast show circuits. To learn more about Dr. Bonomi's work: darbybonomi.com   To learn more about Tamara's work visit: tamarawolfson.com

Join Tamara and Jai Uttal as they explore the true meaning of spiritual love as described in the relationship of Rama and Sita in the great epic poem Ramayana. This poem traverses all the permutations of relationships. The story can be interpreted as the individual's journey into greater consciousness.  Jai Uttal is a grammy nominee, kirtan artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist. He is considered a pioneer in the world music community with his combined influences from India and American rock and jazz. Jai has been leading, teaching, and performing World Music and kirtan—the ancient yoga of chanting or singing to God—around the world for over 50 years, creating a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices. He grew up in New York City and lived in a home filled with music. Jai began studying classical piano at the age of seven, and later learned to play old-time banjo, harmonica, and guitar. At age 17, he heard Indian music for the first time, and two years later moved to California and studied under the famous sarod player, Ali Akbar Khan. Jai later began taking regular pilgrimages to India, living among the wandering street musicians of Bengal, and singing with the kirtan wallahs in the temple of his guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Jai has emerged as a leading influence in the Bhakti tradition. He considers bhakti to be the core of his musical and spiritual life. Listen to Jai's new album Dust & Tears: https://ffm.to/dust-and-tears To learn more about Jai: https://jaiuttal.com   To learn more about Tamara's work: https://tamarawolfson.com

Cheryl Fromholzer has been immersed in Western herbalism and natural healthcare for over 30 years having studied with some of the most brilliant minds in herbal medicine. She is the founder and director of the Gathering Thyme School of Western Herbalism and The Gathering Thyme herb store in San Rafael, California offering a wide selection of botanical herbs, personalized formulas and tools for the home apothecary. The school offers classes, workshops and training programs and was born from Cheryl's desire to be of service to the community and to share her extensive herbal knowledge.  Cheryl believes in each individual's innate vital force and the use of natural medicine to support and enhance health. Her clinical work with private clients focuses on digestive disorders, endocrine disorders and women's healthcare. She is also the creator of North Rose Botanicals, a line of all-natural and organic skincare and botanical medicines found locally at Gathering Thyme, Pediatric Alternatives and Good Earth Natural Foods. North Rose Botanicals: https://www.northrosebotanicals.com   To learn more about Tamara's work visit www.tamarawolfson.com

Reverend Olivia Bareham is a Death Midwife, Energy Healer, Interfaith Minister and Founder of Sacred Crossings, The Institute for Conscious Dying. She was born and raised in England and received her BA in Education from the University of London and a bachelors in Natural Theology and Sacred Healing from the Healing Light Seminary in California.  Olivia guides individuals toward a conscious dying experience and supports families to reclaim what she terms as - 'The lost art and healing ritual of a home funeral'.  Her training program, 'The Art of Death Midwifery' is an intensive 3-level course that encompasses the roles of death doula, spiritual end-of-life counselor, home funeral guide and celebrant. In 2017, Olivia founded the Sacred Crossings Funeral Home in Los Angeles offering natural alternatives to traditional funeral home practices including home funerals, green burials and full-body sea burials. Sacred Crossings publishes The Death Care Directive - a planning booklet for your funeral and final disposition.  Olivia's mission is to change the culture of death and dying through Death Education, Death Midwifery Support and a Home Funeral Home.   To learn more about Tamara's work visit www.tamarawolfson.com

Tamara and Dr. Christa Santangelo have a lively conversation about navigating the adventures of raising teenagers successfully. Featured in top media including The New York Times and The Huffington Post, Christa Santangelo PhD is a clinical psychologist specializing in the healing power of the parent-teen relationship. Since completing her post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University, Dr. Santangelo has served as assistant clinical professor at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), where she lectures today. Her forthcoming book, Your Teen Is Your Teacher, distills her 25 years of experience working with parents and teens – leveraging the parent-teen conflict as an opportunity for spiritual growth and personal transformation. In both her book and her practice, Dr. Santangelo provides a unique and multi-dimensional approach to the parent-teen relationship by integrating conventional psychology with alternative methods including yoga and meditation. Dr. Santangelo is also a mother who offers personal wisdom from her own parenting journey. For more information about Dr. Santangelo, visit www.christasantangelo.com   To learn more about Tamara's work visit www.tamarawolfson.com

Join Tamara and Dionne Detraz as they discuss nutritional support for cancer and cancer prevention.  Dionne Detraz, is a Cancer Nutrition Expert, Integrative & Functional Dietitian, and author of "The Cancer Diet Cookbook". She specializes in helping survivors build cancer recovery plans that support healing, optimize treatment, and reduce recurrence by using holistic anticancer nutrition in combination with integrative and functional medicine tools. Dionne's experience includes over 20 years working in health education, wellness, and nutrition. She's worked in conventional medical settings, infusion clinics, an integrative medicine clinic, and for the last 7 years in private practice. Her education and experience includes a unique blend of western medical nutrition therapy with integrative and functional medicine. To learn more about Dionne's work and get support visit www.groundandroot.com.   To learn more about Tamara's work visit www.tamarawolfson.com.

This is an interview about one family's struggle to heal from a canabis-induced psychosis event and treatment. Join Tamara as she discusses healing from drug toxicity with Stephanie Weitzman. Stephanie is a mom of five brilliant kids, now leaders in their own right, and shares her life journey with her husband of 30 years. Her life has been divided into 3 distinct cultures and places: London, Tel Aviv and Marin (California). She is an explorer and researcher of all things. She worked as an Investment banker in the Israel tech and institutional world, served in the Israeli military for 8 years and has always had a passion for spirituality and health. Astrology and metaphysics are her greatest passion and recently, psychosis has become one of her most researched topics on a spiritual and scientific level.  

Please join me in discussing the intersection of youth education within nature, seeking connection and transformation in the wild with Spencer Neilson. Spencer is a guide to inner and outer nature. As a naturalist and environmental educator, he leads youth programs in nature connection and ancestral arts. He provides rites of passage programs for adolescents transitioning into high school as well as high schoolers. He is passionate about long term mentoring and supporting cultural regeneration through building deep connections to people and place. Spencer works with various schools to offer such programs as well as through his own business, Elemental Nature. With a formal background in ecology and environmental education, he has woven threads of ethnobotany, ancestral skills, and permaculture design into his offerings for all ages. He teaches Permaculture Design Courses to adults at Sivananda Yoga Farm and Natura Institute for Ecology and Medicine, weaving herbalism and nature connection into whole systems design for a regenerative future. Spencer is a long time practitioner and teacher of the energy arts of yoga and qigong bridging fields of health such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is passionate about music and dance and the power of sound to heal the body and mind, especially in nature.  

Tamara and Dr. Patrick Fratellone discuss the health benefits of bee medicine.  Dr. Fratellone's guiding philosophy is an individualized approach to total health and well-being that results from nurturing the intrinsic healing of the whole person. He is guided by his personal mission to serve, empower and partner with his patients and community on the path to wellness, transformation, and wholeness. Dr. Fratellone completed his B.S. and B.A. in Biology and Humanities, respectively, at the State University of Stony Brook (New York) in 1982. He completed his medical training in London, where he broadened both his clinical and bedside skills. Dr. Fratellone finished his medical residency at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City, where he also pursued and completed his Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease in 1994. During his three-year fellowship, he trained at the Nicholas Institute Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and the Division of Congenital Heart Diseases at the University of California at Los Angeles. Prior to forming Fratellone Medical Associates, Dr. Fratellone was Chief of Medicine and Director of Cardiology at the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine under the direction of the late Robert C. Atkins, M.D.. In 2005 he completed the Fellowship of Integrative Medicine under the direction of Andrew Weil MD at the University of Arizona. He then studied Botanical Medicine with 7Song in Ithaca, NY. He become a professional member of the American Herbal Guild in 2007. Dr. Fratellone was an adjunct professor at the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine from 2014 until the school closed in 2022. Currently he is an adjunct professor at The Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in NYC. He has been a beekeeper for 15 years. He has been a Board member of the American Apitherapy Society for 5 years. He has been the President of the American Apitherapy Society since 2022. He practices apitherapy in both practices in New York City and Fairfield, Connecticut. He has been in practice for 29 years. Website

Tamara and Alice Rocky discuss Iyengar Yoga, a practice during which yogis are encouraged to seek precision in their postures and to fully immerse themselves into their practice, settling into a meditative state as they hold their asanas. Alice Rocky is a full a devotee of the Iyengar approach to yoga. Her own students, she said, have transformed in front of her over time after participating in her classes. The once-hunched senior citizens who are largely sedentary slowly unfurl, their spines straightening once more, and experience an overall improvement in their wellbeing, thanks to the regular stretching and strengthening exercises in Rocky's classes. It is something she said she has personally witnessed in her more than four decades of practicing yoga and teaching at College of Marin.

On today's program we are discussing chronic illness in children with author, educator and former healthcare consultant Beth Lambert. Beth has monitored and documented the escalating rates of childhood chronic conditions for over a decade. Her first book, A Compromised Generation, provides a thorough analysis of the origins of this modern health crisis and documents how modifications to environmental and lifestyle factors can profoundly influence health outcomes, including full disease reversal. Beth is also the co-author of Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis. Beth is the founder and Executive Director of Epidemic Answers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to reestablishing vibrant health in our children. She is also the creator and Executive Producer of The Documenting Hope Project, a multi-year prospective research study and media project that examines the cumulative impact of environmental stressors on health and their mitigation through personalized and systems-based treatment approaches. Beth is the mother of three children and is passionate about raising awareness about the connection between daily choices, human health, and planetary health. The CDC defines chronic illnesses as "conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both." In addition, according to one Swedish study, a mother can transfer up to 75% of her body's toxic chemical load to her fetus. Today more than half the children in the US have at least one diagnosed serious chronic health diagnosis. These include asthma, obesity, autoimmune conditions, autism, ADHD, mood disorders, food allergies and developmental delays. Our kids are getting sicker and one theoretical explanation for this is called the total load theory. This suggests that our children are experiencing increased illness, not because of one thing, but as a cumulative effect.   Show notes and resources: CDC Chronic Disease: https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm Polybrominated diphenyl ethers: occurrence, dietary exposure, and toxicology: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11250805/ A Compromised Generation co-authored by Beth Lambert: http://sentientpublications.com/shop/books/all-titles/a-compromised-generation/ Epidemic Answers: https://www.epidemicanswers.org The Documenting Hope Project: https://www.documentinghope.com Brain Under Attack: http://www.brainunderattack.com Documenting Hope Support Group: https://healing.documentinghope.com/register/ Documenting Hope Conference: https://conference.documentinghope.com