Today’s podcast episode is the final episode of the Dandelion Effect Podcast as we know it. We are tying a beautiful ribbon on a project that began in the fall of 2020 as an avenue for continued positive outreach and community engagement in the heat of the pandemic. This podcast has far exceeded our expectations, and while it’s bittersweet, we are moving onto different creative adventures that we are all so excited for! As a way to wrap this up, we’ve decided to bring it full circle and give you...
Jun 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Effie Baldwin is a U.S. Army veteran, Positive Discipline Educator, Associate Member of the U.S. Golf Teachers Federation and the founder of Believing in a Better World LLC. After earning her Kemetic Yoga Certification in Egypt, she became an instructor for Veterans Yoga Project then later a board member for the nonprofit. She’s also an End-of-Life Doula and facilitates Emotional Emancipation Circles to promote healing caused by race-based discrimination within communities of African-descent. Pr...
May 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Alison Zak is an author, yoga teacher, environmental educator and anthropologist, and in her self-written bio, she also adds, importantly, that she is an animal. Her new book Wild Asana launches June 27th and is a delightful mix of wildlife science, Hindu mythology, Eastern philosophy, and personal stories that help us draw connections between our bodies, our minds, and the animals that inspire our practices. As if writing and teaching doesn’t keep her busy enough, Alison also founded the Human-...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Susan Reynolds has over 20 years of experience in digital wellbeing, youth leadership and mindfulness. In 2019 she co-founded LookUp to discover, empower, and mobilize youth leaders who are taking action to raise awareness and design a healthier, more inclusive, and responsible digital world. Susan leads workshops and facilitates panels to educate and empower Gen Z to find and implement their own solutions, and she’s spoken globally on the topic at conferences in Copenhagen, London, and most rec...
Apr 22, 2023•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 9
Adam Schumaker is co-founder of Gray Bear Lodge, a rustic retreat center in Hohenwald, TN, 80 miles southwest of Nashville, that hosts experiential workshops to promote growth, fulfillment and the joy of learning. He’s a certified Watsu aquatic bodywork practitioner, lifelong yogi and potentially one of the kindest people on the planet. Gray Bear opened in 1996, and the Feathered Pipe Ranch was a big influence on its beginnings, as Adam considered the Ranch one of the “grandfathers of this movem...
Apr 08, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Dr. Helen Benjamin is the president of HSV Consulting, a company that provides board and management development, strategic planning, and equity, diversity and inclusion services to community colleges. She’s had a long career in education: With a master’s degree and doctorate from Texas Woman’s University, Helen began as a teacher, and has also held positions as a professor, dean, chancellor and president during her more than 30 years in administration for community colleges in Texas and Californ...
Mar 25, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Stefanie Tovar is a healing artist, a singer, a yoga teacher, a racial healing facilitator—and so much more. She has over 14 years of facilitating wellness offerings and 20 years of presenting as an international and local performing artist, creating experiences to support healing, awaken awareness, and empower release in Body, Mind, and Heart. Stefanie is also a Recording Artist with Orchard Records and is the founder of a nonprofit called Yena , which is meant to support this work in schools, ...
Mar 11, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Dr. Edie Resto is a distinguished Chiropractor, Naturopathic Doctor and bodyworker. She is a graduate of the Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing, and she got her start as a massage therapist at the Feathered Pipe Ranch before heading off to an additional decade of schooling at Life Chiropractic College West and Bastyr University. She has had her private holistic health practice for 23 years in Ojai, California, though she sees patients all over the world. She is well-known and respected by ...
Feb 26, 2023•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 5
Danielle Antelope is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and Eastern Shoshone (shu-show-nee) Nation. Born and raised in Browning, MT, she graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Food & Bioenergy Systems, where she deeply studied indigenous food systems relating to her own people as well as other communities around the country. While in college, she served on the board of Food Access and Sustainability Team Blackfeet, known as FAST Blackfeet, and at only 26 years old, is now t...
Feb 11, 2023•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 4
The landscape of work has shifted dramatically in the last several years. From layoffs and furloughs during the pandemic to record numbers of people quitting jobs in the United States—to the tune of 4 million people per month—people are engaging with employment differently than ever before. And many people have seemed to reach a threshold, saying enough is enough when it comes to low pay, poor treatment and unfair conditions. They’re seeking meaning and purpose, flexibility, mutual respect and s...
Jan 28, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Kara Ware has been on a 17-year journey with her son Zachary, who was diagnosed with Autism just before his third birthday. With this news came the advice from the doctor: “There is no treatment for Autism. Medicate him to help with tantrums, sign him up for speech therapy, take him home and keep him safe.” Suggestions like these are what more and more parents are hearing as Autism diagnoses skyrocket. But, why? This question became a beacon for Kara as she sat with her toddler, who was hitting ...
Jan 14, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Lauren Lewis is a CO-based yoga teacher, plant-based chef and culinary educator. She headed west from Pennsylvania in 1999 to attend The University of Colorado, Boulder, and quickly fell in love with the mountains, the community and the lifestyle. After college, Lauren attended the School of Natural Cookery, where she discovered the inherent spirit of food, recipes and skills that she’s used in her own healing journey as well as in her service to others. This conversation is setting the bar high...
Jan 01, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 1
The Feathered Pipe Ranch is a world-renowned retreat center that hosts weeklong yoga and wellness workshops from June through September, and as of this recording, we are smack in the middle of the season. Every retreat is full of amazing people traveling from all parts of the country and even the world—yesterday I met a woman who traveled all the way from Brazil. This year feels like a true reunion of humanity. People are open, vulnerable, eager to learn and willing to lean into friendship and h...
Aug 13, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Donna Eden is a pioneer in the field of Energy Medicine, and she was born with the gift of literally being able to see the body's energies, in the forms of colors and geometrical shapes. After five specialists told her she had 9 months to 2 years to live, she healed herself from multiple sclerosis, allergies, asthma and the effects of a heart attack at age 27. She then honed her skills and learned how to accurately determine the causes of physical and psychological problems based on the state of...
May 22, 2022•53 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Tim Sloffer happened upon the Ranch last year while he was applying for a Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant from the Lilly Endowment, a program that began in 1987 as a way to help Indiana elementary and secondary educators renew their commitment to teaching. To give you an idea of the scope of this program, the foundation awarded 103 grants, each totaling $12,000 for 2022. And, what’s amazing about this grant is that teachers can apply to be covered for all kinds of experiences that will enhance th...
May 07, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Dave Morin is an entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, born and raised in Helena, MT. Currently, he is Co-Founder of Offline Ventures, an investing and inventing company focused on the creation of humanist technology and serving founder potential, and is Chairman of Esalen Institute, a leading center for exploring and realizing human potential through experience, education, and research. Early in his career, Dave was the 29th employee at Facebook and his first job upon moving to San Franci...
Apr 22, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In the days of digital nomads, geo-tagging and endless sources of technological communication, it’s sometimes hard to believe how people traveled without knowing anything about the places they were visiting. With no blog posts or reviews to read, and no way to get in touch with friends in real-time (unless you were right there next to one another), people hitched rides, slept in bus terminals and leaned on poor translation and big hearted-strangers for their next moves. These are details that ma...
Apr 09, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Physicist Amory Lovins is Cofounder and Chairman Emeritus of Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit organization working to transform the global energy system to secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future. He has written more than 800 papers and 31 books, including Natural Capitalism, Reinventing Fire, and Winning the Oil Endgame . For the past 45 years, he’s advised major firms and governments in over 70 countries on clean energy—including the US Departments of En...
Mar 26, 2022•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 8
Historical trauma is a new model in public health that suggests that populations historically subjected to long-term, mass trauma—such as slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of Native Americans—exhibit a higher prevalence of disease even several generations after the original trauma occurred. This model is backed by research in the field of epigenetics, which studies how trauma changes our DNA and is thus passed on to future generations, making them more suscep...
Mar 13, 2022•59 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Bob Quinn is a scientist, farmer, out-of-the-box thinker and savvy businessman who has dedicated his entire career to regenerating food systems and educating the public on the connection between land and soil preservation, nutritious food, robust rural communities and human health. With a PhD in Plant Biochemistry from University of California Davis, Bob returned to his hometown of Big Sandy, Montana—a population of 600 people—where he took over the family farm and was among the first farmers in...
Feb 27, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Rodney Yee is an internationally recognized yoga teacher, co-founder of Urban Zen Integrative Therapy (UZIT), and the author of two books: Yoga: The Poetry of the Body and Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee . Rodney has also been featured in over 30 Yoga DVD titles and became an overnight sensation when he appeared on Oprah in 1999, selling 1 million videos the very next day. His connection with the Feathered Pipe Ranch runs deep, as he credits India Supera, Cree elder Pat Ke...
Feb 12, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Jessica Bugbee is a U.S. Army combat veteran, wellness director at Hudson Valley National Center for Veteran Reintegration, and co-founder of TRIBE, a non-profit that teaches yoga and meditation to the active duty military community. She’s also a peer specialist in the Vet2Vet program of Ulster County, New York, and leads Women’s Warrior Writing classes, mindful hiking groups, kayaking trips and other mind-body-spirit offerings to support and empower veterans and their families. Jessica served a...
Jan 29, 2022•49 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Claudia is a chef, a writer, an ambassador with Hola Montana and a lover of all things culture, food and community. She was born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, a tropical city on the country’s northern Caribbean Coast, where she grew up primarily with her aunt and uncle. But not long after she turned 18, she moved to Miami, pursued a degree in sociology and International Relations, met Steve, her now husband of 42 years, and worked her way through nonprofit organizations, human resource p...
Jan 15, 2022•55 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Tom Ryan was the caretaker of the Feathered Pipe Ranch for 33 years, originally coming to the Ranch in 1975 for a part-time job–and as the story goes, he fell in love and stuck around. Tom has been around the retreat center longer than almost anyone else at this point, and preserving his stories have been a priority to us. If you haven’t yet, check out the interview I did with him two years ago on our Feathered Pipe Roots page under the Community tab of our website. It’s titled “More than a Job....
Jan 01, 2022•58 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Judith Hanson Lasater is an American yoga teacher and writer who is recognized as one of the leading yoga teachers in the country and throughout the world. Judith’s resume is nothing short of impressive: Not only has she been teaching yoga for more than 50 years, but she helped found The California Yoga Teachers Association, the Iyengar Yoga Institute in San Francisco, and the Yoga Journal magazine, which is now in its 46th year of print. She’s written 11 books, has taught all over the globe and...
Dec 18, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 1
This is the "Best Of Season One” episode, a taster to hear pieces of all 22 episodes and invite you to go back and visit the ones that you missed over the last year. The Dandelion Effect Podcast is a gentle reminder that inspiring and extraordinary people are out there doing good in the world. These conversations explore a range of topics including post traumatic growth and healing, music therapy, food systems and soil, refugee resettlement, mental health and suicide prevention, nonviolent commu...
Oct 15, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Today’s episode is brought to life from the archives, the last interview ever conducted with India Supera, the Feathered Pipe Ranch founder and visionary, who passed away in October 2019 at 73 years old. India was a force of nature and her life holds within in it some of the most exciting stories of adventure, courage, devotion and faith. India left home as a teenager for the adventure of foreign travel. After nearly dying in Pakistan, she began a spiritual quest in India and eventually found Sa...
Sep 04, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Wilmot Collins is the Mayor of Helena, Montana, and in 2017, he made headlines as the first black elected official in Montana’s state history. Born in Liberia, West Africa, he and his wife fled the country when a dangerous civil war erupted, killing 250,000 people—including two of his brothers—and displacing over a million more. After navigating immigration programs for nearly three years and a string of divinely-orchestrated events, Wilmot finally settled in the small town of Helena in 1994, wh...
Aug 15, 2021•1 hr 26 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Nat Kendall is a San Francisco-based Bhakti yoga teacher and musician who hosts weekly classes in the Bay Area, annual retreats and has produced numerous albums with different collaborators, most recently an acoustic collection called “My Friend." Raised in Bozeman, Montana, Nat learned guitar, keys and percussion instruments early on and attended the Musicians Institute of Los Angeles followed by the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He then moved to San Francisco at the age of 30, working as an aud...
Jul 31, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Howard Binkow is an old friend of India Supera and a former Feathered Pipe Foundation Board Member. At 88 years old, his life is dedicated to the subject of listening, and he has been a listener in training for 28 years. Howard has had several careers in his lifetime: a home builder, radio host, sales person, author, publisher and currently CEO of the We Do Listen Foundation, a 501c3 that empowers children to become better listeners through a series of books, animations and songs based on the ad...
Jul 17, 2021•53 min•Ep. 19
