Wider Roots
Wider Roots

Wider Roots

Jeremy Blanchard

Overview
Episodes

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How can our social movement spaces create more opportunities for our internal transformation while we work for external change? Hosted by leadership coach Jeremy Blanchard, Wider Roots brings together wisdom teachers, coaches, and leaders who are wrestling with questions about how to bridge personal and systemic transformation. This show is for coaches, facilitators, and healers who want to explore approaches to personal growth that focus more on the well-being of the collective, instead of just the individual. It’s also for movement leaders who want to infuse the power of inner work into their changemaking. Our work for climate justice, racial justice, equity, and collective liberation calls on us to bring our best qualities forward. Join us as we explore how we can embody a more compassionate, resilient, and spiritually grounded way of making change. For additional resources and to connect with like-minded changemakers, sign up for our newsletter at https://WiderRoots.com

Recent Episodes

The inseparable link between inner work and outer change (w/ Staci Haines)
MAY 7, 2024
The inseparable link between inner work and outer change (w/ Staci Haines)

“There's no such thing as personal change outside of a social context. You actually can't separate a person from our social context. And that is just like, well, duh, how did they ever think we could do that?”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/8 

In this conversation with Staci Haines, we dive into the intersection of personal transformation and structural social change. I appreciate Staci's commitment to holding these two aspects as inseparable - that true healing and justice require both inner work and outer change. We explore some challenging questions: How can we navigate conversations around Palestine and Gaza with our clients in a way that is grounded in compassion and truth? How do we ensure that transformational modalities don't inadvertently reinforce passivity in the face of injustice, but rather empower us to create change? What are the key distinctions between coaching and therapy, and how can we discern our realm of competency as practitioners?

Staci Haines is a pioneer in the field of politicized somatics and trauma healing. For over three decades, Staci has been dedicated to bridging personal and social transformation, guided by the belief that we cannot have one without the other. As the co-founder of generative somatics and a senior teacher at the Strozzi Institute, she brings a depth of wisdom and experience to her work supporting individuals and movements in healing trauma and embodying transformative change. 

⭐ Key moments

  • 02:43 - Opening
  • 05:03 - Staci's roots: personal + systemic transformation
  • 12:32 - The power of somatics in social change work
  • 17:58 - How we're showing up for Palestine
  • 27:54 - How do we move beyond individualism in healing and coaching
  • 36:09 - Coaching to challenge the status quo, not to cope with It
  • 39:43 - Imagining new credentialing orgs for politicized coaching/healing
  • 59:25 - Staci's sources of joy
  • 1:04:22 - Closing

📚 Resources & Links


💬 Connect with Staci Haines


🎙️ Other episodes you might like


🌲 Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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68 MIN
Heartbreak, Hope, & The Wisdom of Joanna Macy (w/ Jess Serrante)
APR 23, 2024
Heartbreak, Hope, & The Wisdom of Joanna Macy (w/ Jess Serrante)

“Uncertainty inherently means that possibility exists. Possibility for all sorts of things. For the darkest fantasies and fears that I have and for the most beautiful. And my life is a vote in the direction of a possibility, and I'm going to give myself to the one I want.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/7 

In this conversation with Jess Serrante, we dive into the teachings of Joanna Macy and explore how they can support us in our work for social change. I was particularly moved by our discussion on the role of heartbreak in activism and coaching. We asked, what if more healing modalities and spiritual paths helped us get in touch with our pain for the world as a catalyst for discovering our unique contribution? Jess shares powerful insights from her new podcast, "We Are The Great Turning," (including previews of unreleased episodes!)

We also grapple with the question of hope in the face of overwhelming challenges like climate change. When despair creeps in, what can we draw upon that's more stable than the fluctuations of hope? Throughout our conversation, we touch on the importance of grounding our activism in our love for the world, and how Joanna's teachings can help us do that.

Jess Serrante is a dear friend of mine and a longtime climate activist who has worked with groups like Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network, and Sunrise Movement. She’s a coach, facilitator, and now a podcaster!

Subscribe to We Are The Great Turning on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Key moments

  • 03:02 - The dream Joanna & Jess had for this project
  • 15:39 - Heartbreak and honoring our pain for the world
  • 23:59 - Clip from Joanna Macy: What if my pain for the world overwhelms me?
  • 28:58 - Clip from Joanna Macy: Our pain is sacred
  • 35:34 - Heartbreak guiding us to our calling
  • 44:25 - Examining Hope (and other places to find our motivation)
  • 53:36 - Clip from Joanna Macy: Whistling in the dark to cheer ourselves up
  • 1:02:51 - Jess' sources of nourishment
  • 1:04:46 - Closing

Resources & Links


Connect with Jess


Follow Wider Roots

  • WiderRoots.com - Join the newsletter for more resources on personal + systemic transformation

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71 MIN
Climate Change Coaching (w/ Charly Cox)
APR 9, 2024
Climate Change Coaching (w/ Charly Cox)

“My starting point is less about agitating for change and more about empowering people to believe that they can be actors in their own lives. We fundamentally believe that everyone has a stake in climate change, that everyone can make, can affect change around it.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and a full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/6 


Today's episode features Charly Cox, author of the book "Climate Change Coaching."


In this conversation, Charly's approach to holding a systemic view stands out. She not only believes in our client's ability to change but also in the system's ability to change. Her coaching helps clients see their situation from this broader perspective. Charly shares her story about realizing that coaches don't have to be "neutral" and can bring their own values forward in their work.


Some background on Charly Cox and her work: She founded an organization called The Climate Change Coaches, which focuses on empowering climate leaders with coaching skills. Their climate coaching approach helps leaders and individuals find their unique role in addressing the climate crisis. It motivates them to take action and enact behavior change at the personal, organizational, and systemic levels.


Key moments

  • 01:39 - Charly Cox's Journey to Climate Change Coaching
  • 06:20 - Bridging Climate and Coaching
  • 13:48 - The Unique Approach of Climate Change Coaching
  • 20:26 - "Having an agenda" vs living your values as a coach
  • 32:39 - Charly’s sources of nourishment
  • 34:42 - Closing

Resources & Links


Connect with Charly Cox


Follow the podcast



I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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42 MIN
Spiritually Grounded Activism (w/ Kazu Haga)
MAR 26, 2024
Spiritually Grounded Activism (w/ Kazu Haga)

“Can we actually lead with fierceness and the vulnerability of saying, I'm not here because I hate you. I'm actually here because I love you. I'm here because I love the sanctity of life and beauty, and those things are being destroyed all over our ecosystem.”

Check out the episode page for the transcript and a full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/5

Today’s episode is with Kazu Haga, a nonviolence trainer in the lineage of Dr. King, based in Oakland who's been involved in social change movements since he was 17. He leads trainings for youth, incarcerated populations, and activists. He's the author of Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm.

In this conversation, Kazu and I explore how to bring more spiritually grounded practice into our social change movements. I appreciated his invitation for us to think about how we can bring an energy of opening things up, even if outwardly we're doing direct actions that are shutting things down. He also shares his perspective that much of the injustice we witness is actually a manifestation of unhealed wounds, both at the individual level and the societal level. And I particularly loved the part of this conversation where we talked about leading from heartbreak and vulnerability as a way to create connection, especially during conflict.

Key moments

  • 03:24 - Kazu's spiritual lineage and politicization through nonviolence
  • 07:51 - Opening things up spiritually while shutting them down tactically
  • 14:38 - Exploring trauma healing as a modality for social change
  • 22:43 - The necessity of deep practice in movements
  • 26:07 - Allowing messiness as we learn to hold conflict
  • 33:56 - Breaking up with "cancel culture" and creating deep belonging
  • 37:51 - We need skills to not only name harm, but repair it
  • 46:45 - Embracing complexity over black-and-white thinking
  • 50:08 - Anekāntavāda: Holding multiple truths
  • 53:06 - Finding beauty in challenging times
  • 54:55 - Nourishment: Hospicing Modernity & unplugged time

Resources & Links


Connect with Kazu


Other episodes you might like


Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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62 MIN
Bridging Healing and Activism (w/ Noëlle Janka)
MAR 12, 2024
Bridging Healing and Activism (w/ Noëlle Janka)

“Healing doesn't look like getting back to the way things were before, the way things were before made you sick.”

Noëlle Janka is a politicized career and healing coach dedicated to supporting social change leaders. For the past decade, she has brought together her personal experience navigating chronic illness with her passion for social justice and transforming systems of oppression. Noëlle recently published her book, Rebel Healing: Transforming Ourselves and the Systems that Make Us Sick.

In this conversation, Noëlle shares concrete ways coaches can support social change leaders to reconnect with their bodies, intuition, and a sense of interconnectedness. We explore how coaching can help prevent burnout by focusing not just on doing more, but on what needs to stop. And Noëlle opens up about embracing her role as a healer within social movements and how she navigates the tension between one-on-one work and large-scale transformation.

Check out the episode page for the transcript and the full list of the resources mentioned in this episode: https://widerroots.com/4 

Key moments

  • 02:04 - The Root Cause: What inspired you to write Rebel Healing?
  • 06:41 - Doing work for justice with a more regulated nervous system
  • 13:45 - Preventing burnout: Coaching can be about doing less, not more
  • 17:23 - Healing: 30% repair, 70% transformation
  • 21:51 - Serving 1-on-1: Embracing the role of healer within social movements
  • 28:28 - Coaching Technique: Reconnecting with body wisdom and intuition in coaching
  • 34:25 - Noëlle's sources of inspiration
  • 36:52 - Closing

Resources & Links


Connect with Noëlle


Follow the podcast


I’d love to hear how this episode resonated with you or any suggestions for future topics/guests. You can email me at [email protected].

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40 MIN