Sacred Community Podcast

In this grief roundtable, SCP facilitators Lakshmi Abrol, Janaki Barbush, and Chelsea Forte sit down with Carly Misenheimer for a tender and enlightening discussion on the nature of grief, death, impermanence, and love. If this episodes inspires a quality of deep rest and nourishment, consider joining our monthly grief circle facilitated by Chelsea and Janaki. Carly Misenheimer (she/her) is an ordained Presbyterian minister, hospice chaplain, and yoga teacher whose work centers on grief and end-of-life care. She accompanies individuals and families through some of life’s most sacred thresholds, helping them make meaning through story and ritual. Her path into this ministry began with early personal loss and a season of spiritual unmaking in divinity school. She describes herself as a hopeful agnostic — deeply shaped by the Christian story while holding space for uncertainty. Carly is especially interested in how grief lives in the body and how practices like breath and movement can become part of the healing journey. Chelsea Forte (she/her) is a grief work facilitator, yoga teacher, somatic coach and recently a creator of small books and tiny zines. Her approach is rooted in curiosity and play and honors grief not as something to overcome but as a sacred teacher that deepens our capacity for presence and connection. She believes that when we can learn to allow all parts - the messy and the magnificent, the insignificant and the inconceivable, the mundane and the marvelous, we take the first steps towards wholeness (and she loves some alliteration). Megan "Janaki" Barbush (she/her) is a trauma-informed yoga teacher with certifications in Yin, Restorative, and Baptiste Power Yoga. She specializes as a caregiver to developmentally disabled adults and offers spiritual support and mentorship. Her simple intention is to create an environment where beings from all walks of life can feel included, safe, and Loved. Emily Lakshmi Abrol (she/her) is a retreat facilitator and volunteer for Sacred Community Project as well as a Hospice volunteer and end-of-life companion. She finds spiritual connection in supporting those at the end of their lives. Inspired by her Guru Neem Karoli Baba, Lakshmi loves exploring how seva and the path of karma yoga can deepen her spiritual practice. The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. Sacred Community Project works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org Related Credits and Links A/V: zander cole SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Podcast Intro Music: Carl Golembeski

This Q&A from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat contains a discussion on the final moments of Ram Dass's life, the events that led to the creation of Hanuman Maui, and ways to apply Ram Dass's teachings of Loving Awareness. Featuring Ram Dass caregivers Pavan Das and Sitaram Dass and joined by zander cole and Vasu jon Seskevich. We are sharing this now because Hanuman Maui has started a fundraising campaign to secure Ram Dass's home as a permanent sanctuary for future generations to come. Ram Dass’s Maui home has long been a place of satsang, service, spiritual practice, and loving awareness. Now, Hanuman Maui is under contract to purchase it. This is an opportunity to give the mission a permanent home, expand the people that can be served, and carry loving awareness forward for generations to come. Learn more and donate to the campaign The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. Sacred Community Project works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org Related Credits and Links Podcast Host and Producer: Sitaram Dass A/V: zander cole SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Podcast Intro Music: Carl Golembeski

This second Q&A from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat features a discussion on acting with kindness and the creative tension between acceptance and ambition and how it intersects with our careers, artistic pursuits, and spiritual lives. It ends with a few Ram Dass stories for good measure. It also contains an in-depth discussion about cultural appropriation. This topic is a big one, and though the facilitators don't claim to offer any universal answers, as a group they explore the question from multiple viewpoints and cultural perspectives. We are sharing it here because at SCP we don't shy away from systemic issues. In our retreat invocation we state, "We have come together to invoke the Sacred through our shared humanity. During this retreat, we each agree to attend to five things: ourselves, each other, the group, the world, and the shared Presence unifying it all. We do this as an act of devotion, knowing that God is manifest in all five." And, "We tend to the world by acknowledging we are not separate from collective sorrow, collective aid, or systemic influences associated with race, class, gender, sexuality, or ability." Learn more about this year’s Sacred Community Retreat in British Columbia. The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. Sacred Community Project works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org Related Credits and Links Podcast Host and Producer: Sitaram Dass A/V: zander cole SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Podcast Intro Music: Carl Golembeski

Connor Burns leads a 20-minute meditation using the Zen concept of "just sitting" as a doorway into accepting the moment with an open heart and being in "relationship with the vastness of reality." This guided meditation from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat ends with an invitation to continue with your own walking meditation. Learn more about this year’s Sacred Community Retreat in British Columbia. Connor Burns (he/him) is a psychotherapist (RCC) and holistic wellness advocate living in Vancouver, BC Canada. Connor's curiosity of the human condition started from a young age and has led to hundreds of hours of yoga and mindfulness trainings as well as over ten years of experience working with vulnerable populations and at-risk youth. In March 2025 Connor received Jukai from Roshi Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Centre and was given the name Daitoku, meaning Great Devotion. Connor’s approach is integrative, somatic and attachment based, and influenced by his training with Dr. Gabor Maté's Compassionate Inquiry, Dr. Sue Johnson’s Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) and Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Learn More at www.connorburns.ca IG: @connorburnscounselling The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. Sacred Community Project works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org Related Credits and Links Podcast Host: Lakshmi Abrol Producer: Sitaram Dass SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Podcast Intro Music: Carl Golembeski

In this satsang from the 2025 Sacred Community Retreat, Vasu Jon Seskevich teaches the essence of Hanuman, sings the Hanuman Chalisa in English, and shares stories of his time with Ram Dass. This year's retreat is August 13-16th, and Vasu will be joining a "wisdom panel" with Dassima from Hanuman Maui to share lessons learned from their lifetime of spiritual practice and friendship with Ram Dass. Learn more about this year’s Sacred Community Retreat in British Columbia. Jon Vasu Seskevich, a retired Registered Nurse, is a pioneering health professional in holistic healing, mind-body approaches and palliative care. He helped create Duke University Hospital's Stress Management Consult Team in 1989. In his clinical practice, he participated in NIH funded Mantra Meditation research and also had more than 40,000 hospital inpatient consults and taught hundreds of classes with staff. These skills and tools began and were nurtured by his ongoing friendship and mentorship with Ram Dass from 1975-2019. Learn more at: https://jonvasu.com/ The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. Sacred Community Project works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org Related Credits and Links Podcast Host: Lakshmi Abrol Producer: Sitaram Dass SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Podcast Intro Music: Carl Golembeski