Commune with Jeff Krasno

Each week Jeff has been writing a Sunday article called Commusings where we take a moment to think deeply on the topics of spirituality, philosophy, and culture. Today, we trace the decay of trust in science and journalism and discuss how individual citizens can help maintain the cohesion of society. To receive the Commusings newsletter, you can go to onecommune.com and sign up at the bottom of the page.

Our society's war of narratives is preventing us from having thoughtful, meaningful conversations around a shared goal. How did we get here? And how can we hope to agree on conclusions if we also disagree on what counts as valid evidence?

Each week Jeff has been writing a Sunday article called Commusings where we take a moment to think deeply on the topics of spirituality, philosophy, and culture. Today, we get metaphysical, with one of the most basic questions of all... To receive the Commusings newsletter, you can go to onecommune.com and sign up at the bottom of the page.

As humans, we often struggle to express our emotional realm, which can feel confusing, shadowy, and private. But words are vessels for emotions, and poetry can help us understand why we feel the way we feel — something science struggles to explain. In this episode, poet Jacqueline Suskin discusses the relevance and power of poetry for this moment in time, and how writing teaches us to find healing and hope in our lived experiences.

Each week Jeff has been writing a Sunday article called Commusings where we take a moment to think deeply on the topics of spirituality, philosophy, and culture. Today, he shares his thoughts on Independence Day in the United States and the relationship between independence and interdependence. To receive the Commusings newsletter, you can go to onecommune.com and sign up at the bottom of the page.

We have to change the paradigm of what it means to be a man in our society. For so long, the ideal man was someone who suppressed his emotions, never showing that side of him to the world. But what has internalizing these values led to? A loneliness epidemic, addiction, grief, and suffering. Today, we explore the archetypal characteristics of maleness, mass incarceration, how the BLM movement is different from past civil rights movements, and what one group is doing to bring men together to be vulnerable with each other and cultivate other aspects of humanity.

When COVID-19 swept through her community, Shelly Tygielski had a simple idea: Connect people who can give directly with those in need. Within days her Pandemic of Love went viral, resulting in more than 187,000 matches and over $25.1 million in direct transactions. And as she reveals, these one-to-one acts of charity offer so much more than financial support — they re-instill our faith in each other.

Today, in honor of Father’s Day, I share with you a piece entitled Finding Fatherhood. This episode is dedicated to my loving father.

Our approach to dying is a reflection of how we think about so many other different parts of our life, which for many of us is based on fear. Though death is the only thing we are guaranteed in this life, the associated grief, loss, and loneliness are human emotions we often tend to avoid. At times, these thoughts cause us to have a fear of life, we stop living because we're so afraid of dying. In today's episode, Ann Grant shares her thoughts on death, reflecting on how the death of her mother shaped her views on dying and how our thoughts on death have changed.

Each week Jeff has been writing a Sunday article called Commusings where we take a moment to think deeply on the topics of spirituality, philosophy, and culture. Today, he shares his thoughts after attending a recent Black Lives Matter march in Hollywood with his family. To receive the Commusings newsletter, you can go to onecommune.com and sign up at the bottom of the page.

Jeralyn Glass has dedicated her life to healing through sound, and plays her crystal singing bowls in a wide range of venues, from concert halls to cancer centers. However, this is not remotely where Jeralyn’s career started. Today’s podcast is her story.

Each week Jeff has been writing a Sunday article called Commusings where we take a moment to think deeply on the topics of spirituality, philosophy and culture. Today, he shares the piece we published in the days after the murder of George Floyd.

What's different this time? Today, African-American community leader Anasa Troutman discusses race relations in America, and how the pandemic, unemployment, and systemic police brutality led to a breaking point. What does leadership look like in this moment? And amidst the suffering, is there hope? To hear more from Anasa, you can also listen to her TEDTalk here: http://www.anasatroutman.com/tedtalk

The global pandemic conscripts a different type of soldier, wearing a different sort of uniform. Dubbed "essential workers," they fight an invisible enemy that cannot be slain, only grimly flattened. This podcast is in recognition of their service, and includes an interview with an essential worker very close to home.

India.Arie is a prolific singer-songwriter and the winner of 4 Grammy awards, but today on the show we talk about a different dimension of her life that has always been quietly present — her spirituality. What turns a simple object into a meaningful heirloom? How can we tap into the power of ritual to create transcendent art? Check out India.Arie's new music video, shot right here at Commune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsfL2eI5ns

When you fly over a city and see all those backyard swimming pools and barbecues, do you ever wonder: What if we shared more resources? What if we had passionate conversations with people next door rather than someone on social media a thousand miles away? In this episode, Robert O'Neill, founder of Haven Coliving, shares his vision for small urban communities and a return to real human interaction.

Raised by a shaman in New York City and signed to Sony Records at 19, Biet's life has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, clarity and addiction. Now dubbed the “Lady Gaga of Meditation,” her approach to spirituality is pragmatic and practical: You will find enlightenment within your life's circumstances, and nowhere else. It's not about changing the facts of your life, but working with and within them.

Like a reef or rainforest, what we call a human is actually a multispecies superorganism — technically a "holobiont." We evolved to exist with our microbes and the microbiomes of others. Breast milk co-evolved to feed the growing garden in an infant's gut. We exchange microbes when we hug and kiss or have a pet in the house. Today, Ara Katz, co-founder of Seed, talks about the importance of microbes and how they can impact the health of our bodies, our children, and our planet. To learn more from Ara and Seed, check out their Instagram channel at instagram.com/seed or visit seed.com.

None of us imagined motherhood under these conditions. Some of us are essential workers navigating front-line jobs, but most of us are now stay-at-home moms, our careers vying with our kids for breathing room. Schuyler Grant hosts today's Mother's Day episode where she, along with other mothers, reflect on what it means to be a mom in this moment.

Capitalism bombards us with the message, “You’re not enough, but to compensate we're going to sell you a product.” This gets particularly dangerous when the products are pills and medical devices, and in particular, hormonal birth control. Today, Allison Behringer, creator of the Bodies podcast, shares her personal story with "the pill" and discusses how the -isms (sexism, racism, and capitalism) cause problems in modern medicine.

Is your personal narrative true? Or do you manipulate and aggregate past phenomena to support your current story? Today, Nick Ortner, CEO of The Tapping Solution, talks about how the simple technique of tapping can powerfully address fear and anxiety and aid the process of healing. Plus, experience a short tapping session!

Our patterns of behavior are often rooted in our lack of self-worth. When there is something wrong on the inside, our instinct is to look for external agents to deal with those issues. However, radiance only comes from self-reflection. In today's episode, Danielle LaPorte discusses the importance of introspection, as it allows us to forgive, better understand our stories, and reach a place where we accept our enoughness.

What is the new world story that will spin out of our situation? Meditation doesn’t necessarily lead to a passive life — it can also encourage an active one. Today, author and recording artist Justin Michael Williams talks about how meditation helps us quiet the mind and rest in gratitude while becoming engaged members in our community. Together, we can be part of the solution.

If ever there was an opportunity to introduce a more local way of life, one not engineered for corporate globalism, it is now. Today’s guest is the founder and director of Local Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge, who discusses how we can address some of the world's most salient issues, from global warming to income inequality, through localization. Yes, we CAN create sustainable local economies that don't require exploitation of anonymous workers and the desecration of the planet.

Why are so many of us sick when we value health? The American way of processing and marketing food is spreading. All over the world waistlines are expanding, hospitals are filling up, and people are getting sick with chronic illnesses. In the time of COVID-19, our health is becoming more important than ever before. Today, we talk about the relationships between immunity and a healthy diet, regenerative agriculture, localization, and how Ocean’s unique family history shaped his life’s work.

When information overloads us, we need a reset. But how do we really surrender and let go of so much thinking? Today, Tracee discusses how Yoga Nidra can help us quiet the mind, unwind and understand our stories, and ultimately reach a place of discernment and clarity. This podcast made possible by: Better Help Magic Spoon

In today’s episode, Dr. Mark Hyman shares a wide range of options for boosting your immune system — from food groups and supplements to practices and rituals. He and Jeff also delve into food policy, environmentalism, and how the pandemic may impact our approach to health moving forward.

Spending quality time with our own minds can be terrifying for our socially oriented species, and yet here we all are, home alone with thoughts for company. Fortunately, we have a technology for that (albeit an old one) — meditation. Today, meditation teacher Light Watkins shares his pragmatic approach to our modern, quarantined life.

Eventually this crisis will end, and at that point we have an opportunity to rewrite the story of humanity. Will we use this pause in business-as-usual to reassess consumerism, globalism, and how we define a well-lived life? Or will we scurry back to business as usual? That's up to us. If you have any thoughts feel free to email me at [email protected]. For now, stay centered. Follow the science. Don’t succumb to fear. And spread knowledge, not the virus.

The spread of the coronavirus reflects our inter-connectivity, starkly highlighting our intertwined destiny and common humanity. We are not just individuals living among other individuals acting in our own self-interest. We are connected by a power greater than ourselves.

In-Q is a national poetry slam champion, multi-platinum songwriter and jaw-dropping performer with an incredible talent for weaving sound, rhythm, and insight. In this episode, In-Q offers spiritual lessons with hip hop grit in turns of phrase that incite tears, laughter, and epiphany.

You might call this week’s guest an “inner designer.” Peter Crone helps professional athletes, entrepreneurs, parents, and (in this case) podcast hosts to dissolve the mind’s limiting beliefs and unleash our human potential. His techniques directly address the uncertainty, anxiety, and mental anguish that constantly bubble up from our subconscious.

As the founder of B-School, Marie Forleo has inspired over 55,000 students to step into their entrepreneurial potential. In this conversation she shares the benefits of being multi-passionate, why limiting beliefs about starting a business hold us back (and how to move past them), and key business techniques for aligning profit and passion. Plus, you’ll here the story of why “everything is figureoutable.”

The myth of the separate self underlies our entire civilization, says philosopher and author Charles Eisenstein. This dualistic view of the world pits people against each other and turns nature into something we want to control. But we can choose another story — one of interdependence and connection. By doing so we become able to solve “impossible” problems, from political polarization to global warming.

The myth of the separate self underlies our entire civilization, says philosopher and author Charles Eisenstein. This dualistic view of the world pits people against each other and turns nature into something we want to control. But we can choose another story — one of interdependence and connection. By doing so we become able to solve “impossible” problems, from political polarization to global warming.

If yoga means union, if we as practitioners aspire to see the interconnectedness of all, then how could it not be political practice? Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts’ most recent research explores the lived experiences of Black teen yoga practitioners and their use of yoga and storytelling for critical identity development. Today’s conversation doesn’t shy away from suffering, liberation, power, and privilege — and a call for a new cabinet-level position.

Would life be better without alcohol? It’s the nagging question more and more of us are finding harder to ignore, whether we have a “problem” with alcohol or not. Ruby Warrington is the author of Sober Curious and one of the leading voices of the new sobriety movement. When we question why we drink on autopilot, the answers lead us deep into what it means to live an empowered, fulfilling life.

For every hour a teacher is on camera filming a Commune course, we spend several hours with them off camera — meeting, planning, having meals together. Today, Jeff chats with Commune’s head of content Jake Laub about how our courses get made and the many lessons we learn from teachers during the moments in between.

If you have lower back pain, you are not alone: 80 percent of adults suffer low back pain at some point in their lives. Today our guide to this topic is yoga teacher Schuyler Grant. How to sit, how to stand, how to sleep, even how stress and psychology interact with chronic pain — she covers it all. Check out her new Commune course, Back to the Core, at onecommune.com/core.

Gabrielle Bernstein is the author of more than six bestselling books, including her latest, Super Attractor: Methods for Manifesting a Life Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. That sounds pretty ambitious, but as you will hear from Gabby — pushing, controlling, and “manic manifesting” are actually the biggest blocks to harnessing your super attractor power. In fact, it is our ability to let go and receive that allow abundance in.

So often we focus our New Year's resolutions on our deficiencies of character or habits, imagining a future with a better job, six-pack abs, or a fulfilling relationship. Today, I ask you to extend this intention practice outside yourself and ask a bigger question, “What is your vision for the world you want to live in?” What are the attributes of that society? What are its values?

Pull up a chair by our digital fireside as Jeff reads three pieces that influenced him this year — a letter from spiritual teacher Ram Dass, a speech by Robert Kennedy, and a short story from singer-songwriter Portia Nelson. We hope these words move you, too.

Our culture typically defines justice through the lens of crime and punishment. Violate the law and you will be punished. But how does justice address the victim? Are they to be healed through revenge? Today, you will hear the courageous story of Marlee Liss, who sought an alternative path for justice after being sexually assaulted — a path of compassion and transformation.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on recovery with Russell Brand. Last week we explored how 12-step recovery can be applied to the addictions in our lives, but can the same model work with our society? Can we collectively recognize a problem, commit to change, undertake a thorough inventory, recognize patterns, and create a culture of service? Today we take the 12-steps one step further — from personal to communal. To hear more from Russell, sign up for his upcoming Recovery course on Commune (onecommune.com/recovery) or check out his Luminary podcast, Under the Skin (luminary.link/russell @hearluminary).

This is Part 1 of a two-part series on recovery with Russell Brand. Very few of us are free from some form of addiction — alcohol, sugar, sleeping pills, sex, Instagram, co-dependent relationships, the list goes on. Russell points out that all our addictions stem from a common problem: spiritual disconnection. But when we admit we have a problem, believe in real change, accept help from others, and hand over our will and control to a higher power, we can begin to find freedom from our addictions. To hear more from Russell, sign up for his upcoming Recovery course on Commune (onecommune.com/recovery) or check out his Luminary podcast, Under the Skin (luminary.link/russell @hearluminary).

We spend our entire lives having thoughts, but because no one else can hear them we can fool ourselves into thinking they don't matter unless we act on them. But the tone and word choices of our inner dialogue are incredibly important. Today's episode offers Commune course excerpts from three teachers – Lauren Zander, Danielle LaPorte, and Brendon Burchard – on how to cultivate thought patterns that uplift your life. If you like hearing from multiple teachers like this, check out the Commune Wellness Summit. Sign up for free here: onecommune.com/summit.

We recognize the importance of self-reflection, but there is also tremendous value in stepping back as a business or a family to contemplate the bigger picture, the higher purpose, the deeper “why” behind it all. As we embark on our first company off-site, here are some thoughts on the value of briefly disengaging from the “world of the 10,000 things.”

Today’s show is about what it means to be an advocate: why and how and with what intention we should speak up for the causes we care about. We’ve pulled excerpts from three Commune courses: • Finian Makepeace talks about the importance of the “second person” who makes an idea available to new, broader audiences. • Marianne Williamson shares with us the difference between “speaking up” and “tearing down.” • Suzanne Sterling offers advice for how to discover the authentic voice that lives within you. We hope this episode gives you some tools and motivation to speak up with compassion—for yourself and for others. As Marianne Williamson says, “There's no religious or spiritual tradition anywhere that gives anyone a pass on addressing the suffering of other sentient beings.” All of these courses are represented in the Commune Summit! Sign up for free at onecommune.com/summit.

What comes after the job, the money, the power? Why do we seek these things if not, in the end, for happiness? And is happiness simply a chemical symphony in the brain that we can hack into, or does true contentment lie somewhere ineffably beyond our physiology? Today, Jeff offers an orchestrated monologue of his thoughts on happiness. Learn more about Commune courses and events at onecommune.com.

Modern allopathic medicine is brilliant at treating acute trauma, but it’s a big problem when we try to treat chronic health issues with the same approach. Today on the show Jeff speaks to Kelly Noonan Gores, writer, producer and director of the documentary Heal. She explains how our medical system throws drugs at symptoms instead of understanding and treating the root cause of the disease. This is no small matter, as over half the American population is now afflicted by chronic issues such as diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and cardiovascular disease. Yet Kelly’s message is one of empowerment: We are not destined by our DNA. We have agency over our own well-being. Learn more about Commune courses and events at onecommune.com.