The Spirit Underground with Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens (Be Here Now Network)

Welcome to The Spirit Underground Podcast with Dharma teachers Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens.

Together they talk about their unique approach to inner and outer liberation that incorporates Buddhist-based meditation practices, healing with plant-based medicine and Indigenous wisdom, Liberation Theology, and reconnecting to our ancestral knowledge. Learn what it means to be a spiritual abolitionist and discover the tools for disrupting internalized oppression and accelerating our personal and collective evolution.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

"We have so much that we want to share each episode about getting into the real practices, the theology, the mindset and how to help people do this work of liberation. For people do this work of liberation for people who are like, 'Ok, give me a map - give me the how-to.' We want to offer these practices that have helped us." - Spring Washam

NEW Meditation Series: Pause, Breathe, Be Here Now with Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, John Lockley, Ram Dev, Trudy Goodman, Lama Tsultrim Allione—FREE January 16 to 25. Sit in true peace, love, and tranquility. Join thousands of people around the world for this collective meditation experience: onecommune.com/ramdass 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Navigating the complexities of justice and freedom, Spring and Lama Rod discuss choosing the hard work of liberation over comfort.

In this episode, Spring and Lama Rod have a conversation about:

• Choosing liberation versus comfort and stability
• Getting to the root of suffering and the root of who we are
• Moving deeper into our current predicaments instead of bypassing
• The intense labor of liberation and choosing freedom in an unfree world
• Transforming suffering into wisdom and clarity
• Pain as our guide and teacher
• Building communities that can hold the nuances of justice and freedom
• Finding a teacher with experience in all paths
• The tension between enlightenment and humanity
• Bridging conventional reality with the ultimate

About Lama Rod Owens:

Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself. A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers with over 11 years of experience, Lama Rod is highly respected among his peers and the communities that he serves. From these intersections, he creates a platform that’s very natural, engaging, and inclusive.

About Spring Washam:

Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999. She is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California where she was trained for over a decade.

In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices since 2008. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, a one-of-a-kind organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom in South America. Her writings and dharma teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications. She currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide.

“I’m not interested in your comfort, I’m interested in your freedom. Because if you’re always trying to prioritize comfort in this work then you’re going to be really disappointed. You won’t grow.” – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This time on The Spirit Underground, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens begin a gentle exploration of the intersection of gender identity, sexuality and spirituality.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

In this exploratory discussion, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens gently surface their thoughts on:

• The binary between sacred and secular sexuality
• Why we repress sexuality as a culture
• Tending to the needs and suffering of the body
• Moving through the ways we’ve been conditioned to think about bodies, attraction, desire, sexuality, gender, etc.
• Discussing sexuality in spiritual leadership
• Holding space for sexual energy on a community level

“If we’re talking about an enlightened society, that is also enlightened sexuality.” – Lama Rod Owens 

About Lama Rod Owens:

Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself. A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers with over 11 years of experience, Lama Rod is highly respected among his peers and the communities that he serves. From these intersections, he creates a platform that’s very natural, engaging, and inclusive.

For current offerings and programs, click here. 

“I want us to reach a place of liberation where we love our bodies, where we are fluid, and relating to space and energy.” – Spring Washam 

About Spring Washam:

Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999. She is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California where she was trained for over a decade.

In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices since 2008. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, a one-of-a-kind organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom in South America. Her writings and dharma teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications. She currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide.

Spring currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide: springwasham.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Exploring politics and spirituality, Lama Rod Owens and Spring Washam discuss rooting liberation in love instead of anger.

This time on the Spirit Underground, Spring and Lama Rod discuss:

• How a love ethic can be at the roots of our relation to each other
• A dedication to collective liberation
• The complexity of liberation struggle
• Considering if activism and dharma are separate
• The importance of anger / anger as informative
• Love as the driving force of real liberation
• Training ourselves to healthily hold anger
• The role of spiritual leaders
• Learning how to do spiritual labor
• How bypassing suffering makes our experience more limited and rigid
• Conducting real work and making hard choices
• The Bhagavad Gita, doing our dharma, and standing in the front lines
• Leading by example and enduring the struggle

About Lama Rod Owens:

Lama Rod Owens is a Black Buddhist Southern Queen. An international influencer with a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on the intersection of social change, identity, and spiritual practice. Author of Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger and co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, his teachings center on freedom, self-expression, and radical self-care. Highly sought after for talks, retreats, and workshops, his mission is showing you how to heal and free yourself. A leading voice in a new generation of Buddhist teachers with over 11 years of experience, Lama Rod is highly respected among his peers and the communities that he serves. From these intersections, he creates a platform that’s very natural, engaging, and inclusive.

For current offerings and programs, click here. 

About Spring Washam:

Spring Washam is a well-known teacher, author, and visionary leader based in Oakland, California. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment and her newest book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to diverse communities. She is one of the founding teachers at the East Bay Meditation Center, located in downtown Oakland, CA. She has practiced and studied Buddhist philosophy in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism since 1999. She is a member of the teacher’s council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in northern California where she was trained for over a decade.

In addition to being a teacher, she is also a shamanic practitioner and has studied indigenous healing practices since 2008. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, a one-of-a-kind organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom in South America. Her writings and dharma teachings have appeared in many online journals and publications. She currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide.

Spring currently teaches meditation retreats and leads workshops, and classes worldwide: springwasham.com

“I began to see anger is absolutely important but actually love is what drives us, what guides us to real liberation and healing. Anger is informing that struggle, that work.” – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Reconciling with ancestral roots, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens dive into healing transhistorical trauma and making spiritual reparations. 

In this episode, Lama Rod Owens and Spring Washam talk about all that we receive from our ancestors: DNA, cultural beliefs, traditions, fears, and wrongdoings. We discover how we can begin the healing process for ourselves, our ancestors, and our descendants.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

"We can't actually experience true liberation until we remove that barrier, dissolve that barrier, and start actually reconciling with ancestors." — Lama Rod Owens

NEW Meditation Series: Pause, Breathe, Be Here Now with Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Joseph Goldstein, John Lockley, Ram Dev, Trudy Goodman, Lama Tsultrim Allione—FREE January 16 to 25. Sit in true peace, love, and tranquility. Join thousands of people around the world for this collective meditation experience: onecommune.com/ramdass 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dipping into the juicy topic of psychedelics and liberation, Lama Rod Owens and Spring Washam discuss the importance of set and setting.

This week, Spring and Lama Rod explore:

• The importance of set and setting
• Optimal conditions for liberation
• Recognizing the wisdom and validity of indigenous wisdom
• Psychedelics as medicine and a means to work through trauma
• The impact of psychedelic pioneer and healer María Sabina
• How set and setting facilitates deeper psychedelic experiences
• Spring's experiences with the Shipibo community in the amazon
• Music as a powerful component of set and setting
• The trouble with inauthentic healers and commercialization
• Revering the ancient practice of liberation within plant medicine
• Knowing that we will not get more than we can bare

“This isn’t me just having a trip, this is a way, a means for me to do real liberatory work around trauma, love, hate, all of that. It was giving me a way to do this trauma release work which is what I have always been longing to do in a deep way.” – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Expanding their conversation on embodied sexuality, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens offer fresh perspectives on liberating ourselves from the bonds of shame and reclaiming pleasure.

Be sure to listen to Ep. 6 of The Spirit Underground Podcast for the first part of this conversation!

“We think that exploring and investigating and having these experiences with others is the goal, but really it begins with ourselves. Like I have to figure out who I am; I have to figure out what I find pleasurable. For me, pleasure is just this really awakening energy and experiencing of space.” – Lama Rod Owens

Learn more about Lama Rod's newest book, The New Saints, and pre-order your copy today: The New Saints

In part two of this liberating series on sexuality, Spring and Lama Rod talk about:

- Understanding what it means to embody sexuality

- The capacity to talk about sexuality in our culture

- Power and the doctrine of do no harm

- Self-discovery and authenticity

- Collaborating to experience pleasure

- Wholeness and healing in the realm of sexuality

- Balance, dharma, and tantric practice

- Negotiating our bodies and boundaries

- Meeting needs and helping others

- Monogamy and different types of relationships

- Using meditation and intuitive tools to understand the self

- Reclaiming the word pleasure

- Removing shame and resting in liberation

- Finding freedom to be open about our identities

- How friendships help us move out of contraction and be ourselves

- Celibacy and evaluating where we put our energy

“It’s heavy stuff cutting through the societal baggage with our bodies, with queerness, with identity, and then going back to that word pleasure. How can pleasure be in service of awakening?” – Spring Washam

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Radically telling his personal truths, Lama Rod Owens talks with Spring Washam about his upcoming book, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors.

Click HERE to preorder your copy of Lama Rod Owens’ book, The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors

This week on the Spirit Underground, Spring and Lama Rod dive into:

• Heartbreak, fear, and the freedom of honesty
• Lama Rod’s method of opening up in his upcoming book
• Inspiration from James Baldwin
• Embodying the path of liberation and trusting the process
• A contemporary understanding of sainthood
• Rethinking the Bodhisattva tradition
• How the idea of being good may mean suppression
• Tuning into our own needs
• The modern love of radical truth
• The tough work of spiritual awakening and processing our traumas
• Recognizing when someone is bypassing their pain
• Lama Rod Owens’ dedication to the Black, Queer, and Trans communities
• Impacting the world through personal transformation

“When you choose to do the work, you will experience liberation. You will experience the space, the fluidity. You’ll come to understand yourself in a really different way, in such a way that’s full of potential and expansive and generative.” – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Discussing the systemic breakdowns in America, Lama Rod Owens and Spring Washam urge renewal through solidarity with marginalized cultures.

This time on Spirit Underground, Spring and Lama Rod chat about:

• The systemic breakdowns happening in our country
• Balancing on a thread in this current election cycle
• Death / Renewal in nature as an example of what may need to occur in America
• Having deep solidarity with the cultures who have been dominated and occupied
• Letting go of expecting the world to be different than it is
• The human urge to be comfortable even at the cost of discomfort for other groups
• Colonization as an intense dissociation and disconnection from our hearts
• Becoming embodied and adjusting to our own cultural narratives
• Trauma, loss of memory, and control
• How the patriarchy has systemically limited the ability for deep emotional labor
• Fear of death as the root of all fear
• How crisis can give rise to collaboration and grace
• Considering the gifts we can offer to the world

"Everyone needs to be free. Everyone needs to have access to the resources they need to be well, safe, and happy. You don’t have to earn a right to be fed and housed and cared for and clothed. This isn’t about the nature of your character, this is about the fact that you are human living in culture and society, and as a society we should care for one another.” – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Getting down and dirty with liberation, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens explore joyfulness and the labor of freedom.

Additional content from this episode: Black & Buddhist

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

"I think Joy helps to smooth the edges of our anxiety around liberation work and it propels it at the same time." - Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Looking at ancestry and our roots, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens describe re-discovering what it means to be home.

"I think a lot of people are going through this multi-lineage, complex awakening to these streams of energy and lineage. I think that creates some guilt as well, it may bring up issues of appropriation. Do I have a right to do this?" – Lama Rod Owens 

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

In this episode Spring and Lama Rod explore :

• Making sense of our place in the world
• Ancestral work and Indigenous practices
• Home and the effects of forcible displacement 
• Spirit elders and channeling traditions
• Plant medicine and the Shipibo people of the Amazon rainforest
• Honoring versus appropriations

"When we are talking about these conversations on liberation we are asking people to start to understand their energy and who they are in a much broader awakened state." – Spring Washam 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Spelunking the depths of the Spirit Underground, Spring Washam and Lama Rod Owens join together for a conversation on liberation and ancestors.

This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Click to receive 10% off your first month with your own licensed professional therapist: betterhelp.com/beherenow

In this episode Spring and Lama Rod dive into:

• What is the Spirit Underground?
• The intersection of social liberation and spiritual liberation
• Samsara, suffering, safety, consciousness, and freedom
• Wisdom from Spring's new book, The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground
• Great Beings sharing wisdom downloads from the spirit realm
• The "Spiritual Industrial Complex"
• Ancestors, repeating history, and connecting with Divine Love
• Trauma and letting go
• Choosing love over hate to overcome oppressive systems

"What we're doing is talking about both social liberation and spiritual ultimate liberation, and we're trying to find the intersection of both of those liberations in this moment." – Lama Rod Owens

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.