Show notes –
Join Shannon & Christine as they talk with special guest Kaira Jewel Lingo about Environmental Wellness and about the intersection of Environmental & Racial Justice.
This week’s resources and references:
Email “My Shearo” to shealoglo@gmail.com
A.J. Muste “There is no way to peace…peace is the way.”
The Sum of Us – Heather McGhee
A new way of doing things: https://www.today.com/popculture/zendaya-made-sure-crew-malcolm-marie-were-given-shares-t207607
Resma Menakem https://www.amazon.com/My-Grandmothers-Hands-Racialized-Pathway/dp/1942094477
Show Transcript –
NOTE: While it’s not perfect, we offer this transcription by Otter.ai for those who are hearing impaired or who don’t find listening to a podcast enjoyable or possible.
Christine Gautreaux 0:08
Let’s do this.
Shannon M. 0:08
Okay, ladies, welcome to our podcast. I am Shannon Mitchell, a black female, millennial entrepreneur, the founder of shallow glow, a handmade shea butter company. I am a champion for your self care, business care and intentional wellness.
Christine Gautreaux 0:25
And I am Christine Gautreaux, a white social justice advocate, an international speaker, coach and published author who helps you upgrade yourself in community care.
Shannon M. 0:35
Yes. And together, we are women connected in wisdom, a podcast grounded in the eight dimensions of wellness. Welcome, welcome to our show.
Christine Gautreaux 0:44
And we love to have weekly intentional conversations about how to be wise in business relationships and wellness. And we love to bring on really awesome guests to help us talk about it. Because, you know, we have our ideas and our thoughts. And then we bring on these amazing women who are like woo, they also write so much in alignment with what we’re talking about. So today we’re talking about environmental wellness. So you want to give our listeners the definition.
Shannon M. 1:13
Yes, environmental wellness is having good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well being. It promotes interaction with nature, and also creating an enjoyable personal environment, both in and out of your workplace.
Christine Gautreaux 1:30
When you think about environmental wellness, what do you think about Shannon?
Shannon M. 1:34
I think about a couple of different, I guess, dimensions of the environment. Right? And what I mean by that is, sometimes it’s sensory, it might be aromatherapy, right? I love candles, or incense or really good food, you know, smell good, right? Thank you. So I like a good ambience, I like aromatherapy. Outside of that I think about the systems that run that environment again, you know, the systems grow, you know, so from being a kitchen manager, I can’t help but think about how the bussers affect the host that the host stands, all the tables are dirty, that we can’t see the people at the host stand. And it’s the same thing. I can’t cook breakfast, if all the dishes that I need to do breakfast are dirty. So it’s the way that the systems work together. And how will you stay on the systems? You know, so I think about that I think about aromatherapy and overall organization. In my mind, again, if it’s crazy, if I see stuff all over the place, either my thoughts are there already, or I feel like you’re about to get there. And so I do my best to not let it get too far to the left.
Christine Gautreaux 2:44
I love that. I love them. I’m going to say yes to all of that. And I forget sometimes, like a good example, I was walking up the stairs today and one of my kiddos had something that was smelling really good. I don’t know if it was some incense or candle. But you know, like I got a whiff of it. And I was like, Oh, that smells great. I love that. But sometimes I get busy and I forget to light a candle like That’s why I came in and lit this candle today before we started the show, because I was like that smelled so good. I should light this candle and, you know, have a little ceremony around our podcast today. Um, the other thing I forget to do often is music. Like I love music. And sometimes I just I love the quiet too. But sometimes I’m out of balance, like, I’ll forget to turn on some really good music and how and and then, you know, when I think about environmental wellness, I think about our planet. I think about the Earth, I think about primal justice. I can’t wait to introduce our guest today because she does work with all of this. So, so you’re ready, you know, I am ready. I can’t wait for you to introduce our next guest y’all. So I’m gonna jump right to it. Our next guest I met oh my goodness, maybe either six or eight years ago. I’m losing track of time, y’all. I’m turning into my mother right here on the show right now. At least six years ago. Our next guest is a friend and a fellow Interplay leader and so much more. I’m going to read her bio, so I make sure I get it all right. Kyra Joe lingo is a Dharma teacher who has a lifelong interest in blending spiritual and meditation with social justice. Having grown up in an ecumenical Christian community where families practice a new kind of monasticism and worked with the poor. At the age of 25. She entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition, and spent 15 years living as a nun. Under the guidance of Zen master tick, not Han, she received the lamp transmission from tick not Han and became a Zen teacher in 2000 and Seven and is also a teacher in the oh I’m gonna mess this up Kara I’m so sorry that she’s gonna have to say it when she comes on VIP Asana insight lineage through the VIP Asana. I think that’s right. Um, Insight lineage to the Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Today she sees her work as a continuation of the engaged Buddhism developed by tick, not Han, as well as the work of her parents inspired by their stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. on desegregating the South. In addition to writing, we were made for these times, skillfully moving through change, loss and disruption. She is also the editor of tick not Han is planting seeds, mindful practice practicing mindfulness with children. now based in New York, she teaches and leads routine retreats internationally, provides spiritual mentoring and interweaves art play nature, racial and Earth justice, and embodied mindful practice mindfulness practice in her teaching. She especially feels called to share the Dharma with black Indigenous and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists and families. I am so delighted to welcome my friend Kaira jewel to our podcast.
Kaira Jewel 6:16
Yay. Good to be with you both. Thank you for having me.
Christine Gautreaux 6:23
Oh, we are so excited to see you and be with you today, my friend. How are you?
Kaira Jewel 6:29
Wow, I’m well my puppy is crying in the kitchen. So we might hear. But um, I had a day at the beach yesterday. And I’m saying I took a day off. Those beautiful.
Christine Gautreaux 6:45
Yay, in when did you go to?
Kaira Jewel 6:49
It was the Robert Moses speech on Long Island. Have you been in New York, my friend? About a year we moved here just less than a year ago.
Christine Gautreaux 7:03
Right? And before then you were in Sri Lanka, right? Yeah.
Kaira Jewel 7:06
Yeah, I lived in Sri Lanka for two years.
Christine Gautreaux 7:11
So truly an international traveler?
Kaira Jewel 7:15
Yeah, I still
Christine Gautreaux 7:17
maintain your wellness, when you are traveling, because I know, retreats all over the world, you hold space for people? How do you maintain your wellness while you’re taking care of other people?
Kaira Jewel 7:33
Well, the first thing I’ll say is that a lot of the experiences of sharing practice because for me, practice is a wellness experience. And I’m really practicing. So like, if I’m teaching, I get a lot of energy, and there’s a lot of happiness from being there with people and listening to like, they’re real concerns, and sometimes, like very serious situations that they’re trying to navigate like cancer or, you know, a loss of a significant person. And so, you know, being when when someone shares like that, or when we’re dealing with a situation, that’s really like, kind of, you can’t get away from it, you know, I just noticed as a teacher, or as someone holding space, I come very much into my present moment, my body, my experience, and that’s a place where healing happens. So just holding space, for others, sharing the teachings is already an experience of wellness for myself. Because it’s like, my heart opens, I am in touch with compassion, I’m in touch with, you know, like, real care. And then, of course, so you know, you it’s also tiring, especially with traveling in different time zones and adjusting to different weather and food and mattress. As I get older, I’m like, I I need this many pillows to sleep well, you know, and so, all those things. So, well, one thing that I I mean, I haven’t been traveling for a while since the pandemic, but what before that I have to excavate the archives to answer this question. You know, it’s like arriving a day or two before I have to be on and having some spaciousness within the schedule so that if I’m teaching for a two hour block when there’s a break, and then teach, you know, so that it’s not like full on the whole They are, you know, so breaks, pauses moments to recover. You know, some a lot of the teaching I do is Team teachings, I’m not holding space on my own. So it’s a team of us. And there’s often someone who’s teaching yoga, if there’s yoga, I try to go to it so that I’m also, you know, nourishing my own body or whatever movement it is, I go for walks, go for hikes be out. In nature, that was one of the things you all mentioned at the beginning. So you know, and then like during the downtime that I have, not filling it with other work that needs to be done, because then there’s like, planning that next retreat and getting back to people about you know, that talk description or whatever. But what I try to do is also really like take naps, I love to do yoga, Nidra and, or deep relaxation, or put on a guided relaxation, usually, like in the afternoon for 30 minutes, hour if I have it, and just really let my body rest.
Christine Gautreaux 11:15
I love that. I love that. And I so needed to hear that today. Because I have been I’m out of balance, and I’ve been overpacking my schedule, so that spaciousness really stuck out to me carriage or no, or one of the meditation tape teachers on Insight Timer, right? Yes,
Kaira Jewel 11:34
yes, I have a 10 day course a bunch of meditations and talks,
Christine Gautreaux 11:39
it is one of my favorite apps, as our listeners know, because when you say that about doing a guided meditation on you, that’s I go to Insight Timer. And I love being able to have my friend in my ear and download. I’m gonna put a link to show notes in our show notes for that, so folks can find you. And you’ve been doing a lot of work lately, around the environment? Will you tell our listeners a little bit about that?
Kaira Jewel 12:12
Sure. I mean, I can just say that it’s been something that’s, you know, been a focus in an area of, of attention for a long time, but in the monastery, so I was a Buddhist nun for 15 years. And in that context, you know, we switched, we were vegetarian, but we switched to being vegan. But halfway through that time that I was in the community, with all the information coming out about how Yeah, the way animals are raised, how that contributes a huge part to greenhouse gas emissions, and, you know, eggs, milk, cheese, all of that. And so, so our diet was one way, and I’m not advocating that everyone should be vegan, I think that’s a kind of a sensitive thing, when so many people in the world don’t have access to you know, many kinds of foods that support them that I think it’s important to be aware of all the complexities that are involved in just people getting enough calories to to be healthy and to survive. But if it is something that people can lean towards move towards less meat, less animal products, it is that is a very significant lifestyle choice that can impact things.
You know, and just in general, we lived in communities so we had, like, we shared, you know, we use much less because we had like 10 cars for 80 people, you know, and like two washing machines, we didn’t have a dryer we hung up our clothes to dry, you know, air dry. So we use a lot less you know, energy in terms of electricity or water per person than some when you live on your own in terms of packaging, like we buy in bulk. So so these are just some things that and then we really consciously like we tried, we would have like a no car day, that was something our teacher was like, we need to just use our cars less. So once a week was a no car day. And that was something that I was I’m kind of started a campaign in our whole community worldwide, encouraging people to sign up to not drive their car once a week or once every two weeks, but just to really, you know, If you mean if you have an electric car, that’s different thing, but to be aware of how we’re polluting the environment and and then we started having no electricity days, so then it was like we’re talking about candles. So that’s all still happening in the monastery that I left the monastery. And then as I began to teach as a lay teacher have just, you know, also as a nun was doing, trying to share not just mindfulness with children, but awareness of how we can live, you know, in harmony with the natural world and that had to do a lot with just taking children and families and teens you know, doing mindfulness retreats and activities outside so we would camp I used to go to Italy every summer we would leave the camp of happiness Happiness camp, where we would take the whole day, take a picnic lunch, do mindfulness activities outside, but like talk about how we are in we inter are with our you know, the plant species, the animal species with the earth. And, and read them stories about animals helping children, I’ll helping people how how we as people could be protect animals and protect plants protect the Earth. So there was like, ecology was woven into all of the mindfulness teaching.
And then yeah, since returning to lay life, it’s been joining with people that are doing this work, so I’m a guiding teacher for an organization called The One Earth Sangha, it’s a Buddhist group that’s really trying to bring awareness of the environment to Buddhist communities, and help link up the teachings of Buddhism to how we can get involved, why this matters, how we can all become, you know, what we call eco sattva. So, a sattva is a being so there’s the Bodhisattva, awakened being that’s kind of the, the aspiration for for practice is to awaken your heart, awaken your mind, so that you really live on behalf of all, you know, looking to protect and support the well being of all. And so an eco sattva is someone who is really has that consciousness of how to protect the planet, protect the Earth, protect all species, along with the human species. So it’s something I also am really interested in, in the the overlap between racial justice and an earth justice in terms of you can’t talk about how to care for the planet, if you don’t talk about white supremacy and the way that it’s at the root of our whole society. And it’s actually a beautiful, you should have critique conco on your show. She’s a wonderful climate scientists from India, living in the US and a Zen teacher, but she talks about how white supremacy is the mother of the climate crisis, that it’s because we have so distanced ourselves from our, our deep wisdom of our interbeing. By looking at other people as commodities as things to be exploited, that’s the foundation of looking at nature as something to exploit, and to use and to basically abuse. And so I think there’s just there’s a lot, you know, of, on both of those fronts, if we really look at at healing that trauma of race, then we also really get at, at the root of why we are behaving like abuse of children to Mother Earth. So that’s part of what I’m teaching, and it’s part of the groups that I focus on now. And kind of Yeah, the teachings that I that I give and what I care about.
Christine Gautreaux 19:19
Oh, Kaira Jewel, thank you so much. Will you say her name again?
Kaira Jewel 19:23
Sure. It’s Karate Kid t k, r i, t e. T E, and then Kancolle KNK. Oh, and her website is boundless in motion.org. She teaches at an eco Dharma Center in
Christine Gautreaux 19:42
Colorado. Awesome. I will find the show notes also. Yeah. The other places that you mentioned. Now, Shannon, I know you have questions. So I’m going to put myself offline and let you ask some questions.
Shannon M. 19:57
I mean, I think that I don’t know If I have questions, I feel like I should I feel like environmental wellness was, when I look at the eight categories. One that I felt like I had the most shallow understanding of right of how widespread it was how, you know, use that think that people might think about being outside, how often do you smell the roses? How often do you, you know, take walks, we talked about hikes, things like that. But how it affects the system, of course, is important. You know, I remember, when I was in college, we had a group interview for the RAS right, as a huge party that we had, we were going around introducing ourselves and saying, interesting fact. And a gentleman said that it was his first time eating fruit, like the other day, like this week, something like that. And it was crazy, again, because we’re in college. But when you talk about food that’s available, like you said, you know, there are nutrition deserts, places where people don’t have access to food, that’s going to give you a healthy, balanced diet, you know, that’s why we talk about a living wage, and all these other things that go into the environmental wellness. So I appreciate you pointing it out. You know, I saw this post online, it says these surges in heat are a crime. So you know what, I forgot to think about it like that. But that’s true. We can continue to ignore things and act like no matter what your decision is, it doesn’t have ramifications, whether it’s positive or negative. And it’s hot. So I think we see what is actually happening outside. I love what, how Kira put it.
Kaira Jewel 21:39
I really appreciate what you’re bringing Shannon about. This is a crime, because I think I just want to be careful when I share about being vegan or making personal choices, not driving your car, not if you even have a car, right, like let’s not assume, but like, no electricity day, those are all things, you know, that are helpful, and that we can do. But I was, you know, listening in on conversations, where it’s also really coming to light, how that whole twist on how to be ecological, in terms of reducing our consumption has really been a play by, you know, oil companies to put the onus on consumers, to say it’s your fault that we’re in this trouble you. But actually, it was a very, very intentional plot to not take responsibility themselves, and that they they really are responsible for at least 60 70% of why we’re in this situation is and they’ve hidden it. And they’re still trying to hide it. And I just read an email today that said Exxon was basically responsible for killing all the climate change legislation in a recent bill that just got taken out, you know, that was going through. So it’s like, the ocean is burning parts of Canada, just the whole town went up in flames. And we have Democrats and Republicans, but funded and, you know, by Exxon saying no, you know, there’s no climate crisis. And so yes, I think it’s important for each of us to do everything we can, but we also really need to put the focus on these, you know, few elite billionaires who are basically trashing the whole planet for a profit that they’re not even going to be able to enjoy if we don’t have a habitable planet, so divest and everything else.
Christine Gautreaux 23:59
I’m glad you said that guy ritual, because I don’t think we talk about that enough about divesting, like about paying attention to where our money is going and where we’re spending it. And I was, you know, recently gifted through an inheritance, some small stocks. And the first thing I said to kids, I don’t know how to do any of that I’m learning as we go through financial wellness together, we’re having guests on and I’m learning how to do it. But one of the first things I said is I want to have a meeting with you and look at where that is, because definite values that I want to make sure that my values are in alignment with what I own and what I have money and if not, I need to divest and put it into something. Value. So I have the honor books to look at that. Right. I think that that’s important to where we’re putting our money and Is it a climate friendly? Organization? Is it you know, a bipoc? Friendly organization? Is it because you know, y’all I’m originally from Texas, I lived in Houston, Texas, before I moved to Atlanta. I was at the I was in the heart of the petroleum industry. And we’re not kidding. When we’re talking about who’s at the top and very selective few lined, mostly males. That that. I mean, we had neighborhoods that were infected and mostly bipod neck neighborhoods, with the with the pollutants from the petroleum products. And I mean, it is, it’s a big deal that, you know, people don’t want to talk about and in fact, I mean, I remember I don’t know if y’all are old enough to remember y’all remember when Oprah got sued by the cattle industry, but started talking about this. And Adul industry went up after Oprah, for even talking about eating less meat. And so it is very, definitely systemic, that it’s, it’s systemic about keeping this prophet going.
Shannon M. 26:18
Yeah. And you know, what, so interesting. I really understand where you’re coming from Cairo, when you say this is a personal decision. I’m not saying because this is what I did, you have to do that. But I definitely lost 40 pounds doing first Daniels fast. And then vegan, making sure I drink water, of course. And sometimes people at work will say, after I stopped, right, I didn’t say I was gonna do a whole lifetime. Okay, I said I was gonna do a certain part. So I go to work. And people be like, I thought you were you were vegan? Why are you worried about what I’m eating? I’m still healthy. This is what I decided to do right now. But I think that with the different parts of this conversation that we’re having, it’s very sensitive, the balance that we put on certain parts of the situation, right? It’s not that somebody can’t be a billionaire. But when you’re a billionaire, and we’re not running the company in a environmentally healthy way, so we’re destroying ecosystems, and we’re having people in certain families, and bipoc family, specifically, developing illnesses over generations, in pregnant women, elders and children playing and, and playgrounds. Now, that’s the conversation that we’re having, I want to be a billionaire about helping people take care of themselves every day that’s is different, and not in a judgmental way, but in a communal way. And when we’re talking about social wellness, you know, we have to think about things, and all the different categories that they affect, not only us, but also the environment and the community for our generation. And the next three really is what we should be thinking about at least. So absolutely.
Kaira Jewel 28:04
It’s some really powerful image. I read what it is like, you’re at the you’re in the penthouse. And you’re you’re you’re building, you know, up your, your place at the penthouse, but the way you’re doing it is by taking the bricks from the foundation, the building, you know, so any of us that’s just trying to get ours. That’s the metaphor is like we’re taking from the base that’s holding us up whenever we do that, but but it’s very possible to still take good care of ourselves and those we love and be reinforcing the foundation for everybody. Absolutely, you know, and I like that you share that like that.
Shannon M. 29:00
Thank you. Well, think about oh, go ahead. No, go ahead. Christine. It’s okay.
Christine Gautreaux 29:08
I was just that intersection of social justice and environmental wellness. And how important that is that we talk about it. In, in I love the way you say that courage all about, like, we can’t make assumptions that somebody has this food to eat or this car or, you know, in often so much, you know, this country was built on the labor of slaves and what impact that’s had for generations on their families. And yeah, it’s it’s so important that we’re having these conversations.
Shannon M. 29:54
Yeah. And with all of that, in the way that we are even on this podcast, right Christine very intentional about how we position wellness, it could feel overwhelming. It’s a lot of categories. There’s a lot of stuff that we have to fix, right? So, like we asked her throughout the day, when you’re doing all this stuff for everybody else, how do you take care of yourself is breaks. You know, to me, I love how you said, taking the bricks from the bottom and putting them at the top. That’s how we do our self care. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you’re taking the bricks from the foundation and giving it to everybody else. So with our schedules with environmental wellness, not as far as nature, but as far as the spaces that we occupy, at home while we’re working at home or at work while we’re at our jobs, I definitely think about the breaks in between, you know, before Corona, if you’re on a shift, you have that shift, and especially at a restaurant, you might not get to eat, or you might not get to eat at the time that you thought you were going to eat. And so when I stepped down from my kitchen manager position, understanding the demand that was expected to a server, I said, You know what, I’m going to be intentional about at least drinking some water. And my friend Marie and I, we will have water breaks together. And make sure that throughout, okay, before you leave your shift, not a cups, it’s not the whole day, but you do for
you make sure all these other people that are doing so you can do four cups of water. So great. There’s definitely things to be yes, thank you. It definitely helped. And there’s things to be addressed. I appreciate us for starting that conversation. And that’s why women connected in wisdom, it’s so important. Because if we’re going to build the system for everybody to be fed, if we’re going to talk about huge government agencies and different companies, there has to be a structure to replace it. And what is that going to look like in a healthy way? You know, a lot of times just like Christine said, people talk about slavery and what it was built on. And it seems like that sentence could minimize it. But now as a business owner, right, it’s women connected in with them, most of us are business owners, we understand that cost of labor is the majority of your expenses. So if you’re cutting out the majority of your expenses, then that means your profit margins are exactly where you want them to be with all the money. And then if you get a tax write off for the supplies that you use, you literally built it for no cost to yourself, and you got money back, because that’s what the government needs, we need jobs, right? We need people to do many farmers, we need these things. But then when you strategically make it a certain group of people, you’re taking the bricks from the bottom of the foundation of the country and putting it at the top. And that’s what we’re looking at right now with the way that things are. So I love women connected, because you know how women who are wise how we, you know, do things in a healthy way and start connecting things in different ways that they had been before, so they can be healthier.
Kaira Jewel 32:57
I love how you tied all those different levels and ideas together. That was beautiful. I just want to say really what we’re talking about what you said so beautifully is you know the ends never justify the means that if we want a world that looks a certain way, we have to be living it now. So this activist pacifist, AJ musty is famous for saying there is no way to peace, peace is the way. So if we want a world that’s in balance, we need to be in balance. So all the things you mentioned drinking water, making sure we get rest, taking care of our own emotional needs, you know, taking a break, how we do it is as important as what we’re doing. And so, you know, I made sure for the next year, I put all my vacations in first, I put the time I’m taking off before I let my schedule get super full, you know, and like we’re blocking out my partner and I blocking out when we meditate in the morning in the evening, you know, taking off you know, like one day a month for quiet. A weekend a quarter for retreat. You know so like we’re trying to to really have this rhythm of pausing and in many different ways pausing, no. Because this was someone said this, I was in a group I was mentoring. She said when I get really busy, I just start automatically adding more things to my already busy list. I’m already overwhelmed and I’m suddenly taking on more things. I’m like, it’s like a snowball that rolling More and more things. And so if you don’t put in the pauses, then you’re going so fast that you don’t even realize you’re actually adding to it. And you don’t have to be, but you can’t, it’s like, when you’re so tired, you can’t sleep, that thing you get, you’re up late at night, and, you know, you just need to go to bed, but because you’re so tired, you can’t actually just put yourself to bed. And so, the the way we do things, is so crucial. And so, you know, the other piece about race in our country, is, you know, what you said was, so well put Shannon about, you know, slavery, and just how that system allowed directly is, you know, people can directly look back and see, because this person enslaved this person, they were able to become a millionaire within, you know, one or two generations, because of this many people that they, you know, enslaved and looking at, I think part of why we see all these, again, mostly white men. With in these mass shootings, so much alienation, so much social breakdown, it’s because the end of slavery was, you know, make as much money however, whatever it takes, and that’s still our, our way of doing things, make as much money, whatever it takes in terms of corporations and greed and the way we use the Earth, the way we interfere with other people’s democratically elected governments to support dictatorships, so we can make more money. I mean, this whole immigration, refugee crisis is directly in Latin America directly related to the US is, you know, disturbing countries, their ability to care for themselves. But, you know, we are sick our societies very sick in the US, especially so and that’s, to me, it’s an intergenerational trauma that has affected everyone, white, black, every other group of folks of color, Latin X, Asian, indigenous, it’s, it’s,
it’s like a virus. So this is, you have multiple pandemics happening at the same time. And this book of Heather McGee, the some of us, she goes around interviewing and talking to everyone, basically, it’s about how racism hurts white people, as much as anyone else. And the metaphor she uses is in the south, where they wanted to resist integration. So they, instead of integrating all the pools, they closed them all, they filled them in with concrete and made them into parks. So there’s so many places in the south where nobody can swim. So all the white people lost out on pools and summertime. And, you know, as well as, you know, the black folks, the bipoc folks, so. So this, this, you know, there is no way to piece pieces, the way we all lose out if we don’t, you know, look at how to make what we’re doing now be the model of what we want to come and we have to live that individually, but also in our relationships and our communities and our companies. You know, I mean, this whole thing with how we can share you know, we can we can think of economic models very differently I heard about, I don’t even know who it is, but somebody just made a wonderful film of black woman in and I think won a bunch of awards. Maybe you know who it is one of you but she was the first person I heard to make her whole everyone who participated in making that film got equity in the film. Usually people are just paid a fee and then the star or the producer, whoever makes the most money off of what everyone got equity in the film. So whatever happens to that film, everyone get everyone benefits. Whether you were you know, behind the lights or bringing you know To the actors, you know, so there’s just these we can we can change the way we do things and it has a huge effect.
Christine Gautreaux 40:10
Kaira jewel. Are you talking about Zendaya? And the new film Malcolm and Marie? Is that the one or is it a different one?
Kaira Jewel 40:17
I think her name was Tiffany. But I could be wrong.
Christine Gautreaux 40:22
This is when I Googled it. Zendaya is a 24 year old actor and producer who did the same thing. So
Kaira Jewel 40:30
let’s say that did it say everyone got equity? Again, it must be her it must be her
Christine Gautreaux 40:35
Zendaya made sure everyone involved in the making of her upcoming film, Malcolm Emery had the opportunity to own shares. Okay, I got a bonus pay that let’s see it. Irving major Academy Award buzz and was made with a skeleton crew during quarantine. Wow, that’s awesome. I’ll put a link to the article in our show notes. 24. Right. So vision is, you know, you look at the youth about I mean, I think about Greta Thornburg, timber to tell you, sir, thank you for correcting me. You look at our youth are like, we have to do something now. And like this young, 24 year old saying, there’s new ways to do things. And I think it behooves us all to listen, you know, I think we have to listen to both we have to listen to who came before and what worked and what didn’t work. So History doesn’t repeat itself. And then listen to our youth who are seeing it with fresh vision and eyes. Y’all, this has been such a good conversation, and I’m paying attention all the time. So Shannon, I’m gonna pass to you for one last question or anything you want to say before we start to wrap?
Shannon M. 41:58
Oh, what do I want to wrap it up with there’s so much good stuff. I think I feel like if I wrap with this is going to be the start of another conversation.
So I will I will end it with Kaira, thank you so much for being an amazing guest. I think that your story about being a Buddhist nun for 15 years, your travels around the world, the work that you’re doing with the environment with mindfulness, I think mindfulness is so important. I really appreciate it for you making our world a better place and for coming on the show to share your wisdom
Christine Gautreaux 42:38
we should ask her wisdom and action before we put her back in the green room. So Kira jewel we every every week, we do a hashtag wisdom in action, like that we asked our readers to like what’s your one action item that you’re going to take from today’s show around environmental wellness. So Shannon, you want to give one while I was thinking?
Shannon M. 43:09
Ooh, yes, my environmental wellness is the aromatherapy I was talking about earlier, why candles run out so fast. You know, I feel like my smell good stuff is always gone. So I need that in my life. So getting that and I’m also going to do a second one and take courage rules step and planning out the trips, where are you going to you know that around this time you’re going to do this, I have the opportunity to do that and I’m going to take it so I’m going to do that
Kaira Jewel 43:46
before I think walking, walking outside if you can, if there’s a place that nourishes you and and I’ll just share from what I’m doing just recently I planted my first garden and you know, even if it’s an indoor herbal garden or whatever, but put get your hands in the dirt grow grow your food. However, however, in whatever way you can.
Christine Gautreaux 44:26
Oh, I love that y’all. I think to do to to since we’re doubling up today, I love it. I’m definitely a retired jewel and I am going into my calendar and scheduling some rest times and vacation because I’m definitely out of balance with that. My second thing is I’m going to look at what is currently being proposed in the legislature around environmental justice and see what I need to get behind and contact my legislatures on so to see where our voice and Yeah, so those are, those are my two. Thank you so much, my friend for coming on and having this conversation and just for who you are and the work you do in this world, I am. So very grateful to know you and appreciate this.
Kaira Jewel 45:18
Thank you so much, Christina, I’m so grateful to you and Shannon, for this wonderful work you’re doing when you’re noise connected. And thank you. Well, we’re
Christine Gautreaux 45:30
gonna put it all the way PQ people can contact you in our show notes so they can reach out to you and see your workshops coverage. Joel has some amazing workshops coming up. And as always has retreats that I, I have not gotten to go yet. And I schedule one because I always see that like, I shouldn’t do that. And, yeah, I’ve got to get better about scheduling these things. So thank you. We will talk to you soon, my friend. What a powerful conversation. I am so grateful. What was the thing that stood out to you the most my friend?
Shannon M. 46:11
So there is two things. Well, that’s not true. There’s a list of things, but I will give you two. One, even though I do this, you know, we need to read literary stuff sometimes. And it is put in the pauses, put in the pauses. I love alliteration. And just remembering that because we’re good to put in the work, we’re going to do the work we know, there’s we know. But to put in the pauses, I think is definitely something that I’m going to hold on to. And the second thing is, I remember when they were at McDonald’s, we used to eat at McDonald’s a lot when I was growing up. And I said that today in school, I learned that slavery wasn’t that bad. And he was like, Absolutely not. Absolutely. What were y’all talking about in school? Right. And that’s a moment that I thought about when she said that the white pain was the same as it was equal to the black pain, right? And not that I claim victimization at all, because I’m not a victim. And I choose not to live that way. But we have to be realistic with the situation and what’s happened. A lot of times you and I talk about things that oh, we should have switched this, or we should have said that I thought about it. So I just wanted to say that. Of course, you know, I check on white people and white men just like I check, well, not as much actually, as I check on my black men. But I am intentional about remembering that it hurts to be in a certain position, even if that position I’m never going to occupy and I can definitely see that pain and the different things that can happen because of the position. But I would still say that it’s exponentially affected in different ways, of course, to you know, the people who were slaves, but there’s this a new generation, we’re connected in wisdom now. And I’m hopeful for the future.
Christine Gautreaux 48:07
Well, and I think about in that when you talk about that, I think about resume Americans work. And he taught he’s the author of my grandmother’s hands, and he talks about racial trauma being passed down in bodies. And he talks about the same thing in white bodies. And of course, it’s different, right? It is different, but we everybody needs to look at their generate their their heritage, and what is that trauma that’s in your family? And is it acknowledged and you know, and to healed? And, you know, the first thing to healing is acknowledging it. So if your ancestors, right, your if my ancestors, so we get the right before,
Shannon M. 48:48
like maybe mine, I had to do a DNA test, right?
Christine Gautreaux 48:52
Look and see in order to acknowledge it and to heal it. Because that’s pretending like it exists like this, you know, this new controversy that’s come up about them trying to legislate, not teaching critical race theory in schools, like that is the most white supremacist thing I’ve ever heard. How do we know it’s a white dominant culture, we’re making laws to not talk about actual history, and critical like, and people don’t even understand what Critical Race Theory is. So I’m gonna put a link to that in our show notes. We could have a whole nother show just on that. But well, it makes me write the tie to environmental justice and racial justice and how crucial it is. And I’ve been hearing a few people talk about that, but I think it’s vital that we have more conversations about it, and how it how it impacts us. Yeah. I don’t want to get out of here without mentioning our awesome sponsor, and talking about what you’ve been up to. So you give us a little shout out for Shayla glow.
Shannon M. 49:56
Absolutely. So we’re going to do it a little differently. Day. And what I will say to the quote of what you just said, Christine, that I’ve loved that I’ve been seeing online is if trauma can be passed down, so can healing. Right? So we’re talking about it, we’re getting well, and that is what shallow glow is all about. So I realized I don’t usually show you ladies the products, but this is what your Shea row has the opportunity to get. So again, let me see if I can face it the right way.
Christine Gautreaux 50:27
For our listeners who are listening and maybe not watching,
Shannon M. 50:30
of course, you know, I will. So what we have here is our bundle, right, the way you use this first off with the dark brown sugar scrub, that’s where exfoliation if you’re moisturizing your skin, and you’re not taking the dead skin cells off your moisturizing over dead skin cells, right. So you want to do that, not only to exfoliate, but it also helps with your texture, it helps with the tone of your skin, the shade of your skin, making sure that it’s even, then you’re going to read moisturize your moisture barrier with the glistening glow oil, you could use this throughout the day. And then we seal it in with the multiuse butter. This is the shea butter. That is the foundation of the company. And this is what your Shea row has the option to get when she is nominated. So the last two shows we’re talking about Shea rose. If you have somebody in your life that you love you care for, they make a difference not only for you, but also your community and you know that they need to take even better care of themselves. I will give them shallow glow, and I want to give them something that they specifically need. So I’ll get in contact with them and let them choose. And you do that by emailing my Shade Room to shadow glow@gmail.com. And I will pick the new shero at the end of the month. So July is Nominations are open right now.
Christine Gautreaux 51:47
Oh, I love it. And our last episode and our guest Shannon IV from the what she said project was dunes Sharrow. So that’s so I love it. I love it. And I hope our listeners nominate folks because the other thing that’s so fun about that is learning about these amazing women like learning what they’re doing in our communities. And I am you know, best job in the world Shannon that we get to meet and talk with and like, I’m excited for season four. Like next week we are wrapping season three. We’re having a we’re having a wrap over season three. And then Y’all stay tuned for what’s coming up in season four. We’ve been interviewing some amazing women, and it is going to be it’s going to be poppin it’s gonna be exciting.
Shannon M. 52:44
Yes. Okay, ladies, thank you so much again, as always for tuning in and listening in. We will see you here next week, Wednesday at five. And don’t forget, be well be wise.
Christine Gautreaux 52:58
Until next time
Unknown Speaker 53:06
thanks for listening. This has been the women connected and wisdom podcast on-air live on Wednesdays at 5 pm. Eastern via Facebook and YouTube. Be sure to like share and subscribe be part of the conversation and get connected at women connected in wisdom.com.
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