Lystra Germaine Sam joins host Ain Bailey for a stimulating conversation about self‑liberation and collective freedom. They trace the deep ties between nature, spirit, community, and personal growth, naming curiosity as a catalytic force for transformation. Lystra and Ain examine how a culture of urgency undermines well‑being and how curiosity, gratitude, rest, and reflection can counteract that harm. The episode celebrates the journey of transformation and the interconnectedness of all beings.

In this episode:

• Self as nature
• Reflection as a crucial practice for understanding our life’s journey.
• Holding the complexities of leadership with love.
• The rigor and reciprocity that abundance requires
• The transformative power of trying and failing and trying again
• Urgency as a killer of joy

Sacred Shoutout Links:

Lystra: 

Trauma of Money course

Trauma of Money: Compassionate Pathways to Disempowering Financial Trauma and Shame, by Chantel Chapman

Ain: 

I Am That, by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Lucille Clifton poem “won’t you celebrate with me” 

Lystra Germaine Sam Bio: Lystra is a sister, an orphan, an Aunty Supreme and a dedicated practicing "good ancestor".  A cultural futurist, travel architect and global experience designer who works and lives at the intersection of justice, healing, equity, decolonization, and belonging. 

The founder of Qmooniti Travel & Lifestyle - an award winning B Corp Certified travel company https://www.qmooniti.com/, and Sisters Leading Sisters, a community leadership container rooted in the Afrikan philosophy of UBUNTU: "I am because we are". My next chapter is devoted to legacy work - what can I leave behind that is truly meaningful?

Connect with Lystra @sistersleadingsisters and @qmooniti and LinkedIn 

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch: team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this episode:

• Trans movements as a blueprint for resilience and innovation.
• Becoming, belonging and boundaries as intentional practice
• How philanthropy can support transformational - not just incremental - change.
• Finding joy in small things

Sacred Shoutout Links:

Aldita: Cesar Chavez Park - Berkeley, CA 

Ain: Cosmic Dawn: The Untold Story of the James Webb Space Telescope 

Aldita Amaru Bio: Aldita Amaru Gallardo (she/her/ella) is a philanthropic consultant, donor organizer, and founding director of the Action for Transformation Fund, a rapid response fund resourcing trans-led organizing, healing, and power-building efforts in the United States. She is a disabled, Indigiqueer trans woman from Lima, Perú, and has called Oakland, California, on unceded Ohlone Land, home for over a decade. She is committed to resourcing generative movements working toward collective liberation and transforming philanthropy, and society writ large, so that no one is left behind. Learn more about Aldita Amaru Gallardo: @ladycaucau https://www.instagram.com/ladycaucau/?hl=en 

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this conversation, Villager Vanessa Hatakeyama joins host Ain Bailey to share her insights on the role of spirit through movement and deep connection to community. Vanessa discusses her journey in hula, the cultural roots that inform her practice, and her dedication to creating a nurturing work environment in the nonprofit sector. The conversation highlights the role of physical movement in grounding oneself, and the significance of love and compassion in leadership.

In this episode, we explore:

• Cultural art of hula and how it informs the ways spirit moves through oneself
• Spirit and intentionality in community
• Transforming nonprofit culture
• Evolving the role of leadership to create the world we want to see 
• “how can I create that fertile ground at work so that my people can flourish?...that it can really be a place that nurtures people and that helps that reality that I do want to live in.”

Sacred Shoutout Links:

Vanessa: Whale Rider Movie

Ain: Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese”

Vanessa Bio: Bay Area born and raised, Vanessa Hatakeyama is the Executive Director of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj). A San Jose Japantown resident for over a decade, Vanessa is deeply rooted in the local community and has fostered collaborations with artists and arts organizations to showcase and celebrate the vibrant creativity, abundant diversity, and rich cultures that thrive in the historic Japantown neighborhood. As committed to her work and community endeavors as she is, they all come second to her beautiful blended and extended family and her passion for the Hawaiian art of Hula. When she has free time she is an avid listener of podcasts, reader of books, writer of poetry and prose, and enjoys throwing inconsistently shaped mugs, bowls and plates on the pottery wheel.

Connect with Vanessa: vanessa@jamsj.org
Check out the Hālau Nā Wai Ola: Website & Youtube

• Website: https://www.halaunawaiola.com/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@halaunawaiola/about

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this episode:

• Ego can protect us, but it also limit our connections.
• Commitment to connection and being in service as spiritual practices
• How systems and societal constructs can inhibit genuine connection.
• Humility and vulnerability as a counterbalance to ego

Sacred Shoutout Links:

Kirsten: 

Dried Calendula (with sea salt flakes and Borage)

Work Your Light Oracle Deck

Ain: 

Pillars of Creation 

Dragon Oracle Deck

Kirsten Bio: Kirsten Scobie is the founder of Persimmon Consulting Company, where she partners with donors, foundations, and institutions to design philanthropic strategies rooted in trust, humility, and justice. With over two decades of experience, Kirsten brings a rare blend of strategic rigor, emotional intelligence, and deep listening to help clients move resources in ways that truly build power in under-resourced communities. For more information, please see www.persimmonco.com

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this episode, social-practice artist Ellina Yin and host Ain explore the intersections of spirit, community and civic engagement. They examine spirit as both an inner life and part of an external ecosystem, as well as the practice of awakening to and honoring ancestors for the immeasurable gifts they pass down. Ellina shares her civic‑service commitment and the power of collective action beyond the ballot box, while the conversation also touches on the role of storytelling in reframing our shared narratives.

We explore:

• How intergenerational gifts inform personal direction and growth
• The power of storytelling to liberate and decolonize minds.
• Civic responsibility beyond voting.

Sacred Shoutout Links

Ellina: Plants in San Jose

Lunar Calendar

Ain: Dancer Will West in Jungle - Keep Me Satisfied music video + Choreographer Shay Latukolan

Guest Bio: Ellina is a Cambodian American multidisciplinary social practice artist, filmmaker, journalist, and entrepreneur. They work at the intersection of art, technology, and lawmaking to create and explore new forms of civic participation. Through podcasting, in depth oral history research, and multiple artistic mediums Ellina threads together art and technology to democratize the process of lawmaking and re-imagine the way we practice democracy at a local level.

Website: www.ellinayin.com. Socials: @ellinayin, City of San José Civics Master Class, Podcasts: Only in San Jose , Only in Santa Clara County, Other Perspective(s). Civic Nonprofit: Dreaming Collaborative and Data Center Work: Taps Run Dry

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this episode, we explore:

• Nature as a Source of Wisdom
• Navigating Disconnection and Finding Joy
• Embracing Complexity in Our Lives
• The Call to Sacred Responsibility
• Practices for Thriving in Difficult Times
• The Power of Curiosity and Emotion
• Faith in Sacred Possibility

Sacred Shoutout Links:

Elissa: “undrowned,” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs 

“The Healing Tree: Botanicals, Remedies, and Rituals from African Folk Traditions,” by Stephanie Rose Bird

Ain: the Northwest Pacific Ocean + Highway One (Sonoma and Mendocino county coastlines)

Elissa Bio: Elissa Sloan Perry (any pronouns) is of African and Mississippi Choctaw descent, hails from Missouri (Osage homelands), and is a 35-year resident of California (Miwok and Tongva homelands). She supports people with a vision for an interdependently thriving planet to be better in what they do. Director, Prefiguring Futures, at Change Elemental—Elissa supports and accompanies Change Elemental clients with liberatory leadership development deepening in “be-how” and know-how for advancing change in chaos and complexity. In addition to her work with Change Elemental, Elissa teaches in the MA in Leadership Program at Saint Mary’s College where she facilitates diverse, cross-sector learning communities in developing a holistic leadership practice. You can also find Elissa writing, tap dancing, exploring other art forms, and spending time with trees. Learn more about Elissa Sloan Perry at changeelemental.org 

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

In this conversation host Ain B. speaks with villager and human rights activist Tina Lopes to uncover the profound connections between spirit, community, and personal growth. They discuss the nature of spirit as an immense mystery that influences their lives and work, emphasizing the importance of intimacy with spirit and the challenges of navigating personal and collective healing.

The dialogue also touches on the ruthlessness of spirit in prompting transformation and the significance of community in fostering resilience. Through shared experiences and reflections, they invite listeners to consider their own relationships with spirit and the abundance that awaits them.

S1 E1 Episode Transcript

In this episode:

• Spirit as an eternal mystery and guiding force
• Abundance is available when we open ourselves to it
• Transformation and resilience 
• The role of spirit in community and activism

Sacred Shoutout Links

Tina: 

 “undrowned,” by Alexis Pauline Gumbs 

Ahmed Abu Amsha - Songs from the Rubble

Ain: 

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) August 20, 2025 

Tina Bio: For thirty-four years Tina Lopes has leaned into human rights, justice and liberation work professionally inside organizations, and personally in extended and chosen families and collectives. She’s attempted both system change in large public spheres as well as in communities stretched thin trying to shelter people thrown away by those systems. More recently Lopes has been devoted to learning how to do this same work from a radical place: rooting in self-worth, relying on the natural flow of wisdom that comes from trusting ones body voice, our collective knowing, mutual healing and innate brilliance when we reclaim abundance as our birthright. Learn more about Tina Lopes at www.tinalopes.com

New Seneca Village is a restorative residency experience that invites leaders and healers to access expansive resources (time, space, access to nature, restorative practices, intentional community and higher consciousness) for the sake of nourishing and sustaining their collective visioning for a just future.

We Outside is hosted and produced by Ain Bailey and produced and edited by Aisha Jordan.

Get in touch with We Outside at team@newsenecavillage.org.

Episodes are available every second and fourth Wednesday.