Welcome to Belonging, a podcast that explores how to come home to yourself in the age of loneliness.

Hosted and guided by Becca Piastrelli, Belonging is a podcast and journey of courageous reconnection where we explore what it means to belong to the earth, to your self, to who and what you come from, and in community.

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Episode #87: On Mothering & Eco-Grief

In this episode of Belonging, I'm sharing the complicated thoughts and feelings I'm experiencing being a mother — choosing to bring a child into this world — and living in a time of climate collapse. I share somatic tools for how I'm dealing with the anxiety and grief...

Past Episodes:

Episode #86: How I Pitched & Wrote a Book (+ had a baby at the same time)

I've had many questions and curiosities about my book, the book writing process, and how I got my book published, so this episode of the Belonging...

Episode #85: Why I Took a Mama Sabbatical

I have slowly emerged from my cocoon here in this outward facing internet space after taking a much-needed and restorative three-month mama...

Episode #84: Layers of Liberation in the Web of Being with Kathryn Fink

This episode of Belonging is a swapcast with Kathryn Fink of The Heart is a Cauldron. Kathryn believes in a world where each of us lives in deep...

Episode #83: Wild Soul Runes with Lara Veleda Vesta

Lara Veleda Vesta is back on the Belonging podcast, continuing the threads of our conversation from a couple years ago and introduce her new book,...

Episode #82: Mothering as Ancestral Reverence with Megan McGuire

Megan McGuire is a mother, partner, permaculture gardener, and ritual weaver living on the lands of the Dakota people near Kaposia. Her ancestors...

Episode #81: Natural Rhythms & Regeneration for Breaking the Collective Trauma Spell with Rachael Maddox

We are living in a time of collective trauma and that is exactly what I'm talking about with my guest, Rachael Maddox, in this episode of Belonging....

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Follow me! @beccapiastrelli

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In today's episode of the Belonging podcast, I'm sharing the complicated thoughts and feelings I'm experiencing being a mother — choosing to bring a child into this world — and living in a time of climate collapse. I share somatic tools for how I'm dealing with the anxiety and grief of these times, questioning if it's ethical to bring a child into this world, building community care and knowing your neighbors, and conjuring curiosity to find out what you need to know rather than catastrophizing.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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To give it a listen, search "Belonging" wherever you listen to podcasts, or click the link in my bio.

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"In this time, where we supposedly have every option⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
for connection and growth at our fingertips, we are still seeking that intangible something that is clearly missing in our lives.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We feel unrooted and disconnected from the land that is our home.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We feel untethered from our long line of ancestors and our deep human history.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We lack strong, healthy communities that support us and hold us accountable. And we find ourselves grasping and searching for our deepest sense of ourselves.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
When we unsubscribe from this restless and individualist approach to life that we’ve been steeped in and instead learn to infuse our days with ancestral wisdom, we gain a truer sense of who we are and, more important, a powerful sense of belonging."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Excerpt From “Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect with Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self” by Becca Piastrelli (rootandritualbook.com)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#rootandritual #rootandritualbook #ageofloneliness⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Illustration by Amy Grimes @hellogrimes

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Recording the audio version of Root & Ritual 🌙. I recorded the audio version of my book, Root & Ritual, back in May 2021 and thought it would be fun to share the process with you. 🎧

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🍂 The Season of Completion 🍄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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You can call it death, call it completion, call it sacred endings. It is as much part of life as anything else. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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In the past month, completions have been happening all around me. @thehivery - a community of women and work space that held me in such important and tender times for many years - closed the doors to both its physical locations here in the Bay Area. @pomyoga - the community space turned online yoga class/mom circle turned outdoor yoga classes that was my haven in my first postpartum year - closed its doors too. And then there's Hearthfire - the online community and healing space I've been co-facilitating for the past several years. I have decided to close the doors to that space at the end of the month as well. What I know to be true for all of these spaces (including my own) is that for me and the other women who were holding it, it simply felt like time. Our bodies told us. Our intuition told us. And we knew that by reaching sacred completion, we can seed the fertile soil with our rest to begin again when we are called once more. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This is not without grief. I cannot speak directly for @grace.hivery or @pomyogamama (who I deeply thank for embodying such commitment to integrity in these times), but I can say that I have faced a good deal of shame and guilt and not-enough-ness in this decision. But after the tears and the panic and the sadness comes the liberation and the realization that this is the true way of things. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The capitalist water we're swimming in tells us that a successful creation must always be growing - getting bigger and better and stronger. While the living world shows us that life is an artist's portfolio filled with projects and creations in each season of life. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Completion allows us to begin again. How about we allow ourselves a little more of that, eh?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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"In this modern age, when we often can’t easily form the bonds of sisterhood, many of us carry an unfulfilled longing for connection that gets twisted on us by oppressive systems, convincing us that we are the problem, that our desires are too idyllic, or that the longing simply has no place in this world. We begin believing that we don’t need the village, that women are too catty and judgmental, and that we can’t remember what it feels like to meaningfully share what’s real with each other.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We can so easily sit in our homes with our Internet and our⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
smartphones and our shows streaming all day and night, but it remains true that our ancestral bodies want to be near each other. Even the beloved introverts among us require consistent connection with fellow humans in order to be well."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Excerpt From “Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect with Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self” by Becca Piastrelli (rootandritualbook.com)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#rootandritual #rootandritualbook #adultfriendship #sisterhood #healthyrelating⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Illustration by Amy Grimes @hellogrimes

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Throughout my book, Root & Ritual, I share rituals, activities, and recipes to help you integrate my words on reconnecting to old ways in order to feel better in these modern times. One of the first activities I put in the book was to learn the art of preserving food.
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So many of us forget the importance of food preservation because we have access to fresh food year-round. But to take the step to reconnect to our local food sources reinforces confidence in our ability to feed ourselves without relying on an industrial food system that is outside of our control. To be able to grow, preserve, and feed ourselves is to become resilient and self-trusting.
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It is a humbling journey - to be sure. But worth the effort year after year.
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

#rootandritual #rootandritualbook

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I've had many questions and curiosities about my book, the book writing process, and how I got my book published, so today's episode of the Belonging podcast is the full story of what went into the creation and publication of Root & Ritual.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I share when I first felt the calling to write a book, being in integrity with the why of writing a book (and not just because I wanted to feel successful and important), the lineage healing story that went into writing a book, finding a book agent, writing (and re-writing) a book proposal, pitching the book and getting rejected, writing a book while pregnant, what no one talks about: getting help to write a book, my actual writing process, and the tools I used to write.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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To give it a listen, search "Belonging" wherever you listen to podcasts.

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"So much anxiety can come from resisting whatever is occurring in the now, however challenging it may be. I breathe with it. I rest my body. I trust that we are never stuck and that the wheel is always turning. The next season always comes, and if I slow down and allow myself to access it, I can feel it all around me."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Excerpt From “Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect with Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self” by Becca Piastrelli (rootandritualbook.com)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#rootandritual #rootandritualbook #slowlife #slowliving #smallandsimplelife #cyclicalliving⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Illustration by Amy Grimes @hellogrimes

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Two things:

1. The tomato harvest has finally come to our north facing hill that sits in the sun’s shadows most of the year. Every September, when the nights start to cool, I feel like a gardening failure that the garden isn’t dripping in fruit like those in the sunny valley below. But one day, towards the end of the month, they come! The living world operates at its own pace. Must remember this! 🍅

2. We did a dreamy photoshoot for the book in my garden with @sophiastudio.co and I can assure you I rarely look like this as I weed and water. It’s usually a greasy bun and crocs. But…I love the vibe. It represents my inner world - filled with jasmine vines and coreopsis flowers 🌼

photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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Hi friends, I'm asking for help in getting the word out about my book. ✨⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I am starting to plan out the Root & Ritual virtual book tour for this fall and would love your help. If you have a podcast of any sort that thousands of people listen to, I’d love to schedule an interview with you. If you run an instagram account that has a significant following, I’d love to chat about doing a collaboration. If you know an account on here that would be a great match for me and my message, please tag them below. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I'm so looking forward to sharing this beautiful 8x8 book of rituals and seasonal wisdom with the world, and am reminding myself that it'll take a village to spread it far and wide. Thank you all!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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