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 #90: Rites of Passage for All of Us

Episode #90: Rites of Passage for All of Us

I've gotten some questions from Belonging podcast listeners about rites of passage, especially if you've left a religion that previously offered a sense of rites of passage and ritual, or how to cultivate rites of passage when we don't have that religious or cultural...

Past Episodes:

Episode #89: How I don’t find balance in my daily life

Episode #89: How I don’t find balance in my daily life

In this episode of Belonging, I'm sharing what my life looks like now on the other side of birth for any of you who are wondering what life looks...

Episode #88: Returning to a relationship with the living world

Episode #88: Returning to a relationship with the living world

So many of us are desiring tools and methods to connect with the land we live on. In this episode of the Belonging podcast, I share ways that I'm...

Episode #87: On Mothering & Eco-Grief

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...

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

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

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

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...

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Follow me! @beccapiastrelli

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I'm in my hometown paper!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When the Marin Independent Journal called to interview me for their weekend edition about my book, I was grateful for the coverage and saw it posted it online. But I had no idea it would be a full page spread in print! My mom had it sitting on the kitchen counter when I came over for turkey leftovers last weekend and I was stunned to see it. I had to text @sophiastudio.co to show her how beautiful her photo of me looked in print. What a cool moment

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I've gotten some questions from Belonging podcast listeners about rites of passage, especially if you've left a religion that previously offered a sense of rites of passage and ritual, or how to cultivate rites of passage when we don't have that religious or cultural foundation. This is something I've touched on before on the Belonging podcast, and in today's episode, I'm sharing my thoughts now after going through a major rite of passage myself.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I share how I'm fulfilling my need for ritual and community witnessing around pretty important things that are happening in my life, what to do when you're feeling a lack of rites of passage in your life, using social media as a way to be witnessed in the midst of a transformation, the three elements of a rite of passage, and creating a ritual for a past rite of passage that didn't get recognition at the time.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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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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To the beloved boutique plant/craft/witchy/herb/clothing shop owners (and those of us who frequent and love them):

I am on a mission to get my book, Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect with Land, Lineage, Community and the Self in as many magical corner shops as possible. Because I know that they are the shops that support us seekers in finding and cultivating the meaningful community we are yearning for (and fill our lives with beauty and wonder).

I would love to support shop buyers in getting this gorgeous book in store as soon as possible. Please tag your favorite store in the comments below (and shop owners - DM me!) so I can send over the info to order directly from Macmillan Publishers. I got you!

photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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This is one of my favorite illustrations @hellogrimes created from reading the words I wrote for Root & Ritual. It was important to me that this book felt like a thing of precious beauty. The colors, the textures, the spacing of my words with the rituals and recipes and journal prompts - all of it intentionally designed for you to soak this book in slowly. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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How many of us read entire books in a week and forget what we read a few weeks later? *sheepishly raises hand*⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We are living in a time when there is so much information coming at us from all angles. Our attention spans are short and our desire for instant gratification is higher than ever. In order for this book to walk its talk, it was designed to be savored by your cells and read with joyful slowness. Because these topics are deep and important and cannot all be digested all at once.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Know someone who could use a joyfully slow winter read? Consider gifting them a copy of Root & Ritual this holiday season 🍄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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No matter your religious affiliation or stance on the winter holidays, gift giving is a well woven custom in our culture.⠀
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As someone who has had both the experience of being super obsessed with giving and receiving a lot of gifts and also being totally fed up with the over consumerist, environmentally destructive, and financially irresponsible nature of what how we’re told to do holiday gift giving, it’s been very helpful to connect with the origins of this long-held custom and remember how our ancestors approached it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This concept of stopping work to honor the darkest time of year (the winter solstice) and celebrate with your community has roots in cultures all over the world. I can only speak from the perspective of my own lineage - as a women of European descent who has done research and worked with my ancestral origins of Old Europe.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Take yourself back to a time when electricity and central heating weren't a thing, and pastoral living meant you were deeply connected to the rhythms and cycles of the land. Winter was a time when life was harder. It was cold and dark and surviving until spring was the highest priority.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It was from that place of cold winter darkness that giving gifts was truly an act of goodwill for your community. These gifts were usually ones of necessity - some extra food from a bountiful harvest, some clothing to keep you warm, spices or herbs to nourish you through the long night of winter. It was an opportunity to ensure your neighbor thrived through the winter season, so gifts would be items like candles to ensure they had enough light, extra wool or knit items of clothing to keep them warm, food that you grew an abundance of during harvest to help fill their pantry, wood to burn in their hearthfire, or folk medicines and remedies to keep them healthy and avoid sickness. The root of winter holiday gift giving truly is caring for the wellbeing of your community. May we remember.

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"When you carry a quiet pain around the unknown stories of who your ancestors were, what they did, or what they were subjected to, avoidance is a common instinctual response. But when you acknowledge the complexities of humanity and all of the stories that have led us to where we are in a way that is safe for you, it becomes easier to take ownership of your place among all things. We are all able to write new stories—our stories— when we do not ignore the past."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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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 #ancestralconnection #ancestralhealing⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Illustration by Amy Grimes @hellogrimes

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The Root & Ritual virtual book tour is making its next stop on instagram live with @nishamoodley tomorrow, Nov 24th at 1pm PT/4pm ET. Join us as we go deep on ritual, community care, and motherhood in these times. 🌙

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Reviews for Root & Ritual are starting to come in! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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If you've bought the book and like what you've read, I humbly ask you to consider writing a review on Amazon or Goodreads (or both!) so that more people can get this sweet lil beauty in their hands and on their coffee tables for the holiday season. 🌲

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To the first time postpartum mamas. Things I wish I'd known:

It's OK to ease slowly back into exercise. I've learned enough to know this whole "being cleared for exercise and sex at 6 weeks" thing can really damage postpartum bodies. It's what can lead to lifelong incontinence, pelvic pain, and abdominal diastasis. It frustrates me that our culture has somehow normalized these things in postpartum when they can be avoided (or rehabbed! Find a postpartum pelvic floor PT like @alicia_blossomPT). I'm 15 months postpartum and have been advised to not do any toe planks or full sit-ups yet. If I walk too hard, I get stabbing pelvic pain and need to rest for a week afterwards. If I don't consciously exhale out when I pick my child (or anything) up, I will leak.

It's OK to not want to have sex for a long time after baby. This is another thing that I find new parents feeling a lot of shame and guilt about with their partners and think this clearing at 6 weeks thing creates an unhealthy culture around. It's OK if your body doesn't feel ready or it feels scary or hurts or you have zero interest in it. I'll be forever grateful to @divinedavana for posting about agreeing to a year of conscious celibacy with her partner in order to focus her energy on healing and the baby. You don't have to rush it, and it can be beautiful to find intimacy in other ways - like a good long hug or touching toes in bed.

Not everyone loses all the pregnancy weight through breastfeeding. In fact, some postpartum bodies hold on to weight as a means of ensuring the baby gets nutrients during the breastfeeding period. It's about survival and hormones and bodies will do what they need to to make sure mama and baby live.

It's OK for your life to get messy, because our society is nowhere near set up or supportive of new parents. You can forget to respond to text messages, get behind on email, and you can even come out of the cocoon only to realize it was too much too soon and go back in. It's OK to not remember what day of the week it is or forget what you were saying halfway through a conversation. It takes a lot of life force energy and time to recover from pregnancy and care for a little one.

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Friends...what a week. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I'm pretty sure I've felt every emotion in the book (including what I described as champagne bubbles cascading out of my crown and hands in an effervescent explosion) and am completing launch week with a real sense of gratitude and grounded joy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I appreciate all the support and excitement. I know social media is A LOT these days, but I'm feeling the ways it can be good and lovely. All my love!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co

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"The fact of the matter is that many of us aren’t taught how to deal with complex emotions like grief, guilt, and shame that come up when looking at what came before us.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Humans are complicated. We can’t know what we would⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
have done in the times our ancestors were alive because⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
we weren’t there, and we haven’t been put to those same⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
tests, but we can embrace the beautiful and often difficult⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
complexity of being descended from them. And we can⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
appreciate our luck to be alive in these times when we have⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
more ability and freedom to create a better world for our⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
descendants than ever before."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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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 #ancestralconnection #ancestralhealing⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Illustration by Amy Grimes @hellogrimes

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Recall a time when you were surrounded by plant life: a brisk autumn walk enveloped by wet foliage, a steamy greenhouse packed with lush flora, or a weekend devoted to your garden, tending, learning, or harvesting. Begin to welcome the sensations of this memory back into your body. What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you feel? You can thank seeds for the beauty of these sensations—how they captivate you in the present moment and hold the power to transport you into a past memory or future hope.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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- Excerpt from my book, Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect with Land, Lineage, Community and the Self⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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photo credit: @sophiastudio.co