Episodes

2 days ago
2 days ago
In this expansive conversation, Maya speaks with visionary artist, vocalist, birth worker, and elder, Maia about menstrual cycles, fertility awareness, pregnancy, home birth, menopause, intuition, creativity, aging, and reclaiming trust in the body.
Maia shares stories from her first menstrual cycle, her experiences with fertility awareness and childbirth education in the 1970s and 80s, her journey into home birth and birth activism, and reflections on menopause, and creativity.
This episode explores how cycles, pregnancy, birth, and menopause can become gateways into deeper embodiment, intuition, creativity, and self-trust.
Topics Mentioned
✨Menstrual cycles & fertility awareness✨Cervical mucus tracking✨Home birth & lay midwifery✨Pregnancy intuition✨Birth activism in the 1970s–80s✨Postpartum healing✨Perimenopause & menopause✨Women’s embodied wisdom✨Moon cycles & nature rhythms✨Creativity & aging✨Medical trauma & reproductive autonomy✨Intergenerational healing✨Spiritual embodiment✨Music, improvisation & healing arts
Links & Resources
Maia on Bandcamp: maia8.bandcamp.comMaia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suitesweetz/Maia on YouTuve: https://www.youtube.com/@MaiaLive
00:00 – Maia reflects on pregnancy as a spiritually expansive time and the power of women’s intuition02:00 – Introduction to the Infinite Earth Body Podcast and guest bio for Maia05:00 – Maia on aging, gratitude, dawn and dusk as places where light and darkness coexist06:30 – Body check-in: rest, tennis, performance life, and listening to the body08:15 – Maia’s first menstrual cycle story: excitement, embarrassment, sisterhood, and heavy bleeding14:00 – Tracking cycles, irregular timing, clotting, fertility awareness, and body observation17:00 – Pregnancy, childbirth, and how Maia’s cycles changed through motherhood17:45 – Perimenopause experiences: feeling brittle, disconnected from the body, and redefining identity19:00 – Maia’s last menstrual cycle at age 5019:30 – Journaling cycles, moon tracking, pattern recognition, and heightened awareness22:00 – Fertility awareness education, cervical mucus observations, and discovering her unique fertility patterns27:00 – The importance of observing nature, body rhythms, and moon cycles29:15 – Menopause, creativity, and freeing energy from interference32:00 – Maia shares memories of her birth experience and early sensory impressions35:30 – Becoming pregnant at 19 and traumatic experiences with the medical system39:00 – Rh-negative pregnancy scare, resisting medical coercion, and discovering home birth41:30 – Discovering Ina May Gaskin, spiritual midwifery, and birth activism42:30 – Maia’s first home birth experience44:00 – Postpartum psychosis, emotional support, and learning from elder women46:00 – Becoming a birth worker and supporting other women’s births47:00 – Reflections on medical racism, maternal mortality, and distrust of institutions48:45 – Postpartum advice: slowing down, avoiding major decisions, and protecting the nervous system51:30 – Pregnancy as a time of heightened intuition, sensitivity, and spiritual openness53:00 – “Develop those extra senses”: trusting intuition and embodied knowing55:00 – Advice for aspiring birth workers: anatomy, studying women’s traditions, and decolonizing birth56:00 – Maia shares about the birth education collective “Mdewaukwantwans”58:00 – The meaning of Spirit Lake and respecting the intelligence of nature1:00:00 – Maia’s reflections on perimenopause, menopause, and redefining women’s aging outside patriarchal frameworks1:02:00 – Emotional shifts in menopause, relationships, and giving women room to change1:04:00 – Aging, wisdom, and the beauty of reaching 70 in good health1:05:30 – Maia shares where listeners can find her music and work1:10:00 – Reflections on possibly sharing more birth education publicly in the future1:13:00 – Closing gratitude and blessing

Saturday Aug 09, 2025
Saturday Aug 09, 2025
In this Menstrual Magic Moon Day conversation, I interviewed my friend Cera — a clinical herbalist, medicine maker, abortion doula, and fertility awareness educator living on Ohlone land in the East Bay, California. Cera shares their path into herbalism, abortion support, and cycle tracking, weaving in stories of ancestral guidance, plant allies, self-love, connecting with the elements of nature, and community care.
We talked about:💫 Early menstrual experiences, including first bleed stories and how cycle care has evolved over time💫 Offering menstrual blood to the earth💫 Cera’s fateful path into fertility awareness💫 Hydration and movement supporting cervical fluid💫 Removing an IUD after a long bleed - opening up a healing journey💫 Becoming a clinical herbalist and studying with Atava Garcia Swiecicki💫 Deep dive into yarrow: protective qualities, wound care, breaking fevers, and supporting cycles💫 Foxglove lore, heart medicine, and the doctrine of signatures💫 What herbalism, fertility awareness, and abortion support have taught Cera about bodies and embodiment💫 Cera’s first abortion doula client and the ancestral dream that prepared them for the work💫 Moving towards body love and acceptance in a culture that teaches body shame💫 Cera’s decade-long moon ceremony practice and why moonlight is medicine💫 Connection to the wind and the story behind the name “Wise Winds”💫 Self-care rituals including castor oil packs, nail care, and the nourishment of food as medicine💫 Privacy and security practices in abortion doula work and online communications💫 How community networks strengthen reproductive autonomy and access to care
Resources & Links:• Cera’s website: https://wise-winds.com/• Instagram: @cera.wisewinds• Bay Area Abortion Support • Holisticabortions.com• Digital Defense Fund
To learn more, take classes, and/or get 1-1 support, check out: www.infiniteearthbody.com
Follow to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey:https://www.facebook.com/InfiniteEarthBody/https://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo:https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4
Chapters:00:01:00 Welcome & Grounding00:02:00 Introducing Cera00:03:00 How's Your Body Feeling Today?00:04:00 First Period Story00:06:00 How Menstrual Cycle Experience Has Evolved00:07:00 Offering Menstrual Blood to the Earth00:09:00 Cycle Day Check-In00:10:00 Path Into Cycle Tracking & Fertility Awareness00:14:00 Deciding to Remove IUD00:17:00 Navigating Three-Month Bleed00:18:00 Favorite Part of the Cycle00:20:00 Path to Becoming a Fertility Awareness Educator00:22:00 Becoming an Abortion Doula00:25:00 Path to Becoming an Herbalist00:27:00 Lifelong Learning with Plants00:29:00 Yarrow Stories & Uses00:32:00 Foxglove Dream & Plant Lore00:35:00 Lessons About Bodies from Abortion, Herbalism & FAM00:37:00 Personal Body Journey & Learning to Love the Body00:40:00 Moon Connection & Ceremony00:47:00 Relationship with the Wind & Wise Winds00:50:00 Self-Care Practices: Castor Oil Packs00:53:00 Technology, Privacy & Security00:56:00 Security in Abortion Doula Work00:58:00 Food as Medicine & Closing Reflections00:59:00 Where to Find Cera

Thursday Jul 24, 2025
Thursday Jul 24, 2025
For this new episode of the Infinite Earth Body podcast - Menstrual Magic Moon Day, my dear friend Silvia interviewed me!
I was excited to share my stories about:💫 how my period started as an embarrassing shameful experiences💫 how I evolved into loving my cycle💫 why I didn't want to stay on hormonal birth control💫 my path into tracking my cycle with fertility awareness💫 how I used to rant at everyone about cervical fluids 😂💫 my journey into becoming a holistic sexual reproductive health and fertility awareness educator💫 how I'm always going deeper in my experience of cycling and honoring the messages from my body
to learn more, take classes, and/or get 1-1 support, check out:www.infiniteearthbody.com
Follow to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Chapters:00:02:45 Maya’s First Period Story 00:04:30 Navigating Shame and Secrecy 00:06:00 Early Birth Control Experiences 00:07:15 Discovering Fertility Awareness 00:11:10 From Blood Flow to Full Cycle Embodiment 00:12:30 Cloth Pads, Menstrual Cups & Community 00:14:50 Becoming a Fertility Awareness Educator 00:17:45 From Shame to Celebration 00:18:20 Tracking with Confidence & Healing the Inner Child 00:19:15 Maya’s Favorite Cycle Phase 00:20:10 Cervix as Portal & Energetic Connection 00:21:00 Womb Awareness & Uterine Embodiment 00:22:30 Cycles as the 5th Vital Sign00:23:30 Looking Ahead to Menopause as Rite of Passage

Thursday Jul 10, 2025
Thursday Jul 10, 2025
This episode features Silvia Canelón (she/her), a queer Latina data scientist and body literacy advocate based in Philadelphia. Silvia weaves together her passion for reproductive justice, relational power dynamics, and fertility awareness to support reclaiming autonomy through cycle tracking.
In this episode, we explore:✨ Silvia’s story of her first period, growing up in Venezuela✨ What the symptothermal method is — and how it changed her life✨ Fertility awareness as a form of resistance and self-determination✨ Becoming a Body Literacy Advocate✨ Navigating contraception under political uncertainty✨ Practical ways cycle tracking helps with stress, planning, and emergency contraception✨ The joy and power of knowing your fertile window✨ Building inclusive, community-rooted approaches to fertility awareness education
Connect with Silvia:• Website: www.silviacanelon.com• IG: @cycle.curious
Follow to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Chapters:00:00:00 Body Literacy as Empowerment00:00:50 Welcome & Grounding00:01:50 Guest Introduction: Silvia Canelón00:02:55 Silvia’s First Period Story00:06:00 Menstruation Over the Years00:09:00 Intro to Symptothermal Method00:10:00 How Silvia Found Fertility Awareness00:12:30 Learning to Chart & Finding a Queer-Inclusive Educator00:15:00 Educator Training Journey & Becoming a Body Literacy Advocate00:19:15 Fertility Awareness as Resistance00:21:00 “Apocalypse-Proof” Birth Control00:22:00 Reversibility & Empowered Choice00:23:00 Favorite Parts of Charting00:25:15 Emergency Contraception & Charting00:28:30 Final Reflections00:29:45 Where to Find Silvia

Monday May 26, 2025
Monday May 26, 2025
In this episode, I interviewed my beloved friend, aesha rasheed, an incredible body worker and healer, ritual worker and spiritual organizer in service to community wellness, earth stewardship and in support of movements for liberation.
We talked about:✨aesha’s journey with chronic pain✨How pain can lead to either disassociation or be a portal into deeper self-awareness✨How pleasure and pain are connected✨aesha’s experiences both offering and receiving body work✨How body work can open up enhanced states of connection✨The interconnectedness of all things and tapping into states of oneness✨The microbiome as a way that bodies connect and interact✨Healing through Energy work and Aesha’s experience as a Reiki practitioner
Follow to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Chapters:00:00:00 Grounding & Opening Invocation00:02:40 Embodiment as spirit expressed through our flesh00:04:00 How chronic pain was a doorway for aesha deeper into herself00:06:00 The Threshold Between Pain and Pleasure00:10:00 How pain can be a pathway to dissociation or connection depending on choice and agency00:13:00 Working with Therapeutic Pain in bodywork00:15:30 How practicing body work is a meditative state of attunement 00:20:00 How body work can be an enhanced telepathic state of oneness00:22:00 How our microbiome is connected to our energy body00:28:00 How our microbiomes exchange and interact with each other through touch00:30:00 aesha’s experiences with Energy Work & Reiki00:33:00 Exploring our connections to states of oneness and how humans can be disconnected 00:38:00 How trauma can lead to numbness and disconnect00:46:00 Exploring different pathways to connect to oneness00:47:00 what Aesha loves about her body and ways she experiences pleasure00:57:00 How we our somatic expressions of earth’s wholeness

Monday May 12, 2025
Monday May 12, 2025
In this episode, I interviewed my beloved friend and creative collaborator, Ev Marquee, and amazing Visual Artist, Self-Healing Guide, and Guardian devoted to embodied transformation and the ascension of Pachamama.
With years of study in quantum healing, psychology, and ancient shamanic traditions, she guides and teaches others how to heal, protect their energy, and embody their highest selves.
Through energy work mentorship, past life regression, guided quantum healing, and creative offerings, her work is devoted to beauty, sovereignty, and the activation of our personal Heaven on Earth.
We talked about:💫Overcoming depression, dissociation, and body image distortion💫The power of mirror work for self-acceptance and self-love💫Softening, crying, feeling more, and the healing power of tears💫Imagination as a part of spiritual practice💫Working with Masculine vs feminine meditation practices💫Creating whole new worlds and safe spaces in our minds💫Energy work and past life regression💫Being in the body as a spiritual practice💫Being a new earth creatrix💫Coming back to prayer after a history of rejecting religion
You can connect with ev here:http://www.instagram.com/evmarqueehttps://www.evmarquee.com/https://www.youtube.com/@newearthgoddess
Follow us to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction00:04:00 Overcoming dissociation and body image distortion00:06:00 The power of mirror work for self-acceptance and self-love00:08:00 Coming into softening, crying and feeling more00:12:00 Self-care practices to support embodiment00:14:00 Ev’s journey with different styles of meditation00:16:00 Imagination as a part of spiritual practice00:17:00 Masculine and feminine practices00:23:00 Energy work00:25:00 Past life regression00:38:00 Moving up spiritually vs coming down into the body00:40:00 Being a New Earth creatrix00:41:00 Art as a spiritual and healing practice00:43:00 Self-care in water and humming00:47:00 The importance of storytelling00:48:00 How prayer has been a gamechanger after a history of rejecting religion00:52:00 Closing

Sunday Apr 27, 2025
Sunday Apr 27, 2025
In this episode I interviewed my dear friend and creative collaborator, désirée freda, an artist and self healing guide. offering frequencies of embodied joy, beauty, and peace through sacred song, intuitive movement and quantum healing, past life regression and earth based ritual.
We talked about:💫Healing through Dancing💫Energy work and boundaries💫How to release fear of embodying your authentic selves 💫How nature and the flowers are our teachers💫Reminding all of us of our beauty as part of nature💫We’re all here for a special reason on a hero’s journey💫Coming back home to yourself
You can connect with désirée here:https://www.instagram.com/wildrosesister
Follow us to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody
http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Thanks to Mara Lazer for help with editing!
CHAPTERS:00:00:00 Introduction00:04:00 How embodiment is an awareness of the consciousness throughout our body00:06:00 désirée’s experiences of embodiment as a dancer00:09:00 Ways désirée comes fully into her body and regulating her nervous system00:10:00 Connecting with the energetic and astral bodies, and energetic boundaries00:13:00 Nourishing the body00:16:00 Healing through dance, energy work, and ancestral connection00:19:00 How nature and the flowers are our teachers00:21:00 How embodying our authentic selves is a responsibility00:23:00 Some of désirée’s experiences in her body00:27:00 Coming into her path to spread beauty, joy, and love00:31:00 How to move through fear of fully embodying your authentic self00:34:00 We’re all here for a special reason on a hero’s journey00:40:30 How theatre, film, visuals, the curation and creation of beauty are all spells00:42:00 What is the beauty path?00:45:30 Being a self-healing guide 00:52:00 How healing is coming back home to oneself00:54:00 Quantum healing00:56:00 désirée sings her beauty way song00:59:00 Ways désirée finds pleasure in her body

Saturday Apr 12, 2025
Saturday Apr 12, 2025
In this episode of Infinite Earth Body, I interviewed my beloved friend and embodiment teacher, MawuLisa Thomas-Adeyemo. MawuLisa is a community based healing midwife, somatic bodyworker, embodiment coach, song weaver, lover of nature & Spirit, a lifelong student of the Healing Arts, and an initiated Diviner & Orisha Priest.
We talked about:
Healing as coming into wholeness
Trauma healing through somatics
Maintaining joy & self-care through holding space for others and trauma healing work
How individual and collective healing and liberation movement work are interconnected
How earth based spirituality is part of social justice work
Seeing the sacred and holy in all things, in ourselves and everything around us
MawuLisa’s path as a spiritual midwife
The power of song and music as medicine and part of movements for liberation
Ways MawuLisa finds pleasure in her body
You can contact MawuLisa at:
Follow us to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody
http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:06:00 What does healing mean to MawuLisa
00:08:00 MawuLisa’s personal journey of healing through decolonizing spirituality
00:10:00 What embodiment means to MawuLisa
00:13:00 How MawuLisa’s work as a healer began with running rape crises centers
00:19:00 Working with trauma patterns at the level of the body
00:20:00 Working with Generative Somatics
00:22:00 Working with the gut brain and the heart in addition to the head brain
00:23:00 How MawuLisa maintains self-care and joy through doing trauma healing work
00:29:00 How everyone is impacted by the trauma of colonization and being disconnected from our bodies and nature
00:33:00 Honoring our trauma patterns as part of our body’s wisdom through parts work
00:37:30 How individual healing and collective healing and movements for liberation are completely connected
00:40:00 MawuLisa’s understanding of the what Somatics means
00:42:00 How earth based spirituality is part of social justice work
00:48:00 Learning from the wisdom of nature, including learning strategy from ants
00:51:00 How we can all tap into seeing what is holy and sacred all around us and honor the divinity in oneself and everything
00:53:00 What it means to MawuLisa to be a spiritual midwife
00:58:00 The power of repetition and practice
01:02:00 The importance and power of song as medicine for MawuLisa
01:06:00 How music is connected to the movement for liberation
01:10:00 Ways that MawuLisa finds pleasure in her body
01:17:00 MawuLisa sings the ancestor song

Friday Mar 28, 2025
Friday Mar 28, 2025
In this episode of Infinite Earth Body, I interviewed my dear friend and Qi Gong Teacher, Terna Tilley-Gyado. Terna is also a life coach and Jin Shin Jyutsu - Facilitator Healer, and has experience working as a clinical trauma responder, writer, performer, and has master’s degrees in counseling and global mental health, among many other realms of deep study and practice.
Terna shared about:
• Tapping into deeper awareness and subtle energies in your body• Healing as coming into wholeness and having fun• Coming home to be held by our ancestors• Feeling into our essential health & harmony, despite chronic pain and health challenges• How mental health issues are not only individual, but systemic, and a reasonable response to an oppressive world• Allowing ourselves to soften from chronic tension patterns from trauma• Connecting to ancient ancestral frequencies that all of us contain
You can connect with Terna here:https://www.evolutionaryheart.com/
Follow us to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey: http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo: https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Thanks to Mara Lazer for help with editing!
Chapters:
00:00:00 Intro, Terna Bio, and Welcome00:04:00 Why healing means coming into wholeness to Terna00:07:00 Healing through connecting to her Ancestors00:10:50 Coming into Ifa 00:12:10 Terna’s journey of embodiment 00:14:00 Coming into the Art of Jin Shin 00:15:00 Coming into Qi Gong daily practice00:16:00 Dealing with pain & tuning into essential health 00:17:40 Releasing guardedness from trauma, softening, and being able to feel more 00:20:00 Terna’s journey learning Qi Gong which became a stabilizing force to feel better consistently00:25:00 The story of Jin Shin00:27:00 An easy way to harmonize your energy body by holding your fingers00:31:00 How are the physical body and the energy body connected00:32:30 What Terna’s learned as a healer facilitator00:37:00 Connecting to our wholeness through ancient frequencies00:39:00 Different layers of mental health issues, tied to living in oppressive conditions, what we inherited, environmental, ancestral00:42:00 Tips on connecting to our inherent health00:47:00 Writing to get to come to know herself better and performance as reflecting from the spirit realm00:50:00 Having fun and joy and pleasure as an essential part of what we came here to do00:55:00 Exploring our inner dichotomies00:59:00 Experiences as a 3rd culture people and coming into wholeness

Friday Mar 14, 2025
Friday Mar 14, 2025
In this episode of Infinite Earth Body, I interviewed my long-time friend, Stacy, an amazing community organizer, abolitionist, healer, musician, and educator.
We talked about:
Somatic voice work and finding freedom of expression
Healing generational body trauma
Stacy’s journey in healing work—from reiki, body work, to vocal sound healing
The major death-rebirth process of transitioning into motherhood
Cycle tracking for contraception and radical education for embodiment
The healing power of water
You can connect with Stacy and listen to her music here:
http://www.instagram.com/erengbergstacy
https://stacyrene.bandcamp.com/album/and-so-it-is
https://open.spotify.com/artist/36VcsF7u2ETcf4yMmi35Cq?si=Ih5GihwxTtqEfvJ4A67oSw
https://www.facebook.com/stacyrenemusic
Follow us to join us on this Infinite Earth Body Journey:
http://www.instagram.com/infiniteearthbody
http://www.facebook.com/infiniteearthbody/
Join our Inner Circle to continue the convo:
https://www.patreon.com/InfiniteEarthBodyCollective
Intro/Outro Music - Feel the Earth by Maya Tokunaga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO7vTAbpbG4&feature=youtu.be
Thanks to Mara Lazer for help with editing!
Chapters:
00:02:30 Stacy sharing about the connection between feeling nervous and the gut
00:04:30 Finding pleasure through rest & singing
00:07:30 Breaking out of generational body trauma
00:10:00 Movement practices outside of ableism & trying to look a certain way
00:12:00 Self-soothing with singing, even in public!
00:14:30 Voice as a manifestation of your spirit
00:15:30 Finding freedom of expression through the voice
00:24:30 Everything is a practice, just keep showing up over and over
00:27:30 Stacy’s journey through organizing healing community spaces, working as a healer, navigating boundaries & self-care
00:35:30 Going through the major life transition, death-rebirth process into motherhood
00:41:00 When Maya and Stacy were first learning about fertility awareness (cycle tracking) for contraception
00:46:00 Stacy supporting Maya on the path of popular education
00:51:30 Stacy’s experience with the magic of the menstrual cycle, birth, & feeling tapped into goddess energy
00:54:30 The healing powers of water & sauna
00:58:00 Where to find Stacy online & hear her music





