How the New “Song and Dance” Can Help Heal the Old Song-and-Dance of Political Polarization

Announcing NEW Signs of the Upwising Podcast

Interview with Performance Artist and Shamanic Cheerleader Raina Satori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbYQU9UeLgU

“It’s time to bring red tribe and blue tribe together in sacred circle, to talk until they are purple in the face. The only way to overgrow corporate personhood is through purple peoplehood. “

-- Swami Beyondananda

I am happy to announce that I am launching a new podcast, Signs of the Upwising, to help we the people step off the political battlefield and on to a new cooperative playing field – or as Swami puts it, “to bring left and right front and center to face the music and dance together.”

So it’s fitting that my first guest is Raina Satori, “shamanic cheerleader”, performance artist, and comedienne, who found herself in the unusual role of community “healer” during the COVID pandemic and lockdown. Living in Nevada County – California’s “gold country” – she found her community divided over compliance with the lockdown and mandate, particularly individuals who didn’t want to get the shot, and businesses who didn’t want to close down.

Attending a People’s Assembly meeting with a diverse group of people who shared concern about their “sovereignty” – from old and young hippies … to elder conservative Christians … to libertarians, regen advocates, etc., etc. – she noticed that the guy running the meeting was in over his head. So she volunteered to be the facilitator, and all of a sudden a “serious” gathering was uplifted by levity.

Find out how starting each meeting with a song and a sing-along helped “harmonize” the group, and how punctuating serious statements with something funny created camaraderie in a hugely diverse group. You’ll also discover why gathering groups like this in circles doesn’t work – much better to have everyone focused on the speaker up front – and why and how “toxic” individuals need to be reined in, and sometimes excluded.

If you have any designs of bringing diverse viewpoints together to “humanize, humorize, and harmonize” please tune in.

And … if you are in Northern California, please come see Raina and me in person on Saturday, July 19th in Sebastopol, and get a dose of this ho-ho-holy hee-hee-healing medicine. Buy your tickets here: https://www.peacetown.org/tickets/p/love-laughter-ever-after

May the FARCE be with you,

Steve Bhaerman

JOIN THE UPWISING HERE.

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/mkKHD6K/Join