2026 theme: wayfinding
The stories of our first year of production are centered around wayfinding. We’ll explore this topic in its many forms, through how it shows up in the natural world, various cultures, and the inner wayfinding that comes with being a human.
2026 podcast in production.
season 1 guests include:
Ayya Santacitta
Ayya Santacitta is a Theravāda Buddhist nun and guiding teacher of Aloka Earth Room, a contemporary temple-space interweaving Dharma & Earth Awareness.
Buddhist Nun, Dharma Teacher
Athena Steen
Co-founder of The Canelo Project in southern Arizona, Athena comes from a background of New Mexican, Native American potters, sculptors and educators.
Natural Builder, Artist
John Stokes
John Stokes is a master wildlife tracker and teacher who blends deep ecological knowledge, ancestral tracking skills, and attentive presence to help people read the living stories written across the land.
Wildlife Tracker
Della Duncan
Renegade Economist, Right Livelihood Coach
Della Duncan guides journeys upstream to the root causes of the challenges of our time to empower us to realize and re-member who we are, why we are here and how we can contribute to the Great Turning.
WAYFINDING series
How can we live in a way that is both aligned in what matters most to us and is responsive to what is needed in the world today?
Della Duncan, renegade economist, eco-spiritual educator, and host of the Upstream podcast, has spent her life exploring this question. Her path has taken her from conventional economics to Schumacher College, the teachings of Joanna Macy and the Work That Reconnects, and ultimately toward a vision of economics anchored in right livelihood, a topic that she helps people explore in her role as a Right Livelihood Coach.
In this conversation, Della shares her own wayfinding journey and what it means to orient a life around ecological values. We explore the pillars of the Great Turning, the idea of a “livelihood garden,” and Frederick Buechner’s invitation to look for where “the world’s great hunger and your great gladness meet.” We ask what nature might teach us about who we are, what it means to cultivate a livelihood that nourishes rather than depletes, and how we can listen for the work that is ours to do.
Links:
Schumacher College - holistic, ecological, transformative and transdisciplinary education
Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects - a form of group work designed to foster the desire and ability to take part in the healing of our world
Naropa University - Buddhist-inspired contemplative education
Spirit Rock - Buddhist meditation retreat center in California
Music by Sunsette - check it out!
Della's full bio:
Della Z Duncan guides journeys upstream to the root causes of the challenges of our time to empower us to realize and re-member who we are, why we are here and how we can contribute to the Great Turning. As a Renegade Economist, plants in her regenerative livelihood garden include hosting the Upstream Podcast challenging mainstream economic thinking through documentaries and conversations including The Green Transition: The Problem with Green Capitalism and The Myth of Freedom Under Capitalism, supporting individuals as a Right Livelihood Coach, co-founding and co-directing the California Doughnut Economics Coalition which just released a Doughnut Snapshot of the state of California, helping transition businesses and organizations to post capitalism, and teaching and facilitating courses and retreats on Buddhist Economics, the Work that Reconnects, and Regenerative Economics including the annual Regenerative and Cooperative Economic Design Course and the Cultivating Regenerative Livelihoods Course through Gaia Education.
Della is also the Course Development Manager of Fritjof Capra’s Capra Course on the Systems View of Life, a founding member of the California Doughnut Economics Coalition, a Senior Fellow of Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics, a Gross National Happiness Master Trainer, and a Senior Lecturer of Renegade Economics and Regenerative Livelihoods at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Santa Cruz Permaculture, Vital Cycles Permaculture, and Gaia Education. She holds an MA in Economics for Transition with Distinction from Schumacher College, a BA in International Relations and Sociology with highest honors from the University of California, Davis, a graduate certificate in Authentic Leadership from Naropa University, and has completed Joanna Macy’s Work that Reconnects Intensive Program.
Ram is an interfaith prison chaplain, meditation instructor, an eco-chaplain and faculty member at Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. He leads Insight World Aid, a nonprofit that provides support to marginalized communities. He also serves as a volunteer Disaster Care Spiritual Services chaplain with the Red Cross.
Dharma Leader and Chaplain
Ram Appalaraju
WAYFINDING series
In Episode 3, we speak with Ram Appalaraju, who spent more than 30 years in the tech industry, following a path shaped by family, culture, education, achievement, and the promise of a secure livelihood. But as his Buddhist practice deepened, he began to question the relationship between his work and his values, eventually leaving a successful career to make space for something less certain: a life guided by presence, service, and deeper meaning.
Ram shares his journey from India to the United States, from engineering to Buddhism, and from a goal-driven life toward one he describes as unfolding. We explore right livelihood, meditation, and the ways mindfulness can transform our relationship with everyday life.
We also delve into Ram’s work as a Buddhist and eco-chaplain, accompanying people experiencing grief, isolation, and ecological loss, and ask what it might mean to live with greater agency, compassion, joy, and trust in the unfolding of our lives. Enjoy!
Links:
The Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, where Ram teaches regularly
Music by Sunsette - check it out!