E244 - Cultures of Healing and Resistance // Simple Rituals for Shared Strength with Zena Rouse Winterbottom, Jude جودْ, Jessica Epperson-Lusty, Jimena Paratcha and Nikita Llerana - all that we are (fka the future is beautiful)

“Healing and resistance is about engagement. It is about relationships. It’s about engaging with how we’ve internalised the pain, the suffering, all of the things.” Jessica Epperson-Lusty

E244 – Cultures of Healing and Resistance // Simple Rituals for Shared Strength with with Zena Rouse Winterbottom, Jude جودْ, Jessica Epperson-Lusty, Jimena Paratcha and Nikita Llerana

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About this episode:

How do we really engage and create cultures of healing and resistance? This episode, recorded at Lovejam, explores exactly that.

Through song, poetry and shared wisdom, this circle brings together five incredible women from diverse backgrounds: with Zena Rouse Winterbottom, Jude جودْ, Jessica Epperson-Lusty, Jimena Paratcha and Nikita Llerana. Together they reflect on ways to respond to violence and societal collapse through community, art, joy and reverence.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, people continue to celebrate life – singing, dancing, and gathering together. Acts of resistance that become powerful forms of resilience, helping us hold grief and hope at the same time and reminding us what it means to stay human amid struggle.

We hope that you are inspired and activated by the wisdom and courage of these incredible women and reminded of the power we have when we gather.

“Community is that deepest reflection of your inner challenges and resistances.” Jimena Paratcha

Zena Rouse Winterbottom is a community herbalist, forager and co-founder of one of the UK’s most established alcohol free festivals Lovejam. Driving a cultural movement for creating wholesome spaces for creativity, community & collaboration. Leading to co-founding a co-living and retreat hub infused with Lovejam spirit on the North Devon coast called Domnu Valley. She has set her focus on rebuilding what she believes are the essentials to a rich life for a world in transition weaving in her care for the earth and nature based living.

Jude جودْ born and raised in Palestine, is a singer, story teller and writer. Her work is deeply rooted in her homeland, weaving together music and words related to grief, love and loss.

Jessica Epperson-Lusty is devoted to attending our personal and collective wounds and liberating ourselves from the familial, social, and cultural conditionings that perpetuate suffering. Weaving wisdom traditions with contemporaries modalities, she creates and facilitates practices, workshops, retreats, and journeys. Her offerings are designed to enhance participants capacity to practice sacred reciprocity with all beings, presence the creative intelligence of life, and live in the flow of our intuitive knowing and rhythms. Jessica has an MA in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco Psychologies as well as advanced training in Yoga Psychology, JourneyDance, and Shadow-work. A passionate catalyst for planetary healing and personal transformation,

Jimena Paratcha weaves together activism, ceremony, and soulful guidance. With a deep commitment to ecological justice and collective awakening, she facilitates transformative events where inner alignment fosters harmonization between our human family and our living Earth. A co-founder of Medicine Festival and Akasha Retreat Centre in Brazil, Jimena amplifies Indigenous voices and ancestral wisdom, walking the path of reverence, regeneration, and integration. Her work invites others to connect more clearly with their inner wisdom, affirm their purpose, and actively participate in the healing of our world.

Nikita Llerena is a Brazilian internationalist, cultural producer, and spoken word artist. She has been working with Indigenous women from the Amazon, where she co-founded the Women Who Heal Association. She is also the co-founder of the IRIS Institute in Brazil and works with In Place of War, a UK-based organization that uses creativity in communities affected by conflict and climate change as a tool for positive transformation. She is currently based in Helsinki, Finland, pursuing her Master’s degree in Intercultural Encounters.

To connect or work with Zena, visit instagram.com/the_native_herbalist/, domnuvalley.co.uk/, instagram.com/domnuvalley/

To connect or work with Jude, visit instagram.com/judetn/

To connect or work with Nikita, visit instagram.com/nikitallerena_/

To connect or work with Jessica, visit evolvingmindfully.com orinstagram.com/evolvingmindfully/

To connect or work with Jimena, visit instagram.com/jimenaparatcha/

To connect or work with Amisha, visit amisha.co.uk

To connect or work with Lovejam, visit instagram.com/lovejamcommunity/ or lovejam.community/