The Awakening Spaces Podcast - Conscious Construction for a Healthy Home

Episode 40: The One-Touch Garbage Disposal That Won’t Eat Your Hand or Clog Your Pipes with Tim Ketchum of Composer

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2470783/fan_mail/new] What if the appliance you hate most in your kitchen was actually one of the most important tools for your home's health, your food waste habits, and your daily ease? In this episode, Ashley sits down with Tim Ketchum, CEO and co-founder of Composer Appliance, a startup out of San Francisco that is doing what no one else has bothered to do in decades: completely reimagining the garbage disposal. Tim walks us through everything that is wrong with the traditional disposal, from the disgusting rubber gasket to the ear-splitting noise to the pipe-clogging paranoia that keeps most people from using the one they already have, and explains how Composer is solving each of those problems one by one with a thoughtfully engineered, beautifully designed system built around a stainless steel iris, single-touch operation, automatic water injection, and an enzyme-based cleaning mechanism that keeps your pipes healthy without you ever having to think about it. This is a conversation about more than kitchen appliances. Tim and Ashley explore the real story of food waste in America, why composting fails most people in practice, and why the garbage disposal, when designed correctly, might actually be the most accessible, environmentally responsible solution hiding in plain sight. They also go deep on what it actually takes to bring a hardware product to market, including funding, prototyping, market research, intellectual property, and the humbling reality of being a two-person founding team wearing every hat at once. If you have ever stood at your sink wondering what you can put down there, why it smells, or when it is finally time to upgrade, this episode is your answer. THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: * Composer Appliance website: composer.me (pre-order link) [https://www.composer.me/products/composer-one] * Ashley's Awakened Homeowner Home maintenance guide [https://awakeningspaces.com/awakened-homeowner] CONNECT WITH ASHLEY Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/awakeningspaces/?hl=en] | Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeningspaces?lang=en] | Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@awakeningspaces] | Website [https://awakeningspaces.com/] Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way. Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again! Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here. [https://awakeningspaces.com/offerings] CONNECT WITH GUEST Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/composerappliance/] | Website [https://www.composer.me/] Tim builds and launches hardware products at the intersection of electronics and user experience. He led new product development at Thomas Electronics, bringing advanced technology products from concept to launch. Tim also brings deep experience in IP management and venture investing. He holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Episode 39: Your Nervous System, EMF Sensitivity & Consciousness, and the Body as Temple with Riun Ashlie

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2470783/fan_mail/new] In this episode of the Awakening Spaces Podcast, Ashley sits down with Riun Ashlie, electromagnetic radiation specialist and somatic healing practitioner, for one of the most expansive and soul-nourishing conversations this podcast has ever had. Riun brings decades of personal healing work, a background interning in psychotherapy, and a deeply trauma-informed lens to the world of EMF sensitivity, and what he shares will make you think about your body, your home, and your consciousness in an entirely new way. Together they explore why some people are more sensitive to electromagnetic fields than others, how unresolved birth and early childhood trauma can quite literally displace a person from their own nervous system, and why creating a low-EMF sanctuary is about so much more than meters and mitigation. Riun also walks through the science of brainwave states, what yawning actually does to your consciousness, and why somatic work may be the most important thing a person navigating chronic sensitivity can do. The conversation winds into sacred seed practices, cerebral spinal fluid, the symbolism woven through ancient texts, dream intelligence, and what it means to truly come home to your body. Ashley also shares her own journey from chasing environmental problems to realizing the inner work was the missing piece, and the two find so much beautiful common ground in that. If you have ever felt like your environment was making you sick and wondered how much of that was your nervous system, this one is for you. THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Best email to use to contact Riun:  riun.ashlie@protonmail.com [riun.ashlie@protonmail.com] Some links/resources we discussed: * Santa Claus symbolism [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYETmn3dZ2I] * R Sage Interview [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqFKt33Ltwg&t=18s] * God Man - The Word Made Flesh (book) [https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781684930906] * Elena Tonetti-Vladimirova documentary film [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1660316/] * Annie Brook (books by) [https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/annie-brook/3733607/] * Amber Hartnell Orgasmic Birth (there are other actual live video clips of her as well) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t11owzQp-So] CONNECT WITH ASHLEY Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/awakeningspaces/?hl=en] | Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeningspaces?lang=en] | Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@awakeningspaces] | Website [https://awakeningspaces.com/] Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way. Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again! Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here. [https://awakeningspaces.com/offerings] CONNECT WITH GUEST Email [riun.ashlie@protonmail.com] | Website [https://emfradar.com/consultants/riun-ashlie] Riun Ashlie is an Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist, though that title is just one thread in a much richer tapestry. The fifth born of eight children raised on a farm in rural Alberta, Riun has spent decades weaving together somatic healing, psychotherapy, building biology, and a lifelong study of consciousness into a practice that is as much about the nervous system as it is about the home. His path into EMF work grew organically from his own profound healing journey, one that took him through birth trauma recovery, brainwave research, Reiki mastery, and workshops across continents, all in pursuit of what it truly means to come home to the body. As a friend once shared with him at an ayahuasca retreat in Brazil, the ultimate expression of art is your life. For Riun, that has always been the work. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Episode 38: Building a Healthy Home in Florida's Toughest Climate with Scott Randall

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2470783/fan_mail/new] In this episode of the Awakening Spaces Podcast, Ashley sits down with Scott Randall, founder of 7 Pines Design Build in Tampa, Florida, to talk about what it actually takes to build a healthy, high performance home in one of the most demanding climates in the country. Scott came into construction from a background in finance and risk management, and that lens makes for one of the most grounded, practical conversations this podcast has had on new construction. As of this year, 7 Pines made high performance building their standard across every project, and Scott shares exactly what that means in practice. Together they unpack why Florida Building Code, despite being the strictest in the country, leaves enormous gaps that most builders never think twice about, why blower door testing before insulation changes everything, and the debate on whether to install stucco directly onto CMU block. They also go into the HVAC cost conversation no one wants to have, and what they are doing differently on Tampa's first spec healthy home. If you are building or renovating in a hot humid climate, or just want a builder's honest take on what the industry is still getting wrong, this one is for you. THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: * BS and Beer Building Science community [https://www.thebsandbeershow.com/join-a-group] * IBHS Fortified Roof program [https://fortifiedhome.org/roof/] * Nikki Krueger episode of The Awakening Spaces Podcast [https://awakeningspaces.com/ep24] CONNECT WITH ASHLEY Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/awakeningspaces/?hl=en] | Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeningspaces?lang=en] | Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@awakeningspaces] | Website [https://awakeningspaces.com/] Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way. Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again! Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here. [https://awakeningspaces.com/offerings] CONNECT WITH GUEST Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tampahomeguide] | Website [https://www.7pinesdesignbuild.com/our-story] Scott Randall is the founder of 7 Pines Design Build, a design build firm based in Tampa, Florida specializing in healthy, high performance homes. With a background in finance and risk management, Scott brings a systems-level lens to construction, focusing on the envelope, waterproofing, and mechanical systems that most builders treat as afterthoughts. Since January of this year, 7 Pines has made high performance building their standard, not an upgrade, and currently has Tampa's first spec healthy home under construction. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Episode 37: Owners Reps, Owners Contingency, & Expecting the unexpected, Solo Episode

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2470783/fan_mail/new] In this solo episode, Ashley Spanovich breaks down what an Owners Rep does and why having an Owners contingency will help you move through your project with less stress.  She also dives into some personal wisdom and something she's moving through in the moment in hopes that it will help you expand and move through your project with more ease. THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: * Full module library covering healthy materials selection, construction document review, phase-by-phase build guidance, monthly live calls, community, and downloadable resources [https://awakeningspaces.com/offerings] * Episode 33: The Awakened Homeowner on a Budget [https://awakeningspaces.com/ep33] * Episode 34: How to Manifest a healthy home [http://www.awakeningspaces.com/ep34] SHOW YOUR SUPPORT If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨

Episode 36: Selecting the Best Air Purifier & the Science of Sunlight with Alex Kessler

Send us a text with your questions, thoughts, and/or a love note regarding the podcast episode to help us know what to create more of! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2470783/fan_mail/new] In this episode of Awakening Spaces, Ashley and Alex cover what the 99.97 percent filter rating actually means and why it tells you almost nothing about your room air quality, how to build a Corsi Rosenthal box for 150 dollars that outperforms most commercial air purifiers, what CADR is and why it is the only metric worth looking at, which climates are genuinely the best and worst for mold sensitive people, why Phoenix and Tucson are not the mold recovery paradise most people think, and why the research on sun exposure and cancer is far more complicated and interesting than the sunscreen industry wants you to know. They also talk about microbiome diversity, sprinklers as an overlooked moisture source in dry climates, trusting your body over any practitioner, and what it means to be mutable when everything you have tried stops working. THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: * DIY heat recovery ventilator from corrugated plastic [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5sR-0oX1dg] * Air purifier brand comparison test (over one million views)Air purifier brand comparison test [https://youtu.be/gaQTYrisieA?si=NEynvrddJ-aW_osZ] * Best and worst climates for mold sensitivity with coded ASHRAE maps [https://youtu.be/t7ClbPIZtI8?si=OQgSy2qLav92L5F-] * ASHRAE 60 degree Fahrenheit dew point threshold for mold growth [https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/about/position%20documents/pd-on-limiting-indoor-mold-and-dampness-in-buildings-english.pdf] * Clean Air Kits: cleanaiркits.com [http://xn--cleanaiits-bui5e.com/], MERV 13 Filtrete with PC fans CONNECT WITH ASHLEY Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/awakeningspaces/?hl=en] | Tiktok [https://www.tiktok.com/@awakeningspaces?lang=en] | Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@awakeningspaces] | Website [https://awakeningspaces.com/] Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way. Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families build and renovate homes to prevent mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. If you’re looking to build or renovate a new home, Ashley has courses to empower and one on one offerings to guide you through the whole process so you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy the process again! Curious about how we can help with your project? Explore our offerings here. [https://awakeningspaces.com/offerings] CONNECT WITH GUEST Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/healthy.home.guide/] | Youtube [http://www.youtube.com/@HealthyHomeGuide] | Website [https://www.healthyhomeguide.com/] Alex Kessler is a translational scientist turned indoor air quality researcher, educator, and environmental consultant who brings the same rigor he applied to cancer genomics research to the world of healthy homes. After developing CIRS from toxic mold exposure and having to navigate his own recovery largely without adequate guidance, he built his YouTube channel Healthy Home Guide into a resource with over two million views, sharing practical and budget-friendly protocols for improving indoor air quality that work even for renters and those without ducted HVAC systems. His work has been recognized by John Banta, CIH, who featured it in his book Mold Controlled, and by Dr. Allison Bailes III of Energy Vanguard, who shared his ERV installation guide with his professional audience. Alex serves as an environmental consultant at Flourish Clinic, a leading CIRS clinic, and consults independently as well. He lives in Colorado with his wife Rachel and their dog Rikki. Find him at healthyhomeguide.com [http://healthyhomeguide.com/] and on YouTube at Healthy Home Guide. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and leave us a rating/review! Thank you for listening ✨