Luister naar Tub Talks by Secular Sabbath

Jacqueline Suskin is a writer, poet and educator now based in Detroit, Michigan. She has released many poetry books, two artistic creation books, and is now teaching young people in Detroit at the intersection of art and nature.  Yet the move to Detroit is recent. Only a little bit ago, she was stewarding art and a farm in northern California. Before that, Jacqueline was based in Los Angeles, where we met, when she was supporting herself with a made-up job she created called ‘Poem Store.’ Jacqueline describes Poem Store as an experiment. It was an experiment in which she would pull up at farmer’s markets and special events with her bike and a typewriter. Jacqueline would sit and let people come up to her and request a poem on a topic of their choosing, paying what felt right to them. “Your poem, your price,” she would say. As she tells her students now, “You can have a weird job that you make up.” She lives that truth. Simultaneously, Jacqueline was always writing long format pieces. She wrote for magazines. She wrote poetry books. And in the pandemic, Jacqueline released her first prose book: Every Day Is A Poem. This book encourages readers to write poems, as Jacqueline drops all of her personal practice into these pages, granting the reader access to every tool in her box.   In this bath, we dive into what goes into Jacqueline’s artistic practice and how to bring projects from start to finish. Jacqueline is wise and self-aware. She describes herself as a naturally born performer, identifying with performance from a young age. Being a performer, however, doesn’t mean always being in performance. In living in Detroit, the reality of people having basic needs is raw. In being in a landscape where everyone has to get their own things done, Jacqueline describes a natural balance of knowing when to be inward and when to be outward (when is performance-time and when is it not). Jacqueline believes that the intrinsic knowledge all exists within the seasons. Her latest book A Year In Practice delves into what practices resonate with the cycles of the earth, in order to create art and birth it into the world. Los Angeles taught her about the seasons, because of their subtlety. She urges us to witness how we are doing art with the earth, not ever alone. Therefore, in places like Los Angeles and even just living in a capitalist society, we have to fight for Winter. We have to fight to turn down, and fight to embrace the inward nature of winter. And there are practices for that.  “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel” is a sign that sits at her desk. Jacqueline suggests that there are carefully documented and practiced activities that so many incredible artists have done before us, and we can lean into their way of doing things. We are not losing our authenticity by using someone else’s methodology. "We don’t have to make this all up from scratch," Jacqueline says. And her most recent book distills these practices into something accessible. We hope you enjoy this conversation and her book!

Michael Milosh (RHYE) is a lifelong musician from Toronto, Canada. He learned to play cello at 3 years old, having had a father who dedicated his life to teaching and playing music. RHYE is the musical project of Mike’s that has garnered the most worldwide success, but as I reveal in this bath, I have been listening to his music since I was 18, when I first heard his song ‘The City’ under the moniker, Milosh. In this bath, we uncover so much about how Mike makes music, why Mike makes music, and what music has unlocked in his life. Music is Mike’s journal entries - but he only writes about positive things, things that he wants to bring into the world. In this sense, music is also spiritual and he aligns it with his spiritual beliefs. Often, he has found that his lyrics reveal some truth that already exists underlyingly, or will come true. In this episode, we learn about his songwriting process, and where songs come from. For example, the most recent RHYE EP, Passing, is specifically a dedication to his father, who passed away from cancer in 2022. In writing this EP about loving his father, Mike felt it was important to digest grief in the only way he knew how: writing songs. Grief was something he felt he was not alone in, and album became birdsongs to whomever might be feeling loneliness their own experiences of loss.  We discuss loss and love in depth, speaking for the first time about our experience of being attacked online by his ex-wife, and how that has impacted our relationship and work. Mike shares about how we’ve deepened our understanding of radical self-reliance and how that plays into making art and putting it into the world. It is a story of resilience, and choosing to continue living a good life, in spite of what life throws at you. Mike talks about life and lemons, into lemonade.  This tub talks is a joy for me to share because I get to sit with someone I admire and know intimately. I am excited to share his heart with you. Welcome to our tub!

In this Tub Talks, I get to soak in the unique wisdom of Chantel Jeffries. Chantel is known in the world for seemingly disparate things: being a DJ, investor, entrepreneur, and social media creator. She is simultaneously a mystery. However, this bathtub conversation is a treasure chest of knowledge that I’ve never heard her share before.   As we learn more about Chantel, we learn more about how interconnected all of these industries actually are. She articulates her multidisciplinary work approach as perceiving every ‘job’ as a fractal, in which all things are related to everything else. They all reflect each other. Chantel started out making videos, and then became one of the first people to get partnerships with companies like Revolve, Samsung, Uber, and Loreal as a brand ambassador. In experiencing how deals like these were done, Chantel realized there was more opportunity to be had. Investing in companies and then supporting them made sense, because she believed in the product, and her value add was multifaceted: capital, network, audience… Chantel compares work life to playing games like Zelda or King of Hearts as a teenager, in which the player would go on a quest and have to collect the jewels or find the tools to get to the goal. The journey is the game. And the journey is meant to be enjoyed. Chantel enjoys her life quest.  In this episode, she shows us about her unorthodox approach to success and how our success can be limitless too. Chantel grew up in a military family, in which she learned the value of discipline and hard work. With these values instilled in her, Chantel shows us how taking risks aren’t really risks because if you put hard work into anything, something will give. Chantel worked hard even as a young person, creating jobs for herself from the beginning. At 14, on the day she could get a job, she walked down the street and started at Arbys. Before that, Chantel did everything from babysitting, to washing cars and cat sitting for neighbors, to reselling her friends’ old phones on Ebay: hustling. Chantel has never been afraid to work hard. Now, she doesn’t have to work so hard. She tells us about how to create systems and become the engineer of our lives. This approach requires thought. It requires mindfulness. It requires strategy. This approach offsets chaos and pressure. “There are infinite ways to do things,” Chantel shares, “How can I have the most enjoyment while doing them?” Chantel is also not afraid to be authentically herself. In a sense, she is as she always has been. She tells us about rediscovering her old Macbook, in which photobooth she found the archive of videos she made from age 16 to 21. In these videos, Chantel would make videos (VLOGS) for her friends, and then answer questions from people on Tumblr, just for fun. Her life now and her hobbies now, are an extension of that joy. She keeps hobbies like tennis, golf, and rollerblading. She likes the aesthetic things in life and lives her life as if it were a hobby in itself: health is a hobby, figuring out equations is a hobby, decorating her house is a hobby… You get the picture. Chantel defines herself as curious and full of energy, and these hobbies definitely demonstrate that. There is an incredible opportunity in listening to this conversation, and understanding the approach of someone who seems to ‘have it all’ and whose life may look like it came easy. It looks easy because Chantel has worked hard and made mindful and intelligent decisions. Her life approach is innovative. I hope you are as inspired by this conversation as I was. Soak it in!

At 18 years old, Raquelle Stevens came to Los Angeles on a whim. Her family was moving from Chicago, and she felt called to take the risk alongside them, understanding that what is beyond our comfort zone is often what is good for us.  Raquelle’s story is one of following the signs. It begins with a good side-of-the-road car cry on Highland, in which she prayed, “God, if this is where I am meant to be, I pray that I would make the best friends I’ve made in my entire life and that you would make it really clear. And I’m going to give it one year, or I’m moving back to Chicago.” Shortly after, those friends appeared.  She had set out to do journalism, studying in Chicago and transferring to a Los Angeles college. However, Raquelle quickly realized that her life was taking a different path, in which she would do things that shed light in big ways. It was a vague destination, but a clear signal. And, fast forward to now, she has. A great example is the bestselling book Raquelle wrote with Tanya Rad: The Sunshine Mind. The Sunshine Mind was born out of the pain they witnessed people experience in the pandemic. Together, they shared their wisdom in relationships, in faith, in overcoming low self-esteem and loneliness. Their aim was to give people courage. The Sunshine Mind’s underlying message is that there is more light in the world than darkness. There is more good in the world than bad.  Raquelle breaks down the process of writing a book, and the vulnerability within it as she shares personal stories of hope and overcoming adversity. Vulnerability plays into all of Raquelle’s work, as she shares about the process of making My Mind And Me, the Apple+ Selena Gomez documentary which Raquelle produced and starred in. In all of the ways that Raquelle grants people access into her world, there is a dash of vulnerability, because it is a one-way window into her real life and real friendships. She does this in the hopes to share the wisdom that we can change the world with how we love. Raquelle explains how love begins with patience, and she demonstrates this truth in how she moves through the world, as you will hear in this episode. I hope you enjoy our time in the tub together!   This episode is brought to you by Fractal Forest [https://fractalforest.co/]. Fractal Forest is an Earth-Tek research collective restoring meaningful connection between humanity and the Earth. I wanted to share how I personally use FRACTAL FOREST products. Their shilajit drops help with my focus and energy levels. I’m someone who often wakes up with a burst of energy, which gradually wanes as the day goes on. I have noticed a change in my energy and ability to focus since I started implementing Fractal Forest Shilajit drops into my daily routine. I think what makes Fractal Forest so special is that they use only earth elements in their formulation process: this means No synthetic additives or preservatives are included and it shows - the sensation is pure, the plant is pure! Whether I’m drinking the blue lotus tea, or imbibing drops of dream state, shilajit, these herbs enhance my experience of life. You can use our code SABBATH22 to receive a 22% discount on your next order. We look forward to seeing how it enhances your overall health too! To join Secular Sabbath membership, you can find us at secular-sabbath.com/membership [https://www.secular-sabbath.com/membership]. Joining grants you access to our Inner Circle community of sensory-exploring like-minded people, where you can gather with us locally in LA for monthly meet-up experiences, and pop-up events around the globe, and partake in our exclusive ambient online community.  Ready to dive into the dialogue deeper? Join us on our Discord channel [https://discord.gg/wQymQ8DB]. See what we get up to at  @secularsabbath [https://www.instagram.com/secularsabbath/]

Carlo Montagnese, known in the music industry as Illangelo, has been exploring his musical landscape since childhood. He is best known for his work with the Weeknd in creating The Trilogy, and songs like “The Hills” which has accrued billions of streams. Hitting major mainstream professional success relatively young, Carlo moved to LA from Canada to continue collaborating with interesting artists. However, a good life in LA didn’t come easy. He describes the beginning as a ‘disaster,’ when he had been hyperfocused on the goal of ‘making it’ in Hollywood. Yet, it was while living in Los Angeles that Carlo deepened his relationship to nature, the earth, and spirituality. Carlo believes it takes three to four years to drop into a culture of a place. Eventually in LA, he found his people, his friendships: deeper connections. It was through exploring different dietary options and ultimately the film Game Changers, that Carlo committed to a life of veganism, and active care for all life forms. Through an initial 10 day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Joshua Tree, Carlo connected to the importance of breath, and his physical body.  In Tub Talks, Carlo shares about this journey into living a life in alignment with the earth across self care, creativity in music, and integrating technologies of the future. We can learn from Carlo about cryptocurrency, AI, music, spirituality, and creativity. Most significantly, he shows us how they intersect and blossom together. Carlo sees cryptocurrency as the future. He impresses upon us how we need to have a more secure financial system, and that is possible through the blockchain. We have access to storage of value, and that means having access to our finances. Financial freedom is in alignment with creative freedom. Carlo describes why cryptocurrency can be successful, but cautions behaviors that lean on ‘get rich quick’ schemes.  Carlo looks at 'storages of value' across different genres of life. He not only warns about ‘get rich quick’ schemes in crypto, but also in popular music, and health and wellness. A way of shifting that desire could be utilizing his idea of observation as a way of being. Carlo says that his life has shifted into a state of ‘observation’ in opposition to manifesting. This life shift includes having moved to Miami, surrounding himself with good people, creating his own music, spending more time with family, and playing games. There is much wisdom  from the way Carlo moves authentically through life, and there are many nuggets of information shared in this bath. Perhaps this is the first bath in his life, as we quickly learn when we start soaking, and you will too. Soak it up!