One by one, we take our scraps of paper, carrying the things we want to heal from, and

we drop the scraps into the metal bowl on the table. The room is quiet, we're riveted.

Someone takes out a lighter and sets one of the scraps on fire. The paper edges turn

bright orange and then a deep, smoldering red. One by one, we burn our fears away. We clear

the path for a different story.

Climate activist and sunrise movement founder Vashni Prakash has a lot of experience

building coalitions to take on problems that can feel too big to solve. When things

get overwhelming, she relies on the diverse connection she's formed as a source of common

strength. In this week's episode, Vashni shares how the little communities we create together

stay with us and remind us to hold on to hope.

In this series, we combine immersive first-person stories, breathtaking music and mindfulness

prompts so that we may see our lives reflected back to us in other people's stories, and

that can lead to improvements in our own inner lives.

And wait what? This is a meditative story. I'm Rohan and I'll be your guide.

The body relaxed. The body breathing. Your senses open. Your mind open. Meeting the world.

My friend Kayla and I step out the side door of her house onto the patio beneath the

large magnetory. We run across her backyard right up to the edge of the woods. It's early

fall. Sunlight filters through the colored leaves and bare branches hitting the rocks

and roots on the ground. At the tree line we stop. Kayla reaches out her hand. I take

it in mind. Together we step over the threshold into our magic cabin.

Marching through the trees we pass by a cleared patch of earth where we hope to plant a garden

in the spring. We pause at the excavation site where we're digging our new pond. About

...