In this episode of the Brown Rice Hour, Konda Mason welcomes Carol Cano for a conversation around hands-on healing, cross-cultural mindfulness, and the importance of our origin stories.
Carol Cano brings a unique combination of Basque, Native American and Buddhist influences into her teaching. She is the founder of Braided Wisdom, a non-profit that empowers diverse communities by fostering transformational change through integrating indigenous wisdom teachings and cross-cultural mindfulness practices. Carol also co-founded Philippine Insight Meditation Community in the Philippines and is a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. You can learn more about her at carolcano.com.
An Important Stranger
Konda welcomes Carol to the Brown Rice Hour and begins with a question about her favorite comfort food growing up. They talk about how Carol’s unique blend of influences came together, and Carol tells the story of the important stranger who set her on a path to Thailand to discover Buddhism.
“I just knew I was in search for something I wasn’t getting in that moment.” – Carol Cano
Cross-Cultural Mindfulness (21:05)
Konda asks about Carol’s holistic approach to wisdom. Carol talks about the time she spent in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand, and why it was important for her to learn about hands-on healing techniques after that experience. They explore what’s at the core of Carol’s teachings right now; Carol explains the concept of cross-cultural mindfulness.
“Because there’s not a culture in the world – when you think of what we have in common – that doesn’t have the healing arts, that doesn’t have their own medicine, that doesn’t have their own story, that doesn’t have their own dance… There’s so much that we have in common than not. So, how do we begin to bridge our universal understanding?” – Carol Cano
Sharon Salzberg and Thomas Hubl explore healing collective trauma on Metta Hour Ep. 145
Origin Stories (42:24)
Konda inquires about white-bodied people who’ve participated in Braided Wisdom’s offerings and the path they take to connect to their ancestral roots. Carol talks about the concept of Original Medicine, and why exploring our origin stories is such a vital part of the process of discovering what needs to be healed within ourselves.
“There are two stories: the story that you don’t want to keep perpetuating, and then there’s the story you want to tell.” – Carol Cano
