Episodes

As a student of Bharatanatyam, a form of sacred Indian classical dance, Daniela Riva connects with the divine using choreography that dates back more than two millennia. In developing her expertise, and her following as a performer, teacher, and author, Daniela tells Wonderstruck’s Elizabeth Rovere that it took years of dedication and surrender to understand how to move profound currents of energy throughout her body. During a period of awakening, while stomping her feet in service of her dance training, Daniela recalls feeling a jolt. “My teacher has a beautiful way to describe this,” Daniela tells Wonderstruck’s Elizabeth Rovere. “She used to tell me, ‘Daniela, this is like current. It’s like electricity. We need to channel this energy–otherwise, it is just pure energy, and it’s everywhere.'” Now, having harnessed this energy, Daniela shares how each of us can activate our own bodies in pursuit of empowerment, happiness, and spiritual growth.

Groundbreaking scientist, psychology professor and best-selling author Dacher Keltner’s latest book, AWE: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life is an instant classic. Supported by field work, cultural survey, and autobiography, this essential volume explores the many benefits of pursuing, encountering, and embracing awe as an emotion–and as a regularly occurring experience to which we all have access. As Dacher tells Wonderstruck’s Elizabeth Rovere, awe is also crucial to the future of social reform, urban planning and education. But, as Dacher explains, his own relationship with awe had been interrupted by grief after the death of his brother. “What went with him?” Dacher asks. “My capacity for awe.” In intimate detail, Dacher reveals how he reclaimed it.

Russell Brand, comedian, actor, author, seeker, and Stay Free podcast host reveals to Wonderstruck’s Elizabeth Rovere why spiritual pursuits keep him alive, which teachings anchor him, and how he manages his own “beautiful monsters” in the hope of converting anxiety into action and accessing efficacy through chaos. With singular humor, wide-ranging scholarship, and a heart-led connection to the profound, Russell shares how he negotiates the pull of ecstasy against the need for serenity, why he thinks he might miss out on true greatness, and, in tender detail, what’s brought him closest to the divine. “There was nothing between me and God for that little moment,” he says. “It has happened other times. It will happen continually if I forget myself.”

Through her private yoga and coaching practices, and in her role teaching Compassion-Based Resilience Training at Nalanda Institute in New York City, Rahshaana Green helps students manage stress and heal reactivity by developing greater clarity, self-knowledge, and grace. But, as Rahshaana tells Wonderstruck’s Elizabeth Rovere, her own path to becoming a practitioner meant overcoming pain and trauma. “When you literally have to have an injury make you stop and pause,” Rahshaana says, “there’s a few things that aren’t working.” Reflecting on her own life— from the complexities of her childhood in Houston’s inner city to embracing her mother as a source of empowerment to the surprising evolution of her career—Rahshaana shares how she ultimately learned the value of vulnerability and stillness, and how she carries forth an intimate, ongoing relationship with wonder that was once beyond her imagination.

Growing up in a British working class, non-religious family, TV presenter, best-selling author and Happy Place podcast host, Fearne Cotton, felt the presence of the spiritual world from an early age. “I just looked at the stars and felt completely overwhelmed,” she tells Wonderstruck host, Elizabeth Rovere. “It was like, wow, there’s something else going on here. It can’t just be going to school, coming back, and having my tea.” As a girl, Fearne’s mother encouraged her daughter’s nature as seeker, and her curiosity about seemingly inexplicable, but powerful things, taking her to yoga before yoga became a popular suburban pursuit, and even bringing Fearne to a rebirthing guru after a brush with teenage heartbreak. Now in her 40s, Fearne shares why her work with healers, rituals, and ancient wisdom is more important to her than ever before as she continues her search for self-acceptance, compassion, freedom, and love.