Unstruck: Recent Episodes
Dara Songye
Unstruck Ventures + Podcast is a personal transformation and elevated, private coaching realm focused on evolving the (inner) life of deep innovators committed to accelerated spiritual growth and deeper wellbeing.
To be "unstruck" in Eastern and global Indigenous traditions is to be uncorrupted, unharmed, innately good, and regenerative. It speaks to the cosmic force of sound itself as a pure and loving energy, rooted in the heart.
Dara Songye, producer and host, shares guest interviews and experiential practices focused on activating artistry, innovation, consciousness, and inner life success, for personal and collective flourishing.
Tessa Kaneene currently serves as a Senior Advisor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Throughout her career, Tessa's work has focused on the design of innovative programs, projects and policies rooted in social justice.
She is a global trailblazer, having worked in urban policy in Europe, throughout the United States, and in South America – specifically for the Cities of Barcelona, Spain — Detroit, Michigan — San Francisco, California – and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Tessa’s contributions have equally forged new paradigms in United States history by her having additionally served on Barack Obama’s Senate and Presidential campaigns, and most recently in her completed role as Deputy Director of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Campaign for President.
As of Spring 2021, Tessa is also a newly minted Leadership Council member for the Meridian Center for Cultural Diplomacy, under the Biden Administration's U.S. Department of State. As a Council Member, she will partner with 180 international heads of state, and thousands of Meridian Center program alumni – artists and leaders worldwide, collectively committed to using the power of the arts to break barriers, create cultural understanding across borders, and collaborate globally to resolve today's most challenging issues.
Tessa holds a Bachelor’s degree of Architecture, from Princeton University, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning, from Harvard University.
Connect with her on
Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram
Music Instrumental | "River Runner" – Marie and Shimmer. © All Rights Reserved.
Trine of Joy| 9th Principle
- Warmth – welcoming, kind acceptance of others
- Love – with a special practice shared to help cultivate more love, sourced from phenomenal elder dharma teachers I've learned directly from
- Power – 3 types are talked about
I'd love to hear how this Trine of Joy is helping you focus, deepen, and live a little better than before. You can reach me at the details below.
podcast@unstruck.ventures
LinkedIn DM
Music Instrumental | "Move On" – Alsever Lake. © All Rights Reserved.
Inner Life Success | 8th Principle
- Heart-driven community – find, uplift, nurture and protect it.
- Reciprocity – a moment-to-moment practice, covering and fortifying us.
- Activating the first seven Unstruck Principles gifts us vital energy, replenishing our life-force.
- Using our direct, subjective experience as fertile ground to begin true, objective exploration and exchange toward collective and personal evolution – free of extractive, harmful competition.
Music Instrumental | "Ethereal Morning" – Drew Henmi. © All Rights Reserved.
Consciousness| 7th Principle
- Suffering is not a "natural" state, but it is common to our existence as human beings.
- Consciousness itself is observant, detached, and neutral.
- Mindfulness training takes effort and is meant to cleanse our consciousness – resetting the filters we approach our life from.
- We receive respect and dignity by giving it in return – first to ourselves, then to others.
Music Instrumental | "A Little Luck Along The Way" – Shimmer. © All Rights Reserved.
Innovation| 6th Principle
- Is an inward pulse, inciting the removal of obstacles.
- Rooted in the liminal, unspoken, or dismissed within our societies.
- Innovation is a hot, courageous energy.
- Builds from innate potential (sub-atomic, pin-pointed) and relies on group participation.
- Is touched with celebratory grace and recognition-at-scale.
Music Instrumental | "Bloom" – Midnight Daydream. © All Rights Reserved.
Artistry | 5th Principle
- Owning your uniqueness and quirks as an elegant superpower.
- True artist-leaders across sectors and industries build ensembles they co-create with.
- Playfulness and rest as being critical toward exuding artistry.
- Artistry requires intimacy, dedicated openness.
Music Instrumental | "Sunrise Drive" – Brent Wood. © All Rights Reserved.
Innately Good | 3rd Principle
- “Innate” is a quality free of pretense, inborn, and extremely hard to replicate.
- “Goodness” by itself, is a clean heart, with positive intent backed up with beneficial actions of wellbeing shared with many, beyond one’s circle of comfort.
- Being innately good is birthed in our present moment – the “sweet spot” of productive change.
- This session wraps up with 7 minutes of guided instruction on a simple sitting meditation practice, toward embodying this principle.
Music Instrumental | “Reflections" – Wild Wonder. © All Rights Reserved.
Unharmed | 2nd Principle
- Conscious (intentional) and unconscious (unintentional) acts of harm.
- Being unharmed as a firm, non-violent practice we gift toward ourselves, first.
- Making a conscious choice to live an unharmed existence by “reversing the curse.”
- “Climbing the mountain”, conditioning ourselves to be unharmed.
Music Instrumental | "Sunday Coffee" – Brent Wood. © All Rights Reserved.
How do we become "unstruck" – truly compassionate, equitable, and antifragile in relation to ourselves and the world, as tech professionals? Dara kicks off this session as Day 1 of 9 exploring the principles behind this question through sharing her personal experiences, to help stoke your own self-reflection and inquiry.
Uncorrupted | 1st Principle
- Taking a clear ethical stance – living from a place of personal, moral boundary-making.
- Choosing new maps – or creating your own – while journeying to reclaim empowered wellbeing.
- Evolving our "stories" – owning the lessons.
- Active seeking, no shame in the pursuit of healing and renewal.
- Setting clear boundaries.
- Identity as a portal and healthy expression of our boundaries, self-acceptance and explicit connection, across differences.
- Slowing down the process, taking care of our developmental tender spots, not cutting corners.
Music Instrumental | "The Coast" – Brent Wood. © All Rights Reserved.
Sharing three points of learning from my morning earlier this week, in response to my "wobbly" process in building this podcast, and owning my love for inciting spiritual growth within the tech ecosystem. I hope these learnings spark a bit of your own investigation, as an inner life deep-diver.
- Point 1 – Breath as Mind
- Point 2 – Emotional Ownership
- Point 3 – Body Activation
Music Instrumental | "Wild Land" – Sounds Like Sander. © All Rights Reserved.
Vincent Phamvan is the founder of Vyten, an online coaching program that helps people get incredible jobs with the pay and purpose they deserve. In this first session, Vincent offers wisdom and frank advice on what it now takes for job candidates to secure meaningful work, where they are fairly compensated. He also shares his own experience of navigating the 2007-2009 Recession as a new college graduate – similar to what we're currently going through economically, in connection with the global pandemic.
Vincent dives even deeper, breaking down the criticality of consciously envisioning your future, developing a stable self-care routine, explains why character development is crucial for professional success, gifts vital business insights on marketing, e-commerce, retail and...shares where he'll be five years from now!
Text Vincent directly at +1 615 667 8433 to receive two, crucial job search and career upleveling tools.
Check out Vyten for more career growth advice.
Find him on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Vincent & Erin's 2016 honeymoon in Greece pictures.
Inspiration sourced from this session's insights about intentional creation and clarity of life vision. [Start listening at 51:50]
- Photo 1
- Photo 2
Visit mental health.gov for support and resources, if you or loved ones are struggling emotionally during this time.
Music Instrumental | "On Our Way" – Brent Wood. © All Rights Reserved.