Ron and Johanna Melchiore have been living off the grid for decades, but what does it mean to go off the grid? How disconnected must one be? Ron and Johanna join Pedram Shojai and discuss their experience in having their own chunk of wilderness. What was it like getting started? How did they build their home? How do they get food? How do they collect water for cooking, drinking, and bathing? And what do they do during the winters? Pedram asks about the freedom of having the land work for you but also the potential dangers of being isolated. Becoming an independent homesteader does not mean fully disconnecting from society, but what complications could still arise? Is this something anyone can do?

"Plants often look like what they're for," Evan Cohen tells Pedram Shojai. For many of us who have lived in urban environments all of our lives, this can be a difficult concept to grasp. This week's guest to The Urban Monk Podcast discusses the benefits of how plants in certain cases can have obvious benefits just based on what they look. How can we determine the energetic signature of plants and how can we harness their essence to benefit our health?

We don't need to tell you, but 2020 has been quite the wild ride! With so much going on from the US Presidential election to the pandemic to wild weather events such as wildfires and hurricanes, it's hard to just focus! Attention is being pulled in every direction. Social media is even monetizing attention! So how do we get our focus back to ourselves? Pedram Shojai here on The Urban Monk Podcast wanted to take a moment to discuss the importance of drawing attention back to yourself. With how media can divert our attention to things that may not be affecting us in the moment, it can be hard to focus on your own needs. What is important to you? What goals do you have? And what are you doing to reach those goals? Pedram gives some tips based on his studies with Chinese Medicine on how you can make yourself your own main focus again.