Beginning with conceptual themes and abstract ideas and moving from there to intuitively sourced imagery, Brooklyn-based artist David B. Smith constructs soft, colorful sculptures that both relate to and resist the glitchy white noise of the omnipresent world. David’s cozy but also dizzying installations often become environments for live sound in real time, and he and Carly share an affinity for inviting audiences to use their voices. In this dialog about art, performance, and personal exploration, what Carly and David are ultimately exploring is journey design: the process of creating pathways for themselves and others to explore freedom, safety, expansion, and the knowledge inherent in our bodies.

Making good on our promise to continue honoring mothers this month, Carly sat down with Lita Albuquerque—who’s been making art of the body, earth, and universe since the 70s—and her dancer and choreographer daughter Jasmine Albuquerque. In a dialogue that moves from Malibu to Tunisia to the outer planets, and from everyday parenting to cosmology, culture, and conceptual art, the women touch on the micro and macro of expression, togetherness, and care—and the true art of honoring ourselves and each other (and in particular our children and mothers) for who we are.

This episode isn’t one of our usual Conversations, but the first of a series of what we call Reflections, in which we embrace the ever-present opportunity to find gratitude for all mothers—perfect and imperfect, absent and present, received and chosen, familial and spiritual, God Mothers and step mothers. Carly reflects on her own difficult but beautiful relationship as a daughter and as a mother; the wild love, the raw edges, the big, vulnerable truths. And then: A special Infinite Crescendo Microjourney crafted from Carly’s own lullaby for her girls layered with voices from the community, sharing from the heart. It’s a gift, in audio form, and it’s meant to guide you toward whatever it is you might like to affirm, expand, shift, or hold as your own experience with the mothers surrounding you and the mother within.

In a world that values clearly defined brands (personal and otherwise) but also rewards jack-of-all-trades who jump from one modality to the next, creative growth can be tricky. As Australia-born filmmaker and vocalist Kelsie Moore attests to here, our continual unfolding will ask us to stay open. Our offerings will only take the shapes they’re meant to take if we allow them the space and freedom to expand and shift. These lessons came, in part, during one of Carly Jo’s Heart Song retreats; and, in part, over years of filming the Emmy-award winning documentary The Gerda That Remains, a study of one woman’s memory loss and the dichotomy and partnership of the heart and the brain.

As if it’s not enough that artist Elena Stonaker’s finely sculpted and intricately beaded fabric pieces are like, “big arms to hold you,” she presents them in sonic, immersive spaces that foster a new world feeling and a powerful sense of discovery and connection. In fact, that act of bringing people together with sound, sensation, and shared experience is a kind of parallel to Infinite Crescendo—which isn’t surprising given that Elena and IC co-founder and Conversations host Carly Jo Carson are best friends. As the two Angelenos talk through a relationship rooted in art and expression, they touch on mothers, daughters, early childhood education, workshop environments, and the kind of sisterhood that emerges when two people see and support one another in their visions and desires.

Somewhere in the middle of this organic and wide-ranging conversation between two very close friends, Manhattan-based fashion designer and sustainability pioneer Mara Hoffman evokes “that joke of tricking ourselves into believing that some things are spiritual and some things aren’t.” The joke, of course, is that everything we touch and do and see is part of our being, our unfolding, our ripening: The money, and the money wounds. The ego, and the unity. The love, and the loneliness. The striving for success, and the folly of “success.” The all-in definition of the spiritual path describes this conversation, too. Of particular note is Mara’s deep connection to the notion of divine timing; that everything happens in the right season and in the right space.

When Detroit-based poet Jacqueline Suskin asked the universe, “Can I have a reminder of everything that I’m doing with my life?,” the lines that came streaming through became “My Poetic Purpose.” We’ve been fortunate to use the lyrical, empowering, and universal totem as a bookend for many of our breathwork sessions and retreats since then. A teacher and channeler, Jacqueline has often written on the spot for seekers, for community, for the earth, and for the good of us all, together. In this conversation, Carly and Jacqueline talk about the challenge of actively cultivating kindness in difficult situations (and accepting one’s shortcomings with grace), the ongoing practice of presence, and the infinite source that supplies us with images, symbols, language, and song.