The Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature is an award-winning radio and audio series featuring breakthrough solutions for people and planet. The greatest social and scientific innovators of our time celebrate the genius of nature and human ingenuity. The kaleidoscopic scope covers biomimicry, ecological design, social and racial justice, women’s leadership, ecological medicine, indigenous knowledge, spirituality and psychology. It’s leading-edge, hopeful, charismatic, provocative, timely and timeless – like nothing you’ve heard before.

If you enjoy these dharma talks and guided meditations and would like to support my work, please consider making a donation. Donations can be made through Venmo @lisadharma or Paypal lisa@lisaernst.com. Thank you.

Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, artist and founder of One Dharma Nashville. In her teaching, Lisa emphasizes both transformational insight and everyday mindfulness as an invitation to embrace all of the path’s possibilities. She has been meditation for over 30 years and teaches classes and retreats internationally.

The Live Awake podcast helps bring you back to your grounded center through reflection and guided meditation. 

This podcast lends a new outlook to some of life's hard landscape. Perspective is everything, and by choosing to live awake to all that blooms in front of us we begin to live a more empowered life where joy becomes our natural state of being rather than something we occasionally stumble upon.  Through living awake we become conscious participants in our life’s unfolding.

At the end of each episode you will be guided through a short meditation on the topic at hand to help loosen the spots we can feel victim to. By doing this we come to understand we can choose not our usual, painful unconscious habits but instead to live from a place of grounded awareness, free from suffering.  

Live awake is for all those devoted to their hearts, devoted to the soul behind their ribs that came here to grow and expand, to all those devoted to learning, respecting and honoring the ways they are being called to do so. 

It is a place where one can come to close their eyes and rest a while on their breath, and see all they trouble and toil alongside is truly a gold lined cloud, holding a message of great hope and learning cradled within it.


Charitable nonprofits improve our lives, add vitality to our communities, contribute to our local and national economies, and enhance the health of our democracy. The National Council of Nonprofits is the largest network of nonprofits in North America. We champion, inform, and connect organizations across the country to score big wins for nonprofits and the communities they serve. Join our collective efforts to create a connected and powerful nonprofit community that champions the public good. Learn more at www.councilofnonprofits.org.

After relocating to Nashville from Chicago in 2009, singer/keyboardist Megan Rox and guitarist Dave Johnson solidified the current band lineup in 2011. They released a self-titled EP in August of 2012, and began working on their debut full-length album Star in 2013 with Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes (Turbo Fruits, Pujol, Tristen, Forget Cassettes) and Brian Carter at Paradox Productions (Glossary, The Nobility, The Features). It was mixed by Matt Mahaffey (Self, Beck, The Sounds, Pink). The band released the Deluxe Edition of Star, with select remixes, in 2014.

Family life slowed the process of writing new material through 2015 and most of 2016, but the band brought in bassist/synth guru Aaron Irons (The Non-Commissioned Officers, Jasmin Kaset) and went back into the studio with Jeremy Ferguson (Battle Tapes) to record and mix their new EP, Afterglow, in mid-2016. It was released on May 12, 2017

"Nashville indie rockers Scale Model are back boasting an expanded lineup...that needs to be on your new music radar now...and the expanded sound is immediately noticable in the lush, dance-ready soundscapes that propel “Other Voices” through visions of Depeche Mode, while vocalist Megan Rox soars above as though channeling Annie Lennox."
-No Country For New Nashville, 2017

"Their territory has typically been the New Wave-ier side of synth pop, and their new four-track EP Afterglow expands on that nicely. Contributions from new member Aaron Irons and his fortress of synths lock in with Steve Cross behind the kit and drum machine to create a perfect setting for launching vocalist Megan Rox into space. Guitars also play a bigger role here than on the group’s 2014 record Star, sounding like they might take flight any second. Most importantly, the songs offer satisfyingly weird takes that make normal stuff like rain, social media and pollution sound like they belong in a sci-fi novel."
-Stephen Trageser, Nashville Scene, 2017

"Scale Model have undoubtedly found a middle ground between tight, heavy sounding drums, bass, and guitar, and the transient yet forward-propelling synth that makes the whole cluster of tracks on their recently released Star album transcend the normative staples of the over-saturated pop genre. What feels right (or at least absolutely right now) about Scale Model is the perfect balance throughout Star; every element in its place and in service of a set of sinuous, hook-laden, elegantly crafted pop songs."
-Amadeus Magazine, 2014

"From the reverb-slathered, Edge-esque guitar riff of album opener “El Cheapo” to the hearty, resounding synth line of closer “Impression,” locals Scale Model’s debut LP Star is rife with sonic references to the biggest, sleekest synth-pop and post-punk acts of the ’80s. Star’s standout...is likely its unapologetically glossy production, created with a cast of all-stars including Jeremy Ferguson and Bully frontwoman Alicia Bognanno (who oversaw tracking at Battle Tapes) and Self’s Matt Mahaffey (who mixed the record). The songs themselves are fun, optimistic and endearingly nerdy..."
-D. Patrick Rodgers, Nashville Scene, 2014

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