Free Your Soma Podcast
What happens when a single mom trades perfectionism for Maya wisdom? Jan Capps discovered that the secret to a fulfilling life isn't found in climbing to the top; it's woven into the beautiful tapestry of community, creation, and embracing our gloriously imperfect humanity. In this episode, Jan shares her transformative journey from small-town North Carolina to the highlands of Guatemala, where she spent decades working in healthcare and learning from Mayan culture. Jan takes us through:
How collaborative, imperfect gods gave Jan permission to embrace mistakes
Why Maya women weave multiple roles, businesses, and dreams into one integrated life
How the concept of "Susto" (soul loss) offers profound insights into healing
A revolutionary approach to values-based living
Why "everyone has a roof" in Guatemala and what Americans can learn about true interconnectedness
American Book Fest has recognized my memoir Bird's Eye View: A Tapestry of Maya Mythology, Motherhood, and Making Live Anew as a finalist for the 2024 Best Book Award in the cross-genre category. Grateful for this acknowledgment of my work!
Interview on the Cameron Journal
“Today on The Cameron Journal we are talking about Bird’s Eye View by Jan Capps. In this book she shares her experiences about living and working in the central American country of Guatemala. This is a tough conversation but very fruitful. Strap in for an eventful episode.”
Podcast interview
Jan was featured in the podcast And Then Everything Changed in which she shared her story. As a young woman, Jan found refuge from her deteriorating family life by working with immigrant farmworkers and farmworker women to help them create more just and equitable lives in the US. She moved to Guatemala to work as a community organizer for a health program so she could better understand the poverty and inequity for so many living in Central America.
Upon her return to the US, she met a man she thought shared her vision and commitment, with whom she had a child and married. After a decade of planning with her husband to realize what she thought was a joint dream -- to embark on a great adventure to move to Latin America with their daughter -- and just three months before they were set to leave, her husband backed out of the trip. Within weeks he backed out of the marriage. Jan eventually decided to continue the journey without him and took a position as a clinic administrator for a small non-project organization in rural Guatemala and moved with her daughter to a Maya village for a year. As a single mother, working full time as an immigrant in a poor country, she was faced with the consequences of her commitment, the paradox of privilege when trying to blend in, and what it means to have dreams change.