Nourishment as Devotion w/ Chef Ava Malazian: Scan with Love, Serve with Heart

The Circle: The Queer Men's Embodiment Podcast

What does it mean to truly nourish someone—body and soul? Chef Ava Malazian joins us to explore cooking as a sacred practice, where structure creates safety and play brings the meal to life. We talk about scanning the room with love (not fear), setting intentions for others and for ourselves, and how mastery lets the right-brain “dance” in the kitchen.

From reiki-through-hands to grocery-store scavenger hunts, Ava shows how food becomes “the perfume of the elixir” that keeps working long after the plates are cleared. We also get practical: build strength to support your craft, choose the feeling you want now, and bring reciprocity to every act of service. Come hungry—leave resourced.

Chapter Markers

00:00 – Welcome & Why Nourishment Matters in Men’s Work
Eric frames the episode for queer men’s embodiment, introducing Chef Ava and the idea of nourishment as devotion within retreat containers and embodiment practices.

01:02 – Meet Chef Ava: Intuitive Cooking & Sacred Kitchen
Ava shares her process as a retreat chef—setting intention, scanning the field with love, and turning the kitchen into a somatic, sacred space for healing and community.

05:30 – Container Work: Masculine Structure, No-Leak Energy
Tim and Ava define “leaky energy,” how to hold a clear container, and why grounded masculine structure enables safety, presence, and deeper embodiment work.

10:40 – Reciprocity & Flow: The Right-Brain Dance of Cooking
From “the perfume of the elixir” to color-rich plates, Ava describes intuitive cooking as art you can eat—an embodied practice that continues to nourish after the meal.

18:30 – From Resistance to Wonder: Yin/Yang in Daily Practice
How masculine/feminine energy (yin/yang) translates beyond gender; shifting from resistance to curiosity to access presence, creativity, and somatic regulation.

24:30 – Divine Feminine & the Fertile Dark
Ava explores goddess energy (Annapurna), the creative “dark” as fertile ground, and how honoring the feminine essence elevates nourishment and men’s embodiment work.

29:20 – Motherhood, Oxytocin & Many-Body Nourishment
Food as medicine across the physical, emotional, and subtle bodies; the science–spirit bridge (oxytocin) and how love-infused meals build trust in retreat containers.

34:30 – Practical Tools: Intention, Reiki Hands, Chant & Media Hygiene
Actionable practices—heart tapping, reiki-through-hands, mantra/chant, and mindful consumption—to bring sacred attention to everyday cooking and self-care.

38:50 – Strength for Your Craft: “Huggers,” Training & Consistency
Embodied strength as capacity (not aesthetics): why training, posture, and consistency build self-trust men can feel—on the mat, in the gym, and in the kitchen.

46:30 – Blessing & Close: Scan with Love, Serve with Heart
Gratitude for community (Embodied Masculine retreats), Chef Ava’s closing blessing, and an invitation to keep practicing presence, reciprocity, and nourishment.