My tantra teacher, Rudy Ballentine, always suggested trying a detox when I didn’t feel well. And, I must admit, I was always resistant to this idea. I didn’t want too because it triggered feelings of being deprived and controlled around food, from my childhood.
Alas, I started doing detoxes about 10 years ago and whenever, AND I REALLY DO MEAN WHENEVER I did one I always felt better!!! But, big sigh, I am still resistant to doing them. Every spring I try to talk myself out of doing a detox. Ideally we would detox twice a year….once in the fall and once in the spring, every 6 months.
And guess what! Spring is kind of here. And I’m saying out loud, to you all, that I am going to do a detox in April or early May. Ok? And I will support anyone else who wants to do one, seriously.

Now, why would you do a cleanse/detox?
Because you are experiencing:
-inability to concentrate/brain fog
-fatigue and lack of energy
-digestive complaints
-muscle weakness
A grounds keeper at the Himalayan Institute said, “Machinery doesn’t break down because it’s old. It breaks down because of dirt that collects inside. That’s what wears out the moving parts and ruins it. If you keep it clean, it will last almost forever.”
This is a quote from the detox chapter in Rudy’s book, Radical Healing. I highly recommend reading this, it’s wonderful and explains detoxification in a thorough way. Once you understand what needs cleansing you can choose the right type of detox for you.
Here’s to a lighter us!
Lizz

Exploring the rhythm within your body directs your focus inward and offers an opportunity to experience your unique pulse and movement. Awareness of your rhythms will bring increased capacity and potency.
The most bold and loud rhythm in your body is your breath. Notice the rhythm of the inhalation and exhalation. Change your breath pattern, and investigate what happens. As your lungs fill with air, your diaphragm moves. Diaphragm movement will elicit other movements throughout your body.
The beat of your heart is a softer rhythm. Can you feel this beat in your chest, through your fingers touching your wrist, or in your belly? When does you heart rhythm increase, how does it slow down?
The subtlest rhythm is, as John Upledger describes it, “the subtle pulsation of the craniosacral system as cerebrospinal fluid circulates through it in a dynamic loop.” You can feel this by touch with your hands or through proprioception in your joints. To explore your craniosacral rhythm, place your hands gently around your ears, using soft contact, and feel with your hands. Notice the expansion and releasing.
Rhythm can be a road map to pleasure, openness, and ease.
xo,
Alex

Spring makes me think of change. I love this season — the bursting forth of that which was hidden, but growing and moving under the surface this whole time. The lush greens that come back. The dripping rain off the trees.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about transformation. I’ve been experiencing more panic and anxiety than I ever remember feeling. Maybe it’s the political climate, maybe it’s my personal body chemistry, maybe it’s all the changes — who knows. But it all has me asking, how do I cultivate more transformation in my life, in my body? How do I change an energetic or emotional state that I’m in, while still honoring that state, not pushing it away?
I’ve got a small list of things I’m keeping in my notebook, and going to it when I feel myself in that frenzied state:

• Writing down everything I’m feeling in a fast-write, or in a letter to a particular person (that I won’t send)
• Calling or texting a friend and asking them to lend an ear, to listen to me
• Doing some alternative nostril breathing
• Doing some tapping
• Calling my therapist for a phone session
• Going through the steps of The Work, Byron Katie’s theory for a stronger and happier mind
• Distracting myself with a good book (currently it’s the romance novel How Not To Fall by Emily Foster which, I will absolutely admit, I am loving a lot) or with a good TV show (I’ve been watching through the seasons of Mad Men that I missed)
• Putting my face/head into a bowl of ice (okay, I haven’t actually tried this one, but my therapist suggested it, and guarantees it works to change one’s state of mind. I’m holding it for when I really need a jump-start!)
• Drinking detox tea, or doing other things to detoxify my body, like going to a sauna, scrubbing my skin, eating extra vegetables

I don’t usually do all of them, but sometimes I have to go down the list to three or four before I feel better. Do you have particular things you do when you notice your emotional state spiraling out?
Lots of love,
Zed

Zed and I were just recording the upcoming episode of the podcast. We were pondering the idea of sprouting. What makes us sprout? What calls us forward? What makes that sprout thick, engorged, with energy to push up and out into the world?
Wikipedia says “… in a general sense, germination can be thought of as anything expanding into greater being from a small existence or germ.”
I like that idea of expanding into greater being. My ego wants to believe that it is my energy, my impulse that push ideas (like the coloring book) out into the world. But what if some of it is a pull—from the planet, from the universe, calling it forth.
I breathe a sigh of relief at that thought because then, if that’s true, part of my job is to simply not get in the way.
What are you sprouting or what is being sprouted through you?
xo,
Amy

Germination is the theme for February! It is: The process of something coming into existence and developing after a period of dormancy.
Where are you in your germination process and what might be coming alive right now?
AND, how the heck might you find out if you don’t know?
For me, getting out of my head and into my body helps me know what’s coming to life inside myself.
Practices to try that all get you out of your head and into your body……and please, feel free to share other practices that work for you!

• Breath of Fire/Kapalabhati Pranayama : helps one to think better and make decisions quickly
• Sun Salutations: Gets your blood and breath flowing so new and spontaneous creations may come alive
• Ecstasy/Pleasure: Find an opportunity to create ecstasy because it can strengthen and potentize your physical/energy body.

And! This Sunday there is a new moon AND solar eclipse. Lena Stevens from The Power Path says: “Surrender is your ticket into playing the crucial game you signed up for ~ learning to trust Spirit, your intuition, your heart, trust in the goodness of others.”
Spring is coming, and that’s a good thing.
Deep breaths and love to you,
Lizz

This time of year germination begins beneath the soil. To germinate, seeds swell with water. The action in germination is a quickening, a transformation of cells. And it requires water.
Winter in Seattle, everything is saturated. Water seeping, spilling, washing, soaking and supporting germination. In some Ayurveda writings, it is noted that drinking water can balance qualities associated with emotional and spiritual emaciation and dehydration.
Take a moment and sense what seeds are dormant, what seeds are swelling. If you feel flat or dry, drink some water. Nurture what is germinating by adding water.

Music has been respite for me lately. From silly and catchy to serious to battle cries, I turn it on to soothe my nerves, reconnect, be inspired.
I’ve been following the political developments often, getting involved with Countable and the Indivisible Guide, and keeping track of what kind of actions are next. I’ve been horrified, terrified.
But underneath that, I’ve been inspired. People are mobilizing in a way I’ve never seen, in a way many folks are commenting on as unprecedented. Folks who have never been activists are showing up and asking what they can do.
This is one of the songs I’ve been listening to over and over … it has been settling me, and helping me accept the inevitable present moment, no matter how much I still want to be in some sort of denial that this is happening. And the sprouting baby-green seedlings of activism are so precious, and fuel me daily.

Everything Must Change

Nina Simone

Maybe it had to get this bad before it was going to get any better. How many times have I heard activists and change-makers say, “How do we wake people up?”
It has to get really, really uncomfortable before someone is willing to adjust, before they’re interested in becoming involved in a deeper way. Maybe this is it.
I go back and forth between being involved, reading things, keeping up with the latest executive order, and also some profoundly deep self-care. Rituals, honorings of my body, time with my sweetheart, really good nourishing food, spending time in nature, in the rain, by the ocean. Both have felt so necessary.
How are you doing in this time of change? What seeds of resistance or growth or activism are sprouting in you?
— Zed
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” – Fred Rogers
Nina Simone painting by Chris Gerbaux

The seasonal theme for February is “germination”. This poem, by James Longenbach, addresses that while still capturing the darkness and potency being called forth in these last few weeks.
May it give you a moment—a rejuvenating, germinating pause—before turning back to the front lines.
— Amy
Buried Life
by James Longenbach
Imagine cities you’ve
Inhabited, streets
Paved in lava stone.
You never intended to pray
In the temples, had
Nothing to sell.
Now imagine yourself
Returning to those same cities.
Hunt for people you knew,
Knock on their doors.
Ask yourself
Where are the vases, animals
Etched in gold?
Where are the wines
From distant places,
Banquets ferreted
From the bowels of the earth?
While you were missing
Other people wore
Your garments,
Slept in your bed.
How frightening
The man who said
In his affliction
Wood has hope.
Cut down
It will flourish.
If the root grows old
And the trunk withers
In dust, at the scent of water
It will germinate.