I find myself part of a trillion dollar "Wellness" industry that largely tells people they need to buy the right stuff to look and feel the "right way" (read: thin, young, white, perky, perpetually joyful).
Ahem - fuck that. Fuck the fads and the cleanses and the diets and the Performance and Aesthetic of Wellness.
I want Real Wellness - finding a deep sense of home, belonging, comfort and ease within my body. True Wellness to me is connecting with our wild and wise bodies, being in respectful and appreciative relationship with them, learning to listen to and be guided by them.
Wellness isn't how you appear from the outside - it's about a rooted steadiness from deep within. It's not about buying the right products or leaping on all the trends, it's about connecting with your deepest, truest, wise inner self, learning to listen to and really care for yourself, so we can navigate the world in a way that is less reactive, less polarizing, and less harm-causing. So that the care we give ourselves ripples outward and feeds the care we're able to give our families and communities and world.
And yes, this is also in the service of Feeling Better, because when we as individuals feel better, when we are more grounded and steady, not only are we less reactive and cause less harm, we also have more energy and capacity and clarity to pour ourselves into What Really Matters. For me What Really Matters is raising regulated children who actually like themselves and want to leave the world better than they found it. What Really Matters is being in right relationship with the earth and tending this piece of land I steward, growing food and medicine for my community. What Really Matters is showing up to support others, to accept them in all their messiness, to preach and practice self compassion so we can all be kinder to ourselves and by extension each other.
This world is polarized. There's so very much work to do and it's easy to collapse under the weight of it. But carving out space to tend ourselves and our own wounds so that we can get clarity and get to work on Our Unique Piece is a worthwhile space to start.
I want folks who come see me to feel safe, supported and totally accepted. I want to normalize all the feelings, all the states of being human, to reassure you that you're okay just as you are. I want you to take a moment to relax outward striving, to know you are enough just by being.
And once we find that, once we connect to the inner sense of wellness and vitality that is our very birthright - we are able to move in nourishing aligned action out into the world. We need both of these things.
I want to help you connect to your steady, powerful, wise, deep, resilient body hidden under all the trappings and conditioning of our culture and upbringings and traumas. I want to support you in finding belonging - to your body, to your place in this world beyond human community (because that is often fraught and fluctuating) - a belonging that is unconditional and deeply fortifying.
We do this in Council sessions - where we get you into your body and draw forth wisdom from your own inner knowing. To be clear, I'm not counselling or coaching people here, I'm supporting them to find a clear guiding voice from deep within themselves - only you know what you need to hear.
We also do this on the table, with Acupuncture and Bodywork (which sometimes feels like massage/manipulation/acupressure, and sometimes the gentle touch of more subtle energy work). We do this with Plant Medicine, bringing in herbal allies to support us physically, emotionally, and energetically throughout our days. We sometimes do this by weaving in journey, imaginal realms, ritual or take-home practices.
I want you to Feel Better. To Feel Good. To Feel Really Well. And I want you to take that with you out into the world to spread and share and inspire more wellness amid all the pain.
Thoughts? What does this stir for you? I'd love to hear.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash