“Oh Erin,” she said, pouring more wine into my glass. “Never, ever, ever offer unsolicited advice”. She gave me a look of pity, chagrined and frustrated that I was so dense. “It’s literally the best way to shut down a conversation before it even starts”. Allie, my college bestie, is the greatest mother I know. […]
People believe. It’s what people do. They believe. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that rock solid belief that makes things happen. ~Shadow Moon, in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods In his classic book American Gods, Neil Gaiman postulates that […]
A few years ago, I facilitated a yoga retreat in the Costa Rican jungle. We spent the week meditating, eating fresh food grown on property, flowing through sun salutes as the monkeys screamed in the trees. It was time out of time, a magical coda of humid sunshine and cacophonous tree frogs, hiking through the […]
If we are to reach real peace in the world, we shall have to begin with the children. ~Mahatma Ghandi Another week, another school shooting. I felt nauseous as I read about the tragic Parkland shooting last Thursday. I closed my eyes, sent a prayer to those parents who didn’t get to send their children […]
Running is an integral part of the Native American Zuni tribe culture, a hallowed form of self-expression. In a ceremony called the kick stick race, the fastest runners test their spirit and stamina by running barefoot for more than 25 miles through the sage and chaparral while kicking small, sacred sticks along the course. When […]
I’ve been feeling melancholy lately, a restless and dissatisfied malaise I know all too well. Like an unwelcome houseguest, this general feeling of discontent shows up when the cold and wind keep me locked indoors too long, when my glimpses of sunsets and running deer are only through widows. In many traditional shamanic communities, if […]
