For the past few weeks, I've had a delicious morning ritual: drinking a cup of cardamom black tea while reading a small and stunning guide to narrative nature writing. This morning, I was reading the chapter on narrative arc, which the author, Kathryn Aalto, defines as "the architecture of curiosity about change." I loved this—sighed, in fact, when I read it. The architecture of curiosity about change. This could be a descriptor of the arc of our lives, couldn't it? Whe

It is so easy to forget ourselves in the tumult of living. This has been one of the fullest years I've ever had. There is much beauty in what I've been involved in — restructuring my business, writing a book, doing a complete hands-on renovation of an old farmhouse, trying to be present for my family and community — but it's been a lot. I know so many of you can relate. As central as mindfulness, contemplative practices, and embodiment are to my life, I have found myself do

Several years ago, in a dimly-lit meditation hall far up in the North Carolina mountains, I heard an unusual version of the First Noble Truth – a core tenant of Buddhism – that felt like a sigh of relief. Commonly translated as “Life is suffering,” the meditation teacher that day shared that a truer translation might be “Life is ungovernable.” Ungovernable: meaning, there is never going to be a point at which everything comes permanently together, stays perfectly still in j

Movement as unmediated knowing.

Your hands are portals to aliveness.

How to care and take care without burning out.

Lessons from THE ODYSSEY on withdrawal as a healing act.

Tuning your nervous system in the direction of goodness.

Learning to trust that something good will rise to meet us.

Letting yourself be where you are.

When you're ready for change, very often, the earth is too.

Respecting our need for spaciousness is a gift the world needs.

Being with the in-between.