Taking care of ghosts and hugging monsters

the times are urgent; let us slow down

-Bayo Akomolafe

Slowing down is about lingering in the places we are not used to. Seeking out new questions. Becoming accountable to more than what rests on the surface. Seeking roots. Slowing down is taking care of ghosts, hugging monsters, sharing silence, embracing the weird. If a humanist response to, say, the killing of whales or police violence urges us to do more and more to stop these phenomena, the call to slow down reminds us that we do not simply act upon the world (as if the world were external to our actions, or as if we were external to it), we are the world in its ongoing action-ing. As a result, we might come to examine our complicity in class issues and how the loss of immediate connections with the ‘wilds’ renders us moderns poor spokespeople for the wellbeing of the nonhuman.

(For the full post, click here. Bayo is one of our modern poet philosophers who'll get you questioning your questions).

Hello Friends -

We've found each other. We are finding each other. I like to take a deep breath with these words. To feel myself arriving in this space of speaking with you, connecting with you, feeling what's alive with you and between us.

I've been thinking about what if love is the new germ and we all become super spreaders.

In my practice, I spend a lot of time focusing on the basics of good health. Nourishing food for the body. Proper rest. Regenerative MOVEMENT. Optimal elimination (through sweat, poop, pee, breath and tears). Thinking positive thoughts. Perserverance. Courage. Gaiety. The willingness to grow.

Here's a short checklist:

What's a nourishing diet for you?

How often are you cooking for yourself?

How fresh is the food you eat?

How many hours do you sleep?

Do you wake up at night to use the bathroom?

How's your sleep hygiene (dark room, no TV, screens, noise).

Do you have to use sleep aids? Do you snore?

Are you moving your body and is it restorative movement?

Are you sweating regularly?

The lymphatic system, the garbage management system of the body, only moves if you move. Shaking at least 10 minutes a day, doing hydrotherapy (hot and cold water treatments), dry skin brushing, castor oil packs are essential ways to get the garbage out.

In creating treatment plans for folks who want to feel better I look at all aspects of health. Emotional health, financial health, relationship health, community well-being - these are all a part of the great story of being human. Having a sense of purpose is part of this. I create treatment plans that are doable, elegant, simple and targeted. Some of the people who come to see me bring a bag of 30 supplements! This is simply too much! If you have any digestive troubles you can bet many of those expensive pills are going straight into the toilet.

Lately I've been encouraging you to join me for weekly Qi Gong. I know of no other movement therapy that puts you in touch with the greater whole, where you feel the embodiment of we are the world in its ongoing action-ing, that fully revitalizes you and that you only need your body for.