I spent a weekend camping out in the unbroken wilderness of the Alaska mountainside. It’s so easy for me to let work take over my life, and I forget that I live somewhere so expansive and nourishing at a deep soul level.
 
In August, I’ll be taking 3 weeks off (my first vacation since May 2017), to go Dall Sheep hunting in the high mountains of Alaska.

I hope you may be able to find some small way to reconnect with the natural world around you over the coming months.

I recently discovered this Lament for The World from the podcast, The Emerald. If you’ve got 90 minutes to sit down with a good sound system or headphones, this episode is a magnificent deep dive into environmental grief.
 
“The consequences of ecosystem destruction, species loss, industrialization, social inequality, and rising extremism can be felt everywhere- acutely, in the bodies of those affected by environmental toxicity, armed conflict, and class divide, and more subtly in the gnawing sense of anxiety that pervades the modern psyche.” This podcast, featuring original music by Peia Luzzi and Serena Joy, offers a lament to the natural world, where grief and deep gratitude are one.

I have also been listening to this interview between Charles Eisenstein and Francis Weller on grief and reverence.

On my “To Read” list for this month is The Nature Fix by Florence Williams.
In this book, Florence Williams presents the ever-growing pool of research demonstrating how nature positively affects the human psyche, and how we can preserve these benefits in our world of urbanization.

My session for Collectively Rooted’s recent Expressive Arts Yearlong program is available for individual purchase. For most of my life, I feel like I’ve been waiting for my spaceship to come take me home. My in-utero and post-natal experiences were around nervous systems that wanted “off the planet” (to get out of Vietnam). I’ve never felt truly at ease in the world of humans.
 
This workshop explores this core wounding of existence related to the developmental period of existence needs - the need for safety and space, presence and protection – and offers experiential somatic solicitations.

I will be presenting at the PVI Gathering & Unyte Safe and Sound Summit this October. SSP is my first go-to intervention for all clients, whether trauma therapy or somatic coaching. It is such an honor to be presenting for this event that will bring together the Polyvagal Community for 3.5 days of connection, community and co-regulation centered on nervous system health and the human experience.
 
In my session, I will cover the somatics of trauma within the dynamics of oppressive systems.

Part 3 of my Trauma Series with Chicago Minds is coming up on August 2nd at 4:00pm CST. This session is titled, Working with Developmental Trauma: Demystifying Structural Dissociation of the Personality.
 
Part 2 - Fawning, Appeasement and the Somatics of Trauma Within the Dynamics of Oppressive Systems - is available for purchase here until August 4.

I'd like to extend my gratitude to the British Association of Art Therapists for hosting me as a keynote speaker at their recent annual general meeting. They reached out looking for a keynote focusing on self-care, so my offering centers grief as self-care and soul care. 

Please save the date! I will be leading a one day workshop for the public programs department of CIIS (California Institute for Integral Studies) on Saturday October 15, 2022 about healing the legacy of historical and transgenerational trauma. Registration details will be announced soon.

As a reminder, you can view our collective Uteruses Unite playlist here, and please reach out if you’d like to have a song added!
 
 
In love,
Linda