In-person iteration in Oakland starting this Fall!

We need each other now more than ever. And we need to remember our aliveness, and reach for the aliveness in the world, as a way to fortify and embolden ourselves. Let’s circle up and ground into practices together. 

When I wrote “how to be alive in a dying world” 6 years ago, I knew that ever-larger crises were unfolding but I didn’t know what forms they would take. The words came through one day when I was walking in the woods, and now I want to return to what was given, to try to build these words into practice. Will you join me?

The zine holds 11 seeds/prompts/commitments and each month we will work with an herbal essence, weekly writing prompts, and somatic practices grounded in this idea, to help shape our month. At the end of each cycle we’ll gather to share, explore and witness what has unfolded.

My intention is for this to be a container that can help hold us through the fear and the unknown, and to help us to get present, so that we might show up more fully in our embodied commitments to care and solidarity. This offering can be particularly useful for activists, organizers and care workers.

Our gatherings will be monthly, 10 am-12pm PST on the first Sunday of the month. We will meet in a large backyard in the Laurel district of Oakland when it’s not raining and when it’s raining we can be masked indoors- for full accessibility info please see below! The cost is sliding scale $45-$65 monthly for the herbs, prompts and practice gatherings and please be able to commit to a whole year of practice together. Registration will be capped at 10 people.

September 7th- Gather up. Meet each other, share our collective intentions and receive the first package.

October 5th- Notice.“Notice your aliveness in breath, pulse, warmth. Sensation as here, as home.” Themes: Grounding into our bodies. Presence as power. Embodied pleasure as an anti-capitalist and an anti-fascist move.

November 2nd- Greet. “Greet the aliveness of rain, weed, fir, raven, rat. Hold their aliveness as stunning, instructive. Widen your gaze.” Themes: Connecting to the more than human realm. Honoring the adaptability of the creatures around us. 

December 7th- Give thanks. “Give thanks morning and night. Till this is the rhythm of your hours.” Themes: Gratitude as a practice rather than a bypass. Finding the sparks, even in pain and difficulty.  

January 4th- Pray. “Pray into the unknown and the unfolding. There is so much you will never understand. Whisper, mumble, sing, into this complexity.” Themes: Being with mystery. Power and powerlessness. Moving with possibility. Spiritual practice as emergence. 

Feb 1st- Cry. “Cry as often as possible. Grieve the small betrayals. Grieve the large extinctions. Learn to wail.” Themes: Grief practices. Allowing ourselves to feel. What emerges from the alchemy of sorrow. 

March 1st- Nourish. “Nourish with foods, with words, with touch. Learn to receive. Remember that care is other than consumption.” Themes: Finding what sustains us. Receiving care.

April 5th- Tend. “Tend to your life, your loves, your plants. Wash and water and cook and sweep and know that maintenance is a prayer for survival.” Themes: Rituals of tangible care. Offering material support and mutual aid.

May 3rd- Shed. “Shed the shame that scores, that tracks, that defends. Shed the “good” and “bad” that inhibits presence. Loose the stories that keep you small. Be curious.” Themes: Opening ourselves to change. Moving outside of binaries. Compassion and commitment both.

June 7th- Listen. “Listen, pause, acknowledge, apologize. Do the mending that is asked for.” Themes: Finding a presence in receptivity. Practicing accountability.

July 5th- Respond. “Respond. Do the work of love. Be guided by mentors, by elders, by intuition that points a way. Choose grounded action over complicit comfort any day.” Themes: Finding ways into aligned action. Mapping our guides and networks.

August 2nd- Reciprocate. “Reciprocate with your attention, your pleasure, your joy. Offer this: your awe at all the embers. Everywhere, life wanting to live.” Themes: Aliveness as an offering. Creativity and connection.

Accessibility info: There is street parking and though the location is far from BART there are bus lines nearby on High Street and Macarthur. There is a paved path with some uneven cobblestones to enter the backyard, about a 30 ft pathway to the backyard. There are cushioned low chairs without arms, and some wooden chairs with and without arms. The home is fragrance free inside, please do not come with fragrances. There is access to a bathroom, with one step to enter the house. There is a 30 lb hypoallergenic poodle who lives here part time. No other pets are invited unless they are support animals. Please reach out if you have a support animal to coordinate in advance.

*The cost that you choose below will be the amount you’re charged monthly.