The healing power of water

Delving into the enriching experience of nature’s medicine

During my 6 month drive around the USA, I swam in lakes, rivers and waterfalls nearly every day, and every time I did, I felt that a part of me healed, both physically and spiritually.

When I realized how much my body craved water, and how much of a tolerance I built to swimming in icy cold 50 degree glacier water, I knew the hype was true about cold plunges and the healing powers of water.

A study by the University of Oregon found that brief 15 minute hot water baths benefit arthritis, lowers blood pressure, relieves muscle spasms, cramps, internal congestion and relaxes the body.

Brief cold water baths, about 3 minutes or less have positive effects like lowering extreme fever from disease or heart attack, and increasing energy level. A cold water bath also stimulates the body, promotes resistance to disease and increases vitality.

Water has a unique ability to lift our spirits by restoring and refreshing the mind and body, but it goes deeper. Surfers and sailors are say there is something spiritual about being out on the water. The tranquil sounds of moving water and the beauty and serenity of bodies of water are compelling reasons to leave your other thoughts and worries behind.

Flowing water has a calming effect on people because of the soothing sound of rushing water which can be meditative and calming.

Water’s healing capacity as a medical treatment is well-documented historically. Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine, stated that "nature should be used to heal the body”. He was a strong advocate of baths as medical treatment nearly 2500 years ago. Spas and bathhouse were initially created as places of healing and cleansing, then later became the social gatherings they are today.

Bath houses or spas offered a variety of healing options like hot or cold water baths, sea or mineral water treatments, showers, steam and sauna rooms, or exercise and therapy in the waters. Many of the illnesses and injuries from ancient times were cured or assuaged with ‘the waters.’

Water cures have fallen out of favor in recent centuries, but there is a reason people feel so connected to water. It's still there, it hasn't lost its healing powers, and it's available to us whenever we want.

Everything we need to heal ours, nature has already given us. We just gotta get out and see for ourselves ✨🧚🌿🌊💧💦

Animals teach us so much!

“Until one has love an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — Anatole France

Hands down the greatest joy in my life and during this trip is experiencing it with Franklin. This little guy has taught me so much about joy, unconditional love, strength and resilience. He is the light of my life and the best dog I could have ever hoped for.

Franklin has multiple medical issues stemming from his eye injury (cause is unknown as he was brought to the shelter as a stray & already injured) including breathing problems, one eye and a cracked skull, but he doesn't let any of that crap hold him back. He goes on every crazy hike with me and follows me around (albeit begrudgingly at times) when I pull over to the side of the road AGAIN to snap a random photo.

He truly is the embodiment of what it means to be alive and live life every moment to the fullest.

I've been dealing with multiple personal issues in my life and he is there for me every step of the way, reminding me that no matter what happens you can still live and love life. Everything comes, and everything goes. What matters is how you react to it and this guy doesn't let anything affect him.

Thank you for going on this journey of life with me, Franklin, and this quite literal journey across the country. Thank you for dealing with my crazy hikes, forest walks, waterfall swims, countless photo shoots, loud singing in the car and solo cries on our drives when I need to get something out. I'm so glad we found each other five years ago at the @austinpetsalive animal shelter in Austin.

Animals truly are perfect therapy companions to help you heal, provide comfort and joy to those who need it. They also teach you the cycle of life. How life is precious. Animals come to this earth, they are a blessing to us, we connect with them, we bond with them, and most of the time, they leave this earth before we do. And all we are left with are the memories, experiences, and lessons they left with us on this earth.

I’ve been around animals my entire life, and I’m so glad I was raised in an environment close to nature, surrounded by mountains, trees, and all kinds of wildlife. It truly made me appreciate, respect, and learn from the nature around me, wherever I am.

Happy 4th of July! Why I'm so thankful for this country

These days we are so polarized with everything going on in the world, it’s hard to not be affected by all the negativity. Here’s why I’m so thankful to be in America.

🎉 Happy 4th of July, everyone! 🎉

This past year has been one of the most transformative of my life, and I’ve been so blessed to be able to travel around and enjoy life despite everything going on. I feel that sometimes we get so caught up in the negativity in the media, with politics and so much other crap that we forget how truly blessed we are.

Being able to travel around the country, meet real people with real lives, completely separated from all the noise we are told to listen to and focus on, was such a blessing for me. I met the sweetest, kindest people in this country from all walks of life, races and cultures, that really showed me we are not so divided and separated from each other as we think.

I’m so grateful to be able to live a life that enables me to get out of my bubble and explore this country and people and experiences firsthand. This is a beautiful country, with so many hidden gems, incredible sights, nature, and different landscapes and topography in every state. It has kind and caring people who live off the land and will invite a perfect stranger to their home for dinner. This happened to me on multiple occasions.

The USA is full of natural beauty with countless adventures and places to explore. I've only just scratched the surface. It’s also full of kind and caring people. People who invited me to their homes for dinner, who jumped at the chance to help donate to my Ukrainian friend in need, who offered me places to stay when I returned from my travels and didn’t have a space of my own.

We are not as divided as the media and politics want us to think. We are not so different. We are not one side evil, one side good. No person is fully good or fully evil. We are incredible human beings that are complex, dynamic, kind, and caring, but also emotional, irrational, and irritable. We are all so different but yet, the same.

I truly hope that each one of you get to experience the true beauty both in nature and with each other. It's a wonderful country with so much opportunity and magic, you just have to choose to see it. It's out there, because I'm experiencing it now. So have a chat with someone today. Connect with an old friend, smile at the stranger in the supermarket, appreciate the sun over your head and the food you eat.

Happy Independence Day, America. Thank you for allowing me to build a beautiful life here after escaping the horrible abuses from the cult I grew up in. Thank you for giving me a place to build a home and allowing me the opportunities to go on life’s endless adventures. I honor you, I thank you, and I honor the ancestors that fought for their freedoms to allow me to live this life.

Cemeteries & Graveyards...what is the fascination?

Visiting the Civil War graves in Vermont

I’ve always loved finding old cemeteries. Every small town I drive through I always stop at the graveyards to see what is the oldest grave there. I found a grave from 1706 in a town outside of Austin. I found another family from 1809 that seemed to have all died within months of each other. Up north the graves are older, from the 1600s.

The way each country buries their dead differs by culture, but even in the US there are small nuances as to how each state buries those who have passed on. If you’ve ever been to Louisiana you’d see the famous above ground mausoleum graves, or personal family graves buried in the canyons of New Mexico, the meticulously laid out graves at Arlington cemetery, or here in New England, graves on the hillsides and forests.

Worldwide if you’ve ever visited gravesites or cemeteries you would see the differences in the cultures as well. In Asia there are many temples with graves. In Ecuador there are fantastic gravesites with white marble headstones dotting the hills around towns. In Europe there are graves in forests and mountains.

In the USA it’s hard to find truly old graves like that in Europe, but up in the New England area are some of the oldest graves in the country. I was able to find burial grounds from the 1700s, and found out that there were Civil War cemeteries on top of hills overlooking mountains., like those in these photos.

While in Vermont I spent all morning looking for the civil war graves buried by a beautiful lake. It seemed that no one really knew where they were, you had to sort of find them for yourself. When I finally did, it was breathtaking experience. All the graves are exactly as they had been, barely any upkeep, slowly allowing nature to take over.

I like cemeteries for their peacefulness, but also the juxtaposition between life and death. Here I am, a walking, breathing, vibrant human being, walking among those who have passed on, stepping on the ground that had become their final resting place. It makes me reflect on my life, what I’m doing with it, and what these people’s final moments were like.

Many think it’s macabre or wrong to enjoy cemeteries so much, but it’s more the feeling of the culture, of times passed, history gone by and the remembrance of how life is fleeting and all we can do to make the most of it, is our very best.

Visiting this cemetery in particular was such an incredible experience. I’m so grateful for this life and the ability to do things like this that I love, which give me so much joy, fascinating and intrigue for life!

What is the deal with "letting go"?

Breaking down the art of letting go…and why it’s so misinterpreted

Throughout my healing process I came across a lot of words, quotes, coaches, spiritual teachers, etc, talk about the importance of "letting go", and if you don't, then you have "resistance" to it. Hell, I even started talking about letting go before I fully understood the concept.

Here's why the term “letting go” immediately triggers you and turns people off when used by others as spiritual bypassing or by those who do not know how to truly implement it.

Letting go is hard for anyone who has experienced trauma. Their whole life has been out of control, why would they let go again? When you tell a trauma survivor to let go, that is probably the worst thing you can do, as you're telling them to let go of everything they worked to get HOLD OF in their recovery. 

Letting go is hard if you've grown up with a strict religion and the idea of a scary god. Or if you've let go and put your trust in others before, such as those in power, and it backfired. For these and other reasons, using the term letting go is meaningless.

So what is letting go, really? There are many forms, but I am speaking of challenges in life, the spiritual practice of appropriate action, when you choose next steps for a specific situation. 

Letting go is trusting that you are supported by something greater than yourself. That you will find the courage to act at the right time, but not be attached to any outcome or demand a specific result. Letting go does not mean letting go of life, from now to infinity, floating around in time and space. No. It simply means you trust you are protected and guided, just enough to put one foot in front of the other. You do not need clarity on what to do, only that you will do whatever it takes to care for yourself first.

This is how we live in peace, in flow, and in harmony with ourselves and our intuition. But, how do we get there? How do you safely let go? What is the process? In my 39 years of life, I've never had someone explain it clearly until I came across Linda Howe, who provides such a simple method that I cannot believe no one has articulated this before. 

Linda explains that the safest way to practice the art of letting go is to put your trust in something dependable first. This could be anything from the cycles of the moon, the power that causes seeds to sprout, planets in orbit, the sun to rise, your vital organs working. This is something tangible, and something reliable. 

You do not have to put your trust in a higher power or The Divine, it has nothing to do with spirituality, it just has to be meaningful to you. Think about what that is. Waves crashing on a beach? Birds flying in the sky? Literally anything that is a constant in your life, and when you think about it, there are many. It's possible to let go into something you trust. 

When you find that constant, then begin to relax into the idea that there is a power for good at work in your life, and you can trust it without a second thought. Learn to trust what you can see, before trusting what you can't see. This is the safest way for your nervous system to begin to relax. Then, only then, can you start to let go. Eventually, you won’t have to keep letting go, because you’ll always be in flow, you won’t be swimming upstream, pushing through, and white knuckling it through life. You will just be.

Then, you can start all that other spiritual stuff. Try it, and see how it works for you.

MAGIC...it's real

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” — Roald Dahl

I felt magic walking in the fields amongst the fireflies, walking naked in the woods in the creek and swimming in the lakes around Montana. Magic is everywhere, in the earth, in the trees, in the wind, in the animals, in us. It's just up to you if you want to open your eyes to see it or not.