Are you a nutritional renunciate or householder?

Key Points: 1. The archetypes of the “Renunciate” and the “Householder” have their roots in Eastern philosophy, but apply quite nicely to Western nutritional struggles. 2. Which of these sounds harder…making progress by entirely giving up foods you enjoy, or making progress despite NOT doing so? 3. Each path has positives and negatives, but the … Read more

Do you have this common misconception about meditation?

Key Points: 1. Meditative practices provide one of the best strategies for handling discomfort. 2. However, there are a ton of misconceptions about what meditation is. 3. Put simply, meditation is a focus on “being” rather than “doing.” It’s definitely not about trying to stop thinking! Estimated Reading Time: 4-8 Minutes Last week, we briefly … Read more

Is it all in your head?

Key Points: 1. We tend to think of the mind and body as two different “things.” 2. But, separating mind and body requires drawing arbitrary lines that don’t actually exist. 3. Doing so has negative consequences on our physical and mental health, which aren’t actually different things! Estimated Reading Time: 4-8 Minutes I wanted to … Read more

Why is Change So Hard? Emotional Homeostasis

Key Points: 1. Homeostasis is the tendency of living organisms to maintain equilibrium. 2. Emotions are associated with the presence of various hormones and neurotransmitters in the body. 3. Our bodies actively try to keep us in the same general emotional state, positive or negative. We can use this knowledge to make change easier! Estimated … Read more

Out of the Dark and into a Hurricane

Well, I’m out of the darkness and back into the world of the light. The experience was varyingly intense, peaceful, joyful, challenging, boring, exciting, scary, and highly insightful. I plan to write a much more detailed piece about the experience in due time, once I’ve finished transcribing my darkness journals and utilizing the benefit of … Read more