“It’s not happiness that makes us grateful but gratefulness that makes us happy.” – Br. David Steindl Rast

Tending the Deep Roots

By Erin | November 10, 2022

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human, A teacher of mine used to say “Increasing complexity requires deeper roots,” and wow, how about the complexity these days? It seems to me we need to tend our deep roots. To have a tap root down deep, burrowed into what really matters, tapped into our sane, soulful,…

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A Party for the Broken

By Erin | November 10, 2022

A note from Carl: First, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for all of the 50th birthday wishes. I was truly touched by the kindness shared by so many of you. Thank you. I limped into this new decade on my peg-leg crutch on the long, slow recovery process from my Achilles tendon tear.…

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A Certain Kind of Badass

By Erin | October 3, 2022

A note from Erin: A few days ago I went for a meandering stroll in the canyon and after overnight rain, the golden hills were wafting the sweet incense of autumnal decay. I breathed it in deep. I saw tiny insects and luminous spider threads. I squatted down to watch a big slug cross the…

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A Truer Belonging

By Erin | September 6, 2022

A note from Carl:  Last month I drove to Berkeley, CA, to attend a Circlesongs retreat with Bobby McFerrin. Much of the time when I mention Bobby McFerrin, people reply with “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and while Bobby did write and perform the catchy, vocally instrumental tune, there is so much more to Bobby McFerrin! He…

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Your Animal Body

By Erin | August 23, 2022

Greetings beautiful human, This Saturday, I am teaching a Coming Home to Your Animal Body workshop. What is your animal body? This is a question that I love to simmer in. To me, animal body is not anything esoteric or shamanic, but rather our profoundly ordinary humanness. When Mary Oliver writes that “you only have to let…

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An Invitation to Revel In Praise

By Erin | August 23, 2022

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human, I hope you’re finding ways to delight in the season wherever you are adn whatever else is happening. Delight is necessary. Today I have an invitation for you. I have a new class starting on Wed. July 13th – and whether you join me or not, why not read the…

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Tending the Deep Roots

By Erin | June 30, 2022

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human, A teacher of mine used to say “Increasing complexity requires deeper roots,” and wow, how about the complexity these days? It seems to me we need to tend our deep roots. To have a tap root down deep, burrowed into what really matters, tapped into our sane, soulful,…

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A Return to Natural Movement

By Erin | May 30, 2022

A note from Carl: Greetings Friends, Much of what I teach about movement is not particularly about movement, but rather a quality of approach, a way of relating, a way of being vitally alive and responsive in an animate world. It is natural for us to be awake in our bodies and attuned to the…

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Reverence & Repair

By Erin | May 9, 2022

Helloooooo over there, beautiful being! Shall we make ourselves a bit more comfortable in order to read? How’s your neck? Jaw? Shoulders? Is there anywhere in your body that might like to soften? Can you feel your own bodyweight, right here, as ballast for your grounded presence? Shall we dive in? A note from Erin:…

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What’s Your Holdfast?

By Erin | May 9, 2022

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human. I’m so grateful to be able to reach out to you today. A few years back I heard from a friend who lived with the Quechua people in Peru that in their language, the way they say “thank you” is to say “a little bird flies from my heart to…

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An Important & Underrated Spiritual Practice

By Erin | May 9, 2022

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human. Some thoughts on the underrated and oh so important spiritual practice of having a sense of humor: About yourself About the mess you’re in About the ways you get stuck Again And again And the ways you get in your own way And make things harder than they need…

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A New Year Blessing

By Erin | May 9, 2022

Jan. 1, 2022 A note from Erin: What I really want to say is exactly summarized in this quote from Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel: “Let’s be fierce in our commitment to value and utilize even the most challenging circumstances as a way to deepen our understanding and cultivate compassion for others as well as ourselves. Let’s continuously…

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Releasing the Dam

By Erin | May 9, 2022

Dec. 10, 2021 A note from Carl: Greetings Dear Friends, I hope this finds you well. I’ll start today’s note with a little poem from Mark Nepo: The Dive Brave your way on. You are a blessing waiting to be discovered by yourself. The wisdom waits in your heart like a buried treasure which only loving…

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On Aging & Healing

By Erin | May 9, 2022

Nov. 18 2021 A Note from Erin Hello, beautiful human! It’s been a while since we’ve written. We’re thrilled to report that our little one has gotten his first vaccine and will soon return to in-person school which will allow us to be more regularly in contact. Some beautiful things are in the works over here…

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Intimacy with your Bones & A Gift

By Erin | May 9, 2022

October 9 2021 A Note from Carl Greetings friends, We often refer to October as skeleton appreciation month. With all of the skeletons on display for Halloween and Dia de los Meurtos, it can give us an opportunity to appreciate our bony selves. As you read this, can you sense your bones? The dense, earthy support within you,…

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Stinging Nettles & Breathing Underwater

By Erin | September 17, 2021

A note from Erin: (Click here if you’d like to listen to me read this newsletter to you.)   Hello, friends! Happy almost Fall, Northern folks, and almost Spring, friends down south, and Shana Tova to our Jewish friends and those honoring Yom Kippur. In so many ways, a chance to begin again. Again. This morning,…

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Diviner’s Rod

By Erin | September 17, 2021

A note from Carl: I’m wondering if as you are reading this, you could sense of the support of the ground. A direct, felt sense of “I’m here on this spot.” And then perhaps could you ask, “How is it in there?” And take a few moments to pause, and feel what is alive in…

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A Fierce Commitment To Love

By Erin | September 17, 2021

A note from Erin:   These days can have us managing one global crisis after another, with skies so smoky due to wildfires both far and near that I haven’t gone on a walk in weeks, and of course personal life… A gorgeous new nephew just born! Our son starting 5th grade at home because…

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Embodied Beatitudes

By Erin | September 17, 2021

Embodied Beatitudes ( a work in progress )   Blessed are those whose bellies are free – swelling with every breath and posturing for no one; they shall know ease in their own skin and sense the truth of things, both of which shall remain hidden to those who perform and posture and shrink themselves to please others.…

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No Place I’d Rather Be

By Erin | August 6, 2021

A note from Carl:   Hello, friend, I hope this finds you well.   I’m wondering as you are reading this if you might pause and open attention downward to include the felt connection with the ground underneath you. The direct sensations of your feet, your pelvis, maybe your back – wherever you are in…

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Embodied Beatitudes

By Erin | July 25, 2021

A work in progress by Erin Geesaman Rabke Blessed are those whose bellies are free – swelling with every breath and posturing for no one; they shall know ease in their own skin and sense the truth of things, both of which shall remain hidden from those who perform and posture to please others. Blessed…

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Congratulations if You Have Changed

By Erin | April 2, 2021

A note from Erin:  Hello, beautiful human, It’s been a while since we’ve written! We hope this note finds you in awe and feeling grateful simply to be alive and breathing in this beautiful world on this fresh morning. I’m thinking of Wendell Berry’s line, “Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.” Why…

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Some Liberating Questions

By Erin | February 3, 2021

The following is a list of contemplations and considerations on qualities we might experience in movement and embodied life in general. Whether you’re doing a Feldenkrais lesson or a yoga practice, engaging in anti-racist education and action, cooking a meal, diving into a creative project or anything at all, I hope these inquiries might support…

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Embodying Kindness & A Question for Your Pocket

By Erin | January 28, 2021

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful you, I’m sitting here on my red couch watching a gentle snowfall out the front window as well as some adorable little finches, sparrows, chickadees and juncos bouncing on the bare rosebush branches. And I’m sending you so much love. How are you faring? We’re still very much tucked in, grateful to be…

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Begin again. Advice from a heron. An invitation to rest.

By Erin | December 31, 2020

Share Tweet Forward A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human, a shot from the winter solstice at Great Salt Lake Wow. We find ourselves at the end of such an extraordinary year. I’m so grateful to be alive and healthy and able to write to you, and so glad you’re alive and well to receive these…

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Serious Mind vs Play Mind & New Offerings for 2021

By Erin | December 4, 2020

A note from Erin Hello, beautiful human, I’m a lover of quotes. When I was young I imagined someday having a line of greeting cards – gorgeous images with wise words. While that vision never came to fruition, I still love to match images and wise words. Here’s one for you today. (Image description: A photo of…

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Earth Loves You Back

By Erin | December 4, 2020

A note from Carl, Greetings Friends! I hope this finds you well. Inside of this liminal timelessness of pandemic, it is a glorious fall day here in Salt Lake City. On Wednesday, I gave my presentation at the online Embodiment Conference. The topic I presented on was “Embodiment and Animism, A Living Body, a Living World.”…

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Basic Goodness & Brave Befriending

By Erin | October 14, 2020

A note from Erin: Hello, beautiful human! Today I’m thinking about Basic Goodness, a phrase and perspective that fundamentally changed my life when I began to learn about it in my late teens – thanks to Pema Chodron and my many other teachers in the Buddhist tradition. It’s amazing to me, (perhaps tragic is a more accurate word),…

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We Need Good Belly

By Erin | October 2, 2020

A note from Erin: Hello, brilliant human, My favorite season is here and I find my whole system softening into the cooler temperatures, the longer nights, the numinous light, the beauty of impermanence in a glorious display. To be honest, some part of me wants to pull all my soft body parts into an imaginary turtle…

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Digesting Your Life

By Erin | October 2, 2020

A note from Erin: Hello, brilliant human, In a conversation with my friend Sunny Rose Healey for our podcast in which we talked all about the wisdom of Ayurveda (India’s ancient system of holistic healing), I was struck by Sunny’s reminder to put attention not only on how we’re digesting our food but also on how we…

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