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Hello again, dear ones. Welcome back (or for the first time, for those who have recently joined) to the monthly Resourcing the Revolution newsletter.

Here we are, deep into the heart of summer. July always seems good at cracking things open. Somewhere between the heat and the headlines, the weight and wildness of the world start to press in, causing previously unseen micro-fractures to expand.

And even though summer sits in our collective imagination as the season of downtime and relaxation, the world is moving fast right now, politically and socially, in ways that stir up both urgency and exhaustion.

It’s easy, in moments like these, to feel like we have to keep scrambling just to keep up.

Faster, louder, harder. Do more, produce more, don’t fall behind. This is no time to rest. Don’t you see what’s happening out there?!

But/and… Let's take a beat.

Pause the doomscrolling and fear-mongering for a moment. Take a breath. And remind ourselves that real change doesn't take root from panic mode. (At least not roots that will nourish and hold us.)

Truth: We cannot move at full tilt all the time.

For a while? Sure. But living life at the speed of a 24-hour news cycle is simply not sustainable.

As much as we care, and as much as we want to show up for all the people and causes we support, there’s only so much of each of us to go around.

True revolutionary impact isn’t born from constant motion. It comes from learning how to move in rhythm. How to pause and breathe before the next step. How to steady ourselves, so that when we do act, we’re acting from clarity, not chaos.

And transformation grows from groundedness. From the quiet courage to pause when everyone else is spinning. From trusting that stillness is not absence.

The pause is where we root.

And from there, secure in our foundation and our vision for the future, we can rise.

That is what I’m holding close this month: the dance between stillness and action.

Let’s explore.

Quote of the Month: Grounded Words

This month's quote has been quietly floating between my ears again lately. To be honest, I'm sure I've used it multiple times in the introductions to my yoga classes over the last five years. (Wonder why…)

So it’s nothing new. But it feels especially relevant in a moment where the pace and volume of everything around us seems engineered to keep us off-center.

What this means to me is that being well-adjusted to a world where reacting, producing, performing, and adapting to relentless demands is seen as strength… is just obscene. We went off the rails somewhere, methinks.

So what if health (and revolutionary sanity) looks more like choosing not to adjust? What if we chose stillness and grounding instead?

We don’t have to mold ourselves to match a world that’s lost its bearings.

In fact, our refusal to adjust may be one of the most essential forms of resistance we have. Every breath we take to steady ourselves and every moment we reclaim for presence is a quiet act of revolution.

More of that, please.

Idea of the Month: Grounding Your Impact

You may wonder, if we’re choosing calm over chaos, how do we actually make positive change in the world?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a foundational myth in our culture that we must act from urgency to have impact. That if we care, we must always be moving, always pushing. Always advocating for the things and people we proclaim to care about.

(If not me, who? If not now, when? Sound familiar?)

But remember: Real, lasting revolution doesn’t grow from panic.

Instead, when our nervous systems are steady, our bodies resourced, our energy clear, we can move from a place of groundedness.

That rooting allows us to create impact that isn’t just loud in the moment, but sustainable over the long haul.

Every time you pause to breathe, to tend to your nervous system, to center yourself, you’re strengthening the foundation from which real action can grow.

It doesn’t mean you’re checking out. Instead, you’re giving yourself permission to pause and check in before making a decision or a move.

And it's worth slowing down enough to listen more deeply, especially when you take the astrology of the moment into account.

Today we welcome a New Moon in Leo, exact at 3:11 pm Eastern. Mercury is retrograde (that trickster). Saturn reminds us to hold our emotional boundaries. And Mars is moving through Cancer, not charging forward, but protecting home and heart.

All together, these skies offer a simple prompt:

Let this serve as your anchor as you navigate the month. Before you speak, post, donate, show up, or step forward:

Pause. Breathe. Check in.

As my teacher Britt says, you know your practices are working when you have “less frequency of reaction, less intensity of reaction, and a quicker recovery time.”

The world doesn’t need more reactivity, so here’s to slow, steady, and grounded.

Let’s examine one way this might show up.

Photo of the Month: Nature’s Call to Ground

These photos are of the wax-wing begonia that lives in my studio space. On the left, a freshly dropped blossom from when it was overwintering in my office; on the right, the same plant a few days after I set it outside in the late spring.

The difference is wild, isn’t it?

Same plant. Same roots and soil. But so much more color, vibrancy, and fullness with just a little bit of sunshine and fresh air.

We humans aren’t so different.

It’s easy to forget when we’re stuck in our routines or during moments of overwhelm. But do me a favor and try something:

Take a few minutes this week and step outside. Feel the sun, move your body, take a few deep breaths. And see how something this simple can change how you show up in the world.

Consider this your reminder: get outside. Step away from the screen. Reconnect with the real world. And let yourself bloom.

And even if you can't get outside for whatever reason, there are still other ways you can reconnect via the body.

Short Practice of the Month: A Grounding Check-In

When the world feels overwhelming, sometimes the simplest thing we can do is come back to our senses (literally).

This embodied check-in is a quick and steady way to interrupt spirals of stress, bringing your body and mind back into the present moment.

Bonus: you can use it anywhere — standing in line, sitting at your desk, mid-scroll on your phone, or even instead of picking up your phone in the first place. Just sayin'.

How to do it:

1. Pause and take one slow breath. Feel your feet on the ground or any body parts connected to the earth.
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2. Notice 5 things you can see. Look around and name them to yourself. Big or small, pay attention to things like light, shadow, or color.
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3. Notice 4 things you can touch. Feel the texture of your clothing, the character of your skin, the air moving as you breathe.
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4. Notice 3 things you can hear. Let the sounds find you, whether nearby, far away, or in between.
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5. Notice 2 things you can smell. If nothing immediately hits, take a deeper breath and see if there’s something subtle.
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6. Notice 1 thing you can taste. It could be the lingering flavor of your last drink or snack, or you might take a moment to remember the taste of your favorite food.
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7. Pause again and notice how you feel. Take another breath and notice how your body feels. Pay attention to anything that changed.

That’s it. Nothing fancy.

But, honestly, some of the best practices are the simplest ones. One breath, one check-in, one steady step at a time.

Let’s keep it simple this month, eh?

Post of the Month: A Detox to Ground the Mind

When the world feels loud and overwhelming, it’s not just our bodies that carry the weight.

Our minds can get cluttered and fuzzy, too. Between the news, online everything, and an endless stream of input, we can end up overstimulated without even realizing it.

This month’s post from the archives offers a simple reminder that just like our bodies need rest and reset, so do our brains.

From the post:

Especially this time of year, in the thick of heat (and headline) season, it’s worth asking: When was the last time you gave your brain a break?

Even a brief digital detox, whether it's one hour or one afternoon, can make a difference.

Song of the Month: Grounded Rhythm Rising

There’s a particular kind of power that comes from staying rooted while the world spins wildly around you.

​Resilient by Rising Appalachia embodies that, just like the balance we’re holding this month: stillness before action.

These times are poignant
The winds have shifted
It's all we can do
To stay uplifted

…

I'm made of thunder
I'm made of lightning
I'm made of dirt (yeah)
Made of the fine things

My father taught me that I'm a speck of dust
And this world was made for me
So let's go and try our luck

I got my roots down, down, down, down
Down, down, down, down, down, deep

If you need a musical reminder to reconnect with your own rooted resilience, this is it.

Rhythm over reactivity. Every time.

Mindset of the Month: Show Up Grounded (and Joyful)

Back in my Rebel Yogi days, I used to talk a lot about how we show up to the work.

Are we joyful, present, fully immersed in making a difference in the world? Or are we burned out, jaded, overwhelmed, and bitter about the whole mess?

Here’s why I ask:

If you were new to this whole world-changing thing, thinking about jumping in and making your own kind of good trouble, would you join a cause where everyone was tired and pissed off?

Or even if you did, would you stick around for very long?

Yeah. I didn’t think so.

Food for thought as we continue on our (hopefully somewhat merry) way.

Stay Grounded. Then Rise.

Right now, just being human is a lot.

So hold yourself with gentleness and grace as we navigate the in-between of summer’s heat.

And as we move through the rest of this month, hold this in your heart:

You don’t have to match the world’s pace to make a difference, and you certainly don’t have to burn out to be of service.

The work you do matters. Full stop. Whether it’s on the front lines, the quiet tending to your particular corner of the world, or somewhere in between.

So pause. Take a breath. Check in. Let yourself root.

And until next time: rest, then rise.

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