by Katherine Elmer

Believe it or not, it’s not too early to start preparing for spring allergy season! Most modern allergy sufferers are accustomed to a protocol of over the counter anti-histamines and permission to be cranky when spring (and summer… and fall) pollens arrive. Holistic health practitioners such as clinical herbalists and naturopaths, as knowledgeable advocates of plant medicine, can offer strategies deeper than mere symptom relief.

By Katherine Elmer

This is the gift waiting for us in the stillness and introspection that the winter season offers us.

The winter season, from a Chinese Five Elements perspective, is associated with water*. It is a time of great darkness and cold. The water element is about identity; who we are in the deepest sense. The action of water is deep listening, to ourselves (reflection) and others (active listening). It takes courage to develop our true wisdom, but from that place is birthed the quiet, enduring and wise use of our power. Honoring the water element provides the information to choose how to act based on who we are and what gifts we have to offer.

By Katherine Elmer

Are you addicted to urgency? This was a question posed at a leadership training I attended roughly 10 years ago, embedded in a “Cosmo-quiz” type questionnaire. The quiz was a farce in my case, because I already knew the answer. It included statements such as- I spend my day reacting and moving from one unexpected or pressing event to the next. I feel frustrated at the end of the day or week realizing my most important tasks are still undone. I feel guilty when I am taking time off or relaxing. Sound familiar?

By Leena Unger

Keeping the revolutionary self in good health may seem like a huge obstacle as we navigate the cold and flu season on top of a pandemic, on top of calls for community organizing and emotional burn out, but it doesn’t have to be.

By Katherine Elmer

The world is on fire. Or… the world has been on fire for millennia and some of us have had the privilege to ignore the smoke. In these times of widespread suffering and awakening, I am grateful to be in community with so many souls answering calls to action and activism on behalf of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) lives and mother earth. As a child of “back to the land hippies” in rural Vermont (aka N’Dakinna or unceded Abenaki territory), I was introduced to activism through my parents’ lens of the 1960s (radical protesting in the streets) and Bread and Puppet theater a few towns over. As my world view has evolved, I’ve come to understand that this mainstream image of activism is out of balance.