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Kai Cheng Thom is an author, community worker, somatic healer, lasagna lover, and wicked witch based in Toronto. She has spoken and published widely on the topics of trauma, transformative justice, and mental health...

In May of 2023, Weena led us into a somatic experiencing + authentic movement exploration of witnessing, seeing and being seen by an organic being; an other than human being.

Yvette Murrell is a coach, healer, consultant, co-founder, and Connector of the former Playback Milwaukee Theatre Company, has multifaceted, cross-sector national career accomplishments in expressive arts, business, and education. A powerfully-gifted facilitator and shaman with over 30 years of practice, Yvette weaves a deeply embodied approach to social, racial, and restorative justice into the lives of individuals, organizations, and institutions seeking transformative change. By her presence alone, Yvette grounds love into action by awakening body wisdom, ancestral guides, and creative play through compassionate inquiry and somatic listening. She can deftly hear the soul’s calling toward collective liberation, alchemizing conflict, and challenge to compassion, strategy, and vision. You’ll find Yvette, where innovation, cultural arts, and transformative justice meets beloved community.

Grief isn’t even a necessary part of life. It IS life. A rich full life includes grief. ‍Earlier, I used the word “fortunately” to describe the circumstance of my life this month where people were cracking open all around me, as was I. Never one to miss a good party, this was indeed, one for the ages. There were plenty of tears and even more righteous laughter, a fair bit of rage, lots of shaking and pleading and many moments of delicious emptiness when all there was breath and truth, insight, and joy. The best part was newfound intimacy and lush pockets of fresh resource. The good stuff, the stuff that no amount of spa days and expensive wine or sometimes even therapy can get you. Dropping down through the cracks of your current persona into the layers of shit becoming compost, hard rock becoming crystals, magma becoming energy that can fuel a planet for billions of years, that is the stuff that is available at the core of a grief journey. The stuff that can fuel a life can not be bought, is widely available, and can be yours abundantly for the simple price of your attention.

The brink of Autumn is a potent time of year. I don’t know about you, but for me, Fall (in the Northern Hemisphere) is a time of slowing down (where I can), taking stock, reflection and deepening discernment about where I place my energy. It’s also the time of year in which we recognize the changing cycles of light and dark. It’s the time of year when many traditions acknowledge the spirits of the dead, our ancestors, and even have elaborate rituals and ceremonies honoring the ways in which we continue to be entangled with them, such as Dia de Los Muertos. What are those cyclical traditions of light and dark for you, or around you?

We shake with joy, we shake with grief. What a time they have, these two housed as they are in the same body. - Mary OliverLast June, inside Rooted (virtual global village and un/learning gathering space) we invited our friend, Kai Cheng Thom, Somatic Sex Educator to explore the theme of reclaiming pleasure and through it, ourselves. It was a tender inquiry into how we access, receive, give, or “take” pleasure.

We spend a lot of time embracing the idea that we “don’t know” when it comes to so many areas of our human lives, but other times we might have the experience that we do know something, in our bones. But, if you’re like me, you often question the validity of that knowing. What happens in such moments of knowing that is worth paying closer attention to? And can you recall a time from childhood when you knew something, but you were told you were wrong?