Oh hey hi hello folks,
It’s been a while, I know! I’m still writing a book! Always my excuse!
I have been wanting to put together a newsletter of the various media I find myself recommending to people all the time, especially when it comes to psycho-emotional-spiritual healing. Here is it, that very list:
JournalSpeak
I admit I am not a fan of the word “JournalSpeak” but I am a devotee of this practice. I do it daily. In short, it consists of writing in a very unfiltered way for 20 minutes, destroying what you write, then meditating. It’s recommended one do it every day, at least for the first month if not more. I am talking about this practice constantly…. here, there, everywhere. So far it’s completely changed my relationship with my severe intermittent back pain and several other chronic conditions, like anxiety/panic attacks, IBS, and eczema. Therapist Nicole Sachs has devoted herself to developing and describing this practice, so, if you’re at all curious, I encourage you to start with this explainer page and her podcast. The list of conditions this sort of work can treat is very broad. I recommend going back to her podcast’s first episodes to hear her story and what the practice is all about. It was originated by the late pain doctor John Sarno. If you’re wanting to get serious about this work, I encourage you to pick up Dr. Sarno’s books (e.g.).
JournalSpeak is hard. Writing for 20 minutes, every day, is hard. Especially if you’re seeking to open the doors inside your heart and mind you wish to never open. To find those repressed emotions that are living in the body, maybe ones we do not even know we carry, and to release them. Sometimes when I’m recommending the practice to somebody new to it, they’ll object to the destroying part. It’s counterintuitive, but the destroying of the writing winds up being the best. When you write knowing no one will read this back, not even you, you give yourself a permission to really say whatever, and to hopefully get whatever-it-is out.
You can type and delete or you can write by hand, as I do. You can also speak aloud, in a voice memo, though I think writing slows your stream of thought down, and is therefore probably better. This time of year, I enjoy burning my pages. I find them beautiful:
InsightTimer
My favorite of the meditation apps (and I have tried a lot LOL). As of today, according to my InsightTimer, I’ve meditated for 442 consecutive days. I cannot emphasize enough how much I never thought I could do this, as I wrote in this previous installment. Download the app here.
Jade Alexis’ yoga classes
Which I access on Aaptiv. I wrote about Jade and my evolving relationship with self love and yoga in this essay for them. Here’s her site. Also, after practicing on the same mat I bought at my college bookstore for fifteen years, I recently got a slightly larger yoga mat and wowza what a difference.
Brené Brown
All the time I find myself attempting to paraphrase her concepts like “fucking first times” or “shame gremlins.” If you’re new to her work, I recommend starting with this audiobook or with Rising Strong.
Maintenance Phase
One of my very favorite podcasts. An interrogation of the normalcy of fatphobia and its broad implications. Excited for Aubrey’s new book! Here’s the show’s website.
Planta
An app that pays attention to the watering and light needs of houseplants. Total game changer. Download here.
Speaking of, Mr. Bunbury update…
Thriving! Thrilling!
Ok. That’s it for now.
Take care of your spirits, loves.
ttyl,
Sandy
p.s. This past weekend would have been Uncle Bob’s birthday. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read my book about his life. It’s a project he started, one he tasked me with helping to get out there.
p.p.s. Five years ago, a few weeks before it published, I read from AKOMP publicly for the first time (a story I enjoy telling so apologies if you’ve heard it before). The reading was at a bar in New York City on Bob’s birthday. Nobody had read the book or had any idea what I was talking about. I told them the book was about my uncle, who was dead, and it was his birthday. I made them all yell: “Happy birthday Bob!”
p.p.p.s. Happy birthday, Bob.