Making My Mess My Message by Maya Jules

As I sit down to write this, I’m reminded of a line in one of my favorite songs of all time - “Once In A Lifetime” by The Talking Heads - when David Byrne says, “And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here…?” It’s pretty wild to look back at the bumpy, treacherous road that landed me in this spot right here, right now, introducing myself to a community of beautiful souls who are deeply committed to health, wellness and transformation. I never would have guessed I’d be here, although when I really reflect, it makes absolute perfect sense, like everything eventually does.

So, how did I get here? Well, my life looked very different just two years ago. I was working my butt off in the music industry, surrounded by energy vampires of the highest degree. Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, too. I live and breathe music and live experiences, and I had some truly extravagant experiences, but the universe had other plans for me. To back up a bit, I had a history of debilitating depression. There were far more days I wished I could be dead than alive. This began seasonally and situationally, but it didn’t end there. I tried multiple types of therapy and several medications, but nothing moved the needle on my mental health. There was something wrong with me and no one knew what it was. Although I spent more nights than I want to admit researching how to quickly and effectively end it all, there was still a persistence inside of me to find an answer. I’ll save you from all the grueling details of that part of my journey, but fast forward to that answer.

I got a diagnosis. I learned that what I was experiencing made perfect sense for what was actually happening in my body. I had an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s, which often comes equipped with depression, apathy, low energy and other symptoms of that nature. I was so relieved to finally know what was causing me to feel as bad as I had for the last four years, but I was also terrified. This news changed just about everything for me. I would go on to change my diet numerous times, adopt intensive healing protocols, work with holistic healers and coaches, read everything I could get my hands on about Hashimoto’s, nutrition, biohacking, wellness, etc., and finally, after six months of sneaking breaks to research health at work, I left my job, and essentially my life, to start a new one. 

At first, my new life had no real agenda other than learning and healing. I traveled, went on retreats and enrolled in a nutrition certification program to arm myself with more knowledge and practical tools. The information I was absorbing was life changing - from nutritional science to personal development practices to spirituality and energy systems. I started meeting more people in the health and wellness space, and I found my tribe.

I had to figure out how I was going to make a living out of this. Having worked in events for 10 years, I wanted to keep that part of me alive and apply it to my newfound passion. Human connection has always been a top value for me. So, I started a transformational events company to create containers for people to heal and expand. I started manifesting incredible, inspiring clients and would work with them to produce their workshops and retreats. Then, upon completion of my certification program and practice hours, I launched my wellness concierge practice to offer personalized nutrition and lifestyle consulting. Everything was lining up.

Fast forward again - I met the amazing Kori of Revamp Retreats. We chatted on the phone after connecting in a Facebook group. We later met up in person and quickly realized we had a similar vision for our businesses and our lives. The communication was sporadic at first, and eventually the pace picked up and we started working on various projects together. It was so fulfilling to be working alongside another person, not to mention a totally magical person! I never wanted to fully work alone because I’m quite extroverted, and Kori was looking for more help with retreats. One thing led to another and we decided to join forces. So that brings me to now. I’m extremely grateful for all the hardships that guided me here, and I’m happy to share that my Hashimoto’s is in remission and I am no longer depressed. Rather, I look forward to each day and love my life! Functional nutrition approaches, retreats and mindset work saved me. 

Kori and I are now working on planning lots of transformational experiences for you next year and beyond, and I really hope you can join us! Feel free to reach out to me if you or a loved one is struggling and looking for answers. I am fully committed to spreading wellness and helping people optimize their lives. Let’s revamp together. 

You can find me at mayajules.co or @my.oh.maya on Instagram. I can't wait to connect!

xx Maya

An Innocent Misunderstanding by Jamie Wozny

It was one of those days. All was going smoothly one minute, the next I’m sitting on my couch with tears rolling down my face. The cute, blue hat I’m wearing can’t even fix this mess.

I’ve learned better though these days. I didn’t need a reason to be feeling sad. To me, emotions are just emotions. They are energy moving through us, period. The human mind likes to say, “I’m feeling sad because….” and then search the surrounding environment for an answer. But we make up our best guess as to “why” we feel a certain way. In truth, we are simply experiencing what we are experiencing moment to moment. And if we let go of the “because” then our thought experience can flow through uninhibited and free like the flowing river of energy that we are.

So in this moment, I had a sense to allow myself to enter a quiet, eighty degree, hot summer room, take the cute, blue hat off and allow this energy to flow. As I sat quietly in reflection, without needing to search for why I was feeling this way, an insight occurred to me.

I realized that my mind had made a mistake. A mistake many of our minds make. I realized I was under the spell of an innocent misunderstanding.

Images of my childhood flashed before my eyes. I saw all the places where I thought safety lived. I thought it lived in things like my childhood home, my mom, being sick and getting attention and having just enough money.

But then in a flash I saw the truth.

Safety can’t live in those things. Safety is a state of being. Safety can’t live in anything in the outside world. Because we live in an inside out world. We experience our reality via thought occurring within us moment to moment and we look out into the world and think it comes from there. We innocently think that something out there happens and it causes a feeling within. But we are always feeling our own thinking and experiencing that as “reality” moment to moment.

My childhood brain thought, “Mom makes me feel safe. My home makes me feel safe. Having just-enough-money-and-no-more makes me feel safe.”

But here’s the kicker to show you that those are just subjective thoughts and not “truths.” I guarantee there were times my mom didn’t make me feel safe, or my home didn’t make me feel safe or having just enough money didn’t make me feel safe. So it was never the money, the home or my mom making me feel a certain way. It was me always experiencing my ever changing thoughts about my outside world and picking certain ones that were familiar to me and then labeling them as truth, which in turn became a habit in my brain.

And I didn’t know to question it back then. But I know better now. And I’m sharing this with you so that you, in your eighty degree summer day apartment with your cute, blue hat can find relief from the biggest misunderstanding on the planet.

What was really occurring all along when I was young was that every time I had a nice feeling, I was experiencing my own inner state of being. That nice, safe, warm, cozy feeling was me feeling my inner world. It was me in my natural state and because no one taught me these principles of life at a young age, I innocently thought that warmth was being caused by my outside world so I innocently gave my power away and continued to do so until my crying episode on the couch.

Love, safety, compassion, forgiveness and the like are states of being. They aren’t contingent upon the outside world being a certain way. They are accessed when our mind settles. And our mind settles by nature. On its own without our input. Like a cut heals. On it’s own. Sometimes our wisdom tells us to help it along, but more often than not, the intelligence of the system does the job just fine on it’s own.

Because I thought safety lived in these things, my mind would try to control my world to stay safe. This meant; leaving mom, not safe. Being away from home, not safe. Having a lot of money. Not safe. And the list goes on. But the only reason I’d think those things weren’t safe would be because I’d have a lot of thinking about them. Then I’d feel my thinking about them. And then I’d think those things were causing my feelings. And I’d be innocently swayed by the illusion that these things were making me unsafe.

Just remember, your safety doesn’t live out there. It lives in here. It’s a state of being. So you can let life be as life is knowing that you simply experience a whole lot of ebbing and flowing thought through the vessel that is You. It comes and it goes. It eventually settles and passes. And so you are free to let your life open up, free to try things your wisdom suggests and free to finally live your life with uninhibited, wild abandon.

I hope you can join me for a Life with Wild Abandon in Bali, November 1st to 7th.

10 Steps to Meditation by Jessica Milligan

Turning Meditation into a morning ritual has helped me become more balanced, focused and centered throughout my day. I can see the changes it has made in my life and I want it for yours. 

One of the most important things meditation has done for me is understanding my own mind. I use to always associate all of my random thought as if they were apart of me. But when you step outside of yourself in meditation and view your thoughts as a car passing by, or a leaf in the wind, you'll start to observe them rather than assume they represent who you are.  

Meditation is a practice. It's not supposed to leave you feeling enlightened after the first time. So here are 10 tips on how to start meditating:

1. Sit in a quite space: With feet criss-cross apple sauce or upright in a chair with your feet planted in the ground. Whichever position you pick, stay there. It's really important to keep the energy moving through your body. When we start to fidget it tends to let go of the powerful energy we are stirring up.

2. Set your timer: For beginners I recommend setting your timer for 10 minutes. But if you really want to dive into the feeling of a true meditation set it for 20 minutes. You can even download a Tibetian soundbowl app that will play a beautiful bell sound when your timer is up. 

3. Check in with you: As you start to settle into this new place check in with yourself and see what are you feeling. Are you emotional? Has your breath pace changed? Do your knees hurt? Are you thinking about dinner or finishing a Netflix show? These are all NORMAL feelings and thoughts. Just begin to witness them and let them float by. (Also I do recommend letting emotions flow out of you. It is extremely healthy to cry during meditation.) 

4. Wandering mind: It happens to everyone. Just let it wander and bring your mind back to where you are. With your eyes closed know where you are sitting and start to observe your breath. How deep to you inhale? Are my exhales short and sweet or deep and relaxing.

5. No wrong way: If you start to feel like you're doing it wrong, stop. That's just your silly ego paying you a visit because you're doing something he doesn't like. This would also be a great time to focus on your breath and your commitment to your 10 or 20 minutes. 

6. Stillness: It is so important to keep still. Let the itch on your eyelid pass. Let the tickle in your nose tickle. We are so accustomed to moving, walking, driving and texting that we only slow down to sleep. 

7. Clearing mind: That seems to be what people think about when meditating. It's a great goal to have but that shouldn't be your goal. Your goal is to focus our minds on the present and where we are. When the mind starts to drift into a thought we bring it back to the present. 

8. thoughts trigger emotions: I know I said let thoughts pass by, but in the occurrence of a thought with emotion behind it- let it sit. Stay with the emotions that are arising and just be there. We tend to want to avoid feelings of frustration, sadness or anxiety... but a beautiful meditation practice involves staying with those feelings and being curious about them. 

9. Smile: After you have completed the 10 or 20 minutes, smile. Be grateful that you had this time to yourself. You stuck with you commitment and you showed yourself that you are deep, open and ready to get to know yourself even more. 

10. Journal: I do recommend tracking your practice in a journal. You can write down everything that came up for you. Keep notes about what was easy, what you found difficult and remind yourself why you are meditating. Be real with yourself. 

Meditation isn’t always comfortable or easy  But it has truly amazing benefits, and you can start right now and continue for the rest of your life. :) 

By: Jessica Milligan