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When collecting Desert Milkweed, I was overcome by waves of anxiety and fear. Ridiculous, as this plant is not endangered nor was i somewhere I shouldn't be, this experience informed by understanding of the flower's essence: it dissolves subconscious patterned fear of persecution or getting into trouble while trying to do good. It helps us let go of worry about what others think and trust that the world is a friendly place, full of benevolence + understanding. Read more here!
By being intentional when taking our flower essences, we remind ourselves, our guides and the universe what it is we want to embody. Choose one of the phrases below that most resonates, or make up your own! Every time you take your elixir, close your eyes and set your intention:
To take it one step further, as you take your elixir and set your intention, visualize everyone else in this program, all around the world, thriving in their environment. By connecting with others in our group, we exponentially multiply the benefit + ripple effect!
In what areas/places in my life do I feel safe? Where do I feel judged or like I can’t be myself?
What fears am I ready to release from my heart?
What does the most confident version of me look like?
Which filtered views of the world am I ready to let go of?
What is the most supportive aspect of my life right now?
Which areas of my life will benefit from not worrying about how others will perceive me?
Prefer to have a printed sheet with the writing prompts, exquisite practices + a calendar to track your month?
Download the Desert Milkweed Support Guide here.
Notice when you’re wondering what others are thinking about what you’ve said/done. And just observe! Listen to Awareness Anchor for more instruction.
Set a timer for 10 minutes and sit quietly. Invite allllll parts + pieces of yourself to be present. See if there is any aspect that has something to share.
Engage in creative outlets that require you to be ‘seen’ in some way. Share videos on social media, take selfies, write more. Notice how your perception of what ‘others will think’ shifts and plays out.
Desert Milkweed may activate certain stories around masculinity (themes of action, authority, even paternal relationships), both within yourself + your relationships. Which aspects/stories are negative? Which aspects/stories are positive?
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I will help you:
Use me when you feel:
When I collected the desert milkweed flower, the experience was a funny one, one that really sticks out in my mind, because on rare occasions I really get hit with a wave of the imbalance state of the flower, and this is one of those times, when I was collecting this flower from the desert and was really just overcome by this wave of paranoia. "What if people find me? What if people see me? What if they know what I'm doing? What if, what if, what if? Ahhhh!" Which is kind of a funny situation. There are so many desert milkweed flowers around. It's not like cutting one of them is a big deal, or even that anyone would even remotely care what I'm up to. So, that was a really good indication of what it is that this flower has us working with in the deepest, subtlest layers and levels.
But this week, we're not going to get that far into it. I mean, you may notice those things arising in very subtle ways, but first I want to talk about environments. We'll start with the physical environment, and because the desert milkweed is all about helping us feel like we live in a benevolent world, where everyone is in alignment and in support of what we're up to, without blame and judgment and all of those types of things.
So, if we just sort of bring it all the way back to ourselves because anything that's happening in this so-called external world for us is simply a reflection of what's on the inside ... And so, let's start there, starting inside ourself as usual, but also just in a really physical way. Like how do you treat your body? When do you feel at home in your body? When do you look at yourself in the mirror, your whole self, and just feel like, "You know what? I kind of like myself." “Yeah, maybe I put on an extra 10, 15 pounds, or maybe my butt's sagging, or I have more cellulite than I did before.” Or whatever it is, whatever that thing is for you, and just sort of embracing the whole picture. “Yeah, this is my body. This is my home.”
And starting that benevolent, supportive environment with the way that you feel about your body. What does your body need? Does it need food? Does it need water? What does it need to be at it's top, full creative expression? What does it need to feel supported? If it needs regular meals at this, this, and this time, or it needs omega-3 oils, or it needs fish, or it needs ... What are the changing needs? We're moving from spring into summer. Does it need different foods now? Does it need different beverages? What kind of movement do you need?
The other day… so I've been doing a lot of walking in the mornings which I love. And one of those days, at the end, I just sprinted as fast as I possibly could. And when I was younger, I used to run a couple miles a day, before I started a business and stopped exercising. Now I'm getting back into it, and in that moment of sprinting, it was like the most bizarre experience. My body was like, "Oh, whoa. Oh My God! You used to use me this way 20 years ago. Whoa!" It was almost in shock but not in a bad way, in sort of a good way. It was like waking up all of these tiny little muscles and enzymes and proteins and things that hadn't been active or that active in a really long time. That sort of….because in salsa dancing, it's very strenuous, and you sweat like a pig, but it's not like running as fast as you absolutely can.
So, in that experience, it taught me something that my body is actually craving that kind of full sprint. It's craving that quick, like all-out-to-exhaustion point, or utilization. It's basically leaving money on the table. Physically, I might have been leaving money on the table for the last I don't know how many years that I haven't been exercising in that way. And so, not to over do it ... you know, also being gentle with yourself, but just sort of like ... What does your body need, and does it need things differently now than, say, last month or last year? Tune in with your body. What does it need to feel supported?
And then we can move into like physical living space. How can you feel more at home in your bedroom, in your living space, in your office space, in the space where you work, and making sure that you're creating a space around you that supports you, your expression, your vision, your creativity, your ability to take risks, so you may feel…. This is really interesting. You may feel, this month, like taking more risks and being more quote, unquote, “You”. So, if there's some outfit that's a little risque, but it's really fun to wear, instead of saving it for an important occasion, you might just wear it, because it's you, or it's really a part of you. Or you might rearrange something to feel more “you”, aligned with this new “you” that's “you” if that makes any sense.
You might move where things are placed, or you might start wearing a different color clothing. You might move in a different way. So, these are all sort of like physical things. Whether it's like body or living space, workspace. What might you need to do in order to support more or be more in alignment with what's needed, and/or allowing yourself to take more risks? And sometimes taking more risks is just changing things up and making them feel right to how you feel right now, more in alignment.
What is it that you need to feel more supported? In your workspace, are you using an uncomfortable chair? Do you need a bouncy ball? Do you need a rebounder? Do you need to hop up and down every 30 minutes? Or maybe you need a standing desk. Or maybe you need to take more breaks at certain times. Do you need a water bottle? What do you need in your water bottle? Do you need chlorophyll or lime juice or more different flower essences, or a misting station before you start working? How can you make your spaces that surround you more supportive to you and more in alignment, and more harmonious and just really supporting your fullest potential?
Those are some questions to be thinking about this week. How can you feel more at home in your body? How can you support your body more, and what things might you shift around in your living, working, creative spaces to feel more supported, and more like you can be wilder and take bigger risks and expand into your fullest expression?
I am in the middle of Taipei in Taiwan, so if you hear some strange noises or construction, or that kind of stuff, it's just what's in the background. I'm on the rooftop of the building that we're staying in.
And, it's time to do another Desert Milkweed recording. And I got some feedback from folks who are taking the elixir and I just wanted to share that with you. One person said that she had been taking it for about a week or so, or a couple of days actually, not that long. And she noticed that she was in a public place and she felt like, unsafe, or like somebody might take out a gun and start shooting. And she messaged me right away and was like, "Oh my God, I can't believe I was having those thoughts. Wow, this is what the elixir is all about."
That reminded me back to this really bizarre day before I left for Asia. We were all at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, and for some reason I had to make a phone call or something, and charge my phone. So, in the middle of lunch, we had a to-go order, something, so I was waiting in the car, and I saw this really strange character, pacing back and forth, he was fiddling with his pants in his pockets. Not sure what he was up to, and then he would walk towards the restaurant. I had this really weird feeling, like oh my God, what if he went into the restaurant right now and just opened fire?
And, I stood up and got out of the car and watched him. He didn't end up going into the restaurant. And I thought, wow, that's so interesting. And so some of you may notice that in the first few days, you have that sort of, like very specific to what Desert Milkweed is all about, of dredging up any weird paranoid anxiety-ridden, “am I in a danger place” thoughts. I'm not necessarily at this point, convinced that they are our own. It could be simply from the collective consciousness. You know, there's a lot of stuff in the media these days about shootings and some of them are real, and tragic, and some of them are false flags, and they're totally made up. There's just a lot of conflicting information. Some of it embeds itself in the collective consciousness as something really scary.
And so, it's helpful for flowers like these to sort of dredge up those... It's not really memories, because it isn't anything that happened, it's more like some sort of future-forward fear, or what if, or projection of something dangerous.
So that's a good thing, to release that sort of energy from our systems. And the more that we can release it from our systems, the more that other people around us will be able to release that as well. Because I do believe it is a collective consciousness thing, especially... especially, especially, especially, if you're American and living in the United States.
In other countries it may manifest as something different, a different sort of projection. But all related around danger. I had another person send me some feedback, and she said that it was within a course of a few days, she ran into all of her exes. Like day one, one from nine years ago. Day two, one from six years ago. Day three, another one from another time. And that it gave her some sense of anxiety, but that the anxiety came up and out. And she felt like it was really seeing her dissolving that anxiety.
And so for you, it may manifest in different ways. But it will be interesting to just notice what arises during this time, while working with this flower. It can be different things different weeks, different layers, different shedding of different skins.
One of the people that I'm traveling with, was in the park, and it had this sort of swelling up of emotion around something that had happened 55 years ago. And I thought that was really interesting, something that was rare and odd and from so long ago. And I thought to myself, oooh...we're all taking Desert Milkweed, that's running through us as a group.
So what also would be interesting as you're taking the elixir, to listen to your close friends and family, like the people that you spend the most time around, and the ones you hold closest to you. And just see if you are aware of different anxieties arising and really seeing for them, because it's possible that this elixir can facilitate itself through various energetic systems just by you working with the flower.
So as always, being present to whatever arises, meeting it with gentleness. And if any anxieties or fears or paranoia arise with this particular elixir, just knowing that typically, it's in the first few days or week that those more sort of intense feelings would arise. However, I noticed that it's more gentle, manageable. You just sort of see it arise, and then reside, go back into neutrality. So notice when specific worries or fears arise and what that's around, that will give you keys to your own awakening.
I am doing this recording from Taipei, so you may hear a lot of noises that you ordinarily wouldn't hear from my recordings. Just adding to the spice, and the fun.And I wanted to talk today a little bit about environments that are seemingly inhospitable, or unwelcoming, or in some way, not comforting. And there are so many examples of that. It can be nature, you know like outer surroundings, like being in nature. I know in the last couple of weeks, I've had a lot of experience just being in different situations; like being deep inside the jungle, and hearing insects that sound like warning signs, to you know having just a forest of cicadas, almost deafeningly loud, to total and complete downpour on the side of the mountains, to places where there are falling rocks and landslides, and very winding roads.And just in general, like very different kinds of environments that I'm used to. Beyond nature I could even say like city, and city noises, and hundreds of scooters, and just being in a different place, and not necessarily like it's even unwelcoming or inhospitable, but just different.
So those are some examples that I could share from my life at this point.
It can also be... When I talk about environments, it can be the mental or emotional reaction to a particular situation in your surrounding, in your circle of friends, in your family. Maybe there's somebody who is kind of triggering you in some way, or creating a situation that you feel discomfort. And we know that they're not creating the discomfort right, it's our own reaction to whatever is happening. But nevertheless, the inhospitable or unwelcoming environment that we perceive to be on the outside, is actually within us. So those are some different types of environments, outer and inner. You may think of additional ones.
But what I really want to get to, as the heart of the matter, is being able to, when these things arise, to stop and ask what this situation or environment has to teach you. To literally be able to stop and like communicate actually, with a particular environment, or person, or situation, from within. Right, so this isn't necessarily a conversation, although it could be. But I'm thinking of it more in terms of your inner work being able to ask. For example, in my case, being in the jungle, with these insects that sound like warning sirens, being able to take a minute and say, and like actually tune in with the environment, what do you have to teach me? Are you trying to tell me don't go here? Or are you trying to just simply reflect back to me, tension or fears that I have in my system?
Being on the riverside where I was collecting flowers, and only in this one little section along the whole side of the river, this one little, tiny section, where this interesting purple flower grew that I haven't seen anywhere else in Taiwan, there was this really strong, and almost overwhelming presence in that area. And being able to stop, and say like, "What do you have to teach me?"
Or let's say an interpersonal situation, whether it's the person or the actual situation itself, being able to close my eyes and tune in, and say, "What are you trying to teach me?"
I think because when we are in the situations that we may perceive as uncomfortable, or jarring, or different or just sort of like they say in Spanish, it takes us out of our element. It's easier to be reactive. So, like even I'm just walking on this quiet, I shouldn’t say quiet... It's like a small road in the city. There's still so much noises, somebody like opening a door, and that energetically is a little bit jarring to my system.
It's a good demonstration of how things can, when they take us out of our element, cause us to be a little bit more reactionary. And I don't necessarily mean emotionally reactionary, although that could also take place. But to just be a little more jumpy, and like operating out of reflex. You know, like when someone hits you in that spot in your knee with a little hammer thingy, your foot like flies up toward the sky. Kind of like that.
We have those physical reflexes. We have patterned reflexes from things that have been habitual patterns for us for a long time, things we've learned in our family. The list goes on and on. So when we're in a reflex, or reactionary- responding state, we tend to lose track of the experience of spaciousness; spacious awareness, spacious presence, our presencing, or just you know, taking a break to kind of let things settle.
And so, just as a reminder to... If you find yourself in the situation of being in an environment that seems somehow discomforting or unwelcoming, or different, or that takes you out of your element, to remind yourself, first, to allow yourself to have time, just to do nothing, just to sit there, just to wait, just to see, just to feel into what's happening.
And then number two, the next step, once you got that ground or basis of stabilization of spaciousness, and non-reactionary state, then you can ask the situation, the environment, the bug, the insect, the person, the higher self of the person in your mind, your own higher self, just the issue at hand, you can ask it directly, "What are you trying to teach me?" Or you can ask your own self, "What am I trying to learn? What is being taught to me? What am I trying to teach myself in this situation?".
Because oftentimes we magnetize situations to ourselves. I don't know why I keep thinking in Spanish right now. It's really bizarre. Like, exactly to teach us the things that we need to learn. We put ourselves in situations, and magnetize the right people and places to learn the next level of what it is that we want to learn.
And none of this has to be logical. None of this has to conscious. We may not even be aware that any of this is going on.
So this is kind of just like a nice little memory jogger reminder, as you're working with the desert milkweed elixir, to again, remind yourself that you can have the luxury of just stopping and relaxing, and doing nothing, and just waiting, and experiencing the spaciousness of the present moment. Letting your body unwind and relax, creating that spacious foundation, so that you can ask the question, "What do you have to teach me? What can I learn from this situation? What am I aiming to teach myself, by attracting this particular situation, or people, or environment. How did I find myself, or put myself in this environment, in these surroundings, or with these other human beings, or pets, or strangers, seemingly, or work situations? How did I put myself in these situations so that I could teach myself what?"
Some questions to think about for this week. Love from Taipei.