Hi there,

How are we all doing? Hanging in there? Paying attention? Doing your best not to get pulled down in the dark series of atrocities that is current reality?

Over here, I find life to be a constant tug-of-war: What do I pay attention to? What actually needs my attention? But also, when do I need to give myself space from it all? Because, between trying to make enough money to survive in a world that is getting more and more expensive, I am also basking in some of life's greatest of moments, and doing all I can to hold joy in these spaces.

Meanwhile, I continue to create our foundational material for The Embodied Path. This week, that looks like finishing up the blog post and podcast for what will soon come out as Practice #5. It is a big one, and it is one that I have been giving plenty of space as I both dive into research and spend time in practice.

As I create this, I have to be honest with you. I question things all the time! Is this really where my time and energy can best be served? Is this what will actually help humanity lift ourselves out of these horrors that we (yes, we humans) are creating for ourselves and for the rest of life on this planet?

You guys, I continue to believe that it is. Not that this path holds the answers to everything we need, but that it does serve as a foundation for the qualities that humanity needs to instill within themselves if we have any hope of getting out of this age of creating one atrocity after the next.

I believe in a version of humanity that can face our actual problems instead of just creating extra chaos on top of it (something our current leaders are really good at, aren't they?). As we do this, I believe in a version of humanity that lives on this Earth experiencing the joy and wonder that flows in abundance. But you guys, we have our work cut out for us. We really do.

The Embodied Path

When I started creating The Embodied Path, I asked myself: What are the skills & states that are foundational to being skillful in this world.

The thing is, they are not anything special and nothing that will create superpowers. They will not set you apart as more supreme as others, and they won't help you manifest that dream house that is bigger than everyone else's.

Really, I created The Embodied Path as the sort of bare bones of what a human being should embody.

I know that might sound boring, but I want it to sound more like a great shaking. You guys, these should the basics!! This should literally be what we are taught as children and young adults!

The problem? Society doesn't value this, so they didn't teach it to us. Instead, they taught us how to sit still and be obedient for the majority of our waking hours, living life fully up in our heads as we leave our bodies to rot away. They taught us this in school so that we can be this type of person in the workforce. Sit still hour after hour. Stare at a screen. Let your hip flexors seize up as your body rots away.

F*** that you guys. Life on Earth is meant to be lived, embodied: that is, in present-centered connection with the sensing, feeling body that you are! Living in connection to other beings, experiencing the joy and wonder that is here while pursuing that which actually needs to be addressed.

But society doesn't see it this way. They see you for the value you can create in an industrial system. What can you contribute to the economy? What hours and energy can you give to make the great industrial wheel spin?

Ah, but religion and spirituality does not often help us with this either, does it? No, it just tells us that life is suffering and that the way to avoid it is to meditate your way out, transcending what is here for some brighter light "up there." Or, worse, to follow what really seems to be arbitrary rules so you can someday buy your ticket to that same sort of realm: infinitely bright, and only then filled with love and light.

F*** that you guys, because that's not helpful either, is it?

We have got to learn to be present, centered here as the embodied beings that we are on this Earth. We have to learn to be in connection, and that means with Self (the whole of who you are) just as it means with all those other beings that are part of the same web of life you are in.

One more thing, I do mean "we" because I am just as much a part of this learning and healing and growing process as the rest of you. And I am over here mulling every teaching and practice I dare to send your direction (and, believe me, when one stands in the role I do, the Universe does not like me to get away with forgetting to practice what I preach).

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So... anyway...

I am hard at work over here continuing to create The Embodied Path as the foundational principles and practices that can guide us to those basic states that I believe humanity has to learn to embody.

From this space, well, you have freedom! Because now you are a grounded and centered, aligned and discerning person that can see, with far greater clarity, the paths that are meant for you!

And, maybe that looks like diving deeper into spirituality and mysticism (like we are doing on The Mountain Mystic Substack!).

Maybe that looks like diving deeper into activism (huge shout out to all of you on the front lines!).

Maybe that looks like going to work for a company that is actually doing good things in this world.

The point is, life is yours to live. But I want you to do this intentionally and skillfully, and I want you to do it in a way that is actually making the world a better place (or, at least not directly contributing to its undoing!).

So that's what we are doing here, in case you needed a sort of orientation towards it. Hope that resonates for you.

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If it resonates, I would love to hear from you! What are you tuned into across my platforms? Are you participating in The Embodied Path? Are you hanging out in the realm of The Mountain Mystic?

Big love,
Katie