EDEN
Stephen Manas
LIFE AFTER TED LASSO
MEET OUR TEAM
Maryam Morrison
Dina Morrone
Alexia Melocchi
Brad wallace
Lisa Joy Walton
JSquared Photography @j2pix
Nikki Pattillo
Artin Mardirosian
Sheri Determan
Dulce Garcia-Morman
Greg Doherty
Ben Rollins
Joe Santos, Jr.
Philip Smith
Edward Hakopian
Susanna Schroadter
Jan Wakefiled
Emilie Macas
Polly Wirum
Sherri Cortland
Benjamin D.Buren
Dr. Rob Moir
EDEN
Since 2010
The Eden Magazine is a free online publication is your guide to healthy living, spiritual awareness, compassion and love for all living beings, holistic lifestyle, mindfulness, organic living, positive thinking, sustainability, and personal development
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Maryam Morrison
Executive Editor/Contributing Writer
Dina Morrone
Contributing Writers
Sadhguru, Isha Foundation
Dulce Garcia-Morman
Susanna Schroadter
Jan Wakefiled
Dr. Rob Moir
Emilie Macas
Nikki Pattillo
Polly Wirum
Alexia Melocchi
Sherri Cortland
Joe Santos, Jr.
Guest Writer
Philip Smith
Contributing Stylists + Makeup Artist
Edward Hakopian
Lisa Joy Walton
Graphics & Photography
JSquared Photography @j2pix (Los Angeles)
Artin Mardirosian (Nexision) (Los Angeles)
Benjamin D. Buren – AliveStudios.Com (Denver, SanFrancisco, Boston)
Sheri Determan (Los Angeles) Greg Doherty (Los Vegas)
Ben Rollins (Atlanta)
Web developer
Brad wallace https://bradwallacedesign.com/
325 N. Maple Dr. Po Box 5132 Beverly Hills, CA 90209
Dr. Bradley Nelson
Raman Pathik
Ellen Dee Davidson
60
BREATH, WHEEL, FLUKES UP, DIVE, SWIM ON WHALES! by Dr. Rob Moir
66 THE SOUND OF SILENCE by Dulce Garcia-Morman
72 IS THERE A PLACE FOR POWER IN A PEACEFUL WORLD? by Polly Wirum
80
WHAT IS KARMA by Vish Chatterji
84 TURBULENCE?
YOU'VE GOT THIS- HOW I TURNED CRISIS INTO CLARITY AND GROWTH by Malitta Seaman
90
A DISHEARTENING DEPARTURE: THE LA ZOO QUIETLY RELOCATES ELEPHANTS BILLY AND TINA
Unleashing The Power of The Universal Flow of Life and The Environment
Through MINDFULNESS
Baby Breath Is Life
by Raman Pathik
Photo by engin Akyurt
“
Knowledge is good, but applied knowledge is powerful.
~The
Simple Solution Movement
To make the most significant change, you must start with the smallest and most basic steps: breathing. It sounds too simple. But it's the key. Once you learn to breathe the way you are meant to, it unlocks other possibilities and joys. We must start at the beginning to ease anxiety and build a healthy life.
Origin of Life
It makes sense to start by discussing where life comes from. When Earth solidified into a planet, there was no oxygen. Instead, all the oxygen was part of the water. All life comes from water. Seventy percent of the earth is now made up of water, and twothirds of the human body is water. Oxygen is the most abundant element in the earth's crust and is crucial for all life. Oxygen became part of the atmosphere 2.5 billion years ago, setting the stage for life forms needed for breathing. A crucial change occurred when the first species emerged from the ocean and started getting oxygen from the air. Organisms learned to breathe, the basis for all mammalian life, including all human life, which eventually developed.
These species needed oxygen to breathe, but they also required sunlight. Sunlight provided warmth and energy, was necessary for plant growth, and provided many
nutrients to sustain life. All thinking or instinctual mammals are born with the ability to care for each other, a bond that begins between a mother and child. When an environment that includes oxygen, clean water, nutritional food, energy, shelter, and safety is present, miraculous transformations are possible, such as from fetus to newborn baby or caterpillar to butterfly. There are millions of transformations in nature. Animals that care for and share provide a nurturing environment, a true home, where development and growth are possible.
Calm Ocean Waves Support Ocean Life
All life began in the ocean with the single-celled amoeba. Since then, the ocean has become the home of trillions of living organisms. The sea is constantly moving, changing, and flowing. Calm waves are crucial to keeping the right balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide in the ocean environment. This balance is what allows life to flourish. The gentle waves protect and nurture the life within them.
When this balance is disrupted by pollution and toxins, it changes the calm waves into hurricanes and tsunamis. This, in turn, further damages the environment. The environment affects the health of the organisms within it. When the balance of oxygen needed for life is upset, the environment changes.
Calm Breezes Support Earth Life
When life emerged onto the solid earth, it did so because a careful balance of oxygen, water, nutritional food, and solar energy sustained and supported it. Earth then became home to trillions of land-based organisms. Calm breezes, a vital component of the earth's delicate balance, flow to maintain the proper oxygen and carbon dioxide equilibrium in the earth's environment. When the air becomes polluted with carbon dioxide and toxins, the calm breezes often change to storms that produce tornadoes and floods and can cause extreme fires—global warming results from endangering this delicate balance and all the life that depends on it. Once the environment is harmed, life is threatened.
Baby Breathing Supports Human Life
Just as the ocean and the earth support life, so does the human body. Your body is the environment in which all your trillions of cells live. They need oxygen, water, nutritional food, and solar energy to survive. As a fetus, your mother provides all of that. Once you are born, your body automatically knows it needs all these things. Babies cry for their mothers for food. They absorb solar energy. And their bodies automatically breathe, taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide in calm, gentle breaths. It's
fascinating to note that babies instinctively know how to breathe when they enter this world. They effortlessly take in lifegiving oxygen, a testament to the natural order of life.
When the human body is polluted with carbon dioxide and other toxins, it becomes emotionally, mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually unhealthy. Human life begins with a breath and ends with a breath. However, we ignore trillions of breaths. Breathing is the calm ocean wave and the calm breeze our bodies rely on to stay healthy. Calm waves and breezes never stop. But we as humans do stop our natural baby breathing. Sure, we continue to breathe, but we don't breathe deeply, regularly, and calmly like a baby does.
We lose our innate baby breathing as we encounter fear, stress, and challenges. Instead, we begin breathing more shallowly, taking in less oxygen and releasing less carbon dioxide. We also lose the gentle silence between breaths, instead breathing quickly and constantly. When we stop breathing naturally, it impacts our body's vital functions and eventually makes us sick— physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually. Relearning that baby breath is the first step to healing anxiety, stress, and illness.
Photo by Juliana Araujo the artist
What is Baby Breathing?
Baby breathing is calm, total, abdominal, and cardiorespiratory breathing. I call it baby breath because the breath anchors us to life. Their breath keeps us mindful and aware of the present time and place in daily life.
The flow of life starts with the first breath and ends with the last breath in every life. Baby breathing brings vitality. Baby breathing is essential for core strength and for these vital functions of the body to create, sustain, and reproduce life:
Superpower of Baby Breath
The Mechanics of Cardiorespiratory Breathing, Which I call Baby Breath (All-in-One)
1. Cardio Fitness: Baby breathing keeps the heart pumping throughout life for blood flow and maintains the speed of life.
2. Movement of Yoga: Baby breathing moves core abdominal tissues and glands as a pump for the Lymphatic fluid to flow to protect the immune system from diseases.
3. Unclogging, Filtration, and Detoxification: Baby breathing maintains the efficient functioning of the kidneys, lungs, brain, and other organs to remove all toxic gases soluble, solid, and damaging thought waste from the body.
4. Meditation and Mindfulness: Baby breathing maintains silence between each breath.
5. Baby breathing keeps the balance and alignment of the inner and outer minds and spiritual, social, physical, and mental intelligence.
6. Energy and Enthusiasm for Life: Baby breathing keeps the balance between Oxygen (O2) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels in our body, producing Energy and Enthusiasm for Life.
First Breath
Learning to breathe fully and deeply ultimately resets our bodies to a state without stress or anxiety. Baby breathing is slow and simple, impacting the entire body, mind, and spirit.
Photo by Getty image
Raman Pathik's YOU-TURN is an insightful and empowering journey that invites readers to pause, reflect, and realign their lives with purpose and authenticity. With a voice that is both compassionate and compelling, Pathik offers a roadmap for those who find themselves at a crossroads—emotionally, professionally, or spiritually.
YOU-TURN delves deep into the interconnectedness of all living beings and the environment. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing the universal biological needs that bind us all, such as oxygen, water, food, sunlight, and love. By understanding these needs, we can see how climate change disrupts them, leading to imbalances that affect our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
The core message of YOU-TURN is simple yet profound: transformation begins with self-awareness. Pathik expertly blends storytelling, real-life examples, and practical tools to encourage readers to evaluate the direction of their lives and make conscious decisions to shift gears if needed. What makes the book especially engaging is its relatability. Whether you are facing burnout, a mid-life crisis, or seeking deeper fulfillment, Pathik's words act like a wise friend offering clarity and courage.
The chapters are well-structured, making it easy for readers to digest complex themes around mindset, fear, resilience, and personal growth. While some parts may feel slightly repetitive for seasoned readers of self-help literature, the overall message remains fresh due to Pathik's authentic tone and unique insights drawn from his own experiences.
YOU-TURN is a valuable companion for anyone seeking direction or longing to reclaim control of their life. It's a reminder that it's never too late to change your path—and often, the most important turn you take is the one back to yourself. If you are searching to improve your quality of life and become a healthy, happy, and loving being, YOU-TURN is for you.
For more information, please visit https://thesimplesolutioncenter.org/
Raman Pathik lived in a Gandhi-inspired Ashram as a child in India. Coming to the United States, he experienced a stressful society. Now as an applied knowledge expert in quality of life and transformation, he teaches others to take control of their lives to find true happiness and peace.
To learn more about the author and his books please visit: https://thesimplesolutioncenter.org/ and https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/771064-you-turn
SACRED FOREST BATHING
by Ellen Dee Davidson
As species morph and change in response to altering conditions, the natural world continues with an endless display of creative, evolutionary expressions. Mother Nature reveals artistry at every turn, expressing through patterns. From pine cones to ice and snow crystals, from rivers to our lungs that resemble the branches of trees, we see repeating fractals. My favorite example is a tree. Each branch looks like a smaller tree,
with the Y shape occurring over and over again. Even the leaves are fractal, with midline veins that resemble the trunk of a tree and smaller veins branching out.
Like nature’s art, our creativity often repeats the same images and themes. We evolve not by moving forward in a straight line but by returning again and again to what matters most to us, evolving and growing by going deeper and deeper into familiar territory until we uncover something fresh. Life is nature’s art, and we are part of that life.
Ellen Dee Davidson has worked as a creative writing, piano, and elementary school teacher and is the author of a number of children’s books, including Wind, which won the Nautilus Gold Award, and The Miracle Forest, a bilingual picture book telling the true story of how a community in Colombia found a miraculous way to restore rainforests not seen in the area for thousands of years. She is a member of TreeSisters, Awakening Women, and the Earth Treasure Vase Global Healing Project.
She lives in Humboldt County, California, where she has fallen in love with the ancient redwood forests.
So how do we humbly come back to our place in the great artistic web of being? To begin having nature therapy experiences, the first thing is to discover a spot close to where you live so that you can return at least once or twice a month to experience the full effects. It doesn’t have to be a forest. A meadow with the enticing fragrances of flowers, a mountaintop with the radiance of powerful rocks, or a beach with the sound of waves lapping the shore are some of the many environments that can offer us the healing experience of nature immersion.
Once you have found an enticing spot where you feel safe, set aside a few hours. At least two hours are needed to receive the full benefits of nature therapy, and it is essential to turn off cell phones and other devices. Be sure you know the hazards of the location before beginning so that you can protect yourself from sunburn, dehydration, cold, poison oak or ivy, animals, pollen, and ticks, which can cause Lyme disease.
With ticks, the trick is to wear light-colored clothes so you can see the reddish-black body of the tick. Tuck your pants into socks and wear a long-sleeved shirt. Do a full-body tick check after your outing. My doctor told me that ticks have to dig under your skin for a minimum of thirty-six hours to cause disease. If you are uncertain how long a tick has been attached and are concerned about contracting Lyme, you can take the tick to a local public health laboratory and have it checked. It’s good to know because antibiotics are effective when given within seventy-two hours of a tick bite. Knowledge keeps us safe to explore the rejuvenating properties of time in nature.
When you have found your spot and turned off your phone, slow down. Take in long, deep belly
breaths. If it helps, breathe into the count of five, hold for five, and breathe out for another five counts. Begin by centering yourself in the same spot for five to fifteen minutes, soaking in the atmosphere. Notice what you smell, the colors of the leaves or stones, the texture of bark or water. Eco-therapy evokes states of awe, wonder, and gratitude. These states of consciousness help us to heal.
For people who want more guidance, there are certified forest guides through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT). Guides can help you find suitable trails and learn how to tune into your senses. Be aware of the rules in your state and national parks. When I looked into taking people forest bathing in the redwoods, I was informed by the California State Park system that it is illegal to charge anyone to take them to a park, not even to split the gas to get there, without first acquiring a special permit. Personally, I love this rule, which prevents commercializing nature’s holy cathedrals.
If you are someone who loves to track your healing progress, you may want to check your blood pressure, pulse, quality of sleep, and mood before you go. After you return home, you can check again to see if there are any improvements.
Although I usually hike miles before settling down to sit for a couple of hours with an old-growth redwood, this is not necessary. If you love to exercise, want to get a more expansive feel for the lay of the land, and feel great after a long walk, by all means, hike first, as I do. For most people, a short halfmile stroll into the forest or other environment is all that’s required. Enter your chosen place with reverence. Be silent and still. Take a moment to be aware of your surroundings.
Stability and Ecstasy Yoga & the Pineal Gland:
Sadhguru: As scientists explore the nature of the human mind, and as we find better instruments to look at the nature of the human brain, one thing is becoming very clear for modern psychologists and neuroscientists: there is much more to be known about the human mind than they know right now.
As there is medical physiology, there is a whole Yogic physiology. One aspect of Yogic physiology that aligns in some way with modern neurosciences is the pineal gland. This gland was always recognized as being associated with the agna chakra. Today, neuroscientists say that the secretions of the pineal gland control and moderate one's moods and experiences. If you have a very stable and sufficient pineal secre-
tion, having a pleasant mood within yourself is not a problem.
Both medical sciences and street-side drugs have made it clear that chemicals can create pleasant and unpleasant experiences within you that are very real for you. Others may dismiss it as you causing it to yourself, but actually, you are causing everything to yourself. The only difference is whether you cause it with or without outside help. If you simply become ecstatic right now, you are causing it to yourself without outside help. If you cause the same thing with outside stimulation, it may be the same thing experience-wise, but the end result could damage the system. And such an experience will not result in any kind of consciousness. Unconscious experiences, however big they are, are of no significance for one's evolution, growth, and transformation.
Photo
Many Cultures Were Aware of the Bindu
A little-known aspect of Yogic physiology, which is totally absent in modern medical sciences, is something that I constantly keep "on" within myself, called the Bindu. "Bindu" means a tiny point. It is a particular spot on the pineal gland surrounded by a certain secretion. If you touch the Bindu, it will release secretions that make your body comfortable and make you feel ecstatic. To activate the Bindu, there is a certain point at the back of your head. So many cultures around the world have recognized this, and there is an understanding that that point needs to be protected and activated.
In the Hindu way of life, when young Brahmin boys are initiated into spiritual sadhana (practice), they shave off the hair on the rest of the head and leave a tuft at this point. In many other parts of the world, if people are doing a certain type of activity that they believe is spiritual, they want that spot to be covered, so they started using small caps or some kind of cloth. Everywhere in the world,
at some point, some people would have been aware of it and probably spoke about it. I really do not know what they have said, but I have noticed people doing these things.
I do not know when the neurosurgeons will come upon the Bindu. Even if they come upon it because it is so small, they may ignore it. But if you pay attention to your system, it is there all the time. But do not start imagining these things!
Ambrosia and Poison
You will see, many times when people are in certain meditative processes; they become overwhelmed because the "glass of ambrosia" inside is tipping a little bit. They have still not learned how to drink from it in sips. If you give a glass full of water to a small child, he will spill it all over the place when he drinks. Similarly, their glass is tipping because they do not know yet how to sip gently. If they do the necessary sadhana, slowly after some time, they could consciously drink from it. Once you can consciously drink from it, every cell in the body and every moment of your life is ecstatic.
Infrastructures to Raise Human Consciousness
Experience Yoga in its classical form at Isha Yoga Center Los Angeles and Isha Institute of Inner-sciences. Established by Sadhguru, the centers serve as powerful spaces for inner transformation and raising human consciousness. Located in northern Los Angeles County and Tennessee, the centers offer an array of yoga and meditation programs in a vibrant and conducive ambience.
You are invited to Free Yoga Day, a monthly open-door event a t the center. On this day, we offer a variety of free sessions dedicated to educating and empowering individuals to take charge of their well-being through simple but powerful practices sourced from the Yogic tradition.
Learn more at ishausa.org/la
But the Bindu has two sides to it. The Bindu has another point to it, which also has a secretion but is poisonous. If you tip the wrong side of the glass, then poison will spread through the system. It is not like a poison that you drink. It will spread through the system in such a way that, for what looks like simply no reason, you are miserable. You are miserable because you tipped the wrong side of the glass by doing improper things with life.
There are many cultures around the world of which we are aware. Some wear caps, some have tops, and some have taken other kinds of care. You will notice the level of mental imbalance in those cultures is always lower.
First Stability, Then Ecstasy
No matter what you are pursuing in life – money, wealth, power, God, or enlightenment – what is it that you are seeking? Essentially, what you are seeking is an ultimate sense of sweetness within you. Either you hit it accidentally or consciously – that is the choice you have.
There are many simple processes and methods that are devised not to go towards that ambrosia that is in every human brain but to bring the necessary foundation within you that, when you hit it through grace, you do not go crazy. Too much sweetness can drive you crazy unless you are sitting on a stable foundation.
In Yoga, the initial phases of sadhana that you do are aimed at stability, not ecstasy. Stability is more important than ecstasy. If ecstasy comes before stability, you are heading for a crash. If ecstasy comes after stability, it is fantastic. The Yogic system has devised the practices in such a way that everything is aimed at stability to start with.
The Processes of Ecstasy Were Never Written
The processes of ecstasy were never written down or transmitted as a teaching. It is only in the presence of a certain being that those things happen
– because they are very subjective, and it is best they are not written down. In some books on tantra, they have tried to write it down, which I feel is very irresponsible. Suppose you read a book where the first two chapters talk about some simple practices to stabilize yourself, and the last five chapters talk about simple practices to take you to ecstatic levels – which one will you do? You will be asking for trouble. These are usually ignorant people who have done some guesswork around the real thing and tried to write down something about it. People will not go for stability; they will go for ecstasy – and they will break up. You cannot hold your system if it is too ecstatic unless you have already worked for your stability.
Never aspire for anything that is not yet in your perception because you will aspire for the wrong things. That is why traditions have always been insisting on trust – simply because if we explain something beforehand, naturally you imagine the wrong things and go for it. Do not worry about that. If you did not know how a plant grows, if I show you a lump of filth and the beautiful flower and say, "These two things are the same. This comes out of that," would you believe me? There would be no way to convince you. It takes a crazy sense of trust. That is why we usually do not talk about all those things. Because this cannot be logically worked out, this needs a little fixing of life.
A man walked into the court. He was the defendant. The judge looked at him and asked, "Do you have a lawyer?" The man said, "No, but I have some good friends in the jury."
This is how it is. You cannot logically work this out. That is why the Guru came into the picture because a little fixing is needed. Without the fixing, you will not jump. You will stand on this side forever. Without a little fixing, nudging, or shoving, you will not cross the line.
From Ted Lasso to Timeless Creativity: The Evolution of
Stephen Manas
Stephen Manas is a multifaceted talent whose artistry and drive continue to leave a lasting impression across the entertainment world. Best known for his role as the charismatic French footballer Richard Montlaur in the Emmy Award-winning series Ted Lasso, Stephen has captivated audiences with his authentic performances and international flair. But his creative reach extends far beyond the screen.
In addition to acting, Stephen is a passionate music composer and author, constantly exploring new ways to tell meaningful stories. A deep commitment to personal growth and wellness matches his love for creativity. Recently, he added another dimension to his journey by earning his EMS (Electromagnetic Stimulation) certification as a training coach, blending fitness and innovation to reflect his forward-thinking mindset.
In this exclusive interview with The Eden Magazine, Stephen shares insight into his artistic path, the impact of global storytelling, and how his diverse passions—from performance to physical training—help shape a life rooted in purpose, balance, and authenticity.
What initially drew you to acting, and how did your role as Richard Montlaur in Ted Lasso challenge or shape you as an actor?
I first got into acting by responding to a basic casting call in my hometown. They were looking for Extras, and I was lucky to get picked when I was only 16. That small extra role turned into something bigger, and I stayed on set for two weeks. The film was quite successful in France, and that experience made me fall in love with the world of cinema, seeing how everything comes together before and after shooting and being part of that creative energy.
As for playing Richard Montlaur, I was incredibly lucky. Those who know me well often say that I didn't have to "play" the character much—they simply took Stephen Manas and put him into the role. On Ted Lasso, most of the time, the direction I got was just, "These are your lines, Stephen. Just be yourself." My natural personality already fit the slightly over-the-top, cliché vibe they were going for, so it worked well with the script.
Sometimes, you don't have to act to act!
You are not only an actor but also a music composer and author. How do these different creative outlets complement each other in your life? Music has been a part of my life long before acting, and I've always loved it. I feel incredibly blessed that today, we can compose masterpieces using just a piano and a computer—something that was much more complicated only 20 years ago.
Composing isn't always easy, especially since I love traveling. Unlike a guitar or a harmonica, a piano isn't exactly easy to carry around! And since I create epic orchestral music rather than electronic, I need specific tools and instruments that aren't the most travel friendly.
Maybe I should've just stuck to the harmonica—aha!
They are both creative tools that I like to practice. They make me happy.
What inspires your music as a composer, and do you have a particular process for turning ideas into melodies?
I create epic/orchestral music and wouldn't call myself Mozart! I draw inspiration from various composers I admire. When I'm working on a piece, I immerse myself completely. I listen to those composers for 6/7 hours a day, sometimes for three, four, or even five days straight. Occasionally, it takes a full week of this deep listening.
At some point, the music starts creating itself in my head. I'm unsure how. It might be a mix of influences or my brain fully entering a creative mode. By constantly surrounding myself with the kind of music I want to compose, melodies naturally begin to take shape.
It's interesting because if I take a long break from music, I can't just sit at the piano and create something instantly. It takes a few days to get back into that creative state. That's just how my process works.
Tell us about your book, Pathless, and what inspired you to write it? The story behind my book is quite simple—it all started because someone encouraged me to give it a try. I met my publisher by chance, and during our conversation, I shared all my projects. At the time, I truly believed I had no writing skills whatsoever.
I started with the book, then moved on to a feature film, a series, and another feature. And somehow, I just kept going. I had no formal training, no background in writing, and honestly, my grammar isn't the best. But I thought, why not? What did I have to lose besides time? The worst-case scenario? It turns out to be terrible, and we forget about it.
But in the end, it didn't turn out so bad! And that's precisely the message I share in Pathless—just do it.
Pathless by Stephen Manas is available on Amazon, Kindle, and as an audiobook for those interested.
Are there any underlying messages you hope readers take away
Of course, there are many, but I won't give them away that easily! Readers will have to be more invested and dive into the book themselves.
How do you balance your acting career
with your work as a music composer and writer? Do you find that one fuels your creativity in the others?
Honestly, it's not that complicated. I find the time. I mean, I'm not Brad Pitt or anything! Some days, I'm on set; some days, I am writing; some days, I'm composing; and sometimes, I'm just relaxing. Maybe one day it'll become a real challenge, but for now, I manage my time well. I still have time to travel, hit the gym, and enjoy life. So far, so good!
Ted Lasso has such a positive and uplifting spirit globally. How has being part of this beloved show impacted your personal or professional outlook?
Ted Lasso had an incredible impact on my life. I wouldn't be where I am today, both physically and mentally, if it weren't for that show. It lifted some struggles but also uncovered others, shaping me as a person along the way. This journey has been a meaningful and transformative one, and I'm genuinely grateful for it. While it hasn't always been easy, the experience was overwhelmingly positive, filled with joy, knowledge, and personal growth, which is the most important part to me.
What upcoming projects or dreams do you hope to pursue in acting, music, or writing?
Many projects are in the works, but I love the element of surprise for both the audience and me. It's no secret that bringing a project to life is not just hard; it's ultimately one of the toughest challenges. Every step from development to production to distribution is a learning process, and I'm still mastering it. But I'm working relentlessly on multiple projects right now, pushing to make them a reality, and I will do everything I can to see them come to life.
How has your upbringing in France shaped your artistic journey, and what personal experiences have impacted your work?
More than the country itself, it's about the locations and environments that shape us. Growing up in the mountains, with parents who had very different styles of education, gave me a unique perspective. I was fortunate to have access to sports, a solid education, music, and excellent scholarship opportunities, all playing a big role in shaping who I am.
Of course, every country has its own culture. I feel the differences most when it comes to food in the United States or France's wine and champagne culture. But ultimately, growing up to be a good human being is universal; being French, or from anywhere else, shouldn't change that.
As I've shared in my book, spending almost two years in India profoundly shaped me. Experiencing life there took me on a completely different journey than the one I would have had if I had stayed in Europe or the U.S. It changed me for the better, without a doubt.
Where is the place you call home, and where do you feel most at home and most like yourself?
The more I travel, the more I realize I feel at home in many places. Of course, I come from the mountains — La Haute-Savoie in France — and that will always be a part of me. It's cold, it's beautiful, it's where I grew up, even if I'm not a huge fan of the chill.
But for me, "home" is more of a feeling than a physical place. I feel at home while walking through a quiet garden in Tokyo. I think it when I'm overlooking the hills of Los Angeles. I feel it on the beaches of Barcelona, or in a small peaceful village in the South of France.
So, home isn't one specific place for me. It's wherever I feel at peace, inspired, or just genuinely happy. And that can be in many places around the world.
Your book Pathless mentions that your psychologist told you to be proud. But you must be proud of many accomplishments thus far in your career. What are you most proud of in the book? What are you most proud of professionally? What are you most proud of personally?
Well, why "surely"? That is interesting.
I've often struggled with impostor syndrome. That quiet voice that questions whether I have the right to be an author, to aim high in this industry, or to believe I can succeed. Whether or not it's justified, those doubts have followed me at different stages.
I've reached a point where I want to be proud of what I create. Writing and finishing my book was a real challenge, and I'm proud to have followed through. I said I'd do it, and I did. That's a milestone I won't overlook, and I hope the first of many.
Of course, in some circles, showing pride in your work can be misread as arrogance. That's another thing I'm learning: to distance myself from that kind of energy and instead allow myself space to grow, create, and celebrate progress without guilt.
What am I most proud of in the book? That I survived writing it! But seriously, for those who do not know, the book is mostly about my journey as an artist. A period when I left France with absolutely nothing and invited myself to live abroad for nearly two years. I spent most of that time in Asia, especially India, which was the most affordable place I could go.
It's a mix of personal stories, experiences, culture shock, and inner transformation. To write it, I had to go deep into my memory, revisiting old notebooks, photos, and messages from that time. That process was emotional, but also beautiful. I tried to make it both funny and heartfelt. Something that encourages people to go have their own adventures.
What makes me happiest is that I've already received messages from readers who told me the book inspired them to travel alone, explore, and step outside their comfort zones. That was exactly the goal. And knowing it's having that effect. That's what I'm genuinely proud of.
You have travelled extensively around the globe and lived in different places. What has travel taught you and how has it enriched your work?
Travel teaches you open-mindedness in a way
nothing else can — not school, not books, not even movies. It's something you must experience firsthand. You need to be thrown into a place where you don't know what to do, what to eat, or how to behave. And in those moments, your only real tool is a smile and the courage to ask kindly for help, even when you don't speak the local language.
You might feel like you're in control at home or in your own neighborhood. But when you're alone in a foreign country, where you don't speak the language and no one looks like you, your phone is dead, and you don't have access to money, real openness begins. You realize that a warm smile or a respectful gesture can open doors you never expected. That strangers can become unforgettable moments in your story.
These are the gifts that no money can buy, no book can teach and can only be offered, not taken.
This kind of experience inevitably transforms you as a person, and naturally, your work evolves alongside that growth. As you change, so does your creative expression. It becomes deeper, more honest, more connected to the world around you.
Growing up, were you a Football player? Did you follow a specific team? Were you an athlete?
Not really. Sports haven't been the core of my life. I played football for maybe two or three years, nothing major. I was more into handball when it came to team sports.
I refuse to let my ambitions be too high without doing my absolute best to achieve them. I cannot forgive myself if I don't try my hardest.
Special thanks to:
Stephen Manas
Photographer : Thierry Brouard @premium_paris
Okasana Wagner @oxiarta
Gilad Ssporta @giladsasports
Book publisher: actiontakers.com
When I was younger, I followed Olympique Lyonnais. Mostly because I lived nearby, and they were on fire at the time. Juninho, what a legend! (If you don't know him, do yourself a favor and look him up on YouTube!)
Now that I have lived in Paris, I follow PSG a bit more, and of course, I've always been a fan of our French national team, which is not doing too badly these days either!
As for me personally, I'm a black belt in Judo, I've skied for many years (my mom was an instructor), did some track and field, handball, like I mentioned, and about four years of breakdancing and gymnastics. That's the full list, with a lot of music, of course!
Do you have a fitness regime and follow a special diet?
Lots of sports and enjoying a healthy diet.
What is the best part of being an artist?
That's an intriguing question! It's important to steer clear of the monotony that can come with certain jobs. While it's challenging not to have the stability of traditional employment, we only live once. It is fascinating that work allows creativity and collaboration on projects with diverse groups of people, sometimes even travelling. Like any journey, life has its ups and downs, and as an artist, downs can go very low, and the ups can be very high. That is what I need to fuel my life.
Have you ever been compared to the legend Alain Delon?
Since I was 18, I've often been compared to him since my first acting experience. People say there's a resemblance, though I don't see it much. Those who personally knew him have mentioned to me there's something there, which, of course, is a lovely compliment in terms of
appearance! Career-wise, there's not much comparison (yet).
I had the chance to meet him in Cannes in 2019 when he was the guest of honor. He is truly a legend in our industry, and I feel blessed I had the chance to shake his hand and cross his regard. May he rest in peace.
Season four of Ted Lasso will feature a women's soccer team. What advice would you give to the new cast that will be joining the show?
Yes, I guess that's the plan I would advise you to trust the production team, as they are the same talented group I have worked with. Trust in the production, trust in Jason, and trust everyone involved.
Always do your best and have fun. It will turn out better than perfect.
Where do you see yourself professionally in five years?
Where do I see myself, or where do I want to be? That's a great question! The answer is something I'm working towards, and it's still tucked away in a folder on my desktop.
I'm not ready to share it publicly because I don't want to look foolish in five years.
Just know that I'm truly giving my all every single day. Working over 10 hours a day, writing, learning, working, doing sports, practicing, editing, mounting projects, and playing music non-stop.
I refuse to let my ambitions be too high without doing my absolute best to achieve them.
I cannot forgive myself if I don't try my hardest.
So, in five years, I see myself reaching the maximum of what I can achieve.
Photo by Oleg Shatilov
Triumph From Trauma to
6 Steps to Help Release Emotional Baggage for Healing
by Dr. Bradley Nelson
Just about everyone has suffered from emotional trauma at some point. What we do after these experiences can have a profound effect on our lives.
Traumatic events can leave us feeling stunned, confused, and lost. If we try to ignore or bury our emotions, they may resurface in the form of sadness, depression, anxiety, negative thinking, physical pain, illness, or discomfort.
May is National Trauma Month, while June is recognized as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Month in the United States, so this is a good time to discuss what you can do to heal from the effects of traumatic experiences.
The effects of trauma vary from person to person. Some people can process their feelings without professional intervention, while others need help from a therapist. Everyone can benefit from a better understanding of how emotions from traumatic events are
formed, how emotions get trapped, and what steps can help release them.
The word "trauma" has a couple of different meanings. One is physical, as it relates to traumatic injuries or trauma units in hospitals. In addition, there is mental trauma and emotional trauma that result from difficult or extremely stressful events.
Traumatic experiences will vary from person to person, but they might include things like:
• The death of a family member, friend, or pet
• Accident or physical injury, such as a car accident or bad fall
• Divorce or hurtful breakup
• Sexual assault
• Serious illness
• Natural disasters
• War
• Pandemic
• Being Bullied or Abused
• Being the victim of a crime
• Losing your home
• Losing your job
• Legal Entanglements
“Sometimes, certain changes are necessary and in your best interest, so they must happen, especially if your safety is involved.
If you've been through a traumatic event in your life, you may have struggled for a long time to cope with what happened. Any kind of traumatic experience, especially those that are shocking or unexpected, can cause harm. After having such an experience, you may find it difficult to feel happy and joyful about life. Negative thoughts and dark emotions seem to be more prevalent and may actually eventually leave you feeling flat or numb, unable to feel happiness at all.
Ideally, negative feelings fade over time as you process those feelings. But sometimes, you may not know how to respond to a difficult experience from your life. It's hard to move on without fully processing what you have gone through physically, emotionally, and mentally.
In decades of private practice and in teaching around the world, I have found that 90 percent of all the physical pain we experience is due to trapped emotions — emotional baggage from events such as divorce, childhood abuse, or any number of other difficult experiences. Emotional energies can stay with us and disrupt our lives for years. The good news is that releasing trapped emotions can result in profound and immediate healing.
Emotional healing refers to your ability to process your feelings about that experience — and your ability to move on from what has happened to you. Emotional healing is essential to helping you feel better. There are things you can do to empower healing within yourself.
My work has been centered on devel-
oping techniques to aid in healing in a non-invasive and holistic way. The Emotion Code technique is an easy way to process and clear emotional energies without having to suffer additional trauma by talking about what happened. You can either learn to do the Emotion Code technique on your own or work with a practitioner who has learned how to apply the technique.
Whether you have seen a counselor or therapist or not, if you've experienced persistent physical, mental, or emotional effects following a traumatic event, you might benefit by trying these 6 steps to help find healing. These include:
Release trapped emotions: The Emotion Code® helps you release negative emotional energy — including trapped emotions and the Heart-Wall® — that are related to the intense emotional experience you had. Certified practitioners are available globally on DiscoverHealing.com.
Connect with people who understand: Joining a group of others or talking with a friend who has been through an experience similar to yours can help. Feeling understood by someone else can be an essential part of your emotional healing. Helping someone else navigate through their trauma might help you as well.
Share your feelings: Be mindfully present, meditate, pray, cry and share your heart's feelings. Know that you are heard, always. It can be very cathartic and emotionally healing, bringing strength and peace from above.
Veteran holistic physician Dr. Bradley Nelson (D.C., ret.) is one of the world's foremost experts on natural methods of achieving wellness.
He is the creator of the Emotion Code, the Body Code, and the Belief Code and is the CEO of Discover Healing, a holistic education platform that provides training and certifies practitioners worldwide.
His bestselling book The Emotion Code provides step-by-step instructions for working with the body's energy healing power. His latest book is The Body Code: Unlocking Your Body's Ability to Heal Itself
Embrace your routine: Traumatic experiences can disrupt routines that bring you comfort. As soon as you're ready, try to resume your regular routines around mealtimes, exercise, errands, and work, if possible. These routines can help you begin to feel normal again.
Exercise and have fun: If you've always enjoyed lunch dates with your best friend or playing tennis with your brother, try to resume these activities. Moving your body helps a lot. Exercising delivers a dopamine rush that helps people feel happier. Getting back to fun activities you normally enjoy can be part of your emotional healing process.
Practice Acceptance and Gratitude: Depending on the severity of your situation, it may take time for you to learn to live with what has happened to you or to others you love. Acceptance and gratitude are key. The difficulties of life help us to grow and learn so much. When we can accept and appreciate everything for the things we learn, it is possible to move through difficulties, gleaning worthwhile attributes such as empathy, compassion, humility, love, and wisdom.
Along with these ideas for things you can do to aid your emotional healing after difficult experiences, there are a few things you should avoid doing. Don't "bottle up" your feelings. It's important to let your feelings out somehow. Difficult emotions can manifest as a sense of heaviness and dread, but the weight of emotions can be lightened when we let them go. This is where the old adage "getting it off your chest" comes from.
Make sure that when sharing your feelings, you're ultimately focused on recovering. You don't want to increase negative feelings by staying focused on what you fear, don't want, or cannot accept yet. The pur-
pose in sharing is to vent. Let the feelings out to let go of the hurt.
As soon as you can, focus on the positive things about your life. You will always get more of whatever you visualize and hold onto. If you continue to focus on trauma, life may continue to be hard. If you focus on things that bring joy, such as friendships and loved ones, you will more likely feel supported and loved as you heal.
It's best not to make major life decisions that you don't need to make while you are recovering from trauma, such as moving, changing jobs, etc., as this may add to your stress load. Sometimes, certain changes are necessary and in your best interest, so they must happen, especially if your safety is involved. Avoid using addictive substances like alcohol or drugs to help you escape your distress, as you might cause additional harm to yourself and others around you if you abuse those things.
None of us are immune from experiencing times of trouble and challenging circumstances. Along with any required professional help, energy healing tools and other practices that boost your sense of well-being can leave you better equipped to recover when bad things happen.
About the Author: Veteran holistic physician Dr. Bradley Nelson (D.C., ret.) is one of the world's foremost experts on natural methods of achieving wellness. He is the creator of the Emotion Code, the Body Code, and the Belief Code and is the CEO of Discover Healing, a holistic education platform that provides training and certifies practitioners worldwide. His bestselling book "The Emotion Code" provides step-by-step instructions for working with the body's energy healing power. His latest book is "The Body Code: Unlocking Your Body's Ability to Heal Itself."
Photo by Kateryna Hliznitsova
N Radevaelly
What inspired you to create Naturelle With Love, and how did your journey begin?
I started the brand during the pandemic to create something meaningful. I've always believed in the power of beauty to uplift and heal. I saw an opportunity to positively impact the world by building something I'm good at—something that could help support my charity, the I CAN TOO Foundation. During such a challenging time for so many, I wanted to create something that makes people feel good and contributes to doing good. That's how Naturelle With Love was born, driven by a desire to make a genuine impact with Love, care, and purpose.
Bulgarian Damascene rose Oil is known for its rarity and potency—what makes it so special, and how does it set your products apart from others in the highend cosmetics market?
What truly sets our products apart is that they are 100% natural and created fresh when you place your order. There's no shelf life—they are as fresh as the moment they're made. Just like we need fresh juice to nourish our bodies, this is a fresh, nourishing elixir for our skin.
The Bulgarian Damascene rose Oil itself is a rare treasure. It takes about seven thousand pounds of rose petals to produce just 2.2 pounds of this exquisite Oil, which is why it's highly prized. Its natural properties are incredibly potent, helping to nourish, rejuvenate, and bring a luxurious glow to the skin.
We developed these formulations in collaboration with scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Their research revealed that when green algae, rich in all the minerals necessary for healthy skin and body, are combined with rose oil—containing the entire periodic table—the result is a powerful, healing, anti-aging remedy—an elixir of youth. This unique blend, combined with our commitment to freshness and purity, truly sets our products apart in the high-end cosmetics market.
Sustainability and purity are key to natural beauty. How do you ensure the ethical sourcing and production of your rose oil and other ingredients?
For me, it's all about respect—respect for the environment, the farmers, and the ingredients. We work directly with local growers who cultivate the roses with Love and care, using organic practices whenever possible. We're committed to fair trade, so everyone along the way benefits. We pay close attention to how everything is made, ensuring it's done in a way that's good for the planet and preserves our ingredients' natural purity. It's about creating beauty that's kind to the Earth and true to nature.
As a founder, what has been the most rewarding part of building a brand that blends luxury with nature? The most rewarding part has been hearing how our products make people feel. It's wonderful to know that something made with Love and care can bring a little bit of luxury into someone's everyday routine—something that boosts confidence and self-love. Knowing that we're making a positive impact through our ingredients and the values behind our brand gives me so much joy. It's about creating something authentic people can trust and feel good about.
How do you see the future of clean beauty evolving, and what role do you envision Naturelle With Love playing in the transformation? Clean beauty is only going to grow stronger. People are more aware than ever of what they put on their skin and how it affects the planet. I see brands like ours leading the way—being transparent, sourcing responsibly, and focusing on real, effective ingredients. Naturelle With Love wants to be part of that movement, showing that luxury and sustainability can go hand in hand. We aim to inspire others to embrace natural beauty with Love and respect for the world around us.
Your brand emphasizes Love in its name—what does "with love" mean to you personally and professionally? To me, "with love" is about kindness— kindness to ourselves, to others, and the planet. It's about putting Love into everything we do, from the ingredients we choose to how we treat people. It's a reminder to approach life and work with compassion and authenticity. Professionally, it's about creating products that nurture, uplift, and bring more Love into the world. It's the heart of everything we stand for.
To order your next Naturelle With Lovev isit https://naturellewithlove.com/.
Nelly with Mike Hermosa, Kyle Stefanski, and Ryan Moore
The Phantoms Behind MIGRAINE PAIN
by Dr. David Clarke
Photo
How Trauma & Neuroplasticity Create Chronic Conditions
Let's suspend disbelief for a moment and imagine haunted houses are real.
Let's further imagine you bought a long-abandoned one for an incredible bargain, and you hope to turn it into something special.
You bring truckloads of treated wood and full pallets of paint. Many months and thousands of dollars later, you have transformed the town's eyesore into a thing of beauty. Unfortunately, it's still haunted. It's not a peaceful place to live, and no one in town wants to buy it back from you. The problems of this house come from phantoms that live in the lowest parts of the foundation, and your remodeling only succeeded in healing the wounds at the surface.
The Chronic Pain Problem
The story of chronic pain — and, by extension, the story of migraines — is very similar.
Over 20% of the U.S. population suffers from chronic pain, and one in ten Americans report experiencing migraines on a regular basis. Until recently, the response from the medical community was heavily dependent on opioids and, for migraines, acute or preventive medications. Opioids for chronic pain show very little evidence of resolving anything in the long term. They are new wooden boards. They are a new coat of paint. They are temporary
solutions to a much deeper problem.
Our understanding of chronic pain is always evolving. In 2019, a review of 25 clinical trials of invasive treatments for chronic pain (comprising 2000 subjects with seven different conditions, including migraine) found little evidence for benefit when compared to sham procedures. What we are now recognizing is that the foundations of chronic non-structural pain sit at the very bottom. We know that effectively addressing chronic pain is similar to exorcising a haunted house of its demons. It has to do with phantoms behind the scenes and finding the deepest roots of the problem.
June is Migraine Awareness Month, which is a time to share our latest understanding of migraines and how they might be treated. What follows is a brief exploration and explanation of the mind-body connection with an emphasis on the origins of migraines and proven holistic treatments.
What's Hidden in the Foundation?
Neuroplasticity is a term that vividly captures the brain's tendency to reshape itself in response to its surroundings. The term was first introduced to the scientific community in the 1940s, and its impacts on pain and injury started to gain traction with seminal studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, neuroplasticity is a cornerstone of chronic pain research and even recognizable in mainstream culture, thanks in part to Norman Doidge's "The Brain That Changes Itself."
Studies show that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in young people have a direct correlation with heightened reactivity via the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
Neuroplastic psychology is built on the idea of the mind-body connection. In this sense, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) aren't temporary "flare-ups" in the brain's chemistry. Instead, they are foundational events that create a different reality for the brain altogether.
This plasticity is what gives rise to neuroplastic symptoms, which are chronic conditions that come about not due to physical damage but in response to altered brain pathways. Chronic migraines. Long COVID. Fibromyalgia. These conditions are often the result of prolonged stress or trauma, forcing the brain to lock itself into patterns that sustain pain even in the absence of structural injury. In fact, neuroimaging methods consistently reveal forms of neuroplasticity associated with chronic pain and recurring headaches.
One extra takeaway: Our understanding of "brain flexibility" is still in its infancy. Most recently, scientists proposed creating distinct categories of "upward" (synaptic construction) and "downward" (synaptic deconstruction) neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity: The Wiring & Rewiring of Your Brain
How does this happen? Neuroplastic psychology is built on the idea of the mind-body connection. In this sense, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) aren't temporary "flare-ups" in the brain's chemistry. Instead, they are foundational events that create a different reality for the brain altogether.
More specifically, the amygdala becomes swollen and hyperactive, creating a heightened fear response and the inability to reasonably perceive threats. What's more, chronic conditions like these shrink the hippocampus, which is
responsible for memory processing and maintaining a clear distinction between the past and the present.
Essentially, they turn a regular house into a haunted house, and it's not something that goes away easily or simply "in time." This new reality demands treatment that acknowledges the impact of trauma, most especially when that trauma takes place at such a young age.
The Connection to Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma is one of the most critical components to understanding neuroplastic symptoms like migraines and fibromyalgia. Survivors of childhood trauma are particularly susceptible to the wiring and rewiring that takes place as a result of neuroplasticity. The effects on the amygdala and hippocampus are pronounced. Consequently, ACE survivors are at much greater risk for developing chronic pain as they become adults.
Studies show that post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in young people have a direct correlation with heightened reactivity via the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Simply put, ACEs can keep the body stuck in a constant state of chronic stress. This makes the body more sensitive to physical symptoms, which in turn exacerbates the problem further. For many, healing requires more than medication — it means a deeper confrontation with the trauma itself through neuroplastic therapies and targeted lifestyle changes.
Photo by Igor Omilaev
Dr. David Clarke is the President of the Association for the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms (ATNS), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending the chronic pain epidemic. Dr. Clarke holds an MD from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, and is Board-certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology.
His organization's mission is to advance the awareness, diagnosis, and treatment of stress-related, brain-generated medical conditions.
Treatments That Exorcise Everything
These deeper treatments are rooted in a more comprehensive understanding of chronic pain. Approaches include neuroscience education, mindfulness and meditation, and neuroplastic recovery therapies, such as Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy. These trauma-informed techniques begin with the recognition that the brain decides whether, where (in the body), and how intensely to generate a pain perception. The techniques then teach patients to view non-structural pain as safe. This rewires how the brain interprets pain. As the brain's response changes, pain is reduced, which builds resilience.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has shown modest benefits when addressing chronic pain and migraines. However, PRT takes things one step further. By helping patients shift focus from physical sensations to underlying stressors — and pairing that with practiced self-soothing — PRT produces significantly better outcomes for chronic pain than standard care or placebo. Why? Because it exorcises the phantoms behind it all.
One extra takeaway: But wait, there's more! A recent study of seniors suffering from chronic musculoskeletal conditions reported that two-thirds achieved at least a 30% reduction in pain by employing a new neuroplastic treatment known as Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET). Only one in six patients achieved that level of improvement with the older Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Why Traditional Medicine Misses the Mark Carl Jung once wrote, "Science… obscures our insight only when it
holds that the understanding given by it is the only kind there is."
The medical community has become stuck in a similar rut. For decades, doctors and researchers have focused on organ disease and structural pain. Of course, this focus has produced a number of worthwhile results, but it is ultimately failing to solve the problems for millions of people with chronic non-structural conditions. As traditional diagnostics come up short, the medical community as a whole needs to embrace the idea of deeply exploring the mind-body connection for long-lasting answers.
The biopsychosocial model, pioneered by George Engel, is the perfect starting point for building better medicine. It isn't about discarding skepticism but rather about expanding the toolbox available to the medical community. This way, when they come across a truly haunted house, they'll have more options than a hammer and some nails.
One extra takeaway: This sort of thinking isn't new. Interdisciplinary work and research have long been associated with some of the greatest ideas and breakthroughs in history.
The Way Forward
Much like a haunted house, chronic pain can't be resolved purely through methods focused on organ disease or structural injury. It takes courage and self-education to confront what lies underneath it all — unresolved trauma, misfiring neural pathways, and deep emotional echoes. Fortunately, we discover better tools for each task every single day. By embracing neuroplastic treatments and the mind-body connection, we're not just masking symptoms. Finally, we're beginning to exorcise the phantoms for good.
Welcome to Our Contributor Writers’ Neighborhood
Ocean River Institute by Dr. Rob Moir
Photo by Nadia Ieveneta
WHALES! Breathe Wheel Flukes Up Dive Swim On
April 24th was Massachusetts Right Whale Day. A vertical puff of water vapor split the air on that bright, calm day in Cape Cod
Bay off Provincetown’s Wood End Lighthouse. The V-shaped blow is not visible because the whale is positioned broadside to us. Most baleen whales have narrower spouts. With no dorsal fin and a brief glimpse of broad flukes—the whale’s tail— confirms the presence of a right whale, approximately 50 feet long.
Right whales are so rare that whale-watching vessels must stay at least 500 yards, or 1,500 feet, away so as not to disturb them. Right whales are like icebergs in freshwater, with most of their bodies hidden underwater. We watched the magnificent mammals from a distance.
Two right whales worked the shore along Herring Cove. Herring gulls showed no interest in the whales as they followed the fishing boat, heading for the harbor with the morning’s catch. Right whales eat zooplankton, straining small animals that drift in the water column with six-foot-long cartilage plates hanging down from the roof of the whale’s mouth. Hairs on baleen form a fine mesh that traps zooplankton inside, where the whale’s tongue, the size of a BMW Smart car, swipes and swallows. A pair of right whales swim in synchroni-
zation, turning and rolling onto their right side to elevate the left side of their flukes above the water. A third whale follows closely behind the twisting whales.
Today, the whales are likely eating shoals of Calanus copepods that are corralled between them and the steeply rising shore. We saw between 12 and 17 right whales from Race Point, with its lighthouse, to Long Point, which has a lighthouse at the tip of the sandy finger at the end of the raised arm known as Cape Cod.
Further offshore from Herring Cove, a slim, long whale with a sharply curved dorsal fin blows, wheels, and dives. With many decades of experience, the whale-watch boat captain maneuvers closer and stops the engine as a second sei whale surfaces. Reaching as much as 60 feet, sei whales are the third-largest whale in the world, preceded by blue and fin whales. Sei is Norwegian for pollack fish, as they were often seen together.
The two dark, bluish-gray whales settle beneath the water beside the boat, the white of their undersides visible as they roll onto their sides. The roqual grooves along their pleated chin and cheeks distend. Still in the water, these whales let the plankton float into their mouths, or so we think, as we cannot see any plankton in the dark waters. They rose to breathe after a few minutes, which seemed to our astonishment like an eternity.
Lobstermen do not trap during April and May along Massachusetts' sandy shores and boat traffic consists of smaller vessels alert to right whales. The greatest threat to right whale survival is the diminishing availability of food. Our pollutants have caused phytoplankton productivity to drop by 60% since 2000. Copepods now have less fat content, requiring whales to consume more to obtain the same nutritional value.
The first humpback whales of the season are found north of Race Point. Low in the water, they appear to be lounging about, perhaps taking it easy after a morning of feeding on sand lance. Last week, I found the pencil-thin fish on the Herring Cove beach, likely dropped by a gull.
A humpback whale lies below the surface with its blowholes and dorsal fin above the water. To the right, a second whale stirs the water that laps over its back.
The boat floats by the two humpback whales. Looking through the water, we see the whale’s 15-foot-long white flipper. The scientific name for humpback whales is Megaptera novaeangliae, meaning large-winged New Englander.
We are startled to see a second flipper looming white beneath the whale. A third whale is stealthily poised directly below the whale on the surface. When we saw two whales on the surface, there were really four humpbacks, surfacing two by two.
Later, all four whales were on the surface nearly at once. One
rolled on its side to reach an enormous flipper to the sky. The narrator assured us that the whale was not waving. Whales slap the water to communicate with more distant whales, but there were no slapping sounds today.
The whales slowly drifted beneath our vessel, revealing their entire outlines from above. Here, the tail fluke can be seen while the head and flippers are on the other side of the boat. The whales moved beneath us, from left to right and then from right to left, four times!
Finally, a humpback whale lifted its tail before diving. The black and white pattern on the underside was recognized as belonging to the female humpback named Habanero for the appearance of a chili pepper mark. Habanero is well known to the Dolphin Fleet of whale watch vessels. Habanero was observed with a calf in September 2012. A second humpback was identified as Candlestick. The other two humpbacks never showed their tails.
Returning to the harbor, the right whales continued to forage along the shoreline. These whales are called urban whales because they come near our urban shores more often than others. Right whales do not migrate, except for females that give birth off Savannah and Jacksonville. The newborns have little blubber and require warm water. However, these clear waters offer little food. Therefore, right whales travel to Cape Cod Bay for the abundant shoals of zooplankton. They may stay for six weeks before spreading out across the North Atlantic.
Photo by Getty image
Dr. Rob Moir is a nationally-recognized and award-winning environmentalist. He is president & executive director of Cambridge, MA-based Ocean River Institute, a nonprofit providing expertise, services, resources, and information unavailable on a localized level to support the efforts of environmental organizations. For more information. please visit www.oceanriver.org
What we are doing to the land is harmful. We have crossed a tipping point by removing vegetation and soil, which hard surfaces and urbanization have replaced. There are cascading negative consequences. Boston’s annual rainfall is a steady 46.4 inches a year, yet, destructive stormwater and combined sewer overflows are rising because we have removed the vegetation and the soil carbon sponge.
Water that once soaked into the ground now washes across heat islands. It warms up and transports heat to the ocean. The year 2023 was not an exceptionally hot summer for Boston but it was the wettest summer since 1955. This resulted in a record warming of the Gulf of Maine surface waters nearest to Boston. While 2021 was Boston’s hottest summer, the surface ocean water did not experience significant warming.
Nutrients spilled into the sea fuel harmful algal blooms and ocean dead zones. The ten-fold increase in the use of the herbicide Roundup since 1996, when Monsanto developed crops resistant to glyphosate, is likely more than coincidental to the loss of phytoplankton.
The solution to the threat to the ocean ecosystems on which whales depend lies on land. Land should be granted the right to retain the rainwater that falls upon it. Developers should not be permitted to profit from their constructions while leaving the municipality responsible for managing increased stormwater, likely leaving people in the flood zone standing in CSO sewage.
The dry land heats up worsening climate change when developers starve the land of water. Property owners must instead slow water down, return it to the ground where plants may draw to photosynthesize during the dry season, where groundwater
may recharge rivers, and with water in the ground to prevent forest fires. Let’s improve the whale’s marine ecosystem with no more pollution, stormwater damage, and ocean heating from the land.
Returning past Race Point, a right whale raised its head high out of the water. Gray baleen plates hung beneath a white, encrusted black upper lip. In doing so, I don’t know what advantage was gained by the whale. I took it as a smile, as my smile was no less broad.
Nearly fifty years ago, on April 15, 1976, I was on the first Dolphin Fleet whale watch. We saw right whales and a humpback whale that the boat captain’s son would later name Salt when he became the boat captain. Since then, Salt has birthed 12 calves and is the grandmother of seven more humpback whales. There were then estimated to be 350 right whales. Today’s estimate is 372 whales, not including the ten calves born last winter.
I was on the first commercial whale watch because two summers earlier, I was alone on the deck of a 27-foot sailboat, south of Seguin Light off the coast of Maine. A right whale surfaced next to the boat. I babbled, having never imagined that something alive could be the size of a sandbar. The whale left only a circular slick spot on the water for the rest of the crew to see.
We are fortunate to be in the company of whales, which grace our sandy shores for about six weeks in spring. The loss of vegetation and soil on our properties and in neighborhoods is harming the marine ecosystem on which right whales depend to break their winter fast. To ensure future generations can share the ocean with a burgeoning right whale population, we must increase the carbon sponge on our land and stop stormwater runoff.
By Dulce Garcia Morman, Ph.D.
The Sound ofSilence
The Sound of Silence is an iconic song of the 60s by the folk-rock duo Simon and Garfunkel. While listening to the song the other day, I began to think about the deep sense of refuge I have always found in silence and how the silent Buddhist retreats that were a regular part of my life in the early 2000s transformed me. I became curious about the impact of silence and sound on the brain and thought it’d be a good sequel to the last two articles on shamatha and vipassana meditation. This is not an insignificant topic, especially considering that humans lived for 250,00+ years in relative silence until the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-eighteenth century, which is barely a fraction of humanity’s lived experience. And while the nervous system has had over two centuries to habituate to living with constant noise, studies show that the brain benefits greatly from silence. For example, the nervous system can achieve more profound relaxation with absolute silence versus listening to relaxing music, and studies with mice have shown that the brain can grow new neurons -a process known as neurogenesis- in the hippocampus in absolute silence (Dr. Chris Niebauer, PhD). The hippocampus is the part of the brain where new memories are formed, which has important implications for our capacity to form and store memory.
In 1859, the British nurse and social reformer Florence Nightingale wrote, “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care that can be inflicted on sick or well,” and although it may appear exaggerated, modern research tends to confirm her ideas on the importance of silence for healing (https://nautil.us/this-isyour-brain-on-silence-235023/). This Nautilus magazine article goes on to explain the physiology of noise, “The cochlea converts physical vibrations into electrical signals that the brain receives. The body reacts immediately and powerfully to these signals, even in the middle of deep sleep. Neurophysiological research suggests that noises first activate the amygdalae, clusters of neurons located in the temporal lobes of the brain, associated with memory formation and emotion. The activation prompts an immediate release of stress hormones like cortisol. People who live in consistently loud environments often experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones”. This is a science perspective, but our own lived experience confirms it, as when we take a hike on a secluded trail in nature with only the occasional sound of birds or leaves being rustled by a light breeze. Even without absolute silence, the replacement of artificial noise with natural sounds is already deeply soothing and regulating the nervous system.
Dulce Garcia-Morman, Ph.D, is the founder of Life-Is-Art Equine Assisted Learning and Coaching. She has facilitated learning and therapeutic experiences through the horse-human connection for the past 17 years. Dulce's practice draws from different wisdom traditions and is strongly oriented toward a Jungian approach to the restoration of the authentic Self. For more information, visit https://life-is-art.us/
On the most basic level, intentionally creating brief silent spaces throughout the day can be very beneficial, as it has been shown that just two minutes of silence can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which slows heart rate and reduces cortisol levels. Even if absolute outer silence cannot be achieved, you can try minimizing external sound as much as possible as you simultaneously create inner silence through either shamatha or vipassana meditation. There is no need to “sit formally” in meditation. As you advance in meditation practice, a short 2 to 3-minute session can be accessed anywhere; turning inward towards the breath or completing a quick body scan becomes second nature.
On a more adventurous level, there is an interesting practice that I’m currently trying out for the first time. It’s called “silencing to the silence”. Ancient Buddhist texts say that Guanyin, the goddess of compassion who dwells on an island off the coast of Shanghai, “listened to the sound of the waves washing up against the rocks on the shore. As Guanyin became fully absorbed in listening to the waves as they rose and splashed against the rocks, then receded into silence, rose and receded again, rose and receded, every sound eventually became silent as it reached Guanyin’s ears” (https://tricycle. org/magazine/listening-to-silence/). In other words, you listen without attachment to the sound or the silence or to the contrast between the two. I’m sitting in a hotel room right now, with no sound except for the passing cars in the busy street below, the occasional airplane, and the sound of my keyboard as I type. I bring the awareness inward, connecting with my breath, but without losing the focus of what I’m writing. I avoid ignoring or suppressing the external noises; instead, I listen to them, avoiding any reaction. To my surprise, I’m realizing that the noise
pollution is much higher than I had perceived it for the last week. This is the first time I noticed the planes above, although we’re quite close to the airport. And the noise is not occasional; it is frequent!
Much like vipassana, where we scan the body and just notice without reaction or judgment, I find that listening to sounds is a similar experience of “just noticing.” Unlike Guanyin, we don’t always have the constant natural sound of waves hitting the rocks and retreating, where you can find a rhythm to the sounds of nature that do not exist with man-made machinery. I feel uncertain that I would ever find a place where there is “no sound” in traffic or airplane noise, but there is a benefit in just noticing without judging or becoming annoyed. Listening in this way, I became quite relaxed last night and then fell asleep. As I woke this morning, it felt like I was much more aware of the different sounds that I somehow managed to tune out during the week. I tried a few minutes of vipassana meditation, but instead of scanning my body, I scanned the sounds coming from outside, just noticing. It was not distracting or annoying, but quite relaxing. I started to notice even more sounds than I thought possible, eventually getting a sense of the sound of things as they entered my ears. During moments when the noise went down, I did not feel a reprieve or a sense that the silence was better because I was committed to “just notice.” It would be spectacular to try this in a secluded space in nature, just noticing the sounds of birds, leaves, and maybe the footsteps of the occasional hiker. Whether in a busy city street or in the woods, yoga is always available to us, as in the union of body, mind, and spirit. Opportunities for mindful living are everywhere, and I feel a new sense of appreciation for the yoga potential of not-so-perfect silence!
A Tribute to My Horse Keegan
Once upon a time, a horse lived, an athletic powerhouse in his youth, sporting an unmatched sense of humor. When I bought the thoroughbred 20 years ago from a colleague at work, he was so high-strung from three years at the track and competing as a hunter-jumper that I questioned my sanity when I brought him home. It took many bites and kicks from my other horse, Noble, to teach Keegan boundaries, and it took patience and a serene environment in the mountains of Skull Valley, AZ, to quiet him down enough that he no longer felt dangerous. He turned out to be a wonderful riding horse, always a little wound-up but willing to please his rider and ready to show off his training every chance he could. He was my second horse in what would eventually become a herd of four horses by 2008. This was the horse family that got me interested in getting my equine-assisted learning certification and who accompanied me through the most transformative years of my adult life.
I never thought that Keegan would be the last one to go! Before he came to me, his body had been abused by three years of racing, followed by competitive jumping. But he hung on until the ripe old age of 30. Unlike his other three herd mates, he went quietly, with a serene grace bordering on elegance. This was not the gut-wrenching, painful experience of the three horses before him. He just began to lose weight coming out of the winter of ’24, and I could see a quick deterioration in the last month. His rumbunctious shenanigans left him, and he became very quiet, almost introspective. He hung out less with the two younger horses on the property, preferring to rest. On Wednesday, April 30th, he could barely walk.
My husband and I loaded him into our trailer and took him to the vet, who gave us little hope of any recovery. All this time, Keegan did not utter a sound…..not a peep! He was resigned and at peace. As I accompanied him in his last minutes on this Earth, he showed me that there is such a thing as dying gracefully. He went down softly and landed silently on the soil beneath, in a beautiful surrender that will forever be imprinted in my mind’s eye. My beautiful Keegan, full of grace, my love for you is eternal.
A Guide to High-Vibrational Living
By Polly Wirum
a
Is There a Place Powerfor in
Peaceful World?
Photo by Jeffery Erhunse
The enticement of attaining personal and even collective power is seemingly attractive to many animals, including humans. This blog was written because I wonder if power has a place in a Utopian world that is balanced and peaceful or if the inevitable shifts that bring change are a catalyst for desiring power and perpetuating the act of resistance.
In our everyday lives, we see examples of power at the most basic level. Animals get protected over food sources, and political leaders flex their muscles in the global arms race. Our personal athletic events and intellectual pursuits also demonstrate successful acts of strategy, strength, and power. Even in religious and spiritual experiences, personal power is promised.
To be sure, there are many ways you can feel powerful. For example, when you achieve a physical goal, like climbing a mountain, it is a gratifying and empowering experience. Yet, even in this instance, there is at least a small amount of resistance towards the challenge. I will confess to my love of physical feats but not so much other forms of resistance.
Some acts of power can't be mistaken, for example, when people attempt to manipulate or control others. I often wonder, if we all recognized our energetic connection, would the strife settle down?
Some might think all acts of power are derived from our ego. I believe we must look deeper. Fear is a strong motivator for attempting to control others, but just as powerful is that amazing feeling of self-empowerment when you accomplish a personal goal. The feeling of gratitude and joy gets radiated out into the world with every moment of self-empowerment.
I think power can shine a light of joy in our world just as often as it can cast shadows on humanity. The key is personal power for doing something that brings you joy, like finishing a marathon, versus strategizing to take control of another person's livelihood or resisting what is fearful.
My Story
Three of us were headed north to the border of Arizona and Utah. We had enough gear for 4 or 5 days of car camping and hiking.
Two of us had only a rough idea of what we would be experiencing; the third person had created an agenda for the next couple of days. All we knew for sure was we would be in the desert exploring different canyons.
We were all excited to hopefully discover new routes from the rim that might lead to art on the canyon walls, pottery shards, or ruins from long ago. All in all, the experience is timeless and has a great way of erasing the mundane from your thinking.
We saw our usual landmarks on our drive North. One of these markers is a sign with an arrow that points to a revival tent that promises personal power. This tent is on a dirt road but visible from the two-lane highway. Our conversation transitioned to the question: is humanity destined to weave a never-ending story of attempting to influence and even control something in ourselves and others?
Maybe that's why I love nature so much; there are rules that are unyielding. The natural world is not attempting to break us; we simply need to move in a way that honors and does not resist the power of all that is.
Photo by Alex Moliski
Polly Wirum is a psychic, life coach, and writer. Years ago, she experienced a health crisis that led to a complete spiritual and life transformation. When she thought her life was crumbling, the universe was easing her grip on everything, distracting her from the truth. The healing helped her discover the beauty of a joyful and uncomplicated life.It is here that she connects with wisdom and magic. She shares this with her clients through life’s coaching psychic readings and spiritual retreats. visit Pollywirum.com
We fueled up on food and water as we drove to the first camping spot. When we arrived, there was enough light to go for a quick hike and plan our next day's adventure. That evening, we unloaded the gear on an almost full moon.
Sometimes, I wish it was possible to capture just one moment of the moonlight, the night sky, the chill in the air, the feeling of excitement for a new adventure, and a tired body ready for sleep.
The next morning, after the best cowboy coffee in the world and some questionable oatmeal, we were ready to find routes that drop into the nearest canyon. Here's where it gets interesting. To be clear, I basically follow the people I'm with. This has been their practice for over thirty years, and I have learned to trust them, even when the 600-foot sheer drop-off makes it look crazy and impossible to find a safe way into the canyon floor. Sometimes, this means scrambling over boulders, sliding through knee-high scree fields, or balancing on foot holds carved into the stone walls years ago.
These footholds, or Moki steps, are an example of the power and strength required of the indigenous people living off the land. What other forms of power took place 1200 years ago? Sometimes, we find beautiful pieces of pottery and structures that provided shelter long ago. We also find points used for hunting and possibly protecting their homes from predators.
Does our current life experience use the same power structures to thrive, like 1000 years ago? Maybe the only difference is the number of people and the amount of land involved.
One afternoon, I chose not to do part of a hike. It was going to include a very exposed cliff wall, and I didn't have the mental strength to focus on all the detailed movements of my hands, feet, and other parts of my body. One wrong move could result in a crash landing far below.
I stayed on top of a plateau mostly surrounded by blue sky. It was silent except for the occasional big gusts of wind that made me think I needed another layer of clothing on. Sometimes, a swift would fly over my head, close enough that I could hear the power of their wings as they soared into nothingness.
In those couple hours by myself, I realized how it was impossible for my mind to be anywhere except in that moment, with those sounds and visions all around me. I also recognize it's impossible for me to be anywhere else when I'm touching the Earth rocks and moving my body up or down a route that demands all my focus.
Maybe that's why I love nature so much; there are rules that are unyielding. The natural world is not attempting to break us; we simply need to move in a way that honors and does not resist the power of all that is
Wrapping It Up
If you are familiar with my writing, you will know I believe a peaceful world is possible; it begins with our mindset and what we believe deep in our hearts. Go out and do what makes you feel empowered and joyful; notice the resistance melting away:)
Thank you for reading this article. May your energy be loving and powerful as you shine through the day.
GO VEGAN
“Animals Have Souls Don’t Put Them in Your Bowl”
What arma is K
by Vish Chatterji
Photo by Howen
Vedic astrology is known as Jyotish in Sanskrit and is composed of two root words: jyotir (light) and isha (soul consciousness, divine consciousness, or inner consciousness). Jyotish, therefore, is the study of the light of our consciousness. It addresses the layer of our being where karma resides. Karma is a fundamental pillar of the Vedic knowledge system that teaches that every action you take will have some consequence and that current consequences are a result of past actions. In pop-culture terms, “What goes around comes around.” In science, this correlates to Newton’s third law of motion, which states that “every action must have an equal and opposite reaction,” a fundamental underpinning of our physical universe. The Vedic system takes this concept further into the subtle and causal universe—in other words, into the realm of consciousness. Karma teaches that every action you take in your life is accounted for and eventually gets paid back. This was humorously illustrated in the TV series The Good Place, where Ted Danson shows recently deceased souls entering the Good Place an electronic balance sheet of every deed they have ever done during their life—good ones in green and bad ones in
red—to determine what happens next. In Vedic mythology, the celestial accountant is Chitragupta, who greets you at the pearly gates with a file in hand containing your karmic balance sheet and, based on this, determines where you go next.
The Vedic purpose of life, therefore, is to balance out your karmic debts by making good choices and taking good actions aligned with your soul. Any bad actions or misaligned choices add to your debt, while good actions and soul-aligned choices improve your karmic credits. All of the
spiritual texts and practices of the Vedic tradition center on approaches to improve your karma. Vedic astrology specifically centers on understanding what karma is and less-painful ways to pay off its balance.
Every circumstance you face in life can be an opportunity to pay back karmic debts in a more pleasant way. As an analogy, when you finish a meal at a restaurant, there are many ways to pay for this meal. Cash, check, credit card, washing dishes, or getting arrested for theft if you dine and dash. I prefer the credit card myself. But of course, then, I must pay the bill when it
eventually comes in the mail, or else there will be a hit to my credit score. The rub, though, is that you must be aware that you had the meal. In the case of long-forgotten meals from previous lifetimes, a Vedic astrologer is able to identify and recommend simpler ways to pay back those past debts that are coming due in this life. Karma is essentially actions and choices (across lifetimes) that eventually precipitate circumstances (in a specific lifetime), which then provide the opportunity for further choices and actions. You thus have the ultimate choice—and ultimate responsibility—to manage your karma and its consequences.
the person will bear through life and determines when various items from that bag will be pulled out because it doesn’t all happen at once. Jyotish is designed to help you understand what events will arise and when and how they will influence your personality, your appearance, your mind, your environment, your choices, your relationships, and the consequences you will face (good and bad) due to that carry-on bag of karma.
Vish Chatterji is a celebrated Vedic astrologer, yogi, and business coach. He makes the ancient wisdom of India accessible and actionable for modern seekers, helping them find balance and success through true self-understanding. He is the author of The Business Casual Yogi: Take Charge of Your Body, Mind & Career, and Astrology Decoded: The Secret Science of India’s Sages www.vishchatterji.com.
Karma and Vedic astrology are inextricably linked because Vedic astrology is fundamentally an analysis of our individual karma coupled with a system of tools to manage it. The system teaches that every soul has a closet full of karma that they are burdened with after many, many choices and actions over many, many lifetimes. However, in this single lifetime, we only bring a carry-on bag of karma to work through—just enough that we can still fit it in the overhead bin. We are given multiple lifetimes to work out all our karma, like a karmic debt payment plan. Otherwise, it would be too overwhelming. Some hardy souls, however, must pay off multiple karmic debts in one lifetime. If you face many challenges in life, given that your soul takes on only what it can handle, you can find comfort in the fact that you are likely an evolved soul.
The Vedic astrologer casts a diagram (horoscope) of the sky at the moment a human takes their first breath. This diagram of the planets and stars in space is said to be a reflection of the soul that has attached to that budding body and mind, incarnated into human form. By analyzing this birth chart, the Vedic astrologer assesses that one carry-on bag of karma that
This then brings us back to yoga, one of the most potent remedial measures, which sure connects to Jyotish. Yoga consists of practices that take us beyond the subtle body into the realm of the causal body or deeper soul consciousness. Through yoga, we can address and balance karma at the root level and make more soulaligned choices. As many serious yogis will tell you, their life, mindset, physical being, relationships, choices, and consciousness shift through their yogic practices.
These three systems—Ayurveda, Jyotish, and yoga—elegantly integrate to tackle the three key layers of our being and are like the three legs of a stool that support who we are. In ancient times, this integration was well understood; however, with our modern penchant for compartmentalizing knowledge into discrete boxes, we’ve lost sense of that integration. Yoga has been reduced to a stretching exercise. Ayurveda is just emerging and lacks the credibility of extensive research and sophisticated marketing that Western medicine enjoys. Jyotish is barely known in modern Western culture, dismissed in favor of its Western counterpart. But just as you might contrast gymnastics and yoga (physical stretching versus an integrated mind-body-soul karma-balancing practice), you could contrast Western astrology, a casual, pop-culture psychology system, with Jyotish, an integrated mind-body-soul understanding of your life.
Turbulence?
YOU’VE GOT THIS
How I turned crisis into clarity and growth
by Malitta Seamon
Photo by Ngozi
When life brings in a wave of unexpected, destabilizing change—what I call a tsunami moment—it
can knock the wind out of us. Fear, conflict, confusion, and emotional chaos can come crashing in, triggering unconscious reactions and paralyzing anxiety. We can feel as if we have no control over its impact, as if forces outside of us have all the power.
But we must remember, especially in the middle of the turbulence, that we have within us the ability to overcome and rebuild from it. I know because this is something I had to do.
For more than two decades, my husband and I poured everything we had—our time, our finances, and our relationship—into building a company from the ground up. We started with just the two of us and a mounting pile of start-up debt. Within ten years, we had become a successful, eight-figure revenue business. We grew our
company to employ over 140 people across three states and ran the business side by side—as business and life partners.
So when he walked into my office one afternoon and said he was leaving the company—with less than 30 days’ notice—I was stunned.
His decision threw my life into a major crisis. My business, marriage, family, and state of mind had all gotten tossed into a whirlwind of uncertainty and I had no idea how to steady it. For six months after he left the company, I immersed myself in the pain of it all. I couldn’t think or sleep, let alone make clear-minded decisions about the things I needed to do to continue to move our company forward. His departure left a gaping hole—we hadn’t structured operations as if one of us would disappear.
“Why?” I must have asked this of him, myself, and God a hundred times. I couldn’t get past trying to understand why he would do that. His decision felt like he’d walked out on me and our marriage, and that’s exactly how I took it. It hurt me deeply.
One morning, sitting in my pain, I flipped through my journal and ran across something I’d written from a book I read several years before. It said, “Asking why is a useless exercise.” I was reminded that I was asking the wrong question.
The answer to “why” could offer nothing more than an explanation about turbulence that was already in play. An explanation as to why might have addressed my confusion and nursed the pain, but it also might have exacerbated it. In either case, that information would have kept me tethered to an act that was behind me when what I needed was a strategy for what was in front of me.
The question I really needed to answer was: “What do I choose to do now?”
Shifting my mindset from “why” to “what” marked the turning point in my journey. Here’s what I learned about navigating turbulence and how crisis can if we allow it, become a pathway to clarity, resilience, and growth.
1. Immediate Response: ask “what,” not “why.”
The question, “What do I choose to do now?” is empowering. It is a way to get grounded in present circumstances, making a path for forward movement. “Why” can serve as an emotional attachment to control held by people and situations outside of us. “What” is a reminder of personal agency—even in chaos.
When I stopped demanding an answer to “why” from my husband and instead held myself accountable for “what”, I found answers that restored my footing. And here’s the most remarkable part—once I moved from “why” to “what,” my pain eased, and the dynamics of my relationship with my husband shifted. I stopped clinging and longing for what had once been; I started evolving into a newer and better version of myself. Funny, the shift in me made him hear me differently—I’m guessing the deafening
sound of my anger had softened. My husband and I re-engaged in civil conversation and, eventually, in collaboration (he later returned to the company). Our life together became more meaningful, authentic, and loving.
2. Don’t resist reality.
When life delivers the unexpected, it’s tempting to resist—push back, argue, and deny what is happening. But resistance delays growth. It can create traps that keep us in unproductive emotional holding patterns.
I had to let go of the vision I was attached to—the image of my husband and me working side by side until we retired somewhere near someone’s beach. At some point, that vision was no longer his vision. When I released my vice grip on what I thought for sure we both wanted, there was space for a new vision to emerge. The turbulence of change forced me to redefine a lot—values, priorities, and actions.
Acceptance doesn’t mean giving up. It means aligning your energy with truth so you can move forward.
3. Lean in instead of lashing out. The noise rises during turbulence, leaving no shortage of endless chatter from the outside–and inside the mind. Why? Because fear stokes anxiety and anxious minds can be restless. The key to stopping unhelpful and useless dialogue is to consciously and deliberately unplug long enough to sit in solitude and gain clarity. Journal about: what’s really happening, what’s truly desired, what you fear that hasn’t actually happened, and what the best, most important action is now.
When I tried to save everything: the company, the dynamics of my marriage, my sense of control, I was overwhelmed. So, I lashed out, blamed, and saw nothing but what was bad about what was happening. But in my quiet space, I remembered my own hidden truth: I had been unhappy in our business for years. Wisdom is best gained in stillness.
of Inbound Leadership LLC www.inboundleadership. com and the co-author with her husband, Brad Seamon of Mindset Freedom: Seven Steps to Unlock Your Power in Life, Love and Leadership. Released on May 2025 by River Grove Books
4. Acknowledge fear—but don’t give it life. Fear is a gift—it is an instinct that can protect us. But when fear reigns in situations that don’t warrant it, judgment gets clouded, tensions rise, and bad outcomes can surface. When is fear warranted? When real danger is happening. The use of caution (awareness + wisdom) during turbulence is often more effective. It is a pause for better decision-making. Fear (emotions + paralysis or avoidance) can trigger reactions and block progress.
In my case, I allowed fear (false evidence appearing real) to drive my thoughts and trap me in a loop of unproductive reactions. I was imagining what I thought could or would happen when what I needed to do was confront my turbulence using caution to execute actions to prevent the worst-case scenarios haunting me from happening.
5. Redefine success on your own terms.
In the business, success is mostly equated with growth, profit and revenue, and dominance. But if peace and contentment are not part of the experience, is that really success?
After my husband left the business, I spent more than a year trying to replicate what we’d had. Nothing I tried worked. Late one night, after laying off employees for the first time in company history, I realized something vital: not only was I unhappy working in the business, I had growing resentment towards it.
That realization helped me recognize the door in front of me–to redefine what success looks like for me
6. Remember, happiness is an inside job.
I spent too long expecting my husband to fix how I felt. I held hope that he would come back, but when it became clear that he would not, I
turned to friends and mentors to console me. None of that helped—because no one else could do the inner work that was needed.
I had to answer hard questions…
• What is causing me to cling to an experience that has already changed?
• What is a better vision for me to hold, given what I know?
• What actions are within my control to shift toward that vision?
• Why am I not taking those actions?
The answers helped me shift from despair to resilience, from pain to power.
7. Trust that answers will come. Getting left in the business by the person I trusted most was a painful rupture. But having gone the distance, I see it was also a spiritual invitation. It forced me to listen deeper, ask better questions, and rediscover the quiet voice within me.
I’ve learned to trust that there’s always an answer. It may not come as quickly as I want, and it may not come in the form I expect—but it comes. And when it does, it’s often wrapped as growth, strength, and a deeper sense of self.
The Outcome
After three years, my husband returned to the company. Fortunately, we were different and more evolved by then. The professional time apart paved the way for greater appreciation, respect, boundaries, and purpose.
Our marriage is stronger and so is our business partnership. But most importantly, I am stronger. While I don’t like turbulence, I’m not afraid of it anymore. I’ve learned that’s where some of the best growth can happen.
So, if you’re navigating your own version of turbulence, I want you to know this: You’ve got this.
Malitta Seamon is the founder
Adopt Today
The LA Zoo Quietly Relocates Elephants A Disheartening Departure:
BILLY AND TINA
In a move that has deeply saddened animal advocates and the public, the Los Angeles Zoo has confirmed that its last two elephants, Billy and Tina, have been quietly relocated to the Tulsa Zoo. The announcement, made without public input or warning, has been met with sharp criticism from leading animal welfare organizations, including In Defense of Animals (IDA), which called the action “a shameless betrayal of the public trust — and of the elephants themselves — who deserved
recovery in a sanctuary, not confinement in Tulsa’s overcrowded and inadequate exhibit.”
Billy and Tina, who have each spent years in captivity under conditions often criticized for being emotionally and physically detrimental, were long hoped to be candidates for retirement to a sanctuary. Animal advocates argue that a sanctuary would have provided them with an expansive natural habitat, freedom of choice, and dignified care in the final chapter of their lives.
Billy
Tina
“We are devastated that Billy and Tina’s chance to heal in a sanctuary after years of zoo abuse has been snatched away,” said an IDA spokesperson. Supporters had been advocating for the pair to be moved to an accredited sanctuary where their complex needs as highly intelligent and sensitive beings could be fully honored.
Public pressure has mounted in recent weeks, including a petition on Change.org titled Let Billy & Tina Live In Peace: Send Them to Sanctuary, Not Another Zoo, which has gathered thousands of signatures. Celebrity advocates such as Cher, Alicia Silverstone, and Priscilla Presley also urged Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to intervene — an appeal that ultimately went unheeded. Though the public reportedly inquired about a sanctuary option, the Los Angeles Zoo followed recommendations from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and
proceeded with the transfer to Tulsa. In November 2023, The Eden Magazine featured Sangita Iyer — a biologist, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and founder of Voice for Asian Elephants Society — who has dedicated her life to advocating for the ethical treatment of elephants, particularly in India. Her tireless efforts underscore a global need for a more compassionate and scientifically informed approach to elephant care and conservation.
Billy and Tina’s story is a painful reminder of the urgent need to rethink our relationship with wild animals in captivity. At The Eden Magazine, we continue to stand for love, compassion, and justice for all living beings — and we invite our readers to raise their voices for those who cannot speak for themselves.
courtesy of Elephant Guardians of Los Angeles
UNPERFECT
by JISBAR
At Eden Gallery, Miami Beach, Florida
In a powerful U.S. debut, internationally celebrated French pop-street artist JISBAR unveiled his latest collection, UNPERFECT, at the vibrant Eden Gallery in Miami Beach.
JISBAR: has taken a liking to creative detour with this new body of work- one that trades color for contemplation and vibrancy for vulnerability.
UNPERFECT is a meditation on time and transformation. Drawing inspiration from broken antique sculptures, JISBAR elevates decay into an art form. Each piece carries the quiet drama of erosion—the poetry found in cracks, the beauty in weathered stone. The palette is subdued yet evocative: cream, soft whites, and stone greys dominate, invoking a sense of stillness and reverence.
These are paintings that whisper rather than shout.
What makes this series so compelling is its raw elegance. In JISBAR’s hands, absence becomes presence. The missing fragments, the fractured surfaces, the worn textures—they speak more loudly than perfection ever could. There’s a refined minimalism here, one that honors history and impermanence with emotional depth.
This deeply introspective collection marks a bold evolution in JISBAR’s artistic journey. UNPERFECT is not only a visual experience but also a philosophical one. It reminds us that there is beauty in what time changes and that imperfection is often where true emotion lives.
Born in 1989, JISBAR is a French artist whose distinctive universe merges the legacy of arthistory’s great masters with the vibrant energy of pop culture and street art. As a leadingfigurein the pop-street art movement, his work stands out for its resolutely contemporary approach, revisiting iconic artworks through an urban, colorful, and modern lens. From one canvas to the next, JISBAR deconstructs and reimagines the masterpieces of Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Frida Kahlo, blending them into a powerful visual language where fashion, luxury, sports, and music seamlessly intersect. His instantly recognizable style combines instinctive gestures, graphic detail, and bold typography, offering a fresh take on classical art in dialogue with the cultural codes of today. Active on the international art scene, he exhibits inprestigious galleries and fairs across New York, Venice, Singapore, Geneva, and Dubai, drawing the attention of collectors and contemporary art enthusiasts around the world. Continuously evolving, JISBAR pushes the boundaries of his practice through innovative projects that combine painting, digital media, and exclusive collaborations. Each new endeavor allows him to explore the connections between tradition and modernity, reinforcing his status as a defining artist of the contemporary landscape. More information:www.jisbar-art.com
