Hello Friends:

I've returned from a residential retreat hosted by Dr. Katrina Curry at Stowel Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island, BC. It was recommended to me by my friend Tim McDiarmid because Stowel Lake Farm is similar to what I am hoping to build with Equanimity Labs & Studio--an intentional community built on permaculture for startups, writers, and artists residencies. I didn't know how much my life would be changed by the land and people I met in that very short week.

​Stowel Lake Farm is a community, organic farm, and wellness center. There are 25 people who live there--5 are farmers while the others tend to the land, its structures, and guests. It started with the owner Lisa's vision of a place for gathering with sheep and horses, and now tends to flourishing gardens and retreat guests. It is stunning. All of their food is sourced from their gardens and the local farms. All the meals were picturesque, delicious, and nourishing. There's a wonderful Saturday Farmer's Market on Salt Spring Island as well as trails, mountains, lakes, and beaches on the Pacific Ocean.

Katrina's retreat was titled: Body as Earth Song: Vitality, Voice, and Vision, and it wasn't a yoga retreat. Instead, it was meeting all my edges in the group movements and witnessing of bodies, emotions, noises, and all that remind us of our animal nature. We danced, gave language to our experience, and gifted ourselves and each other with new names to more accurately identify with our essence. We are more than our minds and intellect, and when making bird calls, swaying with the wind and leaves, and burying my nose in the soil to smell the sweetness of the earth, it felt like relief.

It felt like home and an end to the consistent feeling of loneliness and separation, even when we're among our people.

Katrina combines the deep body awareness of Hakomi with the creativity of expressive arts therapy and the Earth connection of eco-psychology. She specifically helps Individuals face fear, anxiety, grief, numbness, and disconnection due to trauma, oppression, and cultural wounds. I didn't know any of this when I signed up at Tim's suggestion. I wanted to experience the land.

This triple Capricorn, moon in Taurus, and a stellium of planets in Virgo was so uncomfortable in the all the writhing, "oversharing," finger-snapping of approval, puppy piles, and constant singing. But when I surrendered to it, my true self emerged from the hardened exterior of accomplishment, performance, and things that don't really matter.

When I returned home, I had one of those tsunami dreams I get just before a big life change. In this dream, I was on my paddleboard on Lake Travis watching the waves getting bigger when one particular wave, tens of feet tall, came upon me. I didn't panic but knew to submerge myself in the base of the wave, letting it wash over me and pass. As I walked onto shore, there was a wall of ice sculptures with holes where I tried to fit my body to get through until I found one I could squeeze through to the other side. A rebirth dream.

Since then, there isn't much I've been able to do. I've had some work obligations that required a lot of focus, but when I finished, I would sleep a lot. I'm still quite exhausted these days with very little energy, but to sit and rest. I'm honoring this time in the unknown with the anticipation that eclipse season is almost upon us.

The second eclipse season of the year begins with a total lunar eclipse in Pisces on September 7, followed by a partial solar eclipse in Virgo on September 21. For the seeds you've planted, you can expect an acceleration of activity in their growth in these few weeks.

I've made you a Playlist for this Pisces/Virgo Eclipse Season.

Katrina is hosting this event again next year, and I will be hosting an "Eco-Heroine's Story" residential retreat, where we'll find ourselves in fairy tales based on the work of my teacher, Dr. Sharon Blackie. It will include astrology, Tarot, Human Design, herbal plant wisdom, yoga, breathwork, and LOTS of time in nature and the landscapes and tastes of Salt Spring Island. Dates are tentatively September 9-14, 2026. Let me know if you'd like to be on the waitlist for early notification.

Strategy and Such

I recently presented a 3-series playshop on Strategic Clarity for your business for the Marketing for Hippies membership. As part of my community, you're welcome to watch it and fill out the workbooks I created to accompany the talks. You'll get a behind-the-curtain look at our strategy process for MfH as well as understand 4 strategic frameworks to develop strategy for your own enterprise. I also teach the Lean Canvas methodology based on the Lean Startup, which is a back-of-the-napkin, at-a-glance organizing for your business model. Enjoy!

SESSION 1--STRATEGIC CLARITY
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Here is the Session 1--Strategic Clarity Presentation Replay​

Here is the Session 1--Strategic Clarity Workbook​
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SESSION 2--LEAN CANVAS:

Here is the Session 2--Lean Canvas Replay​

Here is the link to the Session 2--Lean Canvas Template​

Here is the Session 2--Lean Canvas Workbook​

Here is the Session 2--Lean Canvas Presentation PDF​
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SWEET SEAT WITH TAD HARGRAVE & ME:​
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Here is the link to the Sweet Seat Replay:
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Quick Favor

Would you mind voting for Tad Hargrave's SXSW 2026 PanelPicker submission "Marketing as Culture Work: Restoring Beauty & Trust"? We're hoping to spread the ethical marketing principles to more than just hippies.

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Latest Reads & Random News

Gabe completed his summer internship/job at Goldman Sachs in New York City and came home just long enough to pack his suitcase with winter clothes and return to Ann Arbor. GS has offered him a full-time analyst position in Global Marketing, which he'll begin in July 2026 after his graduation. He's been very strategic in his career trajectory, and we're so excited for all he'll experience this last school year and in his new job. Gabe also continues to freelance for various companies, including U of M's STMD and media companies, doing strategy, graphic design, video, and web development.

My current reads are a revisiting of Joanna Macy, Ecotherapy, and diving more into the world of David Abrams (thanks to Katrina). Munro Bookstore in Victoria, BC is my favorite shop for finding undiscovered treasures, especially by indigenous authors.

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I'll be teaching my Sunday Kripalu Gentle Yoga and Sound Class tomorrow at 6 p.m. at The Yoga Common. Then I'll be in Alberta, Canada with Tad and the team for our quarterly strategy session. We'll be traveling from Edmonton, Tad's OG hometown, Canmore (to take the team to the Kananaskis Spa for a retreat), Banff (because it's on my vision board for some reason), and then Calgary.

I'm not quite sure what's next when I return. The winds of change are at my door, and I can feel myself flowing with the shift.

If you'd like to schedule a session with me, you can book one here (while I'm still scheduling them).

Please reach out and tell me what seeds you've planted in time for the eclipse season.

Thank you for being part of my community and for your support of my work.

In mirth and merriment,

Monica