2018 Wood Element Playlist

Spring sprung late this year!  Just as we are getting used to sunny, clear skies... BAM!  Summer is knocking on the door.   But I've been living in the energy of Spring, the Wood Element, since early March. One thing I love about the Five Elements is that even though they come out of an ancient philosophy, they are still working forces in our lives.  Check out this list of songs that have something to teach us about the how the Wood Element shows up today.

Note:  Most of the songs on this list have explicit lyrics.   But now that I think about it, by the time folks get to cussin', usually the Wood Element is involved!   Enjoy!  (Listen to this Wood Element Playlist on Spotify- but not around the kids!)

All the Way Up Remix by Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Jay-Z, French Montana 

The energetic of the Wood Element is up...  all the way up!   The metaphor for the Wood Element is the sprout,  and the tremendous upward energy it takes to counter the force of gravity and burst through the soil.   The Wood Element inspires us to be at the top of our game, as we strive to self actualize and bring the best of ourselves into the world.  Entrepreneurship and artistic creativity also fall under the Wood Element's domain.  So.... how high is high enough?  When the Wood Element is healthy, we rise to the challenge of making sure our unique brilliance is respected. There's no limit to how high we can go!
Medicine Cabinet: Abundance flower essence is the remedy for when you're ready to open yourself up to the best your life has to offer as an innovator, visionary, entrepreneur, or creative.

Mad by Solange featuring Lil Wayne

Photo Credit: Parlour Magazine

Every Element has a core emotion associated with it, and the emotion governed by the Wood Element is anger.  What happens when the natural upward movement of the soul gets blocked?  What happens when we are denied the right to express ourselves and stand in our power?  Righteous indignation-AKA anger or even rage.  Though the emotion has a bad reputation, it's really the appropriate response to the violations of the self.  The trick is learning to respond- with consequences and boundaries.  When we learn to appropriately respond to our triggers, rather than merely exploding or imploding, anger can be a powerful catalyst for growth and change.
Medicine Cabinet:  Eloquence flower essence empowers us to speak our authentic truth and express ourselves, even- and especially- when it's uncomfortable.

Photo Credit. Poponandon.com

I Don't F**K With You by Big Sean Featuring E-40

The Wood Element governs conflict and boundaries in relationships, and helps us maintain a healthy sense of self as we relate to others. This song so perfectly demonstrates what it feels like when the grief of the Metal Element and the anger of the Wood Element get jammed up and intertwined.  This is especially common when anger is easier to recognize and articulate than
rejection or vulnerability.  We can also see how anger can be the incentive to help up let go of what doesn't honor us, demonstrating the dynamic relationship between the Wood and Metal.
Medicine Cabinet:   Exhale flower essence, which helps us let's go of people, situations, habits  and anything else that stands in the way of our best life.  

Kilmonger- Original Score by Ludwig Goransson

To date I've seen Black Panther 4.5 times (and counting), the most I've ever seen any movie in a theatre.  The cinematic masterpiece is rich with powerful archetypes- including my main man Michael B. Jordan as Kilmonger. Kilmonger is a warrior that  represents the best and worst of the Wood Element.  In his heart of hearts, what he really wants is justice, at any cost.  His vision is to arm the oppressed with tools to revolt against their oppressors.  Can we really be mad about that?  The Wood Element governs social justice and equality- believing that everyone should have he right and resources to self-actualization.   His theme song makes the list because of its warlike, rising meledy that captures the essence of the rising energetic of Wood.

This is America by Childish Gambino

Speaking of war, Childish Gambino is stirring up controversy with his newly released video for This is America.  Whether we love it or hate it, I don't think we can deny Mr. Glover's unflinching gaze at American policy, channeling the Wood Element's ability to question, confront and transform. I'm  particularly struck by the church choir scene, which is a symbol for 

This is America Video Still

the continued struggle to make Black Lives Matter in a country where historically, they don't.  

Medicine Cabinet:  Get Up Stand Up helps us to restore our self-respect and dignity when we feel afraid, discouraged or oppressed.   And let's be real: this political climate is calling for us to ALL stand up.

The Choice is Yours by Black Sheep

The Gall Bladder Energy Channel

Can't make up your mind?  The Yang Wood (Gallbladder) meridian is known as the General- it makes decisive action and choices to move us on our de
stined path.  The meridian zig zags across the head and then  continues to sig zap down our body. When afflicted, we experience pains that alternate from one side to another, or come and go, as if our body can't make up its' mind!  In our lives, an afflicted Wood Element can manifest as indecision, paralyzing us as we juggle conflicting bits of information.    

Medicine Cabinet: Sacred Source flower essence takes us out of the mind and into the heart, supporting us as we learn to trust and follow the truth from within.

Time 4 Sum Aksion by Redman 

Let's get ready to ruuummmmble! 

The Wood Element is about taking concrete action in the world- NOW.  When the Wood element is blocked, we feel stuck in procrastination or an endless cycle of ideas that never manifest.  But when the Wood Element is thriving, we experience an eruption of clear intention along the energy and motivation to make it happen.  As Amelia Earhart is known for saying, "The most effective way to do it, is to do it."
Medicine Cabinet: Aligned Intentions  flower essence helps us get clear and get busy when we're stuck, procrastinating, lethargic- or just plain talking the talk more than we're actually walking the walk.

Beychella

So, if you haven't had a chance to watch Beyoncés killer performance at Coachella, please dedicate two hours of your life to this incredible homage to Black music.   Beychella makes the Wood Element list not only because Bey is is truly at the top of her game, but because she uses her art to stand unapologetically in her self-definition.   Her rendition of Lift Every Voice following Formation made me so proud, and I loved her cheeky side eye at Coachella for being the first Black woman to headline.  Looking at her catalog, we can truly get a sense of Bey's evolution over time, which is what the Wood Element is all about.   

Photo Credit: Vulture.com

Medicine Cabinet: Queendom flower essence helps us stand unapologetically in our authentic Feminine power.
If you love Bey like I do, check out additional flower essences for Lemonade!

Sorry not Sorry by Demi Lavato 

Inspired by the Queen Bey, Demi's first single from her Tell Me You Love Me album  is oh sooooooo Wood Element.  The Wood Element is about self- validation, and being unapologetic as we go after what we deserve.   Remember, a plant doesn't ask for its share of the sun, it just grows instinctively toward the light.  As Demi so eloquently states in Wood Element fashion:  "Payback is a bad b*tch, and baby I'm the baddest".  Yuuuuuuuuuppppp!
Medicine Cabinet:  Worthy flower essence helps us know our inherent value, and get rid of paralyzingly shame.  

Sky Walker by Miguel & Travis Scott

One of  the most popular herbs in Chinese Medicine for treating the Wood Element is translated as 'free and easy wonderer'.  When our path and vision is clear, life feels effortless and free!  This song from Miguel's War & Leisure (ahem: both are signature of the Wood Element) evokes that sense of ease and contentment.  

Medicine Cabinet:  Present Presence flower essence is recommended when anxiety and worry- the war in our minds- keep us from experiencing the beauty of our lives.  

Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy (yup, the whole album) 

The Wood Element is represented by the sprout, and as the debut album, Invasion of Privacy is just the beginning. There are just so many signatures of the Wood Element, including its release in the heart of the Spring!  There's anger- just think how much you gotta be in your feelings to hang up on someone's mama and cut the tongues out all those sneakers.  When the Wood Element doesn't have the chance to demand the respect it deserves, it turns into resentment (on repeat).    Classically, the Wood voice is considered shouting, which relates more to its quality- pointed and direct- than to its actual volume.   Cardi has a voice that even the ancients would classify as Wood Element.  Then there's the  #BossBitch moves Cardi's making; its the Wood Element that affords us the freedom to say "I do whatava I like'.   And at the end of the day, the Wood Element  inspires us us to live our Best Life, to fulfill our dreams, live on purpose, and to turn all our L's into lessons.   
"I'm like gold, I'm #lifegoals, man, I'm chosen, I'm floatin', ayyyy!"
Well played, Cardi!

A is for Abundance

It's no coincidence that this is the time of year when my patients start job searching, giving their boss the extra side eye, or dreaming about that business they want to start.  That's the Wood Element within us, pushing us toward the fullest expression of ourselves.   We learn from the Wood Element: 

 

A flower doesn't ask for its share of the sun, it just grows instinctively toward the light.  

The Wood Element is about self-actualization, and encourages us to ask ourselves:

Am I living my best life? Am I living ON PURPOSE? 

If the answer to those questions  is Yes- we feel ridiculously abundant.  Money and resources effortlessly flow our way.  We sing on our way to work (there's a playlist for that). We stand in our power.  

If the answers to those questions are NO- we feel stuck. Burdened.  Overwhelmed. Frustrated.  Powerless... and often- broke.

Here are my favorite ways to energetically tap back into the flow of abundance that is our birthright:

 

1. Write Money is Love on all of your checks and credit card slips.

According to Barbara Wilder, author of "Money is Love: Reconnecting to the Sacred Origins of Money", this will help to shift any fear and limiting beliefs that you align with your money.  It also sends a positive vibration of money out into the universe. I've tried this, and it really, truly works.     

2. Practice Gracious Receiving

Allow yourself to receive gifts, praise, and compliments without negating them, discrediting them, or trying to return them.  Why? Because you are worthy, and worthy of abundance.

  

3. Practice Generosity

The more your share, the more you have! It's just as true for money as it is for love and happiness.  So, practice giving expecting nothing in return, just for the heck of it. Donate to organizations you love, tithe at a spiritual organization, or 

give surprisingly great gifts (for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, or just because!).

 

4.  De-Clutter

Get rid of stuff- mental, emotional or physical- that may be blocking the way for something new to come in.  Let your Spring Cleaning be both inside and out! Let go of anything you no longer need or doesn't bring you absolute joy, and create space in your life for more.  As Ms. Badu advises, "Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go."

Want a deeper dive into the science of abundance?  Check out the recording of my webinar Flower Essences 101: Attracting Abundance to learn about key flower essences to shift your blocks to abundance.  If you're ready to get your business dream off the ground,  come in for In My Element Business Coaching. There are so many ways to tune in, and to live on purpose.

Wishing you love, light, and abundance this season!

xoxoxoxo

Lindsay 

Listen to the Rumblings...

In my universe, Michelle Obama won the Presidential Election, the Atlanta Falcons won the Super Bowl, and Beyonce's Lemonade is undeniably the Album of the Year. 

How's that for #AlternativeFacts?

Listen y'all...  it's been an interesting few months, to say the least.  There's lots of ridiculousness and crazy out there- with lots of justified fear and anger in the mix.  

But also, I believe, there is something beautiful sprouting.  

We can always learn from nature.  Right about now as you read this, the sap is beginning to flow in the trees. The life force of nature is beginning to stir beneath the ground. In the I Ching, this shift in energy  is described in the 3rd Hexagram:   Thunder beneath the Water.    These rumblings- this stirring of the life force- is what wakes up our wise old groundhog and sends her above ground after her deep sleep.  The 3rd Hexagram is translated as  "difficulty in the beginning"- because, well, it is difficult in the early stages when a new consciousness is awakening.

Maybe you're feeling that too?  In my clinic, I'm finding rumblings of righteous indignation and resistance are inspiring many of us into action.   Rumblings of discontent that are awakening many of us from illusion, ignorance and slumber.   Rumblings that are calling many of us to take a stand for who we are and what we hold valuable.  

For me personally, its been a spiritual practice just to stay "on purpose".   My rumblings took the form of a deep despair about the world.  I thought of all the activists on the front lines, the families facing fear, the hearts confused and broken.  I felt deeply that all I was doing- all we were doing- was simply not enough.  

The rumblings eventually shaped into a very real desire to be of greater service and impact. They helped me understand that my path is not disconnected from all of this madness, but intrinsically connected.  The rumblings were a call for me to get serious about my mission, and to stop playing small. 

   Elementals: a collection of Five-Element inspired flower essences to heal the mind, heart, and soul- was my first born from these rumblings.  These 16 archetypal essences make it possible for my patients to pick up 'a little sumthin sumthin' for their partner, parent, sister girlfriend or kid who needs some soul support.  Elementals makes it possible for those who can't make it into my office to access the magic, healing and transformative power of flower essences online. Within the Elementals collection are flower essences for aligning with abundance, for healing broken hearts, for speaking our truth,  cultivating intimacy,  for managing mamahood, for meditative presence , for self-validation, for resisting oppression.  

You name it and yes, there's an essence for that!

Those rumblings also led me to Mia Herndon, L.Ac., the newest practitioner on the Oceans & Rivers team.   She is not just an amazing acupuncturist and somatic coach, she's an amazing human.   (Synchronicity is my pretty much my religion, so I did not take it lightly when I met Mia "by chance", just as I was asking the Universe who would be the right person to join my practice.)   Mia's work is rooted firmly in social justice and community healing, and she brings all of that commitment and integrity with her into the treatment room.  You will love her.  

(click here to book an appointment with myself or Mia)

So those rumblings- though difficult, scary, and full of uncertainty- are necessary. We should listen to the rumblings-  they remind us that something is awakening.  That something new is sprouting.  That all those seeds that we planted are beginning to crack,  push up through darkness, and reach toward the sun.  

May we all be so inspired.

xoxoxoxoxo,

Lindsay

Get Up Stand Up

On November 8^th,  I told my 9 year old who won the 2016 Presidential election.  She looked at me incredulously.  

"What?!!!" she exclaimed as she burst into tears, "now we have to move to Canada?!....  but I like my school and I don't want to leave all my friends and…" 

Me: (finally catching up to where her mind was) "Honey,  we're not moving to Canada...  Our work is here."

She: (nodding slowly, taking it in). And then, another explosion of tears.  "But why aren't we moving to Canada?!?!" followed by an incoherent rant that involved burritos and walls and kittens and a bunch of other stuff I didn't quite grasp.

And then, in an uncharacteristically quieter, frightened voice...

"But if we don't have white skin, how are we going to be safe?"

What followed wasn't a perfect conversation, but an honest one.   I explained to her that it was my job to keep her safe, and that she would always have a million ancestors walking with her.  And that the reason she was born with so much light was so that she could be part of the change the world was begging for.   I explained to her that things were about to get realer than real...  And for the first time ever, she didn't try to dismiss a conversation about the importance of our cultural identity and values.

As I rode the train to work that morning, the silence was eerie.  No one met each other's eyes.  In my gentrified Brooklyn neighborhood, I felt like I wanted to shake every white person I passed and ask, "Are you one of the ones who voted against our lives, our families?"  And as one of the only brown faces on that train, I felt threatened and unsafe.  And then, to my absolute horror, silent tears rolled down my cheeks. 

Y'all know I have a "I don't cry in public" rule, right??

I was ashamed of that part of me who was sad and disappointed. Intellectually, I knew better than to be surprised by the election results.  I was not new to the politics of race and oppression in America.  Fellow activists would admonish those of us who expressed hurt, as though being part of "the struggle" made us impervious to pain.  As if the myth of the "Strong Black Woman"  wasn't a dangerous one.   

A friend had called earlier to report that in North Carolina, a KKK march cut off her car on the way to work that morn.  The KKK.  In 2017.  In broad daylight. 

 I realized that even the loss of illusion is still loss. My heart was broken, and I am still grieving for the lives that may be wrongly incarcerated and prematurely taken over the next four years.  I would hear people talking about how we need to respond to the election with love, and my heart would harden with rage.  Love on the side of the oppressed has never been the problem.

What followed for me was not pretty. In my practice, over and over again I was treating trauma symptoms- hyperviligence, loss sense of purpose, anger, grief.  Eyes glazed over. Hearts hurting.   I would lay in bed and think of the work I am honored and blessed to do. But, instead of feeling gratification, a single thought continued to bubble to the surface:

It's not enough. 

"It's simply not enough", the voice would say.  Not in a mean or hurtful way,  just in a plain-ole-matter -of-fact way.  "It's not enough.  Reaching people one at a time is not enough.  The world needs more.  Did you see all that red? Don't you know how insidious White Supremacy is?" 

As I do when I'm on that slippery downhill slope,  I mixed up a blend of flower essences: 

Gorse: for hopelessness and deep despair

Scotch Broom: for fear for the state of world

Rock Rose:  for terror that one will be annihilated, destroyed or harmed

Mountain Pride: to awaken the ability to take a stand as spiritual warrior

Goldenrod:  for the courage to stand fully in my own truth

   

I called the blend Get Up Stand Up, full of golden flowers to activate the Solar Plexus.  My fellow-alchemist sister prayed with me over the blend, calling on the ancestors of indigenous people from all four corners of the earth.  Calling on the resilience and fortitude of nature herself.  The Bob Marley song, its namesake, started to shine some light through the dark cloud.  My sadness, terror, and rage began to shape themselves into action.

Eventually that voice started to get more specific. "It's not enough", it would still say, and then adding:  "It's time to scale up."  Ideas started flowing:  make flower essences available online so they can be purchased without an appointment. Start a wholesale program so practitioners can reach patients in other states and communities.  Write that book you've been talking about.  Scale up.  The world needs you NOW, and doesn't have time for your fear, doubt, or insecurity. "

And I began to realize that my genuine, authentic life purpose is not separate from my response to the political madness.  In fact, it's just the opposite- the madness is a challenge, a call to arms, a pleading of the universe to actualize my purpose in service of humanity.  

A call to all healers: Get up, stand up-  hearts are broken, souls feel lost and confused, and trauma is real. 

A call to all activists: Get up, stand up- oppression is epidemic. We need your strategizing, your organization, your education, and your fight.

A call to all spiritualists:  Get up, stand up- let's raise the vibration of this planet.

A call to all families: Get up, stand up- let's raise our children to be change agents. Their eyes are watching.  

A call to all lovers: Get up stand up-  love hard cuz love heals.  Let's be forces of humility, honesty, caring, patience, validation and compassion for one another.

A call to all of us with privilege:  spiritual privilege, academic privilege, economic privilege, racial privilege.   Let's be real about our privilege and use it to make space for those who don't.

Listen.  I am clear that we don't all have the same struggle.  The plight of white feminism does not often address the specific needs of black women (hence the controversy over the upcoming March in Washington).  The struggle for human rights that LGBTQ communities face is not the same as the Black Lives Matter movement. 

But there is resonance, and there can be solidarity.  

The truth is, there are so many things to get up, stand up for.  But we can do so in a way that one movement does not usurp, co-op or drain resources from another.  The lungs don't ask the heart to breathe...   but very certainly, if one stops fulfilling its mission, the whole organism is going DOWN.

Its reminds me of my favorite cartoon, when the four nations ban together to defeat Firelord Ozai as he prepares to destroy the planet with his cultural incompetence, tyranny and greed.   Each of the four nations- Earth, Water, Air and Fire, had a role to play. Each had different gifts to share. Each had a purpose to fulfill.

  And those differences are not something to run from, hide from, or be politically correct about.   

Firelord Ozai, from Avatar the Last Airbender

Let's Get Up, Stand Up together.

This... or That? Another way to do business...

This year Oceans & Rivers celebrates her 6th anniversary!  When I launched O&R back in 2010, I knew two things:  1) I wanted to help women step into the fullness of their lives, and 2) I wanted to create a lifestyle that gave me the flexibility to be there for my daughter in her most important moments.  (I also knew I wasn't quite cut out for working for other people, but that's another blog post...) 

  

What I found out was that most small businesses fail within the first five years.  I had flirted with being one of those statistics many times over.  I remember being so overwhelmed that I seriously considered giving it all up to work at Target- which seemed, quite honestly, a less stressful, more lucrative, and more stable work life.   I dreamed about the simplicity of red shirts and khaki pants.