I attended an excellent call on intentional community with about 15 others hosted through Charles Eisenstein’s Sanity Project today. I have been thinking about the vision I have for my house in Minneapolis, and wanting to share a few thoughts here as I continue to develop my vision and make steps towards bringing it into reality. The host of that call recently bought a community house in Tennessee, and shared that she has learned that asking for help has repeated led her to people who have generously offered support, and even seem to be fulfilled by being able to contribute. I think it’s time for me to learn to ask for the help I need to get this project moving forward.

2 years ago, I bought a 4-bedroom house on behalf of a group of 5, which included 3 adults and 2 kids. We have decided to separate into different living situations, but remain friends. For the last 6 months, I have been living here with just a dog and a cat, which has been a kind of necessary space as I make way for the new. I see it as a kind of intentional community, but not just people sharing the rent and eating together etc. It is a kind of art project retreat center. I am looking for a partner and collaborator who can join me in creating this space in service of the mission. I am looking for a house manager. I am able to manage the bills of the house, but I am not able to manage the energy of the house by myself.

I need help making the space nice. I need help managing the kitchen and buying groceries and cooking meals. I need help cleaning the bathrooms and the floors and organizing. I need help managing the lawn and planning and developing gardens. I need help building 1-3 tiny houses (someday) in the backyard.

The right person (people) will help me develop this as a retreat center that focuses on the guest experience for groups of 1-5 who stay overnight, for up to a month while they focus on personal development, spirituality, healing and creative expression. Guests who stay will develop some kind of creative performance, talk, or reflection to share with the broader community who will be invited to come for a gathering at the end of their time at the house.

The right person will enjoy living with an active dog and a disabled cat. The right person will enjoy singing, dancing, and hosting events for the community. The right person will enjoy quiet time and will also navigate the shared sound space with sensitivity. The right person will appreciate daily check-ins and being part of each other’s lives. The right person will have language and access to identifying emotional patterns in themselves, and a compassionate attitude towards all living beings. 

I’m not sure who the right person is or how I will figure it out, but I think that talking about it is a step in the right direction. I am open to comments or direct messages if you have ideas that might help me find them, or if you think it might be you.

I wrote these values and agreements 6 months ago, and they still look good to me now:

House Values and Agreements:

Communication: Honest, transparent communication is vital. We aim to have a weekly circle to check-in, discuss house issues. Daily, informal check-ins are welcome.

Spiritual/Personal Development: We are all on a unique and sacred journey. Deep reverence and respect for individuality and integrity.

Mindful intention: from the care of the pets, to hosting guests, to cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.

Sound attunement: Being aware that this is a shared space, we value music and conscious conversation. Thoughtfulness regarding use of electronics with audio throughout the house.

Community: this is a space that welcomes guests. We will also be respectful of housemates and communicate about all events and provide notice when invitations are made. 

Hello! I have been leading a Zoom group for the last several months, and it is about to split into 2. Initially, the focus was on creating a space for holistic health practitioners associated with Charles Eisenstein’s Sanity Project to be in a talking circle together.

For the Wednesday group, we are going to focus on the skills we want to develop and share with the world. I have described that in a previous post. (https://waterbirdmedicine.com/2023/12/29/skill-share-collective/)

The new group that I am aiming to host on Saturday mornings is going to focus on spiritual healing. Another description of that, is a recognition of the elements that are overlooked or ignored by the system that governs our conventional medical system, and creating a space for those elements to breathe.

We will meet at 10am CT, and you can message me at drew@waterbirdmedicine.com for the link. I only check that email consistently on Friday or Saturday morning, so I can get the link out to those who request it, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear from me before the meeting time.

I will post more updates as this project evolves!

You are invited! I am organizing a new group of participants who, like me, are working on offering their skills to the world in a new way. For me, the time has come to turn my visionary process into a business that generates a sustaining income. I’m not a business expert, in fact, I have been totally business averse for most of my life. But I have a belief in a process and I’m inviting a cohort to join me as we work together on our own projects in 2024.

I’ll share more about my own business goals in other posts and during the groups, but basically I aim to lead groups and offer individual appointments as an entrepreneur. This represents a transition from my career in medical practice. Over the next several months, I will be participating in Mark Silver’s Heart of Business course. Through that course, I will be learning how to better describe what my offerings really are. And every week, I will be sharing what I am learning about with this group, who are also working on their businesses!

This group is free to participate in. I am hosting simply because I think it will be supportive and helpful as I take these next steps in clarifying what my business offerings really are.

We will find a repeating time to meet each week on Zoom, and during the meeting each participant will get a chance to share about their business offering, and others will have the opportunity to offer feedback if that is requested. I’d like to pick a time during the week, and Monday mornings, Wednesday mornings, Wednesday afternoons, or Thursday mornings seem especially good to me.

I’m imagining a group as small as 2-5 might be especially potent to build deep and supportive relationships with each other. If there is more interest than that, I welcome the group to grow and will find ways to make sure it maintains a feeling of intimacy.

If you are interested, fill out this Doodle poll with the times that would work for you most weeks: https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/e936J8zb

Merry Christmas! As 2023 winds down, I find myself reflecting on my career, and my longing for a shift. I trained in the western medical system, and it feels like such a heartbreak every day that I am in the clinic. I get twisted into a position that I don’t want to be in, and I am able to be friendly and kind, but that is a weak balm for the corruption it is all built upon.

I am paid by the system to provide medical visits, and I do have some freedom and leeway in the type of medical advice I provide. What I want to be doing is facilitating groups, and offering 1-1 services that help orient clients to their subtle body. Subtle Medicine Appointments. It is not complicated, but I don’t think many are doing it the way that I want to. It seems almost like a riddle. What I want to do can look almost silly from the wrong angle.

But I know that I am on to something. And that if it doesn’t work at first, that I will just need to adjust and keep going. I am aiming to set myself at the threshold, and support others as they step out of the broken medical paradigm that isn’t working.

During these visits, I won’t be providing medical care. I’m suggesting that the medical model is outdated, corrupted. And I know there are people who have been going crazy about this too, and they are looking for someone who gets it. That is what I will do. I get it. I listen. I can bridge the gap because I was trained in the system, so I have that relatability.

In January and February, I am signing up for a business course with Mark Silver. I’m hoping that through this course I will clarify my language and messaging about these services. I will go to his classes on Tuesday afternoons, and then spend another few hours each week thinking about my business. Here’s the link if you want to check it out too: https://www.heartofbusiness.com/training-programs/heart-business-basics/

I will also plan to coordinate a small group for a “heart of business share”. The guiding question will be something like “What’s up with your business?” We will practice trusting the field, not trying to fix each other.

Before too long, I would like to also organize a support call for wounded healers, and I will learn to manage the space so people can connect with each other. It might be like an AA meeting of sorts. I don’t know the details of their model, but broadly it’s a support group. I like to think that there might be a combination of doctors, nurses, other mainstream health workers, AS WELL AS alternative health practitioners who realize we are all in it together.

Before long, I want to have 4 Subtle Medicine appointments available each week. 60-90 minutes. Just listening, offering subtle opinions, if requested. Carve those times out, and start off half price. $100 instead of $200. By March or May, have at least a few sessions under my belt. It’s okay to earn money for offering my gifts. Eventually, I’ll be able to pay for the house with the money I earn from the business. And then I’ll be able to transition even more of my time from the clinic to my own practice.

That’s a goal. By the end of 2024, being able to walk away from the clinic because I am being financially supported by my business. We’ll see!

What am I up to now? It’s a lot of projects, like usual. I am thinking about making more time for writing to organize and communicate better about what I’m up to. I’m afraid I need to give myself permission to go on a tear, to make a wide space to string the far reaching topics together in a way that is helpful to me, even if it becomes tiresome for the reader.

In some ways, I’m inviting myself more directly into boldness. The time is already here for more dramatic action. It can feel like I missed the moment to strike on the health freedom issue. I notice I am self-censoring by avoiding a word that starts with the letter V. There is a lot of important information that I’ve learned to find, which so many people are completely unaware about, but it also is quite difficult to bridge that information gap. In some way, that’s where effective writing and art making come into play. Connect energetically. 

I am living in a 4-bedroom house in Minneapolis. I would like this space to be an effective hub for community. There has to be some kind of discernment, because I want the good energy to be flowing here. And even one person can put people on alert. There is a cat and a dog here, and those can be a bit of an energetic investment, but they do help foster the environment that I am looking to create. It’s just that it’s a work in progress.

I’m influenced by my visits to Esalen in Big Sur, CA and to Breitenbush Hot Springs in Central Oregon, and the Vipassana meditation center in rural Washington. Also by a dance festival at Sundari Gardens in Hawaii and a Charles Eisenstein retreat in North Carolina. 

What do I need to hold myself in a higher frequency state? What does the house need to help hold that state for guests? Quiet time for contemplation, and also time for music and play and expression. Space for intimate conversations, and space to be alone. Neighbors who are involved, but who can be in their own space too. I’m looking for availability. For service. To be in service of others, and also of my gifts and strengths. And theirs.

So is this house ready for a new roommate and his son? There is a lot to this question that has sat stagnant, because I don’t have the kind of supportive resources in my friends that I wish I might have. One obvious benefit of having another adult here, will be to share responsibilities for the animals, making it easier for me to travel. And other one will be the financial boost that comes from having a renter. But more important than both of those things, is how these other people affect the energy flow of the space. It will be significant. It will impact my daily patterns. Can it be a shift in a helpful direction? What are the challenges that can also be used for the benefit of all? I think communication is a foundation for making it work. A mutual understanding that we have our own journeys that we can witness and support in each other.

What about the Kennedy campaign? Gosh. How important is my role in the campaign? I feel the potential for becoming quite activated for the campaign. Demonstrating my enthusiasm and encouraging my local community to set a precedent for what grassroots can look like. Weekly Kennedy Heart Share circles. Potlucks. Open mic. Bring people together for a positive purpose. What is the upper limit of what that might look like? Well, if there are individuals or dynamics that cause it to feel draining, that’s when I’ll need my space. But if it is energizing, then I might be able to accommodate guests every day of the week. It’s like a real community vision. There is a weekly morning check-in. Or a daily check-in. I want to build a positive culture that helps myself and others to “live in the light.”

I put that phrase in quotes because I know it can sound hokey. But it is a real description of a process that I’m going to describe further. And perhaps this will get to be a bit esoteric for some, but this is an artistic/therapeutic writing process for myself first. When I moved into this house, I was participating in a weekly “Community Heart Share” led by my neighbor and housemate who developed that 3 hour format from a Priestess process they learned from a specific teacher. They spoke in terms of quantum healing, ley lines, miracles and sacred processes. They used oracle cards and crystals, sounded bowls and spoke in light language. I had a metaphoric, or energetic understanding of what they were doing, and it did resonate with me.

I have been reading an esoteric spirituality book that might be described as transcendental christianity, while also using mindfulness exercises and other practices of embodiment. At times, it feels like there is a large diverse center that can hold many unique individuals and expressions of the divine. I finished a 2022 book by Lorie Ladd on “Divine Design” that covers aspects of our multidimensional reality and the negative influence of certain fallen beings which have been part of our reality on Earth. And then I was turned on to an ascension blog from Lisa Renee called Energetic Synthesis. The unifying theme is that an inner transformation is possible, and that an outer transformation is coming too.

To be more specific, the control grids of the old world are coming down. This is a disruptive, and challenging time. Whether you work in education, military, government, healthcare, the legal profession, banking, media and entertainment, sports, performance, arts, tech… it’s all changing so rapidly. And those careers can help with the money piece which can help bring security and safety for the foundation of our needs. But those of us bringing light to the system will likely find it overwhelming to remain within the system. In time, we will make our various exits, but creating an alternative financial model for our livelihood takes lots of energetic resources and support.

So, how can I help provide that support for others? How can I receive that support for myself? What kind of career might I have that makes use of my skills and gifts for this higher vibrational earth timeline? 

I have assembled a team of health practitioners through Charles Eisenstein’s Sanity Project. We meet once a week as a mutual support group. I am also offering Mind-Body Skills groups to the whole of the Sanity Project on Monday afternoons. I have been leading Pod 10, which will be shifting to another day of the week pending the results of a Doodle poll. 

I continue to work at a low income clinic, meeting people from all over the world who often have low health literacy. They need a doctor’s orders for their wheelchairs and incontinence supplies, and pharmaceutical drugs that were started by previous doctors or in the hospital. I have limited time with them, and many of them have deeply entrenched health beliefs that makes the empowering work I aim to do nearly impossible.

I have participated in Pamela Wible’s Physician Entrepreneurship program for the last 6 years. She has specific skills and understandings that can help make strategic financial sense out of alternative health business models. That might look like charging an hourly rate for individual or group holistic health clients.

I am starting a 22 day group reset challenge tomorrow with my friend Kai from Hawaii. I would like to go visit her and to be on that island for 1-2 weeks at the end of January. Who wants to come? I’m going to leave it here for now. Thanks for reading.

Hello my friends,

I have been preparing my home for its new life as a retreat center, launching Dec 2, 2023, my 37th birthday. Do you wanna come?

This retreat opportunity will start on Wed. Nov 29th, and continue to Sun. Dec 3rd. From 11am-2pm Thursday to Sunday, there will be programming streamed live from Gabor Mate’s Compassionate Inquiry Retreat. More info about that content is available here: https://www.scienceandnonduality.com/webinar/pathways-to-wholeness. There will be 1000 other Zoom participants for the teachings, and then we will practice the exercises with our group. The rest of the time will be focused on the simple tasks of living like cooking and eating, meditating, playing music, relaxing, and enjoying life.

I’m in the early stages of the vision, and there is a lot that will be determined by the interest of the other participants. You will hear more from me soon if you tell me that you are interested, and we will get to the retreat dates before you know it.

So, thanks for considering this invitation, and do let me know if you would like to be a part of it.

All the best, 

Leaf

You are invited!

“Mind-Body Skills Groups are educational, supportive groups built upon developing self-care skills. They are highly experiential and integrative techniques–such as meditation, guided imagery, autogenic training, breath work, movement, self expression and other approaches–are taught in a supportive environment.” You can read more here: https://cmbm.org/onlinegroup/

The first meeting will be Oct 30th and we will plan to continue for 8 weeks. There will be 1 hour information sessions on Oct 16th and 23rd. I completed training to facilitate these groups from the Center for Mind-Body Medicine. Previously, I have been leading groups in this format on Zoom, and over the last 3 years, I have led 6 rounds of these groups. You can read about the experiences of past participants here:

https://waterbirdmedicine.wordpress.com/2023/07/13/mbsg-testimonials/

Why am I offering this?

The conventional, allopathic model of medicine that I trained in is outdated and misunderstands important fundamentals of holistic health. When I learned about Mind-Body Medicine at a retreat with the CMBM at Esalen Institute in California, I understood that holding space for group work can have a profound effect because it addresses our present moment consciousness directly. We are energetic beings, and addressing our energetic nature can be more effective and thorough than limiting our attention to the body as a constellation of mechanical processes.

In the future, I am aiming to lead in-person healing retreats for healthcare workers to address trauma and burnout. I am especially interested in working with performing artists and creatives because they are already on the path of embodiment, and I am learning to be on that path for myself too.

What To Expect During Our Groups

We will meet on Zoom and will start on time. You are invited to arrive up to 5 minutes early to settle in. Keep in mind that you will be asked to bring your full attention for our two-hour sessions. We will start with a simple relaxing breathing technique and go over guidelines for our time together. There will be time for introductions, and “check-ins” for every group. Anything shared will be confidential.

Each week, we will practice one technique of self exploration, and then share about our experience with the group. These techniques can provide powerful insights in a group setting even for individuals with vast experience with similar techniques. They are also accessible to beginners and thus adaptable for many different kinds of groups.

The group will end on time, and we will close with a gentle relaxation technique. My role is to manage time, lead activities, and support all participants for the best group experience. I am not serving as a therapist or doctor for anyone in the group. Instead we are trusting and allowing for insights and healing to occur spontaneously. Borrowing from Stella Eisenstein’s “Resonant Attention” technique, we are leaning in for miracles. As a facilitator, I will also participate in the exercises and share my experiences.    

Price, Commitment:

I offer these groups as a service to Charles Eisenstein’s Sanity Project. There is no course fee. In the past, I have held this group as a closed container, with consistent members committed to attending for all 8 sessions. I am interested in experimenting with an open group dynamic that I expect might work in the context of the surrounding container of the Sanity Project.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you can join me!

-Drew

I am recruiting for the next round of Mind-Body Skills Groups which will be offered through the Sanity Project. I hope to create a more thorough description in the future, but for now, I am starting with a doodle poll to find times that work for possible participants.

I would like to have a group of 6-10 who can commit to attending regularly for at least 8 weeks. If you would like to participate, please complete the poll.

https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/aOZZPMNe

Part of the reason I moved from to Minnesota in 2016 after medical school is because of the openness to holistic health within the medical system here. I participated in a one-month integrative medicine rotation that was orchestrated by Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona, and they offer a fellowship in integrative medicine that is mostly online. My residency program had an affiliation with that group, and I intuitively trusted a residency program more that would lean in that direction. During my training, there was a group of integrative practitioners that worked in the same building, but often weren’t too close to the residency training itself.

Anyways, I met Bill Manahan, who is a past president of the American Holistic Medicine Association and he collaborated with Christiane Northrup there. That organization went through a name change and is now the AIHM. Bill also started the Minnesota Holistic Medical Group, and over the last 40 years, they have had 3 annual, in-person meetings which provided practitioners an opportunity to meet each others, to learn from each other, and to refer to each other. It has been a passion project for Bill, and he has a personal relationship with each of the 900 members that are on their email list. Now that Bill is in his 80s and living in a retirement community, he is looking to pass the torch on leading and organizing this group.

There is an in-person meetup on Saturday Oct 21st and I will plan to be there. There is also a leadership organizing meeting for the 3 meetings in 2024 on Nov 1st, which I will also attend.

Okay, getting to the point and the intention of this post, Bill is also part of an in-person retreat that is being hosted Nov 9-12. There are 2 scholarships available to cover the ~$1800 expense. I would love to attend and to integrate with that group. I encourage you to apply for one of the scholarships, and if you are selected, we can be there together.

Someday, I may have my own in-person retreat offering. But in this case, having the organizing work done by others feels worth the price tag to me. Applications for the scholarship are due in a few days, Oct 1st. It only asks for 2 sentences. I am open to helping you clarify and craft your application.

On Saturday I am going to a health freedom conference. Scott Atlas, Peter McCullough, Christiane Northrup, Mikki Willis and others will be presenting. It seems like an opportunity to meet people and build my network. It would be strategic to have a business card with a link to this website or to my youtube channel. If you don’t know about my youtube channel yet, I am planning to record an episode later today and will continue every Wednesday for the rest of Season 1. To start with, each episode includes the recording of 1 song and is less than 10 minutes, but I plan to add another dimension of the channel that includes longer interviews with holistic health practitioners. That aspect will likely be hosted on Rumble.

Here is the link to the conference on Saturday. Let me know if you have ideas about how I can effectively make connections while there.

https://www.wellnessmyway.org/home32335477

And here is the link to last week’s episode:

https://youtu.be/XcaQWE2X6H0?si=LtwIMiUEwGizAXWx