119 days since the last post

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Nalda, Spain

Welp… lots to say. Lots to express through imagery of photos and a lot that just cannot be relayed as clearly as it has been felt. A new type of reality coursing through the veins… This decision is for real.

We are almost 5 months in (as of August 20th) … We are genuinely in the groove.  I was aiming for sobriety upon arrival and definitely felt a bit ashamed to say I have (yet again) let myself down but setting these expectations without the safety net of preparation for such a road ahead. As of right now, I have decided it is in the idea/ manifesting phase and I take each day as it comes. 

April was a wild ride, we both started school, moved into our first new home TOGETHER (I moved in with Matt when we met and we lived there together until we left the country), so this has been so fun to have a fresh start together.  I quickly finished the TEFL Certification program through my beloved school, TT Madrid TEFL.  We finished on April 26th and partied hard for the next week. I found so many loved ones through the school program and am extremely grateful to the community that this school provides. After a few weeks, I began my Spanish classes through the Language school affiliated with the TEFL Course at TT Madrid. LAE Madrid Language School is a wonderful way to learn Spanish. For May, Matt continued on for his first term in culinary school and I took Spanish classes for 20 hours a week. I taught a few classes throughout the month and had an amazing opportunity to teach for a one day Entrepreneurship Day on May 24th. It was through Class A Corporate Language Training and Fun Finance. This was one of the coolest experiences I have had since being here. 
Later that day, I fell on my way down the loft stairs… I was on my way to an interview so I had no time to really assess the damage but I still have a scar on my back from it. But, I got the job on the spot and was set for July to have this summer camp teaching position. 

I began June by going off to camp for my first time. EVER. As a monitor on a team of 10 for 200 kiddos or so. We were in Valladolid, Spain on a property with lots of fun little huts that the kiddos stayed in. It was a fantastic opportunity to decide what I did not want to do 🙂 It was… well one of the hardest times I have had since being here. I was so homesick, like beyond anything I had ever felt before. I poured my energy into the kids to distract from my sadness… It was a fun experience for sure. I am very thankful it was only a week. The rest of June was filled with friends, Spanish Classes, and more partying. I happened upon a teaching opportunity at another summer camp for all of July and began July 1st and finished on the 26th. It was so wonderful to have yet another experience helping me realize what it is that I don’t want to do again 🙂  

 

And here we are now, beginning week two of not having any obligations. I have since been working on trying to figure out how I want to impact the world in this lifetime. 

Through these past four months since I have written,  I have been reflecting greatly. Since being across the pond, we’ve lost two humans from this earthly existence and it has rocked us deeply through our souls. Matt and I have experienced such a depth of grief, gratitude, and love which ripples far beyond the continent of Europe. Those of you who know and love us, know how much we love you. We truly do. Please know that.And those who have stumbled upon this through happenstance, you are love and are loved.

That is what I feel has really reverberated through me… immense gratitude for this experience. This time to sit back and REFLECT. And fuck, it has been a doozy of memories that come tumbling back. I am remembering a lot of my twenties I had tucked away in the shadows. Turns out, that they are residing within until I choose to release them fully.  That is what I am doing each day… Releasing that part of self and moving forward by giving back to the community.  

Here are some photos of our life in Spain and I will be writing much more frequently… 

We just returned from La Rioja, in 3 days, we drove over 650 miles across Northern Spain. Here are some photos of the miraculous trip! 

Wednesday Road Trip: Picked car up at Spain Car Rental at 9 a.m. ROAD TRIP BEGINS

It’s like riding a bike 🙂 Manual Transmission and all! These are some other photos from towns we visited and finally our Airbnb 🙂

  Ezcaray, Spain  Thursday night dinner at El Portal Restaurant

Ezcaray

Ezcaray

Ezcaray

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

El Portal

These are some of the views from our place

 

Three Weeks in Madrid – it’s sinking in

Poor yourselves a glass of wine, put this playlist on, and listen as you read… Then DANCE YOUR ASSES OFF!!! I LOVE YOU!

DJ AA Mix of Heaven

We’ve been settled into our permanent place for about two weeks. We moved in two weeks ago this upcoming Monday and jetted off to school.  This is after our lovely Airbnb debacle occurred where we ended up going to a hotel and smuggling our cat in. If you want to stay close to us, I will give you the hotel name separately but do not want them to know we had breached their rules 😀

Once we checked out of our temporary home two weeks ago, we had an Airbnb set up for the two interim nights before we finally landed in our permanent home.

Matt and I took the steps for drugging the cat for the journey, packed everything up, checked out of temporary housing one at 1 and then took a cab to the Airbnb … Check in time was set up with the host for 2 p.m. We waited and waited, by 230 pm after two attempts to call via WhatsApp and emailing… Finally around 2:35 someone arrived. Unfortunately, she said she still needed to clean the apartment and ran ahead of us up the stairs to our place. When we finally caught up, she was still knocking on the door and not even inside. My heart sank. I think what she had said was the tenants were still in the condo and she would need to clean after. But my understanding of Spanish has diminished so much since I finished school that I am having a harder time with the language than I realized I would.

Finally the door opens and these two young men emerge looking as if they hadn’t slept in years and also had a joint lit… As they walked past us, the second young man blew out an exhale from the joint and they muttered something as they left. At this point in time, all I could think was how badly I had to pee. I asked the woman if I could use the bathroom and she said, “let me clean it first…” I stepped in and was appalled. The place was in horrendous condition! I couldn’t believe what they had done to 300 sq feet… It was as if it had been a drug den for sex and rolling. I was so grossed out.  We recorded footage of the condition of the place and decided we’d be better off staying elsewhere. There was no way we could get the filth out of our minds, even if she had cleaned it. The entire place needed to have been completely bleached and aired out. It was hot boxed with cigarette and pot smoke. Those who know me understand that I am not a prude in many ways but the filth and the stains on the upholstery left little to the imagination. Thankfully we were able to get on the wi-fi, book a hotel, and immediately left. We contacted Airbnb once we were comfortably settled into the hotel and they instantly approved our refund as they saw the video footage of the place.  

The past two weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. Envision a storm cloud full of rainbows, lightening, hailing joy, sadness, disbelief, nostalgia, and the immense vulnerability that is pouring through each of us as we begin anew. We are both students again.  The beginning of a new world of which we actively chose to begin. It’s the shock and awe that we were actually able to make it happen!

The immense “unlearning” and breaking down of constructs of which I personally had held so closely, I didn’t realize how much they had ultimately become shackles of a feigned comfort. It wasn’t a comfortable comfort but more of a familiarity. And why disrupt that familiarity? Well we chose to do this to shake things up.

And god damn, that is what we are doing. I am on week 3 ½  of not smoking any pot. This, for those of you who know me, is a HUGE challenge.  I am so proud of myself but also often find it to be in the back of my head of “How nice it would be”… but would it? I am re-learning how to exist and be still without any distractions.

I am listening to Johnny Cash’s rendition of Hurt. It just came on and it is flowing through me…

“What have I become, my sweetest friend. Everyone I know goes away in the end.” I hope this isn’t true. I miss you all so goddamn much. The depth of gratitude and love to all of you in my community.  I want to be sure we are still connected. But I guess that is the unlearning. We are all connected through our past memories and the impact we’ve left on one another.

I went to my first yoga class in Madrid today and bought a 10 class pack. It is right down the street from our place and the teacher was amazing. Check them out here:

Yoguitime

Also, for a reward once I graduate, I have decided to do a yoga class in a sensory deprivation pool! Check it out here, such a cool concept that I haven’t heard about.

Water Yoga

We accidentally used up all our internet for the month in these two weeks… SO, we will be MIA for a bit.  But I will post pictures and all sorts of things periodically. Here are some gems from the past two weeks.

With so much love!

~Melanie

Day 1 of Week 2

Here we are at Matt’s School… He is in orientation and I decided to ride out with him for the day.

Matt’s School

It’s been a whirlwind and I have had many feelings erupting from within me.

Joy, Love, Gratitude,  Happiness, Complete Awe of this world, Overwhelmed, Inadequacy, Neglect, Fear, Depression, Exhaustion…

It started with Monday and it just has spiraled out. I am not sure if it’s just my hormones wreaking havoc or if it’s truly this deep transformation within. I am hurting despite the fact I am in a beautiful place. This is time for me to start my day and begin anew. Here I am replaying the old stories that I thought I had moved on from.  Did I transform or transmute? I think some of the stuff I acknowledged but also stuffed deep down within me and smoked it away. I am nine days sober and that is humbling within itself. I cannot just hide away behind the smoke and movies.

Sunday is a day of rest… We decided to enjoy a day of sunshine and honor what we needed. REST. RELAXATION. And most of all, movement… We walked for miles that day. Discovered lots of fun little neighborhoods and ended up with a picnic in the park.  Matt and I played about 6 cribbage games of which I did not even win one… It was humbling to say the least.  Then we relaxed with meatballs and spaghetti. We had made a pact to not spend any money on Sunday and we stuck by it. With the exception of Matt having some change in his pocket and buying two beers for 2 Euros.

 

Monday, we awoke at 8 a.m. and walked to our new neighborhood to enjoy it. We looked for pet stores, Matt had his hair cut, and I went to a lovely café while waiting for him. It was glorious. We went to my school and were warmly welcomed by so many amazing people. My school is called LAE Madrid… There are so many awesome opportunities there.

We took a tour and it has me even more excited to get started.  After we left, we were so thirsty and hungry so we decided to go back to our apartment, enjoyed some cribbage and hanging out. We went to the park after that.   I ran again and despite the fact my lungs are filled with the nastiest phlegm, I tried to push through. I was watching all these parents in the park with their children and it made me feel a familiar concern:

I often wonder if I am making a huge mistake by not having children. I know I don’t really want to birth one but I do want the experience of being a mom to someone.  Or is it that I need to mother myself and learn how to complete those holes that are deeply engrained. I will say, my dreams have been healing a lot of wounds. My grandparents have continually shown themselves to me since I Have moved to Spain. It had been quite some time since I had dreamt of my grandfather and especially my grandmother but I have had one nearly every night since we have been here. It has been 9 whole sleeps since we’ve gotten here. So, strange as time just zips past and it reminds me to be ever present and feel all the feelings I Have because I don’t want to numb out as life is far too short.

Tuesday, we slept in and sort of just relaxed. We walked around, went to the park, I ran again… Slept again, got some goodies to make a yummy dinner, I am so proud of us. We have hardly eaten out. Tonight, will be our first time going out with some of my colleagues from school, I am very excited for that.

During our long walk, we visited a cool culinary store Matt had found Los Utensilios del Chef and also found my backpack I will use for school. I had recently retired a favorite North Face water resistant backpack which had gone everywhere with me for 6 years. I mean, literally, EVERYWHERE. I would joke that it is a security blanket and I often think it was.

I hadn’t found anything to replace it nor had I really needed to before leaving.  On Monday, we had wandered around trying to find something but once I did research, I found a company called Lefrik that makes their backpacks out of recycled bottles. Not only was I inspired by the concept, I was so stoked that it was locally made and we were contributing to our country we are now residing within. We went there and I found the backpack I wanted, exactly what I was envisioning and BAM! There I was in front of it AND it was 23 Euro less than what we had expected!

Both Matt’s and my necessities ended up costing us about 40 euro less than what we had budgeted for! Which is really exciting because we can use that tonight when we go get Tapas with Mohit (a friend who works at my school and is TEFL certified through the school) and his girlfriend.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was rough. We had both awoken in bad moods and did not shake out of it either. I ended up heading back to the apartment while he walked around and found where his bus would come pick him up. Ironically, it is in our current neighborhood despite the fact we are moving further north.  Anyway, once he returned, we went to the park. I laid out, listened to music, and read while he sat in the shade with his book. We played a game of cribbage and tried to reconnect and talk. We both are very stressed out and handle it in different ways. It’s hard when we have downsized to an even smaller space for the past 9 days…

Once we got home from the park, I had a wonderful evening chat with my best friend Shabree and after some good conversation and laughter, I felt much more inspired and okay. He came back from another walk where he had procured his culinary shoes.

After the call with Shabree we walked again to our favorite park Templo De Debod and enjoyed ourselves while watching the sunset. We held each other, talked, and just relaxed into each other’s presence.

Once we returned home, it was about 815, we silently existed within our cute little temporary home awaiting our real one. It feels like we are in this in between as we are living out of our suitcases and cannot get the kitty really well adjusted as we know she’s going to go to one more temporary housing from Saturday- Monday and then we throw her in the permanent housing and disappear into the school abyss only to return Monday night after school.  I think it’ll be fine but it’s the added pressure of knowing our school starts on April 1 and we move into our home on April 1. It’ll be so nice once we are fully unpacked and ready to settle in…

As of right now, we enjoy our space we are in.  It’s small and so silently exisiting means he listens to his podcast and cooks while I write… Last night specifically, I watched Bridesmaids and laughed my ass off. I don’t care how many times I have seen that movie, it just brings me such joy and comfort.

Dinner was ready about 9 p.m., we ate together and talked some more… I took a long hot shower, washed my hair and got ready for bed. Once I crawled into bed, the kitty came up and hung out and we just finished the movie and I fell asleep.

We awoke this morning with enthusiasm as it’s Matt’s first formal day of school! He is in orientation and I now am just awaiting his return to the café. It’s a cool campus and super big. I can wander but feel very cozy and nestled up with my coffee and computer. It’s refreshing as I am composing this in a Word document as I can’t for the life of me find the WiFi credentials.  Did I mention the Spanish here is much different than what I learned?!!? I thought I was fairly competent but I have been deeply humbled which goes to the first paragraph of all the emotions I am feeling.

Did I smoke my memory away? Is it truly such a different dialect I can’t understand the tone nor the accent? I can speak what we need but when it comes to understanding the response, I get probably a 30% comprehension.

I cannot wait to get into my school on Monday. Seriously, it’ll be such a breath of fresh air. Fully welcoming humans, lots of learning happening constantly, and I will begin the TEFL certification.  Once the full 4 weeks are done, I am going to start Spanish classes immediately. I am going to do the AM Spanish classes daily and hopefully teach or work in the afternoons.

Also, I joined Meetup for Madrid and have connected with some awesome yoga groups.

I also decided I am going to create a Group for the7flow® … I think it’ll be good to keep that going as well as fully begin translating the teacher manual … Stay tuned for that!

To learn more about the7flow click on the link… Below is more information and the social media pages to follow. I will do a blog post once I have the Meetup Group established.

the7flow Instagram

the7flow Facebook Page

Moksha Destiny Founder of the7flow

So much love on this beautiful Thursday,

Melanie

 

 

 

 

Day 4 Experiencing Madrid

As 6 a.m. rolled around, neither Matt nor I had slept much of the night. The highlight to my sleepless nights are the Modern Family reruns we watch in bed, the kitty cuddles, and intermittent messaging with our friends stateside. I think I will become closer than ever with people because there is something so nostalgic and comforting to talk with our friends back home. It’s only day 4 and we realize the importance of our friendships and loved ones. We finally fell fast asleep and were startled awake by a person entering our apartment. It takes 5 doors and many locks, mind you. So you can imagine the absolute shock, awe, and pure confusion we felt at 10 a.m. when the sweetest woman entered our apartment speaking the fastest Spanish.  I quickly put some clothes on and hopped into the living room to see what the F%*k was happening. She could see I was startled awake and immediately explained who she was. Our housing is set up through the school I am attending. They contract with a cleaning company to have someone come visit the properties once weekly. Our day was Saturday at 10:15 a.m. she pointed out speaking much more slowly as she saw my absolute confusion. In the most abstract, broken Spanish, I expressed to her that we are jet lagged and are struggling with sleep and will not need our apartment cleaned this week. She was so sweet and thoughtful, she wished us sweet dreams and was on her way.

I laid back down trying to convince myself to go running in the park nearby… As I awoke again to our kitty (Fluff, Pelusa, Barundi…) take your pick of her nickname, meowing ferociously as if she were trying to wake us from the deepest sleep… We looked and realized we had slept until 12:15… Matt and I are really trying to challenge ourselves fiscally and see how much we can still preserve by enjoying Spain but also not going out as often.  As it is Saturday, we decided to “treat ourselves” and get some coffee at a nearby cafe called, The Fix Cafe.  We sat and enjoyed our coffees as we decided what to do with our day.

The coffee was good yet quite bitter. There had been a fun little spot near our apartment that I wanted to check out. It was a Coffee and Tea shop called Lfont Tea Mountain.

The owner is the coolest person, he didn’t speak English so we spoke very simply in Spanish all about coffee and the best type of coffee for our French Press. We decided on this one and we are going to try it out for the first time tomorrow AM:

After we departed from the store, we decided to take a long walk through Madrid and go visit our permanent apartment which we will move into on April 1st in the The La Latina District of Madrid.  We took the “scenic route” by sort of just guessing on directions and side streets. We cut through the Plaza Mayor.  This place is where we had originally gone when we were in Madrid in 2017.  It’s the best in the sunshine and there is lots of activity and bustling restaurants.

There are many entrances and exits that put you in different parts of Madrid. It is very easy to get “off course” while in the Plaza Mayor and we found ourselves completely on an adventure of not knowing where the hell we were.  My stomach was full of coffee, nerves, and I needed a break. We eventually ended up at a cute little bar to have a cana and use the restroom.  This place was called the El Clasico Madrid.  This place was so warm and welcoming.  We sat at a cute little table, people watched, had a few canas, and some water.  The inside of the restaurant is gorgeous and their food smelled delicious.

After we finished our beers for 5 euro, we set off on the rest of our adventure. We finally found our way to the neighborhood we will be living in and were completely astounded with how amazing it is. There are restaurants and bars EVERYWHERE.  It’s going to be quite the experience being able to live in the center of a bustling little spot.

After we finished up with that, we began to walk back to our neighborhood we are currently in.  In order to do so, we walked through so many beautiful streets, parks, and found many different street performers. It is so exciting to see how much culture there is here.

Once we made our way back, we had a wonderful evening of eating soup, taking another long walk and discovering a cool bookstore called J&J Books and Coffee.  We are trying to abstain from siesta time today and so we’ve been keeping as busy as possible.  As soon as this blog post is wrapped up, we will be crawling into bed as it is well past the hour of exhaustion.  I really am excited to get back on track with time.  My body hurts right now! We’ve been trying to stay moderated with drinking and solely having one or two drinks during the day (weekends only) as we are already so dehydrated. Here are some pics from our evening adventure.

Love to you all,

Melanie and Matt

 

This life is a gift – we live in Madrid?!?!

After many many months of planning, preparing, and organizing, we have finally arrived! We live in Madrid, Spain… How is this our reality? It’s almost as if we are dreaming.

These past few weeks have allowed me to really understand the depth to this life. It’s a tree rooted deeply within the Earth. Rooted and growing, all together. The dichotomy is the feeling of pulling and rooting.   This life is truly a gift. It’s so hard to be fully present and aware but traveling does that. I write that and then realize that we aren’t even really traveling any longer, we are here. To be still and learn.  Both of us have traveled here on student visas, we’ve already met so many wonderful people who are helping us along.

The last few weeks are summarized, not in words but in the depth of the feelings. The water that keeps the roots growing and delving deeper into the Earth. Fully supported and ready to grow through that depth.

It was Matt’s and my one year wedding anniversary, my birthday, and then our departure. 2019 has been full of so much celebratory energy and love. As we embark on this journey and it became closer, our loved ones surrounded us and helped us root deeply and allow us to grow by their love and support! You know who you are!!!

To our parents, THANK YOU for making us and giving each of us LIFE, We are eternally grateful to be a part of this world and be a change in this world! We are embarking on a new way of living!

My family, my friends, our loved ones who surround us have supported us so intensely.  We had an amazing final dinner with our besties and hung out with them.

Our best friend, Bryan, housed us the night before we left… He woke up at 3:20 a.m. on 3/19 to take us to the airport, Not just to drop us off but to take us in and check our bags with us, hug us lots before we went through security. Thank you so much Duffel. We love you immensely.

We said so many “hello’s” to a new relationship and form of connection to these amazing folks we have said our “good-bye’s” to the normal way of connection.  Thank goodness for the technological advances which allow us to stay connected.

As we said our good-bye to Bryan, we embarked upon a new reality. The fluff (pelusa in espanol) was pumped full of drogas. We hoped and wished she’d be okay and by god, she was. She handled the flights like a freakin’ champ! We had some hiccups as we landed in Newark… The turbulence was horrid and I was secretly writing out my will and wishing I had actually gotten one established.  As we landed, we had a layover that allowed us to go to the international terminal and have some vino tinto and some food.  The kitty was completely chill and mostly silent. It was quite the surprise. I was really worried.

As we went to board our flight, we found out Matt needed to re-register his name as his ticket only had his nickname of Matt Hunter and we had to re-register it to match the full name. Then we realized they had never registered the cat. It was a shit storm of 20 minutes through tears and frustration. But we finally boarded and we gave the cat another dose of drugs and we had some wine for ourselves.

As we embarked upon the longest leg of the travels, the turbulence over the Atlantic caused me to go into a full blow anxiety attack. We were being tossed through the sky in a huge plane. The lack of control was a learning lesson of who I can be and who I am without the feigned idea I am in control 🙂

As we neared Portugal, the full moon was so bright and lit up the entire Atlantic as we flew in. It was so blessed and full of the most symbolic feelings. I held onto my journal and wrote as much as I could through my streaming tears of gratitude (and exhaustion)…

We had a long layover in Portugal thankfully. As we embarked upon the customs line, the kitty’s drugs started to wear thin. I wished I could’ve popped some of those pills for myself. Instead I just pried her mouth open and dosed her up with some more. We were in the Customs line for 1 hour and 30 minutes… Once we were through that, we awaited our final leg of the journey. A one hour flight… we began counting down to when we’d be in our cozy little Madrid Temporary housing…

Unfortunately, Madrid Airport was having a lot of air traffic issues and we ended up circling the airport for longer than the flight was supposed to be. It was a bit rough and we all were far past ready to be asleep as we were on hour 21 of no sleep and travel.

My school had set me up with an amazing human who was going to meet us at our Temporary housing and he was there at 1 on the nose. We were sitting outside with all of our stuff and I was just waiting to shower and sleep… We checked in, talked with him, and allowed ourselves to decompress for 48 whole hours! Today is the first real day we’ve felt alive!

Here are some photos of our journey’s thus far:

Day 1: March 20th – attempted to go to the Police Station and were sent elsewhere of which we decided to go on Day 2.  Instead, we went to the mall and got all of the tech adaptors for EU.

Day 2: March 21st – Matt and I both didn’t feel well so we allowed ourselves to sleep and then went to the local grocer and got some bone broth and electrolyte drinks. Laid in bed and watched Netflix to allow our bodies to recover.

Day 3: TODAY March 22nd – Went to the Police Station and yet again were unsuccessful as apparently we need appointments. So we went to lunch, had a siesta, walked to Templo Deblod, and then went to a local fruit stand and an organic store of which I purchased Tea for my nervous system, dark chocolate, and some vino… We went to a few other stores and go supplies to make our food at home. We are having a bone broth meatball and veggie soup for tonight.

The Bio C Bon is the organic store that I swear by! It has all the yummiest things and the investment is so little! It is amazing to be here and we feel fortunate!

 

Rational Unicorn Legal Services LLC

Nameless Podcast # 11, and True Impact Podcast #1! We found a name!

TRUE IMPACT Podcast: The Rational Unicorn

 

HI friends, nope… this isn’t a joke. This awesome person has named his legal services Rational Unicorn Legal Services. Please join me as I have this fantastic opportunity to meet and interview Mr. Michael Jonas, the founder of Rational Unicorn Legal Services.

Rational Unicorn Legal Services

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 8, 2018

I rushed to get something done. Lesson in moving from a place of “Inspired Action” as my dearest friend, Brittany Gordien says.

True Impact Podcast debut part II: Here’s the nitty gritty. It’s been an emotional week. I wanted so badly to release the podcast with Michael. He’s a true and quick friend, a person anyone would be lucky to meet and even more call him a friend. The name of the podcast in fact was inspired through him. We were texting back and forth one day and he gave me a list of ideas. True Impact was one that shook me. See below for my vision for True Impact and how I see that impacting the community and human connection. Here’s my truth today, life is messy. I have personally been full of emotions and trying to hold the emotions in a small container. But a small container cannot hold the grief and joy of all that is felt in the human life. Impermanence is the lesson. Health can be fleeting, relationships ebb and flow, people grow together and expand separately, and this is okay. The need to hold on is what causes suffering for me.

But as I breathe into it, there is a sense of expansion. Anatomically and emotionally speaking. A sense of gratitude for each wavering feeling whether it be happy or sad. Releasing my need to label or judge, instead begin to open my lens to watching. Gently watching. Slowly allowing and accepting the expansion and losing the rigidity and old constructs in which I have measured life.

ORIGINAL BLOG POST:

Also, Michael has helped me name my podcast. After asking me what the purpose of the podcast is, I dove deep and really thought about the intention behind interviewing people I personally deem as inspirational. And it’s to share the vision in who I see in front of me. I want to place a True Impact in the world. By doing so, my attempt is to create community by invoking inspiration, humor, connection, and in turn wisdom. The human connection is vital – discovering a new medium to share the awe inspiring ideas of those who are on this podcast. Michael is one of 9 people I have had the opportunity to meet, interview, and also network their businesses after. I am truly inspired by connecting with others. I hope you all enjoy and are able to give it a listen.

Please take a listen to all the services offered by Michael as well as some book ideas he has!

Music:
Dua Lipa – New Rules

Seminar Information : Rational Unicorn Seminars
SEMINARS BY MICHAEL JONAS

Books Michael is reading :
Eleven Days: From 35 Million to Food Stamps JC Cochrane

In Her Own Words

The7Flow

TUNE IN FOR THE NEWEST PODCAST WITH MY GIRL, Aubrey Nicole of The7Flow 

 

Aubrey and Melanie

 

1.) Activate

2.) Liberate

3.) Calibrate

The mantra to The7Flow

On my way to Day 2 of Teacher Training

Post Class Bliss

Podcast with Aubrey

Wheels of Life

okay folks, in the podcast I had said that Dolphins are another mammal that mate for fun. Apparently that is a rumor that has since been dispelled. So I am giving myself a fact check and letting you know that I am aware of the incorrect assumption on my part 🙂

https://www.dolphincommunicationproject.org/index.php/2014-10-21-00-13-26/dolphin-science-factoids/item/94358-top-5-dolphin-myths-dispelled

I had the absolute grandest pleasure to sit with a dear friend and soul sister of mine, Ms Aubrey Beck of the 7 Flow. Please give her a follow @the7flow and check out the website www.sevenflow.com or www.7flow.com !

We talked about so many things of which included a lot of fun resources I wanted to share with you:

Stacy Gugliami –http://www.mokshadestiny.com/sevenflow-chakra-dance-teacher-training/

https://www.consciouscadence.com/my-story

https://www.instagram.com/conscious_creatrix/?hl=en

Natalie Southgate- http://www.chakradance.com/bc-default/natalie-southgate

DJTazRashid Instagram Handle

DJ Taz Rashid Website

The Wild Unknown – Kim Kranz

Heather Whitaker – Fancy Salon

Books / Other Resources:

Oneness – Rasha

http://www.powells.com/book/-9780965900317

Journey to Oneness- Rasha

http://www.powells.com/book/-9780965900348

Her Body & Other Parties – Short Stories, Multiple Authors

http://www.powells.com/book/-9781555977887

What should be Wild – Julia Fine

http://www.powells.com/book/-9780062684134

A Really Good Day – Ayelet Waldman

http://www.powells.com/book/-9781101973721

Love Poems to God – Rainer Maria Rilke

http://www.powells.com/book/-9781594481567

Aubrey Marcus Podcast – Founder of Onnit Academy

https://www.onnit.com/aubrey-marcus/

https://www.aubreymarcus.com/blogs/aubrey-marcus/tagged/aubrey-marcus-podcast

https://www.aubreymarcus.com/blogs/aubrey-marcus/music-muse-medicine-with-glitch-mob-s-justin-boreta-amp-161

Feel free to email me at melanie.r.graves@gmail.com

Much Love,

Melanie

Podcast #3! The nameless podcast

Recently with some down time after Reiki, I found this journal entry shine through about the intention of having a podcast:

The intention and desire that created and birthed the podcast is to promote well being through positivity, gratitude, and truth.  Illuminate the unfettering eyes of the soul; to be and to see the truth of oneself.  My truth has released and shown me that I find joy and purpose connecting community. A hopeful goofball and promotor that has undergone bouts (and still deals) of a deep rooted depression. A severing in connection with myself and others.

Well being and positivity are expressed with laughter, tears, and loving support which allows those shields to crumble safely into dissolution.

I want to create a safe space that recharges the soul.  Touching lives, shining praise on those who I admire near and afar. I want to web an interconnection of conscious community.  When humanity/ and the human condition are exhausted, we are the refuge to seek and restore faith for oneself and others.

I want to be that solace. I want this podcast, this blog, the internet presence to restore that depletion.
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https://soundcloud.com/buttonwillow/the-unnamed-podcast-3

Today is Dr. Kimberly Klein. We discuss her journey to Chiropractic land, her travels, and an outdoors adventurer.

Kim and Derek in Thailand

Where to Stay in Bangkok! Email me for more information and for an itinerary!
http://www.theinnsaladaeng.com/en/home

Kim and her boyfriend, Derek, on biking adventures

Kim and her hiking badassery!

Kim’s contact information as she is refreshingly not on social media! https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-klein-33b2726a/

To reach out to her, send me an email:
melanie.r.graves@gmail.com!

So much love everyone!

Next blog post, Matt’s and my adventure to Thailand.

 

 

The Health Flow with Kate Williams

Podcast #2 is up!!!

LOVED sharing space with Katelyn Williams to discuss life… Below is an outline of the resources we discussed-

We discussed the IUD removal, you can find Katelyn Williams, on her blog The Health Flow

Find Kate on Instagram

Books we discussed:

Book Club Book: Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer

Let us know if you want to join the bookclub in PDX!!! I will email details to follow up. 

Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

Real Fit Kitchen is a cookbook that Kate’s alternative ice cream / popsicles were featured in 

Resources: 

Jennifer Johnson of a Women’s Code

New Moon in Scorpio:

November New Moon

PODCAST IS UP!!!

It’s up!!! I am so excited to debut this podcast with Kalyn Spahn! You can find her at K_mae_spahn on Instagram.  She is such an amazingly wise soul. I love you, dear soul sister….

Here are some notes to follow up on our conversation:

Lauren Singer Blog Trash is for Tossers

Bea Johnson (Bae-ya phonetic spelling)

Plastic Diaries

Plastic Diaries Candle Making Impact of Eco Friendly Candles

Green Zebra

Yoga Bhoga Class Schedule

Thank you for giving us a listen! It’s the roughest draft there is!

SO MUCH LOVE!!!