This piece builds on the reflection I shared earlier. If you haven’t read Part One, you may want to start there.

Before we dive in, let’s pause (we did this in the first part, too – because regulating our nervous systems matters).

Place a hand on your heart.
 Take a slow breath in through your nose…
 and a long, conscious exhale through your mouth.

If at any point you feel your pulse quicken or your breath get shallow or your muscles tighten like you want to run, you can pause and come back to your breath.

I’ve got you.

Part Two zooms out.
Not to overwhelm us, but to orient us.

Here is what I’m seeing:

We are in a great transition.
A new way of BEing is being born.

Old systems are revealing — often shamelessly — just how toxic they are.
And while it is incredibly painful to witness, this exposure is what makes change possible.

Because once we can see what we’ve been living inside of, we can stop perpetuating it.

(FYI When I say “old systems,” I’m talking about the structures that organize power through separation – things like patriarchy, racism, and other forms of dominator culture that most of us have been shaped by.)

One of the most effective tools these systems use is division.

They turn us against each other – across race, politics, identity, even levels of awareness – and keep us focused sideways instead of at the root.

And it works, because we have been shaped, very intentionally, to participate in it.

It begins in the nervous system:
chronic stress, survival mode, fear of exclusion.

Then it becomes internalized:

Don’t show weakness.
Be palatable.
Don’t rock the boat.

And eventually it shows up in behavior:

Silence that looks like politeness.
Compliance that looks like being “good.”
Competition masquerading as success.

Acceptance becomes tied to survival.

And when something is tied to survival, it shapes everything – what we say, what we hide…and who we believe we have to be.

But when survival is routed through conformity, productivity and dominance, we end up defending the very systems that keep us separate, exhausted and afraid.

So when those systems are threatened, they do what they’ve always done:

They divide.

They convince us the problem is each other.

They weaponize fear and aim it sideways – and in doing so, they keep themselves intact.

They chose to meet oppression not with hatred, but with love — not as softness, but as strategy.

Nonviolence is not passive.
It is disciplined.
It is a refusal to become what we are fighting.

Because once moral authority is lost, the people lose their leverage.

In a recent message at my church, Reverend Josh Reeves said:

“When you don’t think for yourself, something or someone else thinks for you.”

If we do not consciously choose our alignment, we will be aligned by default – and that default has been separation.

Separation from each other.
From our bodies.
From nature.
From truth.
From Spirit.

And for me, there is great relief in this:

There is a reason we function this way – and it is not our fault.

This has been intentionally woven into how we’ve been shaped – in our bodies, our patterns and our ways of relating.

But now…we are beginning to understand how it works.

We can start to see what we’ve been aligning with – in our thoughts, our behaviors, and the systems we participate in.

And that changes something.

Because when alignment becomes visible, choice becomes possible.

One of the most sobering distinctions I heard recently from a former Black Panther was this:

“Oppression is a system. Oppression uses people. Oppression convinces ordinary citizens to become foot soldiers. And when we forget that, we become what we are fighting.”

These systems keep us reactive instead of relational, fragmented instead of organized, exhausted instead of resourced.

But when we come back to one another, something shifts.

Not sentimentally – structurally.

Community moves differently than domination does.

It requires:

• regulation instead of reactivity
• courage without escalation
• clarity without dehumanization
• care

It is usually slower.
And it is much stronger.

So what do we do with this?

We begin with ourselves.

As I’ve learned about these systems, I’ve been practicing interrupting them in my own body.

When I notice separation, I pause.
When I feel fear, I get curious.
When I want to shut down or judge, I breathe and soften.

In real life, this looks like:

• Letting go of the story I’ve made up about someone (i.e. being afraid to invite them to one of my healing events because they ‘might think I’m weird’ – spoiler alert – I am, and I’m proud of that…but it still brings me back to that fear of rejection I learned in my youth).
• Choosing to actually see and connect with someone I might have otherwise looked past (like an unhoused person, even when I don’t have cash or a granola bar to offer).
• Staying present in a conversation where I would have previously shut down or reacted (like my hubby when we don’t see eye-to-eye, or someone whose perspective really challenges me.😅).

I don’t always do this perfectly.
But more and more, I do it intentionally.

Because the systems survive when we stay divided.

And they weaken when we remember:
We belong to the same human family.

As one of my favorite activists and authors Valarie Kaur says,

“You are a part of me I do not yet know.”

So what we are witnessing right now – more clearly than ever – is this:

We have been aligning ourselves with systems of domination.

Personally.
Collectively.
Systemically.

And now that we can see it, we can choose differently.

But if we align with relationship, regulation and dignity, something new becomes possible.

This is not naïve.

It is strategic.

There is a reason why we function this way — and it is not our fault.

But now that we understand, we are no longer bound to it.

We are not pawns.

We can choose.

We can realign.

And new alignment creates a new reality (wahoo!).

This is what I’m finding in my own life:

As I begin to see these patterns inside of me, something opens.

There is relief.
There is even joy.

Not because the dysfunction is comfortable – but because once I can see it, I can begin to free myself from it.

And when I do that, even in small ways, it creates space for something else:

Connection.
Presence.
Choice.

And something else becomes clear:

When we begin to tune into that Light within us – that deeper knowing, that steady presence – we don’t just change ourselves.

We give others permission to do the same.

We remind each other.
We strengthen each other.
We come back together.

And collectively?

That changes everything.

It’s about us leading each other.

It’s about remembering that the Light within each of us is not separate.

That as we honor it, listen to it and live from it, we begin to illuminate the path forward.

Not perfectly.
Not all at once.
But together.

This is how we find our way through.
 This is how we create something new.
 This is how we rise.

Together…
We Light the Way.

Notice that you are here.
Notice that you have a choice.

That is where hope lives.

If you feel called to explore this work more deeply – the nervous system work, the relational work, the healing that helps us step out of these patterns – I would be honored to walk alongside you.

You can work with me one-on-one, attend an event, or explore The Rising community through the menu at the top of this page. 💛

With love, and in trust of what we are becoming,
Clarissa

Photo by Mike Labrum on Unsplash

A nervous-system-informed reflection on fear, trauma, and collective awakening — and how to find steadiness, capacity, and choice through the body’s wisdom.

Before we go any further, let’s pause for just a moment.

I invite you to place a hand on your chest or belly.
Take a slow breath in through your nose…
and a long, gentle exhale through your mouth.

Do that once more.

There is nothing you need to understand yet.
Nothing you need to agree with.
Nothing you need to fix.

Just notice that you are here, and notice how you feel after taking a slow, conscious breath.
(You can do this any time you want or need it. 💓)

This reflection has been living and evolving in me for several days, and it’s become clear that it wants to be shared as two connected pieces.

This is Part One — an exploration of what’s happening now, how it’s showing up in our bodies and nervous systems, and why so many of us are feeling overwhelmed, terrified and/or exhausted.  (With a strategy or two to support 😉

Part Two (coming soon) will focus more explicitly on integration, collective responsibility, and how we live these insights in practice, including reflections connected to this sacred MLK Day holiday.

Okay — coming back to what’s here, now…

These times are dark.

Immensely dark.
Increasingly dark.
Breathtakingly dark.

And yet…inside us — each of us, always — there is Light.

I say that not as a pretty placation, but as an actual spiritual gift: the essence of our Being, always present within us, even when we haven’t been trained to feel it, notice it or trust it…yet.

This Light is our soul — our connection to Source Energy — infused with a larger cosmic wisdom and possibility.
It is what steadies us in scary times.
It’s what guides us.
It’s what makes it possible to move toward peace without bypassing what’s real.

And that’s a huge gift, because bypassing is a big part of what got us into this mess.

So it’s time to find that Light.
To tune into it.
To listen.
To remember what it has brought us here for.

And to crank that bad boy up.  

Not to override the darkness —
but to meet it with clarity, compassion and capacity, opening up access to real change.
To be present with our bodies and with one another, and to bravely feel our way forward.

For clarity’s sake: this isn’t me claiming to have the answer about what’s happening in these times. It’s an invitation to notice what’s becoming visible — what I’m noticing about how our history shapes our patterns, and how those patterns create our reality — and to check that against your own lived experience, body, and inner knowing.. 

This is where sovereignty lives. Not in you agreeing with me — but in the opportunity to tune inward.

As you read through this piece, I invite you to periodically tune into that inner Light for yourself, and then ask it directly: Does this ring true for me?

You don’t need my certainty. You can find your own. Learning how to listen to that inner authority — rather than outsourcing it — is how we begin to reclaim choice, agency and power.

Whew. Ready? Here we go.

As white-bodied people (speaking to most of my audience, but also to all of us shaped by Western influence), we often have the option of not feeling.

Stick with me here — and take conscious breaths as needed. This is part of the healing.

Often that “not feeling,” that not-full-awareness, happens by default — not by conscious choice. It’s a nervous-system response that has been bred into white people over centuries for survival, and to keep oppressive systems churning.

And at what cost?

Many of us are chronically frazzled and disconnected, trying to prove our worth, concealing our “imperfections,” overwhelmed, exhausted, and sick. We’re afraid for others to see who we truly are because…well, they might not love that version of us.

Alongside what we’re each carrying in our personal lives, we are now immersed — constantly — in the collective energetic field, exposed to suffering, images, opinions and reactions at a scale humanity has never navigated before.

For empathetic nervous systems, it’s a lot.

And when our feelings get big, we often don’t know how to metabolize them — or honor the wisdom they carry.

So we stuff them down or process them in unhealthy ways, often ignoring where they come from because we weren’t taught how to be with them — how to “compost” them into something life-giving.

And while our privilege has enabled us to tune out, others are forced to feel it all — even our stuff — as they have for generations.

I say this not to shame, but to acknowledge the unseen emotional labor of being a person of color in a caste-system-based society like the one we inherited.

A society that ironically intended to escape dominator culture when it first came to these shores — yet our forebearers couldn’t help but unknowingly recreate it. They didn’t yet have the capacity to see how it lived on in their very bones, nervous systems, and ways of being.

It wasn’t time… yet.

And then they passed it on to their descendants.
(Yep. That’s us.)

Unhealed trauma — and the often extreme dysfunction that flows from it — has been woven into the very fabric of the American experience. We are a nation of hierarchy masquerading as equality.

Please hear me: it’s not our fault.
And as we become more aware of it, it is our responsibility — for ourselves and for future generations.

For each other.
For our very survival.

And here’s where it starts to get a little less squirmy — and more exciting. (Thanks for sticking with me, keep taking slow deep breaths as needed.❤️‍🩹)

There is liberation here.
There is even joy.

Joy in increasing our capacity to feel — all of it — and to feel it with each other.

Not from collapse, but from capacity.
(And sometimes from collapse and capacity at the same time.)

This asks us to let go of the performative.
To let ourselves be enough.

To follow our hearts.
To reach out.
To invite one another into healing — and into the reclamation of our power — with the Divine and with each other.
To nestle in.
…To remember.

All of this — the history, the inheritance, the capacity to feel — isn’t abstract for me.

It’s well-documented science about what happens in traumatized bodies and traumatized societies.

And I feel it living in my body right now.

Can you feel it living in yours?

Here’s one way it’s been showing up for me:

There was a day last week when I woke up with deep circles under my eyes and a sore jaw and knew I’d been grinding my teeth in my sleep.

That usually happens when I’m at odds with my husband or worried about finances. Lately — as those areas have been healing (hallelujah) — I’ve noticed the jaw-clenching show up when I’m holding the sorrow and fear of the world.

The harm unfolding in real time — which I feel we must let ourselves witness as we’re able, so stories and people are not erased, and the violence against them does not become normalized.

The powerlessness we feel watching others suffer — and how that gets metabolized as fear and danger in our own bodies.

It’s a lot.

And this part is crucial: that internalization of danger is part of fascist strategy.

Fear overwhelms the nervous system.
Dysregulation narrows our vision and limits our ability to respond.
And the barrage is unceasing. On purpose.

When we’re flooded, we spiral or shut down or respond from our woundedness — from what Resmaa Menakem calls dirty pain — rather than from clean pain that can actually move us toward healing.

And here’s the thing I keep coming back to — and even celebrating:

What we are witnessing is the result of thousands of years of unhealed trauma and dysfunction rising to the surface.

It’s horrifying.
And… it’s also revealing.

It shows us exactly where the fractures are.
Exactly what needs tending.

And once we can see it, we can heal it and avoid passing it along to future generations. Definitely worth celebrating.

And it’s not just a few of us..

A massive global awakening is unfolding.

Not one that meets hate with hate, but one rooted in courage, connection, and a willingness to protect the common good. One that understands regulation, embodiment, and relationship as essential acts of resistance.

We are awakening with more tools than ever before.

Tools to connect.
Tools to see clearly.
Tools to understand and release generational trauma.
Tools to make new, different, more intentional choices for not just ourselves, but for the collective good.

Do you know what that means?

It means we can heal this.
We can change the tide.
We can make real, tangible strides in our lifetimes.

Yes — it feels absolutely terrifying right now.
And. We don’t have to let fear run the show.

With access to these new technologies of healing — and the willingness to change finally kicking in for so many of us, change can happen now (not over thousands more years, whew!).

What’s more: this message is not coming through me alone. I’m witnessing similar threads emerging through my mentors, teachers, colleagues and so many beautiful YouTubers. 🥰

Rev. Josh Reeves, lead co-minister at my awesome spiritual center (Mile Hi Church in Lakewood, CO) shared yesterday (this is paraphrased): “The fundamental work of this life is to find that Light and learn how to radiate it out into the world.”
YES.

My teachers Janet Raftis and Ina Lukas have been leaning into the question (that they got from Cynthia Sue Larson): “How good can this get — for all of us?” And they are encouraging a big group of us like-minded healers to activate this frequency from the most mundane things in our lives to the cosmic.
Yes, yes, yes.

How. Good. Can. This. Possibly. Get. For. All. Of Us??? Yes, please.

These insights are being sent through many of us right now, arriving in parallel across different voices, traditions, and lineages. (More threads from this are helping me round out Part Two of this reflection… stay tuned. 🙏🏼)

AND!

Not only are humans awakening — there is profound spiritual support around us right now. Our guides, ancestors and unseen allies are reminding us that we are not alone in this.

All of Creation is leaning into this evolution right now — even when it doesn’t yet feel that way.

Wow. Let’s breathe that in.

This circles back to something I touched on earlier: the body, the nervous system, and the quiet but powerful ways we are each participating in what comes next.

As we release more of our past and generational trauma, we have more bandwidth to focus on what we want to create.

What we are aligned with — in our attention, our beliefs, our nervous systems, and our daily choices — is how the Light moves from the unseen into form. This is where sovereignty lives: not in controlling the future, but in consciously choosing what we lend our energy, presence and participation to.

We get to choose. And how good could it possibly get…?

Here’s what I’ve noticed personally:

Over the past few years, I’ve felt tremendous joy and relief in seeing how these oppressive systems have lived within my body and being.

That might sound strange, so hear me out… I’m not enjoying seeing the dysfunction in myself because it’s comfortable (it’s not 😅) — but I’m enjoying that once I can see it, I can begin to liberate myself from it.

Bit by bit, the beginnings of liberation for others become possible too — even in the midst of a broken, violent, bewildering culture.

And yes — because we have dug ourselves so deeply into this hole, and because these systems are so entrenched, climbing back out will not necessarily be easy.

There will be loss.
There will be grief.
There will be pain.

And — if we choose it — there can also be connection, joy, sovereignty, and a path toward collective liberation.

This is an invitation to rise.

Not by bypassing what’s real —
but by rooting deeply enough to withstand the storm.

That Light is not a call to burn brighter or try harder. It is what becomes accessible when our nervous systems are supported enough to feel, connect, and choose again.

Often, it doesn’t take deep effort to find it.
It’s there, waiting to be invited back.
Waiting to offer warmth, steadiness, courage and strength.

It lives in the hearts of all of us who are yearning for peace.

And we are not meant to do this alone.

Below are some sweet, fun, connective ways to do this together.

However you choose to walk forward from here, may you remember:

The Light is already within you — steady, present, and capable of guiding us through these times.

So take a breath.
Take another.

Tune into your heart space, and ask to feel it.

Notice what’s there.
Is it faint? Is it strong? Is it easy or hard to access?

All of it is okay.

We’ve been patterned to forget — but I promise you, it is there, waiting to hold you, fuel you, teach you, and lead you back to peace and community.

If you’re longing for support right now

If you’re feeling raw, tender, angry, confused, or simply exhausted — you’re not alone. And you don’t have to navigate this moment by yourself.

🕯️ Unbecoming Karen — Livestream Recording
On our most recent Unbecoming Karen livestream, we gathered to name and process the moment we’re in — including how to move through the days following the murder of Renée Good with honesty, care, and nervous-system awareness.

You can watch the recording on YouTube at @unbecomingkaren.

🌀 Healing Circle: The Future We Choose (Virtual)
On Saturday, 1/25 from 4:00–5:15pm MT, I’ll be holding a virtual circle for reflection, nervous-system support, and collective presence. This is a space to be witnessed, to breathe together, and to remember that we are not alone.

🌊 Restorative Sound Bath: A Sacred Reset (Denver, in person)
If your body is asking for rest, grounding, and regulation, I’ll be offering a 30-minute sound bath in Denver on Thursday, 1/29 from 2:00–2:30pm MT.
This is a gentle, embodied space to settle your nervous system and reconnect with yourself.

If you’re looking for something more…

🔥 The Rising — Ongoing Community & Practice
If you’re yearning for deeper, ongoing support — a place to be held in community while you reclaim your sovereignty, strengthen your nervous system, and rise into your leadership in loving and powerful ways — you’re warmly invited to explore The Rising.

The Rising is a living, evolving container for badass spiritual women who are done doing this work alone. It’s a space of honesty, embodiment, courage, tenderness, and collective remembering — held by me, and strengthened by the wisdom of the group as we walk together.

Learn more by visiting The Rising in the top menu of my website.

With love and fierce devotion to our Rise,

Clarissa

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Everywhere right now, the message is loud and insistent: go, go, go.
Fix. Heal. Change. Do. Become.

And yet… most of us know how this story goes:

The surge of motivation, the shiny resolution, and then — the inevitable crash — followed by a quiet shame spiral that whispers, Why can’t I just stick with it? What is wrong with me?

As I watch this familiar cycle spin up again this year, something new has been awakening in me:

We were never designed to drop deeply-ingrained patterns overnight and replace them with something “better.” That kind of instant transformation doesn’t align with how our brains or bodies actually change, so we naturally resist it — and often end up sabotaging ourselves. Much like the myth of the American Dream, New Year’s resolutions promise something lofty to reach for, but rarely provide the structure or support most of us need to truly get there.

And still… we are resilient.
We are capable of meaningful change.

Just not through force — and very rarely through sheer willpower (which, let’s be honest, is trained to abort the moment the initial luster wears thin).

Here’s what’s actually happening right now.

We are still in the season of Yule — a time meant for rest, surrender, and being held by the dark. A liminal space where we soften, observe, heal, and begin to dream.

We’re also closing out the Year of the Snake (in the Chinese lunisolar calendar), which carries the medicine of shedding — releasing what no longer fits or serves us, without rushing to replace it.

The seeds aren’t supposed to sprout yet.

This is the time of gently choosing what we want to grow, and beginning to place those seeds into the dark soil — soil that must itself be tended and nourished if it’s going to support the life we’re asking it to hold.

There will be a time for movement.

February 1st marks the beginning of Imbolc — the quiet awakening beneath the surface, when the light returns a little more noticeably and the first impulses of life begin to stir. And shortly after that, on February 17th, we’ll enter the bold, expansive energy of the Fire Horse. But we’re not there yet. The Chinese new lunar year hasn’t actually begun.

So while our minds may already be leaning forward — sensing the rumble of “new energy” — our bodies are often still inviting us into this season:
a season of nesting, peace, and medicinal stillness.
A season of resting more, worrying less, and handing over what feels heavy to whatever higher power we relate to.
A season of trusting what’s unfolding, even when we can’t yet see it.

When we resist that invitation, we create internal discord and miss the particular magic of dormancy — of waiting. Of soaking in slowness and downtime so that, when Fire Horse season arrives, we actually have the clarity and bandwidth to run.

To be clear — this isn’t easy for me.

Once the kids are in bed and I finally have unclaimed time, it’s hard to trade that freedom for another hour or two of sleep. My ego-self is loud. It tells me I’ll miss out. That more sleep is insignificant. That it won’t really matter.

But my body tells a different story.
It whispers: Come and find out.
Find out what it feels like to be rested.
To be nourished.
To honor yourself and unlock more of your power.

So instead of shaming myself, I’m choosing curiosity. What would it feel like to actually be rested during the day? What might I accomplish if I weren’t often tired? Would I reach my goals more consistently, and even enjoy my life more? And my kids? I’m leaning into finding out.

I’m also practicing letting go of worry — the kind that shows up as clenched jaws at night, or as hesitation to speak up to the people who know me best as I change and begin to need different things.

This morning, during meditation, my Guides helped me loosen my grip on that worry — to rest into the fertile void of this season, letting it hold me as I gently rebuild and prepare to move back into the world in a new way. I know I can’t release these long-held “truths” alone. I need support — and this season of intentional shedding and surrender has finally opened me to receive it.

So I’ll ask you this gently:

Is it hard for you to change patterns, even when you want to?
Is it hard to rest when your body is asking for it, but the “civilized” world keeps saying no?
Is it hard to trust the unfolding — even when part of you senses something wiser is trying to move through?

If so, I’d love to walk with you.

On January 8, we’ll gather for Rising into 2026 — a spacious, grounding container to reflect, release, and orient toward what’s next without rushing the process. It’s not about resolutions. It’s about awareness, nervous system support, and making change in ways that actually last.

If that feels nourishing, you’re warmly invited.

What Else is Happening This January (2026)

If you’re feeling the pull for support — whether through community, rest, or more personalized guidance — here are a few ways to be held during this season:

✨Unbecoming “Karen” Livestream | January 15st, 2025 (Virtual)
A candid, heart-centered conversation on healing internalized conditioning and reclaiming conscious choice.

✨Sound Healing Journeys at Family Care Collective | January 15th & 29th, 2026 (Denver, CO)
Two upcoming opportunities to rest your nervous system, soften your body, and be held by sound.

However you choose to enter this season, may you do it with more kindness toward yourself than ever before.

With love,

Clarissa

Letting Ourselves Breathe in the Dark of the Year

As this season deepens, what I’m noticing most — in myself and in others — is how much is coming to the surface. Emotionally. Energetically. Relationally. There’s a fullness to these days that can be beautiful and tender at the same time.

This year, for the first time in a long while, I feel like I’m letting myself breathe.

I’m saying no to some things I genuinely want to do, because I can feel they would ultimately contribute more to depletion than nourishment. I’m choosing quieter ways of connecting. Slower ways. Ways that help me stay present — especially with my kids — even when my work feels urgent and important.

Lest you compare and beat yourself up — please know I’ve been working toward this kind of intentionality for years, and this is the first season where it feels like I’m starting to get the hang of it.

One unexpected gift has been that this is the very way of living I’ve been inviting and exploring in the beta of my new membership, The Rising. As I’ve been choosing to do things differently in my own life — and having those choices witnessed by others in our small circle — I can feel myself rising into leadership in a new way: not by having it all figured out, but by having sacred, sweet accountability to lean into creating the kind of life I’m holding as possible.

There’s been something profoundly anchoring about that. A steady return to the vision of balance. A lived reminder that this kind of spaciousness — even in a season that’s often chaotic — is, in fact, creatable. And in embodying it, bit by bit, I keep finding myself quietly affirming it as a potential reality for others too.

I’m also noticing places in my life that aren’t fully aligned yet. And instead of letting that turn into shame, I’m practicing receiving it as information — guidance for what I’m choosing next. I’m letting go of the idea that I should be “perfect” by now, and of the subconscious programming that insists perfection is even a real thing to begin with.

As I wrote about in my last blog post, this time of year — across many traditions — invites us into the dark. Into stillness. Into honesty. Not to judge what we find there, but to notice what’s ready to be released, creating space for what’s waiting to be born.

The darkness isn’t the enemy. It’s the compost.

Maybe this is where responsibility begins — not with guilt or self-criticism, but with small, nourishing choices that allow us to give not from obligation, but from authenticity and joy.

So if there’s one question I’m holding right now, it’s this:

Is there one small way you could let this season be more ease-filled than it’s shaping up to be?

What’s Available Right Now

If you’re feeling the pull for support — whether through community, rest, or more personalized guidance — here are a few ways to be held during this season:

✨Winter Solstice Sound Healing | January 21st, 2025 (Denver, CO)
There are still a few spots available for this Sunday’s sound healing — an opportunity to welcome the return of the light, rest deeply, and soothe your nervous system.

✨Rising Into 2026 | January 8th, 2026 (Virtual)
On January 8th, I’m hosting Rising Into 2026 — a special gathering and the first public experience of The Rising, a new membership community that’s just completing its beta. This is a space to reflect on the year behind you, honor what you’re ready to release, and consciously step into 2026 with clarity, joy, and grounded excitement.

✨One-on-One Support | 20% Off Through Year-End
If you’re feeling the need for support now, I’m offering 20% off one-on-one sessions through the end of the year as a gift during this emotionally full season. There are a few openings available in the quieter days between holidays, and sessions can also be booked for January to help you get clear and aligned as the year begins. Use coupon code: DIFFERENTDECEMBR (valid thru 12/31/25 for 20% off a 60-min session; can be booked for January if you don’t have time to use it this month).

I had also been considering a virtual gathering on December 28 focused on processing the collective moment we’re living in. As I’ve been listening more closely to the rhythm of the season and what’s being asked for right now, I’ve decided to pull that offering for the time being. If you’re feeling particularly activated or in need of support around what’s unfolding in the world, you’re always welcome to reach out (clarissa@welighttheway.love) — I’m open to that conversation.

Wishing you and your loved ones — and all beings everywhere — a return to love, joy, and whatever is most sacred to each of us, throughout this season.

With love,

Clarissa

I first learned about Samhain (pronounced “SAH-win”) three years ago, when I joined a program designed to reconnect us with our bodies, our roots, the rhythms and cycles of the earth, and how our individual gifts want to come through in service to the collective (thank you, Kairos Healers Academy 💖).

In the Celtic pagan tradition, Samhain is a holiday and season that marks the beginning of the coldest part of the year — the death cycle.

“Death” not as something tragic…
Not as something to fear…

But as something sacred.
Healing.
Necessary for rebirth in the spring.

It is a time of descent.

A time when the earth itself pulls inward — when energy moves down, when life retreats underground, when the visible world quiets…and the unseen world becomes more accessible.

It is the season that invites us into the “underworld” — not in a dramatic or catastrophic way, but in a deeply human one.

It invites us to look at what we have not felt safe enough, or willing enough, to look at before.

What Samhain taught me is that this season is not about “fixing” ourselves.

It’s about letting ourselves see.

It’s about leveraging the intelligence of the earth as it draws inward and downward — and allowing our bodies to do the same… regathering strength to germinate new ideas and ways of blossoming in the spring.

It is the time when the shadows rise not to torment us… But to be healed.

Because the things “lurking beneath the surface” aren’t random.

They are the quiet architects of our lives.

They shape:

• how we respond
• what we tolerate
• what we believe is possible
• how safe it feels to be seen
• how bonded we are to fear, often without knowing it

And winter…

Winter offers a container sturdy enough to hold those truths.

Over the years, Samhain has quietly become one of my favorite seasons.

Not because it is easy.

But because it gives me permission.

Permission to:

• stop pretending
• stop bypassing
• stop glossing over
• stop being “fine”
• stop performing strength

And to reclaim the sacred gift of going inward… releasing dis-ease and returning, bit by bit, to wholeness.

At the same time, I remember — from somewhere deep in my bones — that I am not doing this alone.

That the earth is holding me.
That my non-physical support team is closer, helping me hold and shift these burdens.
That what arises is not random.
That the timing is not wrong.

That I am not breaking…

I am responding.

The place this season has been working on me most intimately is in my 20-year relationship with my husband.

We began dating in January — literally twenty years ago.

At that time in my life, I was terrified of not conforming.

And I saw in him something wildly liberating — his refusal to flatten himself into the world’s expectations. Something in him gave me permission to explore that freedom…simply by his existence, and my closeness to it.

He became a teacher to me in that way.

A mirror.
A doorway.
A shock to my conditioning.

He showed me I did not have to be perfect to be loved.

And yet… for many years, that conditioning still had me live from fear.

I stayed small.
I didn’t use my voice.
I doubted myself.
I continued being agreeable, instead of real.

I did not feel safe being raw.
I did not feel safe asking for what I needed.
I did not feel safe being fully seen.

And now…

I am entering a season of life where I simply cannot continue that way.

It does not resonate anymore.
It is not true anymore.
It is not sustainable anymore.

And I am thrilled to be letting it go.

Grateful for this season that gives me permission to release.

So naturally, what’s been rising now are the remnants.

The final stories.
The old residue.
The places I’ve been trained to see myself as “at the effect of life” instead of at choice.

The victim narratives.
The unspoken grief.
The quiet adaptations.
The places where my power learned to hide.

And instead of panicking when they rise…

I breathe…

And remember the season.

I also recognize that this moment is asking something different of me in my relationship.

Not more endurance.
Not more silence.
Not more self-erasure.

But truth.

I feel myself stepping into who my soul always knew I could be.

And at the same time, being asked to lovingly hold space for who he is becoming — not to control it…

But to honor it.

The invitation is not to cling to the old chapters.

It is to rise together…

Instead of dragging history into the future.

And wouldn’t you know…

As I make myself vulnerable and open myself back up to him — trusting him to hold the parts I have kept bottled inside — he is meeting me with his own vulnerability and love in ways he hasn’t been able to before.

We are softening.

We are mirroring back to one another a new way of being.

It feels tender and unfamiliar…
And somehow, more safe and more true than any version of “us” that has existed since we first began twenty years ago.

And it would not be unfolding this way had I not let myself sink — and surrender — into the dark medicine of the Season.

So I want to ask you, gently:

What are you being asked to release?
What are you grieving quietly?
What identity no longer fits but still feels familiar?
What story is exhausting to carry?
What part of you is ready to be laid down like an old coat you can no longer wear?

You may hear people talk about “the veil being thin” at this time of year.

In ancient traditions, this refers to the idea that the boundary between the seen and unseen world becomes more permeable during Samhain.

To me…

It also means this:

The veil between who you have been
and who you are becoming

gets thinner too.

Truth rises faster.
Feelings surface sooner — with more potency.
Clarity arrives with less effort.
And what is no longer aligned has a harder time staying hidden.

We live in a culture that does not know how to be with death.

We treat endings as emergencies.
We euphamize grief.
We rush people through their unravellings.

But death — spiritual and emotional and ego death — this kind that holds the power to transform us…

Is an intelligence.
A medicine.
A holy contraction that makes room for life to return differently.

And we were not meant to walk through this alone.

Not then.
Not now.

If you are feeling fragile…
If you are feeling undone…
If you are feeling powerful and tender at the same time…
If you are between versions…
If you don’t know who you are becoming yet but you know who you are outgrowing…

Welcome to winter.

A place to land

This season is not meant to be survived — it is meant to be met.

If you’d like support as you walk through this threshold, I offer 1:1 healing sessions and a 3-month container for those longing for steadiness, depth, and devotion to their own becoming.

Come as you are.

Learn more or book a session here 💖

You don’t have to walk alone.

With love — always,

Clarissa

Hi love,

As we move into Thanksgiving week, I wanted to offer something gentle—and real. This past weekend taught me a lesson I’m still integrating. It feels like the exact reminder so many of us need right now, in the middle of cold-and-flu season and the swirl of holiday pressure.

A little story…

This month has been a lot:
beta launch of my membership (including all the tech stuff that comes with that), a giant newsletter (…including all the tech stuff that comes with that 😏), showing up for clients and family, all right around the time my cycle started. My body kept saying, “now would be a great time to lie down.”

I didn’t listen.

By Friday morning of last week, a cold had settled in—not dramatic, but enough to make everything feel heavier, harder and more tender. And all weekend, beneath the surface, this low-level dread kept humming:

Will my voice be strong enough for the sound bath on Sunday? Should I cancel? Am I breaking integrity if I show up differently than expected? Should I push through? What if I don’t? What if I do?

I know you’ve had those spirals too.

By Sunday morning, after some rest and a little ‘What are my options? clarity session’ with my ChatGPT sidekick, I realized something important:

I had options.
I could be transparent.
I could honor my body.
I could still offer something meaningful.
Integrity didn’t require self-sacrifice.
Honesty didn’t require canceling.

So I wrote to each person who had signed up.
I told them my voice wasn’t fully back.
I offered them the choice: come anyway, or reschedule.

Every single person chose to come.

And the sound bath?
It was one of the most beautiful I’ve ever led.
Soft, tender, grounded, connective.

Because without relying on my full vocal range, I had space to let other healing modalities come forward—my channeling, my hands, my presence, the quiet energetic work that usually runs beneath the singing. It was a session full of listening and attunement. A reminder that rest and full transparency create their own kind of magic.

So here’s what I’m carrying into this holiday season:

✨ listening to my body
✨ trusting pauses and rhythms
✨ choosing what’s real over what’s expected
✨ letting connection come from presence
✨ remembering that rest is a contribution
✨ believing that tiny honest choices can reshape everything

And friend…
I want to invite you into that, too.

What do YOU truly want from this season?

Rest?
Peace?
Connection?
More slowness?
More joy?
More meaning?
More breath?

Take a moment this week to name your values.
Then find tiny, breath-sized ways to honor them.
So when the commercialized holiday machine starts tugging on your nervous system, you’ll have an anchor to return to:

A breath.
A pause.
A remembering: “Wait… what do I want?”

Another Word About the Economic Blackout (I know I keep harping on this, but it feels important. ❤️‍🔥)

November 25th–December 2nd marks a growing movement inviting people to opt out of Black Friday / Cyber Monday consumption—
not from guilt, not from purity, but from intention.

This could look like:

• paring down gift-giving
• choosing experiences instead of objects
• supporting local shops, artists + makers
• gifting time, service, presence
• resetting expectations with your kids
• focusing on shared values instead of shared shopping carts

It’s an invitation to spend in alignment, not on autopilot.

Learn more about the movement here:
👉 https://www.blackoutthesystem.com/

✨ Pre + Post Blackout Offering

For those of you who catch this around the 2025 holiday season:

I love a good sale, and I love supporting people. It’s honestly a little hard for me to refrain from participating in Black Friday, but everything about the Economic Blackout lights me up. So, my creative nurture-you-and-support-that workaround is this:

Before and after the Economic Blackout window, I’ll be offering 25% off all my offerings — 1:1 sessions, sound baths, and even my big 3mo coaching package — as a gentle, values-aligned way to support your healing, your nervous system, and your end-of-year/beginning-of-year intentions. Valid on my booking site now → Nov 24, 2025 (paused Nov 25–Dec 2 for the economic blackout) and Dec 3–Dec 9, 2025. Use code: SOFTSEASON25  

Book here 💖

See? We can still have fun and make a point at the same time.🥳

✨ December Offerings — Build in Your Moments of Rest + Realignment

If you already know that December can get busy, here are a few spaces you can put on your calendar now—little pockets of rest, recalibration, and remembering what actually matters.

💫 Virtual Healing Circles — The Future We Choose
A powerful way to tend to your nervous system during these rollercoaster-y times, and prepare your body, spirit, and intentions for the year ahead.
Sundays, December 7th & 28th (online)

❄️ Winter Solstice Sound Healing Journey
A deeply nourishing session to rest, tap into the Light and honor the turning of the season.
Sunday, December 21st at 10am — Solstice Style & Stretch, Denver
This one will sell out—grab your spot early if you know solstice speaks to you.

💛 Family Care Collective Community Sound Bath
A short, gentle midday reset for parents, caregivers, and community.
Thursday, December 11th at 2pm — Family Care Collective, Denver

🧑🏼‍🤝‍🧑🏾Unbecoming ‘Karen’ — Community Call
A collaborative, heart-centered conversation exploring unlearning, liberation, and reclaiming our shared humanity.
Thursday, December 11th at 4:00pm MT — Virtual (Tentative time, sign up at that link above to get up-to-date emails with upcoming livestreams, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.)

As you move into this season, my hope is that you feel permission to slow down, soften, and listen for what truly nourishes you. May you find pockets of quiet in the swirl, moments of meaning in the ordinary, and connection that feels like exhaling. May your body be met with gentleness, your boundaries with respect, your values with space to breathe. And may whatever you choose — or choose to release — bring you a little closer to the life you’re ready to create.

With so much love,

Clarissa 💛

Note: This post is rich with resources and reflection. If you’re feeling saturated, honor that — take what you need, rest when you need to, and come back when you’re ready. 💛

We call it “survival mode” — especially when “normal life” is layered with the  current chaos of our country AND the whirlwind of the holidays. (My heart rate literally just spiked writing that 😱.)

Question: Last year, did you have the intention to “do the holidays differently”… but then found you just didn’t have the capacity for change?

Yeah. Me too. And it’s okay—sort of.

We choose what’s easiest because we kind of have to. We’re just trying to survive.

But here’s the bullshit lie: while we’re doing that, we’re actually dropping deeper into dependency on the very system that’s draining us.

We’re feeding the beast.

The System keeps us inadvertently nurturing corruption, separation, fear, greed, and disenfranchisement — it feeds us whispers that there’s never enough time or money or resources — that we are not enough.

Let me say it again because it feels that important:

That story is the trap.

Because when we believe we’re just “trying to survive,” we keep feeding the system that’s killing us — the one depleting the planet, our bodies, our connection to one another, and the unique gifts we’re meant to bring through.

But there’s another way.

We forget that we already have access to something infinitely more powerful:
real resources, shared community, and the truth that we already are enough.

This is what “reclaiming enoughness” means to me — returning to our power to choose differently. To stop living on autopilot and start making decisions that align with our values, even when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient.

Instead of continuing with my status quo, I’m making space to focus on what’s calling me next — trusting that less really can be more…

For months now, my intuition has been calling me to create a membership program — a place where women can gather to practice unplugging from the dysfunctional way of life we’re finding ourselves in, reclaiming our power, rediscovering our gifts and bringing them into the world in service of creating a more functional, fun, and loving one for everybody.

And for months, I have been ‘too busy’ to bring this vision to fruition.

But this month, I decided to cut back on some other things I love — to put them on pause, even though it means less income — so that I can honor this intuitive pull and calling.

I am thrilled to share that the beta for this membership kicks off on Tuesday, 11/11 — a powerful moment of new beginnings, unity, deeper partnership with our non-physical support teams, and awakening of collective love. (Comment below or email me if you want to be added to the beta list or invited to the official launch in January! 😘)

I also just ordered (from thriftbooks.com not Amazon!) a copy of Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne, M.Ed. to help me embody this more in my home this year. (Thanks for the book rec, Julie Anne!) (And check out https://www.simplicityparenting.com/ for their free Simplicity Starter kit!)

We’re also participating in an upcoming economic blackout — skipping Black Friday, buying our kids’ gifts secondhand (they don’t know or care!), and reminding ourselves that we have choice (before clicking “add to cart,” I’m asking: Do I really need this? And if so, is there a more values-aligned way to get it?)

This movement is an act of love — a collective pause on consumption and complicity, and a bold statement of what we stand for.

From November 25 through December 2, people around the country are reclaiming power by refusing to continue feeding corporate greed.

It is time for us to remember and assert: we are the economy.

So while many of us, myself included, have played a role in feeding this machine—choosing convenience, ease and affordability over the broader implications, this movement is a message: we are waking up, and we are beginning to choose differently. We have far more power than we’ve believed.

Now that we know better, we are beginning to do better.

When we redirect our dollars and our energy, the systems built on exploitation lose their footing.

And it’s not all-or-nothing. It’s progress, not perfection.

Like yesterday morning — I finally bought socks and underwear from Amazon after weeks of trying to come up with a local or sustainable alternative (this is apparently where I draw the line with thrifting!).

Sometimes, we do what we can — and that’s okay. The point is we keep trying, keep choosing differently where we’re able.

Here are some of my favorite videos explaining this type of resistance:

• @jeremyandrewdavis’s explanation of the Ecomonic Blackout
• @thingsyourmomshoud’vetoldyou’s breakdown of how to turn these choices into lifestyle habits (and why we should bother) 

Visit BlackoutTheSystem.com to learn more.

Here’s how I’m showing up differently in light of the Blackout:
🌿 Lightening my schedule.

Instead of running all my usual programs, I’m shifting offerings to be outside the blackout dates. Yes, it means less income this month — and I’m deeply grateful I have the privilege to make that choice. 

🌀 Redirecting my spending.

• In reading about the boycott, I realized many small businesses depend on Black Friday for a big chunk of their year — so passing them up in the boycott would most likely hurt those we are advocating for.
• I’ve been using ShopBIPOC.com to find small, BIPOC-owned businesses near me. In my zip code I found a Jamaican-owned food truck, a neighborhood grocery store just down the street, and a few more gems I can support instead of Amazon or Safeway.

🥫 Contributing locally.

• As we shop for our holiday meals, I’m adding a few extra items to the cart for food banks or porch pantries.
• These great resources have come through my text thread in the past few days:
•     Support Denver Public Schools families and students by donating to the DPS Foundation’s Food Security Fund
•     Subscribing to Ridwell, which will collect both your non-perishable food items for donation, as well as hard-to-recycle items
•     And if you need help securing food, visit https://denvergov.org/Community/Support/Food/Food-Assistance

🌎 Remembering our global neighbors.

• Hurricane Melissa hit Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti hard — and I’ve heard next to nothing about relief efforts in the news. Studies show that global news outlets often give far less attention to disasters in predominantly Black and brown countries, focusing instead on places they see as more “like” their main audiences — which means crises in places like Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba often go under-reported. (Source: Khawaja et al., 2025 – Media, Disasters & the Global South)
  Here’s what it’s like there right now: “In my 20 years of reporting and covering a lot of natural disasters, I haven’t seen anything like this.” — Brent McDonald, NYT
  • Ways to make a difference:
    • Jamaica Red Cross
    • Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
    • Direct Relief
• And our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, Gaza and other war-torn places around the world are heading into winter with extremely limited resources to keep themselves and their families warm and fed. Sudan doesn’t have winter like these other places, but they can obviously use extra prayers and resources right now, too.
• I often contribute to the International Rescue Committee and Amnesty International — and when I find myself appreciating what I have, I send a prayer for all living beings to have what they need too.
• It’s unrealistic to try to aid in all these global crises, and a mentor of mine always used to say, “A confused mind says ‘no.'” Don’t try to do everything — maybe just pick one cause that tugs at your heart and make a small contribution. Build from there. And if a donation isn’t possible at this time, that’s okay — post the video linked above on your social channels to spread awareness or just take a moment to acknowledge the situation in your own heart and send some loving intentions to those affected.

My family, while not wealthy, has the privilege to take time off during the blackout. We can buy gifts for our kids another time. We can choose where our dollars go.

Not everyone has that privilege — and that’s part of what this is about.

Privilege isn’t something to feel guilty about. It’s something to acknowledge, and then leverage — in service to dismantling the system while supporting those most harmed by it.

Even if you can’t skip work or avoid the big‐box stores entirely, you can still funnel your energy toward something more life-giving — local businesses, mutual aid, or simply acts of kindness in your own neighborhood.

The system runs on our comfort.

It depends on us staying too busy, too distracted, and too exhausted to change.

But we can wake up from that stupor — together.

The real lie of “survival mode” is that it keeps us just functional enough to keep the machine running.

We think we’re surviving, but in truth, we’re starving — disconnected from one another, from nature, from our own aliveness.

This system keeps us in a kind of trance.

But the moment we begin to wake up, to slow down, to question, to choose differently — we begin to remember what’s real.

We are enough.
We have enough.
There is enough — if it’s shared.

• Shop small + local when possible — make new friends at your local shops!
• Support BIPOC-owned businesses.
• Give to food banks and mutual aid projects.
• Make or mend something by hand (If you keep meaning to but not getting around to it — make it fun. Attend a Community Mending Circle, or start your own!)
• Rest.
• Sing.
• Gather in community.

This isn’t about wishing for a new system — it’s about embodying one, moment by moment, choice by choice.

Even at the price of some discomfort or inconvenience, we can start choosing differently — together.

Because that’s how the old world crumbles — and how a new one takes root.

With love + revolutionary rest,
Clarissa ❤️‍🔥

I know this post is a lot.

There’s so much happening in the world right now, and it’s easy to feel stretched thin trying to care about everything that matters. It’s real — “caregiver fatigue” is a thing, and collective compassion fatigue is, too.

So if all you have capacity for this week is tending to your nervous system — taking a walk, sleeping an extra hour, turning off the news, or letting yourself not do anything new — please honor that.

Sometimes the most productive, revolutionary, world-healing thing we can do is rest.

(That could be its own blog post, honestly. Maybe it will be. 😉 But for now, trust yourself to know when to lean in, and when to step back. Both are acts of love.)

Dear friend,

Have you felt it, too? The ‘winds’ have been wild lately — inside and out.

Yesterday morning, I sat in my backyard to meditate.

It took a while to quiet my mind — the chatter was fierce, and there’s a lot swirling in my world right now.

After sitting for a few minutes, I noticed the wind buffeting my body, pushing me around with its ferocity. I did my best to ignore it and return to my breath.

Then I noticed my right foot had fallen asleep. I stretched it out and soon felt that sharp, tingling rush of pins and needles — and found myself irritated by the discomfort.

But then something inside me encouraged me to let go… What if the pins and needles weren’t “a painful distraction” — what if they instead were the feeling of life returning to my body?

With that reframe, the sensation no longer bothered me…and then it was done.

The wind, however, was still pushing me around… So I took a breath and invited myself to experience the wind not as opposition, but as force — as aliveness — as nature doing what nature does. (And I thought of my friend’s great aunt who said, “The wind is just Mother Nature combing her hair.🌿❤️)

I followed another urge to lay down on the earth and let myself be fully held. I usually meditate with my eyes closed, but something in me whispered to open them — to let that be okay. To meditate eyes open, lying down, fully supported, fully received, fully experiencing myself as part of this living world around me.

Below the wind, I watched the leaves above me being ripped from the branches, and felt the pain of that loss. Every year, I tell myself the same story — how much I love the fall, how beautiful the changing leaves are, and how sad I feel when the wind whips them away, always too soon. And today, the wind was doing just that.

And…just like with my foot “waking up,” I remembered: this too is part of the natural cycle. In resisting it, I miss the message. I muddy its beauty. I complicate its simplicity. I refuse the gift.

It’s okay to grieve the change, but what if I don’t need to keep retelling myself the same story of “loss”?

What if I instead:
take a breath,
appreciate what is,
and let myself feel the sadness of the shift while remembering the bigger picture—

…this natural death cycle we’re entering as we head toward the dark winter months
is preparing the way for a time of rebirth in the spring.

There is beauty in all of it. And just by being present — by looking for the beauty, honoring what’s alive for me in each moment — I can find peace inside. I can slow down the experience of time and savor what is, opening myself to the gifts of this singular moment.

And as I lay there watching the leaves let go of the branches, I realized how deeply I’ve been conditioned to resist change, even the natural kind.
Yet what if the invitation is not to fight the cycle, but to learn to rest inside it?
To trust that death and release are also part of the rhythm of life…preparing for renewal?

At the same time, there is a kind of resistance that is sacred.
The kind that says no to domination, violence, and greed.
The kind we saw this week in the second No Kings protest — when millions across the world gathered to stand against the old systems, peacefully, intentionally, powerfully.
No major violence, only conviction and care.

And yet, I’ll be honest — I felt fear in my body as I thought about attending.
That fear was alive in me.
And I chose to honor it — to recognize that part of what these oppressive systems want is for us to stay afraid, to choose comfort over courage, to keep ourselves safe at the expense of collective safety and freedom.

So I did what I know to do: I asked my intuition if it was on my path to attend.
I prayed for peace and safety across all protest sites. I set intention.
And I used the gifts I’ve been given to hold the field in a different way…

I imagined planting invisible seeds of light in the earth beneath the places of potential violence — seeds that would bloom into peace, protection, and love for all beings present.
I imagined those roots growing up and through the soil, creating a luminous force field around each gathering — an invisible web of sacred energy reminding everyone inside it that they are held.

Part of me wants to say it didn’t make a difference.
And part of me knows it did.
Because intention matters.

Just like with the wind and the leaves, we are learning to resist what’s unnatural — the systems of domination, separation, and fear — and to surrender to what’s real — love, truth, and the remembering that we are all connected.

We are in a great Turning, a collective shedding of what no longer serves, and each of us has a role in how this next chapter unfolds.

As we move toward the economic blackout in late November — a collective pause on consumption and complicity — may we remember that our power grows when we use it together.
When we withdraw our energy from systems that exploit and reinvest it in love, community, and repair.

May we each find our way to honor this season —
to let the winds of change move through us,
to release what no longer needs to be held,
and to trust that what comes next
will be even more beautiful
because we allowed ourselves to let go.

💗 Upcoming Offerings

If you’re craving a space to rest into this season of change — to release, receive, and reconnect — here are a few upcoming ways to be held in community:

🌕 Channeled Sound Healing Circles — 2-4x per month, in-person in Denver (see Events page)
Come bathe in vibration and light. Let sound move through you, loosening what’s ready to fall away.

🌐 Virtual Healing Circle: The Future We Choose — last Friday of each month (see Events page)
Gather with others committed to creating the new world through love, care, and embodied leadership.

🎥 Unbecoming “Karen” Livestream — usually 3rd Thursday of each month
Join me and two of my dearest white-bodied, healer friends as we explore healing from internalized supremacy and remembering our shared humanity.

And if you’re craving ongoing support — a space to deepen into your medicine, embody your light, and be nourished while offering your gifts — my membership community opens soon.
✨ Click here to learn more and join the waitlist.

With reverence,
Clarissa

P.S. Just like I felt a renewed sense of hope after the success and peace of No Kings 2, this morning, as I sat to meditate, I noticed that there were still plenty of beautiful leaves on plenty of beautiful trees, even after the ferocity of yesterday’s wind storm.

For lunch, I had a delicious tomato sandwich from one of the last ripe tomatoes I’ll receive from my garden this year. Somehow, something has shifted – the pain of loss has diminished, replaced by the joy and wonder of experiencing what I have.

What are you noticing about the beauty around you? Comment below – may we all be reminders of the beauty that is. 

I’ve been sitting with what Independence Day really means to me right now—and feeling the tension between disillusionment around what’s happening in our country… and deep hope in our future.

This doesn’t feel like a time for more “Don’t tread on me” bravado (from any perspective). It feels like a time for remembering what true freedom for all could mean.

For holding the pain and confusion with compassion—for ourselves, for each other—and still refusing to let domination culture define what it means to be American, or to be human.

As we dream into the next iteration of this country (and this world), we’re being asked to release the systems and beliefs that have held us hostage: white supremacy, patriarchy, fear of the “other,” and the toxic myth of individualism.

That I/me/mine culture that keeps us clinging to our stuff, protecting what’s “ours,” even as others suffer outside our doors. That fear that has us locking up our hearts…as if connection itself is dangerous.

But what if this mess is exactly what we needed to see?

What if the cracks are perfect? The outrage, the grief, the impatience—perfect.

Because it’s time.

It’s time for the old dysfunctional systems to crumble their way out, inspiring us to build new ones with everyone’s thriving in mind.

This discomfort is pulling us forward and we are being invited—no, required—to get deeply intentional with our healing—both individually and for the collective.

…To remember what our Founding Fathers were trying to reach for, even if their vision fell short due to the limitations of their time (cultures that condoned slavery, colonialism, misogyny, religious fundamentalism, exploitation of labor, elitism, and more).

Even if these ‘ways of being’ became deeply woven into the fabric of our society’s beliefs and systems—such that we still function from them today.

And even if we’re now seeing, more clearly (and painfully) than ever, how these philosophies and subconscious beliefs are still running the show. Oof.

BUT…now that we hold a more evolved collective understanding of equality, dignity, and interconnection…

It’s time for us to stand for the principles this country was meant to represent—without the indoctrination of Separation.

It’s time to choose compassion without bypass, justice without vengeance.

It’s time to see the wounded inner children behind the insults and power grabs, and still say: enough.

We choose something better. For everyone.

This holiday weekend, I’m holding you all with so much tenderness.

May we reclaim the promise of freedom in a way that honors the soul of our humanity—not just for ourselves, but for the collective family we’re all part of.

Let us not continue the hate.
Let us create a new way forward.
Let us stand for all.

✨ Support for These Times

So how do we do it?

How do we stay present, heal, and create something new in the midst of all this chaos?

In the spirit of healing, embodiment, and community care, I offer several gentle yet powerful (in-person and virtual!) gatherings designed to help us soften, process, and reconnect… to our bodies, our inner knowing, and each other.

Some of these sessions are happening at two organizations I love deeply—Solstice: Style & Stretch and Family Care Collective, which both represent a new way of doing things—models that prioritize equity, creativity, and joy in service to all.

I’m honored to partner with them and to offer these experiences as part of a shared vision for collective well-being.

Let’s come together in stillness, presence, and possibility.

The world needs our nervous systems intact and fully supporting our brilliance.

🌕 Can’t join in person, but still want to gather, release, and rise together?

I also offer powerful Virtual Healing Circles each month on creating The Future WE Choose, as we move through the intensity of this moment and reconnect to our shared inner fire. Together we’ll honor the fear, grief, and overwhelm many of us are carrying—and then alchemize it into clarity, courage, and connection.

This is a sacred space to come home to yourself, feel your feelings, remember your power, and realign with a future rooted in love and collective vision.

And if you’re really ready for some revolution, join our monthly virtual conversation about healing our internalized white supremacy: Unbecoming “Karen”.

And if you’re navigating something that needs a bit more focused support, I’d be honored to hold space for you 1:1 as you move into whatever’s next. Book a private session here.

With deep love,
Clarissa 💛

Hi friend,

I just recorded a little video for you because… well, life feels like a lot right now, doesn’t it? 💛

Instead of sending a perfectly polished thing, I just wanted to show up as me and say: there is a LOT of good happening out there, too.

We just gotta look for it.

We have to CHOOSE to let it come into our purview – to LET it be as loud – or louder – than the shenanigans.

And it will fuel us through this time of discomfort (i.e. evolution).

Let this lil 10 minute share from my heart to yours bring you a bit of peace (and please
forgive the little buzz during the singing – I’m still figuring out my audio recording 😅)

This quote kept drifting through my head as I wrote this…

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ~Fred Rodgers’ mama

There is always good happening. There is always lighting being born out of, inspired by darkness. There’s a reason it feels so uncomfortable now…it’s our awakening, my dears. And we are all here for it together…

With love,
Clarissa

PS Please share with people you think might appreciate this Light in their lives. They can get on my list by clicking here.❤️