I've spent lots of my day updating this website today.  Adding classes, changing the "occasional poem", adding some links and book resources, updating the home page description of just who TTN Therapeutics is....  It makes me think in different ways each time I need to condense myself into a descriptive paragraph.  My identity, all of our identities, are so fluid.  How can we adequately describe ourselves to each other within the confines of a few dozen words?  

I recently received a tiny book full of huge-hearted words and images.   quotes about nature from all sorts of people that nudge me into all sorts of new ways of thinking.  Tucked inside this book is a ribbon with a small compass attached to the end.  Something to guide me as I wander new thought-trails....  Here's a quote from Albert Einstein (and my new book <grin>) to tempt you deeper into yourself, the world, the universe....  "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."  To meet an amazing scientist who explores concepts like this in deep and meaningful ways go here...   Enjoy the journey!!

Tomorrow, at 11:44 a.m. EDT the autumnal equinox will occur.  Here in the northern hemisphere night and day will have approximately the same number of hours, and then night will increase its hold on our time...day will gently let go...moving in a timeless seasonal cycle.  I love autumn in this part of the world.  My amazing acupuncturist friend, Doreen Lafferty, would remind me that it's because my element is metal and autumn is the season associated with metal.  I revel in the cooler temperatures, glorious golden light, and the easing of summer's intensity.  

As the natural world stands poised on this edge of change, I attended a graduation ceremony for the students I've been teaching for the past 6 months.  Their lives mirror the energies of the earth as they all stand poised on the edge of huge changes.  How beautiful to carry the energies of abundant harvest into their next ventures.    

I've been awash in the beauty of Hydrosols lately (also known as floral waters or hydrolats - they are coproducts of essential oils extracted through the process of steam or hydro distillation).  I'm writing a paper about them - exploring their usefulness in supporting people coping with depression and/or anxiety. So of course I needed to experience them.  Sometimes just misting them lightly around me....sometimes in baths....sometimes annointed one drop at a time on energy centers or meridians. 

Since they are a unique combination of water and the water-soluble components of plants (and some essential oil that breaks up into molecules tiny enough to stay in solution in the water) I've also been exploring water.  Peering at it's cultural, spirital and social uses throughout history in many places.  Some recent-ish theories about water suggest that it has the ability to assimilate information about the plant material it's exposed to, store that information - possibly in the hydrogen bonds that keep water molecules together - and then to transmit or transfer that information to the water in the human body. 

So the rose hydrosol I put on my face each evening to soften my skin resonates at the frequency of rose and can transfer that "rose" information throughout the water of my entire body.  From the 80% water in my brain through the 10% water in my bones.  All of the water in my body eventually resonating with the energies of rose hydrosol....what is the potential?  Given that rose hydrosol is thought to support balance in the autonomic nervous system and some hormones, support stress-relief and emotional balance, and has an affinity to supporting the heart on an energetic level....pretty amazing, I think.  And that's just one hydrosol.....

Teaching an intro to aromatherapy class today I was reminded how different one lavender essential oil can be from another.  Same plant - sometimes same country of origin - and yet their scent, their presence, their energetic impact can be so varied.  Sweet and floral, gentle and soft, spicy- clear and resinous...I lose track of words to describe them.  It's why I love the practice of aromatherapy.  Every new bottle of oil is like meeting a new friend. The limitless possibilities found in a new breath, in a new day, are found in each new bottle of essential oil.  And I get to work with them every day.....

(While I know it's the point of a blog, a monologue feels weird.  So I'm exploring blog options that allow comments.  Until I find and implement one, please use the comment forms or email me directly at info@ttntherapy.com.)

It's a very soft morning here, (in southeastern PA).  Cool, grey, even the crickets are quieter than usual.  I can feel the natural world slowing down...easing towards the rest and renewal of the winter months in the northern hemisphere.  I've been reading a book recently - Writing Begins With the Breath by Laraine Herring - that I love because it includes body-centered exercises to support the writing process.  Go figure - a bodyworker who finds this a compelling approach <grin>.  Here's a quote from the beginning of the book.  "With each inhale, our lungs stretch open, our rib cages swell, our hearts expand.  Each inhale is a new beginning, a clean slate.  At the start of a writing project, we have this same clean slate.  The possibilities for what we can accomplish are truly limitless."  Yes.  A clean slate and limitless possibilities with each breath.  Works for me. 

Welcome to my new blog.  I'll be talking about my unfolding aromatherapy studies, crystal medicine explorations, upcoming classes I'm excited about - as well as including some poetry, art and maybe the occasional music.  Stop by - keep in touch - I love hearing from you! 

Creating my full-time practice and co-creating the Resiliency Center all in the space of one year has been, and remains, an amazing journey.  I love that our official public "birth" of the Resiliency Center on the 27th (Yikes - that's just 2 weeks!) takes place in the ninth month of this journey, in the season of harvest and gathering, as we are entering the new moon energy.  It's so appropriate -  such a blessing and an affirmation of the hard work and commitment to thoughtful and intentional unfolding that everyone involved in this process had held.  May our many arms and energies support and lift the people who walk through our door.