Song of the Week

Listen to this song as you read to help open you up. My Body by Beautiful Chorus.

My body is fly
My body is beautiful
My body is bold
My body is mine

Updates

I’m horrible at remembering dates, but somehow I can always remember earth day, today, April 22nd. I don’t have any genius ideas today as I’m feeling scattered, but a solid idea I’ve had for a while, but I didn’t necessarily come up with is— take care of the land. As if your life depends on it.

Call me revolutionary, but it seems smart and like something that has been handed down to me that smells and feels correct in all the ways.

As some of you know, I am in a turkey hunting class I found through BIPOC Outdoors on Facebook. They asked me if I would be in a promo video to help generate hype for their BIPOC focused hunting course. I said yes, and as would be expected, the videographer asked me to think about why I signed up for the course.

Well, because I don’t know how to hunt, and I think people really ought to know how if one wants to eat, and not just if one wants to eat meat. Also, if we popularize eating from our forest ecosystems then we need to preserve our forest ecosystems. Simple enough.

In my application into this free turkey hunting course, I discussed how if I had lived closer to my grandpa and grandma Mizushima, I would probably already be a great hunter. My grandpa grew up in Honolulu in the 1930s without any currency other than his bare hands, a sharp stick, and the hunger of a boy who was hungry most of the time. In his childhood he hunted, fished, and stole chicken eggs from neighbors’ yards to stay alive. That everyone should know how to “live off the land” was a philosophy born from an empty stomach, the will to survive, and colonialism in Hiawaii that put vulnerable people, like kids, at risk.

So why and how did I not learn how to survive off the land? I talked with my mom on the phone last week about how that wasn’t passed on. “I was a single parent. I would have liked to teach you, but I didn’t have the time, or the money, and I didn’t really learn enough myself. Raising you and your sister, I never got a break.” Well, ‘aint that the truth. That made me feel a little embarrassed for asking, but I often ask things I kind of know the answer to, for clarities sake and for the record.

So for this earth day I am going to continue figuring out how to live off the land in an anti-colonial way. In a fashion I would have learned growing up had I been born into more financial and relational security.

What would you like to learn that you haven’t been able to, due to lack of support in all the shapes that can take? Or, if you had the privilege of supportive learning environments, how can you support others who did not? I love learning, but especially when it feels like a gift to my inner child.

Today this learning means becoming skilled in the ways I can be in right relationship with the land I am living on. This includes acting in ways that get the land back to the indigenous people of this land, while also facing the reality that my life and the life of my future descendants (bio, non-bio etc.) depends on deeply centering the land as relative, land as origin, land as future, land as everything.

Seeking Private Land with Trees!

I’m on the lookout for private land with trees! I want to teach people how to climb trees safely. I need private land within 30 minutes or an hour away from Minneapolis where I can pop in and out once a week or once a month to teach folks. It’s incredibly helpful for the vestibular system, nervous system, proprioception, spiritual and emotional wellbeing, to say the least. Link to sharable video on FB if you’ve got networking skills on the social medias!

Schedule With Me!

OTR/L, BA, MHP, LMT,
she/they) Integrative Therapies

I offer trauma informed somatic informed therapeutic coaching, craniosacral therapy, Swedish massage, Thai bodywork, myofascial release, group workshops, and healing through art, play, and connecting to nature.

Community Events

Sabathani Spring Blood Drive
Friday, April 25 | 10am – 4pm | Suite 101 (1st Floor)

“We’re hosting a Spring Blood Drive, and all eligible individuals are encouraged to donate. Black donors are especially needed, as their blood is often the best match for people living with sickle cell disease. Appointments are encouraged and can be made online. Walk-ins are also welcome. Donors will receive a health screening, post-donation refreshments, and may be eligible for incentives, including gift cards and a chance to win a $5,000 prize.” Learn more & sign up. 

BIPOC Meditation at Common Ground- FIRST Thursdays AND Third Thursdays: Maya let me know that Common Ground is now making the first Thursdays in-person as well. Whelp, we sure need it. 6:30-8:00p in person and online. Free and donations are accepted to keep the center running.

Thanks for READING! xoxo Eiko