From Hangovers to Hope: How I Became a Mindful Drinker, and You Can, Too

By Derek Brown

The culture around alcohol is changing, with younger generations adopting a more mindful approach, and an explosion of sophisticated non-alcoholic adult alternatives. At the same time, binge drinking remains at record levels, and pandemic drinking habits have persisted despite a return to normal conditions. It wasn’t just me, nor is it limited to those with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD, commonly known as alcoholism). Many people face challenges with alcohol, even if they don’t meet the criteria for AUD. It may be time for a new approach….

Animal Medicine and Holism: The Word ‘Medicine’ and Evolving with the Ancient Animal Language

By Ruslana Remennikova 

We may not commonly realize it, but animals are as important as any teacher, guide, or mentor that wants to share something with us. In his The Return of the Tower of Babel, author Richard Grossinger wrote, “Some animals — insects, reptiles, mammals — have inborn medical intuitions, whether from DNA, hundredth monkeys, or morphic resonance.” Animals also have oracular meanings; their presence and relation to your being in the moment has purposeful significance. In a divinatory sense like a Tarot or oracle deck, seeing an animal emits a human or angelic frequency, or a way of resonating information to evoke a deep emotion, memory, or image that gently nudges us on our path….

Understanding the Nature of Suffering

By Philip R. Appel, PhD

According to the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the definition of pain is I always tell my patients that suffering arises from being in a state of resistance or aversion to what is. We suffer when we identify with our desires, and those desires are thwarted — when we want something to be a certain way and it isn’t, or we don’t want something to happen or to be in a certain way, and it does or it remains that way. Either way, we struggle with desires not being met. Now this does not mean you should want pain; but struggling with the pain is struggling with your body, and you don’t need to be in a civil war with yourself…

Meditating Through Grief

By Emily Jennings

Meditation may be offered as a way to overcome your pain. For those who have dedicated themselves to the practice, we know many of the answers we seek are found in a deep state of meditation. Meditation can help on a mental health journey when there hasn’t been great (and recent) trauma. At other times in your life, practices such as breathwork and spiritual healing exercises in addition to meditation may make a huge impact on a journey of inner healing. But if you’ve experienced the loss of someone very close to you, you will discover that meditation is very difficult while you process grief. Grief is different….

Grief: A Personal Process

By Casey Urban

Grief is blood falling out of your body like a faucet. Grief is a hole in the heart. Grief hurts so badly sometimes it’s funny. Grief isn’t longing; grief is knowing. Knowing you’ve got to go through this. The only way out is through. You can’t chase your tail for any longer. No sir. Sit.

Grief mixed with shame is a wretched dose of medicine. It forces you to come to terms with your cringe. It begs your joy reserves for just a tiny bit of neutrality to make it through the day. …

… I wrote this for my newsletter a couple of weeks after having one of the most challenging experiences of my life. My family had just moved to Richmond, Virginia, from the NYC area, and I had not expected to process such a deep amount of grief on top of our big move. This outpouring was just the beginning….

Plastic Bottles Don’t Need To Be Litter: Support Local Bottle Bills

By Trey Sherard, Anacostia Riverkeeper

Plastic bottles are public enemy number one for litter on the Anacostia River and throughout its watershed in the District of Columbia (DC) and Maryland. For over a decade, plastic bottles have been half of the trash captured in trash traps when measured by weight and emptied before weighing. This matches the pattern we see across data from multiple groups’ water-based trash cleanups up and down the Anacostia River and its tributaries….

Rachel Carson (Part Three): Resolving Ourselves To Do Good in the Natural World

By Rebecca Henson

Carson wrote Silent Spring because she resolved to do so. An author who had finally established a celebrated career through writing books devoted to sharing the wonders of the sea with the public in factual and beautiful, often poetic style, Rachel Carson was led to take on a very different, wildly challenging, and professionally risky project by a lifelong love for the natural world and the birdsong that made it impossible to ignore. Once committed to the task, Carson’s personal life tested her resolve even further with the need to adopt her grand-nephew Roger and her own unrelenting health woes, including metastasizing breast cancer.  The birdsong that would inspire and motivate her to write Silent Spring had filled her life with companionship, wonder, and meaning….

Winter 2024: Moon-Driven Desires and Compassion

By Misty Kuceris

During this Winter Solstice, the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn to form a square to the Moon’s North Node and South Node. This is significant as the Sun represents you and your needs while the Moon’s Nodal Axis (as the Nodes are also called when considered as one entity) represents the direction your soul wants to take while trying to make sense of your life’s impactful past events. You know the Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year; but it also begins the time period where it’s good to pull back, evaluate your place in the world, and determine the best direction for your life….

Managing Gastritis

By Helena Amos, M.Ac. L.Ac., Euro. Physician

With the impulse to indulge in comfort foods combined with the excesses that come with holiday eating, the winter season is a good time to talk about gastritis. Gastritis is the inflammation of the gastric mucosa, which is the lining of the stomach. This condition can occur suddenly (acute gastritis) or develop gradually and linger over time (chronic gastritis). It can be a very painful and frustrating condition for individuals because of the varying degrees of discomfort they can experience from any number of triggers, namely eating, drinking, and hunger pain. However, as with all health concerns, the first step to managing gastritis is with greater understanding about its causes, symptoms and treatment options…. 

‘Say Ah!’ Exercises For Sleep Apnea

By Charles S. Masarsky, D.C

Lack of muscle tone in the soft tissue of the tongue, mouth, and throat can lead to snoring. The same soft tissue problem that causes snoring can be a slippery slope leading to obstructive sleep apnea. This is a condition in which poorly toned tissue briefly blocks your ability to inhale while you sleep. The resulting loss of sleep quality can lead to slow reaction time, reduced attention span, and mental acuity. In the long run, obstructive sleep apnea is a risk factor for high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and dementia. This is where the spin-off from speech therapy comes in….

Discover Zero Balancing: An East-Meets-West Touch Therapy

By Jared Urchek, L.Ac, CZB

We are blessed to live in a Renaissance age of bodywork modalities. There are countless different types of body and energy work methods – some that work with more structure, like many different massage techniques, chiropractic, etc; and some that work with more energy like craniosacral, Reiki, etc. Among them is Zero Balancing — a touch-therapy modality that tends the whole person, Body, Mind, and Spirit. It is a holistic system that connects with both energy and the structure of a person, and works in a gentle yet comprehensive way. In short, it is a grounded and practical system that is easy to learn, and can be used to effectively treat people with a wide range of issues….

Keeping Families Together: Caring for Carolina Evacuees and Their Companion Animals in the Aftermath of Hurricane Helene

By Kelly Johnston; edited by Cam MacQueen

I work as a disaster responder for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW, www.ifaw.org). For decades, IFAW has helped communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. People and animals live together in communities all over the globe and disasters spare no species. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and continued northwest lashing through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia causing catastrophic damage and taking more than 230 human lives. Western North Carolina was particularly hard hit with roughly half of the fatalities happening in the Tar Heel state. The flooding obliterated homes, toppled buildings, and destroyed roads. Some residents were able to evacuate on their own while others were brought to safety by the heroic efforts of others….

Disaster Preparedness for Animals

By Howard Edelstein

Hurricane Katrina made all of us aware of how little planning had gone into assisting animals, and people with animals, when disasters strike. Since then, a great deal has been done to plan for animals and their guardians during a disaster. Much more still needs to be accomplished, which includes further educating the public….

Combining Eco-Grief and Action on the Heels of Hurricane Helene

By Cam MacQueen

Experiencing Hurricane Helene, an ecological monster, has been the fiercest wake-up call of my life. As you may know “Cultivating Compassion” focuses on animal rights, environmental rights, and social justice issues. So you won’t be surprised I write this piece from a heart-centered place about my deep love and concern for the planet and the living world. I’m combining this love and the  environmental trauma of Hurricane Helene with the importance of taking action to fend off climate calamity. Thank you for the opportunity to share a bit of my story as personal catharsis….

Zero Proof Herbalism: Botanicals in Bar Craft

By Bettina Perry

An herbal apothecary is a great resource for anyone looking to explore craft cocktails and non-alcoholic, or zero proof, drink preparations. Herbalists have long been the keepers of much wisdom when it comes to creating potions and preparations that make interesting and wonderful mocktails and cocktails…. But before we talk about “zero proof herbalism” as I like to call it, let’s take a moment to recognize the long history of botanicals being used in bar crafts and spirit making….

Kundalini Awakening: An Exploration of Spiritual Transformation

By Idowu Adekoya (Idow Soul)

Kundalini Awakening is a topic that has intrigued spiritual seekers for centuries. This powerful and life-altering experience has been recounted in yogic texts, literature, and even modern-day accounts, capturing the transformation it brings. For many, the journey begins unexpectedly, marked by intense physical and emotional shifts that can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. My own awakening at age 15 was an uncharted path, and while deeply personal, it echoes a universal theme of extreme evolution.

Winter Plant Picks – Part Three

By Kathy Jentz 

The last few winters, we shared several plants in this column to add to your garden for flower, foliage and bark interest when the rest of the garden is bare and gray. Here are five more selections to consider adding — or adding more of — to your garden for winter interest and beyond….

A Time to Heal

By Rev. Dr. Trish Hall

It’s time to be gentle with ourselves and others. We have demonstrated resilience coming through the pandemic; even greater adaptability upon discovering that post-pandemic has little, if any, resemblance to pre-pandemic. And then, catapulted into the election year, we encountered unimaginable derision and divisiveness tearing relationships apart. We barely recovered from one cataclysmic siege before being thrust into the next iteration….

The District Welcomes WorldPride in 2025

By Michelle Alonso

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the city’s Capital Pride celebrations, Washington, DC is the official host of WorldPride, May 23 – June 8, 2025. Interpride, the international association representing more than 400 Pride organizations in 70 countries, along with hosts at the Capital Pride Alliance (CPA), are expecting an estimated three million visitors from around the globe to join in this momentous celebration. The official theme of WorldPride Washington, DC 2025 is “The Fabric of Freedom.” Here are some event highlights….