TOOLBOX

Lina's Toolbox of Support

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• A MORNING PRACTICE!!!!

  • This is BY FAR the most important thing that I have done for myself that has allowed me to move through intense emotions, ground myself in the present moment, learn a lot about myself, and grow exponentially. Having a morning practice allows you to set the tone for your day on a high note and is essential “me” time to fill your cup. Remember: you cannot pour from an empty cup. By filling your cup every morning with what brings you JOY, your joy will then be able to overflow into the cups of others. It’s magic I tell ya!

  • Aspects of my morning practice (in no particular order):

    • Nourishment - creating some sort of nourishing drink for myself. Starting the day with a BIG glass of warm water with lemon and a little iodized or Himalayan salt. A warm cup of cacao or tea. A healthy fruit or green smoothie. Anything that makes me feel GOOD, gets my digestive system going, and elevates my energy levels in a gentle way. I love to infuse my drinks and meals with intention. Sing or listen to music while you’re making your concoction, hold it close to your heart and take some deep breaths (when the weather is warm I love doing this with my bare feet on the Earth and face towards the sun), allowing my intentions to rise and focus them into my drink and beyond. Then I drink my intentions with awareness and allow them to fill my body with love.

    • Stillness and Breath - some sort of breathing or pranayama, breath work, or meditation. If I don’t have much time, 20 deep belly breaths takes about 5 minutes and it helps put me into rest & repair mode (you can do this at any time of the day). If I have some extra time I sit down for a meditation, guided or unguided, and just allow myself to breathe and notice what comes up without judging myself. I take time to drop into my heart space and see how I'm are feeling that day. Just notice, no need to change anything. 

    • Movement - Yoga, dance, shake, work out, run, walk, swim… WHATEVER I want! Anything to move and appreciate my body. I tend to do some sort of yoga everyday, the type depends on how I'm feeling. Sometimes it's yoga/pilates workouts and sometimes it gentle restorative yin yoga. If I'm short on time, I just put on one song that makes me happy and dance around my room. If I've got more time, I roll out my mat and do a longer yoga practice. Whatever I feel like doing! 

    • Expression and Creation - Write, draw, paint, read, listen to an inspiring podcast, play music, use oracle cards for guidance, play an instrument, etc. Anything that allows me to express what I’m feeling or dive a little deeper into what I’m learning. I like to listen to and say affirmations first thing when I wake up. I love to keep a journal nearby when meditating, doing breathwork, and working with plant medicines as I like to write down the insights that come through as my mind is quiet… that's when the Universe speaks. 

    • Nature Time - ANY of the above can be done outside. Or maybe before and/or after my practice I just take a moment to give thanks to Mother Earth and everything she provides for us (because she does provide EVERYTHING). 

  • TIPS FOR STARTING A MORNING PRACTICE:

    • Be rigid at first. Why? Because you need to get yourself into the HABIT of doing it. We all need structure to be grounded. A tree needs roots to grow. As an example, tell yourself: I’m going to wake up, brush my teeth, drink a big glass of lemon water, do yoga for 20 minutes, meditate for 5 minutes, and then journal. And actually follow through with all of those things to build trust with yourself. As time goes on and you get used to taking this time for yourself EVERY morning, you’ll feel yourself start to grow out of certain aspects of it and that’s the signal for fflllloooowwww. 

    • My morning practice changes because I change. Once you’re in the habit of taking this time for yourself to fill your cup, FLOW WITH IT. This is the beautiful balance of masculine and feminine energy. You have created for yourself a structure (masculine) out of having a morning practice, and then once that is established, you can flow (feminine) within that structure by changing what you do, how you do it, how much time you spend on things, etc. It can all depend on your mood, your energy levels, the season, if you’re at home or traveling, etc. You might be surprised by what things you want to try out! Maybe it’s longer and harder yoga practices, or maybe it’s yin (gentle) yoga, maybe it’s playing instruments to aid in going deeper into meditation, or maybe it’s doing shaking meditations and emotional release, maybe it’s adding reading into your day, maybe its simply cuddling with a loved one… WHATEVER it may be, try it out!! You’ll begin to open new doors for yourself and you’ll be amazed at how much better you will feel throughout your day.  

    • Write a list of 20-30 things that bring you joy. Then do at least 2-3 of those things EVERY DAY either in your morning practice or during your day. 

    • The key is to ask yourself every morning “What do I need today? What does my soul need today?” Whatever comes up, do that. Remember, this time is for YOU and no one else. It’s okay to take this time for you. I’m giving you permission right here right now, you can give yourself the permission too. You’re ALLOWED to take this time for yourself. By filling your cup you fill the cups of others. Your morning practice can be as simple as waking up and taking 20 belly breaths before you get out of bed. Or it can be as long and intricate as you want it to be. Everyone is different and you’ll have to shape it to your lifestyle. Most importantly, HAVE FUN WITH IT!!

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• Yoga and Workouts 

  • Yoga With Adrienne on YouTube. Love her soft style and gentle approach, lots of yoga classes for anyone with any body type or level of fitness! Would highly recommend her for beginners!

  • Boho Beautiful on YouTube. She has loads of yoga and pilates classes, she tends to teach more of an intermediate-advanced style in my opinion. I LOVE her pilates classes. They’re short but POWERFUL and I have seen the best results from doing them consistently (more so than doing HIIT workouts). 

  • Arianna Elizabeth (Bright & Salted Yoga) on YouTube. She also has tons of great yoga classes for all levels.

  • Here's a YouTube playlist Yogis of Color that has great classes too!   

  • Yoga Girl - paid membership but so worth it in my opinion. Diversity of instructors, LOADS of yoga, meditation, and alignment classes for any style, mood, level, and focus. Also healthy recipes, meditations, and lots of great writing.

  • The Salty Club - paid membership, super ideal for surfers! They have a bunch of surf inspired workouts, yoga classes, recipes, and masterclasses. 

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• Meditation

  • Insight Timer App. THE BEST APP FOR MEDITATIONS!!! (in my humble opinion lol) It has sooo many free meditations that you can filter based on how much time you have or your mood. Also sound healing music, chants, and sleep music. I love doing some guided meditations they have but also just using the timer with or without the ambient sounds is great too. 

  • Any of the above sources from Yoga also have meditations!

  • This is a great playlist of energy cleansing meditations.

  • Self-Care Package album by Londrelle has made it's way into my morning practice, perfect 15 minute guided affirmation meditations for each chakra. 

  • The styles of meditations out there are vast and wide. I highly recommend getting into a meditation practice and exploring different types to find what you like best. This is a practice that will help you to know yourself better, to make friends with your shadows, and to love yourself deeper. Feel free to research all the benefits of meditation because, trust me, there are a lot. Try it and feel for yourself ;) 

  • REMEMBER: Meditation is not about silencing the mind. It is about noticing what is going on in the mind, and letting it be without attachment or judgement. You will learn, young grasshopper, just be patient. 

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• Teachers​

  • Abraham Hicks - Universal messages, Law of Attraction, healing relationship with money, meditations, etc. highly recommend looking up their talks on YouTube (there are TONS of them) or podcast here. They do a great job of explaining the same concept in many different ways so that you can fully understand it. Incredibly eye-opening and inspiring! They have also written many books. 

  • Jay Kimber -  Feminine Energy Rising Dance Courses and Business Coaching, her work has opened up parts of me that I didn't know were sleeping

  • Jana Alonso - Integrative Healing Course, all around incredible human being 

  • Mijanou Montealegre - Wisdom, Astral Insights from Mystic Mamma

  • Debra Silverman - Astrology Course

  • Dr. Jacqui Wilkins - Indigenous Plant Medicine, Herbal Mentorship Course

  • Rachel Brathen - Yoga teacher, honest mother, beautiful human, raw writer. Worth a follow on Instagram, worth checking out her books, and worth checking out her podcasts. 

  • Blu Cosmic Eagle - a seeker of truth and a beautiful soul that has reminded me time and time again that my uniqueness is my power. Her podcast is mind-blowing and heart-opening. 

  • Dr. Joe Dispenza - neuroscientist, meditations, change your subconscious programming. You can find his talks, interviews, and meditations on YouTube and Gaia. 

  • Rachel Cargel - Writer, academic, shares words and thoughts that make you critically think about the role you play in society, activist work rooted in the intersection of race and womanhood. Follow her on Instagram. 

  • Ram Dass - a spiritual teacher, he has written several books about the conscious awakening. There are many teachings and meditations out there from him that will open your heart. 

  • Inga Koller - Psychedelic breathwork that has changed my life by helping me move through emotions, release what is no longer serving me, dance with my highest self, and merge my consciousness with Divine Love.

  • HAVING A COACH 

    • Coaches focus on holding you accountable to your goals and personal development. Having a coach this year has helped me grow by leaps and bounds. Making an investment in my personal growth and healing has proved to pay off in more ways than I could count. A coach is someone who can hold space for you, see you in your highest potential, be a mirror for you, and plant seeds for you that will eventually blossom when the timing is right. Information about the coach I use can be found here, and I cannot recommend her enough. Courtney has held beautiful, sacred space for me in ALL my forms and I am so grateful for her. There are lots of coaches out there nowadays that specialize in different things, so look around! Most have free consultation calls that allow you to meet them and see if they would be a good match for you. Another friend of mine specializes in helping empaths and highly sensitive people regain their power, I have attended some of her workshops and virtual challenges. Her info can be found here.

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• Books

  • The Untethered Soul - Michael Singer

    • If you have read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, this book is very similar. I have read both but prefer to recommend The Untethered Soul because I like the style of Singer's writing. Tolle makes me feel like he's yelling at me for some reason. Singer writes as if you sat down next to him at a bus stop and he just started spilling all of his gentle wisdom into you. He uses lots of real life examples which make his lessons easy to comprehend. For anyone just beginning on their inward journey or for anyone who needs things to be spelled out clearly for better understanding, this is the book for you. It is a book I will return to again and again, for each time I read it, something new integrates into my being. 

  • Women Who Run With the Wolves - Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés 

    • Awaken the wise wild woman within​, feminine wisdom, one of my greatest guides in a time of deep transformation

  • Rise Sister Rise - Rebecca Campbell

    • A guide to feminine rising​

  • The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield 

    • the best consciousness awakening adventure book ​

  • The Book of Joy - 14th Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

    • beautiful story of a friendship between two very loved men​ and their shared wisdoms 

  • Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates

    • beautifully written, a painful and necessary read for anyone who has white skin like me. This was the first time I ever truly "saw" what it is like to live in the United States in a black body. Incredibly eye-opening, it shattered all my outdated constructs and I will never look at the world the same again.​

  • Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

    • Love her writing. Inspiring, goofy, and truthful about the journey of self-discovery. ​

  • To Love and Let Go - Rachel Brathen

    • A story about how to experience deep​ pain and continue to live with grace.

  • You Are a Badass At Making Money - Jen Sincero

    • Kick your ass into gear and good reminder that this life is yours for the making!​

  • Be Here Now - Ram Dass

    • trippy, existential, spiritual​ goodness 

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• Music

  • Any and all music by Beautiful Chorus. They sing soul medicine. I love to put them on if I need to hold myself and have a good cry, when I’m taking a bath and giving myself some self-loving, and also when I'm about to sleep or right when I wake up.

  • Create playlists of your own! Especially one to put on right when you wake up that will make you EXCITED to go live your beautiful life! If you want some inspiration, here’s mine.

  • Playlists to DANCE to! My personal dance flow playlist.

  • Playlists that don’t have lyrics. Best for working or chilling or creating. My own creations: zensation and peace please.

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• Other Resources and Tools​

  • Affirmations - Repeat them to yourself in the mirror every day. Sleep with them playing gently from Youtube or Spotify. Write them down anywhere and everywhere. Record yourself speaking them aloud and listen to that recording everyday. This helps reprogram your subconscious (aka your programming, aka your belief system… we work surprisingly a lot like computers). Once your programming is in alignment with the life you want to be living, everything else will fall into place MUCH easier. Here is an affirmation playlist I use when I sleep and when I wake up. There are tons of podcasts, youtube videos, and Spotify playlists that you can explore too.

  • Gaia - A conscious and spiritual version of Netflix, definitely worth checking out.

  • After Skool on YouTube - cool animated videos to talks from a variety of people about consciousness, finding happiness, interesting insights, and health science. 

  • Documentaries

    • Fantastic Fungi

    • Kiss the Ground

    • My Octopus Teacher

  • A note on Media: What media you consume matters. Our brains are taking in everything that we consume so it’s REALLY IMPORTANT that we consume conscious media. Start to treat your media as medicine. Stop watching things that make you feel like shit. Stop feeding your brain all the fear out there. Stop following people that you compare yourself to or that make you feel bad about yourself. Watch videos/series/movies that allow you to learn something! Listen to music that open and uplifts you. Follow people who are doing good things for their communities and who inspire you because they are their authentic selves. This goes for in real life too. Who you surround yourself with can make or break you. Take breaks from social media. Dedicate time every day to leave your phone in another room or at home while you go do something else with your full attention and awareness. Create your own media boundaries. Some media boundaries that I have:

    • No checking my phone 1 hour after I wake up and 1 hour before I go to sleep (playing music is okay or having alarms, but I don’t respond to or check any notifications or messages).

    • No checking phone while I’m eating or cooking.

    • No phone in the bathroom. 

    • No social media before 11am and after 8pm (you can set timers like this in your phone settings. I also have Instagram tell me once I’ve been on it for 1 hour that day, and that’s my signal to get off.).

  • Journaling - great way to work through thoughts and emotions. Pouring things onto paper gets them out of your head and helps you see patterns you have more clearly. This has been a huuuuge beneficial practice for me. I also love looking back at old journals and seeing how much I’ve grown :,) If you read some of my journal entries here on this site, you will find that some of them I give you journal prompts for inspiration that you can answer for yourself. 

    • Gratitude journaling is a great practice to have. Aligning ourselves with the vibration of gratitude puts us into alignment to receive more of what we're grateful for. Make a list of 10 things you're grateful for and why EVERY DAY and see how that changes your mood and perspective on life! It's a great way to reframe your mindset too. For example: instead of thinking "I have to pay rent" think "I get to pay rent and I'm so grateful I have a roof over my head!" ​That totally changes the energy around. Feels much better, doesn't it? Whenever you notice yourself getting into patterns of negative thoughts, try to reframe them from a gratitude perspective. This takes AWARENESS, TIME, and PRACTICE. But hey, gotta start somewhere!

    • If you don't like to write, take advantage of the voice notes on your phone. Sometimes I use these when my mind is a little bit too all over the place and I just need to word-puke everything out. Just take some time out of your day to talk out everything that's going on and it will feel much less heavy. Who knows, maybe you could even use them for a podcast one day! ;) 

  • Oracle or Tarot Cards - great for guidance and communication with your guardian angels, spirit guides, and your intuition. Universe/God/Spirit/Source is always here to guide us, we just have to open ourselves up to listening.

  • Art - creating for the sake of creating. It doesn’t have to be “good.” It just has to BE. Stop judging yourself and make something just because YOU CAN! How amazing is that!!! Share it with someone, or don’t. All that matters is that you allowed yourself the space to create something.

  • EATING HEALTHY & DRINKING WATER

    • Mostly plants, mostly whole foods, mostly organic. Stop following diets if they don’t make you feel good. Eat regularly. Learn how to intuitively eat. AKA LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. 

    • Consider your gut your second brain. The better you eat, the better you will feel. 

    • My personal favorite and a great way to start the day packed full of nutrients and things easy to digest is with a healthy smoothie!!​

    • Always, always, always stay hydrated. Our bodies are made of 70% water. Water is Life. Learn how to get the best water for your hydration and your health here.

  • Breathwork

    • Your breath the is only concious way ​you can move from the flight-or-flight nervous system to the rest-and-repare nervous system. Our breath is an incredibly powerful tool that is FREE and always accessible to us. If you are feeling anxious, the fastest way to let you body know that everything is okay is by consciously making your exhales longer than your inhales. Inhale count of 4, hold for 4, exhale count of 6. Repeat as long as needed. This will signal to the body that you are not in danger, you are safe.

    • I have incorporated Psychedlic Breathwork into my weekly routine and it has been a massive help for me to move through emotions, embody my highest self, feel connected to universal Love and consciousness, and dive deep into the wonders of my subconscious... simply by breathing! Would highly recommend Inga Koller (found above, under Teachers) if breathwork is something you want to explore deeper.

  • Plant Allies and Medicine

    • Cacao - a beautiful heart opening guide. I have stopped drinking coffee and replaced it with cacao which leads me to not being over stimulated and anxious first thing in the morning. Cacao is a gentle medicine that can be prepared with great love and used to go deeper into any spiritual practices that you have. 

    • Mushrooms - Absolutely amazing creatures here to teach us SO MUCH. I’ll be the first to recommend a good dose of the magic variety, but if that’s not your style, there are tons of varieties of mushrooms that don’t make you trip but are still AMAZING for your health. I’ve been taking Lion’s Mane and Reishi tinctures over the last year and have seen improvements in my memory, immune system, and overall energy levels. 

    • I took an Herbal Mentorship Course with Dr. Jacqui Wilkins (find her link above, under Teachers) that introduced me to the lessons and medicine of Elecampane, Agrimony, Mullein, Elderberry, Angelica, and Turkey Tail, all of which held me in their own unique way and guided me towards messages I needed to hear. 

  • Working with natural cycles

    • I'm still diving into and learning about this, but the main way I do this is by working with my menstrual cycle and the moon cycle. I like to create New Moon intention setting ceremonies and Full ​Moon releasing ceremonies, a sacred time for myself. We can think of New Moons as a blank slate, a time of new beginnings, and space to focus on your intentions and what you want to focus your energy on in the coming month. I always right a couple of intentions for every New Moon followed by some affirmations that I want to work with that cycle and refer back to these throughout the month. Full Moons we can think of as a time to expand and illuminate what doesn't serve us anymore so that we can release it. During New and Full Moons I like to take extra time to tune inward, check in on how I'm in alignment with my intentions, and do some energy and emotional release. Ceremonies for these times can include anything that brings you joy or that will help you tune in to your higher self and release what is ready to be let go of.

      • Some things I like to do for these times: take a sacred bath or intentional shower, read up about what is going on in the cosmos (astrology), work with my oracle cards, journal, meditate, work with plant medicines, dance, yoga, cook a delicious and intentional meal, gather in community with like minded souls, etc.

    • If you are a womxn who has a monthly cycle, becoming friends with your cycle will change your life. At the very least, when we bleed, our body is asking us to rest. Honor this and take extra time for yourself and be extra soft with yourself during these days. 

  • EMOTIONAL RELEASE 

    • This is another practice I'm still learning about and incorporating into my own life. The gist is to understand that emotions can get stuck in the body and can create a lot of dis-ease if not allowed to move through. Remember, anger and grief are not "bad" emotions. We have them for a reason and they are here to teach us something. It might feel strange to feel and embody them because these are typically emotions that we are told not to feel and to avoid at all costs. But, the funny thing is, the only way to clear and release them is to fully embody and feel them. After you fully embody and feel your emotions, you will feel lighter and clearer and you will have created space for pleasure, peace, and joy to come through. This will also allow you to avoid bottling up emotions that will one day make you explode and feeling worse than if you were to just let them pass through you in the present moment. Emotions are just energy in motion, they came and they go, it is us that unconsciously hold onto them and allow them to create havoc in our lives.

      • Put on a song or playlist that will allow you to feel anger or grief (or both) and allow yourself to fully FEEL them. Punch a pillow, breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth with noise, shake, cry, wail, scream, do whatever you​ need to do to fully embody and FEEL these emotions. I would recommend doing this in a safe and quiet space and make sure that you're careful not to hurt yourself if you're punching something.

      • Embody, release, and then RELAX. Make sure that after you release these pent up emotions that you put pleasure back into your body. You can do this by deep belly breathing, slowly dancing, holding yourself, gently touching yourself, take a bath, self-massage, self-pleasure, or anything that makes you feel good. Also a great time to journal about what came up for you and any downloads you had after clearing the space within. 

      • Some playlists for inspiration: anger playlist, grief playlist, pleasure playlist

  • GO OUTSIDE!!!! Spending time with Mother Nature is the best medicine. If possible, go without your phone. Put your bare feet on the Earth. Swim in a body of water. You can go for a hike or walk or kayak or swim or bike ride or anything like that OR even just walking outside and breathing fresh air, giving thanks to the sun, and being an observer of the sights, smells, and sounds around you is perfect.

  • BECOME AN EXPLORER AND ALWAYS HAVE A BEGINNERS MIND!!!! Become an explorer of your inner world and your outer world. Become an explorer of your body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit. Try new things and see what opens up inside of you. Look at things you've done a million times before with fresh eyes. Remember that there is always more to learn, always more ways to grow. Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to yourself and others. Bring intention into everything you do. Make your life sacred. Whether you're washing the dishes or meditating, folding laundry or doing yoga... try to do it with love, gratitude, and appreciation. How you do anything is how you do everything. Remember that you are a spiritual being having a human experience. You're meant to enjoy all the pleasures of this Life. Make your Life sacred the best way you know how, and watch how magic flows.