April Wrap Up
Hummingbird does not rush the bloom.... <3
Check In
Good morning, my darlings!
Writing to you from my hotel room this morning. My daughter and I are currently away on our first girls’ work trip together. Soon my girl will be six years old (nearly a month… how?!?!?!), and I figured she is old enough and ready to come along with me on a work trip. I’m excited for the next few days of adventuring with her—and for her to get to see what Mama does when I’m away from home for things like this.
Our drive was beautiful yesterday, with a sprinkle of wind along the way. The Nci’ Wana was pretty rough waters—such a fun sight to see. She kept asking what the white caps on the water were. It’s always a blessing to experience the newness of the world through our children’s eyes.
Breath Work Reflections
I’m up early writing again today, as I just finished Benshen’s THE MEMBERSHIP daily meditation. The teachers are East Coast (or European)–based, so I’m up at 4:30am most days to join them. I’m always so grateful when I stick to a meditation sadhana practice. There is so much that happens within the body and energy field when we do this.
We learn to build resilience within the nervous system and how to actually be the masters of our own energy. Practicing with Benshen has been much needed this month—I decided to gift the membership to myself for my birthday in April. We have been sitting with Gyan Chakra kriya, and its wisdom and medicine have brought so much goodness to my system.
Additionally, at 7Gen I shared Gyan Chakra along with some heart-opening breaths. With this meditation in particular, we are expanding our capacity to bring manifestations into the world. What I love about it (and get slightly nerdy about) is the movement that takes place in the arc line above the head. The arms generate two circles, creating a vesica piscis above the head. As this happens, the left and right arms take turns crossing midline—this is where the magic happens.
I always like to share practices like this with my students because any time we are crossing midline, we are assisting the brain in healing and rewiring new pathways. This is amazing. Neuroplasticity is real—we do have the ability to change our brain, mind, and life in any moment.
I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of this work. Not only has being part of the membership supported and resourced me as a Breathwork Facilitator, it’s also supported me in my day-to-day life. The word I keep coming back to is stabilized. This is often the intention I am setting at the beginning of my practice. For that, I am grateful.
Healing and support do not happen alone. Healing happens in connection, relationally, and in honesty.
Storytelling
“Growth reveals itself when it’s ready.”
I have found myself honoring the gradual visibility and natural, non-linear growth I have gained over the last five years of building my business, Native Women’s Wellness Movement LLC. Each year, I grow and expand more—partially with intention and interest, and partially by being guided by Spirit and those who call on me to bring my work to them.
This has happened three times this month—we love to see the miracles. I’ve been asked to teach my foundational offering, Coming Back to the Heart, where I discuss nervous system capacity by bringing forward my Return, Soften, Tend method. This month I’ve spoken to school counselors; tomorrow I’ll speak at the NW Tribal Gathering put on by the Western Tribal Diabetes Project; and on Friday I’ll speak to the Oregon State Nurses Association. Whew. So much to be grateful for.
When I first began my journey with meditation and breathwork over 10 years ago, I had no clue that I would someday be leading big rooms of people through this healing process. I’ll never forget the day I met my mentor, and she immediately encouraged me to take a turn leading the group through a grounding exercise. At the time, my voice was petrified—stuck inside my throat. I didn’t see that for myself, nor did I know how my life would unfold.
Now, 10 years on the other side, teaching meditation to folks all over the Northwest region is my norm.
I spent many years hunkered down in my own life, my own head, and my own world. Building. Hardly sleeping (we love newborns lol). All while being guided by Spirit to keep trusting this vision I see for myself, my family, and my community.
Here we are.
Still building, still growing—but with certainty, confidence, and grace.
Man, these are the moments I look back on and feel so gosh darn grateful for my patience and devotion.
So here I am. Girls’ work trip with my baby girl, just like I always imagined. Getting to do this work alongside her—for the next seven generations to live a thriving life.
Wisdom
Hummingbird does not rush the bloom.
She remembers that sweetness arrives in its own timing—and that her role is not to force the flower open, but to stay close, to stay steady, and to trust what is unfolding.
This month has been a remembering of that rhythm. Early mornings. Quiet devotion. Showing up again and again, even when the growth is not yet visible.
And then—suddenly—it is.
The invitations. The rooms. The voice that once felt stuck now moving freely through spaces it once feared. The daughter beside you, witnessing it all.
Hummingbird teaches us that devotion creates its own momentum. That what we return to with care will, in time, return something back to us.
So if you find yourself in the in-between—still tending, still trusting—stay there.
The sweetness is already on its way.
XOXOXO,
RISS
Beautiful Marissa!!!