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A word from the front lines

5/3/2020

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The Mama Bear Sanctuary is officially mobilizing! Next stop? The mountains of Mendocino County, in Northern California. We'll be learning all about natural building, permaculture, animal husbandry, and fairies. 
This poetry video speaks to brave movement in strange times! Music by Sol Rising.
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The NeXT 12 STEPS

4/22/2020

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In a time of intense psychological stress, we've taken a few liberties with the revered 12-step recovery model. Now is the chance--take Your Power back.
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THe mama bear Sanctuary is open!

2/6/2020

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Two single mamas and four small children have joined forces in San Diego, California. Together, they are co-creating a regenerative community lifestyle that models interdependence, authenticity, mindfulness, and stewardship. 

The Mama Bear Sanctuary is the first brick-and-mortar location to be sponsored by RWI. This simple family home was built in the 1970's and remodeled four years ago. It features an open floor plan, with total visibility between the large fenced backyard and the indoor common areas. 

The first major project underway is a Waldorf-inspired, nature-based co-op homeschool program for children ages 2-5. 

"Lack of embodied education is part of what makes growing up hard these days," explains Gina. "Kids are stuffed into boxes and taught to add and subtract before they've made sense of their own emotions, or shown where their food comes from. They're missing a basic connection with self-care, environmental awareness, and intergenerational community."

The key ingredient to creating this type of learning environment? Adults who practice regenerative living themselves. Adults who model healthy emotional regulation, and respect for all life. Adults who see and honor children as intelligent, creative, sovereign beings. Adults who are committed to learning, growing, and evolving. 

In addition to building their backyard homeschool, the mama bears plan to host a variety of healthy community events, including (and unlimited to):
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  • Family Open Mic
  • Gardening Parties
  • All-ages Yoga
  • Women’s Circles
  • Educational Workshops
  • Healing Arts Mini-fests

​If you'd like to follow the fun, find The Mama Bear Sanctuary on Instagram and follow the blog!
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Soil Not Oil 2019: A Peer Review

9/18/2019

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“Are you speaking?” asked most people, upon contact, at my first conference event. It was a dinner party at the home of John Roulac, CEO of RE Botanicals. Situated on the tip of Point Richmond, the house was crafted of wood by boat-makers. Sweeping views of San Francisco, and every bridge. Tiered decks, twinkling lights, the seductive scent of Indian food. Wind-blown attendees chatting, perky and passionate.

It took me awhile to figure out how to answer this question sincerely. I sensed a great love for this motley crew of visionaries and farmers, and I wanted the first word out of my mouth to reflect the Yes reverberating in my body. My first few attempts failed successfully. Soon, I had my answer.

“I’m listening.”

I don’t run a large organization. My published works are not in the field of permaculture, or even food. I am a mother of three, bravely and boldly navigating toward Regenerative Living, which in Buddhist terms could be defined as the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration, and right mindfulness.

Thus I consider myself a peer, and signed up to volunteer at the conference in order to learn more about who is doing what, where, and how, and to see about being of service. In addition to clarity and connection, I came away with a mixture of dread, determination, and pure excitement—like a bird might feel, flying in formation through a storm.

Soil Not Oil was a melting pot of molten energy; we might still be processing information from the left to the right sides of our brains. With an eye to decolonizing conference culture, I’ve consolidated some of my notes into bite-sized pieces.
 
The Spotlights:

  • When disaster strikes, install permaculture demonstration sites. For a great example, check out the Camp Fire Restoration Project, spearheaded by Matthew Trumm. Matthew was the only speaker to utilize a hand puppet.
 
  • Two speakers received standing ovations. One was Robert F Kennedy, Jr. The other was a young woman of fierce grace by the name of Minkah Taharkah, who voiced a cold fact: that the people most impacted by economic crisis were not in the room. She represented an urban agroecology collective named Black Earth Farms. They share stewardship of the UC Gill Tract community plot while searching for land to call home.
 
  • John Jeavons is the face of Biointensive farming, the way Colonel Sanders is the face of Kentucky Fried Chicken (they also look reasonably alike). According to John’s estimations, human beings are on the actual brink of running out of food. Our priorities change from a million other things to one: find something good to eat.
 
  • A nod to veteran activists working to amend the constitution so that corporations can’t ruin our lives without permission. Though I wonder: Will constitutional amendment take too long to be useful, since corporations own the government? If the constitution has fallen, is there anything left to amend? We're asking these corporations to self-correct, and if we learn anything through observation, we know the corporations are but hungry ghosts. However, veteran activists are essential allies for groups like Black Earth Farms, who are prepared to feed good food to as many people as possible, and just need help connecting to resources, because the system is designed to demote African and Indigenous heritage.
 
  • Nature is a mother, in favor of life, so assumptions like how fast soil can be grown become wholly relative. I heard vastly different numbers, all reported as fact. 
 
  • David Montgomery and Anne Biklé were the only speakers to discuss the connection between soil health and the human microbiome. (*I recognize that memory is subjective. If any of these statements seem incorrect, please contact me immediately, that I may revise.) 
 
  • Kanyon CoyoteWoman, who sang Grandmother songs and shook rattles, nodded appreciatively in a breakout session when native fire-lighter Elizabeth Azzuz said, “I don’t have the science, but I know the land.” 
 
  • Your name, your destiny. Alicia Utter, veganic farmer. Jorgen Hempel, hemp builder. Rachel Parent, youth activist.
 
  • The last event of the conference was a mind-blowing and body-restoring performance by Olox. I’ve included a clip at the end of this post, for those who missed it.
 
  • A written ovation to each presenter for whom “public speaking” isn’t a “thing,” but got up to share a message, compelled by the heat of sincerity.

It truly seems that the way forward is together, merging knowledge across movements, traditions, sciences, and technologies, while utilizing every craft at our disposal. Regenerative activism looks at what we share in common, and embodies the paradigm shift from “Me” to “We.”
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We are the microcosm of the macrocosm. Let’s tap our roots.
 
The High Five:

Finally, here are five of my personal “spark” notes, received while sitting alone on the floor in the middle of the empty Masonic Hall, under the enormous light-bulb star on the ceiling.

  1. Go Direct. Don’t rely entirely on technology to spread your message. Connect with people where they are; put the movement on the ground, in our hands, and our hearts. Not just a concept on a screen, but an actual lived experience.
 
  1. I’m here to play my (p)art. To express the creative potency swirling within me to its fullest capacity. In doing--or rather, being--so, I produce and distribute Soular Energy (the ultimate regenerative resource).
 
  1. Find fertile soil, plant my family. Put the children to work in a garden, teach them to read and write. Demonstrate social-emotional skill-building. Create videos, blogs, books, articles, speeches, poems, and general propaganda. Live for my vision of healthy motherhood while healing generational trauma at the same time.
 
  1. Trust the present moment enough to slow down, breathe deeply, drop in, and feel what I’m feeling. The present is a gift, indeed, and the only place to water seeds.
 
  1. Unite the voices working for change. This is our last revolution.
 
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I Have  a  Dream

5/27/2019

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I dream of a Regenerative Revolution.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “An individual has not started living until s/he can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

As an individual, I can’t rise above the narrow confines of my personal concerns—I won’t break out of my box—until I’ve developed the core strength to embrace my whole being. Otherwise, that which I am not ready to accept in myself will prevent me from connecting with others. If I am numb to my own emotions, stuck in runaway trains of thought, held hostage by self-doubt, or too exhausted by the fumes of a toxic environment to challenge my own perception, how can I address what lies beyond my borders? How will I access my evolutionary path to an expanded sense of awareness?

The awkward, resistant, and/or destructive habits of thought and behavior that exist within each human being lie at the foundation of the fossil-fueled system we seek to change. But when it comes to addressing these concerns, the American public has a habit of neglect. Maybe we settle with ourselves for less because we figure that one person cannot save the world. However, each individual is responsible for the world s/he creates.

Regenerative community requires individual Response-ability. This Response-ability (or Invironmental Awareness) allows an individual to be of collective service. If we hope to help humanity, we must start where we are: addicted, anxious, afraid, attached. We can’t move forward if we’re holding back.

  • It is our Response-ability to look each other in the eye and feel what we’re really working with.
  • It is our Response-ability to identify, integrate, and adjust accordingly.
  • It is our Response-ability to express thoughts and feelings without judgment or apology.
  • It is our Response-ability to have faith in our innate capacity to thrive.
  • Dr. King also said, “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” It is our Response-ability to stand up for ourselves.

Taking Response-ability means empowering change.
I dream of our great awakening. 
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And it’s happening NOW,
​one day at a time.

​
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Shit Happens

5/27/2019

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We need the shit.
It’s the fertilizer.

Bring it up for air so it can compost properly and fuel our growth.
It’s an asset, and totally transformative.

So when shit hits the fan,
please don’t take it personally.
It’s just par for the course on the Orgone trail.

The plot thickens when we’ve been taught to bury our shit,
or hold it in, or play with it, or sit in it, or pretend it isn’t ours.

But in fact it charges us. It’s what we tend to go on.

Alleviate the constipation of a nation.
The grass is greener on the other side of the divide between heart and mind,
where the soul smiles in satisfaction
because it’s gaining circulation, clearing space, developing capacity,
and clarifying intention.

Simply reminding us that this too shall pass.

Going green from the inside out
…that’s what this shit is all about.

A shift, a movement, a letting grow.
Soular Power: let it show!

Because we have the privilege of being this light;
bringing light; seeing light; weaving light;
and believing—believing that life is good
and it deserves to be protected.

We CAN heal-grow-live-love-laugh-sing-build-play-and restore.

If we think our shit is wrong then we’ll never get it right.
It’s when we keep sight of the fact that it’s all one tract,
it’s all one system--

And if we simply relax around the contraction,
align with the divine timing of action,
we’ll get out of this shit-hole alive
and thrive like Mother Nature intended.
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I Am a Body of Water

5/27/2019

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I am a body of water and my tears fall like rain 
as I witness the pain of generations. 
My arteries, like rivers, clotting, clogging, throbbing 
in the aftermath of so much bad blood, 
so much blood shed, 
so many lives led to ruin for the sake of a buck. 
 
It’s hard to feel stuck. And it hurts to bleed so much. 
 
But I am a body of water and gradually, over time, 
I will erode the barriers that block my path. 
I will soften rough edges and find new openings, 
whittle new ways of being, 
for I am regenerative. 
 
I am life and abundance and dancing. 
I'm not here to be damned. 
I don't want to be bottled and sold. 
I want to run with the land. 
Through seasons of flood and seasons of drought,
going within and going without, 
expanding and contracting with the moon, 
carrying the tune of countless voices.
 
The choice is before us and every drop counts.
 
Please understand me. 
My bipolarity is not a disorder. 
Duality is part of divine order. 
It's what holds us together in this vast pooling of consciousness, 
the infinite deep, 
where mysteries seep through the pores of my skin.
 
I am devotion and community and hope. 
I am up to my eyeballs with growth. 
 
One day my body will evaporate, 
but for now I flow forward,
letting my strength, my passion, my love lead the way.
The future is waiting, but for now it’s today;
a current affair in which all parties know that trust and transparency facilitate flow.
 
I am a body of water with a rising tide.
I want to lift as many ships as I can.  
I want to stand and swirl and run and fall,
to wash over and through and between it all
 
I am a body of water, pooling at your feet.
It is very nice to meet you.
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The Soular Power Manifesto

5/27/2019

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Soular Power is the essence of who you are.  It is the molten lava at the creative core of your being, and the ultimate renewable resource. The Soular Powered life is filled with natural joy, energy, inspiration, passion, and amusement. 

Many people suffer from Soular Power deficiency. Immersed in a fossil-fueled culture, we are loaded with fears, doubts, judgments and illusions, convinced of their service. 


It is a tremendous drain on the system. Exhausted by the fumes of our own minds, we reach for non-renewable sources of energy. These include, but are not limited to: a dependency on outside approval, material accumulation, codependent relationships, or instant gratification in the form of sugar, sex, or alcohol. Unfortunately, our culture reinforces these patterns, building industry around them. As a result, we often fail to see our way around the smog in the Invironment. Or, even seeing our way forward, we often do not make our way forward. Forging fresh footsteps may seem awkward, inconvenient, or downright terrifying—but it’s worth every step.

Three reasons to GO SOULAR:

1. Because you’re here…making your metaphorical bed. 

2. Because who/what/when/where/why/how you are impacts your parents, children, friends, colleagues, neighbors, teachers, students, clients, employers, and all other members of creation.  

3. Because you ought to live until you die.

The time has come for a shift in paradigm.
Move from external dependency to self-sustainability!

YOU are a little working model of the universe, a microcosm of the macrocosm. This means that YOU, being yourself, generate Soular Power. YOU, doing what you do from the heart, represent our most vital energy resource. And YOU, unfiltered, raw, with no artificial ingredients and no harmful emissions, can achieve your full potential in whatever endeavor you dream of.

WE, coming together, amplify Soular Power exponentially. WE need to leverage this collective wattage, 
now. We have infinite tools at our disposal; they are in our hands or at our fingertips. We can recognize, appreciate, collaborate, communicate, create, serve, and restore.
Together, we can do it ourselves. 

Step up to the front line, going Soular in your own time, realizing that you have all the support in the universe. Set the intention to plug in with your bare hands; transforming consumption to production—one choice, one thought, one word at a time. 

After all, we are all one of a kind.
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    Gina Tang

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Copyright 2019 by Gina Tang.
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