Well-Bean

10/30/2025

What impacts one impacts us all. With the upcoming loss of SNAP benefits for kids and families, we know the power of community care in uplifting others.

What could that look like?

*Non-perishable food donations to local food banks, organizations, or other charities

*Financial donations to local food banks, organizations, or other charities

*Finding creative ways to support those in your community (sharing skills, food, meals, etc with those in your neighborhood or larger community)

*Utilize online threads or in-person communication to be a 'grocery buddy' to support a family for however long you're able for the month of November

“Nothing exists by itself alone. We all belong to each other; we cannot cut reality into pieces.” -- Thich Nhat Hanh

10/26/2025

Pausing to Observe Change

Change is inevitable, but we rarely pause to notice how we respond to it or we spend a lot of time and energy resisting it. Learning to see and be curious about change in our lives helps us gain insight into our thoughts, feelings, and actions so that we can choose to move through transitions and adapt to change more consciously.

*Find a comfortable posture sitting or standing, either outside or looking through an open window. Take time to tune into the environment around you. Slow down and notice some of the signs that nature is in transition. The days are getting shorter, the temperature is cooler. Notice the trees, leaves, plants, flowers, even the smell of the air.

*Then shift your attention inward. Spend some time paying attention to your breath. Notice how the length and pace of each inhale and exhale may change, even slightly. Name how you feel in this moment. Then, consider how emotions are fleeting, changing from moment to moment. Observe how your attention may shift to different thoughts and images in just a matter of seconds. You might spend time reflecting on changes happening in your life, with no urgency to do anything about it. Just sitting and observing what the texture of change feels like in your body and mind.

When we can be still for just a few minutes we see that there is change constantly happening within and around us. Make it a practice to pause from time to time to observe with curiosity and to reflect on how change is a natural part of life.

10/23/2025

Rest is a coming back to self, stepping out of our to-do lists and the myriad of ways we are kept busy. It is a chance to listen in stillness and give our body what it is asking of us.

As we enter the this season and whatever lies ahead in keeping us busy, may you hold on to the reminders of how very necessary it is for us to rest, how rest doesn't need to be earned, and how you are welcome, simply as you are.

10/22/2025

As the winds of change and changing leaves carry us through autumn, may you hold to this loving kindness meditation in this beautiful season. 🍂

10/17/2025

Nature has not abandoned you
By Karen Kirsch, Wild Grief Co-founder and current Board Member

Do not despair,

this weight that pulls you down,

this sink hole of pain, of grief, is not all that is.

Nature has not abandoned you.

Your cells are carrying on as only they know how.

The grass, dry and brown has roots that live. Unseen.

Small drops of dew roll down those hard dry stalks and sink into the earth.

A limb of the alder has gone from yellow to golden and shrivels, while the rest of the tree remains in mid summer green.

It has volunteered. “I will not take any more nutrients, so the whole of us will survive”

Roots speaking in chemical language, through a series of ever branching hairs, tell others: “we are vulnerable, take care, choose wisely.”

And this heaviness you are feeling is a reminder, keep grounded. Keep in touch with the communication, the pulse, the plans to live, to breathe, to radiate beauty in all its complexity; through ways and means that our glorious but small pre-frontal cortex can’t even begin to imagine.

It is enough to keep our feet on the earth and feel. Go ahead, take off your shoes and feel.

A beautiful poem shared by a member of a beautiful organization (Wild Grief)

10/13/2025

Considering the lived experiences of others is essential to deepening our shared humanity. Stories help us do that — they open our eyes and our hearts.

As we listen and learn from Native peoples, may our awareness be held with compassion for the trauma and loss carried across generations, and with reverence for the strength, resilience, and joy that continue to thrive.

These children’s books share true stories and perspectives of Native peoples in America. Let’s commit to nurturing a more truthful, connected, and compassionate world, beginning in our own homes, classrooms, and communities. The stories we choose to share, honor, and pass down matter.

Consider these recommendations as a starting point for integrating Indigenous-centered literature into your family’s library and reading

10/10/2025

This photo found its way back to me today, from this summer, when I learned to make fire with a bow drill and a lot of patience.

It feels fitting that it resurfaced on World Mental Health Day.

When we talk about mental health, we often focus on pathology and illness - the diagnoses, the interventions, the “fixing.” But the cultural soil we’ve cultivated for children’s emotional and mental health is depleted. We’ve neglected the nutrients that truly allow us to grow well: rest, play, nature, connection, and community.

Somewhere along the way, mental health became something we teach from the neck up - concepts to understand rather than experiences to embody. How we think matters, but well-being is also cultivated through steady moments of reconnection with our bodies, our relationships, and the natural world around us.

Today I’m feeling deeply grateful for the people, places, and practices that keep reminding me what it means to be human—to feel, to connect, and to keep practicing what it means to be well.

Asher McLaughlin Holistic Survival School The Vital Hive Somatic Wisdom Institute

10/06/2025

A favorite to share as back-to-school season is in full swing. These poses can be done in a chair and modified as needed for kiddos or young people to do what feels best in their body.

It's not about staying calm or regulated all the time, but noticing and knowing what helps shift towards different nervous system states in the times we're called to as well as the routines, activities, skills that keep us anchored.

Learn more about the poster and purchase from our online shop here: https://www.wellbean.us/yoga-for-the-classroom-poster.html

09/30/2025

The intensity of emotions can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially for teens. They might feel isolated, thinking they're the only ones going through it. That's where the Container Exercise comes in.

It's a powerful tool we often use with teens to help them navigate their emotions with mindfulness. By visualizing their feelings as separate entities they can work with, they gain a sense of empowerment. It's a way of saying, 'Hey, your experience and what you're feeling is valid, and you're not alone in this. You have the power to take a step back and decide when you're ready to engage with them again.'

The exercise provides them with a sense of distance from their emotions, a valuable skill for emotional regulation. By creating this mental space, they're better able to observe their feelings without being overwhelmed by them.

This fosters a deeper understanding of their emotions and how they manifest in the body. Ultimately, it's about empowering teens to navigate their emotional landscape with mindfulness, validating their experience, and reminding them that they're not alone.

Step 1: Gather paper and a writing tool. Take note of any intense emotions, sensations, or thoughts you're experiencing. Write them down on the paper using words or images.

Step 2: Visualize a sturdy container, something that can hold all that you're experiencing. With your mind, imagine taking everything from that paper and placing it into the container. Seal the container and put it at a distance from you. You can imagine handing the container to a trusted friend, placing it in a secure vault, or even on another planet.

Step 3: Pay attention to how your body responds as you perform this visualization. You may feel tension easing, like a weight being lifted off your shoulders. This exercise gives your mind a break from carrying overwhelming emotions, similar to hitting the pause button on those feelings.

Step 4: Remember that you have choice over when to retrieve the container and how much to release from it. You can choose to do so gradually, little by little, and I’m here if you want someone alongside you. You don't have to tackle everything all at once, or alone.

Try this exercise whenever you need to, especially during challenging moments when the world feels uncertain. You're capable of handling it!

09/26/2025

09/22/2025

🍂🍁

09/20/2025

When we care for one another through curiosity, compassion, and connection we create stronger communities. With September being Su***de Prevention Month, we are reminded of the need for community in order to increase access to resources pertaining to education, socioeconomic status, and q***r identities to name a few.

Safety is a felt sense that can also be experienced in how we show up and what we provide for one another in those spaces. Collective care and prevention is systemic and an ongoing fight for liberation through policies, resource sharing, and taking care of one another.