I am officially in the mountains of NC for the next few weeks – bless!
What's been most present is thinking about my upcoming sabbatical from November to March. As of now, the "plan" is to do a 20-day silent meditation retreat followed immediately by a 10-day dark room retreat. That puts me at a full month of silence, setting me up perfectly to hunker down in a little Bali cabin and write my book — focused and uninterrupted.
What stirs me up most about this plan isn't the silence itself, but rather what wants to emerge through the silence. I've suspected for many years that the "final boss" — my thorniest of karma — would arrive at 29 years old. And here we are, right on time. I only have guesses as to what lies on the other side of this door.
If I'm honest, my mind is doing a lot of strategizing and worrying about all this — it really can't help itself. How will 30 days of silence impact my sense of self? Am I safe to navigate this particular phase of human evolution? Will I be recognizable upon my return? Should I try to maintain my {Body} • {Mind} • {Soul} Newsletter while I'm there? How will I make money? What if publishers aren't interested in my book?
I guess this is where all my years of trust training come in handy. All I know for certain is that I'm listening wholeheartedly, praying to God that I don't deceive myself and that my actions serve the highest good.
Anyways...I hope you enjoy this week's {Body} • {Mind} • {Soul} Newsletter and have a beautiful Sunday, - Ethan ॐ
P.S. If you haven’t yet peaked at my upcoming yoga training, click here. This will be my last training likely until April 2026. By participating, not only will you gain tools to stress manage, stretch and meditate, but you’ll also be financially supporting my book writing process. 🙏🏻
Ethan Hill Owner, Yoga with Ethan
Metal water bottles
Because of the many reported negative effects of plastic water bottles — both on the body and the planet — many people have switched to reusable metal water bottles. I did this for many years, too, believing I was making the healthier choice.
But here's what I didn't realize: metals leach into water, especially when exposed to heat, acidic beverages, or prolonged contact. While we've focused on avoiding plastic toxins, we may have inadvertently created a different problem — one that's potentially more serious because toxic heavy metals accumulate in our bodies far more persistently than plastic compounds, which can escort themselves more easily out of the body.
According to Medical Medium's Brain Saver, "toxic heavy metals are a leading cause of today's epidemic of brain dysfunction, deterioration, and disease." These microscopic invaders represent a physical battle inside our brains — "living metal against dead metal, life-giving metal versus life-taking metal." And when you eat/drink from aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and even "food-grade" metals, trace amounts of these metals inevitably migrate into your meal.
The effects of chronic heavy metal exposure are devastating and largely invisible. They become "brain enzyme inhibitors," disrupting the communication systems your liver produces specifically for neurological function. They create "tiny areas of inflammation around spots where toxic heavy metals have taken up residence in the brain."
Perhaps most alarming, toxic heavy metals are "mind-altering" and "extremely controlling physically, mentally, and emotionally." They can cause brain fog, memory issues, focus problems, anxiety, depression, and even personality changes — all while remaining completely undetectable in standard medical testing.
Check out the practice section below for a few suggestions, or read the book.
Practice Step-by-step instructions to turn theory into healing.
We live within a heavy matrix of strategy. When to wake up for peak productivity, which road will shave off 30 seconds of our commute, what precise words to use to impress or coerce another.
In this world, the mind becomes a relentless planning machine, constantly calculating outcomes, mapping routes, and contingency-planning every possible scenario, believing this to be the only reliable way to get what it wants.
We forget there's a second option: the way of serendipity and synchronicity — what some call "being in flow." In this realm, opportunities appear without force, knowledge arrives without seeking, and things just seem to get done, despite you not consciously masterminding anything special.
The mind resists leaning on ‘flow’ as its organizing principle; it sounds passive, irresponsible and woo-woo. "Trusting that things will work out is not a plan," it tells itself. "Someone needs to think through this!" it exclaims.
Maybe so. But whenever you build an elaborate plan, you construct a flimsy house of cards where every step depends on the previous one materializing perfectly. Miss one deadline, have one conversation go wrong, encounter one tiny, unexpected obstacle, and the entire enterprise collapses.
This is why strategic thinkers live in chronic, low-level anxiety. They're not just managing the present moment — they're juggling hundreds of future scenarios, constantly monitoring whether reality is cooperating with their elaborate (and delusional) blueprints for what’s ahead.
The irony, of course, is that this strategic obsession often blocks the very outcomes one is trying to create. When you're rigidly attached to how things "should" unfold, you miss the unexpected, smoother opportunities that would end up serving you better than your original plan.
In fact, upon reflection, you will discover that most of the meaningful moments in your life arrived completely unplanned. Your most fulfilling relationships and life-changing insights almost never followed your meticulously-crafted strategy!
The way of flow and faith requires a fundamental shift in the way your mind operates: from swimming up-river to trusting what’s downstream. From forcing doors open to stepping through ones already ajar. From demanding that life conform to your timeline to allowing Its perfectly-timed intelligence to work its magic.
Meditate with me below.
Meditate Bite-sized audios to help you become the master of your mind.
“The way to achieve your own success is to be willing to help somebody else get it first.” — Iyanla Vanzant
Obviously you cannot share what you do not first possess.
But is the reverse true, too? Can you truly have unless you share it first?
In the realm of spirituality, having and sharing are not sequential — they are simultaneous, arising together or not at all.
Yes, some people appear to be both selfish and successful. And that may be true at a surface level. But when you look underneath the hood, unless they share their joy and prosperity, they will not have it for themselves. Period.
Again, one cannot truly possess what one refuses to give away.
Journal Contemplative questions on the nature of inner freedom.