Vital Healing

Still in the Pool
What does a teacher owe the room after decades of teaching? 
In this episode I go back to the day Jim Morningstar answered that question without saying a word, and to why I keep showing up to learn from him. It closes with an open invitation to breathe with him online.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Coming out of the locker room to find the teacher already waist deep, settling the group, instead of holding a clipboard at the edge
• Pods of five, two people keeping the snorkel clear, and the ten minutes before I rolled over and the tears came
• Supervision sessions years in, and the part of me that still wants to be the one who knows

INVITATION: Jim is offering a free online breathwork session on Saturday, November 14, at 11 a.m. Central, ninety minutes, open to anyone.
Register Here: https://vitalhealing.kit.com/breathe

LINKS:
📖 Read the full piece:  https://www.vitalhealing.org/p/still-in-the-pool
▶️ Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hxRVRwD2UVg
☕ Support my work: https://buymeacoffee.com/vitalhealing
🌐 Vital Healing: https://www.vitalhealing.org/

By Teaspoons

This week begins something new, a series about a stretch of the journey that rarely gets talked about, the one that comes after a deep practice cracks life open and everything familiar starts to give way. It is about the small, ordinary comforts that carried me through that season, and how coming back is slower and gentler work than we are usually told.

This is a reading of the essay, published in written form at vitalhealing.org.

Read it: vitalhealing.org Watch it: https://youtu.be/cwIxpKMoRAQ

Vital Healing is where Keith Rowe writes about coming home, to the body, to the earth, and to the sacred that moves through all things. 

There is an old idea that every so often the slate gets wiped clean. 
Debts forgiven, the weight set down, everyone allowed to come home. 
This week I sit with what it means to stop holding my own mistakes against myself, 
and to welcome back the parts of me I had left out in the cold.

This is a reading of the essay, published in written form at vitalhealing.org.

Read it: vitalhealing.org

Watch it: https://youtu.be/B0mXlhgjTAQ

Vital Healing is where Keith Rowe writes about coming home, to the body, to the earth, and to the sacred that moves through all things.

There are moments when something in us gets triggered.

A comment, a tone, a look, and we can feel it in the body. The mind starts to spin a story, and before we realize it, we’re no longer fully present.

This meditation is part of The Walking Way, a series of simple walking practices for learning how to stay with what you feel and not pass it on unconsciously.

Using a steady rhythm of breath and steps, this practice invites you to notice what’s happening in your body and remain present while something in you is activated.

You can walk with this, or simply listen while sitting or resting.

Explore The Walking Way and more at Vital Healing:

https://vitalhealing.substack.com/s/walking-meditations

More Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/@vital_healing

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Vital Healing

Finding our way back to ourselves and back to each other.

Have you ever walked away from a conversation and thought, what just happened inside me?

Not something the other person did. Something that activated inside you.

In this episode, Keith explores the moment we leave ourselves. The point where something gets triggered, the mind begins to build a story, and we start reacting to what we think is happening instead of what actually is.

This piece is part of an ongoing series about what happens when we get triggered, how we carry that forward, and how we can begin to stay with ourselves instead of reacting.

This episode also includes a simple practice you can use to begin working with this in your own life.

Walking Meditation (companion practice):
Walking with What’s Triggered - https://youtu.be/K6uhz7yNVvY
 

Full Walking Way Series:
https://vitalhealing.substack.com/s/walking-meditations

Find More at:
 
Substack
https://www.vitalhealing.org

Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@vital_healing

If this resonates, you’re welcome to explore more articles, meditations at Vital Healing.

In this episode, Keith reflects on how small moments of activation can carry forward into what comes next, often without us realizing it.

This piece explores what happens when we don’t give those moments space, and how a simple pause can begin to change what follows.

Practice
A walking meditation titled Stay With What You Feel was created to go along with this piece.

It offers a simple way to work with what you’re carrying using breath and movement.

Listen here:

https://youtu.be/i1MXK2Uw1HQ

Watch

If you’d prefer to watch and listen, there is also a video version of this reading available.

Watch here:

https://youtu.be/01LREmYMGl8

More

More reflections and practices:

https://vitalhealing.org

A simple walking meditation to help you stay with what you feel without immediately reacting to it.

If something from your day is still sitting with you, this practice gives you space to slow down, breathe, and be with it.

You can walk, sit, or rest while listening.

Watch

If you’d like to follow along visually, a video version with natural walking scenes is available here:

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/i1MXK2Uw1HQ

Read

This meditation was created alongside a reflection titled If We Don’t Move What We Carry, We Pass It On.

Read the article:

https://bit.ly/4tl89ka

More

More reflections and practices:

https://vitalhealing.org

There was a time I thought I was going to figure it all out.

Now I’m realizing what I was really looking for was presence.

This reflection came out of a Good Friday meditation from Richard Rohr that was shared with me by a friend, and one line in particular stayed with me:

Jesus refused to pass his pain on to others.

This episode explores what it might mean to interrupt that cycle, to stay present with what we feel, and to stop passing the wound.

Links

🔗 Richard Rohr Good Friday Meditation:

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/jesus-forgives/

🔗 Substack (this reflection):

https://bit.ly/4dZkVzN

🔗 YouTube (video version + more from the farm):

https://www.youtube.com/@vital_healing/shorts

🔗 Vital Healing:

https://www.vitalhealing.org/

In this episode, I share a reflection from my breathwork journey on what it means to come home to the body.

This piece explores how we begin to build safety within ourselves, soften, and learn to stay present with what we’re feeling. It’s not about fixing anything, but about being with ourselves in a more honest and supportive way.

If you’ve been feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, or like you’ve been pushing through life, this is an invitation to slow down and return.

You can read the full reflection here:

https://www.vitalhealing.org/

If you’d like a glimpse into the day-to-day, I’ve been sharing short videos along the way:

https://www.youtube.com/@vital_healing/shorts

In this episode of the Vital Healing podcast, Keith reads this week’s Substack reflection exploring how breathwork became part of his own healing journey.

The episode also introduces World Breathing Day, a global gathering where people from around the world come together to breathe in community.

Keith will be assisting professional breathworker Kate Becker and her team at the New Orleans gathering.

If you’d like to participate, you can join the global gathering online or attend the New Orleans event.

World Breathing Day – Global Gathering (Online)
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/worldbreathingday/2075342

New Orleans Gathering with Kate Becker

https://www.theradiantshadow.com/worldbreathingday2026

Vital Healing

Explore more writing and reflections:

https://vitalhealing.org

Check out our videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@vital_healing