Author: Anna Walther

Eleven years ago this spring, I participated in a weekend-long mindfulness meditation retreat. Two continuous days of scheduled sitting and walking meditation, dharma talks, and silent meals left me rested and clear, yet inexplicably discontented. On the third and final day of the retreat a choice of activities was offered, including more sitting meditation, attending… Continue reading Growing beyond atheism →

This afternoon my daughter and I walked with other members of our UU Church in the Austin Crop Hunger Walk, an annual fundraising and education event sponsored by the Church World Service. After a week of rain, the sunny, breezy 2.4-mile walk around Camp Mabry grounds was a treat. Proceeds from the walk benefitted both the… Continue reading Hunger Advocacy: Crop Walk 2018 →

I heard about last week’s school shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on the radio, while I was driving home from work last Wednesday. No, no, no, no, I prayed, but prayer doesn’t work that way, and the disembodied voice kept speaking with a collectedness that I knew neither of us felt. I felt… Continue reading When Prayers Aren’t Enough →

photo by Adam Levine on flickr via CC Me to my husband: Do you think that everything can be quantified and measured? Him: No! Me: Right, but give an example. Him: How much do you love me? Me: On a scale of one to ten? It goes “up to 11.” Him: Why not 12? Advertisements

photo by Timothy Krause I’m really good at self-righteousness, and I bet you are, too. It feels GOOD to be right, am I right? Satisfying. Important. Powerful. Like that time when my redneck cousin posted on Facebook that Planned Parenthood and people who support the organization (that’s me, monthly contributor here) are baby murderers. I… Continue reading What I Know about Self-righteousness →

Our view from Austin of the super, blue, blood moon early this morning was clouded over, alas. But once the clouds cleared, I continued my monthly wildcrafted tea practice with cleavers. Here it’s called “sticky weed;” my children and their friends love to pick it and throw it at each other or stick it to… Continue reading January Super Blue Moon Tea: Cleavers →

In winter Central Texas cedar elms lose their leaves, revealing birds’ nests, ball moss, and mistletoe. The white-berried hemiparasite particularly plagues the cedar elm growing just outside our front door. While mistletoe performs some of its own photosynthesis, it draws most of its water and nutrients from the tree hosting it. Mistletoe flowers and produces… Continue reading Burning Last Year’s Mistletoe →

Sitting outside in the bright, yet gentle mid-morning sunlight. Incense lit, second cup of coffee in hand. I’ve watered herbs and refilled the bird feeder. I’m watching my beloved Poe stalk a squirrel and listening to a red-bellied woodpecker knock on the utility pole at the corner of our backyard. So it is, and so… Continue reading Back to Home Base →

At the beginning of a hatha yoga class that I attended, the teacher led a centering exercise. It involved lying supine and progressively relaxing each part of the body, fully surrendering our bodies to gravity, to the floor beneath us. “You are in this body now,” the teacher crooned at the end of the guided… Continue reading This Body Now →

One of my New Year’s intentions is to celebrate each of the full moons of 2018 with a wildcrafted tea ritual. Aligning my spiritual life with moon cycles reminds me of the cyclic, rhythmic nature of life. Wildcrafting gets me outside and compels me to consider my relationship with green bloods and the rest of the… Continue reading January Full Moon Tea: Pine Needle →