Start With the Cup

Healing can start with recognizing that you are enjoying a great cup of coffee.

Right now, as I create this post, I am drinking instant coffee with the quintessential three brown sugar lumps. Three. Not two, because I know what I like. Not a carefully measured drizzle of something harvested under a full moon. Three brown sugar lumps in a mug of instant coffee, and I am enjoying it.

That matters to me because healing does not always arrive looking impressive. Sometimes it is a quiet moment when you notice that something tastes good. Sometimes it is realizing that you are present enough to enjoy what is already in your hand instead of racing toward the next obligation.

There are excellent Chattanooga coffee roasters and Tennessee coffee roasters, and FB Roasters has a coffee collection for the days when I want to make the cup a little more deliberate. But today, instant coffee and brown sugar are doing exactly what they need to do.

And that is enough.

Soul of the Valley: Sensory Reset

Soul of the Valley: Sensory Reset.

I Am Not Trying to Sound Like a Pamphlet

My own healing has included a therapist who is actually pretty amazing through BetterHelp. I am grateful for that relationship, for the conversations, and for having a place where I can say the things I do not always say out loud.

At the same time, I do not want to be the girl who speaks entirely in therapy phrases. I do not want to sound like a pamphlet that learned how to use the word “boundaries” and immediately applied for a speaking engagement.

There is nothing wrong with having language for what is happening inside you. Language can help. Good support can help. A therapist can help you see a pattern that has been standing in the middle of the room wearing a neon vest.

But I also believe healing can be ordinary, physical, funny, inconvenient, and occasionally dependent on whether the coffee is sweet enough. It can happen when you notice the sound in the room. It can happen when you move your body because sitting still has stopped being useful. It can happen when you allow yourself to enjoy a morning without turning it into a performance.

I am not interested in pretending that every answer must arrive with a polished vocabulary. Sometimes the answer is a song. Sometimes it is a stretch. Sometimes it is a cup of instant coffee with three brown sugar lumps and the good sense to leave you alone for ten minutes.

A Little Woo-Woo, Without the Patchouli

I also do not want to be a Birkenstock-wearing tree hugger.

Even though I kind of am.

Let me clarify. I do believe in being connected to the earth. I believe nature has a way of making certain truths harder to avoid. I believe a mountain view can rearrange your priorities before you have finished your first cup of coffee.

But I do not like bugs. I do not like the smell of patchouli. And I have no interest in making bad decisions simply because someone has placed a crystal near a candle and lowered the lights.

My version of this work has room for skepticism, humor, excellent linens, and a firm preference that the outdoor experience remain reasonably insect-free. I can appreciate ancient wisdom and still want to know whether there is a comfortable chair nearby.

That is part of why I am drawn to the phrase “woo-woo” instead of trying to dodge it. People use it to dismiss things they do not understand, and sometimes they use it because something genuinely deserves a raised eyebrow. Both can be true.

The question is whether we are willing to experience something before deciding that it is ridiculous.

Sound Is Not Decoration

I honestly believe the frequency of sound and the movement of the body are essential to life.

Not as a slogan. Not because I think every gong contains a hidden financial advisor. I mean that sound changes the atmosphere of a room, and movement changes the way we occupy our own bodies. We know the difference between a song that makes us sit up and one that makes us soften. We know what it feels like when a familiar rhythm brings us back to ourselves.

That belief has become part of my ethos and part of the AfroDruid ethos: ancient wisdom, embodied awareness, community, growth, and a willingness to use what helps us live with more clarity.

At Soul of the Valley, that might mean adaptive tai chi with Jami Lowery. It might mean a soundscape journey with Anneli Virkhaus. It might mean kundalini and gong with Chandra Kirti Kaur, or yoga, reiki, and meditation with Ettie.

Those practices do not require me to become a different person. They ask me to become more aware of the person who is already here.

A sound bath can be beautiful without requiring a dissertation about vibrations. Movement can be useful without needing to become a fitness challenge. Meditation can simply be the decision to stop feeding every passing thought for a few minutes.

I am allowed to appreciate the experience without pretending I understand every mechanism behind it. I am also allowed to ask questions. Wonder and discernment can share a room. They do not have to fight over the last comfortable chair.

The People Matter, Too

I have been very lucky to meet people who are in alignment with this way of thinking.

Not people who insist that everyone must participate in exactly the same way. Not people who treat skepticism as a moral failure. The people I trust understand that presence can look different from one person to the next.

Somebody may want to move. Somebody else may want to listen. Somebody may need a little time before joining the group. Somebody may be perfectly content to sit quietly and observe the whole thing while mentally preparing a respectful review.

All of those people belong in the room.

That is what I want Soul of the Valley to offer: space for sound, movement, reading, conversation, stillness, and the freedom to decide what feels right in the moment. This is a reading and wellness retreat from October 8–11, 2026, at a private mountain estate with seven bedrooms at 52 Big Vistas Lane in Rossville, Georgia.

The setting is on Lookout Mountain in the Chattanooga area, about an hour and a half from Atlanta. Twelve guests will share the retreat experience, which means the group is intentionally small enough for the weekend to feel personal rather than like a convention with better scenery.

It is a luxury wellness retreat for people who are ready to step away from the constant demand to react. That does not mean every minute is scheduled or every guest is expected to perform relaxation correctly. It means the environment has been created with care, and the invitation is there.

You Can Sit Something Out

One great thing about a retreat is that there are activities and experiences you can have, and you can also choose not to participate.

That is important to me.

You may want to attend the sound bath. You may decide that the gong is not calling your name today. You may want to try adaptive tai chi. You may prefer to read near a window while everyone else moves. You may be curious about meditation but not ready to close your eyes in a room full of strangers. You may want to join every conversation, or you may need a little quiet.

You can choose.

We are going to see how people respond. Either you are going to get caught by indecision, or you are going to roll your eyes at the woo-woo nature of it all. But that is on you.

I am not here to drag anybody into a sound bath by the sleeve. I am simply saying that if you dismiss the whole thing before you experience it, you might miss something useful, beautiful, funny, or unexpectedly moving.

You can choose not to participate.

That is your loss.

Soul of the Valley

Soul of the Valley takes place October 8–11, 2026, at 52 Big Vistas Lane in Rossville, GA. The retreat is limited to 12 guests, with 6 of 12 spots remaining. Registration closes October 1.

To register and pay your deposit to hold your spot, with the balance due October 1st:

To pay in full and split your payments using Klarna.

Come for the mountain, the reading, the sound, the movement, the conversation, or the chance to discover that three brown sugar lumps can still count as a perfectly good beginning.

This post was AI-assisted and reviewed for human accountability by Felicia Baxter.