
Hello Friends,
I know this is an uncertain time, one that triggers the worst in us: fear, scarcity, confusion, grief… Each moment feels like an hour, each day melting into the next. If we ourselves aren’t suffering from illness or mourning someone who is, we are in isolation, grasping for understanding of what to do, how long we will be here, and what the world will even look like when we emerge.
I humbly believe that the only way to discern what the future holds is to consciously create it ourselves; bit by bit, day by day, one tiny step forward at a time. Not by doing, but by being, imagining, and visualizing… by having the courage to go inward as time stands still and we are finally given permission to slow down and listen.
With the tragedy that accompanies this pandemic, we are also gifted silver linings that have the potential to propel us into a more intentional, regenerative, and conscious system of living, giving this crisis purpose, and us the opportunity to triumph.
To help inspire joy and renewed intention during this period of reflection, I’ve compiled a living list of my favorite books, playlists, podcasts, films and more with artists, ecologists, and mentors I treasure and admire. It will continue to grow as I reflect on what has shaped my personal journey that I can share on our collective path of understanding.
In the wise words of the beloved Ram Dass, BE. HERE. NOW. Mother Nature is running her course, forcing us to pause, reset, and reassess our consumption habits, trauma, and lifestyle patterns. Never before has society paused long enough to absorb this true gift of PRESENCE, and the ability to honor stillness, meditation, family, and introspection, to ask ourselves what really matters most, and acknowledge the natural world with which we are are so deeply connected, and yet take for granted on most days.
May the words, melodies, and stories of others inspire you to share and honor yours, and come out of the stillness reawakened. Take care, stay safe, and enjoy.
-Lex

To DO:
The hard truth: not much. Just being present is the best medicine for this current state of affairs, which isn’t easy. So here are some resources to help. And don’t worry if you can’t manage ANY of these. This is a time for compassion, NOT judgement. These are simply here if you need them, today, tomorrow, or a year from now. Not all of these will resonate with every one. Take what you like, leave what you don’t.
Meditation
- 10 minute Chakra Balance
- Immune Building against Infectious Disease (science first, meditation starts at 7:20) / Dawson Church
- Facing Pandemic Fears with an Awake Heart / Tara Brach
- Finding Hope in Uncertain Times / Oprah + Deepak Chopra
Yoga
- Elemental Yoga Videos / Leia Vita
- Return Home Series / Kayla Nielson
- Gather Studio Instagram Lives

Breathwork
- Wim Hof Method Breathing
- Reis Paluso – ourbreathcollective.com or @gatherencinitas IG Live
Journal
- AllSwell Creative Notebook + Writing Prompt Deck
- The Wild Unknown Journal / Kim Krans
- The Artist’s Way
Personal Coaching
- 1:1 With AllSwell Creative Coaching / Laura Rubin
- Radical Voyage Equinimity Coaching / Troy Eckert
Garden
- Healing Through Gardening / Vandana Shiva x Kiss The Ground
- Return of the Victory Garden / Kiss The Ground
- How to Start Your Veggie Garden / Korduroy.tv
- Kitchen Scrap Gardening / Plastic Free Mermaid
- Regenerative Farming and Living Course / Kiss The Ground
- 7 Steps to Starting and Enjoying an Organic Garden / OnlyOrganic.org
- Johnny’s Organic Seeds
Or…
- Spend time A L O N E in nature
- Build an altar
- B A T H S !
- Interview your Grandparents, find out the stories of your family lineage/start a family tree
- Composting
- Start to minimize your belongings, transition to a more waste free lifestyle.
- Try out Oracle Cards / Animal Spirit Deck / Tarot
- 3 months of free guitar/ukulele lessons / Fender Play

To READ:
For Help
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times / Pema Chodron
- It’s Okay That You’re Not Okay / Megan Devine
- Die Wise or Come of Age / Stephen Jenkinson
- The Power of Now / Eckhart Tolle
- A New Earth / Eckhart Tolle
- How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy / Jenny Odell
- The Wisdom of Insecurity / Alan Watts
- How to Sit / Ticht Naht Han
- The Four Agreements / Don Miguel Ruiz
- Hope in the Dark / Rebecca Solnit
For Inspiration
- Swell / Captain Liz Clark
- Be Here Now / Ram Dass
- Walden / Henry David Thoreau
- The Prophet / Kahlil Gibran
- Letters to a Young Poet / Rainer Maria Rilke
- Ishmael / Daniel Quinn
- Women Who Run With The Wolves / Clarissa Pinkola Estes
- The Alchemist / Paulo Cohelo
- Denali / Ben Moon
- Small Homes / Lloyd Kahn
For Education
- Rituals for Resilience / Loam x Earth Is Ohana
- Micro Movements / Kate Weiner
- Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind / Edited by Theodore Roszak, Mary E. Gomes and Allen D. Kanner
- Blue Mind / Wallace J. Nichols
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants / Robin Wall Kimmerer
- How to Change Your Mind or The Botany of Desire / Michael Pollen
- Earth Democracy / Vandana Shiva
- Food Books To Inspire Action
- Cunt: A Declaration of Independence / Ingrid Muscio
- Native Science / George Cajete
For Healthy Distraction
- The Surfer’s Journal
- Life of Pi / Yann Martel
- Let my People Go Surfing / Yvonne Chouinard
- Surf Is Where You Find It / Gerry Lopez
- Jitterbug Perfume or Still Life With Woodpecker / Tom Robbins
- The Hero with A Thousand Faces / Joseph Campbell
- Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix
- Just Kids / Patti Smith

To DOWNLOAD:
Podcasts
- Loam Listen – a movement of compassionate and creative activists who strive to support one another as we find our footing in the heart of the climate crisis.
- For The Wild Podcast – an anthology of the Anthropocene
- Water People Podcast – with Dave Rastovich and Lauren L. Hill
- Rich Roll Podcast: Ep. 508 Zach Bush, MD On A Pandemic Of Possibility (any episode with Zach Bush, MD)
- Russell Brand’s Under The Skin: #74 Ceremony, Relationships, and Communal Living (with Shaman Wendy Mandy)
- Oprah and Eckhart Tolle: A New Earth Series
- Authentic Sex with Juliet Allen: How to Feel Great Naked wtih Leela Kalyani
- Wild Ideas Worth Living by Shelby Stanger
Spotify Playlists
- Songs for Wild Times / by Adam Walker
- Salt / by Drew Hertz
- Swirl Tapes – Round 3 Tape 4 / by GRLSWIRL
- Pocket / Jonny Alexander
- Plantasia / Mort Garson
Apps
- Savage Kitchen – Forage with confidence
- The Pattern – Better understand Yourself and Others
- Headspace – Meditation & Sleep
- Picture This – Plant Identifier
- Night Sky – Guide to the Sky Above

To EAT:
- Spring Recipe Roundup / Delicious Seasonal Recipes By OnlyOrganic.org
- Good and Cheap – Eat Well on $4 A Day / 100 Recipes To Maximize Your Ingredients With Leanne Brown
- This Cheese is Nuts / Make Your Own Plant Based Cheese With Julie Piatt
- Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes / Bryant Terry
- The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terrior / Identify plants and forage ingredients by Pascal Baudar
- Wild Fermentation / Sandor Ellix Katz
- Simple Green Meals: 100+ Plant-Powered Recipes to Thrive from the Inside Out: A Cookbook / Jen Hansard

To WATCH:
Surf Films
- Sprout / Thomas Campbell
- The Present / Thomas Campbell
- Morning of The Earth / Albert Fazon
- The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun / George Greenough
- Stoked and Broke / Cyrus Sutton
- Compassing / Cyrus Sutton
- Spoons / Origins Archival
- Single Fin Yellow / Jason Baffa
- One California Day / Mark Jeremias
- Shelter / Taylor Steele
- Castles in the Sky / Taylor Steele
- Endless Summer / Bruce Brown
- Five Summer Stories / Greg MacGillivray
- Thank You Mother / Ishka Folkwell
- Church of the Open Sky / Nathan Oldfield
- Zone Frequency / Jack Coleman
- Inner Wild / The Seea
Movies/Classics
- 2040
- Whale Rider
- Into The Wild
- The Motorcycle Diaries
- Garden State
- Darjeeling Limited
- Life Aquatic
- The Big Sick
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Big Lebowski
- Half Baked
- Pulp Fiction
- Forrest Gump
- Easy Rider
- Gandhi
- Seven Years in Tibet

Netflix
- Heal
- Maya Angelou – And Still I Rise
- Period: End of Sentence
- Grass is Greener
- Brenee Brown: The Call To Courage
- Jane
- Terra
- Crip Camp
- The Mask You Live In
- Chasing Coral
- John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky
- Cooked
- Gentefied
- The Last Laugh
- Fish People
- Chef’s Table
- High Maintenance (HBO)
Documentaries
Youtube
- Sea Lone / Onde Nostre x The Seea
- La Bailarina / Higher Latitude Films
- Sea Movies / KorduroyTV
- Weird Waves / Dylan Graves
- Paradise Awareness Outreach / Tanner Gudauskas
- Ryan Burch Pink Fish / KorduroyTV

Curated with love by Lex Weinstein