Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance.

Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.

It wasn't exactly a walk, to be clear. It was a dance. The wildest, most untamed and emotional dance of my life thus far. Uncivilized as it often felt, it was at its core a celebration of totally authentic humanness. A kind of vulnerability I'd never experienced before. 

Path of Love is a seven day process of exposing your naked soul to a room full of strangers who quickly become closer than family. And by naked soul, I mean all of it. There is no corner left unturned. The good, the bad, the ugly, the sexual, the addicted, the denied, the hidden, the downright shameful, and with a special focus on the "I vowed to take this part of me to the grave, but here it comes..."

For 6 years I worked in the startup realm designing environments intended to nurture the humans behind some incredibly visionary technology companies, namely Airbnb, SoundCloud, Headspace, and Couchsurfing.

My service to these companies was fundamentally rooted in my desire to connect people to their environment, their earth, to the food they eat, and to one another. I also knew that by giving to companies with a potentially huge [and positive!] global impact, my service and prayer would be amplified.

For about 3 years I had known of this 10 day meditation retreat called Vipassana. I heard it was 10 days of silence and meditation–no speaking, no physical contact, no eye contact, no phones, no computers, no yoga, no music, no writing, no reading, no chocolate. Simply you, alone inside your own mind. Immediately the idea terrified me which was of course a sign that I needed to do it.

Creating an office environment for a quickly growing tech company is no easy task. Scaling culture, accommodating hyper-growth, and infusing the brand into physical space are just a few of the challenges. But while designing SoundCloud’s new Headquarters in Berlin, Germany, I came across a new obstacle that I hadn’t faced at Airbnb in San Francisco; considerable diversity. With employees from 30 different nationalities sharing a single office, how could we design a space to satisfy the diverse work styles and cultures of the people who would live in it?

It was in India that I heard about fasting for the first time and I was totally weirded out. “No food for 10 days? I think I would die.” But over time the subject kept coming up around me and it started to pique my curiosity. I remembered that when my dog was feeling sick, she’d naturally refrain from eating for several days at a time. I learned that pretty much every major religion uses fasting as part of a spiritual practice. I also discovered how many Native American tribes also use fasting as part of a Vision Quest or similar pilgrimage.  Then I read about a man who hasn’t eaten for years, but only sun gazes, as if he were a tree or something. What?? On top of all this, I started to question my own rituals around food when I picked up an ugly habit of emotional eating after a really hard breakup during my mid-twenties. So I decided to give it a try.

I was called to the medicine for two reasons. The first was to heal a childhood trauma that I’d been carrying around for 25 years. The second is because I am very curious about all paths of healing, especially ancient ones. I am confused by what constitutes as healing today in my native country, America, where money convolutes pharmaceuticals and doctors prescribe pill after pill to numb symptoms, rather than focusing on curing disease at its root. I also believe in the plants of this planet, and that there are many natural medicines that we’ve lost touch with over time.

Happy Thanksgiving. Today we travel near and far to gather around a table full of food and family, giving thanks for the good fortune in our lives. No matter who you are or how (and if) you pray, I think we can all agree that without nature, our life would not be possible. Below is a Native American prayer to all parts of the natural world that allows us to live together on the one home we all share, this Earth. I recommend passing this around the table so each person can read a part, giving thanks and sending greetings to all living beings on the amazing and endlessly giving planet.