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2021 Recap!
I enjoy looking back + seeing all the progress I’ve made over the year. It helps me realize that I did in fact actually do things + work toward my goals.
Sometimes my brain likes to tell me that I’ve done NOTHING + gotten NOTHING accomplished, that I’ve wasted the whole year.
Does your brain do that to you too?
Maybe looking back through your year to see all that you’ve done will benefit you too!
This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you choose to make a purchase using my link (at no extra cost to you!). I only recommend things I have personally used + love!
- Took lots of walks at parks
- Hiked in the mountains as much as possible
- Helped my sister Gemini move
- Reconnected with AD
- Went to a wedding
- Made new friends
- Cried a lot
- Had some of the most painful menstrual cramps of my life
- Visited/traveled to:
- Durham/Raleigh NC
- NC mountains
- DC
- PA
- Cleveland OH
- Microdosed mushrooms a few times
- Took a voice lesson
- Saw the Van Gogh immersive exhibit
- Learned about my ancestry
- Got tested for STIs
- Learned about my HSV1+ status
- Helped out at the local camera store
- Went to the mountains with my dads side of the family
- Got vaccinated
- Finalized my name change!!! I am SO excited about this!
- Tattoo appointment almost every month (finished outlining + started color… vlog post about all this coming soon!)
- Went camping with a friend
- Journaled every day
- Did energy practices almost every day
Let me know what you’d like to see from me in 2022 by responding to my survey!
- Redid/updated my website
- Created a welcome automation for my newsletter
- Taught Self Portraits for Self Discovery + Connection workshop for The Light Factory
- Created Self Portraiture for Self Discovery + Connection ebook + Inspiration + Planning workbook
- Created + shared Queer Nature slideshow
- Applied for a residency + didn’t get it (practice failing to get closer to accomplishing!)
- Facilitated peer support sessions
- Quit social media!!! Thank you Leonie Dawson for helping me feel like this was even possible!
- Filmed for Nudism.TV (with my family!) for 4 days
- Worked on meditations with Jenna + Lior
- Photoshoots:
- Facilitated virtual nude gatherings: March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October (total of 8 gatherings)
- Facilitated a first look at self portraits members only event
I was only able to accomplish these things because of the support from members of my website, thank you so much!
- Became an LLC
- Got a business bank account
- GBTL events: Jan, Feb x2, March x2, April x2, May x3, June x2, July, August, September (total of 15 events!!!)
- GBTL met up in person to create + facilitate backstage pass
- Many many meetings + video chats + text messages behind the scenes
Click here to learn more about Going Beyond the Lens
- Explore More Summit 2020
- Sales Star with Leonie Dawson
- Marketing Without Social Media with Leonie Dawson
- Black Friday Training with Elizabeth Goddard
- Intersex Period Pandel Discussion with Crystal Hendricks, Mari Wrobi, Nick Manchester, Yezenia León Mezu, + Sean Saifa Wall
- Identity + Representation Panel Discussion with Roarie Yum, Jade Wilson, Paige Wilson, Deitric Robsinon-Miller, Kiah Glenn, + John Robinson-Miller IV
- Breathwork For Aliveness with Jennifer Patterson
- Emotion Mapping with Dawn Serra
- Boundaries Class with Luna Dietrich
- Live Your F*ck Yes Life Summit (non monogamy + polyamory) with Amanda Katherine Loy, Chad Spangler/polyamfam, Leanne Yau/polyphiliablog, Ebony/Marjani Lane, + Jess Levity/remodeledlove
- Women Race + Class by Angela Davis
- The Language of Emotions by Karla McLaren
- We Will Not Cancel Us by adrienne maree brown
- Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
- My Grandmothers Hands by Resmaa Menakem
- I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom
- Evolution’s Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden
- Rebloom by Rachael Maddox
- Seven Thousand Ways to Listen by Mark Nepo
- Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Check out the organized list of HUNDREDS of books I want to read!
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Last day for free video downloads + 50% off coupon code!
You are the reason I’m able to do any of this in the first place! I appreciate you all SO MUCH.
I want to show my gratitude for your support by giving y’all these extra gifts!
2 bodypaint art nude videos
click here + use code “iloveyou” for the free download (value $44.44)
2 guided meditation videos
click here + use code “iloveyou” for the free download (value $44.44)
Use coupon code “member50” for 50% off ANYTHING in my shop, including sale items! Click here to shop!
(excludes memberships + creator’s bundle)
Coupon codes are good through Sunday December 5th because I want to make sure yall have enough time to download the videos + browse my shop. ❤
THESE COUPON CODES EXPIRE IN:
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Members get more! Free video downloads + 50% off coupon code here!
You are the reason I’m able to do any of this in the first place! I appreciate you all SO MUCH.
I want to show my gratitude for your support by giving y’all these extra gifts!
2 bodypaint art nude videos
click here + use code “iloveyou” for the free download (value $44.44)
2 guided meditation videos
click here + use code “iloveyou” for the free download (value $44.44)
Use coupon code “member50” for 50% off ANYTHING in my shop, including sale items! Click here to shop!
(excludes memberships + creator’s bundle)
Coupon codes are good through Sunday December 5th because I want to make sure yall have enough time to download the videos + browse my shop. ❤
THESE COUPON CODES EXPIRE IN:
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Day 3 filming for Nudism.TV
Today my whole family (Mama, Daddy, my sister Gemini + I) did a segment on meditation, then Mama, Gemini + I did a segment on energy healing. Daddy did a solo segment about bourbon, + then all 4 of us did a segment of activities + games 😊
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NEW VIDEO! Energy Healing 101
In this video I give a brief overview of what energy healing is and how to incorporate it into your daily life.
I was working on this video for over a month because my impostor syndrome and perfectionism showed themselves, and here I am sharing it in it’s imperfection anyway. I hope you enjoy <3
Want more videos like this? What intrigued you the most? What’s the most exciting to you? Comment your interest below!
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FREE ARCHIVED BLOG & PHOTOSET
I originally wrote this for Patreon on July 8th 2017. I no longer use Patreon and have replaced it with my website (here) but thought I would share some of my old blogs with you for FREE to show my appreciation for you visiting my website! <3
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I’ve been up and down emotionally a lot lately (probably because I’m coming up on my period) so the other day I took a bath for some self care time and to release negativity. Anything you do for yourself and for your happiness is always wonderful, but when you can include ritual that’s even better (in my opinion)! I wanted to share this with you guys because it helps me feel 1000x better after a really shitty day.
Self care bathtime ritual:
- Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour for yourself when you won’t be disturbed
- Gather anything you would like with you while you’re in the bath: candles, incense, crystals, soft meditative music, a glass of water/tea, a good book
- Draw your bath. If you have them, put some some epsom salts and essential oils in (lavender is great for relaxation!), or a bath bomb, flower petals, or bubble bath
- If applicable, light your candles and/or incense, arrange your crystals, place your glass of water/tea and book within arms reach of where you’ll be in the tub
- Get in and relax for at least 10-15 minutes either doing nothing, leisurely reading, or meditating. For meditating, I like to lay all the way in the water so that everything but my face is submerged and listen to my heartbeat underwater. I take deep breaths in rhythm with my heartbeat, keeping each inhale and exhale the same number of beats and trying to lengthen my breaths. Inhaling counting 5 heartbeats, exhaling counting 5 heartbeats. Inhaling counting 6 or 7 (or more) heartbeats, exhaling counting the same number of heartbeats. If I want to meditate with my crystals I pick one up and look at every part of it, noticing the colors, textures, the way it feels in my hand, the weight of it, if it reflects anything, or seeing if there are any rainbows inside. I’ll do this with each one in turn, seeing how they make me feel and letting my mind become quiet as I focus on my senses of vision and touch.
- Once you’re in a calm relaxed state, either happy and content (or at least neutral), think of things you would like to release and let go of. What would you like to cleanse from your life?
- Cup your hands together so they create a bowl shape and use your hands to bring water to your face. Run your hands from your face, up past your temples, up over and down the back of your head, down your shoulders, chest, and thighs.
- Say to yourself either out loud or in your mind (I prefer to say it out loud because it’s more powerful) “I release *insert that which you would like to let go of* from my life. I allow this water to cleanse me of that which no longer serves me.”
- Cleanse yourself this way as many times as you want or need to, or for however many things you’d like to release. Examples of things I cleanse myself of: negativity, self-doubt, comparing myself to others
- I suggest meditating after cleansing yourself, a lovingkindness meditation would be a wonderful meditation to start with.
- When you are ready to get out, unplug the drain but stay in the bath. As the water drains, visualize all of that which you want to release and let go of going down the drain with the water. Watch as all negativity, self-doubt, and comparison disappear down the drain.
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I’ve added 2 videos showing a couple of the crystal grids I’ve used for bathtime rituals. I’ve also added 17 fun boomerangs I took after a recent bath… lots of booty boomerangs! Make sure to check those out. =]
All members have access to this complete 27 image film photoset by clicking here, the 20 image digital photoset by clicking here, the 22 image Instax nudes set from an NC mountain trip by clicking here, bathtime crystal grids videos by clicking here, and post bath boomerangs by clicking here.
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Amanda Jane Maternity
Video members now have access to:
- vlog with the story behind this photoset of Amanda Jane during her second pregnancy
- 25 image complete film photoset
- 9 image complete Instax photoset
- 13.5 minute body awareness meditation at sunset in Goblin Valley
First Look members now have access to:
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everything above
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61 image complete self portrait photoset of sunset near Canyonlands
- 28 image complete self portrait photoset of sunset on the edge near Canyonlands
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2 minutes of BTS video
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Amanda Jane Maternity
CAPTION FOR VIDEO ABOVE:
Hi friends! Today is Thursday again, so I’ll talk about the photoset that’s coming out this weekend first. I wanted to come out here where it’s shady. So this weekend I’m sharing a photoset that I took a year or two ago of Amanda Jane who doesn’t, well, she does have social media but she wants to be anonymous, or kinda anonymous. She is actually the partner of my exes brother who I photographed her in Florida, if you’ve been a patron for a while you’ve seen the pregnancy photos I took of her in Florida, some of them were in the ocean in the water it was awesome. She had that baby and then she got pregnant again and I’ve photographed her while she was pregnant for both of her pregnancies. This one that I’m sharing with you this time were images that I took of her in my back yard (here!) during her second pregnancy, so I’m excited to share those with you, I think they’re really awesome. I believe I have Instax AND film to share with you so look forward to that!
What else do I want to talk about? Um… so much has been going on in the world. CONTENT WARNING: I’m going to be talking about racism and violence from the police so if you don’t want to hear about that you can skip through. When I’m done talking about that I’ll wave my hands a bunch so you can skip to find that, how about that? So when you see me doing this then I’m done, it’s the end of the trigger warning.
So what’s going on this country right now is FUCKED UP and it’s been going on for 400 years basically and its seemingly just now coming to the surface for most white people who are actually finally realizing this is happening sadly because we’ve all been gaslit and lied to basically our whole lives, and we’ve been taught and had propaganda shoved down our throats about how cops are good and how everyone is equal, which both of those are lies. I have been really mad a lot lately and it’s totally justified and yeah rage is valid and I’m going to say it could definitely be healing, especially for Black people. If they can let their emotions out then that is excellent because they deserve to be able to have all of their emotions even if they’re hard for us white people to witness or understand. It’s our duty as white people with fuck tons of privilege to let Black people have all the feels that they fucking want to have. Period. So yeah I’m totally FOR everything that Black people are doing to have their voices heard. If you’re a white person and you’re talking about how looting shouldn’t happen and violence and fires and stuff shouldn’t happen, you can either google why that is totally wrong and why all of these things are valid and worthy expressions of emotion and if you have a problem understanding that then please send me a message and I can send you some resources because you should not be reaching out to Black people for that because they already have enough on their fucking plate than having a white person coming into their emails or DMs and asking for education. It is not their job to do emotional labor for free for a fucking white person. So as a white person, I am taking on some of that emotional labor, if you really need some resources about how everything that’s happening right now needs to happen, then reach out to me and I can send you some info. You don’t even really need to reach out to me, you can just go on my instagram and look at my protest highlights, there’s a fuck ton of information, I have 2 highlights now because I filled up the first highlight. And also in my instagram bio I have a link to a lot of resources for things that you can do to help with this cause. I know that police violence and racism is something that’s really big for a lot of people to talk about right now because that’s what’s happening, but that doesn’t mean that this is the only time that its happened and it doesn’t mean that right now is the time to talk about it and then next week we’re going to forget about it. This has to be an ongoing conversation until police are abolished and the fucking militarization of our country in general is taken down and ended. My personal view which I think a lot of people would agree with me is that we need to completely abolish police and all military, period. All it does is further separates us and further traumatizes us and hurts everyone and if instead of spending all the money on military and police, if we spent that money on healthcare, mental health, trauma resolution, trauma healing, food banks, housing (especially for Black people), if we took all of the money from military and police and put it towards our communities, we wouldn’t need the police anyway. They just continue and provoke and incite violence. I have a lot of feelings about this and if you have different feelings from me please don’t try to convince me otherwise because I can’t be convinced, because I know that especially Black people deserve way fucking better than this and we need to start working in that direction. Also reparations need to happen. Just because you personally didn’t own slaves doesn’t mean that your ancestors didn’t. As a white person it’s our responsibility to dismantle racism, it’s not Black people’s responsibility. They are the victims of racism, it’s not their responsibility to do anything about it, they just need to survive and take care of themselves, and do whatever the fuck they want to do. Period.
END OF CONTENT WARNING if anyone was fast forwarding you can come back to me, I’m going to talk about different things now.
This weekend I’m going to be offline Friday Saturday and Sunday, so that’s starting tomorrow. I planned this a couple weeks ago where I’m going to be doing an at home retreat and self care. I’ve been doing a bunch of things up to now in terms of helping people and giving information to people about the things I was just talking about. And also doing actionable things myself but I don’t want to say exactly what I’ve been doing because it’s important to not give evidence to the cops haha. This weekend is kindof an emotionally big weekend for me. There’s an important date this weekend that I wanted to make sure I was taking care of myself around. Also on Friday there’s a fucking um… (it will have been yesterday by the time you watch this, bc today is Thursday but when I post this it will be Saturday) so yesterday, Friday, was a full moon and an eclipse and if you haven’t already noticed it in your own life, full moons, even without eclipses, full moons like turbo-charge our emotions and eclipses intensify that even more. So I wanted to definitely make sure I was taking care of myself, also because the moon is in Sagittarius, which is my sun and moon, the moon is in Sagittarius during the eclipse on Friday so that felt personal to me. And just with everything going on and I’ve been really stressed out and feeling all kinds of feelings so I know that I really need to take care of myself. So I won’t be available this weekend at all. I probably won’t even be on my phone or on Instagram or anything, I plan on spending a lot of time outside and moving my body and taking baths and doing ritual stuff and whatever the fuck I feel like doing. So if you need to reach out to me, expect for me to answer next week.
So… yeah. In terms of what I already had planned for my photosets and video releases here on my website, this weekend was the last one that I had planned, but I do have a lot more content to share I just haven’t planned out what I’m sharing when, so I know I still probably have at least a month’s worth of content to share with you. Once I get through all that content, I still haven’t taken any new photosets, once I finish that, I know I’m going to continue doing videos and probably photos at some point, I just don’t know when. So the way that I have my website will probably shift a little bit more again. I’m thinking about doing a pay as you can membership and just having all of the members, except for the All Access members who get a monthly one on one hour long video chat with me as part of their membership, with the exception of those, all of the other memberships are going to have all of the same content and it’s just pay what you can. So that way it’s more accessible for more people at different price points and then you can just pay literally what you can. Any amount will help me because any amount is better than nothing because this is literally my whole livelihood. I’m thinking of doing that and once I go through all the content I have backlogged I’ll still continue to make videos but I might not have as much in terms of quantity of content that I share every week, that might shift, BUT I have over 11,000 photos and over 2,000 videos that are already in my archives. Especially if you’re a new member you probably haven’t seen it all, I have a FUCK TON of content. I don’t think that there will be any lowering of quality in terms of memberships, there just won’t be as frequent of new updates, because literally I already have a fuck ton of content already on here and its definitely worth the membership cost to have unlimited access to it every month. So I don’t exactly have all of it figured out and planned out yet, it’s just what I’ve been thinking about doing because accessibility is important to me and because I think people…. hi fly, there’s a fly flying around me right now. I think the people who are able to afford the higher memberships, that’s wonderful and I super appreciate that, and I think that your higher membership cost is what’s going to allow people at lower membership prices still be able to have access to my content. So for anyone who is considering any membership, I appreciate you, and the people who don’t have the ability to pay as much as you, probably appreciate it too that your higher priced membership allows them to have a lower priced membership, so thank you for that.
I think that’s all I have to say right now, my hand is getting tired from holding this, it’s hot out here and I have a lot of other computer work to do, plus this is a really long video already, it’s almost 15 minutes, I usually do 10 or less. I just wanted to say I love you and thank you so much for being here, and I appreciate you and I literally couldn’t do this without you. Literally, you’re the reason I can pay my rent and buy myself food. So… I don’t know what’s in store for the future, but I know that I’m always going to be doing my best and I’m always going to be creating something, whether I’m taking a really long break from creating or not, that doesn’t mean I’m done creating forever, that just means I need a break because I burnt myself our this summer. Okay, I love you, thank you for being here, I’ll talk to you next week.
If you haven’t joined in on the members only video chat with me on Thursdays yet, I’m inviting you to come join us! It’s really fun, there’s usually a handful of us there, we sometimes talk about a certain topic, sometimes we just chit chat about our days, sometimes I do things, sometimes we’re just hanging out, it’s always different. It’s been really fun, it’s every Thursday at 6pm eastern, I would love to have you join me! I always post a post with the link usually within about 15 minutes of the start of the chat so if you’d like to join us please do! I love you so much! Bye!
Video members:
click here to view the full film photoset of Amanda Jane during her second pregnancy
click here to view the full Instax photoset of Amanda Jane
click here to view the body awareness meditation at sunset in Goblin ValleyFirst Look members:
click here to view the self portrait photoset of sunset near Canyonlands
click here to view the self portrait photoset of sunset on the edge near Canyonlands
click here to view the BTS video -
Meditation Basics: How to get Started
Check out my newest youtube livestream about getting started with meditation!
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FREE ARCHIVED BLOG & PHOTOSET
I originally wrote this for Patreon on January 22nd 2017. I no longer use Patreon and have replaced it with my website (here) but thought I would share some of my old blogs with you for FREE to show my appreciation for you visiting my website! <3
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Happy weekend! From last weekend’s poll it looks like y’all are most interested in meditation, mantras, and positive affirmations. That’s exciting for me because these are some of the things I already know a lot about! Other topics (like Reiki and numerology) I am very interested in and will have to do more research and reading to learn it so that you can learn with me!
I lumped together meditation, mantras, and positive affirmations in the poll because they can all go hand-in-hand (but don’t necessarily have to). As an introduction I’ll give you the dictionary definitions:
Merriam-Webster’s definition of meditation:
-to engage in contemplation or reflection
-to engage in mental exercise (as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness
-to focus one’s thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over
-to plan or project in the mindMerriam-Webster’s definition of mantra: a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditating / a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone’s basic beliefs
Merriam-Webster’s definition of affirmation: a solemn and often public declaration of the truth or existence of something.
You can tell that they work well together already, can’t you? Mantras and positive affirmations can easily be integrated into meditation but can be used on their own as well. I’ll share some of my mantras and positive affirmations with you later on in another post. But first! I want to talk about meditation.
I’ve taken meditation classes, my mom teaches meditation, and I do a type of meditation daily while I’m driving to and from work (yes, while driving safely!). I want to spend more time in deeper meditation than what I currently do but it’s hard to make the time to do it. I need to remind myself that I don’t need 30 minutes or an hour set aside every day for meditation, 5 or 10 minutes is also just as good, and is certainly better than nothing. My mom says that if you can’t find 5 minutes in a day to meditate, then you really need an hour. Meditation is cumulative, every time you do it adds to your total time in meditation and the more you do it, even if it’s just 5 minutes a day, the easier it is to get into a meditative state.
There are hundreds and thousands and probably millions of different ways to meditate. I know that when most people think of meditation they think of the classic sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed and holding your hands just right type of meditation. Yes, that is one way to meditate, but what if you’re someone who has bad hips or knees or a bad back? That would not be comfortable at all, and if you’re in pain or uncomfortable then you’re not meditating, you’re thinking “when do I get to move so that this doesn’t hurt anymore?” Meditation can be done sitting on the floor, sitting on a chair, laying down, standing up, walking, driving, doing dishes, whatever you can do while clearing your mind or focusing your mind on only one thing. Obviously if you’re going to be meditating while driving (like I do on the way to and from work) it won’t be as deep of a meditation because you still have to pay attention to the road and all of your surroundings. There is a way to drive safely while “auto-piloting” and focusing your mind and thoughts. I want you to know that if one meditation doesn’t work for you, don’t worry, that doesn’t mean that you can’t meditate, that just means you should just try something else next time.
Basics of meditation:
-get comfortable (but not TOO comfortable, you don’t want to fall asleep, unless you really need sleep then go ahead and take a nap and meditate later)
-focus on your breathing
-clear your mind, focus on one thing
-if a thought comes, acknowledge it and let it goYou may have to experiment to see what works best for you. Do you like having incense? Background music? Candles? Do you like creating a crystal grid and sitting in the middle of it? Do you like meditating sitting on a cushion on the floor, sitting on a chair, or laying down? Do you meditate better in the morning, afternoon or evening? Do you like setting a timer so you don’t have to worry about what time it is or how long you’ve been meditating? Do you like movement in your meditation, such as lightly swaying back and forth, toe-tapping, or walking? Do you like the simplest meditation where you just focus on your breath, or do you prefer using a mantra, or do you do best with a guided meditation? What works well for one person might not work at all for someone else. Experiment to find what works best for YOU.
There are some great meditation apps that have soothing music, timers, and even guided meditations. One I’ve tried and liked is “Insight Timer.”
I will share more meditations with you in another blog post, but let’s start out with a basic meditation where you focus on your breath. Read the following paragraph and then hold the questions and suggestions in your mind while you meditate for at least five minutes. Maybe set a timer so that you don’t have to look at the clock.
Find a comfortable seat. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose and let it all out through your mouth with a sigh. Continue breathing deeply through your nose. Feel your breath in your lungs, your belly, your nostrils. Feel that the air is cool when you breathe it in and how it’s warmer when you breathe it out. Listen to how your breath sounds. Can you hear/feel your heartbeat? Can you make your inhales the same length as your exhales? Can you make each breath longer? Imagine the air as a color coming into your nostrils, swirling as it reaches your lungs, and imagine it dissipating as you breathe it out. If a thought comes to you, acknowledge it and let it go. Your thoughts will still be there waiting for you when you’re finished. Do you feel more calm and relaxed?
Let me know if you’re able to try this breathing meditation, I’d love to hear how you feel about it! Have you meditated before now? Did you like it? Why or why not?
Would you like it if I made some guided meditation videos?
And now for some self portraits! There are also 2 new aerial silks videos! I’m honestly a little embarrassed at how weak I’ve become since I got wrist drop at the end of May (not from doing silks) and haven’t been able to go back regularly until now. BUT! I’m sure my muscle memory will help a lot and since I’ve built the muscle and strength before I know I can do it again. I’ll just not look as cool doing silks for a little while until I get back into shape. It shouldn’t take way too long though because I’m going at least twice a week again! Yay! <3
All members have access to this complete 80 image self portrait photoset by clicking here.