Summer Solstice with Krissy Shields - EP 050
Jun 18, 2025
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Are you feeling the intensity of summer energy—and wondering how to channel it into something meaningful?
In this episode, I’m joined by the radiant Krissy Shields as we dive into the powerful energy of the summer solstice. We explore what this seasonal shift means for our inner rhythms, our work, and our relationships. We talk about how feminine energy, creativity, and the power of play can help us move through this season with more ease and alignment. You’ll hear us reflect on how to be more discerning in your commitments, nurture what’s already growing, and make space for magic by honoring nature’s cycles. This episode is a warm, grounded invitation to lean into the light, listen to your body, and grow with intention.
Episode Takeaways:
- The summer solstice is a celebration of peak light and creative potential.
- Feminine energy is a powerful guide for navigating summer with intention.
- Rest and play aren’t distractions—they’re essential for sustainable productivity.
- Discernment helps us focus on what truly matters and let go of the rest.
- Cultivating what we’ve already invested in often brings more growth than chasing new things.
- Growth is a result of small, intentional steps over time.
- Collaboration and community are essential for deeper transformation.
- Facing our fears can lead to meaningful personal expansion.
- Nature teaches us to slow down and trust the process.
Key Insights:
“When I'm weeding something out, I ask, ‘What's no longer serving me? How can I be more efficient and clear, but also sustained?’” — Krissy Shields
“Just because something's attractive to you doesn't mean that it's for you or that it's for your bigger vision or your higher purpose. There is that time of discernment, of weeding, of sifting through what are the things I'm actually going to invest in over the next months to make sure that those things grow so they're ready to harvest, and what are the things that need to be removed.” — Rachel Anzalone
Resources Mentioned:
- Episode 41 - Spring Equinox: Rebirthing Your Business through Seasonal Wisdom
- 10x is Easier than 2x - by Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy
- The Science of Scaling - by Dr. Benjamin Hardy & Blake Erickson
Connect with Krissy Shields:
- Instagram: @krissyshields
Connect With Me:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @RachelAnzalone
- Facebook: Rachel.Anzalone
- LinkedIn: RachelAnzalone
Question for Your Reflection:
How can you honor the energy of the sun and the wisdom of the season in your own way?
Did this episode resonate with you? Share it with another visionary leader who needs to hear this message, and don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps other impact-driven entrepreneurs find their way to our community.
Remember: Your pleasure is your power. 💫
Ready to step into the pleasure revolution and transform how you do business? Let's explore how to maximize impact, profit, and pleasure in alignment with the new paradigm. Schedule a time to connect with me right here >>>
Episode Transcript
Rachel Anzalone (00:00)
“Are you optimizing a thing that should not exist? When you're talking about weeding the garden, it's like you're there, you're watering, you’re caring for your plants, but are you watering the weeds? Or are you watering the plants that you're trying to grow? And if you don't go in from time to time and pull the weeds, you're putting all that effort in, but the water and the nutrients in the soil are feeding the weeds just as much as they're feeding the plants that you're actually intentionally trying to harvest.”
Rachel Anzalone (01:08)
Hello and welcome to Pleasure and Profits. I'm your host, Rachel Anzalone, and this episode, today's episode, is episode number 50, which feels like such a milestone, such a landmark, especially considering when I launched this podcast about a year and a half ago, that it really was just an experiment. I was gonna test out some things, I was gonna give it a try, and here we are on episode 50, and I'm really, really excited about the next 50.
So thank you for being here with me, and I hope you stick around, and we celebrate our 100th episode together again. So today's episode, we're talking about the summer solstice, and the summer solstice is a time of peak light. It's the longest day of the year, the longest period of daylight. It's about full expression, it’s about the height of creative power. And in a lot of ways, it can be perceived as a sort of masculine energy. Like there's an intensity to it. There's an externalness to it. There's like a forcefulness to it.
And what I hope to share with you in this episode is a different way to look at that, a different perspective to look at summer through the lens of feminine energy and how we as women entrepreneurs in particular can use it to our advantage and how to really lean into and embrace this season.
And so I invited my friend, Krissy Shields, back to join us again. She was here with us for episode 41, talking about the Spring Equinox. And so I thought we'd bring her back again to talk about the summer solstice and how the energy of the solstice lives and breathes through nature, through plants, and the similarities and the parallels between that and the way that we as women, as people, as entrepreneurs, show up in the world and in our business.
So in consideration of the satisfaction strategy, this summer season is about fullness, it's about full implementation, it's about the very beginnings of the harvest time. It's not full harvest season, that comes later on in the summer, but it's really a time of identifying what we're gonna invest in and committing to those investments, committing to the nourishment and the tending, which you'll hear Krissy and I talk about.
Last time when we spoke with Krissy, she was in New York City in her apartment there, and we talked about hearing the children laughing in the background and sort of the noises of the city. And on today's episode, when Krissy and I recorded, she was upstate in the Catskills in her home on some really beautiful land with gardens and a yurt that she and her family have built that she'll talk about and what the plans are for that. And it was so fun to talk with her. Truly, she had walked out of the garden and sat down and had a conversation with us.
So I will share Krissy's introduction here with you again. And if you have the opportunity to go back and listen to episode 41, I highly recommend it. Krissy is a wellness expert, an activist, and an artist, and she has been empowering women and families with accessible movement practices, spiritual herbalism, and mindfulness for over 20 years.
Over the course of those years and in her business now, she weaves together her passion for social justice and advocacy for maternal health. She's led yoga teacher training programs around the US. She has taught in homeless shelters, in prisons, in public schools and has led global experiences to foster well-being through embodied movement and collective care.
As I shared, she lives in New York City with her family and in the Catskill Mountains where we talked to her for this episode. She's in deep reciprocity with the land as you'll hear her share her relationship with the animals, with the plants she's growing, with the plants growing wild around her is truly inspiring. And I encourage you to reach out to Krissy, connect with her. And if you ever have the opportunity to join her for one of her practices, one of the retreats that she is going to be leading on her land in the yurt, that you take full advantage of that because she truly is a wise, wise, wise woman and such a thoughtful facilitator and curator of experiences for women and embodiment and connection to nature.
I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Rachel Anzalone (05:25)
Krissy, welcome back to Pleasure and Profits. I'm so happy to have you back here with us again.
Krissy (05:31)
I'm so happy to be here.
Rachel Anzalone (05:33)
I was thinking about our recording for the Equinox and all the hiccups we ran into and then how they just snowballed into the editing process and sort of everything and saying a little blessing for us that this one will go smoothly.
Krissy (05:53)
That Meno brain and outdoor children playing, we’ll just be fine.
Rachel Anzalone (05:58)
All the things. Yeah, absolutely.
As we're, I mean the reason we're talking again is because we talked on the equinox and now we are approaching the solstice, which will be happening within a couple of days of this episode coming out. So our intention here is really to dig into what is the energy of the solstice? How is it different from the spring equinox? What is this particular transition about and how do we embrace it?
Krissy (06:33)
Yeah, in terms of in the natural world, it is a midsummer. It is the inspiration for the Shakespeare play, Midsummer Night's Dream. And this time is a revelry, much like the Equinox has, it's a fire festival. And like soon after that it's Beltane and and you know another fire festival. You could consider the solstice a time of play, of joy, and of bringing in particular harvesting that you, that you find. St. John's-wort is a plant that you know comes to life around now and Valerian is something that's blooming in Yarrow. So there is stuff to harvest. It's not peak harvest, but it's like a lushness. And there's something sweet about the garden at this point compared to in the beginning, it’s like, it feels sparse, right?
Rachel Anzalone (07:50)
Yeah.
Krissy (07:56)
You know, it's not like everything's not like some of the things like Comfrey, which I have a little bit here. It's a pretty little purple flower and blossom and the bumblebees love it. But Comfrey is like kind of wilting, kind of like hanging over, but mostly everything is like, I am here.
Rachel Anzalone (08:22)
Yeah, it's like strong, energized, like the sort of peak energy, this peak power season of the year.
Krissy (08:29)
Without a doubt. And even the flowers that are blossoming, they're like, there's a start of a blossom, you know, and some of them are in full bloom, and some of them just bloom in the sunlight.
Rachel Anzalone (08:46)
Oh yeah, yeah. I have these big, beautiful rock rose plants in my front yard. And so first here in Texas, as I've shared, it's not easy to grow things. And my neighbor has a green thumb, big time, and obsesses and loves this garden. And so he knows that I don't pay as much attention as him.
Krissy (08:57)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (09:12)
And I'm not into watering the grass, like for all the environmental reasons and all of that stuff. And so he gave me a rock rose a couple of years ago and I planted it, a tiny little rock rose. And then I got into second one and these plants have gone from these tiny little like, you know, what you buy for $3 at the plant store to these enormous like three feet wide, couple feet, just huge rock rose plants.
Minimal water, they're so hardy here in the Texas sun. And the flowers bloom in the morning and they're bright pink. And then as the evening comes, they close down and they like go to sleep for the night. And it's one of my favorite plants to look at.
Krissy (10:02)
I wonder, like, can't you just turn your entire lawn into that?
Rachel Anzalone (10:07)
Maybe, that might be coming. We'll see.
Krissy (10:11)
Like, I don't know, all of the like, upkeep in the lawn. You know, I think I said this the last time. It's like seed vomit, you know?
Rachel Anzalone (10:20)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So in this this summer solstice, like, you we think about it, it's the longest day of the year, right? It's the day with the most sun. And so it really does have that sort of like peak fullness, energy celebration, like it feels very energetically charged in a way that's different. Like we talked about the equinox and the spring feeling sort of muddy and sleepy and transitional.
And so when you think about that energy of the peak power, like what does that mean for women in particular, especially when you talk about, you know, women being sort of like the internal, that, you know, winter internal yin, like that's very feminine energy. What does it mean for us and how do we work with it? When we're looking at it, we're not in that energy, we're in this sort of like very intense, powerful, external, bright energy.
Krissy (11:27)
Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of joy and play that can come and humor. Like, it's almost like lightness of being is a more feminine way of looking at what peak power is. And that doesn't necessarily mean that we can't like power next to the masculine within us, like we can power just the same. I feel like our adrenals need to be in much more care, in much more, especially with heat. So if you tend to burn fast and quick, and if you're a fiery type of person like me, I have to be very careful. So I do a lot of cooling.
Foods that I eat and you know in the heat of the summer. So not quite happening right now. You know certainly in a few weeks we're going to be in like that kind of weather in the northeast. You are, I know in Texas.
Rachel Anzalone (12:43)
Yeah, but it's not even the peak yet. Like it really, the peak is yet to come, even though it is already hot. Yeah.
Krissy (12:51)
Yeah, yeah. So I feel like it's finding more of that play within the work and the humor. I believe that that is going to have us break through in ways and as we redefine and recalibrate to a new paradigm that we are moving into, that we are in.
Rachel Anzalone (13:00)
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's such an interesting perspective. I think I've always sort of held this idea of like summer and the intensity of it and that sort of that masculine energy as being, yeah, like that having a very specific intensity to it. And to think about that in terms of like just approaching it differently, just approaching it differently as women and from this sort of feminine energy is that like, it might be brighter, it might be more full, but it doesn't have to be full on. And respecting that, you know, the siesta, the afternoon, resting in the heat of the afternoon and not like pushing too hard in the heat and all of that, that we forget sometimes, I think, in our culture in particular, in our society.
Krissy (14:09)
Oh for sure. We have a nine to five mentality. And if you've ever been to, I was in Spain for the first time and I was like, okay, I guess I nap now. And it was amazing. And it was because I got a stomach bug. And so I was like, why is this guy snoring next to me in this? And I was like, I was in Sevilla.
Rachel Anzalone (14:27)
Mmm. Where were you?
I mean, where were you that somebody was next to you? Like, and you could hear him.
Krissy (14:40)
Oh, just in a cheap hotel where all the students are snoring.
Rachel Anzalone (14:45)
Oh you could like literally hear somebody from the room next door.
That's amazing. I love that.
Krissy (14:52)
Yeah, traveling in my 20s.
Rachel Anzalone (14:57)
Yeah, yes.
Krissy (15:00)
I’ll take what I can get, a bed. The desk is cool, but a bed is great.
Rachel Anzalone (15:01)
Yeah. I mean, there is so much of the world that doesn't push through and the peak of the afternoon and doesn't push through in the summer. You know, the clients that I've had over the years were in England. You know, there's very much a like we take the month of August off kind of which I really appreciate. And you know, it's interesting in this moment.
So we've talked about spring as sort of the time to cultivate, cultivate joy, plant the seeds. And then transitioning into summer, sort of having this feeling of like, maybe like it's go time, but it's not really go time, right? It's like you're not harvesting all the vegetables yet. You're not like in full swing, right? You're caring for it all.
Krissy (15:59)
Yeah, it's weeding time.
Rachel Anzalone (16:01)
Mmm. Oh that's good. It's ruling time. It's clearing time because so much is coming up.
Krissy (16:05)
It's clearing.
Right, so it's like, what's gonna suffocate? I just had this vine-like plant. I don't know the name of it, but it was suffocating my evening primrose oil. I could have missed it, you know, it's a sea of green. But I got a little closer and I was like, what? What? And that would have completely suffocated the plant. And so I agreed. You know, it's things like that. It's like, what? When I'm weeding something out, like what's no longer serving me? How can I be more efficient and clear, but also like sustained?
Rachel Anzalone (16:44)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Krissy (16:56)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (16:57)
Yeah, and on the heels of the spring where we focused on joy and cultivating joy and being in that sort of pleasure experience, what happens often when we do that is we start to attract all sorts of things to ourselves. And then there is a time for discernment to, you know, just because something's attractive to you doesn't mean that it's for you or that it's for your bigger vision or your higher purpose.
And so there is that time of discernment, of weeding, of sifting through what are the things I'm actually going to invest in over the next months to make sure that those things grow so they're ready to harvest, and what are the things that need to be removed.
Krissy (17:42)
Yeah, it's really interesting because we did talk about in the Equinox joy and I think that it's essential that we continue to always talk about joy and like not let, you know, the world kind of shade us into not thinking about joy. So I think that this is also a time of joy. And I might say that for every season.
So I should check myself. But you're right, it is discernment. And it's also like, I planted seeds. Now we know like this didn't go and this did go, right? Like some seeds took last year, the algorithm had, you know, this plant growing, you know, and or this program working, but this year for some reason did the same things and it's not working.
Rachel Anzalone (18:13)
Yeah.
Krissy (18:42)
It's like, okay, reassess, like step back a little bit and like, you know, what is, you know, as we lean into that, that pleasure piece, that joy piece, it's like, you know, what, well, what is working for right now? Sometimes it's a little, a little duct tape and dental floss.
Rachel Anzalone (19:04)
Yeah. I just came back from an event I was at for the last, like for a day and a half in Austin. And the topic was destiny. And so there was a lot of speakers, a lot of conversation about where you want to go and what are the things that you need to do to get there in terms of mindset, in terms of actions that you're taking.
And I have a couple of things I wrote down that are just coming to mind that are specific to what we're talking about now. So I'm gonna grab my notebook. So hold on one second.
Krissy (19:39)
Yeah. And I'm going to show and tell if anyone's watching a little harvest that I made.
Rachel Anzalone (19:49)
Ooh, what is that?
Krissy (19:51)
I have dandelion and mugwort and some mint. And I was going to get a little bit of valerian because that was also blooming. It made me so happy. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (19:57)
Mmm. That's awesome.
It is definitely the season, right? Like just my basil plants going crazy right now. My cat, I planted catnip. I did not know I was gonna become the neighborhood drug dealer for the cats, but that's what's happening is every stray cat in the neighborhood is now coming to my front yard. They're into it. It's doing well.
Krissy (20:14)
That's awesome. You're very popular.
Rachel Anzalone (20:36)
Yeah, very popular with the cats.
Krissy (20:38)
That's hysterical. I was just thinking about something that didn't go, my basil did not go.
Rachel Anzalone (20:49)
Really? Interesting. It's very fickle. I used to grow it in Ohio all the time and it would just grow like crazy. I've been in Texas for nine years. I planted it three or four times and never been able to get it to go. And this year, I don't know, I put it in a pot this time and I water it every day and it's like just going crazy on me.
Krissy (21:09)
Yeah, and that was the plant that last year I planted Tulsi basil, you know, holy basil, and it took off where I had tons and tons and tons, and this year none of it worked. So, and now it's being eaten. So what'd got?
Rachel Anzalone (21:16)
Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.
Okay, so here's what I wanted to share. So there's a book called 10X is Easier Than 2X. And it was written by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan is his co-author, I believe. And Dr. Hardy has a new book coming out. It's called The Science of Scaling. And so he actually spoke at this event and he said something that was really interesting. Part of this whole philosophy of the 10X is easier than 2X is that if you want to 10X anything, like if you wanted to 10X your garden, you would have to approach it in a very different way. Like you don't personally have the physical man hours, the ability to do all of that. So you'd have to figure out a different way to do it, right?
And there are so many examples of how, you know, if you wanted to say 10x a particular plant, then you would focus all your energy on that plant and not on the others, right? And so he talks a lot about that this discernment of figuring out what are the things that are actually going to help you get to that goal or that vision and what are the things that are distracting you and holding you back. And one of the questions he posed is, are you optimizing a thing that should not exist?
And so when you're talking about like weeding the garden, it's like you're there, you're watering, you're caring for your plants, but are you watering the weeds? Or are you watering the plants that you're trying to grow? And if you don't go in from time to time and pull the weeds, then you're putting all that effort in. But the water and the nutrients in the soil are feeding the weeds just as much as they're feeding the plants that you're actually intentionally trying to harvest. And at the end of the season, what you'll end up with of the things you want is less than you would if you had been really intentional about what it is that you're watering and taking care of.
Krissy (23:51)
Yeah, and I wanna talk for a second about perfectionism in terms of, because, you know, my garden, I see some people's gardens and they look so beautiful. I don't know that my garden is like, maybe in time, I'll feel like there's artistry in it. Like it's a little scrappy. But, sometimes I weed something that I'm like, that was a calendula. Like I thought it was a weed. I mean, at this point I know what calendula is, but like that was a bad example. But like sometimes I'll pull something and I'm like, I don't know if that was. And I think that perfectionism can lead us to not move forward.
And for fear of making a mistake, that's where we get suffocated by, you know, weeds that are overtaking and no longer allowing the thing that you planted, the medicine that you planted to flourish because they're being suffocated by whatever weed it is. So I think it's a, that's also discernment.
Rachel Anzalone (24:51)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Krissy (25:15)
Yeah, letting yourself make mistakes and forgive yourself for making mistakes of weeding out something, a relationship that, you know, you know, maybe could have worked. I don't know. It's something to consider.
Rachel Anzalone (25:32)
Yeah, I do think I agree with you. I think we have to be very careful about extremes and that most things live in the gray area you know, it's not like you've pulled every weed or you're doing none because you're paralyzed, but like you're working on it you're doing the best you can, right? And if you have a year where the basil doesn't grow, then, you know, you try again next year, right?
I had a funny experience this year where, so we have it like our front, the front of our house is south facing. And so it just gets beaten on by the sun in the summer. And the backyard is not. The backyard, the grass grows and it's fine. The front yard, it's like, we have grass in the spring and then usually by July, it's like turning brown and then that's it. Cause I, I'm not gonna water grass.
Krissy (26:08)
Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (26:30)
Opposed to watering the grass. And so I have done some things like xeriscaped like half of it. And I have some, you know, I've planted things like rock rose and pomegranate bushes that I never water and they're huge and they produce fruit and they're fantastic. And this year, because Texas has been in a drought for so long at this point that even in April, we didn't have grass. In May, we didn't have grass. And I was like, it's just, there is nothing.
And so I started to go on a hunt for what am I gonna do with this? Like I'm not gonna wood chip the whole front yard. I had to figure something else out. So I started researching drought tolerant plants. And this one that kept coming up is called horse herb. And I go to the plant store that I love that's close to my house. It's a small one and I asked him if they had any and he said, no, we had some but it's gone. And he's like, you know, people don't ask for it a lot. Most people are pulling it as weeds. And I was like, huh, okay.
And I go to another plant store and they had some and I realized that it is a plant that has been growing all over the front of my house, in the cracks in the sidewalk, around the edges of the xeriscaping. It's growing everywhere. And for years, I was pulling it as a weed. And this year, I just, I was like, I'm gonna let it grow wherever it wants to grow, even if it's not in the places that I want it to be. Even if it's in the middle of my garden bed, even if it's you know, in the gaps between the sidewalks, like I'm just gonna let it grow. And it's everywhere and it's beautiful and it is natural.
And I look at it and I think I was pulling it for years because I was trying to have this like well-maintained garden, you know? And so sometimes there are those things that like you know, they don't fit your idea of how things are supposed to be. And so you think that they are wrong and maybe they're not, maybe sometimes…
Krissy (28:38)
There's a Dandelion. It's a perfect example of that.
Rachel Anzalone (28.38)
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Krissy (28:38)
And it's the wish plant. It's like you get to blow wishes. Yeah, I love that. And I think that in terms of business, it's like, you know, sometimes just let it run, like let it just be a little and breathe a little. You know, we work, and we work and we work and then it's like, okay, like, let's just see what lands, you know? And we don't need to have it, I don't know.
I vacillate on both sides of this, of like, it looking super like pristine and clean. And then like you talk about the hair cutting, you know?
Rachel Anzalone (29:20)
Yeah. Yeah.
Krissy (29:41)
Like, you know, the somatic, you know, workout that we've talked about. And it's like, this person just made videos, you know, in their bedroom, the sound is okay. And it's like, and they're selling the product and eventually they go back through and they like it, like, sometimes at a certain point, it's like, just like put it out there and see what sticks and see what happens.
And like, you know, that idea of like, you know, pulling the thing that actually is the thing that you want is...
Rachel Anzalone (30:22)
Because you're so focused on it looking a certain way and being a certain way that you're missing the opportunity that's there. You're missing the potential of something because it doesn't match exactly the way that you thought it would. I mean, I could think of that, you know, how many relationships, how many opportunities that you're like, no, that's not what I wanted. And then it's like, well, wait a minute. I never even considered that possibility. Like, in what ways could that be even better than this idea that I had that I'm so attached to?
Krissy (30:54)
Oh completely and and there's also like the dandelion is like the most perfect medicine in terms of the the root the leaves the flower like every bit of it is medicine and there's chemicals on most of them because we think of them as weeds so it's, it's really, it's really fascinating but one of the things I really wanted to to talk about is like tending. Now is like, it's like, just keep going back, just keep going back and we don't know why.
So I have these four trees in my backyard that were not doing very well at all. And I'm willing to admit on this podcast that I do believe in fairies. And in Celtic folklore, I have learned from my teachers, the elder sisters, apothecary, but elder sisters, they talked to me about the Rowan, which are deeply connected to the fay as is the Hawthorne and the Oak tree. But this particular, these four trees in particular, they were like, well, the fairies haven't been tended to.
Rachel Anzalone (32:10)
Mmmmm.
Krissy (32:26)
And I was like, it just like blew my mind wide open. So I have been offering honey to these four trees whenever I'm up, almost every day that I'm up, some days I forget, I sing a little song, I blow some wishes on these four trees. And one of the things about the trees is if a branch breaks, you do not move it, you do not touch it.
Rachel Anzalone (32:55)
Mmm.
Krissy (32:57)
So three of the trees have blossomed. And one just took a turn in the other direction and just like mushrooms all along the stem, woodpecker holes all over the tree. Like it is a work of art.
Rachel Anzalone (33:10)
I was gonna say that's its own kind of, like growth, its own kind of expression, its own, yeah.
Krissy (33:22)
Oh totally. So these others have had the Rowan blossom and the berries come in the fall.
Rachel Anzalone (33:31)
It's Rowan. Is that the kind of tree? Huh, I'm not familiar with that. Okay.
Krissy (33:33)
Rowan. Yeah, it's Rowan. R-O-W-A-N.
And there's an animal that is deeply connected to the fay as well. And that, as I have learned, is the deer. Now, there are many animals that are deeply connected to the fay, but so many deer.
Rachel Anzalone (33:51)
You have so many deer.
Krissy (34:02)
Well, I have a deer-proof fence around a certain area where these Rowan are. And last night, as I landed very very late at night, but I wanted to open my back door just before I went to bed to listen to the symphony of frogs, I looked down and there is a fawn sitting underneath my Rowan.
Rachel Anzalone (34:13)
Inside the fence?
Krissy (34:23)
Inside the fence.
Rachel Anzalone (34:26)
Did it teleport there? What happened? Oh my God.
Krissy (34:29)
I think a fawn can make it if a little small dog can, you know? There was a season in the winter where a part of the fence did break and then the deer got in and they were like, sitting around the pool area. I was like, they're like smoking cigars and drinking martinis around the pool. And they did such a clearing of my land of like, and all this stuff. Anyway.
Rachel Anzalone (34:33)
Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Krissy (34:56)
So earlier today, I was like kind of like on the lookout for the fawn like what? Where are you baby? And I see the mama and the baby tuck themselves into the fern which is like another portal to the fey and, and it was right around where my Hawthorn tree is. So anyway, I am like so excited.
Rachel Anzalone (35:24)
I love it. This idea of tending, of taking care of what's already there, of nurturing it and nurturing it in lots of different ways, not just dumping water on it, but intentionally interacting with it and connecting with it. This is something that's come up in some business conversations recently where a few people I've talked to and I've experienced this myself and I'm in a little bit of this season myself right now, we tend to invest in like growth and learning. We sort of are like, I gotta learn this new thing. I need to do this new thing. I need to expand. There needs to be more.
And then, you know, I've had the realization myself and I was talking to somebody about it the other night of just like, I have all of these already. Like I have all these resources. What I need to do is tend to what I've already invested in and tend to the things that are on my plate and not be, you know, thinking, well, that one didn't work yet. I'm going to tear it out and grow something else, right? Or while these trees are like, they're kind of half all right, I'm going to go buy six more trees and plant them someplace else. It's like, invest in tending the things that you have already. And some of them will flourish and some may not and that's okay.
But if you haven't actually invested in them yet, if you haven't spent the time tending to them, then you can't really be disappointed that they didn't pan out the way you wanted them to.
Krissy (37:08)
Oh completely. And also be open to the magic of like, and the awe and the curiosity of like, what could possibly be? Yes, definitely. But it is attending and sometimes it's just 10 minutes a day. Like get into the habit of the care. Like I didn't know the fruition.
Rachel Anzalone (37:20)
Yeah.
Krissy (37:34)
Oh and that one tree that's got the woodpeckers and the, it snapped. So it's like, it was like this, this tall tree that was just like a, like a Gandalf stick in the, in the middle of the landscape. And I was like, and then it just snapped. And I'm like, I can, I can sit with that.
Rachel Anzalone (37:57)
Yeah.
Krissy (37:58)
You know, it sometimes too it just works out. If you keep tending. I love that gift of like 10 minutes a day. Like what a reminder of like building a muscle.
Pick up the phone and call somebody and make a connection. Like we are in a season of collaboration versus individualism. So who is that person that you're like, I want to work with you. I want to, or I just admire what you do. Just send a note and make a phone call and just start planting seeds, you know, to then potentially flourish into, you know, deep collaborations that can be beautiful, you know?
Rachel Anzalone (38:47)
Yeah, speaking of collaborations, how are the sisters doing?
Krissy (38:53)
I know what you're saying.
Rachel Anzalone (38:53)
I'm like, not like your sisters or my sisters, but like, the three sisters? How are they?
Krissy (38:53)
We have so many sisters.
Rachel Anzalone (38:53)
I know that, the collab, but you're, we're talking about collaborations. I'm like, that is a collaboration, the three sisters growing together.
Krissy (38:53)
I'm sad to report that my cucumbers didn't take as well this year at all. And I'm honestly kind of going to rebelliously because it rained so much. There was just a ridiculous amount of rain that today or tomorrow, I think I can catch the light, I might put in a little bit of a cucumber and another round of corn, to see them, just try again, cause you know, why not? Like it's, you know, no fear, no foul. So yeah, but didn't take.
Rachel Anzalone (39:43)
Yeah, which happens sometimes.
Krissy (39:56)
The rain has been silly.
Rachel Anzalone (40:03)
That's something in terms of collaborations that is super important to think about is that everything's, in order for a collaboration to work, the conditions required for each of the components have to be aligned. And sometimes the conditions just aren't aligned. One plant is okay with more water and another one's not. And when we're working on collaborations together, partnerships, opportunities with peers, relationships, whatever they are, sometimes it's just not the right timing. Sometimes it's not, you know, the conditions are just not quite right for one of the collaborators. And that doesn't make it wrong. And it doesn't make it impossible to do down the road. It just is, in this moment, in this season, these aren't aligned.
Krissy (40:54)
Yeah, the foundation. And I think it was the soil in this instance because I'm shifting some of my boxes into hugel gardening, which is another conversation. It's a different type of gardening. And so that's like on the precipice of becoming that. I ran out of space. It's such a positive problem. My elderberry is blooming though, which is super exciting.
Rachel Anzalone (41:14)
Yeah.
Krissy (41:23)
And that needs three.
Rachel Anzalone (41:23)
Mmm, needs three plants?
Krissy (41:27)
Yes, I was told it was so, so interesting. I was told that that elderberry, the only way that it works is if there's three. So I bought two more elderberry plants and immediately like I put it out there. I put it next to it and then it blossomed. It started to bloom for the first time ever. And I was like, this is real. And it only bloomed like maybe a few times that year, but then I took those two small that were in a pot next to it and I actually planted them in the garden and they, this, the one main one, like, I'm gonna be making elderberry syrup. This will help for everyone to remain healthy and keep their immune system intact.
Rachel Anzalone (42:10)
That's fantastic. I don't know if this is true for pomegranates, but I see, I have two pomegranate bushes. I feel like maybe when I bought them, it was with the intention that there should be two. I could be wrong about that. But what I see happen is that they fruit opposite each other. One will have like a whole bunch of fruit and the other will have none. And then it'll sort of switch.
And it's so interesting to watch. And in contrast to that, I have two-piece lilies that when one blooms 100 % of the time, the other one will bloom immediately after. It's really interesting.
Krissy (43:02)
Like being on the moon cycle.
Rachel Anzalone (43:04)
Yeah, like they're my, my peace lilies are on the same moon cycle. And speaking of, you said, we were talking about just like those little 10 minutes a day, those little actions and what how they help with so many things. I have struggled with my plants forever. And a lot of that was because I would travel. My schedule was inconsistent or whatever. And like a year ago, I got really focused on every Saturday and water my plants and I remember one day being like, well, holy shit, if you water them every week, they look great. They're thriving. They're doing fantastic. And it is a 15-minute task once a week that I just wasn't doing consistently. It just, yeah.
Krissy (43:54)
Yeah, I have one plant that only needs to be watered once a month. So I'm like, how am gonna remember that? And it's around the first. If I do.
Rachel Anzalone (43:58)
Mmm.
Yeah, I have one of those two and the way I remember to do it is on the first, like that's the day. And I changed my air filter on my air conditioning on the same day and they're right next to each other. So it's like, yeah.
Krissy (44:16)
That's so smart.
Rachel Anzalone (44:19)
When we talked at the Equinox, you were in a place where you were planting some new seeds for your business as well. What's happening in that realm?
Krissy (44:26)
Super excited to report that my yurt is completely finished and ready and it just feels like a little bit like a miracle because it's been about a year process and normally it wouldn't take that long. I wish it didn't take that long for my heart, but it is ready and you know I, I was in a space of confusion about my prior business and the name of my prior business and, you know, what's in a name, but a name is our identity in terms of our business. And the name of my business meant great. Sanskrit means great in Sanskrit. And then it means like full moon and beautiful and, you know, mighty.
And I always attributed that to what a mother's role is, you know, in the bearing of the children. And that was my work in pre and postnatal. And that word is Maha, which has been, you know, co-opted into an acronym. And, you know, I just really had to see where I was aligning and I really wanted to be authentic in my voice and I decided to let it go.
And I'm moving into finding the name for the year, which is like, you know, I don't know. I don't know yet where it is. So next time we do a podcast.
Rachel Anzalone (46:17)
Maybe by the fall equinox.
Krissy (46:20)
Right. We'll have it. I'll have it for sure.
But I am super excited about collaborating with people where I live and being in a space of coming back to my roots of yoga and teaching meditation and mantra chanting and dance, Qoya, which is, it just fills me and it excites me and then I have this like lush garden that I'm going to teach children. Something that I did during COVID was teach seed to sprout, to flourishing, to nourishing, to children, like basically the bare bones of what it means to grow something from seed and what the soil, you know, the nutrient density in the soil, which we talked about last time, but then what happens when it flourishes and then how you can turn something into something that's really nutrient dense for your gut.
We talked about microbiome and fermentation, and then we also talked about medicine in terms of lip balms and salves. So these kids got to take away so much information, so I'm going to be doing fermentation and different honey infusions and different, different kinds of medicinal, you know, plant, you know, infusion. So I'm so excited.
I'm just, I'm really excited about getting connected in the community and getting myself out there. Because like, you know, there's seasons for shining and there's seasons for hibernating. And sometimes those seasons don't run on a three month cycle. And it's interesting because I'm a leader in through and through, you know, like there's so much about how I've been in the world, you know, in terms of, you know, different aspects of my life, you know, whether it's running my own business or, you know, as an actor.
And I always felt like, you know, I wanna take, you know, I'll take my light. I know where my light is. I know how to step into it. And I haven't wanted to be in it. And it's been a season of like confusion because pulling myself away from that felt like, it felt wrong, but felt so right in my body. But it felt like, like, this isn't me. And it's like, oh, I'm in a season, right? Like the maiden, the mother, I'm in a season of wise woman. I've been in a season of wise woman. And I'm emerging from that space and ready to like find my light again.
And it comes with some trepidation, which is so unfamiliar to me. I feel like I've kind of led like balls to the wall, but like really boldly. And I just don't, I don't know what's going on, but I'm just also like, you know, face your fear a little bit. I did stand up for the first time and it was all on a personal dare, you know, cause I was like, I'm terrified. I am terrified of that idea.
Rachel Anzalone (50:14)
I just got really uncomfortable just hearing you say that.
Krissy (50:18)
Right? But I did it as like, you could do it. And I think it's a matter of like, what's happening for me is a softening. You know, there's a lot of me being able to like do it is like, you know, a fearlessness that I'm so glad that I have and that I had and I think this comes back to that discernment conversation of like, I have more fear. And I think healthy fear is actually a good thing. And, you know, I'm just moving with a little bit more discernment.
Rachel Anzalone (51:03)
I think that's really beautiful. I would love to share that you are one of many women that I've spoken with recently who have described this particular season as having been, as being a place of, I know that what was no longer is, and I'm not sure exactly what is next, and I'm not used to being in this place. And even women who are, you know, obviously, a lot of the women that we know are entrepreneurs, like a lot of the people that I talk to on a regular basis are people who are leaders, who are ambitious, who are driven, do things that are scary or that other people might look at and think, just things that are really challenging.
And so many women who, even if it's like, they're not planning 10 years out, but they've always been able to say, I know I'm on the right path. I know what my work is, I know what my purpose is here, that have been feeling that kind of fogginess in this season. So I definitely think there's something in the collective of like, we know what's old is no longer and we're, we can't, there's nothing to look at for an example of what's coming next because it doesn't exist yet. Like we're literally birthing it, we're creating it as we go. And that can feel scary. There's no map, there's no model, right?
And so it becomes about learning to trust yourself and leaning into the discernment that you've developed over 40 or 50 or 60 years of experiences where maybe we did throw ourselves into things that were like, woo, blow your hair back. And now we're like, OK, and I learned lessons there. And now I know what to look for in a different way. So I feel like there's definitely something happening in the collective in terms of that.
Krissy (53:00)
I couldn't agree more. And I also think it goes back to that nature-based birthing. Like, there's no guarantees of giving birth in the wild. You know, your fawn is like, I mean, this fawn was like under the Rowan, like next to my front, my back door. And, you know, in the, like a month after we spoke, these bunnies…
Rachel Anzalone (53:10)
Mmm. The bunnies!
Krissy (53:29)
This bunny gave birth in my time. And it it's like, I have no idea if these, if these bunnies are still out there making it. We want them to be, but I just, every part of me also knows that like stepping into fear, you know, is requiring as much faith in my abilities as like in all of my experience, you know, even like that idea of the imposter syndrome, right? Like how do I dental floss my brain from that idea that that I'm an imposter? I'm sorry, but like there's a lot of really average men claiming things and doing things and predominantly, let's face it, white men that are stepping out in these roles that they have absolutely no business being in. Who says we can't do what we want to do?
So this imposter needs to be dental flossed from our brain. And this fear needs to be met with faith that like all of our, all of our courses and our trainings, all of our schooling has equipped us and lifted us to get to a place where we should be shining and stepping into the full light. And if you've never, ever been north for a solstice, summer solstice, go, go, go. And I bet the winter solstice would be just as cool and magical.
Rachel Anzalone (55:08)
I think that you're onto something for sure in terms of like that sort of flossing out these old ideas that no longer fit. And I feel like that's one of the pieces of this wise woman era for us. And for so many women, is like in those earlier years there was this process of like diving into something and learning it, right? And I think part of the old culture that's really dying away is that we all learned these ways where the person who was teaching it was like, this is the way. This is the way. And you go all in on this and then you go all in on the next thing and you learn in these like really intense ways truly from this sort of guru model that is dying away if it's not completely dead already. Well, it's not.
I've recently heard a couple of gurus with air quotes speak and I was like, you're still doing that? But that we, yeah, we've accumulated all this knowledge and all this wisdom, all this experience over these decades. And now we're in the position to say, here's what's valuable of this. Here's what's relevant of this now.
And to have developed the wisdom to know which parts and pieces work for us and which don't, which parts and pieces might be relevant for the people around us and which aren't and which pieces we should nourish and tend to and which pieces we should just let go.
Krissy (56:56)
And sometimes it is just like, I don't know, my instinct saying to keep putting honey down, to keep some honey, to keep talking, to keep whispering, to keep praying, to keep hoping. And I believe that there's magic involved in some of this as well.
Rachel Anzalone (57:30)
Is there anything you'd like to share with us right now about what's happening in your world and how to connect with you in any way that has changed?
Krissy (57:41)
Yeah, so the website that I've been using for the last 10 years or so is no longer Mahamama. So I am to be found at Instagram or just email me at [email protected]. I'm going old school. I'm even actually not sure if I want to stay on Instagram and feeling like, it something I need to do for my business? I don't know. I'm asking some questions, some serious questions, and it might just be good old fashioned email and a white flag going.
Rachel Anzalone (58:23)
I'm here. I'm over here.
Krissy (58:27)
As I emerge, yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (58:29)
Yeah, fantastic. Any last thoughts about the summer solstice before we wrap up?
Krissy (58:35)
Yeah, I just, I feel like if, if you don't do an honoring of the sun, because I don't know that I, that I always do, I take the sun for granted. The moon, I have a very intimate relationship with and the stars, and obviously the plants and how they correlate, but the sun, I, I tend to take for granted.
And some practices, you know, besides making, you know, like use some wild herbs around you. Like I said, I have mugwort and dandelion right now, and they're all in plenty. Make an altar and make some sun tea. Take some herbs and place them in a jar and then just place them in the sun and enjoy the medicine in them. I usually do use lemon balm, which I also have here, some peppermint and some mugwort.
The peppermint is one of those soul plants that allows us to stay in both sides because it activates heat and as well as cool, it's a cooler. I might've talked about that last time and mugwort is a dreamer and lemon balm is a real nourisher of the nervous system.
So I would say make an altar, thank the sun for all of the gifts that she / he brings and they bring and make an altar of flowers.
Rachel Anzalone (1:00:23)
Hmm, that's beautiful. I love this idea of sun tea. That is a thing I've not thought about since childhood. And it's something we used to make all the time, but just the idea of taking those fresh herbs and putting them in a jar out in the sun to just diffuse and to soak up the energy of the sun in the process to then take it in. Yeah.
Krissy (1:00:42)
Yeah. Right, right, right.
It gives it an extra potency, I believe. Yeah.
Rachel Anzalone (1:00:50)
Yeah.
Beautiful. Thank you so much for being here again and we'll see you again on the next equinox. I'm committing you now and recording. All right. Thanks so much for being here, Krissy. And Thank you all for listening. Until next time, remember your pleasure is your power. Take care.
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