Good day Reader,

I'm sharing 3 backyard layers in today's newsletter. I hope that each resonates with you with meaning and opens a layer of curiosity, awe, and hope.
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​1. House Therapy & Feng Shui : Back Yard​
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In House Therapy and Feng Shui, our backyards hold the potentiality for our future and help us navigate the unknown.
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If you live in a city space and don't have a back yard, this also extends to the sidewalk behind your building.
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Size does NOT matter in Shui 😉.
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The land each of us is on has lived through thousands of generations of people, plants, animals, waters, fires, rocks, and minerals.
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It holds an alchemical mystery that the Western world doesn't often acknowledge.

A Gentle Process to Connect with the Land and Your Back Yard

1. You can begin by acknowledging the land you're on with it's indigenous wisdom keepers past, present, and emerging. If you don't know the land you're on, you can find it here. In many places in the world, enslaved people have also tended to the land. I recommend acknowledging them in this process too.
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2. Next with compassion and non-judgement, you can take in your back yard/space and notice how you've tended to it or let some aspects go.
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3. If your backyard needs an overall, I recommend pacing this process with 27 minute increments once or twice a week, as not to overwhelm you or the land.
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4. If you'd like to co-create with the land, you can plant an intention into the land from the love and wholeness of your heart into your hands by drawing one heart on each hand and placing your hands on the earth. In your own way asking for help with this co-creation with the land and whatever your belief system resonates with (e.g., the mystery, the divine, the oneness, your ancestors, angels, guides...).
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The winter is the time of of going into the mystery, the cave, and the fertile darkness to tend to that which hasn't come to fruition yet.
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Working with your backyard at this time and season can compound the potentiality around nurturing your intention.
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​2. Backyard Philanthropy​
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With excitement and relief, I've been introduced to word to describe what part of my business offers!!!
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​Back Yard Philanthropy is generosity outside the boundaries of corporate and non-profit systems. It’s relational giving, based on a dynamic of trust with the person or community who is asking.

Sometimes, as individuals or communities who create change, we need the power of collective giving, but we don’t have the structures to provide tax receipts. Sometimes fundraising, especially when we are at the front edge of creating change, needs to happen outside such existing fundraising structures. Setting up tax structures are clunky, slow and often don’t support generosity across global borders and boundaries.

We honor the systems of checks and balances in place to support the dynamics of generosity. We would love to give tax receipts. But sometimes a cause requires the collective to rise and give, even when those structures don’t exist yet.

Backyard Philanthropy is coming together for a cause that needs support and financial nurturance on new frontiers, where corporate and non-profit structures aren’t yet in place.

Backyard Philanthropy is generosity in relationship. Backyard Philanthropy is giving, based on trust, rooted in relationship. It is dynamic, generous, organic. Backyard Philanthropy supports and creates change, most often at the edges of global community.

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(This is a working definition via Idelette McVicker.)​
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Many of my newsletter readers have been with me for years through the evolution of my business into it's current iteration as a social impact business, as I've navigated the unknown. I'm grateful to you for being on this shared journey.
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My backyard philanthropy efforts focus on supporting a global community of global majority female peace builders and justice advocates, as well as Mamatoto Village, a Black maternal health center in DC.
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I welcome your contribution to this backyard philanthropy process through a donation here, or if you'd like to join me in my upcoming class below.
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​Somatic Solidarity Class: Resources for Engaging in a time of Uncertainty co-facilitated with Micky ScotBey Jones.
Sunday - December 8, 2024 - 1-3pm Eastern Time on Zoom
*This class will be recorded if you can't attend live.
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Get your $29 ticket; $19 ticket or $10 ticket. If you have any questions about payment or how funds are handled, hit reply for more information.
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Payment Links: Make a donation here.
$29 https://buy.stripe.com/28o6rJ5dEgDD7nO6oG​
$19 https://buy.stripe.com/9AQg2j8pQ4UV8rS28r​
$10 https://buy.stripe.com/eVa7vNcG6fzz9vW6oI​
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All funds go to the global women's community. Micky and I are not taking payment for this class.

Coming Home in a Full Circle Way to One's Backyard
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In my most recent Soulful Visionary Podcast Episode, The Power of Connecting Deeply to Your Home and Land, Even If You Live a Nomadic Life | House Therapy, Feng Shui, Ancestral Work, we also delve into a different back yard theme.

If you'd led a nomadic life or gone through a chapter of frequent moves, this episode is for you, or perhaps you’re an immigrant, or your family has a history of seeking new horizons. In today’s episode, I sat down with Paula, a brilliant Colombian woman I’ve had the honor of knowing for over a decade. Together, we dive deep into her journey as an immigrant and her return to her homeland, exploring what it means to truly come home to yourself.

We discuss the powerful themes of creating a sense of belonging in your space (even if it may be temporary), the connection between home and identity, and how the land beneath our feet and in our backyard can be a profound source of support and grounding. Along the way, we explore parent-child dynamics, honoring our family’s migration stories, and staying open to the freedom of what’s next—all while cultivating a deep relationship with the present moment and the space we inhabit.

If you’ve ever wondered how to transform your living space into a sanctuary or how to embrace the paradox of being rooted and free, this conversation will leave you inspired and ready to connect more deeply with your home, your family, and yourself.

What We Cover:

• Why your home is more than just a building—it’s a partner in your life journey
• A beautiful, simple practice to connect with your home and the land it rests on
• The surprising way our homes mirror our inner worlds and emotional states
• How to nurture a sense of stability for children, even amidst change
• Feng Shui and House Therapy techniques to invite clarity, abundance, and ease into your life
• The role of ancestral ties in shaping our connection to place and purpose
• How to honor the present while remaining open to the unknown future

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May your backyard and our collective experience of backyards nourish and support you through this time of year and the coming years as we navigate the unknown.
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In hope, solidarity, and with potentiality,

Amy
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Resources and Where We Can Connect:

• Curious to see if my 12-month (12 women) intimate group, The Soulful Visionary Collective, is a match for you? We have 4 spaces remaining. There are equity spaces for Global Majority Women.
• Explore How We Can Work Together: https://www.amybabish.com/work-with-me
• Learn More About House Therapy & Feng Shui Coaching: https://www.amybabish.com/house-therapy-feng-shui-coaching
• If you’re enjoying the Soulful Visionary Podcast, I would love to encourage you to please leave a review, share an episode with someone who needs to hear it and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out on any future episodes! Click here to subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amy.babish/
• Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-babish/

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