Beyond the Prescription: Why Integrative Care Is Gaining Ground

By Ginger Mair, M.S.

There’s no question modern medicine is one of humanity’s greatest accomplishments. But something interesting has been happening alongside those advances. More people are paying closer attention to the everyday factors that influence their health. They’re taking up Yoga, learning meditation, tracking their macros, spending more time outdoors, exploring herbal remedies, and seeking healthcare providers who look beyond symptoms alone….Integrative medicine practices are growing, lifestyle medicine is becoming more common in medical education, and research into areas like nutrition, mindfulness, menopause, and the gut microbiome continues to expand….

Biphasic Sleep: A Historical Perspective on Insomnia

By Annie Larson

The biphasic sleep phenomenon has historical roots, as it was once common before the Industrial Revolution. Research shows that humans often experience sleep in multiple phases, including light sleep, deep sleep, and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. It is entirely possible some people may find themselves waking mid-evening, only to return to sleep a few hours later….

Different Types of Insomnia: Why the Right Supplement Depends on the Cause

By Helena Amos, M.Ac., L.Ac., Euro. Physician

Many people believe insomnia is simply the inability to sleep. In reality, insomnia is a symptom, not a diagnosis. Two people may both say, “I can’t sleep,” yet the underlying reasons may be completely different. This is why the same supplement that works well for one person may do very little for another. Understanding the pattern of your insomnia is often the first step toward finding the right solution. Which type of insomnia sounds familiar to you?…

Listening to the Sentient Earth: Where Ancient Animism Meets Modern Biocentrism

By Sheer Zed

Two seemingly disparate frameworks, one ancient and one modern, converge on this territory: animism, the world’s oldest living worldview; and biocentrism, a philosophical political tradition born of Western environmental ethics. Both assert that the world is far more alive, responsive, and interconnected than our dominant culture allows. Though they emerge from different soil, their roots intertwine around two convictions that matter enormously in this moment in history: that non-human beings possess agency; and that all existence is woven through with interdependence so profound it challenges our very sense of self….

How Then Shall We Live? The Fierce Urgency of Now

By Clare Hanrahan

This is a time for courage. The world is on fire. We all feel the undercurrents of a planet in deep distress. Social, economic  and ecological collapse is underway, even as our relative privilege insulates us now from the brunt of suffering. We will not escape….The more optimistic take hope in the upcoming mid-term elections. If only we can get enough voters to the polls, they proclaim, then perhaps we can recover the Democracy being systematically eroded by the forces of authoritarianism. Certainly, we must not relinquish what power remains at the ballot box, and we must not allow access to the polls to be undermined by those seeking to hold on to political power at all costs….

Boomers and the Body Politic 

By Cam MacQueen

While Baby Boomers often have a negative reputation among younger generations, it’s worth mentioning many Boomers were activists on the front lines for Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Women’s Rights/Reproductive Rights,  LGBTQAI+ Rights, Pro-Union/Workers Rights, Veterans Rights, Peace/Anti-war/Anti-nuke efforts, Immigration/Refugee advocacy,  Healthcare for All, HIV/Aids awareness, Disability Rights, Death with Dignity laws, Title-IX, Environmental and Animal Rights Movements, and more. Boomers’ institutional knowledge and memory provides a historical road map for nonviolent resistance methods that encompasses the entire spectrum of progressive, liberal, humane causes….

Psychedelics and the Counterculture of Aging

By Abbie Rosner

LSD, peyote, magic mushrooms. For those of us who came of age in the 1960s and 70s, we were warned these were dangerous drugs that would destroy our brains, and worse… But over half a century later, a new consensus around psychedelics is emerging. Hundreds of clinical trials have demonstrated that, when used appropriately, these powerful compounds are remarkably safe and effective for treating depression, PTSD, addiction and other mental health ills. Within a year, it is expected the first psychedelic medicines will receive FDA approval and enter the healthcare system….

The Teachers, Guides and Mirrors Within Psychedelic Plant Medicine

Taniesha Garrison, Ed.M.

One major draw of psychedelic plant medicine is that it offers a fuller version of reality….In my experience, though, plant medicines aren’t exactly the healer. You are. … if you’re willing to do something with what the plants show you, that is. Each medicine offers a different invitation into healing, serving as teacher, guide or mirror depending on what a person needs. Recognizing which role a given medicine is playing changes what you’re able to do with what you see….

Once Awakening Happens — Does That Mean No More Suffering or Anger?

By Hanh Nguyen

There is a common and seductive belief on the spiritual path that awakening marks the end of all suffering, the dissolution of anger, and the arrival into a permanent state of peace. It sounds clean, final, and absolute. But reality is subtler, and far more liberating than that ideal: Awakening does not erase human experience, it transforms your relationship to it….

Fall 2026: Eliminating Garbage from Your Life

By Misty Kuceris

As the new Moon occurs on September 10, 2026, you feel the need to start fresh. You want to toss out what no longer matters. You want to improve your relationships through better communications. You want to heal from any pain, which was caused by negative situations, and you want to find a way to correct mistakes from the past. That’s because this new Moon not only has the Sun and Moon in Virgo, but both Venus and Mercury entered new signs (Venus in Scorpio and Mercury in Libra). Usually when the new Moon occurs, you want to start fresh, take on new projects. With the Moon in Virgo, you tend to take on too many responsibilities. But the true lesson during the time of a new Moon in Virgo is to learn how to simplify your life — delegate what you can, and learn to reach out for help when you need it….

Autumn Season & Vāta Dosha

By Anjali Sunita

Dry, light, cold, clear, subtle, mobile, and rough: these qualities begin to predominate in our outer experience. In Ayurveda, these are the qualities, or gunas, associated with Vāta dosha — the combined elements of air and space, wind. The same qualities that become pronounced in our environment can also become more pronounced within us. In the case of Vāta season, the mobile, dry, rough qualities can lead to overstimulation followed by depletion….Ayurveda invites us to cultivate their opposites: warmth, moisture, nourishment, steadiness, softness, and rhythm….

It Begins at the Root: Grounding Practices for the Season

By Julie S. Holly

During election season, the muladhara (root) chakra may seem particularly off key. This chakra found at the base of the spine, when in balance, helps us feel safe. Not only that, but it is how we feel connected to tribe and the earth itself….The encouraging news is the root chakra is remarkably responsive to intentional practice. Unlike some of the more subtle energy centers, the muladhara is closely tied to the physical body, which means it can be addressed through concrete, embodied means: posture, breath, contact with the earth, and steady repetition….

Making Friends with Invasives: 5 Abundant Plants for Food and Medicine

By Candise Jordan

Centuries of humans disturbing and mismanaging the land have led to the decimation of many native plant populations, making conditions perfect for their nonnative counterparts. These nonnative plants are then villainized and unfairly labeled “invasive”, “noxious” and “weeds”. Despite being brought here for their beauty, erosion control, and value as food and medicine, they are now unappreciated, hated and sprayed with harmful chemicals….We can help bring these populations back into balance — not by spraying them, but by eating, making herbal remedies, and many other traditional ways of connecting with them. Here are five abundant plants for food and medicine you can harvest this fall….

My Favorite Ferns

By Kathy Jentz

Ferns can have many garden uses, from edging plants to groundcovers and even featured in containers. They are deer-proof and have few pests. They thrive in consistently moist, well-draining soils with lightly dappled to full shade. Most ferns also appreciate a top-dressing of composted leaves…. From the Lady Fern to the Royal Fern, there is sure to be one that works well in your garden. Once you start collecting ferns, you may find it hard to stop. Here are spotlights on two of my favorite ferns….

The Teachers Return: Understanding This Moment Through the Lens of Ageless Wisdom

By Sheidi Kourangi

According to the philosophical thought known as “Ageless Wisdom,” the purpose of life is evolution — not blind growth, but growth with a purpose woven into the very fabric of the universe, in its most minute as in its most grand, whether in a seed or a solar system. It also tells us evolution never stops. It is a never-ending process of becoming. And just like humans, everything evolves, including planets and solar systems. We are lives within greater lives, reborn in cycles of manifestation within yet greater cycles. As cells are in our bodies, so are we cells in the body of the planet, which is a conscious living entity. “As above so below” is a principle in the whole of cosmos. And consciousness is ubiquitous. Science applies evolution to physical bodies alone, but the evolution of consciousness is why we are here….

What If You Have the Power to Change “Collective Consciousness”?

By Therisia “Trish” Hall, D.Div.

Spirit’s individuations are the essential means by which Spirit expresses. We are simultaneously creation and the creators of the “body politic”— the collective expression of a society’s consciousness. The body politic is the living network of individuals, relationships, institutions, and shared values through which a people express. This collective consciousness reflects the commingling of the populace’s highest ideals, unconscious habits, deepest fears, biases and assumptions. It is said the body politic is the “we” created by all of our individual “I’s.” The body politic is a living, breathing organism. Its parts are constantly changing it. The cliché “what were/are you thinking” truly matters!  Intentionally or otherwise, we are changing it with every thought. Choose your thoughts wisely!…

“The World is Our Body”: Healing the Loneliness of the Anthropocene

By Carol Burbank

As a species, we are the makers of suffering in the natural world, and we also suffer as a result. Our food is impregnated with microplastics and modified by GMO manipulation that requires pesticides to be harvested. Miles of neighborhoods and whole stretches of waterways have become cancer clusters because of industrial pollution. Nations crippled by drought, starvation and poverty have created climate refugees around the world. Protecting ourselves only delays the necessary, unique steps we might take towards healthy change….Every action begins with a consciousness shift. When we see the mechanisms that justify dominance, greed and privilege, we can turn the toxic tide that threatens us all. Environmental philosopher Joanna Macy argues that shifting our consciousness can relieve “the lonely and [falsely] heroic journey of the ego” and reclaim wholeness through connection….

Trump Dismantled A Federal Climate Website. These Women Rebuilt It.

This story was originally reported by Jenae Barnes of The 19th. Meet Jenae and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

*Correction appended

Rebecca Lindsey is no stranger to challenging the status quo. From an early age, she built a reputation for being outspoken. Her mother, a teacher, encouraged an inquisitive spirit on Lindsey and her sister Mary, even to the chagrin of administrators at the schools they attended. Lindsey recalled a time when a high school principal confronted her mother: “Your daughters, they ask questions, they challenge me.”

“My mom said, ‘Well, are they rude about it?’ and he said, ‘Well, no.’” Asking questions, her mother said to the principal, is “what we raised them to do,’” Lindsey told The 19th.

A few years later, Lindsey was working at NASA as a technical writer for a satellite mission, her first job out of graduate school. In a room full of men, she spoke up during a meeting as the woman who had been training her watched in disbelief. Later, the woman told Lindsey that she had never spoken at any one of these meetings.

So last year, after the Trump administration shut down NOAA’s official climate information website, Climate.gov, and Lindsey became one of the roughly 280,000 federal workers to lose their jobs, she knew something had to be done.

Lindsey joined forces with former NOAA employees Anna Eshelman, and Mary Lindsey, her older sister, to become the core team behind the deactivated site’s successor, Climate.us, preserving over 15 years of key climate data and resources. The trove features key maps, educational materials and climate indicator reports, including the now-deleted Fifth National Climate Assessment, the government’s most comprehensive analysis of climate change that was at risk of being lost to the public.

Lindsey told The 19th that the venture came out of a need for more science-backed climate information. For decades, Climate.gov was the go-to resource that translated complex climate science data into accessible public information, sharing critical tips on everything from how to survive heat waves to explainers on El Niño’s impacts on hurricanes to over 15 million site visitors per year. Funding for climate communications used to come straight from the federal government and for that to just be “yanked away” was jarring, Lindsey said.

“It’s not a pretty picture for climate communication and climate journalism right now,” Lindsey said. “We just felt like it was really important that there be a mature, robust, comprehensive online platform to serve as a hub. We felt that there needed to be a foundation, or cornerstone, that other people could build on and grow with.”

She said that after a non-peer-reviewed Department of Energy report created by a panel of climate denialists published last summer, it raised alarms among NOAA employees about what could happen to Climate.gov. Federal courts later deemed the convening of the panelists unlawful. She said that the former Climate.gov, which is now rerouted to NOAA.gov, remains vulnerable to political influence.

“Trusted climate information should not disappear when politics change,” Lindsey said.

Lindsey is Climate.us’ managing editor. Eshelman is its lead designer. Mary Lindsey is its lead data visualizer. The three women were laid off after the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, an initiative created by executive order in January 2025 to cut the size of the federal government, took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives and scientific-focused fields. Women, who made up 46 percent of the federal workforce, were hit particularly hard by the cuts. DOGE fizzled out several months before it was scheduled to sunset on July 4.

Before the cuts hit NOAA, Rebecca Lindsey had been Climate.gov’s program manager since 2023, Eshelman worked as an artist with the Climate.gov team for over four years and Mary Lindsey worked on the site for 13 years as a data visualization expert. At the time, women made up about 29 percent of STEM federal workers and 26 percent of all STEM leaders in the federal government, according to the 2019 Equal Employment Opportunity Report.

“We are communicators. We are not climate scientists,” Lindsey said of the trio behind Climate.us, noting that some outlets have incorrectly described the team as scientists. “Climate.us will be a bridge between scientists and the public.”

Since its June 23 launch, Climate.us has raised more than $400,000 through a mix of crowd funding and individual donations. Lindsey said that while there’s uncertainty ahead for the long run, it is enough to keep the project running until early 2027, and the widespread support was “very touching,” to see.

Some eagle-eyed visitors of Climate.gov may recognize the same “climate dashboard” on the new site, tracking the Earth’s temperature, greenhouse gas levels and rising sea levels. Lindsey said they aim to retain the most notable parts of the site, while growing and continuing to update.

“Who we are now and what we’re doing is not the full Climate.gov. But we feel like it’s worth it,” she said. “It’s something, and we’re going to do the best we can to keep the most important parts of the site updated.”

The project employs three people, though Lindsey estimates it will ultimately need 10 to 12 employees to be sustainable. More than 80 men and women scientists have also volunteered as subject-matter reviewers to help ensure scientific accuracy.

Lindsey said she grew up in a household that valued both the humanities and the sciences. She credits women teachers in physics, biology, chemistry and math with showing her that science was a field where women belonged.

“I think that having representation of women in the sciences and including women in leadership positions in the sciences is important,” Lindsey said. “I don’t know if I would have chosen the path I chose if I hadn’t had those pivotal women teachers telling me that science is a path where women can go.”

Today, Lindsey sees that same willingness to speak up and educate as a central role in Climate.us. In addition to the project’s climate work, Lindsey and Eshelman told The 19th that they hope Climate.us can provide similar inspiration to other women who want to pursue these careers.

“I would be thrilled if our example made other women feel empowered,” Lindsey said.

Eshelman added: “This core team of women came together organically, and just reflects the people and skillsets who stepped into these roles. That being said, I think it’s great to see women at the core for projects like this, and if seeing this team inspires other women to explore what’s possible, then I think that’s worth celebrating.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article mischaracterized Rebecca Lindsey’s views on political influence on NOAA.gov and its leadership.