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💥 In This Week’s Issue
A personal note: on being wired for connection — the science behind why spirituality isn't "woo," and what two decades of brain research reveal about the cost of shutting that part of ourselves off
Worth knowing: why an active spiritual life may lower your risk of depression, Jupiter's big move into Leo and what a year of that energy actually means, Lee Harris's July energy update, and Shannon Watts on the real cost of playing small
Plus: a spotlight on Jen Sage of Maha Shakti and her 5-Day Magnetic Kundalini Meditation Experience, and a first look at The Foundation: The Freedom Transmissions — our 8-session book study starting July 22
We're wired for this.
What many of us have felt intuitively for a long time, science has been confirming in recent years. We are, in fact, biologically designed for spiritual connection. We are hard-wired for spirituality! I imagine many of you have heard of Dr. Lisa Miller, a psychologist and professor at Columbia University and author of The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life. Dr. Miller and her team have done over two decades of research showing that there is a specific area of the brain—which she calls it the awakened brain—that lights up during spiritual experiences. This has been discovered through her research using MRI scans. Their fMRI studies reveal that “people with an active spiritual life show thicker cortical areas in regions associated with awareness, reflection, and emotional regulation.” Whether that’s through prayer, meditation, walking in nature, or even experiencing wonder and awe, Dr. Miller says that these moments activate a neural circuit associated with resilience and emotional regulation.
In one of her studies, people who described themselves as having a strong spiritual life were up to 90% less likely to experience depression, even if they were genetically predisposed to it. (Note: I am not saying a spiritual practice is the only solution for depression… it’s just one potential, helpful tool in the toolbox.) For those of us navigating midlife or later, that internal connection becomes even more important. It supports our mental clarity, helps regulate stress, and keeps us emotionally strong in the face of change or loss. Because as we all know, change and loss is coming, that’s a given.
So this isn't what some might want to dismiss as “woo.” It's wiring. Spirituality isn't something we're choosing to believe in — it's something we're built for, and the building gets stronger the more we use it. Nurturing that connection helps us stay healthy, grounded, and hopeful as we age. I’m a believer.
WORTH KNOWING
🌌 Jupiter in Leo has entered the chat: Jupiter, planet of abundance, is moving through this bold sign for this next year. “This combo isn’t exactly subtle. Jupiter in Leo is offering you a megaphone to celebrate your passions, your creativity, and everything that brings you joy — and turning the volume all the way up. It’s also giving you a permission slip to take up more space and have more fun. Show off all your talents, share your gifts as generously as possible, and let your inner 10-year-old take the director’s seat for a change. If you feel a little extra, you’re doing it right.” ~ Spirit Daughter ← (Check out her free quiz to see which area of your life will feel this expansion)
💒 Sister, yes! My son turned me onto these Catholic nuns and they are so delightful! Singing heavenly songs, talking games, and favorite hobbies. (And then this which made me LOL. 😄)
⭕️ Light-holder Lee Harris shares his July 2026 energy update. Themes include A Mass Awakening is Now Activated and Developing Self-Trust in Times of Loss of Trust. I always love his monthly energy reads.
🎧 This guy is a wild ride — all ablaze about energy, frequency, and manifesting/creating. I first heard him on the HEAL podcast with Kelly Gores. I’ve listened twice.
💛 What’s the real cost of playing small? Shannon Watts, who is masterful at getting people fired up and into action, investigates. “The regret of inaction doesn’t just stay still; it compounds. And the courage to act? That compounds too. The only question is which reaction will leave you with regret at the end of your life.”
Jen Sage, founder of Maha Shakti
I know Jen from the Carissa Schumacher / Freedom Transmissions community. When I’m around her, I can feel her beautiful presence and energy — she’s grounded, balanced, and deeply connected to Source.
This month, Jen is leading something I think a lot of you would love: a 5-Day Magnetic Kundalini Meditation Experience, July 20–24th.
Jupiter moved into Leo on June 30th, and it'll stay there until July 2027 — bold, authentic, creative, magnetic, abundant, playful. It's an energy about being seen. Jen built this practice specifically to work with that transit, so you're not just meditating, you're stepping into the current of it. ✨ Let’s go! Step into that river!
Each morning, she'll lead a 30-minute kundalini practice designed to clear your psychic channels and help you access your most abundant, confident, and magnetic self. If you've wanted to meditate but never found your way in — or if traditional meditation felt flat and you're craving something with more magic in it — this is built for exactly that. No experience necessary.
Sessions run live on Zoom, 7–7:30am EDT, with recordings available if mornings don't work for you. Exchange is $22. Sign up here.
About Jen: Jen is a yoga and meditation teacher and fascia specialist with over 500 hours of training, and the founder of Maha Shakti, her kundalini yoga and meditation studio. If you're looking to embrace this new Jupiter cycle with some real grounding and momentum, this is a beautiful way in!
Little things keeping me going.
→ I just can’t with otters! The simplicity of loving a rock. 😍
→ My friend Samantha sent me this song. Kinda disco vibes, but spiritual. Put it on in your car, roll down the windows, get that wind in your hair and VIBE OUT!
The Foundation: The Freedom Transmissions 8-Session Book Study
Put on that song I mentioned above and read this…
Join me for The Foundation: The Freedom Transmissions, an 8-session book study starting July 22.
I've led several of these studies now, and I'm always so lit up by them — watching a room of women become an actual community, each one bringing her own wisdom to the table. This is a space where we celebrate inner authority, and where we learn some of the most helpful, inspiring teachings I know.
We'll move through the greatest lessons, themes, and wisdom of The Freedom Transmissions — at a higher altitude, all brought together.
It's $300, and includes a free seat at my online gathering with Carissa Schumacher on September 1, right before the new book launches.
Wednesdays, 9:00 AM PT · July 22 – September 16 · Zoom
"Slowing down is taking care of ghosts, hugging monsters, sharing silence, embracing the weird."
Build the Light is curated proof that the world has soul.
We bring spirituality into the mainstream through the people, stories, and ideas meant to activate the light-holders building a better world, inside and out. Hold the light. Reflect the light. Build the light.
This edition was written by Laurie Gunning Grossman.
Build the Light is part of Hold the Light Collective — where this work goes deeper, in community.
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The Wild World of the Van Gogh Truthers
In 1990, after years of practicing medicine and reviewing Van Gogh’s case history via his hundreds of letters, Arenberg published a paper in JAMA diagnosing Van Gogh as suffering not from epilepsy, as the artist’s physician claimed a century earlier, but from Ménière’s disease, an inner-ear affliction that can cause vertigo, of which Van Gogh complained, and tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears. Ménière’s, to Arenberg, could better explain Van Gogh’s decision to slice off his ear. After retiring, in 2017, Arenberg recommitted himself to studying Van Gogh and became convinced that art historians had made an even more alarming mistake: Van Gogh had not committed suicide. He’d been murdered.
Read the article for free on Air Mail, a lively digital read for the world citizen, with stories both foreign and domestic that you won’t find anywhere else, written by some of the world’s finest journalists.