Rae Mak

We all need a self-care overhaul sometimes.

We are not living in the calmest of times. There is disruption and there needs to be, because the current direction we’re going as a species needs an overhaul. Nothing is certain and I think we’re all quickly realizing that nothing ever was. People are on edge, shit’s getting real, and right now more than ever we need to be kind to ourselves and to others.

On the title “Yoga Teacher”

Honestly, the title “yoga teacher” is starting to feel weird for me. After over 350 hours dedicated to learning yoga, I might scrap it. I could spend lifetimes and only begin to understand the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, how can I ever claim to be a teacher? I hardly understand my own convoluted French/English settler…

This yoga teacher is hopping off the MLM (Multi-level Marketing) bandwagon.

In the midst of the 3 months we spent under lock down in Toronto last Spring, I had been trying to build this very website. I was knee-deep in marketing research, in a cloud of self-defeat, overwhelm and agitation. But, I was determined to get something up and running, just in case, say, my regular…

Collective Liberation

I know a lot of people are thinking: everyone is so sensitive, this “cancel” culture is getting out of control. You know what’s out of control? Patriarchal bullshit. Racism. Sexism. The system is wacked and we have ALL been numbed into thinking that our actions don’t have consequences. Every action that you make, every little decision, how you treat someone, what you buy and where you buy it from has an impact.

Sober Curious

Becoming sober is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and to be perfectly blunt. I don’t think that AA and the Twelve Steps are conducive to healing, not for people who don’t claim the gender identity of male. That’s for damn sure. It’s a program created by men, for men, and it’s built around a culture of shame. You are the one that is broken, if you don’t follow the program, that’s on you. You are the person that needs to reach out to everyone around you and tell them how sorry you are for being a fuck up. Oh and also, you better remember that if you slip up even once, you’ll probably be a toothless hag in the streets with a bottle of rubbing alcohol up your sleeve.

You know what a good cop could do?

Literally anything other than be a cop.

Creating Bhakti

The natural human condition is to create. From the minuscule, like a perfectly toasted marshmallow, to the extraordinary – the Great Pyramids. Regardless of your religion or inherited belief-system, there will always be music that moves you, epic stories of love, loss, God and the human condition. There are the perfectly curated moments, like a picnic with your soulmate during the evening sunset.

Fermentation, The Gut + How to make ginger beer

Humanity came to understand fermentation the same way we do most things, by accident. A spoiled barrel of grapes transforming into a batch of primitive wine. The process is actually quite simple. Enzymes convert the starch in plants into sugar, then into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Logically, what plant (or plants) are fermented determine what the finished product becomes. We…

How to take care of yourself during a pandemic

We’re all in this. Navigating the new, wild terrain we call home. If we’re lucky enough, we don masks and alcoholic spray foams or gels just to go out and get groceries. We have dinner with loved ones through screens. We are already doing a lot to take care of ourselves and others. That deserves…

Cannabis Consciousness

I was in the hills of Gold Country, California. I’d just spent the last five months learning the ins and outs of a young, hot, barely-legal weed farm. We were quietly tucked away in ponderosa pines an hour out of Sacramento. We were at the end of the season, “croptober.” My entire life had never revolved so much around a plant.…

Harnessing a Daemon

It has many names. A spirit, a genius, intuition, your daemon. Philosophers, poets and artists have all described how inspiration comes to them, often unannounced and fleeting. Tom Waits paints it well, “Excuse me, can you not see that I’m driving? Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you…