Words for the Soul

  • Letters from the Sea

    What Season Are You In?

    From me to you.🤍

    I can hear the torch from the workshop in the bow of the Gypsy as I sit in the recliner in the saloon with a cup of coffee. Scott is working on soldering a heat exchanger so we are warmer this winter, and the kids are back on the 1st and 2nd days of school. We are anchored up in Auke Bay near Juneau for another day or a few, depending on the weather and boat projects and….the flow.

    Summer with the kids is over, and what an array of experiences it was. I feel so deeply fortunate and grateful to have shared in such beautiful gifts and special family time. During their stay, I paused several times to really reflect…we are living our dream together, and we are getting to share it with our children, and that is a very meaningful life to lead.

    Of course, when you go from no kids to 5 kids, and back and forth throughout the year, it can also be mildly disorienting 🤪 And although we’ve been doing this together for several years now, I’m still learning, and I imagine I always will be.

    One of the things living on the sea continues to show me is there is a season for everything, and not everything is always in season. The herring roe are only here in the spring. The humpbacks primarily stay during the summer months, following the abundance of food in the wild ocean. The salmon only run at certain times, returning to familiar streams. The brown bears roam the coastline following the fish. The deer are high in the mountains until the snow ushers them down to the beaches below.

    There are seasons of abundance and seasons of going inward and preparing to receive.

    It’s okay that not every day or season is the same, and that’s what adds to the beautiful complexity of life. That is something personally that is very satisfying to me…the shifts in each day, and living on the ocean really allows that feeling to become a lived reality.

    When the kids are here, I tend to my own personal needs less. I sleep less, eat more, exercise less, and in general practice energy healing less as well. I’m tending to owies, having deep chats, going for hikes, paddles, and swims with the kiddos, staying up way past my bedtime to have a little quiet time with Scott, cooking 3 meals a day even though I only eat 1 😂 This is completely typical as a mom, and one of the things I have had to get used to as a “co-parent” rather than a full time mom is the ebbs and the flow of these times.

    Different seasons. An evolving flow. Accepting the season, and tending to the areas that bring you the highest yields….the highest yields in your heart, your soul, your alignment, and your truth, is such a profound gift.

    No matter what season we are in, it’s difficult to observe, notice, and tend to without quiet time for contemplation. When I lived in the city, it would be during my daily drives that I would have this time of surprising clarity. When I lived in the mountains, it was early morning runs and hikes when it would come as the sun peeked over the alpine ridge. On the boat, it’s often gazing out the window at the ocean rolling beneath us, the light reflecting in an array of patterns soothing to the nervous system.

    Taking time…contemplating…and accepting the season, the shifts within that each one brings, and pouring gratitude all over all of it allows the natural unfolding to be much more fulfilling and harmonizing.

    Grateful for this life, and for the shifting seasons. Thank you for sharing them with me.

    And curious, what season are you in right now?

    With love,

    Audrey

  • Letters from the Sea

    The Things We Carry

    From me to you.🤍

    The days have been disappearing in the midnight sun and endless family adventures aboard the Alaskan Gypsy. As I find a place to write I have two of the four children cozied up at my feet after a long day of sunshine and ocean play. It’s been a beautiful and busy couple of weeks. Summer is winding down. Besides the physical transitions taking place, there’s also the momma heart transition as the kids go back to school with their other parents.

    When there are things to be done and life to tend to we often choose to “compartmentalize” or “put it aside” for later. It may be later that day that the retreating tide brings light to what needs to be seen, or it could be a lifetime of experiences crashing above the surface keeping the focus away from said experiences.

    This is interesting from an energetic perspective. Consider each “heaviness,” we’ll just call it. Consider it within you….what does it feel like? A block? A heaviness? Tightness? Pain? Stuckness? Darkness? Anyway…consider it. Consider burying it because you’re busy. Because you can’t cry at the moment. Because you don’t want to explain to the 10 year old child the child wounding you’re simultaneously healing while actively parenting and teaching her? Where does it go? How long does it stay?

    These are all interesting questions and contemplations when considering energy and illness. Physical manifestations give way to that stuck energy. Ailments and sickness can arise. Depression, anxiety, fear…it can lurk beneath the surface and color what we see beneath.

    How do you tend to these energetic parts? How do we meet ourselves in a practice of healthy energetic hygiene?

    It takes awareness. First off, paying attention. Are you reacting instead of responding? Taking your first thought or feeling and finalizing it as fact? Or are you practicing stillness, silence, and contemplation? Getting curious with ourselves is a beautiful, compassionate tool for moving energy or acknowledging when things don’t feel good within you.

    Time for reflection, writing, intuitive physical movement, contemplative conversation, energy healing (distant or in person), touch, self healing. A body scan each morning, including a scan of your mental, emotional, and spiritual state. These are all tools we have access to.

    Everything is energy. We are all connected. Everything moves. Whatever state we are in will not last forever. So take a deep breath. Tell the heavy part of you it’s okay to move. It’s okay to release. Find that lightness within and celebrate. Give her life. Give her breath. Sustained breath.


    And remember, if you’ve been feeling a little stuck lately and would like support moving your energy or clearing any blockages, while I am at sea, I am available for distant Reiki sessions. We speak on the phone before and after the session, and access your healing during about an hour-long session where potent and beautiful transmissions occur.

    Also, if you’d ever feel called to connect beyond these letters, I’d love to offer you a complimentary 30-minute Connection Call. It would be an honor to connect more deeply and simply see what unfolds.

    Blessings,

    Audrey

  • Paying Attention

    Letters from the Sea,

    From me to you.🤍

    Sitting on a rock that feels like a chair.

    The sound of salmon jumping in a calm morning in Freshwater Bay, and the birds quietly chirping their end of summer song.

    The air still feels warm and humid.

    The sun strained through clouds hugging the green mountain peaks. The Alaskan Gypsy looked close to the beach with the low tide in. The yellow-orange seaweed was bright with the sun.

    Three of the kids are on the boat and one with Scott at the job site. I can hear the sounds from the boat and the laughter. I can hear the skilsaw humming away. I know there are brown bears all around. Interestingly, Chichagof Island is said to have the highest concentration of them in the world.

    It was a dedicated effort to find this moment of stillness for this grounding reflection today.

    Pausing.

    Taking a moment to connect with the earth beneath you. The air that fills your lungs, oxygenating your cells into this beautifully energized vessel. That’s what our bodies are. Our earthly homes.

    It is difficult to stay connected to them in the busy of life.

    Lately, with the summer, family, adventures, and beautiful distractions, I have lost touch with my own vessel.

    Today I feel the pull to pay attention.

    To check in with what I’m really feeling.

    Not just the food that enters my mouth, but the thoughts I repeatedly return to. The conversations I entertain. The words I speak to myself.

    Our cells listen.

    We program our bodies.

    We are feeding them so much more than the food we put into our mouths.

    What are we listening to?

    What are we subscribing to?

    What are we fully believing?

    We slowly create our own lived experience with our valiant voice.

    And maybe that’s the invitation.

    To gently rewrite the script.

    To let the victim story go.

    To meet ourselves with love.

    With kindness.

    Acceptance.

    Humility.

    To remember that this magnificent body is not something we drag through life.

    It is the vessel carrying us through it.

    Until next week…

    Love,
    Audrey

  • Letters from the Sea

    From me to you. 🤍

    This Week’s Theme: Coming Home with Gentleness

    The turbulent waters in your mind can exist even on the days the sun shines bright.

    “I will be easy on myself. I will be easy on myself. I will be easy on myself, like a newborn child.”

    I awoke this morning with the sun shining brightly through the portholes and this song gently being sung in my mind. It was a loving reminder that even when the human body or the ego don’t radiate peace and harmony, there is always a gentle way back home.

    A gentle way back into love.

    Into the shelter of your heart.

    Into the knowing that we are beautiful expressions of Consciousness itself.

    The way to meet the tenderness of your heart is to visit it. To let yourself enter the room. To notice what is on the walls. What does it feel like in there? What colors do you see? What energy do you sense?

    Allow yourself to feel.

    To see.

    To listen.

    To be guided in the purest form back to your own truth, no matter the colors or the shades of energy you may encounter along the way.

    Our bodies are sacred temples. Caring for them with tenderness allows us access to deeper insight, connection, love, and forgiveness.

    The kids are back for another three weeks of summer adventures aboard the Alaskan Gypsy here in Southeast Alaska, and we’ve been moving quickly leading up to their arrival. As another incredible Alaskan summer begins to wind down, I can feel the exhaustion settling into my bones. My spirit is asking me to go inward, while the world around me continues spinning at full summer speed.

    Can you relate?

    Yesterday we left Juneau, and today we’re heading out to Idaho Inlet to help dear friends resurrect a cabin in the wilderness. They, too, are raising three young children while living this beautiful and unconventional life.

    Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about staying connected to my body as a way to remain grounded and living in my highest expression, while also offering tenderness to the fatigue I feel within.

    Movement has always been one of my pathways back home.

    Not movement for achievement.

    Not movement to prove anything.

    Simply movement that allows me to reconnect with myself.

    Over the years I’ve learned to adapt my practice to what my nervous system truly needs instead of what my mind thinks I should do.

    Right now that looks like gentle walks.

    Swimming.

    Stretching.

    Quiet moments of stillness.

    I’ve found that being flexible with our approach to life is one of the gentlest forms of self-care.

    Perhaps the invitation this week is simply this:

    Where can you be a little easier on yourself?

    How do you return home to your own heart?

    And how are you honoring the tender parts of yourself?

    Over the next three weeks I’ll be pausing our weekly Women’s Expansion Circle as I focus my time and energy on this season with family. During that time I’ll also be reflecting on the future direction of the group and will share any changes or new opportunities as they unfold.

    I’ll continue sharing Letters from the Sea each week, along with our YouTube videos, and I look forward to staying connected with you in this space.

    Thank you for reading, for sharing your thoughts, and for walking this journey beside me.

    Until next week…

    May you be gentle with yourself.

    Blessings,

    Audrey

  • Letters from the Sea

    Letters from the Sea

    From me to you. 🤍

    This Week’s Theme: Living in the Flow

    We are just cruising past Point Augusta, where we stopped to photograph and film the seiner fishing fleet. We watched them set and haul their gear, all in hopes of salmon swimming into their gigantic nets before being brought aboard for their slated fate.

    Life at sea really illuminates what it means to be in the flow. It’s easy to tell when you’re getting a strong current push, the winds are at your bow, or the daylight doesn’t shine when you think it should.

    We left Tenakee Springs this morning, a place that has come to signify the continued flow state of life aboard the Alaskan Gypsy.

    In my past life, living in the city, working 40 to 60 hours a week, fighting hard for my ideal health in mind, body, and spirit, seeking adventure, and longing for a soulmate connection, it felt like I was constantly swimming against the current. Everything felt hard. I was tired all the time. Disconnected from myself. Healing from trauma and loss. Longing for deeper connection while surviving in a life that no longer held the meaning it once did. Knowing there was something more, but not being able to put my finger on it. Afraid to change, yet knowing I couldn’t stay the same.

    Shifting into the flow state is an accumulation of moments, awareness, surrender, and being open to a major shift at any time. Letting Source know you’re available for the next level. The Universe loves clarity. Asking for what your soul truly desires, then being available for it…in both the lessons and the blessings. That’s where we become free.

    The small streams and raging rivers all lead back to the same wild ocean. There is no path that won’t eventually take you home. But swimming upstream is far less comfortable. It’s exhausting, and often incredibly counterproductive.

    My life completely changed when I surrendered. I surrendered to the truth within me, to the Divinity around me, and to the deeper knowing that survival mode wasn’t a place to land. The sandbar in the middle of the river wasn’t a place to stay. The water would rise again. The real peace was found in letting go, trusting the flow, and arming myself with the proper tools to navigate the journey.

    Living aboard the Alaskan Gypsy has been nothing but flow state. There are countless stories I could share, but one has been especially present lately.

    As many of you know, we’ve been sharing our Alaskan Gypsy Life on YouTube simply because we enjoy documenting this adventure. Along the way it’s created opportunities we never could have planned.

    One of those opportunities was a connection with a man named Sterling, who owns and operates Second Growth Homes out of Tenakee Springs on Chichagof Island.

    When he first commented on one of our YouTube videos last spring, Scott immediately felt like he’d met a brother from another mother. Their similarities and interests were almost uncanny. Yet Sterling was surprisingly difficult to connect with. Months passed. We’d receive another comment, then silence again.

    Eventually we were heading toward northern Southeast and decided to stop in Tenakee Springs, regardless of whether we’d get the chance to meet him. We had been exploring communities with hot springs as possible places to spend time during future winters aboard Gypsy. We fell in love with Tenakee, but still didn’t cross paths with Sterling, even after a few days there. It turned out, he was working in a nearby bay. A text came through, but still no confirmation of a future connection.

    On our final passage before crossing the Gulf of Alaska, we happened to enter the very bay where he said he was working. Unsure if he was even there, we were almost ready to turn around when he finally answered Scott’s call on the VHF.

    We ventured farther into the bay and met Sterling, his wife, and their three young children living aboard their sailboat while building a cabin in the wilderness.

    Without realizing it at the time, that meeting quietly opened a new portal for our own lives.

    Four weeks later, after returning to Southeast Alaska, our very first stop happened to be another bay where Sterling was beginning an A-frame cabin. Scott helped with the project while I filmed, and during those few days I found myself deeply connected with my dad’s spirit.

    Two days later we were across the bay in Tenakee, working alongside Sterling and his dad at their sawmill, helping fill a large yellow cedar order. Dreams coming true. Spiritual connections everywhere. I was gifted beautiful moments with their children, meaningful conversations with his sweet wife, and the reminder of how special it is to have fellow liveaboards as neighbors in this wild life at sea.

    On our final day at the mill, knowing I felt ready to begin offering energy healing in this community, I unexpectedly met one of Sterling’s dad’s friends. Through casual conversation she asked for Reiki, and before I knew it, the next portal quietly opened.

    Then, while spending time at the Tenakee bathhouse, I met more women who recognized us from the three-masted sailboat and welcomed us into their community with open hearts.

    There is far more depth to these experiences than words can capture today.

    But the story keeps saying the same thing.

    In the flow is the way to go.

    My ego and Virgo brain still wants to schedule, plan, and figure everything out. It wants certainty. It wants to know what’s happening, when it’s happening, and exactly how it will unfold. I still ask questions, gather information, and create little stories in my mind to satisfy that part of myself.

    Thankfully, it occupies less a small part of my brain these days, because honestly…it’s all worth a giggle.

    What I’ve learned is this.

    It always works out.

    There is very little reason to cling tightly to the plan. The weather changes. The current shifts. A whale suddenly appears and reminds you to stop everything.

    Whether at sea or on land, living in the flow with intention, adaptability, flexibility, and openness to your highest good creates blessings and opportunities beyond anything we could have orchestrated ourselves.

    Ego death, surrender, and letting go can be incredibly painful. They’re a process. They’re a journey. And perhaps they’re exactly why we’re here. Our souls are here to remember who we truly are and to learn the lessons that help us return home.

    Nothing is without purpose.

    We are exactly where we are meant to be.

    So the next time life presents you with an opportunity, ask yourself:

    Am I swimming upstream…or am I allowing myself to be supported by the flow?

    This week in our Expansion Women’s Circle we’ll be exploring what it means to live in the flow and simple practices that help cultivate this way of being. I’ve found that sharing in community softens the noise in our minds, and that love, connection, and gentle guidance are always safe places to land.

    You are warmly welcome, and I hope we’ll see you Wednesday at 5:15 PM AKST. Please email me at: audrey@changingtidesenergy.com for the link to join.

    Thank you for being here, in the flow state of this wild and beautiful ride.

    Blessings,

    Audrey

  • Letters from the Sea

    Letters from the Sea

    From me to you. 🤍

    This Week’s Theme: Who Holds You When You Crumble?

    There’s something about the open ocean and endless nights that really humbles you. A time of complete surrender, letting go of any essence of control you may think you have.

    I am not the captain of this vessel, thankfully, my partner Scott is experienced and wise at the helm, but neither of us have an impact over the elements, the swell, the wind, the current or waves. We can tend to the forecast and make sure the oil is changed and gauges running at good pressures and temperatures. We can ensure the fuel tank is full and the galley is tidied for the journey. You can prepare, but you can’t plan for the unexpected. 

    Scott is raising a sail as I write. Utilizing the frustrating headwind to his advantage, which will only truly be to our advantage after changing course, shifting directions, altering plans to try to maximize the current circumstances out of our control. 

    We’ve been traveling for 48 hours nonstop in open water. The hum of the engine can soothe you to sleep or grind at your nervous system. Maybe even, both I dare say. The waves are crashing over our buoyant bow as I type. I should be videoing this for our YouTube, but instead I will seize this moment and intention. Intention to share, in surrender, in peace, and in clarity, no matter what circumstances or storm may come your way. 

    Life trauma doesn’t knock before entering. It doesn’t ask for permission before coming in and taking over your safe, secure, and loving space. It can show up by surprise. It can show up unexpected, at any hour of the day. It can show up at any age, any year of your life, maybe even before you were even brought fully earthside. 

    Who holds you when you crumble? Who tends to the darkness in your soul when the storm comes late at night? 

    Learning to take the reign of your own inner sails is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in this life. It can be some of our greatest lessons. Learning to nurture and love ourselves, tie the lines and point the nose in the right direction, despite the wavering conditions around. 

    Often times in life we expect others to fix it, to change, to create a different reality for you. But, no matter the conditions, no matter the sea state, no matter the turbulence within – it is our responsibility. Our responsibility to find peace, to heal, to love, to connect with the Divine spirit and guidance, to remember that we are one and not separate from at all, to access and shine our natural light and highest expression. 

    Yes, we can make choices in life. We choose if we go out to sea. We choose who we allow to captain our ship. But underneath all of it, is a choice to regulate, to grow, to nourish and nurture, the undeniable and surrendered part of you, in love, in healing, and in peace. Something that we can access no matter the conditions or circumstances. 

    It’s a practice. Surrendering. Letting go. Taking the lead of our destiny. 
    But once we let go, and release others the responsibility of our happiness, and release our responsibility to others happiness, we can access a deeper freedom then we have known on this earthly realm. 


    It doesn’t mean you don’t access connection and love, and share help and tenderness – it just means we are on solid footing, no matter the conditions around. 

    It takes work, effort, awareness, and consistency. It takes self love when we fall down and the courage to get back up again. It is within us all. Without attachment to our circumstances, in peace and in love. 

    The topic of surrender and letting go will be what we discuss in this weeks Expansion Circle. The theme will be around the Serenity Prayer:

    God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

    The courage to change the things I can.

    And the wisdom to know the difference.

    Thanking you for being here with me. Blessings.

    Audrey

    ***Please email audrey@changingtidesenergy.com if you’d like to join our weekly Women’s Expansion Circle on Zoom.

    ***If you’d like to watch this Letter being shared aboard the Alaskan Gypsy, click here.

  • Healing From What Was Never Mine

    A Poem on Releasing Emotional Weight


    Sometimes the body carries stories that did not begin with us.

    This morning’s reflection came through while thinking about the layers of grief and emotional weight so many of us move through quietly. If you’ve been doing your own unwinding work lately, this is for you.


    From deep within my soul,
    there’s a story to be told.

    A lifetime of peeling back layers
    of grief, of pain
    that were not mine,
    but lived within me all the same.

    I carried the weight.
    It made me strong in each step,
    adding to my pack,
    heavier with every deepened breath.

    Until one day
    I realized…

    it wasn’t mine.

    Releasing.
    Undoing.
    This became my time to shine.

    Letting go of what no longer served me,
    drawing in new breaths
    of air, of life,
    circulating fully within me.

    Now I wake upon the ocean,
    love surrounding and within.

    I’m proud of that girl,
    and honored by the path that’s been.

    - Audrey Cotter
    
    
    
    
    

    If you are in your own season of release, you are not alone in it.

  • Welcome to Changing Tides Energy

    Welcome to Changing Tides Energy

    Hello and welcome! I’m Audrey, and I’m really grateful you dropped in! We’ve created this space to help you find clarity, connection, and healing through energy work, intuitive life coaching, and spiritual inspiration.

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