Tahnee Taylor, South Golden Beach (2026)

22/12/2025

At the Summer Solstice (it was at 2:03 am today, Monday), also known as midsummer), Yang peaks and Yin begins to grow. Life extends itself out and flourishes!

In Taoist thought, the Summer Solstice is a time to regulate one’s vitality so as not to overextend our life force. We start to pull back a little from the excesses of Summer as we turn (ever so slightly) towards the descent.

In some Taoist texts, you should not make love on the solstices to avoid upsetting the balance of Yin and Yang. (This does not apply for equinoxes, to my knowledge.)

This is the longest day of the year!!!
The shortest night.

You’ll notice that the sun sets late and rises early and at midday it sits at the highest point in the sky. Pay attention. You don’t need a Taoist text to orient yourself to these shifts.

Midday naps are GREAT! This mirrors the time when Yang turns to Yin in the daily cycle (that is, the ‘summer solstice’ of the day).

Green tea and reishi are supportive, and red dates are popular to support the Qi, as well as cold noodles and salads, if you’re into such things.

This time of year correlates to the 5th thoracic vertebra (T5) aka the back of the Heart. Heart rules Fire the element of Summer in this system. We want to be open-hearted but not too hot through the heart and focusing on this point in meditation can be helpful.

Xiàzhì is the name of this time in China, and it means ‘summer extreme.’

The days will get hotter as Summer pushes its last heat upon us, and darkness is reborn as the days get shorter and the nights longer, until we hit Winter Solstice in June (long nights, short days).

It’s important to get lots of sun (appropriate to your skin and the place you live, of course) at this time of year to set your system up for health. Light is medicine.

The light we take in now will support our vitality in Winter (serotonin being the Yang hormone of this season, and melatonin being the Yin of Winter).

This is a bit steam of consciousness cos my kids are climbing on my but those are my notes on Summer Solstice! Enjoy!

20/12/2025

Spleens need love too! lol. When I was 16 I remember my friend’s partner hurt his spleen in a bicycle accident and I had no idea what a spleen was! In fact, I’m pretty sure at that time medical science thought the spleen was perhaps vestigial and most likely useless (guess what! It’s not!). As the Yin organ (Fu) of the Earth element (tǔ 土) the Spleen (capitalised to represent its energetic function as well as its biological function) assists us in extracting the nutritive elements from our food and our lives. Our ability to learn, to make meaning and to integrate come from the Spleen. The Stomach receives the food, continues the process of breaking it down (this process begins in the mouth which is considered a part of the Stomach’s energetic domain) and it governs receiving, rotting and ripening. The Spleen governs transformation and transportation. I enjoy doing this practice when I’ve been studying too much, holding too much mentally, feeling a bit anxious or just to amplify the qualities of the Earth element I want to enhance - to metabolise life rather than just endure it! Perhaps helpful as we all charge into the silly season, no? ❤️

18/12/2025

In a world of scrolling and information overload and blue light and a lack of discipline and discernment it’s pretty easy to get to the point of overwhelm. Coming back to the body is a useful practice to prevent these feelings becoming a dominant part of our inner narrative. Typically these mental rumination issues come from unprocessed past experiences (aka trauma aka undigested old stuff) or too much recent input (for example news media, or even studying) or something our system is struggling to integrate and absorb (which could be any or all of the above or something else). Remember that it’s not just what goes into our mouths - every single sense organ takes in ‘food’ that needs to be ‘digested’ by the body. True rest requires we close the sense organs and turn inside, or allow a natural pattern to absorb our sense organs (eg the ocean or a tree or something not man-made).

Lifting weights strengthens the muscles of the body and in turn supports our ability to stabilise and digest our lives; walking activates the meridians of digestion and helps us process (there’s a reason walking is a spiritual practice in many indigenous and traditional cultures). There are also Yin Yoga poses, energetic healing practices and acupuncture points to support our Spleens - I’ll share some more soon.

Maybe just for a few hours today you go on an ‘information’ fast and let your body catch up. See how it feels. It might not feel great immediately, especially if you’re addicted to the quest for information, but as you catch up with yourself I’ll bet it starts to feel great.

Good luck!

18/12/2025

Liver 3, Tai Chong. Great Rushing (or Supreme Rushing). The name tells the story. This is the source (yuan) point on the Liver meridian (which means it directly dialogues with the liver organ) where Liver Qi remembers it is meant to move in an upright and purposeful way and helps us find action and clarity. I sometimes feel it as an almost violent surge rushing up the inner leg. Great rushing indeed! Tai Chong sits in the valley between the metatarsals of the first two toes (usually about two fingers-width from the webbing between your big and second toe - I kept saying first in the video cos I don’t sleep enough lol). When paired with the point I shared the other day, LI4, He Gu, they become the a a Four Gates, one of my favourite energetic conversations in the body. Metal meets Wood. Metal gives the Qi a boundary and ensures it flows smoothly throughout the body. The two are a great choice for helping kick the early stages of a sickness or as a kind of ‘recharge’ for the system (it’s a bit like a factory reset, in my body). It’s also good for menstrual issues, digestive issues, tension in the body incl headaches, the eyes, it’s a good one. Press gently with your finger and I like to circle around into the sensation, breathe for a few breaths, and let the Great Rushing do what it does best: restore flow, restore agency, restore vision (both literal and metaphorical), restore your sense of inner direction.

17/12/2025

A woman’s life is not linear. Just like the Earth, we have seasons.

In the maiden years, like Spring, spirit pulls us outward.
In the mother years, like Summer, we blossom and ripen whatever it is we are growing.
In the threshold years, we turn back toward ourselves to capture our harvest, to share with the world. Like Late Summer.
In our menopausal years, like Autumn, we refine and excavate the wisdom of our lives to uphold our values, discernment and boundaries.
And the crone years, Winter, call us to our innermost selves to prepare for the biggest journey of all.

This Saturday I’m teaching a free class on the shamanic phases of womanhood through the lenses of yoga, Taoism, and ancient seasonal wisdom.

December 20, 10 am Sydney time.
Recording available with registration.

Link in bio. Hope to see you there!

16/12/2025

He Gu Union Valley or LI-4 is one of those points I come back to again and again, partly because it’s so humble and partly because it’s so powerful. This little valley between thumb and finger is a junction where inside and outside, self and world seem to have a quiet conversation - we visited a place in New Zealand called the Resurgence or Te Puna o Riuwaka and for some reason I am reminded of it when I work this point. In the Classics He Gu is said to move Qi and Blood, to open the gates, to help things shift when we’re stuck, but on an esoteric level I feel it as a point of consent and courage. When you press He Gu you’re saying yes to movement, yes to change, yes to letting the body speak rather than forcing it. It can soften headaches, tension, grief held in the chest, but it also seems to remind the spirit that we are allowed to participate in our own healing. I’ll share one of my favourite points to pair it with soon, LV3 or Tai Chong. Watch this space!

14/12/2025

What you’re seeing here is a part of chi nei tsang aka Taoist abdominal massage. I’m combining Qi Gong (energy work) with hands-on organ work to support the Liver and the Wood element.

In Chinese medicine, the Liver is responsible for the free flow of Qi. When Liver Qi is constrained, we don’t just feel it physically, we feel it emotionally and mentally too: tightness, frustration, irritability, a sense of feeling stuck, not being able to see the forest for the trees, poor digestion, PMS, or a sense of being unable to move forward.

This work helps:
• release held tension around the Liver
• improve circulation and organ mobility
• support detoxification physically
• and clear stagnation energetically

Think of it as a detox, not just of the body but of old patterns, suppressed emotion, and stuck energy.

When Liver Qi can move freely, the Wood element is upright.
And when Wood is upright, we have clarity, direction, and the courage to act.

Go give your liver some loving!!

13/12/2025

If you’re interested in learning what the Taoists had to say about being in a female body, and what I’ve learned studying Taoist, Yogic, and shamanic systems about maintaining that health and vitality into old age, including practices that are easy and supportive of female health, you will want to check out my upcoming course Elemental Vehicle. We go live Feb 11 and early bird ends December 31. Link in bio x

13/12/2025

I’ve definitely found that Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra in particular can be highly supportive in learning to create space for both our reactive selves and our wise inner selves that know what’s REALLY going on and to allow them the opportunity to dialogue. I have an online portal full of on-demand practices and it’s on sale for just $81 a year as an offering to you all. Offer available until Wednesday next week and link in my bio to check it out. If you want to see behind the curtain there is a 3-day trial - just cancel if it’s not for you and you won’t be charged.

12/12/2025

One of the great myths we are sold, or that we seem to inherit from the over culture, is that our bodies are fragile. Yet, my experience is the opposite. Bodies are incredibly resilient, and strong. What humans endure, across the globe, daily, via the vehicle of the body, is gobsmacking, if you stop and think about it.

Women, especially, inherit a story of weakness. Of lesser capacity. And this just isn’t true, I’ve never met a weak woman.

Yin teaches us that we are capable of more. Of holding more. More energy. More ‘width’ (that we can tolerate more range of sensation, more experience, simultaneously, without breaking). Yin teaches us that our capacity for rushing around is nothing when we stop and meet ourselves, in the moment. That the hard work begins then. That we are stronger, more resilient, that stress can make us stronger than we ever thought we were. That it’s not in avoiding the hard parts of life, the stress, the ‘stretching’ (I mean this metaphorically), but when the dosage is correct, we are made MORE vital, more strong by meeting these opportunities. Stagnation equals eventual decay.

Shamanic womancraft teaches us to draw on our own inherited (ancestral) strength and on the skills, qualities and resources we have cultivated in our lives to remind ourselves that we are strong, capable, powerful and to live from that place.

I just want to remind you of this today! You are being forged by the events of your life and the result will be golden!

11/12/2025

Every time someone asks how I “manage it all,” I want to laugh a little. Because the truth is… I don’t. I just have this. This little corner of our converted garage that I share with our spare room and the laundry and my office and wardrobe. It’s not perfect and it’s not aesthetically pleasing most of the time and the kids LOVE to play here and leave s*** everywhere.

But irrespective of all that, i know that if I spend a few minutes dropping into my body and remembering who I am underneath the noise of the day then things get significantly more easeful.

These practices are my non-negotiables — not because I’m disciplined or virtuous, but because without them I would crumble. They’re how I mother. How I create. How I stay human.

And this is exactly what Rest Club is for: the simple, doable, deeply regulating practices that make everything else in life feel possible again.

If you’ve been craving a soft place to land, a reminder to pause, or a way to rebuild your inner steadiness Rest Club is on sale until Sunday for $81/year. A bargain but also essential because we all need more of this! Link in bio, no code required. 🥰

🤍

06/12/2025

I often receive messages like: “It’s easy for you to say trust the body, you’re healthy. I have XYZ condition.” And while I hold full compassion for that, I also need to say this clearly: my intimacy with my body has been hard-won. It did not come easily or naturally to me.

I don’t talk about this often because it feels like another lifetime and it’s not something I reflect on much, but before I turned 30 I had a lot to move through.
An eating disorder from 14–20/21 (it took years to feel hunger again). Depression at 17. Coeliac/gluten intolerance (no gluten for a decade). Those naturopath IG tests that said I was reactive to everything. Rhinitis. So many bouts of insomnia. A decade on the Pill then post-Pill amenorrhoea + acne for two years. Recurring UTIs, weird skin things, chronic fungal issues, sores. A horrible tick episode that landed me in hospital at 10, and another hospital trip at 19 for a serious kidney infection.

My twenties were spent gathering information about my body and how to fix it, initially - natural healing, herbs, Chinese medicine, shamanic work, spiritual work, GNM, quantum biology. All of it shaped my worldview. My thirties were about learning to love and trust my body, fully.

Now I have an incredibly healthy body, not because I never struggled, but because I understand her. I can trace any symptom to something meaningful I’ve lived through, and I know how to meet myself inside the process.

These days, symptoms feel like messengers, not threats. Signs of vitality. “Look at me… processing, healing, responding.” My question isn’t “How do I fix this?” but “How do I support myself in this?”

I assume health as my baseline. I truly believe my body seeks health. I haven’t had an illness in years that I couldn’t connect to something significant happening in my life - it’s never random, so I don’t carry fear.

Now at 40, I feel a beautiful ripening into embodied wisdom - the summer of my summer slowly turning toward its early autumn. (More on that next post.)

I hope this reminds you that you aren’t broken. Learning to listen is slow, sacred work… and it’s worth it. It’s some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

Tahnee Taylor

22/12/2025

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