Welcome to The Deeper Call

Honoring the process. Leaning into change. Tending to the deeper call.

Hello, and welcome to The Deeper Call community and newsletter. My intention with this first letter is to share with you what called me to start sharing my writing here and what you can expect from me moving forward.

I sent out my first newsletter twelve years ago. I can’t even remember what tool I used, it’s been so long! A few of you might remember those early days ;) I began that newsletter to share the blog posts I was creating, recipes I was loving, as well as personal stories from my life. Back then, I was renting a little ADU on the coast of Northern California. I had been blogging on tumblr for several years at that point (anyone else remember the tumblr days?!) and took a business class that said “the future was email marketing”. I have always been terrible at marketing my work (I can trace this back to my art school days) but at that time, email seemed like a great way to stay in touch with folks, so I started the newsletter.

My first newsletter had just 40 subscribers, mostly friends and family, and it stayed that way for years. A few times a week I shared what I had been experiencing, creating, listening to, reading, and little by little, the newsletter grew alongside my personal practice and eventual business.

As many of you can probably relate, these last few years have been transformational, to say the least. I am not the person I was several years ago…quite frankly, I have trouble recognizing myself most days. My brain isn’t as organized. My desires have shifted. My relationships have evolved (or been released). My clothes don’t fit. My face is softer. My head has some gray hairs now (and I can hear my mother’s voice in my ear, “you’ve earned them!”). These changes are in part due to mothering now two kids under 4 years old and getting hardly any sleep. They are also in part due to me doing the deeply confronting and often painful work of changing the dynamics in my birth family, moving to the country, healing childhood trauma, facing grief that I have avoided for decades, remembering my inherent connection to the planet, writing another book, and breaking my heart over and over again in this process.

In this change process, much has shifted around my writing practice. I have a yearning to get back to the origins of my voice, to the awkward, guttural, pre-verbal sounds of pure emotion, anger, elation, wonder, and grief. Since becoming a mother, an author, and a teacher in my field, I have lost parts of my voice. In caring for my children and sharing what I know in my work, my voice has become (at times) an echo of my own history, a proficient speaker of my methodology, or a confused mix of parts of me that are unfamiliar to who I am becoming. In trying to serve and reach so many people with my writing over these past years, I have lost myself in the sentences.

I have been called to create The Deeper Call to have a place to share in long-form, away from the trappings of social media, the process of reclaiming my voice. What that means, to me, today is choosing words carefully, and writing in such a way as to carry us forward, rather than explain, give advice, or share what I already know. My intention is to experiment with my voice, try new ways of expressing it, and pay close attention to my body in the process. 

This is a twice monthly newsletter which will arrive in your inbox on Sundays. Here you can expect themes connected to transformation, breath, remembrance, nature, grief, connection, parenting, and rest. As a free subscriber you will also have the ability to comment on posts and engage with the community.

I am very excited about the evolution of my writing and to offer a clear and heartfelt way to support my work. It brings me so much joy to be able to share with you in this intentional space, and I am very grateful that you are here.

Thank you for seeing me.
Thank you for believing in me.
Thank you for being part of my journey.
We really are so much better together.

I look forward to connecting with you inside The Deeper Call.

With care,
Ashley