Introducing... subtledream newsletter

The subtledream newsletter is a curation of reflections, global good news, original content, and recommended gems from around the internet & our world. Free & ad-free. Sign up here.


Kicked off the first-ever newsletter with this header image. A beautiful scene & time I shall never forget. Taken in Oregon, Aug 2020.

The purpose of the newsletter is to share with you/the world:

  • original work in various formats, including Wilderness Within Podcast

  • good news about people & planet that inspire & spark hope, instead of despair & divide. big thanks to Future Crunch and other sources.

  • curated content such as videos, books, podcasts, and offerings that I find of value

  • snippets of life for those of you personally connected to me :)

For a number of years, I feel as though I have already been doing so on social media, patreon, and through direct messages/emails. However, what's become apparent to me are the limitations of social media algorithms + content overload on those platforms, the inefficiency of individual messaging (though that'll still happen 🙃), and that I do not wish to constantly put content behind a paywall. I would rather distribute freely to a wider audience, and if folks find value, feel compelled, and have the financial ability, to pitch in at a level they are content with to make my time even more worthwhile. This is a also conscious step in redefining who I am out to the world. Rather than simply being "the guy who takes pretty pictures and videos," or "that nomadic photographer," I want to explore other aspects of my ever-evolving being and interests, and how they could continue to serve me and others too. Since everyone has email, and because I am embracing the fact that I truly get joy in the creating-curating-sharing process, here we are.

The newsletter is free, ad and sponsor-free (in big part thanks to supporting patrons), and I intend to keep it that way, at least for some time. ✌🏽

I hope you enjoy this publication! Thank you for your time & attention - they are invaluable!

Gratitude is everything.

I took this image in 2018 while in Byron Bay, Australia, not knowing that I’d still be using it years later… 😉

Norway, Apr 2019. A journey that meant and helped me so, so much. Very grateful for that experience.

Feature on LA Yoga

I've got a little golden nugget of a read for you all :)

"This was a conversation with Jonathan Lee, longtime volunteer and media coordinator extraordinaire at Conscious Impact. Conscious Impact is a 501(c)(3) dedicated to sustainable development in Sindhupalchok, Nepal. And it is where I was heading just a month following my training.

This conversation was before we had even met in person, when we were connected only through the social sphere prior to my arrival at camp. His words woke me up, not only because he was so nonchalant with something I was hesitant to share so early in a friendship, but because I knew it meant he had experienced life to be that same kind of magic. The kind that inspires people to live with more intention and purpose, knowing we’re all interconnected."

Full piece here.

Grateful for Andy Vantrease in beautifully articulating her experiences and words along with my photos from our time in Nepal to an audience on LA YOGA Magazine that I wouldn't otherwise have the ability to reach.

LA Yoga Magazine Online - Yoga and Ayurveda in Los Angeles (May 2019) cropped.jpg

Published in "Forest Gardening In Practice"!

Between late 2014 and early 2016, I was actively involved with the Beacon Food Forest, an open-to-all food forest just miles from downtown Seattle. The concept behind the food forest is simple - to cultivate and maintain a food-producing urban oasis that provides nutrients for both humans and wildlife while at the same time rejuvenates local ecology and sense of community and connection to the land. After years of conception, planning, collecting public input and support, dealing with city officials to secure the available land and permits, and then of course, the conversion of grass lawn into the thriving garden of eden that it has been since 2012. Dozens upon dozens (and often 100+) of volunteers come through the Beacon Food Forest every month to help weed, trim, chop, compost, move, roll, drop, plant, and harvest and keep the abundance rolling in for anyone and everyone. Native species such as black currants are complemented by a diversity of other medicinal and sustanance-creating annual and perennial plants and trees. The food forest is currently in the process of expanding its current size (approximatley 2 acres) to double that. "Phase 2" will be the result from the input from hundreds of dedicated volunteers and invested neighborhoods over the past 2 years. Thanks in part to a grant by The Bullitt Foundation in Seattle, Phase 2 will not only have tremendous public support but financial backing as well (for the time being).

The Beacon Food Forest is arguably my favorite place in the city of Seattle (Golden Gardens and Discovery Park are runners-up). The profound benefits of a public, open-for-all-at-anytime gathering place where folks of all ages are free to come as they are and learn about plants, food, nutrient cycles, meet neighbors, and exchange knowledge are deep and enriching, to say the least. I was fortunate to have been introduced by this incredible project by a good friend and mentor from British Columbia, and captured many magical moments in this special space with many friends and neighbors. 

I started working with the author, Tomas Remiarz, on the publication of the chapter on the Beacon Food Forest about 2 years ago, and received a copy of the final product just a few months back. I am proud and joyed to have my work featured in such a beautiful book showcasing a number of amazing examples of what folks from around the globe are doing to revitalize urban and rural places to make healthier communities for all living beings. Grateful especially for friends and connections established through the food forest and now our roots are amazingly intertwined forever.

Learn more about the Beacon Food Forest through their website, www.beaconfoodforest.org and connect with their social media networks on Facebook (www.facebook.com/beaconfoodforest) and Instagram (@BeaconFoodForest or hashtag #BeaconFoodForest).

Check out the Tomas' book and read what others are saying about it:

CNN.com feature!

387 days ago, I left the US to return to Nepal to work and live with the Conscious Impact team in the rural village of Takure several hours outside Kathmandu. Today is the 2-year anniversary of the 2015 earthquake that shook Nepal and claimed the lives of around 9000 Nepalis and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Last year I was also in Takure. I remember being with over 30 international volunteers working to produce locally and sustainably-produced bricks to rebuild one of the local primary schools. Now, over 70,000 bricks later -- a primary school, an orphanage, an office building for the local women's microfinance cooperative, a community center, an elder's center, and several family homes are either completed or currently in the works. 
This evening we gathered in commemorating of the earthquake that brought us together, and to celebrate how far we've come together and to fuel our journey ahead. This evening we are proud to present a feature on CNN.com, titled "Rebuilding a Nepali village, one block at a time." Deep, deep gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers and hundreds more supporters worldwide in making our rebuilding story happen and continue to unfold. I'll always have Orion Haas and Allen Gula to thank for their vision of Conscious Impact and the wonderful humans they have magnetized to this space over the years. I must also thank Alyson Noele Sagala and Sunita Pandey in helping me with the interviews and in gathering all of the information to make this article happen, and of course last but not least gratitude goes out to Phillip Ngo in connecting us to Bijan Hosseini at CNN in materializing this piece. I am absolutely humbled to have my photos and a project-community I have so much love for be featured on a major news channel. Namaste!
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/25/asia/nepal-earthquake-takure/index.html

CNN-article-feature-2017-April-25.jpg

Featured at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Friends and family, I am tremendously excited to announce my first museum exhibition feature at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel. The exhibition, titled "3.5 Square Meters: Constructive Response to Natural Disasters," will open to the public in under 3 days on March 23 at 6pm, and remain so until the first week of September. This multi-month exhibition will showcase (as you can likely imagine by now) Conscious Impact and our collaborative work since August 2015 in the village of Takure in the Sindhupalchowk region of Nepal. Plus... our very own bricks are there! The team and I have been working with the exhibition curator since last autumn to put together something that we feel is indicative of the immensely intimate and important work that we've been doing with the local community members heavily affected by the April and May 2015 earthquakes. 
Many many thanks to Neta Kind-Lerer for the connection to the museum for this opportunity to go from idea to manifestation. The whole team is extremely excited and grateful for the international exposure and whatever this may bring. Onwards! #ComeToNepal #RebuildTakure

Feature on Turn it to Trvl

My brother Allen Gula, one of the main reasons I first went to Nepal in 2015 after the earthquakes, as well as co-founder of Conscious Impact, recently wrote a blog piece on the story of our project and it has been featured on Turn It To Trvl - a very good read. Namaste!

http://www.turnittotrvl.com/conscious-impact-nepal/

"...We want to provide steady, supportive spaces that shifts development from the mind and planning every aspect of the future into a heart oriented space where what’s best for everyone can arise from the intuitive part of our best intentions. To continue to make bricks, provide local jobs and give the best advice to home rebuilders with a local material made by their families. To reforest these Himalayan hillsides with love, respect and fruit trees that we can eat from and share after a long days work together."