Roots to Stars

Grounded Below, Expansive Above

Author

Blair McLendon
May 21, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Peace and Abundance, Ankhora family!

Welcome to Ankhora's biweekly nurturing of the sacred trinity - mind, body, and soul. In each newsletter we intend to bring you a dose of inspiration, wisdom, and practices to enhance your well-being within those three major layers of life.

There is a particular kind of tension that comes when life is moving quickly and asking for patience at the same time.

You can feel it right now. Something inside of you wants to run toward what is coming, but there is another half that is telling you to pace yourself. The ideas are arriving fast. The clarity, in moments, is sharp and undeniable. There is creative fire alive in you that is real and ready. And yet something deeper keeps whispering: “Not all at once. Not yet. Pace yourself.”

This is the strange and sacred territory we are in collectively right now. The energy of this season is not slow. There have been too many completions, too many unexpected shifts, too many people stepping out of old versions of themselves for it to be anything but significant. What was built on a foundation that no longer fits is finishing. What has been quietly growing beneath the surface is beginning to show itself. The endings are real, but so are the beginnings.

The wisdom this moment is asking for is not urgency, it is roots. A tree does not grow upward by ignoring the ground beneath it. It grows up precisely because it has gone down first. The deeper the root system, the taller it can reach without falling over. That is not a metaphor for slowing down. That is a map for sustainable expansion. It is the difference between a sprint that leaves you depleted and a pace that builds real momentum over time.

Think about what you are moving towards right now. Think about the version of yourself that is coming forward, the structures you are building, the life you are aligning with. All of it is real. All of it is possible. And all of it will require you to be someone who does not collapse under the weight of the very thing you asked for.

That is why this week, the invitation is not to push harder. It is to get lower. To check the roots. To ask yourself honestly: Is my foundation as strong as my vision?

Because the next season of your life is not going to be gentle in its demands. It is going to ask for someone who is clear, regulated, consistent, and deeply connected to why they are doing what they are doing. The fire is coming. The expansion is coming. But the people who sustain it are the ones who did the quiet internal work before the doors opened.

Get grounded and stay expansive. Both are possible at the same time.

That is the work this week.

Mindful Alignment:

  • Mental Gem: The higher you intend to go, the deeper you have to be willing to get first.

  • Mindful Moment: Find a quiet five minutes today. Sit down, feet flat on the floor, and place one hand on your chest. Ask yourself three questions and let the honest answers surface without editing them:

    • What am I currently building my momentum on?

    • Is my daily rhythm supporting the pace I am trying to keep?

    • What needs to be strengthened before I go further?

    You do not need to solve anything in this moment. Just listen. The roots know where the work is.

Physical Alignment:

  • Herbal Spotlight — Peppermint: Peppermint is one of the most widely recognized and deeply versatile herbs in the world, used across ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman traditions and still central to modern holistic practice. Beyond its familiar scent, peppermint is a genuinely powerful plant with a wide range of functional benefits.

    • Key Benefits:

      • Supports healthy digestion by relaxing the smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract, easing bloating, cramping, and gas

      • Provides a natural and clean mental clarity lift through its primary compound menthol, which stimulates alertness without the crash of stimulants

      • Helps relieve tension headaches, particularly those rooted in stress or sinus congestion, when applied topically as diluted essential oil at the temples

      • Supports respiratory clarity and open airways, especially useful during seasonal transitions

      • Has cooling and anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce physical tension held in the body

    Traditional Association: Across multiple ancient traditions, peppermint was associated with hospitality, clarity of mind, and purification. It was used to clear stagnant energy from spaces and thinking alike.

    Simple Use: Brew as a fresh or dried leaf tea using 1 to 2 teaspoons per cup, steeped for 8 to 10 minutes. Drink after meals for digestive support or midday for mental clarity. Peppermint essential oil diluted in a carrier oil can be applied to the temples or back of the neck for tension relief. Avoid giving peppermint tea to young children as the menthol can be too intense for small airways.

    Note: Generally very safe for adults. Those with acid reflux may find it relaxes the esophageal sphincter and worsens symptoms. Use with guidance in that case.

  • Top Tier Nourishment: 

  • Tuning into the Body: Fasting and hydration has been the theme over the past couple of weeks. Fresh air and sunshine seems to be plenty of nourishment without food a lot of time. Get outside and detox. Now that it is getting hot, this is the perfect time to get an outdoor workout in or do some yoga/qigong and get a good sweat in.

Soulful Alignment:

  • Soulful Insights: Expansion without roots is just drift. You were not built to simply go up. You were built to grow, and growing means something beneath you is getting stronger while something above you is reaching further. The two are not in conflict, yet they are one in the same movement.

    There are endings happening around you and within you right now that are not mistakes. They are the clearing that makes room for what you are actually becoming. Trust what is completing and what is quietly taking its place. The pace of this season will not break you if your foundation is sound, so make sure you do the internal work.

  • Affirming the Best: Speak these with intention. Let them land in the body, not just the mind.

    1. I am expanding at exactly the right pace for what I am building.

    2. My roots are deepening as my vision grows.

    3. I trust the endings in my life to make room for something truer.

Self Operating System™ — A Natural Bridge

There is a particular kind of person who arrives at a moment like this one. A person full of creative energy, full of realizations, and holding the pieces of a clearer version of themselves. Yet for some reason they cannot find the structure to translate all of that inner movement into consistent outer action.

The sparks are there. The vision is there. But the operating system that converts awareness into aligned daily execution is still being built.

That is precisely what the Self Operating System™ was designed to address. Not as a productivity tool, but as a framework for living intentionally. This is a way of organizing your identity, your priorities, and your daily rhythm around who you are actually becoming, rather than who you have been reacting as.

If this season has given you clarity, the Self Operating System™ gives that clarity a home.

Learn more at universoulpub.com

Closing

One of the quietest reasons people do not sustain their expansion is not a lack of vision or motivation. It is the absence of a personal operating system built around who they are actually becoming rather than who they used to be.

When the fire is lit and the ideas are arriving and the next chapter is becoming visible, what you need is not more inspiration. You need a framework that makes your clarity actionable on an ordinary Tuesday morning.

That is the work the Self Operating System was designed to support. Not as a productivity method, but as a living structure for intentional daily alignment. If this season is revealing a new version of you, the SOS gives that version somewhere to land and operate from.

Explore it at universoulpub.com when you are ready.

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Thank you for being part of the Ankhora | 3 Layers of Wellness community. We look forward to accompanying you on this transformative path to holistic wellness.

Gratitude,

Blair McLendon - Founder, Ankhora | 3 Layers of Wellness

With contributions from DeLanté Perritt - Creator, Peaceful Frequencies

Disclaimer:
The information provided by Ankhora | 3 Layers of Wellness is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. The content shared is based on holistic wellness practices and personal experience, and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.