SURPRISE! New Things Come To TRILUNA!

In the last two months, we have seen much internal growth within TRILUNA.

Due to this years' unfortunate circumstances, like many companies, we’ve had to pivot in major ways and were unsure of the future of our business. Being an events company and trying to figure out ways to keep the community connected has been a struggle. Our team has been heads down, nourishing our current clients, selling to new potential clients, and coming up with exciting new ideas.

Over the last month, we have witnessed an excitement within the team and ourselves that we hadn’t seen in a long time. All of our ideas are coming together and, although it's a BIG RISK, we are so excited about what’s next for our company.

Over the next seven days, we are going to be dropping one-word hints about our reveal on the 9th. See if you can guess what it is before then. 🍁🍂✨

Thank you to all of you for sticking around. We are so grateful for your support.

Stay tuned!

-Team TRILUNA

July Book Club: "Me and White Supremacy" -Layla F. Saad

Thank you to everyone who read and joined in on our first book club pick last month! Untamed proved to be an enjoyable and inspirational first read.

We are excited to announce our book pick for July; a book that will likely be eye-opening and challenging for all of us--Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad.

If you ask us, this book should have been mandatory reading when it was first published..but better late than never. Recent events have reminded us of the harsh injustices and discrimination that exist towards individuals who are Black, Indigenous and people of color and have shown us (again) that there is so much work to do so that we all are actively anti-racist and work to create a fair and equitable world.

Me and White Supremacy is Layla's first book. Initially offered for free following an Instagram challenge under the same name, the best-selling digital Me And White Supremacy Workbook was downloaded by close to ninety thousand people around the world in the space of six months, before becoming a traditionally published book. Layla's work has been brought into homes, educational institutions and workplaces around the world that are seeking to create personal and collective change.

We are looking forward to working through this book with you and having the difficult conversations that are necessary for all of us to learn and heal.

Suggested Reading Guide:

(follow along to stay updated during discussions OR read at your own pace!)

July 1-11: Read p.1-74

July 12-18: Read p. 75-124

July 19-25: Read p. 125-170

July 26-31: Read p.171-end

Till then, here's a curated Anti-Racism Spotify playlist just for #trilunabookclub members that you can listen to this month. 

We also encourage further reading and learning about anti-racism and meaningful allyship. 

• Rachel Cargle is a public academic, activist, researcher and writer who provides educational resources on her website and IG (@rachel.cargle). She offers a free 30 day #dothework curriculum and other online learning materials through her page The Great Unlearn.

• Participate in the 21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge designed by diversity expert, Eddie Moore Jr. Along with education, this challenge encourages taking action every day to further our understanding of power, privilege, oppression, etc.

We thank you for your participation in the Triluna Book Club and your engagement with the topics and ideas in Me and White Supremacy! 

__

Stay up to date with book club posts over on IG (@triluna_wellness) with #trilunabookclub.

We'll be posting discussion dates, suggested reading guidelines, journaling exercises and more throughout the month.

Also, visit our book club page at https://www.trilunawellness.com/book-club.

The official book website: https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/

Love,

Grace + Eleanor

Dear Karen: A Response Letter

Last week our team and our company had a major interaction with racism that led to a loss of opportunity. We knew that this would happen eventually given the nature of our work. But we did not expect it to be because of an event about allyship. I was surprised. Ashley was not. Our whole team is heartbroken. 

Yesterday morning we announced the postponement of our supper club to the ticket holders. We were informed last week that one of the partners that originally agreed to the event was not comfortable with the content and topic of our supper club “Allyship In Action: Going Beyond Performative Behavior To Create Actionable Change.”

We were given the option to change the content or change the partner. The choice was an obvious one.

This will not stop us, however. We will have this event. And it will be bigger and better because of this setback. We will not let fear hold us back. This instance of prejudice will not win. We are working with our incredible chef, Cleveland of The Lost Spoon, to rework this event for a future date. Please follow and support him as well. He has been a wonderful partner and we are so grateful for all of his hard work. 

In an attempt to use our recent experience as a tool for both learning and unlearning we have decided to publish our official response to the partner that decided to back out. At this time we are choosing not to reveal the name of the partner for a few reasons: 1) We think it unlikely that the general public will ever interact with this partner because 2) they are currently in the process of some changes. 3) It was the decision of a single individual within the organization. 4) We are handling it internally in the best way we see fit. 5) We are protecting ourselves. That said we have chosen to redact some identifying information which will be identified below by [brackets]. If any of the above changes we will let you know. 

We believe that speaking your truth is a fundamental part of wellness. We also believe that an individual is only as well as their community. Those two beliefs combined mean that when met with injustice we must speak out. We hope that this letter can serve as a template for you in your future interactions with those that would attempt to subvert your efforts towards social justice. 

[Karen,]

To say that we are disappointed in your decision [to support us] is an understatement so drastic it borders on untruth. 

As a company, we are dedicated to righting wrongs and speaking truth to power and privilege in an effort to create a more level playing field and create access for those to whom access has traditionally been denied. 

The purpose of this supper club was to help those interested in true allyship learn how to be better allies. We put together programming designed to help open previously closed eyes to terminology that would help them identify inequality so they could work towards eradicating it. We had a small role-playing skit where our attendees could act out a scene where the attempt at allyship was paper-thin so they could go deeper and do more meaningful work. We had a lovely dinner planned and a gallery where we could highlight the hard work BIPOC have put into creating art, writing books, speaking their truth, and expressing themselves. 

In choosing not to [be a partner in] this supper club because we are talking about racial equality you actively participate in the kind of systemic racism that got us here in the first place. 

As white women of privilege, access, and financial security it is our duty to fight for those that do not have those things; it is our job to raise them up; it is our job to use our privilege and power to care for our community and the disenfranchised. 

I write this letter because I think it is important for you to acknowledge the hurt and the harm you have caused. Today Ashley and I were informed that we could not have [our event] because it is about her right to have the same rights as you and I and how we can teach others to fight for those rights. Today Ashley will sit in this. Today she will think about nothing else but this. Today she is hurting. Our whole team is hurting. 

We are a small company that fights for equality and today we are heartbroken. Not only have we taken a financial loss as we reschedule or cancel our event but we have taken an emotional loss. 

We never hid our content. We spoke openly and plainly with you about the content of this event. 

Today you have let your fear take control. You have hidden behind your privilege and it has caused grave harm. 

It is important that you know this. It is important that you share the burden of this. 

If you are interested in doing the work to learn more about how to avoid harm like this in the future we recommend you start with “Me and White Supremacy” by Laya F Saad. It will help you begin your journey.

We also understand that this letter will make you uncomfortable. Even angry. We ask that you sit in that and explore it before responding. We ask that you consider your impact and your influence today and how it has affected others. 

If you have questions or what to have a conversation about this I am open to that. 

Thank you,

Elizabeth

If you are interested in supporting us we would love for you to share our story and help us promote the next supper club when we find a new date.

Thank you.

An Open Letter To The Fitness Community.

We believe that the wellness community has an especially important role in the fight against racism, fatphobia, bigotry, and inequality of all kinds because we claim to be all about health. But we also believe that we are only as well as our community is well. And right now our community is desperately struggling. As a community, we are telling people "not to gain the quarantine 15" when we should be showing them compassion. We are posting pictures of our white bodies and talking about racism as if we could ever understand. We are posting black squares (if we are event doing that) but not taking the necessary action to make our spaces comfortable for everyone. We're asking our black friends to assuage our white guilt and "hold us accountable." We aren't connecting the dots between fitness and privilege. We're talking about fitness as a moral high ground (it's not). We wear lulu lemon and outdoor voices without holding those companies responsible for their platform. 

We cannot be anti diet culture and still promoting before and after pictures as the holy grail of accomplishment. 

We cannot ignore the intersection of diet culture and systemic racism and claim to give a single crap about wellness. 

We cannot be “body positive” and fatphobic at the same time. 

We cannot use the customs of other cultures without due credit or honor and be a “yogi.” 

We cannot ask black and brown people in the community to have coffee with us and to share their story if we are not willing to pay them for their work and elevate their platforms. 

It’s time for the wellness community to own our role in the harm that has been done so we can begin, together, to create a space for the healing and progress we have purported to be promoting from the beginning.

By now we have been given ENDLESS resources. We have had time to process our role in everything. We have access to books, documentaries, personal accounts, and so much more.

There is NO MORE ROOM FOR EXCUSES. People need us and they are looking to us to be leaders and in so many ways we have failed them.

-Elizabeth & Ashley

The Role Of Wellness Companies During The Pandemic

Look. Listen. Elizabeth here, CEO of TRILUNA. I’m going to be honest. As a “wellness company” it’s tempting to just dole out advice when things get tough. “Write in your journal” or “go for a run” are easy traps to get caught in when we feel like we need to do something—anything. And I get that. I really do.

But trauma is more nuanced than that. Lives and stories are more nuanced than that. I am seeing so much shaming right now from the health//fitness//wellness community and I am absolutely 100% over it. We responded to a post recently that a local company wrote about how porn viewership is up, weed use is up, alcohol sales are up, movement is down...and how all these things added up to a pattern of “self-destruction” and it absolutely infuriated me.

Could it be that alcohol sales are up because bars are closed? Could it be that movement is down because parents have suddenly become teachers as well? Or that more people are turning to yoga or lower intensity workouts because they are easier to do while social distancing which puts fewer steps on your fitness tracker? Are more people watching porn because they are self-soothing, or going on fewer dates, or seeking the dopamine release of an orgasm, or having more interesting date nights while locked in a house together? To say that people are being self-destructive when in survival mode is irresponsible. To see that fitness trackers are reporting fewer steps and equating that to Americans getting lazy in the face of a pandemic is irresponsible. To say that gyms should be part of phase one [of the reopening plan] because they should have the same “rights” as restaurants is wildly irresponsible.

As health and wellness companies our MAIN JOB is to help our clients lead healthier lives. If you’re piling guilt and shame on top of them while they try to survive: the shame should be yours. I understand we will likely get backlash for this post. We are ready for it. We are so tired of seeing the “wellness community” lose sight of people’s actual wellness.

Now is the time to focus on what you need to survive, on the practices you find soothing, and the things that help you reduce stress. If that’s running and doing high-intensity workouts...GREAT! If it’s having a donut with your coffee in the morning before the kids get up and start screaming...GREAT. If that’s yoga at noon and a cocktail at night...GREAT.

This is what Brene Browns calls an FFT (an effing first time) because it’s hard and we don’t know what we’re doing. It’s a pandemic. We will be researching the mental, physical, emotional, political, financial, and scientific fallout of this for decades. You don’t have to get everything right right now. You also can’t look at one sampling of data and start making accusations about the self-destructive nature of people in quarantine.

If you’re a wellness//fitness//health focused company right now: now is the time for compassion and grace. Not shame and guilt. We can do better. 

Join us on the 29th for our “Virtual Supper Club” about Surviving Vs. Thriving, a real no b-s conversation with four incredible women plus a local box you can add on with dinner provided by Golden Roots Nashville.