These days, it feels like we’re living in two worlds at once.
One world is powered by machines: algorithms, automation, and artificial intelligence humming beneath every post, headline, and swipe. The other world is rooted in humanity. It lives in the quiet beat of your heart, the instinct to exhale, and the knowing in your bones. In the rush to keep up with the first, it’s easy to forget how to live in the second.
That’s why I invited one of my dearest friends, Tori Gordon, to write something.
Tori is someone I trust with my tenderest truths. She’s a spiritual doula, a soul whisperer, and a fierce protector of what it means to be human. In a time when machines are learning to mimic our voices and algorithms know exactly how to capture our attention, Tori reminds us how to listen inward. She helps us come home—not just to our bodies, but to our presence, our peace, and our aliveness.
This past weekend, I sat across from her as she helped me untangle a knot I had been carrying in my chest for over a year. She didn’t try to fix it or rush me through it. She stayed with me – steady, present, unshaken. She reminded me it was okay to feel exactly what I was feeling, without needing to explain, apologize or try to hold it together. And in that quiet, I felt safe enough to stop bracing. Safe enough to let it go.
Tori’s work isn’t anti-AI, but rather, it’s pro-human. It’s a reminder that while machines may get smarter – our bodies and our spirit – are already wise. No algorithm can replace the intelligence of your nervous system, the medicine of your grief, or the holiness of your joy.
With love and reverence,
Jaden
How to Stay Human
By: Tori Gordon
We are living in a time of extraordinary acceleration.
Technology is evolving faster than our biology. Our nervous systems are overstimulated, our calendars are overbooked, and our attention is under siege. AI is writing our emails, curating our feeds, even answering our questions about life and love and meaning. In many ways, we’ve never been more connected, and yet so many of us feel more disconnected than ever.
Disconnected from our bodies.
From our truth. From each other. From God.
And yet, beneath all the noise of modern life, there’s a quiet knowing. A whisper in the bones. A call to come home to ourselves.
That’s what my new work, How to Stay Human is about.
It’s a movement. A message. A reminder. A resistance.
Not against progress – but against forgetting. Not against AI – but against the abandonment of the soul. Not against change – but against the cost of trading our humanity for efficiency, our embodiment for performance, our sacredness for speed.
I believe we are being invited into a great reunion. Between body and spirit. Between masculine and feminine. Between truth and tenderness. Between the way we live and the reason we’re alive.
I’ve spent the last decade studying that reunion. Facilitating it. Guiding people back to it. As a trauma-informed coach, breathwork facilitator, and spiritual teacher, I’ve helped high-performing leaders, seekers, and sensitive souls remember how to come home to themselves—not through striving, but through surrender. Not through performance, but through presence. And above all, through the body.
Because here’s the thing: your body remembers. Even when your mind forgets.
When you feel anxious or overwhelmed, it’s not just “in your head.”
It’s your nervous system carrying signals of threat—through your heart rate, your breath, your posture, your gut.
These are all part of the ongoing conversation your body is having with your soul.
But most of us were never taught how to listen to that conversation. We were taught to override, numb, dismiss, distract, or disassociate.
That’s why I created a simple daily practice called “Drop In, Don’t Check Out.” It’s a 3-minute ritual anyone can do to reconnect to their body and restore inner safety—especially in moments of stress, shame, or spiraling.
Here’s how it works:
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Drop In – Close your eyes. Place one hand on your heart, one on your belly. Take a long, slow breath. Feel the rise and fall. Let your awareness drop from your mind into your body. Ask yourself gently: “Where am I holding?” “What am I feeling right now?” No judgment. Just witness.
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Stay – Stay with the sensation. If it’s tight, let it be tight. If it’s heavy, let it be heavy. Breathe into it. Expand around it. Offer yourself these words: “This belongs.” “I don’t have to fix this to love myself.”
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Soften – Release any clenching in your jaw, hips, hands, or shoulders. Let yourself soften 5% more. Imagine your body being held by the earth beneath you. Let it hold what you no longer need to carry alone.
That’s it. Three steps. Drop in. Stay. Soften. Every day, if you can. Especially when life feels too much.
Because staying human isn’t about doing more. It’s about feeling more. Being more. Remembering that your body isn’t a problem to fix, it’s a portal back to presence. Your emotions aren’t a distraction from your healing, they are your healing. And your vulnerability isn’t weakness, it’s the doorway to connection.
I don’t claim to have all the answers. I’m not here to be a guru. I’m just a woman who’s walked through grief, loss, rebirth, and awakening. Who’s danced with doubt and learned to trust again. Who believes that our humanness is holy, and that there’s nothing more sacred than being fully alive.
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the pace of the world…If you’re tired of spiritual performance and perfectionism…If you’re longing for something more grounded, more embodied, more real…
Come sit with me.
I write each post on How to Stay Human as a prayer, a love letter, a breath of fresh air for your spirit. I share stories, nervous system tools, poetic truths, and hard-won lessons about how to stay rooted, awake, and alive in these times.
You can subscribe for free or join our private community and monthly live Zoom AMA (ask me anything) sessions.
This isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a lifeline back to what matters.
Because your wholeness matters.Your presence matters.Your humanity matters.
Let’s protect it. Together.
Tori
Find Tori at: torigordon.substack.com
Instagram: @thetorigordon @howtostayhumanofficial
Podcast: https://torigordon.com/podcast/
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