Community Mother Art Tree Project: Collaborative Mural part 7

Everything moves at a snail's pace now that I have two active children to keep me busy, but things always get finished eventually!

Now for the last 3 pieces of the Art Tree Project before the whole mural is unveiled. This piece is my humble offering to the project. I wanted to create something that goes with the Nurture theme and that fits with our style. It is my first attempt at paper cutting with actual paper.

Grandmother

I crave the nurturance of my grandmother so much these days. To be snuggled on the lap of her and embraced by our roots sounds like the most comforting thing I can imagine.

Posted by Mychelle Moritz, ATR-BC, LPC

Mychelle is an art therapist and licensed professional counselor with a special place in her heart for supporting women throughout the transformative journey of motherhood. She is the mama of two active children and enjoys watching their creative antics.

Equinox Meditation and Creation

Equinox Meditation and Creation

Renew, Rebirth, and Rejoice!
Community Hour at Nurture ~ Growing Families and Community.

WHEN: Sunday March 20, 11am-12pm
WHERE: Nurture at 1614 NE Alberta

The Spring Equinox is the beginning of the astrological new year when the sun enter the zodiacal sign of Aries and begins its 12 month cycle around the wheel of life. It is a time when day and night are balanced, lending you extra support from the cosmos and the earth, to begin again in a state of perfected harmony. It is a time to create and bring form to your dreams and rejoice life anew.

Mychelle Moritz, Art Therapist and Couselor, along with Elaina Beam, Spiritual Guide and Astrologer, will come together to offer an hour of Meditation and Creation to welcome the coming of the new and rejoice in the birthing of the season.

Please bring a pillow or blanket to sit on, a friend, and a symbol of growth or rebirth as an optional addition to the fulfillment of your experience.

This is an open no fee event. For more information contact Elaina at 503.290.8851

May the Blessings of Divine be yours…

We can learn a lot from anger

Spring is the season of the liver, so I am told. A time to prepare, clean out the dust accumulated over winter, and bring forth a fresh start. If you had a chance to read Melissa Cole's informative March edition of the Luna Lactation newsletter, you already know that nourishing your liver can support lactation and how to do so.

What does the liver have to do with emotions? Kristen Dilley and Sunny Jaynes, Nurture's gentle and wise acupuncturists, both told me that the liver is known to be related to anger.

Anger gets a bad rap. It seems to be the villain of all emotions and it is often associated with violence, intensity, frustration, hate, feeling out of control, bad, negativity... It is an emotion that can certainly wreck internal physical damage, especially if it is bottled up. But our fear of anger, itself, is out of proportion. Anger is a normal emotion, we all experience anger. And it can actually be a very useful emotion, if given a chance.

Anger is a good indicator that something is not right, that something needs to shift or change. It is a protective emotion; we have all heard a new mother talk about their mama bear feelings of protection for their babies. In our wise minds, anger can be understood in this light, as a barometer, a check engine light, a tap on the shoulder.

When we are supported, healthy, and balanced, we can notice anger, experience it without reacting in ways that we will later regret, and search for the meaning behind it. When we are not feeling supported and balanced, anger can seize us, holding tight clenching deep, and build up. It is when we are not balanced that we try to ignore and push away anger. We push it down and it seeps out or makes our brains feel itchy with anxiety or mutes our spark causing hopelessness and despair.

So what can we do about anger? Well, first we need to take care of ourselves so that when we notice anger we can have the fortitude to accept it. We need to slow down and examine our fears about anger. When we are no longer afraid of it and trust that we will not do something rash, then we can be open to experiencing anger by feeling it and then work to find an honest understanding what it is trying to tell us. With this knowledge, we can let it go with a promise to shift or change something in our lives. Maybe this job is too demanding, maybe I need to connect with other parents, maybe I need to have a direct and open conversation with my partner, maybe I need to take care of my body.

Anger can also be a sign that something is not right physically. Perhaps a chemical imbalance, chronic pain, low or high blood sugar, or exhaustion. Anger impacts our hearts, and I now know that it originates in the liver. These two organs are closely tied, and are said to be the only organs that generate emotions. Kristen will be continuing this discussion about spring and the liver, so I will let her expound upon these concepts from here.

This is a post from Heart Stories by Mychelle Moritz, ATR-BC, LPC

Giving Thanks

There is so much to be thankful for each year, and Thanksgiving is the time of year that I most like to take a moment to reflect on the abundance of love and joy to be found in my life.

My family, a warm home, friends, my work, the privilege of knowing that I can feed my family and take care of their needs, the beauty of my children's souls and creative hearts, the quiet spaces in-between all of the creative activity in our days, and so much more. Abundance.

I would also like to honor the gratitude I feel for the amazing people who are a part of Nurture and our community. Over the past three (almost!) years I have met so many brilliant, talented, kind, gentle, passionate, and caring people through my involvement with Nurture. To all of the women and families to whom I have had the honor to provide support, thank you for allowing me to be in your lives. To all of the professional members of Nurture's Family Wellness group, thank you. I am continually inspired and amazed by each of you. And to all of the business owners, professionals in the community, and other organizations who have collaborated with Nurture, supported Nurture, supported Nurture families, or all three; thank you for all that you do and provide to our community.

Here's to a cozy, safe, and joyful Thanksgiving 2010. Cheers!

Warmly,
Mychelle

Green Sprouts 2010

It is time once again for the Green Sprouts Organic Baby and Family Fest. Come on over to Peninsula Park this Sunday, September 26th from 10am-5pm. A $3 suggested donation supports ICTC and the amazing work they do empowering families and healthcare professionals to support maternal and infant wellness.

This year, Nurture will have two featured activities at the festival. Mychelle Moritz of Heartworks together with Stephanie Sandmeyer of KAIROS Narrative Facilitation will be over at the Story Book Nook hosting the workshop: Telling Your Baby's Story. Melissa Cole of Luna Lactation will be hosting the Luna Lactation Station for breastfeeding mamas to relax and nurse their babies at any time during the event.

Story Book Nook: Telling Your Baby's Story
What stories of your baby and your experience as a new parent do you want to preserve? Which stories from your own babyhood do you wish you knew? What do you wish you knew about your parent's experience of new parenthood? Join us at the Story Book Nook at the Green Sprouts Festival to sift out, piece together, and begin to hold on to the stories about your baby that you want to preserve for now and share with them someday.

Luna Lactation Station: Sponsored by Luna Lactation
Need a comfy place to sit down and nurse your little one while enjoying the festival? Swing by Luna Lactation’s cozy booth to get off your feet, nurse and visit with other moms! Luna Lactation will have a lactation consultant on site, a raffle, games, handouts and more!

A Year of Mandalas

Mychelle Moritz of Heartworks is excited to announce the availability of A Year of Mandalas!

A Year of Mandalas is a journaling experience for you to express yourself by creating weekly mandalas for one year (with a few extras just in case you need them).

This journaling experience will bring creativity forth from your heart. The journal is for you to use in whichever way you feel moved; feel free to alter it inside and out. As you embrace this year, I invite you to step inside your sacred circle. Within the circle there is a center, there is balance, and there is containment, all of which reflect wholeness, healing, and growth.

If you would like to share parts of your journal, please send a picture in .jpg format 164 x 164 pixels to mandalas@heartworkspdx.com. Mychelle will be creating a mandala gallery page to display any mandalas sent in.

For the Love of Technology

I am ever so grateful to live in an age of technological connections. The ability to connect with others so far away, known so long ago, or who just would not have crossed my path otherwise, has been a blessing personally and professionally.

So much of Nurture has been built by way of connecting and communicating with others through the wonderful world wide web. Amazing networks promoting community and sustainability have been formed and continue to form in our hip and adventurous city (I am thinking specifically of the Timebank and Supportland, but there are so many others). Nurture's e-Village has been growing steadily and providing an e-space for connection as well as organization for future plans, and we have only scratched the surface of that site.

Technology, like everything else, has limitations and matters that need to be attended to. My family recently found ourselves in need of a serious technology upgrade, which has proved to be an, ahem, adventure to say the least. You may or may not have noticed and you may or may not continue to notice that Nurture's web-presence will be shifting to meet the ever-advancing progression of technology. Stay tuned, send good thoughts, and please be patient as we make some much needed changes.

We have so many exciting new programs and projects being created right now; I am really looking forward to sharing them with you, through our updated and fancy web structures, of course!

How appropriate that this just happens to be the 300th Nurture blog post. Cheers!

Bubbles: Teaching Children Breathwork

Yesterday, in the hot July sunshine, my children chased glossy bubbles throughout the garden. It reminded me of the work I used to do with young children who had experienced violence in their lives. Bubbles, as I discovered while working with these dear children, are quite therapeutic in many ways. They are fun, freeing, beautiful, and mysterious, but they also lend nicely to teaching children gentle breathwork. The gentle blowing that is required to form nice bubbles is similar to the slower gentle breaths one can use to relax. Bubbles are a portable relaxation tool!

First, I talk to children about noticing how they breathe. Then, I show them how to blow bubbles using a gentle inhale and a gentle exhale using their diaphragm. I also talk to children about noticing how their body feels when they breathe gently to blow bubbles; this promotes body awareness. I also want to be sure they do not hyperventilate or get dizzy from over-doing it.

Who says therapy is no fun?!