Tending the Hearth: A Nature-based Program for Caregivers, Leaders and Stewards
Are you someone who takes care of others in your work and/or life? Perhaps you hold spaces for others, work with kids/youth, are a parent or guardian, a helping professional, a teacher/mentor or leader? We have designed these 3 one-day programs to tend to the ones who tend to others!
Join other space holders in this program series facilitated by counsellors Vanya Laporte, RCC, Sarah Nakatsuka, RTC, and Zoë Eakle, RTC.
There is often an overwhelming amount of pressure and information about what it means to care for others. In these unique, therapeutic programs our counsellors, Vanya, Sarah and Zoë will offer folks a community space to be held with compassion and inspiration. Their aim is to empower participants to trust in themselves as well as the natural world, with a focus on bonding and belonging. Participants will be invited to engage in core practices that have been supportive to Vanya, Sarah and Zoë’s own healing paths as space holders.
This group program could be for you if you are longing to deepen your connection to the natural world within a supportive group and to learn and practise more meaningful, life-sustaining ways of being one who cares and tends to others.
In these 1-day programs we will explore the following themes and practises:
Therapeutic Games, Activities and Crafting
Somatic Attunement & Regulation
Ritual and Ceremony
Plant Wisdom
Seasonal Awareness
Belonging and Reciprocity
Cultural Contexts
The Art of Questioning
Sharing and Listening in Circle
You can sign up for 1, 2, or all 3 group sessions (February 9th, March 9th and April 13th, 2025 - More info on each workshop’s themes below). Each workshop we will invite fun games, somatic practices, nature based activities, time around the fire to share our stories, and an opportunity to get in touch with plant allies, to find what is emerging both inside and outside ourselves! Seasonal teas & treats will be provided each session.
This series is designed with a through-line & an experiential arc, as you journey through this potent time of the year: Pre-Spring, Early Spring and Late Spring. We will tap into our deep remembrance of the seasonal gifts that are inherent within our bodies and by extension our lives as caregivers and/or stewards.
If you choose to do just one session however, each session is a complete workshop within itself.
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On February 9th, this season invites us to remember the essential quality and practice of Deep Rest. Sometimes knowing gets in the way, so we will follow our good friend Curiosity and awaken the inner spark, while clearing the hearth to receive what is new and fresh for our bodies and minds. There is something so magical about this time of year: The Earth is stirring, but a little. As the earth begins to awaken, we too can awaken to our embodied presence, our true desires, and sense of our inner spark.
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On March 9th, we will gather together as a group while the plants are emerging with nutrients and new life. With self-compassion and presence as our guides, we will discover playful and gentle ways to tend to our own ways of emerging this season. We will deepen our connection and ways of resourcing with the natural world.
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On April 13th, courageous connections to our Self, each other, and the land will guide our day and strengthen our wild hearts so we can offer our care out into the world. We are meant to be the best stewards of the earth and in exchange we get to receive abundance back. We will speak about and practise ways of belonging and reciprocity as caregivers.
"Deeply grateful for this program. As an educator and parent, I've felt an enrichment of my soul and a playfulness emerge in my parenting style. This program has really supported me as I weather the highs and lows of parenting in these wild times. Staying a while to be grounded, to notice, to embrace other's ways of being. To learn from each other has been a gift that I wouldn't have received in any other way in my day-to-day existence. A profound and unique experience, to be inspired for all my days to come!! With deep gratitude to the most thoughtful leaders of this gathering."
- Previous Tending the Heart Participant
Workshop Details:
Fee per session: $150
*You may request a receipt to get reimbursed by health insurance for counselling with a Registered Clinical Counsellor
Dates: 10:30am - 4pm. February 9th, March 9th and/or April 13th, 2025.
*You can sign up for 1, 2, or all 3 group sessions.
Location: Cedar Song, 119 Ross Durrance Rd, Victoria BC V9E 2A3
Questions? contact Vanya@thrivingroots.org