As we close the structure of this small and heart-y non-profit, we affirm the many seeds planted and spread, the many voices raised, connections cultivated and ways of knowing explored.
We share this collective Poetry of People and Place as a final organizational acknowledgement and an open invitation to keep living by the wisdom of our hearts.
Poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer served as featured guest of WholeHeart’s recent Poetry As Portal event online. She and Holly Wilkinson conversed about poetry as “companion” or a “living presence” that can accompany us through our most challenging days, providing passageway into our own hearts and souls. Enjoy this recap of the June event!
Dru Roessle, of Danville, Vermont, brings deep insight to the WholeHeart board of directors and beyond. She works as a facilitator of groups and teams problem-solving some of society’s most intractable problems. Dru centers relational justice in the spaces she engages in, believing that we already have what we need to create just systems that are designed for care, reciprocity, and collective well-being. Enjoy this provocative, inspiring interview!
On the eve of a full moon, WholeHeart launched its newest program series, Poetry As Portal, featuring Julie Cadwallader Staub, a poet from South Burlington, Vt. More than 40 participants gathered on Zoom, March 25th, to participate in the event, part-poetry reading, part-conversation with the poet, and part-listening exercise for attendees to reflect upon their own lives.
What does it mean to live one’s life like a prayer? Heather Omand, of Huntington, Vt., is pioneering a different human way of being in the world as a Queer person, mother, partner, and caretaker of agricultural lands. Read about their insightful journey. Listen to their prose, “What Queerness Means to Me.”
Moving from solo events to on-going communities of practices takes time and commitment. One of these offerings is our EarthCourage work, that has shifted from a 4 day event to a 101 day practice. What shifts when we commit to deepening relations over time? How do we welcome the whole, in these times of divisiveness? Here’s a taste of one reflective journey with Earth, written by co-facilitator, Paula Pedersen, from her perch in the Wisconsin landscape as she travels with summer into fall.
When work-life gets full and begins to burst at the seams, it’s time to clear the social calendar and rest. When work life reaches a lull, making plans to gather, to play together, or stay up late around a campfire will bring balance. I can’t do it all. Doing it all feels like too much, a deluge. But doing too little feels like a drought. How can I navigate to the sweet spot?
In October of 2020 WholeHeart partnered with the Releaf Collective to provide facilitation framework and community building support through consultation and strategic planning. This partnership has afforded incredible synergy and growth opportunities to both communities and celebrates the power of listening, love and connection that is so intrinsic to WholeHeart’s way of being.
Welcoming multiple ways of knowing this year, the WholeHeart community has been playing with imagery, improv, music and movement to embrace the whole and the multiple voices and knowings. With gratitude, we share Tarah Gibbon's exploration as a way of encouraging us each to find and honor our ways and welcome the perspectives of others.
Here are seeds and stories of an inner and creative journey of listening and honoring one’s voice:
