Helping Asheville & WNC 💔
These mountains are such magical, healing, meditative places to be...and now they need our help.
The disaster that has hit Asheville, Western North Carolina, is just devastating. As the residents and rescue workers who are there start to have more consistent cell service, they are sharing images, videos, stories about what transpired during Helene’s visit, and how absolutely shocking, horrendous, and dangerous the conditions are now, and will be for quite some time.
Generational homes, farms, animals and animal rescues, roads, bridges, trees, small and local businesses, art studios…gone.
Residents with homes completely destroyed, washed away… friends and family members who are missing or taken by the storm, mud slides, and overflowing rivers.
I don’t believe mainstream media is showing the full severity of the situation that has transpired, and continues to unfold, in our very own country, in…
Western North Carolina: Asheville, 28804 (and beyond), USA.
Having vacationed annually in Asheville, beginning in 2003, and living there from 2016-2022, and in following the news from dear friends who still live there now, I am not sure how Western North Carolina recovers from this. I am certain recovery will take time and will require a lot of outside help.
Gifts from a Magical, Healing Place
These mountains are such magical, healing, meditative places to be.
George Vanderbilt knew this when he set off to build the Biltmore House in 1888.
Those with sick and ailing families would journey to the Western North Carolina mountains seeking cures for rheumatoid concerns, including Turbuculous.
If you’ve ever been to these mountains, when you step out into the fresh air there and inhale…you just know. Something in you stirs, changes, heals.
Asheville gave me so many gifts…
So many memories with my husband…our first weekend getaway as a couple, to our 1st honeymoon after we eloped (our 2nd was to Paris 3 months later).
Many more memories with our daughter, visiting the first time with her when she was 3 months old, and then as a glorious, green, spacious place for her to live from 3-9 years old.
Fresh, healthy air and tons of outdoor fun during Covid-times.
Friends who became family…dear ones who are living through incredibly difficult circumstances, even as you read this.
Yoga…an education that was life healing and transforming, and a profession to teach and guide others to a place of grounded peace and joy.
Tarot…shops upon shops where the mind could wander and wonder…I had always wanted a tarot deck, but had never come across one before we moved there…and did I ever gasp when I realized the wall of boxes contained hundreds of decks…and studying the tarot brought me back to my psychology education, Carl Jung to be specific.
Journaling, writing, painting…without Asheville I could not have found the inspiration to create. I remember sharing with some folks, before we moved to Asheville, that I had planned on writing a poetry book after we moved…I guess somehow I knew deep down, Asheville was the place that would allow me to do it, would inspire and guide me to write my book of poetry, prayers, and practices.
Asheville birthed in me the vision to
connect the dots between
yoga and the tarot cards…
and from that quiet, subtle, inner place,
connect to, and be guided by,
my intuition.
The Yoga & Tarot Connection
In 2017, when I was taking a class at Asheville Community Yoga for my 200-hour teacher training program, the instructor guided us into Dancer pose and I immediately saw and felt the image of The Hanged Man…his legs and mine made the same shape, and from then on I became obsessed with the intersections of the wisdom of yoga and the symbology and intuitive nature that tarot offers.
How to Help…
Now is the time to give back.
A collective effort is required to help rescue, heal, and resurrect Western NC and those who live there.
I’ve been struggling with how best to help in this time, and have come to realize, it is time to share the gifts Asheville gifted me…
So it is with a heavy heart and inspired action that I make the following offers…
Donate and Receive Meditative Mountains
I love painting Meditative Mountains (5 of which were likely still hanging in the Zen Ink Studio in the River Arts District when the area flooded). They are all inspired by living a full and fulfilling and transformed life in North Carolina.
Option ONE: Hand-painted, mini artwork & bookmarks
Manna Foodbank is an incredible, local non-profit that serves food to those in need. I was fortunate to volunteer there several times through the Asheville Catholic Charities. Their entire building was completely destroyed during Helene, but they are still operating and are always in need of donations to feed the hungry.
Just this week I received their annual Thanksgiving mailer and my heart sunk. They could have never guessed their building would be gone when creating, printing, and mailing that flyer.
Make a donation to Manna Foodbank, email me and I’ll mail you a bookmark or mini artwork of your very own Meditative Mountains.
I’ll also add you to this newsletter if you aren’t already a member!
First…make your donation here 👇🏻
Second…email me here, and we will coordinate the mailing of your meditative mountains 👇🏻
Learn more about Manna here.
Option TWO: Private 1:1 Sessions
Book a Yoga-Tarot-Journaling Session and I’ll donate 50% of the fee to Manna Foodbank.
In this 45-minute session we will…
practice gentle, seated, breath-led yoga followed by intention-led meditation…we will move the body, breath, and mind
draw a tarot or oracle card (or several cards) to assist you in answering any question you bring to the session…we will seek answers to deeply rooted inquiries
receive prompts and write, freely expressing the thoughts, emotions, sensations, answers that come to you from your gentle movement in body (through yoga) and in spirit (through tarot)…we will journal to express the story that exists within
To book your session, email me here 👇🏻
You can also register for the 2-hour workshop my friend and colleague, Dee Opp, and I are hosting live on Saturday, October 12, 2024, or you can watch via recording in the program portal.
Learn more about the Moving Through…Exploration of Self Workshop here.
Option Three: Online Healing Group
This is currently a work in progress…more news on how to sign up and share with others coming soon…but I envision…
An online energetics group…a healing Zoom group for those hit by Helene and those wanting to help in some way.
This group will serve BOTH 1) those hit by Helene in NC, TN, GA, and FL…those still struggling, and 2) those who are able to participate and hold space for those in need.
We will meet once a week around 12pm for 15-45 minutes. This would be a “secure your oxygen mask first” for those coping through the storm, and would be free of charge.
For those who would like to participate and have the financial means, the fee to participate is a donation to Manna Foodbank, or another local, non-profit organization in one of the areas hit during the 2024 hurricane season.
I you’re interested in participating, email me here, and I’ll put you on the waitlist!
Final thoughts…
As we prepare for Milton to arrive tomorrow evening, I will wrap this up quickly by saying…please stay safe and dry, and send your love and prayers to anyone who is in need today, tomorrow, always.
xoxo Michelle