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Classes & Teachers
The lymphatic system is called Rasa in Sanskrit, meaning the river of life. Keeping this river flowing allows our tissues to receive nourishment, which is the secret to being and looking healthy. Our lymph fluids allow hormones to get from one endocrine gland to another and play an important role in our reproductive health. The lymphatic system is also called the Immune system, which we all know is important for fighting foreign invaders and staying healthy. There will be demonstrations on how to map the lymphatic system in your body with an emphasis on breast health. There will be time for Q &A about our breasts and immunity, massage assessments for experiential learning & what tools can support change and prevent diseases. Students will leave having a clear understanding of the lymph system and how to keep it and their breasts healthy.
*Breast Checks will be continued throughout the entire weekend.
There is strength in a river that is flowing
The health of our tissues communicate through the organ meridians. Sculpt, cleanse and rejuvenate your body by listening to the meridians and utilizing the gua sha as a primary tool for investigation and change. The meridians are connected to our autonomic nervous system, we will touch on this subject during class. The meridian map is well designed and DeAnna will support making sense of it for you.
Learn to halt or even reverse tooth decay with nutrition. If you or a loved one (child or adult) is struggling with tooth decay, you can experience relief and even reversal using nutrition and food chiices. Join Mielle for a discussion about how it’s done. Five years ago she reversed her daughter’s Severe Childhood Tooth Decay diagnosis and avoided emergency surgery - in only five days. It’s unbelievable, but to this day, conventional dentists still confirm perfect recovery at every exam and her adult teeth are growing in strong and healthy. This method works and Mielle will share everything she can to help you experience the same results.
Experience matchless fire starting and become a member of the Fire Devas. Join us if you would like to be a Sacred Fire Tender this session. Establish an intimate relationship with this powerful elemental. Holding the central fire is an act of service, a source of healing and a teacher of awareness.
Create a good living doing what you love. Key strategies, comical tips and some serious business advice. Taught by 35 year self-employed Plantologist, Lynda Emashowski, CEO of Whispered Wisdoms and Nia Cu Herbs. This class respectfully begins on time.
Using the coals from our Sacred Fire we will create medicine, eating, or cauldron spoons. Learn the time honored skill of coal burning. A small carving knife will be necessary to complete your spoon. Class size is limited and starts on time. Due to the nature of the class it is only open to adults.
This class will focus on a specific aspect of grieving: interacting with friends and loved ones by kindly responding to , or occasionally shielding ourselves, from their concerns and advice.
The components of this class will include:
- Responding to suggestions on how you or your partner, parent, sibling, etc. should deal with a terminal illness.
- Acknowledging how our profound grief elicits fear in others.
- Methods for shielding ourselves from others when necessary.
- A brief overview of ‘The Four Agreements’ by Miguel Ruiz and ‘When Things Fall Apart’ by Pema Chodron (two highly recommended books).
- Recognizing grief as a teacher.
- Honoring our grief as beautiful.
Jillian has dealt with powerful and life-altering grief over the past two years and will speak from her experience. Grief is an intensely personal journey. The goal of this class is provide some basic techniques for managing our own grief.
- I cannot explore the ocean without letting go of the shore -
This intensive will be an in-depth exploration into the propagation of herbs from seed, division, and cuttings using several herbs as examples and ranging from easier to grow plants to some of the more difficult. Many of the common stumbling blocks will be addressed as we share a variety of tried and true methods for growing your own medicinals successfully.
This class is an intensive in order to provide plenty of time to cover a wide range of subjects including seed sources potting soils specific to certain herbs, propagation techniques along with some hands on experience with some live plants and time for question and answer.
Both beginner gardeners and more experienced gardeners are encouraged to attend and I believe both groups will find new ideas and information to help them in their herb gardening adventures.
This class seeks to empower everyone, no matter where you live, to start growing some of your own medicinals. A new way of using medicinal herbs in the landscape, this class will focus on the Herbscape which will stray from the more typical “Herb Garden” model and offer numerous ways herbs can be incorporated into your landscape from the larger homestead to the balcony in the city and everything in between. We will also discuss the value and importance of landscaping with medicinal herbs for increasing pollinators and the healing relationship which develops between the medicinal herbs and those growing and tending them. You will leave this class feeling inspired and excited to start your own medicine garden wherever you might be.
Learn traditional drumming and dances from Ghana, West Africa.
This class will be an experiential journey into the depths of our open hearts. Using movement, sound, song, herbs, ritual, and community therapy we will gather to support each other in grief and gratitude for life.
During this class we will make grief bundles from natural items gathered from the land in preparation for the Community Grief Ritual that Kelly and Lara will be facilitating on Sunday evening. We will also prepare and tend the Grief and Ancestor Shrines for the ritual to honor the Earth, our grief, and the ancestors. This class will include song and prayer as we begin the process of creating sacred space for the evening Ceremony.
Essences are infused vibrational waters that can create subtle, but very distinct, shifts in consciousness, enabling us to meet the moment in new ways. Come learn some of the less-often-heard aspects of making essences ~ of plants, trees, rocks, planets, journeys, and more!
We’ll also experience and explore the ways that taking essences can support our bodies and beings in adjusting to and engaging with the shifting energies of these times.
Prepare to be dosed!
Come join us for an evening under the late spring constellations. Guided by a green laser wand, you’ll learn to find your way around the night sky and the names of the stars and constellations, while hearing folklore from different times and cultures. We’ll meet the bright shining stars of the Twins, the Lion, Virgo, the Scorpion, and more… You will also be dosed with Essence Elixirs!
In this class/ritual we will begin by cleansing ourselves of unwanted energies with a short limpia (smudge). We will then cast a sacred circle in a Mexhica traditional way to enter into ritual space. Once we’re in circle, we will have a conversation about the uses of various herbs to connect with our ancestresses and La Santa Muerte (the Goddess of Death), discussing properties of each herb and connecting with the herbs and La Muerte through short meditations as we get to know them. Once we’ve established a connection to several herbs, we will have an activity of making an herbal tea blend to connect with our ancestresses with the herbs we learned about. We will then drink our tea in circle, and do one more guided meditation to speak to our chosen ancestress. We will be brought back out of the meditation with music that will lead to a celebration and dance party! When the time is out, the circle portal will be closed again and we will part with joy!
Moxibustion and Cupping are some of the oldest therapeutic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Moxibustion is an ancient fire therapy which adds Yang forces for prevention and treatment of disease and to revitalize Jing and Qi flows.Moxibustion originates from the plant Mugwort- and is a green therapy that works by applying a deep penetrating heat.Originally used thousands of years ago for pulmonary issues such as tuberculosis, cupping is a technique that uses small glass cups as suction devices that disperse and break up stagnation by drawing congestion to the surface.
Cupping removes toxins and improves blood flow thereby reducing pain and increasing circulation. In this class specific treatments for prevention of disease, treatment of pain, breech presentation, menstrual discomfort, digestive disorders and fertility will be discussed and demonstrated. Each participant should come away with skills and knowledge on how to safely administer moxa and cupping at home.
Experience auricular acupuncture for treatment of trauma and addiction in a safe setting. The NADA (North American Detoxification Association) originally developed an “acudetox” 5 point ear protocol for addiction recovery. This protocol is now used in over 2,000 drug and alcohol treatment programs and by the U.S. military for PTSD. Jennifer Monin L.Ac. trained as an acudetox specialist at Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, NY in 2000 while working with the withdrawal symptoms of crack and heroin addiction.
Acupuncture is an effective treatment for opioid addiction because it stimulates the same endorphin cycle that opioids do, thereby minimizing cravings for the drugs, while easing withdrawal symptoms. This protocol is also useful for aiding in extreme stress, centering, trauma, co-dependency, arrhythmias (irregular heart rhythms), and recovery. Each participant can receive needles and feel the effects in a non-verbal, peaceful setting. A nervine tea will be provided and an explanation of the herbs discussed. Bring a chair and a cup and come relax and settle into yourself. Safe for all ages including children, teens and pregnant mamas.
In this workshop, Amanda will guide each participant, in pairs, through the experience of wrapping another and holding space for them, then in turn, being wrapped and held by another. Belly and blanket wrapping can be performed ceremonially and can be extremely helpful in integrating and closing energy centers that open during a healing or birthing process. At birth, we are wrapped up in a blanket by our care-takers. This worldwide practice serves to help us soothe, ground, feel safe and held in the new environment of the physical earthy realm. Many cultures still use a blanket, sometimes a prayer shawl, or belly wrap during important transitions in our adult lives for these same purposes; to ground, soothe, and hold us as we navigate those changes.
Benefits of Blanket and Belly Wrapping:
- Provides much needed rest and integration (especially at a festival)
- Transitions the brain from stimulation back to assimilation
- Aides in establishment of boundaries and safety
- Gentle compression supports the back, heart, shoulders, abdomen, and head.
- Creates a deep feeling of comfort and support
We will explore rituals around four phases of our womb health and sexual vitality; New Moon, Menstruation, Purification, & Unification. Drawing on ancient and modern Jewish customs, we will learn of the rhyme and reasons for sanctification and study of the new moon, cleansing rituals during and post menstruation, submersion in living waters to renew the soul and prepare for worship, and channeling states of sexual arousal, stimulating the cosmos & divine energy, and bringing healing to all the worlds. Knowledge or practice of Judaism or Kabbalah are not necessary.
These mystical teachings have been hidden, omitted, or misinterpreted for so many centuries that very few even know they existed or exist at all. Amanda weaves together her background in Tantra, Kabbalah, and Wombin’s groups to reveal the hidden mystical and sensual secrets of self care, sacred sexuality, and ecstatic practices of relating, whether practicing solo, in unison with all that is, or with other beings.
This class will begin with a discussion about Curanderismo - the Healing Arts of Mexico and Guatemala. We will discuss what it is, cultural protocol in ceremonies, ow we each are our own healers, and the basic tools we need to practice on ourselves. We may demonstrate a limp and smudge the class. Then we will each make our own aqua florida (Flower Water). Class limited to 25.
This is a traditional Mayan Divination Ceremony to call the Spirits. This is an ancient form of prayer from Guatemala that uses the fire to communicate with the Ancestors. The Fire Ceremony gives life and energy to all those who take part. Our lives are sustained by sustaining Mother Earth. We will start by building ‘cakes’ of delicious earthy ingredients, such as Copal, Herbs, Tobacco, Candles, Chocolate, Fruit, as offerings of food and life to Mother Earth. We then evoke the Spirits into the Ceremony, light the altar, and burn the ingredients, each with a different prayer, energy and intention.The combination is a rich banquet of energies offered to Ahua. During this time we also make specific prayers for anything we want to call into our lives. Xochi was given permission to lead this Ceremony and Fire from three Quiche Maya Grandmothers in Guatemala and told to bring it back to her people and share it in the north.
This class is an exploration of the Womb ~ Throne room (or womb space) and cunt, in wellness, dis-ease and the phases in between. We invite you to come wholeheartedly as yourself. Bring your story, your knowledge, your questions, and concerns. We have found, when connecting with women in a clinical setting or through the intimacies of friendship and romantic love, that woman of all ages have unanswered questions and concerns, both simple and complex, about their bodies and sexuality.
As women we question the way we look, feel, and smell.
We question the way we are ever changing after childbirth, cancer, and with age.
We wonder about our changing sexual desires or lack of desire.
We live in a world where it is commonplace for our Cunts and wombs to be silenced, shamed, brutalized, pathologized, and colonized
As we evolve and change our questions and concerns can sometimes be accompanied by feelings of curiosity, and an eagerness to share our new experiences. We may also feel shy and sometimes shame.
In this class we will talk about self care practices, witchy home remedies, and wives tales in order to help us live our best lives.
This class is a safe space to occupy our cunts the source of the power of creation within us.
Have you actually felt your own or another woman’s ovaries and womb residing deep in the pelvic bowl? Meet your womb temple with hands-on assessment and caring touch. You’ll assess position, condition, energy, and presence of your own and another’s womb and ovaries as well as the abdominal vortex of intestines, kidneys, organs and muscles that communicate and affect one another. Sharing healing touch together, we’ll explore the guarded and unguarded belly, the root of intuition, the soft nest of our deep feminine.
The belly is a center of ingestion, digestion, and release of the external world circumstances. If you have no womb or are moon-paused, the creative energy of the womb and belly remains--Please join.
This is prerequisite to the subsequent session “Exploring the Yoniverse”
It is strongly encouraged to attend both sessions of this class.
Following the ‘Tending the Belly Womb Root’ class, those who wish to dive deeper will explore our inner sanctum using internal pelvic floor massage. Most women have experienced this zone in relation to sex, birth, and clinical exams; it has not always been pleasurable and unfortunately has too commonly been traumatic. Few have had opportunity to explore it without pressure or expectation as a root source of creativity and empowerment.
With permission for entry from your yoni ‘guardians’, we’ll explore together this inner world with curiosity and compassion. Using gloves and coconut oil or other natural lubricant and gentle, non-sexual myofascial massage, we’ll feel each others (or our own) pelvic floor muscles and cervix and listen to what is present. You may discover muscle tension that refers pain to your hips or sacrum or has affected your menstrual cycle. You may re-ignite a mind-pelvis connection and discover how quickly muscle tension and release responds to thoughts and imagery. Discover the Yoniverse, a potent source of intuition and deep feminine rooting.
PREREQUISITE: If you wish to attend this part, please attend ‘Tending the BellyWomb Root’ first. We will be cultivating connections there that nurture safety, privacy, and deep listening that’s important for this session of ‘Entering the Yoniverse Temple.'
School and community gardens are the ideal stage for cultivating people and plants in ways that support positive growth in self, community and the environment. A school garden - well considered, designed and integrated - is an ideal stage for inspired learning, personal and communal growth, healthy living. Join this conversation to talk about the power of gardens to transform ourselves, our schools and communities. Learn about the essential elements in growing one that is educationally innovative, culturally transformative, fundable, and sustainable beyond its early visioning. Wanda promises to bring the colorful stories of growing a food forest at an elementary school in West Oakland’s “food desert” to illustrate the infinite potential for gardens (and children) to save the world.
Take a walk or crawl to learn about the local Black Oak Ranch flora and some of the medicines they share with us. Walk will be geared to multiple levels, so we can cover some basic plants, and also see what else might be growing up in the hill. We will look at some plant family patterns to understand both identification and medicinal commonalities.
This class is an opportunity to participate in a communal ritual to honor our grief and gratitude for the Earth. Drawn from Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects, this ritual provides a brave container for naming and metabolizing our fear, outrage, sorrow, and despair with regard to the ecological crisis. We will open with a discussion and exploration into the alchemical nature of grief and how this essential human experience reflects how deeply we have dared to love and how fully we are woven into the web of life.
During this class we will make grief bundles from natural items gathered from the land in preparation for the Community Grief Ritual that Kelly and Lara will be facilitating on Sunday evening. We will also prepare and tend the Grief and Ancestor Shrines for the ritual to honor the Earth, our grief, and the ancestors. This class will include song and prayer as we begin the process of creating sacred space for the evening Ceremony.
A story-like introduction to the Taoist 5 element theory. A wild dive into Earth Philosophy, our human connection to the elemental world and to Medicinal Plants as beings.
Explore your amazing ligaments, tendons and fascia through movement, herbs and natural healing techniques. Learn how to care for your spine, joints and organs by tending the connective tissues that surround them.
Respiratory system complaints have risen as global air quality has diminished. This class will cover the treatment of respiratory illness due to poor air quality, sinus infections, viral and bacterial illnesses of the lungs and asthma. A holistic approach to dealing with symptoms and post recovery care with the aim of preventing chronic respiratory disease will be emphasized.
Don't just walk all over them - come learn how to care for these special servants of our anatomy! This class will address connective tissue challenges like plantar fasciitis and bunions, plus neuropathy and nail health. Herbs, foods and body therapies that help correct these issues will be shared. Come prepared to kick off your shoes and flex your feet.
We will make traditional Appalachian style baskets, also known as the egg basket. We will use locally harvested materials, as well as hemp twine and seagrass. Locally grown materials will include, bay laurel, golden willow, red osha dogwood, watsonia grass, New Zealand flax and bark. We will discuss native plants used for weaving, as well as tropical plant fibers. We will discuss and explore the many weaving plants, along with their native origin. We will also discuss the preparation for weaving with each fiber. We will discuss what you can plant in your own garden, to cultivate and harvest your own weaving wonders. Please bring clippers or scissors if possible. Class is limited to 20 women.
Young Women ages 12-21
Limited to 12 participants
Learn how to macrame your own bracelet or anklet! Great beginner’s class for learning this ancient art. Once you have the basics down, you will be amazed at the variety of beautiful objects you can make. Class limited to 12 young women.
Welcome maidens, to the Circle of Women! Join us in celebrating the beauty and strength of this phase of your life, the time of your bloods. We will explore ideas and feelings, hear stories, make things to care for ourselves and prepare for the Maiden’s Rites of Passage Ceremony to be held Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. Any young woman who would like to go through the Maiden Ceremony must attend this class.
Skin care is self care. Come learn how to make your own personalized facial oil cleanser, detox clay mask and breast salve and leave class with a container of each to take home and experiment with. This is an hands- on class. Be prepared to have fun and get your body nourished.
What ails you? Bring questions and concerns and we will discuss botanicals which can aid in healthy sleep, energy, immunity, healthy skin, increased focus, stress aids, pain remedies and support for the reproductive system. Live plants, tinctures, stories and recipes will be shared in a supportive circle. Tasting and treats to share.
In this space, teens and young adults are invited to come meet each other and get playful with a series of insightful, embodied games. The first part of the class will be devoted to warming up, playing, breathing, and relaxing into an embodied, alert presence, activating the senses and the art of listening.
The second part of the class will involve doing simple, image-based theatre about the topics and dynamics that shape our world. These can include anything the participants bring to the table, but we will especially focus on topics related to the feminine and the natural world. There is no hiding from young people the reality of conflict and oppression all across the planet. Instead, many movements for social change, like Greta Thuberg’s climate activism, have young people leading the charge.
Growing up in a time where the old way is crumbling, and new life is just beginning to sprout in the ashes, youth have a unique understanding and a powerful place in our movements. This class is an opportunity to express, not with words, but with the human body, some of the stories that we are living out in today’s world — and it will also give participants a chance to suggest, and embody, the changes they long to see.
*We may create a simple piece for the talent show together so come participate if you would like to perform!*
Theatre of the Oppressed was created by Augusto Boal to be a tool of the People, in service of liberation and joy, and absolutely no theatre experience is necessary! Come ready to move and play.
Come join Tara and Beck for Drumming & Movement to Awaken Your Playful Spirit! Learn to play simple rhythms while exploring styles and sounds of a variety of drums and percussion toys. Participate in playful movement and dancing to your own inner rhythm. Grow from Girl to Goddess while making friends and music!
We will also be facilitating the Sunday night drum jam after the ritual and welcome this class to join us in celebration.
Mid Kids ages 7-11
Bibiana Love
We will each weave our own magical flowery tiara from natural materials.
Come craft a Botanical Greeting Card that contains a beautiful and practical surprise!
Chamomile and Blackberries, Violets and MonkeyFlowers. Let’s go meet my favorite Spring-Flowering Herbs here at Black Oak Ranch.
We will do “hands-on” practice of seed-starting and transplanting. Everyone will take home a baby veggie plant!
Come experience the magic of transforming animal fibers into felted fabric! Together we will use a resist wet felting technique with warm soapy water to create things like a wet felted pouch, bowl or water bottle holder. Join us to explore, create, learn, work hard and have fun! Limited to 20 children.
Come and learn about Mermaid Goddesses, Write them a song, Adorn your beautiful mermaid self, and create a mermaid dream mirror.
Come and meet the fairies on a guided meditation, then commune with them during a fairy hike, share fairy-tales, sing fairy songs, and create a sacred fairy sanctuary for the fey folk of your own home.
We will weave small round traditional Hawaiian style baskets. We will discuss local and tropical fibers used for basket weaving. We will use the following materials: Round reed, watsonia grass, banana paper, redwood bark, hemp twine, philodendron leaf, new Zealand flax, and seagrass. Please bring clippers or scissors if possible. Class is limited to 13 mid-kids.
Come learn how you can create yummy-sweet treats that are made with nourishing and healthy herbal powders, whole food ingredients and a little time and love. Goo balls make a great snack, are easy to do and fun to get creative with. We’ll make two kinds of goo balls and will have recipes and ideas for many more.
Sachet means “little bag” and in our class we will create several different kinds of herbal sachets for drawers/closets and magical corners and places. We’ll make simple smelly-good sachets and also magical ones that we can use for protection, sleep, intentions or other magical purposes!
In this class we will create a unique piece of art that represents something special. We’ll have a short, simple meditation to help us decide what our artwork will be about and then we’ll use a variety of collage materials to create something that tells a story of the spirit! Come ready to cut and paste and bring your cup because we’ll have some tea to share together!
Young Children
Early Morning Classes
Danielle is thrilled to share her passion and unique style she calls ‘Shakti Flow Yoga’ which incorporates different styles of yoga and philosophy with the intention to tap into feminine nature and awaken creative, feminine, life force energy within. This class is offered early each morning.
This series of five early morning workshops can be enjoyed individually, but by attending all five a deeper level of practice can be accessed. Each class will focus in on inhabiting a different aspect of our larger energetic structure - our "Sacred Anatomy."
As we deepen our presence through the understanding of our energy structure, we will expand our capacity to sense the energies of plants.
Communication with plants will happen through a process of self inquiry that will then extend to the plant/ person relationship. We will sense plants individually, (with their permission, of course!) then as a group, share our discoveries. We will keep a sense of humor and curiosity and support the wholeness of the human meeting the wholeness of the plant. Bring your curiosity and come ready to dive deep!
Other Classes
Come join us for an evening under the late spring constellations. Guided by a green laser wand, you’ll learn to find your way around the night sky and the names of the stars and constellations, while hearing folklore from different times and cultures. We’ll meet the bright shining stars of the Twins, the Lion, Virgo, the Scorpion, and more… You will also be dosed with Essence Elixirs!
Intensives
The lymphatic system is called Rasa in Sanskrit, meaning the river of life. Keeping this river flowing allows our tissues to receive nourishment, which is the secret to being and looking healthy. Our lymph fluids allow hormones to get from one endocrine gland to another and play an important role in our reproductive health. The lymphatic system is also called the Immune system, which we all know is important for fighting foreign invaders and staying healthy. There will be demonstrations on how to map the lymphatic system in your body with an emphasis on breast health. There will be time for Q &A about our breasts and immunity, massage assessments for experiential learning & what tools can support change and prevent diseases. Students will leave having a clear understanding of the lymph system and how to keep it and their breasts healthy.
*Breast Checks will be continued throughout the entire weekend.
There is strength in a river that is flowing