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September 9, 2011

Creating Change. ~ Nicole Maniez

Photo: Susy Morris

I’ve been building a course for girls where they can come and explore themselves through art, yoga and sisterhood. They also get to explore their thoughts. We ask them who they are and they come up with answers.

I quickly realized this is not work for one individual, but work for a team. I am blessed to be surrounded by brilliant, strong, creative women. I urge them to join me in creating a program that can incite self-love, creativity and community.

Photo: Hope Abrams

As we do this work (this work of building), I realize that I am once again on a course too. For example, Natalie isn’t so sure about the name. I can’t meet at that time. Jess can never meet. I feel upset that people don’t show up. We don’t agree on the age groupings. Every piece of building this course turns into a lengthy discussion.

We are building and breathing this program and now, we are also asked to face our shortcomings and our strengths.  My ego finds reflection as I struggle to make compromises with my “sisters” who help me build. Our adult inflexibility begins to limber up as we realize a stalemate can kill this precious program in its infancy. More and more, our hearts burn for this work – burn to create something to offer up to the young ones that follow down our path, burn to create a true dialogue among differing thoughts, needs and desires.  We need to know that our small group of like-minded women can arrive at a consensus that we can proceed, accepting our compromises and seeing the bigger picture.

As the founders of this course, we trudge through our layers of resistance.

We speak our mind even when our voice shakes. Our hearts are open in vulnerability.  Crap – we are forced to practice what we preach.  We are a living CompassionistaGIRL, or whatever the hell we will end up calling it.  We are there.  And we are growing.

 

Photo: kelsey_lovefusionphoto

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Nicole Maniez is an acupuncturist, herbalist, yoga teacher and childbirth educator in the Boston area.  She is lucky to get to combine multiple loves into one sweet career, doing what she loves and helping people move closer to health and wholeness.  She is also a momma, an art maker, and an out-of-tune music maker.  Hoping that she will never lose the ability to laugh at her follies (and yours), she cultivates her curiosity in an attempt to keep life entertaining.  She loves mail.  Send her something inspiring.

 

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