These are people or festivals/organizations I have collaborated with to bring transformational healing offerings to the community. Check them out and consider exploring their offerings!
People
Sollandra (aka McCaren Avalon)
McCaren aka “Sollandra” is a creative visionary whose medium is storytelling and whose canvas is life.
Loyal to Earth but well-connected to Source, she is a champion of self-love being the path to a strong, inner foundation.
Hailing from Queens where she embodied the beat of the New York City street, she is inspired by the cultures and environments of the places she’s lived, from France and Australia, to Colorado and Kentucky.
Incorporating her background in art, music, and events planning, with her training in sound therapy, meditation, breathwork, yoga, and Reiki, Sollandra creates a sacred space where profound relaxation is possible, helping others access the keys to their own self-healing.
~Learn more: www.TheSolSonic.com
Emily Joan Smith
Emily is a devotional singer & musician from Louisville, Ky with over 25 years of varied performance experience. She is also a yoga and meditation teacher, a holistic voice coach, a community builder, a weaver of sacred space, and the founder of Louisville kirtan band Anahata Bhakti.
Emily’s passion lies in melding her love of music and truth seeking together through the practice of sacred song and chant meditation, contemplation, and inquiry, and believes in the transformative power of heart-centered spiritual community.
Her goal is to create reverent and meaningful spaces for spiritual practice, nurturing a deep sense of connection to self, others, the world around us, and to the divine love that we are at our essence.
~Learn more: http://www.emilyjoansmith.com
Nicole Bartlett
Nicole started breathing for transformation in 2017 while taking full ownership of the business she helped build in 2015, the Louisville Salt Cave. She is a Reiki Master, peace advocate, wife, and mother of three children.
Paige Waggoner Clark
Paige Waggoner Clark, LMT (KY and FL) has been a practicing massage therapist for 24 years, with a focus on traditional bodywork practices and the childbearing years, including Thai massage and Mayan abdominal therapy.
Paige brings her knowledge as a homebirth midwife, herbalist and yoga teacher to all of her work.
She attended her first yoga teacher training at The Omega Institute in 1998. She has since completed training in Prenatal / Birth / Postpartum Yoga, Yoga for Depression and Anxiety, and Equine Yoga.
She currently resides in Kentucky, USA, where she practices massage in a fertility-focused acupuncture clinic and leads wholistic equine and sound healing experiences.
Learn more: www.medicinecircleholistic.com
Rhonda K. Goodall
Rhonda K. Goodall is a painter living in Louisville, KY. From her passionate support of the arts to her charitable and civic activities, Goodall is a beloved pillar of the community. She is the principal and owner of Goodall Gallery in the heart of Crescent Hill neighborhood. She received her B.S. in Design from Eastern Kentucky University.
Goodall’s paintings are the way she moves through the world; they are a concise expression of natural systems and the complex nuance of human emotion. She awakens in one ideas they have yet to consider, revealing the true essence of life and channeling abundant heart energy onto canvas.
~Learn more: www.rhondagoodall.com
Festivals / Organizations
MyPath Festival
Kentucky Yoga Festival
Nestled on the cliffs of the Little Barren River, the vision of Kentucky Yoga Festival is to create a space for connection, adventure, play, relaxation, and healing. We’ll co-create an entirely unique experience of yoga and mindfulness classes, time in nature, music, movement, food, and community that enriches the heart and feeds the soul.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath in, and imagine yourself surrounded by beauty. The gentle sound of the Little Barren River serenades you as you look into the eyes of friends and family.
As you wake in the morning, inhale the mist and distant aroma of incense, you will be filled with gratitude for the beauty of Kentucky – the bluegrass, tall trees, and chorus of crickets.
Kentucky Yoga Festival is a locally homegrown, grassroots, organic, green event in its 3rd year. Gratitude and Blessings!
If wild sleep, star gazing, yoga adventures, and meaningful connections are what make you shine, this experience is for you!
~Learn more: www.kyyogafest.com
Woman To Woman Kentuckiana
The mission of Woman to Woman Kentuckiana is to create a sense of safety and belonging where all those who identify as women can transform themselves into who they want to be.
We believe in the innate potential for all women to be in genuine connection with one another, healing and transforming the world and ourselves. Through integrity, accountability, compassion and love, we commit our community and resources to support this vision.
We are a community of women who seek authenticity. We’ve created a place where we can show up as we are – and be seen and heard as we are. Our lives continue to be transformed and healed as we gather together to support one another.
We are a 501(c)(3) charitable organization run by an all-volunteer Board of Directors (Leadership Circle) and Guide Circle.
We are affiliated with:
Woman Within International, the global organizational umbrella for local and regional groups
Woman Within Central USA , the regional network that covers 10 Midwestern states including Kentucky
We encourage you to visit the Woman Within International website for details about how transformation occurs in women’s lives in our communities around the globe. There, you’ll also find information about trainings and programs that are offered, such as the Woman Within Weekend.
We sometimes partner with The Mankind Project, an organization for men that is similar to Woman to Woman International.
~Learn more: www.w2wkentuckiana.org/
Goddexx Initiative
Close your eyes and open your heart for an extraordinary event dedicated to honoring the divine within you. Join us as we create a sacred space where you can truly celebrate and reconnect with your inner Goddexx, a part of you that often goes unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Imagine a magical gathering where the forgotten strength within you emerges, providing you with the courage to keep going even when you doubt yourself. This exquisite event is an opportunity to invite your inner knowingness out into the open, allowing it to be fully seen, heard, and lifted on high.
Dress up in your most stunning Goddexx attire and join us at the enchanting Barren River Magic. We will bask in the shimmering lights and under the watchful gaze of the full moon in the enchanting garden of dreams.
We cordially invite you to celebrate YOU – your beauty, power, and resilience. Immerse yourself in the immense pampering of the soul, as you indulge in floral foot baths, bespoke adornment, soothing tea, fireside connections, and so much more. Take this chance to nourish your mind, body, and spirit, and awaken the vibrant energy that lies within.
~Learn more: Here
Born Free Method
Embody the Essence of Parenthood and Experience Birth On Your Terms with Nathan Riley, MD, Sara Rosser, CPM, and the Born Free Method
This comprehensive program is for soon-to-be parents (and birthworkers) who want to feel empowered, confident, and informed about their pregnancy and childbirth journey.
~Learn more: www.bornfreemethod.com
The Inner Warrior
The Inner Warrior began it’s journey on Frankfort Avenue in November 2014. At it’s inception it was primarily a yoga boutique but also offered donation based yoga classes 2x a week (with rotating instructors from all around town). Clothing racks were moved aside and they offered over 300 Yoga classes in the 3 1/2 year period.
In the beginning classes were small, but with consistency they became bigger than ever expected. Each class filled to capacity and with a waiting list! It was then clear that fostering community and connection was needed and wanted. This is when The Inner Warrior made the decision, spring of 2018, to move the boutique and the yoga to Distillery Commons, a 2,000 sq ft former distillery warehouse where they could offer more yoga to more people and ultimately created Louisville’s first and only Donation based yoga studio.
“It has been a dream of ours to offer a wide variety of donation-based yoga classes to the people and we are so happy to do so.” In addition to the yoga, there are events such as meditations, yoga related workshops, sound healing, kirtan, guest speakers, and gatherings involving live music, food, art and poetry!
In the Spring of 2020, The Inner Warrior expanded and moved their Boutique back to the Clifton neighborhood while the Studio remains at Distillery Commons as a donation-based yoga spot in the heart of Louisville, KY.
~Learn more: www.theinnerwarriorlou.com/
The Aligned Life, The Goddess Life Podcast
The Aligned Life connects people to their inner compass, living and walking in full alignment with their mind, body, and spirit. Combining therapeutic techniques, spiritual practice (including some witchcraft!), and stepping into personal power through practical experience, follow Hallie from The Goddess Life Spiritual Healing as we journey through the mind’s consciousness into conscious living.
~Learn more : The Aligned Life, The Goddess Life
or click HERE to see their website.
Bridge Counseling & Wellness
In 2014, Juniper Owens and Nicole Sartini, both therapists, had a vision for a mental health center unlike any we had ever seen. We had bonded over our shared use of mindfulness, movement, and nutrition as tools for managing mental health and our passion for being of real service to our community. At that time, therapy offices didn’t typically include these holistic elements as a regular part of their services, and we envisioned a practice that honored the whole self- mind, body, and spirit.
We rented a studio space next door to our tiny office where we began offering free yoga, exercise classes and meditation groups for our counseling clients, and in January of 2015 we officially incorporated as Bridge Counseling and Wellness. Shortly after, we hired our first clinician, Megan, who still works with us to this day.
To ensure we were operating as ethically and effectively as possible, we delved deeply into the research on how mindfulness, movement, and nutrition affect mental health. This research led to the creation of a board-approved integrative mental health certification program for mental health professionals, a second company, The Academy of Integrative Mental Health and the Conscious Mental Health podcast. Almost ten years later, Bridge has a team of 60 spread out among four brick-and-mortar locations and a few states. Collectively, our team has served tens of thousands of people. We continue to offer free yoga and meditation groups and have added countless new integrative services to expand upon our out of the box approach to mental health.
Bridge would not be what it is today without the incredible team members who share our mission and choose to show up fully to this work, or the people who choose to make use of the services we have poured our hearts and effort into. It is our greatest honor to serve the greater good the best that we can. Thank you! We look forward to continuing to grow alongside you.
~Learn more: www.bridgemindbody.com