Workshop Moments
"She is there ... inside you ... the woman who knows how to be wild, free, intuitive, powerful, and compassionate. She's living somewhere beneath the chaos in your life and the dust on your heart. "- author unknown 
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"Within everywoman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force filled with
good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman."
Women who run with the Wolves… Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Personal sharings from participants
Some sharing from the women.
Thank you Sharon for helping me translate my feelings and experiences of being in the Breaking Free Program into a Healing Voices doll that tells my personal story of healing and reclaiming of my voice. You made it a wonderful day to remember. I know women who take your workshops in the future will really benefit. ~~~ Barb
Dear Sharon... Thank you for teaching your Healing Voices doll workshop to our Breaking Free class. You helped me remember what I have not felt in a long time. My doll will be my dreams, and wisdom I can bring out when I'm helping others. The day was so special, and the beautiful colours you brought gave me choices. These choices are helping me decide what I would like to make out of my life. You are a special woman and I am thrilled to have met you. ~~~ Anne
Dear Sharon ... I would like to extend an invitation for you to return to our next Women's "Breaking Free" program. Your visit with us was very uplifting and enlightening. It was interesting to listen to the women who participated tell their stories about why they made their dolls as they did. Each one defined the woman's personality, bringing out many of their hopes, helping them lay down the weights they have carried ... and to dream bigger dreams for their future. You are a lovely woman and I feel privileged to have met you. Thank you. ~~~ Janet W.
Dear Sharon ... I was so impressed to see how you have taken this gift you've been blessed with and have been able to help us see and bring to life the hidden treasures inside of us. As I worked with my doll I tried to envision what I wanted my life to be now. With your help I was able to express my desire to be an independent, confident, well spoken woman who is no longer afraid to express herself, who has the right to set boundaries so as not to allow another person to tell me who I should or should not be. I will always remeber you with kind thoughts. ~~~ Julie
Thank you Sharon for helping me translate my feelings and experiences of being in the Breaking Free Program into a Healing Voices doll that tells my personal story of healing and reclaiming of my voice. You made it a wonderful day to remember. I know women who take your workshops in the future will really benefit. ~~~ Barb
Dear Sharon... Thank you for teaching your Healing Voices doll workshop to our Breaking Free class. You helped me remember what I have not felt in a long time. My doll will be my dreams, and wisdom I can bring out when I'm helping others. The day was so special, and the beautiful colours you brought gave me choices. These choices are helping me decide what I would like to make out of my life. You are a special woman and I am thrilled to have met you. ~~~ Anne
Dear Sharon ... I would like to extend an invitation for you to return to our next Women's "Breaking Free" program. Your visit with us was very uplifting and enlightening. It was interesting to listen to the women who participated tell their stories about why they made their dolls as they did. Each one defined the woman's personality, bringing out many of their hopes, helping them lay down the weights they have carried ... and to dream bigger dreams for their future. You are a lovely woman and I feel privileged to have met you. Thank you. ~~~ Janet W.
Dear Sharon ... I was so impressed to see how you have taken this gift you've been blessed with and have been able to help us see and bring to life the hidden treasures inside of us. As I worked with my doll I tried to envision what I wanted my life to be now. With your help I was able to express my desire to be an independent, confident, well spoken woman who is no longer afraid to express herself, who has the right to set boundaries so as not to allow another person to tell me who I should or should not be. I will always remeber you with kind thoughts. ~~~ Julie
Please take a moment to look at some of the beautiful expressions from workshop participants in the two following short video clips.
Mask Making
Exposure
A Mask Making Workshop
is a way to expose and give voice to~ that which is hidden beneath the surface.
Who Am I ? such a huge question to explore.
What are the experiences that have shaped my life?
How do these layers impact who I am in any given moment?
How do I peel them away, or dive beneath them to find the essence of who I am?
Who do I allow to see me as I am beneath the masks I wear?
Women's Sharings
Hi Sharon ... I found going under the mask one of the scariest things I've ever done ...it meant complete surrender, it meant trusting that the women who were helping would be there for me, would comfort me, would hold my hand as I squeezed with all my might... And I did squeeze hard... and they WERE there for me... it's one of the hugest steps I've ever taken... when I was sharing I remember thanking all of them so much. Then one woman asked if I had given thanks to myself... I remember being shocked by the question, and then I simply broke... it was like a dam breaking up... I felt like i was going to vomit... it was then the healing really began to happen as the tears poured out of me... It's something I'll never forget.
Hi Sharon ... Making my mask was so impacting. Being there beneath the plaster as the women formed it over my face, no sight and limited breathing capacity, only hearing and feeling. I had to make myself slow my breath, to go inside... deeper and deeper... Afterward I just knew what to do with this image of my face I was holding in my hands... everything was happening beneath, not on the surface at all... all the words I'd never spoken, all the stories I'd never told... waiting. I realized I wasn't quite ready to reveal myself... so I placed strand upon strand of yarn on the inside of my mouth as metaphors for the *ALL* of that.
One woman forwarded these reflections... This process of going ‘under the mask’ was an experience that left me vulnerable, raw, so much flowing to the surface as I sat with the medium drying on my face. My eyes, my nose, my mouth were covered, sensory deprivation in one sense and in another, utter clarity - senses razor sharp. Two other women held my hands…no communication except through gentle murmurs and touches of comfort and support as strips were applied, breathing holes made, and then a silent time of waiting for all to be revealed. Then came the unveiling…seeing my mother’s face before my eyes , understanding the love and continuity of family, as I sat near my sister and felt her presence. The symbols of nature; trees, nuts, seashells, leaves, feathers and cones are part of who I am, but on the underside of the mask I could see the bandages that had covered my eyes and my mouth, those eyes that had been blinded and those lips that were not allowed to speak.
The warrior tattoos are gentle and feminine, but are present none the less, a sign that I will stand and fight for self and for those with no voice; to show the world I will be seen, I will be taken seriously.
And now, the branch that took root in my tiny mouth hole is a sign that even with such a small opening, life can take root – grow and flourish – and the vine grows stronger with each sharing, each word bringing life to self and to others, each leaf a new unfolding.
Hi Sharon ... Thank you for this workshop... I found it really hard at first, especially when the plaster was being placed on my face... Then I realized it was kind of like a sweat lodge, that I could let myself go and be cradled by Mother Earth... so I just let go... I saw myself in residential schools, my native ways stripped from me, broken and beaten, forbidden to speak my language or sing my songs. Now, today it is safe to remember, I'm reconnecting with my family, my tribe, my third eye is opening as I drum and journey into myself. This mask symbolizes what I have gone through and what can never be taken from me again. I am so grateful.