Welcome to September + Shakti Fall Schedule!

Welcome to September! In three weeks we celebrate the Autumn Equinox and enter a new season with a new fall calendar. From herbal remedies for the skin (Autumn Harvest Glow) to sacred release rituals (Take It to the Water) and everything in between, Shakti in the Mountains is building a healthy community by inviting people to share and to learn about practices that are kind, wise, innovative, regenerative, and helpful.

In addition to our monthly staples (Astrology Circle, Food and Tarot, The Red Tent, The Community Clinic, Chronic Pain Support Group, Slow and Low Yoga, and Makerspace Open Hours), we have brought back the monthly Mending Circle and are excited to host the Second Annual Handmade Holiday Fair as well as another Jolabokaflod. I am so very grateful to the facilitator guides who created new offerings for this fall. They are:

• Incubating the Matriarchy (A new series!)
• Sister Medicine: Ayurveda for women in the second half of their life
• The Story Only You Can Tell
• Breaking Bread: A November Storytelling Feast
• Dancing Through What Stays (Our first Spanish-speaking event!)

Here is a one-page calendar that you can print and hang up in a convenient location. For a more detailed description, please go to the Eventbrite registration page. If you have any questions, you may always contact me. One important reminder: Event registration closes 24 hours BEFORE an event begins. This decision supports our facilitators, so they may prepare for the number of people attending.

Aside from announcing our new fall calendar, I want to invite anyone who is interested in participating in fall preparations to contact me this week. Specifically, we are looking for people who would like to help with:

• Preparing the fall harvest. This activity would include cooking, canning, freezing, dehydrating, and making herbal medicine.
• Inventorying and assessing garden tools. We received several donations in varying degrees of functionality. If you have experience with both hand tools and electric tools, we could really use your expertise.
• Sorting and redistributing mysterious, and not so mysterious, objects in the basement. Some of the objects in the Shakti basement probably need to be thrown away but a lot of the items could be repurposed or upcycled. If you have a knack for identifying usable objects, we could really use your help.

It is important to note that we feed people who volunteer. From homemade bread and cookies to complete meals, we shower love on those who volunteer their time and talents. If you want to help, you will be fed and greatly appreciated.

Wishing everyone a smooth transition from summer into fall.

Love,

Kim

In honor of the great Wendell Berry who passed away on August 31, I share one of my favorite poems by him.

For nearly thirty years, Kim Bushore-Maki has served Appalachia as both a pioneer and champion of holistic well-being and community health. 

A licensed clinical counseling professional, she became the first Master level clinician at East Tennessee State University's Counseling Center, where she provided therapeutic services and directed the Sexual Violence Prevention Program and the Alcohol and Drug Prevention Program.

During her tenure at ETSU, she was a founding organizer of the Tennessee Coalition for Healthy and Safe Campus Communities as well as Tennessee's representative for the National Prevention Network. She drafted ETSU's first Sexual Violence Response Policy and coordinated the region's first "Take Back the Night" program and fundraiser (the oldest worldwide movement to stand against sexual violence in all forms), the proceeds of which funded the first SANE nurses at the Johnson City Medical Center. Kim also served as Interim Director of Disability Services for 11 months.

In 2010, Kim followed her intuition and vision to found Shakti in the Mountains, a thriving healing-arts center that draws on somatic expressive therapy, archetypal psychology, wisdom traditions, and regenerative economics. Kim continues to maintain a small private therapy practice and also leads healing programs and retreats, guides the Shakti Stewardship Program, and serves as a community-building consultant to justice-oriented initiatives committed to building safe, inclusive, vibrant, and resilient communities.  ​

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