The Questions
What would it look like if women in our field had the
opportunity to come together regardless of age, position, or affiliation to
just be with their thoughts, their fears, their dreams, their hopes and their
insecurities? What if we found a way to be more self-aware so we don't aspire
to be someone we ARE NOT and were comfortable living as the person WE are? How would our relationships be impacted if we skipped all the
surface-level B.S. and focused on the things that matter?
Our Story
These are all questions I asked myself as I attended The
Gathering during the summer of 2012. I wanted to create an experience similar
to The Gathering but for women only where we could learn and grow from and
with one another. I dreamed about what impact women in our field could make if
we were more aware of who we are and what makes us happy to be women and
content in what we do professionally. I wanted peace. I wanted support. I
wanted balance. I wanted yoga. I wanted conversation. I wanted quiet. I wanted
no drama. I wanted
meditation. I wanted the beach.
-Jenny
I have always longed for real, honest, non-competitive,
unconditional friendships—especially with women. On one hand, I always felt
there was something powerful in the female connection—an understanding,
empathy, nurturing - that women shared in friendships. On the other hand, I had
also experienced the competitiveness, cattiness and judgmental perspective in some
of those same friendships—and in some of those cases I was an offender!
I got the book The Invitation, by Oriah Mountain
Dreamer, as a gift from an amazing woman (grateful to Lori Neff—you are still
teaching me today) who I attended the Interfraternity Institute with in 1999. She
warned me the book was a “little hippy-dippy” but to stick with it because it
taught her more life lessons in 200 pages than anything over the last 20 years.
So, I read it. Over and over and over—and continue to read my battered-up copy
at least once every six months. For me, nourish had been in the back of my head
as a thought, a hope, a concept since 1999. It just took some life and
professional experience, some amazing and some disappointing experiences with
women and a great conversation with Jenny to realize that there are women
(including myself) who want and need a space to explore the questions from
above; a place for women to deeply connect with other women; a place to nourish
body, mind and soul. And so it began.
-Megan
Our Motivation
So
we were two women with a similar idea that needed each other to push to
actually make it happen. We put our hearts and our minds together and built
nourish. We submitted a grant proposal to The Gathering Class of 2012 and were
lucky to be the recipients of the grant. This officially made our vision one
that had the ability to become a reality.
The Context
We revisited the book to frame our work, The Invitation by Oriah. “It doesn’t
interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if
you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me who
you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the
center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn’t interest me where or
what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the
inside, when all else falls away.” – The
Invitation
The Invitation is a declaration of intent, a map into the
longing of the soul, the desire to live passionately, face-to-face with
ourselves and skin-to-skin with the world around us. nourish is an intense sabbatical designed to help women in the
field of higher education accept the Invitation.
nourish is not a retreat, it is not a conference, it is
not a stand-alone experience. nourish
begins by making a personal commitment during an annual sabbatical to finding
your authentic self and living an authentic life by nourishing yourself,
nourishing others, nourishing your body, nourishing your mind, nourishing your
soul and nourishing the sisterhood (relationships) in your life.
Nourish … the Experience
On September 9 we arrived to the Islander, a beautiful beach-front
property on Oak Island, North Carolina. We began with conversations around what
nourishment looked like to us. We discussed how and where we find nourishment
in our lives and what will it take to let go of what is and find nourishment
within ourselves over the next few days. That night we were lucky to experience
a sunset meditation on the deck overlooking the ocean. The sound of the waves
and the fresh air across our faces was the perfect natural setting to begin our
work.
We spent time nourishing mind.
Through the nourishing of the mind we read books and articles and challenged
our minds to open up in new ways. Through proposed discussion topics from the
book we chose a partner and nourished one another. This was a critical time in
the experience where we appreciated one another and accepted the other person
and ourselves for all we bring to the field and the world. Through guided
conversations, participants were encouraged to explore ideas and concepts many
had not explored in depth before. Nourish
soul was conversation around sharing perspectives, insights, experiences
and spirits of the women in the group. This was the group time where we had no
leader but great discussion as a large group. Last but certainly not least, at
the end of each night we nourished sisterhood. Each of the women who joined us
in this experience has a passion; love and dedication to the field of education
and helping others achieve their potential. When we nourished our sisterhood,
we focused on how we could experience and share our sisterhood in a more
authentic way in our professional lives.
We both feel after writing the grant and dreaming about the potential of this program that it far exceeded our expectations.
We
are excited to announce we will be doing another nourish in fall of 2014. Applications will be available in spring
of 2014. Please contact us at NourishLLC@gmail.com
in the meantime if you are interested.
Thank
you to AFLV and The Gathering Class of 2012 for having faith in us and for
making our vision become a reality! We all are forever grateful and blessed to
have had the experience.
Mingle often with good people
to keep your soul nourished!
A guest blog from Megan Vadnais &
Jenny Levering, 2012 grant recipients from The Gathering for their program, nourish.
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