Terra Firma
Terra Firma - Solid Ground for Women. Creating resilience through the wisdom of the body.
Project Description
The Mission of Terra Firma is to promote physical and emotional well-being for all women by providing evidenced based, trauma-informed yoga programs and accessible self-care tools.
WHAT EXACTLY DO WE DO?
Terra Firma helps women find their way back to safe and solid ground by tapping into the wisdom of the body. We provide an integrative service that supports healing with an emphasis on the mind-body connection through movement-based classes and workshops. We facilitate trauma-informed yoga, and various other movement modalities designed to compliment traditional therapy methods for women struggling with (but not limited to): general anxiety and depression, PTSD, Complex Trauma, perinatal mood disorders, infertility, pregnancy loss, chronic pain, recovery from abuse, addition, or eating disorders.
It's also a safe space for any woman managing the stresses of every day life.
Terra Firma is about solid ground for women. We want to offer a safe space for any woman (including trans-gendered and femme individuals) who wants to reconnect with the wisdom of their own body. This means offering daily Women's Yoga classes as well as specific trauma-informed yoga and meditation series. Direct programming. One on one sessions. Building resilience through the wisdom of the body.
Research shows that women and girls are more at risk for depression, sexual abuse and domestic violence and that traditional talk therapies often don't meet the full needs of healing that women deserve. Studies as recent as 2017 show that somatic movement therapies and specifically trauma-informed yoga offer benefits like: reduced reliance on psychiatric medications, improved heart rate variability, decreased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD (or even asymptomatic!). We want to provide that safe space for women to find healing at their own pace, with their own decisions.
In addition to the deep healing work we found that there is a need for women-supportive spaces right now. Racial trauma, generational trauma, trauma from the political environment - these are all real and present problems for the women in our lives.
The question is: where do we go? Where can women go to learn a yoga and meditation practice that supports their specific mental health and physical needs safely? Women are searching for supportive mind-body communities and mental health professionals are looking for places to refer their clients. Terra Firma wants to provide that space!
Sandra: My personal background includes childhood trauma and recovery. My professional work has always been in the world of women and healing: I got my BA in Art Therapy, certified as an herbalist, was a social worker, a birth doula, yoga teacher and mother. When I completed my Yoga for Trauma training with the Center for Yoga and Trauma Recovery, I knew that this work was the culmination of all my other experiences - as a woman, as a mother, as a teacher. I am also currently pursuing my Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Angela: I combine my training and skills learned from the teachers that have come before me with my own unique life experiences to bring a supportive, empowering approach to my classes- where students can learn that they are the experts of their own experience. I am a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance and have undergone Trauma-Informed Yoga Teacher Training. I am currently a member of a select cohort pursuing full certification in TC-TSY, or Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga, developed by Bessel van der Kolk, David Emerson and Jennifer Turner at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute in Brookline, MA. I'm also certified in Restorative Yoga and enjoy presenting students with much needed opportunities to rest. All of my work is geared toward creating a space where women, trans-women and femmes can be their true selves. I see Terra Firma as a place free from "should" - an equitable space, a place of choices and agency; a potential respite from chaos.
We want to incorporate our community in realizing our dream of Terra Firma. We chose iFundWomen because we support the mission of iFundWomen to resource women-owned business.
Our goal is to raise $12,575. Your gift will serve several purposes: To raise scholarship funding so that we can bring a 12 week trauma-informed movement series to marginalized groups of women in our community, to secure space for Terra Firma, keep the lights & heat on and fund other start-up costs (including equipment and props). We are humbled by each and every one of you who considers being a part of the Terra Firma mission. We thank you from the deepest parts of our hearts, and hope you can join us for a class one day!
Updates
The Campaign FAQs
- What if someone is triggered or needs additional services? We are keenly aware that many participants may find an element of a class triggering. We have included specific identifiers for our classes so expectations are clear. (For example, some classes may include an option for hands on assists (only with consent) opportunities for resting in silence, or the use of essential oils. This is made clear in the class description.) Further, we are working with a licensed therapist who acts as our "resource liaison", helping to connect women with the correct organizations to help them find resources and therapists should they need them. Our Trauma-specific 6 week series will use a screening or referral process to ensure that participants are both informed and supported. We're also partnering with our Board of Advisors, which is comprised of mental health professionals, and trauma informed yoga teachers, to ensure that we are bringing the utmost intention to the safety of our clients. We're also partnering with treatment programs and therapy practices to off our services onsite for clients that are best served in this way.
- How can we make this accessible to all women? This is a problem that we are so acutely aware of. We want our work to be inclusive and welcoming and we don't want to put the burden of understanding what is needed onto the participants, for example, women of color who have experienced racial trauma, or LGBTQ participants that are harmed by a binary gender system. In an effort to address this, we have entered into an Accountability Partnership with an experienced and wise Cultural Competency Consultant, and are working with them on a quarterly basis in an effort to do less harm, and to always be working towards equity. We also know that cost can play a large role when it comes to who has access for healing services. We accept any and all donations with grateful hearts, as we plan to offer scholarship opportunities for marginalized groups of women.
Just Because I Care
We are proud to have you on board and couldn't do this without you! We deeply thank you.
We are so grateful for you! You gift is building a healing space for women. With our thanks you'll receive a handwritten thank you note from Angela or Sandra thanking you for your contribution. You'll also receive a link for a recorded guided meditation.
Thank you so much! We are grateful for your partnership. Please accept from us a beautiful Terra Firma journal for you to jot down your thoughts, feelings, body sensations wherever, whenever. Take a deep breath, put it on the page.
We are so grateful for you, and for your support. We'd like to send you a Terra Firma t-shirt so you can be comfy while you practice yoga!
You are so generous! For your gift to us we'd like to send you your own eco-friendly Terra Firma yoga mat for home and studio practice!
We cannot thank you enough for your support of women and healing! Please accept this reward: your own mat, tee and class pass to join us for any drop in Women's Yoga class!
Your generosity is moving! As a thank you from us, you'll receive your own private yoga event for you and a guest, along with a Terra Firma yoga mat and Terra Firma t-shirt!
We are so grateful for your generosity. For your donation we'd like to thank you by teaching a private Terra Firma class for you and a small group. You'll receive your own Terra Firma mat and t shirt as well!
Rewards
Just Because I Care
We are proud to have you on board and couldn't do this without you! We deeply thank you.
We are so grateful for you! You gift is building a healing space for women. With our thanks you'll receive a handwritten thank you note from Angela or Sandra thanking you for your contribution. You'll also receive a link for a recorded guided meditation.
Thank you so much! We are grateful for your partnership. Please accept from us a beautiful Terra Firma journal for you to jot down your thoughts, feelings, body sensations wherever, whenever. Take a deep breath, put it on the page.
We are so grateful for you, and for your support. We'd like to send you a Terra Firma t-shirt so you can be comfy while you practice yoga!
You are so generous! For your gift to us we'd like to send you your own eco-friendly Terra Firma yoga mat for home and studio practice!
We cannot thank you enough for your support of women and healing! Please accept this reward: your own mat, tee and class pass to join us for any drop in Women's Yoga class!
Your generosity is moving! As a thank you from us, you'll receive your own private yoga event for you and a guest, along with a Terra Firma yoga mat and Terra Firma t-shirt!
We are so grateful for your generosity. For your donation we'd like to thank you by teaching a private Terra Firma class for you and a small group. You'll receive your own Terra Firma mat and t shirt as well!