A Heartfelt Welcoming by co-owner Janelle

Welcome to Ember and Bloom Wellness! 

In the past few years I've really started to cultivate faith in the universe. The faith that,  good or bad,  there is a reason for the things I experience.  The experiences are lessons, or they lead me somewhere new (even if I didn't want to go there).  There is something very liberating about that faith. It gives me the freedom to try new things and make mistakes, knowing that the universe has got my back. 

I recently attended my first ever Wellness retreat in Banff, Canada. I really had no idea what to expect, but I have been meditating more, and I've been unknowingly opening my third eye and crown (I'm new here). I saw the ad for the retreat and thought to myself “that looks lovely and exactly what I need right now”.  Reading that last sentence, you might think I'm very intuitive and I follow my intuition closely. This is not the case! Years of fighting with indecision and using my head, instead of my heart has buried and silenced my intuition. Luckily, I showed the ad to Rashel. She instantly jumped on board and got us tickets the moment they became available.  (That's pretty typical of how Rashel and I work , and I am so grateful for that). 

This retreat was…  I'm not sure I can quite put it into words, or give it a title. If I were forced to use one word to describe the experience, I would use “opening”. I mean come on! We are in Banff, so that’s a win in itself! Being surrounded by nature and mountains instantly grounds you and opens your soul at the same time. I think sometimes we forget how powerful a change of environment can be. I was also with two of my best friends which is cup filling on its own. The first session was a sound bath and meditation. I've heard sound bowls before, but I had never participated in a group sound bath. It was beautiful! I felt love, connection, peace, and joy. I had silent tears streaming down my cheeks. I saw colors and sound waves. I sensed my ancestors, guiding me and comforting me. It was honestly magical! I was hooked on session one. As the weekend continued so did the emotions. And not all positive ones. This retreat exhumed some deep stuff.  It was joy. It was sadness. It was calm and peace and laughter and anger! It was exhausting! And when I got home I didn't even want to talk about it. The retreat  was a lot all at once.  One of the retreat sessions allowed me to let go of some lifelong trauma. I knew prior to going there that I needed to let go of it, but I was struggling to do it on my own. The session was called etheric cord cutting. I cut the cord with the trauma that I had been holding onto. During the cord cutting exercise it was so clear to me what I needed to let go of. (I'm tearing up writing about it because I know my inner knowing, my subconscious, stepped in and guided me, which is a really powerful feeling). What happened next was even more powerful. We were invited to grow a new cord if we wanted to. And in that place of that trauma I grew a new chord of self-love. A cord coming from me and going right into my heart. That was the missing piece, I needed to love myself. I know we say this to ourselves all the time. And I imagine we all probably participate in self-love from time to time. However, this felt different. It was a new form of love. A deep soul love. Strip away everything and just accept myself.  

I think my experience at the retreat could have gone another way. It could have been just a fun, relaxing weekend away.  But I had been doing so much internal work on myself, that I was able to come with an open mind and heart (for a moment maybe to open - but I'll leave that for another post).   

There was so much more that happened in this retreat. We gained a ton of knowledge on how to live healthy for our mind, body and souls. We all left Banff with a lot of takeaways; some wanted and some not so much, but the universe has got it all figured out, so I’ll just go with all! 

Secretly, Rashel and I went to this retreat to do some recon. We thought there might be a need for this type of community in Saskatoon and area. On the 8 1/2 hour drive back we hatched a plan and in the following weeks Ember and Bloom Wellness was created. A community for women to heal and to flourish. A place to be your true self, listen to your intuition, and heal and nurture your soul. A place to love yourself deeply. To try something new, and really get to know who you are. We are more than our jobs.  We are more than a partner, wife, mother, and daughter. We are more than the role we play for society. We are connected. We are deeper and we can connect deeper. It's not always easy, but it's worth the effort.   

Now.. before you run away and say “I don't need to heal” or “that sounds like a lot of work”. It doesn't have to be! We want to have fun expanding our skills and learning some cool shit too.  

I can’t promise any life altering transformation here. That’s not what we are about. But I know that if you have an open mind and heart, and fully participate, you will get what your soul has been needing. The universe has got your back! 

Janelle