Italy 2020 Trail Running Retreat

This has been a long time coming. Back in 2003 when I was completely culture shocked by my experience in Montreal, we bought an old ruin of a shepherd's house in Northern Tuscany. It was so cheap we got the money out on our credit cards. 
Here it is, the year after we bought it. Before then you couldn't even see the house.

We went back every summer to build and finally, around 2009, ended up with this:

and we're still building! Last summer we put a roof on the barn - seriously? It's a huge stone structure but we thought we could do it and we did.

I've had a dream about this place for many years, that I want to share it with others and open up this beautiful spot as a retreat centre. We always had volunteers visiting, bartering their skills for board and lodging, so we're used to a crowd... but finally two years ago I hosted a women's healing retreat and it was wonderful!

This year, I am hosting a women's rest and recharge retreat (one spot left!), and for the first time we are hosting a Plant-Based Trail Runners Retreat! 

I am very lucky to have a great coach on board: Coach Kyle coaches runners around the world. He will be offering a one-on-one session with each runner, and of course will lead the daily trail runs and supervise strength work, stretching and other work (gratitude practice, breathing techniques, plant-based nutrition advice). I also have a guest yoga teacher joining us... the one and only Julia Gordon...here is what she has to say: 

"Hello runners and fellow adventurers! I am looking forward to meeting you all in the Tuscan hills!

About me: I completed my Yoga Teacher Training Program at Anamaya Yoga School in Costa Rica in 2016. I discovered my own practice in 2006 while completing a three year contemporary dance program and came to yoga with a passion for expressive movement. Over the years I have found that yoga helps me to maintain a sense of freedom in a fast paced world. By connecting to my body I remember my own strengths and individuality and feel more confident in my place in the world. In my class I’d like to invite people to do the same. During this retreat we can address specific concerns that come up for runners, but also focus on increasing a sense of openness and fluidity in the body in general. I will offer a mix of strength building asana and yin practice, as well as guided visualizations, that will have you up and running through this beautiful Italian landscape."

Our meals will be plant based and abundant. Our menu is designed by the chef at my very own cafe in Montreal, where we serve delicious vegan and vegetarian food. Accommodation is basic and shared, but comfortable and I guarantee you will sleep well. We have a million stars in the sky every night, and a night time silence broken only by the occasional scuffle of the boar roaming in the chestnut groves.

Are you into something different this summer? Challenge yourself! Come along and run with us! Visit us here!

Volunteer Doulas

Imagine you were alone. Imagine you were new to a country where everything was different - the climate (cold), the language (confusing), the way people act towards each other (are they angry?), the system....
Imagine your country was at war, and imagine that no one in your family could be found.
Imagine, now, that after experiencing violence and abuse at the hands of strangers, that you found yourself pregnant.
We are very lucky, us Canadians. We live in a place where you can have your baby in a safe place, where you can get medical care if you need it, where people have the luxury, the possibility, to help others. And though there are problems, and though we don't all get the birth experience we always dreamed of, we are fortunate.
Montreal Birth Companions accompany women in need through their pregnancy, labor and birth. A volunteer doula will be on call and available for questions day or night, before a woman goes into labor. She will be by the woman's side as she labors, and she will share in the joy when the baby is born.
The Montreal Birth Companions doulas and administrator (yours truly) having been working on a shoestring since 2004. We are dreaming of growing, and for real growth to occur, we need cash.

Dining for Social Change is putting on a gourmet dinner tomorrow night. People will join together to eat good food, have fun, and the proceeds will go towards providing a doula for every woman in need.
I love having things fit together - and this event is one of those times. It is the hormone oxytocin that stimulates the woman's uterus to contract so that the baby can be born. This hormone is also important in breastfeeding. It is called the "love hormone". And it is produced when people are eating together.

So, a toast to all of you! Life, love and happiness to the women we serve, to our volunteers, and to our joyful diners!

La Dolce Vita Benefit Dinner

I met a lovely group of women the other night - and I am honored that their organization, Dining for Social Change, has decided that MBC will be the recipient of their upcoming Tuscan dinner.

The event will take place on March 12, 2011 at 7pm
at 5213, rue Hutchison, Montreal .

The dinner will be prepared by a local chef and promises to be a great event. You can eat, drink and be merry, and know that you are supporting a very worthy cause.

The  Montreal Birth Companions  mandate is to provide free doula services for women who are in REAL need: recent immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers, or women living on the street or in difficult circumstances. Our doulas do prenatal classes with these women and then attend their labor and birth. We run on almost no cash. Most of the work we do is a labor of love. We serve about 60 women a year, and one client takes up to 50 hours of a doula's time.

For tickets, please click here.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!