Hello Wonder Friends!

In one of our recent workshops, someone asked, “Do you really do these self-care practices you teach?”  We answered truthfully, saying, “We really try.”  As Yoda said, “Do or do not.  There is no try.”  Perhaps we should have answered,  “We do a great job sometimes.  And sometimes we fall short.”

Fortunately, Yoda also said, “The greatest teacher, failure is.” When we were very busy in the spring and not doing such a great job building relaxation time into our schedule, we could feel ourselves starting to get overwhelmed.  We sat down and figured out what would help and scheduled camping vacations for the summer to make sure we were able to recharge our batteries.  Just the act of scheduling those rest periods helped us to relax during the busier times.

So in between Healing the Healer workshops in Oregon and Northern California and the West Coast Child Welfare Trainer’s conference in Spokane, Washington, we camped.

Ahh, recharge…

We unplugged and went on a few camping adventures, including one along the Oregon coast. We brought along plenty of books, s’mores fixings, and our hiking boots. Some close friends joined us toward the end of one trip and we enjoyed an evening bonfire together on the beach. We had so much fun we plan to go again next year.  (Do, not try!)

We also made it a point to incorporate some self-care practices into our teaching trips. (We were finding that travel really affected our self-care practice routines.  Yikes!)  Because we had not done such a great job of self-care on the road in the past, we started to schedule in walks and trips to the gym and check out museums or unique spaces in each new town.  We also enjoyed some happy hours with delish food and played some travel games, too.  (Quixx is a dice game we love playing on the road.  Fun & easy to play.  One of our waiters on our Medford, OR teaching trip saw us playing it & ordered it that night!)

In Oregon, we also presented our final two breakout sessions for the Oregon DHS Regional Training Days in July.  We want to give a huge THANK YOU to the Oregon DHS training staff and all the people at the Department who made these wonderful events possible.  During our sixteen training sessions, we enjoyed meeting hundreds of Oregonians whose commitment to the health of children and families inspires us to continue doing the work we love to do.

But wait, there’s more…

After those workshops, we traveled north to Spokane, WA for the 29th Annual West Coast Child Welfare Trainer’s Conference.  It was our fourth time presenting at this conference and it was wonderful to reconnect with friends and create new ones. While attending, we delivered presentations for two breakout sessions. The first, titled: “Creative Expression & Mindfulness Techniques to Support Relaxation and Resilience For Trainers” was designed to help trainers identify typical stresses they experience & design creative ways of addressing those stressors with a playful piece of art.

Our second presentation focused on the pros and cons–and lessons learned–of live Webinar experiential trainings.

Of the many valuable takeaways during the conference, the use of interactive games as a technology tool was a standout. We demonstrated some gamification technology ourselves during our second session using a Family Feud Powerpoint deck. We also participated in a Jeopardy-style interactive game to learn how effective it was as a training tool. It was lots of fun.  

For all of you trainers out there:  we discovered a useful resource offering many downloadable PowerPoint games for a donation. The creators did a great job designing these games for anyone to use.  You can check these offerings out for yourself at https://www.youthdownloads.com/games. We find the games to be very useful, as they engage people in a fun way during the training. We intend to incorporate some interactive gaming in future Healing the Healer workshops.

Self-Care & Stress Relief Corner:

We created a new, free video entitled Self-Care Cards with Rachel & Rocky.  During this Intentional Creativity session, we demonstrate how to create cards to support self-care for the Mind, Body, Heart, & Spirit.   This is a gift for our subscribers, so sign up here to receive access to this fun art process, along with other free offerings:  Sign Up!

What’s Up With Rachel & Rocky Corner:

Featured Healing the Healer Workshop

In addition to the California and Oregon DHS workshops, conference and camping trips we shared earlier, we recently offered a Healing the Healer full-day workshop for a small and intimate meditation group in Eugene. We had such a great time supporting the participants with this celebratory painting process that occurred at the end of their 40-day meditation course.  Those of you who have participated in these painting workshops before know how transformative they can be. If you are interested in finding out more, please connect with us through the contact page.

Every day we feel so incredibly grateful to have this Healing the Healer community and we are committed to supporting you to be inspired and motivated to make self-care an integral part of your daily lives. Throughout the year you can expect free gifts, helpful self-care tools and techniques, and opportunities to join future Healing the Healer events. Here’s to a year of healing and discovery!

We thank you for visiting the Wonder Blog.

May you have a wonderful month!

– Rachel & Rocky