The Flowjo

11/22/2022

Dear Beloveds, near and far ~

On this new moon in Sag, known in social media land as Giving Tuesday, we release Heartward Sanctuary's greater vision of cultivating an Animist Temple and Burial Ground in Silk Hope. We hope you'll consider reading, sharing and supporting this sacred, wholesome, earth-loving, multi-generational project! One that builds on the legacy of The Flowjo towards a longer-term, community space.

Links to a sacred invitation and community fundraiser below.

01/15/2021

Online offerings to meet the times and two playlists for your home practice -

9-week Online Series for Artists, Movers and Healers Who Don’t Want a Return to ‘Normal’ Facilitated by Julia Hartsell & Jonathan Edwards

01/15/2021

Your grief is sacred.

Compassion to the sadness and anger moving through many on the personal and collective levels right now. Even before the pandemic, we had plenty to grieve: personal loss, trauma, earth devastation, systemic and political injustice, racism, sexism and ancestral burdens. One lifetime surely can't be enough to emotionally process our wounds and the backlog of inherited grief. This past year (and well, the past four years) has brought even more to the surface and taken plenty away. There's so much loss and heartbreak, rage and despair, fear and uncertainty--and few spaces for refuge or communal tending.

Grief is an expression of love.

Grieving helps clarify what we love. Our grief can be an ode to treasured relationships, lost beloveds, justice, equity, health of the earth.

Grief is medicine for the soul.

Our grief needs to be honored and expressed for our personal and collective healing. Grieving is an antidote to centuries of numbness and dissociation. Our emotions can serve as powerful messengers when welcomed, felt, tended. Diving into the depths gives us access to greater joy, understanding and resilience.

​Community grieving is ancient.

Grief is personal and transpersonal. Grief can be ancestral and collective. Even with physical distance, we can tend these bigger energies in community. We can weave our virtual cocoons to attend to our shared sorrow and have greater access to sacred support.

Some of our ancestors danced their grief.

Before their dances were suppressed, many of our ancestors moved their grief with the support of the elements and music. They knew the medicine of water, earth, fire and stone. They carried the power of the drums and of their own voices.

This Ceremony is for dancers who desire a ritualized communal container for grief expression. We're still in a pandemic, so we'll assemble online. After an opening invocation, there will be somatic guidance, sounding, cathartic waves of music, writing/creative prompts and guided elemental engagement to access these deep feelings for the sake of healing and resilience.

Just before the inauguration, let's dip into this well of shared grief accumulated over the past year and cleanse ourselves in the virtual river.
https://www.heartwardsanctuary.org/grief-ceremony

09/11/2020

The Flowjo & Heartward Sanctuary updates including newsletter signup, sustainers, open-air upcoming events and racial solidarity.

Dear Flowjo Community ~

Greetings! Kindness to everyone. I hope that this finds you and your loved ones well--in good health, strong spirits, adapting to new rhythms. Compassion to the various struggles and losses as well as blessings and positive transformation that we’re all facing in this liminal time.

FLOWJO UPDATE - CLOSED THIS FALL
At this point, I can only imagine that everyone intuits that The Flowjo will remain closed through this Fall. Despite the shift towards reopening gyms and studios, I know that we aren’t ready to resume programming indoors. While this reality brings waves of grief, we know that we cannot engage in these practices (dance, aerial, contact improv, partner acrobatics, yoga) inside as a group at this time safely. There may be some opportunities for private or pod-based practices in the space (open to creativity here), but we won’t be creating a schedule of Fall events or focusing on programming for our indoor studio space. Until a council decision is made otherwise, we will continue paying just a bit towards rent to maintain our relationship with the space and keep the dream of returning there one day alive.

HEARTWARD SANCTUARY FINDS HOME IN SILK HOPE
Some of you already know that Jonathan and I, through tenacity, miracle and undoubtedly, privilege, have found ourselves with our first mortgage and the opportunity to steward 36 acres of beautiful land in Silk Hope, NC (about 35 minutes from Carrboro). After nine months of trying (and failing) to purchase the home on the Haw we’d been in for years, we had a stroke of frustrated inspiration to consider land that could house us and our emerging project.
If we’d been looking for a place solely to host our weekly dances and community events, we might have prioritized something closer to downtown Carrboro. However, we’re also invested in this burial ground, earth-and-water-honoring ritual and temple vision. The threshold work we’re engaged in feels highly appropriate at the edges, beyond the range of normal life. This Sanctuary is certainly a space set apart in a sacred and beautiful way.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, it’s quite special. One meadow-- full of butterflies this summer (even a couple of monarchs!) feeding on milkweed--is perfect for the green burial ground. The 1930’s Quaker-built barn with a gloriously high ceiling under its gabled roof is an amazing base for an eventual dance temple space. (We will gather indoors again one day!) The home itself, well beyond our personal needs, is ideal for hosting deep healing retreats and sacred transitions. Of course, we hadn’t seen the pandemic coming when we first looked at this place. But, when we walked the land and home, I felt a similar sense of resistance and inspiration, a simultaneous ‘hell yes’ and ‘OMG no’ that I felt when I first walked into The Flowjo space. Fortunately, being familiar with that feeling and where it can lead, we leaned in, trusted the impulses and signs and made an offer, including our project prospectus and vision for the land.

Due to COVID, several of our visions for sharing the indoor and outdoor space have been paused. Other possibilities have been prioritized. The pandemic has helped streamline what we’re about and where we need to focus in this rapidly shifting time.
By late Fall, the downstairs space will be available for personal healing retreats, end-of-life planning, threshold space and/or laying in state when needed. Currently, we’re getting all the details in order for natural burial and ritual tending in the Ancestral Grove. We'll be hosting our first open-air distanced memorial in late October.

OPEN-AIR DANCES & SUSTAINER GRATITUDE
I knew our community would eventually dance with bare feet on the earth here, but had no clue we’d be losing our long-time dance home immediately after getting under contract. As it turns out, the fields here are quite perfect for distanced open-air dancing. There’s vast, open space with soft grass and beautiful oak groves surrounded by woods with complete privacy. Our Dance Sanctuary can be held here, supported by the other-than-humans--the green ones, animal kin and the elements.

I am (we are) immensely grateful for all of the Sustainers who have continued to support this organization through this pandemic, while we adjust to the ongoing changes. As you know, in December of 2019, we initiated a fund-raising drive to support The Flowjo project and shifted The Flowjo from an LLC to a project underneath Heartward Sanctuary, a religious organization 508(c)1(a). The greatest burden of that transition is that we haven’t been able to secure disaster business loans and government support (as we started over with a new org.) Jonathan has been seeing clients (open-air acupuncture here and remote herbal consults) and we’ve both taken on part-time work with Ancestral Medicine (which has also been great training for more deeply engaging with ancestral and cultural healing work required in this time). But, the Sustainer base has allowed me to maintain a base income. Deep bows of gratitude to everyone who has continued supporting.

On the flip side, one advantage of shifting to a religious organization is that we can assemble outside for our regular services. With gratitude for the ongoing support and desire to maintain this meaningful web of relationships, we’ve experimented with four outdoor, open-air dances for a number of our Sustainers. These events have felt not only safe, but also life-giving and sanity-preserving. Adapting to new ways of being together, even with physical distance, feels crucial for the time to come. These events have been intentionally smaller to be easily manageable, gentle on the land and as safe as possible.

These open-air dances will resume on Saturday, Sept 12. This Fall, we’ll also experiment with opening some events beyond the Sustainers. The Flowjo has provided a refuge for many over the years. We’d like to continue providing that Sanctuary and share the blessings of this COVID-friendlier space while simultaneously being careful and cautious around physical safety during this pandemic. Everyone’s safety is of primary importance to us. Thus, we will proceed slowly, with care and caution.

SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK LIVES
As we embark on this HS mission, it's a priority for us to be in solidarity with Black lives as well as Indigenous people and other people of color. In recent months as our lives have been turned upside down, Jonathan and I both have been engaged in racial healing allyship learning through reading and coursework with organizations dedicated to this. We have also initiated an organizational level consult and review. We are striving to understand how to co-create anti-racist systems and evolve our organization and events.

This Summer, a small group from our dance community has also been gathering to read, learn, heal and look closely at our own subculture and values to consider how we can evolve and participate in this needed work of dismantling white supremacy within our own white-dominated cultures. (We highly recommend Resmaa Menakem’s book “My Grandmother’s Hands.”) Personally, I’m deeply invested in the personal and ancestral work required to heal from racialized trauma, to decolonize my own body, to step up, lean in, keep learning, make mistakes and to make repairs where possible. In our attempts to seek healing justice, we’re also imagining ways to leverage this privilege afforded to us to support BIPOC through potential sharing of the land here (for one example). We’ll be working closely with multiple councils and professionals to move forward as an organization with integrity and care.

NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP
In the coming weeks, we’ll be sending out a newsletter with more details on the upcoming Fall events at our Silk Hope space (and other organization updates). Some events will be limited to and free to Sustainers. Others will be open to the public with a suggested donation.

We're also considering 'bring a friend' open house days so that we may welcome others here to the Sanctuary to walk (or dance) the land and commune. For the next season, we may not promote these group events too widely. Our intention is to expand the circle in a more organic, relational and COVID-safe way. The newsletter will be a great way to stay connected.

As I know some folks are less active on FB these days, if you’re interested in what we’re up to and want to stay connected, please consider the options below. (*If you are a sustainer and I've somehow missed you in an event invite, I sincerely apologize. Please P.M. me so I have you on the list. I'm trying to streamline this process for ease of communication, so I can send one message with upcoming events.)

SCHEDULE FOR OPEN-AIR DANCE & COMMUNITY EVENTS:
Saturday, Sept 12 ~ Evening Dance (Sustainers)
Sunday, Sept 20 ~ Fall Equinox Ceremony (Ritual Dance, Cacao, Constellation…)
Saturday, Oct 3 or Sunday Oct 4 ~ details TBA
Saturday, Oct 17 ~ Afternoon /Evening Dance (possibly community Samhain prep)
Sunday, Oct 25 ~ Sunday Dance Sanctuary (community Samhain prep)
Saturday, Oct 31 - Sunday, Nov 1 ~ Samhain event (aka Halloween)
Late afternoon on 10/31 to Sunset 11/1 (participants can come for part or all). Event includes: Ritual burn ~ Consecration of the burial ground ~ Live music ~ Cacao ~ Optional campout (event info coming soon)
For more info about any of these, please send an email or sign up for the Heartward Sanctuary newsletter.

If you haven’t received a The Flowjo or Heartward Sanctuary newsletter before, please sign up via the link below. Currently the two lists are separate. Consider signing up for both.(Links below)

If you are a Sustainer, you’ll receive an additional monthly email with news, events and offers specifically for Sustainers.

If you wish to become a Sustainer, the link is in the comments below. Sustainers can choose the amount they’d like to pay as a monthly contribution to help maintain the organization. Sustainers need not pay for our regular Ecstatic Dance Sanctuaries and also receive special sliding scale options for other services and events, discounts on session-based healing work, and more. Sustainers are also contributing to the possibility that The Flowjo will reopen again one day.

Wishing you all strong health, solid connections with the seen and unseen and transformation, at an integratable pace.
with love~
Julia

Photo: Lughnasadh / Lammas at Heartward Sanctuary 8/1/2020

06/10/2020

Dear community ~

The Flowjo will remain closed until we know it is safe to re-open. While we sorely miss seeing everyone, miss our community dances and will miss all the youth joining for summer camp programs, the health of our extended community, clients and staff are of primary importance.
We're taking the long view here, knowing that this transitional time is challenging and also latent with potential for radical change for our society that will impact generations to come.

May this elongated pause from ordinary reality--the normal that disproportionately harmed these communities through violence and systemic racism--offer an opportunity for radical change towards sustainable, just and compassionate systems. May we dig in, heal our hearts, bodies and communities. May we all do our parts, internally and externally, to contribute to a massive paradigm shift.

A national resource list for ways to contribute:
https://linktr.ee/NationalResourcesList?fbclid=IwAR3FVTMlw-80cevXpzdTMreyfR4SaYnWGkOLUcAwE-nB2Gaq7PN_-GyXmkc

Trevor Noah & The Daily Show with a panel discussing Defunding the Police and what that mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVW2eaCyC5c

Free e-course for healing racialized trauma:
https://culturalsomaticsuniversity.thinkific.com/courses/cultural-somatics-free-5-session-ecourse

Trevor, Patrisse Cullors, Josie Duffy Rice, Sam Sinyangwe, Mychal Denzel Smith, and Alex S. Vitale discuss the recent progress of the Black Lives Matter move...

04/28/2020

Dear Community ~

Today marks seven weeks since we voluntarily opted to close The Flowjo to protect the community, our staff and my own family. To my knowledge, we were the first business to close in the area just before the state lockdown was mandated. I truly believe our quick response has helped us to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in our micro (and-wider) community.

I want to first express my care and gratitude for all of you and your continued support. We’re appreciative of our Sustainers and to our students who have made donations to help in this challenging time.

Also, I want to appreciate the years of connection with the students, families and dancers, mostly folks who I’ve met inside The Flowjo space. These connections still provide such a meaningful anchor in this time of uncertainty. The transformations that have occurred inside that space are beyond words. So many sweet memories are held in those walls. We look forward to the moment when we can dance, co-create and practice together again.

While NC considers a three-phase re-open strategy, I want to assure everyone that I will continue to prioritize our community’s health over anything else. Gov Cooper’s guidelines for testing, contract tracing and so forth sound grounded and smart. However, the timeline sounds optimistic. We’ll continue to stay attuned to the local situation, updated scientific research, county & state mandates as well as our gut sense in deciding when to reopen. Even if reopening is desired, my body won’t let me do something that’s out of integrity or against my gut sense and intuition (which for me is absolutely informed by my critical thinking skills.)

To our sustainers or potential sustainers: if you continue to support this project, you are both investing the continued support of the staff in this time while also allowing us to pay the landlord something monthly so we can insure the possibility of reopening in the right time. I trust that when that glorious moment arrives, we’ll more than ever want, or rather need to return to practice, dance and healing community rituals. If you’re able to make a one-time or recurring monthly tax deductible donation to support us through this, you can do that here: https://www.heartwardsanctuary.org/donate.

In the meantime, if there are ways that we can be of support, please reach out. My husband Jonathan Hadas Edwards is an acupuncturist and practitioner of classical Chinese medicine and has provided a lot of relief to folks (including my blood family) with various expressions of COVID as well as other ailments through herbal medicine. We have a stocked apothecary and phone consults are available on a sliding scale basis.

Our Ecstatic Dances are currently continuing over Zoom on Wednesdays at 7:30pm & Sundays at 11:11am. If you’re interested in joining, please email info@TheFlowjo.com for details.

If anyone close to you is approaching end-of-life or has passed amidst this crisis, I am also available for ancestral healing, grief and doula support. We are about to move a new home and are going to invest our earth-stewarding energy into a beautiful land where we will consecrate an Ancestral Grove & Green Burial Ground. (More about this in the next update.) The sacredness of this final transition, bodily disposition and the grief process are deeply important to me. I continue to immerse myself in this study. Jonathan and I are ready to move forward with this land-based project in Chatham County with the intent to cultivate space for midwifing metamorphosis at various life and soul stages. Amidst this pandemic, know that we are here and ready to support our extended community in the variety of ways that we can.
www.HeartwardSanctuary.org

We wish you health, ease and connection in this time outside of time.

with gratitude ~

Julia & The Flowjo Family

https://www.theflowjo.com/blogs/news/flowjo-update-4-28-20

03/11/2020

THE FLOWJO WILL BE CLOSED
FOR at least TWO WEEKS

Beloved community ~

While my heart hurts writing this, I feel a responsibility to make this choice out of love for all of us and for our extended community health. It is not my intention to add to the fear & anxiety. However, I sincerely think it's wise to take COVID-19 even more seriously and create immediate measures to slow the spread of this virus for our community at large.

After spending more time reading articles about COVID-19 as NC declares a state of emergency due to cases in the Triangle, it seems important to make a decision. In countries where immediate actions were taken to contain and minimize the spread of the virus, it has made a dramatic and positive impact. If we can slow the transmission rate, the healthcare system can be better resourced to handle the patients who need support. Fewer people will suffer. Fewer will die.

My spirit shudders at the thought of social distancing, but this temporary measure may have a significant impact on the most vulnerable among our extended community. If we take these measures now, we may be distanced for a shorter time. While movement is undoubtedly healthy, given the nature of our prop and contact-based activities, I feel its wise to refrain from hosting multiple groups of people daily in the community space.

My partner Jonathan and I are considering other ways to be supportive in this unprecedented global moment. There may be other important functions for the Flowjo to serve. Jonathan's been reading up on impactful immune boosting treatments including moxibustion and herbs. We'll be posting more soon on all that.

Even if at a brief distance, we're in this together.

With love~
Julia

03/04/2020

A Flowjo PSA -- Please read

First, I'll admit I'm more nervous about the corona-anxiety spreading through the airwaves than the virus itself. Having just had the flu for the first time, I can say with humbleness and clarity that it truly sucks. I certainly wouldn't want it again or any other strain of it or wish it on anyone. And I'm fine now. But I recognize that certain populations are more at risk than others for dangerous secondary infections like pneumonia and such. So, I feel especially concerned about those with compromised immune systems and elders.

Thus, as a holder of physical space, I'd like to propose a few things to enhance our safety precautions at The Flowjo out of respect for the multi-generational communities and vulnerable bodies that gather in our dance space. Again, this is not from a place of panic or fear. It's just that a few simple measures may go far in prevention.
It is my wish that we continue to enjoy our shared dance and movement practices for the health of immune systems and general psychological well being in these tense times.
Truly, movement and community are good for the immune system!!

02/01/2020

Tonight, at The Flowjo, Heartward Sanctuary presents a ceremony to Imbolc, the cross-quarter time named by the Gaels. We'll have delicious heart-opening cacao, live music, space for movement and altars for dropped in connection with your own inner landscape in community.

Bring a cup for cacao & whatever you like to be extra cozy (mat, pillow, blanket).

Songs from the heart or instruments optional but welcome.

As we make our way around the wheel of time, Imbolc, the next cross-quarter marker is  just around the curve. On Saturday, Feb 1, we'll gather for an evening with cacao, music, dance, divination and ritual to honor this moment in our cyclical relational dance with the Sun.

11/21/2019

https://mailchi.mp/theflowjo/on-december-1-a-decision-will-be-made-the-flowjo-will-stay-open-for-2020-or-close-the-doors
Check out The Flowjo Silent Auction, Community event &
Sustainer pledge drive Sunday, November 24 1:30pm