Thinking Outside the Box

When envisioning the perfect location of my first Day Village, I initially thought that I would move from South Florida back to North Carolina where some of my family lives.  But when I released my vision from the "perfect box" in which it resided in my mind, and began to be open to new possibilities, the Universe answered in an unexpected way!  Although I should have expected it... After all, I was the one putting my belief and thoughts out there!

When I connected with Sara Green from The Soma Center and my long-time Mama friend, Andrea Nison, and we began to brainstorm ways to get the Day Village started, we all realized that "Let's Do It Now!" was what our hearts were shouting!  And so the "where" became literally right here in South Florida where we were all currently living!

Thanks to Sara's connection with The Soma Center, we had an "easy in" with the owners.  Our start-up location is a beautiful historical home that's been converted into a cafe and yoga studio in downtown Lake Worth.  The cafe serves organic raw vegan food, bringing in our desire for us as "the village people" to be partaking in nutritious & delicious cuisine together!  The yoga studio is a newly renovated stand-alone building that provides a beautiful and peaceful space for our yoga practice.  We alternate which moms attend, while the other moms care for all the babies, usually going on a walk together, so that everybody is receiving the benefit of exercise!  It's a wonderful trade-off and gift that we give to one another.

When the yoga studio is not in use for yoga classes every afternoon, we gather there for a safe place for our children to play while we Moms create our eco-friendly crafts that eventually will be up for sale.  We will soon be helping to support our families financially through our work together in our Day Village.  It's a wonderful feeling knowing that we do not have to choose between going to work and being with our children, because now we can do both in our Day Village!!!  And it truly has been feeling like a village with lots of support and love for one another!  I am grateful to see my vision unfolding!

Andrea Nison helping Baby Noa             Sara Green supporting Baby Ellie's

with her breath using the yoga                hips so she can do a headstand

ball that expands and contracts.                         during Kids Yoga class.

Initial Vision Revealed

After my apprenticeship at Khalsa Childcare in September 2009, I continued to run ideas through my mind as I envisioned my perfect "Day Village."  I started to share my vision with others, and began to gain the support of my friends and family who confirmed that I had truly come upon a brilliant idea!  Now I needed to find a way to manifest it!!!  As a big believer in "The Law of Attraction," I knew that if I put my idea out there, that I would attract unto myself the people and resources to make it happen!

Thanks to one of my best Mama friends, Andrea Nison, who is big into the raw food movement, along with her husband, Paul Nison, I met another couple who is also spreading the word of raw food and natural ways of living.  My new connection with Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes-Monarch was the beginning of another wonderful friendship!  We hung out one day, playing with preparing raw food and making videos, and I was honored to have them interview me for their YouTube TV Show, "The Raw Food World."  It was my interview with Matt and Angela that really got the ball rolling of my vision unfolding!

Inspiration from Khalsa Childcare

I gained further inspiration for my vision of starting a Day Village this past September while apprenticing at Khalsa Childcare in Leverett, Massachusetts with my baby with me the whole time!  I spent two inspiring weeks under the leadership of Amar Fuller at her family childcare center that is especially unique in two ways.  It is a place in which conscious communication is practiced and lived out consistently – very honorable!  And all the children consume ORGANIC RAW VEGAN cuisine!  There is definitely something special about watching toddlers and young kids LOVING to eat VEGETABLES!!!  Amar has successfully created a social environment where eating raw food is the norm, and so the children being social by nature all eventually "learn to like" the food and even love it!

Being present in Amar's beautiful community confirmed for me the importance of having my son grow up with other children who are being raised raw.  I also personally felt the love and support of being surrounded by other women all day.  It was the closest I had ever felt to living in a village, and it felt GREAT!!!  The one component missing for all the children though, was their own mothers.  For women who choose to go back to work, I couldn't imagine a more loving and nurturing environment for their children to grow up in than Khalsa Childcare.  Nonetheless, I knew that I didn't ever want to have to make the choice to leave my own child with someone else during the day... not if I could help it!  And so I passionately decided that I would find a way to accomplish both – be with my child and be amongst my peers doing income-earning activities that would offer financial support... and thus the idea of starting a Day Village was officially formed!

My son, Thaddeus, (7 months at the time),

blissfully enjoying himself in nature at Khalsa Childcare!

For more info on Amar Fuller and what she's doing at Khalsa Childcare, I have scanned a copy of her article featured in the Hippocrates Health Institute magazine from a few years ago.  It's two pages, so I scanned it as two separate PDFs.  You can download each page individually by clicking below:

Amar Article Page 1

Amar Article Page 2