The testimonials below were offered by participants in some of the program offerings of the Center to BE. Please scroll down to read about their positive experiences and journeys.
|
|
The following comments are from those who completed Training in Healing and Transformation, I am just returning from the Navajo Rock Point Mission trip in Arizona with my brother and his fiancé and a group from their church. What an experience to share some of the practices with the team and learn of their ancient medicinal practices and prayers! Kathy Arndt, 2006 participant April, 2007 I have taken Capacitar practices to the St. Ben's meal program in Milwaukee and have shown them to the 6th graders in the Good Shepherd Catholic Church Christian formation program. I will be presenting Tai Chi for the parish staff next month. So I keep spreading the good news and use the practices for myself. Maria Migdal , 2006 participant April, 2007 The practices are simply profound. They help me to ease physical pain, go to sleep, center myself, relax, let go and be connected to the larger community and a Greater Presence. The practices have given me another way to express joy and to choose life. -- PP Together we can all make a difference, one on one, and the influence spreads. --BG The practices are easy to teach and really do invite and empower participants to take an active role in maintaining their health. --MD The wise women The experiences involved in my internship were an invitation to stretch at a vulnerable time in my life. The stretching proved to be part of my healing. --ME My heart became larger. I have become more aware of the universal hunger for wholeness and healing…and of the need for ordinary people, like me, to share what we know of self-healing practices with confidence, grace and great gratitude. --NK The techniques I learned help keep me centered and healthy. This program pushed me forward and has given me tools to introduce body, mind and spirit into the workplace. --TH I feel that because of this work I embody a more peaceful presence. --SK Our instructor and the whole CAPACITAR community-in-training have been a source of inspiration to the broadening of my horizons. --LP An awe-inspiring, world-changing course.-- MS This is not just a course-it's an introduction to a life style. --SC 
The Center to BE goes to Nicaragua! Ten volunteers spent a wonderful and fulfilling ten days in Nicaragua this past January.
We were so excited about this opportunity to support the work of a courageous woman who has been
transforming a very deserving and poor region. And we couldn't have done it without the Center to BE! | |
 | Meg Boren RN, a nurse who worked in Behavioral Health at Columbia St.-Mary's and is from Grafton, Wisconsin has built a retreat center, Casa Margarita and medical clinic, 45 minutes northwest of Chinendega on the Pacific Ocean. Her outreach programs serve 8 communities reaching about 5000 people in the area of Aposentillo. Our goal was to teach stress management/relaxation and wellness techniques to her Brigadistas (volunteer community health care workers) and Maestras (teachers) working in the small, rural communities served by Meg's clinic. |
Through synchronicity, Mary Wacker connected us to Marjorie Wilbur from the Center to BE, and a training program Marge offered focusing on relaxation techniques that had been successfully used in Central America. From that workshop our group ordered teaching manuals on Trauma Healing and Transformation in both English and Spanish from Capacitar International, Inc. We had so much fun sharing these resources with our new friends in Nicaragua. |
|
 | We taught: Balancing Emotions with Finger Holds, Chair and Hand Massage, Tai Chi Movements and Visualization Relaxation. It was so gratifying to watch their facial expressions change as well as their posturing, and see them truly relax as the tools were presented. The Bigadistas and Maestras then taught the techniques to guests they invited from their villages. They loved this ability to help others relax and we heard comments like, "We never knew something like this existed." "I like the relaxation that touch offers." "I will try these ideas with my family, children and members of my community." Our group also made a Mandella, a large circle of artistic symbols representing their country and values. |
The people we worked were gracious, with open and generous hearts. They were filled with spirit and had wonderful smiles. The majority live in thatched roof homes with hard dirt-packed floors and no running water. Most do not have electricity. Meals are cooked over an open wood fire. Life is very difficult and yet they take such pride in their community, volunteering to make it better for all. It was indeed an honor to offer these techniques to those who found them so useful. When we left, we all shed tears, and hugged each other in appreciation for the gifts we both gave and received, for our budding friendships and in solidarity for the people of Nicaragua. |  |
Our group included: Sharon Biesel RN, Behavioral Health; Maggie Medicus-Bingus, Pharmacist; Cheryl Schuh RN, Administrative Representative, Judy Spencer RN, Outpatient Geriatric Psychiatry; Caryl Zaar Nurse Manager, Behavioral Health (all from Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital), Sister Patricia Dunne D.C.; Ellen Miller, RN, Madison St. Clinic; Sister Marsha Teirney DC, Learning Center; Isabelle Vujadinovic, RN, St. Luke's; and Mary Wacker, Consultant, MB Wacker Associates. | |
 | |
Very worthwhile for everyone—we are all caregivers. Excellent especially if you are in the caregiving professions. Very well coordinated; a great mix of presenters. The program reminds you to keep “open” and honor our gifts from God. Helpful to remember our power, our ability to choose. If you need inspiration and support in caring for yourself this is the workshop for you. This day was very much a re-visioning and re-awakening. Very nurturing and supportive of my personal journey. |  |
| |
Holly was wonderful, she touched on all areas that I needed to think about So simple yet real depth and helpful. Holly is a wonderful facilitator. I felt most comfortable to join in. It was wonderful to be surrounded by such “wise” women This was a Sabbath experience. 
It is the combination of the beautiful modeling of the Weavings leadership and the sharing of the circle of women that gives Weavings its power. I am grateful for the gifts they have helped me tap within others and myself.
The Weavers have been an integral part of my learning to experience the divine with a feminine face. Through art, music, dancing, talking and sharing, I have come to see a new image of Love that encourages my worth and dignity as a human being.
I have met so many beautiful women, and the energy that comes from the weekend is so up lifting. Have started to learn more about me and the inner child that I did not know I had within me. Have learned to listen to the heart.
The weaving retreat turned out to be just what I had hoped it
would be - an opportunity to become centered again - deep within. It was
a time and place to be refreshed and renewed in spirit.
I have learned how to be in an ongoing Love relationship with Holy Energy, other women's energy and personal energy that moves me to BE who I was born to be.
The Weaving Retreats are a time to be and search your heart—to sit with God We’re able to see into each other’s souls and rejoice I who we are not what we do. The Weaving Retreats are gatherings of women which connect, heal and open us all to our spiritual yearnings in a very sacred space with reflections and ritual. Empowering and nurturing of the feminine soul. They invite a deepening into soul, and illumination of inner wisdom, and an expansion/rising of Spirit. An extremely gentle, loving way to spend time with other like-minded women with God, nature and yourself. It’s amazing that no matter where you are on your journey it takes you many steps further. This program affirms, support and encourages women. The rhythm of quiet reflection, presentations and sharing creates a deepening of spirituality that fed my thirsty soul.
"I feel wonderful, peaceful." "I feel very relaxed and I'm going to especially enjoy practicing breathing techniques." "I feel more relaxed, more centered, wonderful. Thank you." "I feel calmer and am happy that I came her to learn techniques I can use for myself and others." 
The following article appeared in the December, 2002 issue of Wisconsin Woman of Greater Milwaukee. Sue Ann Thompson is President of the Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation, Madison, Wisconsin; 800-448-5148 or www.wwhf.org SUE ANN Says… Take a few moments to just “Be” As simple as it sounds, one of the best things you can do for your health is to take a few moments to sit quietly and to just breathe. I had an opportunity to experience the positive effects of breath work, along with Tai Chi movement, meditation and simple massage with the help of Marjorie Wilbur, executive director for the Cent To BE, who recently led a workshop for Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation employees. Called “Self Healing Practices for Body, Mind, and Spirit,” the workshop introduces individuals to self-care techniques which have their roots in many ancient cultures and are designed to reduce the level of stress, generate a sense of peace, and facilitate healing. For example, Indonesian Finger Holds are used as a way of clearing your mind in the midst of emotionally charged moments so that you can respond appropriately. The theory is that through each finger runs a channel or meridian of energy connected with the different organs of the body, and by holding each finger you are able to drain and balance the energy flow. As you hold a finger, usually within a minute or two you will feel an energy pulse or throbbing sensation. This indicates that the energy is flowing and balanced, and usually the strong feeling or emotion has passed. The underlying principle of simple practices such as these is that by “pausing for station identification,” we are better able to listen to what is going on in our bodies, to see things more clearly and, ultimately, to become better advocates for our health and well-being. “They are not miracles, but they work,” says Marjorie, whose background includes over 20 years in the healthcare industry. “These simple self-care tools have the ability to give people a sense that I can do something for myself. I don’t always need someone to take care of me. I have inner resources.” Marjorie does, however, recognize that these practices are not a substitute for medical care. “They can complement work done with a professional or be something you can do on your own to create peace and wellness.” The Center To BE, an inclusive spirituality center based in Milwaukee, offers a two hour workshop for individuals who are interested in learning self-healing techniques for themselves, as well as an intensive four-day training program for those who are interested in becoming workshop facilitators and practitioners of “healing and transformation.” Both programs are presented in partnership with Capacitar, Inc., which was established in 1988 by Patricia Cane, Ph.D., to teach self-healing techniques internationally. Dr. Cane first taught simple body-mind-spirit practices to grassroots leaders at a popular education enter in Nicaragua as a way of alleviating the traumatic stress they were suffering because of war, violence, poverty and natural disasters. Both the Capacitar method and program of self-healing practices have been field-tested through research with hundreds of participants in Central America and the United States and have proven to be effective. Since the Center To BE will not be offering another “Self Healing Practices Workshop” in Milwaukee until February, I asked Marjorie if she had any suggestions for self-care during the stresses of the upcoming holiday season. Her first recommendation is to make a commitment and a conscious decision to add a little solitude to the day. “We are so over-stimulated, particularly around the holidays. Take a moment just for quiet – turn off the radio in your car, turn off your cell phone, or take a few minutes to begin your day by just pausing and breathing deeply.” Marjorie also recommends re-evaluating your to-do list, turning “have-to-do’s” into “I choose” and says “We can have a list of things that feel like they are imposed on us, but if we feel like we’ve chosen the items on the list, it won’t feel like a total chore.” Instead of making every single kind of holiday treat, streamline by choosing your favorite. Keep in mind that gifts are just the gifts, not obligations. And finally, focus on one task at a time. She recalls a particularly stressful time when she had to learn this lesson herself. “I once had somebody ask me how many things I could do at a time, and I said – “one.” And his response to me was, “so do just that one thing.” So the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed, ask yourself, “what is the next one thing to do?” Of course, we all know that the stress doesn’t end when the holidays are over. I hope you’ll start the new year with a strong commitment to being the best advocate you can for your health in mind, body, and spirit. As women, we need to realize that it is only in starting to care for our own health that we can give the best care to others. Never forget – it all begins with a healthy woman! From my family and staff to yours, I wish you a blessed holiday season. | ||||||
