Nurture
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  • Nurture
    • RETREATS
      • SPRING 2023
      • PAST RETREATS
    • SERVICES
    • HARVEST TABLE DINNERS
    • BLOG
    • ABOUT
      • PRESS
      • TESTIMONIALS
    • CONTACT
      • APPLY
    • RETREATS
      • SPRING 2023
      • PAST RETREATS
    • SERVICES
    • HARVEST TABLE DINNERS
    • BLOG
    • ABOUT
      • PRESS
      • TESTIMONIALS
    • CONTACT
      • APPLY

  • This facial expression, as an introduction post to This facial expression, as an introduction post to those of you who are new around these parts (hello!!).

My name is Sonja. Aside from beaming at whimsically plated vanilla bean panna cotta, I reserve this loving look for: 

Crafty wordplay. Lord, I love a pun. 

My sister, @smart_blonde. We are twins born 2.5 years apart and are telepathic. I love her with every part of my being, going back millennia. 

Butter. I eat it like cheese. 

Nurture attendees. When you come on retreat, you are the panna cotta and I hold your sweet, tender, wobbly selves with gentle reverence.

My love, @joshuakoshbgosh who has brown butter eyes and knows how to love me in ways I need but never thought to ask for. 

Salted black licorice, especially Haribo Saltzige Herringe. We can blame my mom for encouraging this habit and delight in the fact that most other folks dislike them. 

My parents, to whom I'm grateful for everything, but enormously for teaching me the power of a shared meal where you linger over candlelight and insisting we learn German when we grew up. 

Anything miniature. I cry the smaller something gets. 

When I bake something yeasted, this is how I look at the yeast while I name it and coo to it like a mama hen and watch it grow. 

Scrat. Yes, that's the squirrel rat from Ice Age. He brings me pure joy. 

Questions. Maybe it's because I'm trying to live up to the meaning of my name (Sonja means wisdom), but I LOVE answering questions and having something to respond to. 

Text banter and doing life and business with @stephpellett, in a language of our own. 

Anne of Green Gables, but mostly the second movie with Megan Follows, made in 1987. If you want to know my soul, watch this movie. Stay for Mrs. Harris. 

Forsythia flowers. THEY'LL BE OUT SOOOOOON!!!

Connection. I light up when I can connect you with someone you need, or when I'm creating spaces for you to connect with yourself. It's my favourite thing in the whole world to do this and feed you good food while we're at it. 

Ways to elicit this panna cotta reaction yourself: DM me, ask me questions about literally anything, sign up for Nurture, send me content about miniatures. 

📷️: @katieharrisonphoto
    I wish there was such a thing as prescriptions for I wish there was such a thing as prescriptions for soul medicine. I wish it was normal for us to slide a piece of paper across a table to a friend in need and prescribe them healing time with themselves, inside a culture of trust and whimsy.

I want to scrawl “buy yourself yellow tulips” to one friend and “go on a date night, I’ll look after your dog/kids” to another. I want to tuck “take the morning off and read your favourite childhood novel” into my sister’s pocket and she’ll find it weeks later and obey. Doctor’s orders. 😁👩🏻‍⚕️

I want to slip a slip to my partner that reads: “you, me, no screens, no clothes, take 1x a week.”

To my colleagues who run businesses, I want to jot: “your hobbies will get you back to yourself and that will shift how you show up in your marketing. 1hr of hobby time, 3x a week to start.” or “Have photos taken of you by @creatinglight.studio because she will shoot your future.” or “If your systems are sore, see @stephpellett!”

To any of you who come to me with worn out souls, tired eyes and hungry spirits, I wish I could prescribe you a weekend at Nurture, any time spent in ritual with @glass.full or a session with @vaness.faria or @celinarosso or @gentlebusinesscoach 

What soul medicine would you prescribe to anyone in need of a reset? 

📷: @liat.a 

#entrepreneurretreat #springretreat #ontarioretreat #motherhoodisajob #soulmedicine
    RINGGGGG RINGGGGG says the Nurture lunch bell.⁠ RINGGGGG RINGGGGG says the Nurture lunch bell.⁠
⁠
I say: "Serve Yourself!"⁠
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You say: "Ohhhhhh, here comes the flood", realizing those two words carry meaning thicker than the amount of butter I suggest you spread on your homemade biscuit. You lift your napkin to your face and it's wiping away more than crumbs. ⁠
⁠
Serve. Yourself.⁠
⁠
Your napkin is wet because of your body's immediate response. ⁠
⁠
Your being asks: when was the last time you served your Self? ⁠
⁠
The last inner impulse you actually followed through on?⁠
⁠
A time you defaulted to your OWN desires without guilt or apology? ⁠
⁠
Your being replies: much (much, much) too long ago. Perhaps a global panini or a personal trauma or a season of prioritizing something else that seems more important ago. ⁠
⁠
You sip your soup (it's delicious, tastes like an edible hug). You look deeper at how you portion out your joy; your creativity; your time for social connection or quiet introspection; your honest hunger for a second bowl. ⁠
⁠
And you make the connections: when I serve myself, I serve my satisfaction. My satisfaction serves my clarity of purpose. My clarity of purpose serves my community. Everyone is fed when I serve myself well. ⁠
⁠
We tend to the Nurture environment in such a way that it encourages you to remember what desire tastes like, to be surprised and delighted at what happens when you follow your own appetite for life; colours that draw your eye in the workshops or the cake you know is coming for dessert. Desire tastes like following through on being you and it feels gooooooood. ⁠
⁠
While a weekend away is not a requirement to get in touch with this part of yourself, it IS a powerful catalyst. We've found that being immersed in creative play while in restorative community makes a world of difference. It's potent because we're exploring these realms and serving ourselves, together. There's a profound amount of momentum in that. ⁠
⁠
Want to serve yourself to a weekend away and honour this kind of hunger? You click the link in bio, I'll get rolling on those biscuits. ⁠
⁠
📷️: @saramonikaphoto⁠
⁠
#springretreat #retreatontario #retreatyourself #entrepreneurretreat
    Which one are you?? ⬆️ Alternate caption: sho Which one are you?? ⬆️

Alternate caption: show me you went to theatre school without telling me you went to theatre school. 🎭😂

In all seriousness, the reasons everyone joins us at Nurture vary greatly, but all who cross the Nurture threshold share a common thread of finding more than what they were originally looking for, in ways that surprise and delight. 

It’s hard to explain unless you’ve been, so I’m having fun with it. 😁

If you see yourself reflected in any of these, know you’ll be in good company when you join us, May 12-14th!

Come spend a weekend with me, my good cooking and all of my alter egos xo

#springretreat #canadianretreat #entrepreneurretreat #motherhoodisajob #ontarioretreat
    Join us as we sip our tea & talk about our retreat Join us as we sip our tea & talk about our retreats! This is what we are really like, aka: SILLY. 

We’re covering:
• our origin story 👯‍♀️
• people we’re obsessed with 😍
• our creative synergy 😅
• what makes our retreats special ✨

…and more! 

RETREATS ❤️
• The Slowpreneur Retreat: April 20-23
• Nurture Spring 2023: May 12-14

Links in our bio!

SHOWNOTES 📣

Here are a few of the amazing people we mentioned on our live!

• @taliainko 
• @creatinglight.studio
• @glass.full 
• @amieyoung.ca 
• @goldenagebotanicals 
• @eastcitycandles 

As we mentioned on the live, we LOVE questions so drop them in the comments or send us a DM. 💌
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