Loves,

In my last email, I shared about the loss of my sweet Pearl Dog, and your heartfelt responses felt like a soothing balm to my achy heart...thank you so much. 

Today marks exactly one month since my girl turned into my angel fluff, and time has felt so liminal these past weeks. Adjusting to life without my constant companion, while also feeling the depth of pain in the world is... a lot.

To keep myself afloat, I've been trying to find at least one way to anchor and soothe my nervous system every day, and I'm noticing they all have one thing in common: 

Movement. 

The conscious movement of connected breath in and out of my body.

The movement of my voice screaming into pillows.

The movement of colors and images (particularly of Pearl) onto my canvases.

The movement of my body as I dance, shake, hum, sing, tap, and wail.

The movement of my pen across my journal page.

The movement of coming together in community with kindred spirits.

The movement of my body walking through soft forests and open fields.

Even the movement of making a Pearl playlist felt like an antedote to freezing and collapsing into despair. 

I believe creativity, emotions, desires, and energy that aren't expressed and moved build up as layers of sediment in our bodies, and this sludge is what keeps us feeling stuck and uninspired.

That said, to move and be moved is my daily mantra right now.

I hope this helps you too!  

If you're feeling called to move, paint, breathe, and open up some space in that sweet body of yours, I just added another Fall Art Spa retreat, October 1 - 5, 2025, in my private Portland studio.

I've offered two of these intimate, care-centered, creativity-boosting gatherings with just eight people at my Portland home, and I'm finding the smaller group size to be incredibly nourishing.

Here's what Peyton, who joined me for the July Art Spa, shared afterwards:

"I was deeply moved during my stay, and it was the best retreat experience I’ve ever had. From my initial passage through your gate to our farewell circle, every inch was jam-packed with love, abundance, comfort, inspiration, beauty, creativity, and nourishment, and I received much more than I ever could have imagined. Your facilitation was masterful."

With a soulful combination of intuitive painting, gentle movement, vocalization, creative practices, breathwork, massages, facials, gourmet farm-to-table organic food, spacious time to enjoy the outdoor sauna, hot tub, and fire, and one-on-one guidance, every detail of ART SPA is designed to leave you feeling more awakened and inspired. 

There are currently four spots open.

Find out more about Art Spa.

Join us for the October retreat. 

If you'd like to get a deeper glimpse of the Art Spa experience, I recently shared a couple of videos over on Instagram.

Sending love and gratitude to each of your hearts, 

Flora