This beautiful place we call home is full of a myriad of energies.  The community that has formed in the pocket of Asheville is a rich and diverse one.  As the world changes with what can often feel like a rapid pace, our spaces of community can feel uncertain and ever-shifting.  Two spaces in this community that have supported my understanding of home in Asheville are The People’s Place and Haywood Street Congregation.

Both of these spaces have invited me to think about community in new ways. At The People’s Place, I am invited to share food, culture, and conversation with folks from around Asheville. Speaking about our definition of home over a meal, discussing our experiences following a documentary about people living in Palestine, and watching the joy on faces of folks roller skating near the historic YMI Cultural Center are a few of the activities that the People’s Place has connected me into as I continue to ask questions about how I can show up for the necessary work of dismantling the broken systems in my community.

Antiracism work is a life-long journey.  Showing up for it as a white person has been a process of coming in contact with shame, fear, and a lot of unconscious patterns.  The work involves liberating practices that brings us closer to all of humanity. I am currently in my third round of exploring White Women Get Ready: How Healing Post-Traumatic Mistress Syndrome Leads to Anti-Racist Change in a book group. I’m interested in talking more about these themes when there is curiosity.

Another space that I love and cherish here in Asheville is the Haywood Street Congregation located downtown.  Haywood Street has created a beautiful space called the Welcome Table which invites all people to eat together and be served together.  There are no rules about access to this food.  There is love and friendship and open hearts that are available to listen.  Haywood Street is a space that reminds me of the love that I deserve to receive and the love I have to share with others.  

I invite curiosity about these spaces at Medicine of the Heart. I invite conversation about spaces that make you feel connected to community or the ways home feels out of reach. In the words of Brené Brown,

“Connection is why we're here. We are hardwired to connect with others, it's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.” 

I believe that learning to connect to new spaces, spaces within us and outside of us that we have feared, shunned, and judged is what liberates us.  Medicine of the Heart is a space to connect with these spaces and allow them to breath and transform.