CLASSES
Welcome to my Classes page. Here you'll find Handwork Sessions for learning to make many of the handmade items available on my Crafts page, as well as individual or small group Sanity Sessions rooted in nature- and yoga-based movement, breathwork, and singing meditation practices tailored to meet your aims and abilities. My aim is to keep these practices alive for the generations coming up behind me, with gratitude for the ones who passed them along before me. You can join me on the North Olympic Peninsula at my home just east of Port Angeles, or arrange individual or small group sessions in your own home, workplace, or community center.
Please contact me with questions...
Margie Weaver
Please contact me with questions...
Margie Weaver
SANITY SESSIONS:
BODY, BREATH, NATURE, SONG (individual, Small Group or Workplace)
Our bodies' electric are designed to move, breathe and sing freely, and our well being is directly connected to the well being of the world. It's reciprocal. Rooted in a lifetime love of athletics, dance, theatre, singing, yoga, swimming, breathwork, sauna, and time in nature's elements, my practice sessions are tailor-made to support vibrant good health for you and all life.
SCHEDULE INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP SANITY SESSIONS:
If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, or as many as you have space to accommodate. Email me to find a time to speak, then we can schedule sessions at your location or mine.
TO INQUIRE OR SCHEDULE WORKPLACE OR COMMUNITY SANITY SESSIONS:
Wouldn't you love to have a sanity break at work? If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, and you want to start a breath and movement-based wellness program at your workplace, organize a 6-week (minimum) or ongoing weekly class and your participation is FREE. Gather as large a group as you have space to accommodate. Email me to find a time to speak, then we can create plans and schedule sessions at your location.
SCHEDULE INDIVIDUAL OR SMALL GROUP SANITY SESSIONS:
If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, or as many as you have space to accommodate. Email me to find a time to speak, then we can schedule sessions at your location or mine.
- $95 per 60-minute session (1-5 participants; add $19 for each additional person)
TO INQUIRE OR SCHEDULE WORKPLACE OR COMMUNITY SANITY SESSIONS:
Wouldn't you love to have a sanity break at work? If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, and you want to start a breath and movement-based wellness program at your workplace, organize a 6-week (minimum) or ongoing weekly class and your participation is FREE. Gather as large a group as you have space to accommodate. Email me to find a time to speak, then we can create plans and schedule sessions at your location.
- $95 per 60-minute session (1-5 participants; add $19 for each additional person)
“And what do we have in this world? A whole lot of disease, and a whole lot of powerlessness against disease, against depression, and all that. And why? We lost track of what nature is; within us and within interaction." ~Wim Hof
HAndwork sessionS:
Knitted & Felted WOOL Clogs
Felt, the first fabric, dates back as far as 6,300 BCE, well before the invention of spinning, weaving or knitting. The simple process of creating fabric from wool requires only water and agitation. Felt is a versatile, year-round fabric that protects against cold and insulates against heat. These 100% wool clogs are hand-knitted and felted in a top-loading washing machine or by hand.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
4. Bring yarn and 4 circular needles.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
- $225 total (add $45 for each additional person)
- I recommend Kraemer Yarns Mauch Chunky. Available in 57 colors here.
4. Bring yarn and 4 circular needles.
"To have the skill of knitting, to have the skill of crocheting, of felting, makes it possible for us not only to make something but it makes us skilled in general. The use of the hands is vital for the human being, for having flexibility, dexterity. In a way the entire human being is in the in the hands. Our destiny is written in the hand. And what do we do in our modern world with our hands? You know we move the mouse, we drive and so on. We feel plastic most of the time. The hands are relegated to very little that’s actually bringing dexterity to our times. So we have come ever more estranged from nature and from also what other human beings are doing. The whole social element comes into play as well because if I make something then I think ‘Hmmm, how was that yarn made?’" ~Renate Hiller
HANDWORK SESSIONS:
BEAD-WEAVING BASICS
Slowing down to the body's pace and making things by hand has deep physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits. From Stone Age shell and ivory beads, to evidence of beadwork in ancient Egypt, Japan, India, Africa, and Europe, humans have been adorning themselves with beadwork from cradle to grave. Learn to make a simple bead-weaving loom, and try your hand at basic on- and off-loom techniques with bracelet-making. No beading experience is needed.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
- $225 total (add $45 for each additional person)
- Bring your own size 11 seed beads, beading thread and needles.
"The thumb is the tongue of the hand, and the tongue is the thumb of the mouth." ~Stephen Jenkinson
HANDWORK SESSIOns:
COpper & SWEETGRASs jewelry
Copper is a non-allergenic metal that has been in use for 10,000+ years. Sweetgrass is one of the oldest organisms on the planet. Beads are among the earliest forms of human adornment. There is evidence of Stone Age shell, bone, and ivory beadwork in ancient Egypt, Japan, India, Africa, Europe and North America. My jewelry-making is inspired by the beauty and impermanence of these natural materials, a longing to keep the art and craft of handwork alive in the world, and a teaching I received about the profound cost to this good blue-green Earth from our mining and forging operations. There was a time before we began extracting, when copper could be found lying about on the ground. Ancient hands created tools for hammering, and the use of fire taught them how to anneal the metal for greater strength. I choose to work exclusively with copper to remember that time and those people. Wearing copper next to the skin is said to replenish that trace mineral in our bodies, and may increase bone density, decrease inflammation, and improve joint health. Sweetgrass or Holy Grass (hierochloe odorata) is one of the oldest organisms on the planet. Native to the Northern Hemisphere, this aromatic plant grows in many parts of the world, and is widely regarded as spiritual currency by some European and North American cultures. My homegrown sweetgrass is tended to in handmade cedar planters and is chemical-free. In this Handwork Session, you'll learn to hand-hammer pennies and work with copper wire and beads to create earrings, shawl pins, necklaces, bracelets or anklets.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it. ~ Wendell Berry (pg. 20, "A Native Hill")”
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
- $225 total (add $45 for each additional person)
- Bring a few favorite beads and two pre-1980 U.S. pennies
We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and to learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes, and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery; we will never entirely understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of creation, and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For I do not doubt that it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it. ~ Wendell Berry (pg. 20, "A Native Hill")”
HANDWORK SESSIONs:
SWEETGRASS BRAIDS & COIL BASKETS
Among the oldest organisms on the planet, sweetgrass (hierochloë odorata=fragrant holy grass) is an aromatic and hardy perennial considered sacred spiritual currency by European and North American cultures alike. Harvested leaves are woven into one-of-a-kind baskets, or braids are burned for their sweet fragrant smoke. My sweetgrass was grown without chemicals in handmade cedar planters in my former south Minneapolis garden. Try your hand at making braids and coil baskets. Take home your creation.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
- $225 total (add $45 for each additional person)
“Our stories say that of all the plants, wiingaashk, or sweetgrass, was the very first to grow on the earth, its fragrance a sweet memory of Skywoman’s hand. Accordingly, it is honored as one of the four sacred plants of my people. Breathe in its scent and you start to remember things you didn’t know you’d forgotten. Our elders say that ceremonies are the way we “remember to remember.” ~Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
handwork sessionS:
FOOD & DRINK & GUT HEALTH
As more is revealed about the health risks of eating processed foods from our toxic and unsustainable industrial food system, and the consequences of our disconnection from the origins of our daily meals, let's get back in the kitchen and make good, real, trustworthy food. Start simply! There are many store-bought items that are easy to make at home, and without all the sugars, thickeners, mystery chemicals or "natural" ingredients--nut milks, chocolates, feta cheese, refrigerator pickles, ghee, kombucha, mead, baked goods, desserts, bone broths, and more...
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles WA and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to let me know which items you'd like to learn about, and we'll schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
LEARN HOW:
1. If you live in reasonable proximity to Port Angeles WA and Sequim WA, you can gather a group of 1-5 participants, then email me to let me know which items you'd like to learn about, and we'll schedule a date to meet in your home for 2 hours.
- $225 total (add $45 for each additional person)
- An additional fee for supplies will be determined based on what you want to learn
“For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for people you love?” ~Michael Pollan, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
"Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing. And it’s a short way from not knowing who’s at the other end of your food chain to not caring–to the carelessness of both producers and consumers that characterizes our economy today. Of course, the global economy couldn’t very well function without this wall of ignorance and the indifference it breeds. This is why the American food industry and its international counterparts fight to keep their products from telling even the simplest stories–“dolphin safe,” “humanely slaughtered,” etc.–about how they were produced. The more knowledge people have about the way their food is produced, the more likely it is that their values–and not just “value”–will inform their purchasing decisions." ~Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.
"Much of our food system depends on our not knowing much about it, beyond the price disclosed by the checkout scanner; cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing. And it’s a short way from not knowing who’s at the other end of your food chain to not caring–to the carelessness of both producers and consumers that characterizes our economy today. Of course, the global economy couldn’t very well function without this wall of ignorance and the indifference it breeds. This is why the American food industry and its international counterparts fight to keep their products from telling even the simplest stories–“dolphin safe,” “humanely slaughtered,” etc.–about how they were produced. The more knowledge people have about the way their food is produced, the more likely it is that their values–and not just “value”–will inform their purchasing decisions." ~Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.
