Barbara Hanneloré has a passion for reconnecting women to nature and spirit. As founder of the The Women’s Way Program, she has designed a creative program that embraces the natural beauty of a woman’s cycles in a holistic and healing way, empowering women at all stages of life. The program honors transitions into puberty and menopause and all cycles in between.
Barbara is certified in Women’s Health and Cyclic Wisdom (with Tamara Slayton of Womankind), and in Expressive Arts Facilitation (through PCETI with Natalie Rogers). She also holds a BA in Sociology and Women’s Studies from UCSB and an AA in Child Development.
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When you realize how you fit into the larger cycles of nature around you, it can be very grounding and empowering. I am committed to sharing this with others, helping women to develop a healthy foundation and see themselves from a new perspective, as I have.
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“Growing up in the hills of Northern California, I spent a lot of time outdoors and developed a deep connection with the earth. Mt. Shasta was visible from my yard, and has always felt like home to me.
As a young adult I spent many years living close to the earth; farming and gardening, working with young children, gathering wild herbs, and joining with friends for seasonal rituals.
I took many silent retreats in nature, communing with the living earth and living Spirit. All those years have become the foundation of my work.
As I learned about the similarities between women’s cycles and the moon and seasons, I realized that this was a powerful rhythmic connection, bringing us into harmony with the natural world and its healing gifts. It is something to be supported, not suppressed!
Those experiences moved me to receive additional training in things that interested me, which I still continue to do! After receiving my BA, and while I was taking Expressive Arts training in Santa Rosa, CA, I met the late Tamara Slayton in 1993.
I was charmed and fascinated by the way she wove so much meaning and beauty into her work about the menstrual cycle. It was her mission to help women and girls to know the depth of nature’s wisdom that was operating within them.
Her perspective enhanced what I had already learned about the “Moon Lodge” practice of many cultures around the world, in which women’s cycles were seen as reflecting nature’s cycles, with a balance of activity and rest – one of the keys to optimal health!
This work on “reclaiming” a positive experience of menstruation for women seems to pull together everything I love – health, nature, creativity, ceremony, the Sacred, and the emerging Feminine: honoring female perspective and experience.”