New Space, Old Roots

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-Changes....

Dear Friends,
Body, Mind & Spirit is moving, but we are returning to our roots! A new midwifery center is opening in the North Valley, and we are going to be a part of this fabulous new resource. The Valley has long been neglected in terms of health and family resources, and the new Rio Grande Midwifery and Family Resource Center addresses some of these critical needs. Longtime Albuquerque Midwives MaryLou Singleton and Barbara Pepper are finally joining forces officially and will staff the center, located at 4916 4th St. NW. This opportunity allows us to resume our connection to a midwifery center and MaryLou Singleton, one of our most popular teachers (Pediatric Herbalism and Immunizations Options).

This change, while forcing us to say goodbye to Michael Thomas Coffee and the beautiful teaching room at The Source on Carlisle, gives us back a space to call our own. It also allows us to provide more comfortable furnishings and sitting options to our pregnant and nursing mothers, a serious deficiency in our current locale. We hope you will continue to explore the resources and events provided at The Source, including their weekly free community potlucks. They share our intention to build a responsible and involved community by strengthening direct human connections.

All of our classes will now carry over to the Rio Grande Midwifery and Family Resource Center on north 4th Street. Please give yourself time to find us on your first trip, it’s easy to pass the building until we get signs and perhaps a mural to help our clients know our location. We will eventually be expanding our class offerings, beginning with opening a fabulous pregnancy and parenting reading room. This reading room will provide tea, comfortable chairs, and the opportunity to read or borrow unusual, unavailable or rare books hard to find in other sources. We welcome contributions to our library, as well.

What else would you like to see us offer? Perhaps a pregnancy/nursing/infant supply closet with clothing and gently-used equipment donated by mothers who have moved beyond that stage? Perhaps you’d like to see a resumption of classes no longer on our calendar (the post-partum depression support group? A fathering group?), or perhaps you would like to lead or offer something we don’t have? Perhaps you seek a posting list-serv for those seeking childcare resources or those providing childcare services? Please give us feedback about what you see Albuquerque, and the north valley, needing in the next few months.

You have all noticed that you’ve been seeing less of me lately, and more of Amylee Udell, our not-so-new Business Manager. You’ll also be seeing Amity Johnson, my former Doula partner and a former Body, Mind & Spirit birthing teacher more often. More on that next month... Peace to you all, and happy fall.

- Erika Harding