Melissa McConnell

Hi! My name is Melissa McConnell, and I am an artist, art educator, Holistic Health Practitioner, flower lover, mother, doula, and a devotee of the creative spark. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and facilitate creative containers which devote to the art of daily creative practice utilizing watercolors, somatics, creative writing, and connection with the heart and nature. 

I have been painting, creating art, journaling and being creative since I was a little girl. I became very interested in the intersection between healing, the body, and creative expression during my studies in college. In 2003, I received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Fairhaven College at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. My self-designed major is called Women's Holistic Health: The Expressive Arts and Body Awareness as Tools for Healing and Wellness. This experience greatly informed my weaving of art into somatics, ritual and healing, and was an incredible base to support me in my future studies.

The year after I graduated college, I enrolled at the Heartwood Institute in Garberville, California, where I became certified as a Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP). Here, I completed a twelve-month, full-time, 1000 hour program in Zen Shiatsu, Polarity Therapy, Swedish and Deep Tissue Massage, Somatic Emotional Release, Myofascial Release, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and Whole Foods Nutrition. I also completed an extra 50 hour training on Healing with Whole Foods with acclaimed author Paul Pitchford.

At the time of my training, I was creating art daily in my journal and thus was born my unique understanding of art, healing and somatics. (My art and creative writing practice supported me SO deeply during that year, and really highlighted the importance of creativity as an essential tool on the healing journey!) 

In 2011, I was blessed to study Anusara Yoga with Wendy Borger in Santa Fe, NM and did an 100 hour Anusara Yoga Immersion with her. I completed a Sacred Doula Training at Breitenbush Hot Springs in 2013, learning how to support women in the profound rite of passage of birth and postpartum care. I traveled the world to Europe, SE Asia, and India several times, always with my journal and watercolors in tow. I also completed a year long Plant Spirit Mentorship with Carole Guyett of Derrynagittah, Ireland, which deepened the wisdom of plants and flowers in my heart and body.

Several years ago, when I moved back to my hometown and began preparations for becoming a mother, I felt called to stop doing massage therapy and focus on my art and somatic healing practice. My partner and I conceived our daughter Runa in the fall of 2019 after I embarked on an ancestral pilgrimage to Ireland and the UK in the summer of that year. The journey of becoming a mother has been humbling and profound. I feel like I’ve been preparing for it my entire life, and mothering has really put all of my studies into practice! 

Through all of this, I have become even more deeply in love with art as a vehicle for healing and for the integration of profound rites of passage. Over the years, I have had many people tell me that they wished they could devote to their personal art practice in the ways that I do. I realized that I could share my unique blend of art, body awareness, healing, and daily creative practice with others. In 2016 and 2017, I taught Art as Ceremony at two different women's gatherings (Spirit Weavers Gathering in CA and OR, and Sisters of the Tide on Orcas Island, WA). This class was a blend of my art practice with meditative tea ceremony. These were my first times sharing my unique process with others.

For four years now, I have been teaching art classes and creative containers online from my home. In these, I weave in so much of what I learned through receiving my HHP Certificate, my BA, and my whole life's art practice. I am currently an SEP in-training at the Beginning III Level, and Somatic Experiencing™ will become an increasing presence in my work. I absolutely cherish the opportunity to help others connect with their creativity and resource nature, the elements, intuition and the body for inspiration.

Education + Training: 
  • Bachelor of Arts at Fairhaven College, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA: Women's Holistic Health: The Expressive Arts and Body Awareness as Tools for Healing and Wellness, 2003
  • Healing with Whole Foods 50 hour training with Paul Pitchford, Heartwood Institute, Garberville, CA, 2003
  • Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP), 1000 hour certification, Heartwood Institute, Garberville, CA 2004-2005
  • Reiki Level I + II initiations, Bellingham WA and Bali, Indonesia, 2000 + 2008
  • Ten Day Vipassana Meditation Retreats, Dhamma Kunja, WA, 2009 + 2011
  • Anusara Yoga 100 hour Teacher Training Immersion with Wendy Borger, Santa Fe, NM, 2011
  • Sacred Doula Training, with Big Belly Services at Breitenbush Hot Springs (now Becoming a Birth Doula), 2013
  • Ancestral Lineage Healing Intensive, with Ancestral Medicine, 21 hours, Vancouver BC, 2019
  • Finding Safety in Yourself Six Week Somatics + Nutrition Course with Luis Mojica, Holistic Life Navigation, 2022 + Community Member in HLN Membership, 2022-present
  • Sacred Plant Medicine One Year Mentorship with Carole Guyett of Derrynagittah, Ireland, 2023-2024
  • Four Day Darkness Retreat, Sky Cave Retreats, OR, 2024
  • Healing the Wounds in Our Family Tree workshop with Mary Bolingbroke, Our Birth Journey, January 2025
  • Embodied Transformation Mentorship with Anna Chitty of Colorado School of Energy Healing, Our Birth Journey, April-July, 2025
  • Somatic Experiencing™ Practitioner Training, SEI, 2024-ongoing (currently trained at Beginning III level)

My watercolor painting from when I was 3 years old 

Photo by Diya Saichi