Saraswati Lifestyle provide support for body, mind and spirit that is grounded in heart-centered spirituality. Belly dance classes, reiki healing and tarot readings are used to provide a preventative, holistic, feminine perspective on health and wellness. Belly dance and spirituality helped me go from surviving to thriving, and I want to share that with others.

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Maria Alley is a children’s educator, entertainer and music curriculum developer here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We offer professional, play-based music curricula for both teachers and parents/Care-givers.

For Educators: World Music and Rhythm Talk is a fully downloadable, play-based, hands-on, culturally diverse music program for teaching the music and rhythms of the world to children from Pre-Primary to Grade 1. It may be conducted by music specialists as well as Early Childhood Educators who do not necessarily have a musical background. The lesson plans are set up in a sequential manner and its extra resources all combine to enable any Early Childhood Educator to conduct the program with ease.

Through song and dance, children become acquainted with different languages and cultures as they absorb the rhythm and rhyme of music, incorporating it into their everyday language. Because music is based in rhythmic patterns, dynamics, timbre and pitch, it is seen as a direct link to language learning and mathematics as it stimulates the part of the brain responsible for spatial/temporal reasoning.

For Parents: Choose any one of the CDs or MP3 downloads to stimulate your child’s interest in music and movement. A great beginning would be our Rhythm and Rhyme program which includes an activity guide for care-givers. The children will have fun playing in Old MacDonald’s band with percussion instruments, making a rubber spider crawl up their bodies as the song suggests, learning phonics by following the directions in the song, “Marching Around the Alphabet,” as well as learning a few of the Spanish words while doing the Macarena. Boppin’ to the Beat will give your child an introduction to the world of Jazz and Blues. another great collection of traditional and original songs is found in Perfect Harmony Retreat. Here we will enjoy some time honoured native North American music, and learn a Greek song while travelling along with Coco the Coconut to a beautiful island off of Greece. Kids will enjoy the suspense of the bees coming out of their hive with this rhyming finger play, “Here is a Beehive.” Kids are sure to enjoy the adventure of a teddy bears' picnic and they will also have fun making believe they are planets revolving around our sun. They can top the whole experience off with a great game of “Rhythm Baseball, fun for the whole family!

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create space studio is community gathering place where arts-based wellness is the primary function. We currently offer free and donation-based virtual art hives where anyone can join us to create art in community in the online realm. We also offer a variety of paid workshops and group programming as well as in-person programming in collaboration with local organizations & practitioners. While we are beginning online, we plan to expand into a studio space on the South Shore that is accessible to all ages and walks of life. Primarily, this will be a free open studio space where people come in to create art and connect with other community members in the art making process. There will also be paid workshops and programming that is tailored to the specific needs of the community, highlighting relevant psychoeducation to increase conversations and language around mental health and wellbeing while weaving in practical tools that tap into our innately creative qualities to problem solve and care for ourselves. This will be a space where a spectrum of holistic wellness practitioners can share their gifts and knowledge with the community through programming, as well as a space where the community members share their gifts and knowledge with others. The emphasis is that we all belong, and we all have something of value to share with others and that this creates an environment that uplifts and connects the community.

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Different Folks is a grassroots organization focused on providing marketing and social events for entrepreneurs from under represented groups. We primarily host makers markets to provide small businesses the opportunity to sell their goods in a downtown setting. We also host Queer and Allies Craft Time and we are working on bringing more social events into our calendar!

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