Wellness In The Valley, MT

Wellness In The Valley, MT Wellness = Wholeness
Movement - medicine for the body
Breath - stability for the mind
Prayer - nourishment for the soul
Classes, Events, & Retreats

05/27/2026

Getting out into beauty and nature supports good health for the mind, body, and spirit.

05/27/2026

Be an encourager.

The Latin word for heart is “cor”.
Not surprising then, that it’s the root word for courage, as courage comes from the heart.

It’s also the root word in discourage and encourage.

In this world, there is a lot of discouragement given. Which essentially is the taking away from someone’s heart.
We take away hopes, dreams, aspirations, and confidence of others by our words and actions, sometimes without even realizing it.

But equally, we can encourage. We can give to more heart and life to someone. We can nourish their hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It is a simple, but beautiful power, that we all hold.

How can you give more heart and life to someone today?

(This post was inspired by a daily reflection from Chris Stefanick)

05/21/2026

Out of difficulties grow miracles.

On my walk yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice this beautiful flower. Standing all alone, growing out of rocky ground.

It’s withstood wind and rain, snow and hail, and yet it remains.

Alone, but steadfast and strong.
It’s color so bright and bold, as if to say,
“I’m still here, and I’m more beautiful than ever.”

Perhaps you’re in a difficult season right now, but like this flower, out of your difficulty, a miracle can grow.

And you’ll come out stronger and more beautiful than ever.

“If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.” -St. ClementI know people who struggle with hope. Not...
05/20/2026

“If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.”
-St. Clement

I know people who struggle with hope. Not because they don’t want to hope, but because they are worried they will be disappointed if they hope.

I get it, I honestly do. It’s hard when terrible things happen over and over. It can feel like the moment something good happens, something else comes that takes it away.

So you give up. You stop hoping.

You stop because you think if you don’t hope, you’ll never be let down again. That you’ll stop hurting because you never thought something good would happen anyway.

But that is not living. Your body may be alive, but if you give up hope, it buries your spirit.

It’s similar to deciding not to have a pet to avoid the sadness that comes when they die.

Sure, you’ll bypass the ache in your heart that loss brings.
But you also miss the joy. You miss all the love that comes through having a pet.

You’ve not just taken a pass on one experience, you chosen to pass on them all.

And if you do that with everything, you’ll end up empty.
Because life can’t fill what you’ve closed.

We all have wounds. ALL of us will be wounded.

But if you give up, you’ll never know what’s around the corner. You’ll never know what beautiful experience is waiting for you.

There is a vast and unending realm of goodness that is real. It’s lies just beyond our hopes and dreams.

Don’t give up.

For it is only hope that can bring you there.

“Do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the on...
05/14/2026

“Do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
Rumi

It’s Thankful Thursday.

I think we can all relate to having to some days being harder than others to be thankful.

This morning, I was supposed to be waking up in NY to be with family. What started as an 85th birthday celebration for my uncle, turned into a full family reunion. My daughter and I had so much anticipation for this trip, not only for me to see family I haven’t seen in 12 years, but for her to meet relatives she’s never met!

We arrived at the airport early, checked in smoothly, and waited for our flight. Five minutes past boarding time, they announced there was an issue that would delay our departure by 3-4 hours. This meant missing our connecting flight. The only option available was to reschedule for a flight the NEXT DAY. We had to turn around and go home.

Needless to say, my daughter and I were heartbroken. We are missing today’s adventure with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Time we’ll never get back.

And yet.

I had to dig deep to find it, but I still found gratitude.

Gratitude that my daughter and are I safe.
That we had another day with my husband, son, and animals whom I’m going to miss while away.

Gratitude that I was kept away from whatever unknown event was not meant for me.

It can be hard to trust that. I mean, what could possibly be better than a day with family I don’t get to see often?

But I trust it,
I really do.

Even though I don’t always like it, I still trust that God has better plans for me than I could ever come up with. Delays are most often are exactly just that.
God having something better in mind for you.

So when I’m disappointed, even greatly, I will still quietly search for all there is to be thankful for. It always ends up being more than I think.

And then I give it over.
I let go of what I had wanted and how I had wanted it.

God has something better in mind.

“There’s no unsolvable problems just problems that haven’t been solved yet.”John Foppe
05/13/2026

“There’s no unsolvable problems just problems that haven’t been solved yet.”

John Foppe

Transformation Tuesday It’s that time of year, where I spend countless hours prepping the garden beds for planting flowe...
05/12/2026

Transformation Tuesday

It’s that time of year, where I spend countless hours prepping the garden beds for planting flowers, herbs, and veggies. And most of the prep is pulling weeds.

I’m always astounded at how many weeds there are to pull and their resiliency year after year to return. No matter how many roots I pull the year before, new ones always anchor in.

It’s a slow and laborious process to do by hand. At some point I’ll find myself grumbling after achy knees start to set in. But then, I catch myself.

Feeling the soft soil in my hands, I remind myself that I’m doing the necessary work to make space for something more beautiful to come in.

By my hands, I am literally transforming the land around my home. The land around the sanctuary in which I reside.

It’s really amazing when you think about it. That through steadfast effort, I get to create beauty. I get to decide what flower seeds to plant, which vegetables and herbs I wish to grow. I, can create the most magnificent beauty!

It’s exactly the same for our lives. We get to envision and create whatever masterpiece we want.

But what is equally true, is that we will have to do the preparatory work before we begin. We will have to pull up the weeds from our lives. The big, ugly ones, and sometimes yes, even the beautiful ones.

Because until we remove the weeds, there isn’t room for anything new to grow.

With you in the weeding. 🙏🏻

Carrying grief is heavy. It can feel suffocating and relentless — settling into the body, and weighing on the heart and ...
05/12/2026

Carrying grief is heavy. It can feel suffocating and relentless — settling into the body, and weighing on the heart and mind.

But grief is also holy.
It bears witness to the deep and abiding love we carry for a child uniquely and perfectly created by God.

Through movement, prayer, and compassionate connection, we begin to loosen grief’s grip and soften the places where we feel stuck. Together, we make space to return to peace, hope, and love.

This retreat offers quiet reflection in nature, somatic-based practices to help release grief held in the body, guided journaling, and prayer—creating room to receive God’s grace and healing presence in our hearts.
In a space where your story is safe and honored, you will be reminded that you do not carry this alone.

Journals and light refreshments provided.

Held at the beautiful Blue Star Resort & Retreat Center, Columbia Falls, MT


Register through link in bio.
Or Venmo $80 to
Laura-McKinnon-8

Laura McKinnon is a movement teacher with over 20 years of experience guiding somatic practices that support healing, embodiment, and emotional expression. Certified in grief movement, she compassionately helps others navigate loss, transition, and transformation. A mother of four—two on earth and two in heaven—her work is deeply shaped by her own journey with love, grief, and resilience.

“You may never know what results come from your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”Mahatma Gandhi...
05/11/2026

“You may never know what results come from your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
Mahatma Gandhi

There will be times when you can’t.But remember,He can.
05/09/2026

There will be times when you can’t.
But remember,
He can.

“Just. Let. It. Go.You were not built to carry what He never asked you to.Stress lives in the body. The longer you carry...
05/06/2026

“Just. Let. It. Go.
You were not built to carry what He never asked you to.
Stress lives in the body. The longer you carry what you were not meant to carry, the more it takes a toll. Letting go is not just spiritual. It is physical too.“
-Ramzi Fakhoury

Sometimes we work too hard, clinging to all the things we worry about and think we can control. We demand perfection from our body without being honest about what it truly needs to be healthy. We carry way too much and then wonder why we struggle.

I’ll never forget a homily I listened to one day, from one of the most genuine and compassionate priests I’ve ever met, Fr. Kyle. He was explaining what the lack of forgiveness does to us, using a hiking analogy.

Imagine you are going on a long hike with a backpack on, a pack filled with heavy rocks. Each rock represents a grievance from another you’ve chosen to carry.

It’s heavy. The weight, step by step burdens your journey.

Then one day you realize you’re tired of carrying all this weight. You realize you’ve chosen to carry these rocks.

With a renewed heart you decide to empty your backpack. In one fell swoop, you open your pack, turn it upside down and empty your bag. There lie your rocks, piled on the forest floor.

You start to walk away, suddenly lighter, freer, filled with a joy you haven’t experienced in a long time.

But you had grown used to those rocks. Most of them had been in there for so long you’ve forgotten what grievance it even came from.

Suddenly you miss them. You miss carrying what they represent, because each of them is evidence of some wrongdoing towards you. Evidence of why your life is so hard.
So you turn to and go back to pick them all up.

You see, for a moment you enjoyed the thought and experience of letting go. But without consciously naming what you’re letting go of and then intentionally releasing it, you’ll keep going back again and again to pick back up what you thought you had let go of.

Endeavor for your journey to be lighter. Endeavor to let go of the suffering you’ve created.

Let.
It.
Go.

It wasn’t meant for you to carry anyway.

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Columbia Falls, MT

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