A little gift from the archive
We ran it several more times over the following year, and every round was pure joy! After more than a decade tucked away in the archives, we’re finally bringing it back, so more people can benefit from all this timeless wisdom.
Originally $199 → Free for you!
Sign up with your email and you’ll get instant access to watch all five weeks of our course: the videos, guest sessions, and goodies from our beloved contributors.
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We all find ourselves lost at sea from time to time.
As artists and creative entrepreneurs, Mati & I have navigated the murky waters ourselves, and along the way we’ve gathered tools, tricks and inspiring resources that helped us reconnect, get unstuck, and find our way back to the flow in our creativity and the magic in our lives.
This whole course grew out of our friendship and the years we’ve spent creating side by side, discovering what actually helps when you lose your spark. We’ve each felt stuck and uninspired more than once, and found ways to compassionately guide ourselves back into the creative flow.
We want to share that with anyone who feels the pull to stay connected to their passion, or who simply could use a little more magic. So in this 5-week course, we pass on what we’ve learned, and we call on the wisdom of some of our favorite artists, coaches and teachers, experts in their fields. It’s truly an honor to collaborate with them in support of creative makers, movers & shakers everywhere.
This course was nine months in the making, so you can imagine how excited we were to finally bring it to light. It’s the course we wished we’d had ourselves, and we’re confident the lessons within will serve you for years to come. Sign up above and start watching whenever you’re ready. We can’t wait for you to experience it!
“Flow is the mental state in which a person is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.”
Definition of flow, via Wikipedia.
Have you been in the flow before? Maybe you’ve found it challenging to get back there, feeling a little lost at sea, stuck, or lacking the passion and focus you once had?
Well, you’ve found the right place. This course will feed your soul and guide you back to that fabulous energized focus, reconnecting you with your creativity, your body, your space, your voice… and your magic!
Finding your way back home
Mati and I’s friendship formed at the end of 2010, during a time I was going through a major creative recovery. Being a fellow artist, and living so close to me, Mati quickly became my girl for hikes up Bernal, going to yoga in the Mission, and talking out all of the highs & lows of being a creative small business owner. In a word, we supported each other in reconnecting.
In the spring of 2011, I launched my video series, WilloToons Connect, and Mati was one of my first guests, talking all about how to stay connected to inspiration and self-care while passionately working on what you love.
Curious how RE:CONNECT came to be, back in 2012? We each blogged about where we’d been and what led us here:
→ Willo: A Lot Can Happen in 9 Months
→ Mati: Reconnecting + Rebirth
A little time capsule: these bios and photos are straight from 2012, so everyone’s journey has grown and shifted since.
Powerful (Wild) Writing guidance
Laurie Wagner is a published writer (Living Happily Ever After: Couples Talk about Lasting Love and Expectations: Women Talk about Becoming a Mother) who has been leading Wild Writing workshops and teaching creative writing through 27Powers.org and Writers.com for over 15 years. Laurie’s teaching is based on the belief that when we put the truth into words, life swings into focus, and before too long, telling the truth becomes an unstoppable impulse: an internal river of confidence, clarity, and freedom.
Heartfelt wisdom on intention & creativity
Jen Louden is a personal-growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement with her first book, The Woman’s Comfort Book. She’s the author of five additional books on well-being and whole living that have inspired more than a million women in nine languages. Jen has spoken around the world on self-care, written a national magazine column, and even sat on Oprah’s couch talking about the power of retreats. She believes self-love + world-love = wholeness for all.
A ‘Yoga to ReConnect’ practice
Marianne Elliott is a writer, human rights advocate, and yoga teacher. She created 30 Days of Yoga to help people take care of themselves so they can do their good work in the world. She’s the author of Zen Under Fire, about her work with the UN in Afghanistan.
Nourishing conversation on listening to your hungers
Rachel W. Cole is a certified life coach, celebrated retreat host, instigator of ease, and hunger-satisfier. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she spent years steeped in the vibrant Bay Area food community while earning her MA in Holistic Health Education. Rachel is on a mission to guide women toward knowing and feeding their truest hungers, and continues to be an inimitable inspiration for each of us to feast on our lives.
Reconnecting to your creative flow
Mati Rose is an artist, illustrator, and author, and Willo’s co-creator for RE:CONNECT. Just shy of her 30th birthday, Mati went back to art school to study painting and illustration at the California College of the Arts. She grew up making art in Maine but never considered herself an artist until recently. She’s since had over a dozen art shows, taught painting from Italy to Oregon, published her own painting book, Daring Adventures in Paint, illustrated two children’s books, and opened a magical art studio, Teahouse, in Berkeley.
Making space for creativity & self-care
Flora Bowley is an internationally celebrated painter, teacher, author, and inspirationalist. She combines eighteen years of professional painting experience with her background as a yoga instructor and massage therapist to infuse her teaching with a deep connection to body, mind, and spirit. By honoring intuition and celebrating the present moment, Flora encourages her students to overcome fear and welcome joyful, spontaneous expression back into the creative process, inviting them to “let go, be bold, and unfold.” Her book, Brave Intuitive Painting, was published by Quarry Books.
Practical (and encouraging) decluttering tips
Molly Graves is the founder of NEAT Method, a lifestyle service committed to a more luxurious and smartly appointed living space. Recognizing that life gets hectic and that maintaining an organized home can be a challenge, NEAT Method designs customized solutions that are both effective and sustainable. Expect an honest approach, a sharp eye for detail, and a personal sense of refined style, because once your life is clutter-free and well arranged, you gain a whole new appreciation for living NEAT.
Finding your way back from a funk
Karrie Myers Taylor is a video editor, writer and photographer whose specialty and love is creating promotional trailers for books, films and everything in between. Karrie’s freelance writing work has been published in TRACE, Fly and NRG Magazines, and her photography has been printed in The New York Times. When she’s not out trying to save the world, she likes biking, baking, jewelry making, and standing in front of any ocean, anywhere.
Grounded wisdom on implementing structure
Helen Jane Hearn has written at helenjane.com since 1998. A home-entertaining enthusiast, she’s also a certified specialist of wine and the founder of Cheesewhizzes, a nationwide cheese-tasting club featured in Food & Wine magazine. Helen Jane has spoken at SXSW and Mom 2.0 and was a keynote speaker at the EVO conference. She lives and plays in Napa Valley with her husband and two daughters. Inspiring creativity through celebration is what she was put here to do.
Creative Lifehacks for Staying Connected
Willo Sana is an artist, bestselling author, and coach who has made a career out of creativity. Passionate about empowering fellow creative entrepreneurs, she co-created RE:CONNECT with Mati Rose and closes the course with her own lifehacks for staying connected to your self-care and your magic. (She went by Willo O’Brien back in 2012.)
Kind words from some of the brilliant humans who joined us.
Several things have become clear to me
Thank you Ladies for a wonderfully, challenging, thought provoking five weeks! For years I’ve felt that I’ve been looking through the keyhole of the box I’ve been in not able to really see what was on the outside. Lately after lots of personal work, I’ve felt that I am now standing in the doorway but fear keeps me from taking those first steps. Over the last five weeks, several things have become clear to me like – I need to acknowledge those fears, find out where they come from, what they are telling me, and then use those lessons to free me from them; that those fears are often times what also blocks my creativity which has been stagnated for several years now and I’ve been in such a dark place that I don’t think I’ve really realized how much I’ve missed it; that I can reach out to friends for help and encouragement to do things like take this course and that it might be time to work with a professional to delve deeper into some of these issues.
An amazing course
Thank you for an amazing course! I really appreciate the gift you gave me by allowing me to retake it!
ReConnect was instrumental in helping me
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for creating the ReConnect class. I am slowly starting to learn the art and practice of self-care and ReConnect was instrumental in helping me. I enjoyed the fact that you told us to stop and watch the videos. Just watch the video. The video’s were all full of useful and kind things. Reminders to ourselves to be nice, compassionate, and patient. It was a joy I looked forward to each week. The class helped me to understand the value of the little things, and breaking things down into smaller pieces. Each assignment and daily post gave me little things I can do. Reading the other posts from people, to be able to see that others were experiencing the same things I was. Thank your for introducing us to your wonderful friends and colleagues. They are magnificent. I thank you for all the work and energy you put into creating the class and sending it out into the world! Cheers, Megan
Kinder and gentler with myself
I think the most critical element of this course has thus far been the focus on being compassionate with myself. That’s never been one of my strengths, and I’ve turned my high standards outward as well. Something clicked for me the other day, and I suddenly understood that putting so much pressure on myself prevents me from getting what I want. Suddenly, working on my resume is less daunting. Suddenly, getting the back room organized is less daunting. I feel kinder and gentler, both with myself and with others, and my silliness is flowing easily. I’ve done a decent job of writing regularly, and although I aspire to be more consistent about it, I recognize each tiny success. Yay!
Merci!
Willo and Mati, great classes and topics! Merci.
A real shift for me
I really enjoyed the daily inspiration, the daily engagement and activity. It gave me something to look forward to, and even if it was just for a short time each day, really reshaped my perspective on that day and reinforced what I was learning. The idea of valuing activities which I enjoy, which feel good, just because of how they make me feel has been a real shift for me. The old belief that “I can’t” do something has changed so that I now believe that I won’t know until I try. I think the teachers are all such cool people that I would see as role models in my own life… it’s nice to know that this lifestyle that I hope to achieve is possible, a lifestyle that incorporates passion, self-care, trust.
Creativity is a need, not a luxury
I want you to know that what has been most powerful for me in this course has been the awareness that writing and creativity are actually “needs” and not “luxuries” for me. I am so grateful for this. So so grateful.
We’re all on the same journey
Thank you, to Mati & Willo, and the participants for all the lovely morsels of thoughts and encouragement! There are so many good takeaways, and while we all come from very different backgrounds, it sounds like we’re all on the same journey. I’m remembering that I need to take care of myself: body, soul, and mind, and now is the perfect time to focus on me.
New perspectives on cultivating creativity
I love this video! Thank you for sharing and especially for sharing the past few weeks in meeting new people through your videos and listening to new perspectives on how to appreciate and cultivate creativity in my life. I have enjoyed this experience and will continue to revisit and refresh some of those moments. Namaste
My notes will be revisited often
Thank you, Willo and Mati!! Truly. This has been an amazing 5 weeks. There will be so much to reflect on and revisit over the next few weeks (and months… years). I haven’t been able to keep up very well over the past week and a half, but I’m actually happy about that because it means that my ReConnect journey isn’t over yet. And I am also looking forward to going back through all the videos again, and I know my notes will be revisited often.
Grateful for this space
Mati and Willo, I am so grateful for you and your vision to bring this course to fruition. I am grateful for you holding this space, for Laurie Wagner and her ways of working through the uncomfortable, letting me know that it’s okay to be uncomfortable and that it’s something I can practice. I’m taking this course for the third time. It’s something I need to help me grow in my journey of learning to care for myself. I am grateful for the people of this course, and that we are on the road together.
Real creative momentum
I signed up for this course because I had recently carved out one weekend afternoon a week to paint, make collages and listen to music. I wanted the accountability of these 5 weeks to help build up some creative momentum. I’m glad that each week explored a different aspect of fostering creativity. Some days it takes physical movement, other days I need time to write. Playing is a pretty good idea, too! Asking questions like, “what am I truly hungry for right now?” really grounded me in a positive way.
If you feel lost or stuck, or you’ve found what you love so much that you’ve become a passionate workaholic and now need to rejuvenate, this is for you. It’s for creatives with big ideas, small ideas, or no ideas who want to reconnect and unleash their creativity, whether you want to dive deep or simply get out of the day-to-day rut. If you’ve felt a passion in your life and want to bring it back to center, this course is for you.
Nothing! RE:CONNECT originally sold for up to $199. It’s now tucked away in the archives and free to watch, as our gift to you. Just sign up with your email for instant access.
It’s all online. Sign up with your email for instant access, then watch at your own pace, from anywhere in the world.
Five weeks, each focused on one area of reconnecting: Intention, Body, Creativity, Space, and Staying Connected.
When we ran it live, it flowed day by day: Monday kicks off with an intro video from Mati & Willo; Tuesday and Thursday bring guest interviews; Wednesday offers continued support; and Friday closes with a live group call.
Now the whole course is archived here, so you can watch it all at your own pace, in any order you like.
