Despite its name, you can expect neither blue face paint nor heavy Scottish swords involved in a new international movement making headway around St. Albert. The rallying of support for BraveHeart Women, however, has much the same impact as the gathering of warriors in the popular medieval Mel Gibson movie of the mid-’90s.
“It’s good for men too,” reassured Karen Blanchet, the local contact for a California-based social networking enterprise that calls itself a global community.
Blanchet, a local artist, has been heading up the local BraveHeart chapter since last summer and hopes to make big strides in personal growth and world peace at the same time.
BraveHeart was founded 15 years ago by Ellie Drake, an American woman who wanted to create a network of women all working for positive change personally, professionally and globally. Its main purpose is to get women in touch with themselves and with others, helping them to become more independent and empowered for their own betterment and for that of the entire world.
In this day of electronic connections, Drake started with an Internet-based social network that took off in popularity but wasn’t quite what she was hoping for.
“She found that virtual connections weren’t connecting well enough with women around the world so she branched out with chapters,” Blanchet said.
Now the group has approximately 500,000 members around the world including Blanchet, whose position lists her as a resonator.
“It fits in with the idea that we emanate, we resonate, we make a ripple,” she explained. “It’s just the touch that makes the ripple throughout the world.”
One of the organization’s recent efforts has the potential to effect great change in one of the world’s most conflicted areas, Blanchet said. She took 12 members from North America and met with 12 Israeli and 12 Palestinian women in the Middle East. Together, they talked out their differences and learned to love each other.
“They got together and by the end of the weekend, they started seeing each other as sisters. It’s powerful. It’s hugely powerful.”
She said that these women are stopping the vicious cycle of continuing animosity between cultural groups by teaching their own children about people’s similarities, not differences. Retraining the women, she continued, will pre-train their children.
“We need to retrain and get people connected on a real basis so that they can see their enemies as just the same as ourselves. We don’t have enemies really; we just have misconceived notions,” she said.
Blanchet is selling bracelets as a fundraising to support this effort. She emphasized that she is very enthusiastic about making a difference.
“I want to impact the world in a bigger way. In a community of women, we can do that,” she said.
The local group has monthly meetings but also hosts Harmony Circles, also known as Oxytocin Circles. Those are designed to help women get in touch with their bodies’ own hormones and get out of their stressful lives. Facilitators for these events are needed, however.
The next circle takes place tomorrow. It’s always free, Blanchet says, but hopeful attendees need to call her first at 780-761-7262 to book their places.
Regular meetings occur at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at the Strathcona Public Library at 8331 104 St. in Edmonton. The first meeting is free to attend but there is a required monthly membership charge of $33 to attend every subsequent meeting.
More information can be found at www.braveheartwomen.com.
