Women's Wellness Circle July 30, 2025: Evidence-Based Calm

Women's Wellness Circle: Last Wednesday of every month at 1pm PT/4pm ET/8pm UTC

Women's Wellness Circle is a Women's Studies Online educational initiative aimed at prioritizing women's unique biological and social health and wellness needs throughout our life stages. Through educational presentations, guest speakers, resource sharing and virtually-based discussions, we'll learn about health and wellness - broadly defined - within this circle. This circle is open to all women, you don't need to be a member of WMST to attend.

By the time we are women, fear is as familiar to us as air; it is our element. We live in it, we inhale it, we exhale it, and most of the time we do not even notice it - Andrea Dworkin

As women living in patriarchy, we are surrounded by oppression, fear, and anxiety; it moves inside and outside us and between us. It's driven by our current circumstances and memories of the past. Given the specificities of our oppression, what are some ways we can work to care for ourselves in such a context?

Evidence-Based Calm

Please join us for this special workshop style presentation by educator, researcher and health practitioner, Melissa Courvoisier, who will discuss anxiousness as women's response to stressful situations and trauma. Melissa will share her experience and techniques of using embodied practices to balance the nervous system.

Holistic Wellness Journey

Please allow me to introduce Melissa – She is an artist at heart with a love for singing, playing guitar and spending time in nature. From a young age Melissa held a deep reverence for faith based religion and this led her to pursue a B.A. in Religious Studies. As Melissa continued her formal studies and career she became disillusioned by the male dominance and exclusion of women in her area of study. Melissa shifted her focus and embarked on conducting extensive research on the herstory of reform schools for girls in Canada. During her time as a researcher Melissa questioned the way liberal feminism was being presented as the route to women's liberation and began a process of critical examination. Over the years Melissa has explored woman-centered spirituality and focused on the mind-body connection through various healing modalities. Several years ago Melissa left her busy career in the city and moved to a rural part of Ontario choosing to pursue a new path as a holistic health entrepreneur.

"Having battled perfectionism, burn-out, and anxiety myself, I'm committed to using my journey as a means to support and uplift others in theirs" - Melissa Courvoisier