Community Classes & Groups

MRD NorCal is always offering a variety of community classes and support groups to bring people together to increase social connection, educate and raise awareness, and increase people’s physical, social, and emotional well-being.

Yoga, Mindfulness and movement

This class incorporates mindfulness practices and meditation, as well as yoga poses and movement to allow a space for people to gather in community to calm their minds, move their bodies, and have fun!

The class will include:

• short meditation and mindfulness practice at the beginning and end of class

• simple yoga poses to increase strength, flexibility, and calm the nervous system

• movement to increase body awareness and move together in community

• on occasion there will be live drumming to allow us to tap more into our primal selves

  This class will be lead by Vanessa Tearnan

Infant massage

Our infant-massage class honors the special relationship and bond between parent and child and teaches infant-massage techniques to practice in the moment with your child. It also provides you the opportunity to meet other parents in the community, and allows your baby to begin to meet and play with other children in a fun and supportive environment.

Infant-massage has many benefits:

• soothes and calms your baby and helps with sleep

• aids in digestion to help relieve colic, gas and constipation

• boosts your baby’s immune system and improves skin texture

• enhances body awareness and increases muscle tone and coordination

• provides special face-to-face time and touch important to your baby’s overall development

This class will be lead by Vanessa Tearnan and Darcy Palmer

Parent support group

This support group is offered to give parents the opportunity to come together in community and support one another with the amazing, yet challenging, responsibility of parenting.

Parenting can be very rewarding, yet often times is difficult and stressful. This group allows a safe space for parents to share their struggles, happy moments and everything in between. It also gives people a chance to meet other parents to increase social connection and support for one another.

In addition, many parents can learn different tips from each other in approaching parenting, or just have a space to vent and feel supported. This class is not a place to shame one another, but a place to support each other and encourage the wonderful job that parents are already doing.

This class will include:

• a check-in at the beginning of each class, often times including how one is feeling that day or week

• a topic each week related to parenting or children’s social, emotional, behavioral and physical development

• time for one or more people to share their struggles or stories and time for responding and discussion

• snack, social time and check-out at the end of each class

  This class is lead by Darcy Palmer and co-facilitated by Vanessa Tearnan