10 Southern Maine MaineAwakenings.com

Audrey McMorrow is a Couples Coach and Psychosynthesis Life Coach practicing at Vast Horizons

Center for Personal Growth. In 2014, she and her partner Bodhi Simpson, a creative arts therapist, joined together to open the center in Yarmouth. In 2010, McMorrow was just finish-ing up her graduate studies at Rhode Island’s Salve Regina University when she came to Portland on vacation with her husband, and they fell in love with the entire state. “The people up here are a different breed,” she says. “They are warm and welcoming and genuine. By the second day, we were calling realtors.” After moving to Maine, McMor-row was looking for a space to open her practice in the Portland area when she happened upon Sparhawk Mill in Yarmouth. “I laid eyes on Sparhawk Mill and said, ‘Wow, that’s it,’” she recalls. “I literally took a picture of it at that mo-ment—and that picture is on my website.

“I had advertised for someone to share my office space part-time,” McMorrow says, “But when Bodhi and I met, we clicked right away and realized we could do more together as partners; we subsequently created the center. We knew Sparhawk Mill was the right loca-tion because we both were separately drawn to it.” The partners have since completely renovated their space within the Sparhawk Mill complex. “When we’ve got the window open, the river is directly below us so you’ve always got that backdrop of rushing water,” McMorrow says. “We’ve tried to create a spa-like feeling of calm and serenity. Everyone that comes in here says it’s just so soothing. When we’re here, we don’t want to leave.” McMorrow came to therapeutic work late in life. “I came from a very poor background,” she explains. “I always wanted to go to college but never had the opportunity to do that. I was

Rediscovering Yourself: Vast Horizons Horizons Center for Personal

Growth Offers Homegrown HealingBy Jessie Shiers

always very good at organization, which kept the money coming in. So I would do things like executive assistant, court reporting, corporate meeting planner. But there was always something inher-ently unsatisfying in all that work.” After years struggling in unsatisfying careers, McMorrow was at an impasse. “It suddenly occurred to me that I was asking the wrong part of me, ‘What should I do?’ I was asking the survivor part—the part that was concerned about making ends meet. So I decided to ask a higher part of me, and the answer was immediate: ‘You want to be a therapist.’ It came together all at once and it was perfect. And I have never wavered from that path.” McMorrow’s life coaching work is based on the Psychosynthesis model, which she describes as a transpersonal psychology of mind, body, and spirit that focuses not on what needs fixing, but rather on what is trying to emerge

Audrey McMorrow

communityspotlight

11natural awakenings February 2015

Eco-Fireplace TipsBest Ways to Enjoy Greener Indoor and Outdoor Fires Our inclination to position ourselves near fire is a year-round lure nation-wide. Yet, the traditional ingredient in both indoor fireplaces in the north and outdoor fire pits in the south should give shivers to the eco-minded. In addition to causing considerable air pollution, wood smoke contains carbon monox-ide, nitrogen oxides and fine particu-lates that can aggravate asthma, aller-gies and other health conditions. Eco-friendly firelogs—many made of recycled biomass products like compressed wood sawdust, ground nutshells and other ingredients—provide low-emission and petroleum-free alternatives to cordwood. According to GreenAmerica.org, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends manufactured logs over wood to cut air pollutants. Major manufacturers noted by ApartmentTherapy.com include Java, which uses coffee grounds; Energy Log briquettes made from recycled mill waste; and TerraCycle, ShredMaster Ltd. and CleanFlame, all of which use recycled and repurposed cardboard. In addition to producing greater heat, some of these logs even produce a natural crackling sound without throwing sparks. Inserts—basically a stove that fits into existing fireplaces—provide a genuine fireside feeling, but with green benefits. An EPA-certified stove or insert is built to burn cleaner and more efficiently, dramatically reducing fine particle emissions and pollution over older models. However, while a propane gas stove insert burns even cleaner and is easier to operate, it uses nonrenewable fuel. Consider wood pellet models that burn ultra-compressed wood and biomass of olive, corn and cherry pits. Outdoor steel fire pits that can burn firelogs have grown popular in warmer regions, and equipment manufacturers have responded. Tripods suspend swivel and free-standing grills over the pit for direct cooking or to hold cast iron kettles. Special outdoor tables also afford a gathering spot around friendly flames. Avoid gas and electric models as eco-no-nos. If real wood is a must, be selective. Firewood that looks a little rough is more likely to come from over-mature trees of the kind that can be removed without affecting the health of its forest (WoodHeat.org). Product packages of Pioneer Processors firewood attest that it “never uses endangered wood species and always purchases from well-managed forests.”

ecotipwithin the individual. “I serve as their guide and partner to discover together whether their goals come from an au-thentic, present-day part of them rather than from a wounded or fearful place from the past,” McMorrow explains. “I help the client rediscover what holds meaning for them, which can lead to uncovering their purpose in life. We work toward identifying and utilizing the client’s resources, both inner and outer. Each step along the way gets broken down into simple, do-able actions.” In addition to working with indi-viduals, McMorrow works with couples in all stages of their relationship—from a relatively newly formed couple that wants to establish a good foundation, to a troubled partnership that needs some support and repair, to a permanently broken one in which the individuals wish to separate amicably. “The primary goal with couples is bringing conscious awareness and self-responsibility into the relationship, as well as intimacy,” McMorrow explains. “Intimacy means different things to different people; to me it’s more about communication and trust and being able to relate on a deeper level, which allows one to be vulnerable.” In addition to these main thera-peutic practices, McMorrow also hosts workshops such as the bi-weekly Women’s Thrive Groups where women discover what allows them to thrive in the world. She says, “This might include discovering inner strengths, learning to embrace and love themselves (warts and all), and discovering new tools for personal development.” On February 28, look for a workshop on Polarity Process-ing—“a series of processes that helps us pull out of polarization and into a place of middle ground,” McMorrow explains. She’s currently developing a workshop on working with the shadow—the parts that we’ve rejected in ourselves or that we don’t even know are in us. “Devel-oping our ability to work with those parts is incredibly powerful,” she says. See the website for more information or contact the center directly to preregister.

Location: Vast Horizons Center for Per-sonal Growth, 81 Bridge St., Suite 109, Yarmouth. Call (207) 650-8052, or visit www.vasthorizons.com. See ad, page 20.