Felicia is absolutely the best. This class is very informative! I'd say the best part is Felicia is…read morealso my birth doula, which I'm extremely grateful to have her. She helped with me the best birth experience I can ask for. I'd strongly recommend every expecting mama to take this class AND hire Felicia as your birth doula if you are considering a doula!

Thorough class covers the basics of everything you need in one day, taught from the perspective of…read moreDoulas who have tons of experience. As first time parents, we feel prepared now!

My daughter and I, along with five other mothers and daughters we know, had the most wonderful time…read moreat Ms. Rey's CuriosiTea workshop. Our girls are 3rd graders, a mix of 8 and 9 years old, and I feel like we are now so prepared to face puberty with confidence and curiosity. Everything the kids are learning is supported by science, with a framework of empowerment and autonomy. Both kids and moms felt encourage to ask questions and were met with enthusiasm and great insight from Ms. Rey. This workshop was worth every penny and then some. You also can't beat the location. Not only is Ms. Rey's treehouse itself a breathtaking, almost magical-feeling location, but the neighborhood is awesome, too! I grabbed lunch with my daughter before the workshop, and then during the kids-only section, the moms and I took a long walk in the nearby canyon and then grabbed coffee before coming back for the mom/daughter tea party and learning session. Our girls were all so proud to show off their crafts and what they'd learned, and I feel like all the moms learned something, too. It was also a fantastic bonding experience and made our community feel stronger, safer, and more loving for both us and our girls. Ms. Rey does period workshops for dads, too! Whatever your need, she is an amazing resource, and followed up with us after with even more helpful resources. This is a 10/10 experience and I've recommended it to every mom I know.

My daughter attended the summer camp twice already and loved every minute of it. Konika made it…read morevery fun while navigating hard topics with the girls. I encourage everyone with girls to consider the camp or her workshops!

My partner and I recently completed the Hypnobirthing three week course at Brilliant Births. We had…read morean absolutely incredible experience, for many reasons--The information we learned was invaluable, but also the instructors' teaching styles and depth of personal experience they offered was appreciated, comforting, and helpful. They clearly have a deep well of wisdom and experience-based expertise to share. We started our class with Keira and absolutely loved her--originally we were a bit bummed to know we would have a different instructor for our last day of the course. However, it turned out that Heidi was equitably wonderful and all things lovely-- instead of only one great instructor and guide, we ended up with two...which leads me to believe you'll be in skilled hands with anyone you interact with at BB. We will definitely be returning to take advantage of their other offerings!

I reached out to Brilliant Births to find a birth doula. They offer a matching service and…read moreconnected me to 3 doulas who work independently (not employees of BB). We were really fortunate to find our birth doula (who we love!), but the other 2 candidates were not very impressive. The first doula missed our appointment with no follow-up communication. We were initially confused and thought she was the coordinator for BB, because she only communicated by text. The actual meeting was just by telephone so there was no face-to-face interaction, which felt strange. We could've easily FaceTimed or Zoomed. So communication and reliability were not great. The second doula abruptly canceled our half-hour appointment when we were 10 minutes late for a 30-minute appointment due to my husband wrapping up a Zoom meeting. During our appointment time, she was responding to my emails (in which I apologized for being late), but insisted she could no longer meet with us. I thought this was a really bad sign about what she would be like to work with - labor and delivery is rarely precisely timed and some flexibility is needed. In addition, her email said that she lives in Portola Valley, but we live Berkeley (also where Brilliant Births is located). This also struck me as strange, because it would take 1.5 hours for her to arrive to meet us at the hospital, which is not ideal.

Three cheers for Community Well!! This review is specifically about the lactation clinic and new…read moreparent support group on Tuesday mornings... When my son was born, I had a lot of issues with breastfeeding, including sore/cracked nipples, low milk supply (such that we had to supplement with formula), etc etc. We didn't find the nurses at Kaiser to be all that helpful and some of them even tried to tell us that "this is just how it is at the beginning." So I really thought that I just needed to buck up and power through the pain or stop breastfeeding altogether. I remember talking to my doula about this and on her recommendation, we decided to check out the group lactation clinic that Farrell Topham and Katie Howser offered at Community Well on Tuesday mornings before giving up on nursing. These two ladies changed our lives!! My son and I (and even my husband) literally became regulars at their clinic for our first few weeks postpartum. Farrell and Katie helped me troubleshoot every breastfeeding issue I had and they were able to solve every single one of them. They taught me alternate nursing positions for different situations, how to use a pump properly (that was apparently the cause of my bruised nipple and not my son!), etc etc. I'm SO proud to say that all thanks to them, my son and I are now a happy breastfeeding pair!! And even now, I still go back to the clinic every once in a while when I run into a question, such as when my son decided to stage a "bottle boycott" a few weeks ago and when I needed their advice on how to prepare for going back to work. Or when I just need a sanity check about how many ounces my son is actually drinking during a nursing session or whether he's still gaining weight, because they always have their high-resolution scale with them at the clinic. In addition to breastfeeding help, Farrell and Katie also taught us a bunch more stuff about being new parents. Farrell showed us how to use a Moby, a ring sling, and an Ergo properly and now, we LOVE wearing our baby! They also gave us lots of advice about our upcoming international trip with our three-month-old (eeek!). Thank you Farrell and Katie!!! And thank you Community Well for offering such great programs in the heart of Excelsior!!

Community Well true to its name, is an amazing well of resource for families in the Excelsior…read moredistrict and beyond. There are many classes and free programs that caters to mothers, babies and even fathers. Some of the classes they offer include lactation clinics, holistic life coaching, infant massage, prenatal and postnatal yoga and fitness classes and many more. I think there is a class for everyone in the family. This is such a wonderful addition to this neighborhood. The place is beautifully decorated and is inviting. Once you come through the doors, you feel like you are in someone's home. The practitioners are all knowledgable and experienced in their fields. I would recommend this place in a heartbeat.

I cannot say enough good things about Lindsey and her postpartum care. She has a wonderful…read moregrounding and calming presence. My husband, babies and I all felt immediately comfortable with her. The oil massage, pelvic steam and food she provides are all so nourishing and healing. She is an excellent cook and her food is truly delicious. I could honestly eat it year round. It also makes it easy to get enough to provide for baby, which can be difficult in the early days. Everything is not only tasty but provides those essential nutrients to help with milk supply, building iron levels and caloric intake. We hired her for both of my babies and it's so worth it! If we're lucky enough to have more we would 100% work with her again!

I am so glad I added Lindsey's offerings to my birth journey!…read more I rented her birth tub which was such a good pain relief method for my unmedicated birth. Pick up / drop off and deposit / payment stuff was a breeze. The abhuyanga massages were such a boon to my physical and emotional well-being. When you have a newborn to care for, even when you know how important self-care is, you can find yourself rushing through things like showering etc. It was so great to have one hour where I couldn't rush things, I just had to relax and enjoy. So grounding and centering at a pivotal time in your life. Also my hair and skin were fabulous from the sesame oil which smells amazing. Lindsey has a warm, nurturing and calming presence which is important when inviting someone in to your home during such a delicate time. She always had such a helpful and never judgmental perspective on questions we had about newborn parenting. Be good to yourself and choose Lindsey, she's awesome.

I highly recommend booking Shawna to encapsulate your placenta. I used her services for my first…read moredelivery and it was a pleasant and easy experience. Her website is very thorough in explaining the process and booking was really easy. I went with having her pick up the goods at our hospital. My delivery happened at 10pm and we contacted Shawna at 6am the next day, and she was able to get to us by 11am the same day for pickup. Communication was friendly and quick which we really appreciated. After the pills were delivered, Shawna sent a helpful email with suggestions and tips on taking them. Also, I went with the coffee flavor for the pills and it really did mask the taste. 10/10, highly recommend!

First off, the items I did receive from Shawna were wonderful. However, there were several missteps…read morethat left what could have been a beautiful, sacred experience with my son's placenta really tainted. At first, communication was great and I got my initial items fine (capsules, dried placenta, etc). But I had also ordered a tincture which she said would be delivered 6 weeks later due to the time needed to make it. Great! She also still had our cooler from picking up the placenta, which she said she would deliver back to us. 6 weeks came and passed with nothing. She said she was waiting for time to be in our area to deliver both items...MONTHS went by with no communication. I had to repeatedly reach out to get updates and was told the same thing: I'll drop it off when I'm in the area. She finally gave up and agreed to send it....but mistyped our address which led to the tincture being lost in the mail. I could have corrected it earlier, so you could say that was on me. Miraculously, she said she still had some of my dried placenta and could make another one. Also great! But then communication dropped again. My baby was born in October. He is now 9 months old and I have not received my full order or communication about why. The only solution offered was a discount on future services...even though I mentioned multiple times we did IVF and this is very likely our only child. It was extremely tone deaf and insulting when it is unlikely we will be able to have another child. I wish I could recommend her more, as I'm grateful to have the keepsake of my son's placenta. But Shawna lacked communication, professionalism, and care when there were mistakes and I unfortunately cannot recommend her services.

I just completed a 4 week intuitive painting course with Claudia yesterday & it's been interesting…read more& powerful experience. I initially found the center through an instagram ad that was advertising their free open studio & decided to check it out. The intuitive painting course is not your typical course. The focus is being in community, learning to listen in & lean into your own intuition & creativity. There's no formal technique, no critiques or comments, but there is a lot of guidance & prompts to help you tap into your creative spirit. The goal is to create a painting from within & quiet the inner critic. It's about the process of letting go of "perfection" & to be create whatever comes up. It may sound a little woo-woo but the beauty of this process is that there's no right or wrong or good or bad painting - it's about your experience. If you're still unsure, I'd recommend dropping into a class to see what it's about. I definitely plan to take more classes in the new year.

I'm glad I experienced this they were so nice and the principle behind is pure…read more Not really my jam though, as an adult too much freedom and not enough structure. You're not allowed to talk or interact with other people. You are painting alone, together. But ironic that the facilitators can interrupt/critique you as they wish.

Shannon is everything we could have imagined for a doula--she is welcoming, warm, thoughtful, and…read morehas a lovely sense of humor! You get the whole package (and then some!) with her. As part of her doula services, she comes to your home for 3 prenatal visits, where you get the opportunity to try out practical exercises (from pregnancy massage techniques to pain alleviating exercises, talk through how your pregnancy is going individualizing our care and even review a manual binder that she provides for you. And of course, the main event, true labor and giving birth! Shannon has a way of just blending into your family during such an intense moment and your family's needs, stepping up and stepping down seamlessly, but always right there when we needed her. During labor/birth at the hospital, Shannon's belief and faith in me to surrender and brave through a natural birth never wavered. She really did it *all*--preparing bone broth for me to sip on in the midst of a contraction, acting as head cheerleader, setting the oxytocin mood in our delivery room with string lights, aromatherapy, and music. Oh, and not to mention, the hip squeezes and back rubs she provides in the most intense moments of labor. My husband and I had never been so impressed with a service before! Oh, I'm not done...she even did labor/birth photos for us, and a newborn session in our home two weeks postpartum. *cries happy tears* Thanks to Shannon, I experienced the most FUN and empowering birth. 12/10 recommend investing in her services!

For anyone seeking a birth doula, I wholeheartedly recommend Shannon. In our search, she stood out…read moreduring our initial meeting by not only trying to understand what we cared about but being able to reflect that understanding back at us with even more clarity. It was clear to us that Shannon's approach is personalized, recognizing that not every path to parenthood is the same. Having attended over 400 births, Shannon also brought a wealth of experience with her that shone through in her calming presence, well-balanced guidance, and the articulate birth plan she helped us craft. Her ability to address our worries without ever being dismissive, provide valuable advice at the right moment, and offer a diverse array of resources made our journey as first-time parents all the more enjoyable and helped us be prepared.