Join us at Rising Hearts Studio in downtown Nehalem on Sunday June 25th, 12-4 PM, all are invited to an Open House at Rising Hearts — art, crystals, gifts, sound healing demos and much more! Through so much, Rising Hearts provides a community space for healing and peace.
Rising Hearts opened in 2020, and two weeks later, was closed due to COVID. It’s been a little turbulent, but we’ve made it through the last few years because of tremendous community support, and that’s something to celebrate. Open House means open door. Come hang out and enjoy the space. See the new store, meet with local artists who have work on display, enjoy some sound healing demos, place a piece in the community puzzle, and just enjoy community. Hope to see you there!
Christy Kay likes to say she has died and reincarnated many times in this lifetime. And it’s mostly true, in the metaphorical sense. Her life has been a journey, filled with twists and turns and major changes. Born and raised in the Midwest, she moved to the PNW in her late 20s with her then husband. She had worn the hats of puppeteer, office manager, graphic designer, cable installer, healthy foods café owner, and bookkeeper, among many others before she turned 35. Ten years ago, her car went off the road coming back from a benefit fundraiser for her dear friend with cancer and no health insurance, going down a 12-foot embankment before crashing into a pole. She suffered from a TBI(traumatic brain injury), broken back, and PTSD. This was the best/worst thing to happen to her, she says. It was a painful time- emotionally, physically, and spiritually, but it also started her down the path to healing and healer. After a year of constant pain, many, many doctor’s visits and allopathic treatments, she was still in pain, depressed, and hopeless. One day, a year after her accident, she received reiki from a friend, and it was a turning point. For the next two years she meditated daily and started studying energy medicine and quantum physics. Eventually, she was able to heal herself of all her injuries, and opened up her own healing practice.
Comsic Healing NW, where she began working with clients to help them heal deep issues that other practices didn’t help. She works mostly with those who have chronic illness, and using the many modalities she has mastered, like Reiki, Crystal Therapy, and Sound Healing, has had great results and has been doing this work for over 7 years. She finally found her calling. Also certified as a Spiritual Life Coach, she has added this to her list of healing support. Recently, she opened her healing practice up to animals with great results in clearing emotional trauma, erasing anxiety and attachment issues, as well as easing physical pain in all types of animals, though she has a special place in her heart for dogs and horses. Over three years into her private healing practice, Cosmic Healing NW, the Center for Contemplative Arts closed. She had used this space for sound baths, Chakradance classes, and meditation groups. She was dismayed to find that there was no other place comparable in the area. She prayed and asked for help. Her determination and calling to create a place of healing and community was strong and a core goal for her.
When she received a call from a friend who owned a building in downtown Nehalem that had space coming available, “Would she like to open a community space there?”, her friend asked, and it was an answer to her prayers. But was it a good idea to expand and grow? She began to talk to her friends, neighbors, and other community members about her intention and idea. And they all were very supportive and pushed her to move forward. They agreed that a healing space was needed, and she would be a great person to do it.
So, she took a leap. The space needed a new floor, and heat and lights, among other things. But every time she asked for help, it came. For example, when new flooring was purchased, and delivered, a group of local residents showed up to help put it in. Just like that. And that’s how Rising Hearts Studio really came into being. It’s been a community effort, in many ways. She put out a call to local healing arts teachers and practitioners and soon had two months of classes and events scheduled, from meditation, to Qigong, to yoga, and her own sound baths and dance classes, it was really happening, her dream of a community space filled with love and support was a reality.
And then, two weeks after opening, COVID hit the world like a bad dream, and she was shut down. She was disappointed but not deterred. Over the next few years, after being open and shut down many times, she road the waves and survived. She applied for and received local grants which helped tremendously. She moved her private practice into the back of the studio to help pay the lease and keep the space available until classes and events were able to come back. Eventually a store was added, showcasing the crystals, singing bowls, and art that are such a big part of her healing practice. The store hours were sporadic for a time, only open in between client sessions. Now, the upper walls are covered in paintings and other art of a few local artists, as well as her own. The bottom is layered with shelves of crystals, beeswax, crystal, and herb candles, and reiki infused bath salts, made on site. Singing bowls and other healing products have been slowly added to the shelves, and now the store has regular hours Thursday -Sunday afternoons, while classes and events have restarted again. There is a monthly drum circle, healing sound baths, meditation classes, Dance for Healing (open dance), community game night, and more to come. 
An infrared sauna is also available for rent, by the half hour. Eventually she would like to add a small kitchen, which would allow her to showcase her exclusive tea blend, Cosmic Healing Integration (CHI), made in collaboration with neighbor DoJu Moon, and also make healthy snacks available. She wants to be a welcoming sanctuary for all to come to – whether that is for a class, an event, a healing treatment, to buy crystals or art, to pop in and place a puzzle piece into the community puzzle table(that is always up), or to just come sit and find respite in the healing energy she works hard to create within the space daily, which she says, people are starting to do, as they begin to realize she’s there.
Now over three years in, Christy is having the grand opening she never got to have, because of Covid restrictions. And after making it through a global pandemic, and slowly recovering losses, it’s time! Rising Hearts Studio is here to stay. Sunday June 25th, 12-4 PM, all are invited to an Open House at Rising Hearts. She is looking forward to welcoming friends and neighbors alike to the space, to show them Rising Hearts Studio, and share in the space that was created to bring healing and community to all who need it. For more information, go to Rising Hearts Studio on Facebook
