communityspotlight
The Metamorphosis Center A Resource Center for
Minnesota’s Holistic Community by Michelle Hamburger
L
aura Strong, owner of The Metamorphosis Center (TMC), in Burnsville, has coined herself a holistic matchmaker. “I’m not a holistic practitioner and I don’t have a healing arts background,”
Strong says, “but I was exposed to many metaphysical practices on my personal path to health.” Understanding the various therapies body and mind can use to heal, Strong wanted an opportunity to give back to the community that helped her regain her health. In 2013, she opened TMC to be a usable and affordable resource for practitioners, their businesses and the people who seek their services.
True to the term metamorphosis, TMC offers a changeable environment to accommodate many needs, whether they’re business related or personal. “This space is open to anyone who is helping and not harming,” Strong advises. “The general public is welcome to participate in our events and classes. I have a library of books that people can read while they’re here, and practitioners can come to connect and collaborate with each other.” TMC boasts several unique gather- ing rooms that Strong offers as affordable meeting spaces for practitioners. “There are a lot of practitioners who work out of their homes or rent treatment rooms in wellness centers, and often they don’t have the space to host events,” she says. “At TMC, we are equipped with a projector, screen, microphone, and white board. They’re here and available.” Strong loves the creativity unique events require and personally works alongside projects to make sure the space is suitably tailored to each host’s needs. TMC’s rooms have been used for a wide variety of purposes, including move- ment classes, meditations, drum circles and educational workshops. TMC is home to The Holistic Chamber of Minnesota (HCMN), a local chamber organization helping holistic businesses network with one another. Strong founded HCMN because she wanted to use her corporate finance background and personal business connections to assist holistic practitioners in developing stronger business models and ensuring their future stability. “A unique aspect of many holistic businesses
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is that they’re small,” according to Strong, “and that means the person who is pro- viding holistic services also has to figure out how to do the books, the sales, the marketing, the programming—all of it.” Through HCMN, she has seen business owners and practitioners effectively col- laborate with one another, including shar- ing treatment space to reduce overhead, providing referrals, and even launching joint marketing plans.
HCMN meetings are held at TMC
on the second Wednesday of each month. The format for each chamber meeting includes a group medi- tation, business introductions, networking and/ or team-build- ing, and a guest speaker presenta- tion. Sometimes the presentation is done by a chamber member, but often Strong brings in special speakers who fo- cus on small busi- ness topics like
how to manage social media accounts or how to effectively market a business on a limited budget.
A new addition to TMC is the Ho-
listic Practitioner-In-Residence program. Starting this year, each month will feature a practitioner specializing in a different modality. The practitioner will offer two- and four-week mini-series classes allow- ing a longer period of time to get to know a healing modality rather than a single
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