Bodies Do Stuff...
When I first met the tools that are at the center of Antlers of the Heart (breast + chest care, castor oil packing, lymphatic work, gua sha work, scar tissue remediation) it was at an herbal conference, nearly fifteen years ago. I happened into the outdoor class of DeAnna Batdorff, who in 3 hours had 40+ folks go from trepidatiously curious to shirts-off, oily, and engaging one another.
“Oh, your nipple does that, too!”
“Wait, you oozed white after breastfeeding? Mine made colors!”
“Hey, can you feel this bump and tell me if it feels familiar?”
“I have one innie and one outtie.”
“I have two outties”
“I have three nipples! The *extra* one did a weird thing in puberty.”
“This is a scar from my lumpectomy.”
“.....mastectomy.”
“...top surgery.”
“...implants.”
“....radical pre-vivor surgery.”
…
And I watched - in myself and in the entire group field - as a tension so deep and through-running that I hadn’t even known it was there, MELT. How?
There in the sunshine amidst all those bodies, I had my first experience of seeing how wide a range “typical” encompasses. How typical “atypicalities” are. We were normalizing the experience of being bodies. The tools were in our hands to do with as we wished, at our own pace, supported. There were teachers offering us pertinent, actionable information with clarity and kindness. We were caring for ourselves and supporting one another.
It changed my life forever.
That class brought me to the study of bodywork, and then to practitionership - and from there, to teaching. The joy has only increased: offering those seeds of care and agency to others, handing them a watering can, and beaming while they bloom.
In 15 years of bodywork practice, study, and teaching, I hear one question more than any other.
The question sounds like this:
“The weirdest thing happened….?”
“Do you see this much?”
“____ just occurred….should I worry?”
“I don’t have anything to compare this to; do you?”
“This is freaky….”
“Bet this never happens to anyone else, hunh?”
And means this:
“Am I normal?”
Which translates to me as:
“Am I loveable?”
Many of us spend very little time with other people’s bodies, besides perhaps the bodies of our lovers or our children (which can be complicated). Sometimes we experience touch from doctors (which can be complicated) - touch that is generally oriented to whatever pathology they’re looking for.
Increasingly the world over, humans don’t watch each other toilet, bathe, birth, or die. Few of us see other people have sex, except for porn (which…also potentially complicated). We may not even watch each other cook.
It’s rare for us to experience enough bodies to have any idea what bodies…do.
Come back with me to the class that changed my life, there in the sun that day. A door opened for me, leading to a whole new relationship to my own chest and breasts, an effect amplified by the context of other bodies, doing and being, in a welcoming, normalizing container.
→ What would life be like to befriend your own body, actionably, with tools and support?
→ What would it be like to get to be a body with other bodies?
→ What would it be like to see how other bodies work and, with utter consent and courtesy, get to have eyes-on contact with one another’s tissues in the spirit of service and knowledge-building?
→ What would it be like to know that you are in fact, loveable?
Nothing is outside of that possibility.
You simply can’t out-weird loveability.
Nothing about your body makes you unloveable.
Your body is just doing whatever a body does.
Bodies do stuff.
And you - singular, a/typical, totally special, never-before-seen you - are loveable.
In this class we get the chance to work with ourselves in the presence of one another, within crystalline containers of clarity, agency, and respect. We three teachers will be visible to the class and all participants may join in visibility or not. Look if you want, be seen if you want, all as works for you.
Radical, libertory care.
Everybody welcome: learn these tools for yourself, to offer to others, professionally, or for your community.
Everybody welcome: every possible gender can benefit from this work.
Everybody welcome: sliding scale tuition and scholarships available - please just ask.
Everybody welcome: pre-, post-, never surgeried. Scars or no scars.
Every. Body. Welcome.
See you online, friends.
Biggest love,
Willa
(+ Pam and mo)
For more class info, and to register: www.antlersoftheheart.com
Antlers of the Heart: Breast + Chest Care as Radical Self-Love
(co-facilitated by mo washburn, Willa Mamet + Pamela Samuelson)
December 7, 2025
10 am - 1 pm PST // 1 pm - 4 pm EST // 6 pm - 9 pm GMT
$120-240, scholarships + sliding scale available (please just ask)
WHEN?
December 7, 2025
ONLINE!
—> 10 am - 1 pm PST // 1 pm - 4 pm EST // 6 pm - 9 pm GMT
—> $120-240
—> scholarships + sliding scale available (please just ask)
—> video available to registrants for 6 months after
WHO IS THIS FOR:
Every body welcome…. & Especially if you are or support anyone with:
Perinatal + lactation experiences
Pre- or Post- Chest/Breast surgery of any kind (cancer-related, gender-affirming, augmenting/reducing)
Bodyworkers + Somatic Practitioners who include (or want to include) these parts of the body
A body who is interested in having greater agency, contact, and care with yourself
WHAT’S INSIDE:
3 hours of skill-building + supervised practice of the tools: castor oil packing, gua sha, self-massage
Anatomy + physiology instruction
Elemental discussion
Ritual <3
…. All regarding the extra/ordinary tissues of the chest + breasts.
WHO ARE THE TEACHERS: Pam, mo, and Willa: 3 queer bodyworkers with 50+ years of hands-on experience between us, ready to answer allllll the questions.
Register here:www.antlersoftheheart.com
<3 <3 <3