About

Meta Commerse, Founding Program Director, is a native Chicagoan, raised in the black arts movement. She is daughter of two artists, award-winning author of six books and one play, all focused on family violence prevention and healing. Meta earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Health Arts & Science, her Master of Arts degree in History, and her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, all from Goddard College in Vermont. She is Certified Wellness Practitioner, Adjunct Professor of history and English in Asheville, North Carolina. She is mother of three children and grandmother of three grandsons. Her first novel is entitled, The Mending Time.
Meta's interview with News Radio 570 WWNC's Celeste Collins:
Meta's interview with News Radio 570 WWNC's Celeste Collins:
Who are we?
Story Medicine Asheville is an organization of visionary healers and writers at various stages of expression, collaborating to present and grow our very unique program locally and beyond.
Program history: Meta Commerse
I always knew I would stumble upon something else through my work, that my formal training could not contain nor define me, so much as point me in a certain direction. Now, I’ve been formulating this community-based intervention project, since 1994.
I began as a nutrition teacher, holistic health counselor, and body worker, with a full-service wellness center in St. Louis, Missouri. Something happened there. After receiving my treatment, some of my practice members spontaneously began telling me their deepest, oldest and most traumatic stories.
Though this experience was a bit unsettling, I suspected a reason behind it. That reason, it turned out, was a guide to the mind/body connection, pointing out how the body held onto these experiences. Secondly, it was an usher to my own story.
Following the path to my story became my richest yet most painful, humbling experience. In it, I surrendered to total change, returned to school, conducted years of research, wrote, traveled, and formulated a holistic program of my dreams, one designed to empower and free its participants…
Today's program combines all we have learned over the past two decades about group dynamics, traditional indigenous healing, and the strong power of story. If you know that you have an untold story and are curious about what it might be, reach out to us.
Story Medicine Asheville is an organization of visionary healers and writers at various stages of expression, collaborating to present and grow our very unique program locally and beyond.
Program history: Meta Commerse
I always knew I would stumble upon something else through my work, that my formal training could not contain nor define me, so much as point me in a certain direction. Now, I’ve been formulating this community-based intervention project, since 1994.
I began as a nutrition teacher, holistic health counselor, and body worker, with a full-service wellness center in St. Louis, Missouri. Something happened there. After receiving my treatment, some of my practice members spontaneously began telling me their deepest, oldest and most traumatic stories.
Though this experience was a bit unsettling, I suspected a reason behind it. That reason, it turned out, was a guide to the mind/body connection, pointing out how the body held onto these experiences. Secondly, it was an usher to my own story.
Following the path to my story became my richest yet most painful, humbling experience. In it, I surrendered to total change, returned to school, conducted years of research, wrote, traveled, and formulated a holistic program of my dreams, one designed to empower and free its participants…
Today's program combines all we have learned over the past two decades about group dynamics, traditional indigenous healing, and the strong power of story. If you know that you have an untold story and are curious about what it might be, reach out to us.
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