Willow & Ash

Willow & Ash Jennifer Francis-Gehring, LCSW, RYT- 200, BSN, BA. I provide Yoga and therapeutic services to the local Owensboro community. Appointments only.

I am an Old Soul, therapist, Yoga instructor, wounded healer, artist, storyteller, perpetual wanderer.

Created by yours truly. Let’s make Willow meme famous!!!!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
06/16/2026

Created by yours truly. Let’s make Willow meme famous!!!!!

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I love tinkering around with AI, asking it to create an image, based upon a picture I draw with words. It’s quite fun a...
06/15/2026

I love tinkering around with AI, asking it to create an image, based upon a picture I draw with words. It’s quite fun and brings me joy.

I hope you enjoy this image and words as much as I do.

Love light and the shadows,
Jennifer

It’s been 1095 days since I last held your hand. Seems like a lifetime and it seems like yesterday. My life now seems to...
06/12/2026

It’s been 1095 days since I last held your hand.

Seems like a lifetime and it seems like yesterday. My life now seems to be divided into two days…yesterday when you were here and today when you are not here. I heard this phrase from an amazing author and in this moment I cannot remember his name.

The first picture is what Chat GPT created based on my grief journey. I think it’s beautiful.

The second pic is on of my favorites of us together. Even though in that moment my mom had a broken leg and a blood clot…we didn’t know…the pain she must have felt and she still showed up for a bridal shower.

The third picture is of her around age 14-16 I believe and it captures her personality just as perfectly as the 4th picture.

The 5th is a beautiful representation of what I have felt in my grief journey and my mourning journey. Isolated, protected by nature and in the cover of night. I have found so much comfort in nature since her passing and its healing powers. Sitting in my rocking chair in my backyard with my Lionel (a tree) providing me shade and soft feathery breezes and allowing his ancient energy to ease my sorrow.

The 6th picture represents my transformation through grief. I was so scared of what grief would do to me…and what I have learned is that who I am today because of grief is exactly who I was meant to become and it has made me more patient, more kind, more tender hearted… and I am grateful for these gifts and I am sad on how they arrived.

The 7th picture is what helped me focus while I attended Yoga Teacher Training. Her beautiful smile and love of animals I felt her closeness through that endeavor and experience as I did hard things physically and emotionally, allowing my grief to run through my body, lying on the ground surrendering to grief and allowing my small community of yogis to to support me and love on my during on of the darkest moments, using their beautiful regulated energy to co-regulate for me…

The 8th and 9th pictures represent ways that I began healing with grief. Horses and Yoga. Movement. Breath. Nature. Music.

Grief robs you of connection and safety, healing provides the opportunity for new life to grow.

When I think back to the days of life without boundaries it’s a wonder I survived….and survived I did. What I have learn...
06/11/2026

When I think back to the days of life without boundaries it’s a wonder I survived….and survived I did.

What I have learned in the last 10 years of life as a therapist is that when we return to ourselves….when we begin to ask different questions that shift our attention and energy away from taking care of others, people pleasing and running ourselves ragged for others… and instead we return to ourselves…our bodies….our soul purpose in life something shifts within…

As we begin the journey home to ourselves…there is a remembering….a remembering of who we once were before our boundaries were skewed, torn and tattered, shredded.

This homecoming is filled with moments of triumph, tragedy and understanding. The road is not smooth going home…back to our true self. This road is filled with twists and turns, rocks, pitfalls and precarious moments.

Why do we even walk this path knowing that coming home to ourselves is so difficult?

Well, I tend to think that there comes a moment in everyone’s life where they come to a crossroads…a defining moment where the path before you is clear and you can see that that path does not lead to wholeness, restoration, transformation or healing.

And it is in that moment you can choose something different and in that difference a new path emerges and while it might be scary….it might also be the most amazing story of your life.

Boundaries are what keep us safe and help us teach others how we want to be treated. Boundaries are those moment so returning home.

Love light and the shadow
Jennifer

THIS.We are all beautiful and creative humans...we all have amazing ideas, creative ideas, problem solving ideas.And wha...
06/10/2026

THIS.

We are all beautiful and creative humans...we all have amazing ideas, creative ideas, problem solving ideas.

And what if...one of yours is exactly what the world needs...your co-worker needs...your best friend needs....

The possibilities are endless and unless we take the time to step out into vulnerability we will never know.

So today, my challenge to you is to use your voice and place an idea out into the world. It just might change your life in a way you never dreamed possible.

Love light and the shadows
Jennifer

So moving is hard work. Since I began packing up in May I have worked every day…seeing clients, packing, unpacking, dec...
06/08/2026

So moving is hard work.

Since I began packing up in May I have worked every day…seeing clients, packing, unpacking, decorating….every day. Rest only occurred in the evenings as I fall into my recliner and snuggle in with my sweet Kiwi and Willow.

There have been lots of moments of dysregulation….and there have been lots of moments of connection and regulation. The Both/And principle.

I am now in the phase of decorating as all of the boxes have been unpacked and I now am giving homes to things in the new space. I will miss Flo - as we affectionate called the house- and so many clients have expressed gratitude for accessibility in the new space. In fact that was the #1 need on my search for a space.

Today I have decorated a wall in the Yoga/ Waiting room space and I find it to be quite symbolic of a healing journey…shadow work under the Moon ascension and guidance into meeting your higher self/ soul through following your North Star toward authenticity and the Sun bringing to light that what which has been in darkness….illuminating your path to the door…a portal….a threshold to something…..different. Unknown. Unfamiliar.

How brave and courageous one must be to engage in a heroine’s/ hero’s journey… to open the door and walk through the threshold.

I see so much in this small gallery of lovely images…I see so much of my own journey of healing.

And….I am curious…..what do you see when you see these images? What speaks to your soul…

Love light and the shadows
Jennifer

In what ways have you abandoned yourself….unknowingly and knowingly. Sometimes the truth hurts deeply because it is an ...
06/08/2026

In what ways have you abandoned yourself….unknowingly and knowingly.

Sometimes the truth hurts deeply because it is an acknowledgment of the ways we have wronged ourselves.

Healing is about a returning home to your body….your intuition…your inner child who is yearning to be seen, heard and validated.

How might your inner child heal from past traumas too?

What if….this moment was the beginning of something more….something validating….something that begins to bloom and take shape as you actively begin creating the life you have dreamed of…simply by experiencing connection, safety and settling into the stillness where your inner child awaits.

Love light and the shadows
Jennifer

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401 Frederica Street, Suite 101 D
Owensboro, KY
42301

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