Sissa

Sissa Embodied Living + Soulful Goods
Sissa is a space for seasonal living, somatic practice, movement, sound, and community.

The shop offers books, gifts, and ritual goods that support everyday practices inspiring joy, presence, and connection.

09/05/2026

What if feeling more balanced started with paying attention to the season you’re in?

We’re growing our Ayurveda section at Sissa with a new selection from Banyan Botanicals.

If Ayurveda is completely new to you, think of it as an invitation to pay attention to your body, the seasons, your daily rhythms, and the small practices that help bring you back toward balance.

I brought in a thoughtfully chosen collection from Banyan to start. Ayurvedic oils and self-massage care, Golden Milk, Gentle Triphala, Shatavari, herbal formulas, women’s health support, Joint Balm, and a other things I’ve personally been wanting to bring into the shop.

As we move from the heat of Pitta season toward the cooler, drier, more changeable qualities of Vata season, it’s a beautiful time to explore practices centered around warmth, nourishment, grounding, rhythm, and rest.

And if words like Vata, Pitta, Kapha, or abhyanga mean absolutely nothing to you yet, that’s completely fine. You don’t need to know your dosha or understand Ayurveda before you walk through the door.

Come in curious. I’m always happy to talk Ayurveda, help you learn a little more, and show you where you might begin.

BOOKS I’M REACHING FORAs we’re moving swiftly toward fall, I keep finding myself drawn to Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways t...
09/03/2026

BOOKS I’M REACHING FOR

As we’re moving swiftly toward fall, I keep finding myself drawn to Root & Ritual: Timeless Ways to Connect to Land, Lineage, Community, and the Self by Becca Piastrelli.

This time of year, as the weather begins to change and the leaves start to fall, is the perfect invitation to explore our roots and what grounds us: our relationship to the land, where we come from, what we value, and how we connect with ourselves and each other.

It’s divided into four parts - Land, Lineage, Community, and Self. You can open it almost anywhere and find something to explore. Tending and growing, making a sacred home, connecting with lineage through food and folklore, gathering and friendship, honoring life and death, knowing your worth, and activating the wild within.

I’ve been picking this one up more and more lately. It’s interactive, filled with recipes, rituals, stories, and questions that make you think about your own roots, your values, and where you want to go. It’s also digestible, which is huge in a world where we’re constantly taking in so much information.

You can slowly make your way through it, or just pick it up and open to wherever you feel drawn.

And the illustrations by Amy Grimes are gorgeous. It happens to be really beautiful sitting on a coffee table or bookshelf.

It also feels especially connected to Brenda and Jane’s upcoming Embodied Earth Retreat, a space to slow down, reconnect with yourself, the earth, and explore embodiment through movement and reflection. If that work is calling to you, this book is probably calling you too.

Embodiment isn’t something we perform, it’s something we remember.SISSA sounds like sis: sister, kin, familiarity. This ...
09/03/2026

Embodiment isn’t something we perform, it’s something we remember.

SISSA sounds like sis: sister, kin, familiarity.

This space was built slowly with intention, as a love letter to self, to my children, to community, and to the lineage that shapes us.

It’s a space rooted in kinship and a place to hold our stories: where we’ve been, where we’re going, and what we’re ready to release.

SISSA is an embodiment space where we blend sound and energy healing, yoga, dance, and somatic movement. It’s also home to a thoughtfully curated shop with books, gifts, wellness tools, and ritual goods meant to be used in everyday life.

It’s a place to celebrate joy and becoming, while also making room for the parts of life that shape us without letting them harden us.

This is SISSA.

Some offerings come together and you immediately know they are special.On September 27, Jane Hawley and Brenda Harris ar...
09/02/2026

Some offerings come together and you immediately know they are special.

On September 27, Jane Hawley and Brenda Harris are coming together at Sissa for an Embodied Earth Sunday Retreat, and I am genuinely so excited to have these two women sharing this space.

If you’ve been in Decorah for a while, you probably already know their work.

Jane Hawley brought embodiment and somatic dance to this community and founded the dance program at Luther College. She has spent years helping people experience movement as something more than performance. A way to listen, explore, and connect with our bodies.

Brenda Harris is a local acupuncturist and Qigong teacher who has been practicing in this community for years. Her work is rooted in Chinese medicine, Qigong, and the connection between our bodies, energy, and the natural world.

They’ll spend the afternoon guiding us through gentle Qigong, Movement Fundamentals, breath, and somatic movement, with lots of space to slow down, pay attention, and reconnect with our bodies and the earth beneath us.

And you absolutely do not need to be a dancer or know anything about Qigong or somatic movement to come.

Come move, get curious, slow down for a few hours, and maybe leave feeling a little more grounded in your own skin.

September 27 • 3–6 PM
Sissa • Decorah
$90

If September doesn’t work, Jane and Brenda will be back for a second Embodied Earth Retreat on Sunday, October 25 • 3–6 PM

All bodies and abilities are welcome, ages 13+.

Space is limited and registration is open now.
www.sissa.co

Feeling the seasonal shift?We’re beginning to move into Vata season, a time when many of us find ourselves coming and go...
08/28/2026

Feeling the seasonal shift?

We’re beginning to move into Vata season, a time when many of us find ourselves coming and going, making big moves and adjusting to change. There’s a lot happening in our own little microcosms, and even more unfolding in the larger world around us. You can feel the movement of it all in everyday life.

We’re moving through some changes in our little world over here, too. On the lighter side, the shop is beginning to take on the colors and textures of fall.

A few new pieces have arrived, including a small taste of Día de los Mu***os. This time of year carries traditions of ancestry, remembrance and honoring those who came before us across so many cultures.

We also have new Happy Earth organic tanks in a yummy fall color. Somewhere between aubergine and espresso, and just as cozy as it sounds.

Cheers to a season of change, remembrance and finding our footing.
…
Stay tuned to see that shift unfolding throughout the shop over the coming weeks.

Found this little good luck toad on our doorstep this morning.Across many cultures and throughout folklore, these ground...
08/22/2026

Found this little good luck toad on our doorstep this morning.

Across many cultures and throughout folklore, these grounding little creatures are seen as symbols of good fortune, protection, stability and transformation.

Or maybe he’s just here to eat the juicy flies.

Either way, I put out a little dish of water as a thank you and to help him safely along his way.

Curious about Reiki? This Reiki I & II certification course is for anyone who wants to become a Reiki practitioner or si...
08/20/2026

Curious about Reiki? This Reiki I & II certification course is for anyone who wants to become a Reiki practitioner or simply learn to use Reiki for themselves.

You’ll leave trained, attuned and certified, ready to practice Reiki for yourself and share it with others if you choose.

Registration is requested by Friday, August 21.

Questions? Contact Laura or send us a message. Learn more and register through the link in our bio.

How do you fill a journal?I like to draw and collage in mine. Some people need lines. Others want a completely blank pag...
08/20/2026

How do you fill a journal?

I like to draw and collage in mine. Some people need lines. Others want a completely blank page. A dot grid is the happy medium.

With the season of turning inward approaching, a fresh stack of journals has arrived in vegan leather and canvas, in all shapes and sizes. Whatever you need to get out of your head and onto paper, there’s a journal for it. More are still to come.

Before I could even get the pendulums and rings out on the floor today, they were selling right off the counter as I was...
08/19/2026

Before I could even get the pendulums and rings out on the floor today, they were selling right off the counter as I was unpacking them.

As a practitioner first and foremost, I take a lot of care in what I choose to bring into the shop. It took me a long time to decide whether I wanted to carry gemstone jewelry and pendulums. Not because I don’t value the energetic qualities associated with them, but because I wanted to be really intentional about what I was offering, and why.

I wanted to choose pieces that felt supportive for the season we’re moving into, and for where so many of us seem to be right now.

There’s already quite a bit of brass and bronze in the shop, along with a little sterling, but copper felt the most aligned this time around-especially as we move toward fall.

In many traditions, copper is associated with connection and flow, often seen as a bridge between different states of awareness. In Ayurveda, it is also said to help balance the three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. (More on the doshas another day… I promise.)

I hand selected these gemstone pieces for stabilizing during this strange little in-between moment. We’re still being cooked by the summer sun, but fall is already pressing in. It feels like a lot of us are just kind of floating right now, trying to figure out what’s next and find our footing again. Not to mention the support we’ll need as the light starts to fade.

That was what I had in mind when choosing these.

And, yes! stop in before they’re gone.

Address

111 E Water Street
Decorah, IA
52101

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sissa posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category