CBS couple offering unique way to communicate through problem relationships

By Olivia Bradbury, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

This past August, CBS couple Trevor Raymond and Vee Howard started a small business they hope will exert a magnetic pull on customers.
Nine Crows Holistic Healing offers yoga and reiki, but also something they call Magnetic Union, a communication tool for people in conflict, or having trouble sharing their feelings.
It consists of a magnetic whiteboard, with magnetic silhouettes representing the users, and magnetic tiles for words.
“Each set of Magnetic Union has 30 prompts cards with it that are also magnetic,” said Raymond. “There’re 24 magnetic emoji emotion tiles. There’re magnetic chakra tiles, and a magnetic logo for Magnetic Union.”
Howard said Magnetic Union is about mental health. The couple both have family members who have dealt with mental health issues. Howard’s father took his own life two years ago.
“Some of these things are really important to help teach people to communicate in a way that’s healthy for everyone in their lives, but mostly for themselves,” said Howard.
Raymond said Magnetic Union grew from what they have studied and learned over the years —from yoga, to reiki, to the divine masculine and feminine teachings. They created Magnetic Union when going through difficult times in their own relationship.
“We initially just created this as a way for us to communicate, but it also has kind of grown,” said Raymond. “It is a useful way for self-reflection, for reflection within couples, but we’ve also had it evolve into ways that people can kind of be playful, spontaneous, flirt, check in, create moments of closeness in different ways. So, it is more now than just a mental health tool. It’s kind of all-encompassing as far as emotions and connection goes.”
At the time of this writing, the couple had already received orders for 13 sets. They have sold copies locally and to customers in the United States. “We’re behind a little bit on production of it because it’s a little bit hard to keep up so far,” said Raymond.
The couple sells the sets out of their home.
“We’re still pretty new to the business part of it,” said Howard. “We can sit down and do yoga and meditate all day long, but figuring out the business side of it is where we’re learning.”
Raymond said the response to Magnetic Union so far has been amazing. “The last course we did, we presented Magnetic Union as part of our final presentation,” he said. A testimonial for Magnetic Union can be found on Nine Crows Holistic Healing’s Facebook page. “The response has been faster than what we were expecting, and people love it so far.”
Raymond and Howard have a vision of making expansion packs for use in psychology offices, schools, and other places. “Anywhere where people are communicating, we see this as a vehicle or tool to help people take the stress away from the stories that make things hard to communicate and break it down to the emotions,” said Raymond.
“I think this, what we’re trying to sell, is really important,” said Howard, “because a lot of people now in society, between COVID and years by themselves, we live in a world where we communicate through messenger apps and texting. A lot of people now, even kids growing up, don’t know how to voice what they want to say in a way that is healthy communication.”
Magnetic Union, she said, gives people a non-verbal way to learn how to communicate exactly what they are feeling inside without fear or judgement.
“It connects people in the real world again instead of just online or on the screens,” Raymond added.