Apr. 2010 Essential Wellness

exploring pathways to inner peace, health & healing

Living Green Dying Green april 2010

www.esswellness.com

Cover artist: Richard Bonk

Featuring

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staff TO ADVERTISE: Dee LaFroth, Sales Manager, 715.259.3047, sales@esswellness.com Charge cards accepted.

Production/ Ad Liaison Melissa May, amayz@comcast.net Editorial Info Lynn S. LaFroth, Managing Editor, info@esswellness.com Writers Guidelines: www.esswellness.com Art Director Sunshine Sevigny, info@esswellness.com

inside april 2010

LIVING GREEN, DYING GREEN 4

COVER ARTIST RICHARD BONK: Visionary artist Richard Bonk participates in April 2010: “Arts in Healthcare Month”

5 In Search of the Science Behind the Healing Powers of Art by RON WINSLOW 7 NEW COLUMN: Dear Grace by JANET HOVDE 8

LIVING GREEN DIRECTORY

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o green from beginning of life to end of life G

by JIGME JANE BRUSS

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ome funeral or funeral home?

H Green is now an option by LUCY BASLER

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Living Green Expo returns this spring

www.EssWellness.com 4270 Honey Tree Pass Danbury, WI 54830

13-14 CALENDAR

© 2010. Essential Wellness is published by Twin Cities Wellness and was founded

by Dee and Lynn LaFroth in 1995.

Advertising is accepted at the discretion of the publishers and does not imply endorsement.

Views and information expressed in this publication belong to the writers and do not necessarily reflect the sentiments, policies, or editorial opinion of Essential Wellness.

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If permission is granted, please attribute Essential Wellness and the date of the issue.

april 2010

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ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST

Visionary Artist Richard Bonk participates in Arts in Healthcare Month

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HE MAYORS of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, and Hudson, WI have issued proclamations declaring April 2010 “Arts in Healthcare Month” Dozens of public events throughout the region will feature the work of organizations which combine arts and healing towards the goal of lifting the human spirit and inspiring optimal health. The Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network (MAIHN) is listing the events on their website. Many are free of charge. See www.maihn.org This month-long community celebration will culminate with the Society for the Arts in Healthcare’s 21st Annual International Conference, hosted by the University of Minnesota. The conference, open to anyone interested in arts and healing, will be held at the Minneapolis Hilton from Apr. 28 to May 1, 2010. See www.thesah.org Arts in Healthcare is a diverse, multidisciplinary field dedicated to transforming the healthcare experience and promoting wellness by connecting people with the power of the arts at key moments in their lives. This rapidly growing field integrates the arts, including literary, performing, music, visual arts, architecture, horticulture and other disciplines where creativity, design and aesthetics are key elements into a wide variety of healthcare, community and domestic settings for therapeutic, educational and expressive purposes. Focus is on: Patient Care. The arts benefit patients by aiding in their physical, mental and emotional recovery, including relieving anxiety and decreasing the perception of pain. In an atmosphere where the patient often feels

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out of control, the arts can serve as a healing tool, reducing stress and loneliness and providing opportunities for self-expression.

In addition, research shows that the arts can reduce length of stay in the hospital—offering savings in healthcare costs.

Healthcare Environments.

The arts create safer, more supportive and functional environments in healthcare facilities. From architectural design to art on the walls, from access to natural lighting to the inclusion of nature through landscape and healing gardens, the physical environment has a significant impact on reducing patient and caregiver stress; improving health outcomes; enhancing patient safety and overall quality of care; and reducing costs. The physical environment also plays an important role in improving the health, safety and increasing job satisfaction for staff.

Caring for Caregivers. Caregivers, such as family, friends and healthcare providers are faced with the realities of human suffering, illnesses and death on a daily basis. Arts programming for caregivers creates a more normative environment, and offers caregivers an opportunity for creativity and self-expression that allows them to healthfully integrate their experiences and emotions. In addition, the arts give medical professionals new tools for improving diagnostic and communication skills.

The arts help overcome barriers by embracing diversity, reinforcing family members’ supportive role in the healing process, and changing the culture within the healthcare facility to one that is more supportive and humane.

Community Well-Being. Arts in healthcare can benefit communities by engaging people in arts programs aimed at promot-

ing prevention and wellness activities and communicating health information. For students in medical and other healthcare fields, the arts can enhance their skills—improving their observational, diagnostic and empathic abilities.

MAIHN is a Minnesota based coalition of healthcare providers, artists, and community members working together to integrate the creative arts into the world of health and healing.

Locally, the Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network (MAIHN) is a coalition of healthcare providers, artists, and community members from the upper Midwest working together to integrate the arts into the world of health and healing. Since being founded in 2006 our grass roots group has grown to over 300 members, making us the largest of its kind in the world.

Because of its success, the group has come to the attention of the Society for Arts in Healthcare which is using the group as a template to guide the creation of similar groups world-wide. Midwest Arts in Healthcare Network (MAIHN): www.maihn.org Society for Arts in Healthcare: www.thesah.org/template/index.cfm.

This month’s cover artist Richard Bonk has worked in health care, counseling, human services, research and education for over 25 years with a focus in preventative, complementary and alternative medicine and mind-body approaches to physical, psychological and spiritual health and wellness.

He has a Masters of Education and currently works as a health educator and wellness coach for CIGNA. He also teaches yoga, meditation and integrated relaxation. Richard has a special interest in the intersection of arts, healthcare and spirituality and is a founding member of MAIHN. For more information visit www.richardbonk.com. l

by RON WINSLOW

In Search of the Science Behind the Healing Powers of Art Editor’s Note: The following article is a reprint from “Heart Beat,” a column in the Wall Street Journal. It relates to the healing power of art in healthcare. Our cover artist Richard Bonk is active in the Minneapolis arts and healthcare community. See article page 4

artist: richard bonk

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U L I A S T R E C H E R WA S nine years old when she had her second heart transplant. Her body had rejected the first heart she received with particular vehemence: She went into cardiac arrest six times in two hours. As doctors struggled to revive her, she recalls, she could hear them debating whether to give up.

“I was trapped in my body,” says Ms. Strecher, now 18. “I was trying to tell people I was alive and not to pull the plug.” A few months after she went home with her second new heart, she began having nightmares in which she watched herself suffering cardiac arrest.

But then, she began writing down her thoughts about being helpless. Eventually

she turned the details into poems and stories. “It was extremely emotionally healing and freeing,” she said. “It helped me relieve a lot of stress and provided a distraction from pain and depression.” The nightmares went away.

Ms. Strecher’s case seems a striking illustration of the healing potential of creative expression. But is it science? Can the power of the arts to soothe, transform and inspire be enlisted to treat—and perhaps even prevent—heart disease?

These are the questions driving a fledgling organization called the Foundation for Art & Healing. With the help of an eclectic group of researchers, artists and health-care providers, the Brookline, Mass., foundation is mapping out a research agenda intended to determine whether artistic expression could be a valid clinical intervention—along with exercise, healthy diets and medicines—for reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease.

“We expect doctors to ask us if we smoke,” says Jeremy Nobel, a lecturer at Harvard School of Public Health and founder of the organization. “Should we expect them to ask us, ‘Do you have a creative outlet?’ ” The idea has already attracted notable supporters. Johnson & Johnson, the health-care giant that markets health and wellness programs, and the U.S. unit of Philips Electronics NV are early corporate sponsors for the foundation. Laurel Pickering, executive director of the New York Business Group on Health, is an adviser.

“It could be an additional tool in our pocket to improve health outcomes,” Ms.

Pickering says. But “the business community, in order to support this, is going to have to have some evidence that it does work.”

There’s no lack of evidence linking emotions and heart health. A 2004 study known as Interheart that involved nearly 30,000 patients in 52 countries is just one example. It found that “psychosocial factors,” including depression and stress, were as strong a risk factor for heart attack as high blood pressure and nearly as important as diabetes.

Yet there are few remedies proven to reduce heart attack and related risks by alleviating emotional maladies.

Enter the arts. “By engaging in dance, poetry or music, people are likely to initiate processes that help them manage stress, reduce negative mood states and perhaps change behavior that we know impacts cardiovascular risk and recovery,” says Joshua Smyth, a psychologist at Syracuse University who is another adviser to Dr. Nobel’s project. That’s the theory, but hard evidence is lacking.

Some studies are intriguing. New Zealand researchers asked patients with congestive heart failure to draw pictures showing what they thought their hearts looked like.

Those who portrayed their hearts with the most damage turned out to have worse outcomes. That raised the possibility that doctors could use drawings to help change patients’ views of their disease and perhaps alter their course for the better.

Search continued on page 6 april 2010

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Search from page 5

Just last week, Italian researchers reported in the journal Circulation that blood pressure and respiratory rates can synchronize with music—increasing, for instance, during crescendos and coming down during pauses or decrescendos.

The finding could help guide the use of music as therapy for heart and stroke patients. Other research has shown that music helps prolong exercise by distracting participants from pain.

Even before she began writing about her experience, Ms. Strecher, who told her story to a group of artists and health-care providers Dr. Nobel convened in New York last week, played music on a keyboard in her hospital bed and drew pictures to distract her from her fear and post-surgical pain. About five years after her transplant, she wrote a 2,250-word essay called Winner’s Choice that she says helped put her ordeal into perspective.

In one passage describing her feelings of loss of control, she wrote: “She never saw anyone but her family and she never had a good dream. Every night she died. Every night she fought.

Every night she was helpless.”

In another place, she wrote: “She had waited so long to know what she fought for. She had fought so hard and it was worth every drop of blood. ...There would always be blood and pain but she had won.”

The essay enabled her to turn her experience “into some-

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thing that would later drive me to make the most of my life,” she says. Ms. Strecher just graduated from high school in Ann Arbor, Mich., and plans to enter nursing school in the fall.

Though she makes a strong case, Ms. Strecher also reflects a bias that Dr. Nobel and his colleagues worry about as they seek to establish the science behind art’s healing impact: Examples like Ms. Strecher, whose mother is an art teacher, typically are about people already comfortable and skilled in the arts. One hurdle is determining how to make artistic expression work for people who have little experience painting or listening to poetry or who are intimidated by the process, Dr. Smyth says.

Another, bigger challenge is to extend art’s potential beyond helping individuals and make it a resource that reduces the cardiovascular-disease burden on society. “This isn’t a new cardiacimaging technology,” Dr. Nobel says. “Many of the things we’re talking about are free or close to free.” All the more reason to understand their impact, he says.

Write to Ron Winslow at ron.winslow@wsj.com. Reprint from Heart Beat Wall Street Journal, 07/14/09 l

Dear Grace

BY JANET HOVDE

Essential Wellness announces a new column by Janet Hovde called “Dear Grace.” Although her advice is not meant to displace conventional healthcare knowledge and diagnosis, Hovde can offer a different slant, an intuitive perspective, regarding the “energy” of your healthcare issue. Please see a health practitioner for chronic health problems.

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HAT IF there was a Dear Abby to answer questions about intuitive healing?” was a question that crossed my mind as I folded my newspaper for recycling. Hours later, “Dear Grace” was born. You might have a pain or unusual physical symptom that hasn’t been relieved by the methods you’ve tried so far. Or you might have had a similar experience with anxiety. The questions addressed in this column will be chosen intuitively, with the intention of answering those with the greatest benefit for the most readers. Distance healing will be provided for the letter writer, along with a bit of education and perhaps even homework. Names will be changed to preserve privacy. Send your queries to deargrace@janethovde.com Dear Grace: I have a sharp pain in my midsection on the right side. My CAT scan in December was negative. Right now it’s a dull ache. Is there anything that can be done to improve it?—Gwen Gwen, On an energy level, there are adhesions from past life traumas in this area of your body. I want you to open the

chakras on the bottom of your feet. You can do this by picturing an opening, or by inviting an opening. I am clearing energies to help them to open easily. Now imagine that any stuck energies are flowing down your body and out your feet, to be recycled into the Earth. As you do that, I am inviting the stuck energies to dissolve and release. Now you might be noticing a sharp feeling in this area. There are now past life experiences of spear injuries surfacing. Notice the openings on the bottom of your feet again, allowing these energies to also dissolve and release. If you would like to continue your healing, your “homework” is to release excess energies through your feet once a day. Good times to do this are when leaving work or before going to bed.

Dear Grace: Will my boyfriend and I get married? Is he the one?—Wondering Wondering, I don’t know. The focus of my work is on the present state of your energy system. When I know what your goal is, I can check to see if it is in your highest good. If it is, we can work together to align your energy with the goal and identify whether there are next steps for you to take.

Dear Grace: What kinds of questions might I ask you?—Linda Linda, That is a good question! Start with this: If anything were possible, what would you like? It might be improved shoulder or neck motion, or relief from pain. It might be freedom from thinking and worrying about the same situation again and again. It might be the cessation of panic attacks. It might be improved focus and the ability to finish tasks—and once the question is asked, distance healing can be provided, and your energy starts to align with your stated goal. You will likely be given homework to anchor in your changes. And—surprise!—the homework is likely to be useful to others in their situations. I invite you to watch this column unfold with me.

Janet Hovde, MA, OTL, CHTP, is celebrating the 12th year of her healing practice, with appointments available in Roseville, MN & Hudson, WI. She enjoys watching her clients learn to care for their energy system and access their own inner wisdom. See website for her classes and fiber art: www.janethovde.com.

Email your Dear Grace question to deargrace@janethovde.com. 651-487-2744. l

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living green directory ECO-RETREATS/B & Bs Journey Inn, an eco-retreat 715-448-2424 Maiden Rock, WI www.journeyinn.net

FAMILY DIRECTED HOME FUNERALS/NATURAL BURIALS Lucy Basler

Journey Inn is a green B & B that provides guests with a soulpleasing, eco-friendly environment in a quiet, natural setting.

Available for relaxing overnight stays & group retreats. Organic breakfast served. Journey Inn is a distributor of Vivetique Natural Latex beds. Located 1 hour from St. Paul.

Families can show their love and respect by caring for their deceased loved one at home and by completing and filing all legal documents.

Grief is dwelt with in a healthier way. Natural burials require what is buried be exclusively biodegradable.

715-866-7798 sacredceremoniesltd@gmail.com Webster, WI

SUSTAINABILITY BS in Sustainable Management Online Degree Program 1-877-895-3276 www.sustain.wisconsin.edu

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Get ready to take advantage of new career opportunities in the growing green economy. It provides a comprehensive understanding of how natural processes, business structures and social needs intersect. As an online program, you’ll enjoy quality instruction by the same distinguished University of Wisconsin faculty as those on campus; flexibility, being able to study when and where it’s most convenient for you; and adviser support. This program is ideal for those seeking a degree-completion program and for business professionals who wish to enhance their marketability.

april 2010

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LIVING GREEN, DYING GREEN

Go green from beginning of life to end of life

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ACH YEAR nearly one million gallons of carcinogenic formaldehyde are embalmed in the United States. Over two million tons of metal and reinforced concrete are buried in cemeteries.

Volatile gases, heavy metals and particulates (from mercury-amalgam dental fillings) are released daily into the atmosphere through cremation.

Global climate change is real. Efforts to minimize our carbon footprint are necessary. When a loved one passes, though, what can we do?

The solution is a green funeral—no preservatives, metal caskets, concrete vaults or other features typical of conventional burials. The Green Burial Council and Centre for Natural Burial indicate that green burials reduce environmental devastation, preserve natural habitats and are more affordable. Conventional burials with plot can cost approximately $9,000; green practices usually cost less than half this amount.

Eco-cemeteries dedicated to natural burials have sprouted in nearly 20 states. The first U.S. site, located in South Carolina, was founded in 1998 by Kimberley and Billy Campbell.

THE TAO IS GREEN Green has always been “in.” Prior to the Civil War, secular and non-secular burial practices utilized wood, jute, or reed caskets (Iowa’s Swedish Museum has examples) or simple shrouds. Since embalming has no roots in Christianity—“ashes to ashes, dust to dust”—it was considered sacrilegious. When bodies were transported

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long distances from the battlefield to home, embalming with arsenic became a necessary courtesy. But according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control embalming provides no public health benefit, is not required by federal law and doesn’t preserve the body.

It simply delays decomposition. Due to the volatility of embalming fluids, OSHA requires embalmers to wear a respirator and full-body coverall. However, the effluent is not regulated and is flushed into the common sewer system.

In green burials bodies are preserved using dry ice or a cooler for up to three or four days. Un-embalmed remains are put directly into the ground, shrouded in cloth or buried in biodegradable caskets. The GPS-located (hard copy backup) internment is situated away from water sources.

The grave is hand-dug, protecting adjacent foliage and soil. Native plantings and flat fieldstones mark each grave. For cremated remains, aerial dispersion of ashes and burial in biodegradable urns are common.

Some conventional providers are green, too. Forest Home Cemetery, a Milwaukee landmark, provides a two-and-a-half acre meadow replete with native grasses for natural burials. The Co-op America Green Business Network includes listings for ecocemeteries plus natural burial and end-oflife service providers.

RIGHT ACTION IS GREEN If a natural burial seems undignified or a health risk, then choose a conventional burial. You can still be green and reduce your carbon footprint: Use recycled paper for programs or song sheets. Source your

BY jigme jane bruss flowers and refreshments from organic, local growers. Carpool. Ask friends or group members (your church’s Women’s Guild, for instance) to provide their home for the post-burial meal and a congregating place for those not able to traverse cemetery grounds.

Being green is living sustainably for present and future generations—making choices that support, nourish, and vitalize our spirit-mind-body, our communities of friends and family, our neighborhoods and our Mother Earth. Old-school values and practices of kindness, thoughtfulness, simplicity, and handmade durables are replacing contemporary society’s insatiable consumption of virtual reality and prepackaged items, including funerals.

You, too, can break the cycle by making your arrangements for a natural burial or home-held life celebration with the help of a green chaplain. You’ll rejoice with gratitude at your life journey and plant the seeds of right action for future generations.

Jigme Jane Bruss (janebruss@visi.com) is an essayist, university educator and certified Master Naturalist. l

LIVING GREEN DYING GREEN

Home funeral or funeral home?

Green is now an option

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HE TWO most significant events in our lives are moving through the thresholds of our birth and our death. So now is the time to choose to make our exit as meaningful, as spiritual, and as green as we want.

We can choose between traditional (home funeral) and conventional (funeral home) rituals with the openness to blend portions of the two. As most of us are familiar with the conventional funeral home, let me re-introduce to you what I consider the traditional home funeral, which more or less disappeared in the first half of the 20th century.

BENEFITS OF HOME FUNERALS Home funerals require no special training, are legal in most states*, and help tremendously in the grief process. There is the pain of loss, but the time alone with your deceased loved one allows for added healing. Just the gesture of washing the body is quite therapeutic. Anointing the body with oil is quite biblical and adds to the sacredness of this moment. Caring for your loved one at home becomes an act of love, allows us to be with the body any time of the day or night, and opens us up for an epiphany as we begin to realize after a day or two that this body is not our mother, husband or child, but just the jacket for their spirit— the essence of who they were.

A wonderful benefit of having a home funeral is that it is a family affair. Even the children can participate. Strong people are needed to help move the body. There is planning to be done before the death oc-

curs. This is not as easy as making a phone call to the funeral home.

Since working with family directed home funerals, my experience has lead to the belief that spending as much time as possible with the body whose life you loved is paramount. We need to honor the person, the life, and the gifts this person shared with us. To make those final good-byes it is essential to have quiet time, celebratory time, and a time for remembering. This transition from life to death is sacred and involves intimacy and gentleness.

GREEN FUNERALS: AN ANCIENT TRADITION Caring for our deceased loved ones is an ancient tradition. During the Civil War, undertakers emerged and undertook to take care of the casualties, embalming them in order to send them home. Embalming became acceptable. As a result fewer and fewer families continued to care for their own. Dying at home and having a home funeral (without embalming) had been a part of living just as birthing a child had been. Today, it is common for families to have a birth plan, so why not have a death plan?

At the time of death, when shock comes over us and we feel out of control, being empowered to make all the decisions concerning the care of our de-

by LUCY BASLER ceased loved one brings a sense of peace and gratitude. There are no strangers present, there are no time constraints, there is the appreciation of the mystery of death, there is the freedom to be with the body day and night, singing, crying, reading, meditating, sharing memories and more, and it is all legal. Being with the body is called the vigil.

During the two or three day vigil, sitting quietly, one can often feel a peace, a sense of spiritual presence, and an enhanced state of awareness. We have confronted our fear of death and our own mortality, and have found serenity. *(Except Connecticut, New York, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Louisiana) Lucy Basler is a home funeral guide in northwestern Wisconsin who consults with families, educates, and informs the public that there are choices in after-death care. She is Director of Sacred Ceremonies, Ltd, whose mission is to assist people through their transitions in life. www.sacredceremoniesltd. org and www.sacredgrove.us. l april 2010

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LIVING GREEN, dying green

Living Green Expo returns this spring

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OR MORE than 100,000 Minnesotans over the last eight years, the Living Green Expo has become an annual spring tradition and the place to learn about the latest in healthy and sustainable living. Unbeknownst to many, because of state budget cuts, exhibitors and sponsors were notified in November the annual event was canceled.

A few weeks later, the Minnesota Environmental Partnership (MEP), the statewide nonprofit coalition of more than 80 conservation and environmental organizations, opted to take over leadership of this important, free event. The Living Green Expo is one way the MEP can help Minnesotans live greener and care for natural resources.

“We are proud our organization stepped up to save the Living Green Expo,” said Steve Morse, executive director of the MEP. “We are committed to protecting and defending our state’s great outdoors legacy, including making sure Minnesotans have access to the latest in safer, smarter and sometimes cost-cutting green options.”

One of the largest and most successful green events of its kind, the family-friendly Expo will be May 1 from 10 a.m. to 6

p.m. and May 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Grand Stand. This year’s event will include more than 250 exhibits and displays teaching everything from simple tips to living greener to more complex ways to change lifestyles.

Topics include information on shrinking carbon footprints, keeping families safe from toxins, transportation options, eating and growing sustainable foods, building green homes, taking advantage of federal stimulus options and feeling good about saving money and the earth.

Previously, the Expo was hosted and coordinated by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

“We are grateful the MEP stepped in to take over leadership of this popular and crucial event,” said Jeff Stuhr, Event Manager, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. “We’re working closely with the MEP staff to ensure a smooth transition so Minnesotans continue to have access to the vast options available for living healthier and protecting our state resources.”

The MEP has been a sponsor of the Living Green Expo since its 2002 inception. At that time, approx. 25 groups joined the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to form a coalition to look at ways to educate residents about greener living

options, including founding the Living Green Expo. The Expo has dramatically grown over the last eight years, from approximately 5,000 attendees the first year to more than 25,000 in 2009. An increasing number of exhibitors participate in the Expo each year, from approximately 75 in 2002 to more than 250 expected in 2010.

“The MEP is doing the right thing by making sure Minnesotans can continue to enjoy the benefits of the Living Green Expo,” said Kate Rime, Director, Blue Sky Guide, which was an original member of the Living Green Expo coalition. “We all need to continue working together to ensure a cleaner and safer Minnesota.”

Exhibit and sponsorship opportunities still are available. Exhibits range from $350 for a small nonprofit to $1,350 for larger businesses. Discounts are available when secured prior to March 1, 2010.

Exhibitors must promote environmental sustainability through their product, service or educational materials. Available sponsorships range from $1,000 for a friends sponsorship to $10,000 for a champion sponsorship.

More information on the event is available at www.livinggreenexpo.mn l

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calendar

APRIL Apr. 10

Massage Basics Workshop

10 am–5 pm. Learn a variety of basic massage techniques for the head, neck, back, & legs.

Great for stress reduction & relaxation. Take this workshop if you are considering a career in massage or enjoy working on family & friends. Register at 612-617-9090. Visit www.CenterPointMN.com.

Apr. 13, 20, 27 & May 4

Open Page Writing: Standing at the Threshold

Karen Hering. Thursdays, 6:30-9 pm. $95. Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Av., St. Paul. Guided writing series to explore the thresholds in your own life. No writing experience required. 651-696-2788. http:// wisdomwayscenter.org/openpage.aspx Apr. 14, 21, 28, & May 5

Christian Meditation–Teaching Sessions

Deborah Chernick & Susan Oeffling, CSJ Wednesdays, 7-9 pm. $55. Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Av., St. Paul. Explore Christian meditation as a way of prayer, meditation & the Christian tradition, & how to meditate. 651-6962788. http://wisdomwayscenter.org/christian_ meditation_prayer.aspx

Apr. 15–17 Elder Spirituality Legacies: The Footprints We Leave Behind

Rachael Freed & Gretchen Wright, ThursdaySaturday 10 am–4 pm. $130. Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Av., St. Paul. Document your connection to your roots & your life’s purpose, while transmitting your life-lessons to future generations. 651-696-2788. http:// wisdomwayscenter.org/elder_spirituality.aspx

Apr. 17 & 18

4th Annual Edge Life Fargo Holistic Expo

Fargo Civic Center. Sat 10–6, Sun 10–5. 5 Keynote Speakers. 60+ exhibitors: Holistic healers, wellness products, intuitive readers, aura photos, unique gifts, rocks/crystals, jewelry & more. For exhibiting info: dee@edgelife.net, 715-259-3047.

FFI or Tickets: www.edgelife.net, 877-776-5244.

Apr. 17, May 22, June 12

Preparing/Eating Alkalarian Raw Foods

Learn to prepare Alkalarian Raw entrees, soups, desserts. Alkalize, energize, lose weight, gain strength, youthen. 9-Noon. Dr. Bridget Bagley’s Lake Minnetonka home. RSVP 952-473-1234.

Rejuvenating Recipes. $25.

Apr. 22

World-Renowned Humanitarian, Spiritual Leader In Twin Cities

Sri Sri Ravishankar, world-renowned humanitarian/spiritual leader & named one of five most powerful people in India by Forbes Magazine shares a powerful approach to living artfully through meditation, breathing techniques, profound insight into nature of mind, relationships & health. 7–9 pm. Wayzata, MN. 612-276 2011.

Tickets: http://events.artofliving.org Apr. 22

Practical Green Living

Karen Olson. Thursday, 6:30-8:30 pm. $25.

Carondelet Center, 1890 Randolph Av., St. Paul. Learn to live greener, getting over green guilt & the practical skills of shopping, consuming & recycling. 651-696-2788. http:// wisdomwayscenter.org/eco_spirituality.aspx Calendar continued on page 14

To list in calendar • Print: $1 per word: minimum of 25 words, maximum 50 words • Online: $15 for up to 100 words at www.esswellness.com with one image and link; automatically expires on calendar date FFI: D ee, sales@esswellness.com, 715.259.3047 april 2010

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Calendar continued from page 13 Apr. 23-25

Women’s Wellness & Adventure Weekend

Complete holistic retreat with a variety of challenge, wellness, nature & creative classes to choose from.

Audubon Center of the North Woods, Sandstone, MN. 888-404-7743, www.audubon-center.org Apr. 24

“Be Still & Know Your Soul Self” with Dr. Linda Backman

All-day spiritual workshop with psychologist, regression therapist & author of the best-selling book, Bringing Your Soul to Light. Best Western Kelly Inn, St. Paul; $100 (advance reservation); 303-818-0575 or earl@ravenheartcenter.com for reservations & information.

MAY

COMING IN JULY Essential Wellness Holistic Directory Reach more than 60,000 people!

• In print • Online at www.esswellness.com • Plus, in the online wellness directory FFI: 715.259.3047 or sales@esswellness.com

May 1–2

Cleansing FlowTM Workshop

For practitioners of all energy modalities. Teaches you how to understand/reverse autoimmune symptoms like fibromyalgia. Sign up now, 612805-5478, www.healingcrucible.com May 6–Aug 12

Thai Massage–Continuing Education, NCBTMB

Thursdays, 6-10 pm. For bodywork therapists, learn the relaxing & healing techniques of Thai Massage. Discover how applying yoga style stretching & massage stimulates energy for healing. Register: 612-617-9090. Visit www.

CenterPointMN.com May 6–August 12

Lymph Drainage Massage– Continuing Education, NCBTMB

Thursdays, 6-9 pm. Lymph drainage massage is highly beneficial for edema, skin conditions, deep relaxation, post-surgery/post-mastectomy, & clients making major lifestyle changes.

These techniques offer astonishing results with minimal effort. Call: 612-617-9090. Visit www.

CenterPointMN.com May 7–9

Forgiveness Weekend Intensive with Mary Hayes Grieco

The Marsh, Minnetonka. $395. 11 CEUs. 612-874-6622. www.maryhayesgrieco.com

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May 8

Adult CPR

This American Heart Association Heartsaver CPR course teaches basic life support techniques to use on adults. The 4 hour class consists of demonstration & class participation. $60.

Text required. Call: 612-617-9090. Visit www.

CenterPointMN.com.

May 8

Psychic Fair in Anoka, MN

11 am–5 pm. Psychics. Animal Commun-icators.

Tarot. Massage. Palmists & more! Spirit-River, 2013 2nd Av, Anoka. Accepting service providers. www. spiritspectacularshows.com May 8

First Aid

This American Heart Association First Aid course covers basic emergency response to respiratory failure, bleeding, poisoning, shock, burns, & more. The class consists of demo & practice. $60. Text required. Call: 612-617-9090. Visit www.CenterPointMN.com.

May 22

Psychic Symposium, Brooklyn Center, MN

9:30–6 pm, Earle Brown Center. Keynote speakers: Sunny Dawn Johnston, Lena Swanson & Troy Parkinson. 45 exhibitors featuring intuitive readers, aura photos, animal communicators, stones/crystals, unique jewelry, healing therapies & more. Free Parking. For tickets & FFI: www. edgelife.net, 1-877-776-5244. To exhibit: dee@ edgelife.net, 715-259-3047.

OCTOBER Oct. 2–3

2nd Annual Duluth Holistic Expo

At the DECC on the waterfront, Duluth, MN. Over 90 exhibitors include: holistic healers, intuitive readers, health products, unique gifts & more! 5 keynote speakers, 36 free workshops. To exhibit: dee@edgelife.net or 715-259-3047. For tickets or FFI: www.edgelife.net Oct. 16–17

Healthy Life Expo

Minneapolis Convention Center. Hundreds of exhibitors, three stages of speakers, demonstrations, & entertainment. This is the largest show of its kind, don’t miss the opportunity to exhibit or attend. See it all at: www.ExpoGuys.com or for exhibitor information call 952-238-1700.

april 2010

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