EDITOR’S NOTE

EDITOR’S NOTE: SUMMER 2022

‘Tang ping,’ or ‘lying flat’ in English, is a lifestyle social movement that originated in China last summer. People are making deliberate reprioritizations in response to a culture that pushes overworking based on a relentless growth model. The response is a rejection of a treadmill lifestyle based on broken value systems that are failing to include the majority … or even the Earth itself. Many people are responding to the pressure by doing less instead … they are lying flat. Quality of life is being placed ahead of the pursuit of an evermore elusive social contract.

Ojaians have been embracing a bit of tang ping all along. Only 90 minutes from Los Angeles and 30 minutes from Santa Barbara, and yet Ojai doesn’t believe in the need to keep up with its sophisticated-cool neighbors to the north and south. Our town is populated by people who for various reasons have rejected the rat race. Some are here for refuge from its battering, others have fared well in it only to find it’s a losing game no matter how much you win, and others have never cared to race at all. Some have come to repair the havoc wrought by such race on their bodies and minds, others for the warmth of the non-anonymity of town life. Some enjoy hiding out in plain sight. Whatever their awakening, generations coming for a heart-felt quest generally rub off to the benefit of our Shangri La.

How have we cultivated tang ping? As many great leaders in thought have taught us … by doing less. There has never been a lot to do in Ojai. We make our own fun. And like hand-crocheted potholders, the simple, slow life is gaining in popularity. The truth is that there was never enough time to do it all, or have it all, anyway — there is no finish line.

Ojai is a place to slow down a bit. Just lie flat in the Ojai Valley dirt and feel it for yourself. The rejection of more, and the embrace of simple and slow, suddenly makes our little town trendy. Ojai has so much of nothing, now everyone wants some.

As someone who has been living lame in Ojai for more than 20 years, I recommend it. We don’t care much about who you were, what you have, or how you look.

It’s not really a vortex that makes the Ojai lifestyle possible … it is a place inside our souls and between us.

So call it a movement, or call it a lifestyle, go ahead now and lie flat on your lounge chair; take a page from the subjects in our Summer Ojai magazine … explore a mountain-biking or hiking trail (pg. 66), visit a lavender farm (pg.40), let go through yoga (pg. 120), build a farm stand (pg. 78), question your beliefs through the teachings of Krishnamurti (pg. 56), start your own company (pg. 86), get a fresh look (pg.72), or write a book about how you survived the Manson family (pg. 106) … you know … live like a local.

With affection,

Laura

MAGAZINE

EDITOR / PUBLISHER

Laura Rearwin Ward

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Georgia Schreiner, Karen Lindell

ART DIRECTOR

Paul Stanton

WRITERS

Karen Lindell, Perry Van Houten, Kit Stolz, Steve Sprinkel, John Huddles, Francisco Mazza, Robin Goldstein, Valerie Freeman, Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, Drew Mashburn, Johnie Gall, Pamela Zero, Kathleen Kaiser

PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR OF SALES

Linda Snider

CONTACT

team@ojaivalleynews.com Ojaivalleynews.com

@ojaimag

Cover photo: Erika Block