Balance Massage Therapy (BMT) celebrated its ninth anniversary this past October. Founded in 2008 by Josie Ann Lee and Christin Lee Draybuck, the business has grown dramatically, from five massage rooms and five therapists when they opened, to eleven rooms and sixteen therapists, who now give more than 10,000 massages per year.
Making Friends with Your Subconscious in Creative Writing
There are such depths within us all — how do we, as writers, access and use the material that is in our subconscious minds? In her book, Archetypes for Writers, Jennifer Van Bergen affirms that “Writing takes place in the subconscious…. The subconscious actually operates — in everyone — as an independent mind. It perceives, processes, and retains things that never enter the conscious mind at all.
SoulCollage® — Discover Your Wisdom, Change Your World
SoulCollage® is an intuitive practice that gently guides us home to our own inner knowing and guidance. It captured my heart at an impromptu offering during a spiritual retreat over six years ago. With SoulCollage®, there was immediacy, a sense of synchronicity, and an alignment with everything I loved: the creative process, spiritual practice, and inner cultivation. I was surprised by its simplicity. I wondered how collaging images to make a deck of cards could tend the soul.
City of Crows
I’m preparing to leave a corvid hurly-burly. Beneath its restless swirl I lean against an oak tree, attempting to be unobtrusive. Nearby, under the storm of wings, a man is standing, his back to me, profoundly rooted, silent by a stone marker. We both wear coats as black as the feathers of the birds. Above us, they arrive: alighting and arising, some perching on branches, others in perpetual motion and outcry.
Considering a New Year’s Resolution? Forget Weight Loss, Work on Posture!
Thanks to the combination of a month of eating holiday treats and the annual New Year resolution ritual, January is one of the busiest times of the year for fitness professionals. For the next few months, my fitness center will be bursting with people who have decided that this is the year they’re going to solve any number of things that they think are wrong with their bodies.
From Nixon to Michigan: A Brief History of the Legalization of Acupuncture in the U.S.
Which state do you think was the first to legalize the practice of acupuncture? You are probably thinking California, right? Or maybe New York? Did any of you guess Nevada?If you got this question right, then perhaps you happened to have been living in Carson City, Nevada in the spring of 1973 and saw the line of patients with canes and wheelchairs waiting outside a hotel across the street from the state legislature.
Great Tastes in Local Food
Chive Kitchen’s menu is not sparse by any means, and I think it will surprise a lot of non-vegans. Take, for example, the oatmeal cream pie on the dessert menu with its “buttery oatmeal cookie” and “vanilla bean buttercream” filling. Or the orange cream cupcake with orange-infused buttercream. They have unique items, too, such as the kombucha float made with coconut ice cream (which is creamier than dairy ice cream, for the record). I would have tried one if I hadn’t been so full!
Ann Arbor Skate Park – A Welcoming Place
When was the last time you pushed your edge in public? Or really connected with your kids learning a new activity together? How often does your tween or teen get excited to turn off the video game and go somewhere and be active? Have you ever wished your son or daughter felt a sense of belonging in a community of peers outside of home or school?
A Family Firmly Planted: HillTop Greenhouse and Farms
On a bitter cold and rainy day in late April, my husband and I were inspired to do our annual trek to HillTop Greenhouse and Farms to plot this year’s garden and bask in the warmth and stunning visuals contained within the expansive space.
Coffee with Maggie Derthick of Girls Gone Vinyl — Detroit’s Annual All-Women Party in the Mecca of Techno Music
Since 2000, thousands of electronic music fans from around the world flock to Detroit during Memorial Day Weekend for Detroit’s internationally known electronic music festival. The festival, now called the Movement Electronic Music Festival, was created to celebrate Detroit's role as the birthplace of electronic (or “techno”) music.
Pockets of Poverty, Shadows of Hope — Luke Shaefer, Ann Arbor Co-Author of $2.00 a Day, Shares Insights into the Story Behind his Blockbuster Book
This is what it’s like to be incredibly, desperately poor in America today: You live in a crowded homeless shelter with nothing but spoiled milk in the fridge. Without a permanent address, potential employers are reluctant to hire you. But you can’t get a permanent address without a job. You find a job, and it seems like a pretty good one at first, paying a little above minimum wage. But the shifts are uneven and the working conditions are unsafe, and you start getting sick. But with a job, you can get a housing subsidy, so you need the money.
Namaste, Katie...
Namaste, Katie — I walk ALL over campus with a lot of text books in my backpack, and my shoulders ache every day. Though I have been going to a gentle yoga class, I am struggling to find any postures that I can do when I get to class, or at home, to relieve that tightness on the front of my shoulders. Any pointers?
Transformation Is Here — Capuchin Ministries of Detroit
Driving on Gratiot headed toward Mt. Elliott Street, I was in the heart of downtown Detroit, just a mile or so away from Ford Field. It seems only small businesses are here, a Mr. Fish and a crowded shop selling second hand furniture, likely for a charity. In this place on this map, blocks of the grid are disappearing. Fallow fields sit waiting in their place. I pulled up to a bright brick church anchored strong amidst open green plots and dilapidated, boarded-up structures. There is a man sitting on a milkcrate. He is sentinel of this corner.
Conversations with the Elements — An Interview with Martha Travers on Bringing Nature-Based Shamanistic Practices to the U of M
Martha Travers is a beloved teacher at the University of Michigan who shares the wisdom of contemplative nature-based practices with her students. Her courses are influenced by her own shamanic practices, and provide a space for students of all walks of life to listen to their inner voices.
The Diamond Approach: A Path of Embodied Understanding
Imagine a spiritual path which embraces the truth of our interconnectedness with the ground of being, whether it is called God, Tao, the Buddha realm, or the logos. Then imagine a spiritual path that looks at your day-by-day events, mental thought objects, reactions, and expansions to see how they relate to the depth.
The End of an Era in Ann Arbor's Organic Farming and Food Culture
The 2017 planting, growing, and harvesting season will be Annie Elder and Paul Bantle’s last at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor. The two have been the head farmers tending the land and the animals there for more than 25 years.
Coffee with Zain Shamoon, Co-founder and Host of the “Narratives of Pain” Storytelling Showcase
I was sipping a nitrogen-infused cold brew at Mighty Good Coffee Co. when a purple-splashed flyer caught my eye, “NARRATIVES OF PAIN” boldly emblazoned across the top. At first I thought “Narratives of Pain” was an indie-satirical play on words, or perhaps an improv comedy showcase with a dark twist.
Yoga: Not for Women Only
I am settling into my breath. I am on my mat, in a yoga class, lying down before it begins. Eyes closed, I hear the door open and several pairs of feet pad their way into the warm room. When I finally sit up and glance around, I see I am surrounded by women — where are all the men?
Against Civic Apathy: Mary Morgan and the CivCity Initiative
Launched in November 2014, the nonpartisan CivCity Initiative works to promote year-round civic responsibility and involvement by encouraging and educating citizens to participate in all aspects of governance.
Vic Strecher – A Public Health Scientist’s Inquiries into Purpose
Vic Strecher, a behavioral scientist, is an energetic, trim, and youthful sixty-two year old. He teaches at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and is Visiting Professor at the Peking University’s School of Public Health. He has given hundreds of talks the world over. (He jokes that his frequent flyer miles are sky-high.) His TED Talks and recorded lectures, replete with PowerPoint presentations featuring trademark symbols from his graphic novel, On Purpose, have given him a YouTube presence and a popular culture crossover audience.
