Featured Articles from Issue 56
Over our lives, when we are shut out from things we want—getting into a school program, scheduling a date with a lovely person, not getting the job in your chosen field—we can tend to dampen our heart’s desire and diminish our joy in the world. We then tend to think of the world as a place to be tolerated. When we follow our open loving heart, we touch into that reservoir of delight and joy which we all have, and then we fully inhabit our precious life. When I get stuck on a project or something I want to do, I often think of this delightful energy we all have, and I reminisce about when I was small, and in my innocence, would not take no for an answer.
At Peaceful Minds Counseling Services and Care2Cure Physical Therapy in Dexter, Michigan, we have come together to conduct a research study focused on helping individuals with PTSD improve trauma processing and healing. Through this collaboration, we are exploring the effects of using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy (EMDR) in a mental health setting followed immediately with Dry Needling in a physical therapy setting.
It has long been proven that one’s mental and spiritual wellness have a huge impact on one’s bodily health. With 22 years of training in multiple traditional disciplines such as neuroscience and kinesiology as well as holistic disciplines such as yoga and aromatherapy, Stephanie Olson treats the whole person. From start to finish, in all aspects of her treatments she expresses loving empathy. Given time, a wildflower will break down a stone wall. Slowly, gently, and lovingly, the wall will turn into fertile soil. Stephanie Olson is such a flower.
Soon after arriving in Bainbridge (between Dayton and Columbus), I had my first revelation–The Arc wasn’t a guesthouse or retreat facility per se: it was a conservation non-profit dedicated to preserving and restoring the wildscapes of the Appalachian region within southern Ohio, West Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.
Time can seem to come to a standstill when we are waiting. During my grade school days, I would stare at the clock above the classroom door silently pleading for the bell toll to release me. Sometimes, I would avert my eyes, hoping that more time would pass between my longing glances. I’d spot birds outside the window, and my jealousy grew as I sat in a hard plastic chair and ached to stretch my limbs. When I’d look back at the clock face, I was often disheartened to see how little time had passed since my last glance. I wondered whether the clock was growing too tired to make it all the way around the dial, or perhaps whether it had fallen asleep to the lull of my teacher’s voice.
Art has always been vulnerable to public concerns, stemming from its ability to raise complicated feelings. Music is especially targeted because it’s everywhere. A 2021 Harris Poll found that among American adults under 30, 72% reported listening to music by choice and among those, 77% reported choosing music listening as a daily activity.
We were blessed that Mom felt safe enough to share her experiences in the months and hours leading up to her transition from this world. Hers was the fourth close family death in four years. I felt that sharing the sacredness of these journeys—the before, during, and after—could help others refine their anxieties about passing and what it means to be alive. So, let us explore endings, beginnings, and continuations of soul connectivity.
I don’t have health insurance, but I bet I receive better health care than many people who do. Friends and family often understandably express concern about my lack of insurance, but I marvel at how often they then proceed to share with me the troubling experiences they have with the healthcare system: waiting months to get an appointment with their primary care doctor, not being allowed to share all their health concerns during a doctor’s appointment, and the most troubling of all, life threatening circumstances that result from overlooked diagnoses. Though well-meaning, these loved ones don’t seem to understand the relationship health insurance has to the health care—or lack there of—they are receiving.
Matthew Keating discovered tango at twenty-one and fell hard. At once both sultry and stern, playful and serious, tango evokes a powerful theatrical expression. He recalled riding his bike home from work when he first encountered a milonga (a place or event at which the tango is danced) He heard the music drifting around a corner. “Like the scent of Grandma’s pies cooling in a window, I was drawn.
More from Issue 56
Over our lives, when we are shut out from things we want—getting into a school program, scheduling a date with a lovely person, not getting the job in your chosen field—we can tend to dampen our heart’s desire and diminish our joy in the world. We then tend to think of the world as a place to be tolerated. When we follow our open loving heart, we touch into that reservoir of delight and joy which we all have, and then we fully inhabit our precious life. When I get stuck on a project or something I want to do, I often think of this delightful energy we all have, and I reminisce about when I was small, and in my innocence, would not take no for an answer.
Before the calendar changes, before the jackets disappear, before adults agree that winter is finally over, kids start pointing things out. The light looks different. The sidewalk feels warmer. The air smells like wet dirt, not cold metal. Something has shifted, even if no one can quite name it yet. In Ann Arbor and surrounding areas, spring reveals itself in small, almost secret ways—and those clues teach kids something important about the world and about themselves.
Unless we spend time exploring the underlying causes of our stress, ultimately nothing will change. A yoga practice can help us do just that. One of the gifts of yoga is that it helps us cultivate greater self-awareness. By getting on your yoga mat, you are taking time to slow down, be mindful, and see what you can learn about your body. With ongoing practice, you are better able to listen to your body and give it what it needs on a daily basis.
In the early 2000s, co-owners Marcia Stroko, Patricia Barrett, and Sharon Stroko were inspired by cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien to create a place where guests could focus on self-development. In a January 2006 guest book entry, guest F. Rowe shared, “Thank you for having such a wonderful atmosphere in your home inn and surroundings,” thereby recognizing that Rustic Gate is not only a space for visitors, but also a family home
