Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
A Bloomington parish nurse helps others with their medical and spiritual needs. Page 3
Mind & Spirit
August 21, 2105
August Issue
Yoga, acupuncture are highlights at Lakeville shop BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER During her years as a writer and corporate executive, Marcia Appel said, “I recognized that I loved business and also had an affinity for what makes people people and what helps them become healthier.” “Becoming healthier inside and out was a longtime interest of mine,” said Appel, who, with Merry Beth Hovey and Christie Singleton, opened the Green Lotus Yoga and Healing Center in Lakeville in December 2007. A second site is located in Mendota Heights, and a third will open in Eden Prairie this fall. Although Appel was used to exercising three to five times a week, she began doing yoga in 2000. “It was the first time I’d done something where I wasn’t thinking about anything else and I really enjoyed that sensation,” she said. “I also lost 30 pounds.” She then became interested in nutrition, as well as becoming aware of where her body felt tension and how best to relieve it. “There’s a real compassionate side to yoga,” Appel said. “You don’t operate with a drill sergeant and listen to people. There’s something for everyone. No one feels excluded or odd.” She also discovered that having a place with a plethora of services at one location was a need that “people would resonate to.” “I wrote a business plan and recruited a couple of partners,” Appel said. “It’s been so exciting.” She now teaches yoga and meditation classes and workshops at the center in Lakeville. In addition to yoga, the Green Lotus center offers massage therapy, and nutrition and wellness counseling for people of all ages, teens to 90 and beyond, plus classes and workshops. “We believe in integration of services,” Appel said. “People can explore and expand their awareness of what makes them healthy.”
Yoga classes are for all ages and all levels of ability. “Some [clients] come with a specific purpose; some come because they’re curious; some have certain goals they want to attain; and some have a problem that’s been hard to resolve,” Appel said. “Our healers and teachers are trained to work with people from all levels. It’s the staff’s goal to meet people where they’re at, not where the staff wishes they were at.” The center is “a full partner with Western medicine,” Appel said, and receives referrals from doctors as phy-
sicians become more familiar with and accepting of yoga. “Studies have proven the validity of yoga,” Appel said. “Science is on our side now. Science can measure the mind-body-spirit connection. Every day we hear from someone who feels better, or is more grounded, or whose hip hurts less. We’re grateful and humbled.” APPEL - TO PAGE 3