LLNESS HEALTH & WE
2018
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CONTENTS HEALTH & WELLNESS MAGAZINE
PUBLISHER/SALES MANAGER
Dean Midyette EDITOR
Steve Hubrecht STAFF WRITERS
Lorene Keitch, Dauna Ditson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN
Justin Keitch, IgniteCreative.ca LAYOUT
Emily Rawbon ADVERTISING SALES
Amanda Nason COVER PHOTO
Tracy Connery
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THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF OUTDOOR PARENTING
Back to basics: finding balance
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Back to basics: raw water
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columbiavalleypioneer.com info@columbiavalleypioneer.com This material, written or artistic, may not be reprinted or electronically reproduced in any way without the written consent of the publisher. The opinions and statements in articles, columns and advertising are not necessarily those of the publisher or staff of Vitality. It is agreed by any display advertiser requesting space that the owner’s responsibility, if any, for errors or omissions of any kind is limited to the amount paid by the advertiser for that portion of the space as occupied by the incorrect item and there shall be no liability in any event greater than the amount paid for the advertisement.
AKK FOR MAT, BUT HOLD T THE LUTEFISK
A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD WAYS Cultural health and wellness: First Nations
HE SINGER WHO BECAME T THE SONG
AJELLYFISH TTACKING FIREWORKS AND HOT POT Cultural health and wellness: China
22 Box 868, #8, 1008 – 8th Avenue, Invermere, B.C., V0A 1K0 Phone 250-341-6299 | Fax 1-855-377-0312
Back to basics: tea
Cultural health and wellness: First Nations
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CUPPA GOODNESS Back to basics: ancestral eating
N E W S PA P E R
AW WATER. OR AS YOUR R GRANDPA CALLED IT...WATER
L IGHT, LOVE AND LAUGHTER IN THE LAND OF CONTRASTS Cultural health and wellness: India
24 ENCHANTED ISLAND SOJOURN
Cultural health and wellness: Bali
26 SUCKED IN BY ANCIENT THERAPY
Cultural health and wellness: cupping
28 MORE SKIING, LESS STRESS
Back to basics: happiness
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THE OLD SCHOOL ISSUE EDITOR’S NOTE
I
t’s time to play back to the way back. Welcome to the Old School issue. The health and wellness world these days is awash in modern trends and fads, each proclaiming to be the latest and greatest. It’s easy to get buried beneath what at times seems an avalanche of new ideas, new diets, and new exercise regimes. Maybe that’s you — frazzled because you don’t have time for those antigravity yoga classes; confused about ketogenic; stressed out that you don’t have the right anti-stress routine; and feeling a bit socially awkward because you’re the only one at the party unable to carry on an in-depth conversation about biodynamic food and shots of drinking vinegars (yes, that would be vinegar consumed by the glass, just like juice or water). Fret no longer. Sit back. Relax. Just for a bit forget about what’s new and think instead about what’s old. Health is, after all, anything but newfangled. Humans have been tending to their well-being since approximately the dawn of time. In this issue Vitality is going back to the basics (indeed there’s a whole Back to Basics section on pages 8 through 15), stripping away hip trappings du jour and taking a look at some plain and simple health and wellness concepts, ranging from a rumination of how busy new mountain town parents can regain balance in their lives to an examination of the benefits of a good ol’ fashioned cup of tea. Vitality, however, isn’t alone in casting an eye back to basics and, irony of ironies, some of the most recent health trends purport to be a return to fundamentals. Do they deliver? Or are they just more ultramodern gimmickery? To find out Vitality writers appraise some of hottest of these currently sizzling crazes — raw water and ancestral eating. The results? Turn to pages 10 and 14. But there’s more. In the Cultural Health and Wellness section (pages 16 through 27) Vitality gets really old school — as in thousands of years worth of old school — by delving into the health and wellness traditions of ancient cultures around the globe, as seen through the experiences of a cast of different valley residents, each with an intimate connection to a given culture. Learn about the resurgence of interest in traditional health and wellness among Shuswap Indian band members. Hear the songs of Debra Murray, who taps into her Cree heritage to help heal herself. Munch jellyfish hot pot and dodge errant fireworks with Shilo Cameron in China. Find a moment of meditative tranquility in the no-fullstops chaos of India with Kimberly Olson. And spend five years sinking into the impenetrable spiritual mysteries of Bali with Dianne Tharp. So what are you waiting for? Start flipping through these pages and kick it old school. Steve Hubrecht
CONTRIBUTORS Justin Keitch
Tracy Connery
Meghan J. Ward
Dave Quinn
Nikki Fredrikson
Breanne Massey
Eric Elliott
Ruth Fast
Terri Giles
Kristin McCauley
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BACK TO BASICS FINDING BALANCE
THE HIGHS & LOWS OF OUTDOOR PARENTING
By Meghan J. Ward | Photos by Paul Zizka Photography and Meghan J. Ward
I
t was a gorgeous fall day in October 2012 – the kind where the brilliant golden hues of larches beckon hikers to trails throughout Banff National Park. My husband and I set our sights on Healy Pass, an 18-kilometre round-trip hike that tops out with gorgeous views of the Egypt Lakes region and far beyond. As we reached the pass, I stopped to look at the peaks rising behind me. And there it was: Mt. Assiniboine – the “Matterhorn” of the Rockies – staring me straight in the face. Just two years before I stood on its summit after one of the hardest and most rewarding climbs of my life. Now, here I stood, facing the giant from a different vantage point. I glanced at my shadow beside me, a basketball-sized bump of my belly interrupting my profile, and wondered if I’d ever climb a mountain again as I began my journey into motherhood.
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Living in the Canadian Rockies, where outdoor enthusiasts abound, I often find myself at the centre of discussions about freedom-filled lifestyles, outdoor passions, and how having a family fits into the equation. Like many couples, my husband Paul and I struggled to come to terms with what parenthood would mean for us, having spent many years together climbing, travelling and exploring. When we eventually decided to start a family, we were determined to keep our outdoor lifestyle intact, which also meant introducing our daughter, Maya, to that lifestyle as early as possible. Despite our best intentions and valiant efforts, life as an outdoor family in those early years was more struggle than success. I had low expectations for how much I would get outdoors on my
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own or with Paul. But I had higher hopes for introducing Maya to the joys of outdoor adventures, having seen umpteen examples of parents who went camping, hiking and travelling with their baby and had a pleasant enough experience to do it again. As for our adventures? More wailing than winning, more bailing than battles won. I’d sit at home crying as I browsed through Instagram photos of friends on family camping trips that actually looked like fun. Paul and I just couldn’t face another night packing up a campsite at 3:30 a.m., or a hike holding out hope that Maya would sleep so that we could walk more than two metres without her screaming in the carrier. When Maya was just shy of two years old, it was mid-winter and we’d hit rock-bottom with outdoor excursions. She didn’t want to be constrained in a Chariot (goodbye walking), strapped in a pulk (goodbye skiing), or sitting on a sled (goodbye skating). Feeling gutted, one morning I set a small, simple goal for us: spend time outside. That was it. No plans, no destination, no time allotment, no agenda.
was not really a matter of will and determination as parents. I could let go of feeling like a failure, and embrace the reality that I needed to be patient with the process. That year, everything changed. I went on my first kid-free backcountry trip, and began to scramble up peaks again. It would be a while before Paul and I enjoyed some adventures and mountaineering together, but we made it a priority to plan at least one trip together each summer. Maya continued to derail most plans, but we pushed ever so gently and gradually began to have the kinds of outings we all enjoyed. After age four, things finally turned a corner: we had our first successful night camping and Maya hiked her first small peak all on her own. If I’ve learned anything through the experience, it’s that what is truly important is that we are teaching our kids to love playing outside and to embrace a spirit of adventure. Set the foundation for them, and let them build on it when they are ready.
And, you know? It worked. We made our way to the playground at Banff Central Park, had the place to ourselves and spent an hour exploring, playing, climbing and sliding. I let Maya lead, and froze my buns off sliding down an icy ramp. I laughed a lot, enjoyed my little girl’s company and, for the first time in a while, felt entirely care-free. I surrendered to the idea that it
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Meghan J. Ward is a writer, editor and publisher based in Banff, Alberta, and the outdoorsy mama behind AdventurousParents.com. She is also the co-founder of Crowfoot Media, a publishing house dedicated to mountain culture in the Canadian Rockies.
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RAW WATER
OR AS OUR GRANDPARENTS CALLED IT
…WATER By Dave Quinn | Photos by By Dave Quinn Photography
I
love it when I end up ahead of the curve and become a true trendsetter. Not that this is a regular occurrence by any stretch, and never mind that in this case the World Health Organization estimates that 844 million others were ahead of the curve with me. I still can feel smug about my visionary commitment to drink water straight from Mother Earth.
Living in the Purcells, I have always felt confident about the purity of the water that flows from our headwaters. After nearly three decades of fish-lipping moss-covered rocks and fighting off slushy headaches after guzzling icy water gushing from a mountain spring, I have only had to deal with Campylobacter once, and Giardia twice. These
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pesky dietary disturbances I blame fully on water from the Rockies and on international travel, but they were memorable enough that I will not ever be actively searching for another encounter, and I am very careful to only drink directly from high, remote Purcells headwaters. Most other places I filter or treat my water. Gut-aches or not, it turns out I was wrong in thinking I was imbibing fresh mountain water. I was drinking…wait for it… raw water. Finally the world is catching up, companies selling ‘raw water’ are springing up everywhere, and it turns out people actually pay money — a lot of money — for this.
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BACK TO BASICS RAW WATER
Think about it: raw water. What the heck does that mean? The most recent in a timeless string of wallet-emptying health fads, raw water is more than just unboiled water. Its inflated value is entirely based on the fact that it is not filtered or treated in any way. It preys on the anti-fluoride, anti-chlorine, anti-filtration, and anti-public health sentimentalists who abhor the idea that any higher power would try to keep them healthy. Striving for a handle that does not conjure up images of steak tartare or runny eggs, the product is also branded as ‘live water’ or ‘unprocessed water’. And here I thought selling simple bottled water to Columbia Valley residents was like selling sand to desert dwellers or selling snow to the Inuit. Now we are buying untreated ‘raw’ water! C’mon people! It’s water! Water should not have a ‘best before’ date on it. It should not turn green after one lunar cycle, which is what one raw water producer warns could happen if his product is not consumed in a timely manner. While I am all for keeping to a minimum the chemicals you put into your body, to be truly sure of what you are ingesting you have to take responsibility for it yourself. To stop at the local mountain spring and fill up a few jugs of drinking water is one thing. To blindly pay an entrepreneur for mystery water that has been stored in plastic for who knows how long, handled by who knows who, and whose only guarantee is that it has not been treated seems maybe a tad too trusting? The reality is that clean, treated water is, by every measurement, associated with a healthier society. Ask your travel agent if it is advisable to drink untreated water, anywhere. Track down any old dentist and ask them about their ‘fluoride kids’ – the generation of kids that had no fluoride added to their water and had to pay for it with a mouthful of metal amalgam fillings. A recent tongue-in-cheek Popular Science article summarized a partial list of all the colourful characters you might meet on your raw water journey, and some of the gifts they may bestow on you. These ranged from the explosive diarrhea and sulfurous flatulence of boisterous Giardia to the life-threatening Legionella bacteria.
water. Since when are healthy ions and happy bacteria, freely available literally everywhere, three times as valuable as gasoline, which needs to be found, extracted, piped, refined, trucked, and then pumped again into our vehicles? We complain ceaselessly about the high costs of fossil fuels, but somehow we are willing to pay through the nose for something that already comes from our taps very nearly for free. The general consensus seems to be that if you want to remove chemicals from your water (and I get it, drinking water so heavily chlorinated it tastes like it came from the town swimming pool is not exactly pleasant), an in-home filter system seems to be the safest option. That way you know what is, or is not, in your water, and you know it is safe to drink. Leave the nutrients and bacteria to your food, and sit back and enjoy a cold glass of tap water. It will be much better than trading your hard-earned money for a plastic mystery tub of ‘raw,’ ‘fresh,’ ‘live,’ or ‘untreated’ water.
Water connoisseurs are willing to pay dearly for the right to go back in time to the days before large-scale water treatment became the norm, and to rub shoulders with these Latin-named microbial elite. According to the New York Times, water-conscious consumers in California are paying upwards of $4 per litre for raw
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Or as our grandparents called it: “water.”
Long time raw water advocate and investor Dave Quinn is an award-winning freelance writer and photographer based in Kimberley. He also enjoys frozen water. Also known as snow. Contact him if you would like to purchase some at a very reasonable price.
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CUPPA GOODNESS By Steve Hubrecht | Terri Giles Photography and Painted Sun Photography
A
simple cup of tea is one of the world’s humblest drinks — just add hot water to tea leaves and steep — and is also one of its most popular.
Indeed tea is the second-most consumed type of liquid across the globe, behind only good old water, and virtually every culture and society on the planet has its own iteration of the beverage. There’s steaming spice-laden milky chai in India, bought in tiny clay cups from street vendors; the classic English afternoon tea, replete with fine chinaware, trays of finger sandwiches and scones; beguilingly sweet Moroccan mint tea, poured into small glasses from a long-spouted silver teapot lifted high in the air; and the elaborate rituals and implements of a Chinese gong fu tea ceremony (yes, that translates to kung fu, which should give some idea of the concentration, focus and reverence involved in that particular cuppa). People have been drinking tea for thousands of years, and the habit originated in China, where tea was first consumed for medicinal reasons. That should come as no surprise considering the health benefits that can flow from cured Camellia sinensis leaves.
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“Tea is a really great, easy and inexpensive way to get nutrients and other positive benefits from all kinds of plants, roots and herbals,” says Circle Health Food and Circle Cafe co-owner Sarah Bourke. Sarah blends some of the teas on offer at the store, and she herself likes to drinks a combination of licorice root, astragalus and
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BACK TO BASICS TEA ashwagandha almost every day. All three ingredients are adaptogenic herbs, which can help reduce the stress hormone cortisol and help achieve homeostasis (balance within the body). She points out that a few medical doctors have even begun recommending hibiscus tea (called karkade by Egyptians, who down the red-hued brew by the gallon) to help patients with high blood pressure, adding that these are just a few examples of many herbal tea health attributes. And it’s not just herbal tea – there’s plenty of goodness and antioxidants packed into the tannins of black and green teas. Green tea also contains the amino acid L-theanine, which Sarah says essentially gives your brain a boost. “It helps increase alpha brain wave activity. You get a lift, just like coffee but without the jittery-ness,” she says. “You feel more awake, but also more relaxed at the same time. You could say it ‘peaces’ your brain out.”
or while meeting with colleagues. “The tea itself calms you. It gives you an energy. Not a jumpy energy, but a calm energy,” says Stu. “And the ceremony, well, I wouldn’t call it meditating per se, but it is meditative in a way. It’s certainly relaxing. It’s familiar and can be an organized space or organized element in an otherwise hectic day. A little ritual. It’s quite healthy.” Enjoying tea on this level may seem daunting, but according to Stu it doesn’t have to be. “It’s up to you how far you want to go beyond just steeping a bag of black tea. There’s no need to be too serious about it, and no matter what, you’ll probably take something positive away from it,” he says. So sit back, pour a big cup of tea, and sip that goodness down.
There are also the less direct but equally important benefits stemming from the ordinary act of sitting down to a nice tea break. “For a lot of people it’s almost like a soothing custom. It can be social too, to plunk down with a friend and a big teapot. And that’s helpful for your overall well-being,” says Sarah. This moment of zen-in-a-teacup is something tea enthusiast Stu McCrory is quite familiar with. For Stu a cup of tea is the perfect antidote to a long day at the office, or for that matter a nice way to cap off a big day at the ski hill. He even keeps a Chinese gong fu style tea set — tea board, teapot, gaiwan, shallow teacups, filters, wooden spoons, tea tweezers and all the other paraphernalia — at his desk at work, and from time to time he’ll run through some of the steps of the ceremony (various stages of rinsing, warming, preparing and pouring) while checking emails
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BACK TO BASICS ANCESTRAL EATING
“TAKK FOR MAT”
BUT HOLD THE LUTEFISK: A WEEK OF NORWEGIAN FOOD By Nikki Fredrikson
Editors note: University of Ottawa scientist Stephen Le created no small stir in health and food circles a year ago with his deeply researched book 100 Million Years of Food, which pushes aside many commonly held modern health beliefs and — arguing that specific cultures have adapted over generations to specific diets — advocates that people eat what their great-great-great-great grandparents did. All fine and dandy, but what does this so-called ancestral diet look like in practice? To find out Vitality turned to writer Nikki Fredrikson, who gamely set aside repulsive childhood lutefisk memories and dug into her culinary roots, eating nothing but traditional Norwegian food for a full week.
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T
akk for mat is Norwegian for “thanks for food”. It’s something my family often says around Christmas time, after polishing off one of the many Norwegian delicacies laid out on the holiday kitchen table.
When I was growing up my Norwegian descendant family fulfilled a dutiful tradition by eating lutefisk at Christmas. The vile dish is nothing less than horrendous, consisting of dried white fish, often cod, soaked in cold water for five days and then cured in lye for two more days. Then to get rid of that lye, which is poisonous after all, the fish is soaked in cold water for the better part of another week.
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large quantities of bacon, sour cream, juniper berries, and seasonal green vegetables, as well as brunost (Norway’s iconic brown cheese) which is wonderfully creamy and has a caramel flavour. Full disclosure: the intricacies of the cheese component had me worried this first stab at Norwegian cooking was going to be a disaster. But surprise, surprise, it was not. The rich, creamy meal took maybe 30 minutes to put together. The sweet sauce mixed with the meat and mashed potatoes was a winning combination. It was probably my favourite dish of the week and will be something we continue to make in our home. Throughout my week I ate plenty of smoked salmon, goat cheese, brunost, and jarlsberg cheese — all staples in a Norwegian fridge — rounded out with fresh berries, cabbage soups, stews, boiled “Viking” chicken and leeks, salmon in Sandefjord sauce, parsley potatoes, cucumber salads, and eplekake. And prodigious amounts of butter sauce. Now who would complain about that? To my astonishment only one of my meals degenerated into catastrophe — the kjottkaker. The dish is the (far superior!) gravy-drenched Norwegian rival to Swedish meatballs (fie on Ikea for popularizing the inferior Swedish variant of this glorious Norwegian repast!).
The resulting gelatinous substance has the consistency of (and much the same visual appeal as) pasty white congealed jello. Supposedly it takes on the flavour of whatever you cook it in. To make a long story short, we never really had what you could call a “successful” lutefisk dish in our household. Rather unfortunately lutefisk is the most famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) Norwegian victual, so when Vitality asked me to eat a strict traditional Norwegian diet for a week and write about it, my stomach churned just a bit, and visions of the dreaded bland white fish danced in my head. The challenge was too much to resist however. I overcame my trepidation and for seven straight days feasted on Norwegian breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks. Bottom line: bizarre cod preservation methods aside, my ancestors actually had some amazing recipes. Embarking on the diet, I consciously decided to try the most obscure dishes possible, searching out fare radically different from what we typically eat in Canada. For most meals I used recipes actually written in Norwegian (which I translated), which definitely made things authentic, but often meant cooking without exact quantities or measurements. But hey, a little guesswork in that regard seemed to go a long way.
The recipe I translated from Norwegian to English said it should only take 40 minutes. So it was with much chagrin that I found myself hard at work on these meatballs, fretting, fuming, and muttering dark aspersions (aimed mostly at Ikea and those meatball-spotlight-stealing Swedes) as I punctiliously tried to nail the ever-so specific ratio of pork, beef, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and breadcrumbs. My critical error was swapping out regular breadcrumbs for gluten-free ones. You need to brown the meatballs in a Dutch oven before adding them to the gravy sauce to cook, but each time I tried to do so, my gluten-less breadcrumbs couldn’t hold it together, literally, leaving me with a decidedly sad-looking pot of ground meat in sauce. At least the flavour was still amazing. I was mildly amazed that my body didn’t react negatively, even in the slightest, to the remarkable quantity of butter, cheese, and custards I consumed over the week. The effect was in fact positive, as I often felt fuller for longer and needed to snack less often. Who knows, maybe there is something to this ancestral eating, and perhaps I am uniquely adapted to eat Norwegian food. In any case I learned that my Norwegian forebears knew their way around a kitchen a lot better than I’d previously given them credit for. My only recommendation if you set off on a week of eating your heritage is to find recipes already in English. You’ll thank me in the long run.
I started by preparing finnbiff also known as reindeer stew. Due to a dearth of reindeer in my neighbourhood, I had to substitute deer meat, which worked just as well. This meal involves
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Nikki Fredrikson is an outdoor weekend warrior and writer, two vocations that combine her passions for storytelling and adventure. As freelance journalist in the interior of B.C, she spends her free time exploring the backcountry.
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A NEW LOOK
AT THE OLD WAYS By Nikki Fredrikson
Salmon Fest photos by Kristin McCauley; historical photos courtesy of Windermere District Historical Society and Columbia River Round Table
O
nce the salmon swam up the Columbia, all the way to its source. The lakes in this valley — Lake Windermere and Columbia Lake — teemed with Chinook, their sides turning bright hues of pinkish-red as they readied to spawn. And the people who lived here then fished and caught, dried and stored, and then sang, danced and celebrated. For to them, salmon were not just a source of food, but also an integral component of their culture. Of their identity. Once, yes. But now no longer. Every culture has its own unique health and wellness traditions. But what happens when these customs are uprooted wholesale? For the local Shuswap Indian Band and the Akisqnuk First Nation contact with European-descendant settlers dramatically altered everything. Their pre-contact lifestyle involved living off the land, hunting, gathering and travelling seasonally to follow food sources and medicines, says Shuswap Indian Band cultural heritage coordinator Pauline Eugene. In short it was an active, outdoors-based existence, fuelled by a truly high protein diet. Several centuries later, things are much changed. Almost every facet of life for First Nations is radically different, and health and wellness are no exception.
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“The entire context of food has changed for us — what we eat, how we eat, when we eat, even something like food accessibility, which you almost take for granted now, that was different,” says Pauline. “And it happened so fast, in a big sweep. It used to be a simple diet with a lot of nutrients. Now there’s a lot of carbohydrates and a lot of sugar. We simply don’t have the insulin to process these new foods. Our bodies didn’t have a chance to adapt and evolve to it.” The once quite active lifestyle is now much more sedentary. That, coupled with the dietary changes, has resulted in widespread problems with diabetes and obesity for First Nations people, says Pauline. Even the concept of health and wellness is not what it was before, she adds. What was encompassed by the traditional Shuswap idea of medicine, or medicines, is a lot different than, say, a stereotypical bottle of purple cough syrup, or other images that may pop to mind upon hearing the word “medicine”.
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS FIRST NATIONS “Of course medicine to Shuswap did mean things like using plants and roots, various parts of trees, berries and leaves to treat ailments, but it was also something more than that. It wasn’t just about physical well-being, but about spiritual well-being as well,” says Pauline. “There’s the medicine wheel, and that’s based on the idea of a balanced person. When people are balanced, their bodies are able to do what they need to do. But when people are physically sick or if they have a mental health issue, that’s a symptom their balance is out of whack, and you need to look at the whole person, not just go to the doctor and get a prescription.” Pauline says this approach is one she puts into practice. “Anxiety is something I’ve struggled with, but lately I’ve tried to tackle it in a more traditional, balanced way and I’ve had more success than by relying solely on pharmaceuticals,” she says. This holistic view of wellness made the loss of the salmon on the upper reaches of the Columbia even more of a blow to local First Nations, as it severed not only a physical dietary connection, but also a deep-seated spiritual and social connection. “It was such a huge part of our life, our community. When that was taken away, it had a huge effect on who we are in the valley,” says Pauline. “The loss to our sense of balance, of wholeness, was pretty significant. In that sense, yes, it was damaging to our health and well-being.” Fortunately many efforts, big and small, are being made to rekindle this connection and regain some of what was lost. The Shuswap Indian Band is, for instance, trading with other Shuswap Nation Tribal Council bands further downstream, allowing them to come here to hunt elk and deer in exchange for salmon, as a means for the local Shuswap to get that fish back into their diet. There’s the annual Salmon Fest, jointly run by the Shuswap Indian Band and the Ktunaxa First Nation, which revives traditions such as songs, dances and ceremonies related to salmon, and gives youngsters (First Nations and non-First Nations alike) insight into the old ways. “It’s important to learn about it, even if we can’t go down to the river to catch them (salmon),” says Pauline. The Shuswap Indian Band has also been running workshops to help people identify local plants and understand their various uses, and has seen a resurgence of interest from members wanting to learn traditional hunting methods, elk preparation and drying, and even pit cooking. It’s led the band start planning what it calls “culture camps”. “It’s something that has been on a real increase in the last few years. It’s been driven mainly by young people and it’s been re-energizing for those in the older generation,” says Pauline. And bit by bit, the balance is being restored.
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THE SINGER WHO BECAME THE SONG By Dauna Ditson | Photos by Tracy Connery
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ebra Murray was not used to needing help. Her identity had always been shaped around helping others. As a young child, she would bring other kids home to care for them. As a mother, she took in two brothers – friends of her three sons – who were in need. When an accident at a skating party sent her crashing to the ground, Debra had somebody new to help: herself.
Debra’s injuries included two broken bones in her forearm, a concussion, a pain disorder (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) and a body that no longer knew how to regulate itself. Her heartbeat was erratic, her blood pressure was high and she was frequently “fall-on-the-ground off balance.” “I’ve always been better at taking care of other people than taking care of me,” she says, but her accident forced her to slow down and to treat herself with the same kindness and gentleness she so easily offers others. Throughout her ongoing recovery, Debra’s Cree heritage has been a source of comfort.
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS FIRST NATIONS On a trip to a bookstore Debra got overwhelmed and collapsed into her husband’s arms. “I couldn’t handle it. All those books were way too much stimulation,” she says. “I stuck my face into his neck and just hung on for dear life.” Her husband steered her around the corner so she could face a blank wall. “I started to sing the old Sun Dance songs and it just made me better,” she says. “I sat there and I sang the songs in my head and I continued to get strong. So many times I called upon the songs to help me.” Debra – whose grandchildren call her Heya because of the traditional songs she sings – says hearing the ancient music reverberating inside calmed her down and gave her faith that she could get better. Her condition was so precarious that Debra — an Aboriginal education support worker at Edgewater Elementary School — was off work for 10 months and had to spend 18 weeks in residential treatment centres in Calgary and Kelowna. At the centres, she worked to rewire her brain, heal her body and get herself back. As she prioritized her own recovery, she continued supporting others, including advocating for another patient and sending her love to the students at home. When one of her students was struggling, Debra asked his teacher to tell the boy she would “send healing and help in the wind.” Shortly after relaying the message, the teacher told Debra that an eagle appeared during an outdoor class. The eagle circled around, soaring above the children. “The boy I’d sent the message to said, ‘It’s Mrs. Murray. She’s come to check on us,’” Debra says. “The eagle is our messenger, and the kids know this from the teachings.” To thank the eagle, Debra held a simple ceremony with a feather and a drum at her rehabilitation centre in Kelowna. Debra’s accident has given her greater appreciation for the small things in life. “Little simple things are huge victories for me,” she says, adding that she feels proud when she crosses a street or is able to go to a store and make a purchase. Passing her driving exam to get back on the road was a “little miracle.” Because daily errands are so challenging, Debra expected her return to work to be difficult. But when she went back to the school on a part-time basis in November, she found the opposite. “The children are healing to me,” she says, her eyes shining a soft purple behind her blue-tinted glasses. Debra is delighted with how far she’s come, but she’s not stopping any time soon. “I want to be able to Sun Dance again. And feed my poor starving husband. And hike and play with my grandchildren.” Her recovery is not complete. Debra is still in pain and often dizzy. She also needs a private space at the school where she can go to rest. But being in need helped Debra find precious gifts: more wisdom, more gratitude and more compassion for herself.
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ATTACKING FIREWORKS AND JELLYFISH HOT POT: AN ACUPUNCTURIST IN CHINA By Steve Hubrecht | Photos by Tracy Connery
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t’s a warm January night in a quaint village nested in the lush hills a few hours outside Taipei, and the entire extended Huang family is gathered in the hamlet’s central park, ringing in the Year of the Ox amid a seemingly endless blast of colourful firecrackers, set off at random, uncoordinated intervals. And one is coming right at Shilo Cameron, who sprints — hard — and uses her umbrella as an impromptu spark shield. “I was more or less attacked by the firework,” says Shilo. “They were being lit and one literally went sideways, right at me.” Fortunately the firecracker shoots just past Shilo, and she and her husband Ben make it through the rest of the Chinese New Year revelry unscathed, capping a celebratory evening with the Huangs, which also involved a dip in a local hot spring and an enormous feast in the family home, featuring jellyfish hot pot and Peking duck, beak and feet included.
The night was part of three weeks Shilo spent in Beijing and Taipei, in an ad hoc crash course learning about acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion and other traditional Chinese medicine practices in the land of their birth. Balanced Health Acupuncture and Wellness Clinic owner Shilo had already been a licensed acupuncturist and traditional Chinese medicine practitioner for several years at the time, but had always wanted to go to China to, in her own words, “get even more of a handle on it.” It wasn’t easy. The language barrier was considerable, there was no English anywhere, and the culture shock was almost overwhelming. Shilo recalls she and Ben staggering exhausted out of the Beijing airport, dazed from the time change, seeing nothing but Chinese characters everywhere they looked, and feeling drastically underdressed for the bitter sting of a Beijing winter. Their week in the capital passed in an exciting, confusing blur of busy streets, the tiled eves of traditional Chinese architecture, biting cold, dumpling restaurants, views of the Great Wall snaking to the horizon over rocky mountains, and forays outside the city to small teahouse-filled villages in the surrounding countryside where farmers grew various medicinal herbs.
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CHINA
Taipei offered a whole new set of stimuli — the earthy smell and damp warmth of a humid climate, people everywhere, constant hustle and bustle at all hours of day and night, dazzling lights, strange noises, hawkers peddling wares, zipping scooters, street markets sprawling down sidewalks, scorpions on skewers, bubble tea, enormous loads being delicately bicycled down the road, and random teenage girls pleading to have their photo taken with Ben. “It had all our senses reeling,” says Shilo. “But we embraced it, both places (Beijing and Taipei), and by the time we left we were comfortable with it.” In terms of study, Shilo had nothing pre-arranged, she simply went, along with Ben and Chien-Yu (Ellen) Huang (who accompanied the couple to both cities and whose family they visited during the Chinese New Year) and used connections to get introduced to traditional Chinese doctors, visiting hospitals to observe – and in some cases experience — how these doctors practiced. “The treatments definitely feel stronger. They are stimulating their needles a lot more,” she says. “It was quite interesting to see with my own eyes how these techniques are used in the place where they originated. Sometimes in Canada, as an acupuncturist, you spend a lot of time explaining things to people, essentially trying to convince them it works. But in China it’s been around for thousands of years, and it’s taken for granted by everybody that it works.” Shilo was amazed to find hospitals in Beijing that have a wing for modern medicine, a wing for herbal medicine, and a wing for acupuncture.
“It’s all together and that was pretty amazing. It was quite holistic. It’s just a different approach and it’s accepted differently,” she says. “It was a great experience and it really built my confidence.” Shilo’s interest in the Chinese approach to well-being began many years ago, when she started taking tai chi classes. The slow, graceful and fluid movements of tai chi appealed, and she began to study it more earnestly until becoming an instructor. Then one day, seemingly out of the blue, Shilo had the clear insight that she wanted to become an acupuncturist. “It was kind of weird. I woke up and just knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she says. “It almost feels like acupuncture chose me instead of the other way around.” Not long after Shilo enrolled in a three-year college acupuncture and Chinese medicine program (and yes, that’s where the anatomy model — named James — that stands vigil in the Balanced Health office originally came from. Kids who visit the office gravitate to James, pictured above, without fail and often want to shake his hand. Which usually falls off when they do). Shilo hasn’t looked back since, taking the skills and training she gained in college, building on that with her experience in China, and crafting it all into her own approach here in the Columbia Valley. Distilling thousands of years of healing techniques into a contemporary practice is no easy feat, but one she pulls off by keeping in mind the bigger holistic health picture for each patient.
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LIGHT, LOVE AND LAUGHTER IN THE LAND OF CONTRASTS By Lorene Keitch | Photos by Tracy Connery
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t was during devotional chanting when Kimberly Olson found it. Enlightenment. If only for a brief moment. She was studying at a yoga centre in Madurai, India. She looked around the great hall at her fellow yoga students during Satsang (a daily ritual) and was filled to overflowing with light, and love, and laughter, for all they were and all they represented. She could not stop laughing for hours. It was one of those moments from an epic travel to the land of contrasts Kimberly will never forget. “I’d always had a thing with India, what I fantasized it would be like – the romanticized version,” she shares. “I love the music, I love the incense, I love the practices, the colours, the makeup, the henna – everything visual as an artist – it was phenomenal.” Her image of India was painted from reading books, hearing travelers’ stories, and much time spent in ‘Little India’ during her stint working as an English language teacher in Singapore. In 2015 Kimberly traveled to Thailand on a pilgrimage to deepen her understanding of Thai medicine and massage, and then to India to fulfill her longing for the country. Leaving the quiet and calm of Thailand for the wild and wonders of India was a wake-up call. The reality hit when she got off the plane in Chennai. “It was like a little slap in the face,” she remembers. “Horns honking, constant noise. . . Everything was a little bit different and a little more intense.” She had not gone to India to study yoga but an opportunity presented itself and she took it. Kimberly planned to stay at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Meenakshi Ashram for two weeks. Two weeks turned into two months, during which Kimberly immersed herself in the teachings, deep insights, and daily practices of yoga. “It’s quite regimented and gets you into a beautiful routine, so you can learn as much as you can in a shorter period of time,” she explains of the ashram. Before her journey Kimberly had been a nomad for years, mostly living away from the Columbia Valley where she grew
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS INDIA up. And she has not been defined by one career path: she has been a graphic designer, an illustrator, a visual artist, a factory worker, and a carpenter (“I loved the grounding aspect of it and the functional practicality of it, having a skill that can help you in day to day life” she reflects of that job choice). After she faced a health scare, she decided to change the trajectory of her life and moved back to the valley. Kimberly had first practiced yoga when she was 18 (learning poses from a book), and loved it. Then college stress hit and she stopped. Now she picked it up again and ended up taking yoga teacher training. “It was the best thing I’ve done in my life; it was life changing,” she says. “Yoga is my maintenance. It’s my self-care. It’s my thing that keeps me balanced.” Kimberly’s experience in India led her to a deeper understanding of yoga, to a place “where I learned through my own practical experience the wisdom of the teachings.” Traveling to India forced Kimberly out of her comfort zone and into a place where she sought a peaceful mind amongst things that are unfamiliar. She looks back on her time in India as one of the most valuable experiences of her life. “It made me realize how thankful we should be for our lifestyle, especially in little Invermere. We have such a rich, a beautiful, abundant life.” Coming back home after five months’ travel, Kimberly settled into Invermere life. She now runs her own private studio, Traditional Thai Massage and Yoga, located inside Mountain Om Yoga and Wellness Studio. “Yoga is a state of presence in life,” she concludes. “Whether you’re on your mat or sitting on a rock looking at a lake, or walking your dog, or holding your baby, those are all moments of yoga, of integration with the whole, of being present and aware.”
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ENCHANTED ISLAND SOJOURN AWAKENS HEALER By Breanne Massey | Photos by Dianne Tharp
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n un-ignorable summoning called Dianne Tharp to island life roughly five years ago.
She had first landed in Bali, arguably the most enigmatic of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands in 2009, but three years later the pull of the place was too much to ignore and she went back, this time for a half-decade stay. The lure begins almost as soon as a visitor steps out of the airport and into a tropical Bali evening. The sweet, almost vanilla-like scent of frangipani floats on the warm breeze, mingling with wafts of incense. Emerald green rice paddies dotted with brilliant pink lotus flowers extend in all directions. Locals flash postcard-perfect gleaming Balinese smiles. Old men in sarongs squat in groups on the roadside, sipping strong coffee. Women march home from the fields, balancing enormous bundles on their heads as the sun slips from the sky. A taxi ride through rural Bali, even a relatively short one from the airport, quickly brings newcomers face to face with the otherworldly undercurrent rippling through the island. The taxi stops seemingly every 15 minutes to allow another procession to go by, participants dressed in finery, carrying effigies, offerings and decorative umbrellas. “You always stop. The ceremony always takes precedence over traffic,” says Dianne. “And there are a lot of ceremonies – funerals, weddings, honouring ancestors, or maybe it’s simply a particularly auspicious day. There are many gods in Bali and many occasions to seek their blessings.” But it is perhaps only when night falls in full that the visitor, tucked safely now in a guesthouse, really gets a full taste of the ethereal shroud draping this place. The air gets thicker and the wind gusts a bit stronger, rattling the ubiquitous chimes just a little too hard. Somewhere beyond the guesthouse walls the discordant sounds of a gamelan orchestra strike up, audible in haunting snatches. Bug-eyed masks leer down from atop doorways. And the foreigner, even an adamantly secular foreigner, swears that, although he or she should know better and there can’t possibly be spirits, that he or she can practically feel the heavy, dark air laden with them. “It really is a magical place. Nothing is ever what it seems at first blush,” says Dianne. “It embraces you right away. And it doesn’t ever really let you go.”
CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS BALI
And so just like that, as if under a spell, Dianne’s time on Bali unravelled for longer than she intended. She stayed five years in the end, learning what she could from its intoxicating milieu of mysterious and mundane. Much of what she gleaned she applied to her already established career as a holistic health practitioner, adding a few Indonesian-inspired techniques into what she calls her “medicine bag.” From the Balinese Dianne learned to embrace a fluid passage between the everyday details of life and the sacred, tapping into Balinese cultural beliefs about how humans must harness the power of Sekala (which the Balinese define as the seen physical world) with Niskala (the invisible spirit world) to feel truly fulfilled. This, she says, is invaluable to her work as a healer in the Columbia Valley (she returned here from Bali a year ago), in which she strives to help people pursue a path of balance and lead a more meaningful existence. Most of Dianne’s time in Bali was spent in Ubud, a village in the island’s interior that functions as its de-facto arts and cultural centre, where she lived in a traditional compound run by a local family. Although she studied with a Balinese high priestess and purified herself in the cleansing spouts of the famed Tirta Empul water temple, she says the most impactful part of her stay in Indonesia was simply observing daily life unfold around her. There was much Dianne gained, for instance, simply by watching the patient reverence of the grandmother of the family she stayed with, who came to Dianne’s part of the compound two or three times each and every day to bless the small shrine there with flowers, fruit or other ritual oblations. She absorbed a lot too from the unharried grace with which so many of her Balinese neighbours took life’s vexations (torrential downpours, electricity cuts, etc.) in stride. “There is a definite energy to the people and to Bali itself. It really held me,” she says. “It was a place where I could be more curious about who I am and what I want from life, rather than being caught in the usual ‘what am I going to buy in the grocery store tonight? What am I going to make for dinner?’ routine.” It’s a hold that will always endure. Dianne, having immersed herself in and assimilated so much of Bali during her five years, may have left the island, but the island has not left her. Breanne Massey is a graduate of Thompson Rivers University’s journalism school and holds a diploma of visual arts. She is currently a product owner and consultant working in e-commerce with a specialty in UX/UI design.
SUCKED IN BY AN ANCIENT THERAPY By Eric Elliott | Photos by Painted Sun Photography
W
hat do world famous Olympian Michael Phelps and I have in common? No, I won’t be coming home from the Olympic Games anytime soon with gold medals wrapped around my neck. Instead, our similarity lies in the fact that both he and I have turned to the age-old therapeutic practice of cupping to treat aches and injuries. Many may have first become familiar with cupping when the massive, bruise-like purple dots that are tell-a-tale sign of the treatment became a social media-trending, hot-button topic during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where they quite visibly adorned the back of the superstar swimmer as he stood on the start platform in his Speedo. But cupping is nothing new. It’s been around for centuries, dating back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Middle Eastern cultures, and is actually mentioned in one of the world’s oldest medical texts, the Ebers Papyrus, which describes how ancient Egyptians used cupping in 1550 BC. Cupping is a relatively simple alternative medical ministration in which a therapist puts special cups on targeted areas of the patient’s skin for several minutes. The therapist creates a vacuum inside the cups before applying them to the patients, sometimes by heating the air inside each cup just beforehand or sometimes by using a mechanical pump. This vacuum suctions the skin inside the cup, pulling blood from the surrounding tissues into the ‘cupped’ area to help improve the recovery process. The practice is used to alleviate pain; release fascia around injured or sore muscles; deal with scar tissue, muscle tissue and connective tissue problems; or treat a range of other conditions. Often the cups can leave marks on the skin after treatment — yes, these are the purple “bruises.” But no, they’re not really bruises in the conventional sense, and are simply a result of increased blood flow to stimulate recovery. Physiotherapists, athletic therapists and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners usually use cupping in conjunction with other therapies. “I use cupping after my other treatment methods, as an additive to releasing the fascia and muscles around the injured area,” says Achelois Sports and Athletic therapist Kelsey Walker. “It helps the body heal itself after I have completed my client’s sessions and releases the muscle to a deeper extent than I can get with my hands.” As a CrossFit athlete I had developed a nagging shoulder injury that plagued nearly every overhead movement I was doing on a daily basis. I tried various treatments — self-massage, foam rolling, chiropractic care and yes, even rest, but nothing seemed to stop the discomfort from returning when I was working out. I decided to give cupping a try. Although I was ambivalent about its effectiveness prior to treatment, I couldn’t be happier with the results. To start with, Kelsey treated my shoulder, neck and back around the pain area through active release and massage to warm everything up. Then once she had worked the fascia with her hands, she added the suction
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS CUPPING
Heart Center Integrated Wellness
cups to my shoulders and lats (latissimus dorsi muscles) before going on to smaller areas that pull the skin a little more, such as the biceps. Throughout the process I felt only mild, if any, discomfort and when Kelsey removed the cups from my back, I had the same pleasant feeling you get after a good massage. Unlike most other cupping practitioners, Kelsey also employs a scraping technique, in which she runs the cup along the muscle to help increase the release. Scraping therapy also can trace its origins back thousands of years, and today remains a commonly used procedure in Chinese traditional medicine. The next day I was a little bit sore, once again just as you would feel after a massage, and sure, I had those marks all over my back. But my muscles felt slightly better. Fast forward a week and I was back in the gym doing everything I needed to do with no return of that nagging pain. I couldn’t believe it. Although the scientific literature may be on the fence as to the effectiveness of cupping, I for one will swear by it along with Michael Phelps. If you’re looking for a new way to treat a nagging injury or are simply just looking for something different, give cupping a try. It just might suck you in.
Maybe you’re at a crossroad or in crisis. After all the time and energy you’ve spent, you feel like you should be filled with more contentment and joy, having more clarity about what you want out of life and who you want to share that with. Whatever brought you here, you’re ready for the next steps. I can help. My practice encompasses three primary streams. Online, in person and phone sessions available.
Social Work Counseling
I am trained in a number of therapeutic counseling approaches and support people navigating their way through such experiences as: • Disability • Chronic pain • Caregiver burnout • Stress • Anxiety Mary Arbique Vogel • Life Transitions (age/stage/placement) MSW RSW BC/AB
Life Mission Coaching
During these sessions you will learn the skill of Quest-ioning; Why you are here? What you are called to do and who you are called to become? How do you embody this and bring your Life Mission into manifestation? Finally, how to embody your life mission artfully, skillfully and authentically to live the highest story of your life and create harmony between your inner and outer life mission.
The Way of the Heart™
Eric Elliott is a former journalist at the Columbia Valley Pioneer and Telegraph Journal Newspapers and is now a CrossFit coach at Endeavor Fitness in Invermere. While he’s traded in his pen in efforts to help others improve their nutrition and fitness, he still enjoys writing about sports and fitness in his spare time.
A Way to transform self-identity, patterns, problems and difficulties and to deepen divine self-awareness, intuition and the power to act from the deep freedom of real choice. The Way of the Heart blends field work and the art of questioning, learning to both seek and ask deeper questions to facilitate an understanding of what transpires behind what appears.
www.heartcenterintegratedwellness.com mary@heartcenterintegratedwellness.com
Find and treat the cause of your health condition with
Naturopathic Medicine
• Effective complementary medicine that pairs well with medical treatments • Preventative medicine, nutritional counseling, acupuncture, and other effective pain management therapies • Advanced laboratory testing: Hormones, food sensitivities, heavy metals, environmental allergies, vitamin D, and many more • Free 15 minute meet and greet appointments for those curious about what Naturopathic Medicine has to offer
Dr. Mike Baker, ND | 250-342-1457 | www.drmikebaker.ca
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BACK TO BASICS HAPPINESS
MORE SKIING, LESS STRESS By Dauna Ditson | Photos by Painted Sun Photography Editor’s note: Perhaps the most basic ingredient of health and wellness is happiness. Indeed it’s so elemental, it’s often overlooked. Maybe it doesn’t get taken into consideration as much as exercise and diet because focusing on it seems so Pollyanna-esque. But happiness has been linked in plenty of scientific studies with increased health, living longer and greater well-being. Trite it may be, but true it certainly is, and the valley is full of people who have left stressful lives behind to come to a place a little more lighthearted and fun.
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ritish couple Fiona Mckay and Adam Pickett used to joke about quitting their jobs, moving to Canada and becoming ski instructors. At first the joke seemed “sort of ridiculous,” Fiona says. She was a doctor working in a hospital. Adam was an accountant. They were young – in their late 20s – and successful. Fiona, who decided she wanted to be a doctor at 14, was living the life she imagined. Yet they loved skiing. And they missed each other. When Fiona worked night shifts, she and Adam would go a week without seeing each other. Fiona was stressed at work and feeling pinched by an underfunded healthcare system that left her “patching holes” instead of doing her best for her patients. She felt she was left treating symptoms rather than underlying causes. The couple’s joke gained power. It became a longing, then an intention. Fiona quit her job and Adam left his. “After deciding, we kind of sat there and thought: what have we done?” Fiona said. But they kept moving forward. Choosing happiness over their careers, they packed their lives into their suitcases and moved to Kimberley, where they took jobs on the ski hill. After a season, Adam landed an accounting position at Panorama, Fiona
joined the Panorama ski patrol, and they settled in Invermere. While Fiona says she wasn’t unhappy before, she concedes that she enjoys life more now. “I have way less to complain about... and it’s nice spending so much more time with Adam.” When they aren’t working or out adventuring, Fiona keeps busy volunteering with the local hospice and an animal rescue group. “We’ve left everything in England to do this,” Fiona says, but she doesn’t have any regrets. “We’ve not had a thought about going back. We got rid of so much stress and got out of the rat race of being in the city.” As a doctor, Fiona witnessed the harm stress can cause, including high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, insomnia and gastrointestinal problems. “Over time it can lead to heart disease, stroke, stomach ulcers, asthma. There is no definite evidence but some studies link stress to cancer,” she says. Making her life into a case study on stress reduction, Fiona says moving to the mountains and building a life that includes only what she chooses to prioritize has been transformative. “I’ve become a much more laidback person,” she says. Fiona encourages others to consider ways to lower their stress levels. It’s different for everyone, she said. For somebody else, leaving a career and moving across an ocean would be a cause for stress, rather than a relief. “People have to find what works for them,” she says. But for Fiona and Adam, living in the Columbia Valley is the ticket. They bought a house in Invermere in January and are here to stay. “It’s hard to step sideways and think: what am I actually doing?” Fiona says, but the benefits of living with intention are incalculable. “It’s worth loads,” she says.
Achieving love for oneself one photo at a time.
Valley Hair Styling and tanning life coaching • reiki • pranic energy healing • therapeutic massage • yoga
Walk-Ins Welcome 1313 7th Ave., Invermere, BC • 250-342-6355
Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm / Sat 9am - 5pm
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CULTURAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS WATSU
JAPANESE BODYWORK INSPIRES WATER-BASED MASSAGE
www.kimberlyolson.ca
By Nicole Trigg
Y
ou’re probably familiar with the Japanese term Shiatsu, but maybe you haven’t come across its North American cousin Watsu. A unique form of bodywork that combines immersing the body in warm water with traditional Shiatsu massage, Watsu is now available in the Columbia Valley at Pleiades Spa & Wellness, the holistic wellness centre located at the Radium Hot Springs facility in Kootenay National Park. Watsu was created by a Calfornia-based Shiatsu teacher in the early 1980s and is based on the premise that water takes weight off the vertebrae so they can be manipulated more easily. During a session, flotation devices on the legs support you in the water while your practitioner holds you and guides your body through gentle rocking and stretching motions.
250.688.1051
Fiona Millar
• Certified Angel Empowerment Practitioner • Certified Akashic Record Reader • Certified Medium • Numerology Consultant
250-342-1713
The therapeutic potential of experiencing bodywork in a warm, fluid environment nearly free of gravity instills a deep state of relaxation, resulting in better sleep and less anxiety.
• Certified Spirit Attachment Practitioner • Property Clearing and Realignment • Weekly Radio Host for Angelic Realms fiona@fionapsychic.com www.fionapsychic.com
Come and experience the wellness centre at the Radium Hot Springs!
The health benefits of Watsu are numerous and diverse — everything from increasing mobility and flexibility, to decreasing muscle tension and stress, and reducing pain. Patients with spinal cord injuries, trauma to the brain, degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, and chronic back and neck pain, have been successfully treated with Watsu. Pleiades Spa & Wellness is the only location in Canada offering Watsu in an outdoor hot springs environment.
We�ness Retreats
We have begun offering year-round retreats that blend the Columbia Valley’s outdoor lifestyle with our therapeutic spa treatments. Create your own wellness getaway or contact us about upcoming packages.
Yoga Classes & W�kshops
We offer regular yoga classes and workshops at our poolside location. Mats and props are available.
Spa Services
We have a full range of spa services ranging from many types of massage to body & facial care. We use the locally made Om Organics skin care line for all treatments. We also offer a private hot springs plunge pool and steam room.
Hot Springs
capturing life
Combine your spa and wellness centre experience with a soak in the healing waters of the hot springs!
creating art
Invermere, BC 250-342-1667 • www.terrigilesphotography.com
VISIT US ONLINE AT WWW.PLEIADESRADIUMSPA.COM OR CONTACT US AT 250-347-2288 OR INFO@PLEIADESRADIUMSPA.COM LOCATED AT RADIUM HOT SPRINGS IN KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK
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Dragonfly Wellness in Invermere Specializing in Life Coaching, Therapeutic Yoga, Counselling for Mental and Physical Health
Including anxiety, depression, life transitions, addictions, stress, personal development...
Susan Dakin
susandakin333@gmail.com M.A., PhD 403-330-4879
Located at Private boutique studio just outside of Invermere • • • • • NHPC Registered Massage Diploma Human Kinetitcs Diploma Massage Therapy Certified Yoga Instructor
Deep Tissue and Relaxation Massage Myofascial Release Cupping Lymphatic Drainage Therapy Private or small group yoga classes
$75/60 min • $100/90 min To book an appointment call or text 250-341-5656 or visit jeanetteriches.com
Healthy Soles Kate Kittmer
CMP (Certified Master Pedicurist)
I provide safe, sterile and professional mobile services specializing in Senior, Diabetic and other problematic hand and foot care needs. My Services include: Soaking of your feet, footcare evaluation and recommendations,cutting and shaping of the toenails, cuticle care, corn and callus, treatment for thickness of the nail and fungus, lower leg and foot massage to improve blood circulation. I also provide an effective treatment for ingrown toenail relief and involuted toenails without painful ingrown toenail surgery. Eliminates pain while correcting the nail with the B/S Brace System. To book an appointment or for questions regarding a treatment call 250-342-1157 or email: kashkit@shaw.ca
Be your best in 2018! • New equipment for 2018 • Open from 4 a.m. – Midnight with after-hours keytag access! • Fully Equipped Cardio and Weight room • Over 25 classes per week including Yoga, Spin, Zumba, Qigong and more! • Day passes available • No sign up fees • Friendly, fun atmosphere!
Columbia Valley
Qi Gong
and Yin Yoga Classes Workshops Private Sessions For more information please contact:
Betty Newton, MQT
www.valleyfitnesscentre.ca 250-342-2131 www.facebook.com/valleyfitnesscentre 30
Phone/text: 250-342-5736 newtonhome@shaw.ca
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Tired of being frustrated, overwhelmed or stuck? Navigate change with ease using Intuitive Card Readings and/or ®
Bereavement Programs
Find out how. Call or text Brenda at 250-341-5291
Learn to live your life with passion!
You Gotta Nourish to Flourish!
The Headquarters for Your Wellness
Counselling, Yoga Therapy, Laughter Yoga, Meditation, Pranayama and Corporate Wellness Solutions.
Purnima Gosavi RSW/MSW, Counsellor, Yoga Therapist Call/Text: (778) 316-6371
What is Hospice and How Can We Help? The Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley understands that from the time of a terminal illness diagnosis families are on a journey. Many people assume Hospice assistance is only available when a client is at the end stage and palliative however we are available to support clients and their families from the time of diagnosis, through the first year of bereavement with in home visitations. For those needing support you can access our services directly or have your GP or Home Health Nurse fill out a referral form. If you are in a long term care facility, your residential care coordinator can fill out the form on your behalf. To provide visitation services we are always looking for interested volunteers to join our team. If you are interested in any of our programs or joining our team either as a member or as a volunteer, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us at 250-688-1143 or info@hospicesocietycv.com Annual sponsors
“Grief is a process, not an event. You can’t avoid it. You can’t rush it. It’s a walk, one step at a time, and it takes time for this necessary process to bring healing and wholeness back to your life.” – Michael and Brenda Pink The Hospice Society of the Columbia Valley is dedicated to walking this journey with you. We offer a series of bereavement programs designed to support those struggling with the intense emotions associated with grief, loss and bereavement. Programs include… • Visitation in the home or at another location (on-going) • 12-week bereavement support group (Next group beginning early 2018. Please call for information) • Walk and Talk Groups (various communities dependent on need June - October) • Resource centre and lending library Open Monday - Friday, 12-4 p.m.
All programs are free of charge. Please call for more information.
Proud sponsor of the Lending Library
Proud sponsor of the Bereavement Program
Phone: (250) 688-1143 Address: Unit 103, 926 7th Ave, Box 925 Invermere, BC V0A 1K0 Website: www.hospicesocietycv.com
www.wellnessworkshophq.com purnima@wellnessworkshophq.com
Vitality
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