NA Tallahassee November 2011 by Donna Konuch

HEALTHY LIVING HEALTHY PLANET feel good live simply laugh more

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The Economics of

HAPPINESS for People & the Planet

10 Steps to Abundance

Inspiring Tips for Joyful Living

Eating Out? Eat Green A Guide to Eco-Friendly Restaurants

November 2011 | Tallahassee, South Georgia, Gulf Coast | www.natallahassee.com natural awakenings

November 2011

contact us Publisher Donna L. Konuch Editor Donna L. Konuch Design & Production Susan McCann Advertising Sales For Advertising questions or a Media Kit please send an e-mail to: NATallahassee@yahoo.com Natural Awakenings Tallahassee 3767 Greyfield Dr Tallahassee, Fl 32311 Phone: 850-590-7024 Fax: 850-270-67NA (6762) natallahassee@yahoo.com www.NATallahassee.com www.NaturalAwakeningsMag.com

© 2011 by Natural Awakenings. All rights reserved. Although some parts of this publication may be reproduced and reprinted, we require that prior permission be obtained in writing. Natural Awakenings is a free publication distributed locally and is supported by our advertisers. It is available in selected stores, health and education centers, healing centers, public libraries and wherever free publications are generally seen. Please call for a location near you or if you would like copies placed at your business. We do not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the articles and advertisements, nor are we responsible for the products and services advertised. We welcome your ideas, articles and feedback. SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions are available for $18 (for 12 issues). Please call 850-590-7024 with credit card information or mail a check, payable to Natural Awakenings–Tallahassee, to the above address.

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I advertising & Submissions How to Advertise

To advertise with Natural Awakenings or request a media kit, please contact us at natallahassee@yahoo.com. Deadline for ad space reservation for the December issue is Saturday, November 12.

News Briefs and article submissions

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Email calendar events to: natallahassee@ yahoo.com or fax to 850-270-6762. Please see page 31 for details Calendar deadline for December issue is Thursday, November 10.

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Coming in December

Uplifting Humanity

love the word “abundance.” Not surprisingly for the month of November, my first visual for that word is the overflowing contents of a cornucopia. Like the variety of vegetables or treats that spill forth from this traditional holiday centerpiece, there are many things that fill my life with great profusion. These days, when I think of my life’s successes, I consider abundance, rather than bank accounts. While I work to provide necessities for myself, that is just one piece of a much larger, more sustainable picture. Instead of dwelling in a place of overwhelm, I am striving to shift to a daily affirmation that I live an amazingly abundant life. When I stop measuring myself by traditional societal standards, I can see that I am already successful… I have already arrived in a position of happiness. When I turn my gaze toward abundance, I better experience the gratitude attitude that I wish to reside in daily, hourly and moment-by-moment. Michelle Long adds to the conversation by sharing ways local businesses can positively impact the “triple bottom line” of people, the planet and profit (see page 22). It is all about creating healthy communities where we are invested in our collective success. In Shop Smart, we are reminded that when we buy local, we are supporting our neighbors (see page 30). Local financial expert Karen Cooley adds insights to how we can best approach a sound financial plan to support our future dreams (see page 7). Dr. Darlene Treese encourages us to keep positive thoughts and attitudes even amongst the illusion of chaos (see page 32). At a recent Natural Awakenings publisher’s conference, people were sharing their feelings of overwhelm. Collectively they chose to replace the word “overwhelm” with the word “abundance.” It is often hard to step back on our own to shift our thinking, but when we are part of a community, we support each other in getting back on track. Another community that has meant a great deal to me in the last couple of years are my Inspired Entrepreneur and Mastermind groups which I have taken part in with other local entrepreneurs, facilitated by business coach, Elizabeth Barbour. Wonderful women of different enterprises from all over Tallahassee, get together and share business ideas and support one another on individual goals. It has proven invaluable to me and has greatly increased my personal wealth. Not simply in financial terms, but in the wealth of information I have received, the wealth of loving support in moments of fear, in the wealth of new friendships with people I may have never met otherwise. I know I am blessed with a loving, supportive husband and three children that I absolutely adore. My “abundance” continues to overflow with the blessings I have received as publisher of this magazine. This magazine allows me to express myself creatively, share my passion for all things natural, spiritually uplifting and Earth-friendly, and a way for me to reach out and support our local community in a substantive way. May this Thanksgiving find your blessings abundant and overflowing!

Blessing to you,

Donna K.

natural awakenings

November 2011

contents 8

8 healthbriefs

13 ecotip

Natural Awakenings is your guide to a healthier, more balanced life. In each issue readers find cutting-edge information on natural health, nutrition, fitness, personal growth, green living, creative expression and the products and services that support a healthy lifestyle.

14 consciouseating

14 EATING OUT?

10 globalbriefs

16 healingways

17 fitbody

Eco-Friendly Restaurants Serve Up Sustainability by Sandra Murphy

22 wisewords

EAT GREEN

26 naturalpet

28 actionalert

30 greenliving 31 inspiration

16 HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU

Mood-Boosting Health Tips by Kim Childs

18 22

17 OUR WORST

FITNESS HABITS Six Roadblocks to Sidestep by Tosca Reno

18 ECONOMICS OF

HAPPINESS: THE NEW ECONOMY

LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE THERAPY

Changing the Rules to Benefit Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s People by John de Graaf and Linda Sechrist

22 EMPOWER LOCAL www.tallahasseeacupuncture.net

BUSINESSES TO STRENGTHEN LOCAL ECONOMIES Success Tips from Advocate

Michelle Long

by Brian Clark Howard

26 GOOD DOG

Positive Training Yields Fast Results by Sandra Murphy

30 SHOP SMART

Keep Dollars Working in Local Communities by Linda Sechrist

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

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newsbriefs Results from the October 6th Dandi Awards

2e Connect presented the first ever Dandi Awards at the Hotel Duval’s Horizon Ballroom in front of a packed room and an interactive audience. Local small businesses who give back to our community were spotlighted with a special program including live entertainment, signature cocktails and a video vignette of finalists in each category; and all attendees who complete the after-award survey will receive a one year’s subscription to Entrepreneur magazine. The unique event was made possible by the generosity of sponsors, collaborators, nominators, applicants and audience. Every applicant was a winner as they show the grit, determination and creativity to innovate and improve every single day. But at the end of the day, one winner had to be chosen in each category. For 2011, they are: Joel Scilley, Audiowood, winner in the Accidental Entrepreneur category, Mignon Lawson Emenike, MD, The Wellness Center by Dr. Mignon won Compassionate, James and Shannon Caldwell, The Canopy of Technology won in the Confident category. Taking the Renegade award was Arthur T. Aveling of Magic Whiteboard Products, Rising Star winner was Jean Bates of Lucy & Leo’s Cupcakery, Donna Smithey of Singing Tallygram and InTents Events won in the Serial Entrepreneur category, and finally the winner of the Transcendent award is Donda Combs, Applied Appreciation. e2e Connect, standing for Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur Connect, is a resource for entrepreneurs to learn, share and connect. Their goal is to make it easier for start-up companies to find and connect with vital resources and contacts. 2012 will hold workshops, mentor matching and resources for new entrepreneurs, those contemplating becoming a new entrepreneur, business owners who recognize the benefit of consulting with other experienced business owners, and those who embrace collaboration over competition. For more information on the sponsors, collaborating resources, finalists and upcoming events, keep an eye on www. e2econnect.org.

Did You Know?

id you know that the Tallahassee Senior Center offers a salad bar at their 1400 N. Monroe Street location? Their healthy and homemade salad bar is open from 11:30 am to 12:45pm, every Monday thru Friday, for the economical price of $2 and $4. There is a different ethnic theme each week. Eat-in their library café, picnic in the new, beautiful memorial gardens, or carry-out. Everyone welcome! On “Two Buck Friday” all large salads are $2.00. Eat greens and and save green!

American Advertising Federation of Tallahassee Announces its 2011 Media Auction

ponsored by 94.9 TNT, the American Advertising Federation of Tallahassee (AAFT) will host its annual media auction on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. at the Southwood Clubhouse, 3750 Grove Park Drive. This year’s theme is “Classy Country – Walk The Line with Johnny and Spend a Little Cash,” and the silent auction is open to businesses, non-profits, advertising agencies, and anyone else who wants to bid on the items. Jason Taylor of 94.9 TNT will be the emcee for the event. All proceeds will help benefit the American Advertising Federation of Tallahassee (AAFT), a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit that annually donates scholarships to Florida State University and Florida A&M University for advertising students, promotes the “Truth in Advertising Campaign,” and provides professional development for AAFT members. “This provides an opportunity for smaller businesses and non-profit organizations, which may not have the advertising dollars that their counterparts do, to be able to afford real, quality ad space for a fraction of the price,” said AAFT President Lynsie Slachetka. Media items already donated include Lamar billboard space, Schroeder Communications, On Call Computer Solutions, LocalEdge, Hearst Digital Media Services, Tallahassee Grapevine Marketing, Target Copy, Magic Moments DJ, Natural Awakenings magazine, plus many gift baskets and local gift cards. To get your tickets to the event, visit www.AAFTallahassee.com/Events/Auction, and for more information, call AAF Tallahassee President Lynsie Slachetka at (850) 544-3595.

natural awakenings

November 2011

newsbriefs Leon County Celebrates America Recycles Day!

oin them on Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. for their annual open house. This year, Leon County is also celebrating America Recycles Day. This exciting event will be held at the Solid Waste Management Facility on Apalachee Parkway. There will be tours, heavy equipment displays, recycled crafts to make, recycled games to play, food, live music and fun. Vendors will be on site to collect items from you for reuse or recycling. Items that will be collected by vendors include: shoes, books, eyeglasses and sunglasses, aluminum cans, cell phones, and Styrofoam. Bring your old documents for free, confidential paper shredding. As part of the celebration, there will also be the first ever 5K Trash Dash and the 1-mile Recycling Run beginning at 8 a.m. The America Recycles Day flyer and race registration form can be found at http://www.leoncountyfl.gov/Recycling/pdf/ ARDflyer5.pdf. Race proceeds will benefit Sustainable Tallahassee. Sustainable Tallahassee promotes environmental stewardship and economic development through education and collaboration. You can register online for the Trash Dash and Recycling Run, too! Or go to the registration page on the RaceIt link at http://www.sustainabletallahassee.com/. Check out their ad on page 39.

3 Years of Saving the Planet One Baby Step At a Time…

cological Babies, one of our local eco-friendly businesses, celebrates three years of serving Tallahassee through their products and education. Their mission? To promote sustainability and simplicity to better the environment. Ecological Babies’ primary focus is cloth diapers. “The average family goes through over 3,000 diapers per year for each child. This has an enormous negative impact on the environment. In addition, most disposable diapers have harmful chemicals inside and are placed on our baby’s bottoms. We’re only learning now all the negative health affects the diapers are causing our children,” states owner Jen Starks. “Additional, families can save thousands of dollars by using cloth and virtually cloth diaper their subsequent children free.” Even though Ecological Babies a home-based operation, they strive to be a presence within the community. They host cloth diaper seminars at various locations open to the public, partner with other local businesses on various topics such as prenatal nutrition. They are one of the founders of “Mom’s Time Out,” a local organization that brings momrun businesses together to support and promote each other. For more information, visit www.momtimeouttallahassee. com. Beyond popular cloth diaper brands (bumGenius, Thirsties, GroVia, & more) Ecological Babies also carries baby slings, organic skin care for baby and mama, teething products, and other safe products in your home. The Ecological Babies’ active community comes together on Facebook where topics on sustainable living, attachment parenting, childbirth options, and community events are often discussed. For more information, visit Ecological Babies at www. ecologicalbabies.com or contact Jen Starks 574.275.1235.

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

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The Value of Perspective, Finding The Pattern In Our Financial Lives

he or she understood two very importepping back from something can tant life skills, the value of attitude and help us gain valuable perspective. the value of perspective. Taking a deep breath and a step back Having a positive attitude and havoften allows us to see the beauty and ing perspective are interrelated. Being the patterns of a particular thing. This able to see distance can the end result, also remind of us of the “Experience is a safe light to rather than just the task, allows reasons and walk by, and he is not a rash man us to focuses the why of it. There is who expects to succeed in future our energies and provides a wonderfrom the same means which have motivation ful story that when things get illustrates this secured it in times past.”   tough. Alvin point very elo~Wendell Phillips Toffler states quently …. it this way, Once “You’ve got there were to think about big things while you’re 3 bricklayers. Each one of them was doing small things, so that all the small asked what they were doing. things go in the right direction.” The first man answered gruffThis is as true of our financial ly,  ‘I’m laying bricks.’  The second man replied,  ‘I’m putting up a wall.’  But the picture as it is in any other area of our third man said enthusiastically and with lives. Often, we address financial matters in a very fractured or patchwork pride,  ‘I’m building a cathedral.’ sort of way, almost as stepping stones The author of this story is unas we move through time. We set up known. However, what is clear is that

checking accounts, enroll in a 401(k) or begin an IRA, apply for a mortgage or credit cards, finance a car, if children come along we may think about funding education, later we may need to consider elder parent’s care, we have insurance of various kinds, perhaps we’ve written a will … As we move through life, we all make many financial decisions. Individually, each one of these decisions is important and necessary. However, making these decisions in a piecemeal fashion can have a detrimental effect on our overall financial balance. Stepping back and looking at our financial picture from a holistic perspective, allows us to harness the power of interdependence and seeing the big picture. This big picture perspective allows us to improve the efficiency of our financial model, resulting in improved financial performance and protecting against loss. When our financial lives are crafted with attention and care, there is an inter-connectedness that offers financial balance and confidence. Knowing that you have a sound and firm financial foundation that allows you to adapt to life’s changes, enables you to turn your attention more fully to enjoying life. To gain more perspective on your finances, seek the counsel of a trusted financial professional. This is a great first step in creating a financial blueprint that aligns with your values, addresses potential challenges such as taxes, the rising cost of living and unexpected life events, and creates economic equilibrium. Co-creating this financial map with an advisor creates positive momentum, focus and efficiency. Most financial professionals have met with people from many walks and stages of life. This broad and experienced perspective is one of the greatest resources they’ll have to share. Karen Cooley is a financial advisor of Park Avenue Securities, LLC, at North Florida Financial. She may be reached at karen_ cooley@northfloridafinancial.com or (850) 562-9075. Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS), 3664 Coolidge Ct., Tallahassee, FL 32311. 850-562-9075.

natural awakenings

November 2011

healthbriefs

Taking Steps Against Diabetes

ovember is National Diabetes Awareness Month, a reminder that by taking the necessary steps, many Americans can prevent incurring the disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 79 million of us have prediabetes and may develop diabetes later in life. New research suggests that inactivity, along with an overly refined diet, impairs the body’s control of blood sugar levels and may play a key role in the development of Type 2 diabetes. “We now have evidence that physical activity is an important part of the daily maintenance of glucose levels,” advises John Thyfault, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, whose new study monitored the activity levels and diets of healthy and moderately active young adults. He concluded that, “Even in the short term, reducing daily activity and ceasing regular exercise causes acute changes in the body associated with diabetes, which can occur before weight gain and the development of obesity.” The CDC reports that 25 percent of Americans have inactive lifestyles, taking fewer than 5,000 steps a day, instead of a recommended 10,000 steps. Seventyfive percent do not meet the weekly exercise recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate activity, combined with a muscle-strengthening activity twice a week. While regular exercise is crucial in preventing the disease, so is diet. Research led by scientist Patrice Carter, at the University of Leicester, in England, has found that cutting down on high-fat, high-sugar foods and refined grains while eating more green leafy vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Her study, published online in the British Medical Journal, states that an extra serving of green leafy vegetables a day can reduce the risk of diabetes by 14 percent.

Dish Up Some Pecan Pie

ho doesn’t relish a slice of pecan pie for Thanksgiving dessert? New research from Loma Linda University (LLU) demonstrates that naturally occurring antioxidants in pecans may help contribute to heart health and disease prevention. Earlier LLU research showed that a pecan-enriched diet lowered levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) by 16.5 percent. Both studies were published in the Journal of Nutrition.

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The New Coconut Oil

ost older studies that gave coconut oil a bad rap involved partially hydrogenated oil loaded with trans-fatty acids. But the unrefined virgin coconut oil now available in many health food stores is not chemically treated and is trans-fat free. Marisa Moore, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, a nonprofit organization of nutritionists, explains that the main saturated fat in virgin coconut oil is lauric acid, a medium-chain fatty acid that can help increase levels of HDL (good cholesterol).

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Shop for Gifts in Pleasant Surroundings

ecent research underscores what common sense tells us, that moods, emotions and feelings influence the quality of people’s decisions. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research confirms that when shoppers are in a positive mood, they make quicker and more consistent judgments than unhappy consumers. The study’s authors manipulated participants’ moods by showing them pictures of likable objects (puppies) or unpleasant images (diseased feet) or asking them to recall pleasant or unpleasant events from the past. Next, the participants viewed individual pictures of a common object they might consider buying. Finally, they chose from a random list of evaluative adjectives, both positive and negative. Individuals in a positive state of mind not only responded more quickly to the adjectives, they also responded more consistently. For example, if they reported liking an object, they were less likely to respond later that they disliked it. “These results have implications for how we navigate our world,” the researchers reported. “The decisions we make about liking or disliking objects around us are fundamental to which things we approach and which things we avoid.” The bottom line for retailers: Being aware of and avoiding factors that can induce negative moods—such as abrasive salespeople and unwelcoming shopping environments—can help ring up more sales.

Home Is Where the Healthy Meal Is

ne of the joys of heading home for the holidays is the anticipation of gathering around the table with loved ones and enjoying delicious foods. But we do well to indulge in the home-cooked meal experience on non-holidays, as well. Foods prepared away from home, including fast food eaten at home and store-prepared food eaten away from home, tend to fuel an increase in total calorie intake. Conversely, eating at home is linked with healthier choices. According to research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, both the eating location and food source significantly impact the daily calorie intake of school-age children and may be linked to rising rates of childhood obesity. The study found that the percentage of calories eaten away from home increased from 23.4 to 33.9 percent from 1977 to 2006. A new study from McGill University, based on data from 160 women, further suggests that a home-cooked meal can prompt people to make healthier and more nutritional food choices. The women in the study tended to reach more for the greens, rather than high-calorie desserts. Reporting in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the researchers suggest that when we eat at home, emotionally rewarding factors like contentedness may help override our wired-in preference for high-fat, sugary foods. The findings point to factors that may encourage healthy eating such as interpersonal communication, home design and atmospheric cues, including pleasing music, dining landscape and kitchen equipment; all have all been found to induce positive emotions.

See the Good

eeling happy in an increasingly troubled world can be challenging, but according to a new study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, we can evoke more consistent feelings of happiness by holding a positive, nostalgic view of the past and banishing negative thoughts and regrets. San Francisco State University researchers that studied the happiness status of 750 volunteers point out that although we may not be able to change our personality, we can alter our view of a time in our life and thus create happiness. They concluded that savoring happy memories and reframing painful past experiences into positive ones is an effective way to increase overall life satisfaction.

Happier and Healthier at Work

UK study from the University of Exeter confirms good news: Employees that have a say in the design and layout of their workspace are happier and healthier. But that’s not all—they also become up to 32 percent more productive.

coverartist

Creative Dreams by Lori Portka A former counselor and educator, fine artist Lori Portka delights in the favorite things that inspire her: nature, traveling, animals, yoga and friends. She lets her art pour out in boldly rendered images that burst from each canvas via saturated pastels, paints, chalks and inks to forge a visceral connection between artist and viewer. “I make artwork that is a reflection of gratitude and joy in the world,” says Portka, whose expressive works fulfill her mission of spreading happiness through art. A personal loss led Portka to begin painting again at 30-something for the first time since the tenth grade, a process she says has opened her heart even more deeply. Inspired by Australian photographer and filmmaker Hailey Bartholomew’s documentary, 365 Grateful, about living on the sunny side of life, Portka embarked upon her own project, A Hundred Thank-Yous, creating and giving away 100 paintings to 100 people that have touched her life, she says, “in a beautiful way.” “I feel like I am on the right path, doing what I am supposed to do,” she explains. “Art feels like home to me.” View the artist’s portfolio and follow her blog at LoriPortka.com.

natural awakenings

November 2011

Want a More Natural Approach?

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globalbriefs News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all. November is Native American Heritage Month NativeAmericanHeritageMonth.gov lists celebrations.

Reef Requiem

World’s Coral in Dire Peril The world’s coral reefs are dying. It doesn’t take a trained eye to see the draining of color that results when the corals, stressed by heat due to global warming, expel the algae they rely upon for food that also provides their signature hues. It’s a death knell as well for reef fish. Reefs have always grappled with destructive fishing practices, sediment and nutrient runoff, coral mining, tourism and coastal development. Scientists say the bleaching process is now accelerating. The World Resources Institute reports that nearly three-quarters of all ocean reefs are at risk of extreme degradation, on top of the 20 percent already lost or damaged beyond repair. Oceanographers think that all reefs will be at risk by 2050 because of increasingly acidified seas, the result of increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Coral reefs, covering less than 1 percent of the ocean floor, harbor 25 percent of the ocean’s biodiversity and are home to more than 4,000 species of fish. In developing countries, reefs account for nearly 25 percent of all fishing areas, feeding millions of people. Scientists stress that it is more important than ever to control manmade factors such as overfishing and pollution to aid in corals’ survival. Sources: The New York Times and U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Community Currency Private Mints on the Upswing

A local currency movement is again emerging as a way to focus business capital, especially consumer spending, on community economies. BerkShares illustrate the phenomenon. First issued in 2006 in the southern Berkshires region of Massachusetts, more than 2 million of these paper notes are currently in circulation. One hundred BerkShares can be purchased for $95 at one of five local banks and exchanged at participating merchants with the same purchasing value as U.S. dollars. The program provides consumers an incentive to keep the notes active and shop and dine locally in the 400 neighborhood businesses that accept them. “At the moment, we’re a very sophisticated ‘buy local’ program,” says Susan Witt, co-founder and administrator of BerkShares, Inc., “but the potential to move to an independent currency is built in.” Networking is key. Some local currency success stories include New York’s Ithaca Hours, North Carolina’s Plenty and Wisconsin’s Madison Hours, but others have not survived, despite sometimes extensive marketing support. BerkShares continue to represent a relatively small part of the region’s local economy. Witt says: “In the short term, it’s about educating people about local economies. In the long term, it’s transforming the institution of money. We’re not there yet. But everyone knows what BerkShares are.” Source: Adapted from E/The Environmental Magazine. www.natallahassee.com

Fairer Trade

B Corps Aim to Right the System Traditional business models have recently experienced many manmade traumas, including the housing/banking industry collapse, world recession, nuclear pollution in Japan, the BP Gulf oil spill and the Massey Energy Company coal mining deaths in West Virginia. The conventional response is that smarter regulation is needed to prevent such crises in the future, but a growing number of business analysts say the problems go deeper, and a new kind of corporate legal structure is needed that requires companies to operate for the good of society, not just for their shareholders. These new entities, called B Corporations (the B is for benefit), are growing in number, having been adopted so far in Maryland, New Jersey, Vermont and Virginia. According to B Lab, the nonprofit behind the concept, “Our vision is simple, yet ambitious: to create a new sector of the economy that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. It will be comprised of a new type of corporation—the B Corporation—that meets rigorous and independent standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.” Jay Coen Gilbert, a B Lab co-founder, says, “We can’t have a new economy unless we have a new type of corporation. Corporate law actually works against sustainability.” Its certification effort helps consumers identify truly responsible companies. It also works with private equity investors to help them make better-informed investment decisions. Ultimately, it is pushing for new laws to, “…redefine fiduciary duty and hold companies accountable to create a material positive impact on society and the environment, as measured by an independent, transparent, third-party standard.” Source: GreenBiz.com natural awakenings

November 2011

globalbriefs Banking Freedom

Toxic Redux

Borrowing from a bank has traditionally been a slow, bureaucratic process, often off-limits to people outside the wage-and-salary mainstream, whether they’re starting a business or getting back on their feet. Over the centuries, groups of people have organized various styles of societal credit arrangements to address these shortcomings. Today’s credit union, a co-operative, community-based banking model, still thrives. In the past 30 years, the rise of microcredit has been providing small loans to people around the world that have no access to traditional banks or could not meet banking industry requirements. More recently, the combination of microfinance and online social networking has resulted in a new phenomenon: peer-to-peer lending, or social lending. Today, more than a dozen websites connect borrowers and lenders without using banks as middlemen. The economic advantage of such peer-to-peer lending extends to attractive interest rates for borrowers; often half that of Visa or MasterCard. LendingClub.com has surpassed $1 billion in such loans. “Interest rates turn a charitable relationship into a business relationship,” notes Matt Flannery, who founded the online microlender Kiva.org in 2005. “That empowers the poor by making them business partners.” Kiva lenders don’t earn interest on their loans, but the underlying micro-lenders that administer the loans in their countries do.

During the industrial boom of the last half of the 20th century, thousands of manmade chemicals were created. Used in consumer products, pest control and crop production, they have also proved deadly, causing and contributing to cancers, birth defects and other health crises. Once the connection was scientifically proven, the international community restricted or banned the use of 12 pollutants, including DDT and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), at the 2001 Stockholm Convention on POPs, or persistent organic pollutants (Tinyurl. com/3sa2v47). This group of the world’s most toxic compounds takes decades to degrade, gradually accumulating in the fatty tissues of humans and wildlife. Initially, climatic forces helped to limit the reach and impact of the chemicals in places like the Arctic, where POPs trapped in snow, soil and oceans were capped by sea ice, and atmospheric levels of the toxic substances monitored by Canada and Norway have steadily declined during the past decade. Scientists at the Canadian environmental agency, Environment Canada, think that global warming is reversing the downward trend. They found that as the planet warms, sea ice and snow continue to melt and the pollutants, called legacy POPs, are being released back into the atmosphere with potential worldwide effects. Once airborne, POPs can ride wind and ocean currents to as far as Latin America and Africa. It also undermines international treaties regarding human exposure to high-risk toxins.

Sources: Ode magazine, MainStreet.com

Source: SolveClimateNews.com

Loan Alternatives Emerging Worldwide

Global Warming Releases Imprisoned Poisons

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ARTS benefits your child: • Higher grades • Positive behaviors • Increased self-esteem

ecotip Green Greetings

largest grassroots environmental organization, offers holiday designs printed in The Medium is the Message the United States with soy-based inks on with Holiday Cards recycled paper. The Greenpeace Natural Even with the advent of email, texting, Collection (Tinyurl.com/4xwabus) also smart phones and animated web greetings, offers eco-friendly cards. the traditional paper holiday greeting card, To reduce a card’s carbon footprint wishing recipients a “Merry Christmas,” to the bare minimum, with the only “Happy Hanukkah” or simply “Happy Holitransport required that expended by the days,” still holds a place in our hearts as a post office to deliver it, make it yourself. way to send, receive, display and even file One option is to take old received cards, forever a treasured memento. RawPeople. creatively paint over the original adcom reports that 300,000 trees are condressee’s name and reuse it. No envesumed each year in the making of some 2 billion holiday cards, lope? Just write on the back of the clean front panel and but appealing alternatives are coming to the rescue. cut it off to create a holiday postcard. Purchasing cards made of recycled paper is the easiest way Sites such as CraftStylish.com (Tinyurl.com/dng4z5) to save some lumber. Look for a local card retailer that is big on offer attractive suggestions for making original greeting labels signifying use of 100 percent recycled content, post-concards from recycled materials. All that’s needed are a sumer waste and vegetable inks. More unusual options include few household items like paper bags, pencil, pen, ruler, tree-free paper made from sugar cane and plantable cards with tape, glue and crayons; professional art supplies are not embedded seeds. required. Fun stamping dies can be fashioned from a Nonprofit and conservation-oriented organizations can fill potato. Even sewing skills can come into play to craft in the gaps. CardsThatGive.com (Tinyurl.com/3arz7ms) works one-of-a-kind cards that will be warmly received and with scores of them and offers online visitors a legend of icons that explains the environmental and charitable benefits of each cherished for years to come. one. The Sierra Club (Tinyurl.com/3wven48), America’s oldest and Source: Adapted from GreenPromise.com.

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natural awakenings

November 2011

consciouseating

Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., the parent company of Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes restaurants, estimates that its recycling and composting programs annually save: n

n n

Eating Out? EAT GREEN

Eco-Friendly Restaurants Serve Up Sustainability by Sandra Murphy

ating green isn’t limited to salads. It means that sustainable thinking goes into a meal at every stage, from the use of local ingredients and energy savings to recycling and composting waste. Delicious food, served thoughtfully, is the goal of today’s environmentally conscious restaurant. Look first to local mom-and-pop eateries that are doing it right, but there are some chains worth considering, as well. With more than 25 million cups of wake-up java sold each day, coffee shops have a perfect opportunity to start a good day by example. Californiabased Green Café Network consults

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

with owners and baristas to reduce the environmental impact of member shops. Efficient equipment, biodegradable cups and renewable products for flooring and tables make the coffee house experience more sustainable, especially when buyers select shadegrown, organic, free-trade beans. Starbucks Corporation has taken it all a step further by designing a pre-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) prototype store. It features recycled floor tiles, reduced lighting and lower water usage and air conditioning set three degrees higher than usual. www.natallahassee.com

2,129,400 pounds of waste paper 7,452,900 gallons of water 3,194,100 cubic yards of landfill space 4,365,270 kilowatts of energy

Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes offers fresh-tossed salads, made-fromscratch soups and hot or cold desserts in their 120 restaurants, where vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items are offered daily. Reclaimed recyclables come back as takeout containers, towels and napkins. Materials sent out for recycling include glass, paper, aluminum and cardboard. Even garbage is given a new role as part of a chainwide composting program. Tankless water heaters are in while traditional systems are out and cleaning products are all Green Seal certified. At Chipotle Mexican Grill, “It’s not just a burrito, it’s a foil-wrapped, handcrafted, local farm-supporting, food culture-changing cylinder of deliciousness,” states the company’s website. In 2010, Chipotle served about 5 million pounds of local farm produce through its 1,000 mostly North American stores. The company-wide 2011 goal is 10 million pounds. Inside those burritos, 40 percent of the beans are certified organic, resulting in 140,000 fewer pounds of pesticide added to the soil. The romaine lettuce, bell peppers, jalapeño, red onions, oregano and tomatoes come from family-owned farms.

California patrons also enjoy locally grown lemons and avocados. Chipotle produce typically travels no more than 300 miles to its distribution centers. Short travel time means less fuel burned and fewer greenhouse gases plus fresher, more nutritious food on the plate than what less eco-conscious restaurants provide. “The environment is the basis of our business; we try to be green in everything,” explains Mike Vroman, a store manager in the St. Louis area. So, for example, “Most of the beef we serve in this area is either from Missouri or Kansas. Even our uniforms are 100 percent organic cotton.” Because restaurants draw their highest levels of electricity when community demand peaks, Chipotle installed solar panels on 75 of its Texas restaurants, while a wind turbine provides electricity at the Gurnee, Illinois site, reducing midday drain on the grid. The Gurnee site is the first restaurant ever to receive the superior Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating. Is it possible to operate a restaurant without a dishwasher, range, hood or oven? Yes, if bowls, straws, cutlery, chopsticks and cups are made from corn or potato starch. Freshii meals are created in biodegradable, all natural, food-safe bags. Custom made, the bags leave a carbon footprint five to seven times smaller than the most energyefficient dishwasher. Everything taken from the store will readily biodegrade or is easy to recycle. Even store size is a factor. Freshii founder Matthew Corrin notes, “As we grow, our stores are built smaller, to use less materials, to use greener materials, to consume less energy, to take less from this Earth.” Some Freshii stores are super-efficient, encompassing just 150 square feet.

EVOS generates one-third of its restaurant energy needs via wind turbines. For each store, it’s the annual equivalent of taking eight cars off the road or planting 32 acres of trees.

By cutting the volume of pickle and pepper brine used, Subway annually saves 739,000 gallons of water and 130,000 pounds of plastic, plus reduces shipping miles by delivering the same amount of product in fewer trucks. Just eliminating the paper interleaf between cheese slices saves 450,000 pounds of waste paper a year; the restaurant’s overall goal is zero landfill waste. If a burger, fries and shake dinner evokes guilty pleasure, EVOS removes both the guilt and grease, leaving only pleasurable flavor. The restaurant’s trademark Airfries are better for more than just folks’ arteries. “Our potatoes are air-fried at a high temperature,” explains Jackie Macaluso, community ambassador for EVOS, “so we have no used and reused vats of grease to discard.” Less noticeable eco-bonuses include zero-VOC paint and flooring, made from sustainable, eco-friendly, raw materials like wood flour, linseed oil, rosin, jute fiber and limestone. The company’s Southeast U.S. locations work to raise awareness that even comfort foods can be greener, healthier and still taste good, and to teach children about healthier eating habits. Of course, there’s usually a Subway Restaurant around the corner. Long committed to serving fresh food fast, the company recently announced its new LEED-certified eco-edition. With 35,000 franchises in 98 countries, small changes add up to big blessings for the Earth. The most important thing we can do to go green is to eat green every day. It serves up the most bang for the buck in healthy sustainability. Sandra Murphy is a freelance writer at StLouisFreelanceWriter@mindspring. com.

Signs of an Eco-Friendly Restaurant

aking the environment a priority doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Owners and managers can green up any local restaurant, and customers will appreciate the results. Following are some good first steps. n Recycle everything possible—paper, aluminum, plastics and glass. n Collect food waste to give to local gardeners to compost. n Switch from foam carryout contain ers and bags to Earth-friendly prod ucts made from biodegradable vegetable starch; also consider transitioning to recycled napkins. n Use eco-friendly cleaning supplies that are healthy for staff and customers. n Install low-flow aerators on sink faucets and low-flow conversion kits on toilets to reduce water usage. n Anytime equipment needs to be replaced, choose a greener model, from light bulbs to refrigerators, which will save on energy bills. n Remember, going green is a process. For more information, visit the Green Restaurant Association’s DineGreen.com.

natural awakenings

November 2011

healingways

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU Mood-Boosting Health Tips by Kim Childs

appy though they can be, the holidays can leave some folks feeling overstuffed, overcommitted and especially in colder regions, grappling with winter blues. The good news is that the holiday season can be a happier and healthier time with a few strategies, supplements and herbs in hand.

Eat, Drink… and be Mindful “Many of us get down during the dark winter months, so we fight the darkness with festivities and foods that we think will pick us up,” says nutritionist Judith Mabel, Ph.D., of Brookline, Massachusetts. “But most holiday foods don’t succeed because like alcohol, they bring your mood up briefly and then bring it down.” During the holidays, Mabel advises her clients to keep exercising for better brain function and mood, to avoid sugar when possible and to reduce hunger before parties by eating snacks like nuts, seeds, fruit and cheese or soup. “It’s also important to eat a high-fiber, low-glycemic breakfast in the morning such as eggs, whole grain cereals or yogurt,” adds Mabel. “That keeps you from consuming too many calories during the day.” Mabel recommends bringing healthy offerings to gatherings, like hum16

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

mus or eggplant dip with whole grain crackers or a platter of crudités. “If you are going to splurge, dark chocolate that is at least 60 percent cocoa is a good choice,” she says. “It can lower blood sugar and it has healthy flavonoids and theobromine, which is a mood booster. It does have some caffeine, however, so be aware if you are sensitive.” To counteract wintertime vitamin D deficiency, which is linked to depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), Mabel suggests Vitamin D3 supplementation in the range of 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily. Fish oils and B vitamins also make her list of mood boosters year-round.

Herbal Help When it comes to managing stressful situations, Bonnie Rogers, a clinical herbalist in Briarcliff, New York, recommends a natural approach to calm nerves. “Nettles help to balance the adrenals,” she says. “It’s a tonic herb that you could use every day of your life, and it delivers calcium to your system.” Rogers recommends covering ½ to ¾ cup of loose nettles with boiling water in a jar and letting the herbs “drink” a bit before topping them off with more boiling water. Allow the mixture to sit for at least four hours (or overnight) to www.natallahassee.com

release the vitamins and minerals, and then strain the tea and drink it cold or hot, storing leftovers in the refrigerator. “In the winter, I add a tablespoon of elderberries, which are antiviral,” says Rogers. “Sometimes I also add a quarter cup of oat straw, which helps to balance the nervous system; letting the mixture steep releases its magnesium, which relaxes the body.” Rose petal tea can be a quick fix for anxiety, notes Rogers, who also likes rose glycerite from a dropper bottle. “I often give my herbal students a drop without telling them what it is,” Rogers reports. “When I ask them what it feels like, almost everybody says, ‘I feel like my shoulders relaxed and my heart opened.’” Motherwort tincture is another aid for reducing anxiety, she adds, and skullcap helps with insomnia and racing thoughts. For those coping with SAD but not on medication, Rogers suggests a combination of St. John’s Wort and lemon balm. “A simple lemon balm tea is wonderfully relaxing, and it helps with digestion.” Rogers adds that tulsi, the ayurvedic name for holy basil, also helps the body to manage stress and comes in tea bags for convenience.

Keep Sleep, Water on the Holiday List Getting adequate sleep during the holidays is essential to fortifying the body and keeping the mind clear, says Dillan DiGiovanni, a certified holistic health coach in Somerville, Massachusetts. “It helps everything. More sleep equals greater energy and less need for caffeine and sugar.” DiGiovanni adds that a glass of warm water with lemon juice in the morning can lift fatigue and irritability, while cleansing the digestive organs. “Drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day helps with detoxification yearround,” she says, “and it curbs appetite during a season of overindulgence.” DiGiovanni further counsels people to limit alcohol, a depressant that disrupts sleep and dehydrates the body, and to guard against holiday overspending and overcommitting in the name of fun. Kim Childs is a writer in Boston. Connect at KimChilds.com.

fitbody

Under-training. Once you’re dressed and ready to sweat, commit to giving it your all for the next 30 to 60 minutes. Just going through the motions doesn’t do much for the body and makes it easy for boredom to creep in. You owe this time to yourself—you deserve it—so make sure you give it your all.

Daydreaming. You can develop a laser-sharp focus by actively involving your mind in every pose, set, rep and step—thinking about how your body moves, how the muscles engage, which muscle or muscles you’re using and correct form. Mindfulness adds up to a better workout and faster results. So forget about the laundry, the kids’ schedules and that afternoon conference call, turn off the TV and stay 100 percent in the moment.

Our Worst Fitness Habits Six Roadblocks to Sidestep

by Tosca Reno

e all know that working out is beneficial. But how you work out makes all the difference in staying safe, seeing better results and keeping your body balanced. Here’s how to make sure you aren’t sabotaging a good workout.

Bad form. Correct form is your safety net. Once you compromise the way you do a move, you’re no longer getting the greatest benefits from the exercise, and you’re seriously increasing your risk of getting hurt. Even if it means, for example, lightening up the amount of resistance, follow the correct form for the best results.

Staying with a few exercises you know. Your muscles love being challenged, so if you just stick to the same routine, they’ll eventually adapt and won’t have to work as hard to do the same moves. But if you change the exercises and even the order you do them in, you ensure that muscles don’t get too efficient with any single routine. Not only is this better for toning, but it also helps your mind stay focused and engaged.

Over-training. Don’t expect that you are going to dive right in and pound your body into its best shape ever overnight. Not only will this all-or-nothing approach cause burnout, but you also risk injury and will give up on yourself, because this is an unreasonable expectation. Instead, you need to gradually build up your muscles so they get the most effective and efficient workout possible. More doesn’t always mean better, faster results. Remember, rest is good for the body. Take days off between training to repair and rebuild or if you’re training daily, don’t work the same muscle groups back-to-back.

Holding your breath. Regular steady breathing has many benefits: Proper inhalations and exhalations can help you power through moves, keep lactic acid (a byproduct that builds up in the muscles during exertion) at bay and help maintain a steady heart rate. A full breath delivers the maximum amount of oxygen to the blood, which in turn delivers more energy to the working muscles. Tosca Reno is the co-author of Your Best Body Now, excerpted here with permission from Harlequin Books S.A.

natural awakenings

November 2011

Economics of Happiness:

The New Economy Changing the Rules to Benefit America’s People

by John de Graaf and Linda Sechrist

sociated under it.” Likewise, the Constitution of the United States declares that government is to promote, among other things, the general welfare of the people. Americans are able to achieve a better life, as we’ve proved many times in the past, benefiting mightily as a result of forward steps ranging from democracy, women’s suffrage and civil rights to inventive technological leadership. Although history shows that this has been accomplished primarily by changing national policies, any new economy delivering improved well-being is first brought about largely by active citizens that choose to invest more time in building a nation that reflects increasingly enlightened values. Everyone’s quality of life—from today’s parents to future generations of great-grandchildren—depends upon individuals collectively working to build a new economy based on the concept of genuine wealth. In his award-winning book, Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, ecological economist Mark Anielski explains this new and practical approach grounded in what people value most, which he states is: “Love, meaningful relationships, happiness, joy, freedom, sufficiency, justice and peace”—qualities of life far more vital than blind economic growth and material possessions.

Most Americans are facing their most significant economic challenges in generations. From the hardships of unemployment to the perils of mounting debt, worry about the health of a national economy that depends on consumerism and market success dominates our conversation. But have we asked what the economy is really for? Preferred Measure of Progress

ince the Second World War, we have been assured that more economic growth is good for us. But is it? By any measure, the U.S. economy, in its pursuit of constant growth, is in dire need of critical life support. Too many people have lost jobs, homes, scholarships and retirement savings, along with peace of mind, in the face of complex uncertainties. Those individuals that have jobs are earning less in real income than in 2001, even though they spend more hours working and commuting than previous generations. We’ve had enough of the official mantra: Work more, enjoy less, pollute more, eat toxic foods and suffer illnesses, all for the sake of increasing the gross domestic product. Why not learn ways to work less and enjoy it more; spend more time with our friends

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

and families; consume, pollute, destroy and owe less; and live better, longer and more meaningfully? To do all this, we need fresh solutions that engage America’s people in redefining goals for the economy (what we want from it) as opposed to the economy’s goals (what it demands from us).

An Economy Based on Quality of Life

Although an economy based on a high quality of life that makes people happy may sound revolutionary, Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, enshrined the pursuit of happiness as a human right when he drafted our Declaration of Independence. Jefferson emphasized that America’s government was, “to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible for the general mass of those aswww.natallahassee.com

To determine whether our economy promotes the greatest good or the happiness of the American people, we need to understand what makes us happy and how economic policies enhance or thwart our pursuit of happiness; we also need a better instrument of economic measurement than the gross domestic product (GDP). The GDP counts remedial and defensive expenditures for pollution, accidents, war, crime and sickness as positives, rather than deducting these costs. GDP also discounts the value of contributions such as natural resources and ecosystem services, improvement in quality of life, unpaid domestic work, volunteer work, good health and social connection. Anielski, in concert with economic experts such as Charles Eisenstein, au-

thor of Sacred Economics, Hazel Henderson, author of Ethical Markets, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, recommends that economic policies aim to boost societal welfare, rather than GDP. All agree that a new indicator of well-being, such as the U.S. Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), could be used to more accurately measure economic progress.

The Science of Happiness

A respected “science of happiness,” pioneered by University of Illinois positive psychologist Edward Diener, Ph.D., dubbed Dr. Happiness, and other researchers, has existed for more than a decade. The study of what makes people happy and life fulfilling repeatedly demonstrates that the economic route to happiness does not consist of endlessly widening the superhighway of accumulation. Rather, it resides in a host of personal values that are closer to our hearts, as illustrated by the Himalayan nation of Bhutan (population: about 700,000). For many years, Bhutan has measured its general well-being—as the people themselves subjectively report

it—using a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index. Its government bases policy decisions on how they might effect the kind of happiness associated with contentment, family, community, spirituality, education, compatibility with nature and good physical health. After years of primary research, the Bhutanese have identified nine domains for assessing happiness: psychological well-being, physical health, time use (work-life balance), community vitality and social connection, education, cultural preservation and diversity, environmental sustainability, good governance and material well-being. In 2004, the first annual International Conference on Gross National Happiness was held in Bhutan. Hundreds of government representatives, scholars and other thought leaders from more than 40 nations gathered to explore the possibility of making GNH the true indicator of a country’s health and quality of life. As of 2011, a non-binding resolution by the United Nations General Assembly urges that countries now measure their health and happiness, as well as wealth. Sixtysix countries backed it.

COMING IN DECEMBER

UPLIFTING HUMANITY Simple ideas to celebrate the holidays and create peace in our hearts. Read about it in Natural Awakenings’ December edition

We’ve had enough of the official mantra: Work more, enjoy less, pollute more, eat toxic foods and suffer illnesses, all for the sake of increasing the gross domestic product. Why not learn ways to work less and enjoy it more; spend more time with our friends and families; consume, pollute, destroy and owe less; and live better, longer and more meaningfully?

For more information about advertising and how you can participate, call

850-590-7024

natural awakenings

November 2011

Tools to Navigate the New Economy New Economics Foundation: The Great Transition NewEconomics.org Browse NewEconomics.org/sites/ neweconomics.org/files/Great_ Transition_0.pdf. This independent think-and-do-tank inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth GenuineWealth.net Author Mark Anielski maps how to measure genuine wealth and create flourishing economies grounded in people’s well-being. Transition United States: Transition Towns TransitionUS.org Participants in this vibrant, grassroots movement seek to build community resilience in the face of challenges such as high oil prices, climate change and economic crises. Sustainable Seattle: The Happiness Initiative SustainableSeattle.org Founders provide tools to comprehensively assess well-being, involve citizens and inspire people, organizations and policymakers to take action. World Café: Real Conversations for a Better World TheWorldCafe.org This application of powerful social technology helps engage people in conversations that matter, offering an effective antidote to society’s fast-paced fragmentation and lack of connection. Living Economies Forum: Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth LivingEconomiesForum.org “The old economy of greed and domination is dying. A new economy of life and partnership is struggling to be born. The outcome is ours to choose.” ~ Author David Korten 20

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Measuring Americans’ Life Satisfaction

Seattle, Washington, the first U.S. city to implement a measurement of life satisfaction, is parlaying Bhutan’s indicators—psychological well-being, physical health, work/time balance, education and capacity building, cultural vitality and access to arts and culture, environmental quality and access to nature, apt governance and material well-being—as part of its own Sustainable Seattle Happiness Initiative. Spearheaded by Sustainable Seattle Executive Director Laura Musikanski and her team with encouragement by City Council President Richard Conlin, it may become America’s first GNH city. Initial survey results, intended to spark conversations that matter, will be discussed at future town meetings in Seattle neighborhoods and used to recommend policies for consideration by the city council. Repeating the survey every couple of years will reveal progress. Interest in a similar Happiness Initiative is growing in cities and towns from coast to coast, such as Napa, California; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Duluth, Minnesota; Santa Fe and Roswell, New Mexico; Bellevue, Nebraska; Portland, Oregon; and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Some 100 colleges and universities also are beginning to apply the Happiness Initiative survey.

How to Become Happier

To improve our own well-being within any economy, we need to attend to our security, social connections and the way we balance our time. Choosing to live with less stuff and lighter debt supports a better life with less income but more time, lower stress and better health. As individuals, we can: n Focus more on matters of family and community and on building trust. n Devote less attention to maximizing incomes and more attention to acts of generosity. n Ask our employers for more time off instead of higher pay. In our local communities, we can find ways to design more relationshipfriendly places such as farmers’ markets, www.natallahassee.com

where shoppers tend to engage in many more conversations than in supermarket aisles (Worldwatch Institute). In cities, we can call for public and private spaces that facilitate social connection, instead of discouraging it via urban sprawl. Ecological economist Dave Batker, co-author of What’s the Economy for Anyway? (film clip at Tinyurl. com/3tc9dlk), believes that moving forward requires greater citizen involvement in the shaping of democracy, laws and our collective future. By ditching pundits and talking with neighbors, city by city and town by town, citizens throughout the United States are moving to do this using newly learned techniques such as those offered by Open Space Technology, World Café, Transition Towns, Sustainable Cities, The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ Worldview Literacy Project. In St. Petersburg, Florida, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and other places, citizens are cultivating a stronger sense of community with real discussions about local issues and economic goals. They aim to arrive at a clear-eyed view of what citizens really want from the economy. In St. Petersburg, the culmination of Sharon Joy Kleitsch’s 10-year effort to build a flourishing community through helpful workshops on timely subjects, meaningful conversations and aligning constructive partnerships is reaching a crescendo this month at Beyond Sustainability: Ecosystems, Economics,

and Education, the Institute of Florida Studies’ 36th annual conference, at Hillsborough Community College (Tinyurl.com/3avntte). Kleitsch remarks, “I show up, pay attention and listen for opportunities where my connections with policy makers, educators, nonprofits and community activists can help convene people in meaningful conversations that can make a difference in building a resilient community.” In Oklahoma City, Sustainable OKC, a volunteer organization working towards community sustainability at the crossroads of business, environment and social justice, frequently partners with the city’s Office of Sustainability, the CommonWealth Urban Farms project and the Oklahoma Food Cooperative (Sustainableokc.org). The grassroots organization advocates shopping locally and sustainably. Jennifer Alig, Sustainable OKC president, is consistently delighted by the growing number of residents that don’t just attend events such as movie screenings of The Economics of Hap-

piness, but also show up to plant food to feed the hungry and join Commonwealth Urban Farms work parties to feed neighborhoods using the products of thriving urban farms on vacant city lots. Alig notes, “After events, we sometimes use Open Space Technology to talk about topics that people are passionate about and willing to invest their time in.” The kind of society that makes for health, happiness, true prosperity and sustainability is one with strong local economies and flourishing communities that includes many activities provided by local nonprofits. It’s one characterized by: n Local small businesses and banking n Farmers’ markets and urban gardens n Urban designs that favor shared walks instead of isolated commutes n Public spaces for social interaction n Circumstances in which buyers know sellers n Businesspeople that sponsor and

volunteer for local activities n Salary differences that are not vast n Citizens building a better world together We intuitively know what is required to create such a society, starting in our own community. What we need is the determination to make sure the economy serves us; rules that benefit all of the people; a commitment to widespread quality of life, social justice and sustainability; and the political will to make good change happen. John de Graaf, media and outreach director for the Happiness Initiative, speaks nationally on overwork and overconsumption in America. He recently co-authored What’s the Economy for, Anyway? – Why It’s Time to Stop Chasing Growth and Start Pursuing Happiness, with David Batker. He is also co-author of Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic. Fifteen of his documentaries have aired on PBS. Linda Sechrist writes and edits for Natural Awakenings.

Create a Personal Plan that Works How do we keep our personal economy strong and contribute to the kind of world we want to live in? How do we walk the vital path of local sustainability in every part of our life—including work, investing and buying necessities? Mark Anielski, author of The Economics of Happiness: Building Genuine Wealth, explains five ways to take action that are worth exploring. Investments Move the majority of money reserves out of the stock market and into community banks that loan money in their neighborhoods. Eliminate debts in order to have more discretionary income and ultimately, more time to pursue the things that make life worthwhile. Work Join up with and pursue clients that are contributing to all of their stakeholders and the environment in positive ways.

Create a personal business plan with a goal of income sufficiency—having just enough income to meet the basic needs for a good life. Live with one vehicle, rather than two, and ride a bike to places where friends gather. Volunteering Get involved in community activities, such as participating in the local town council, neighborhood association and service groups. Purchases Buy local whenever possible. Choose the local pharmacy instead of the big chain, the farmers’ market rather than a multi-state supermarket. Examine each purchase and consider its ramifications. Avoid buying clothes that need to be dry-cleaned and patronize green cleaners that do not use toxic chemicals. Buy goods in the local economy, so that dollars remain in the community. Purchase from locally owned

businesses that employ neighbors and other locals. While material possessions and luxuries are nice, having too many means too much routine maintenance, fixing things and dusting. Once we’ve reached a “maintenance stage” of life, a time when most material needs have been realized, direct energy and funds to maintaining the integrity of the home (built capital). The payoff includes more time for passions outside of work and more time with friends, family and neighbors. Philanthropy Offset part of the family’s ecological footprint by donating to organizations that supply clean power or plant trees. Assist the community’s poor and homeless by applying available time, talent and treasure. Source: Adapted from The Economics of Happiness, by Mark Anielski.

natural awakenings

November 2011

wisewords

Empower Local Businesses to Strengthen Local Economies Success Tips from Advocate Michelle Long by Brian Clark Howard

ichelle Long is the executive director of the Bellingham, Washington-based Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). The fast-growing network aims to empower local businesses with their financial goals while they actively contribute to healthier communities and a cleaner environment. Their triple bottom line is people, the planet and profit. BALLE represents 22,000 independent businesses in 30 states and Ca-

nadian provinces. By serving as an information clearinghouse and support center, BALLE is proving that no business is too small to make a difference.

Why is it important to foster local economies? Locally based activity is where we are seeing real prosperity. Today, as we face economic, community and ecological crises, we see bright spots where local businesses are working together to build strong, healthy local economies.

How can local businesses positively affect their communities and the environment? There is a natural accountability when business owners live with the impacts of their decisions, instead of from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Local supply chains also reduce carbon impacts by decreasing transport time.

Why is it vital to foster new strategies and support networks for local businesses? Small businesses are stronger together than they are alone. Working in collaboration, business people enjoy enhanced powers of communication and networking, including opportunities to save on smart, shared purchasing. They often support each other through learning, mentoring and even investing in each other’s businesses.

How does investing money locally, or community capital, help? This aspect is a critical component of a healthy community economy, because too often, when we put our money into something like a mutual fund, we don’t know the impact and how much harm is coming from it. Community capital, investing locally, is much more personal and direct; it can help ensure we’re bringing about changes we want, such as resilient communities and local food supplies. Just going for impersonal financial returns isn’t working. More local banks are innovating in this area. One example is One Pacific Coast Bank, in the Northwest. New kinds of investment clubs also are coming on line.

All is connected... no one thing can change by itself. ~Paul Hawken

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

www.natallahassee.com

Which examples illustrate how businesses are thriving as a result of new local models? Several local manufacturing groups spoke of their results at BALLE’s 2011 annual conference. Examples include SF (San Francisco) Made and Made in Newark. These nonprofits build a regional economic base by developing a sustainable and diverse local manufacturing sector. In Philadelphia, the apparel boutique Sa Va uses local materials in every detail, down to people growing plants for dye in vacant lots. The city has granted the shop tax breaks in acknowledgment that it creates jobs and supports other local businesses.

jobs with benefits from a local office supply company, Wist Office Products, than from a big box store. Wist also spends more money locally for services ranging from graphic design to legal assistance, and donates more to local charities. In all, the study found that on a $5 million state contract, Arizona was losing half a million annually in economic leakage by doing business with a nonlocal competitor. As a result, the city of Phoenix changed its procurement rules and now buys local. Brian Clark Howard is a multimedia journalist and the coauthor of Green Lighting, Geothermal HVAC and Build Your Own Wind Power System. Connect at BrianClarkHoward.com.

Which examples illustrate how businesses have reinvented themselves based on new local models? After attending a BALLE conference, the president of T-shirt maker TS Designs launched steps to localize the entire supply chain to enhance its push for social and ecological sustainability. Typically, a tee travels 16,000 miles before you put it on, but TS now collaborates with North Carolina farmers, cotton ginners and others to go from “dirt to shirt” in 750 miles.

What challenges loom for local business efforts, and how can they be overcome? One of the biggest hurdles is that many people are innovating, but they are going it alone. BALLE connects businesses to other people, ideas and resources so they can learn from each other and not have to start from scratch. Another barrier is financing. We have started to bring together pioneering philanthropists that put a little funding in to create the conditions for businesses to proceed from there. The Cleveland Foundation, for example, recently helped seed a worker-owned laundry co-op. Most economic development subsidies still favor large corporations rather than local businesses, but some shift when they see studies like those from Civic Economics, proving that the cost per new job is much cheaper by catalyzing and growing local business. In Phoenix, a study by BALLE network’s Local First Arizona showed how the state gets more high-paying

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natural awakenings

November 2011

healthykids

cent psychiatry. She notes that all children go through stages of normal fears and worries, and anxieties can show up as stomach aches, headaches, potty accidents, aggression and sleep problems. Here, experts offer tips to discern normal versus unhealthy stress levels and to help a child develop coping skills for life’s inevitable hardships.

Make space

Start by simply listening to your child. “When my children are upset, my immediate instinct is to ask ‘How can I fix this?’” says Dr. Natalie Geary, an integrative pediatrician and mother of three in New York City. “But you need to step back, listen and empathize, without trying to problem-solve right away. If you allow the child to express his or her discomfort, and if you step back and try to gain some perspective, you may start to discern the triggers for his or her anxiety.” Trying to solve the problem immediately can backfire, she advises. Create a consistent time, such as a snack break after school, to allow a child to download her day. You’ll learn more about what causes her stress and she’ll gain confidence in your care and her own ability to face fears.

Calming Anxious Kids Six Ways to Ease Upsets by Elisa Bosley

ids today are no strangers to stress. In a media-saturated world, children face scary stuff every day, from wars and natural disasters to divorce and peer pressure. In addition to the mental toll, anxiety affects kids’ bodies, too: A study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that family stress directly compromises immune function and increases the likelihood of illness in children. As a parent, how can we help? First, take a deep breath. “Childhood anxiety is not a new problem in our society,” says Dr. Anandhi Narasimhan, a Los Angeles physician specializing in child and adoles-

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Examine yourself

For many school-age kids, performance anxiety becomes an overriding constant. Unfortunately, parents often play a role by projecting their own ambitions onto their kids, notes Geary. Carl Honoré, author of Under Pressure, cites parents’ good intentions, but blames modern forces— including a perfectionist culture, a volatile and hypercompetitive economy and older,

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first-time parents that bring a workplace ethos to child rearing—for conspiring to pressure kids. “What we’re squeezing out is the simple, soaring human pleasure and joy of being a child,” says Honoré. So find ways to lighten up on expectations.

Consider help

“Children are expected to visit a pediatrician for preventive health, and we should adopt the same principle for mental health,” counsels Narasimhan. “If anxiety is impacting a child’s functioning—such as causing him to want to avoid school or public places, showing extreme difficulty separating from caretakers, or complaining of frequent pains for which the pediatrician doesn’t see a medical explanation—take the child to a therapist or psychiatrist [to screen for anxiety].” When appropriate, Narasimhan recommends cognitive behavioral therapy, in which a therapist teaches the child strategies to combat fears and address certain feelings and behaviors. “This may include deep-breathing exercises, progressive muscle relaxation and alternative coping thoughts,” she says. A metaanalysis of clinical trials first published in School Psychology Review concludes that such therapy can play a key role in alleviating childhood anxiety.

Unschedule

Speed breeds stress. “Don’t be in such a rush,” advises Geary. “Whatever you can take out of the day, take out.” Work out a looser schedule, whether that means limiting kids to one musical instrument or sport or instituting a weekly

day of rest, when playtime replaces all homework and chores. Says Geary, “I see a lot of kids coming in with stomach pains or school issues, or they’re hitting others. Nine times out of 10, I feel like saying to the parents, ‘Just take your kids to the playground, sit in the park with them and get really dirty digging in the mud.’ If they did that for a month, they’d be fine.”

Pay attention to food

“If blood sugar drops, it’s a very anxiety- and irritability-producing sensation,” observes Geary. “Try to feed children snacks that provide slow-release nutrition, meaning they’re not getting a jolt of hard-to-digest fat, protein or sugar.” Her favored choices include low-fat cheese and hummus, or whole-grain bread, spread with nut butter, an easy-to-digest protein.

Relax

Children often reflect their parents’ moods, so create calm. “Massage, maybe with calendula oil or something that smells nice for the child, is wonderful,” says Geary. The key is the interaction of the touch and the stillness. Just before bedtime, enjoy a cup of herbal tea together. “It’s more the ritual of sharing a warm drink at the end of the day than actually what you’re drinking,” she says. “They will absorb the fact that you’re spending time with them.” Elisa Bosley is a senior editor at Delicious Living magazine.

natural awakenings

November 2011

naturalpet

GOOD D G! Positive Training Yields Fast Results by Sandra Murphy

Dogs love to learn and live to please at every age. Teaching a pet good manners, social skills and YouTube-worthy tricks are great ways to build a bond and have fun, too.

“W

hen a fearful or shy dog associates a new situation with good things, the dog blooms. I love to see it,” says Victoria Stilwell, of Animal Planet’s It’s

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

Me or the Dog. “It’s the basis for positive reinforcement training.” Stilwell explains that her method, known as Positive Dog Training, is all about spotting and rewarding the

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behavior you like as it happens. “Thus, the good behavior is likely to repeat, encouraging the dog to learn to live in a human world successfully.” Each dog has his own idea of the best reward— some favor toys, some work for food, others simply want approval. Training doesn’t have to be timeconsuming, repetitive homework. Once you and your dog learn the basics, you can do short sessions.

The Clicker Method A click of a small noisemaker used in training lets the dog know when he’s just done the right thing. As soon as we see the behavior, we’ll click faster than our brains can tell our mouths to say, “Good dog!” For example, to train “Watch me,” sit down with your dog, the clicker and some tiny treats. If he focuses on the treats or looks away, do nothing. If he glances at you, click and toss him a treat. A few click/treats later, your dog will figure out he did something to make the reward happen. Be prepared, because that thought will be followed by a very deliberate look at your face. After that, training will move at high speed. “Work on the basics first,” counsels psychologist Linda Michaels, owner of Wholistic Dog Training, in San Diego. “Four commands—sit, down, wait and come—will get you started. You can do mini-training sessions throughout the day, such as ‘sit’ for breakfast or dinner, ‘come’ when called, ‘wait’ before going out the door, and ‘down’ during televi-

“For me, a house or an apartment becomes a home when you add one set of four legs, a happy tail, and that indescribable measure of love that we call a dog.” ~ Roger Caras, president emeritus, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sion programs. Continue practicing during commercials.” “How my service dog, Hunter, figured out what I needed and how to help me, I don’t know, but I have great respect for the intellectual abilities of dogs. Training is a way of opening communication; just like with a human, you can never be sure where the conversation will take you,” remarks M. Shirley Chong, a professional clicker trainer in Grinnell, Iowa. “Positive training lets a dog be your friend, not a boot camp soldier obeying orders,” advises Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a certified applied animal behaviorist in Black Earth, Wisconsin, and author of multiple titles, including The Other End of the Leash. “When he exhibits new behaviors, capture them, add a cue and give them a cute name. Always, the basis of the best tricks happens when the dog offers his own ideas.” Pat Miller, of Peaceable Paws, in Fairplay, Maryland, also respects an animal as a thinking partner, “You get to see them figure out how things work,” she says. Miller, who serves as the training editor for Whole Dog Journal, has trained dogs, cats, horses and a pot-bellied pig.

She’s particularly pleased to have transformed a terrier, previously deemed unadoptable by a shelter because of his biting, into a happy, stable patron of New York’s Central Park. Positive dog training literally saved his life.

She also relates the story of a fearful foster dog that learned nose work (scent discrimination) and can find a small vial of essential oil hidden in a room. “The praise she receives gives her confidence to try other new things,” observes Shannon. Stilwell remarks, “Learning to cope with newness is a huge benefit for any animal.” Sandra Murphy is a freelance writer at StLouisFreelanceWriter@mindspring.com. Connect with positive trainers: Victoria Stilwell, Positively.com; Linda Michaels, WholisticDogTraining.com; Pat Miller, PeaceablePaws.com; M. Shirley Chong, ShirleyChong.com; Patricia McConnell, PatriciaMcConnell.com; Cara Shannon, BuddysChance.com/Caravacchiano.html.

old ad Retraining/Renaming Bad Behaviors With patience and know-how, jumping up on people can turn into dancing the conga. Grumbly growling noises can turn into “Whisper,” or “Tell me a secret.” Excessive barking can be interpreted as bored whining: “There’s nothing to do!” Or, your pet could be answering another dog that you can’t hear. THE NATURALLY HEALTHY PET Changes in weather also can make a Food and Gifts for you Best Friend dog anxious and vocal. Of course, he Organic may just want attention. If Natural, you find the & Raw Diets For Dogs & Cats - Made in the USA reason, it’s easier to find the cure. Treats - Wheat & Corn FREE Made in the USA Bones & Antlerz • THUNDERSHIRTS “Dogs like to Is a dog shy or fearful? “Don’tRawhide, put Harnesses & Apparel him in a situation beyond his comfortCollars, Leads, obey. It gives Chew, Training, zone,” counsels Cara Shannon, an ex- Interactive & Puzzle Toys • Health & Beauty Aids FLEA & TICK Treatments them security.” pert in curbing aggressive dog behavMention this Ad and receive 10% off a pet toy! ior in Austin, Texas. “Let him observe ~ James Herriot, author, from a safe distance, but not interact, 1850 Thomasville Road • Tallahassee, FL 32303 All Creatures Great/ Fax and850-576-7387 Small perhaps watching his surroundings with www.tallahasseepetstore.com • Phone you from inside the car.”

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November 2011

actionalert Supporting Universal Prosperity A Peaceful Perspective Occupies Wall Street

by Meredith Montgomery

onths before Occupy Wall Street gatherings began boldly voicing people’s intolerance for greed and corruption in America’s economic leadership, a New York meditation group was quietly acting to consciously support universal prosperity. It’s called Med Mob, and its mission is to create an environment for people from all religions, worldviews and experience levels to unite in meditation. The movement has affiliates around the world and periodically organizes meditation flash mobs in public places to raise awareness of the power of meditation and positive intention. According to MedMob.org, a flash mob is, “a large group of people meeting in a crowded public place [to engage] in a coordinated, unexpected, random activity.”

cided to mob with more focused intent. Before becoming a community organizer and founder of City Life Wellness community, in Brooklyn Finno was an investment banker and traded stocks for 24 years. He says, “When I pulled up the stock charts to investigate the market prediction [made by peers in the city’s conscious community], my experience kicked in and I immediately saw that it was exactly right. An economic collapse was waiting to happen.” This revelation inspired Finno to write a statement of intention for upcoming meditations in support of conscious prosperity for all. “I wrote two paragraphs on a large poster about how we can trade intolerance for acceptance, so that we can let [negativity] go and move toward a solu-

Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness

Humble Beginnings Historically, Med Mob participants have been invited to bring their own intention for themselves, their community or the world. But when Anthony Finno, one organizer of the New York City Med Mob group, discerned a coming shift in the financial markets, he de28

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

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tion,” says Finno. “I used capitalism as a vehicle to create awareness for letting go of something that is not working, so that we can move on to something that can work better.” For three months, beginning in June, the New York Med Mob displayed this written intention while they meditated daily during lunchtime in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Passersby stopped to read the sign and some took part. The revolving group of 10 to 30 participants brought a patch of calmness and peace to an otherwise busy New York sidewalk for an hour each day. On July 13, the activist magazine Adbusters posted the initial call for the Occupy Wall Street movement on its website: “On Sept 17, flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street.” For the two months that followed, hype for the planned occupation grew and according to CNN, several hundred people showed up on day one. Initially, the New York Med Mob decided to wrap up their daily meditations and to stand clear. Finno says, “The online posts were written from a place of fear. They were demanding that the system was wrong and seemed to need an excuse to blame the state of their own lives.” While Finno does not ascribe to this approach, he acknowledges that it has served the purpose of at least generating awareness. Then, a week into the Occupy Wall Street movement, New York Med Mob organizers remobilized for a meditation flash mob at the park where the occupation was taking place. Coincidentally, the protesters were marching uptown at the same time. “When we arrived, there was no one in the park, so we had the whole space to meditate,” says Finno. “When the marchers returned, the park was grounded with meditators and there was a [palpable] shift of energy.” Since that day, meditations take place in the park on Saturdays at noon and Wednesdays at 3 p.m. It has been transformed into, “an example of sustainable awareness,” according to Finno. Peaceful energy surrounds individuals engaged in art installations,

Photo: Jessa Johnson/City Life Wellness

Find a Place to

Renew Your Spirit

permaculture, music and Tai chi. Med Mob groups and others are currently posting similar events all over Facebook. “It’s well out of our hands now; it’s just happening,” remarks Finno.

Sunday Services 9:30 and 11:00 AM Youth Education 11:00 AM 8551 Buck Lake Road www.unity-eastside.org

Join in this Month A global meditation flash mob is planned for November 11 (see Tinyurl. com/44jrp8x). Communities around the world are encouraged to participate; planned events include Austin, Texas; Los Angeles; New York City; Orlando; and Paris. According to the global event’s Facebook page, the goal is to inspire, “10,000 people to meditate and emanate a wave of high vibration energy that will shift and evolve our self and every person, business and system in our city.” Finno believes that the power of meditation for individuals and communities is understated. When asked to define meditation, he says, “It is an opportunity to be at one with yourself, [and] to be grounded and focus on a solution.” The universalized peaceful actions of Med Mobs are ultimately more powerful than localized, anger-filled demonstrations, because as Finno notes, “Anyone can relate to meditation; everyone is working for a solution to something.” For more information, visit MedMob.org or OccupyTheNet.com. Meredith Montgomery publishes the Mobile/Baldwin, AL edition of Natural Awakenings (HealthyLivingHealthy Planet.com). Tallahassee has a local Med Mob. For more information and to find out if they will be participating in the November 11th event, check out their page on Facebook at MedMob: Tallahassee, FL.

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November 2011

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T R SHOP SMA Keep Dollars Working in Local Communities by Linda Sechrist

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

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oday, Americans can tap into one of the best bargains around by voting to support our local and regional economies. By shifting our shopping to locally owned and operated retailers and service providers, we help create and retain area jobs, support community commerce and build valuable relationships and social connections within our community. With every local purchase, we leave the store enriched, having deepened both community social capital and genuine wealth. Imagine the joy of knowing that your purchase contributes to the dentist supplying braces for the local grocer’s kids, the local insurance agent’s mortgage payment, the local banker’s roof repair and the local roofer’s dinner— all of them friends and neighbors. The list of benefits—from shoring up local home values to ensuring access to local produce—keeps expanding as your dollars continue to circulate within the community. Yet, finding a fuller range of locally made items at locally owned stores will continue to be challenging until shoppers demand it. One way to begin www.natallahassee.com

aligning purchases with your values is by patronizing stores that offer socially responsible and fair trade items. Shaktari Belew, author of Honoring All Life: A Practical Guide to Exploring a New Reality, explains how purchasing goods and services can actually create local community wealth for all if they are specifically designed for that outcome. “When items are designed to be created and sold locally, everyone involved benefits, from the suppliers that obtain the raw materials through those that manufacture, sell and buy the finished item. Even the environment benefits.” Belew encourages our learning as much as possible about purchases. “Once people are aware of the two vital concepts of localization and design, they will be better able to scrutinize purchases,” advises this designer and wholesystems thinker who focuses on resilient community design. As a Transition US.org workshop leader and one of the primary designers of the Community Engagement Process for Unified Field Corporation’s whole-systems/

quadruple bottom line financial model, this Oregon resident tries to follow her own advice. “The Cradle to Cradle C2C certification helps,” she says. The C2C program is an eco-label authorized by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, co-founded in 1995 by William McDonough, the author of Cradle to Cradle. The certification process assesses a product’s safety to humans and the environment, plus its potential for future life cycles. The “program focuses on using safe materials that can be disassembled and recycled for another purpose or composted as biological nutrients. To date, hundreds of items, from building materials, bedding and linens, baby care and haircare products to personal and household cleaning products, have been C2C certified. If you plan to ship gifts long distances this gift-giving season, why not use the first C2C-certified consumer product—a U.S. Postal Service packing box? It exemplifies how a complex good design makes a product people- and planet-friendly. All 60 of the product’s boxes, decals and labels, involving 1,400 component materials, had to be certified, but the benefits are big: reduced costs for handling waste and disposing of hazardous materials; plus, the receiver may easily recycle the item with a free conscience. “Imagine a closed-loop market system in which any number of items made from finite resources such as glass, paper, steel, plastic and cloth are designed to be reused in a near-endless cycle,” says Belew. “Imagine a world of goods designed for easy repair and maintenance, rather than obsolescence.” Belew, the designer of Will’s Bills, a form of complementary currency, also recommends buying items that have long-term reusability specific to our needs. “My daughter loves a particular curry sauce, which comes in a little glass jar with a screw-top lid,” she relates. Rather than recycle the jars, the family reuses them for storing small things at home. “They’re also the perfect size for single servings,” she says. Sometimes, just a simple shift in perspective can change an item from trash to treasure. Linda Sechrist is an editor of Natural Awakenings community magazines.

inspiration

Steps to Abundance

by Carolyn Blakeslee Make a list of what you overcome your own limitTake mental desire. List your desires— ing beliefs, so why listen snapshots of not wants or needs, which to anyone else’s self-limitimply lack of, rather than good times and ing negativity? Step away abundance of, something. with kindness. By saying/thinking/writing, tell yourself, “Re“I desire [this] or somemember this.” Select news sources thing even better now carefully and set a time manifesting for the good limit. Read only thoughtof all concerned,” you create room for ful, responsible journalism, which even greater possibilities. doesn’t include most TV news. You’ll avoid wasting time on nasty stories that Remember a situation of abundance. engender negative feelings and harmIf you catch yourself wallowing in a ful physiological responses. You’ll feel bad memory or engaging in “stinkin’ better for it. thinkin’,” call up a contrasting memory in which you felt rich, beautiful, acHave the proverbial “attitude of graticomplished, capable—whatever state of tude.” Count your blessings. Think often being you desire. of all the good in your life. Say “Thank you,” more than once a day. ContemAlign with your passions. By taking even plate the areas of your life that are a small step toward a passion or goal working well; take those skills and apply that nurtures you, you will feel cleaner, them to what you would like to improve. clearer and more energetic, thus opening the way for progress. God has a plan Express gratitude. Thank others frefor your life and His deep desire for His quently, with thank-you cards, exprescreation—you—is for you to flourish. sive emails, gestures of encouragement and smiles. People always appreciate Look forward. List your most cherished kindness and good manners, especially dreams and immediate intentions. Betwhen civility seems in short supply. ter yet, pull pictures from a past happy time and cut out magazine pictures that Smile! When you answer the phone, represent the good things you desire in put a smile on your face and in your your future, and then paste them in a voice. Welcome people into your life, journal or on a poster board to refer to even if it’s just for that moment. Allow during moments of reflection. them to feel your warmth. When you catch yourself frowning with concenStreamline your life continually. Let go tration during a task, pause to lift your of situations and clutter that don’t supbrows, pull back your face and smile! port your aspirations. Carolyn Blakeslee publishes the North Spend time with positive people. Don’t Central Florida edition of Natural Awakbelieve naysayers. You are working to enings (NaturalAwakeningsncfl.com). natural awakenings

November 2011

Living In Uncertainty By Dr. Darlene Treese

ger picture and are more flexible and he fear, anxiety and uncertainty calm. We bring out the best in others that we are experiencing as a naand solve problems gracefully. We tion right now is our greatest challenge open our minds to bigger possibilities –physically, financially, emotionally, that create win-win answers. mentally and spiritually. Many are livIn dealing with the turmoil in the ing in a state of uncertainty about their world health, there are safety, specific wealth things and future “The significant problems we face you can well becan never be solved at the level of do to creing. thinking that created them.” ate peace In life in your we have -Albert Einstein life and basiin your cally two thoughts. psychoWhatever you put your attention on logical ways of responding: reactive or will expand and the thoughts we conresponsive. The reactive way causes sistently hold and energize with emostress. We feel pressured and are quick tion will become our reality. Even to judge others. We lose perspective though we may be in perilous times, and take things personally. We’re anwe have the power to change and noyed, bothered and frustrated. We rise above circumstances if we do not are quick to make decisions that we ofgive in to panic. We have fallen into ten regret. We annoy other people and the “sensationalism of the worse case bring out the worst in them. We are scenario” promoted by the media. overly critical and too overwhelmed to This fuels alarm and dismay on an see answers and solutions. individual level, which then becomes The responsive way means that we our group consciousness. Instead keep our bearings, that we see the big-

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

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of hysteria, how much time are you willing to spend to wage all out peace and prosperity? Instead of holding your breath and waiting for “something” to happen, what can you do to actively create good in your life and in the lives of others? With people that you disagree with (whether it be the president or a family member), know that you do not have to agree with them, but by harboring anger you are creating an embattled mentality that will hold you at war with them. Visualize a win-win outcome, even though you do not know how it will happen. Focus on the results you really want. Terrorists and tyrants feed on negative emotional energy, so withdraw your energy and hold the thoughts and emotion of them losing all power over you and others. In the words of Gandhi, “When in despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won; there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.” Life is too short to worry it away. When thinking about the challenges we are facing, realize that only good can come from it. Imagine science implementing alternative fuels that raise the quality of life. Hold thoughts of new prosperity, of all the world’s children growing up safe and cared for, of all calls for hatred to go unanswered and ignored. Life is not your enemy, but your thinking can be. Your world is shaped by the thoughts you choose to focus on the most. You have the power to change your reactions, expectations, and outlook, and in doing so, you change the world. Dr. Darlene Treese has been in private practice in hypnosis and counseling since 1983. She is a Diplomate in Counseling with the National Institute of Sports, Past President of the American Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association. Darlene has been internationally acknowledged for her positive action and solution-based therapies and work with corporations. Dr. Dar is always available to help with your questions and dilemmas through office visits, email or telephone consultations. Call her at 850201-0073 or visit www.AskDrTreese.com

Advertisers – up to 5 free listings. Nonadvertisers – $10 each for Calendar of Events listings and $10 each for On-Going Calendar listings. Listings must be emailed to natallahassee@yahoo.com. Classified listings are $1 per word.

Tuesday, November 8 Reiki. 10:30 am – Noon. Reiki is a way of working with the Universal Life Energy to enhance our own natural healing ability. Join Susie Howell, Usui Reiki Master and Practitioner of 25 years, and her friends. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000.

Tuesday, November 1

Wednesday, November 9

Law of Attraction & Relationships. 7:45-9:00 pm. FREE! Pamela Chamberlyn’s class focuses on using law of attraction skills to create the quality of relationships you want. This will include your internal relationship with spirit and your unique relationships with your sub-personalities, and how these internal relationships show up in your external relationships. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes. 7:45-9:00 pm. FREE! Shawn Henry, CEO Transformative H.E.A.L.T.H C.A.R.E Solutions, will share a testimonial from a client who has successfully applied the holistic lifestyle to transform their health. Shawn will explain the role of holistic health coaches and how he can help you reverse chronic diseases naturally. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Thursday, November 3

Thursday, November 10

GYROKINESIS Exercise workshop. 12pm - 1pm. A one hour class blending the key movement principles of dance, yoga, martial arts, swimming, and physical therapy. The Gyrokinesis system provides a total body workout and is safe and effective for all levels of fitness. Class will be taught by Alissa Getz-Seim, a Certified Pilates instructor and a Master Trainer of Gyrokinesis, Lifelong Fitness Pilates Studio, 1915-1917 Welby Way, Registration 850533-9628, www.ansmovementarts.com.

Hemp for Food. 7:45-9:00 pm. FREE! Hemp seed has the second highest amount of protein of any food. Hemp also contains a full complement of essential amino acids, shown to lower blood cholesterol and dissolve plaque in coronary arteries. Come in for a discussion sample some wonderful products made from hemp. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Gluten Free Holiday Goodies. 7:45-9:00 pm. FREE! Judi McGinnis understands the need for gluten-free baked goods. Licensed to make and sell gluten-free products, she sells to private clients, farmers’ markets, and restaurants. She’ll share some of her knowledge on gluten-free baking. Learn how to make gluten-free holiday treats. Samples will be provided. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Friday, November 4 Café Night & Art Showcase Trolley. 6-9:00 pm. FREE! There’s nothing better than a coffee, dessert and live music to start the weekend. Unless, that is, you add exciting art exhibits! Hop on the Trolley to visit other local venues including 1020Art and Lemoyne. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop. Massage. 10:00am–Noon. Offered by Jonathan Walker, LMT. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000.

Saturday, November 5 Fine Wine & Gourmet Food Tasting. 7:00-9:00 pm. $22 advance, $25 day of. Treat yourself to an evening of fine wine and gourmet appetizers. Over 20 d wines will be sampled with complimentary appetizers. Ticket price includes a New Leaf Market wine glass and $5 off your purchase of the night. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Saturday, November 12 35th Annual Old South Day Festival in Ochlocknee. 9am – 4pm. Join us for an old fashioned country fair with parade, entertainment and more. Ochlocknee Community Civic Center, 5020 Spence St. (Off US Hwy 19 N.) Contact 229-574-5375.

Tuesday, November 15 Make Your Own Sushi. 7:45-8:45 pm $5 owners, $7 non-owners. Pre-payment required, limit 12. Join self-taught sushi expert Barry Courtney as he shares his enthusiasm for the avocado roll. Students will learn how to make sushi rice and practice rolling sushi. Yes, students can and will sample their creations! New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Wednesday, November 16 Vegan Thanksgiving Tasting. 7:45-9:00 pm. FREE! Jill Welch, whole foods chef, and Jean Crozier, New Leaf Market staff, will cook up some amazing vegan dishes. Recipes will be provided and will include our famous vegan “Tofu Turkey” with pecan gravy. Samples will be provided. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Meditation and Mindfulness. 10:30 – 11:30 am. Now offered monthly on the 3rd Thursdays, these workshops will introduce you to some of the secrets of the timeless art of meditation. It will help you feel calmer, more focused and balanced. Mats optional. Taught by Leslie Hanks Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Massage. 10:00am–Noon. Offered by Jonathan Walker, LMT. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000.

Saturday, November 19 FUN FALL FESTIVAL at Discovery School. 9am2pm. Come join us for family fun and celebration of Thanksgiving. Admission is FREE and includes unlimited jumps in the bounce house, face painting, arts and crafts for the kiddos, live performances and more. A silent auction will also be held to benefit the growth of our Montessori school as we grow to include elementary classes. Items for bid include spa treatments, haircut and color, event tickets, jewelry and so much more!!! Event takes place at 2705 Allen Rd, just off North Monroe behind the Tallahassee Mall. Call or email for more information (850) 2286765, info@DiscoverySchoolsFL.com. Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival (November 19 & 20). One of America’s premier wildlife and sporting arts festivals. Thomasville Center for the Arts, 600 E. Jackson St., Thomasville. Contact 229-226-0588, www.pwaf.org.

Tuesday, November 22 Reiki. 10:30am – Noon. Reiki is a way of working with the Universal Life Energy to enhance our own natural healing ability. Join Susie Howell, Usui Reiki Master and Practitioner of 25 years, and her friends. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Holiday Wine Tasting. 5:30-7:00 pm. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Wednesday, November 23 Holiday Wine & Beer Tasting. 5:30-7:00 pm. New Leaf Market, 1235 Apalachee Pkwy, 850-942-2557, www.newleafmarket.coop.

Saturday, November 26 South Georgia Ballet Presents The Nutcracker. (November 26 & 27). South Georgia Ballet performs the beloved holiday classic. Thomasville Auditorium, 144 E. Jackson St., Thomasville. Contact 229-378-2787, www.southgeorgiaballet. org.

Thursday, November 17

Monday, November 28

Thomasville Christmas Parade. 6:30pm, Usher in the holiday season with a charming down home parade! Downtown Thomasville. Contact: 229228-7977.

natural awakenings

November 2011

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

www.natallahassee.com

ongoing calendar sunday Unity Eastside Services – 9:30 and 11am. Celebration Service and Youth Ministry. 8551 Buck Lake Rd. 850-656-1678, www.transformingourworld. org. Unity of Tallahassee Services – 9:30 & 11am Rev. Bill Williams. Dial-a-Thought 850-562-3766. 2850 Unity Lane, 850-562-5744, www.UnityofTallahassee.org. Pagan Picnic and Red Hills Pagan Council Meeting – 11 am on the second Sunday of each month. Our new location is the Divine Union Spiritual Co-op, 641-B McDonnel Drive in Railroad Square. Come meet local Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids and other Earth worshippers. Bring a potluck dish to share, plates and utensils. Come for the picnic and stay for the RHPC monthly meeting at noon. Tallahassee Buddhist Book Discussion/Meditation Group. 1 to 2pm. Meets every 2nd and 4th Sunday in the Barnes N Noble Cafe in the Tallahassee Mall. Please contact Stacey Turknett for more information stayc1977@yahoo.com or 850-656-7066.

monday Tallahassee Edible Garden Club – every first Monday. Meeting at the pavilion in Winthrop Park behind the tennis courts. 1601 Mitchell Ave. just off Thomasville Road and Betton Road. No RSVP necessary - for questions or to get on their email list contact the Edible Garden Club at Elizabeth. markovich@gmail.com. Yoga to Feel Good. 5:30-7pm. This class combines postures with inward focus, conscious breathing and meditative awareness to support us in moving from the periphery of our being to the center. As the process unfolds, tension is released, the body relaxes, the mind calms and the Light within begins to burn a little brighter! $80 -8 weeks, drop-ins welcome. Episcopal Church of the Advent 815 Piedmont Drive. www. lakulishyogatallahassee. com call 222-0291 or email JoAnna joannadevi@ earthlink.net. Brain-Body-Memory Balance. 1:30-2:30pm. Low impact, seated exercise. Taught by Kathy Gilbert. Bring water bottle and wear comfortable clothing. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Spiritual Growth/Study Group based on the Edgar Cayce readings. 7pm . Join us or let us help you start your own group. Genevieve Blazek - (850) 893-3269. Chan/Zen Group meets at 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. There are two 20-minute periods of seated meditation punctuated by short periods of either walking meditation or mindful Yoga. Each meeting

concludes with a short session of question and answers. If you have no meditation experience, please arrive 20 minutes before the meeting for basic meditation instructions. For more information see us at www.tallahasseebuddhistcommunity.org/ mondayevenings.html. Located at the Tallahassee Buddhist Community in Railroad Square -- 647 McDonnell Drive.

tuesday

classifieds PRODUCTS / SERVICES New Hope For Diabetes! For FREE information call 850-915-7572.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Apalachee Beekeepers meets every second Tuesday at Leon County Extension Office on Paul Russell Road. Business at 6:30 and program at 7pm. The Apalachee Beekeepers are a knowledgeable and friendly group. They love to help new beekeepers get started. Go to their website for more details at http://sites.google.com/site/ apalacheebee. Healing Arts Alliance Meeting – 7-8:30pm 2nd Tues each month. Educational meeting open to all interested in healing arts. Email SusieHowell333@ comcast.net to get meeting announcements. www. healingartsalliance.org. Life Exercise - 9:30–10:30am (also Thurs). Aerobics, light weights, stretching. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St, 850-891-4000. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Mindful Movement Fitness Class. 9:30-10:30am. Gather with friends once a week for this Tai Chi program to improve balance, gait and strength. Class also focuses on reducing risk of falling, better breath control, improving physical dexterity, and self-confidence. Taught by Lori Roberts. Orange Ave. Community Center (2710 Country Club Drive) 891-4000. Brain-Body-Memory Balance. 10:00 – 11:00 am. Dynamic and fun low-impact exercise that improves memory, strength and balance. Bring water bottle and wear comfortable clothing. Taught by Kathy Gilbert. Optimist Park Community Center, East Indianhead Dr. 891-4009.

Get Your Business Online. Generate New Leads/Stay in Contact with Your Customers. Site & Hosting $37mth www.LeadGenWebsites.net. Currently publishing NATURAL AWAKENINGS magazines - For sale in Birmingham, AL; North Central FL; Lexington, KY; Santa Fe, NM; Cincinnati, OH; Tulsa, OK; Northeast PA; Columbia, SC; Southwest VA. Call for details 239-530-1377.

CHiCKENS AND LIVESTOCK Are you a local organic egg provider? If so, please post your contact information on the Facebook fan page for Natural Awakenings magazine – Tallahassee. People are asking.

Men in Unity. Meets at 11:45 am on the second Tuesday of each month at Honey-Baked Ham, on Capital Circle near Mahan Drive.

wednesday Brain-Body- Memory Balance. 2:00-3:00 pm. Low-impact, seated exercise. Bring water bottle and wear comfortable clothing. Heritage Oaks. 891-4000. Blood Pressure Screenings. 10am-Noon (also Tues & Thurs). Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St, 850-891-4000.

Blood Glucose Screenings. 10:00 am - Noon. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St, Gentle yoga at Unity Eastside. 10:30-11:45am.  891-4000. Drop-ins welcome. Please contact Geralyn Russell at 878-2843 or yogawithgeralyn@yahoo.com. Unity In’s and Out’s Basics class. Starting November 2 at 6:30pm- 8:00pm. Unity Eastside, Intermediate Yoga. 5:30-7:30. How do you extract 8551 Buck Lake Road, www.unity-eastside.org, the elixir of contentment from the ocean of events 656-1678. in your life, rather than the poison of anger and greed? We will take a deeper look at the yamas - the Tibetan Chenrezig Meditation. The Buddha of first step of yoga, and then do breathing and pos- Compassion. Chanting, prayer and meditation in the tures. Please call or email if interested in this class. Tibetan tradition. Open to all. Meets 7-8PM. Located Drop-ins are not permitted due to the popularity of at the Tallahassee Buddhist Community in Railroad this class. $90 for 8 weeks at the Sanctuary 2824 Square, 647 McDonnell Dr. 445-0387. Par Lane off Blairstone South. www.lakulishyogatallahassee.com call 222-0291 or email JoAnna joannadevi@earthlink.net. Seated NIA Yoga (Neuromuscular Intergrative Action). 11:00 am-Noon. Taught by Lori Roberts, certified NIA yoga instructor. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Blood Pressure Screenings - 10am-12 Noon (also Wed & Thurs). Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St, 850-891-4000. Tallahassee Senior Center. 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000.

natural awakenings

November 2011

Gentle Yoga. 6:00-7:00pm. $12 per class. Gentle stretches to open the body and deepen the breath followed up by a short, guided relaxation/meditation, a perfect addition to the middle of the week to glide smoothly to the finish! Drop-ins welcome. At the Sanctuary 2824 Par Lane off Blairstone South. www.lakulishyogatallahassee.com call 222-0291 or email JoAnna joannadevi@earthlink.net. Prayer and meditation with Dr. Patty Ball Thomas, L.U.T. Noon. Unity Eastside, 8551 Buck Lake Road, admin@unity-eastside.org 656-1678.

thursday Life Exercise. 9:30 –10:30am (also Tues). Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St, 891-4000.

Blood Pressure Screenings. 10am-Noon (also Tues & Wed). Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000. Tallahassee Pagan Meetup - Second Thursday of each month at 7 pm. Come meet local Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids and other practitioners of New-Age spirituality and religion! Make friends, share stories and exchange knowledge. For more information check out http://pagan.meetup.com/1296/ or email KrazyPagan@aol.com. Crystal Connec

friday

tion, 1105 Apalachee Parkway.

Chair Yoga: 11 a.m. – Noon, by Certified Yoga Instructors Bridget Kamke. A gentle yoga workout for increased mobility, bladder control, self-esteem, and mental focus. Tallahassee Senior Center, 1400 N. Monroe St. 891-4000.

Holiday Shopping in Downtown Thomasville ~ Every Friday until Christmas beginning November 25th! Downtown Thomasville shops, boutiques & restaurants open late with specials, entertainment and more! Contact 229-227-7020, www.downtownthomasville.com, Chanting and Meditation. 7-9pm on Second Friday of the month. Enrich your spiritual practice! Join Jeffji in singing easy-to-learn chants from eastern and western traditions. Donations will benefit the church. Unity Eastside, 8551 Buck Lake Road, 656-1678. Drumming Circle. 7-9 p.m. on Third Fridays in the Children’s House behind Unity Eastside’s main building. A willing heart, moving hands and a loving participation is all that’s needed. Some percussion instruments may be provided, but it if you have a drum, please bring it. Contact Mike Smith at msmithdrummerboy37@gmail.com for information. Unity Eastside, 8551 Buck Lake Road, www. unity-eastside.org 656-1678.

saturday Fifty Fabulous & Fit. 10:00 - 11:30am. Come enjoy creative movement dance class for women 50+. Creative movement is infused with ballet, West African and modern dance for good clean fun, exercise and bonding with other women. 2328 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 5 (behind Papa John’s Pizza). For information 850-545-9835 or www. journeytodance.com. The CrossRoads Shih Tzu Rescue Adoptions Event. 11am-2pm every second Saturday. Hosted by The Naturally Healthy Pet. 1850 Thomasville Road, Tallahassee. For more information call 850576-7387, or got to www.tallahasseepetstore.com or visit their Facebook page. Local Business Saturday. Local Business Saturday will take place on the 2nd Saturday of every month in 2011 and is intended to increase public awareness of the value of shopping locally. Mayor John Marks -- in collaboration with the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce, Locally Owned Tallahassee, Market District Tallahassee and other local business leaders -- launched the ‘Local Business Saturday’ initiative. Come on out and support locally owned businesses! Train Rides at Veterans Memorial Park. The second Sat. of each month. 11:00-3:00pm. NW Theo Jacobs Road, Bristol, FL 32321. For more information check out www.VeteransMemorialRailroad. org and YouTube - Veteran’s Memorial Railroad for video footage of the train in action! Chen Style Tai Chi. 9-10:30am. FREE. Class is suitable for practitioners of all skill levels. www. webdharma.com/taiji. Please email for additional information to: alannah1000@yahoo.com. Located at the Tallahassee Buddhist Community, 647 McDonnell Drive. Tallahassee Farmers Market at Market Square. 8am – 5pm. Year-round. rain or shine. Early Birds get the best selection! The oldest farmers market in Tallahassee. Growers and resellers. Organic and conventionally grown. 1415 Timberlane Rd Tallahassee.

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

www.natallahassee.com

communityresourceguide Connecting you to the leaders in natural healthcare and green living in our community. To find out how you can be included in the Community Resource Guide email TallaAdvertising@naturalawakeningsmag.com to request our media kit. ART THERAPY Licia Berry, Integrative Artist

www.liciaberry.com licia@liciaberry.com (719) 850-1890

An artist and art educator with a passion for Jungian psychology, indigenous values, symbolism and writing (and over 25 years of professional experience), Licia blends visual image, written and spoken word, and healing and intuitive arts in original, unique art that reveal profound truths. Licia offers specialty commissioned collages for Rite of Passage, “Message from Spirit”, Birthday, Midlife, and Initiation into New Cycle (wonderful gifts!), playshops and customized Collage Retreats. With an international following on her Blog, FaceBook and Twitter, Licia’s genuine messages of self love and inner wisdom are gently affirming seekers all over the globe.

CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY healthy solutions, inc. Rick Ferrall, lmt, 850-294-8069 521 E. College Ave., TLH 32301 www.healthy_solutions@comcast.net

CranioSacral Therapy addresses scoliosis, chronic fatigue and MS, infant disorders, learning disabilities, orthopedic problems, emotional difficulties, chronic neck/back pain, stress and tension related problems, TMJ, brain/spinal cord injuries, and cancer issues. MA24604 / MM11960

HEALING Healing Path Alice McCall

Advanced Energy Healer & Counselor BS Psychology, MBA, Hypnotherapist www.healingpath.info: 850-585-5496

I offer phone sessions, specializing in healing serious health issues and unwanted patterns. My book ‘Wellness Wisdom’ has little known information on natural health and healing; inspired by my journey with cancer. Free 15 minutes phone consultation to learn how I can help you.

HEALTHCARE FLORIDA WELLNESS CENTER OF TALLAHASSEE 850.385.6664 2339 North Monroe Street (next to Boston Market) www.floridawellnessandrehab.com

At Florida Wellness & Rehabilitation Centers we are committed to keeping up with the latest technologies and treatments to provide our patients with the best rehabilitative experience possible. We believe in educating and encouraging our patients to take an active role in their own treatment.

Integrative Healthcare

N. Elizabeth Markovich, MSN, ARNP 850-878-4434 2016 Delta Blvd. Suite 100 Tallahasee 32308 www.IHCFL.com

We offer primary care, preventive care with a holistic approach. We use special testing with 11 outside laboratories to help find the cause of chronic illness and use a functional medicine approach (www. functionalmedicine.org). We also have hypnosis combined with acupuncture by IB Price MD, massage and cranio-sacral therapy by Angele LaGrave LMT and Nutritional Counseling by Leah Gilbert-Henderson PhD nutrition.Accept Medicare, Blue Cross, Universal, Aetna, others.

HEALTHY PET

NEW GENESIS CENTER Patrice Bullock, MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner-C www.NewGenesisCenter.com 229-228-9050

A healthcare center-Functional medicine, patient-centered approach, non-drug, science-based, results oriented. Getting to the source of your health problems rather than bandaiding. Simple to complex problems. Skin care, digestive problems to the more complex health problems such as Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Chemical Sensitivity. Extraordinary results & health transformation. Functional medicine approach consults, hormone testing, detoxification, weight loss, expert skincare consult & prof. treatments, colonics, far-infrared sauna, physical therapy, massage therapy,

HYPNOSIS DARLENE TREESE, Ph.D.

State Board Licensed 850-201-0073

Diplomate in Sports Counseling, National Institute of Sports Professionals. Past President, American Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association. e-Therapy and TherapyChat/Office-Based Hypnosis and Life Coaching/ Professional Seminar Training www.AskDrTreese.com

The Naturally Healthy Pet

Owners, Basil Cousins & Jerry Ayers 1850 Thomasville Road Tallahassee, Fl 32303 850-576-7387 tnhpet@gmail.com www.tallahasseepetstore.com

The Naturally Healthy Pet is a unique pet supply store with a mission to provide the finest quality nutrition for dogs and cats. The store provides an eclectic assortment of Holistic, Grain-free dry and wet diets, 100% organic raw pet foods with no preservatives, hormones, chemicals, fillers or additives. There are also treats like natural bakerystyle cookies, rawhide and antler chews, as well as an abundant selection of toys, leashes and other pet gifts. We passionately support pet issues such as adoptions, spay/neuter programs, pet therapy and training programs.

HOLISTIC HEALTH Fertile Crescent Reiki Center Susie Howell, Reiki Master Miccosukee Land Co-op Tallahassee, FL 850-877-0371

INTERGRATIVE MEDICINE Archbold Integrative Medicine Center

John Mansberger, MD, Medical Director. 229-228-7008; 2705 E. Pinetree Blvd. #C, Thomasville, GA 31792.

A holistic team approach to a variety of medical problems. Offering acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, pain relief, natural hormone replacement, Cancer therapy, nutrition, weight control, herbal medicine, yoga and physical therapy. www.archbold.org.

Tallylife

IPHONE APP

Tallahassee’s 1st Local Mobile Town Guide.

Susie Howell began practicing Reiki in 1986 and has been an Usui Master since 1995. She offers treatments and classes in a beautiful, peaceful setting, usually spread out over three days. The Usui System of Reiki Healing is a way of working with sacred energy to enhance natural healing. Reiki seeks to bring about integrity on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. It works well with other healing modalities, including allopathic medicine. Learning Reiki is simple and direct; it requires no prior training. See Calendar of Events for info on upcoming class.

The Tallylife website features all the people, places and events happening in Florida’s Capital City. All your event listings are free and can be easily uploaded via the website.Download the FREE iPhone app and soon to be released Droid app! www.tallylife. com

natural awakenings

November 2011

UNITY OF TALLAHASSEE

REAL ESTATE

PHOTOGRAPHY

2850 Unity Lane, TLH, 850-562-5744, Rev. Bill Williams, Minister,

REAL ESTATE TEAM - KW

Ansley Studio

Debbie Leo - 273-9306 Jennifer Stowell - 567-3223

Ansley Simmons artist . photographer . owner 229.224.6021 • www.AnsleyStudio.com

You can have a green home or find a green home for your family’s health and future. If you’re looking to buy or sell, call Debbie Leo and Jenn Stowell! Your Tallahassee Keller Williams agents.

Specializing in portraits & weddings. MFA in Photography, Arts Administration Doctoral Student, Art Museum Education Certificate Florida State University

A ministry that seeks inspiration from the teachings of Jesus and finds common ground with spiritual masters from other traditions. We invite you to join us. Sunday Services 9:30 & 11 AM. Youth Education 11 AM. Wednesday Service at Noon.

YOGA WORSHIP PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

LAKULISH YOGA

UNITY EASTSIDE

8551 Buck Lake Road, TLH, 850-656-1678 Rev. Jean Debarbieris Owen, Minister www,unity-eastside.org www.facebook.com- unityeastsidechurch

Southeastern community blood ctr. 1-800-722-2218. Located in Tallahassee; Marianna, FL; Thomasville & Douglas, GA. scbcinfo.org

Rev. Jean believes the love of God is unfolding in each person, place, Thing. Join us in Worship: Celebration Service 9:30AM and 11:00AM; Youth Ministry 11AM, noon prayer Wed.

Blood donors save lives. Is there any greater reward? Save Lives. Give Blood. M-F, 9am–6pm. (Sat. hours in Tallahassee: 9am–1pm)

www.lakulishyogatallahassee.com 850-273-1861 joannadevi@earthlink.net

Yoga is so much more than the postures we are so familiar with --- yoga is the science of the soul --- our ultimate journey! Come and explore yoga with us. We offer hatha yoga classes, chanting with Om Sweet Om, a Bhagavad Gita study group, summer yoga camp for children and periodic workshops to delve deeper into the classical 8-step path to liberation. We are dedicated to upholding the integrity of the original teachings in a loving and sacred environment.

Open the Door to Your New Home YOU CAN HAVE A GREEN HOME OR FIND A GREEN HOME FOR YOUR FAMILY’S HEALTH AND FUTURE

n Free Comparative Market Analysis of your home n

Free Consultation for buyers or sellers

n Free consultation on how to make your home eco-friendly If you’re looking to buy or sell, call Debbie Leo and Jenn Stowell!

Tallahassee’s Mother and Daughter Real Estate Team would love to HELP YOU FIND A HOME

Ask us how you can make a more eco-friendly purchase! 38

Debbie 273-9306 Jennifer 567-3223

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast

www.natallahassee.com

Creative marketing • Strategic networking Public Relations outreach Project management Special events planning Product and service representation DEANNA MIMS

850.425.5240 DMIMS@MARKETDONE.COM WWW.MARKETDONE.COM

natural awakenings

November 2011

Gas Money the Environment DID YOU KNOW...

KIA cares about the Environment, too? 10 models get over 30mpg and 3 models get over 40mpg! Call Colleen Harp for a test drive.

AUTOSPORT

Colleen Harp 2755 W. Tennessee St. Tallahassee, FL 32304 850-321-7893

Kia Oval Logo 4/C - Large

Tallahassee, S. Georgia, Gulf Coast