Lisa Teets is a local Bowenwork healer, Tai Chi instructor, and fan of wellness modalities in general. I met her in a local Tai Chi class several years ago, and we hit it off. As many of us struggle with stress into year three of the pandemic, I wanted to learn more about her primary modality—Bowenwork—to ask what makes it different from a massage and how people might know if they would benefit from trying it.
Posts filed under Local Practitioners
5 questions for 3 Local Sound Healers
Short interviews with three local sound healers.
Wonder-twinning™: Activating Healing Through Faith and Energy
In 2017, Vicky Lovell and Danielle Groth crossed paths for the first time. They met during milestone transitions in both of their lives. Lovell was graduating from seminary and answering her first call into ordained ministry and Groth was recovering from breast cancer and in the midst of her own healing. It was a friendship, built on the foundation of their faith, that took time to grow.
Out of My Comfort Zone: In the Space Between My Comfort Zones
Does exhaling take you out of your comfort zone? How about taking a step out ahead of you? How about the first pangs of hunger, or the chill of the air, when you step outdoors on a cold day?
Moving Meditations and Comparative Prayer Forms: An Exploration of Altering One's Consciousness Through Movement
One day while teaching Tai Chi—somewhere between forms—I was no longer cognizant of my body, my students, the studio, not even time! There was suddenly nothing except delightful whiteness, bliss, and an ethereal consciousness. When I came back to the immediate physical surroundings, I admitted to my students, “Ummmm I lost count. Was that two or three Part the Horse’s Mane?” We all laughed. Later, I recalled having had other similar experiences during movement as well as sitting/lying inert.
The Process of ‘Becoming’ Through the Diamond Approach – As Taught and Practiced by Lou Weir
The Diamond Approach, as taught and practiced by Lou Weir at the Ridhwan School in Ann Arbor, can be likened to the pupa stage of metamorphoses. It is a cognizant, individualized, un-becoming process through active inquiry (psychologically and emotionally). It is a process which transforms students to becoming their most beautiful, authentic selves.
The Food of the Gods-The Sacred Cacao Ceremony
Over 5,000 years ago, the cacao bean was first used by early Mesoamerican civilizations. It has been celebrated ever since as a sacred plant medicine in many indigenous cultures in South and Central America. Cacao (kə-ˈkau̇) known as the “food of the gods,” is the seed found in the fruit of the Theobroma cacao tree, which is native to the Amazon basin.
Namaste Katie: Winter 2022
Winter 2022, Yoga column. Whether you're a seasoned yogi or getting ready to roll out your mat for the first time,
here you'll find a variety of useful tips from local yoga instructor, Katie Hoener.
Healers of Ann Arbor: Mindful Awakenings with Julie Woodward
Through the pandemic, many people have reached out to healers and wellness teachers for self-care techniques and help through crisis. One such teacher, Julie Woodward of Mindful Awakenings, seemingly does it all. She teaches yoga for resilience, mindfulness meditation, and leads nature immersion hikes that help us all re-anchor ourselves in the present moment and recharge through times of stress.
Talking While Walking
My name is Fran Adler, and I’ve been a licensed therapist in private practice for over two decades. Over the years there have been many aspects of this work that I’ve greatly enjoyed. But, there is one thing about being a therapist that I’ve never been crazy about—too much sitting!
Vipassana: A Meditation For Daily Living
There is a wonderful meditation practice that was taught by Gautama Buddha more than 2500 years ago called Vipassana. Vipassana, sometimes referred to as Insight Meditation, helps us to cultivate inner calmness and exceptionally clear seeing into our present moment experience, whatever that may be. I learned this practice as a Theravada Buddhist monk in Thailand in the 1970’s and it continues to be my foundational meditation practice to this day.
Full Moon Ceremony: Creating Sacred Space With Others
What is sacred space and where do we find it? I would describe sacred space as any environment that evokes a serene, reverent feeling of safety and connection. It is a space that allows you to remember the feeling of being exactly who you are with a knowing that you, alone, are enough. It is like receiving a warm hug from a friend or stepping into a bubble that comforts and supports you in every energetic way. Sacred space can be a place—a corner of a room or a park bench, but it can also exist within us in the moment-to-moment connectedness to our own inner wisdom, to our spirituality, to our wholeness. Native American wisdom describes sacred space as the space between the in-breath and out-breath. It exists eternally, within each of us. It just takes slowing down and listening instead of doing to uncover it.
All Creatures Great and Small: Animal Hospice-- Honoring Our Pets at the End of Their Lives
From the moment we adopt our pets to the end of their lives, they are, without question, an integral part of our family. Our relationship with them plays an important role in our lives as their love for us is like no other love. They bring us joy, make us laugh, and they bring comfort and healing when times are tough. While we have always understood this, the isolation of Covid-19 quarantine periods have highlighted the vital role pets play in our mental health.
Collaborative Therapeutic Massage
I view what I do as a collaboration between myself and my client—and sometimes, indirectly, between my client, other practitioners, and me. I expect my clients to work alongside me to ease their muscles, take further steps in their own healing, and work at shifting their posture.
Linda Diane Feldt, Beloved Ann Arbor Healer, the Very Embodiment of Crazy Wisdom in the Community
The death of Linda Diane Feldt, at 62, on November 17th came as a shock to Ann Arbor’s holistic subcultures. There was an immediate outpouring on Facebook of heartsickness and grief, a sense of being stunned that someone so integral, so key, could be gone in a flash. For those who didn’t know her, or never came across her, it is hard to put into words the depth and range of her presence and her impact. We have had a holistic alternative healer/genius in our midst, for decades, and we all knew she was special, but took for granted that she would always be here, so no need to pay extra special attention to her gifts, to her very existence in our community. Though, as she said often in recent times, take nothing for granted.
Healing Hands Physical Therapy: Amira Tal-Henig's Labor of Love
The caregiver’s heart is characterized by a few simple, yet powerful traits: empathy, commitment, and action. This holds true across diverse homes, occupations, and settings. The call to nurture another being is one of humility and hope. It is knowing that even when logic says nothing else can help, there is still love and presence to provide.
Understanding Energy Modalities & Myself
What’s in a name? That which we call energy therapy by any other name would be valued the same. Or would it? History, Hollywood, and cultural bias have long pitted healing philosophies against each other and, in some cases, ostracized or executed people (in some countries even today) for even a suspicion of one’s involvement with energy manipulation.
Sustainable Health: Ask for Help!
The weeks and months after my first child was born were some of the most difficult I have ever experienced. I was depleted from blood loss, and it felt like all the nutrients in my bones and muscles were being concentrated into the growing baby and breastmilk. For the first few days, my husband carried me down the stairs. He changed every diaper for the first month. However, the sleep deprivation, the intense emotional changes, and continual nutritional depletion converged to bring me to a point of stress in my system I was unprepared for and had little facility to manage.
Healers of Ann Arbor: HeartMath™ with Rachel Egherman
“HeartMath™ is heart-focused breathing, or breathing through the heart space,” Rachel Egherman said of the gentle form of self-care that helps you check in with your body, your heart space, and feel supported. “This is something you can do yourself in the grocery store line. It’s a way to quickly self-regulate.”
Divine Order-- Not Disorder: How Sarah DesJardins' Personal Journey Informs Her Equine Therapy and Energy Healing Work
Down a country road and around a corner in lovely Manchester, hot tea and home-made chocolate-chip cookies (my favorite treats) awaited my arrival at Souls at Play Center for Creative Therapy. This was my third time seeing Sarah DesJardins. The first was at the Spring 2015 Holistic/Psychic Fair of Ann Arbor, where as a guest speaker, she presented a powerful seminar―“Psychic Awareness: The Silver Lining of Trauma”―maxing the venue’s capacity.
