With a decisive “click,” the storm windows lock into place, and the quiet season begins. The sounds outside fall distant, muffled until mid-spring. The days are cool, the nights dip toward freezing, and the easy, outdoorsy time of summer and early autumn has passed. The leaves have turned. Snow will come soon.
Posts tagged #Issue 59
Expanding the Scope of Practice: How University of Michigan Medical School is Training Medical Doctors to Have a Deeper Understanding of Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Every July the University of Michigan Medical School ushers in a new class of future physicians. Those students spend a week in September scattered across the area visiting, conversing, observing, and receiving treatments from holistic practitioners to learn about healthcare from their perspectives.
Open Your Mind and Say “Aah”
Reflections from University of Michigan Medical School students after their experience of the Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) lecture, field visits, and group discussions.
Members of the Zen Community on Zen Meditation and Daily Life
To gain insight into how Zen practice impacts daily life, we asked eight Zen Temple practitioners, each in different stages of his or her meditation practice, the following questions: 1) How long have you been practicing Zen Meditation? 2) How does your involvement or meditation practice at the Zen Temple show up in your daily life?
Questions for Camille Noe Pagán, Author of The Art of Forgetting
Camille Noe Pagán, age 33, is an author and journalist. Her successful first novel, The Art of Forgetting, was published in 2011 by Penguin. The book was met with considerable acclaim from readers and critics, with the Chicago Tribune calling it “a quietly compelling literary debut . . . about the power of friendship and the importance of forgiveness.”
Zen and the Art of Hamster Maintenance: Thoughts on Passion, Purpose, and Parenting
Ten years ago, I lucked into a career in the arts. I say “lucked into” because there are loads of other qualified, experienced, arts-loving, ambitious people trying do exactly what I’m doing. The field is competitive; hundreds of people submit their candidacy for a single part-time opening at some of the organizations I've worked with.
Therapeutic Breathwork Training (a story)
I re-experienced my own birth the other day, for the third time in a week. I was in Milwaukee, at Transformations, Inc., with Jim Morningstar, a dedicated and compassionate psychotherapist, breath coach, writer, and Therapeutic Breathwork teacher. Sitting in Jim’s comfortable office, after a week of intensive breathwork training and experience, we began the session by talking about what I would like to focus on. I asked for inner child work.
Moving Through Moods with Improv
Remember a time when you felt caught in a “funk” — whether you felt gloomy, anxious, irritated, or otherwise trapped in a mood that wasn’t quite “you”? Imagine some words to describe how that feeling-state felt in your body — perhaps you felt a heavy heart, a frozen throat, butterflies in your stomach, or a tight pressure in your head.
Root Medicine and Winter Tonics
The life force in a biannual or perennial plant is evident in the greenness of its leaves and the vibrancy of its flower. As it begins to die back in the fall, that life force is not lost; it is transferred into the root, which embraces it and keeps it safe until the next growing season.
Deepening Your Practice of Wicca
Mastered the basics of Wicca and wondering what’s next? Looking for something to support you as we move deeper into winter and the dark time of the year? You may want to begin working in depth with a particular god or goddess. This relationship can provide powerful guidance and support in your spiritual development, thereby helping you live a richer, more fulfilling life.
Haju Sunim: A Patchwork Life
Reverend Haju Sunim has been at the Ann Arbor Zen Buddhist Temple since 1982. She was ordained as a Dharma teacher in l984 and as a Buddhist priest in l993. She hails from Vancouver, British Columbia, where she was born in 1944. In her early 30’s, she lived in Toronto, where she unwittingly joined the avant-garde of her generation, taking yoga classes and seeking new paths.
A Physicist's Path to Ayurveda: A Brief Q&A with Kapila Castoldi
Brandi Lyons: I see you work in physics. Do you find yourself mentally integrating Vedanta and Ayurveda with a physics based view of the world? Kapila Castoldi: My field is particle physics, the search for the ultimate building blocks of matter.
How to Train Your Gremlins: A Primer on the Ayurvedic Diet
I've come to think of my Ayurveda “doshas” as gremlins. The doshas are the three energies present in all things that work together to fuel your body and maintain your health as long as you “feed” them correctly, with the right lifestyle activities and foods. If you don't feed them right, they get “aggravated” and turn into health-sabotaging gremlins. So, here are the “CliffsNotes” on how to feed these little buggers
The Art of Storytelling
They talked about summer and soccer, flowers and friends, and the joy of growing and giving. They told of a preacher with a voice like honey butter, and a scary snake named Sam. Their voices rose and fell, they shifted and stomped, and their hands caressed the air. As the sun set over the horizon, members of the Ann Arbor Storytellers’ Guild told their stories.
Searching for a Perfect Gift for a Fantastic Friend? Maybe We Can Help…
Looking for that perfect present? Gift-giving season is just around the corner, you know. For Valentine’s Day, your own special holiday, or just because — there’s always a reason to give a heartfelt gift. And, as we all know, it is better to give than receive (although there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself now and then, of course).
